Let Us Hold Fast to Our Confession

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan, where we are growing in faith, community, and service.

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This Sunday's message was by Elder Zach Lloyd, and he preached a message called Let Us Hold Fast to Our Confession from Hebrews 10, 19 -25.

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If you'd like more information about Recast Church, please visit us on the web at www .recastchurch .com.

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Here's Zach. Welcome to Recast this morning. Sounds like everybody's energetic and having a good conversation, and we're gonna go ahead and get started regardless, but we appreciate that.

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So I'm Zach Lloyd, one of the elders here at Recast, and the other three are actually on a men's retreat up to Camp Bear Cow, and they'll be returning later on this evening.

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I haven't heard how it's gone, but I trust it's gone well, and they've been able to encourage one another and be encouraged by the speaking.

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If you're new to Recast, we try not to do very many announcements. In fact, our one way to make announcements or to communicate with everybody is via a once -a -week email, and if you would like to receive that email, there's a connection card in your worship folder.

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You want to fill that out, give us your email address, put it in the black offering box, and we'll go ahead and keep you updated on what's going on here.

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I'll just mention if you're interested in giving of your tithes and offerings to God, we do it the same way. There's an envelope, just put it in that black box.

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We don't have a offering that we pass, but we're gonna go ahead and get into God's Word. So if you have your

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Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter 10, that's on page 865 in the

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CBEC Bible. If you don't already have a Bible, that's our gift to you. Please take that with you.

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We're gonna be in verses 19 through 25. If you don't... while you're turning there,

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I thought I'd just ask a couple questions. Certainly, I ask a lot of questions. It's sort of how

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I learn. I feel like I benefit from asking questions. If I'm being taught something, if I can interact,

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I learn better, and I think there's sort of my generation might like to ask questions or question authority. Maybe it's always been that way, question the generation before you, and it can be healthy but also detrimental in the instance where you're like, why do

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I have to do that? Because you said so, and I think that can be healthy, but it can also institute or be driven by a sense of pride.

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So I'm gonna ask a few questions this morning, and I hope that my prayer is that it doesn't cause you to stumble or to be confused, but maybe to provoke in you some curiosity or to stir a desire in you to know

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God, to know He's the one worthy of knowing, to grow in your knowledge, and perhaps even leave your comfortable situation and draw near to God and His people.

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I know it's easy for me, for instance, to show up here each Sunday morning and sort of go through the motions.

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We have a pretty set routine, 9 and 11 is when we have this meeting each week, and it looks a lot the same in terms of format.

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Obviously the text is different each week, so it can be difficult to get in the right frame of mind or the right heart attitude, but why are we here?

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Why are we in this building this morning? What is this about? And certainly it's to worship our great

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God. He is absolutely, I agree with that. But if we were able to come here with our hearts and minds totally tuned in to God, and we attain that intimacy with God before we even walk through the doors, is there anything else that needs to occur here this morning?

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What's unique about this situation, this location that's not anywhere else on the planet?

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Is it even God's desire that you come here? I mean the Great Commission is that we go and tell others, so why do we meet here?

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And I hope to give us some answers to those questions as we move through this text, but really my prayer this morning is that we would all regard today as unique, as a unique opportunity for God to work.

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So if you have your Bibles there, we're going to read Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 25.

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I'll pray and then the worship band will come and lead us through worship through song. Verse 19,

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

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Let's pray. As the band comes, our Father God and Heaven Lord, we thank you for this morning.

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We thank you for this unique gathering that you have sovereignly arranged. We pray that you would work in our hearts.

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We pray that your Holy Spirit would be using your word to change us to be more like you, that we would be worshiping you in a way that is acceptable in your ears,

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Lord. We pray that now. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, guys. So, if you came in late and weren't here in the beginning, we are in Hebrews 10, verses 19 -25.

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And I know we've been in 1 John for the last several weeks. And if you're not in my small group where we've been in the book of Hebrews, this is sort of ice cold to you.

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So I thought I'd just kind of give you a quick snapshot of where we are in the scope of history and scripture. Hebrews was written around the time, certainly before the destruction of the temple by Rome in AD 70, but after Jesus Christ rose.

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So it's written to Hebrews, to Jews, those that were under the old covenant and had now accepted

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Jesus Christ as their Messiah. So it's written to Christians, but Hebrew Christians.

