Let's take our Bibles and I want
you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. What I would like to do this
evening is I'm going to read verses 24 to 31. But I only plan to preach out
of verses 24 and 25. Now, I want to read these verses,
24 and 31, because there's a complete thought that's set forth here. But I just don't feel that I'm
going to be able to preach all of those verses and try to preach
them and set forth the honor of our Lord in all of them, but
I want to read the verses. And Lord willing, next time we're
in Hebrews, I'll read them again and then read them again until
we get through verse 31. But let's read verses 24 to 31. And Lord willing, we'll do two
verses tonight. Hebrews 10, 24. And let us consider
one another to provoke unto 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. 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-far
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 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." Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening, we
do thank You as we come before You and ask, Lord, that You might
be merciful and kind in opening unto us the Scriptures. Lord,
I pray by Your Holy Spirit would You bless this Word this evening
as, Lord, we try to worship. Help us. teach us, guide us,
direct us. For it is in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ that we pray, Amen. By the grace of God, believers
possess some unspeakable privileges. There is no way in the world
that we can consider with a full understanding of the privileges
that we have considered over the last few weeks. The Scripture
sets forth that because we have a high priest over the house
of God, and there is but one priest, there are no other priests. There
are no man-made priests. We have one priest, one high
priest. And this great high priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Scripture sets forth, is over the house
of God, over the church of the living God. And there are some
precious privileges that are set forth for God's people, for
God's elect, for those that the Lord has everlastingly loved
and chosen to show mercy to. We looked at one a couple of
weeks ago. It was verse 22. Here was the
first great privilege. 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. Let us draw near to the Lord
God Himself. Now, can you just Stop with me
for just a minute and admit, can we grasp hold of that? Can
we grasp hold that we absolutely can draw near, can approach with
a true heart, not a counterfeit, not a fake? God's people don't
possess fake, counterfeit hearts. They have a new heart, a new
man, a new mind. having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, we have peace with God. We are convinced of
that. By faith we know by the blood
of Christ that purges the conscience from a troubled past, troubled
presence, and we are sure a troubled future that there is now therefore
to those that be in Christ there is no condemnation. Good news. Good news. We can approach unto
Him. And we have our conscience sprinkled
and our bodies washed. We need to be cleansed every
day. There is not a believer that
does not readily admit, Lord, forgive me. Lord, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You don't begin your
day When you meet with Him in prayer, you don't begin that
day. You don't end that day without
readily admitting, Lord, if You were to count iniquity, if You
marked iniquity, Lord, my very prayer, if You marked iniquity,
my very prayer would put me in hell. Lord, I need to be cleansed. I need to be washed. That's what
the Lord set forth. You know that. He put on that
towel and took that basin of water and washed His disciples'
feet. So let us draw near. First, great privilege. Second,
great privilege. Verse 23, let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering. For He is faithful
that promised. Believers hold fast to Him who
holds them fast. We do hold to the Lord, don't
we? By faith, we do. But do you know why we do? Because
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Would
you hate to stand before God and answer concerning your faithfulness? I would. I would. We hold fast
to Him. And what a privilege! What an
honor! Hold fast the profession of our
faith. What do we believe? This is what
we looked at last time. Just very quickly, this is what
we believe. We believe that Almighty God
before the foundation of the world chose, because He would
not let the order of man perish from this earth, He chose to
show mercy to the order of man. This is John 3.16 right now. If you want to know John 3.16,
For God so loved the order of man." Not every one of them. Not every one of them. Not every
one of them without distinction. No, sir. Scripture never sets
forth that God loves them all without distinction. But He loved
the order of man and would not allow the order of mankind to
perish. So what did He do? He chose out
of every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue a people. that He's
going to show mercy to. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I shall have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. So it's not of Him that will
it. Man doesn't have a free will.
You know that. Men are dead, trespasses and
sins, but what's He going to do? He's going to call them out
of darkness. But I'll tell you this, before
He called them out of darkness, before the foundation of the
world, God the Father saw the Lamb slain. The Scripture sets
forth, He saved us and called us with a holy calling. When
Christ died at Calvary, who did He die for? He died for everyone
that the Father gave Him in electing grace. Did He die for anyone
else? No. I lay down my life for the
sheep." The Spirit of God, who's He going to call out? Everyone
that the Father chose and the Son redeemed. The Spirit of God
is going to call them out of darkness. He's going to put them
under the sound of the Gospel. Hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering. God's people don't waver. Not
when He calls them out of darkness. They don't waver from this. They
don't deviate from this. According to His promise and
His faithfulness, He shall never, never let us perish. He said,
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Here is the third great privilege,
and that great privilege is made up in these Scriptures that I
read this evening. It may be a long service if we
try to deal with all of them. So let's just begin this third
great privilege this evening. Verse 24, and then I'll go on
into verse 25. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto 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.
