Don’t Forsake The Assembly (Hebrews 10:24-25) - Worship Service | - Adult Sunday School

as well. It adds so much.

I know I shall see in His beauty the

King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me song in the night.

I shall see in His beauty the

King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me song in the night.

I shall see in His beauty the

King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me song in the night.

I shall see in His beauty the King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me song in the night.

I shall see in His beauty the

King in whose law

I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me song in the night.

I shall see in His beauty the

King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me song in the night.

Well, we will be back in 1

Samuel and chapter 10 this morning. We'll be looking at verses 17 through 27 to finish up chapter 10.

I'm going to be looking at a lot of reference verses, so I would just encourage you to write them down because I'll be going all over the

Old Testament. So before we begin, let's open in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the privilege of gathering together as your children.

And Father, this morning as we look at your word, we just pray that you would grant us understanding and have a greater look and understanding of your sovereignty and your holiness.

We just praise you and thank you for the God that you are and for the salvation you've provided through your

Son. We just ask you to guide us now and that you would be glorified through our study.

We pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Well, before I get into this study,

I just want to mention that John MacArthur did a recent study, teaching, and it was called

Our King Will Not Be Mocked. So if you hear some of the information that I'm using this morning,

I gleaned some of the things historically from John's message. So I don't want to plagiarize,

I just want to utilize what he has researched. It was common in the world of the

Old Testament, the ancient world of the Old Testament, amongst all the nations to have rulers, kings who ruled over them.

Nations that had authoritarian dictators and they were ruled by a one -man governing authority.

Israel was distinct from other pagan nations in that they had a king, but the king who was over them was a theocratic sovereign king.

It was the Lord Jehovah God. He is the one who worked through his agents, judges, and prophets to guide the people of Israel.

And we read in Isaiah 33 verse 22, For the

Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us.

Also, Isaiah 44 verse 6, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his

Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last, and there is no

God besides me. And Isaiah again in 44 verse 8, Do not tremble, and do not be afraid.

Have I not since announced it to you and declared it? And you are my witnesses.

Is there any God besides me, or is there any other rock? I know of none.

And then lastly, Isaiah 43 verse 15, I am the

Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. So God had chosen

Israel, he had guided Israel, he had protected Israel, and we reach a place in which they no longer wanted a theocracy, they no longer wanted their

God, Jehovah, to lead them. After the Israelites settled in the

Promised Land, they were led by prophets and judges for over a 400 year period.

Eventually, because of their sinful and idolatrous practices, and their unfaithfulness to Jehovah, they wanted to turn their true king, who was their mediator, and used his prophets and judges to guide them, for a man, a mere man.

They wanted their own king, not Jehovah. In chapter 8 of 1

Samuel, I'll just read it, you don't have to turn there, but in verses 1 through 5 we read this, And it came about when

Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was

Joel, and the second Abijah. And they were judging in Beersheba.

His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

And they said to him, Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways.

Now appoint a king for us, to judge us like all the nations.

They wanted to trade God for a man, just like all the pagan nations.

At this point, Israel has become apostate. They no longer wanted to serve their

God. They had idols, they were sinful in their practices, and all they wanted was peace.

The Amorites and the Philistines were their enemies, and they just wanted to be protected.

And they knew if they had a king, he would provide an army. And they could go on, carry on their business.

They did not have to worry about keeping the law, which was a prerequisite of God providing safety and protection for them.

And when they didn't obey, he allowed the enemy to deal with them.

So here we see one of the major changes in the tribe of Israel.

Now wanting to have a monarchy -led nation. No longer wanting to have their

God lead them. This is a sad period of time.

In Exodus 15, verse 2, it says this. This is after God had preserved and saved them, and they had this song, and they sang this.

The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him. And again, in verse 11 of chapter 15 of Exodus.

Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like you? Majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders.

And then again, we read in Isaiah 44, 6. Thus says the Lord, the

King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first and the last, and there is no

God besides me. God is sovereign over all things.

When Samuel received the news, the elders came to him, and they said, You're old. Your sons are not walking your ways.

We want a king, like all the other nations. He was troubled, and he went to the

Lord and told him all that the elders had told him. And God said,

Do as they say. Give them a king. So then he said,

But warn them. What's going to happen is they're going to take your men, and they'll be servants of the king.

Women will become servants of the king. We'll take a tenth of your crops.

We'll take part of your land. And that's what the king's going to do. He is going to be the sovereign over them.

And they're going to reap what they've requested. And at some point, Israel will.

Reading these verses in Exodus, Jehovah had just given Israel victory and allowed them to escape the

Pharaoh's army as God miraculously caused the sea to open up and Israel to cross in dry land.

And then the sea he brought down upon Pharaoh's mighty army, destroying them and allowing

Israel's deliverance and safety. That mighty miracle that God performed on them was not that long ago.

And yet they've already forgotten that. They're serving idols, and they're requesting a man to govern them.

As we resume in 1 Samuel 10, verse 17, we read this.

Therefore Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah.

And he said to the sons of Israel, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought

Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians.

And from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.

But you have today rejected your God, apostate.

That's what they have become at this point. Who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses.

Yet you have said no, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the

Lord by your tribes and by your clans. So as we think of this,

Samuel gathered them to Mizpah. Why Mizpah? Well, that was a place in which

Samuel had gathered Israel once before when they had a great slaughter after their great battle with the

Philistines. He brought them there and reminded them of their sin.

And there was a time of repentance. And in that we read that Samuel said,

Gather all Israel. This is in 1 Samuel 7, 5 -8. Then Samuel said,

Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you. They gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the

Lord. And fasted that day and said there, We have sinned against the

Lord. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. So it was a national repentance.

That doesn't mean individual turning to the Lord. But it means that they as a nation recognized before God their sin.

But back in chapter 10, verse 17, after Samuel had secretly anointed

Saul to be king, that was back up in verse 1 of chapter 10.

He had already anointed him privately. But now he has to make provision for a public recognition of the man that God had chosen on the part of his people to rule over them.

So he called all the people to gather once again at Mizpah. He reminds the

Israelites once again that Jehovah had brought Israel up from Egypt and delivered them from the hand of the

Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing them.

Even with that reminder of how God had not only brought Israel from Egypt, delivered them from the hand of the

Egyptians, from the power of all the kingdoms, the Israelites still rejected their

God who delivered them from all the calamities. God had protected his people.

He delivered them from all their calamities. And yet they continued to reject him.

Why is that? Because God demanded of them to obey his law.

They didn't want to do that as a prerequisite to having protection from God. They didn't care that this was the holy

God, the creator, the one who had chosen Israel as his nation of people.

And yet they rejected the very Lord King Jehovah, the

God of the universe. And now they want a man. Why?

Because they didn't want to have the burden of the law. They didn't want to obey the law.

They didn't want to serve this holy God that was their king. Now because the people had demanded a king like other nations to rule over them, the tribes selected

Saul, the son of Kish, as their king. He was probably selected by casting of lots.

We don't know exactly how that went. To carry out this formal process of the lots being casted,

Saul would be accredited by this act in the sight of the whole nation as the king appointed by the

Lord, and also Saul himself was to be more fully assured that he was truly elected by all of Israel and chosen by God.

