Hebrews 10:19-25 | Assurance of Faith through Christ

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

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as we worship God and partake in the elements, that although I stand before you to proclaim his word,

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I too devote myself to the teachings of the apostles. If you would, please turn in your copy of the scriptures to Hebrews chapter 10.

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We will consider verses 19 through 25. Hebrews 10, 19 through 25.

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My great God and savior, I come to you asking not only for myself, but for the people that gather here today for you to speak to us from your word through me.

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In Christ's name, amen. So our theme for this

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Lord's day is assurance of faith through Christ.

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That we have assurance of our faith given to us and it's through Christ.

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I wanna begin with thanking my fellow elder for last week bringing to us this message.

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And I've been pondering on it all week and was able to hang out with some men from the church and we talked about some of the things that we learned last week.

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And we looked at, we were speaking about the shadows, the types and the substance, the anti -types and how everything points to Christ.

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And the only way that anyone can have assurance is by faith through what

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Christ has done. With Christ, we have assurance of salvation. Without the work of Christ, there is no assurance.

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We have nothing, we're to be pitied above all people.

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And so far, the writer of this book has been laying down theological truths of salvation only through the work of Christ, that is the supremacy of Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of Jesus.

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Supremacy, Jesus is greater than everyone who came before him.

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Angels, Moses, all the prophets, he is greater than everyone.

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Sufficiency, the sacrifice of Jesus was once for all that after his sacrifice, there need not be any other sacrifice.

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Now in this book, we come to the exhortation and the exhortation comes from these theological truths this theological truth that Jesus is greater than all and that his sacrifice is greater.

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So read with me our text, Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25.

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Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he has opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh.

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And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, full of assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

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And let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

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So in our outline, the writer points out our assurance through exhortation, faith, hope and love.

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So point number one, faith. Point number two, hope. And point number three, love.

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And as we transition as exhortation, it's calling someone, it's urging someone to do something.

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What's the writer calling us? What is he urging us to do? To have faith, to have hope and to love.

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Right, not sacrifice, to have faith, to have hope and to love.

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We must remember that the church is the body of Christ. We gather together, we are the body of Christ and that the body is made up of many different parts.

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And that the sign of the new covenant was and is baptism. One can be baptized, take upon themself the sign without necessarily being in the covenant.

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That is baptism without the new birth, right? Even we as Baptists, as we try to guard membership, we can't 100 % know for sure just because someone professes faith that they're truly saved, right?

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So people can enter into membership, partake in the sign and not truly have the circumcised heart.

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You might fool men, you might fool me, right? That, you know, not even in the context of our whole church, people might fool pastors, but they cannot fool

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God. I don't know who's all saved, but let me tell you,

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I know someone who does. And you know, if you're a believer, you know who does. And this is what our writer has been getting at and will be getting at in our first heading we'll look at is faith.

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And the portion of scripture we'll look at for faith is verses 19 through 22. And it begins with the verse, the word therefore.

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Therefore points back to what we looked at last week, just a little quick overview. Therefore, since the old covenant was a shadow, remember we saw that last week,

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I mean, two weeks ago, excuse me, Pastor Cal preached last week. So if I say last week, just think two weeks, okay?

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Therefore, since the old covenant was a shadow, since Jesus obeyed the old covenant, since the sacrifice of the old covenant was once and for all, remember,

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Jesus kept the covenant for us, and that now we're living in new covenant realities.

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So you had the shadow and the substance. We see the old covenant did not see the realities, they saw the shadow.

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But in the new covenant, we have the reality, we have the substance. So therefore, since that is true, brothers, since Christ Jesus has lived a life we couldn't live and taken upon himself the punishment we deserve, since he has done everything it takes, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence, what confidence?

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That he has done this, we have that confidence to enter into holy places by the blood of Jesus.

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By the new and living way that he has opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.

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And we'll stop at verse 21. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, we'll save 22 for a minute.

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Okay, now I wanna just take a second and focus on the purpose of the curtain. We know that in the old covenant, there was a curtain that separated the house that separated the holy place from the most holy place.

