All right, let's open our Bibles
now to Hebrews chapter 10. The title of the message this
morning, A Life Affected by the Gospel. We looked last week at
the one sacrifice of Christ and how that one sacrifice took away
the sin of God's elect. It made all those people holy.
That sacrifice ratified God's covenant of grace in the blood
of God's son. Now, since that's true, Believers
have boldness before God. The writer picks up here in verse
19 of Hebrews chapter 10, having therefore brethren boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now the word
boldness he uses here means freedom and confidence. Believers have
the freedom to come into the very presence of God anytime
we want. Believers have confidence to
come into the very presence of God boldly, confidently, because
we know we'll be accepted by God Almighty. That's a big statement. How can
sinners like you and me have that kind of boldness? King Uzziah
thought he was pretty bold to come into God's presence, didn't
he? Thought he could come in and offer incense. God struck
him as a leper. How is it that we can have that
kind of boldness and not be presumptuous, not be struck down by Almighty
God? Well, I'll give you three ways. Number one, this boldness before
God comes by faith in Christ. The writer says here, our confidence
comes from coming to God through the blood of Christ, by trusting
that the blood of Christ is all it takes to put my sin away. If I really believe that the
blood of Christ is sufficient. If I really believe His blood
cleanses me from all sin, then I'll have boldness to come before
God. I mean, God must accept me if I don't have any sin. Well,
then the only way that's possible is if I come to Him through the
blood of Christ. We can't have confidence coming to God any
other way than the blood, can we? No other way. We can't have
confidence in our works. We can't have confidence in our
faith. We can't have confidence in our repentance. We can't have
any confidence in our love. But a sinner has confidence in
the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is so precious. It's so cleansing that that blood
is all a sinner needs to stand before the all seeing, holy eye
of God without any spot or blemish. It's only in the blood. Now,
isn't that amazing? that God's Son would shed that
precious blood for the likes of us. That's something else, isn't
it? Well, then why would we want to try to come to God any other
way? Other than the blood. The only way a dead sinner can
ever come before God is through the blood. If we come through
the blood, we have boldness. Number two, this boldness comes
from coming to God a new way through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 20, by new and living way, which he has consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. Now, the
old way to come to God was through the animal sacrifices and all
the ceremonies of the law. That was the old way. And those
things were just pictures of Christ. Look back at Hebrews
chapter nine. Nobody could come into God's
presence that way. Hebrews chapter nine, verse eight, the Holy Ghost, this signifying,
this is what the Holy Ghost was teaching us through all those
sacrifices that were in effect when the tabernacle yet stood.
This is what the Holy Ghost was teaching that the way into the
holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing, which was a figure, a picture for the time then present
and were offered both gifts and sacrifices. that could not make
him that did the surface perfect as pertaining to the conscience.
None of those ceremonies, none of those sacrifices could allow
a sinner, a sinful man, a sinful woman to come into God's presence.
The high priest couldn't even go into the Holy of Holies but
just once a year. So the way into the holiest of
all, the way into heaven itself was not through those sacrifices,
through those ceremonies. The way to come into God's presence,
into the holiest of all, is through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father
has accepted His one sacrifice, and He accepts everyone who's
in Christ. He accepts everyone for whom that sacrifice was offered.
And this way to come to God in Christ will always be open. It'll never be shut. It's always
open for any sinner who needs forgiveness. Is there any sinner
here this morning that needs forgiveness. Do you need cleansing?