As we get down to verses 20 through 22, we read this.

Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.

Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken, and Saul, the son of Kish, was taken.

But when they looked for him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired further of the

Lord. Has the man come here yet? So the Lord said, Behold, he is hiding himself behind the baggage.

Well, here's their new king, the brave Saul. They have chosen him.

He's been anointed by the judge of Israel, and where is he now?

Behind the baggage. Samuel had called all the tribes to gather at Mizpah, and the tribe of Benjamin before Jehovah.

There in Mizpah there was an altar for the worship of Jehovah. This is where Samuel called the people of Israel to gather for the formal process of casting lots.

Samuel brought the tribe of Benjamin nearby, its families, and the Matrite. Now the

Matrite family to which Saul, the king, Israel belonged, this is the only time this word is used in the

Bible. So this represented the head of the family of Benjamin.

Saul, the son of Kish, was chosen. But when they looked for him, he could not be found.

At this point, in verse 21, they looked for Saul, their king, yet he was nowhere to be found.

Saul had hidden himself behind the baggage. Remember, we looked at this earlier, when a whole tribe of Israel would gather together, if it was going to be a long period that they stayed at a location, they would stack their baggage, which included their tents, their clothing, their food, and especially their weapons, because that formed a barrier, a temporary barrier, where they could protect themselves in the event of an enemy attack.

So they had this, and the

Matrite here was the head of the family of Kish. There are varied views as to why

Saul had hidden himself. Scripture really doesn't tell us or give a specific reason why

Saul acted in this manner. We can make some assumptions based on Saul's behavior and his characteristics, which he's displayed so far.

So what do we know about Saul? Well, Kish sent him and a servant to locate three donkeys that were lost.

They had run away. That was his mission. They went out in the area of Ephraim.

They couldn't find them, so the servant suggested there's a seer nearby.

Well, seer was a prophet. That was the name used at that period of time, and that would have been

Samuel. So they decided, let's find the donkeys, but we'll ask this seer where they are.

So they sought Samuel. In the meantime, the Lord spoke to Samuel, and when he saw

Saul, he said, this is the man, God told Samuel, this is the man I have chosen to be king, leader over Israel.

So that's their first meeting. He was trying to get information so he could locate the donkeys, return to his father, have a successful mission.

He never did find them. The donkeys returned on their own. So we know that part of his job was taking care of animals.

In one instance, we have somewhat a show of humility on the part of Saul.

This is back in chapter 9. You don't have to turn there, but in 9, 1

Samuel 9, verses 20 and 21, we read, Is it not for you and all your father's household?

Saul replied, Am I not a Benjamite, the smallest of the tribes of Israel, my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin?

Why then do you speak to me in this way? Samuel was implying by stating this that he was going to be king.

Samuel knew this, and yet he showed somewhat humility by saying, we're the smallest tribe, the least of Israel.

But we'll see that Saul becomes a king and yet a very disappointing king in the end.

Some commentators say that he may have been overwhelmed and fearful to become king and ruler over God's people,

Israel. Others submit that perhaps this showed Saul, at this point, was humbled by the thought that Jehovah selected him to become king over Israel.

It's interesting, John MacArthur makes this in his commentary on 1 Samuel. He says this,

Saul knew that he was going to be selected as king, but his response was to run away and hide.

The Lord saw Saul as a man of greatness, but Saul never learned to see himself in that way.

As a result, the vision Saul did not have was that of God's plans, and they became less and less accurate over time.

He did not believe the Lord would give him the strength to perform what he had commanded him to do.

One of the early reformers on 1 Samuel 10 .22 makes this observation,

There are not many nor so cunning devices for the hiding of natural infirmities of the body, such as the crookedness of the legs or back, for the lack of a tooth or eye as they are.

For the unnatural deformities of the soul but once their desires are granted, they show themselves.

Then the waters, which were previously stopped and dammed up, run over and rage furiously.

And this is surely like it, when Saul hid himself in the baggage, when he was to be chosen king.

In the same way, the wicked, when they look either by election or other means to get this or that, they very soon hide themselves in their filthy stuff and the baggage within them.

That was by Daniel Dyke, one of the early reformers. It's kind of hard to understand what he's trying to say there.

What he's saying is the outward appearance of humility isn't always as such.

When someone reaches that state where they have so much control over such a great nation that they are then puffed up with pride and they no longer conceal their humility, but the pride goes to their head and all the rubbish and their filthy baggage comes out in their very acts.

And that's what happens later on with Saul. In verse 22 -24 we read,

Therefore they inquired further of the Lord, Has the man come here yet? So the

Lord said, Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage. So they ran and took him from there.

And when he stood among the people, he was taller than the people from his head, from his shoulders upward.

Samuel said to all the people, Do you see him who the Lord has chosen?

Surely there is no one like him among all the people. So all the people shouted and said,

Long live the king! The exact process in which they used in selecting the king is not revealed, although the ermthumen may have been used.

That's a term referring to a vestment that the high priest wore and it shows us that in Exodus 28 verse 30 where it says this,

You shall put in the breastplate of the judgment, the ermthumen, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the

Lord. And Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the

Lord continually. So the nearest I could find out, these were two brilliant stones that were placed on the vestments of the high priest.

And the high priest would attend any formal coronation or any big event and this would show that it had

God's approval for the nation of Israel. So this was a vestment. That means that the high priest came to Miss Paz well and they were wearing this vestment which would show

God's approval of Saul as king over Israel. Samuel knew that the leaders who desired the kingship would not be satisfied with his testimony alone.

God would have to do the choosing. The important fact is that the king was chosen by divine appointment, not human effort or manipulation.

So God did choose Saul. Later on, we'll read in 1

Samuel that God was disappointed that he did so. We read in Proverbs 8, verse 15,

By me, kings reign, and rulers decree justice. And then again in Proverbs 16, verse 33,

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

And then again in Daniel, verse 21 of chapter 2,

It is he who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings and establishes kings.

He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. And then again in Daniel 4, verse 17,

The sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers. And the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the

Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it upon whom he wishes, and sets it over the lowliest of men.

Daniel 4, verse 17. So we have to understand, God is still sovereign. It doesn't matter what people do to manipulate things,

God is the sovereign over all. So as we look at this and think of Saul, we know that that's not the king that's going to please

God. It's going to be David. Saul was aware that he was selected king, but his response was to run away and hide.

He didn't have enough confidence in God to give him the strength. In verses 25 and 26, did

I skip one here? Yeah, 25.

Then Samuel told the people the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book placed before the

Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house. Saul also went to his house in Gibeah.

The ordinances of the kingdom were governed by the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 17, verses 14 through 20, which we looked at earlier.

Then Samuel reminded the Israelites that the Law of Moses, which would govern the king, he had written down and laid up before the

Lord. A vital distinction is made in this text. This is really key, which speaks of the rules of the justice, not of the king or the kingship.

In other words, Samuel was placing the new institution under the authority of God's word.

He did not highlight the authority of the king over the law, but rather the authority of the law over the king.

A king, when he was appointed, must have the law, and he must read it daily.

And that would be the governing authority. If the king would carefully observe

God's statutes and commandments, then Israel would enjoy success, and the king's reign would be long.

This passage has played a very important role in Old Testament Israel.

