[0:00] We're returning to Hebrews chapter 10 this morning. Hebrews chapter 10. We'll be looking at verses 19 through 36. God willing.
[0:14] Hebrews 19. Hebrews 10, 19 to 36. As you're turning there, let me remind you that the book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were suffering and were tempted to return to the old covenant ways.
[0:33] They were trying to do that to find relief from their suffering. And so the book of Hebrews was a sermon written to show them that the old covenant was not effective.
[0:43] And it was only a shadow that pointed forward to the real work done by Jesus Christ. Up to this point, we've seen that the writer of the book of Hebrews builds a case for how Christ's work in the new covenant is better than the old covenant.
[1:02] And that what these suffering Hebrew Christians are going through, even though they are tempted to go back, that where they are now is better. And also, we mentioned last week broadly, we could say that Hebrews 1 through 7 told us who Christ is.
[1:19] And that Hebrews 8 and 9 have told us what Christ has done. And then last week, we looked at the kind of the culmination of what the writer of the book of Hebrews was writing when he talked about Christ and the sacrifice that he himself was.
[1:37] He shared the work of Christ. The passage summarizes and shared with us how Christ is the perfect sacrifice, the only sacrifice God was pleased with.
[1:48] And we made much last week of how Christ was willing to come and take a body and willing to go to the cross and willing to die in obedience to the Father for our salvation.
[1:59] So let's read Hebrews chapter 10. I am going to read 19 to 39. So follow along as we go through this. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh.
[2:22] And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
[2:39] 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 the habit of some is, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
[3:03] For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment.
[3:16] And a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
[3:28] How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace.
[3:41] For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
[3:56] But recall the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
[4:10] For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
[4:22] 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 is promised.
[4:35] For yet a little while, and the coming one 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.
[4:46] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Let's pray together.
[4:57] Father, I thank you for your word and what's contained here. Pray that you would be with us. As we look at this, and we have dealt last week with kind of the culmination of talking about what Christ's sacrifice, what it was like, how it was pleasing to you, how it was willing.
[5:19] Pray that you would be with us. Whether it be just that, or for some, the whole of what we looked at in the book of Hebrews, I pray that as we look at what we look at today, the wonder of who Christ is would not be forgotten as we make application as to how we're to live it out.
[5:39] I pray that you would be with us. Help us to understand. I pray that your word would be clear this morning. That you would be with us. In Jesus' name. Amen. One thing I'm going to mention before I start as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, oh, it's so long and I've struggled.
[5:56] I have struggled. I would love to break this into three sections. And we could do probably six sermons on what I have read.
[6:07] But I have committed myself to going through Hebrews in a way that we get the overview of the argument. And so as we look at what we're going to look at today, I'm going to stick to trying to do verses 19 to 39.
[6:25] That's my goal. Because I want you to see that he encourages them by saying, let's do this, let's do this. And then he warns them.
[6:38] But he's coming at it from just the opposite side of what he's looked at. Be careful because this kind of situation is dangerous. So he encourages them. And then he warns them. And then he reassures them.
[6:50] He goes into saying, but I'm convinced of some of these things about you. And so as we can so easily spend so much time on all these, I'm going to try to resist the temptation to break them down too much so that you get the argument.
[7:08] So the writer starts out this section with the word, therefore. He's now going to begin to give us the proper response to all that he's been teaching us about Christ.
[7:22] And all that he's been teaching us about this new covenant situation. The proper response to the only sacrifice that God was pleased with. And the reason that all that Christ has done should call us to be careful not to turn away from Christ because of what we're going through.
[7:41] He's saying, all that I've taught you, I want you to stick to it. Don't let what you're going through make you want to turn back. So the writer of Hebrews starts his exhortation with this phrase in the middle of this first section.
[7:57] Let us draw near to God. Based on all that Christ has done, as we've looked even in the first part of this chapter and seen Christ as this glorious one, who willingly came and took on flesh because God wasn't pleased with sacrifices, who willingly came and having taken on flesh, was willing to suffer, was willing to go to the cross, was willing to die and be the sacrifice that we needed, living the life that we needed to provide the righteousness that we needed.
[8:27] The whole wonder of what Christ has done, he's saying, therefore, draw near to God. The picture is beautiful.
