Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 to 25, and I mentioned it last week, I'll say it now and I'll say it as the sermon goes on, but this is the dividing point in the book of Hebrews, where we are tonight, this afternoon, Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 19, is sort of the end of section one of the book, and now the beginning of section two of the book, which is the therefore, therefore, Let us now live rightly. Follow with me as I read from God's word, Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 19. This is the word of the living God. Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh, And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having 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 stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. There was a video on YouTube floating around a while ago. It was a cute video of a young boy who was playing basketball on a team. The video shows him getting the ball and he is dribbling the ball all the way down the court. And right when he gets to the basket, you suddenly realize he's been going the wrong way. So right at the very end of the video, before he's about to shoot that ball into the basket, his coach runs onto the court and the coach blocks the shot. And the coach says, hey, you're going the wrong way. You're on this team. We are supposed to be going that direction. Now think about that for a sec. What a simple illustration. What a simple story. You have the jersey on. You're on this team. So play like it. Act like it. Live like it. You don't want to be on the team and not play like it. Think of the gospel using that analogy with me. You and I can think of the work of God's grace in saving sinners like God putting you on the team. God has put you on the team. And now that you're on the team, now that you're on his team, all by his doing, so now the duty is for us to play like it. To not go the wrong direction, but to play like we're on his team. Let's take that analogy and put it in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapters one to 10 is all about how God has put you on the team. namely through Jesus Christ, your great high priest. The beauty of Christ, the work of Christ, the priesthood of Christ, the finished sacrifice of Christ, the eternal redemption of Christ, all that he has done for you in this great work of Jesus, God has, as it were, put you on the team, on his team. Now in chapter 10, beginning in verse 19, God says, now, Play like it. You got the jersey on. You're on the team. He did all the work for you. There's nothing left to be done. You're on the team. Play like it. Play like it. This theme permeates so much of the New Testament. It's the lifeblood of the New Testament that you and I as believers have an identification in Christ, that we are joined to him. Then we have an obligation, therefore, to live it out. Or let's change the wording a little bit. We could talk about who you are in Christ and now how you are to live in Christ. Or maybe we could reword that a little bit more. We could think about what God has done for you in the gospel, and then how you must live for him in light of the gospel. We could think about his work for you in Christ, and now your walk in him as an obedient servant. of Christ. You get the point. You get the point. If you have the jersey on, if you're saved, if God has put you on the team, therefore, we ought to live a certain way. Now, we're gonna come back to Hebrews here in a minute, but I wanna ask all of you to turn back to the book of Romans with me. Go to Romans because what I want to do is I wanna give you four examples in the New Testament of this idea of who you are and then how you are to live. What God does for you and then therefore how you live for him. Beginning in Romans 1, verse 16, the apostle Paul says, Romans 1, 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God, for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in this gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the righteous, the just, Man shall live by faith. Well, then you just keep reading Romans and what does Paul do? There's not any command. There's the explanation of God's perfect righteousness and how all humankind does not measure up and how God has solved the problem in Jesus Christ, the God-man who came and made a redemption through grace and through faith in him, you can be counted righteous and justified. Well, then in chapter six, then we are told, because you are made new, you are no longer a slave to your sin. You don't have to give into your sin. God has made you new. Chapter seven says, even when there's this wrestling with sin, God, in his amazing gift, is the remedy for wretched sinners like us, who rescues us from the body of sin. In chapter eight, there's this great declaration that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ because Jesus does what the law could never do. And even though God has foreknown his people and he has predestined his people and he called his people and justified