John Knox, a Puritan reformer, points this out to show the earthly monarchs are not laws unto themselves, but they are laws subject to God's law.

Thus, when Mary, Queen of Scots, committed adultery and abetted the murder of her husband,

Knox called for her arrest and execution. Even more significant was the influence of Saul's coordination in Samuel Rutherford's 1644 classics,

Les Rex. Rutherford wrote this, Les Rex, which means

Law of Kingship, to oppose the idea of Rex Les, the king as law unto himself.

Rutherford's book was based upon Deuteronomy 17, probably the very

Bible verses that Samuel had set before Saul. It referred to Samuel's placing of King Saul under the authority of God.

Rutherford wrote this, and this began, Rutherford asserted that the kings of Scotland did not have the right to make laws that were contrary to Scripture and declared that when a king conducted himself lawlessly, his rights over the people were forfeited.

Lex Rex, the Bible model of separation of powers and social covenant, was influential among the founding fathers of America and also provided a biblical rationale for colonial

American Christians in their rebellion against the lawless English monarch.

John Robbins has therefore described 1 Samuel as the oldest textbook on political freedom, pointing out that by placing human society under God's law, the

Bible furnishes us with the principles we need to defend a free society, end quote.

Many Christians become confused about obeying

God's law, both Old and New Testament. We're not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6 .14, Paul instructed us and gave us that very teaching.

Paul says this in referring to the law as meaning of righteousness. His point is that Christians do not gain salvation or merit with God through the law, but by grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul's point in that passage was not to promote antinomianism, that is, antinomianism means the belief that grace freezes from any standard of conduct.

He was actually correcting that. Paul makes this clear when he says in verse 15 of chapter 6 of Romans, What then shall we say?

Shall we continue in sin, that we are now under the law, but under God's grace?

May it never be. So because Christians sometimes get confused, we don't obey ceremonial law, but we do keep the moral law.

But it's an evidence of our salvation, not the causation of salvation.

We are to keep all of God's word, anything that refers to our obedience.

We do so by God's grace. Christians aren't saved by God's law, we're saved by His grace.

Listen, we are also to keep His commands, which includes the moral obligations of the

Ten Commandments, the importance of which is stressed throughout the

New Testament as well. Also the rules and regulation that God has given us in His word.

We're not under the requirements of the Old Testament ceremonial law, but the imperatives of the moral law.

And we have to remember also, we can't do this in our own strength. It's only by God's grace as we obey

Him. And we look once again at Philippians 2 .13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Back in chapter 10, in verse 26, we read this,

Saul also went to his house at Gibeah, and the valiant men whose hearts

God had touched went with him. This is after the convocation.

Samuel dismissed the people, and an unknown number of valiant men went with Saul.

But God had touched their hearts of certain men to follow Him, to protect

Him. They knew that this was Israel's new king, and it was approved by God.

So they were going to provide protection. So, kind of like the

Secret Service, he had this group of valiant warriors that surrounded him.

Some various commentators on this text, in translating this passage, make this observation.

These men of valor that God had touched would be Saul's guardians and escorts to support, to protect their newly elected king to his home.

Not only did God sovereignly appoint Saul to be king over Israel, but He also provided those who would be his supporters and protectors.

In the last verse, in verse 27, we read this, But certain worthless men said,

How can this one deliver us? And they despised him and did not bring him any present.

But he kept silent. These worthless men, which translates son of Belial, men whose hearts the

Lord had not touched, it was a serious risk for the young king to have any kind of a faction.

And yet, they showed contempt when he was appointed king.

Yet Saul remained quiet. He didn't do anything at this time. He held his peace, and this shows some character on his part, that Saul was able to bear the disrespect and disdain at this time without seeking any vengeance.

So as we close this chapter, this was a main transition in leadership of all

Israel. We're going to have many kings following this. The first following Saul, of course, will be

David. But what do we gain from this? What can we learn from this great historical teaching from Samuel?

We understand, first of all, that God sovereignly chose Saul. He picked him.

He had his reasons for doing so. And so he was the one that Samuel brought forth, and they approved.

The whole nation approved. We recognize in his sovereignty.

We don't always understand his providential sovereignty for us.

We do know this. We can trust in his sovereignty, and yet we need to understand he desires to be holy and to follow him in obedience by his grace.

We know that Samuel was a great man, a great judge. He judged all his days, and yet the people of Israel, even though later on they all, when he dies, finally goes to be with the

Lord, they celebrated him. They loved him, but they didn't trust him in his old age, even though he was

God's man. He was set apart for this purpose.

He was a prophet, priest, and judge. So as we look at this, we have to understand that whatever

God does in our lives, he does so for his purposes. But we can totally and completely trust him in that, and we can love him for it.

He reveals himself clearly, both in the Old and the New Testament, as a holy, righteous, and sovereign

God. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your servant

Samuel. We thank you for how you displayed your sovereignty in bringing forth the first monarchy of Israel.

And Lord, we recognize that we, in this country, face different political agendas with people, and yet we don't look to that for our encouragement.

We look at your word and your sovereignty, that you are a holy God over us.

We recognize that you have blessed us, not only with your Holy Spirit indwelling us, but also with your revealed word.

We give you thanks and praise for all that you have done and all that you will do.

And Lord, we pray that you would continue in this time, as we collectively worship you, that you would be glorified through the preaching of your word and through the praise and song that we lift up to our sovereign

God. And we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. ♪

Look my eyes to the hills ♪ ♪ From where does my help come?

♪ ♪ Where does my help come?

♪ ♪ From where does my shepherd

I shall not want? ♪ ♪ He makes me lie down ♪ ♪

He leads me beside still waters ♪ ♪

He leads his namesake ♪ ♪

I shall dwell ♪ ♪

Where is my shepherd I shall not want? ♪ ♪

As a deer pants for flowing streams ♪ ♪

So pants my soul for you, O God ♪ ♪

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God ♪ ♪

When shall I come and appear before God? ♪ ♪

My tears have been my food day and night ♪ ♪

While they say to me continually ♪ ♪ Where is your

God? ♪ ♪ These things I remember as I pour out my soul ♪ ♪

I shouts in songs of praise a multitude keeping fast at all ♪ ♪

While you cast down all my soul is cast down within me ♪ ♪

Therefore I will miss the deep with the roar of his steadfast love face from me ♪ ♪

Must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

♪ ♪ I'll be exalted over me considering ♪ ♪

Lest I sleep the sleep of death ♪ ♪

Lest my enemies say I have prevailed and overthrown ♪ ♪

In your steadfast love hearts shall rejoice in your salvation ♪ ♪

I will sing, I will sing, I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me ♪ ♪

Because he has dealt bountifully with me ♪ ♪

And if not, O Lord my

God, I cry to you for help ♪ ♪

And you have healed me, O Lord, my soul from Sheol ♪ ♪

Restore those who go down to the pier ♪ ♪

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name ♪ ♪

For his anger is but for a moment and his favours for a lifetime comes with the moon ♪ ♪

As for me, I sin in my prosperity, I shall never be by your favour,

O Lord, and strong ♪ ♪

Answer the Lord and plead for mercy, what profit is there in my death if I go down to the pier?