This way in Christ is always open to a sinner. The writer
here calls it a new way. Now it is new. It was newly revealed
after the law was given. But that phrase, a new way, means
more than that. It means a freshly slaughtered
way. Now our confidence in coming
to God is through the blood, through faith in the blood of
Christ. And that blood is always fresh. It's always powerful. It's as if the sacrifice of the
perfect body and the perfect soul of Christ has just been
made so that it's always fresh. The blood of Christ was offered
before God in eternity, wasn't it? The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. It was offered before God in
human time 2000 years ago. And you know, that blood is just
as fresh. It's just as powerful today.
as it ever has been. What a way through the freshly
slaughtered way to come to God. Now that ought to give us confidence,
shouldn't it? To come to God through this freshly slaughtered,
this powerful way. And Christ is that way. He's
the living way. Christ is the way to come to
God and not be struck down dead, but to come to God and live because
Christ is our life. Then why would we want to come
in the other way? Other than coming in Christ. That gives
us boldness. And thirdly, our confidence comes
because we've got a new high priest. Verse 21, Hebrews chapter
10. And having a high priest over
the house of God. Under the law, only the high
priest could come into God's presence in the Holy of Holies.
And he can only do that one day a year. Not without blood. Only
the high priest ever saw the Holy of Holies. Only the high
priest could offer the sacrifice. You know, just anybody can't
offer a sacrifice for sin. Just anybody can't make intercession
to God for the sins of the people. If you lived at that time and
you needed a sacrifice for sin, you had to go to the high priest
and get him to offer it for you. If you needed somebody to make
intercession for your sin, you had to go to the high priest
and get him to do it for you. Well, there's just not a lot
of confidence there, is there? Because that high priest was just a sinful
man. Hard telling what he's going
to do. Just hard telling. And even when that high priest
did go behind the veil, once a year on that day of atonement,
you know, he wasn't full of confidence. He's full of fear. And everybody
else was too. That high priest, if he made
just one small mistake in that holy polies, God was going to
strike him down. And if he struck the high priest
down, he's going to strike down all of Israel because he's offering
a sacrifice for Israel. And those people listened intently.
They listened to hear if those bells on the bottom of the high
priest robe were ringing. If those bells were still ringing,
that told them the high priest was still moving around. His
robes were moving as he moved and they were clanging together
and those bells were ringing. If they heard the bells ringing,
God hadn't struck the high priest down. They tell me, I read this,
that the Jews even began tying a rope around the foot, the heel,
the ankle of that high priest so they could drag him out if
he got struck down while he was in the Holy of Holies. But there's
just not a lot of confidence there. That whole procedure was
done full of fear. But the writer doesn't talk about
fear to God's people here, does he? He talks about boldness. Boldness. Believers have boldness
to come into God's presence because Christ is our great high priest
and his sacrifice is always accepted. You notice the writer doesn't
say here that Christ serves as a high priest in the house of
God. He's the high priest over the house of God. He rules over
it. He has power over it because
of the power of his one sacrifice and his ever fresh sacrifice. always accepted. And his people
are always accepted because of that perfect sacrifice for their
sin. His people are always welcomed into God's presence because of
Christ's intercession for them. His intercession is always accepted
because it goes back to the blood. He makes intercession for the
sins of his people. He's pleading his blood. And
because Christ is our high priest, God's people can come into God's
presence anytime we want. Not just once a year, but anytime
you have need, anytime you want to come before Him and offer
praise and thanksgiving, anytime you have need, God's people have
boldness, freedom to stroll right into the presence of God Almighty. Now, it hadn't always been that
way, has it? While the tabernacle stood, the temple stood, there
was a veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies,
and that veil stopped men from coming into the presence of God,
didn't it? But you know, when Christ died, that veil was removed.
He was taken out of the way. At the very moment our Savior
said it's finished and gave up the ghost, that veil was rent
in two, as we talked about. Opening the way to God's presence
wide open for any sinner to come to Christ. This is the question. It's not, do you want to come
into God's presence? This is the question. Are you
willing to come God's way? If you're willing to come in
Christ, his sacrifice has removed every obstacle that would stop
you from coming to God. If you come through faith in
Christ. Now, why would you want to come
any other way? I mean, why would we want to come any other way?
Christ is the way to come and be accepted. Now, that's the
gospel. and boldness to come before God,
to come before the very throne of God is the result of that
gospel. This boldness comes as a result
of faith in Christ. But now listen, our faith in
Christ must be put into practice. It's got to be put into practice.
