The Three Habits of Truly Confident People (Hebrews 10:19-25 Jeff Kliewer)

God, and make a joyful noise all the earth. You are holy.

You are holy. You are mighty. You are mighty.

You are worthy. You are worthy. Worthy of praise.

Worthy of praise. I will follow. I will follow. I will listen.

I will listen. I will love you. I will love you.

All of my days. All of my days. I will sing to you and worship the king who is worthy.

And I will love and adore him. And I will bow down before him.

And I will sing to you and worship the king who is worthy.

And I will love and adore him. And I will bow down before him.

You're my prince of peace. And I will live my life for you.

You are holy. You are holy.

You are mighty. You are mighty. You are worthy. You are worthy.

Worthy of praise. Worthy of praise. I will follow.

I will follow. I will listen. I will listen.

I will love you. I will love you. All of my days.

All of my days. I will sing to and worship the

King. He is worthy, and I will love and adore

Him. And I will bow down before Him, and I will sing to and worship the

King. He is worthy, and I will love and adore

Him. And I will bow down before Him. You're my

Prince of Peace, and I will live my life for You.

You're my Prince of Peace, and I will live my life for You.

As we come into Your presence, we remember every blessing that You've poured out so freely from above.

Lifting gratitude and praises for compassion so amazing.

Lord, we've come to give You thanks for all You've done.

Because of Your love, we're forgiven.

Because of Your love, our hearts are clean.

We lift You up with songs of freedom.

Forever we're changed because of Your love.

Let's sing that again. As we come into Your presence, As we come into Your presence, we remember every blessing that You've poured out so freely from above.

Lifting gratitude and praises for compassion so amazing.

Lord, we've come to give You thanks for all You've done.

Because of Your love, we're forgiven.

Because of Your love, our hearts are clean.

We lift You up with songs of freedom.

Forever we're changed because of Your love.

Amen. Lord Jesus, we are so thankful for Your love and the way You provide for us.

As we come to You this morning to receive the food of Your Holy Word, take

Your truth, plant it deep inside of our hearts, shape and fashion us in Your likeness,

O Lord. Speak, O Lord, as we come to You to receive the food of Your Holy Word.

Take Your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in Your likeness that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all

Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.

Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of Your purity.

Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see

Your majestic love and authority.

Words of power that can never fail, let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds.

Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.

Truth unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity.

And by grace we'll stand on Your promises, and by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.

Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built and the earth is filled for Your glory.

So God, this morning we call upon Your name. We ask that You, by Your Holy Spirit, would visit us here.

That You would speak to our hearts through Your Word. Lord, I pray that You would make us confident, truly confident, fully assured through Jesus Christ.

Not confident of ourselves because our own flesh will fail, but confident of You, the perfect priest, the final sacrifice.

And Lord, help us to build good habits in response to Your Word. Habits that will build character in us,

Lord. That we would stand up in times of persecution. That we would be strong and our faith would never fail.

That we would hold fast our confession of our hope firm to the end, no matter what's thrown at us.

So Lord, we pray now that You would speak through Your Word and change Your people to make us stronger, to give us more faith, hope, love.

In the name of Jesus, amen. Very often I'll open my sermon with an illustration, and sometimes

I tell about the heroes of the faith. Somebody like a Spurgeon or a Whitefield. Usually it's somebody who's dead, because then

I know that they can't mess up going forward, because they've already run their race, and I feel safer.

But today I'm going to just go out on a limb and tell you about somebody who's alive, living and breathing to this day.

And I would say is a hero of our faith, and his name is James Coates.

Raise your hand if you've heard of James Coates. A number of you have. Okay. Well, good, most of you haven't, so this will be new to you.

James Coates is a Canadian, our northern neighbor. He came down to California to learn the

Bible. He studied at John MacArthur Seminary there, at the Master's Seminary, and then went back and pastors a church called

Grace Life. Grace Life Church has been open, teaching the Word of God, until the

Canadian authorities in Alberta, Canada, entered the building and arrested James Coates.

