Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loved me so. Face to face I shall behold Him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see him by and by. Good singing. You may be seated. Amen. Good singing this morning. Thank you, Brother Cub. Thank you, instrumentalists. And turn your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And we've been looking at studying through fruit, and we're going to take a pause on that this morning and look at these verses in Hebrews chapter 10. And we will begin in verse number 19. of Hebrews 10, verse number 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing. to fall into the hands of the living God." And we will stop there. But I want to speak to you on a topic here this morning, and I have preached on this topic before, and I don't re-preach a lot of things, but I've preached on this before, but looking at that as well as a little bit different angle, I guess, but this idea of a Christian's to-do list. And so let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for your goodness and your grace. And Lord, thank you for what we've heard in song and in praise. And Lord, that our eyes have been directed towards you this morning. And the temple is sanctified by your glory. And I believe that the church as well, Lord, is special when you are glorified. And so we thank you for that. And I pray now that you would help us, Lord, that for these few moments that we look into your word that we would be illuminated, that you would enlighten us in our hearts, help us all to have hearts to receive good seed that is sown from the word of God. And Lord, that we might bear fruit in our lives. And we'll thank you for it. In Jesus name. Amen. The Christians to do list. I want to draw your attention here to a to-do list that God gives to us, and we'll look at a few of these other verses as well, but there are multiple times, three times when that word, let us, let us, it's a telling it. That means, hey, this is something that we need to do. Verse 22, he says, let us draw near. In verse 23, he says, let us hold fast. And in verse 24, he says, and let us consider one another. And so you have a great little pre-packaged, preachers love that when there's like a pre-packaged sermon, like God kind of wrote the sermon for you right there. And in this text, God, through the writer of Hebrews, gives a very important to-do list. And, that is supposed to be motivated by the verses that are surrounding that to-do list. So, if you look at the previous verses, in verse 19, he says, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And so a quick teaching on that is that previously, those of you who know the Old Testament and know the sacrifices and things that took place, that only the high priest could enter into the most holy place. There was the temple, there was the outer court and inner court, there was the most holy place. Only the high priest could enter in and that he had to have blood. If you went in without the proper blood from the lamb, without blemish and all those things, then God would destroy you. And so only the priest could go in. This was, I mean, even when God spoke to His people on the mount, He said, you tell the people, Moses, don't even come near the border of that mountain, because if anyone even touches it, if anyone, He says, you know, they just kind of like get out of line. And you remember, I think it was Uzzah, maybe, that was when they were carrying the Ark of the Covenant and they were carrying it the wrong way, had it on an ox cart and the oxen stumbled and the cart kind of slipped and Uzzah put his hand out to try to steady it and immediately he died. This was a very fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Then when Jesus died on the cross, the Bible says that His flesh was like the veil. The big veil that they had that separated the Most Holy Place from everything else was rent from top to bottom. Like someone up there ripped it. And the Bible says that's represented in His flesh. His flesh was ripped open. His flesh was broken for us and the blood spilled through. And that is what consecrated a new and living way for us. And so that's why he talks about boldness in verse number 19. Now, we can have boldness. Before, it was, you better approach with fear and trembling and trepidation and a lot of caution. And now, after Jesus' sacrifice, He says that we are able to come to God boldly. The Old Testament folks would have been shocked at the access that we now have to God. And Jesus did that. He made that way. And so it's a true blessing. So that ought to motivate us to want to keep the to-do list that God gives us. But that's not the only motivation. So the first motivation is that, look, that we have all this access. Why are we staying back and hanging back in the shadows? But there's another motivation, and that comes after the to-do list, and that is verse number 26. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. All right? Now, there's a lot of controversy about that verse. If we sin willfully, then, you know, we're all of a sudden not going to get to go to heaven. And some of you may have heard different takes on that. And one preacher wisely said, is there really ever a time when you don't sin willfully? I mean, anybody ever sinned against your own will? That, no, no, you can't make me eat the donut, ah, you know? No, all of our sinning really is willful sinning. So this is, what is the name of the book that we're reading from right now, aside from the Bible? I mean, which specific book are we in? Hebrews, this is written to the Hebrews, which were the Jews, the Israelites. And so he's talking to them about accepting the veil that was rent, what Jesus did, that access that we now have, that was what they were all looking forward to, that one day that this Messiah would come and he would open everything up. And so all the sacrifices was all pictured. And so now that day came. Can you imagine the shift in mentality? This is literally what we are looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ again. And I think that that day is coming very soon. I mean, I think that he is on the doorstep. And if I live to be 70, I will be shocked. But but that'll be fine. I'm going to try to stay faithful, like the song that we sang will work till Jesus comes. I'm going to keep on working, Lord willing. But I will be shocked if that happens. And, but I believe that, I mean, I just believe that. And you can believe whatever you want. I think he's coming soon. And so we're looking, and now imagine the change in mentality when he comes, when he comes. Imagine if you heard somebody say, hey, he has come. Now that's not going to happen. This is going to happen very day. He's going to come and we're all, every eye is going to see him. Those who are on this earth, I should say, but there's going to be a complete shift in mentality. Yes, sir. 70 is not that old, I guess. We have a lot of our congregation here that's not that old. They think I'm a spring chicken. But hey, if he tarries that long, then so be it. But I say, even so come Lord Jesus. And I could spend a whole lot of time just talking about that subject and how 70 is so young and you're still in the prime of your youth. But that day is coming. And there's going to be a shift in mentality. Well, that day came. So here you are, Israelites and Hebrews that are scattered throughout the land. You maybe haven't really heard of Jesus, and some of you have, and you're getting bits and pieces. And now you have to think, wow, this whole time we've been looking for the Messiah, and he has come. And we have to accept that that was him, that that was him. And so this was they were struggling with that. Some of them or some of them outright refused it. But but he says, look, if you sin willfully, if you willfully reject now the Messiah that has come, whose flesh was the veil, all these things have happened. Everything that was leading up all those thousands of years led to Jesus Christ. And if you refuse that sin willfully against the knowledge of Jesus Christ, There's nothing else left. There's no other Messiah coming. There's nothing else for you to look forward to. There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. You can't just go get a lamb and sacrifice him now. That's all done. The final lamb, the once-for-all sacrifice has come. So friends, don't be all of a sudden thinking that this verse contradicts all the rest of Scripture. that gives you that assurance. But that ought to be the motivation, that judgment is coming. So here we have, now we have access, we ought to be motivated to keep what God tells us. We ought to be looking to that day of judgment that we want to be found having followed what the Lord has given us. And so have you kept your to-do list? So I want to look at that very briefly this morning, the to-do list from the Lord, and examine ourselves. The first thing he says in verse number 22, he says, let us draw near. Let us draw near. Now, there are maybe multiple ways that you can take this, but there's multiple ways to draw near, but it starts with salvation. This is going to be, other than what I just said, this is a pretty basic sermon. Pretty basic message, and I think every once in a while we need to just go back to basics and make sure that we've got the basic to-do list. Let us draw near. The first thing you need to do is be saved, to trust Jesus Christ. One of the biggest concerns that I have as a preacher is that there are people that maybe would hear me multiple times, maybe many times, maybe every Sunday, and just have never trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior. Why do I have that? Because I talk to people all the time from other churches, and I say, do you know if you've been born again? And they say, I don't really know what that is. And so I have to tell them, sometimes they've heard, you've heard about Jesus, you've heard about the cross, you've heard about all these things, but they never put it all together, and they never partake of that for themselves. You have to personally partake. I have asked folks, have you trusted in Jesus Christ? And they say, I trust him all the time. And I say, well, I know, but I'm not saying have you trusted him to get you through a health crisis or have you trusted him to get you through a financial crisis or have you trusted him for your family problem? Have you trusted him for your eternal salvation? And there must be a time. Brother Wilson testified just a little bit ago, I'm thankful for the time that I can look back and say, that's the day that I trusted my Savior. Now, some of you may not remember the exact day or the exact time. I don't know the exact day. I know the situation that surrounded it. I've heard people say, if you can't point to the date right there and the time, then you're not saved. Well, I don't know if that's exactly how it works, but I do know that you will be able to look back and say, yes, that's when I realized I was a sinner. I could not save myself, but I realized that Jesus died for my sins on the cross, shed his blood, and he offered me salvation, and I trust in that. If you've never had that time in your life, friend, oh, you've got to start there. You've got to draw near through the access that you have. That's where it starts. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's an acknowledgement of repentance and remission of sins. That is a repentance from what I was believing or thinking or not believing. And now I'm turning to what the Word of God says. Just believe the Word of God. Don't look for a feeling. Don't look for some kind of sentiment. It's just a faith in the Word of God and Jesus Christ. And so you start there that you must draw near. And if you know that, And if you believe that, then you come a little closer. Draw near is still for us as Christians to draw near, come out of the shadows. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then claim that. Paul said, he said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Don't be ashamed of Jesus as Savior. Remember what Peter did when Jesus was going to the cross? And the Bible says that he followed him a ways off. Peter just kind of kept back in the shadows. He was kind of ashamed, embarrassed, whatever it was that was causing that, so he stayed back. And sometimes we follow the church of God, the local church that God intended, we're just kind of on the fringes, on the shadows. Man, draw near! Get in this thing, get in this work, and claim Jesus Christ. Don't be a far-off follower of Jesus. And here's why some people don't draw near. Here's why some follow afar off. Number one, sometimes there is deceiving going on. Look at that verse in verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart, with a true heart. Sometimes we've deceived ourselves. We are not sincere. Maybe we are pretending. Maybe our motives are cloaked. I'm going to take a drink of water here. But we've deceived. And some of us maybe we say, well, we're kind of trying to follow, but we've never actually trusted Jesus Christ. And so we're kind of tricking ourselves, never actually realized that I was a sinner. If you are not okay with the fact that you are a sinner, then maybe you've never actually trusted Jesus as your savior. And so maybe you've been to church, maybe you've read your Bible, but look, there are tares and there are wheat. and they look very similar. There are sheep and there are goats, and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference, but some have deceived either others or some are deceiving themselves. So you've got to draw near with a true heart. Look at the verse again. Excuse me, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart, look at that second word, second phrase, in full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. Some don't draw near because they're maybe deceivers. Some don't draw near because they are doubters. Doubters. Some doubt, did I have enough faith? Was I sincere enough? Did Jesus actually die for me? You know, I preached down at the open door mission last night. And sometimes there's folks who think that, well, I just I've sinned too much. I've gone too far. And you doubt. And so you don't want to doubt what Christ did for you, doubting whosoever, whosoever believeth on the Lord. The Bible talks about John 3, 16, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but some doubt. And that is what, as we grow in the word of God, we learn things. And sometimes we look back, did that actually happen? There was a man that I was talking to last night, and they brought him in after the service, and he was having struggles. He was away from his new baby and the mother of the baby, and he's struggling himself. And so he was just in a lot of distress, and we began to talk to him. And we prayed for him and for his situation, and one of the men there, he said, you know, so-and-so, he said his name, his name was Carlos, and he said, are you a believer? And he said, well, I've gone to the Catholic church, and he kind of gave some things. And this man in there, he grabbed him on the eye and he said, this man can tell you how to become a believer. And so I began to talk to him, share the gospel with him. And I began to share with him that it's whosoever. And we ended up going all the way through. I said, do you believe these things? And he said, I do believe them. I shared him from the Bible and we shared about repentance and about sin and turning from that to Jesus Christ. And I said, do you want to receive Jesus Christ right now? And he did. And so we prayed and he asked the Lord to save him. And I said, now what just happened is you've been born again. I said, now there's a lot that you're going to learn. I said, you're like a baby that has just come out of the womb. And I said, maybe you don't even know everything. Everybody's patting him on the back and everything, and they're giving him hugs, and he's kind of like a deer in the headlights, kind of smiling. And he knew something happened, but a new believer doesn't always exactly know what all just took place. They don't know the words justification and sanctification and glorification. And they don't know that there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents, more over 99 just persons that need no repentance. And they don't know all these things. And they don't even know that the rapture is going to take place. And all of these things that are going on in the scripture. Neither does a newborn baby. They come out. All they know is I was warm and nice in the womb, and now everything has just changed. And it takes a lifetime to learn about everything that has taken place. And so don't let that distract you. Sometimes that causes us to doubt. Here is the question. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you trusting? I asked Carlos, I said, Carlos, do you believe there is any other way that you can save yourself aside from the death of Jesus Christ? And he said, no. What are you believing right now? What have you received? He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. It is that simple. And so sometimes we try to muster up enough faith. Faith does not come by blood, sweat, and tears. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and believing it. And so it is simple faith. You don't muster up some kind of faith. You just depend on the Word of God, and that speaks to you. It's not a feeling. It's not anything like that. And so some are deceivers, some may be doubters, but some are defiled. Look at that verse again, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, so not doubting, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Do you know that there is a picture here, obviously the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, but he's talking about the bodies washed in pure water. that in the New Testament, when folks were saved, baptism was almost synonymous with that. Baptism does not save you. The thief on the cross died, but Jesus said, you're going to be with me in paradise today, because he believed. The believing is the most important part. But baptism is supposed to accompany your salvation. It was that simple. It is, well, you believed, well then believe and be baptized. These things, there was not some kind of delay. These days we have this delay that we say, well, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, I believe, I'm claiming Christ and I'm receiving him. Well, then you're a Christian. And then we'll let months and maybe years go by and we'll kind of pray about it and talk about it and we'll think about getting baptized. And it's this big old thing. That was never meant to be. It was meant that I am claiming Christ and now I'm going to identify Him in the baptismal waters. I'm going to identify that I have now been buried with Him and resurrected to walk in newness of life. And so some of us, we are either defiled in our consciences still, and we don't realize that our sin has been washed away, or we're letting that hold us back, that, well, I've never been baptized. Do you know, Brother Bill Smith was telling me a story. about a man, I don't remember what church he was in, but as a young man, who he'd gotten saved, and they were trying to work with him in this church, and it just seemed like, man, he was kind of back and forth, and getting away from the Lord, and they were struggling, and he just wasn't really getting rooted in. And Brother Bill was talking to him one day, and he said, has he ever been baptized? And they said, well, no. And he said, I'd start there. Get him baptized, and then see what happens. He got baptized, and he took off, and he started growing as a Christian. Do you know that that is that was given to us by the Lord? The Lord Jesus himself got baptized. And so, friend, if there's someone in here today, baptism always follows your belief when you. Well, I was baptized in such and such church when I was a little kid. Well, did you know the Lord? Did you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? Then if you didn't, baptism always follows the day that you received Jesus Christ. And if you have received Jesus Christ and then not been baptized since then, then you need to be baptized. It's that simple. And so baptism, there's nothing magical about the waters, there's nothing holy about the waters, except for the fact that this is the picture God gave to us. And so there literally is this identity and this claim in Christ, and there is power that accompanies, just like when we take communion. There's nothing special. That bread we buy at a store, and the juice we buy at Hy-Vee. It's nothing special about that, but there is something very powerful and very special about the ordinance that God gave, that when you partake of that and you do this in remembrance of me, that what that does in your mind and in your spirit, And so baptism is very much the same way. And so you've got to draw near. And so some are in that case. So that's the first to-do list is to let us draw near. Friend, get nice and cozy with Jesus Christ and with the body of believers that He has placed you in. Don't be one of these people that just, well, you know, you're somewhere kind of on the fringe. Man, just get right in there and draw near. And then he says in verse number 23, let us hold fast. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Once you've drawn near, then hold fast. That's a nautical term used by sailors. It has the idea of holding on to the ropes and of all the things on the deck of the ship during a storm. And so you've got to hold fast. If you get washed overboard, then you lose your ability to help. And so we hold fast because we want to be able to be used of God, to cleave to Him. And so cleave to Him when you face trials. Cleave to Him when you get offended. A lot of you right now are facing turmoil in different ways in your life. And the answer to that, just hang on. Just hang on and you're going to have all kinds of questions. I am an over thinker. You can ask my wife and she will vouch for that. It's hard for me to keep going when I can't understand something. I have to figure it out. I have to solve the puzzle. Well, God's got a whole lot of puzzles and mysteries that you are just never going to be able to solve. And that's very hard for me. But I just got to hang on. And sometimes in life, you just have to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And so, friend, don't stop going to church. Don't stop reading the Word of God. Don't stop praying to the Lord Jesus just because you don't understand. Hold fast. Hold fast. Cleave to Him every day. And cleave to Him. And let's look at the last one