late, but Audrey, her car didn't
work. So, pray for her. She's waiting on
an Uber. So, pray we'll get her here safe.
I ask your prayer this morning concerning the gospel. I've longed
to preach this message for a long time, or this text. whatever reason I've been hindered,
but I think the Lord has opened the door for me to preach this
text this morning to you, and I do long to preach it as it
was written, as it was intended by the Holy Spirit, to be a message
of love, a message of instruction, a message
that I think is vital to the Church today, a message that
has really been concerning to me as I view the Church as it
is in this generation, and I think it's needful instruction, and
I ask that you would ask the Lord to intercede in this and
that it would come from heart of love and affection as it was
intended. And I do pray that the Spirit would
teach us. Now if you just listen to me,
it ain't gonna do anything. Not gonna mean anything at all. But this is God's Word. It's
God's Word. It's not mine. I don't My opinion
doesn't matter. I don't know if you know this,
but the root word of heresy is opinion. That's what it stems
from. All heresy stems from opinion.
This is not opinion. I don't want this to be any part
of my opinion. And as you receive it, don't
receive it as such. I pray that God would open your
mind and heart, and I know if you're His, If he doesn't do
it today, he will. He just will. He'll reveal it
to you, and I know by experience a lot of times
that takes a lot of heartache, a lot of pain, a lot of difficulty. God calls us a stiff-necked people. He's right. He's right. I'm not here to break the stiff-necked
people. That's not my position. That's
God's business. My business is simply to declare
to you what God says. And whether we like it or not,
that's not up to me. I'm not here for a popularity
contest. I'm not here to make you feel
good about yourself. I'm not here to give you a pat
and a push I'm not a self-help guru. I'm here to declare the
Word of God. And I pray that it would go forth
in power and demonstration of His Spirit and not the preacher.
I promise there is no power here in the preacher. There is none. I come to this and I find I'm
empty. I don't have any strength in
myself. And I pray that God would give
us the unction of His Spirit and then use this to draw us
closer to Himself and to each other. I pray He would use it. I pray for Joanne and others
who are sick or not with us. I don't see them, my heart breaks,
and I miss them. I know you do too. Those that
are sick, we pray that God would heal their bodies and minds. Let's go to Him in prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, we
come before your throne of mercies. And we pray that you would pour
out tender mercies upon us. Father, I need you. I need your
strength and your spirit. I need your help and your grace
to declare to these, thy people, your word. I pray, Father, that you would,
by the same Spirit, Bless the hearts of your people.
Cause them to yearn after you. That they would with fervent
hearts draw near to you. That they would cling to Christ
alone. And that they would love one
another. I pray, Father, that you would
bless the Word and bless the people, those that are sick.
Lord, I do plead that you heal their bodies, heal their minds, those that
have broken hearts. I pray that you would mend them. I pray, Father, that you would
cause your people again to seek your face, to glorify your name,
to honor your word, and we should be obedient children. If we fail, Father, I pray that
you would, and I know you will. You will correct us because you are a loving Father. I pray that you would bless the
churches wherever your gospel is preached today. The things
I'm asking here, Father, I ask for them as well. Comfort, strength, and courage. May it all be done for the glory
of Christ, for the furtherance of the gospel. We pray that you'd
cast out any of the cares and thoughts of this life that, Father,
you would be gracious, that you'd be merciful to us, to cast out
the enemy, that he would not interfere or
intercede. And I beg you to do this in the
name of Jesus, our Savior, and for his sake. Amen. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10. The text is going to be found in
verse 24 and 25, but I'm going to get a run and start at it. Let's read this text together
and then I'm going to take you back and show you how he got
here. I'm going to title this message,
Consider One Another. Consider One Another. The Apostle says, let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. And he tells us how. not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together as the custom, as the habit, as the
manner of some is. But, rather than that, exhorting
one another. And so much 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
for the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries."