♪ ♪ You have loosed my sackcloth into dancing, you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness ♪ ♪

Now you may sing your praise, and I'll be his alone ♪ ♪

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers ♪ ♪

He is in love as long as it takes, day is like a tree, it's fruited most the way it shares, but the way will perish ♪ ♪

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man against whom the

Lord has sown... ♪

If you haven't already, would you please stand as we sing this morning, Come Thou Almighty King. ♪

Come Thou Almighty King, help us

Thy name to sing, help us to praise ♪ ♪

Father of glorious, Lord of victorious, come and reign over us, ancient of days ♪ ♪

Come Thou incarnate Word, bear on my mighty soul a fair attempt, command my people thus, and give thy mercies thus,

Spirit of Christ descend ♪ ♪

Come Holy Father, heart of my sacred wedding day, lift this cloud out, liberate one and three, eternal breath, sever both eternity, love and adore...

♪ Stay standing and we're going to sing Our God. ♪ Why have you turned into water?

Stop this, and God is for us, and truth could ever stop us, and if our

God is, we can stand again ♪ ♪

Our God is greater, our

God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our

God... ♪ Let's sing.

♪ I know,

I know... ♪

Good morning.

A couple of announcements. Tomorrow night is our men's fellowship, which starts at 6 .30. So if you are here, there will be snacks provided for the men who wish to be part of that.

That's tomorrow night. And we had a couple of questions about the service and the different order of service that we've had.

One person asked if the not stopping to greet one another in the middle of the service was because of COVID.

And the answer to that is no. It has nothing to do with that whatsoever. Our goal was simply to create a more uninterrupted flow of worship where we sing and we have more singing in bigger blocks rather than interrupting it with that.

And somebody else asked if we're going to eliminate this entirely. And the answer is we haven't eliminated it. We've just moved it from after the first song to after the last song.

So there's still that opportunity to do that, but now we've just put it in a different place in the service.

There is some brochures. There are some brochures on the table that is in the foyer for the Israel trip.

For those of you who are interested in that, all the details on that coming up in February of 2022.

There's now a full color brochure out there. So make sure you pick one of those up. And then before I pursue this, pursue trying to solve this issue outside of our own congregation, because there's so many new people here and because I don't know everybody here and everybody's background,

I thought I would make this announcement. We are getting ready to do some of the electrical work upstairs, and we are looking for somebody who is licensed in the state of Idaho to pull an electrical permit and to oversee some of the electrical work that we're doing up there.

So if that describes you, please come and see me after the service if you're willing to work with us or work for us in helping get the upstairs wired.

That's sort of the next step in finishing the upstairs. You saw that the windows are in around the building up there, and now it's time to put up some electrical wiring.

So if you could help us out with that, particularly we need somebody who's able to pull the permit and able to kind of oversee that.

If that describes you, please let me know. Turn, if you will, please, to Hebrews chapter 10, because we're going to be referring to a number of things in this context this morning.

We're going to read, beginning at verse 19, through the verses that we're going to be looking at in verses 24 and 25, all the way through to the end of the chapter, beginning at verse 19 in Hebrews 10.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which

He inaugurated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful, and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which

He was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said,

Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living

God. But remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.

For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the persevering of the soul.

Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

Our Father, we do delight and take joy in the fellowship that we enjoy here as a church body. We are thankful that you have called us out of darkness and into the church of Christ, the body of Christ.

We thank you that your word gives us instructions on how to live together, how to serve one another, and how to live together in this body of Christ.

And we are grateful for all the clarity that is there in Scripture regarding that. We are thankful for the fellowship that we enjoy with our brothers and sisters around the world and across this nation, everywhere who worship and gather before you.

And we are grateful to be part of the church universal and the church triumphant, that church that spans all of the ages and all of the nations, and so many more have already passed on from before who have preceded us, and we get to simply follow in their footsteps and live lives of obedience and submission and holy righteousness before you.

And so we thank you for this work of your Spirit in our hearts, and we pray today for those brothers and sisters who are facing the reproaches and the sufferings and the tribulations described in this passage.

Those are not new because there is nothing new under the sun, and everything that transpires and everything that happens in your church here locally, in the churches around the world, all of it is appointed by your good and sovereign and gracious hand.

And so we pray that in the midst of those afflictions and suffering, that you would strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ to give adequate and clear testimony to the gospel of your grace and to the saving and redeeming power of Jesus Christ, and that you would give them strength and grace to endure under those trials and tribulations that they may honor and glorify you.

Thank you that our hope is not in this world, but that our hope is outside of this world. It is yet future, our confident expectation we still wait for, and we know that you will accomplish all of your good pleasure and you will fulfill all of your promises and your word, and we pray that you would strengthen us to be faithful until you do so.

We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Creation is

Jesus Christ her Lord She is risen, creation,

God, water, and the Word From heaven He came and sought her

To be His holy Christ With His own blood

He bought her And for her life He died

He led from every nation

Yet one for all the earth And taught her of salvation

One Lord, one faith, one word One holy name she blesses

Four days, one holy food And to one hope she presses

With every grace endures In troil and tribulation

And to those ever more She waits for God's salvation

Of peace forevermore Till with a vision glorious Her lowly gods are blest

And the great church victorious Shall be the church at rest

Yet she on earth hath builded

With God the Three in One And mystics we communion

With those whose rest is won O happy ones and holy

Forgive us, grace that we Thy condemn the mean and lowly

On whom I may dwell with Thee In Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 6 it says

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world

That we would be holy and blameless before Him in love By predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself According to the good pleasure of His will

To the praise of the glory of His grace Which He graciously bestowed on us in the

Beloved We're going to end this part of our worship service singing the song we introduced last week

O Fount of Love Fount of love that flows

From my Savior's bleeding side Where sinners stray, there fill

He rise For His righteousness Fount of grace to Thee we cling

From the law of heaven Fount of grace to Thee we cling Let us breathe once and for all

On Calvary's hill Love and justice shall agree

Praise the Lord, the price is paid The curse defeated by the

Lamb He who once were saved by birth

Sons and daughters Now we stand Of joy

His might we bring Victorious forevermore

The ancient foe is laid to rest Hallelujah, Christ is

King Alive and reigning on the throne

Our tongues employed With hymns of praise Glory be to God alone

Christ is King Alive and reigning on the throne

Our tongues employed With hymns of praise Glory be to God alone

Our tongues employed With hymns of praise Glory be to God alone

Now we pray that you would speak to us through your word and give us grace to rightly understand it to rightly see its meaning and its application and that we may yield to you hearts of obedience and love and affectionate joy and we pray this in Christ's name

Amen Well the Christian life is not a life that can be lived faithfully or obediently in isolation from other believers

I say that again, the Christian life is not a life that can be lived faithfully or obediently in isolation from other believers that cuts across the grain of modern evangelicalism it cuts across the grain of our culture and it certainly cuts across the grain of everything that we are familiar with in our area that is a particularly unpopular sentiment in today's church and specifically so in our area because we live in an area of the country where people move to in order to be alone, to be left alone and to leave other people alone that's why people move here now, for those who might be listening online or watching the live stream thinking about moving to North Idaho just let me say that this is a horrible place to live absolutely horrible there is nothing here that is appealing there is no natural beauty about any of it my heartily my heartfelt recommendation is to stay far far away from North Idaho and I think everybody here would agree with that in fact, if we could have a show of hands put your hand up or face church discipline and we could pan out and get the entire this is a horrible place now,