them and he will glorify them, it is all a work of God. That's Romans 1 to 11. That's your identity. That's what God has done for you. Then you turn to Romans chapter 12, and if you look in Romans 12 verse 1, therefore, Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies, what mercies? Everything he's already talked about in Romans 1 to 11, those are the mercies. The work of God, the work of Christ, the wrath of God satisfied in Christ, that you are reconciled, that's the mercy of God. In light of that, I want you to present your body a living and holy sacrifice. God's work for you, Therefore your walk in him." Turn the page, or a couple of pages, and let's go to the book of Ephesians and see the exact same pattern here in Ephesians. In Ephesians chapters 1 to 3, we see God's work for sinners. Let's just begin in chapter 2. Chapter two tells us in verse one that you were dead in your sins. Verse two, that you used to walk this way, just like the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit working in the sons of disobedience. Verse three, you used to live following your passions, following your desires, following your lusts of the flesh. You were indulging your fleshly desires and you were by nature, children headed for hell. That's who you were. Verse four, but God. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love, has made us alive. All of that in chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Ephesians is God's work for you. It's your identity. It's all about the call of God upon you. Then you turn to Ephesians 4, verse 1. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the call." Well, that call is the call of Ephesians 1 and 2 and 3. That's what God did for you. I want you to now live in light of it. Do you see it? Here's what God has done for you, and here's how you are to now live for him. Turn a couple of pages to Colossians. Colossians, and let's just look at Colossians 1, verse 13 and 14. Colossians 1, 13, again, tells us about Christ's work. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness, and he transferred us into the kingdom of the beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Guess where you are in that, totally passive. God did all the work. God did the transferring work. God did the redeeming work. God did the forgiving work. God did the rescuing work. It is all a work of God. Now chapter three of Colossians verse one. Therefore, Since you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Or we could skip down to Colossians 3, verse 5. Therefore, put to death or consider the members of your earthly body as dead to the sins of old. We have to remember what God has done for us and then, therefore, how we are to live for him. Romans, Ephesians, Colossians. Let's look at one more example. Turn the page to First Thessalonians. First Thessalonians, we read in the scriptures how God does this marvelous saving work. Look at chapter two of Colossians and in verse 12, Paul says, I want you to walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you to his own kingdom and glory. I want you to remember that God has called you and then we are to walk in a certain way. In First Thessalonians one to three, we have the doctrine, look at chapter four. of 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse one. Finally, then brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk to please God, that you excel still more. Do you see the pattern here, right? The early part of these letters, here's what God has done for you. Then there's the therefore, here's how you're to live. The order is really important. You can't switch it up, and both of them are very important. You cannot have one without the other. The exact same pattern happens in the book of Hebrews. Now let's go back to Hebrews chapter 10. Because in Hebrews 1 to 10, here's a couple of key words that I want to give you. We have doctrine. And we've been studying Christology for months and months and months. The beauty of Christ, the worth of Christ, the high priesthood of Christ. He is our prophet, our priest, our king. He has made atonement for us. He's the greater priest. We've looked at all that great doctrine. Now in chapter 10, verse 19, oh, there's some doctrine, but now we're gonna turn to duty. Because the doctrine is true, you have a duty. Or maybe we could use these words. Hebrews 1 to 10 has been exposition, teaching from the word. Now we come to exhortation. Here's what you must do. what you must do. And today, we're gonna see that in three let us phrases. Let us, let us, let us, three times. In fact, it's very similar to what we read earlier in the book of Hebrews, chapter four. If you remember Hebrews four, beginning in verse 14, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession For we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace." That's Hebrews 4. Verses 14 to 16, same idea. After all this theology, let us. After all this doctrine, let us now respond. After all that God has done, let us now live rightly. Do you get the point? You