What We Have and What We Do Part 2

The Old Testament reading this morning is Psalm 133.

Please stand.

A song of ascents of David.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

It is like the precious oil on the beard, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running

down on the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls in the mountains of Zion.

For there, the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

New Testament is Acts 2, verses 42 through 47.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And all came upon every soul.

And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all

as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with

glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Maybe seated.

Now, I hate to do this.

It should have been done in announcement.

So, all the deacons and the elders, we need to meet up here, up front, right after the service, okay?

We got some, we gotta divvy up into the budget teams,.

All right?

Sorry, that's what we gotta do.

All right, take your Bibles.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews chapter 10.

As we continue in what God tells us about the Lord Jesus and our responsibilities and duties

and joys because of him, Hebrews chapter 10, our text, verses

19 through 25.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a

great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true

heart in full assurance of faith, with 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 stir up one another to love and good works, not

neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and

all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Father, now open the text of your word to us as the living word of God.

We need your spirit to show us where we stand in relationship to it,

and so be at work in the next few minutes as we consider your word, as you speak to us

in this text.

And we'll thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

The Association of Reformed Theologians of North America, ARCNA by name,

are meeting in the next three days discussing the topic, the Christology of the Epistle of

Hebrews.

And papers are gonna be presented, such papers and topics like Jesus, Final

Revelation in Existential Epistemology, the concept of the Melchizedekian Priesthood

in first century Judaism, the high priest who reigns, why Christ

must rule as high priest, heavenly patterns, an exploration of New Testament

typology.

Now there's nothing wrong with diving deep into the doctrine of Jesus, into our

Christology, into understanding Jesus more.

But Hebrews was not written so that theologians could sit around a table smoking their pipes and drinking their coffee and

engaging in wonderful conversation about Jesus.

Rather, the issues that we've seen, these deep issues like the new covenant, the power of Jesus'

death, the high priesthood, our access to God, the rest that Jesus promises

were written to motivate believers to persevere.

They did not gather to read this sermon epistle just to discuss the glorious

depths of its truth.

They were in the crucible of persecution and they were attempted to abandon their allegiance to this

superior high priest.

The deep and marvelous truth of the Melchizedekian Priesthood of Jesus, the power of his sacrifice, the

change of the covenants, all were intended to move them to action.

And so we come to this division in the book that starts in verse 19 with that word, therefore.

He says, in light of all these marvelous truths, then you must act.

Therefore, in light of all the things we've said in all these chapters before, in these nine and a

half chapters, in light of all of that, now what?

And the rest of the book then gives us the things that must be true of us that we must

do in light of who Jesus is and what he has done.

Now, as we saw last week in verses 19 through 21, he first

reminds you of what you have in Christ.

He rehearses that very quickly.

He says you have confidence or boldness to enter the presence of God, you gotta remember that, and you have

to remember that you have a grace priest over the house of God.

Those are the things, he says quickly, all that I've said says these things, and now as a result of

that, now because of what Jesus is and what he's done, on the basis of our Christology,

you now must take certain measures.

And so on the basis of these glorious truths about Jesus, our Jewish pastor writer exhorts you to do

three things.

He exhorts you first to draw near to God and then to hold fast to the confession and then

to encourage one another.

Those are the three immediate things he says flow out of and are consistent with all these marvelous truths

about Jesus that we've been talking about.

These are the three things that immediately comes to his mind.

Draw near to God, hold fast to your confession, and encourage one another.

Verse 22 then, he says, draw near to God.

Because of Jesus, you can draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith,

he says.

Now he's saying in another forceful way, he's giving us another way, he's saying another way,

enter boldly into the presence of God.

That's what he means with a true heart and full assurance of faith, enter boldly,

assured that God will be there to meet you.

Now when I walk in the door at home after returning from a week -long conference, I walk in the door with true heart

and full assurance and faith that my wife will greet me with joy.

I'm confident of that, right?

I'm confident of that.

I don't walk in the house saying, oh man, is she still gonna love me?

I walk in with full confidence, true heart and full confidence and assurance of faith.

I believe it, it's gonna happen.

And that's what he's saying, you gotta believe that God will welcome you.