Boise on the other hand is, Boise is magnificent, it's God's country it's just this side of heaven so it's easy to find and you could buy property there, sight unseen and probably should if you're planning to move to the state of Idaho but here, not so much people who move here want to be alone, they want to be left alone and they want to leave other people alone and I can appreciate that sentiment especially in light of the abuse of power and the civic, commercial and cultural rot gut that just seeks to overwhelm us almost like a tsunami

I am sympathetic to the notion that we would all just hunker in our bunker and let all of this pass over us we can feel that but that sentiment and that mentality has no place in the

Christian heart in terms of our relationship to the church of Christ, to the body of Christ and to other

Christians, no place whatsoever it's instinctive to respond to the culture that way to respond to the civil government that way to respond to all of the nonsense going around us that way but it is it has no place in the

Christian church and no place in the heart of a true believer the Christian life is not a life that can be lived faithfully and obedient in isolation from one another because we have moral duties to other people in the body of Christ moral duties and commands which cannot be obeyed and cannot be lived out in isolation from other people these three exhortations that we find in Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 22, let us draw near verse 23, let us hold fast and verse 24, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds those first two exhortations, drawing near and holding fast, are things that you can do while hunkering in your bunker but considering how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, that is not something that you can do in isolation from other people in fact that's only one of the many one another commands that we find in scripture, we are also told to pray for one another and to encourage one another to love one another, serve one another, submit to one another give to one another, be considerate to one another forgive one another, be kind to one another be at peace with one another, so a whole bunch of one another commands, well if you're isolated from one another then there is no other to be one another with, and all you have is you, one, and not another, then you can't fulfill any of those biblical commands, so the

Christian life is not a life that can be lived faithfully or obediently in isolation to other people these commands and the ways in which they are to be fulfilled, require us to be involved vitally and intimately in the lives of other people and to live that body life out with other

Christians, because other Christians need you, and you need other Christians and if you think you don't need other people, you might feel perfectly comfortable hunkering in your bunker, but if you think that you do not need other people, you do not understand the way that God has created you to live and to be sanctified and to be a sanctifying influence in the lives of other

Christians, that requires us getting together now last Sunday we looked at the exhortation that's found in verse 24, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, and just very quickly for review, that means that we are to intentionally take a lively interest in other people's lives for their spiritual benefit, to the end that we would be producing in them love and good deeds our goal is to be so lively interested and involved in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ that we are there as a stimulating and sanctifying influence to provoke them in the best way possible to live lives of obedient faithfulness and submission to the

Lord Jesus Christ and that would produce in them love and good deeds, now that was the exhortation today we're looking at the explanation which is in verse 25 and then there is the motivation which we will get to next week, the exhortation is let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, the explanation of that is that we are to do this, how?

not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of son but rather encouraging one another, and then the motivation for this is that we are to do this all the more as we see the day approaching, there is an external motivation to this that ought to inspire us and captivate our hearts with this command to go after this aggressively so we looked at the exhortation now here's the explanation, how are we to do this?

we are to do this not forsaking our own assembling together, you'll notice that the explanation is stated in negative terms, it's stated later at the end of verse 25 in positive terms but encouraging one another that's the opposite of not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, we are to do this, consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, we are to do this not forsaking our gathering together but instead we are to do this by encouraging one another and all the more as we see the day approaching, but it's interesting that he states this in the negative about how we are to do this, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together now this is obviously had become the habit of some as the text says but you'll notice that the previous exhortation also had an explanation that was stated as a negative we are to hold fast the confession of our hope and how are we to do this?

not wavering, without wavering, you remember that word means to bend or to drift in one direction or another, we are to do this by not doing this how do you hold fast your confession of hope?

by not wavering one iota or bending one bit at all to the whims and will of the world likewise we are to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds and we are to do this by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together which means that this command to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds this command is uniquely in this text tied to the gathering of Christians in gathering together the assembly of Christians in gathering together we are to not forsake

I don't know what your particular translation has there for that word, but that word forsake is as strong as the original language might suggest to understand exactly what the author is describing here we need to be careful that we understand what the word forsaken means, what the word assembly means and what the word habit means and when we understand all of those three things then we can rightly apply this text to our lives so what is this forsaking?

it is the word that means to quit, to cease or to leave behind it is in a more forceful way it means to abandon or to forsake to desert or to leave somebody in the lurch or to leave in a straight to walk away from somebody when they need it and to leave them helpless that's what the word means, to turn your back on them and to leave them behind the author here is obviously not just describing the occasional missing of a worship service he's describing an attitude toward the assembled body where you turn your back on them and you leave them behind, you abandon them or desert them and leave them in the lurch helpless, that's what the word describes let me give you a sense of how it's used in scripture it's used in the gospels twice both times, one in Matthew and one in Mark, in parallel passages that deal with the crucifixion of our

Lord when Jesus was expressing the pain and the suffering and the affliction that he felt on the cross in his human terms, quoting

Psalm 22 and expressing how it is that he felt at that moment, that he bore our sin he said, my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? that's the word that is used there for forsaken, abandoned or left in the lurch now as an aside the

Father did not forsake the Son on the cross we dealt with this in the Gospel of John it's not what Jesus meant by that because the rest of that Psalm, Psalm 22 actually describes how the

Father came to the aid of the one who cried and heard him so that's not what Jesus was describing his anguish, his physical anguish and affliction and suffering on the cross and he uses that term of feeling like he has just completely been abandoned and left helpless in the lurch it's also used in 2

Corinthians chapter 4, Paul described a feeling or an expression of being almost totally abandoned but not quite forsaken, he says we are persecuted but we are not forsaken we are struck down but not destroyed and there

Paul uses that word to describe it being completely abandoned all by himself he said, the Lord has persecuted us or allowed us to be persecuted but he has not left us helpless, he has not left us in the lurch

Hebrews 13 verse 5 is another reference that uses this word and there it is actually translated as forsaken but there it is the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us it's used of Christ's resurrection in Acts chapter 2 twice in Acts chapter 2, 2 verse 27 and 2 verse 31, because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, that's the word translated forsaken or desert you will not forsake my soul to Hades nor allow your

Holy One to undergo decay and then it is used most poignantly of Paul in describing himself being abandoned by his friends, 2

Timothy 4 verse 10 for Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica later on in the same chapter, chapter 4 verse 16, at my first defense no one supported me but all deserted me may it not be counted against them can you hear the emotion of that?

