But it was, without a doubt, as I was just a kid and not saved yet, that was one of my, that was my favorite. That was my favorite. And I enjoy every time we sing it here. Take your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Hebrews this morning. Book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 10 is where we're gonna be. Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going to read verses 19 down through 25. Let's all stand together as soon as you find Hebrews 10. You read along silently as I read aloud. If your neighbor doesn't have a Bible, allow them to look on with you if you would. Verse 19 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 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. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father, it's good, it's so good to be in your house with your people this morning. We thank you, Father, for the privilege and the opportunity and the blessing it is to be able to assemble. And Lord, we just pray that you would meet with us this morning in a very real way. We pray that the word of God and the spirit of God would do a work in our hearts this morning. I pray that you'd give me the power and the understanding and the words and the wisdom in order to preach. Father, I don't wanna say anything this morning that would displease you or dishonor you in any way. And so Lord, I just pray that you would take this service particularly the message from your book, and apply it to our hearts. And God, we'll be careful to thank you and praise you for the work that you do, for it's in Jesus' name that we pray. And all God's people said, amen. You may be seated. In the Bible, doctrine always has been and always will be the basis for behavior, and you see this pattern throughout the word of God, where God lays out what's true, and then he says, because this is true, then therefore, this is what you ought to do. And we see this real clearly in this passage. In verses 19 through 21, God lays out for us some basic doctrine. I found this, you know, you can, You can sing the songs, you can say what you believe, you can recite to me a statement of faith, but I can tell whether or not you really mean what you say you believe or you really mean what you sing by looking at your life. Our lives really tell others. what we really believe. And otherwise, all we're doing is we're just mouthing words, just letting words fall out of our mouth that really have no meaning to them. Now, there's some basic facts that God brings out in verses 19 through 21. Look at verse 19 with me. He says, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood The first fact he points out is that the blood of Jesus Christ, which is applied spiritually to you the moment that you trust Christ as Savior, you realize you're a sinner on your way to hell, you cry out to God, say, it's not a works of righteousness which I can do, but according to your mercy that you saved me, and you repent, and you turn from your sin and you trust Jesus Christ as Savior, you believe on Him for forgiveness and for salvation, and He'll give you eternal life. The moment you do that, that blood that was shed on Calvary's cross is now applied to you personally. One of the things I make a big deal about, always have, and I think even a little bit more so here lately, over the fact that Christianity is personal. You know, the difference between Christianity and other religions, you look around, the other religions are based primarily on ritual. And, you know, it's a sway to the left, sway to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight, you know, kind of thing in a service. We don't do that kind of thing around here. And the reason why we don't is because our God is personal to us. And this Bible is personal to us. And salvation is a personal thing. It's not a ritual you go through at a particular age. It's just simply when you come to the realization that you need a Savior and you cry out to Him for mercy and ask Him to save you. And the moment you do that, that blood is applied to you and to me. as soon as you trusted Christ as Savior. And remember, it's what Christ did for you. You did nothing for Him. All you did is accept something, and you accepted. the gift of eternal life. It is a gift, and it was paid for. And it was paid for in full, and it was paid for in full by that blood that he speaks of. And it's not something that you earn. It's a gift that you just simply receive. And in Hebrew, take your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews 4. Keep your finger here, but just go to Hebrews 4. Hebrews chapter 4, Look down in verses 14 down through 16. Hebrews 4.14 says, Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed in the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Because He was tempted, our God is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. What a Savior! You know, what a Savior that we have. And we can come boldly to the throne because of his death on the cross, because of the fact that he knows where we're coming from. And we now have access to the throne of God and we can receive mercy and we can receive grace. And both of those things are absolutely necessary for us to have on a daily basis. The second fact, go back to Hebrews chapter 2. By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. His death and His sacrifice made a new and living way. The life which I now live in the flesh, I don't live like I used to live. I live now by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I didn't really know what it meant to live until I trusted Jesus Christ. I didn't know what life was until I trusted Him as Savior. He made me alive spiritually. And really, since the day I got saved when I was 17, I've looked at life through a different pair of eyes. And His death and sacrifice made all that possible. And then the third thing is down in verse 21. It says, And having a high priest, and having a high priest over the house of God. I have a high priest. My high priest is Jesus Christ. He's my mediator. He's approachable. He's touched with the feelings of my infirmities. He says, come boldly unto the throne of grace. God's saying, listen, I want you to come. You