Faith is not an abstract idea that we talk about on Sundays
and Wednesdays and doesn't apply to the rest of our life. Faith
in Christ is lived. It's lived. Not just here, but
out there in the plant. Out there in the salt mines.
Out there in the factory. Out there in the office. Out
there where we work and live. Out there with our neighbors.
Faith in Christ is lived. If it's true saving faith, it's
put into practice in our everyday lives. And if it's not, then
what we call faith is not saving faith. Saving faith is put into
practice in our everyday life. All right. That got my interest,
didn't you? Well, what does a life of faith
look like? I want to put my faith into practice, don't you? What
does that look like? What is a life that's affected
by the gospel look like? I mean, if I believe the gospel,
this gospel ought to affect my life. It ought to affect the
lives of people around me. How do I do that? What does that
look like? Let me give you four things the writer here says we
must do if we believe Christ. These are the things we must
do if faith is put into practice. And number one is this. We must
draw near to God. Verse 22, he says, let us draw
near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water. Now, I've already seen here the
believers reason for boldness, the reason for our confidence
to draw near to God is the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it's
not a way, is it? It's a person. It's in a person.
We draw near to God through faith in Christ. We draw near to God
because we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is all it takes
for me to be accepted. And a believer comes with a true
heart. Now, a true heart is the pure heart that we looked at
in our lesson this morning. It's a new heart that God gives
his people. And that heart truly believes
Christ. It truly believes the gospel.
A true heart recognizes this. I truly, this is not just words
on paper. I truly need Christ because he's
my only hope. That's not just lip service.
I truly believe that. Well, if you believe that too,
then this is what the writer tells us to do. Actually draw
an eye to God. Do it in faith in Christ. Don't
just talk about the theory of it. People love to want to make
themselves out to be some theologian, you know, like John Gill and
Matthew Henry. And they sit around and talk
about the theory of religion. It just makes me want to puke.
Quit talking about the theory of it and do it. Come to God. Draw an eye to Him in Christ.
Don't just talk about the true doctrine of it. Brethren, this
is the true doctrine of it. Now you see that from God's Word,
but don't just talk about the true doctrine of it like I know
something that's true and everybody else don't. Do it. Trust Christ. Put your full weight of your
soul on Him. True faith in Christ acts. Now quit waiting and come to
God by Christ. I want us to be taught. Good
doctrine, sound, true doctrine, I want us to know the truth. But now you listen to me. Knowledge
of all the right doctrine is not salvation. Knowledge of all
the right doctrine is not enough. We must put our faith into action. We've got to put it into practice
or it's useless faith. Let me give you an example. A
couple of weeks ago, when Savannah was there in the hospital, in
the critical care unit, we had come up to the room and we were
waiting on her to be brought up to the room from recovery.
They said, she's coming to this room. And I saw a nurse out in
the hallway. And I told Jan, I said, boy,
I hope that's Savannah's nurse. I mean, this woman looks like
she's something else. I mean, the way she talks, she's
got so much knowledge. I hope this is Savannah's nurse.
And you know what it was? That was Savannah Grace's nurse.
Now, I have absolutely no doubt, there is not one doubt in my
mind, that woman knows more about critical nursing care than almost
anybody in this state. She knows more about critical
nursing care than almost everybody in that hospital. She told me
that was so. And you know what? I believed
her. I mean, really, I believed her. But after two days of that,
you know what Clark did? He went down to the nursing supervisor
and said, we don't want that woman to be Savannah's nurse
anymore. She knows a lot, but she didn't do one blessed thing.