Demas loved the world and forsook me, left him in the lurch Paul was in prison and Demas was having his fun in the world having abandoned

Paul in the midst of his suffering and then Paul says at my first defense when he first stood before Nero he said no one supported me, he was all alone that's what the word forsaken here means now what does it sound like the author is describing here?

does it sound like the author is describing erratic attendance at worship showing up once a month, twice a month

CEO Christians Christmas and Easter only does it sound like the author is describing the occasional absence from the gathered church body does it sound like he is describing a cavalier attitude toward the assembly sometimes

I go there, sometimes I don't if we had gathered here on any given Sunday morning, all of the people in Bonner County who consider this their home church we would be knocking out this wall to mirror the sanctuary

I meet people who say that's my home church I'm like I don't even know your name, like you've been here what twice, three times, I don't even

I just don't even know that does it sound like he is describing that, a cavalier attitude towards the church assembly he's not describing any of those things, not describing erratic attendance, not describing occasionally missing it because you're on vacation or you're sick, he's not describing a cavalier attitude toward the

Christian assembly no, in fact, verse 26 kind of sheds some light on it he says in verse 26 for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins verse 26 begins the warning passage the warning passage that follows this is a warning to apostates, and verse 26 begins with that word for for, and that is what commentators call an inferential conjunction, now

I don't call it that because I don't use big words like that but an inferential conjunction means that the author in the warning passage toward apostates is working out for them the inferences, the implications the next logical step of forsaking the assembling of yourselves together he's not describing occasionally missing church, he is describing a forsaking and an abandoning and a turning your back on your brothers and sisters in the lurch, and turning around and having nothing else to do with that that's what he is describing, which is why he begins in verse 26 with this inferential conjunction where he says the next logical step of this of forsaking the assembly is this apostasy, and if you go this route there no longer remains a sacrifice for your sins, so he goes on to describe that apostate as those who go on sitting and trample underfoot the son of God, and regard as unclean the blood of the covenant by which

Christ was sanctified, and they insult the spirit of grace, they had turned their back on the assembly of believers, and thus they had turned their soul over to destruction, the destruction that is mentioned in verse 39, this is why it is the fiery wrath that is promised in the apostate passage beginning in verse 26, that fiery wrath is promised not to Christians who occasionally miss a church service, it is promised to those who demonstrate their unsaved character and unsaved unredeemed state by turning their back on the assembly of believers, and walking away and going back to the world, just like Demas did from the apostle

Paul, that's what he is describing the ordinary beginning of full and final apostasy is the forsaking of the assembly that's the first step that's the first step, so this is not describing occasionally missing church, or an apathetic attitude toward worship, or an erratic attendance at church services, or not really hanging out with other

Christians very much, except on a Sunday morning, it's not describing any of those, now some of you might think, well, man that's good because when you read that this morning,

I thought you were going to get on me for my erratic attendance, my apathetic attitude, and hardly ever being with Christians no, that's not what this passage is describing you have other issues that this passage is not describing, but that's not what this passage is describing so let's just be clear on what we're talking about here, in this passage the apathetic attitude and erratic attendance, there is a short road between that, and forsaking the assembly, there is an even shorter road between forsaking the assembly and outright apostasy when you begin over here with those attitudes, which will eventually lead you to turn your back on the truth, then it's just the next step is apostasy, which is why the author gets right into that beginning at verse 26 we are to draw near, and hold fast and consider how to stimulate one another's love and good work, and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, because these are the preventative measures against apostasy the author wants us to avoid this turning away from the truth well the things that you do to not turn away from the truth, is you draw near, you hold fast, and you don't forsake the assembling of yourselves with other saints now, he obviously also has in mind here, the unique Christian assembly of saints that he is describing, it is our own assembly now, he says let us not forsake our own assembling together, and you might suspect, or maybe expect,

I should say, that the word assembly, there would be the word for church ecclesia, in the Greek, that we should not forsake the gathering of the church or the church coming together, but that's not the word that the disciple, that the author uses, he uses the word epi -synagogue you hear the word synagogue in there?

because that word for synagogue just referred to a gathering or a collection of people and it was used two different ways in the first century, it was used generally speaking of a group of people assembled together, and it didn't necessarily refer to a religious gathering or anything of that nature, it just simply referred to the assembly or the gathering together of a people well the

Jews used that word synagogue that's a transliteration of that word but they used that word to describe their unique gathering together in every city on the sabbath day, for the reading of scripture, for the proclaiming of scripture, for mutual edification for the observance of different feasts and ceremonies, etc as part of their

Jewish customs so the author does not here use the word for church, he uses the word that describes just generically an assembly of saints now we use this we use the word church to describe what we do here, and this is properly speaking a church service, it is a service for the church, it is a service for believers and what we do here is for believers and so this is the gathering or the collecting together of the saints, but it's not the only gathering or collecting of the saints that happens as part of Kootenai Community Church in any given week

I could abuse this passage and say wow, that would be a warning against abusing the passage

I guess I could abuse this passage and say that this refers to any time that the church gets together, you are to be there and there are people who have done that but he's not obviously describing individual services of church people, or individual services of Christians, he's describing the collection or the gathering out of the people of God and the question really is not do you attend every event that two or three or four people from Kootenai Community Church are at, but the question is what is your attitude toward the assembly and the gathering together of God's people, that's really the heart attitude that is being addressed here we are to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together this word is only used two times in the

New Testament, it's used once here it's used, and I think this is interesting in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 1 where Paul writes, now we request of you brethren with regard to the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him the only other time that this word is used in the

New Testament, it describes us being gathered together with the Lord Jesus Christ church services ought to be a preview of what gathering together with Him is going to be like it's not perfect it's not perfect because we're not perfect but the gathering together of the people of God ought to reflect and give us a taste of what it is that we're ultimately going to anticipate and that is being together and worshiping together and fellowshipping together and visiting with each other and serving one another, loving one another, this expression that we have on earth, this is the taste of what we get to look forward to in heaven which ought to indicate to us that the church service is not to be done with unbelievers in view because there are going to be no unbelievers there no impenitent unbelievers, and therefore this ought to be a preview of that ultimate expression of our gathering together, we gather together here now because we will be gathered together with Him ultimately, and so we gather together now in expectation of that in longing for that, as an expression of that and anticipating that and every gathering of ourselves together here should make us just long a little bit more for that ultimately gathering to the

Lord Jesus Christ He describes this as we are to not forsake our own assembling together, and why would the author use the word for synagogue there, epi -synagogue, instead of ekklesia which is the

Greek word for church why use that? He's obviously writing to Jews who had come out of the synagogue, I think that's one reason, he's also describing here our own assembly or our own gathering together, so he's using a uniquely

Jewish word or Jewish concept to describe the gathering together of Christians and we are not to neglect our own gathering together, now some people have suggested that that designation, our own, really was indicating that what is in view here was the collection or gathering in of a group of people that was somehow connected to the synagogue in other words, the

Christians would gather together kind of like a little clique inside the synagogue itself, so you had the operations of the synagogue and then you had sort of the

Christian synagogue that would meet in the midst of it like they would have their own Sunday school class while everybody else was meeting in the synagogue, well it wouldn't be

Sunday it would be Sabbath school, they'd have their own Sabbath school class, but you know what I mean, that's not what he is describing here, what he's describing here is a separate assembly together of the people of God, and the real danger for these folks was that they would feel the longing to go back to the sacrifices, back to the old covenant, back to that old way of doing things in the old synagogue, and so he distinguishes here between our own gathering together, and that gathering together that you once were part of and the danger is, and the warning is if you go back to that, leave the new for the old, and go back to your old friends, your old family, and your own ways, and you forsake instead this gathering together in order to be part of this gathering together there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins for you for to you to walk away from this which is clearly revealed in scripture, and is clearly a new covenant community, and to turn your back on that is to trample underfoot the son of God, and to regard as unclean the blood that has put you in this new covenant relationship, it is to despise the very blood of that sacrifice that he shed, and instead to say