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Right, it was, we know that it was big, we know that it was heavy, and it was there to prevent anyone from going in to the most holy place.

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We know that only one person went in once a year and not without taking blood, where he would sacrifice for his own sin and for the sins of the people.

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And we know from the gospels that this huge curtain, like this huge curtain was torn.

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And the Bible tells us, and we'll read in just a second, that it was torn from the top to the bottom.

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Men could not reach the top of the curtain. This was to indicate that men did not tear the curtain.

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So if you look at Matthew chapter 27, we'll look at two verses, verses 50 and 51.

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This is dealing with the death of Jesus. Jesus is on the cross. He has already been beaten.

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He has taken the, his beard's been ripped out. He's stripped naked. He's on the cross.

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He's got the crown of thorns. He's been whipped with the cat of nine tails. And he says this, verse 50.

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The Bible says this, verse 50. And he, and Jesus cried out with a loud voice.

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Okay, let's stop there for a second. This passage doesn't tell us what he said. But the gospel of John does.

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He said, it is finished, and gave up his spirit. Gospel of John tells us his last words were, it is finished.

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So right here, it says he cries out with a loud voice. What he says is, it is finished.

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And he yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

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And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. What we have here is the flesh of Jesus Christ being torn as well as the temple curtain being torn.

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He's crucified, he's on the cross. He says it is finished. He's been torn, and the curtain is torn.

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The curtain that veiled the presence of God, versus the flesh that veiled the glory of God.

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God tabernacled in the temple. God tabernacled in the body of Jesus Christ. That you and I being able to come to the presence of God is through that torn flesh.

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So the only way that you and I can come into the presence of God is through the torn flesh of Jesus that reveals to us the glory of God.

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And because of that torn flesh, now by his spirit, God tabernacles in us.

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And so when you see where it says, therefore, since we have confidence to enter, how are we entering?

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By the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way that was opened for us through the curtain that is his flesh.

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We enter into the presence of God by the curtain that was torn.

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But it's not speaking of the one in the temple that was rent, speaking of his flesh through his blood.

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And by what happened, we enter in his presence, we have his spirit. That this Jesus is the great high priest over the house of God.

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So if I can get you to turn back to chapter three, we'll look at verses five and six and see what that means.

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Chapter three, verse five and six. The writer tells us that, now

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Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.

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But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house.

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If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and hope.

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We, them, you and I, look at me, all of us, we are the house of God.

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If your faith is in Christ, you are, present tense, right now, as we speak, the house of God.

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Not this building, this is just a place where we gather, you are the house of God. And since that is true, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart full of assurance and faith.

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If you look at right here at verse 22, let us draw near, if you focus your attention back to verse one of this chapter, it says, for since the law was but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.

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O covenant could not make us perfect, drawing near. But since these things are true about Jesus, and since his flesh is torn, that we enter in through him, that those who have entered in through him are his house, since that is true, it tells us, let us draw near.

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Listen, with a true heart, full of assurance, of faith, that we can draw near because of what

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Christ has done, and we can have assurance of faith because of what Christ has done. We're not drawing near to God because we're good people, we're not drawing near to God because I've walked some old ladies across the street, or I help people with groceries, or done whatever good work you think it is, that's not how we draw near, we draw near because what

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Christ has done, it's through his torn flesh, that our faith is in him, that's how we draw near.

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So since that is true, since that sacrifice is true, let us draw near with full assurance of what

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Jesus Christ has done for us in faith. It says, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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His exhortation to them, and I would add to us, is that we draw near with a true heart, full of assurance and faith.

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Now notice the context. The context here, he's speaking, and I brought this up two weeks ago, and if you've been here the whole time,

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I periodically would mention this, that he's speaking to a church, and most every church has true believers, those that believe intellectually, and those that don't believe, whether they're small children, or people that have been invited, or just people coming along with a crowd.

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You can be in church for years and years and not be a believer, or you can actually believe intellectually.

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You believe that these are truths, but in your heart, it's nothing there. And so every church is filled with these three things, true believers, intellectual believers, and unbelievers, and he's exhorting them, let us draw near.

