I'll turn back to Hebrews chapter
10 this morning. Hebrews chapter 10. And I want
to look at the verses from about 19 down to 31. The second half
of Hebrews 10 has been used by many to frighten true believers
into thinking that they can be lost. And if you remember, cast
your minds back to when we were looking at Hebrews chapter 6.
the same idea there, where there it talked about it being impossible
to, you know, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
him to an open shame. And likewise, Chapter 10 has
been used in a similar way. If we sin willfully after we've
received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for judgment
and fiery indignation. Many have used it to frighten
believers into thinking that they can be lost. But true saints,
the scripture is clear, how could what we read in Isaiah 61 be
true if this were not the case? True saints, recipients of Holy
Spirit life, can't ever be lost. But here's the thing, those who
are mere professors of Christianity, they can presume without a basis
for that presumption and end up hearing those chilling words
of Christ at the end, depart from me, I never knew you. You
know, many will say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this, that, and
the other in your name? And he will say unto them, depart
from me, I never knew you. I want to look in these verses
and I want to remind you of what we saw last week, what a privileged
position believers are in. What a privileged position. It's
a word that's used lightly, but I mean what a privileged position.
Then secondly, I want to jump forward and look at the fact
that there is no room for presumption. Although believers are in such
a privileged position, there is no room for presumption. Then
thirdly, believers have a clear responsibility And fourthly,
they exercise that responsibility empowered by God's promise, and
fifthly, encouraged by true fellowship. So that's what I want to look
at this morning. First of all, a privileged position. 19 to
22, verses 19 to 22. having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." We looked at
it in some detail last week. But I want to remind you what
it's saying. It's saying that the people of God, the blood-bought
people of God, those whose sin debt has been paid by the shedding
of the precious blood of Christ, His elect people, His saved people,
the many that He came to save, have the right to enter the presence
of God. If you're amongst them this morning
and by faith you know in your heart that you're amongst them
you have the right to do what only the high priest could do
in picture once a year on the day of atonement but you have
it now because we're a royal priesthood the right to enter
the presence of God. Paul tells the Colossians in
chapter 1 and verse 12 that the Father has made his people, has
made us meet, qualified to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in the light. Qualified for heaven. Qualified
for heaven. Is that not a privileged position?
You think about the lost state that thousands, millions all
around us walk through this life in. What a privilege it is to
know that you've been made meet, qualified, fitted by Christ to
be partakers, to have a part in that inheritance of the saints
in light. You know, if you're a child of
God, you're children in the family. You who are children in families
here this morning, You know what it is, don't you? It's your family's
front door. You can open your family's front
door. You can go into your house. The
house is yours. You're part of the family. The
children of God, you're children of the family. You're citizens
of the heavenly kingdom. I was talking earlier about some
of the privileges of citizenship that we often take very lightly,
the liberties that we have, even in this country of ours, the
liberties that we have, the freedom that we have. You have the privileges
of the citizenship of heaven if you're a child of God. That's
a privileged position to be in, to be counted amongst those whose
heavenly passport says, yes, let them in. This one belongs
here. This one is a citizen of heaven. to know that you've been purchased
by precious blood. Oh, I've got a ticket. Is the
ticket price paid? Let me tell you a little illustration. I saw a surgeon about my back
yesterday, and it was a very, very good thing. But it was at
a private hospital, but it was on the NHS, because I did it
through the choose and book thing. So I did it on the NHS, and I
went, and it's the private hospital, and all that's fine. And he said,
right, I want you to have another MRI scan. Take this letter, take
it upstairs, and go and book an MRI scan. So I went upstairs.
Christine came with me and we said, look, the man says, do
this. Yes, can you come next Wednesday?
I thought, gosh, that's good for the NHS. I'm just wondering
whether I get there next Wednesday and they say, oh, hold on a minute.
