I'm gonna ask you to take your Bible this morning and turn with me to, back to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10, we're gonna begin our Bible reading at verse number 19. And read from verse 19 down through the end of verse number 25, just this one short section here in the middle of the chapter. Hebrews 10 verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an 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. And 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. Amen. We'll end the Bible reading there at the end of verse number 25. Let's seek the Lord in prayer together. Let's ask his help as we come to consider these verses. Let's pray. Our Father, this morning as we come before you with our Bibles open, we pray for that ministry of the Holy Spirit to point our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would lift him up before us all, and that we would know that help in the inner man, and that we would be fed with the bread of life, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. At the very foundation of biblical Christianity is the teaching that the work of Jesus Christ is a once and for all, finished sacrifice never to be repeated again. That fundamental truth stands in stark contrast to legalistic works-based religion that ultimately puts the weight of salvation on your shoulders rather than on Christ's. this biblical teaching that Christ's work is a finished work really stands in contrast to every other world religion that ultimately teaches salvation to be your responsibility. Look back with me at verse number 12 of Hebrews 10. We read there of Christ that after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. I've pointed out many times before that if you look in the tabernacle, that ceremonial system of Old Testament Jewish religion, there were all sorts of pieces of furniture that are described for us in that tabernacle, but there are no chairs. There was no place for the priest to sit. because the priest's work was never finished. He was constantly working, but that work never finished or ultimately accomplished anything in reality. It was Christ that would come, that would be the reality. Christ offering that once and for all final sacrifice of sin. And what Christ did by that final sacrifice, we see in verse number 14, was that He perfected or He completed forever them that are sanctified. And by Christ's sacrifice, He has ultimately for us that are in Christ, those that are His people, those that are born again, He has secured their forgiveness so that we can read in verse number 17 of this chapter, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And so after establishing these truths at the beginning of chapter 10, the writer of Hebrews goes on to encourage and instruct us as believers that we can enter in to the presence of Christ to the holiest with boldness. It's because of this work of Christ that we see in verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness, confidence to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ. If you look at verse number 20, it makes it clear that this is a reference in the mind of the original Hebrew recipients of this letter to that place that we refer to often as the Holy of Holies. When we read in verse 19 of the Holiest, this new and living way consecrated through us through the veil, It would immediately draw the mind and the attention of these original Hebrew readers to that place on the other side of the veil where the Ark of the Covenant had been kept. Where that Shekinah, that dwelling glory of God, was there above the Ark of the Covenant between the cherubims. It was that place that only once a year, and only with the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, the high priest could go in and offer that sacrifice, that sprinkling of blood. But we read in the Gospels that the sacrifice of Christ, his death on the cross, and at that moment of his death on the cross, that veil was torn in half. It was torn from top to bottom. so that that middle wall of partition is gone and the way is open for every true believer to have access to God through the blood of Jesus Christ and because of his finished work. And so as a result of that, what Paul gives us in this passage is three admonitions that flow out of this as the logical conclusions, the logical results of the finished work of Christ and the boldness of access that we have into the presence of God Himself, this most holy place by the blood of Jesus. And so you see just on the surface of the text there in verse number 22, 23, and 24, three phrases that begin with the words, let us. And so I want to take these three phrases simply as my outline this morning. Let us. And so my subject this morning is simple. If you're one to take notes and you want a title for the message, I would put the title simply as this. Because of Christ, let us. Because of Christ, let us. And Paul, this writer of Hebrews here, he gives us three, as I say, logical conclusions or logical results of the work of Christ on our behalf. So we'll just take these in order, looking at the first one here in verse number 22. So first of all, because of Christ, let us draw near. Because of Christ, let us draw near. We draw near to God in prayer. and we draw near to Him in praise. The desire to be near to God, I would submit to you, is one of the distinguishing marks of a Christian. The desire to be close to one's Savior, to be close to Christ. I think there's a reason. that our young people have kind of by default selected Nearer Still Nearer as the theme song for the youth camp. I don't think there were any adults, I don't think any minister sat down and said, what should we pick as a good theme song? It just organically grew over the years that nearer still nearer that hymn was come back to over and over and over again. because of the message and because of the desire of the