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And it's written under the new covenant. So because we are Christians under the new covenant, it's not a big leap for us to apply it to ourselves, but we need to understand that the bulk of Hebrews is really addressing the old covenant versus the new covenant.

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I'm really not going to spend more than 10 seconds on the author of Hebrews. It's sort of universally understood that we don't know who the author of Hebrews is and no one can say definitively.

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So we'll leave it at that. It certainly appears, it is not appears, it is inspired, and I'll say this, that Hebrews, I think, is a pretty good apologetic for this actually being the word of God.

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If you've ever struggled with understanding, is this truly the word of God? And then if you read through Hebrews, it doesn't read like any other book

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I've read. And I know that's not saying a whole lot, wow, better than any book Zach's ever read, but that's not the thrust of it.

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What I'm saying is it doesn't read like what man wrote. Some of the accusations you hear from people that don't regard this as the word of God would say that's just man's wisdom, that's mythology, or it's written by man to control society.

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They had that in mind. But if you read that, that's really not... If you read through Hebrews with an objective mindset, asking those questions, does this sound like somebody that's wise?

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Does this sound just like another Steve Jobs, or does this sound like another fiction writer that's just making up stuff?

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And I would argue that it doesn't. In fact, Hebrews is weaving together the 39 books of the

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Old Testament and bringing them forth into the New Covenant in really a profound way, and it can provide quite a bit of clarity if you've ever struggled reading the

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Old Testament, where you read all these laws and rules and regulation, like what does this have to do with me? And then you read

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Hebrews from the New Covenant perspective, and it really is marrying in all the Old Covenant with the

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New Covenant. So hopefully that is encouraging to you, because this certainly is the

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Word of God, and with that in mind, let's kind of get through these six verses in the text. The text really can be broken down by noticing three exhortations, verse 22, 23, and 24, all start with, let us.

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In fact, I told the elders a couple weeks ago that I'd be preaching on this text, and Rob Knoll quipped that that's the hamburger topping passage, and we are like, what?

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Lettuce. So not to highlight Rob's sense of humor, but to pass along that helpful tool that if you're memorizing this passage, oftentimes when you struggle memorizing, it's what is the first word?

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Well, lettuce. So this passage is built on, it gives three exhortations, three encouragements for us to do, but they're built on two arguments.

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Those arguments occur in verses 19, 20, and 21, so we're going to spend a few minutes looking at these two arguments.

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So if you will, look at verse 19. It says, Therefore, brothers, since, we see there since, this is the argument, we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, and I think that, again, we're coming at this ice cold, but if you're familiar with any kind of debate or rhetoric or logic, that seems to be assuming quite a bit, like making this argument, well, since we have confidence to enter the holy places, then you can make your, that's like me saying, since I created everything,

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I can do whatever I want. I see the connection there, I see your logic, Zach, but I don't see that you created everything.

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We're going to have to address that, and I think that's what I want to spend a couple minutes here, first, understanding what the holy places are that are referred to here, and then why is it assumed that we can enter into these holy places of God?

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I know many of you in this room probably have, are familiar with what is referred to as the

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Old Testament tabernacle, but I'm going to spend just a brief moment giving that history, what is referred to as the holy place there of God.

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Obviously, God brought the people out of Egypt through Moses, and he brought them into the wilderness, and there in the wilderness, he gave them the

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Ten Commandments, and he met with Moses on Mount Sinai, but also, he said,

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God did, to Moses at the end of Exodus 24, he said, tells

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Moses in 24 and 25 of Exodus, how to construct a sanctuary that, here's the quote, that I may dwell in their midst.

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God desired to dwell in their midst, and prior to this, God had only appeared in temporal, distinct ways, but here, he's given specific instructions on how he would be dwelling in their midst.

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Exodus 25 and 27, they give explicit details on the dimensions, and the materials, and the requirements, to just enter the outer court, the holy place, and the holy of holies, so there's this sanctuary that he is instructing them to build, and it has these curtains, and there's only one tabernacle, there's only one gate into that tabernacle, and people that wanted to visit with God had specific requirements, you brought your sacrifices to that one tabernacle, to that one gate, and then you went inside, and you gave it to the priest, and that was the end of your interaction with God.

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That priest then would make your sacrifices for you, then once a year, a high priest would make sacrifices and go into the holy of holies.