I would prefer to be under the blood of the bulls, and the goats, and the animals that's the kind of apostasy that is being described here and this apparently had become the habit of some, now that word habit is also a word that is sometimes translated as custom in fact it's the same word used to describe the burial custom of the

Jews, or what was customary it describes something that had become a custom through repetition, in other words this is a pattern of behavior, it is the things you do as a pattern, this is your custom this is your normal way, it's your ritual your precedent, your tradition, your routine your ritual behavior, or your practice it's something that develops over time and it's something that develops over time because in doing it, it becomes the new routine, that's what's being described by neglecting or forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, this had started off with an attitude and over the course of time, the repeated turning away, and drawing away, and remaining away from the body of believers the assembled

Christians, this had become the new routine of some the habit of some, it now was their new custom, whereas at one time custom revolved around worshipping together with the saints of God and being part of that community now, the new custom, the new habit, the new routine, is just to miss that assembly altogether, so this describes someone, some whose routine now did not make room for worship, for the preaching of the word, for the observing of the ordinances for teaching, for fellowship for service, for accountability, for submitting to authority or any of the other graces that God induces into our life through the means of the local body and the local church so again, this is not, and it cannot be used to describe or condemn somebody who is absent from a worship service for a period of time because their job demands it because that's their shift and they have to work

Sundays for a period of time to cover other things, and so they are forced to miss worship, or they have to miss worship for a period of time, people sometimes say, you know,

I've been two weeks, I don't want to be forsaking the assembly and myself together with the saints I've been absent for two weeks, one week

I was completely sick and on death's door, and the other week I was on vacation with my family, that's two in a row,

I'm forsaking the assembly, no you're not this is not describing things that come up and interrupt the normal routine of your life this describes one whose normal routine is not worshiping, that's what's being condemned here, one whose normal routine used to include the gathering together with the saints and now that normal routine does not include gathering together with the saints, something that happened over the course of time through habitual practice that changed one custom into another custom, one habit into another habit, and so now their habit is that they have forsaken and turned their back on that gathering of Christians so it's not describing you being on vacation for two weeks, it's not describing you recovering from illness or a surgery or because of some constraint that is forced upon you from outside where you have to care for a loved one or a sick one, it's not describing you unable to be here because of a physical frailty or because of an incapacity those things are all temporary interruptions into our routine what's being described here is not

I missed a couple Sundays in a row what is being described here is I missed every

Sunday in a row because it was football season and I got to the end of January and I just thought that's my new custom,

I'm just not going back an occasional interruption and a forsaking of the assembly, there is a distance between those two things, for some people that's a short road, for some people that's a long road but the next step after you forsake the assembly is apostasy that's what the author is warning about in verse 26 see these things that I'm describing here these are temporary interruptions and they don't constitute the habit but they can they can you say well how do

I know if it's become the habit or not you need to figure that out that's a question you have to answer how do

I know if this is my new custom, if missing church for all of these other activities is my new normal what in the lives of these early

Christians created this forsaking do you have any idea what it might be I think we can get a clue to it down in verse 32 where he says but remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one what had led to this why were some abandoning the church why had this become a habit in the lives of some because they were suffering affliction, persecution hard persecution and soft persecution they were being reproached by their friends and their family, their co -workers and their bosses, they were being abused verbally in the community outside of them probably by the old synagogue and all of that reproaching and all of that pressure and all of that persecution had made them think you know it would be a lot easier if I just didn't go gather together with those

Christians I had all my stuff taken from me last week and now I'm supposed to go back again and gather with those

Christians after I've had all of my property seized and I'm being reproached and spurned and hated by everyone you know it would make life a lot easier, what would make the suffering go away instantly is just to not meet with the

Christians so maybe if I do it less and less frequently, maybe if I have my part there less frequently than I used to over the course of time that affliction will stop and you know when the world will be happy with us not meeting together when we don't meet together at all not once a month, that won't satisfy anybody, if the church gathered once every six months the world would still hate it so long as it proclaimed the truth the world will never be satisfied until the church is completely and totally extinguished so this persecution that had struck this early church had caused some of them to begin to forsake the assembly of themselves together and notice that the author does not promise that it's going to get better, he doesn't say no you need to get together and keep worshipping together because eventually this will lighten up, it will get better he doesn't promise them that he doesn't say it will get easier over time he doesn't suggest that they should avoid church because of the dangers and he doesn't even say in verse 38 that what they needed was for the persecution to stop he said what you need is endurance wait,

I want verse 38 to say but what you need is for the persecution to stop, that's what I want, sorry verse 36 you have need of endurance it's endurance that they needed, not an end to the affliction it was endurance the danger of gathering together as the assembled church of God made their assembly together as the church of God even more necessary do you catch this, don't miss this they were facing persecution and the author doesn't say that look in light of the persecution you should probably stop meeting for a while, he doesn't say that in light of the fact that you've had your property seized you probably should stop meeting for a while he doesn't say that, instead he says because this is going on you need to make sure that you are even more diligent to not forsake the assembling of yourselves together because it is in the midst of that suffering there is only one place where God's people are fed and encouraged and strengthened and fellowship and enjoy a taste of heaven and are reminded of the hope that we have that is to come, there is only one place that takes place it's not in the theater it's not in front of the television set it's not out in the park, it's not on a mountaintop there is only one place where that happens and that is when

God's people come together as the church to worship and fellowship with him so the author doesn't say look just take a break for a bit and maybe the persecution will die down he says no, in light of the persecution you need to be even more diligent to do this do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together believers in every age in every age of church history have ventured their lives to gather together as the church in every age in every age somewhere on this planet meeting as Christians meant a death sentence there are areas of our planet today when meeting together is a death sentence and do you know what the

Christians there do? they meet together because they esteem the worship of God the corporate worship of God, the proclaiming of his word and the fellowship of the saints as more valuable than their very lives that is how they view the function of the early church, of the church of the worship of God itself as so valuable that they are willing to risk their very lives to do it.