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He's saying, let us believe, let us truly believe that what

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Jesus Christ has done has accounted for us, because the only way into the new covenant, the only way that this is made applicable for us is belief.

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There's not a list of rules for us to keep in order to get into the covenant like a lot of religions.

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You know, like if there was, like, here's 10, like here's a sign, and here's 10 things that you must do. You must take this golf ball, and roll it into a hole with your, only using your nose, right?

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Like we all can do that, like it's simple. Like if you had these lists of rules for people to do in order to be saved, that's why there's so many calls, because it's easy to perform a list of rules.

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It's not easy to truly believe that what he has done has counted for me.

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The Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof leads to death. It really, our world structure is structured this way.

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It seems right to go to work, and at the end of the week, I receive a paycheck. Like that seems right.

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I've earned that paycheck. It doesn't seem right to not work and receive a paycheck. Free money does not seem right.

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But that's what salvation is. It's not free money, but it's free. You don't work to earn it.

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It's something given to you. And what he's calling these people to do is to believe, is to trust that what

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Christ has done has been credited to their account and so that they are to go there to draw near to God on the basis of what he has done with assurance of faith.

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And so the question is, is your heart full of assurance of faith, right?

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Is your heart full of assurance of faith? If not, then you're not trusting in the work of Christ.

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You're following what that Proverbs says when it says that there's a way that seems right to a man, but notice what it says at the end.

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But the end thereof is death. The way of man is not the way of God.

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If you feel like you need to do something to be right with God, you're not trusting Christ.

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The writer is dealing with people who are trusting Christ and who are not trusting

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Christ. He's dealing with both. Ladies and gentlemen, that's what we deal with most every day.

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I mean, I'm sure every one of us has the same type of issues when it comes to family. There's some that trust, there's some that don't, there's some that say they do, but they're not living, they're not, you know, when

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Christ speaks, you know, the sheep follow. We know people that say they believe, but they don't follow

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Christ. This is always how it's been, this is always how it will be.

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And we are to urge them to, if you're his, to draw near with the full assurance of faith that he has done what it takes.

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The gospel is that Christ has reconciled us to God, not that we can. In this last part of the verse, verse 22, we'll read that again.

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Let us draw near with a full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, speaks about regeneration.

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Regeneration is being born again, and our taking of the new covenant sign. If you will turn with me to Ezekiel.

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So when it comes to regeneration, the key portion of scripture to know is in Ezekiel chapter 36.

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So this is God's promise when it comes to the new birth that would take place under the new covenant.

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Ezekiel 36, we'll read verse 25, 26, and 27. The Lord says to Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, from all your idleness, your idols,

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I will cleanse you. Excuse me. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit,

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I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

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And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules.

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So this is right here is what we call regeneration. It's God removing, sprinkling you with clean water.

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So removing the heart of stone and giving you a spirit. So there's three things that is spoken about here, but these three things are actually one event.

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And we break this down in a theological term called regeneration.

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That as you hear the gospel, God does these things. This is what being born again is.

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You don't believe, you hear the gospel, next thing you know, he sprinkles you with clean water, he removes the heart of stone, gives you a heart of flesh and puts his spirit in you.

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And this is what the old covenant was looking at when it talked about a circumcised heart. So when you read in the old covenant, the

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Old Testament, excuse me, and it talks about an uncircumcised heart, that he tells him that your heart needs to be circumcised.

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He's speaking of regeneration right here with the writers talking about in Ezekiel.

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And I believe that the writer of Hebrews is pointing back to this in this last portion of verse 22.

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Again, I'll read it all in context. Let us draw near with a true heart full of assurance and faith.

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Now, before I read the rest of it, I want you to notice which comes first. With our hearts sprinkled with clean, from our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

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Now, I'd say that this is the circumcised heart. This is regeneration. This is the water washing of the word.

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This is God doing something. And something else, our bodies washed with pure water.

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Now, even amongst my Baptist brothers, there is great debate because they lump this into one.

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They say that this whole portion of the verse is talking about regeneration.

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But notice it spells out two things that our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

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And in the Greek it's there, it's two things and our bodies washed with pure water.

