But we're going to stick in our text in Hebrews is where we are going verse by verse to the book of Hebrews. So if you turn to Hebrews chapter three. Although. Next week, I believe we will divert from our Hebrew text, possibly talk about the resurrection. I think it's such a needed subject. I think we should talk about the resurrection more often than we do. The apostles in the book of Acts, they continually spoke of the resurrection. It is the power of the gospel that is found in the resurrection. Some say that the first century saints, when they used to greet themselves, when they used to greet each other, they would say, he is risen. And then the person would say back, he is risen indeed. And that's how they knew who was Christians too, when the person would say, he is risen indeed. And I like that as a greeting, he is risen. And that should be continually on our minds, the risen Savior, because there is none other like unto Him who was risen from the dead to give life to these dead bodies. And He has given us life. And I'm so excited about that today. But today we'll be in the book of Hebrews and really expecting God to do great things through these words. So let's pray. Dear Father, I thank you. for your word. I thank you for this time together. I pray, God, please help me as I speak these words, God, that we would have the proper interpretation of your scripture. Please, God, help us to understand it theologically and help us to understand it in a practical way, God, how it works in our life. For your purposes and your glory, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So today we'll go through verses 7 through 15. If you look at the end of this chapter, verses 6 through 19, you'll see that it's almost like those verses are more connected to the fourth chapter than they are to the third chapter. So really the end of chapter 3 is like an introduction to chapter 4. But you'll see chapter 3 and chapter 4 are generally very closely connected in what they're teaching. But for today, let's read verses 7 through 15. And it says this, wherefore, as the Holy Ghost says, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation on the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, so I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. to heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said today If you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. So let's look at those verses. And as we make, I want to set this premise before we actually get into the text. It's going to help us understand the text and it's going to help us understand the book of Hebrews, not just the book of Hebrews, but the Bible in general. And I think as we make our way through this epistle, we see this pattern developed. and it continues through the end of the book. The pattern we see is that the writer first presents his thesis, or he lays out his doctrinal argument, and then makes the application, or shows how these things ought to fit into our lives. This is a very common way in the New Testament. You'll see this over and over again. You have the doctrinal statement, and then you have how these things fit into our lives. And you see this same pattern in the book of Hebrews, and especially in these first four chapters. And this is a good lesson for us, because I think we can tend toward being out of balance either one way or another in relationship to this principle. What I mean by that is some of us may view the Bible as only being a theological book, a book of higher knowledge, while others may view the Bible as strictly a how-to book. And I think there can be different variances on that with each of us, and we must be balanced in a biblical way. And I believe that the theology... It's hard to put it into a percentage, which in the other, because both are so important. Understanding a theology is absolutely necessary, and 42 times the Bible in the New Testament commands us to train ourselves how to think biblically. And then you have over here though, you have the practical application of that theology. And the two can never be separated. They go hand in hand. And the minute I separate the two, I become unbalanced. The minute I start to think that the Bible is only theology, I get puffed up in my knowledge, and I lose the very essence of what the Scripture is teaching. But the minute I make the Bible only a practical book, and only a how-to book, I lose the power, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the cross, the power of what God has done on our behalf. So we cannot separate the two. I believe that the scriptures will not allow for either extreme. For if the Bible is only a book of theology, then much of what is teaching is self-contradicting. In other words, the intended purpose of the Bible will work against a mere intellectual knowledge of the Bible. Let me explain this a little further by giving you an example. In James 4.6, the Bible says that God gives grace to the humble and he resists the proud. Here we see the purpose of the Bible is to humble a person. However, in 1 Corinthians 8.1, the Bible says knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies. So, if knowledge is the end result of my knowledge, I am contradicting the very knowledge that I claim to understand. In other words, the whole argument of the Bible falls apart unless our knowledge has the end result of a transformed life. Therefore, anybody who holds to a purely intellectual view of the Bible really doesn't know the Bible at all. And the fruit of that way of thinking is very dangerous. It produces things