Have you got 800 pounds to pay for this? You know, Christ has
paid for all the privileges of his people in heaven. There's
no, you know, like I've got doubt about next Wednesday. I don't
know whether it will happen unless I give them a check for 800 pounds
or however much it costs these days. Christ has paid for all
your privileges. He's paid for your citizenship
of heaven. He's paid for your sins to be
forgiven. He's paid that you might be adopted
into the family of God. He's paid that you might enter
into the holiest the very presence of God. He's paid to qualify
you to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He's
confirmed it in the covenant of grace. He's shown you a new
and living way, that covenant of grace, that new and living
way. You've got a perfect high priest. Oh, I need somebody.
Yes, you do need somebody to intercede with the Holy God.
You've got somebody, a priest after the order of Melchizedek,
You've got a perfect high priest. You've got a mediator. Who's
going to present the case of me? Look at me. Look at my sin.
Look at what I'm like. Who's going to present me before
the holiness of God? My Lord Jesus Christ. My great
high priest. My mediator. He's going to go
before the Father and say, you must accept Him. Look at this.
Look at this blood. Look at this sacrifice. You must
accept Him. A perfect high priest. The Father
can't refuse. He cannot refuse. Everything's
done. Satisfied. Justice is satisfied. He pleads the cause of all his
people. And he gives us the assurance
of faith. He gives his people that assurance
of faith. That gift of spiritual sight.
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, for
they're spiritually discerned. But to his people, he's given
spiritual discernment. He sprinkled the conscience.
You know about sin. You know that sin is ever before
you. You know that if you say you
have no sin, you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you.
But there's that daily sprinkling with the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's that washing of the water and the word, that
daily cleansing and that acceptance of all of our failings. It's
all accepted in Him. There's the privilege of citizenship. in heaven. There's the liberty
that we read about in Isaiah 61, to proclaim liberty, the
opening of the prison to the captives. Many live in daily
bondage and oppression. Even in real society, many live
in daily bondage and oppression. How many others live in daily
bondage and oppression in the darkness and the ignorance of
their minds, but in Christ the lights have been switched on.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. It's such a privileged position.
How much more privileged than being members of a free society
is it to be counted among the elect of God? What a privilege
to be counted among the elect of God. Oh, people don't like
that. It's not fair. It's not right. But when God
assures you by his word, by the Holy Spirit of your place, what
a privilege. What liberation for your mind.
What light flooding your mind where there was darkness for
the people walked in darkness and those people have seen a
great light. liberated mind, understanding eternal things,
taught of God's spirit, guided and protected, destined for eternal
bliss. This is a privileged position.
It truly is. The Hebrew Christians had left
the legal bondage of the blueprint religion, that blueprint which
was the mosaic way of coming, the tabernacle and the temple,
they'd left that. for the privilege of spiritual
reality in Christ. What a blessed release. Were
they in danger of going back to it? This is what Paul is saying
to them. You're in a privileged position.
You're in a privileged position. If you're true, if you're true,
but beware. Second point. The second point
is this. There's no room for presumption. Look at verses 26 down to 31. There's no room for complacent
presumption. He says, for if we sin willfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There is no
room. But true believers are in the
most privileged position. But don't be fooled. There is
no room for presumption. Because the scriptures always
balance enough encouragement to preserve the true saints from
the fear of being lost You know, true saints, we're weak, we're
sheep, we're... You know, sheep are stupid creatures. It's amazing
that the Scriptures picture the people of God as sheep. Sheep
are stupid, frightened creatures and we're so prone to the fear
that we might be lost. But the Scriptures contain enough
encouragement to preserve us from that fear and that's balanced,
that encouragement is balanced with plenty of warnings in the
Scripture to deter those who merely profess religion on the
strength of the flesh from presuming on God's favor. For many will
say to me in that day, said Jesus, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all
these things in your name? And he will say to them, depart
from me. I never knew you. God is love. John's epistle says
that God is love. God is a God who delights in
mercy. God is a God who is gracious. He is the redeemer of his people. He's gracious to sinners. How
many times in the scripture is this message given to those who
deserve condemnation? Don't be afraid, fear not. God
is a God who delights in mercy. This God is still holy. God is
holy. What do the cherubim cry in the
vision of Isaiah in chapter 6? There they are around the throne
of Christ on his throne because it was him that John 12 tells
us that Isaiah saw Christ on that throne in the temple. And
the angels around him, the cherubim and the seraphim, and they were
crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. They weren't crying, love,
love, love is the Lord. They weren't crying, peace, peace. They were crying, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God. He's holy. He's still the same
God of justice. God by His very nature is absolute
purity. God cannot change. God cannot
adapt so that He fits in with what man is like. He is holy,
absolutely holy. He is just. He is righteous. He must judge sin. Every sin
must have its reward and the wages of sin is death. Who is
this warning given to here? Look at verse 26. If we sin willfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth. If we
sin willfully. Hold on. If we sin willfully. When don't you sin willfully?