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We're not going to go into those details, if you've read Exodus or Leviticus, you know there are lots of specific instructions given, but I think,

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I want to highlight one of those in particular, to kind of describe the reverence that we should have for the holy of holies.

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If you want to turn with me to page 76 of the Seatback Bible, it's the verses

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Leviticus 10 verses 1 through 3, and I think that might even be up on the screen, now this account is really meant to demonstrate what was required to enter into the holy of holies, or even to worship

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God, because he did have specific instructions. So Moses' brother Aaron was the first priest, and they made sacrifices, and this is immediately, this is their first go -round, literally, and it says,

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Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before the

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Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed them, and they died before the

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Lord. And then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord has said. Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified, and before all the people,

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I will be glorified. So the point here is that God's instructions are clear on how he would be approached.

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He will be glorified. God's glory in our worship of it is not trivial, it's not a box for us to check.

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These instructions are clear. So when we're told that we should have confidence to enter this holy place, it should strike us with a little uneasiness.

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And we've just seen what can happen. And to the point that Don raised last week about if you knew

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Jesus Christ, or maybe it was two weeks ago, he said, If you knew Jesus Christ was returning today, how would that affect how you were acting?

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And I would certainly have mixed emotions, certainly joy to end this life, but also fear to come into his presence.

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And I think that's a right response to have a healthy fear of God. But what we get from this text is that we can enter into that presence of God, it is by the blood of Jesus.

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All of these rules and laws about approaching God, they were but a shadow. It wasn't

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God just dreaming up some, I want it to be done this way. These were a shadow of Christ. They were meant as a picture of Christ.

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It's not that the author of Hebrews was looking back at what happened in the old covenant and kind of seeing some parallels between Jesus's life and the old covenant sacrificial system or even that Jesus saw those things and was making a metaphor.

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No, it's God revealing to Moses, this is what

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Jesus is going to do in these elements, these system is a picture of that.

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But I don't want you to take my word for it. We're just going to be jumping around a lot in Hebrews trying to bring in the fullness of the content of the text to this one sermon.

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We're going to read the first 14 verses of chapter 10 to kind of give you where I'm getting this picture business of the old sacrificial system.

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It says in verse one, for since the law has 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 every year, make perfect those who draw near.

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Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?

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But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sin every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.

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In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will,

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O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. And when he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these are offered according to the law.

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Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will. He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.

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And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

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But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his feet.

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For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

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So we see here, it's not my opinion, this is what Hebrews is drawing out for us, that it's not just a picture.

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Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice once for all. The sacrificing of animals did nothing to remove the sin.

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They were simply a picture. They were symbolic. And so it's not that we may have confidence to enter the holy of holies.

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We have confidence to enter the holy place of God. We can go into the holy of holies, but there's only one way, and it's through the blood of Jesus Christ.

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I was speaking to a coworker a couple weeks ago about my faith and who Jesus Christ is and what he had done for me.

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And my coworker was very agreeable, it sounded like that was, he agreed in that he prayed to Jesus also. But in his next breath, he went on to elaborate on how there are many gods and many ways to God specifically.

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And having been in this text, I hope that you don't see these are as my opinions, but God has set it up from the beginning, there is one way to access him, and it is through Jesus Christ.

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Verse 20 says that the access point to Jesus that we have is a new and living way.

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It's new because it wasn't previously available. Prior to Jesus, there was limited access.

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In Hebrews 9, verses 6 through 10, if you just want to flip over and read, I'll read that, we'll see that this previous covenant, the previous way things were done was dead.

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It says these, in verse 6 of chapter 9, these preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

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By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing.

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According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body, imposed until the time of reformation.

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So the idea here, I'm trying to bring in the context of this passage to show that that previous covenant was dead, and now it's new and it's living because Jesus Christ died for our sins, and then

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He rose from the grave, and He's alive, seated at the right hand of God even today. So that's the first argument, is that we can access

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God through Jesus Christ, and not only is Jesus the perfect sacrifice, we also see in verse 21 that He is also the great high priest over the house of God.

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So the idea of a priest I think can kind of rub some of us the wrong way, certainly depending on what your religious background is, and I know in my interactions with my sort of secular co -workers, the idea that church has a pastor or priest and they hear from God and then they'll tell you what

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God is saying, they jump on that and sort of scoff at, and kind of that's where cults come from, and rightly so.

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What this text is saying is that we have access to Christ and we are all on the same playing field, we all have the same access to God, but it's all through the same point, through Jesus Christ.