heart to be near to Christ and to have that expression of faith in Christ to be at the forefront of our minds. It's in sharp contrast to the unbeliever that really wants nothing to do with God at all. You think of what it is to be saved and in light of what we've been looking at already of this finished work of Jesus Christ. It is a slap in the face to the work of Christ to not desire to be near to him. Matthew Henry puts it this way. He says, the greatest ingratitude to the work of Christ is to keep it distance from him. It shows a great ingratitude of heart. but we draw near to the Lord. If you look at the text here, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. This teaches us that there is a simple and a sincere faith in drawing near to God. We draw near to Him because we have a clear conscience. Again, verse number 22, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. A clear conscience is one of the benefits that flows out of redemption. We talk often of what we call the benefits of redemption. I'll read you one of the catechism questions. What benefits do they receive from justification, adoption, and sanctification? And our catechism writers say this, the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, the summary of our redemption, if you will, are assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. Peace of conscience is one of the benefits of being a child of God. You wonder how unbelievers can sleep at night. The only way they can sleep at night is with a seared conscience. How can an unbeliever lay his head on his pillow lay her head on her pillow at night, and be bombarded with all of their sin and wickedness, and not just be destroyed inside. You know what it's like as a believer. You lay down, and you think of something you did 20 years ago. And you wonder, where in the world did that thought come from? I haven't thought about that sin in 20 years. but to immediately, as a believer, be reminded of the fact. That's repented of and confessed. That sin's under the blood. I'm forgiven. And I can go to sleep. Because he giveth his beloved sleep. A clear conscience to know that your sins are forgiven and Satan can bring whatever discouragements he wants to against the believer, but your sin's under the blood, and your conscience is cleaned because of that. This language here in the book of Hebrews of sprinkling, I think would obviously remind these original Hebrew readers of that cleansing that was done by the sprinkling of hyssop. The whole context here of that holy place, the holiest, the high priest would go with the blood and take the hyssop and dip it and sprinkle that blood in the particular places during that whole ceremony of that day of atonement. And it's a symbol of purification. And verse 22 carries on this imagery with the words, our bodies washed with pure water. He's just piling up the language and the imagery of what it is to be cleaned. And this carries this imagery of our cleansing, the forgiveness of our sins, because there is no longer a wall or a barrier of sin between you and God. You have boldness to enter into this holy place. And so the gospel makes this clear pathway for you to be able to draw near to God. And so in light of this, let us draw near with full assurance of faith. And so because we can draw near to God in prayer, we can seek Him in the place of prayer. The same word that Paul uses here in verse number 22, let us draw near, is translated other places simply as come. Let us come. And it's used in that very familiar passage in Hebrews 4.16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. That same word, draw near, translated in Hebrews 4.16 is come, let us therefore draw near boldly unto the throne of grace. It's the same language. Obviously, the context here, the whole context is teaching us about prayer, is it not? What are we to understand from verse number 19 other than the subject of prayer, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus? Yes, at our death, we pass into the presence of God. Of course, so. But he's not talking about us being dead. He's talking about us being alive now. And how do we enter into this place now? But through prayer. And so as a Christian, you can do this in full assurance of faith. There is no other religion that offers this kind of peace and comfort. Because according to every other of the world's religions, you can never be sure that you've done enough. You can never be sure, you can never be positive that you have met the threshold of what God requires. We're a little bit disconnected from Roman Catholicism. We don't really deal with that a lot in our area. Those that come from up north perhaps have rubbed shoulders with many more Roman Catholics than us southerners have perhaps. But did you know that to claim absolute assurance that you will go to heaven is counted as a mortal sin in Roman Catholicism? Roman Catholicism teaches that you cannot have absolute full assurance of saving faith. It's a sin for you to claim you have such. That's a false gospel. The Bible teaches us that we can have full assurance of faith. that we can enter with boldness and with confidence to the very presence of our God. We can come directly to Him through Christ, not through a saint, not through the Virgin Mary, not through any of these type of things, but we come directly to God. The gospel tells us that it's not about what you have done that gets you to God, but it's about what Christ has already finished, what Christ has already accomplished that opens the pathway for you to draw near in full assurance of faith. And so we can draw near in prayer. But we also draw near in praise, do we not? God accepts our worship on the basis of the shed blood of Christ. We come before the Lord in the beauty of holiness, as the Bible describes it in the Psalms. We come in faith. We come with a clear conscience. We come with a forgiven