have a God who is approachable. You don't have a God that says, don't bother me, I'm busy right now. He never puts you on hold. He never asks you to wait for a more convenient time. He never does that. because He's an approachable God, and He's now actively involved in your life if you're saved. He's actively a part of you. So the Bible says, based on those things, based on the things that He told us in verses 19 through 21, He wants us to take some action. And you notice in verse 22, the very first two words are, let us, let us. He didn't say, let me, he didn't say, let you, he said, let us. In other words, he's saying, listen, we need to all do this if we're saved, and we need to do this together if we're saved. And he says, together, we must do things based on the fact that, listen, we've been saved. We have a high priest. We can come boldly unto the throne of grace. We've got all these privileges. Because of these privileges, God says, listen, let us. He's telling us that we need to do some things, and we need to do these three things, we need to do them together. First one, look down at verse 22. He says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. First thing that he says is absolutely necessary to do is to draw near. Now, you couldn't do that before you got saved. You couldn't get close to God before you got saved. But once you got saved, now you have access. You have access to God. You have access to His grace. You have access to His mercy. You have access to the throne of grace. You have access to the friendship of God. And we can draw nigh to Him. Now here's the question I want you to ask yourself this morning. And be honest. But don't share it with anybody. Just you and God. How close are you? How close are you? When God says, draw nigh to me, how far do you have to go? You know, some, it's just a little scooching over. Some, it's several steps. For some, and I'm talking about saved people now, not lost people, saved people, it's a bit of a hike. It's a bit of a hike. are admonished and beseeched. I mean, he's saying, listen, won't you please draw near unto God? Psalm 73, verse 28 says, but it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works. Okay, if it's good for you to draw near to God, then it's not good for you to distance yourself from Him. How close are you to God this morning? James 4, in verse 8, says, draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. He says there that when we make the first move, He'll make the second one. I mean, we'll start to draw closer, and He'll fill up the gap. But it's us that has to make the first move once we're saved. We need to start drawing closer to Him. How are we supposed to draw close to God? Well, according to this verse, it says, with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. Realizing that, first of all, He wants us close. Second of all, when we start getting close, He'll start moving toward us. and that we are already, if you're saved, the Bible says you are accepted in the beloved. So you've already got that acceptance. God just says, I want you to draw nigh unto me, draw near unto him. You know, one of the things I want to ask you, and really this whole thought, I know I've preached a lot of messages around what we've been going through since March. I preached quite a few messages having to do with COVID and how to respond to it. Honestly, I've seen some pretty poor responses by Christian folks. And that bothers me, concerns me. Some folks I thought were maybe further along than they were showed the colors. And some folks I didn't think that were very far along really blossomed and bloomed. That's good. Trouble does that. Trouble does that. It really shows who and what we really are. But I want to ask you this question. I want you to be, again, be honest with God. You don't have to say a thing to me. It's not my business, but it's your business and it's God's business. Are you closer to God today than you were back in February and March when this whole thing began. Now, you know what I've witnessed, again, with my eyes, I've seen a lot of Christians kind of peter out, go the wrong direction. Some of that is, you see that just in church attendance, and we'll be talking about that here in just a minute, because I think it's extremely, extremely important. But you just see it in that. You see it in dedication. We had to back off on some things. We're just getting started back up again. And I know what the tendency is. I mean, I do. I've had to fight it myself. I'm not standing here telling you that I have come through these months totally unscathed. No way. I'm preaching this as much to me as I am to you. I mean that, really. The truth is, is that when, I think it was last week, last week or the week before, one of those weeks. No, it was last week. We came back to Sunday school and we started Sunday school with the adults, started Sunday school with the kids. We started junior church back up. I struggled with that a little bit. I mean, I gotta cut an hour out of my morning now and come to church. And you're laughing because you had the same struggle, okay? What I'm saying is, is that what we've gone through, and I'm preaching to you this morning because I don't think it's over. I think things could get tighter. I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm not a prophet nor a son of a prophet, but it looks like some things could drastically change. I know there's some people in our country that really want things to change drastically in our country. They don't like the America that we have. They don't like the freedom that we have. If we're not careful and we're not diligent, it's going to affect our hearts. And that's the very first thing that God tells us here. He says, let us draw near. The author of, you know, it's the Lord who gave it by inspiration, but the human author that wrote it, wrote it down, said, let us, let us draw near, let us draw nigh unto God. Why? Because that's where the whole thing really takes place is in the heart. And we need to make sure that our heart is in the right place. And when we draw near to God, we've got to be clean. We've got to be right before him. You go over to, and don't