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Ezekiel chapter 36 speaks nothing about a physical baptism, but this verse does.

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Whenever you go back to chapter six, it's baptismal in the Greek that it uses for washings.

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And right here, our bodies baptismal with pure water.

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We are to be washed with pure water. So notice what's first.

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First, the uncircumcised heart, we are regenerated, we are born again, and then we are to have our bodies washed with pure water.

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This is the sign. One can take the sign without the new birth, but the sign cannot come before the new birth.

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Now, I know I said two contradictory things there. So one can take the sign without the new birth, but the sign can't come before the new birth, right?

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It's put in the cart before the horse. If someone is truly born again, then they take the sign, baptism.

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The circumcised heart must happen first, then baptism. And so as a

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Baptist, I'm always asked this question, well, what if someone was baptized? And I'm gonna pick on Elijah for a second.

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So when Elijah was young, Elijah was baptized. He came to me and taught.

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He knew nothing of the gospel, nothing of the gospel.

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So I did not accept his baptism. Why? Because he did not have the circumcised heart.

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Although he had the sign, the circumcised heart wasn't there. And so being under the word, him believing, him getting the circumcised heart, professed faith in Christ and wanted to be baptized.

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Then we baptized him again, because we believe that the first one didn't count, right?

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And I'm not saying that to beat a dead horse, but I feel like this is where the text is leading us to.

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Under the old covenant, in order to be in the old covenant, they would enter the old covenant by birth, then receive the sign.

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They didn't receive the sign before the birth. They entered the covenant, then they received the sign.

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You enter the covenant by birth, and then you receive the sign. We enter the covenant by a circumcised heart, regeneration, being born again, and then we receive the sign.

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And he is telling us that, let us draw near with full assurance, with our hearts sprinkled clean from evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

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This right here is the exhortation of the believer. This is something that we're called to do. So the question that I have here is, have you been born again?

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Meaning, have you entered the new covenant by faith alone in Christ alone? And if so, have you taken upon yourself the new covenant sign, baptism?

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And if that paragraph describes you, you are to draw near to God with a full assurance of heart.

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If you have been born again, and you have been baptized in water, you, listen, are to draw near to God with a full assurance of a heart.

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You're to draw near to God with a true heart full of assurance.

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And the reason you should is because of the gospel. He has already done what it takes.

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You are his, you have been born again, you have taken the sign, you are called to draw near.

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You are called to draw near with a heart full of assurance, trusting that Christ has already done it for you.

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That's how we draw near. If we had to draw near trusting in our own works, we could not draw near, we'd be just like the old covenant people.

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And we do this because we are the household of God. Look back with me at chapter three again. Let's look at verse seven.

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This is a long portion to read. It's something that we should be very familiar with as we walk through it.

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And I'll give just a little commentary as we do. Chapter three, beginning in verse seven.

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Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where our fathers put him to the test and saw my works for 40 years.

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Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart.

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They have not known my ways. As I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

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Take care, brothers, lest there be in any one of you an evil and unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

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God. But exhort, listen, exhortation, but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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For we have come to share Christ. If indeed we hold to our original confidence firm to the end, as it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

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For who were those who hardened and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left

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Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years?

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Was it not with those who sinned and whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear to be faithful that they would not enter his rest, but those who were disobedient?

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So we see they were unable to enter because of unbelief. They didn't trust

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God. God gave them a land. They refused to go in and take the land. He had given it to them.

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He said, it is yours. Go in and take it. And they refused to go in and take it. And so because they didn't believe him, because they didn't trust him, they did not enter his rest.

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Chapter four, therefore, while the promise still remains to end, therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear, because any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

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We as a church should fear that anyone in here should fail to enter that rest.

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Not just the pastor, each and every one of you who are truly believers should fear that there'd be any among us who has not rested in Christ.

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It says, let us fear, lest any of you should seem to fail to have reached it.

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For the good news came to us just as to them, but the message that they heard did not benefit them because they were not, listen, united by faith.

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With those who listen, we have to be united by faith. Christianity is not individual, it's corporate.