get the point of what the author is doing. In Hebrews 1, we saw the worth of Jesus. In Hebrews 2, we saw the humanity of Jesus. In Hebrews 3 and 4, we saw that Jesus is our prophet and our priest. In Hebrews 5 to 10, we saw the great crosswork of our great high priest, that he is qualified, he is pure, he gives the new covenant, he gives eternal salvation, he gives full forgiveness, he gives you an eternal inheritance, all by the great high priest. I mean, there's just so much there, so much there. Therefore, look at chapter 10, verse 19. Brethren, he gives kind of a one to two sentence reminder. Let me remind you of all of Hebrews who we've looked at. Since we have confidence, verse 19, to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. What does that mean? Christian, remember, you can come to the Holy of Holies. You can have relationship with God. You can do what no Old Testament worshiper could ever dream to do. Go to the Holy of Holies with blood, not of an animal, but the blood of the divine Son of God himself. He goes all the way into heaven to do his perfect work. He does an eternal work. He gives you a forgiving work. He gives you a redeeming work that is a perfect, full inheritance in heaven for you because you have all of this. Chapter 10 tells us, because we have confidence, verse 19, to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new, meaning a new covenant way, and it's a living way, verse 20, because all the animals of old stay dead. But this one is alive through the resurrection, a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil. Jesus rents the veil from top to bottom, and he went right into the Holy of Holies, and he brings all of his people there. We have confidence. Verse 21 of Hebrews 10. We have a great priest over the house of God. Going back to Hebrews 3, Moses was a servant in the house, but Jesus is a son over the house. We have a greater priest. We have a greater advocate. We have someone who brings us into the presence of God. Do you remember all of that? To which the whole congregation says, yes, preacher, I remember everything you've said, right? Right, yes, we remember all of that. That's what he's saying here. Because of that, think of the relationship that we have with God. Think of the boldness that we have with God. Think of the confidence that we have in our God. Think of security that we have. Think of this identity that we have in God. Let me illustrate it. Because we have all these things, we have confidence. We have security, we have boldness. It reminds me of this story in church history. I love this story and I can't not tell it in this time, in the sermon. In the fourth century, there was a preacher in the city of Constantinople, near Istanbul, modern day. His name was Chrysostom, John Chrysostom. He was brought before the Roman emperor and the Roman emperor put this Christian preacher on trial and the emperor threatens Chrysostom and he says, I will banish you if you remain a Christian. To which Chrysostom replied, no, you can't banish me for this world is my father's house. Well, then the emperor got really upset. He said, well, then I'm gonna kill you. And Chrysostom said, oh, you can't kill me because my life has already died and I'm hidden with Christ in God. Well, now the emperor is upset and he says, well, then I'm gonna take away all of your treasures and I'm gonna take away all of your money. And Chrysostom says, oh, no, you can't do that because all of my treasures are in heaven and my heart is there as well. Then the Roman emperor says, well, then I'm gonna drive you away from man, and you're gonna have no friend left on this earth. To which Chrisoftim says, oh, you can't do that either, for I have a friend in heaven who is always with me, and you can never separate me from him. And then Christoftim continued, I defy you, the emperor, for there is nothing that you can do to hurt me. Where do you get that boldness? Like, how do you get that kind of courage? It's because of chapter 10, verse 19. We have boldness. We have boldness to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Verse 21, we have a great priest. You know that, Chrysostom knows that. And now the author's gonna say, live like it. Our lives should be changed. Our lives should be emboldened. One commentator said, contemplating what Jesus Christ has done should stir us to greater action. Contemplating what Jesus has done should stir us to greater action. The saving work of Jesus must fuel our holy walk. So with all of that by way of introduction, who we are and now how we are to live, What I wanna do in verses 22 through 25 is I want you to see three imperative commands. Three imperative commands for all believers. It's almost like the author says, now, I know you know the doctrine. You know this great high priest. You know what he's done for you. Yes, you're saved. Yes, you're redeemed. Yes, you're forgiven. Yes, you're in this new covenant. So what are the three imperative commands? Well, you see it. Look at verse 22. It begins with let