Not one blessed thing. She didn't do anything. She didn't
put any of that vast knowledge into practice. As far as Frank's
concerned, that made her a useless nurse. Janet and Holly and Clark
were much better nurses. They don't know near as much
as that woman did, but you know what? What knowledge they had,
what love they had, they put it into practice. They put it
into use to help our patients. Now that's our faith. Faith doesn't
have to be the strongest faith that ever was. I don't have to
have the, I think about the faith of Abraham, the faith of Daniel,
the faith of, I just, I'm not, I can't even be in the same room
with them fellas. Our faith doesn't have to be the strongest faith
ever, but it does have to act. It does have to act. It's got
to put the full weight of our soul on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It does have to come to God in faith in Christ. So if we really
believe God, we come to Him in Christ. We don't come to Him
based on our morality. We don't say, you know, I'm going
to start acting better. And when I start acting better
and I quit a few of these bad habits, then I'm going to come
to God. No, no, no, no. We come to God in faith in Christ,
not anything about us. If we really believe God, we
don't come to Him based on how much I know. You know, I don't
wait and say, you know, I'm going to come to God. I've got a little
more of this figured out. No, no, no, no. Don't try to
figure it out. Just come to God believing Christ
is all you need. You don't have to understand
all the intricate details about why Christ is all you need. This
is all you need to know. Christ is all I need. I believe
him and I'm coming to God by him. Salvation is not in how
much I know. This is what I need to know.
I need Christ. He's enough for me. And the writer
says, come to God in full assurance of faith. Now, what is full assurance
of faith? It's being convinced Christ is
all I need. I don't need anything else. If
I have full assurance of Christ, I'm not going to feel the need
to bring my good works or my morality or my knowledge. I'm
just going to come in here. And he says here, come to Christ
with a heart that's been sprinkled with the blood of Christ. See
how all this ties back to the blood of his sacrifice. The believer's
heart's been sprinkled, been made pure when the blood of Christ
is applied to us and His blood has cleansed our heart from our
dead works. That gives confidence to come
to God, that His blood has cleansed my heart from dead works. I don't
have to come to God trusting in my good works. Just like that
high priest going into the Holy of Holies with that rope tied
around his foot, there's not a lot of confidence there. If
I had come to God in my dead works, there'd be no confidence.
Because my works, the best righteousnesses that I can produce would damn
my soul to hell. But I can have boldness if I'm
coming in Christ, because I've been made perfect in Christ. That body washed with pure water
means the new body. That's why our Lord told Nicodemus,
except you're born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter
the kingdom But everybody who's been born of the Spirit, who's
been born again, they're going to enter into the kingdom of
God. Because that new man is perfect. That new man is the
creation of God Himself. Well, God's not going to create
something imperfect. He created a man that's perfect. Well, we're
born again. We're born as children of God. Now, that gives us confidence
to come to God knowing we'll be accepted. And the best example
I can think of of that is my four children. All of them can
come into my house any time they want. They don't have to have
special permission. They just come any time they
want. They don't have to call and make a special appointment.
They're always welcome, always, because they're my children.
When they come to the house, they don't even have to knock.
Matter of fact, it kind of aggravates me if they do. Don't knock, just
come in. You're my children. And if the
door's locked and I'm not there, Janet's not there, you got a
key. You got boldness to come in anytime
you want, because you're my children. Brothers and sisters, if you
believe God, you're God's child. You come to me anytime you want.
Put your faith into practice. Come to him boldly, come to him
daily. You got the key. You believe
Christ, you got the key. Then come pleading Christ alone. If we really believe God, we're
going to come to him pleading nothing but Christ. All right,
number two. This is this is something that
highly, highly, highly concerns me. Let us hold fast our profession
of faith. Verse 23. Let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised. You know, I really do believe
this gospel, the gospel that I preach, the gospel that I claim
to believe. I can honestly tell you, I really
do believe it. And every believer can say the
same thing. I really believe, I truly believe this is possible.
Now, I may not know as much about it as some of the fathers, but
I believe it. I really do. And our faith is
a lot like love. You know, faith and love go together.