that are very harmful to the church. It produces pride, self-righteousness, and a severe form of hypocrisy for the very truth that a person who holds that position claims to uphold, they're making a mockery of. We should never learn any truth without immediately asking ourselves, how does this affect me? And how should this impact my life? The very purpose of the knowledge that we have, however, the opposite side of this tendency can be just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, depending on the degree of the intensity. And it's probably more common in today's Christianity than the former. And this is the approach to the Bible from a pragmatist point of view. Or, in simpler language, there are those who make the Bible into a how-to book. How to be successful. How to live a happy life. How to be a better person. This view of the Bible is very popular today in our country because it fits into our success-driven culture. Almost everything in our culture is measured by quantity, and very little is measured by quality. but in the Bible we see the very opposite. Almost everything is measured by the quality and very little is measured by quantity. This point of view simply tells us that if we will apply these principles to our lives we will be much better off for it. This is so very dangerous because it leads to two end results, it leads to many ending results. When you make the Bible purely only a practical book, or a book of principles, that if we apply these principles to our life, then we'll have a better life. It's very dangerous, and I'm going over this because the scripture is constantly, it's constantly deterring us from either one of these extremes. Because it gives us the theology, and then it gives us how this ought to affect our lives. And it keeps doing that. That's what the Bible's doing. It's what's happening here in the book of Hebrews we're going to see shortly. But this purely practical viewpoint of the Bible, it leads to a shallow understanding of truth. And we see that everywhere. A shallow understanding of truth. And number two, a deception that says outward success constitutes spirituality. Two very dangerous things that this pragmatist point of view produces a shallow understanding of truth and the deception that says outward success constitutes spirituality. And when I speak of this purely practical viewpoint of the Bible, I am not only referring to those who are on the fringe or outside of what would be considered orthodox theology, but I also think some who have a more biblical theology have slipped into either way, one of these ways of thinking. And I think we all can heed the advice of the Scripture and the way it's written, and not to slip into either one of these views, but to have a balanced perspective, to see that my theology is always affecting the way I live. The way I live is always being controlled by my theology, and the two cannot be disconnected. And the Bible goes over that over and over again just simply by the way it's written. And we see that in the book of Hebrews. It's written the same way. Chapter 1 is all theology practically. Incredible theology about the deity of Christ. And then verses 1 through 4 in chapter 2 directly applies it to our life. And then the rest of the chapter in chapter 2 is mostly theology. And then you get into chapter 3 and it gets back into the application of these things. So that brings us to where we're at today, which is in verse 7 of chapter 3. And I think either one of these extremes, either the extreme pragmatist point of view or the extreme theological point of view, are missing three primary doctrines. And I wanted to title this sermon, Three Missing Doctrines from the Unregenerate Man's Theology. And we see them all right here in these verses in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 3. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that anyone who doesn't understand these three doctrines is not saved. No, I'm not saying that at all. Because I believe that this teaching can be very helpful to believers also, who may slip into this natural way of thinking that either says the Bible is purely a theological book, or that the Bible is only a practical book, without understanding how it is both within the context of what it teaches. The three missing doctrines, or the three under Preach doctrines, I guess we could say, for lack of a better word, that I see here in these verses are number one, the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. We're going to go over that today. These will be the three headings of our sermon today. Number one is the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. My friends, we must understand the work of the Holy Spirit or else we will have no understanding of the Christian life. Our practical living will only go into a human behavior and it won't be led by the Spirit of God. Number one is the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. We see that in this text. Number two, the second heading of the missing doctrines in the Unregenerate Man's theology is the evil heart of unbelief. We see that. The writer of Hebrews is almost pleading with us in chapters 3 and 4. I can sense him yearning and pleading with us to understand what unbelief is. He goes through it so thoroughly in these two chapters, and we'll get more into the sin of unbelief today, but we'll get even further into it in chapter 4 as the writer of Hebrews gets further into it. It's the evil heart of unbelief in the third heading I have is how to help our brothers and sisters with sin. We see