[8:39] God has done so much beyond our understanding, beyond our wildest dreams, he's done so much. So now let's draw near to God. We're called to draw near to God with a true heart.
[8:53] Not waffling. See, these people, they're kind of like, do I trust and go and draw near to God? Because life's hard as a Christian.
[9:09] I'm suffering as a Christian. He's saying, draw near to God with a true heart, with a heart that really wants to trust in God. Don't be waffling as to whether you can come.
[9:22] Don't be waffling as to whether you will continue to trust Him. He's saying, draw near to God. We're to draw near to God in full assurance of faith. Because, and he makes a statement that summarizes, makes a couple statements that summarize so much of what he's taught.
[9:40] He says, we're to have this confidence to draw near to God because Christ has done this work for us. We're called to draw near to God in full assurance of faith. We have confidence because Christ has come.
[9:53] He is the better sacrifice. He is the perfect, the better high priest. He has gone to the perfect place. He has offered himself as the only sacrifice. We have confidence to go into the holy place.
[10:05] And he mentions holy places. I think that's reference to what we would see in the Tempranacle, where it's the holy place and the holy of holies. Israelites didn't go into the holy place.
[10:17] Or especially the holy of holies. Only the priests. And now because of Christ, because of his work, we have the privilege of going right into both the holy place and the holy of holies as the true holy place is in heaven.
[10:33] We have confidence. I now can go into God's presence. You, if you are trusting Christ as Savior, can go into God's presence because of the blood of Christ.
[10:46] It's not because of how good I have been and what I've been able to keep up or what I've even been able to hide from God because nothing can be hidden from God. I come into the presence of God because of the blood of Christ.
[10:58] And I need to draw near with confidence to God because Christ's blood has been shed for me. I need to draw near with confidence because Christ has made the way in.
[11:11] There used to be a veil that said only the high priest can go in here. Priests come this far, no further. Israelites couldn't even come that far. There used to be a veil that said only the high priest in once a year and he couldn't stay.
[11:24] He had to do his work quickly and get out. And now we, because of Christ, there used to be a veil that kept people out. Now there's Christ who ushers his people in to the very presence of God because of his work.
[11:42] And so he says, let's draw near with a true heart, not waffling. Draw near with full assurance of faith, with confidence because of what Christ has done.
[11:52] We have a great high priest over the house of God who has provided this entrance into the holy place. He has sprinkled our hearts from an evil conscience and our bodies that have been washed with pure water.
[12:06] So when he says to you, let us draw near to God, you have every right to. You have every responsibility to.
[12:16] Not because of who you are, but because of who Christ is and what he's done. The response to the wonder of all that Christ has done is first of all, draw near.
[12:36] Do you enjoy God's presence? Do you enjoy knowing him? Do you enjoy praying? Sometimes we don't because we're conscious. Oh, you know, I said that to my wife or I said that to my child or at work I did this.
[12:52] And, you know, sometimes we're troubled. When we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to cleanse us from our, to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[13:02] We have confidence because of Christ to go into this very presence. So based on the work of God to this point through Christ, let us draw near.
[13:13] Secondly, in this passage, he tells us to hold fast that confession of our hope without wavering. And we've touched on the idea, I've used the word waffling.
[13:23] It's the idea of coming boldly without wondering if we should or wondering if we can. But here he says to hold fast to that hope without wavering.
[13:35] Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope. The idea of we've declared that we're trusting Christ as Savior. And he's saying, don't go back on that. Some of these people were wanting to say, oh, you know, I think I'm just going to go back to the Jewish way of doing things.
[13:50] I'm going to bring sacrifices because the Romans didn't bother me then. Some of the other people didn't bother me then. They just left the Jews alone for a good period of time. They didn't later, but they left the Jews alone for a good period of time.
[14:01] I'm just going to go back. And the writer of Hebrews is saying, since you have had such an amazing work of God done by God himself for you, hold fast to your confession of faith.
[14:17] Be willing always. You know, we get in our work situations and sometimes where someone will say, are you a Christian? And we'll say, you know what? Hesitate just a little bit.
[14:32] There were people, there have been people throughout ages because of different sufferings and different persecutions who have been tempted to not say that they were Christians, to not stand true.
[14:48] When, like the parable of the sower, when the hard times came, they ran. They gave up. And the writer to Hebrews, as he's looking at these dearly beloved people, he's saying, don't give up your confession.