And he says, because of Jesus, you can draw near to God, no, because we have

a cleansed conscience with our hearts, he says, with our hearts

sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

Your consciences have been cleansed so that they no longer accuse you or remind you of sins that could

possibly prevent you from entering the presence of God.

There's nothing your conscience can say that says you've been so bad, you can't go into the presence of God.

Remember you did this?

Your conscience has been cleansed, it doesn't have the authority to tell you that anymore.

And he says, we've been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.

That is, as in the Old Testament, you remember in Exodus when Moses enacted the covenant with the

people between the people and God, he sprinkled them with blood.

And so we have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, the blood of a new covenant with better promises of

forgiveness and entrance into the presence of God.

Now you may fear to enter the presence of God because you're looking at you and you're looking at your

worthiness, but you can enter because the blood of Jesus has been shed and sprinkled on you

and on that basis you enter the presence of God, not on the basis of your own worthiness.

So you need not entertain.

Listen, you need never entertain any doubts about the right to go to

God, the right to enter his presence in the most holy place.

I love that song, Before the Throne of God.

I love that second verse when it says, when Satan, or we could say, when my conscience tempts

me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him

there who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me, to look on him and pardon me.

That's what he's saying here.

You have confidence to enter because you have been cleansed.

He goes on and he says, with our bodies washed with pure water.

Now what's that all about?

Well, remember as we saw earlier that the Old Testament had these washings that people had to do.

We looked at those, you remember?

And there were these ceremonial washings that would make them ceremonial clean.

But we also know from this book, from chapter nine in particular, that those

washings never perfected anyone.

They were just outward.

They were ceremonial, but they never had the power to perfect anyone.

And they pointed forward to the cleansing that would come with the offering of Jesus.

You see, they were pointing forward.

I believe he's referring here to our cleansing that's symbolized by believer's baptism.

The physical cleansing of our bodies in baptism speaks of the cleansing we have

received by the sacrifice of Jesus.

And so he's saying, you stand before God completely cleansed.

You stand before God with nothing between you and God.

Jesus has dealt with it all.

And so he says, draw near.

Draw near.

Instead of a guarded presence now that they had in the Old Covenant.

Can you consider this change?

Instead of the guarded presence of God, now you have the open,

inviting presence of God.

Totally, totally different.

No longer guarded, but open and inviting.

So draw near.

Draw near when you feel joy.

Don't just draw near when you're in trouble.

Draw near when you feel joy, when you need to give thanks.

When that baby is born, you can run into the presence of God with joyful thanksgiving.

Draw near when you face temptation.

Don't think you're gonna draw near after you've gained some kind of significant victory.

Draw near when you face temptation when you need strength.

Draw near when you fail.

Draw near when you sin.

Do not think that you can draw near after you've made up for your sin in some fashion.

Isn't that what you do?

Oh, I can't go to God until I make up somehow for my failure.

Then I'll go into his presence.

No, run into his presence when you fail, when you need forgiveness.

Draw near when you face hardships.

Don't draw near when you think things are easier and you'll be able to do it.

Draw near when you face hardships, when you need hope.

Draw near when you think God has abandoned you.

Don't draw near when you think God is close, when you start feeling something.

When that feeling of God's distance seems to overtake you, draw near to God

when you need comfort.

Hey, did you notice when Pastor Andrew preached on Psalm 22, the psalmist was saying, "'My God,

my God, why have you forsaken me?'.

Who was he saying that to?

You thought about that?

Who was he talking to at that moment?

He was talking to God.".

And when God seems distance, that's when you draw near.

When you feel like God has forgotten you, that's when you draw near.

Don't wait for the feeling to so -called to be passed.

Go then.

You see, he says, because of Jesus, draw near.

He goes on, verse 23,

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

Now, what is this confession of our hope?

It is the faith or the doctrine that believers have acknowledged as truth.

We confess truth.

He says, hold fast to that confession of the truth that you have believed, the confession that

Jesus is the final word from God, the confession that Jesus offers cleansing and forgiveness,

and by his work, and nothing else will suffice.

That's the confession.

And it is a confession of our hope.

God promises you joy and glory as you continue to trust in Jesus, as you hold

fast to that.