Remember, Lord asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? And Peter said,
Lord, you know all things. Lord, you know I love you. And every believer would say
the same thing. It might not always look like it, but Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. And the
same thing can be said about faith. Lord, you know all things. You know I believe you. You gave
me the faith. You know I believe you. I really
do believe Christ. And since I really do, I believe
Christ is all it takes to save me without any of my works added
to it. So I just trust him. I don't
look at him plus my works. I just trust Him. I really do
believe this, that all my sin has been put away under the blood
of Christ. That God sees me as pure and
spotless and holy. I believe that even though I
don't see anything holy about myself. In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Yet, I really believe Christ
put my sin away. I really do believe in total
depravity. And I don't just believe in the total depravity of man,
meaning everybody else. I believe in my personal total
depravity. I believe that. I believe everything
I do is sin. That's what makes me need Christ.
That's what makes me look the end, because there's nothing
to look at myself. I really do believe in unconditional
election. Before God created anything,
God chose a people to save. unconditionally. And that means
this. Those people didn't have to meet
any conditions. They didn't have to do anything
in order for God to choose them. God chose them in spite of everything
that they do. God just chose them because he
would. Now, I really do believe that. That's my only hope of
salvation. If I've got to do something to
deserve for God to choose me, God's never going to choose me.
I really do believe that. I really do believe in limited
atonement. I don't believe the power of
Christ's sacrifice is limited in any way, but the scope of
it is. Christ did not die for everybody.
Christ died for God's elect. He only died for God's elect.
Christ didn't die to give folks a chance to be saved. He died
to save his people from their sin. His people shall be saved. I believe That's my only hope
of salvation, that Christ died to put my sin away on purpose,
not leaving it up to chance, but on purpose. I believe that.
That's my only hope of salvation. I really do believe in the irresistible
call of the spirit. I believe that God will call
his people to faith in Christ, and he's going to do it through
the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching of his
word. And here's how you can tell if I really believe that.
If I hold fast to this profession, I'm not going to try to talk
people into making a decision. I'm not going to try to talk
people into doing anything. I'm just going to preach the gospel
to them and leave them alone with God the Holy Spirit. If
they belong to God, they'll come. They'll come. And when they do,
nobody's going to stop them. I really do believe that Christ
is all. I really believe this. That none of us need more than
Christ. I want good things for all of
y'all. I want you to have good jobs.
I want you to have the money to do the things that you need
to do. I want you to have good homes.
I want you to be good fathers and mothers and good husbands
and wives and good children. I want you to have In America today, the family
is just completely falling apart. I don't want that. I believe
I know when it started to fall apart was when I was a boy. Our society has paid the price
for it dearly. So right now, I want better than
that. I want all these things. I want
our children to get a good education. I want them to be smart and bright
and all these. I just want all these things
for you. But I'm telling you, I want health for you. I want
all. Thinking about this far said,
I want to mean it. Take it all away. Don't take away. We must have him. We must. If I really believe that, and
I really hold fast to that profession, I tell you what your pastor will
do, he can keep preaching Christ to you, and only Christ. I really do believe that God
does all things well. If I believe that, my soul can
lay down and go to sleep at night on that. And if I hold fast to
that profession, not only will I have confidence God will give
me the grace to rejoice when things happen that hurt this
flesh, when things happen that scare this flesh to death. I
know that it's best. It's good and it's best because
God's doing it. I don't have to understand the
purpose that God, you know, if we could see the end purpose
of everything God's doing, we'd rejoice in everything He's doing.
We can't see that, that's above our pay grade. This is all I
need to know. God's doing it, so it's best.
Even if it hurts my class. I really do believe that. And if I hold fast to that profession,
I'm not going to quit when trials come. I'm just not going to do
it. If you believe those things too,
I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to hold fast
to that profession. Now I warn you, Hold fast to
it. Don't abandon this. Don't abandon
this gospel. Don't change your profession
when the way gets hard, because now it will. It's going to get
hard. And when it does, don't you abandon
this profession. Let's say with our brother Job,
though he slayed me, yet will I trust him. I caution you. I warn you. I encourage you.