And they threw him in jail, and he sat there for a solid month. What was his crime?

Gathering as a church and preaching the gospel. They say that he was violating their health regulations, and so they threw him in prison, of all things.

Seems like a drastic overreaction, and it turns out it was after public pressure mounted.

About a month later, they said, you know what, we're dropping all charges, you're free to go. But what was interesting is on his way out, my friend interviewed him the other day,

Tim Hurd interviewed James, and asked him about what it was like to be in there. And he said he ministered.

He talked to other prisoners about the gospel, and he had a little prison ministry going right there.

When he stood to leave, as they called his number, to be released, all of the prisoners in that ward stood up.

And they walked to their prison doors, and as a sign of respect, they began to shake the bars.

Just rattling the cage, just making noise, until finally,

I think it was very much like an axe moment where the Lord delivered from prison, as this rattling of the sound of prisoners then cheering for him, how were they so moved?

Because they were touched by the gospel, and they knew that he was there for righteousness' sake.

Not suffering for any crime, but suffering for the sake of the name. And he had preached the gospel to many of these, and they respected that.

So he was set free. Went back to preaching, and a couple weeks later, the government moved back in.

You know what they did this time? They arrested the building. They built two rows of chain link fences around the brick and mortar of Grace Life Church.

Not knowing that the church is not the building, but the very people of God.

And so, this morning, if like the last couple of weeks, there will be 200 armed guards guarding brick and mortar in Alberta, Canada.

While the church of Jesus Christ meets in an undisclosed location. They are meeting.

Praise God. Awesome, awesome. I love how God works.

I think God has a sense of humor in some of these things too. These officers with guns and ammo just waiting, like what's going to happen?

Like the church is going to come try and rescue the building. No, they're worshiping Jesus. In fact, I've seen video of their worship service from a

Sunday morning. They were singing, How Great Thou Art. And you know, when you've been through persecution and you're under persecution, you sing with more joy, more passion, more understanding of the great one that you praise.

Well, this story should provoke a question in your mind. Why is it that we obey

Acts 529 in this situation and not Romans 13?

Well, we do obey Romans 13, but it doesn't apply that we would have to obey the government. Was that your question?

Well, if you know what those verses are, Acts 529. It is necessary that we obey

God, not men. Why does that apply? And it means necessarily that we're not going to be in subjection to the government a la

Romans 13. Well, be very careful with Romans 13, because Romans 13, although it does teach us to remain in subjection to the government, is not a carte blanche giving government absolute authority over the church in every way, shape, and form.

There are spheres of sovereignty that God has instituted. And he is

Lord over all of those spheres. So he has given Romans 13 government to punish the wrongdoer and to reward the good.

And if obeying Christ is wrong, then we should be in subjection to them.

But if obeying Christ is right, then there is a time to obey God rather than men.

Get it? Okay, so the question then is, have we been commanded to do what we're doing right now?

Today, our text brings us there, which is why I'm bringing this up today. Hebrews 10, 25 says, not neglecting the assembling of yourselves together, but gathering.

That's what we're commanded to do. But we're gonna take it in context. We'll get there. Before we dive in, let me give you a couple other reasons, a few other reasons.

Before Jesus died, he took bread and he broke it. You know the story? And he said, this is my body.

And then he passed the cup around and said, drink from it. And what did he say? This is my blood.

Do this in remembrance of me. One of the things that the church does on the first Sunday of every month is we take bread and we take a cup and in obedience to God himself, we take communion.

And so in order to do that, we must gather because communion is the gathering of the body, one body partaking of one loaf.

So in obedience to the command to take communion, we must gather. Next, baptism.

We're commanded to make a public testimony, not a private bathtub dunking, but to gather as the church assembling to baptize those who have come to faith, which we did this summer and we're doing again in June, by the way.

I think we have eight or nine people set to be baptized, new believers. If you're a new believer, come talk to one of the elders about possibly joining that baptism service.

I think the second Sunday in June is what it's shaping up to be, either at a local lake or maybe the shore or we'll fill our hot tub and do it here.

