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Please turn with me in your Bibles
to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, Hebrews 10, and we'll be
looking at verses 19 through 25. And that's on pages 946 through
947, if you're using your pew Bible there. We're moving toward not quite
there yet, but this is very practical today toward the practical applications
of all that we've gone over in Hebrews Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19
through 31 Let's hear God's Word together. 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 is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,
and all the more as you see the day approaching, the day drawing
near. Let's pray. Father, as we continue
in this wonderful study through the book of Hebrews, And we come
now to some of the applications or exhortations that would proceed
out of all that we've learned. We ask, Father, that You would
give us grace to recall all that we've seen in the glory of Your
Son, in the superiority of Your Son over all of the old covenant
rituals and ceremonies. And that that would lead us,
Lord, to say, well, what shall we then do with these things?
And as you respond to that question by giving us these exhortations,
we pray that you would give us the strength and grace to indeed
take these to heart, to take action, to apply these things,
Lord. So please give us grace, Lord,
in the application of your word this morning. Forgive us for
our sins and grant us your Holy Spirit so that we might do what's
pleasing to you, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Jesus is the Son
of God incarnate. Jesus is the perfect High Priest. Jesus is from the perpetual order
of Melchizedek. Jesus has been appointed unto
the priesthood or to his priesthood by divine oath. Jesus has offered
himself as a perfect, sinless, human offering. Jesus has entered
into God's heavenly tabernacle, not made with human hands. Jesus
is the mediator of a better and new covenant of grace. All in
all, Jesus alone truly deals with the problem of sin, such
that we can freely and continually enter into the presence of God
through him. Having made his case to affirm
these profound truths, the author now moves on to call his readers
to respond Accordingly, these precious truths should move the
people of God to act in various ways as we've hopefully been
amazed by the things that we've seen and grown in our appreciation
of what Christ has done. It should lead us to say, how
can we then respond? Well, this morning then, we will
consider three of the ways in which the author calls for a
response. First, we begin with verses 19
to 21, as the preface, kind of a summary, a little bit of a
summary of what he said, or at least pointing back to that,
that leads then to these three responses. He says, therefore,
brothers, since we have confidence, right, this is what he's established
already. 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 high priest or a great priest over the house
of God, let us, he says, and then he gives us exhortations. And so in light of all he has
just said, he begins by saying, therefore, He's saying these
things being the case, he's assuming we've read all that he's said
already. Christ having accomplished in
full what the old covenant sacrifices merely foreshadowed and could
not accomplish through animal sacrifices. Therefore in that
light, and he says brothers, that is partakers of the same
new covenant promises and blessings, that is the better things to
come, since we have confidence to enter the holy place, since
we can enter not merely the earthly holy places, that is the copies,
but the actual heavenly ones, the real substance. since we
can enter into God's heavenly presence with the absolute certainty
of being received, accepted, and welcomed by the blood of
Jesus, he says, not by the blood of bulls and goats, which we've
seen cannot take away sin, but by the blood of Jesus that is
the perfect offering of the Son of God who bears the fullness
of our humanity. by the new and living way, not
by the old, insufficient, dead-end way, where the conscience could
never truly be purified and cleared of all guilt, but through the
new and living, effectual way, where the conscience could truly
be cleared of all guilt and the offerer could be perfected. He
says, that has been opened for us, for all who have truly been
joined to Christ by faith, through the curtain that is through His
flesh, not through the earthly veil into the earthly most holy
place, but through the offering of Christ's worthy humanity through
His human flesh into the heavenly most holy place. And since we
have, that is presently we have, we continually have a great priest,
a priest and superior high priest, a perfect priest and mediator
according to the order of Melchizedek over the house of God. One who
has been ordained by a divine oath and given all authority
to rule over God's heavenly tabernacle. Since these things are the case,
he's again summing up what he's already proven. He says, now
let us, let us. And so the author is here summarizing
and bombarding us with a glorious restatement, as it were, of all
that he has just proven, with the intentions of compelling
us to act in the light of these glorious truths. Everything in
God's word is not meant just to remain in the indicative.