Now, remember, these folks were tempted to abandon their faith when persecution arrived, and they started

to put their hope in those sorts of things that would relieve the pressure.

They weren't holding fast their confession of hope.

They were looking for hope somewhere else.

If you hold fast to your confession, he says, not abandoning it, joy and glory

is yours.

And he says, do it not wavering.

He doesn't mean do it perfectly.

He doesn't mean do it perfectly, but he does mean this.

Don't waver.

When things get tough, don't start casting about for something that's easier.

Hold fast to that confession of your hope.

Well, why?

Hold fast to your confession when the heat is on.

Hold fast to the confession when confusion reigns, and you're saying, is this worth it?

Hold fast to your confession when you start saying to yourself, following Jesus requires more than any human being could possibly bear.

Hold fast. Hold fast.

And you can hold fast without wavering because he says, he who

promised is faithful.

He's faithful.

Hold fast because he's faithful.

After you've endured the hardships and the heartaches and the cost of following Christ,

God will not say, wow, man, that was really

tough.

But you know, I've changed my mind.

You know, that joy and glory thing?

No.

That's not gonna happen.

You can count on it.

You can count on the fact that he will remain faithful to what he said.

When you wonder whether it's worth serving Jesus because of the heartache and suffering, because of the

humiliation and persecution, because of the accusations of a world that hates

you, because of the failures you have in serving him, when you're starting to wonder, remember

that God promises joy for the heartache, glory for the humiliation,

vindication for the accusations, and commendation for

your service.

God is faithful and he will give you those things.

So draw, because of Jesus then, hold fast.

And then he gives us one more.

One more in light of who Jesus is.

He says, encourage one another.

Verses 24 and 25.

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, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Encourage one another.

God calls you to encourage and to stir up one another.

So he says, encourage, be all about, hey man, let's do it, and stir up or provoke.

That has the idea of stimulus to the point of pain.

Now, when I see that I think of Lydia training her horse Gibbs in those days,

long ago when she had her horse Gibbs, and she had him on a lead, and she had a whip in the other hand, and she would

inflict some pain to stir him up to do the right thing, okay?

That's the word he uses here.

But he doesn't mean go around and cause pain in your fellow believers so they do love and good deeds.

I think that might be counterproductive.

But what he is pointing out here is that this is serious business.

We're to relate to one another in such a way that we stir up, we stir up love and

good deeds, that we get the job done.

He's saying that this is serious business.

You don't joke around, you don't kind of help, but that you seriously, purposely

encourage love and good works.

Be purposeful about that.

Be committed to it.

And notice, it doesn't happen spontaneously.

It doesn't happen spontaneously, because he says, consider, let us consider how

to stir people up.

Reflect on it, contemplate on it.

Contemplate, think of ways of accomplishing this.

It's not just gonna happen.

You need to think about it.

Well, what does that mean?

Well, informally, as we relate to one another, it certainly means you think carefully about how you can encourage the

brothers and sisters that you know in this congregation to encourage them to love and good works.

It means that you're gonna think about that person.

What kind of person is he?

How do I approach this person?

We ought to know one another, well, we know each other's weaknesses.

And we ought to be, we ought to purposely think and consider how am

I going to approach my brother and encourage him to love and good works.

Formally, it means that, at least at the leadership level, we need to plan ministries in ways that would move

you towards love and good works.

But it's a contemplative, planning, thinking way.

We've gotta be serious about encouraging love and good works with one another.

And boy, I'll tell you, as I read this passage, I thought, man, I'm glad Jesus died for the sins of

omission.

But the times I haven't done that, but we must do it.

Folks, in the day in which we live, this is gonna become more and more important.

As the accusations of the world fly against us and people believe it and they buy into the fact that we're

nothing more than a bunch of bigoted people who, by our language, commit microaggressions against

people and hurt them, and as the world believes all that fall to all, we're gonna need this

even more.

We need to think carefully about how we're going to encourage one another to love and good works.

And so when we gather, it's not just about having a nice, comfortable, back -slapping,

good old religious experience.

It's to provoke and encourage one another to love.

Remember, love is what binds us together in unity.

Why do we need to encourage one another in love?