Oh, you say, oh, oh, I never do any sin deliberately. It just
sort of creeps up on me and catches me out. No, not the case. Not
the case. Won't do. It will be found out.
Of course we sin willfully. This isn't talking about the
general sins from which Christ has saved us. This is talking,
I believe, about that sin that Jesus said there is no forgiveness
for. He said all sins can be forgiven, men and women. All
sins can be forgiven, but the sin against the Holy Ghost. What's
that? It's that rejection, that willful rejection of the Gospel
of Grace. It's that refusal to believe
the Gospel of Grace. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about sinning against the Spirit's revelation of gospel
truth. All sins are forgiven, but this
one cannot be forgiven. You can't be forgiven for rejecting,
for flying in the face of the one thing that can forgive you. You can't be forgiven for that.
Is your knowledge of the gospel Is your knowledge of that gospel
truth just merely mental assent? Yes, you tick all the boxes,
yes I agree with that, that seems reasonable. Is it that you've
mentally agreed to it, but what about your heart? You know the
true child of God has got a spirit given heart experience. You know
it doesn't stay up here, it comes a few I know the heart is just
a pumping muscle, but you know in the picture language, the
heart is the seat of the emotions. The spirit touches the seat of
the emotions. It isn't just mental, mechanical,
the sort of things that a robot could do. This is human feelings. Has the spirit touched the human
feelings? The truth of the gospel, yes,
but has it touched the human feelings? Is that a true experience
of the blood of Christ? Is that a true rejoicing in the
Lord? You know, we read it, Isaiah
61, I will rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me. He has
clothed me with the garments of salvation. You know, it's
not just saying, yes, has he clothed me with the garments
of salvation? Tick the box, yes, yes, that seems all right, I've
been clothed with the, no. Something that makes you, makes
you weep with joy, that touches your emotions. Because if not,
if not, if it's just a mental ascent, you're in a perilous
position eternally. This is the warning of this chapter.
It's not saying to the true children of God you can be lost. It's
saying that if you're a mere professor, you beware. You beware,
you're outside of Christ. Mere profession isn't enough.
Heart experience is what's needed. The spirit to come upon you.
If you complacently stay where you are, You'll prove it one
day. You'll prove it. Verse 29. What
will you do? How much sorer punishment, suppose
ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace. Those who are mere professors
will one day prove it. They'll walk out on the truth.
They'll drift away from it. If you walk out on Christ, he's
saying to these Hebrews, and return to your legal works religion,
focused on the pattern which was merely the blueprint, these
Hebrews were tempted to do that. He says you will do despite,
injury, something which is wrong to the spirit of grace. He says
that's a terrible, perilous position to be in. You can find yourself
outside of Christ by sinful presumption that just a mechanical mental
ascent will do. No, heart experience of the truth
of the grace of God. And if you've got that, then
hold on to it, is what he's saying. He says, he gives examples, he
says, those who despised Moses' law, verse 28, He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
We read it in Deuteronomy 16 and 17. How harsh it appears
on the page of scripture. But it's there as an illustration.