Now, in this chapter is one of the most blessed chapters in
all of scripture. The apostle here has come to
the highest point of his doctrine. He stated that Christ has been
all in the scriptures. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is our offering. Christ is our sacrifice. All
of the Old Testament prophets and laws and everything pictured
Him. And then He says this, that Christ
came to do the will of the Father. And He says this in verse 10,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. What a glorious statement. that
we were sanctified, you that believe on Jesus Christ, you
were sanctified by the will of God. Astounding! You were made holy by the purpose
of God from eternity. Ephesians 1 tells us that very
plainly, according as He had chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. that you should be holy, sanctified,
that's what the word means, holy, without blame before Him. So
you are sanctified by the will of God, but you are also sanctified
by the offering of the body of Christ. You are made holy, you
that believe, you are made holy by the offering of Jesus Christ.
Now how many times did He sanctify you? Once. Does it mention anything
about you sanctifying you? No. You don't sanctify you. You
can't make yourself holy. The only thing that makes us
holy is the will of God and the offering of Jesus Christ. Look what he says in verse 14.
By His one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Now he's talking about the sanctification
of the Spirit. When the Spirit of God came to
you, He sanctified you. He made you holy in the new birth. That's what the Apostle tells
us in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. We are bound always to give
thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, listen, through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. You that believe, you are sanctified. God the Father sanctified you.
God the Son sanctified you. God the Holy Spirit sanctified
you. Now how long are you perfected? How long do you perfect you?
Forever. Forever. And He gives that covenant. This is the same thing He told
you in the Old Testament. He says, I'm going to put a new
heart in you. I'm going to never remember your
sins anymore. And then what do we have because
of this? Paul says in verse 19 of this text, we have boldness
to enter into the presence of God. Those priests had no boldness,
friends. They were scared to death every
time they came to that veil to enter in. They couldn't enter
in just willy-nilly. They couldn't just go in any
time they wanted to. It had to be an appointed time
in an appointed way with the blood, and they couldn't go in
there without it. What happened to the veil when
Christ died? It tore in two from the top to the bottom. God rent
the veil showing us this. The way is open. Isn't this wonderful? You that believe, isn't this
amazing? That the way is open, you can
go in any time you want to? You see, we come by the way,
a new and a living way, consecrated. Through the veil, that is to
say, his flesh. His flesh was torn, the veil
is torn, the way is made open. Now, and having a great high
priest, that's what you want to keep in mind. You have, right
now, a great high priest. So often you don't feel like
you're worthy. I just ruined it for you, you're
not. It's ruining the surprise. You're not worthy. He is. You're only made worthy by Him. But make no mistake, you are
now worthy. You are made acceptable. Come
boldly into the presence of God. So now the apostle, and I've
got to move on. I'm not even close to my text.
I know I'm speed running this. But this is a glorious passage
of scripture. Now, in verse 22, 23, and 24, the apostle gives
us exhortations. But I want you to see that these
are not mere exhortations, friends. These are actual commandments.
These are commandments. He says, let us draw near with
the true heart of full assurance of what? Faith. Is faith an option? How are you going to draw near
without it? You can't draw near without faith. He's telling you,
draw near in what? In faith. Look at the second
part. He said, let us hold fast to
the profession of our faith. That word faith is better translated
hope. Hope. Let us hold fast to our
hope. The profession of our hope. What's
your hope? Now hope is not a wish, is it?
It's not a man I hope. That's not what he means. It's
confidence. What's your confidence that you
shall be accepted of God? When you draw near to God, what's
your confidence? What's your hope? It's Christ. He's the foundation of our hope. Because often I don't feel like
God's going to accept my prayer. I don't feel like that I'm worthy
to come. There's a lot of things. My circumstances
may be in total opposition to the Word of God. The appearance
of things. So He says, Hold tenaciously
to your hope, regardless of the outward circumstances. Hold fast! You profess to believe? Well,
hold fast to your hope. And our hope is Jesus Christ.
So now we have two of the three graces, right? Faith, hope, and
what's left? Love. Are any of these three optional? No, these are all the
commandments of our Lord. These are the graces that God
has given us. And that's the last one I want
to deal with this morning. Now, like I said, I've got plenty
to say about the other two, but it's this one that's been laying
on my heart. It's this one that's been laying on my heart, considering
one another. I know that you that believe,
when your gospel is preached, especially in this place, you
love it. When I preach the election of
God's grace, it is something that you cling tenaciously to.