go there now, but over to Exodus chapter 30 and verses 18 through 21. talks about the priests and what they had to do every day in the ministry in the tabernacle. And they had to wash at the laver before they entered the holy place. In other words, they had to go to the laver, they had to wash up, they had to be clean. They couldn't approach God dirty. And we need to be careful that we're clean on a daily basis. Fellowship with God requires purity. And believers need to come close to God daily with a good conscience and with a clear heart. And it's something, folks, we have to work on. It's something you have to do on purpose. Because if you don't, on purpose, have a plan for getting close to God, you will, by default, start going the other direction. That's just how it works. There is no neutral territory. You'll start to slide back. So the first thing He tells us to do, He says that we need to do together. We must draw near. Let us draw near. Then the second thing, look down in verse 23. Now what this tells me is, I can start to waver. I can start to shake a little bit. It's you know Just because I have a profession of faith doesn't mean that I won't capitulate on it from time to time And so he says hold fast the profession of our faith. What that is is that's our witness That's our testimony and it says that we ought to do it without Wavering. Why is that so important? Well, first of all, we need to be steadfast and continual and it affects our relationship with God, but then secondly It affects our relationship with other folks that are watching us. It affects our kids. It affects our testimony with the world. lost people that see us. If we're wavering, if we're fluctuating up and down in our Christian life, they see that fluctuation. And over in the book of James, it says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. And that's what wavering is. Wavering is just simply double-mindedness and it's instability. And the reason why we ought to be without wavering is because he's faithful. You know, we sung about that, great is thy faithfulness. I love that song, because oftentimes I'm not. Can I tell you something with absolute, complete assurance? God never wavers in faithfulness. Never. Absolutely never wavers. Our steadfastness, is based upon the fact that He is faithful. And it's a testimony to His faithfulness. People can't see God. All they can see is God in us. And as soon as you get saved, of course, the Bible says the Spirit of God lives inside of you. The only way they're going to see God is they're going to see Him through us. And that's why it's so important for us to be faithful and us to be steadfast. Do others see in you, do they see consistency, or do they see wavering? And understand, when they see wavering, you say, well, yeah, it kind of reflects bad on me and what I believe. No, no, no, no, no. That's not the problem. It reflects bad on your God. It makes Him look bad. You know, when Moses went to God after he came down off the mount, God wanted to wipe everybody out. And Moses said, look, if you want to go ahead and just take me, but please don't wipe them all out because I know what the heathen will say. The heathen will look at you in a bad light and will not understand your character if you wipe everybody out. Well, he came to God on the basis of, God, I want you to look good to the rest of the world. Well, that's true today. And it's true through us. That's why it's so important for us to have a good and fast-holding, unwavering testimony. Do others seek consistency? or do they see wavering? It says, hold fast your profession. A profession is an open declaration of our faith in God and our trust in His word. You know, I've said this, I've said this for eight months. I'm going to continue to say it, I guess. People see whether or not your God is real by how you respond to this COVID thing. One of the things that really concerns me is I see Christian folks acting just like the world. You put a Christian person and their reaction to, not all, but some, you put a Christian person right next to a lost person and you can't tell a difference in the way they're responding. There's just as much fear in the saved person as there is in the lost person. That's wrong. It's more than wrong, it's sinful and it's a horrible testimony. Do we have a God who can take care of us? I believe we do. Listen, we've had some folks that have had it already. You know, we haven't lost one yet. And I don't say that flippantly, and I just heard about somebody who is, I can't remember who it was now, but somebody was telling me about someone who's 14 years old. and their life is in danger because of COVID. Now, I think they either had a pre-existing condition or it caused another problem because they had a weakness in an area. So I'm not being flippant. Please believe me, I'm not being flippant about this thing, but your attitude, you know, does COVID reveal that you have a God or that you're no different from the rest of the world? And a lot of our reactions have really, been no different than the rest of the world. You know, you think about this. We aren't persecuted. At least not yet. I think it's coming. And I really do. And I'm not saying that to try to scare you. I'm just being honest about it. I think persecution's coming. This country does not look at Christianity as it used to look at Christianity. It used to look at Christianity as the solution to trouble. Now they're looking at us as the reason for trouble. They're looking at us as the thing that stops progress, what they call progress, in the wrong direction. So it's obvious, you know, there's some pressure and there's some possible persecution that's gonna come. But here's what I have seen. It's not been persecution, it's just been difficult times and difficult situations and inconveniences. But here's what I've watched and I've observed. We've gotten weak and we've gotten sloppy with our profession. And we ought not to be weak. And we ought not to be sloppy. These things ought to strengthen us. And I realize we've not been here before, so you're going to stumble a little bit. No problem. But God says, listen, you've got to draw near to Me. Let us draw near. He