[15:02] The confession of our hope is that we've been trusting Christ and what he's done. Don't give that up. Let us be people, let us not be people who doubt what Christ has done or will do.
[15:18] Let us not be people who look for other things to trust in out of doubt and fear. We're to hold fast the confession of our hope because Christ, the promiser, is faithful.
[15:35] He's done his work for his people. The writer to Hebrews is saying, hold fast that confession. We can be certain that the end is sure because what Jesus has done and he is faithful.
[15:53] No matter what you face in your trials and sufferings, Christ is faithful to keep his promises. And so because of that, we should never consider going back. So as a result of Christ's sacrifice, he's told us to draw near to God.
[16:08] He's told us to hold fast in our confession of hope. And he also tells us in this passage, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
[16:23] Why do we need to stir up one another to love and good works? That's easy because we're all tempted not to do them. And we're all tempted not only to not do them, we're all tempted to be people who waver in our faith.
[16:41] We're all tempted at times to be people who lack a full assurance of faith. We're all tempted to be people who because of suffering are willing to doubt God.
[16:56] Because of persecution are willing to maybe not speak for God or even worse turn from God. We're a weak people. people. As we, as we, well, let me say it this way.
[17:13] The older I get, the more I have been impressed with the need I have of you. I am often so blind to the things that discourage me and how that has fruit in my life that I don't see.
[17:32] And I'm thankful for people who come alongside and say, Dave, you're worrying. I'm a worrier. Dave, you're thinking too critically of this person.
[17:46] I'm a Pharisee. Dave, you're discouraged because you're not seeing what Christ has done or you're not remembering promises.
[17:58] I need people like that. But, I'm not the only weak one amongst us. Because, the writer of Hebrews is saying, in the midst of what you're going through and because of what Christ has done, we need to be people who stir up one another to love and good works.
[18:24] The Bible makes much of a person's need to be in community. Paul speaks of it often. Speaks of it in Hebrews. Speaks of it in Corinthians. I'm sure other places, but those are coming to mind at this point.
[18:38] He uses the illustration of a body where the foot needs the hand and the eye needs the hand and the hand needs the legs in the head and how we're so dependent on one another. The Bible makes much of our need to be in community.
[18:51] We need others to watch out for us. As I mentioned in my illustration about myself, let me just make it this way. We are often blind to our sins.
[19:06] We are often caught in discouragement before we know it and don't see it until it's too late. we're people who need others to watch out for us.
[19:19] We need to be people watching out for one another. Why? Because when we're wavering in our faith, when we're lacking full assurance of faith, or we are remaining in sin, we can be in a very dangerous position.
[19:40] We can be in a very dangerous position. And so, the writer to the book of Hebrews is encouraging these people to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
[19:53] And so, how does he say that they should do that? They should do that by not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some is. If you name the name of Christ, Christ, there is absolutely no situation where you would be better off, where it would be better off for you to be by yourself than for you to be in the body of Christ.
[20:25] Let me say that again. If you name the name of Christ, there is absolutely no situation where it would be better off for you to be by yourself without the body of Christ. if you begin to have a habit of failing to meet together, the way this passage is structured, we could assume that you might say of yourself, you'll begin to waver in your faith.
[20:51] You'll begin to slip in your confession of hope. We need for people to watch for us.
[21:02] our failing to assemble together is not a matter of preacher's pride. I have sadly been guilty of preaching this message before, many years ago, because I didn't think the church was full enough.
[21:21] That was sin. That was preacher's pride. Our failing to assemble is not a matter of preacher's pride or of the church's boasting.
[21:33] We don't preach. We need to get together so that we as a group can go out and say, yeah, we have so many people here on Sunday. That's not why this is here.
[21:46] We remind people of this exhortation because it's a matter of our survival as a Christian, and God ordained it that way. We need to be people who are encouraging one another.
[21:59] together. How do we stir one another up to love and good works?
[22:16] Rather than neglecting to meet together, we are to gather and encourage one another, as the scripture says, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. we're to meet together.
[22:30] Where? Corporately. That's what we're doing now. But I would encourage you, I think this passage means more than this, although the main emphasis is obviously the corporate meeting.
