Good morning, brothers and sisters. Let's turn in our Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. We'll read 19 to 25. Hebrews 10, 19 to 25. You could see that on page 1007 in the Pew Bibles. And as you turn there, I wanna make you aware of a thought that the elders are kicking around amongst themselves. It has to do with our Sunday evening worship start time when we begin. Currently we begin at 5.30. The elders are thinking that we should move it to 5 p.m. The fundamental reason for that is the thought that a 5 p.m. start time will allow us to finish earlier. And that will help so that the older members of our congregation do not have to drive in too much of darkness during the month of the year when nightfall happens early. It will help families with young children to arrive home early and be set up for the school week the next day. It will also help us not to rush too much when we have evenings on which we have baptism, testimony, membership meetings, and things of that sort. So that's what we are thinking, but we want to hear from you. So this decision is being thought about, but it's not been made yet. We want to hear your feedback on that and how that would either serve or not serve you well. And as soon as we hear from you, we will know whether this is something we could do and it will be a profit to us as a community of God's people. So email any one of the elders, text them, talk to them in person. If we don't hear from you, we will assume that you like the idea and pull the trigger on it. Okay, so Hebrews chapter 10, 19 to 25. This is what the life-giving word of God says. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Let's pray. Father, your word says it is an exquisitely beautiful sight to see your people dwell together in harmony. I pray that you would use the preaching of your word this morning to deepen that kind of beauty, adorn more and more that kind of beauty amongst us. We pray that we would be a people eager to meet with your people and each one of us and that we would labor to make that a priority in our lives. So grant that, Lord, the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together will be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, our rock and our redeemer. In Jesus' name, amen. Last week, we began a short series on the subject of churchmanship And I mentioned that I'm using the term churchmanship to refer to that virtue by which a born again person is truly and wholeheartedly dedicated to the particular church, to the particular local church of which they are a member. The virtue whereby a believer in Jesus deliberately and steadfastly loves, serves, and prioritizes the particular community of brothers and sisters with whom they have entered into a covenant of membership. I attempted to lay out four reasons from the New Testament why a born again believer in Jesus Christ should publicly and formally join himself or herself to a particular local assembly of believers and be committed to them and submit themselves to the government and oversight of that church as that church submits itself to the government and oversight of Jesus Christ through his word and his spirit. This week, I want to consider with you a very specific aspect of churchmanship, and it is the crucial role of attending church personally and regularly, coming to church personally and regularly. My hope and prayer are that if you do not already, that you will come to think of your personal presence at church in the same way that you think of your personal presence at a doctor's office when you have a health trial to deal with. None of us having a health trial will treat the appointment with the specialist doctor who has to help them lightly. We will rightly take all the practical measures to be at the doctor's office at a time when the doctor says to be there. We do that as a key way of caring for these bodies that God gave us. We should, obviously. But how much more should we exert ourselves to meet in the company of his people with the physician of our souls since we know that meeting with his people in his presence under the authority of his word is a key means by which he has appointed to attend to the malignancies that tend to develop in our hearts and in our souls. So I hope and pray that we all grow and deepen in our thinking of the crucial place that meeting with God's people as a way of life for you, as a top priority in your life, is strengthened this morning. Meaningful membership at a church necessarily includes a personal presence, showing up, being there when the church is meeting under Christ's authority and His word. Membership at a church begins, obviously, with a pledge to join yourself and submit yourself to that church. but it includes, among other things, being present, showing up, obviously includes more than just showing up, but never less than showing up regularly when God's people meet. Now, we all know that in this life, this side of heaven, every believer, if you live long enough, will come through times and days and seasons when you are just not able to personally come to the gathering of God's people. It may come because you are out of town, or you are experiencing a season of sickness, or your family has been blessed with a newborn, or there are just health precautions necessary for you. in a particular season. Or it may be because of an intense season of work. Or it could be that by God's providence, your strength and your ability to move and gather with people has just so diminished that now you are confined in a home or somewhere else and maybe in the providence of the Lord will only go from that place to be with the Lord forever. The language we use at Grace Reform Baptist Church for circumstances like that is to say you are providentially hindered. from personally coming to church. But as God's people, we face those kinds of days with profound and unshakable confidence because we know that all the days of our lives belong to our God. David confesses that in your book, Speaking to God, were written every one of them, what is them? The days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. That includes the days when you are able to gather with God's people. That includes the days when you are not able to gather with God's people for very clearly understandable providential hindrances that are standing in your way. God has sufficient grace for every one of his blood-bought people when those trying days are here. Our Lord said, sufficient for each day is its own trouble. so the lord will bear you through those days during those days brothers and sisters will come around to visit and bring small measures of the warmth of christian fellowship to you but one thing you can face those days with assurance about is that there is one who has said and lo i will i am with you always even to the very end of the age and that is jesus christ No pastor, no brother, no sister, no spouse even can fulfill that promise. Jesus alone can and will fulfill that promise in your life when you need it. And beloved, there is no better way to prepare for those kinds of days than to maximize the days when you are able to gather. Meaning coming as often as possible when you are able because you know there will be days when you will not be able to be there. So this morning, I wanna give you five reasons from the New Testament why coming to church as a regular part of your rhythm should be a top priority in your life. arranging your schedule, planning your life so that you are there when God's people gather should be a top priority in your life. You should strive to make it a top priority in your life as God gives you the grace. And there are five reasons I want us to contemplate from the New Testament in that regard this morning. And here's reason number one. Regular in-person fellowship is a basic mark of faithful Christian living. Showing up when God's people are gathering is a basic, fundamental, very essential to faithful Christian living. From the earliest days, to confess faith in Jesus Christ was to gather regularly for worship with a community of God's people. Look with me at Acts chapter 2 from verse 44. So again, like last week, this one will not be a typical expositional sermon that we usually have at our church. Acts chapter 2 from 44. Luke says this, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts. praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. So notice verse 46. That verse says, and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts. Now that statement does not necessarily mean that every single member of the church in Jerusalem was coming to the temple every single day of the week. Luke could simply be saying that there were meetings, big group meetings of the people, of the believers in Jerusalem at the temple, and there were meetings happening every day. So it is not necessarily saying that all 3,000 plus members of the church in Jerusalem, remember this is after Pentecost, Peter has preached, God has saved about 3,000 by that one sermon. So this is a mega church we are talking. So it is unlikely that Luke is saying that every single day, every single one of all 3,000 plus members showed up. But one thing is unmissable here. Luke stresses the regularity and frequency with which they were meeting. and doing all the events that he records. Because he says they were attending the temple together. By saying that, he is using language that stresses the fact that the believers were devoted and they were doing what they did with one mind. There was a profound commitment on the part of the believers to practical expressions of their hope in the gospel. They wanted people to see that they were people of God. And I will mention that a bit more before we are done. And these practical expressions of their faith included regular attendance and participation at the temple courts where large groups could gather. So as God's people today, the precedent that is set for us by these early Christians is that we should attend the gatherings of our church family as often as providentially possible. Not as often as comfortable, but as often as providentially possible. And the testimony of the New Testament is unanimous on this. The New Testament speaks with one voice and one mouth on this matter. We see that the apostles They used the technology that was available to them in their day. They made use of it, but they were always bending over backwards. They were exerting every effort they could to prioritize the ministry of personal presence. being there in person. It's remarkable. Let me just give you three sampling, a three-point sampling of this. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 34, Paul has been instructing the church in Corinth about a number of things, divisions in the church, sexual immorality in the church, lawsuits in the church, the married and the single in the church, and so forth and so on, the gatherings and the Lord's Supper and so forth. And then right in the middle of the book, he says in 11, verse 34, about the other things I will give directions when I come. He wants to be there to speak to the people. Or John, in his second letter, 2 John, he says, though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. Oh, third John, verse 13, I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Do you hear that? The apostles made use of the available technology of the day, but they were always self-consciously, deliberately prioritizing the ministry of personal presence. So in other words, you know that the good gift of technology has started to be a hindrance to your Christian walk if for no understandable reason at all, you just decide to use it as a replacement for being there personally. You know it's beginning to hinder your walk with the Lord if technology becomes a reason to use just because it's available. I can just watch it from home. It's not that I'm sick. It's not that something is hindering me. It's just available online and therefore I can just stay home and watch. To make a decision not to come to church and just use some other digital means to hear preaching or hear singing is not a Christian way of living unless God has providentially brought circumstances. that allow you to live like that. Beloved, as God's people, our gatherings for worship are not merely an event in which we go through one event after another, one thing after another on the list, and then close with a benediction. There is a profoundly spiritual dimension to what we do here every Sunday morning and every Sunday night. God is gathering with his people to bless them. Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. Speaking in the context of church discipline. When we gather as God's people, we are gathering to exercise the keys of the kingdom of God. That's what we are doing as God's people when we gather. It is no small matter for Christians to meet and worship under the banner of the risen and reigning Christ. There is no meeting in Washington, D.C. that will ever be as consequential as a Sunday morning gathering here at Grace Reformed Baptist Church and every other church that meets under the authority of Christ. We are doing eternity-shaping things when we gather. No meeting of any officials anywhere in the world will ever come close to comparing in their weight and magnitude and effect of what they produce. when you compare it with God's people meeting. The Bible shows us there is a profound spiritual dimension to what happens when God's people meet. In 1 Corinthians 11, 10, Paul indicates that holy angels participate in and assist in the worship of the gatherings of God's people. It is no wonder that many of us have already just discerned that the gift of technology and the gift of watching online and being able to be fed God's word that way, it's a wonderful gift. But who of us has not said, it's a good thing that we have this technology, but being there in person is just different. Don't you feel that? And it's different because it's not just people meeting, God is here meeting with his people. This is not just an event, this is not just a good idea that we try to put together. God is here when his people meet. So that's reason number one. It is a mark of faithful Christian living. Second reason, regular in-person fellowship feeds your love for brothers and sisters in Christ. It helps you love them more and love them better when you gather with God's people. Now as born-again people, the Holy Spirit teaches us so that we know almost intuitively that we have to love fellow brothers and sisters. We just kind of know it. But what we often miss is the intensity with which we are expected and commanded to love. The depth and the intensity and strength of love that we are supposed to have for one another. Just hear the way Paul describes his love for the Philippian believers in Philippians chapter one verse seven. He says, it is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart. That's Paul. I hold you in my heart. For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Verse eight, for God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Talk about love. If you skip to chapter four, verse one, Philippians, Paul says, therefore my brothers, just hear this language, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. In one verse, he is expressing love for them in four different ways. No one at the church in Philippi could say, we know he loves us, but he just never tells us. You know, people who are married may be familiar with that kind of a statement. I know my husband loves me, I know my wife loves me, but they just don't tell me enough. Paul recognized he has to love them intensely, and they should be aware of the love that he has for them. Here's one striking place to see the kind of intensity of love that we are called to have for one another. There are some verses in the New Testament that we read and feel a little bit skittish about, feel a little bit surprised, maybe weird about. Just listen to this. What are those verses doing? Did we all break that command this morning? Because there was not a lot of holy kissing going on when we came in. These verses communicate a theological truth that is expressed in a culturally appropriate way in the context into which they were writing. And the theological truth being communicated is that every community of God's people are equals. Fallen sinners forgiven by grace and they are marked by a profundity of affection for one another that should be expressed in Culturally appropriate ways in the first century if a Christian person wanted to show affection Christ affection for another the way they did it was give them a holy kiss and that's why the apostles wrote the way they did and There's no inkling whatsoever of any kind of eroticism here, but a meaningful expression of Christ's affection for one another. The point being made here is that we should greet and interact with each other in culturally appropriate ways that communicate something like this. I couldn't wait to see you. I was waiting all week to meet you and enjoy our Savior together. I was looking forward to meeting you. I'm delighted that you are here. I'm delighted that you are still persevering in the faith. I'm delighted you have not abandoned Christ. It's a joy for me to see you here today enjoying Jesus with me. We should interact with each other and greet each other in those kinds of ways. For us, in our cultural moment, the way we do that would be through hugs, through handshakes, and whatever. But there should be a culturally appropriate expression of a profundity of affection that maps us out of the world. Remember when Paul finished speaking to the elders of the church in Ephesus on Miletus, the Bible tells us that as they were partying, there was much weeping on the part of all. They knew that any death will mean that they will meet again in heaven, but there was much weeping on the part of all, and it says they embraced Paul and kissed him. Now how do you feed that kind of love? How do you strengthen that kind of love? How do you stoke that? How do you make it stronger and ever-growing? Hebrews 10.25 tells us how. He says this, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good work. So there you have it. That's the command. That's the call for every one of us. We should plot and strategize and plan and think and imagine how we could help a brother and a sister love Christ and love each other better. We should think about what we could do, what we could say, how we could say it, how we could do it so that they love Christ more this week than they did last week and more next week than they did this week. That's the call. Now, how do you do that? The ING words, the participles in that verse tell us how. See, just keep reading. It says, we are to consider how to stay of one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together. as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. So not neglecting, that's the first way you do it, not neglecting to meet together. Then the second way stated is, but encouraging one another all the more as we see the day approaching. So meeting together and encouraging one another are the ways in which love and good works are fed and nurtured and strengthened and fanned to flames in the midst of a community of God's people. Can you imagine giving a holy kiss virtually in the first century? That would have been utterly unimaginable for the people to whom Paul was writing, for the people to whom Peter was writing. And I could hear you say, well, we have our emojis today, just send an emoji. But what difference there is between receiving an emoji and shaking somebody's hand or giving them a hug? It's a world of difference. We use emoji when we need to. but we should give a hug as much as God gives the opportunity for us to do. So regular in-person fellowship provides you a unique and irreplaceable opportunity to feed your love for Christ and for one another. Now before I move away from this point, I just want to say this. Affection and meeting with the gatherings of God's people mutually feed one another. Affection for God's people and meeting with them feed one another. The more affection you have for the church community, the church family that God has given you, the more you look forward to gathering with them. And the more you gather with them, the more affection develops in your heart for them. It works the other way around too. If you allow your heart to become cold and detached and distant and apathetic towards these brothers and sisters here, wanting to gather with them will feel like a chore. It will begin to feel harder and harder coming to church. It will be harder and harder getting out of your house and getting into your car and coming to church. And if you let that continue, it will become a pattern and you could start to believe the lie that I can just stay on the straight and narrow path to heaven by myself. I don't need any other person. And before too long, loving Jesus will become a chore to you. And eventually, if things do not change, you will abandon him altogether. Cyprian of Carthage said in the third century, he does not have God for a father who does not have the church for his mother. That's so true. So regular in-person fellowship is the way you feed your love for Christ and for one another. Reason number three, regular in-person fellowship is a key protection against apostasy in your life. I just mentioned that in passing. Let me elaborate on that a little bit more. Regular in-person fellowship is a key protection against apostasy in your life. What that means is, When you meet regularly with the gatherings of God's people at the church community where you have membership, that will be a key means of grace by which Jesus helps you to endure to the end and be saved. Look again with me at Hebrews chapter 10 from verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promises faithful, and this is our verse, and let us consider how to serve one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as we see the day. Join in. Now in the context of the book of Hebrews, from Hebrews chapter 5 verse 1 to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 18, the author is prosecuting one main point, and it is this. The glory of the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ according to the order of Melchizedek is better than anything the Old Testament ever had. That's the main point. Hebrews 5, 1 to Hebrews 10, 18. And after spending time to explicate the beauty and glory and eternal character of the Melchizedekian priesthood of Jesus Christ, he steps back and makes one main point in three different ways. He says, draw near, hold fast and encourage others to persevere. That's what he says. Because Jesus is the kind of priest that he is. You should draw near to him. You should hold fast your confession. You should help others to persevere in that. Now you have to remember the book of Hebrews was written to believers from Jewish background and they were being persecuted and hated by their fellow unbelieving Jews. And so it was very possible and easy and logical in the context for a member of this church that was predominantly Jewish to say, I believe in Jesus Christ. I think it's wise not to draw an undue attention to myself and draw an undue mistreatment to myself. Let me just stay home and not go to church. That would have made a lot of sense. That would have been like being wise as a serpent. But what does the author say? Refusing to meet with other believers in this context signifies apostasy. Refusing to gather with God's people signifies a renunciation of the Christian faith. If believers renounce meeting with other Christians, especially because they fear being discriminated against, being hated, and I'm not saying this because we are in the U.S. and have all these freedoms. I will preach this and believe this and try to live by this as best I can if I was in North Korea or China or anywhere else. This mandate for God's people doesn't change geographically. It binds God's people going to heaven everywhere. So if a believer in Jesus begins to refuse meeting with God's people for fear, especially of persecution, they are renouncing the faith. And it looks like in this community, there were some who were already doing it. Notice the way the author speaks. He says, that we should not be neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. So there was already that virus in the midst of the community beginning to spread. Some were beginning to trivialize coming together to meet and to worship God together. And why is that such a severe problem for the author of Hebrews? It is a severe problem because somebody who gives himself to that will face eternal judgment, eternal condemnation. Meeting together with other believers here on earth looks forward to meeting with the believers from every tribe and tongue and nation in heaven on the last day. Do you think it is possible for you who regularly skips meeting with God's people here on earth to just kind of magically show up at the gathering in heaven. Is it possible to regularly, for frivolous reasons, skip the gathering of God's people on earth and then just show up in heaven? It doesn't work that way. It's meeting here that anticipates and looks forward to and guarantees and expresses your hope and steadfast commitment to being a part of that community when it finally is gathered together. A commentator on this passage says, they are gathering together, anticipates the final in-gathering of God's people. The assembly is, the earthly counterpart of the heavenly ecclesia, of the heavenly church. And the way we show that we belong to that heavenly church and are going to that heavenly church is that we gather here today with God's people. So as a member of this church, as a prospective member of this church, we would like you to know that if you start not showing up, we will pursue you as earnestly as we know how. We will not leave you alone unless there is an understandable reason for why you cannot gather. And we will not be doing that only in order to pat ourselves on the back and boast in how well our gatherings are attended. Rather, that will be because we recognize the terrifying alarm there is for somebody who joins membership in a local church and starts to adopt patterns of life that place their place in the kingdom in Jeopardy. because not coming is to place your place in the kingdom is to put your place in the kingdom in jeopardy so we will pursue you and come after you and seek to say let's gather again together we believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that the god who began a good work in the heart of every believer will bring it to completion on the day of christ no doubt about that absolutely beyond the shadow of a doubt we believe that But we also believe this God works through means. And one of the key means by which he's going to keep you and complete the work he began in you on the day of Christ is by you gathering with God's people. And when we start playing and being frivolous and lighthearted about the means God has appointed to keep us, we put him to the test. And the consequences of that are terrifying. And therefore, We would say, no, if you are a member, you should gather when we gather. Now if you are an unbeliever here this morning, I just wanna be clear, forgiveness of sins does not come from joining a church. It does not come from gathering with a community of God's people. It comes from repenting of your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. That's how you receive forgiveness. That's how you receive acceptance into the community of God's people. Through the eternal spirit, Jesus