It's not just to be informative for us. Everything is meant to
produce action or response. It leads to imperative, to exhortation,
to a response. So in other words, there are
profound implications. Implications that ought to affect
how we live and act daily. which emerged from all that has
just been presented to us about Christ, who he is, and what he
has accomplished for us. And so the author states here,
as it were, since we have such a great high priest who has by
his valid, perfect, and effectual offering now accomplished for
us that which was merely foreshadowed in the old covenant, let us take
advantage of his laborers by acting and responding in the
following ways. Since we now have license to
do certain things that were once held by mere shadows, but have
now been opened up and released to us, let us take full advantage
of these opportunities, let us act. And then he provides us
here now with three actions that we ought to take, three let us
statements. Since, well then let us, he says
three times, compelling us to respond to so glorious a gospel. And those are the three things
that we will now consider. First, in verse 22, he begins,
let us, since that's the case, 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."
So he begins by saying first, since this is the case of what
Christ has purchased for us through his offering, let us draw near. Let us come close. Let us approach. Let us draw near. To what or
whom is he calling us to draw near in light of everything that
he has said? Well, of course we know, to the
living God, of course, from whom we were once alienated because
of our sins. See, we can now draw near to
God. we could enter into the most
holy place. At the beginning of creation,
Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden. But because of his rebellious
sin, he and Eve were kicked out of the Garden along with all
humanity that would descend from his loins bearing the curse of
his sin nature. But now, a viable means has been
provided, enabling sinful men through the righteous Son of
God to lay hold of God once more. We can draw near. And so the
author declares with a sense of fervent encouragement, as
it were. He says, don't turn away from God by going back to
the priesthood and the sacrifices of the old covenant that still
keep us at a distance. Even those sacrifices and those
high priests still kept them at a distance. There were still
the barriers in place. And only the high priest can
enter into the most holy place once a year. and only the priest
can enter the holy place. And the people were limited as
to how far they could come. But since that's been exchanged
or been removed and replaced with the access we now have in
Christ, he says, draw near through Christ, your perfect high priest
and sacrifice through him. He says, go to him, draw near
to him and draw near to him with a true, that is with a sincere
and genuine heart in full assurance of faith. Go to him with a sincere
heart in spirit and in truth. being confident when he says,
in full assurance of faith, being confident that he fully receives
you at all times, and that without regret, God receives us, not
reluctantly. He doesn't say, well, you know,
I guess I have to receive you because of what my son has done,
and so I'll do that. No, he's the one who sent his
son to do that, so that he willingly and freely bids us to come to
him, and he receives us without regret. Faith is only required
in the present when he says this. Faith is only required, this
full assurance of faith, because we cannot see God on this side
of the grave. See, we have to have a full assurance
of faith, a full confidence. The only thing that would challenge
that is because we can't see God, right? And there's still
limitation in one sense. But he says, don't let that hinder
you. By faith, you can come. And that faith is necessary because
on this side of the grave, we don't see God directly. But we
can be absolutely certain that he hears and receives us with
arms open wide in the light of what our Lord and Savior has
most assuredly accomplished in time and space and in the light
of his present unending ministry of intercession on our behalf. And he says, and with our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water. What couldn't happen through
the old covenant sacrifices? What have we seen? They could
not purify the conscience because there was a reminder of sins
year after year because the sins were not ultimately removed,
they were covered for a time. Here, he says you can come with
a clean, being clean from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. through his sanctifying grace
and his perfecting power at work in our inner man. Because his
sacrifice actually removes the guilt of our sins. We can draw
near to God with a holy desire to put our remaining sins to
death. offering our bodies and our members as holy instruments
unto the service of God in Christ. It's like what he says in Romans
12 about offering our bodies as living sacrifices and our
members. Christ's shed blood purifies our consciences and
our motives and our inward desires, enabling us to move forward bearing
no guilt from our past sins so that we can now serve God with
a pure heart. And our bodies, our physical
members, are now washed and sanctified by the Word of God and the effectual
working of the Holy Spirit so that we can dedicate them to
His holy service. What a contradiction to the Greek
thinking of that day. To think that only the spirit
was good or could be good and the body is in itself evil. Here
we find that the bodies are sanctified as well unto the service of God.