The strict justice of God. Absolutely strict. Those that
went after other gods, they were to be treated absolutely according
to strict justice. they were to be stoned to death.
They were to be taken. Anybody that introduced anything
which was a distortion of the gospel of grace as it was revealed
in the patterns of the Old Testament worship was to be stoned to death. And he says, don't you think
it's going to be any different for those who do despise to the
gospel of God's grace in Christ? You know, we think, oh, how cruel,
their physical. It's just the same as those who
go into eternity now doing despite to the spirit of grace. Do you
think they're going to be found in the grace and the eternal
purposes of God? Of course not. Of course not. The mosaic examples are there
to teach us. They're there for our learning. Those who are outside of Christ
Those whose profession is only external, is only a mental assent,
will face all of the terror of God's justice. That which will
be the due of all who face the terror of God's justice outside
of Christ will be theirs. God is just. For all who are
outside of Christ, their sins have got to be paid for. They've
not been paid for by Christ, they've got to be paid for. It's
absolutely clear. This is the warning. It's a warning
not to presume. It's not something to frighten
true believers. Not at all. Not in the slightest. So let's come back to verse 23.
True believers, he's speaking to. He's speaking to these Hebrews.
He's saying, look, you've left that behind. You're in this privileged
position in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in that position, verse
23, first part, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering. You're in such a privileged position.
Let's say you counted a privilege to be a British citizen. Would
you give up that citizenship to go and live in a country where
the privileges of citizenship are nothing like it? Of course
you wouldn't. Of course you wouldn't. There are regimes in this world
where no way would you go and put yourself under the control
and jurisdiction of that regime because your liberty would be
gone. All the benefits that you get would be gone. You wouldn't
do it. So he's saying here, you're in such a privileged position
in Christ, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering. If you're a true believer, if
you're a recipient of grace and of the gift of faith that the
Holy Spirit has given, if you're assured that the blood of Christ
has paid your sin debt, if you're certain that you can say, as
Job said, the worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God. I know I'm in him. You'll have
professed it. Hold fast the profession of your
faith. If you've got that faith, you'll
have professed it in some way. I'm not saying that you need
to have stood on a soapbox in a particular place. I'm not saying
that you need to have done all sorts of different things. I'm
not saying that at all, but you will have professed it. You'll
have professed it, at least to some, and at least by association
with others. You profess it when you come
here to worship God on a Sunday morning. You'll have professed
that faith, that that thing which you've come to know by the spirits
leading in your heart is making you live differently, have different
attitudes, have different associations. The new covenant is in your heart.
Look at verse 16. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my
laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,
and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. You
know that you have a part in that covenant of grace by the
Holy Spirit giving you life. You who are dead in trespasses
and sins, He has quickened, He has made alive. The Holy Spirit
does that. And so what Paul is saying here
is, hold fast to it. Don't move from it. Don't waver. Don't waver. He talks in the
epistle to the Ephesians about those who are immature. Those
who are not mature in the faith. He describes them as being tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine. So somebody comes along with
one fashion of wind. Oh, let's go with them. And another
one comes along. Oh, let's go with them. But no,
the true children of God Steadfast. Hold fast. Hold fast the profession
of your faith without wavering. Don't move from it. Be steadfast. Be determined. Be committed as
far as in you lies, through thick and thin, through good times
of encouragement, through bad times of loneliness. If you've
seen the truth, stick to it. Hold it fast, that profession
of your faith, without wavering. It's like marriage vows. You
know the marriage vows are in sickness and in health till death
us do part. That's it. I remember, and this
isn't by way of blowing any trumpet, but Me and my wife got married
a long time ago, 41 years, and we were 19 years old. And people
would say, as young as that, it can't possibly last. But I
distinctly remember, I distinctly remember when we made our vows
in the face of that congregation to each other, thinking, this
is it. Whatever happens, this is it.
Got to stick with it. Got to stick with it. And this
is what Paul is saying here. You've known Christ. You've known
him in your heart. Hold fast that profession. Don't
let something come along that would make you drift away from
it and go back to other external physical things. Not at all.
Stick with it. But do you have the power and
the willpower to keep it up? Do you? What if you're the last
one left? You know, we're just a few. What
if some desert? What if others go? What if you're
the last? Will you then hold fast the profession of your faith?
You know, in times past, believers have got really panicked by the
fact that they were on their own. And they've compromised
with the truth. I mean, just a little aside,
but I honestly believe that the Baptists of 1644, 1646, they
produced a perfectly good confession of faith. which was a statement of what
they believed and then persecution came and there was Presbyterian
associations that had to be made with those who thought that the
law had to be obeyed and they compromised and we ended up with
what's now called the 1689 confession which has all sorts of things
in that we as a group do not hold to because we don't find
it in accord with the scriptures about moral obligations to to
to keep the mosaic law and and things like that people people
compromise in the face of persecution difficulties what are we gonna
do what are we gonna do well it's not down to us and our own
strength look at the second half of verse twenty three for He,
in brackets there, for He is faithful. You hold fast, why? I'm too weak, I can't hold fast. You hold fast for He is faithful,
that promised. The Lord Jesus Christ is faithful. He's the one who's promised.
God in Christ has promised to keep his people. Thank God that
it is not your strength that will cause you to hold fast the
profession of your faith, but his. He is faithful that promised. There are so many scriptures
I could spend the next half an hour, which you'll be glad to
hear I'm not going to do, referring you to them. But how about if
there were only these two verses in Scripture? John chapter 10,
verses 28 and 29. I'll read them to you. He's talking,
the Lord Jesus is speaking about his sheep. He's speaking about
his elect. He's speaking about those that
the Father gave to him. he's talking about particular
redemption and he says this he says I give unto them those that
the father gave him is what he's talking about he says I give
unto them eternal life I give unto them. He gives unto his
people eternal life. And they, these people, shall
never perish. Neither, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand, says Christ. Then he says this, my
father which gave them to me, these people, is greater than
all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. You see, the hand of the son
and the hand of the father, they're the same hand. It's the same
God with the same power. No man is able to pluck them
out of his hand. He will not lose one. Can you
imagine? Can you imagine that? That day,
that day of judgment that the scriptures speak of, when the
gates are to be lifted up, the everlasting gates, Psalm 24,
and the Lord of hosts will come in with his host. How many are
going to be in that host? If you listen to the Arminians,
it's as many as choose him. Oh, how many that might that
be? It might be one. It might be everybody in the
world. How many is it going to be? The Bible says from the beginning
of time it's known. He's known. Everyone for whom
He came and died, His people, these are the ones that will
be there. Every single one of them. He
won't lose a solitary one of them. He is faithful that promises.
You hold fast because God has promised. Not in your own strength
or ability because you haven't got any. In yourself, you haven't
got any willpower. Do what you can to cling on to
Christ and in the process you will find that in fact it is
He that is clinging on to you. That's what you find. From your
perspective you cling on to Him. I will hold Him fast. And you'll
find that really you can let go. Don't let go. But you can
find that it's not that grip that's keeping you. He's keeping
you by His own strength. Empowered by God's promise. Look,
we're in a most privileged position. There's such a warning about
complacency and of being found outside of Christ. We have a
clear responsibility, knowing the truth, to stick with it.
We know that we've got the power of God's promise to keep us,
because he won't let us go. But there's something else. This
is the last point. Verses 24 and 25. Let us consider one another
to provoke and to love and to good works, 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. Encouraged by true fellowship.
You know, true fellowship is something that is so important
for us. Publicly gathering together to worship God is so important
for us. This is what this is saying.
Hold it fast. God has promised, but encourage
one another. and pulled together. And, you
know, the picture's often been drawn of a coal fire. We don't
have, well, we haven't got a coal fire. When I grew up, we had
a coal fire. I used to love nothing better
than poking around with the fire and arranging the coals and getting
all the unburnt bits to burn and all that sort of stuff. You
know, I really liked fiddling around with that kind of thing.