Now, because God's people are brethren, knit together, members
of His body, I tell you this, all of God's people, we belong
to Him. We are His body, bone of His
bone, flesh of His flesh, collectively, all chosen. Every one of God's
sheep were chosen at the same time in the Son, in the surety. When He chose Abraham, Gary,
He chose you at the same time. They were all collectively chosen
in Christ. They were all collectively redeemed
by His blood. The Lord Jesus Christ died in time.
You know that. You know He died in time. But
as I said just a few minutes ago, before the foundation of
the world, the Father who saw that Lamb slain and first trusted
in Christ. Who was the first one that ever
trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ? It was the Father. He trusted
Him. All that the Father loved, the
Son loved, the Spirit of God loved. The Scripture sets forth,
speaking of God Almighty, naming the Father chosen. Chosen and put Him in Christ
and kept Him in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ loved His
own came into this world, redeemed them, lived for them, and earned
the righteousness. I'll tell you this, no believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ will ever stand before God and name
anything that He's ever done. You will never find a believer
starting to list his merits. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Lord, have mercy on me." When
those four and twenty elders back in the book of Revelation
throw those crowns at the feet of Him who has taken the book
out of the one that sat on the throne, the book of the revelation
of God's everlasting covenant to show mercy to His people.
When He took that book, they cast their crowns before Him
and they said, You're worthy to receive all honor and all
glory and all praise. We're here this evening to honor
Him, to praise Him. Any man, any woman finds themselves
hearing the Master say, well done, well done. They will say,
Lord, by Your grace I am what I am. Lord, You're worthy. Let us diligently bear in mind
and continually have in view our brethren. Let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works. As believers,
we are more closely knit together than any members of our family
who are unbelievers. You're more closely knit together.
I've told you before, I have members of my family. And I'm
sincere. I pray, Lord, have mercy on them. Call their names and ask. Lord, if you will, you can show
mercy. I ask, Lord, are pleased. And I can be around them in just
a few minutes. I've said everything I know to
say. I mean, we've caught up on the last year or two years
or five years. I don't know. But I can sit down
with a believer. And our conversation will go
to Him. It will go to Christ. And you'll
speak of Him. and your hearts will rejoice.
Why? Because you're brethren. You
love one another. You pray for one another. Oh,
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us so regard the
welfare of our brethren to consider their interest, their being.
Make that a priority. God's people love God's people. You know why? because the Lord
has given them a heart for them. They love them. They want to
be with them. They want to be where they are.
I want to be with God's people. I want to be with believers.
I want to be with those that honor Him, that speak of Him,
that exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2.4, Look not every
man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Boy, I tell you what, we all
struggle with this. There's an old nature. Now, we've
talked about this so many times, but this is the way it is. There's
an old nature in every one of us that's concerned with us. Now, you know that's so. But
there's a new man there that reads God's Word and loves God's
Word and truly desires. to give attention for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ for the good of others and to have
a tender interest for their welfare, for their heart, for their well-being. I don't mean to be busybodies
in other men's affairs, but where it's appropriate to continually
be looking to strive to do them good. This is the evidence to the world. This is the mark
of a believer. Here it is right here. John 13.35,
by this. I've looked at that scripture
so many times and I think about it. And that word, this. T-H-I-S. By this. By this. By this. Shall all men know that you are
my disciples You have love one for the other. The Spirit of God took that and
just narrowed it down to this point. This is how you know. By this shall all men know you're
My disciples. You love one another. You defend
one another. You watch one another. You're
always longing after helping them. Thanks be unto God that
He's not left us to ourselves to wonder, considering one another
and provoking unto love to good works. There's the amazing thing. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works. If that's where he ended
it, you'd say, well, okay. The next verse is the scriptural
privilege. And I mean a privilege. And what
we're about to read, let me tell you this, a believer will not
do. They will not do. A believer
won't do it. Why? Because the Lord is going
to keep them. I tell you, it is so marvelous
when we read God's Word And it doesn't leave us hanging to try
to figure out what is it, Lord? You said through the apostle,
let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. What is it? Here it is. Here's the answer.
This is God's answer through the pen, through the hand of
a man. Yes. But these words were written
by God's Spirit. These were penned by a human
hand as they were spoken. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And it's profitable for correction,
for reproof, for rebuke, for instruction in righteousness.
Here the Lord is instructing us this evening. Here as He Himself,
as Paul says, we preach to you in Christ's head, these are the
words of Almighty God. What does God have to say about
the provoking to love and to good works? Here it is, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, as the
Apostle says, but exhorting one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching. I don't know as the day is approaching. I don't know when that day is.
Is that the day of the return of our Lord? Is it the day that
our Lord will mercifully, kindly, gently, and compassionately bring
us to Himself, draw us to Himself? Is that it? I don't know. But
I do know this. I know that this life is but
a vapor. I know that. And I know that while we're here,
this great privilege that we have in considering one another
and provoking unto love and to good works, here is the Lord
God's answer for the provoking unto love. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. You know why a believer wants
to do that? Number one, it's honoring to
our Lord. That's where God's people meet.