They are good as they were from the beginning, but sin has been
what's corrupted us. We are now fit ministers of God.
where a holy priesthood, able to enter into his presence, conducting
ministry on behalf of all who surround us, those who are saved
and unsaved alike. This was pictured in the shadow
of the priesthood. Remember when they were sprinkled
with blood and they had blood put on their toes and on their
thumbs and they washed in the labor whenever they had to go
in and offer sacrifices, they had to wash in the labor. Well,
what that signified by way of symbol is the reality of what
God has done for us in Christ so that we are washed on the
inside even as they were washed on the outside. But then secondly,
there's a second exhortation. So that's the first, is draw
near, come near. This being the case, come near.
In verse 23, the author exhorts, let us hold fast the confession
of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. The first exhortation had to
do with taking full advantage of the opportunity of drawing
near to God in Christ. This second one relates to persevering
and holding fast to our confession. To hold fast is to cling to. with the entire conviction of
your soul. It's to cling to with your soul
and that plays its way out in our actions and how we live.
But it's to cling to that same gospel. It entails not allowing
anything whatsoever to shake you from your firm conviction
of your hope in Christ alone. There will be many subtle, demonically-originated
teachings and traditions that will attempt to slip in, wishing
to loosen your grip on the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. People
will tell you, both directly and indirectly, that Christ is
insufficient. Not that he's not helpful at
all, but that you need something else to add to Christ. They will
come in the form of moralism, traditionalism, secularism, social
justice, and a host of other seemingly noble customs. They
are customs of deception. Even good practices, things that
you'll say, well, those are good practices, will be elevated to
the place of becoming gospel realities, attempting to shift
your trust to some degree away from Christ alone and into some
other direction. It's a good thing to want to
be a godly man or a godly woman or a godly father or a godly
worker. Things we've talked about even in Colossians. But when
that becomes the gospel, when that becomes the thing that makes
you right or keeps you in a right position before God, it is a
false gospel and it becomes dangerous. When it's not a fruit and becomes
the essence of your faith, then you know you're shifting away
from the gospel and that is what happens continuously throughout
the ages. having considered all of the
glorious realities surrounding Christ's high priestly ministry
and work. We must strive long and hard
to retain our grip of faith on Christ and on Christ alone, even
as we strive to improve our responsible obedience to Christ at the same
time. So we want to improve our obedience.
We want to get into the practical obedience that we're called to
do, those things that signify the truth about Christianity.
They are those which evidence our Christianity. But we want
to improve upon our grip of faith in Christ, which is the means
that we obtain the power to obey in those ways. It's always through
faith and never separate from Christ. We dare not shift. to a legal, self-righteous mindset,
believing for a moment that our salvation rests on anyone or
anything else but Christ. All throughout Christian walk
we will come upon oil slicks and grease pits and slippery
moral slopes that will attempt to move us away from Christ but
our feet must be uncompromisingly shod with the gospel of peace
and the gospel of grace at all times, so that we will stand
and press forward without falling to the left or to the right.
We are exhorted to hold fast our confession notice without
wavering. without wavering, there's no
compromise. Our gospel convictions are never
to become optional. They must be bolted down, welded,
and cemented into our hearts as screws that will never budge
under any amount of pressure. And we secure such an uncompromising
conviction with the most powerful adhesive in the universe. What
is it that enables us to secure that conviction? To maintain
that conviction? It's what he says here in this
text. It's the understanding that God is faithful. It's the
faithfulness and the integrity of God that drives us to continue
to cling to that conviction. We don't budge because we're
convinced that God won't budge, that his gospel has not changed.