heart. This is the beauty of holiness that he has worked within us. Removing our sin, taking it away. We can't draw near to God without these things. He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. If you don't believe that He is, you can't draw near to Him. If you don't have faith, you cannot draw near. If you're plagued with unforgiven sin, how can you draw near? Cain tried, did he not? He tried to draw near to God, but what did he do? He brought the fruit of his own hands. He brought his own labors to present before the Lord, and he was rejected for such. And we could multiply those examples. But if you look back at verse 19, we read there that we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. When we praise the Lord, where are we coming? When we praise the Lord, we're coming into the holiest. We don't come casually. We're not coming to a picnic when we come to worship God. We don't come unrestrained. We're not coming to a rock concert. We're not coming to chaos. We're coming into the holiest. We're coming to that one who is high and lifted up. But at the same time, we don't come morbidly. because we're not coming to a funeral. We're coming to one who has risen from the dead. We come into a holy place where the Lord has promised to meet with his people. And so we come with full assurance of sins forgiven. We come with full assurance that God has accepted us and we can draw near. In prayer, we can draw near in praise. And so because we have this boldness to enter, let us draw near. But we move on to verse number 23. The second thing in this passage is, because of Christ, let us hold fast. Because of Christ, let us hold fast. Paul's already used this language. It's like when Paul comes to chapter 10, he remembers everything he already said in chapter 4, because we read in chapter 4, 16 of, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Well, in Hebrews 4, 14, he says this, seeing then we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. And so Paul's already rehearsed this theme. He's already rehearsed this idea of what it is to hold fast, to grasp hold of a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. If I can kind of back us out just a little bit out of chapter 10, just back to bird's eye view of the book of Hebrews as a whole, it's important for us to remember the setting and the original audience of this book. It draws this admonition into a sharper and more clear perspective. This book was written to believing Jews, Hebrews, believing Hebrew expatriates, living among their unconverted countrymen. So these are converted Jews. living outside of Jerusalem among other Jews that had not accepted Christ as the Messiah, that still were engaged in the Old Testament laws and ceremonies and rigmarole, the whole Old Testament Judaism that they had been doing since the days of Moses. They were still engaged in this. And these recipients of this letter, they had embraced Christ as the Messiah, as the fulfillment of all of those types and shadows. And there was a tremendous pressure on them to go back to that Old Testament way of doing things. You know, we're here 30-35 years separated from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We're here 30-35 years off of the day of Pentecost, and the New Testament church had at this point been well established, and the gospel had been preached in many places. and these had laid hold of Christ, they were converted. And the whole point of the book of Hebrews is to show that the work of Christ is a fulfillment of those Old Testament types and shadows. We refer to Hebrews as an epistle, and fair enough, it's fine for us to call it that, but it's different than Romans, it's different than Ephesians, it's different than Philippians. Read the book of Hebrews in one sitting, and read it from the perspective not that you're reading a letter so much as you're reading a sermon. You're reading a sermon in print. And the theme of the sermon of the book of Hebrews is that Christ is better. Christ is the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament said would come. And that's the burden that Paul, or whoever wrote it, but the burden that Paul had in writing this epistle. And once Christ came, There was no more need for the shadow because now they possess the reality. And so Paul tells these believers in verse 23, because we have boldness to enter into this holy place, to come directly before the God of heaven, let us hold fast to this profession. I want you to see two things here as to why. First of all, we hold fast because there is a real temptation to fall away. That temptation is real. That temptation was real for the Hebrews that Paul was writing to. But the temptation has not gone away. In 2,000 years, the temptation is still among us all to fall away. Look at how the chapter ends. Go down to verse number 38 of Hebrews 10. Look how Paul wraps this up. He says, now the just shall live by faith. But, if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure with him. That's not Paul not having pleasure with him, but God does not have pleasure with him. But look at what Paul says here to these. He says, but we are not of them that draw back unto perdition. But instead, We are those that believe to the saving of the soul. Now, there were those among Paul's brethren, Paul's countrymen, that set out for Christ, they named the name of Christ, and they fell away. They drew back. They fell not from saving grace, but they fell from a profession their profession was false. We dealt with this several weeks ago in Hebrews 6. But Paul here in discussing this with them, he, as it were, reminds them of their own condition. Look at verse number 32. He obviously knew these people. He knew what was going through their mind because he reminds them of their own experience in these things. So verse 32, but call to remembrance the former days. Remember your past in which