us. You see it in verse 23, let us. And you see it in verse 24, let us. Let us. It's one of the favorite phrases of the author of Hebrews. Let us. Let us, let us. And what are the three imperative commands? Number one, let us draw near to God. Number two, let us hold fast to our confession. And number three, let us stir up one another. Let's begin, and we'll work through these one by one. So number one, what is the first imperative command? Because of what Jesus has done for us, now the first imperative command, let us draw near. I'm reminded of over the 13 years that we've been here at Christ Fellowship, I've gotten to know the police chief of our local Department here right down the road and from time to time I drop by the department and sit with the chief and talk with him and But inevitably when I get to the doors, there is an outer door that is always locked And then there's also an inner door that is also locked and guess who doesn't have access me. I So I have to ring the bell and then I go to the inner door and I have to talk to the secretary and tell them that I'm here to see the chief. And yet he'll come out inevitably and he says, Jeff, come on in, come on in, come on in. Because I couldn't do it on my own. But when he leads me in, I can come into his office and I can sit down and I can talk with the chief. How much more, how much greater is the privilege to have an invitation, not from a local police chief, but from the almighty God who says, come. Verse 19, let, or pardon me, verse 22, let us draw near. Come near. Come near. It's kind of like what he said earlier in chapter four, verse 16. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And you and I read this in Hebrews 10, verse 22, and we say, okay, okay, I should draw near to God. How do I do that? And this verse is, it's a very long verse with a lot of little phrases that are all connected together. And he tells you how. First, you are to draw near to God sincerely. We come to God sincerely. Or if you have the ESV, with a true heart. With a true heart. Meaning, when we come to God, when we worship God, when we exalt Jesus, there should be no hypocrisy in our worship. There should be no hiding anything in our hearts. But simple, genuine worship, childlike trust in our Father. Let us draw near with a true heart or with a sincere heart. And we do so in full assurance of faith. How do we draw near to God? We do it sincerely. Second, we have to do it believingly. We have to draw near believingly. We have to have full assurance of faith. I have to believe Him. My hope rests on Him. We come because the King, He bids me to come. You ever been somewhere and they're like, who are you and how did you get in here? I'm here because He let me in. I'm here because she brought me in. Whatever that access point is, we come near believingly. Why? Because Jesus, our King, he bids us to come. We come sincerely, we come believingly. Third, we come confidently. Why? Verse 22, we come in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with water. What does that mean? You can draw near to God this very day, knowing that you're clean. knowing that your guilt is removed, knowing that you've been washed by the cleansing work of Christ, you can draw near confidently. By the way, this is a little bit technical, but jot this down. In the Greek language, it is overly clear that all of the words in the verbal forms is regular, ongoing, continuous action. We are to be continually drawing near to God. We are to constantly have a sincere heart. We are to constantly have the full assurance of faith. We are to know that we are continually clean and without guilt. Now, this is so cool. I love this. Because this is language of the Old Testament priesthood. I mean, this is all language of the Old Testament, how the priest would be cleansed, how he would be acceptable. He would be washed with water to be pure and to do his priestly task. In fact, Exodus 29 verse 4 says that Aaron was brought near and washed with water to do his work. And the author says, look, let me write that down because you don't need Aaron as your priest anymore. Get the theology here. You are a priest. You are a priest. You are able to draw near to God. You have relationship with God. You can draw near to the holy God of the universe. You have intimacy, you have access, you have nearness to God. Hallelujah. It's good news. What do we do? Number one, let us draw near to God. A second thing that we ought to do, a second imperative command. Number two, if you're taking notes, let us hold to our confession. Let us hold to our confession. This is verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. When our five kids were young, and many of the children here probably can relate, all the kids had their own respective stuffed animal, whatever the name of that thing was. And that little child would hold on to that stuffed animal. They would cling to that little animal. They would hold it fast, whether you're at home, whether they're lying in their bed, whether they're in the