It's like the Apostle Paul says in Galatians, if I or even an
angel from heaven come to you with a different gospel, then
may he be accursed. The message takes the precedence
over everything. The message takes the precedence
over the apostles. Now, thankfully, the apostles
are those who brought the message. And they stood faithfully on
the message. And they were ordained by God to represent Christ and
His message. But Paul says, if I, an apostle,
come to you with a different teaching, he's putting the teaching
over himself. Let me be accursed. The message
is what's relevant, what's important. And that's why today, you'll
have in some of these other churches, alleged churches, false churches,
the Roman Catholic Church, even Greek Orthodox, what do they
appeal to? Tradition. Well, there's apostolic accession,
apostolic succession. It went from the apostles to
these men and these men and these men. And they don't consider
whether or not the truth is still maintained. by these different
organizations, and so they prefer the alleged succession over the
truth. We go by the truth, and if every
church or every denomination goes astray in the truth, we
don't appeal to succession, we appeal to the gospel and to the
truth and to God's word, which is over and above all else. Let
them be accursed if they contradict that message. All that we have
studied and learned, and reinforced about the glory of Christ's work
of mediation on our behalf, has been planned, ordained, and accomplished
by the sovereign mind and hand of God. And so we know, as we
see in our text, attached to this exhortation, he who promised
is faithful. That's where our hope is, nowhere
else. Our God is uncompromisingly reliable forever. He has always
shown himself as such, and he can be nothing less than faithful
and true to his word. We saw this already in Hebrews
as well. His promises are backed by what? By a divine oath that he gave
to Abraham, assuring us that the one who cannot lie, it's
impossible for God to lie, will indeed fulfill all of his promises
that have been given to all who cast their hope and confidence
in Christ alone. And so such glorious truths compel
us to draw near and to hold fast. And then thirdly, there's a third
exhortation that he gives us here as well. Finally, we're
further exhorted in verses 24 and 25. And let us consider,
there's the third let us, Consider how to stir up one another to
love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit
of some. but encouraging one another and
all the more as you see the day draw near. How important this
is. We actively draw near to God
in prayer. We saw that already. That was
the first let us. We cling to our hope in Christ
without compromise. That was the second let us. But
we also commit ourselves to building each other up in our most holy
faith. That's the third let us. let
us consider notice how to stir up one another to love and good
works what wording is used here what great wording he says let
us consider you see considering involves consciously striving
to do something there there is there's something going on in
the mind you're you're taking action with your mind to think
about how you can do this. You're planning it out. You're
not just going haphazard as you move forward or random. There's
consideration. There's meditation. There's pondering
involved. Intentionally looking for ways
to do what? To stir one another up. What
a wonderful word. To stir one another up. You see,
stirring brethren, involves being a catalyst. Stirring is to be
a catalyst. It's to provoke in a positive
sense. It's an action that proceeds
out of consideration. It means that we're consciously
planning, thinking about these things, and then as we plan,
we then take action with stirring up the brethren according to
what we planned. Some people look for intentional
ways to stir up trouble, don't they? They know what kinds of
sparks and triggers will create problems and cause chaos and
division. They know how to do that. They
study it. They've given their mind to thinking about these
things, and they know if they do this, it will create problems. It will set a wedge. Here, however,
we have the opposite notion in mind. We consciously look for
ways to stir the pot of blessing. We generate waves of grace, looking
to initiate sparks that can trigger productive gospel flames in others. And our intent in considering
and utilizing means of stirring up others has an aim in mind.
We have a goal. We consider. We process. We ponder. How can I stir these people up?
How can I stir them? And there's a goal unto what?