But in any case, we're gonna obey the word of God by baptizing. Next, love.

Fellowship. To gather and encourage one another in the faith requires being able to see one another's eyes.

And by the way, if you have a personal conviction about wearing a mask or about maybe not coming to church because you have a condition that makes you vulnerable to the virus, if you have a conviction like that, you are free to have that.

There is liberty in the house of God. Let every individual do as your conscience leads you to do.

Romans 14 still applies. I know I'm a pastor, not your doctor. My job is to preach

God's word and to obey what God has taught us to do. So in this house, since the beginning of it, there has been liberty.

And because of that, we have had unity. Imagine that. We love one another enough to give freedom in areas of personal conscience and obey as we see fit.

But as the pastor of the church, I know this. If this pandemic is what they say it is, if it's as dangerous and deadly as the world tells us it is, that is all the more reason for me to stand here and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because if millions of people are gonna die, they need to hear of the Savior who can deliver them from a far worse fate than dying and going to hell.

If people are dying, they need the gospel. And so this year, we've preached stronger than ever.

We planted a church while the world was in retreat. We pushed forward and planted another church.

Not by our strength, but by His might. We're just jars of clay, but the all -surpassing power comes from God and not from us.

And so that's what we do. We press forward. Now, this, I believe, is a confidence that comes from God.

We have a full assurance of faith that sees no sting in death.

Not afraid to die. Because we dive into God's word. When persecution comes and they lock up pastors, and Canada's our northern neighbor, but it wouldn't be too far to imagine it coming over the border.

If they lock up pastors, we're not afraid. We start prison ministries. That's what John MacArthur said he would do.

They said, what if they lock you up, Dr. MacArthur? He's probably 85 years old, something like that. It'd be hard for him to get locked up.

I'm glad it was one of his disciples that went to prison and not John. But he said, you know what? I've never done prison ministry before.

I'll start a prison ministry. That was his attitude. Confidence.

Full assurance of faith. Doesn't shrink back in the face of persecution. And to be honest with you, most of us in North America, including

Canada, and I'm sure James Coates would agree, we've only tasted the smallest fraction of what our brothers,

I remember my seminary friend was from South Korea.

At Dallas, I met him. And he had decided he wasn't going to marry because of 1

Corinthians 7, and he knew that his life goal was to cross the border north. He was going back to South Korea, and then he was going to North Korea to preach the gospel.

And he fully expected to die as he preached the gospel. That's boldness.

That's confidence. And because we've not tasted very much persecution, sometimes we get a little soft.

Well, my job this morning is to be like my college basketball coach. If I was drinking too many

Mountain Dews, you gotta run some extra 60s. You're looking a little out of shape.

My job as a coach is to say this to you. If Christ died for your sins and opened a new and living way, it is your job to dive into his word daily and read the scripture and come to him in faith, full assurance of faith, and draw near to God.

Don't take your faith lightly. Be strong. Grow stronger. And when your friend makes fun of you, preach the gospel louder.

And when you're threatened with being fired, preach the gospel louder. When persecution comes, you step up.

You don't shrink back. Hebrews 12 will teach us about standing up versus shrinking back.

And finally, build this habit. Some of you have built a habit since you were young.

I thank God that God gave me parents who took me to church every Sunday. And it became the habit of my life, and it just has always been a habit.

Many of you can relate to that. Your parents taught you the habit, and it just never broke.

But it's a habit that has to be built, that each week you would gather to worship your

Lord, to put it ahead of sports, to put it ahead of any other hobby that you have, even the need to sleep in.

You can do that any other day. But Sunday, the kuriah hamerah, Revelation 110, the day of the

Lord, it belongs to him, that every Sunday is his. I will gather with the body and worship him.

So those are the applications we're gonna make. Let's see it in the text today. Hebrews 10, verses 19 through 25.

I'll read it. And we're gonna see two reasons for the applications that were then given.

This is the shift in the book. We talked about this last week. Chapter 1, verse 1 through 1018 is the doctrinal material.