When I preach the acceptable offering of Christ, the finished
work of Christ, that's a glorious thing. When I tell you how much
He's your hope, how much He's your confidence. But I want to deal with this
matter of love, because I see among the churches, and I'm thankful
for the congregation we have here. I think we have a wonderful
unity that God has given us, but it doesn't take but one person. It doesn't take one to cause
disunity. And I'll tell you, if we think
we are safe from it, we should be cautious. We should be cautious
that we don't lose it. And how do we keep it? Love. That's how it's kept. Unity is
only kept by love. We may agree on doctrine, but
we're not going to spend time together if we don't love. Love
is the glue that holds us together. It's not doctrine. We are united
by doctrine. We're united by the same hope,
but it's love that keeps the unity in the church. love. And so the apostle says this,
let us consider one another as you draw near to Christ by faith,
as you recognize His work is finished. None of these things,
I want you to get this, none of these three things is our
salvation dependent upon. You got it? I'm not saved because
of my faith. My faith doesn't save me. The
object of my faith saved me. My hope doesn't save me. It's actually the hope that saves
me. And it's not my love that saves
me or keeps me. It is rather His love for me. It is rather His love for me. But yet we, as believers, are
constrained to continually believe. Constrained to continually Lay
hold of Christ. And we are constrained to love
one another. We are commanded to. And now
this word consider. I want you to understand this
is a very strong word. It's not passive in nature. It's not like you think about
somebody. Well you know so and so crossed
my mind the other day. You know, I get fleeting thoughts
of people come across my mind all the time. You know, people
I haven't talked to in a long time. And, you know, I think,
man, you know I should call them. What good is that if I don't
actually do it? Does that help them in any way?
Does that encourage them in any way by my passing fleeting thought
of them? No. This thought has as the idea
to perceive, remark, observe, understand, attentively consider,
and set one's mind and eye upon them. It's not a light or fleeting
consideration. It is not just a mere polite
conversation or casual behavior. To consider one another is an
ongoing, continual, and outpouring of sympathy, empathy, compassion. It is a deeply caring and loving fully, considering in love and
desiring the good of every member of the Church. That's what it
is. When he says consider one another,
he is talking about consider every member of this body. Everyone. Everyone. Not to consider them,
but to sympathize with them, empathize with them, care for
them, want nothing but the best for them. When? At all times. That's what it is to consider
one another. I have this problem and I don't
know about you, I consider me a lot. I think about me a lot. When I'm sick, I think about
me. Walter Groover said this one
time, he said, I'm not being selfish, I'm just thinking about
myself. I do that, I think about myself a lot. This text is totally
contrary to that. It says not considering yourself,
but rather considering everyone else above yourself. Consider one another. This consideration like faith
and hope is not a mere suggestion. When God commands us to love
one another, and that's exactly what this consideration is, love.
You might as well just, you can use the word interchangeable,
let us love one another. Because this consideration is
nothing less than love. And love for the believer is
not a suggestion. He's not saying consider them
or love them because they've been good to you. In fact, this
love has nothing to do with how they treat you. Your consideration
of them has nothing to do with their consideration of you. Nothing. Look at 1 John. John talks about
love of the brethren a lot. John chapter 2. He talked about Jesus Christ
being our advocate. He said, don't sin. But when
you do, here's a glorious thing, you have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ's righteous. That's wonderful! And He is the
propitiation for our sins, and not our sins only, but also the
sins of the whole world. And hereby do we know that we
know Him. Now, look, I know He's an advocate,
but is He my advocate? I know he forgives sins, but
does he forgive my sins? Well, here's how you know. Hereby
we do know that we know him, listen, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Now, right here, where the religionists
will creep in. They'll say, see, I told you
you have to obey the law of Moses. I told you you have to obey the
Ten Commandments. If you don't obey the Ten Commandments,
then you surely are not His. Golly. I refute that statement
completely as false and heretical. It is an opinion of men. It's
not the truth. Why do I do that? Because the
Word of God doesn't teach that. The Word of God doesn't teach
that. You know, I say this to anybody who wants to be under
the law. