Introduction:
Therefore, let us... (Hebrews 10:19-25)
- Let us Draw near . (Heb 10:22)
(Heb 10:22) - 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.
Guest Speaker - Fred Neal III
https://redemptionpa.org/
- Let us Hold fast . (Heb 10:23)
Heb 10:23 - Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
- Let us Consider one Another (Heb 10:24-25).
Heb 10:24-25 - 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.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:06
All right. That's a lot to overcome.
00:08-00:10
Thank you for having me. I am on, right?
00:11-00:13
I realized when I got up here, I have no idea how to.
00:14-00:15
I just started pushing buttons.
00:15-00:17
It sounds like I pushed the right one.
00:19-00:20
All right. Well, we got to get down to it.
00:20-00:23
Jeff said I only have 90 minutes to preach today.
00:23-00:26
So I want to make sure we don't run over that time limit.
00:26-00:27
I'm excited to be here.
00:27-00:30
As Jeff mentioned, we've been friends for a few years.
00:30-00:32
Likewise, he's been an incredible encouragement.
00:33-00:40
I spent my first 15 years, 16 years of ministry at one church, that was Harvest Community Church.
00:41-00:53
At the beginning of 2019, left there, started a new church plant in the lower Borough, New Kensington area, and we've been leading Redemption Church since the beginning of 2019.
00:54-01:06
Church planting is quite a journey, And some of the best advice that I got as I was launching into church planning came from Jeff, and really got me through some pretty difficult challenges.
01:07-01:16
Just the, really the darkness that sometimes comes when you step out and do something that you feel the Lord wants you to do that you know is significant for his kingdom by his grace.
01:17-01:21
And so I'm very grateful for that friendship and for the relationship with this church.
01:22-01:44
Many of you probably don't know, we hosted a preaching workshop here, Harvest Bible Chapel opened your doors and welcomed in about 17 guys from six or seven different churches to come and hold a preaching workshop here a couple weeks ago, so your hospitality has already been impactful and felt by me and by many of my brothers in Christ, so thank you.
01:44-01:46
I'm excited to preach from Hebrews this morning.
01:46-01:49
Would you turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10?
01:51-01:54
In Hebrews 10, we're going to look at verses 19-25.
01:57-01:59
I'll read those. You can follow along.
01:59-02:25
Verse 19, "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 and full assurance of faith, for our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
02:26-02:32
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
02:33-02:50
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near." Let's just briefly pray as we look at this Scripture together.
02:50-02:56
Father in Heaven, thank You for Your Word which is true, which is perfect in every way.
02:57-02:58
May we be encouraged.
02:59-03:01
May we be reminded of the Gospel.
03:02-03:06
May we be challenged to live out our faith in many ways.
03:07-03:12
May we be led to love one another boldly as we look at Your Word together this morning.
03:12-03:14
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
03:16-03:31
One of the first things that you notice about this passage and it begins with the word "therefore." And there's a saying that when you see the word "therefore" you should always ask the question, "What is it therefore?" "Therefore" points us back to something that's already been spoken of.
03:31-03:36
In this case, this is a transitional verse in the entire book of Hebrews.
03:36-03:45
If you look at the book of Hebrews and try to dissect it structurally, you'll see that the first nine and a half chapters are really a description of the Gospel.
03:45-04:00
They're a description and an explanation what Jesus has done in establishing the New Covenant by His body and by His blood, and then when we get to verse 19 of chapter 10, we're going to get into some very specific applications.
04:01-04:07
But those applications are meant to be viewed in light of the Gospel, and so we should begin with the Gospel.
04:09-04:18
A very brief overview of the first nine chapters of the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is better than the old covenant.
04:19-04:28
That what Jesus actually did in His coming to the earth was He established a new covenant, a new agreement of how God would relate to man and how man would relate to God.
04:30-04:33
Jesus, the book of Hebrews tells us, is better than the Old Testament prophets.
04:35-04:38
Jesus, as the book of Hebrews tells us, is better than the angels.
04:39-04:41
Jesus is better than Moses.
04:42-04:45
Jesus is better than the Sabbath, you find out in Hebrews.
04:45-04:51
"For He is our rest from works." Jesus is better than the high priests who came before Him.
04:51-05:02
He's better than the entire priesthood that came from Aaron, and that He established a better covenant through His body and His blood because He was the better sacrifice.
05:03-05:08
What Jesus did when He came to the earth is He fulfilled all of the Old Testament law.
05:08-05:10
He fulfilled the Old Covenant.
05:10-05:21
He made perfect the sacrifice that needed to take place in order for us as simple human beings to be able to come to God and relate to God.
05:22-05:29
You understand, of course, that we have a problem, that we are born into a world that has a problem when it comes to our relationship with God.
05:29-05:43
If God is as He says He is, perfectly holy, perfectly just, perfectly righteous in all that He is and does, and you and I have a problem.
05:44-05:51
Because imperfect, unholy, unrighteous people cannot stand in the presence of a righteous God.
05:53-05:59
He would have to compromise something of His character to allow us into His presence.
06:00-06:08
He would have to compromise something of His justice to allow us to go unpunished for the ways that we have sinned against Him.
06:08-06:17
that He has found a way to perfectly satisfy His justice and yet to display His mercy and His grace.
06:19-06:25
The way that He does that is that He sends His Son, Jesus, to be the sacrifice that purifies us.
06:26-06:28
To be the sacrifice that makes us holy.
06:28-06:38
You see, the whole Old Testament system was built upon this idea that in order for sinful man to come before God, He needed to be purified.
06:39-06:57
He needed to be made holy in some way, and so there was very detailed religious ceremonial laws that people would put themselves through in order to be able to approach God and His holiness and not be consumed by His wrath for our sins.
07:00-07:07
The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ has forever that way to God.
07:09-07:19
That Jesus Christ has forever made it possible for sinners like you and I to be able to come before a holy God and live in a perfectly peaceful relationship.
07:20-07:23
It's an incredible thing that Jesus has accomplished.
07:23-07:30
And so the author of Hebrews goes to great lengths to detail exactly how Jesus did that.
07:31-07:42
And how the covenant that He has instituted by His body and His blood is superior to the covenant that was carried out through the body and blood of sacrificial animals.
07:43-07:45
What does He want us to do in response to all of that?
07:46-07:47
That's our passage today.
07:48-07:52
What is our response to the Gospel supposed to be?
07:52-08:15
Therefore, in light of everything that He says in the first nine and a half chapters about the Gospel, about the work of Jesus, 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.
08:16-08:39
Since we have a great priest over the house of God, in other words, since every provision has been made in order for you and I to come to God, since every provision has been made to bridge the gap between sinful man and a holy God, since there has been made a perfect way for us to come before our Creator.
08:40-09:00
Therefore, do these three things." There's three things in this passage that I want to point out there, all indicated by these two simple words, "let us." The first one is this, "let us draw near." In light of the Gospel, in light of what Jesus has done, let us draw near.
09:03-09:07
the first thing that we're instructed to do in response to the Gospel is to actually come near to God.
09:08-09:12
Is to actually put into application what Jesus has accomplished.
09:12-09:20
If Jesus came so that we can come near to God, our response ought to be that we come near to God.
09:22-09:47
"Let us draw near," it says in verse 22, "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." not half-hearted assurance, not hesitant assurance, but with full assurance of faith, with absolute confidence, not in ourselves, confidence in what Jesus has done.
09:48-09:52
Confidence in the way that He has made for us to come to God.
09:55-10:05
With a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." I love that language.
10:05-10:09
We speak often, I think, in Christian circles of being cleansed of our sins.
10:10-10:12
That's exactly what Jesus has done.
10:12-10:14
He's made us holy.
10:14-10:15
He's made us pure.
10:17-10:20
The old covenant set a precedent for that.
10:20-10:25
In the old covenant, you would physically wash yourself in preparation to come before God.
10:26-10:27
In fact, I love the story.
10:27-10:29
We're going through the Gospel of John as well.
10:30-10:33
in our church, and we just started.
10:34-10:42
We're in John chapter 2, and I preached last week this awesome story of Jesus turning the water into wine.
10:43-10:50
And if you dig into that story a little bit, you see that it's far more significant than Jesus just flexing and showing His power to do miraculous things.
10:51-10:58
But that He's actually hinting at, not hinting at, but declaring that He's replacing the old covenant with the new covenant.
10:59-11:07
because He takes the jars that were set aside for the ceremonial washing representing the Old Testament law, and He turns them into something better.
11:08-11:25
But there's this precedent set - my point is there's this precedent set by the Old Testament that there needs to be this cleansing, and they used to cleanse themselves with water, but Jesus says that we're going to be cleansed as gruesome as it may sound by His broken body and by His blood.
11:28-11:37
in response to John 2 after Jesus turns the water into wine, is that He has saved the best for last.
11:38-11:48
What we have in the New Covenant, what we have in what Jesus has done, what we have in the Gospel, is that God has actually saved the best for last.
11:48-11:52
He has revealed His perfect plan of redemption.
11:52-11:56
He has shown us the true way to come before Him.
11:57-12:00
So we're called to be cleaned from an evil conscience.
12:01-12:04
To have our bodies washed with pure water.
12:05-12:09
Here's what we need to understand from this verse though.
12:10-12:26
In order to draw near to God with full assurance of faith, we have to mentally and emotionally relate to God based on what Jesus has done on our behalf, not based on our own sinfulness.
12:28-12:38
Too many times we as Christians get caught in that cycle of hesitating before God because of our own sinfulness.
12:39-12:41
I'm not saying we should throw off humility.
12:41-12:43
I'm not saying we should throw off reverence.
12:44-12:51
But it becomes a pattern in many Christians' lives, even in my own life, that I hesitate coming before God.
12:51-12:59
I hesitate in my relationship with Him because I am painfully aware of my own sinfulness.
13:01-13:12
But if we're going to draw near to God as we're instructed to right here in Hebrews 10:22, we need to do it with a heart and full assurance of faith.
13:12-13:18
Faith says that I'm not coming to God on my own merit.
13:20-13:23
I'm not coming to God based on my own resume.
13:24-13:27
I'm coming to God based on Jesus' resume.
13:29-13:47
That somehow there's this incredible miracle that has happened at the moment of salvation wherein which God no longer views me based on my behavior, that God no longer views me based on my own righteousness, but that God sees me as He sees Jesus.
13:49-13:53
I have been covered with Jesus' own righteousness.
13:55-14:01
And if that is how God sees me, I can come to Him in full assurance.
14:03-14:04
I don't need to hide.
14:05-14:06
I don't need to shrink back.
14:07-14:07
I don't need to hesitate.
14:08-14:12
I don't need to let my own sinfulness keep me from coming.
14:14-14:16
I get to come to Him in the righteousness.
14:19-14:20
That brings humility.
14:20-14:22
And that brings reverence.
14:22-14:25
But it also brings the full assurance of faith.
14:26-14:32
It brings confidence, not in ourselves, but in the sacrifices.
14:35-14:37
It's the only way you'll draw near.
14:38-14:46
If you draw near in assurance of anything other than what Jesus has done for you, will fall flat on your face.
14:49-15:00
But instead, we ought to draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts and our minds sprinkled and cleansed with the Gospel.
15:01-15:04
With what Jesus has done on our behalf.
15:07-15:10
See, when we relate to God according to our own sins, we hold back.
15:11-15:16
When we relate to God according to the Gospel and what Jesus has done, we draw near.
15:16-15:17
And we come close.
15:18-15:27
And every one of these three commands, there's sort of a reason for the confidence or there's a reason given for that command.
15:27-15:35
And this one I would say this way, I would say, "Let us draw near because He has cleansed us." Because He has made us clean.
15:35-15:37
Because He has prepared us.
15:38-15:50
He has done what they attempted to do through the old covenant in preparing people to come to the presence of God, Jesus has done once and for all, He has made us ready for God's presence.
15:50-15:56
Now, we've got to reconcile that with the fact that we still live sinful lives.
15:57-16:03
Your flesh is going to make you think day in and day out, I can't possibly come near to God.
16:03-16:05
I can't possibly draw near to Him.
16:05-16:08
I can't possibly be ready to be in His presence.
16:08-16:19
And that's where faith has to step in and say no, because of Jesus, because of the Gospel, because of the new covenant established by His body and by His blood, I drunk.
16:21-16:23
So let us draw near because He has cleansed us.
16:23-16:25
Number two, let us hold fast.
16:28-16:29
Let us hold fast.
16:32-16:40
Verse 23 tells us, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
16:43-16:46
Holding fast requires ongoing attention.
16:47-16:53
You know, a saving confession of hope, that's a one-time brief moment of faith.
16:53-16:56
It's one thing to have a moment of faith.
16:57-17:01
But to live a life of faith means that we hold fast.
17:02-17:08
That there's an ongoing trusting in the work of Jesus Christ It was your only hope of salvation.
17:09-17:11
What does it look like to hold fast?
17:12-17:19
It looks like you're holding on for dear life, not willing to let go, no matter what happens.
17:22-17:24
Maybe this is a helpful illustration.
17:24-17:31
Picture yourself shipwrecked out in the middle of the sea somewhere with no hope of being rescued.
17:32-17:33
And you're just trying to stay alive.
17:35-17:37
and you're fighting to stay alive, you notice you're getting tired.
17:39-17:40
You're growing weary.
17:41-17:45
You're losing hope that you're ever going to get out of this situation.
17:45-17:50
And then, out of nowhere, comes Pastor Jeff, flying a helicopter in.
17:52-17:53
He hovers over you.
17:54-17:55
He lets down a rope.
17:56-17:59
And it's within your grasp, and he's got but one command.
17:59-18:14
"Hold on tight!" Now here you are, you've got no hope of survival, you've begun to give up, you have no way out of this yourself, and there is a saving rope dangling over your head.
18:15-18:18
What is your response going to be to that rope?
18:19-18:39
Are you going to sort of half-heartedly reach out and say, "Maybe I'll get a hold of this thing, maybe I won't." Are you going to take everything that you have everything that is left within you, and grab a hold of that thing with both hands and say no matter what happens, I'm not letting go.
18:41-18:43
That's what it means to hold fast.
18:45-18:46
It's a resolve.
18:47-18:54
It's a determination that no matter how bad it gets, I'm not letting go.
18:55-19:00
We're told to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.
19:01-19:04
There are so many things that tempt us to waver.
19:04-19:09
So many things that cause believers to be tempted to let go of the rope.
19:09-19:12
To be tempted to let go of our confession of faith.
19:12-19:19
To be tempted to back down in our adherence to the Gospel and our proclamation of it.
19:19-19:22
Some of the things I think of are one, pain.
19:23-19:27
When we experience pain in life, it challenges our confession of faith.
19:29-19:30
that we really believe this.
19:31-19:36
That we really believe that God is good and He's on our side.
19:37-19:44
One of the things that brought Jeff and I together is the pain that we have in raising children who have experienced disability.
19:46-19:48
That'll challenge your faith.
19:49-19:58
I remember well the day that my youngest daughter, we knew something was wrong.
19:59-20:00
She was six days old.
20:02-20:03
My wife woke me up in the middle of the night.
20:04-20:06
She said, "You gotta look at Reagan." That's our daughter's name.
20:06-20:07
She's doing something.
20:12-20:15
Something weird that she was doing turned out to be a seizure.
20:16-20:20
And fortunately for us, she stopped that night, but we didn't rest.
20:21-20:23
We were nervous, we were concerned.
20:25-20:29
She seemed to be okay, so we let her go back to sleep, But we called the doctor first thing in the morning.
20:30-20:34
We said, "Hey, something happened last night." And they said, "Why don't you bring her in?
20:34-20:36
"We'll take a look at her." And we take her in.
20:37-20:39
And I remember it well.
20:39-20:41
I have two daughters.
20:41-20:44
The older one at that time was about 18 months old.
20:45-20:47
And her name's Reese, and she's a wild one.
20:47-20:48
She's still a wild one.
20:48-20:50
She's 14 years old now.
20:51-20:52
And it's not good.
20:54-20:54
(laughing)
20:56-20:57
It's just not good.
20:58-21:05
But we took Reagan to the doctor that morning, and I was outside on Reese duty.
21:05-21:06
That's what I still call it.
21:07-21:12
Reese duty means she couldn't be inside with the other humans because somebody was going to get hurt.
21:13-21:15
And so I'm outside keeping her occupied.
21:15-21:21
I remember my mom, who was a registered nurse at the time, went with us because she was concerned, as grandmothers always are.
21:21-21:30
And they're in there with the doctor, I'm out here with Reese, and I'm just kind of killing time expecting they'll figure this thing out.
21:30-21:32
There's probably nothing major going on.
21:33-21:39
And our pediatrician's office at that time was on the same campus as our local hospital, but in a different building.
21:40-21:52
And as I'm outside with Reese, I see the door open, and the doctor come running out of there carrying my six-day-old daughter, who's no bigger than my two hands.
21:54-21:55
He's carrying her and he's running.
21:56-21:57
And I'm thinking, that's not good.
21:57-21:59
I've never seen a doctor do that before.
21:59-22:02
And he was headed towards the emergency room.
22:03-22:09
And what had happened in that doctor's office is that Reagan entered into a major seizure while he was examining her.
22:10-22:13
And he wanted to get her to the emergency room, ASAP.
22:13-22:19
Long story short, they had a very difficult time getting the seizures to stop.
22:19-22:23
They could not get an IV into Reagan to administer medicine.
22:23-22:35
And the doctor pulled us aside at one moment, he said, "Mr. and Mrs. Neal, "we really need to get some medicine into Reagan "to stop this seizure before there's damage done "that we can't undo.
22:37-22:44
"And we can't get a needle into any of her veins." We found out she was a bit dehydrated at that point, she was only six days old.
22:44-22:47
This was not a pediatric hospital, they didn't specialize in this.
22:48-22:55
They said, "We gotta do a procedure "where we're gonna drill into her shin bone and administer medicine that way.
22:55-22:57
I thought that's not good.
22:58-23:00
He said we need you to step out while we do that.
23:01-23:10
So we went outside, and I just remember the world was spinning in a way that I had never experienced.
23:11-23:14
In a way that just made me go, God, what's going on?
23:15-23:17
I was in ministry at the time.
23:17-23:21
Felt like we were doing what we were supposed to be doing in terms of obedience to Him.
23:21-23:24
Why was He letting this happen to us?
23:25-23:26
The doctor calls us in.
23:27-23:30
A few minutes later, pulls us aside and says, "I've got bad news.
23:31-23:33
She formed a clot where we did that procedure.
23:33-23:40
We need you to step out so we can do it in the other leg." Man, I was just really undone.
23:41-23:47
I was just really at a moment where I had to make a decision what I was going to do in terms of holding on to faith.
23:47-23:49
Was I going to trust God through this?
23:50-23:53
And fortunately, by his grace, we did.
23:55-23:59
She also formed, just to kind of finish that story, she did form another clot there.
23:59-24:00
She never got the medicine.
24:01-24:06
After both of those procedures, Children's Hospital medevac team showed up.
24:06-24:18
They got an IV into her foot, and the technician pulled us aside and said, "This thing's barely in there." And it's the only hope she has of getting any medicine.
24:18-24:21
So whatever you do, don't let anybody take this out.
24:21-24:22
Guard it with your life.
24:23-24:23
And we did that.
24:23-24:25
She got flown to a children's hospital.
24:26-24:33
She would later be diagnosed with cerebral palsy, autism, and a whole list of disabilities and challenges.
24:34-24:35
She's 12 years old today.
24:35-24:36
She's doing great.
24:37-24:39
She certainly has her challenges.
24:39-24:42
She creates many challenges for our family.
24:42-24:56
But as I look back over the last 12 years I think God allows our faith to be challenged in a whole different variety of ways.
24:56-24:58
He allows our faith to be tested.
24:59-25:06
But regardless of the ways in which your faith gets tested, His command remains the same.
25:08-25:26
In its verse 23 of Hebrews 10, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." I wish I could say that I had mastered the "without wavering" part.
25:26-25:27
I can't say that I have.
25:28-25:30
It's difficult not to waver.
25:31-25:37
Nonetheless, we're called to hold fast the confession of our hope.
25:38-25:46
When things go wrong, when pain enters into your life, whether it's physical pain or emotional pain.
25:47-25:52
When things don't go the way you want them to go, we must hold fast.
25:53-25:56
It's good to be reminded of what Jesus said in John 16:33.
25:57-26:00
He said, "I've said these things to you that in Me you may have peace.
26:01-26:43
In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." To hold fast requires that we have confidence in the fact that Jesus is who He says He is, because what He says He is going to do and that He truly has overcome the world, we're reminded in Romans 8.28, a very familiar and popular verse of Scripture says, "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose." If you're going to hold fast, you need to trust that that is the God that you're holding fast to.
26:44-26:48
The God who causes all things to work together for good.
26:48-26:50
The God who has overcome the world.
26:50-26:55
The God who, as our verse here in verse 23 says, is faithful.
26:57-27:05
"For He who promised is faithful." I said for each one of these three points there's a command, and then there's an encouragement of why that command is doable.
27:05-27:07
The command is let us hold fast.
27:07-27:10
The encouragement is that He is faithful.
27:12-27:16
and let us hold fast because He is faithful.
27:17-27:22
And then thirdly, number three, let us consider one another.
27:24-27:29
Let us draw near because He has cleansed us.
27:29-27:32
Let us hold fast because He is faithful.
27:33-27:35
And let us consider one another.
27:36-27:42
Verse 24 says, "And let us consider We've got to stir up one another to love and good works.
27:46-27:49
I think the first is a response to God that we draw near.
27:51-27:55
The second is perhaps a response to ourselves that we hold fast.
27:56-27:57
That we don't give up on faith.
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That we trust in Him and trust that He who promised is faithful.
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I think this one's a response to each other.
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Let us consider one another.
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That's the actual command.
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The wording presents, I guess, the need for some thoughtfulness here.
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Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
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And so is the command to stir up one another, or is the command to consider?
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And I think as best as I could understand, even looking at the original language here a little bit, is that the command is actually to consider.
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to consider one another in a couple of ways, how to stir up one another towards love and good works, and then we'll get to the other.
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So how do we stir up one another to love and good works?
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Our response to the Gospel in this passage should be threefold.
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One, that we draw near to God, that in light of what He's done, we come near to Him in assurance of faith.
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The other is that we don't give up, that we hold fast considering that He is faithful.
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And then thirdly, that we consider the people around us and how we might stir up one another to love and good works.
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I think first and foremost we can stir up one another to love and good works by example.
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By example of other believers who are living a life of love and good works that we can be encouraged.
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And so we ought to seek to be an example that we first and foremost should live lives of love and good works.
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It's not always easy to do that.
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I think we're living in a society that's becoming increasingly divisive, that seems to value hate over love, that seems to not value doing good for your neighbor, but doing good for yourself.
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And so we've got to fight against the culture of our day and the culture of our world, that we might live lives of love and good works.
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So we do that by example.
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We can actually live that out ourselves.
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And then, I think we also have the normal means by which you might expect we would encourage one another.
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That's found in verse 25.
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"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." Now, not neglecting to meet together is a little bit loaded in today's day because there are perhaps good reasons to neglect to meet together at times in certain situations for certain people.
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But let's think outside the box a little bit.
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We certainly can live out this command.
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It's not a coincidence that we're facing the challenges of COVID today and yet have the resources of 2020 wherein which there are, I assume, many people gathered online right now viewing this service out of a desire to fulfill this command, to not neglect meeting together, even when it can't happen in person, that it happens a bit creatively, virtually, or in other ways.
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I think that's appropriate.
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I think that this is a time when we're all called to do the best that we can do, whatever that looks like.