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We are the church. I gave you that analogy of that fire, a movie

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I watched with that fireman as he was falling through the floor, another fireman caught him by the hand and then one fireman told him, let me go.

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And he said, no, if you go, I go. I think it was called back draft, back in the 80s or 90s.

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If y 'all can go back that far. Listen, that's where the church fails.

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We're afraid to say no, if you go, I go. You're coming to the church. Come with me.

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Parents, that's how we should be with our children. He says, although they, he says, for who were they who entered his rest?

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And he said, as I've sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Although his works were finished before the foundation of the world, for he has spoken somewhere the seventh day in this way that God has rested on the seventh day from all his works.

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And again, in this passage, he said, they shall not enter my rest, since therefore there remains for some to enter and those who firmly receive the good news fail to enter because of disobedience.

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Remember, it was belief. Again, he appoints a certain day today, saying through David so long afterwards, already quoted, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

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For if Joshua had given them rest when he brought them into the land of Canaan, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

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So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For everyone who has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his, meaning you don't need to go back and sacrifice.

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Let us strive, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

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For the word of God is living, it's active, and it's sharper than any two -edged sword. Our rest is not in the land of Canaan.

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That was oath covenant. Our rest is in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

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Our second point, the rest will go pretty quick. Hope, Hebrews 10, verse 23.

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Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

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Question, what is our confession? Answer, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living

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God, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that God raised him from the dead.

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And when you are baptized, you are baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You're burial with him,

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I mean, resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you're buried with him in baptism and raised with him to the newness of life.

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The writer is telling the listeners, look, you who believe, you who were baptized, now hold to that confession without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

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Jesus is faithful. He said, you believe? You believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living

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God, that he died, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day? Yes, and you were baptized, that baptism points back to what happened?

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Yes, then hold fast to that hope of your confession.

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When things are going wrong, when you feel like you need to do something, you need to say, I believed,

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I really believed that Jesus died for us, that the Messiah lived heaven, he came and he lived a life

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I couldn't live and died the death that I should die, he was buried and he rose again, and I have been baptized into him,

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I have been placed in him in baptism. That's why I should not waver. And the question is, is how were they waver?

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Answer, by abandoning Jesus and going back to the temple. Just like the

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Israelites in the wilderness who wanted to abandon God to go back to Egypt, the old covenant temple sacrifices had in fact become the golden cow to them.

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And listen, we're still in the same boat, the golden cow of dispensationalism is the reestablishment of the third temple with its sacrifices and offerings.

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And the reform, I'm not gonna let the reforms hand go either because the golden cow of the reform church today seems to be the reestablishment of the

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Mosaic law, especially when it comes to the penal code. The question is, is how do these two cows jump out of the fire?

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And the answer is because they are not trusting that Jesus has and is putting all enemies under his feet through the gospel.

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There's only one way the world is conquered and it's through the gospel, Jesus has already done it.

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So what is the church is called to do? Look at verse 23 again. Let us hold fast.

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What are we called to do? Hold fast to your confession of hope without wavering.

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For he who promised is faithful. Point number three, love.

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Verse 10, I mean, chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. And let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some but encouraging one another all the more as we see the day drawing near.

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So we have let us draw near, let us hold fast, now let us consider. Let us draw near with a true heart full of assurance and faith.

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Let us hold fast to our confession of our hope without wavering and let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works.

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Faith, hope, and love. His exhortation to them is faith, hope, and love.

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Turn with me please to the love chapter. First Corinthians chapter 13.

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Try to tie this in a bow. First Corinthians chapter 13. Paul writes, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not loved,

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I am a noisy gong and a clinging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers to understand all mysteries and all knowledge and have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not loved,

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I am nothing. If I give away all that I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not loved,

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I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude, it does not insist in its own ways, it is not resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoings but rejoices with the truth.

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Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

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But as for prophecy, they will pass away, as for tongues, they will cease, as for knowledge, it will pass away.

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For we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

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When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man,

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I gave up my childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face.

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Now I know in part, then shall I be fully known even as I have been fully known.

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So now faith, hope and love abides. These three but the greatest of these three is love.

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So the greatest word of exhortation given to believers is love. But notice you cannot complete this task given to us without the first two.