It's the teaching. Christ is supreme. God has spoken through Christ.

In the past, God spoke through the prophets at various times and in various ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to us through his son.

Christ is a greater revelation than what the prophets brought. They brought only shadows, but he is the reality.

And he's better. He's better than angels. Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit eternal life.

But Christ is a son, the son, the eternal creator through whom all things were made.

Christ is better. He's better than Moses. He has a better law, the new covenant is better than the old.

Christ is a better man. The fulfillment of what humanity was made to be.

That's chapter 2. He's a better Joshua, leading us into a rest. And supremely, the book of Hebrews presents him as a better priest and a better sacrifice.

We're going to see that now. Hebrews 10, 19, it becomes very practical.

This is the practical section. For the rest of the book, we're getting into what do you do with this?

This is where the rubber meets the road of what you're supposed to go and do. 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 high priest, a great priest over the house of God, one, 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.

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

And three, 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 drying near.

So there are three exhortations, three practical applications, and they all begin with lettuce.

My family likes those corny T -shirts. I'm not sure the kids love it anymore, but we have ketchup with Jesus, mustard seed faith, shirts that are plays on words.

Well, one of the ones we gave to the kids when they were growing up was let us pray, and it was a head of lettuce on a green shirt.

Now, I share that to embarrass my children, but also to remind you of these three verses.

They all begin with lettuce. Right? You see that? Let us, let us, let us.

That's the application. Three things that we are to do. One, draw near.

Two, bow up under persecution. And three, go to church.

Those three habits, if you will develop those habits of your life, you will stand.

You will be unshakable. You'll still be worshiping Jesus when you're old and gray.

And when you go to the grave, you'll be with him forever. These habits, these are the big three habits.

So let's look at the rationale, verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since, that word since indicates that he's going to give the basis for the application.

If this is your first time here at Cornerstone and you've missed chapter 1, verse 1 through chapter 10, verse 18, you've missed the gospel impetus for what

I'm telling you to do. Go back and listen to some of those sermons or just read through Hebrews 1, 1 to 10, 18 because you can't get to these applications until you've gotten to the gospel doctrine that undergirds it.

Gospel has to come before the command. That's always Paul's model, right? We talked about this last week.

He will give doctrine first, Ephesians 1 to 3, and then he'll give application, Ephesians 4 to 6.

Romans 1 to 11 is doctrine, then chapters 12 to 16 are application.

So here also, you have doctrine first and then application. In other words, since we have a new and living way, the new and living way is

Christ, his body broken. This speaks to the sacrifice, his blood.

Look at verse 19. Since we have confidence to enter the holy places, this, of course, refers to Leviticus 16.

Only the priest can go into the holy place once a year, taking the blood of an animal and enter, but all of you and me, we are not allowed into the holy of holies.

One man can go once a year and everybody else is shut out, but when

Christ laid down on the cross and they pinned him through with stakes and he wore a crown of thorns on his head and they lifted him up and he heaved for breath until he breathed his last.

When he committed his spirit into the hands of the Father, our Bible tells us that that curtain to the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom.

In the death of Jesus, supernaturally, the holy of holies was opened up and this was to indicate that the blood of Jesus on the cross and the tearing of his flesh, the ripping of his flesh, opened the way to God.

His sacrifice accomplished this. So it says, we have confidence to enter you were excluded from access to God himself.

You had no right to come. Nowadays, everybody pleads their rights. We have a right to nothing but death.

We have a right to go to hell because we have sinned against a holy

God and yet he loved us so much he sent his son to die in our place and the Son of God opened the way for sinners like us to come confidently to God.

Verse 20, by the new. Why is the way new? Because the old system, the old covenant was the killing of animals every single day.

Sacrificial animals in the temple. Once a year, the high priest goes into the holy of holies repeating the same thing again and again and it grew old.

It never accomplished what it was to do. That's why it had to be repeated every year. But the new way is the death of Jesus on the cross.

It's not only a new way, it's a living way. Verse 20, those animals stayed dead but Christ rose from the dead.

Having made purification for sins, Hebrews 1, he rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the

Father and sat down. His work accomplished but he lives. And so the second rationale, verse 21, we have a great priest over the house of God.

So if there's two things that the book of Hebrews really reveals to us doctrinally, it is number one, the sacrifice of Jesus.

He's the lamb of God. His blood was shed for us and it opened the way to God.

And number two, he is the priest. I know he descends from Judah and not from Levi, so you wouldn't expect him to be a priest but he is the true priest, a greater priest.

He's a Melchizedekian priest, chapter seven. He's the greater priest who ever lives to make intercession for the saints.

He sat down because his work is done but he sat down at the right hand of the Father. And he pleads for you, brother, sister.

He speaks on your behalf and the troubles of this life weigh you down, don't they?

And there are times that you've gotten close to giving up but your faith never failed, not because you're so strong but because you have a priest who ever lives,

Hebrews 7 .25, to make intercession for you. He never gives up on you. He bled for you.

He died for you. And he lives for you. He's a living priest. Isn't that good news?

That's the message of Hebrews. That's the doctrine. And so now, because we have that doctrine, three things to do.

Number one, draw near. He did the heavy lifting for you.

He took the cross. He took the nails. How little he left for us to do.

But he does ask that we draw near. If he's the door and by his blood he's opened himself, torn like a curtain, that we would come in.

It leaves nothing for us to do but draw near. You're welcome to come to God every morning.

Don't you realize what a privilege that is? He doesn't demand that you flagellate yourself on the back the way they do in the

Philippines. It doesn't demand that you do some great ritual observation to get there.

He welcomes you. Christ did it all. And he says, come.

Come. And so, brothers and sisters, because of what he's done, build this good habit into your life every day.

Young people, you might start at five minutes a day. Just open the word of God. Read a proverb a day.

Anybody take that challenge? Thirty -one proverbs, read one a day through the course of a month. Those of you who are my age, starting to get gray in the beard, you can outgrow the proverb a day.

Read scripture. Devote yourself to it. Make this the most important part of your life, to draw near to Christ.

He has made the way. So, verse 22, draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

This word assurance speaks of the confidence we saw in verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places,

Christ makes us confident. Have you guys ever noticed some people just have confidence about them?

I think of LeBron James on the basketball court. He's so confident because he has built so many good habits on the basketball court.

He can shoot better than anybody. No, no, that's not true. He can shoot well. He can pass well. He's played basketball his whole life.

But he also has some bad habits. He has the bad habit of tweeting about social issues that he doesn't understand.

He has the bad habit of foot -in -mouth syndrome. He's built some really bad habits that he just keeps doing.

And you can appreciate him on the court without appreciating certain social commentary. I'm the same way.

I've got bad habits. I've got a Mountain Dew in my office right now. I've got some bad habits.

I teach bad habits. I started to train a certain somebody in tennis. And then we got a lesson from someone who actually knew how to teach tennis.

See, I should stay in my lane and teach how to shoot a basketball. But her first job in training him how to play tennis was to undo the bad habits

I taught. See, here's how you do a backhand. No, that was not how you do a backhand. I taught bad habits.

But when you have good habits, you walk with the confidence that people notice, a full assurance.

I think of 10th Avenue North. Anybody like that group? The lead singer of that group is uber -confident.

I've seen him live a couple times. He has a song called No Shame. And he's a great singer, great habits.

But because he's so confident, he will just be dancing around the stage like a lunatic, his arms flailing every which way, singing about not having any shame.

And I appreciate the fact that he's so confident. He doesn't care. Somebody told me after first service it reminds them of how

David danced. Remember that? And his wife was like, please don't. Honey, please don't dance like that.

And he said, oh, I'll become even more undignified than this. And so he was dancing for the

Lord in the freedom of his relationship with Christ. I think the full assurance of faith here is just the knowledge that you can come to him.

And when you come to him, you're confident in him. Which brings us to the second point.