Hold fast to this profession. and I do it with this confidence,
every believer will. Every one of God's children will
hold fast to this profession and they won't leave it. You
know why I know that so? Because he is faithful and honest. That's why I would leave him. I would quit,
but he won't let me. I would lose faith. but he's
faithful, that promised. The Lord will not forsake his
people. He's gonna hold fast to me. Now
that's my confidence. That's my profession of faith.
That's my profession of salvation. He will hold fast to me. I truly believe in the perseverance
of the saints. Every one of God's people are
gonna persevere to the end because the Lord's gonna hold fast to
them. He won't let them go. But tell you what I intend to
do. I intend to hold fast to Him too, don't you? Let's hold
fast to our profession. Let's cling to Him. You won't
find one situation ever where a sinner came to our Lord clinging
to Him and they perished. I want to cling to Him, don't
you? By God's grace. And then thirdly, if we really
believe this, this is our faith, let's consider one another. Verse
24. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love unto good works. Now, considering other
people is thinking about them. And then treating them well,
treating them in love. You know, if I really believe
in the total depravity of man and I really believe the salvation
is by God's grace, then I'm going to consider other people. And
I'm going to consider this. I'm going to treat them this
way, that they're weak and sinful, just like me. I'm going to consider
them and then I'm going to be kind to them and I'm going to
easily forgive them because God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
me. They need forgiveness just like I do. And I'm not going
to hold their feet to the fire and expect them to do what I
can't do, which is act right all the time. If I believe God, I'm going to
consider one another. And when we consider one another,
you know what we're going to do? We're going to pray for one
another. We're going to pray for one another. I wish I could stress this as
it ought to be stressed. There's nothing more important
we can do for one another than to pray for one another. If I
truly consider you, I'm going to think about your needs. I'm going to think about your
situation. And then I'm going to pray that the Lord will meet
your needs. But then to consider one another is also to go meet
the needs of our brethren, especially our brethren. If I truly consider
you, I'm going to pray for you. If you're in need, I promise
you I will pray for you. But then you know what I'm going
to do? I'm going to get off my butt and I'm going to go meet
your needs. I'm going to go supply it. I'm going to do what I can
to meet your need. Not just think about it, but
go do something to meet your need. And any faith that does
not do those things is not saving faith. Faith that just says,
well, here's my brother. He's cold. He's come to my house
at night and he's cold. He don't have no clothes. And
I tell him go be warm and don't give him a coat. That's not saving
faith. If I know one of my brethren
is hungry, I'm not going to say go be filled. I'm gonna give
him something to eat. And if I don't, that's not saving
faith. I wish I could express to you
my thankfulness for you. This congregation does that.
I'm not beating you up. I'm just, you do that. God's
given you faith and grace to do that. But my admonishment
to us is this, don't quit. Don't quit. Seek not to quit this professional
thing and seek for it to grow. Seek that God will cause this
to grow in us. Because our goal in considering
one another and caring for one another is love. The writer here
says to provoke unto love. Now usually the word provoke
has a bad meaning, doesn't it? We provoke somebody to jealousy,
we provoke somebody to anger. But here it's used in a good
way. The writer tells us, provoke one another to love. Want to
tell you how to do that? Just treat somebody so well,
they just have to love you. They can't not love you. And
that they'll copy your love and show it to others. That's provoking
one another to love. And if our faith doesn't do that,
it's not saving faith. And then here's the fourth thing.
Let us not forsake public worship. Verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Now, part of this verse goes hand in hand with considering
one another. When we consider one another,
we should consider one another in public worship. Do you know
your faithful attendance at the public worship service is an
encouragement to others? It really is. And our infrequent
attendance at the public worship service is a discouragement to
others. Public worship is public. You're public. That means there
are people there. The Lord meets with his people
in public worship. He promised where two or three
are gathered together in my name, that's where I'm going to be
in the midst of it. Public worship is the time for
God's family to be together, to worship the Lord together.
And it's just like a family meal. We have a family meal. It's best
when the whole family is there. Public worship is better when
the whole family is gathered together to worship. Now consider
one another in public worship and be an encouragement to your
brethren. And let me give you four closing
words here about forsaking public worship, about the importance
of public worship. Why is it that I need public
worship? Number one is this. I need to
be in the public worship service because God deserves to be worshiped.
Now doesn't he? You think who God is? He deserves
to be worshiped. Number two, I need to be in the
public worship service because I need to worship God. It's good
for me to worship God. Wayne calls the Wednesday night
service an attitude adjustment. You get out there in the world
and you get dusty and dirty in the world. And I come to the
worship service and I find I'm just refreshed. I see everything
more clearly. I can rest worshiping God's good
for me, worshiping and praising Him for who He is, not just for
what He's done for me, but for who He is. Number three, I need
to be in the public worship service because I need to be taught more
of Christ. I need to be correct. I need to have my attitude corrected.
I need to be in the public worship service because I need to be
encouraged. I need to be encouraged in God's grace. I need to be
encouraged by hearing more of Him. I need to be encouraged
in His faithfulness and His grace when the way gets hard. And I
need to be fed. My soul needs to be fed. I'll
tell you when that happens, in public worship, through the preaching
of the gospel. Tapes or sermon audio, they're
fine and a fix. But I'm telling you, technology,
will never replace the public worship service. Last summer, we had our young
adults class and I told them that, I said, y'all are the technology
generation. Don't let your generation be
the one that stops public worship. Don't think we'll all stay home,
just watch a live stream. Brethren, God will never bless
it like he does here. Write her down. I need to be
in the public worship service. And fourthly, I need to be in
the public worship service because others need my example. Others
need my help. It's just good for us to greet
one another, hug one another, be together. Others need my example. And the writer tells us, you
do this so much the more as you see the day approaching. What
day is he talking about? Well, several probably. Undoubtedly, he's talking about
the day of judgment, isn't he? That day's coming. Let's approach
him. The day of trial. If you're not in it right now,
you will be shortly. That day's coming. The day of our death? Well, if I really believe God,
I know all those days are coming for me. And in that day, whichever
one of those days it is, in that day, that day of judgment, the
day of my death, the day of trial, in that day, I'll tell you what
I'm going to need. I need faith in Christ. I need to believe
Him. I need to be clinging to Him.
I need to be strengthened and comforted in Him. Well, that
can only be done through the preaching of the gospel. In the
gospel, in the preaching of the gospel, God gives faith to his
people. He strengthens them. He comforts them. He feeds them.
That's what God does through the preaching of the gospel.
Then let's not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. God help
us to put our faith into practice and to live a life that's affected
by the gospel. Let's bow together. Our Father,
how we thank you for the glorious good news of the gospel in our
Lord Jesus Christ. The cleansing of sin, the forgiveness
of sin, righteousness that comes in him. Father, how we thank
you. How we thank you for God-given faith in Christ. To believe him,
to see him. This is life eternal. There is
no greater blessing in this life than to believe Christ, than
to see him and rest in him. And Father, I thank you for the
faith that you've given your people here. We beg you that
you cause it to grow. Enable us by thy grace to put
this faith in action, to live in such a way that honors you
and helps and encourages our brethren. Father, we thank you
for this time of fellowship that we're about to have. We thank
you for this food. Father, we thank you for these
that we honor, their birthday. Father, I pray that you continue
to bless them richly. Bless them in every way. How
thankful we are. What a blessing they are to this
congregation. Father, we thank you for them.
Cause us to have a good time of fellowship today, celebrating
all these things we ask. Name which is above every name,
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right, by now, you all know
the drill. As Mike leads us in saying, the
ladies will do what they do out there to make all this work together
just wonderfully. And our four birthday honorees,
you watch them when they go through the door, they get to go first.
Nobody go before them. And go out and go through the
line and get your, get you some to eat. and don't make Sid sit
there being, you know.