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Certainly we have different giftings and abilities, but apart from Christ, they're useless.

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And this text really has a tight parallel with Hebrews 4, verses 14 -16, so page 862, if you want to flip over there, and I think it's been coming up on the screen as well, and really from Hebrews 4 through Hebrews 10, where we're at right now, is just the author of Hebrews drilling on Jesus Christ being our high priest.

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We'll read verses 14 -16 to kind of see this, it really is a tight parallel to what we just read. It says,

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And since then 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 do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

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Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

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So hopefully you can see a lot of the similar commands or exhortations there. But what's helpful,

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I think, is understanding that Jesus is lofty, his ways are not ours, but we don't have this high priest that we cannot...he

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was in our shoes, he was tempted in every way we are, yet he did not sin. So we are able first to draw near to God through Jesus, but approach

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Jesus as our high priest. So those are just kind of the first two arguments that we've been giving.

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These are what the text that let us, the exhortations are built on. And I think it's helpful that God has given us the reasons for the exhortations, if you will.

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As a teenager, I remember first getting my driver's license and playing high school basketball.

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And high school basketball, I think the school got out at like 2 .30 and then I don't remember what time the game was.

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It seemed like the bus would leave at like 5 .30 or so. So I'd have time to go home, eat, maybe take a nap, certainly not do homework. But I would go home and we had at that time, both my parents worked and we had three vehicles.

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And I don't remember exactly why, but one of the vehicles wasn't working or I wasn't permitted at least to drive it, even though I had a driver's license.

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And so one of my parents needed to come home to take me back to the school. And particularly in this day, I remember that they weren't showing up and I had literally moments

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I had to get going or I was going to miss the bus and then somebody else is going to miss the game or they were going to drive me across the county, which would have been inconvenient for the rest of our family's situation.

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So I, there was a car in the driveway. I drove the car up to school, went and played the game, caught the bus and everything worked out until I got back and the car was gone.

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It wasn't in the high school parking lot anymore. So I called my parents and I said, what's going on? And they said, you got to find another way home.

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So I don't remember what I did. I had, I didn't walk, but I must've had a friend bring me home or something. But I came home.

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My parents asked, why did I disobey? Why did I do what they had asked me not to? And I explained to him. It made total sense.

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Look, I'm trying to help you out so you didn't have to drive me over there. This car is sitting there. I can drive. And they revealed to me then that that car was not insured.

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Now that would have been helpful for me to know the why, if you can understand that something could have happened there as they emphasize to me to get into a car accident without insurance at that stage of my life would have had long -term consequences for me.

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Not that getting to disobey my parents absolved me from any guilt. Well, I'm still guilty, but it was helpful to know the why.

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And that's what I feel God has done us some service here in giving us the why, the argument of why he's saying these things, but let's get to the what he is saying.

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In verse 22, let me get back there in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22, we see the first exhortation that says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith for the heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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So the idea that we should be drawing near to God sounds great to me. I really desire to be in God's presence.

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I can't think of really a better use of my time than to be dwelling and drawing near to God.

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But at the same time, I'm concerned that my own heart, that I'm really going to be worthy to approach

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God with a true heart. It says, speaking of the true heart, our heart is really speaking to this inward thoughts that go on in our emotions.

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But this is saying that we can draw near, even though those conditions are there. And I question my own heart.

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Like, even when I'm doing what I know is right, I still can almost find a twinge of pride. Like, if I'm doing something loving,

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I really wouldn't mind if somebody discovered this and I was praised about it, or I think of serving my kids and loving them, and maybe in 20 years, they're going to look back and in their success, well, is it because dad was there or whatever?

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So I can only sort of find a twinge that I don't feel quite where I should be to approach

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God. And here's where verse, if you want to jump up, 15 through 17 of the same chapter, give us a solution to that mindset that I struggle with.

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And it says, excuse me, and their lawless deeds no more.

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So that God has written his law on our hearts. I can trust that the Holy Spirit is sanctifying me.

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That while my heart may not be perfect, it is not perfect. It's being sanctified. We saw that in verse 14.

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That I have the word of God, I have the Holy Spirit, and God can identify those motives in me, and he can provide a correction, and I can receive forgiveness.

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But also notice that I should be doing this with full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith?

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That seems contradictory. Like if I'm fully assured, what do I need faith for? That's just not true.

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That's not the definition of faith. If you want to look over, all this is in Hebrews. I think it's helpful to just see what the author is trying to communicate.

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Hebrews 11, verse 1 gives you a definition of what faith is, in case it's sort of a gray idea in your head.

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It says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen.

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So faith is a conviction. It's trusting that what God has revealed about himself is true, and that he is faithful to keep his promises.

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So we're trusting our faith is in God and what he said. It's not that we're trusting that a particular action is going to happen.

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But God of the universe, the God that spoke these things into existence, that's holding everything together through Jesus Christ, our faith is in him.

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And that's a conviction. And also, the idea of drawing near to God, because we've been sprinkled clean and washed with pure water, doesn't strike me as maybe as robust or as effective as I'd like it to be.

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I know my sinful heart, and it's not a sprinkling is going to do the job. I'd rather it said something like it's going to be power washed or something along those lines.

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But the idea that I want to highlight is the original audience of this would have connected what the priests and the rituals that they had to go through to enter into God, and that's been done for us.

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All those things have been exercised through Jesus Christ. So that has happened to us.

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So recast, we should be drawing near to God. We should be seeking his presence, trusting completely and sure that we are forgiven.

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Christ has washed us clean. We can let go of our yesterday and our past failures, entrusting in hope that God is going to continue to transform us from one degree of glory to the next.

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Satan's primary weapon against us, those that are in Christ, is to bring to mind our failures and hold those over us.

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Draw near to God with full assurance that you are forgiven. Draw near to God with full assurance that you're forgiven in Christ.

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So the second exhortation comes in verse 23. Verse 23 says, "...let

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

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Now, so it's hold fast to our hope or our confession of our hope without wavering. Now, hope can have a sort of watered down, in my mind, hope being,

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I'm kind of hoping for the best. I'm not sure what's going to happen. That kind of hope.

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That's just not biblical hope. Hope can be understood as sort of a future tense of faith.

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Like I just said, faith is a conviction. It's a trusting. So we should hold fast.

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That's this ongoing, it's a present tense, unwavering possession of our confession of what?

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That Jesus Christ is our Lord. That's what we need to be trusting in. If we know anything, it should be that Jesus Christ died for our sins.

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No matter what's happening around us, that's our bedrock. But not only because of what we've seen, but because we know who's promised it, and that is

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Almighty God. That's where our faith is founded and grounded. And this certainly sounds easy enough for me in the abstract, but when we put it on the ground in our real lives,

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I recognize that holding fast to our confession is difficult, and it is a struggle.

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Whether it's our own failures, and I personally have even thought, am I really saved? How do I continue to struggle with the same problems, the same sins, lust, pride, anger?

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Am I really being transformed? Or maybe it's even external. I can see in my own kids where I see them rebelling or struggling.

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I'm teaching, I'm giving them instruction, and they're just, it's not working. Am I really buying this?

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Do I really believe that God has the ability to change them? Maybe it's your situation. Like how can

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God be allowing this? I've been praying about this. This situation is miserable, and it seems to be getting worse, not better.

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And despite my prayers, despite my crying out to Him, it doesn't seem to be changing. What this text is telling us is that we should be holding fast to our confession without wavering.

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Our call is to trust God because He is faithful. He will keep

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His promises. He desires that we trust in Him and Him alone. We don't have other crutches built up underneath it, but Him alone.

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And this kind of leads us to the third and the last exhortation in verses 24 and 25. It says, Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some.

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So there are a couple points here, but I want to, just because we're just on this part about struggling with our own faith, jump to the part about encouraging one another first.

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And the idea of encouraging has many facets. It includes the ideas of calling to your side, giving instruction, exhorting, consoling.

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It comes in lots of different ways. And our call is to encourage one another. And based on what we just discussed in the struggle of holding on to our confession of faith, encouragement is vital.

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The idea that faith is a personal thing is kind of refuted by this text.

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Faith is communal. It's not you and the Bible on a mountaintop. Faith is, the

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Christian faith is communal. This church is a body of Christ. We're to be building up one another, sharpening one another.

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Our vision at Recast is that each of us are growing together, together in faith, community, and service.

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And community, they're all closely linked, and we just emphasize community. I think this text does emphasize community.

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And it's probably obvious, but this text really isn't talking about church discipline or trying to correct everybody and going around and giving instruction, but rather encouraging one another.