car, whether they're at the park, whether you're on vacation somewhere, whether you're across the world somewhere, they're gonna have that little stuffed animal near them. Let us hold fast to Christ anywhere we go with such a tight hold, because Christ is infinitely the greater one. You know, you think of sailors who work on the sea, and they know that situations may arise when perhaps a hope in the ship and all the people is depending upon one thing. When all hope has been lost, a sailor has hope in the anchor. When everything else fails, there's hope in the anchor. We, in a similar way, ought to hold fast. We ought to cling tightly and unbendingly and unswervingly to the hope that we confess. Everything else can fail us. But verse 23, let's hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering as our anchor. For he who promise is Faithful. Now, let's ask the question for a minute. Verse 23, what's the confession of our hope? This is not how strong and mighty your profession of faith is. That's not the meaning here. The meaning of verse 23 is the body of Christian doctrine, the faith, the Christian doctrine that we hold on to. Like what? Scripture. Scripture is the divine authority. It is the perfect word of God. It is inerrant, inspired, sufficient, infallible, authoritative. It is reliable. That's the Bible. And it reveals God, who is the creator. He is the only true God. He is holy and just and righteous and gracious and saving. And he will punish all sinners. And the Bible reveals Christ, who is truly God, truly man. He came and died for our sins. He took our sins. He took our punishment. He was buried. He was raised from the dead. He is the perfect righteous one, and he is the only way to God. And the salvation is found by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that all results in the glory of God alone. And all who are ruined by sin can be redeemed in Christ as they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That's this confession, this body of Christian truth that we hold on to. This is the confession that gives us hope. This is why in Hebrews chapter three, verse six, we hold on to our hope. This is why in Hebrews 3, 14, we have the beginning of our confidence made sure. This is why in chapter four, verse 14, we hold firmly to our confession. Why? Listen carefully, because our hope is not how strongly you hold on to Jesus. No, no, no. Our hope is on His mighty grasp of us. And when that happens, when you get that, God is so thoroughly to be relied upon. God has made a promise and he is so faithful to keep his word. Being saved, going to heaven, living the Christian life is not about your ability holding on to him, it's about his mighty power in holding on to you, which then fuels and motivates us. to cling ever so tightly to him. But think about this for a sec. Verse 23, here's the imperative for us. We must hold to our confession. Now, think about that for a minute. Is your Christian witness real? Do you hold fast to the confession? The author is not interested if you know about it. He wants to know, are you holding it fast? He's not interested if you know some Bible verses. He wants to know, are you clinging to this? Maybe we ought to go a little deeper. Do you see Jesus Christ changing you in your Christian life? Have you made progress so that your Christian life today has progressed more than what it was a year ago? Do people see Christ changing you? Do people hear Christ's gospel coming from your lips? Do you hold on to Jesus, to this confession so much that people say, yeah, that guy, I know him. He talks about Jesus all the time. Yeah, he won't shut up about this gospel. He keeps talking about the things that he's seen and heard and this life transforming power of the Lord. Do you hold fast to Christ? Do people hear the call to repent and believe from your lips? Do you hold on to this confession that produces hope and you're sharing that, you're proclaiming that, you're holding on to it without wavering because you know that God is faithful and people are hearing that call to repent and believe from your own lips. You know, we are living in pretty crazy times. You know, in recent years, even in current times, people fear the bird flu more than they fear burnings in hell. There are people who fear COVID more than they fear Hades. There are people who fear losing their phone more than they fear losing their soul. There are many who are more concerned with their reputation before men than they are about being reconciled to God. And what's the author saying? I want you to hold on to Christ. I want you to cling to him. I want you to hold fast to him. But again, hear this so clearly. Our confidence is not in our perseverance in God, but in his preservation of us. Our confidence in our hope is not in our strength, but in his might. Our confidence is not that we are holding onto him so tightly, but that he who began a good work will perfect it for us. He is the object of our hope. He is our trust. He is our reliance because we know that our God is