that in this passage. And look in verse number 13. It says, But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. It's interesting, he says, exhort one another daily while it's called today. He repeats himself. Why does he do that? He's showing the urgency of doing it continually and doing it now, which we'll get more into when we get to that point. But let's go back to our three points. And the first is the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's life. And what does it say? Look in verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you will hear His voice. How do we discern the voice of the Holy Spirit? How do we discern the voice of the Holy Spirit? I think it's very important for us. The Holy Spirit always speaks either directly through the Scripture, and He never speaks outside of the content of the Scripture. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Every single thing Jesus said was either a direct quotation for the Old Testament, or was in perfect harmony with what is already written in the Old Testament. Here's Jesus, God Almighty on Earth, and He's speaking. And what is He speaking? He is speaking this scripture. He's speaking the Word of God. God has spoken to us through His Word. That principle goes further that we'll get into here in just one minute. It's not just a natural understanding, but we see that the Holy Spirit does not speak outside of God's Word, either directly or indirectly. Now I know there's situations where we're in life and we may have to choose like one job or choose another job and we're debating, we have a choice between those two things and I can't go to the Bible and it doesn't tell me which job to choose, does it? But I think it does in certain ways. We can find out what does the Lord Jesus want me to do? What does He want me to do with my time? How does He want me to structure my life? How does the Bible, and I think the Bible can lead us, now sometimes that can be more difficult. Because some people will discern the Holy Spirit by saying, you know, I've heard all kinds of different things. Like somebody will be driving up to a red light and say, if it's green, it means yes. If it's red, it means no. People will say, you know, I had a feeling and this feeling made me choose in this direction. Well, that feeling may be the Holy Spirit. It may not be the Holy Spirit. How do we know? We know primarily through the Scripture. We mean it primarily through God's Word. God's Word will often lead us, even in decisions that aren't black and white, that are not directly laid out in the Scripture. If we're filled with the Spirit, if we're filled with prayer, understanding His Word, we'll have discernment to hear the voice of the Spirit of God, the voice of the Spirit of God. And in 2 Peter 1.21, of God spoke the Scripture as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But I think it goes further than that. It goes further than just a theological understanding of the Bible to say, well, I understand what the Spirit says because I can quote the Bible. It goes deeper than that, because the Pharisees were able to quote the Bible, and large portions of the Bible did they have memorized, but they were not in tune with the Spirit of God. They were not hearing the words of God. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13 verses 13 through 15, Therefore speak I, and this is Jesus speaking, to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have been closed. Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." This word, waxed gross, did you hear that? It says that their heart is waxed gross. You see that the heart is connected to the ears here. And their heart is waxed. Gross means to thicken. It's like a wax that runs off of a candle and it gets thicker and thicker. First, the Holy Spirit speaks through the Word of God. And secondly, those who hear Him must hear with a softened heart, with a changed heart. When Jesus tells the parable, of the sower and the seed, which soil produces the good fruit? It's the soil which is broken. It's the soil which is soft. The soil which can receive the seed and be taken. The seed goes deep into the soil. If you've ever planted anything, which I've planted very few things, but my wife has planted much, I know that the soil, when it is soft and broken up, What happens? The seed goes deep into the soil and the seed produces fruit. But when the soil is hard, as you see, the other three types of soil in Matthew 13 are a form of hardened soil. They have not been broken up. There has not been that work of the Spirit in the heart to churn over the heart and soften it. The Holy Spirit speaks through God's Word. And He speaks through the softening of the heart. You see in Ezekiel 36 it says that God will take out the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. A heart that produces ears that are able to hear the Word of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is both in justification and sanctification. So we're saved through the work of the Holy Spirit. when the Holy Spirit comes into our heart and changes it, softens it. Because, my friends, like it or not, by nature our hearts are stony. They are hard and they cannot receive the things of God. A mere intellectual understanding of God's Word will not, in and of itself, give us the ability to hear what the Spirit is saying. And the opposite of that is true, too. We must be careful that a subjective emotional feeling will not necessarily give us a proper understanding of the voice of the Holy Spirit either. But it's the Word and the