[22:43] But it means personally. You and I need to be meeting together to encourage one another. together. We do that when we stop by when someone is sick and can't be in church.
[23:01] We do that when people are alone and have no means of getting out. It's not just a matter of something we do just when we get together, although that is the primary message here.
[23:14] We need to meet corporately. We need to be together as individuals and families. to encourage one another. That's the idea of to help one another to continue to trust Christ in the midst of suffering, in the midst of doubt, in the midst of ignorance.
[23:33] I need you not to be the Pharisee that says people in your situation need to remember this, but I need your encouragement.
[23:46] I need you reminding of what the scriptures say, reminding me of what the scriptures say. I need you to enjoy worshiping God together here.
[24:03] I don't want to be too embarrassing. I'm just amazed at the times when I can come to a service and be so distracted by something that's going on in my life, whether it be suffering or some sort of discouragement, and I can sit in the pew and hear various ones, but especially all of you together sing praise to the Lord.
[24:29] I'm amazed at how God uses that to minister to me. We need those kinds of things. We need people to encourage us by song, by word, by talk before and after church, by stuff outside of church.
[24:43] we need to encourage one another. We need to warn one another when we're in sin and we don't see it. It's a hard thing to do.
[24:56] Are you loving your brother if you know he's in sin and you have a good brother or sisterly situation to be able to encourage them?
[25:07] And you have done the Galatians 6.1, you've considered yourself lest you also be tempted. Brothers, if anyone be overtaken in a fall, ye which are spiritual, restore such one in a spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted.
[25:21] I'm sorry, it's King James, it's the only way I remember it. We have that responsibility. We need one another's encouragement.
[25:32] We need one another's warning. And here is a big break in this, in one sense, the next section that we'll deal with.
[25:43] It seems like it turns a great corner, but it doesn't. It's the continuation of the thought. It deserves a whole sermon on its own and maybe someday we'll do that. But he goes from encouraging them saying, let us draw near, let us continue to be steadfast, let us encourage one another.
[26:05] He flips it and takes a negative stance. because there are people who, because of their situation, actually did apostatize.
[26:19] He takes and goes negative in the sense of a warning and reminds them what happens if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth.
[26:31] I'm going to jump into it and then make the qualifications. If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, scripture says there no longer remains a sacrifice for us.
[26:45] So here's what I'm going to qualify and help you to understand. There are people who say this verse means that a person can lose their salvation. That is not what this verse is meaning.
[26:56] In fact, you can tie it back with Hebrews 4 and get the same exhortation in a little bit of a different words. It's important to make the distinction here that the writer of the book of Hebrews is not saying that if a person sins, he loses his salvation.
[27:11] That is not what this is saying. The writer of Hebrews is talking about professing Christians who forsake the faith, treat it as a lie, and trample on what they once held dear.
[27:29] Dang. This is not Peter. This is Judas. This is not someone who falls into sin and struggles for years and can't get over it.
[27:46] Until finally maybe getting over it just before they die. Or they die dealing with it, but they're struggling with it. It is not a matter of just dealing with sin. This is a matter of who you choose to trust and whether you choose to turn away from Christ and actually choose, say, I am not trusting him.
[28:06] I don't hold dear what he did. I don't hold dear what he says. I choose to believe a lie. I choose to trample on what I hold dear. That's what's going on here.
[28:18] And so he's not warning about, oh, if you sin, you're going to look. He's saying, don't turn away. If a person had claimed to be trusting Christ as a savior and deliberately chooses to forsake trusting Christ and trust something else or chooses to trust nothing, then there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin.
[28:45] There's nothing else that can be done because they've turned against the only thing. See, this is one of the things that the Hebrews were, the people he was writing to were kind of thinking, well, it's getting hard to be a Christian.
[29:00] I think I'll turn against Christianity. I'll go back to Judaism. That can save me. And the writer of Hebrews is saying, no, it can't. You turn away from Christ, there's nothing else.
[29:12] There's no other way to be acceptable before God. This section is saying, again, what three previous warning passages said.
[29:25] Apostasy is something deliberate and when one deliberately apostatizes, there is no way that such a sin can be covered. You walk out on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[29:39] The only place we can go is outer darkness. There is no way to have peace with God except by the way of the cross announced in the gospel message.