faithful. What is the author saying? He is saying, in light of all that Jesus has done, in light of the whole priestly work of Christ, because you've been redeemed, what must you do? Number one, let us draw near to God. Number two, what must we do? Hold on to our confession. And now number three, here's the third imperative command. If you're taking notes, jot this down. Number three, let us stir up one another. Oh man, this is so needed. This is so needed in our media-driven culture. No, no, no. In our media-driven church culture. There's online church. We live in conference crazed era with celebrity pastors and real good preachers all over the place. And there are great preachers. all over the internet, but yet we need to hear the simple truth again from the Bible. Get up and meet with your local church weekly. That's the command from our text. You see, fellowshipping with God and this Christianity thing is never an individualistic enterprise. It's not to be selfish, it's never to be a self-absorbed thing. Christianity means I'm a member, you're a member of a body, and if you're not there, I'm hurting, and if I'm not there, you're hurting because we need each other. With Christ as our head. You know, there were some people, I think because of persecution, that in the first century early Jewish Christian church, there were many who were like, you know, this following Jesus thing is causing some of my Jewish friends to turn on me and persecution is getting a little thick and it's being a little bit, it's getting hard following Jesus. And so the temptation is to fall into what's comfortable. I don't need to go to church again today and meet with those believers. And the author is saying, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't forsake the assembling together. Don't fall back into what's comfortable. We need each other. We need to gather in the fellowship. The point is not what we get out of the assembly. It's how can I gather? How can I give? How can I serve? How can I contribute? How can I benefit the local assembly of believers? where God has me. Now, with all that, look at verse 24. Here's the third let us. Let us consider how to stimulate one another. Maybe you have in your translation, stir up one another. Maybe you have spur one another on. Maybe a little more literal rendition from the Greek to think of this would be let's provoke one another in a good way. Let's stimulate one another to love and good deeds. The Greek verb cannot be too strongly emphasized. This is a strong verb that means we need to, listen carefully, make every effort to impel one another to love and good deeds. We need to persuade, help, stir up, actively, intentionally, and proactively. Verse 24, let's consider how to stimulate, spur one another on to love and good deeds. Now, this is appropriately so, a great church membership verse. This is Christian community. This is God's plan for the church. Every member in the church What does this mean? It means that we ought to intentionally, proactively, and in an ongoing way, engage in community care for one another. We can't say, that's the pastor's job, that's the deacon's job, that's the missionary's job, that's the elder's job. No, no, no, no, no. It's all of our jobs. And what's really neat about this, it's not optional, nor is it casual, and nor is it passive, and we can't say, that's not my personality. This is not self-focused. This is not, I don't like them, I'm busy, I've got a lot going on. Let's just be honest, excuse, excuse, excuse. God is saying we need to consider how to spur each other on to love and good deeds. Now, think of that word love. How can God use me? How can God use you to stir one another up, to strive with all of our might, to be an assembly distinguished by agape love, self-giving love? Are you loving? Are you spurring others on to love? And if you answer yes, then the follow-up question is how? What's your ministry? How are we engaged in spurring one another on to Christian love and good deeds? Good deeds. We ought to be people who are zealous for good deeds. Titus 2 verse 14 says that God saved us so that we would be zealous for good deeds. I love that word, zealous for good deeds. So Pastor Jeff, Every one of the 60 plus members, are you playing your part? Are you playing your part? These are the imperative commands. after the work of Christ and all that he's done, now let us, let us consider, let us think about how we can stimulate, spur, provoke, as it were, help, persuade each other in a thoughtful, intentional, proactive, continuous way. Spur each other onto love and good deeds. Now, somebody, Somebody could read this and say, Jeff, I hear what you're saying and I agree. But then you look at their life and you think, yeah, but you're not doing it. And then they're like, well, what does that mean? What does it look like to do this? Verse 25 tells us in some clarifying phrases how to do this. Number one, not forsaking our own assembling together. So if we're not gonna forsake the meetings, what does that mean? We're