Spirit. It's the Word of God. And when it comes on the ears of those who have been transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit, And our hearts are soft. We can hear it. And we mix it with faith, as James says. And it's profitable. And it's profitable. It's the work of the Holy Spirit to even be able to hear it all. But the human heart, and thus the human ear, without this work of the Holy Spirit, is wholly given to unbelief. Which is our second point. The evil heart of unbelief. This is the condition of every man and woman when they are born. Unbelief is lodged in the heart of every unregenerate person. This is the reason why the Pharisee to whom Jesus was referring in Matthew 13 could have large portions of the Bible memorized and have absolutely no understanding of what the Bible is saying. And we deal with this a lot today in our country. Many know the Bible and even have a surface understanding of the Gospel. But it has never taken root because the work of the Holy Spirit has never been done. And the stony heart is still there. The evil heart of unbelief. Unbelief is in our nature. It's what makes up a man. If you look, it says in verse Twelve, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. We must come to a day of reckoning with this evil heart of unbelief. For unbelief is a part of our nature. Unbelief is not a lack of knowledge, but it is a rebellion or evil. We see that clearly in this chapter as we've read these verses. We see it's clearly unbelief is a part of our rebellious nature. It is a part of our rebellious nature. It is not ignorance. But this rebellion, this hardening, also is a process that seems to progressively get worse as someone continues in sin. We see this in Romans chapter 1, where we learn about how sin can get progressively worse in an unbeliever's life. because he goes further into deception, and his heart is hardened. And finally, in Romans 1, it comes to a point of being reprobate. The heart is so hardened, it cannot even hear the Word of God anymore. Unbelief leads to a tempting of God, and a proving of God. We see that here. Unbelief leads to a tempting of God, and a proving of God. To tempt God would be to provoke him to anger. And to prove God would be to mistrust Him. But to prove someone is to say, I don't believe you unless you do what I want you to do. But God has provided all means that people might believe. He has provided creation, conscience, His Word, His Son. He's provided all means for the human race to know Him. But man, in his rebellion, in his nature, in his rebellious heart, refuses to believe. And when an unbeliever wants proof, nothing will satisfy him. Nothing will satisfy him. Jesus said to the Pharisees, John the Baptist came eating, I'm sorry, John the Baptist came, he lived in the desert, and you called him from the devil. I came eating and drinking and you call me from the devil. In other words, he was doing one thing, you said he's from the devil, I'm doing the other. And you're saying I'm from the devil too. Those who try to prove God without a transformed heart, without a humble heart, will never be satisfied. Because unbelief is in their nature. It's not an issue of prove it to me, show me. It's an issue of a transformed life. through the power of the work of the Spirit of God in a person's heart. Many of the Jews did not believe in the desert. They saw all the miracles. We see that example here that Moses did. And even more tragic, many of the Jews that walked with Jesus in the Gospels saw the incredible miracles that Jesus did and did not believe. Why is this so? How can a group of people see miracle after miracle and hear prophet after prophet and still be in unbelief? We look at them and say, how can they do that? They had miracle after miracle and prophet after prophet and they remained in unbelief. But my friends, we cannot look at them without looking at ourselves. It would be our same condition, except for by the grace of God, except for by the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. It is because unbelief is rooted in the evil heart of man. This is not a passive unbelief, but here it is called an evil heart of unbelief. A heart that is in rebellion, as it is explained in these verses. This is a heart that knows the truth and refuses to submit. This is the condition of a proud heart. And God in verse 10 is greatly grieved with this type of heart. I think in one sense it can be equated to a parent who has a child and they give the child everything that's good, the child's whole life, much like the prodigal son. And then the prodigal son comes and says, I want what's mine, I'm leaving, I'm going to just live however I want to live. And that's of a great grief to the parents. But the Lord is grieved how much more when those who are on this earth rebel against him. For someone in this condition, this condition of rebellion, they are in a continual state of error. They're in a continual state of error. They do always error in their hearts. They do nothing that is right. Everything that is done is from a selfish motive. And even when they may do something that is seemingly good, it is selfishly evil. And sadly to say, that person is heaping up God's judgment and wrath upon themselves. But what does it say? They will not enter into my rest. I swear by my wrath, God says, they will not enter into my rest. This is no light matter. Look at verse 11. So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. This is no light matter, but God's wrath is towards those who continue in this rebellion or in this unbelief Unbelief is no less than a person putting themselves on an equal plane with God. And it's when a person says, God, I know better than you, and I can do more than you. It is putting yourself on an equal plane with God. My friends, it is very serious, and it is lodged in the heart of every unregenerate man, everyone who has not been born again, as this evil heart of unbelief. And the apostle here, or the writer of Hebrews, I'm sorry, warns us that we ought to also help each other. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. These are very sobering words. And I'm sorry to bring them to you this morning in one sense, but I must. where it is the Scripture. I did not come here to tell you stories or to tell you about me or anything else, but I came by God's grace for the sole purpose to proclaim His Word, and His Word tells us right here, take heed, brethren. He's talking to those in the church, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. These are very sobering words, for we know the consequences of unbelief What does it say in 13? Exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. I'd like to stop at that verse for a few minutes, verse number 13, because it brings us to our third heading. The first heading being the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. The second being the evil heart of unbelief which is the condition of every unregenerate man, and how to help others, how to help our brothers and sisters with sin. We arrived at these three headings by saying, if you listen closely, if you listen closely, you will see these three doctrines mysteriously missing mysteriously missing in much teaching today. I hate to be so critical, but I have to be. How can I not be? We're in a day when there's so much evil that it comes right from the pulpits. It's very disturbing. If you hear, these three doctrines are somehow mysteriously missing. But it says, exhort, in verse 13, which means to come to the side of one to come to the side of another. This is the same word used in 1 Thessalonians 5.11 where it says, Wherefore comfort yourselves together, edify one another, even as also you do. This verse tells us how often we ought to do this, and when. It says daily. Daily, which basically means all the time. When? Today. Daily today, it's kind of a funny statement to put those two words together. Daily today. Do it daily and do it now. We need to exhort one another. As any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. How is the heart hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? I would think we would have to understand that biblically in order to understand how we ought to help one another out of the deceitfulness of sin. And I think also in this chapter you see all three of these principles. Number one, a light view of sin. Number two, putting hope in temporal things. Number three, having confidence in something other than the Lord Jesus. I believe these are the three primary ways we can help each other with our sin. And if anybody's here today and says they're not struggling with some sin in their life, then they are because they're a liar and they're struggling with lying. Because we all have sin that we must deal with in our hearts and in our lives. Some of it may be more obvious than others, but Jesus said, if you thought it, you did it. Wow, how guilty am I? I need to deal with these things in my life. But my friends, many are deceived. Many are deceived because they have a light view of sin. They have a light view of sin. Well, sin is no big deal. People say, everybody does it. And that way of thinking just naturally comes into our minds. But the scripture teaches the opposite. The scripture says that God loves, like we went over in Hebrews 1, God loves righteousness and hates iniquity. Do you love righteousness? Then you must hate iniquity. You cannot love righteousness unless you hate iniquity. We must help each other in a way that is helpful, not in a way that is condescending. Not in a way where we put ourselves above anybody else. Because I need help. If not more help than anybody else. But we cannot have a light view of sin. Because God does not have a light view of sin. Read the Bible. Two-thirds of the Bible is about the judgment of God towards sin. Two-thirds of the Bible could be about God's judgment towards sin. It's a very serious matter. We must help each other in that. To not take a light view of sin. And number two, putting our hope in temporal things. We must also help each other not to put hope in temporal things. For sin will deceive us in that. Temporal pleasures and temporal things. Sin will deceive you into thinking that these temporal things will bring you happiness. that these temporal pleasures and things will bring you happiness, when they will not. But our hope, like we went over last week, is in the eternal. It is in Christ, it is in Him, it is in our eternal hope in Him forever. It is not in temporal things. And number three, having our confidence in anything other than the Lord Jesus. When the Apostle in Philippians, he says, forgetting those things which are behind. Many people equate that to, in a negative way, which I think it can be interpreted that way. But I think the primary interpretation of that scripture, if you read it, he lists his accomplishments. He lists his accomplishments. And then says, forgetting those things which are behind. Because he cannot put confidence in what I have done. but our confidence is in Christ. I believe these three things we can help each other with sin, not to have a light view of sin, and not putting hope in temporal things, and not having confidence in anything other than the Lord Jesus. We need to help each other. very concerned today. We meet so many people that seem to be concerned about the things of God, but they're just consumed by the temporal, consumed by the natural things. We must help each other in that, and not have a light view of sin, or a hope in temporal things, or any confidence in any other but Jesus Christ. And I'll conclude in verses 14 and 15. Let's read them. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. For it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation. I wanted to make this point more clear last week, and I think I did mention it, but I wanted to make it more clear. And I think it'll help us today. And it's the fact that verse 14, what it is saying is, is that if you read the first three chapters of this epistle, what do you see? You see the deity of Jesus Christ at the beginning of this chapter. What do you see? You see the faithfulness of Jesus Christ because it says faithful was Moses at the beginning of this chapter. But then what does it say? But how much more faithful is Jesus Christ? How much more? It's an incomparable amount, actually. He's saying that Moses is here, and Moses is the greatest prophet, and prophets are the greatest among men. So therefore, Moses would be the greatest among men, as far as that would go, even though he's just a man. But how much greater is Christ? The chasm between the two is infinite, if you understand what he's saying at the beginning of this chapter. That Jesus Christ is far more greater far more faithful than Moses was in every aspect. So Jesus Christ is faithful. And you know those who will be steadfast to the end? You know who they will be? Those who know the faith of Jesus Christ. Who know His faithfulness. Who know His faithfulness. He is faithful. We have no confidence. If you think you can hold on to the end, then you'll never do it. If you know you cannot hold on to the end, and Jesus Christ is faithful, He will keep you till the end. He, through the power of His Spirit, through the precious Holy Spirit, will keep you till the end. But I'm here to say that if you have any confidence in yourself, if you have any confidence in your flesh, or that somehow you will hold on steadfastly till the end, because it's done by your own power, and you have more ability to believe than somebody else, because of your inherent nature, then you're sadly deceived and you will not hold on to the end. You may go to church your whole life, you may seemingly hold on to the end, but those who hold on to the end know the steadfastness of Jesus Christ. They know His faithfulness and are confident in Him. I'm confident today. You know why? Because Jesus Christ, in Hebrews 7.25, today is making intercession for me. He said to Peter, Peter, Satan desires to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. The sole difference in Peter's life than in anybody else's life who was an unbeliever was that Jesus prayed for him, was that it was Jesus who kept Peter, and my confidence is in Christ. that He will keep me to the end because He is faithful and I can trust Him and hold fast to Him and He will keep me. That's the whole point of being faithful to the end because Christ is faithful to the end and anybody who puts their confidence in themselves will be deceived by sin. and will not hold on to the end. But praise the Lord. What does verse 15 say? It says, today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation. If you hear His voice right now, don't harden your heart, but soften your heart and say, Lord, Your will be done in my life. I submit to You, Lord. You're the one who's faithful. Not me, but You are faithful. And I look to You today. And if that's your hope and trust, you will be faithful to the end, because Jesus Christ is faithful to the end. He is faithful beyond the end, because you can't really put him in time, because he's in eternity. And he is faithful. What he has done for us will go on forever and ever, as we'll learn in Hebrews chapter 9. His sacrifice, which is cleansed, continually cleansed, because of what Christ has done for us, and we will be faithful to the end if our full confidence is in Him. So let's pray. Dear Father in Heaven, we praise You, thank You, glorify You, Father, for without the faithfulness of Your precious Son, where would we be, God? Oh, the pride of our hearts of unbelief, God, the unfaithfulness of our own natural ways, God, but yet you are faithful, and you have sent your Son, who is the faithful one, that we might be faithful in Him. We praise you and thank you. All glory, honor, and praise goes to your name, God. We can take no credit for it. You have done the work in us, and we praise you. I pray, God, that we would please Understand these doctrines, God. Please help us that we would understand the doctrines of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's heart. That we would understand the doctrines of the evil heart of unbelief. That we would understand how to help each other in these things, God. Please. We're not here to simply Go home, and everybody lives in a solitary life, but Lord, you saved us to bring us together, that we might genuinely help one another. I pray, Lord, that that would be true in our church. And Lord, if there's five of us that do it, then so be it, Lord. I pray that it would be true, that we'd be faithful to you, Lord Jesus, faithful to helping one another in how to overcome sin, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.