It is to stir them up, to motivate others onward to what? To love
and good works. How can I be a catalyst that
will stir the pot, that will meet that base and keep it from
just staying still and get it to start to work in such a way
that it will produce love and good works? You see, it's not
just being satisfied with my own activity in the kingdom.
It's saying, well, look at what I'm doing for the kingdom. But
it's using biblical means of encouraging and motivating others
to be active in the kingdom as well. We look around the body
and we say, this is a body and we all need to be active. And
we see where there's less activity in certain areas. Well, how can
I stir that up? It's a domino effect, a chain
of influence whereby we pass on such a spark to each and every
one of the people of God. And the goal is to cultivate
an atmosphere where everyone is consciously, biblically looking
for the means of continually expressing love in all directions
and devoting ourselves to good works. Works of service that
build up and advance the kingdom of God. It's like in the book
of Ezra. If you see Ezra and Nehemiah,
you'll see this idea throughout those two books. Because there
are times when the people grew dull. They were afraid and they
backed up because of the enemy. And then they stopped what they
were supposed to be doing in either building the city or the
wall or the temple. And they needed to be stirred
up again, right? The pot kind of settled. Well,
in Ezra, when the people had gone back to Jerusalem, to rebuild
their temple and their wall and their city. Remember, their city
that they went back to was the equivalent of an ash heap. It
wasn't just that the wall was broken down and the temple was
destroyed, it's all the trash, the materials that were all broken
and useless were still there. If they weren't dealing with
a clean, you know, slate, a playing field that was clean, it was
a wreck already. The work was beyond overwhelming
and it seemed to be an impossible task. But the Lord would do what? What do we find there? He stirred
up the hearts of the people, we're told. And people like Zerubbabel
and the prophets stirred up the hearts of the people. A few good
men and a few prophets used by the Lord stirred up the hearts
of the people and motivated them to press onward and eventually
they completed the task. Remember, they got everyone involved,
most of the people, standing up, building up sections of the
wall. They all surrounded the city, protecting it with one
arm. They had a building implement,
and on the other hand, they had a sword. And they stood there,
and they waited until they could build that up high enough to
protect them from the enemy. Do we have any spirit stirrers? in our midst, brethren, who would
consciously, actively, consistently seek to awaken our body as we
would be tempted to drift and slumber and lose sight of the
glorious prize. We all drift We all slow down
at times. We all get caught up or busy
at times in other things and we lose our focus. But if you
have a body of stirrers, there will always be someone stirring
others to get the flame going again. And then that person gets
going and somebody else starts to wane out a bit and then they
stir up someone. We're stirring each other up.
Notice, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love
and good works, not neglecting to meet together. You can't stir
if you're not there, right? Not neglecting to meet together.
When we distance ourselves from the body, we are like single
embers that are in danger of going out. We need to be among
the coals. We need to be continuing with
the people of God as much as possibly possible, actively seeking
to stir one another up. This is right in keeping with
what the author had exhorted earlier, isn't it? And hopefully
when we read this, you said, you know, that reminds me of
what we went over in chapter three. Because what did he say
in chapter three, verses 12 to 14? Take care, brothers, lest
there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you
to fall away from the living God. Now, what's the recourse
for that? What is it that we use to help
keep us from drifting away from the living God, from growing
dull, from turning away? Here it is, but do what? Exhort
one another daily, every day, as long as it is called today.
Now, have we ever gotten to a day that's not called today? When
you wake up tomorrow, what will you call that? That's his point,
right? As long as it's called today.
Four, we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our
original confidence firm to the end. We're truly in Christ if
we hold the confidence to the end. Well, what is the cure?
What is it that keeps us from falling away so that we persevere
to the end and show ourselves to be truly in Christ? It is
the encouraging one another daily in the body. If you're not in
the pot where the people of God are stirred, if you're not planted
firmly in the church where life-sustaining exultation is mutually exhibited,
then you will be prone to grow cold, to be hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin, and to fall away. unless you are in jail because
of your faith. And God gives you special grace
in that situation. And sometimes in the jail, he
provides fellowship. If you are not among the people
of God as much as you can be, you will grow cold. It's a fact. That's what the scriptures teach.