says you've got to hold fast that profession. I think one of the reasons why it's so important to hold fast the profession, so many people depend on it. So many people depend on it. I've been reminded, particularly over these last eight months, I've been reminded just how lost Auburn is and how much they're steeped in religion rather than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And honestly, folks, and I realize there's other Christians, there's other saved people in this town besides just you and me. I know that. but it's so important for them to see Christ in us. It is absolutely vital that they see Christ in us. And then the third thing that he says we gotta do together, look down in verses 24 and 25. It says, 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 ye see the day approaching." What he says that we need to do together is to consider one another. Consider one another. He says the way that we need to consider one another and be a blessing one to another is by provoking one another. Now, careful, okay? Some of us are better at provoking than others are. But this isn't talking about teasing. This isn't talking about giving them a jab. This is talking about motivating. This is talking about encouraging one another because it says provoke one another in two things. Number one is in love. We ought to be provoking. What have you done lately to provoke somebody else to love God more? What have you done lately to provoke someone else to love other people more? That's our job. We're supposed to be doing that. We're supposed to provoke one another to love and to good works. Good works are just doing something for God. And part of doing something for God may be even doing something for others, but you're doing it first and foremost for the Lord. But just doing something for God. You provoke folks by doing things yourself and then getting other people Here's what I've seen over the last eight months. We're used to not having visitation. We're used to not having Sunday school. We're used to not having junior church. We're used to not having choir. We're used to not having a whole bunch of stuff, okay? We're used to not having Fifth Sunday dinners. I think it's next Sunday, is the fifth Sunday. And we're not gonna have a fifth Sunday dinner. I'd like to go back to that. But here's what happens when those kind of things happen. If we're not careful, we start backing off. We get weak. We get kind of spongy and squishy. You know, the scripture makes it real clear. Look down at verse 25. It says, 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. It's talking about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. It's talking about this. Now you say, what are you preaching that to the Sunday morning crowd for? Because you folks have been affected too. and I've been affected, and we've got to be careful. We've got to be careful. Here's what I have seen over the last eight months, and of course, I've seen this even before this thing took place, but there are some that don't make church a priority. Before COVID, We're running between 70 and 90 folks. Since COVID, our best day has maybe been 55, 60, something, pushing it on 60. And that's not been normal. Well, what happened? I know there are some things that were unavoidable and folks have to be quarantined. I understand this. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm talking about the times when we've just, you know, church is important, but yeah, I can stay home and watch it online. Church is important, but when I go away somewhere, you know, I can just watch it online. I don't have to go to a church. No, he says, forsake not the assembling. Assembling. Can I tell you something on vacation? I've been to some really poor churches. I mean, some really bad ones. I was talking to someone, I think it was Jerry. He was saying that, yo, we went to a church, boy, what a mess that was. It was either him or his dad. And, you know, when you're on vacation, you do that. I understand that. I understand that. But do you know something? Every time you walk into a, you think about this. Every time a stranger on vacation comes into our church, Do you get discouraged or do you get encouraged? You get encouraged. The preacher gets encouraged, I'll tell you that, okay? Why is it? Just their presence. Well, you know what? You could be an encouragement just by having your body show up. Just by having it show up. I have watched, and we're just talking turkey here this morning, okay? We're just talking turkey. I've watched. Our Sunday night services drop drastically. It didn't used to be that way. It's dropped. Some of you folks got no intention of coming tonight. I don't get that. It doesn't say forsake not the assembling of yourselves together one day a week. It doesn't even say Sunday morning and Sunday night. It says, the assembling of yourselves together. In other words, when the family gets together, we all ought to come, because it's our family. And we love each other. And we're encouraging one another. Let us consider one another. Can I tell you, when we get lazy about coming to church, we're not considering one another. We're considering ourselves. We consider our own selves. We don't consider others. The assembling means in person. It doesn't mean online. Now again, I'm glad we've got online services. There have been people that have been sick. They couldn't participate in the services without it. Man, I'm glad it's there. But don't use that as an excuse to stay home when you could be here if you wanted to be. Again, is church a, listen, even before I got into the ministry, church was more important to me than my family. Church was more important to me than my work. I didn't fluff off church for family reunions, never have, never will. Since I've been back in New York, we've had, Things have been going on over in the western part of the state, and they're going on Sunday. I can't go. And you say, oh, it's because you're a pastor. I don't want to go. This is a priority. It is a priority. And when I go on vacation, this is a priority. Now, I know there's exceptions to the rule. I understand. We're not talking about the exceptions. Just be careful of your