gonna gather together. And then what do we do? Verse 25, as is the habit of some, but rather we are to be encouraging one another. So think about this. We are to be actively meeting together as a church and actively gathering with this thought. How can I encourage the brethren? So I can't come late. I can't leave early. I can't just sort of do my own thing and not talk to anybody. That's not encouraging. That's not mutually spurring each other on. We are not forsaking the assembling. We are to be encouraging one another. Why? Verse 25 ends, and we ought to do it all the more. Don't miss that. That's the temporal phrase. We ought to be doing it more. And the ESV, Has it right with the capital D because you see the day. There's coming the day when Jesus is returning. The day when the end times drama will unfold. That day is drawing near. Time is too short to be ignoring the church. Time is too short to be neglecting the assembly. Time is too short to be self-absorbed. Because the capital D, the day, that day is coming, what do we do? I need the assembly with the people of God. I believe that all believers ought to aggressively strive to attend the church gatherings every week. We wrote a blog years ago, actually it came from the fruit of an elder meeting on why every Christian should aggressively strive to meet weekly with the people of God. Sickness happens, vacations happen, that's the exception though, not the norm. Charles Spurgeon I think is so right when he said, it is a bad example if you miss church to hang with your family and friends. Did you hear that? It's a bad example if you miss church to hang with your family and your friends at another gathering. He said to be absent from the assembly of the friends of Christ is a poor witness. And he is exactly right. I mean, there are some who refuse to come. There are some who stay away from church for this reason or that reason, or they make this excuse, or they make that excuse. And those who have excuse after excuse after excuse, they need to hear this verse. And with much love, and yet with care and proactive intentionality, read Hebrews 10, 25. Don't forsake the assembly. Now, somebody may say, Jeff, why are you telling us that we have to go to church? Okay, first of all, for a child of God, what a privilege it is to gather with the saints. But let's be clear, it is a command to go to church. It's a command to meet with the believers. It's a command. So why is it so important? Let's begin with a few reasons. Number one, God is worthy. He is worthy. God is worthy. He ought to be praised in the congregation. A lot of Psalms talk about that. We ought to gather, number two, because Christ commands it. We gather regularly because, I think, number three, it protects you. It equips you and I think prepares you for hardship. Have there been those times where something happened one week and you remember a line from a hymn that we sang and you think, man, I needed that. And that just carried you through the week. Or maybe something from the word that was read and it just carried you through that suffering. We need that protection. We need that equipping. Fourth, we go and gather for church because it nourishes us. It strengthens us for another week to serve God. I think in our day with all the work and all the parties and all the sports and all the obligations, I think we need to prioritize church because number five, the lost need to see our priorities. You know, I love you and I'm sure that'll be a really fun party, but I can't be there. And maybe I'll call you afterward or I'll come after the worship is done, but I'm gonna gather with my priority, the people of God and worship Christ together. Another reason why we gather is because the church family lacks when every member is not present. It's like a body. I mean, if you just take a finger off, we're lacking. If you take off an ear, if you take off a toe, if you take off an arm, we're lacking, we're not complete. When the whole body is not gathered, there is a member lacking. Another reason we gather together is because we need encouragement in our hearts in gospel truth. You know why? Because you're gonna hear lies from the devil as soon as you leave here. commercials, radio, perhaps work, people, unbelievers, media, all that's out there, all that is just being bombarded us constantly from every direction. We need encouragement in the gospel truth. Another reason we need the church, quite simply, it's the place for you to obey and live out the one another's. for us to live out the one another. So the author of Hebrews is saying, because of what Jesus has done, he's your great high priest, he's done all the work for you, so let's draw near, let's hold on tightly to him, and let's consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. You know, when the church gathers, I wanna be there. Real quick, little personal note with five kids. The five kids are not going to be in our home forever, but when they're in our home, I want them to know church is priority. And I want them