The gathered church is the mechanism which contains much of what is
needed for perseverance growth, faithfulness, and sanctification. Notice, and let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting
to meet together, listen to what he says here, as is the habit
of some. Paul's not saying, well, good
thing is we haven't seen this happen. He's saying, don't stop
meeting together, as is the habit of some. And you can bet, you
can bet that Paul could think of specific people, as well as
the people in Hebrews. I'm saying Paul, because I think
he preached this sermon, personally. But whoever wrote it, you can
bet that he knew that they knew that there were specific people
that they could see on and face the images, as it were, who have
maintained a habit of distancing themselves from the church. Some
have the habit of neglecting to meet and fellowship with the
body, and they do so to their own spiritual demise and detriment. We have seen them throughout
the course of our Christian walk, have we not? We could think of
people in our own minds if you've been in the faith long enough.
We've seen people gradually drift away. getting caught up in worldly
things, believing they are better off doing things on their own
rather than by the Holy Spirit's appointed means. And all such
individuals who intentionally neglect meeting with the church,
the people of God, are unhealthy Christians. At the very least,
they're unhealthy Christians, if they're true Christians at
all. But at the least, they're unhealthy Christians. They are
like arms and legs that have been cut off from the body, having
no blood flow or sustenance or oxygen to keep them alive. Remember,
brethren, the church is the body of Christ, and we are connected
to Christ as part of the body. To willfully separate from the
body is to willfully separate oneself from the head, as it
were. We need each other. We need to
stir each other up, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit
of some, But, right, there's the not, but instead, encouraging
one another all the more as you see the day drawing near. We know where this is all heading. We know the outcome. We anticipate
the end of this world and the return of Christ. See, in one
sense, while we don't wish to see the things happening throughout
the world right now, right with Iran and Russia and Ukraine and
China, and how vulnerable we are, at the same time, we pray
about that, but we also don't, we're not afraid, because we
know where this is all heading. We know this is not our home.
We know that glory has not yet come to us. We wait for that
final day to draw near. And as we age, we anticipate
the end of this world and the return of Christ. And as days
pass by, that day, that is the final day, which ultimately matters
most, draws near. We are approaching, brethren,
the end of all things, are we not? And so in order to avoid
getting swept into the torrent of this temporal life's baggage,
what do we do? You're not gonna get it from
the world. We encourage one another to keep our eyes on the prize.
We need each other to remind each other to look at the big
prize. We remind each other that this
is not our home, that there is a very clear approaching end
in view The power of sin and temptation and the material sway
of the world and this life's cares is ever upon us and we
cannot face these alone. We must encourage each other
onward past it all. You need me and I need you and
we all need each other to pick each other up in the battle and
to say to one another, dear brother, sister, look right there. There's
the finish line. Don't stop now. Sow to the spirit. Sow to the spirit. Fight the
good fight of faith and finish this race with me. For our heavenly
prize and glory is just right there. Get up. Let's go forward. We are not home yet. Well, brethren, let me just sum
up the matter by way of conclusion for you as we've looked at these
three exhortations. All in all, brethren, all that
Christ has done for us and all of the glory summed up in His
person and His work that we've considered in the last several
weeks has to be something that actually moves us. This is not meant to be merely
informative. It's supposed to be life-changing. Again, the indicative always
leads to the imperative. The imperative doesn't come without
the indicative, because then you become self-righteous and
works-based, but it always follows the indicative. Now while it
ought to compel us to praise and thank God with our mouths,
it also most certainly ought to compel us to actively, consistently,
daily cast our lives into His service. Think about it for a
moment, brethren. If Christ has opened up such
a direct way to God, a way that has not been opened for thousands
of years since the time of the fall of man, how can we not be
zealous to diligently press into his presence? And how can we
not fervently desire to live in a way that's pleasing to him,