here, verse number 24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Do you know that term, hold fast? There's a saying that I learned from a sailor, and he says, you're supposed to dedicate one hand to yourself and one hand to the ship. One hand to yourself, because if you're just kind of helping out with everything, you get washed overboard, well, then you're not going to be a help at all. So friend, in your life, you've got to hold fast with one hand. You better hang on to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be so involved in everything that you don't make time for your own relationship with Christ. That's vital. Do you know Paul told, I think it was either Titus or Timothy, he said, take heed unto thyself and to the doctrine. He said, in doing so thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. As a preacher, that gets my attention. If I don't watch myself, if I'm out there trying to help everybody else, watch everybody else, and I'm neglecting my own time with the Lord, I'm neglecting that relationship, I'm gonna become a castaway. I'm not gonna be able to help anybody. So he says, if you will take heed to yourself, then you'll save yourself, but you'll also be able to help those that hear you. And so you've gotta hold fast with one hand. Don't neglect your relationship with the Lord. Moms in the home, You're busy looking after the kids, grandmas, grandpas. You're thinking a lot about all of your children. Don't you neglect. I've known some older folks who get above the age of 70 and they get away from the Lord. I've known that. You've known that too, haven't you? People who you say, man, they were faithful to God all the way until they retired. What happened? They just stopped holding fast. Don't ever let them go. But then you use that other hand to dedicate to the crew. While you're holding fast to yourself to Jesus Christ, consider one another to provoke, to love, and to good works. Everybody in here has something to offer somebody else. And you are an encouragement in some way, and you are a help in some way. You are an encouragement. I could name the people and the ways that you have encouraged me. Sometimes just by your faithfulness, just by your being here, If you get out of bed in the morning, you say, I don't even know why I'm going to church today. Hey, just you being there is encouraging to somebody. And so you've got to consider and consider one another to provoke, to love and to good works. That's why the next verse is in there in verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. That's why I'm not a fan of, well, we just do church on our own at home. Well, when do you assemble so that you can encourage other people? Well, we just kind of do that as we live. This provides us an opportunity to talk to people, hey, how's things going at work? Hey, how's your family doing? Ask people normal questions. You don't have to ask a bunch of Bible questions. Ask them how they're doing and then give some encouragement to them. And that will be a help. And then you find out things, then you can encourage each other. And what you learn here in the house of God being assembled, then you can act upon during the week as well. We talked last week about the fruit of good works. There are people that are, you are doing good works. If you are encouraging people, some of you, you're helping to bring people to church by giving rides and different things, and that's the fruit of good works. It's not, it doesn't have to be anything super complicated. You think, well, I better go to Africa and start an orphanage, and you may not be called to do that, but if you're doing good works right now, You are considering other people and you're not forsaken the assembling of ourselves. He says this, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. I told you, I like to be a puzzle solver and and this matter of Jesus return, you know, it sometimes consumes me. And but I've got to remember, look, the way to prepare for Jesus return isn't being able to figure all kinds of things out. It is making sure that I am watching and praying and being busy will work till Jesus comes. The Bible, Jesus said, blessed is a man that when he comes, he will find them so doing. that when Jesus comes back, if he finds you giving somebody a ride to church, if he finds you praying for somebody, if he finds you visiting somebody, if he finds you hosting somebody in your home, if he finds you whatever you're doing, I hope he finds you so doing. What a blessing that's gonna be for those who will be found that way. Friend, this is our to-do list. It's very simple, very simple. Draw near. Be sure that you are a child of God. Get that settled so you can draw near in full assurance of faith. and having our bodies washed with pure water. If you've already said, I'm a child of God, get baptized if you haven't been baptized. Talk to me, that takes boldness to come up and, hey, preacher, I need to be baptized. And by the way, you doing that, that might encourage somebody else. Every time we have a baptism and I announce it, somebody else always gets baptized as well. I don't think I've ever baptized, maybe once, but hardly ever baptized just one person. because there's always somebody else that's inspired to be baptized when somebody comes forward to get baptized. And so draw near. And then you hold fast. Keep hanging on to Jesus Christ. Don't make it too complicated. Don't try to figure everything out in the world. And then consider others. This is our to-do list. Are you keeping your to-do list? When Jesus comes back, I want to have all my boxes checked. Let's all stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.