Look at this. And this applies to James Coates in Canada and John MacArthur. Let us consider,

I'm sorry, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

For he who promised is faithful. Hold fast the confession of your faith without wavering.

Why would you be tempted to waver? This is the Jewish believers now undergoing persecution in the

Roman Empire. They're being chased from place to place.

Peter in Rome will be crucified upside down. Paul will be beheaded. They're seeing the death of their leaders.

And it's like, you know, if we go back to Judaism, that's an approved state religion.

Things will be better for us over there. And the author of Hebrews says, hold fast your confession of the hope without wavering.

Don't waver. When persecution comes, get stronger. The harder they hit

John MacArthur in California, the bolder he got. Did you notice that? He kept preaching and the people kept coming.

And this week it came to a head. Where finally, as liberal as the courts are in California, the court was forced to summon, to depose the health officials who put the ruling forth that shut down all the churches.

And amazingly, the day before the health officials actually had to prove their consistency in allowing

Walmarts and liquor stores and everything else to be operating without capacity limits, but inhibiting the church, when those health officials had to appear and give an account like Proverbs 18, 17 says, one man sounds right until another comes to examine him.

Imagine what they did the day before they were set to appear. California canceled all capacity limits over churches.

California opened the churches because they knew they could not stand against the truth of natural rights and the ethics of the biblical morality.

By God's grace, MacArthur's church won that victory. And you know what? That's going to have trickle -down effects to New Jersey and New York and the other liberal states in the country.

And the southern states, they've been open the whole time, so that's good. But the point is, when it came down to it, they didn't waver.

They bowed up under persecution and they won the victory. To which I would say to John MacArthur, if he ever watches this video, which he won't obviously,

I would say, see, I was right. MacArthur preached, there's no hope, it's too late for America.

And I said, there is hope. See John, I was right. There's hope. Even California just opened up for the church.

Listen guys, I don't know what's going to come. I really don't. I don't know if things are going to get progressively worse the way it seems to have been going for a number of years now.

I don't know what form of persecution will come against the church. We've lived in the aberration.

North America has been free to worship Christ. But our brothers and sisters throughout church history have been persecuted.

And to this day, there's persecution in North Korea and all of the Muslim run countries.

That's the norm in church history. I don't know what's coming to America, but develop this habit of your heart.

The stronger they come against you, the stronger you hit back. The more they tell you that you must not preach in this name, the louder you get.

The more your friend makes fun of you because you're becoming a Jesus freak, the less you care what he thinks about you.

The more you worry that your boss is going to fire you for talking about Jesus during your lunch break, the more people you invite to your lunchtime

Bible study. You see, the persecution can come, but if Christians will develop a backbone, then what we saw in California can become the norm nationally.

But even more importantly here, this can become the habit of your life. And no matter what they throw against you, it cannot stop you from walking with Christ.

Your faith will not fail. Do you see that? In verse 23, look at some of the words.

Hold fast. That picture is, you're gripping your sword and you're not going to let go.

You're holding on. What are you holding to? The confession. That means you're still speaking. They want you silent, and that's what this is all about.

Ultimately, the political realities in our world today are ultimately against the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's what it's really about. Hold fast the confession of your hope. Mark that word, hope.

You're looking for a kingdom that is not this world, a city whose architect and builder is

God. You're looking for heaven. And you're concerned about that, not what happens to you in the earth.

Even if they touch your body, they cannot touch your soul. Without wavering.

Don't even flinch. Don't show them any sign of fear. Let them see confidence in your eye that you will not back down.

Let that be the habit of your life. And lastly, verses 24 and 25, and lettuce, the last piece of lettuce here.

Okay, I regret even bringing that up. Lettuce. 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.

Do you see the signs of the times? Do you see an apostasy in the land? An entire continent that once housed

Christianity for the nations, the continent of Europe, now 1 % evangelical. North American Christianity on the decrease for the last number of decades.

And yet signs of revival, as Africa continues to surge forward, and India, and parts of China, and South America, you see signs of progress of the gospel.