after you were illuminated, the gospel came to you. You understood grace. You did endure a great fight of affliction. You were persecuted. You did have a difficult time. There was a lot of temptation to fall away. Verse 33, partly, whilst you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly, whilst you became companions of them that were so used, Paul is reminding them, for he had compassion on me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that in reality, the truth is you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. And so he implores them, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. And so he's reminding them of their own experience. They had already faced the temptation to fall away. But he's saying, look, we have boldness to enter into the most holy place. Christ has finished his work. You've been bought with a price. You belong to him. And so hold fast to him. Nothing in this world system is a friend to grace, is it? We sing that. So much of what is around you would pull you away from God. This world would convince you to loosen your grip on God. They would tell you that to hold fast to Christianity is, in this day and age, silly, outdated, unnecessary, extreme, weird, old-fashioned, whatever. But we're admonished to hold fast there still in our day exists a temptation to fall away. But we hold fast because this temptation is real, yes, but we also hold fast because He is faithful to keep us. Look at the end of verse number 23. We have in your authorized version there in parentheses. Some of the other more modern translations don't put this in parentheses. There's not punctuation like this in Greek. So this is obviously an editorial parentheses, but it makes sense. We understand what's being said here. For he is faithful that promised. Why do we hold fast? Well, yeah, the temptation is real to fall away, but we hold fast because he is faithful to keep us. He's not going to let us down. What has he promised? Has Christ not promised him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out? Is he not faithful to keep that? Is he not faithful to keep the promise when he says come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest? Is he not promised to do that? Has he not promised that I will never leave thee nor forsake thee? Has he not promised open thy mouth wide and I will fill it? Is he not faithful to keep the promises that he's made over and over and over in the scriptures? These promises, they're not empty. They come from one who's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. And so we can hold fast to our profession without wavering, verse number 23, because the one that made these promises doesn't waver. So how can you be steadfast and unwavering in your profession of faith in Christ? Because that one who keeps you is unwavering. He is sure and he is steadfast. And so as one saved by grace, let me tell you what you come to realize. You come to realize that it's not so much that you hold fast on Christ as it is that Christ holds fast on you. Christ is holding you. That's what's really going on. When you're first converted, you don't understand all the theology of that. But as you grow in grace, you realize that you've been held onto the whole time. As you can look at me, you probably would suspect that I don't do a lot of mountain climbing or rappelling, but I used to. I don't know if you've ever rappelled. It's great fun. But when you rappel down a mountain, you wear a harness around your waist, and the rope goes through what's called a figure eight. It comes from the front. You hold the rope here. It goes behind you. You hold the rope behind your back. And then the rest of the rope hangs down to the ground. And in a structured environment of rappelling, you have a guy at the bottom that is the belay man. The belay man really and truly has all of the control. And I remember the very first time I ever went rappelling. You get down the side of the mountain and you start going down and your feet are this way against the mountain and you're looking up and the ground is way down there. And I remember the instructor telling me to let go of the rope. And I said, you've lost your mind. You're not letting go of the rope. But guess what? You can completely let go of the rope. And if the belay man is doing his job, you cannot move. It's not that you don't move. You cannot move. And the belay man can very slowly give some slack, and down you come. And so the first time you repel, you're holding on for dear life, right, for dear life, not about to let go of anything, because you don't want to die, so you're holding on for all you got. You get to the bottom, and wow, what a great job you did, only to realize the first time you ever went down, you don't have a clue what you're doing, and the instructor, the belay man, was really letting you down gently and slowly. And he was really doing all the work. And you were safe at the bottom. God is the one holding on. And we grip for all we've got. And as a Christian, let me put it to you this way. It's your responsibility to hold on to Christ with all you've got. Don't let go. But know for sure. that your security is not in your grip of him, but his grip of you. That's where your security is. So let us hold fast because he is faithful that has promised he will keep you to the end. And one last phrase here in verse number 24, let us consider one another. So let's make sure we understand the context. Let's rush into here, let's make sure we understand what we're talking about. Because we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, let us draw near to God, let us hold fast to our profession, but then lastly here, let us consider one another. I want to look at this from two angles here. First, I want to look at it from the perspective of how are we to consider one another. to consider one another. How? Well, I would submit to