hating and striving to put the sin to death daily? And brethren, what more confidence
could we have in the effectual nature of Christ's righteous
offering? What more could God possibly
do to convince us that Christ is absolutely and wholly sufficient
to remove our sins and to grant us a guiltless conscience such
that we can be certain that no matter how we feel, we stand
righteous in God's sight forever. What angle of reasoning could
ever convince us that Christ lacks something or anything to
even the smallest degree that could hinder us at any given
moment from coming into the very presence of God? What level of
your own unworthiness could ever hinder you from being received
by God when God is receiving you solely on the basis of Christ's
worthiness and atonement? You see, brethren, that is the
message of Hebrews and the message of Scripture, isn't it? We are
not worthy. We will never be worthy. But
Christ is wholly worthy. And when we come to God, we always
come united to his worthy son. And so we hold fast to our confession,
breaking through and past any inkling of an interference. that
would take our eyes off of Christ. We drown out every opposing voice
and tradition and teaching with the words, but Christ is worthy
and therefore so am I. And then we carry this confidence
with us wherever we go, always using it as a means of building
up others and seeking the lost. we recognize our own weaknesses
and the weaknesses of others, compelling us to press all the
more firmly into the church, into the body and the bride of
Christ, never forsaking the body, but rather encouraging one another
daily as the day of Christ draws near. The end of your narrative,
brethren, in this world is drawing near. The end of your narrative
and my narrative is drawing near, and your eternal destination
is just up ahead. Let that reality govern and direct. how you use this short and precious
time that leads to glory. Don't get lost in this world,
but rather live as the faithful of old have lived. Can you see
how this is getting to Hebrews chapter 11? Very soon, we're
gonna have an example, a checklist of those who faithfully endured
to the end. Those who had faith and didn't
merely partake in the ceremonies, they did that, but they had genuine
faith. those who were exiles on the
earth, and who look to a better home, whose maker and builder
is God. And if you are not a Christian
this morning, if you are not joined to Christ by faith, then
know for certain as well that your path has a destination. But that destination will never
bring you into fellowship with God if you are still in your
sins. All you will know forever is
the fierce anger and wrath of your creator unless you are joined
to Christ by faith. Christ is the only means to God,
the only worthy sacrifice, the only worthy mediator, the only
worthy high priest. the only worthy means of entering
into God's heavenly tabernacle where we can have access to our
Heavenly Father whenever we want. Because He is the only offering
that is worthy to actually remove and take away our sins. If you
don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, seek Him today before it's too
late. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your
Word. We thank You for the amazing promises that You've given us
in Christ. We thank You for all that You
revealed about Christ to us. Even in these chapters, things
that are so deep and yet so rich to our souls. And Father, we
pray that You would help us to respond actively and consciously
respond as we ought to in keeping with these commands. That we
would be those, Father, who would draw near to you, that we would
be those who cling to the promise of the gospel in Christ, and
that we would be those who are among the people of God, stirring
each other up and encouraging one another as the day draws
near. Oh Lord, we ask that you would build these truths into
our hearts so that we would live out of them, we pray in Christ's
name, amen.
Let Us Draw Near
Series Hebrews
The sermon emphasizes the profound implications of Christ's role as High Priest, urging believers to respond with unwavering faith and intentional community. Drawing near to God through Christ's sacrifice necessitates holding fast to the confession of hope, actively encouraging one another in love and good works, and consistently meeting together as the day of Christ's return approaches. The message underscores that these actions are not merely informative but transformative, compelling a life of faithful obedience and a steadfast commitment to the gospel, ultimately leading to a deeper relationship with God and a shared anticipation of eternal glory.
| Sermon ID | 62625182339344 |
| Duration | 44:01 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Hebrews 10:19-25 |
| Language | English |
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