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Really, you can't correct without humility, and where each person trusts the person that they're talking to, and they're transparent with one another.

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But note with me how this encouragement comes about. The text says we should not neglect to meet together.

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And you may say, of course, we should be meeting together. That's why we're here. And yes and amen.

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We should be meeting here. This should be a place of encouragement. Let me also say that I think that it's highly unlikely that you're going to be able to share your struggles with your faith in the five -minute connection time that we have each week.

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It can happen, but I would say, by and large, it does not happen. And so while I've even used this text to correct some people that had neglected to stop going to church, like, look, you shouldn't neglect it.

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I think this text is really arguing that we should all gather together for the purpose of strengthening up one another in their faith.

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And so that's where I would argue the next step seems to indicate that we should be meeting in a situation that allows for that to occur.

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And it even appears that the author of this book has identified that several had already developed a habit of avoiding such meetings.

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So I think we could fall in, I certainly can fall into that habit of showing up and putting on a facade or a presentation of myself that doesn't allow people to engage me.

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And I think that's what this text is talking about. Just sort of going through the motions. At Recast, we only have one service each week.

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But the expectation is that we would be meeting together regularly for encouragement, whether that's in small groups, men's groups, one -on -one, but that there would be this opportunity for us to share with our struggles and our hurts and to allow for that encouragement to happen.

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But what keeps us from that sort of aspect, that community, what I call biblical community? I know our small groups are not the best.

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I could easily come up with 10 reasons why I don't want to be in a small group and why they're inconvenient. But for me as a parent of young children,

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I think it's my struggle with community is just being too busy. I've noticed that as my kids are getting older,

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I have a 9, 7, 5, and 3 -year -old, as they're getting older, they're getting involved with sports. And I love sports. I love watching sports and watching them play sports, but they're just not the way they used to be.

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I'm not saying anybody's doing anything wrong. I'm just saying they're immersive, that when

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I only have two kids playing and we're gone every night of the week and we have, by the time

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Sunday comes around, I just want to breathe or mow the lawn. I don't have opportunity. I don't want to go do small group if I'm honest.

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And what's worse is my understanding from some of my friends that have retired is that things don't slow down.

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It reminds me of a reference that I read recently that cited a 1967 Senate subcommittee test testimony that claimed, this is 1967, that by 1985, the average work week would be just 22 hours because of the advances made in technology.

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And if you are alive and breathing, you know that's not the case. Technology is sucking the life out of us.

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It seems like we're not getting less busy, and I'm arguing that it's not going to continue. We need community today, and busyness is not an excuse to not be involved.

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A couple of weeks ago, I went away on a business trip. And that particular Sunday, well, the previous

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Sunday, our small group meets on Sunday evenings, and the previous Sunday there was like a leadership meeting with the gravity group here.

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So our small group didn't meet that night. And then the following Sunday, I went away on a business trip, so I went, and I didn't even come here.

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I went to the nursery and immediately left. So we didn't have small group that night. And if you've been, if you've ever,

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I'll just say, I struggle when I'm alone on the road in a strange environment. It's a struggle for me.

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It's a spiritual battle for purity. And I need some accountability around me. And I'll be honest,

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I was attacked at that meeting. And I felt probably the lowest I felt this year in terms of discouragement, having not had the small group interaction.

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So although it's effort, and though it's not easy, and I'm not saying our small group is the best. We have kids interrupting every seven to nine minutes.

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It's just not ideal. But I miss it when it doesn't happen, because it's an encouragement.

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And I know there's lots of reasons why they don't work for you, but I ask you to seriously consider the reasons, because I think if you really press into why you don't want to meet, if it's the kids that are interrupting frequently,

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I think that's a challenge. Why don't you want kids interrupting? And if you look at your motivation for that, it might not be altogether healthy.

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But also, small groups provide, I think there's a place for meeting one -on -one with another man, or in a group of men, or female as it were, because that allows you to share things that you might not share when all the other spouses are there, and you just feel uncomfortable.

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But at the same time, when you're in a small group, and your spouse is there, and you're presenting a certain side of the situation, she can provide some clarity that you might not be willing to share, if you know what

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I mean. So I think that's helpful, and I'm just encouraging us to meet together in small groups, or at least consider.

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So moving on, what should we be doing when we're meeting together? This text says we should be considering to stir up one another to love and good works.