We in our age have had it very easy in North America now up in Canada they are becoming a communist police state up there we are on the crazy train we are just a couple of cars behind Canada on this progression we've had it very easy here

Christians all over the world have ventured their lives and the author knows that they are not ignorant of the danger he knows that they have reason to fear and he knows that they are facing a threat and yet he says, to borrow the words from the next chapter in chapter 11 he says that they are to esteem the gathering of the saints as more valuable than their lives as more valuable than their possessions and as more valuable than the danger that danger might bring to them that might deter them from doing that more valuable than comfort or convenience or even escaping the persecution that was to come so he quotes in chapter 11 verse 25 speaking of Moses he says that Moses chose to endure ill treatment with the people of God rather to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin

Moses did this by faith you and I likewise as believers are to choose ill treatment with the people of God over the safety and security and the ease and comfort of not gathering together we are to choose ill treatment and persecution because we gather over the convenience and comfort and safety of not gathering look around you these are the ill treated people of God reproached and spurned and the world hates you because you heap reproach and scorn on everything that the world loves and so they heap reproach and scorn on you in return they hate you now look around you this is your family and in the midst of persecution no matter how bad it ever gets or ever is if it ever comes to this country or if we escape it by some act of grace of God no matter how bad it is this is more beneficial this is better than all the ease and convenience of not gathering together esteeming together the worship of God the preaching of His word and the fellowship that we get to enjoy as the saints it is better to enjoy that and receive ill treatment with the people of God than to escape that for all the comforts and pleasures that this world can provide there are things that come up in life that interrupt our gathering together as God's people

I get that, we all know that, we all face it this passage is not describing that those things in our lives for those who are believers they are unwelcome and sometimes unavoidable but they are things that we avoid in this life that replaces what we do here as a church in our worship they're unavoidable but sometimes we have to skip church for one reason or another that eventually becomes a habitual pattern and that habitual pattern becomes the new custom and that new custom then is forsaking the assembly and that forsaking the assembly is apostasy you see, there's a road nobody steps off the cliff into apostasy whether you're talking about Bart Ehrman or Joshua Harris or anybody else who's turned their back on the faith there's a road there is a progress, there is a forming of a custom there is the shaping of a mind there is the influencing of a heart that takes place over the course of time these things are not instantaneous it begins with a cavalier attitude but it eventually becomes the routine practice when we then begin to cut ourselves off from the grace of God in the preaching of His word we cut ourselves off from the grace of observing the ordinances together of fellowship, of worship, of praying with one another of being involved in the lives of other people and having them involved in our lives these are all means of grace that sanctify us and feed us and strengthen us and you know when you need that feed and that strength the most?

right, when you are in the midst of having your property seized and being reproached and scorned by the world that's when assembling together is more essential than it ever has been that's when you need it most that's why

He says to do this all the more as you see the day approaching things are getting bad yep, that's right so double down Christian it's going to get bad and it will get bad so double down on it and let the world heap its scorn and reproach upon us so what is your custom?

where am I at in this? Jim, are you suggesting that I'm not attending church enough? I don't take attendance here I know some people do

I don't even see the attendance of what goes on here so that's not what I'm talking about we're not talking about counting heads we're not talking about the elders coming to your house this week and saying look, you have been at only 9 out of the last 10 worship services and that's unacceptable we're not talking about any of that we don't do that that's not what this passage is about but here's the question are other things in your life unwelcomed and avoided that infringe upon your habit of gathering together for worship or is worship and gathering together with the people of God the unwelcome and avoided thing in your life?

that's the question what do you consider to be an interruption? worship?

or the things that threaten to supplant worship? what's the interruption in your life? is

Sunday morning worship the interruption? is gathering together with God's people an interruption? is the spiritual activities of the church an interruption?

or are the other things that threaten to supplant those things the interruption? see that's where the heart issue gets to it's not a matter of counting heads or counting services or saying

I'm there 90 % and having attendance it's not about any of that really it is about what is your custom what are you accustomed to and are you on a path that is going to form itself into a new routine which will be to your spiritual danger we have access to God and we have a great priest over the house of God therefore let us consider how to stimulate one another to provoke one another to love and to good deeds in the best way possible we do this by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together you cannot provoke one another to love and good deeds if you aren't intimately connected in their lives in the body of Christ and you cannot encourage one another if there's no another around you to encourage so the author wants us to be busy about doing this because he knows that to not do this is to take that first step into apostasy it is to turn from the truth and to isolate yourself from all of the means of grace that God has put into your life to strengthen and to feed you and next week we will look at the motivation why we are to do this all the more as we see the day approaching what is that day and why and how should it motivate us let's pray father we love you and thank you for your grace and for your word your grace is evident in our lives not just in calling us out of the world and bringing us into the church of the living

God purchased by the blood of Christ but your grace is evident in how you feed us from your word and encourage us together how you use others in our lives we pray that you would you would fix within our hearts a love a longing for and a desire for the gathering together of your people for the worship and fellowship that comes as a result of what we do we pray that you would use us as instruments in the lives of our brothers and sisters to be spurs to love and to good deeds to encourage them and to strengthen them as a means of sanctifying them and we pray that you would use others in our lives in that very same way as we mutually serve one another and love one another and fellowship with one another we are built up and strengthened and that is all according to your most holy plan we thank you for this grace and for the church and for this church for this body that is gathered here we thank you that we are part of the body of Christ and we thank you for this local expression and for those who live and love and serve this congregation for those who are here and leading it we would just ask for your blessing upon them and may you continue to use each of us in the lives of all the rest of us to honor you to glorify you sanctify our brothers and sisters to encourage them and to build them up to the glory of the

Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray let's stand and close out our service by singing the doxology praise

God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below praise the

Lord praise you are dismissed have a great week many are the sorrows of the wicked but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the

Lord be glad rejoice all the righteous and shout for joy all you righteous and shout be glad rejoice all the righteous and shout for joy let the words of my heart be acceptable in your side oh my rock my redeemer the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his words pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge there is no speech nor their words whose voice is not heard their voice goes out through all the earth words to the end of the world a tent for the sun which comes out like a bridegroom leaving its chamber and like a strong man runs its course with joy its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them there is nothing hidden from its heat the testimony of the

Lord is sure the precepts of the Lord are right the commandment of the

Lord is pure lightening the earth and righteous all together let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my side desired are they then gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey as your servant who can discern his errors declare me innocent from hidden faults keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins let the light of grace shine with the words and meditation of my

Lord those who beheld it labor in vain unless the watch is over the city the watchman stays awake in vain it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the

Lord he gives to his beloved sleep unless the those who beheld it labor in vain watches over the city the watchman stays awake in vain behold children are a heritage from the

Lord rose in the hand of children all once used to build it watches over the city the watchman stays awake in vain quiver with them he shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gales those who beheld it labor watches over the city the watchman stays awake in vain as the

Lord builds the house those who beheld it labor in vain make a make a joyful noise to the

Lord serve the Lord with gladness come into his presence with singing make a joyful noise to the

Lord we are of his pasture make a joyful noise to the

Lord make a joyful enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise give his steadfast love endures forever and his faithful make a joyful God, refuge and strength of every present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar though the mountains tremble at its swelling nations rain desolations on horses to the end of the earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he births the chariots

Moses without is our fortress

I will be exalted among the nations

I will be exalted in the earth I will be exalted among the nations

I will be exalted in the host is with us the

God of Jacob is our is our for the faithful neighbor with flattered maids who say with our tongue we will prevail the same which ye long like silver if my servants are beside the children

I seek you my soul flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water cause your steadfast love is better than life my lips appraise you so I will bless you as long as I live in your name

I will lift all my hands my soul will be satisfied and meditate on you in the watches of the night for you have been my soul clings to you your right hand upholds me but those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth they shall be given they shall be a portion for jackals shall rejoice and sing all the spells of life teach me oh lord and I to thee give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe leave me in your testimonies and not too selfish game looking at what place they give me that you may be turned away for your good beholden sins in your righteousness give me love justice give me love may god be gracious to us and bless his face to shine upon that you're with your salvation sons be glad and sing for you judge the people with equity the earth has yielded its increase god our god shall bless us god shall bless us let all the ends of the earth feel praise you lord you have searched me and known me you know when