you, first of all, we consider one another as sinners. And what do I mean here? What I mean here is that we have to consider one another from a true spirit of humility. I am a sinner saved by grace. You are a sinner saved by grace. And so I first of all consider myself to be a saved sinner and you a saved sinner. Matthew Henry puts it this way. He says, Christians ought to have a tender consideration and concern for one another. They should affectionately consider their own several wants, weaknesses, and temptations. We consider one another as weak vessels. I'm a weak vessel. You're a weak vessel. I'm subject to like passions as you are. You're subject to like passions as I am. We're frail. We are but dust. We face temptations on every side. I might not be prone to or or as tempted by a particular sin that you might be. And the same might be true for you. You might not be tempted by a particular sin that I might be more prone to fall to. But nonetheless, we all have our passions. We all have our temptations and places where we are prone to fall. But when I consider you, I must consider you understanding that I'm a sinner too. And so why do I get angry at you when I know good and well you have every right to be angry at me? Why would I gossip of your sin when I know you have every right to gossip of mine? We're sinners. And so we consider one another on that level, not to dwell there, we also consider one another as saints. I'm a sinner, but I'm one saved by grace. You're a sinner, but I trust one saved by grace. Turn with me to Ephesians 4. We've been redeemed by the same blood. We are collectively, as saints, we are partakers of the same grace. And so as we consider one another, well, we consider this unity that we have as believers in Christ. Look at how Paul frames it in Ephesians 4. Look at verse 1 there. He says, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. Vocation is not your job as an accountant or banker or whatever. The calling wherewith you are called. So your election in grace. Walk worthy of that. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. And so there's our humility. This is how we consider one another. But there's a unity here endeavoring, verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body, one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." And so can you not see here the unity that we are to have with one another? And so when we consider one another, we consider one another as a unified body fighting on the same team. We're fighting the same battles. We're against the same temptations. We're on board with one another to advance the kingdom of God collectively and together. And so we consider one another. That's how we consider another. But why do we do it? And that's what he addresses if you go back to Hebrews 10. Why are we to consider one another? Well, it's for this purpose to provoke unto love and to good works." Now, that word provoke is used only one other place in the New Testament. It's used in Acts 15. And there it's used in really quite a negative sense. It's used to highlight the contention or really perhaps the better flavor of the word is the irritation between Paul and John Mark. And you remember that bitter contention between Paul and John Mark that was so strong that it caused them in their ministry to part ways. They had a contention with one another. They were provoked at one another. It was personal. Well, that's the word used in the negative sense, but the word is used here in the positive sense. We are to, I'm going to use this word on purpose, we are to irritate one another. We're not to be irritating, but we are to irritate one another. We are to provoke one another. We are to poke one another in the right direction. Provoke one another unto love and to good works. Philippians 1.27 puts it this way, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. If we're together striving for the faith of the gospel and you're lagging behind, I turn to you and I say, hey brother, keep up. Hey, brother, we're going this way. Hey, brother, don't wander over there. The battle's over here. We're fighting this direction. We're together in this. And I'm going to provoke you to come and fight with me. We're to encourage one another to an outward display of the fact that we know we have boldness to enter into this holy place. We're together in this. Think about it this way. You can draw near to God alone. You can hold fast your profession alone. If I can put this in a ridiculous sense and understand what I'm saying here, you don't need anybody else around you to draw near to God and to hold fast to your profession. If you were all alone on a desert island You could draw near to God, and you could hold fast to your profession if you were all by yourself. But you can't provoke one another into love and to good works all by yourself. This involves relationships. This involves people coming together. And so let's think about this in a very practical way. Can you obey this part of Paul's admonition with someone that you don't have any relationship with? Well, in a way, yes. But I would submit to you not nearly as effectively. You can encourage a complete stranger to do the right thing. You can encourage a Christian that you met five minutes ago to be faithful in their walk with the Lord. You can do that. You understand that. But can you really get into the weeds of what it is to provoke one another unto love and to good works with someone you have no relationship with? And I would submit no, not in a way that's effective and useful. And so if I don't know you, Why am I going to listen to you rebuking me? I mean, hopefully I would have enough grace and humility to take a rebuke from a stranger if I'm wrong and you the same. But if I know you love me, we've been friends for years. We've got a history together. And you come and you put your arm around me and say, brother, I've been noticing this. I'm going to take that very differently. than I would from a complete stranger. And so look at verse 25. This is where it all fits in. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. There were some that were forsaking the assembling of their selves together. They weren't close to the fellowship of the body. They named the name of Christ. They claimed Christ. But they kept their distance. And Paul says, that's not helpful for you. How are you going to provoke one another into love and good works? How are you going to fight this battle together if you're not together with the body? And so that's how it fits into the context here. If you're not consistently and faithfully assembling yourselves together with the Lord's people, How can you be encouraged unto love and to good works? I don't think your co-workers are encouraging you to love and to good works. Unless you work at a church or a Christian school or something like that, maybe. But your workplace. They're not provoking you to love and to good works. They're provoking you to hit the bar with them after work. That's what they're provoking you to do. Your ungodly neighbors are not provoking you to love and to good works. On Sunday afternoon, the NFL commentators are not provoking you to love and to good works. The TV shows on Wednesday night are not provoking you to love and to good works. They're not doing it. How are you going to be provoked to love and to good works? Well, it's through the faithful assembling of ourselves together. The Westminster Confession speaks of this. It says, the visible church, which is also Catholic, or not Roman Catholic, but universal, under the gospel, consists of all those throughout the world that profess true religion. It is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. Now that's a big, huge statement that the Westminster Divines wrote, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. And what they are saying there simply is that under normal circumstances, if you are not part of a church, you have no ground to claim that you are a Christian. if you are not part of any church, any body of believers, under normal circumstances. A Christian draws near to God with God's people where God's people are gathered. A Christian holds fast his profession, yes, among the ungodly, but among the Lord's people. A Christian gathers with the Lord's people. He engages in mutual encouragement. But one other application here from this, from a little bit different perspective, I would submit to you that we need to develop stronger relationships with one another outside of the four walls of a church building. We're not a body of believers that just shares a parking lot and blue chairs. That's not a functioning church. for us to just be in the same room a time or two a week, and we park our cars next to one another out in the yard. We're not going to have the same interests. We're not at the same stage of life, perhaps. You're naturally going to be drawn to friendships with one family more than another family, and that's human nature, and that's OK, and that's fine, and that's right, and that's normal. But there is a vital role for old-fashioned Christian hospitality. When's the last time you met somebody for lunch, you met somebody for coffee? You had a family over to your home to sit down at a meal and to just chat about life, not just the nonsense chitter chatter before and after a service that really doesn't get any deeper than, you know, what'd you do? I mean, how deep of a conversation can you really have in three or four minutes before or after a service? But I mean, into one another's life. Understanding, what makes you tick, man? What are your hobbies? What do you love? What do you do? Where have you been? What gets you going? I would encourage that type of old-fashioned, around-the-table hospitality, assembling yourselves together from the perspective and the context of we're on the same team here. And we are provoking one another. We are encouraging one another to love and to good works. And we're in this together. I'm not an island unto myself. Your family's not an island unto itself. You're part of a body. Paul uses this illustration of the body, and the arms, and the legs, and the feet, and all the different things. And not everybody's an arm. Not everybody's a foot. But we're all in this together. And so all of these flow from the logical conclusion that Christ's work is a finished work. We have boldness to enter into the presence of God because of what he has accomplished for us. And so in light of that, may our prayer be that the Lord give us a greater desire to draw near to him. I remember there was one man in our denomination at the weeks of prayer. He would pray. This just came into my mind. Let me get this the way he said this right. Make me as holy as a saved center can be. That's the way he would phrase it, the way he would pray. Make me as holy as a saved center can be. Well, that's what it is to draw near to God. How close can you be? Well, closer than you are, and you know in your heart that's the truth, closer than you are. May the Lord give us greater faith, greater boldness to hold fast to our profession that we would always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. And may we consider one another for the purpose of encouraging one another onward to greater faithfulness and greater fellowship with Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we are thankful for your word that you've made us understand by experience that your word is profitable to us for all the things that you say it is, for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that we would be completely furnished in every way we need. And so we pray that you would take up this word this morning, use it in our hearts to draw us closer to yourself. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. you