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Now if we know anything from Don's preaching, it should be that our good works are like filthy rags.

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Jesus Christ is our only righteousness. So what is the benefit to us to stir up one another to love and good works, if we're already righteous in Christ?

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What are the benefits for us to love others and do good works? So the Greek word here, again,

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I'm no Greek scholar, but there's just a lot of really neat references, websites out there where you can really dig into Scripture and find all kinds of cross -references with just a few clicks.

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So I don't necessarily need to be a scholar at this point, but I'm just going to present this word of love is the familiar, the agape love.

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And if you've been around church, that's the benevolent, the sacrificial love. It's not brotherly love or the sort of lustful love.

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This is agape love or benevolent love. If we see in 1

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Corinthians 13, the chapter that Paul wrote, just really kind of giving a thesis on what love is.

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In verse 3, he says, If I give away all I have, it seems like a pretty solid work, and I deliver up my body to be burned.

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Again, that's pretty solid. He says, but I have not love or not agape, I gain nothing.

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There's no benefit to doing good works. And also Jesus commanded us to love God and to love our neighbors.

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Those are the high callings. We have lots of reasons to love others in Scripture. But in addition, we should be considering how to provoke one another to these good works.

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And I think it's that word stir up or provoke can be translated either way. Good works can best be understood in this context by looking at the benediction that the author gives at the end of this letter or sermon, whatever you want to call it.

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So if you want to flip over to Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21, we can kind of see where we're at.

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That's on page 868 in the seat back Bible. And again, I'm sorry for jumping around so much this evening, but hopefully this evening, this morning.

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Read with me. It says, Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, here it is, equip you with everything good that you may dwell, that you may do his will.

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Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and amen.

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So we should be provoking each other to do good works that are through Jesus Christ according to his will and him working through us.

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That's what we're encouraging each other to do. And it could also be one more reference, chapter 11, verse six, about the kind of works that we should be.

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I think they've been showing up on the screen. Great. Thanks for your help back there. It says, And without faith, it's impossible to please him.

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So whoever draws near, it's impossible to please God without faith. For whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him is what that text says.

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So we should be provoking each other and stirring each other to do good works that require faith. If we try to love, do good works and serve without relying on God, it's not pleasing to God.

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And my fear is for myself is that I do too much in my own strength or we choose or I choose to serve in ways that I know that I can handle.

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I have the skills and abilities to handle that. And that's where I think drawing near to God and his people is vital in this

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Christian life. In Christian community really can be used by God to help us discern our motives because every opportunity that you're presented with doesn't necessarily mean you need to take it.

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Like this is a chance for me to grow in my faith. At the same time, we can turn down just because we don't think we have it. And I think having

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Christian community around us by the Holy Spirit, we can be discerning and give insight and bring clarity to our understanding.

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And that really can only happen when we're meeting together in a transparent way. So if I'm presenting a certain picture of myself that's not true, we're really not going to get anywhere.

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By the Holy Spirit, we really are the immune system of the body of God. I say immune system, perhaps you're not aware, but the immune system really is ridiculous.

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The human immune system, we have trillions of cells in our bodies and it can, on an abstract level, can just differentiate any one of those cells from either self or non -self.

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So if a bacteria shows up in our bodies, our body said, that's not it, and it can attack it, put antibodies on it,

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T -cells, macrophages, and get rid of that. But even more so, it can take liver cells, my own liver, and it can take my wife's liver cell and put that in my body, and it's like, it's a liver cell, but that's not my liver cell.

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And it will attack. That's why we take immune suppressive drugs and we get organ transplants. But what's even more freaky than that, it can take a hair, not out of my head, but out of my arm, my own hair, and inject that into my body, into my vein, and it will say, that's not even in the right place.

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So it's self, but it's in the wrong place. So our immune system is able to distinguish even to that level.

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And even more freaky than that, in my opinion, is like a cancer cell. It's our own cell, it's in the right place, but it's

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DNA has been modified. It's original purpose has been changed. It's not doing what it was made to do, and the body can recognize that as wrong, and it will take care of it.

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In fact, we have those things that change the DNA called carcinogens or mutagens. We have thousands of those occurring every second, and our body is addressing those every second.

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I mean, it's a miracle that we don't all have stage four cancer by the time we're six months, if I'm honest. And that's how we are in the

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Christian community. We are the immune system of this body of Christ. Cells cannot survive on their own, and neither can

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Christians. With God's word, with the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, we now are the temple of God.