Because love will produce unity.

Isn't it fascinating that in Colossians chapter three, in verse 14, if you want to

look there, Colossians chapter three, verse 14, after talking about things like

kindness, humility, gentleness, forgiveness, patience,

forbearance, and a number of other qualities, the Apostle Paul asserts this.

And above all these, put on love, which binds everything

together in perfect harmony.

Love is what distinguishes us as followers of Jesus.

Why must we encourage love?

You know, I remember reading Jesus' words in John chapter 13, verses 34

and 35.

I was in college when these words particularly struck me.

In fact, the very first sermon I ever preached, I ever preached,

was on those two verses.

And this is what Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you

also are to love one another.

By this, all people will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.

I know, some of you out there are gonna start saying, oh yeah, but it's much more than that.

It's much more than that.

Listen, we can do everything just right.

And the only thing they'll tell us is, yeah, you're just a bunch of religious fanatics with your rules, and you get along by getting them

done.

But what they don't see in a lot of times is Christians loving one another.

That is what's gonna distinguish us from the world.

The world has the right to look at this congregation and say, do they love one another?

That's what's gonna set us apart, that we love one another.

And certainly then, we need to encourage, we need to provoke each other towards love,

right?

We need to love one another.

But he says, you also have to provoke and encourage one another to good works.

Love will always manifest itself in good works.

And good works express a living and vital faith.

One theologian has written, the foundation for assurance is the blood of Christ, but good works constitute

evidence that believers authentically trust in Christ.

If you trust in Jesus, if you really have, it'll change the way you are, and you will

do.

Good things.

Of course, how can you encourage one another unless you're together?

But he doesn't leave that, he doesn't just assume that.

He 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.

That kind of encouragement occurs in community.

It won't happen if you stop gathering with the saints.

You will not be encouraged.

Doesn't matter what you tell yourself.

You will not be encouraged, you will not be spurred to the necessary love and good works if you

neglect the gathering of the people of God.

It won't happen.

Well, what might tempt someone to abandon the assembly of believers?

Persecution will.

Certainly persecution will tempt you not to gather with the believers.

Some of these folks are experiencing discrimination.

They're experiencing the hatred of family members to them, ostracization

from their social circles.

And so, they stopped coming.

They stopped identifying themselves with the Christians.

They stopped.

It's easier not to go and be identified.

You know, I can see that, I remember my first trip to Romania.

I was with Pastor Marin.

And I remember sitting, this is way back 2003, my very first trip.

I remember sitting at his table in his kitchen.

And I was talking to him about what was it like?

Because he was one of the older pastors.

He had lived through communism.

He was a pastor under the communists.

I said, what was it like?

What was church like?

And one of the things he told me that struck me was this.

When you're preaching, you would see people taking notes.

And you didn't know whether they were taking notes on your sermon or whether they were secret police who were writing down

the names of the people who were there.

Now, if you knew someone was taking down your name, what do you think the temptation is going to be?

I'm not gonna show up.

What was their temptation?

There are other temptations.

Some find it too inconvenient.

I mean, face it.

You have to get up.

You have to get all five of your kids ready.

You have to get in the car.

You have to drive.

You spend a half a day at church and then you go home.

Man, that is a tiring day.

And so some people say, I'm not going.

It's just too inconvenient.

Some find it rather unimportant.

After all, your daughter is a distinguished athlete and she's on the traveling team with this volleyball group.

And of course, you know what?

The tournaments are on Sunday.

And you know what's important?

Pretty soon it becomes a habit and you're just not going.

Yeah, it can become a habit because you purposely miss all the time

because it costs too much to follow Jesus.

And so you just say, I'm not going to do it.

Or you can just slip into the habit of not attending church on the Lord's day.

You know, I knew a seminary student who had just gotten married

and seminary classes weren't going to start for another month or so.

And would you believe that seminary students started getting in the habit of not

taking his wife to church?

I knew that guy really.

The Lord was gracious to him, but it's easy to get into the habit.

It's easy to get into the habit of missing.

But the thing you have to see about this, this is not just

the writer wagging his finger at you and saying, you need to be in church.

That's not what's going on here.

Do you see what he says?