exceptions. They can grow. Okay. We just need to be careful of those. You can't be a blessing that you ought to be watching the service online. You just can't. You know, you say, well, I got COVID. Well, I understand, but you can't be a blessing. You're not out there. Okay. And I'm not saying you're wrong, therefore, no, he wants you to stay, please don't come with COVID, okay? Please stay home, please watch it online, that's what it's there for. And hopefully it won't come through the lines and affect the guys in the sound booth, but, although Aaron did get it, so who knows? But my point is, is that, Coming in person. You are a blessing. Just your warm body. 98.6 or maybe it's 96 or 97. You found out when you came in. But, I mean, what a service we've got. We even tell you what your temperature is before you come in. You know, coming to church is often not convenient. It just and sometimes it's not comfortable. It doesn't fit our schedules okay, but it is absolutely necessary and and You know, I I've watched it over the years people people stay home You know, I don't get somebody going to Walmart, but can't come to church. I during COVID, I don't get it. Can I tell you something? It's a lot safer here than it is at Walmart. I've seen what goes on at Walmart, okay? So have you, all right? They've even got websites that are dedicated to Walmart people. And I go to Walmart, so I guess I'm one of them, but nonetheless, but my point is we have got, we have got, to make this a priority. Why? Because when I do, I'm considering others. Not myself, I'm considering others. When you do come, be a blessing. It says, verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is, but warming a pew. No, that isn't what it says. It says, exhorting one another. Stick around. Come early. Oh, what a thing. But find somebody that you can be a blessing to, that you can be an encouragement to. When you do come and be a blessing, don't just occupy a space. Exhort somebody. It says, let us. Why? Why does he say let us? Because you are personally needed. You're needed. As I said before, this is a family gathering. And when I say that, along with that idea of a family gathering, there's a spirit that you're gonna get here that you don't get at home in your living room watching it in your pajamas, okay? You just don't. Even in a suit and tie, you don't get it. You just don't pick up on the spirit. There is this, man, I enjoy so much You're folks singing. I do. You sing good this morning. That's good stuff. That does something for me. Now, can I tell you something? It doesn't do as much for me when I have to watch it online. It just doesn't. And again, I'm not knocking the online. We're doing it, okay? We're doing it to help folks that cannot, not those who choose not. There's a difference. There's a difference. And the difference is, what are your priorities? In the case of attending services, I think overall, I think it's affected all of us in one form or another. We've used it as an excuse to be sloppy, slothful, and sometimes even get a little sour. Get a little bit of an attitude. Coming to church helps you with all those things. And God says, listen, there's three things that is so important that we do and that we do together. Together, we must draw near to God. How close are you? You know what the bottom line is? You're just as close as you're willing to pay the price to be. You say, well, I'd be closer to God if it wasn't for... That circumstance has nothing to do with your closeness to God. Listen, I'd be close to God if it wasn't for... No, no, no, that person has nothing to do with your... You and I have everything to do with our closeness to God. Together, we must draw near to God. Together, we must hold fast our profession. This world has got to see a solid testimony of Jesus Christ. in each and every one of us. And last of all, we need to together assemble. Why? Because we need one another. We need one another. I, you know, I need you. And I don't mean I need you because I'd rather preach to full pews than empty pews. That isn't what I'm talking about. I need you personally. You need me personally. We need each other personally. We need God. We need for that which is right, and we need one another. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father, I'm thankful this morning for the things that we absolutely must do. And boy, you're right at the top of the list. We have got to be close to you. And that's our responsibility. Sometimes it's harder to get there than other times because We gotta go get through more in our life. We gotta battle more. In these last eight or nine months, there've been some battles. There've been some obstacles in our way and stuck up in our way. And Father, honestly, sometimes we've let those obstacles stop us. There's not an obstacle that would be put in our way that should stop us from getting close to you. Lord, help us. First and foremost, above anything else that we've heard this morning, may we draw nigh to you. May we hold fast our profession. And may we not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. These things are so necessary, especially in these days. Lord, please take this message and apply it to our hearts. Help us to apply it. Help us to look at it. How are we doing? Father, as you speak to our hearts, Help us to respond to you. There might be someone here this morning, whether it be here or online, that has never trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. Before they can do the drawing near that we're talking about this morning, they've got to trust Christ. They've got to get saved. They've got to realize they're a sinner on their way to hell, and that the only way that they can obtain salvation is by believing in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the work on the cross. and cry out to you for mercy and ask you to save their soul. Lord, I pray that that might take place this morning with anyone who's listening or watching who does not know Christ as Savior. God, we give this invitation to you, we put it in your hands. Lord, please use it and speak to our hearts as you speak to us. May we say yes to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.