[29:55] You say, what if someone turns from Christ and then turns back? Well, didn't they, did they really turn from Christ? We can get into all kinds of situations that I can't deal with here right now.
[30:07] But he's warning these people, since Christ has done all this, draw near, have confidence, endure. But if you choose to go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there's no more sacrifice.
[30:28] You can't go back to Judaism. You can't go to Buddhism. You can't go to anything else where you're trying to trust something in Christ. He goes on to quote some, well, let me just, let me read this.
[30:44] But to those who go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
[30:57] Without Christ's work for us on the cross, we are enemies of God. Enemies should know that there's only a fearful expectation of judgment.
[31:08] Enemies should know that God will send a fury of fire that will consume his adversaries. The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us of what the old covenant teaches us about the wrath of God.
[31:21] And he quotes three verses here. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Moses, spurning the law, I'm adding here, spurning the law brought death without mercy.
[31:37] In the new covenant, how much, and he's making a comparison, I'm sorry, I should have set this up beforehand. He's making this comparison. Under the old covenant, if someone spurned the law of Moses, he died without mercy.
[31:50] In the new covenant, how much worse do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God? How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified?
[32:07] How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has outraged the spirit of grace? How much worse punishment do you think is deserved by the person in the new covenant who goes on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth?
[32:24] He's done more than just break the law of Moses. He's spurned the Son of God. He's profaned the blood of the covenant. He has outraged the spirit. And so the summation is they will deserve worse punishment because we know him who said vengeance is mine.
[32:42] I will repay and the Lord will judge his people. And so he sums this up with this statement. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
[32:59] He's telling them don't turn back. Don't forsake your trust in the work of Christ. He's gone from sharing glorious hope of what Christ has done.
[33:12] And then he has encouraged us to take full assurance from that hope and to stay there trusting him by his grace. And then he's taken the other side and said those who apostatize are in worse danger than those who spurned the law of God under Moses.
[33:39] This is an amazing warning to not forsake Christ. To not let trials and tribulations discourage you to the point where you turn away.
[33:54] And with such a heavy balance there, with such encouragement yet with such warning, how serious is it that we be people who assemble ourselves together and be encouraged by one another to keep trusting the promises, to see what Christ has done, to be helping each other see our sin and grow in the things of Christ.
[34:23] But the writer to Hebrews didn't want to leave these people going, am I going to make it? Because he ends the passage with encouragement.
[34:35] He says, remember the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. Sometimes they were publicly exposed to reproach and affliction.
[34:48] Sometimes they were partners with those so treated. And because of that, because they had compassion on people who were in prison, they were persecuted.
[35:01] Sometimes having compassion on people in prison caused them to lose their houses. What did they do? They endured. He's saying, I don't want you to sit there in terror because I've seen your life.
[35:18] I've seen you endure temptations and trials. I've seen you suffer persecutions that have cost you dearly. Let that be an encouragement to you. That I'm not writing to you as one who sees you as already having apostatized and I'm just here to throw arrows.
[35:36] He's saying, I'm writing to you as one who has seen you go through these things and I very much want you to continue. I want you to draw near to God.
[35:46] I want you to have confidence to go into his very presence. I want you to enjoy the blessings of all that Christ has done. But I want to warn you that turning away is so dangerous.
[35:59] But I've seen and I'm convinced that you're heading in the right direction. They have already suffered and endured and he's reminding them of their past reactions so that they might be encouraged.
[36:17] So he says, just like he's exhorting them to get together and encouraging one another, he does that himself at the very end of where we're reading. He's calling each of us to encourage one another.
[36:33] Don't throw away your confidence, which has great reward. Some of them were being tempted to throw away their confidence. confidence. And it's amazing in various trials how close some of us can get to throwing in the towel.
[36:48] Family's not going the way you want. Life's not going the way you want. Suffering upon suffering. I heard news this week just broke my heart. And I'm praying this person does not give up.
[37:00] because part of his family's turned against him. He's suffering awful. I could see this one being close.
[37:14] He's reaching out to all kinds of people. Spends time with people and pours his heart out just to have people remind him how good God is and how he should continue to trust him and how he needs to go on in this trial because God has provided an amazing Savior.
[37:39] These people were ready to go back and so he's encouraging them. Keep going even though you're suffering. All that Christ has done for you is more than worth it.