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You cannot love if you're not drawn near in faith, full of assurance.

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You cannot love if you do not have hope in the confession that you have made to fulfill what the writer is exhorting us to do.

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He says, let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works. You cannot consider how to stir one another up to love and good works if you are not drawing near in faith and holding on to your confession.

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It's probably why it's the greatest because those have to be true in order for this one to take place.

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Now how are we to do this? How are we to stir one another up in love and good works? Well, I don't have to come up with anything because the text answers it.

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Not neglecting to meet together. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day draw near.

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So the day draw near for them would have been 70 AD. The day draw near for us is the second coming of Jesus Christ.

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There was an end coming for them, not the total end, and there's an end coming for us.

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We are to love one another by showing up and encouraging one another to love and good works.

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If you have been saved by grace through faith and have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, you are a part of the body of Christ and there's certain things that you cannot do without an arm.

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Right? I was talking to Gail earlier.

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Well, last week, yeah, last week, I was like, how does a one -armed man wash his arm? Right? How does a one, you ever thought about that?

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How does a one -armed man wash his arm? And Gail was like, well, you get your significant other to do it for you.

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Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. We need one another as the body of Christ to function as the body.

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In order for the body to function as it should, we need one another. I need you, you need me.

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You have a ministry here at the church as the church, as we gather and your ministry is to love one another, to stare up one another to love.

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You are to love someone enough to stare them up to love. And my ministry isn't more important than your ministry here.

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It's not. Turn back with me to Corinthians. This time, let's look at chapter 12.

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We'll look at verse 12 through 15 and we'll jump to 26.

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Verse 12. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ.

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For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit.

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For the body does not consist of many members, but I mean, for the body does not consist of one member, but many.

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If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.

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Now look at verse 26 for a second time. If one member suffers, all suffer together.

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If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

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The book of Ephesians tells us that Christ loved the church and he gave himself up for her.

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If you have received Christ, you have taken upon himself the sign, you are in the body of Jesus Christ.

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We love one another by gathering together and encouraging one another to love and good works.

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That is your ministry. It's my ministry, it's your ministry.

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That's what we're called to do. We're called to draw near to God by faith. We're called to hold on to that assurance that we have, that confidence, that confession that we have made.

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And we're called to love one another and to stir one another up to good works because of the gospel, because Jesus Christ has done it, because God sent his son to reconcile us to himself.

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And then because he has done it, and it's not something that you and I can do, we can have assurance.

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You cannot have assurance if it's dependent upon you. You can only have assurance if it's dependent upon God. God sent his son, now we can have assurance through Christ.

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So the question is this, are we drawing near with a true heart? Are we holding fast to the confession of our hope?

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And are we considering how to stir one another up to love and good works? Those are the questions.

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And here's what you're left with if you're not. Or are we, like the Israelites in the wilderness, abandoning

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God for Egypt? Or like the Jews in the book of Hebrews, abandoning

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Christ for the temple? Those are your options. If you're a

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Christian, you're to draw near with a true heart full of assurance. You're to hold fast to the confidence that he has given us, that assurance that he has given us.

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And we are to gather together, week after week, with this in mind as a ministry, to love one another, and to consider how to stir one another up to love and good works.

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I'm available to anyone who wants to talk. Pastor Cal as well, and our deacon Josh. Let's pray.

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Father, Lord, you are mighty to save, and I know this because you have saved me, yes, and delivered me from the trespasses of my sins, and circumcision of my heart.

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Lord, I am so thankful for my salvation. I'm thankful that you have allowed me to gather with these beautiful men and women,

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Lord, and that we are able to read your word, we're able to study it, and we're able to have great fellowship together.

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And Lord, I do pray that your hand be upon us as we leave here today.

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And right now, I pray, Lord, that if there's anyone that doesn't know you, God, that they will trust you by grace through faith.

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And for those that do know you, that have entered your covenant, and have received the sign, I pray that you are preparing their heart right now as they prepare themselves, as they get ready to partake in the

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Lord's Supper. I pray that you bless this meal, and that you will use it to grow us into the image of your beloved son.