offered himself without blemish to God, and because of that, his blood is, infinitely efficacious to cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. It is through this Jesus that you receive forgiveness of sin. So come to faith in Christ today. Turn from your self-reliance, turn from your efforts to try to please God and walk your way into heaven, which are doomed to fail, and trust in the one who gave himself without blemish to God and His blood will cleanse your conscience of dead works and your meeting with God's people will be a meeting indeed that prepares you for the ultimate meeting in heaven. Reason number four why gathering with God's people should be a top priority in your life is regular in-person fellowship is a key protection against apostasy in the lives of others. So the first, the other one was apostasy in your own life. Now this is apostasy in the lives of others. If you look again at Hebrews 10.25, the Bible says, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So instead of abandoning meeting together, we are commanded to encourage one another. Encouragements are vital for perseverance. And your brothers and sisters need to see you and need to hear you encouraging them, stirring them onto love and good works in order to be able to make it to the end. And notice in that text, the urgency of the encouragement is created by the nearness of the day. Do you see that? It says, encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. So the urgency of the encouragement is intensified by the nearness of the day of the Lord. In the Old Testament, the day of the Lord was a day when Yahweh broke forth in judgment against those who did not believe and in salvation against the remnants that was trusting him. In the New Testament, that theme is picked up and correlated with the day Jesus returns to save those who have been waiting for him and to judge those who have despised his kingship. And the author of Hebrews is saying, as that day is drawing near, judgment for unbelievers, salvation for believers, we should encourage one another all the more. Because that day is nearer every new breaking day, every new breaking week, every new breaking month, and year and decade. So the nearness of the day intensifies the urgency. of the encouragement. Listen to the way the author of Hebrews speaks again in chapter 3. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Now, you read that, you have to remember the author of Hebrews knew the doctrines of grace better than you and I. And yet he gives a warning like this. He didn't give this warning because he thought a safe person can lose their salvation. He gave this warning because he knew these warnings are part of the means God uses to keep his people. Now, how do you take care? How do you watch out? How do you guard against seeing a sinful, unbelieving heart crop up in one of your brother or sister? Verse 13 of chapter 3 says, In other words, Falling away from the Lord can be prevented by exhortations and encouragement. Yes, God is the ultimate keeper, and he keeps by the means that he has appointed. And one key means is for you to encourage and exhort your fellow pilgrims as you walk the road to heaven. We have to recognize we still live in the today. Every day as long as it is called today. So the final Sabbath has not yet come. We have not entered the final rest yet. It's still future to us. And therefore the way we get there, one of the ways we get there is to encourage one another. For the author of Hebrews, every day you wake up and get out of bed, it's not just a routine day. There's eternal significance to that day. That's why he says, encourage each other every day as long as it is called today. I mean, we have all heard stories of somebody who was in a car wreck and was badly injured and is bleeding profusely and the EMT comes around. and they are seeking to transport the person to the hospital to get them as much help as quickly as possible. In such circumstances, we will say every second was counting to save his life. Getting to the hospital as soon as possible was the only thing that could be done. That's the way the author of Hebrews is thinking about our making it to heaven. Every day counts, encouraging one another, making sure they make it to heaven. And why is all that? Verse 14, chapter 3, for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. That is one of the best definitions of a Christian in the New Testament. Somebody who holds their original confidence firm till the end. Does not the book of Ecclesiastes say the end of a matter is better than the beginning? Encouraging each other, so advice and correction and encouragement and exhortations from others will help unmask the deceitfulness of sin. Sometimes you are cornered by the devil, and by the lies of the world, and by the sinful desires of your own heart, and you are believing strange things, and you just need to hear a brother read a verse from the Bible to you, and that verse takes on new life, and then a new vista of glory is opened up before you, and you're saying, what am I doing exchanging my birthrights for one meal here? So getting together will unmask the deceitfulness of sin. So we should not have an individualistic understanding of the perseverance of the saints. We should think not only as individuals, but as a corporate body. God designs for us to finish this race together. Remember how when Paul is finishing, he's at the end of the race. He could say, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. So he's done