That's where the Lord meets with them. That's where the Word is
set forth. That's where the Spirit of God
blesses. That's where we're taught. Think of the fellowship that
we enjoy. as we sit together tonight, hearing
the Word of God preached. I'm not talking about just trying
to sit forth and talk about how evil, you know, abortion is,
and we ought to this, and we're going to take a stand, and we're
going to march, and we're going to get into politics, and we're
going to... Scripture says, for let
the postures of this world, let them argue about those things.
No. I want to come together tonight
and I want to talk about God's glory and God's honor. Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, provoking unto love and good
works is a privilege that is too great for us to decipher.
If we would just leave it to ourselves, we'd all come up with
some answer, wouldn't we? We'd come up with, well, I'll
tell you how I think we ought to do it. and start visiting more. And
we ought to start, no, I'll tell you how it is.
Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the
manner of some. These good works, provoking unto
love and to good works, these good works, not works that men
have performed that they think qualify themselves before God
for acceptance. But it's the work of God's Spirit. Faithful is He who called you
who will also do it. It is God that worketh in you
to will and do of His good pleasure. God's people assemble themselves
together because they desire to. They love it. They look forward
to it. They look forward. Who knows?
Maybe the Lord might be pleased to meet with us tonight. Maybe
God might be pleased to bless this to the heart of one of His
sheep. Maybe the Lord may bless this
word and call out one of your kids or one of your family members. Who knows? Who knows? We provoke
unto love and good works, considering one another when we meet together. in public worship. This right
here is the most important thing that we can do collectively.
Meet together. I know this. I know that and
I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that we have
the means that we do. These messages are all put out
on the Internet. They go all over the world. I
may have told you, I got an email the other day, and it was a guy
wrote me, and he just, you know, he said, listen, he said, I found
you, and I listen to your messages every week. And he said, I thank
you, and I appreciate it. And I emailed him back, and I
said, well, what state are you in? I thought maybe it was in
Pennsylvania or something like that, you know. If it's not more
than, you know, maybe five or six hours, that's not too far
to drive. to hear the Gospel? I thought
maybe, you know, invite him to come and stuff. He said, I'm
in England. I wrote him back and I said,
well, I sure do appreciate you. He told me he'd been to the States
a couple of times. He said, I flew into Huntington,
West Virginia when I came to the States. I said, well, if
you ever come back, come see me. He wrote me back. He said,
thank you for saying that. We just had some good conversations.
God's people. Find comfort in meeting together. It's okay if you're traveling
and you're putting a tape. Providentially, you're not able. You're recuperating. I understand. I do understand. There's times
that providentially you can't. You work. I understand that. But I will tell you this. God's
people, when they can, when they can, They will meet together. God's people will assemble themselves
together. And there's no substitute. There's
no substitute for this. No substitute for meeting together
and finding comfort and peace and love. This is blessed by
the Spirit of God. This is what the Lord blesses.
We're not trying. to see if we can drum up love. No, I'm telling you, what happens
is the Spirit of God blesses it. And God knits His people
together when they hear the glorious Gospel. Whenever you hear, when
you hear the honor of the Lord as we come together and a preacher
stands up and he's hopefully prepared and he's asked the Lord's
blessing, I've said before, I can take a set of notes here, and
I would probably say you could go over them and read them, and
I think they're doctrinally sound. I think they are. But I can take
these words right here, and I can read them and set them forth.
And if the Lord doesn't bless them, as Brother Henry said,
they're just words. They're just words. You heard
them. Some will hear and it will be
like the birds that just kind of took them and they were gone
that quickly. It didn't mean anything to man
or moon, but to some. If the Spirit of God is pleased
to bless the preaching of the glorious electing, redeeming,
quickening, keeping grace of God Almighty, and people hear
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, Not God that's trying to do something. Tell me about God that does as
He will. Tell me about the Lord that absolutely,
positively has set forth, I shall do all my will. He who knows
the end from the beginning because He's ordained it. I'll tell you
this, everything God's ordained, that's what's coming to pass.
The Lord's going to save His people. How many people, as I've
said before in closing, how many people will not be in heaven
that Christ died for? None. They'll all be there. How many people will be in hell
that Christ died for? None. There won't be any people
in hell that Christ died for. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. We come together and when the
truth of Almighty God, the truth of the Father, the truth of the
Son, the truth of the Holy Spirit is set forth. God Almighty blesses
it in a mighty way. And He blesses it to His honor
and to the love, the provoking to love of His people. They meet together and they all
eat of this bread and drink of that blood. eat and drink together. And they've met together and
they have just absolutely enjoyed the fellowship around the preaching
of the Gospel. What a blessed privilege. Oh,
may the Lord bless these words to our hearts as we take that
precious passage. Though I only looked at the first
two verses, Lord willing, we'll take next time when we get into
Hebrews and we'll look at what Almighty God has got to say Thanks
be unto Him, though, let me remind you this, God's people don't
forsake. Forsaking not the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is, the Lord is
going to keep His people. He is going to keep them. And
they come together and He blesses it. Thanks be unto God that God
has placed a candlestick of light in this place. May the Lord bless
you to His honor. and the good of His people. Amen.