[37:52] Think about some of the suffering that some people go through. we've prayed for Jen Vic, now Jen Sharp. We had such pity.
[38:03] Some of the things that she went through and still goes through. People go through so much and are shaken to the very core. We need to be encouraging people and we have.
[38:18] I'm pleased with the encouragement that you folks have given people like Jen. That's what we need. All that Christ has done for us is more than worth it.
[38:31] All that Christ has provided for you is of greater value than what you're suffering. Family turn against you? Lose your means of living?
[38:45] Lose your health? There's no prospect of regaining your health in suffering for Christ. Christ is worth more. Don't give up. Keep going so that when you've done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
[39:02] And so again he encourages them with Old Testament promises. Yet a little while the coming one will come and not delay.
[39:15] And my friend's broken heart will be healed. Luke. But my righteous one shall live by faith.
[39:28] Not by how well he's done or whether he's been a success. The writer of Hebrews says quotes from the Old Testament but my righteous one shall live by faith because there has been a glorious sacrifice that is more than sufficient and his work is amazing.
[39:49] My righteous one will live by faith in that one. And if he shrinks back my soul shall have no pleasure in him. That's an Old Testament verse.
[40:03] Be warned if you shrink back my soul shall have no pleasure in him. God's people will be preserved. Shrinking back will show that he was not God's child.
[40:14] he ends the passage by saying we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
[40:27] He told him you're not the kind of people who have shrunk back. Don't be the kind of people who shrink back. And I lay that before you this morning. Some of you are going through things that you can't imagine how you could ever get out of or how you could ever make it through.
[40:43] And some of you may be here today going I don't know if I can put one foot in front of the other as far as trusting Christ and keep going. It has cost me so much.
[40:54] Or my heart is so burdened and broken. Or I am so overcome with dealing with my sins and how I'm tempted and it seems constant. There's one who's made an absolutely perfectly acceptable amazing sacrifice before God.
[41:15] Trust in that. Draw nigh to him. Endure. Remember that turning away is not a good situation. Stand strong.
[41:28] Don't be the kind of people who shrink back. And so to sum this up we need to remember to be we need to remember Christ's work to endure.
[41:40] We need to remember God's faithfulness to his promises to endure. We need to consider how to stir up one another to endure. We need to meet together and encourage one another to endure.
[41:53] We need to consider the seriousness of turning back lest we not endure. We need to remember how God has sustained us in the past that we might endure.
[42:04] we need to remember that the one who endures receives the promise. We need to remember that God has no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.
[42:18] We need to remember and we need to endure. I'll just re-mention this.
[42:31] What's your attitude towards the need of Christians? to assemble. I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty for what is legitimate.
[42:43] There are legitimate reasons for not being able to be here. Our sister Donna Bean can't be here because of her physical health at this point. I'm not here to make people. But let me just say this.
[42:56] Neglecting assembling together is dangerous to your spiritual health. neglecting to assemble is dangerous to the spiritual health of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
[43:10] This isn't tied with this passage, but since we're talking about assembling, I'll say this too. Though we're not connected with this passage, neglecting to assemble robs God of the corporate worship he deserves.
[43:25] We'll go on. Are you here today discouraged? Remember him who endured. Remember him who was pleasing.
[43:36] And remember that he has provided access to you. Are you overwhelmed by your sins? Remember him. Draw near. Are you suffering persecution?
[43:47] Or suffering? Remember him and draw near. Are you here today feeling the guilt of your sin? You've never ever found a way to be able to be free of the guilt of your sin.
[44:03] Christ has provided a way for you to be free from the guilt of your sin. He's provided a way for you to be freely accepted in God's presence. Christ promises salvation to those who will turn from their sin and trust only the work of Christ on the cross for that redemption.
[44:24] Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this passage and although there's so much more we could bring out from many sections of this passage, I pray that the group of it would be a good encouragement and a good warning.
[44:44] Let us draw near. Let us remember what Christ has provided. Let us encourage one another to that. Let us watch for one another. pray that we would be sensible of the danger of turning away an apostasy.
[44:59] I pray that you would be with us, that we would be people who live life for you regardless of what comes along because of the grace that you've provided. I pray that you would be with us and if there's one here who doesn't know you, I pray that today would be the day they turn from their sin and trust Christ's work only for their salvation.
[45:20] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.