basically. And he says, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which God the righteous judge will award to me. But guess what he says, but not only to me, but to all who have loved his appearing. Even when he's at the end of it, he could have said, well, I'm done. You take care of yourselves. No, he's still thinking about the others. as he's finishing. So we should not have an individualistic, self-centered understanding of the perseverance of the saints. We should think, I don't want to make it to heaven without my brother, without my sister. I don't want to make it to heaven without somebody who professed faith and was baptized and brought into membership or transferred membership here at Grace Reformed Baptist Church. We should cross the line together, should be our longing and desire, finally. regular in-person fellowship uniquely shows Christ to the world. An all-consuming affection for Christ expressed in a steadfast affection for your fellow church members is a key way by which we as God's people show Christ to the world. Loving Christ so life-dominatingly, in such a way that that is expressed in our love for the people of God that we are covenanted in membership with, is a unique, compelling way by which we tell the world who Jesus is. You remember the famous words in John 13? A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Now, that verse clearly says we have to love one another. It's not rocket science to see that. It just says it repeatedly. But something we may miss about this verse is that Jesus' intention is that there should be a visible dimension to that love. There should be a certain visibility of that love in the sight of the world that when they see it, they will see that love as marking us out to belong to Jesus Christ. The world should see a certain kind of supernatural, unexplainable, rare love among the community of God's people that proclaims to the world they belong to Jesus Christ. That's what he's commanding us there to be about. So showing up when God's people show up is a key way of proclaiming Christ to the world. Because if you live in isolation, keep to yourself, not prioritize a regular in-person fellowship, you are almost totally losing the opportunity. to proclaim Christ to the world in this way. An unconquerable affection for the church is a prerequisite for the kind of church membership that prioritizes meeting with people. And an unconquerable affection for the church expresses a life-dominating affection for Jesus. When you love the church, and love the church because the church is the church, You show Jesus is truly the treasure of highest cost to you, highest price to you. The Psalmist would say in Psalm 16, Do you see the logic? God is the one apart from whom I have no good. And because God means that much to me, the saints in the land are the excellent ones. They are those in whom I have my delight. So the vertical love sustains, creates, sustains and drives the horizontal love. It's because he so loves Yahweh that the people of Yahweh are the excellent ones to him. They are His delight because God is His highest good. God's people are the excellent ones to Him. Who do you love to hang out with? because that tells what matters the most to you in your life, and that defines your eternity. So let me close by reminding us, for us here at GRBC, because of these reasons and more, for us here at Grace Reformed Baptist Church, we expect all our members to gather as God's people for the morning worship service, for the evening worship service, and for members' meetings, except you are providentially hindered. We expect, and when I say we expect, I'm not just talking the elders and the deacons expect, I'm saying the whole church, that's our covenant together, that's our commitment as a community of God's people that when we gather in the morning and in the evening, we all should gather as God's people for worship. Your pastors pray and prepare for the evening service and for members meeting just as much as we pray and prepare for the morning service. So we would encourage and say this is an expectation we have. of you as a member. We strongly encourage attendance during the adults in the school, attendance during the prayer meeting on Wednesday, and small groups and all other ministry opportunities that we open up for you to grow in grace. But we don't expect that every single person at Grace Reformed Baptist Church is going to do every single thing every week that happens at this church. We don't expect that. We encourage you to take advantage of the Sunday school, take advantage of the prayer meeting, take advantage of other ministry opportunities, but we expect you to be here in the morning, be here in the evening, be here when we meet as a community of God's people to make decisions during members meetings. So brothers and sisters, from a love for our dear Savior, And from a love for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, strive always to prioritize gathering with God's people, because that is a key way by which you walk out your salvation with fear and trembling, and urge others to walk out their salvation with fear and trembling. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your mercy in saving us, and thank you for the countless means of grace that you have provided to keep us on the straight and narrow path. Please make that a delight of ours so that it might lead to the ultimate delight that we should have in you. Let that be fed and strengthened until we see you face to face. In Jesus' name, amen.