Is this the great apostasy? I don't know. But there sure seem to be signs of the times. The day is drawing near.

If it be the case that he's coming soon, he is coming soon relative to eternity. We just don't know the day or hour.

The day is drawing near. Every day sooner than the one before. So what do we do? Let us consider how to stir up one another.

That word stir up actually always has a negative connotation throughout the New Testament.

For example, in I think it's Acts 15, when Paul and Silas dispute, that word is used.

It means provoke. They were provoked one against another. But I think the author is deliberately using this word provoke or stir up as a play on words.

Consider how to provoke or stir up one another to love and good works. Like somebody picks a fight and stirs up division and controversy, you stir up love and good deeds.

That's a play on words. You come to church not neglecting the assembling together of the saints, which is why

I opened my sermon the way I did. We're commanded to come gather in his name, and so we obey

God, not men. So as you assemble though, you're here to stir one another up.

That's an essential part of church. You have a ministry. I'm not the only minister at this church, along with Pastor John, if he's in here.

We're not the only ministers. Every one of you who names the name of Christ is a minister.

Your job is to minister or serve, to stir one another up. Young people, you can reach your friend in a way that I can't.

You can stir and provoke that person to believe in Christ, if God would be so gracious.

Stir one another up to what? To love and good works. Show love to one another.

So make this the habit of your life, that every Sunday morning, you gather with the saints.

Non -negotiable. It's just your habit. It's something that you do. According to verse 25, the habit of some is to not meet together, but let it be yours to come and encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.

So in closing, did you notice the three big ideas parallel something that Paul wrote in 1

Corinthians 13? The love chapter. The famous love chapter.

Ascribes three values above all. What were they? Faith, hope, and love.

Look at the three applications of this entire book. We need to apply this book. What do you need to do?

Look at the first one. Verse 22. Let us draw near with a full heart of assurance.

A heart full of assurance. That word assurance or confidence is a synonym for faith. Hebrews 11 one.

Faith is the assurance or the certainty of things hoped for. It is to draw near to God through faith.

Faith is the instrument that we approach God with. That's how it is we can come to God because we have faith in the one who was slain for us.

Faith. The second thing, hope. Keep your hopes set on heaven and not the things of this earth.

Hoping in things to come. Sure that God has given you these very great and precious promises and he will be faithful to what he promised.

Hope. But the greatest of these is love. You come and you gather in order to minister.

Try not to just run out of here on Sunday morning. Maybe you want to run out and get outside where there's more fresh air and more open space.

Good. But look for someone that God has sent you to minister to. Don't do that until you know

Christ by the way because you're just going to give them non -biblical advice. But if you're born again, then you're a minister.

And you go encourage somebody with the word of God. My job is to stand here and proclaim to you and teach what's written.

Your job also is to take what is written and minister one to another.

Faith, hope, and love. That's what love is. So let's close in prayer. Father God, we come to you this morning with full confidence.

Imagine that Lord, that sinners like us who have offended in so many ways in all areas of our lives probably breaking every one of your 10 commandments we're free to confidently come to you because of what you have done for us.

By the blood of Jesus, his body torn, the veil torn from top to bottom giving us open access because he ever lives to make intercession for sinners like us.

God, our prayer this morning is that you would help us build good habits. I pray for every person here who's not having a quiet time not opening the

Bible on a daily basis not praying and seeking you. I pray that today they would make a decision informed by the doctrine of the book of Hebrews to set aside that time to devote themselves to building this godly rhythm in their life.

Help all of us to do that. Help us to be committed to a quiet time with you.

Lord, I pray also for this church that we would never shrink back. That we would take from the example of John MacArthur and James Coates and others around the world who stand up to tyrants.

Lord, that we would always hold forth the word of life holding fast our confession of our hope without fear.

And Lord, I pray that our church would be marked by love that each of us would have habits of love that we would desire to come to church not out of some ritual obedience but the desire to love your people to encourage one another as long as it's called today.

Help us to build these habits, Lord because of the confidence you have given us in Jesus' name we pray.