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So not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.
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It's discouraging to see that I think throughout the church as a whole, a lot of people who were with us at the beginning of the year aren't with us now.
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They've fallen off.
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They've given up on meeting together.
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Again, maybe I'm overstating this.
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I don't want to bring condemnation on anybody who's not meeting personally.
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That's not what I'm talking about at all.
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I'm talking about people who have disconnected completely from the body of Christ.
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Who have not taken advantage of the other opportunities that there are to be together and to stir up one another and to encourage one another as we're commanded here in verse 25.
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This is a day now more than ever when we need to commit to some sort of togetherness.
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Some sort of carrying out this command.
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You know, the New Testament describes us as a body made up of many parts, and just as when any one part of your body is missing or suffering or not operating in its intended fashion, the whole body suffers, So it is with the body of Christ.
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So let's not neglect meeting together.
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Let's persevere.
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Whatever that looks like for you.
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Let's persevere in committing to the body of Christ.
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And by doing so, it says in verse 25, that we will encourage one another, and then all the more as you see the day drawing near.
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All the more as you see the day drawing near.
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The command, "Let us consider one another." How to stir up one another to love and good works.
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Not neglecting to meet together.
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That's the command.
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The motivation for the command is this, because He has come.
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All the more as you see the day drawing near, can you see that the day is in some way, shape, or form drawing near?
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Our world is in chaos.
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Our world is not evolving towards something better.
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I don't know if you've picked up on that or not.
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The day is drawing near.
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Now we don't know when that is, but there is coming a day when either by death or by Jesus' return to the earth, all of us will stand before Jesus and give an account for how we've lived our lives.
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not just us, but the people around us.
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The people in our lives.
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The people who are professing to be part of the body of Christ, but perhaps have fallen off.
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What can we do to bring them back in?
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What can we do to pursue them?
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To stir up in them love and good works?
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So let us consider one another because He is coming.
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In conclusion, and dark times for our world.
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These may be dark times for you personally.
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I think the past several months have challenged each of us in a lot of unique and difficult ways.
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May they not be dark times for the church of Jesus Christ.
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May we take seriously Hebrews 10 in light of the Gospel, therefore, in light of what Jesus has done for us, He has gone near because He has cleansed us.
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Hold fast because He is faithful.
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And consider one another because He is coming.
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Let's pray.
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Jesus, I thank You that You have made perfect the way for us to come to our feet.
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Thank You for cleansing us of sin through the sacrifice of Your body and of Your blood that we might draw near.
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May we not miss this opportunity today to set the pace for the rest of this week by drawing near to You now.
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The opportunity to act in response to faith, to act in response to the Gospel, to act in response to what You have done, not in response to what we have done for our own sinfulness.
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Help us to relate to You on those terms this week.
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Help us to relate to You based on what You have done for us.
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Jesus, help us to hold fast considering that You are faithful.
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Jesus, I pray that for any particular brothers or sisters in this room today who are struggling to hold fast, perhaps because of the pain they're experiencing, perhaps because of just the persistent pull of this world away from faith in You.
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Help them to hold fast.
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Help them to never let go of the rope, but to continue to confess our faith in the Gospel.
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Jesus, help us consider one another because we know that You're coming.
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Time is not on our side.
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So may we consider the people around us, how we, through the gifts that You've given us, may encourage them and stir up love and good works in them.
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In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 10:24-25
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
What are some of the things that keep us from drawing near to God?
What is required of us to draw near to Him according to Hebrews 10:22?
What can you do this week to draw near to God?
Do you think COVID is making it easier or harder for Christians to hold fast to the confession of our hope? How about you personally… how has this situation strengthened your own commitment to the gospel? How has this weakened it?
In regard to holding fast, Hebrews 10:23 points us to God’s faithfulness. How does being reminded of HIS faithfulness help us to hold on during times when our faith is being challenged?
Tell of a time when another believer really stirred you up to “love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).
Who are you going to try to “stir up” this week and how?
Breakout
Pray for one another and to be strengthened to stir up those on our hearts this week.