But all the more, as you see the day approaching, what day is he talking about?

Not talking about next Sunday.

He's talking about the day of judgment.

And what he wants you to see is meeting with the people of God is absolutely necessary for your

perseverance in the faith.

You don't want to miss the gathering because the day of judgment is on the horizon.

You've got to see that.

You've got to grasp the importance of it.

He has told us, look, turn back to chapter three for a moment or chapter three, yes, chapter three for a moment.

He has said this once before.

He has said this once before.

Beginning in verse 12, chapter three, verse 12.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall

away from the living God.

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of

sin.

For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence, what?

Firm to the end.

And what he's saying here now, he's now adding to that and saying to you, you will

hold firm to the end if you are gathering with the saints.

You need to gather with the saints or you won't make it.

That's what he's saying.

Enduring obedience and faithfulness to Jesus requires the help of the congregation.

You will not make it to glory without the local church.

We do not walk the path to glory alone.

We walk the path to glory together.

And unless you're together, you won't make it.

You need the fellowship of other believers.

It's the means that God uses to give you the grace to persevere.

So it's not just about it gotta be in Sunday because it's Sunday.

It's about I gotta be in there on Sunday if I'm going to continue in the faith.

I can, I can at this moment list for you

people that I have known who were part of this church

who I do not expect to see in glory.

I could list them for you right now.

They slowly but surely drifted away

from the meeting of this congregation.

Even after repeated attempts to encourage them to be here, they slowly but surely drifted away.

And they slowly but surely drifted away from their confession of hope.

They slowly but surely walked away from Jesus.

That is what's so important about this.

Yes, we must worship.

It is about worship.

It is about drawing into the presence of God and joyfully enjoying Him.

But it's also about your survival.

Do not, do not neglect the meeting of God's people.

And I hope I'm wrong.

I hope I'm wrong when I say this, that I hope I never see anybody that I'm looking at

right now walk away from this assembly.

I hope that never happens.

But I know that many have, and they have walked away from Christ.

That is why it is so essential to provoke one another to love and good deeds.

So our writer tells us that because of Jesus, we need to encourage one another.

So is it wrong to sit around the table with our cups of coffee and talk

about the glorious truths of Jesus?

No, we can explore these wonderful truths.

We can rejoice as we dig deeper and deeper and deeper into who Jesus is and what

He's done.

We need to do it more.

But we shouldn't just stop there.

We should go as deep as we possibly can and enjoy the discussions and love it.

But we should not stop there.

The glory of Jesus and the understanding of who He is and what He's done

should drive us to love Him more and thus to

cling to Him more.

So at the start, because of Jesus, draw near to God, hold fast your confession of hope,

encourage one another to love and good deeds.

So let me ask you, this week,

this week, what are you going to do to draw near to God?

Will you draw near to Him?

Don't give in to the temptation that says, oh, I can't go to God, I can't go to God, I've blown it again, don't do that.

That's when you need to draw near to God.

Are you going to do it?

Are you going to hear the word of God this week in your mind when it tells you that because Jesus

shed His blood and sprinkled you with it, you now can have confidence to come into His

presence with a true heart and full assurance of faith?

What are you going to do to hold fast to the confession

of your hope?

What are you going to do to hold fast?

What can you think about that would say, I need to hold fast, I need to hold

fast?

You need to remember that God is faithful.

Will you make the effort to encourage and provoke one another?

You need to start thinking about my brother, I know he's struggling, how can I help him?

My brother's starting to slip.

My sister is starting to drift.

What can I do to help her?

Think about that.

What are you going to do to accomplish that?

All of it starts with drawing near to God in prayer and then taking those steps that

you need to take.

By God's grace, I pray that He makes us obedient to these.

Because of Jesus, we can do these things.

Father, thank you that we can come into your very presence

because of what Jesus did.

Thank you that we can hold to the confession of our hope without wavering because you

are faithful.

Thank you, Father, that we have been given the privilege of encouraging and helping one

another in order to strengthen, strengthen each other

for our pilgrimage to glory.

Help us, help us to be obedient to these things.

Help us to see Jesus in all His glory so that we can do these things.

Thank you for your word this morning.

Thank you for Jesus, amen.