to know that when the doors are open, we're going to be there. And if we're traveling or if we're ill, we're going to be back there the next week. And if we're traveling, perhaps we can find another assembly and worship with God's people. But we want to be with God's people. Our text, and all the more. Don't miss that little phrase, all the more. It's not like, oh man, everyone. No, all the more. Repeatedly, regularly, increasing as we say the day drawing near. What is Hebrews 10 doing here? What's the point of all of this? It all goes back to the therefore in verse 19. Therefore, remember what Christ has done? Remember your great high priest? Remember his work of saving you? Remember the full forgiveness that is offered? Remember how you're brought into this new covenant? Yeah, remember how God has worked in you? Now, let us walk. Let us draw near. Let us hold fast. Let us consider Him. As I draw this to a close, I think a good thing that we could do as we go from here today is to ask a question to one another as we're leaving, as we're driving home. How can we be more proactive? How can we be more intentional? How can we be used of God as a member in this local congregation to spur one another on to love and good deeds? So for the next three Wednesdays, for the prayer meeting, we're gonna take each of these three points in the message here from Hebrews, and we're gonna pray through each of them, one of them each week. We're gonna pray that we as a church will live this out. We're gonna pray that we'll be faithful to do this, that we will be proactively, continually, joyfully spurring each other on to love and good deeds. But there's a warning. There are some who take the pendulum and they go to one direction where they focus on the let us. I gotta go to church again, I gotta read my Bible, I gotta pray, I gotta do, I gotta go evangelize, I gotta go to a care group, I gotta, I gotta do, I have to do all these things. And that kind of mindset turns into legalism. That's the pendulum on one side. I've got to do something. I got to go to church. Oh no, I missed church. Oh no, God may not forgive me. And maybe I've lost my status with God. I got to go again and be right with God. No, no, no. Legalism. Legalism is trying to earn favor with God by your works or keep God's favor by your works. That's one spectrum. The other end of the spectrum is also as dangerous. And that's where you focus on the, I know Jesus. I know Jesus, we're cool. I've gone to church, I've prayed the prayer, but their life is not changed. Now, you don't need to share the gospel with me. I know Jesus, we're tight. We're good, we're cool. But you look at their life and you think, yeah, but why are you opposing the gospel? Why are you not walking in holiness? Why are you not attending and serving in a church? Why this? Why this? That's the pendulum swung to antinomianism, lawlessness. I know Jesus, but it doesn't affect my life. It's where somebody has Christ in their head, but not in their heart. And both errors can result in eternal damnation, legalism and antinomianism. What we have to do is maintain the balance of both. Do we know what Jesus has done? Yes. Hebrews 1 to 10. Therefore, we must follow him because of what he's done for us and out of gratitude and obedience to him. We maintain the balance of both. Before we close, in our passage, interestingly, there are three virtues in the Christian life that are mentioned, faith, hope, and love. We see it here in verse 22, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. Guess what? The author is gonna focus on that in Hebrews 11. What's the next virtue? Hope. That's in verse 23. Let's hold fast the confession of our hope. What's that? Hebrews 12. We look to Jesus. We endure until the end when he returns again. And what's the third virtue? In verse 24, let us consider how to stimulate one another to Love, faith, hope, and love. And he's gonna flesh out love in Hebrews 13. Hebrews 11, faith. Hebrews 12, hope. Hebrews 13, love. Faith, hope, and love. This is what the Christian life is all about. Let's do it. Let's live it out. Let's focus on our God together. So brethren, brethren, because we have a great high priest, because Jesus has brought us near to God by his blood, because we are in this new covenant by faith alone in him, beloved, let's respond. Let's draw near to God. Let's hold fast to our confession. and let's be youths of God to spur each other on to love and good deeds. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you that you have given us time this afternoon to hear your word from Hebrews chapter 10. Thank you that you have given us time this afternoon to humbly come before your word And as it were, we say, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. We have beheld your word. We know what you have done for us, and we know how we ought to live. Oh, great God, help us, equip us, enable us. As the sermon has been preached, now may we be diligent to be hearers and doers of the word. We pray all of these things for the glory of Christ.