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God dwells within us in this Holy Spirit. We can identify the sin, the bacteria, and through God's grace and humility, overcome, and we can be putting that sin to death, and we can grow more and more like Christ.

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We can't do it alone. We need each other. But even more so with the cancer, where a cell loses its original purpose, and that gets changed.

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It's how it is with us, where we initially, we had good motives. We were going to be serving in this capacity, but we've let bitterness creep in, or we've started gossiping, or we just get discouraged, and we forget about our purpose, and we start doing things our own way.

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We need each other to stay healthy. We need to be transparent in our interactions, to be known by others, and I know that the cancer illustration breaks down a little bit in that the body takes care of those cells by killing them, and helpfully, that's not how we interact.

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So if somebody loses their motives, we don't kill each other. But I think it's still true. I like what

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Kyle said a couple weeks ago in his blog. He said, the best counseling in the world, the best interactions in the world can't fix a fictional you.

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I'm most provoked to serve God. So that's what this is about. It's encouraging us to provoke and stir each other up to do love and good works.

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I'm most provoked or stirred to serve God outside my comfort zone. When I see regular

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Christians, regular Jones, just like me, walking this life and doing things that I know that are hard for them, yet I can see

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God using them. I can see God working in them. This is not of their own ability. That's God working in them.

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So we can encourage and provoke one another by example. I think it's one thing to recommend, there's books like Francis Chan's Crazy Love.

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Just live this crazy existence, relying totally on God, or David Platt's Radicals in a similar camp.

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And you can recommend those books to each other. But to live out that life, that has way more weight than just recommending or using your words.

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And lastly, we see that we should be encouraging and provoking one another more and more is what the text says, as the day is drawing near, that day is

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Christ's return. We are the children of God. The devil is going to attack us and our faith, and it's going to get worse and worse.

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This is a spiritual battle. We need each other in this spiritual battle against unbelief. The notion in this text is that this need will continue to become more and more necessary.

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So to summarize, so since we have free access to God by our high priest in Jesus Christ, we should be doing three things.

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We should be holding, we should be drawing near to God, holding fast to our confession in Jesus Christ, and encouraging each other to hold fast to that confession.

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Back to what I started with, those initial questions. So we have this free access, we're able to encourage one another.

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What's unique about this situation? Why do we come here? Why are we here this morning? That's nowhere else on the planet, it's because of the people that are here.

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God has called each of us here to this specific morning, this building, this morning, intentionally.

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How do I know? Because we're here. And that might sound like a joke, but there are no random events, no coincidences in God's economy.

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We have been each given unique giftings, a unique history, a unique story of God's grace in our life that we are called to encourage.

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We're going to have interactions with people that need to hear what God has done for us. We need to encourage one another and build one another up on the basis of our standing in Christ Jesus.

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That's the take -home message that I want us all to have this morning, and I'm going to close with communion.

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And we do communion here each week, and communion is a community event.

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It's an opportunity for us to celebrate what Jesus Christ did on the cross, that we now have that free access to God. And we do that by remembering, it's just like that sacrificial system was a symbol.

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These crackers, this juice, it's a symbol of what Christ has done for us, and we are remembering that. But I also want to emphasize that Scripture gives warning about drinking these things in an unworthy manner.

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An unworthy manner is drinking those things and remembering what Jesus didn't do for you. You haven't acknowledged him as your

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Savior. Unless that seemed like too high of a burden, like, well, that church is too fundamental in their ideas, let me just say that that burden is not hard.

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Your sins can be forgiven from the time it takes for me to pray and that cracker to arrive in front of you.

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It's that simple. If you are struggling with not having accepted Christ or with your sin, know that your sins have been forgiving, and it's a matter of you trusting in him, and he is there waiting for you to accept him as your

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Savior. So we're going to pray and then celebrate communion. Do you mind praying with me? Father God in heaven,

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Lord, we thank you for this morning. These unique opportunities that we have to share what

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Christ has done for us through the shed blood on the cross.

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God, we are sinners, and we acknowledge that, and we want to celebrate that we are forgiven in you this morning.

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Help our hearts to be pure. Help us to trust that our past failures are forgiven and not allow

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Satan to have the victory, but use this opportunity to start anew afresh. Confessing to you our sins and having a salvation assured to us, and it's in Christ's name we pray.