But, you know, if you've got a good coal fire going and you
get one good burning piece of coal and take it out of the fire
and set it down on the hearth, not more than five minutes later
that one piece of coal isn't burning anymore because it's
out of the fellowship of the other pieces of coal. I know
it's a well-worn picture. It doesn't hurt to say it again,
to bring it before you again. Multi-stranded cords, says Proverbs,
a cord of many strands is stronger than a single cord. Because if
one breaks, there are the others there to hold it together. We
need to assemble together regularly, as far as we're able. God says
in Psalm 68 that he sets the solitary in families. Now I know
there are some difficulties. I know the days in which we live,
there are some who are true saints, who are genuinely on their own.
There are some who listen to this, who are genuinely, absolutely
on their own. Try and find somebody else. Two
or three. Two or three, says Christ, gathered
together in His name. Try and find somebody else who
will listen with you. And if you can't, make use of
the fact that at least now we have internet preaching and internet
communications. And we have fellowship even though
we don't meet in close proximity physically. We have close fellowship
in the things of Christ. And our minds, you know, there
are people who think they have fellowship in the things of Christ
because they go to the same church. And I wouldn't be in the least
little bit surprised if their minds are on completely different
tracks. but there are some who meet with us through this means
of internet preaching who communicate with us with whom we have genuine,
genuine mutual supporting fellowship and that's good. But I would
say to those who are alone, try and find, try and seek out. Is
there anybody else who has the slightest interest in listening?
Try and get together with them. Who knows what God will do? This
is how God does it. He gathers together twos or threes
in his name to listen to his word, and then who knows what
will happen? Perhaps he'll raise up a preacher in the midst, because
this is the way God works. Raise up a preacher to speak
to others. This gathering for worship, Together, publicly,
is very important. If you can do it, you must do
it. Please, anybody listening, don't
take this as a judgment if the situation is so difficult, but
if you possibly can, you must. It's not as if it's an optional
extra where you worship God in private and that will do nicely
for you. It won't, it won't. You must
gather together, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. I would not say to anybody Go
to a church where the true gospel is not preached. Absolutely not.
You'll do your soul more harm than good if you do that. Don't
do that. If you want friendship, have friendship with anybody
around. Neighbors, anybody else that you can meet. That's absolutely
fine. But true fellowship is on the basis of the things of
the gospel of grace. The true gospel of grace. The
true gospel of grace. We must meet together. We must
do this until Christ returns. It's so important. It's like
in the communion service where it says, ye do show the Lord's
death till he comes. Gathering together, we're showing
the gospel of his grace, that it's important to us till he
comes. To the car park attendants who see us arrive, why are you
having a church? Because we're we think that the
gospel is so important we must meet together to praise our God
to thank our God and by contact together by fellowship together
based on common belief of gospel truth what do I mean by that
I haven't got time to go into a great sideways diversion, but
I would say this, the basis of true Christian fellowship is
TULIP. You know that acronym? The Gospel
of Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement,
Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints. Those who don't
believe in total depravity go about all sorts of ways of doing
what they think is God's work. And you can't have fellowship
with it. You just can't. Those who go about thinking that
evangelism is supported by anything other than the unconditional
election of God, you can't have fellowship with it. It just will
not work. And so I could go on. I won't.
But encourage one another. Pull together. Provoke one another. Together bear the fruit of the
Spirit. Why? Some of us listened to another
sermon in the week. I don't know if you got the link
from me. Why? Not to reform the world. That's
not the purpose. It's not to reform the world.
What is the purpose? It's to adorn the doctrine of
God our Saviour in all things. That's what Paul says to Titus.
to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior and the saving gospel
of His grace in all things. So there we are, privileged position,
but don't presume. But in that privileged position,
hold it fast. Consider one another. You have
the strength of God's keeping, the promise of God's keeping
to keep you. But together, let's encourage
one another in these things. Amen.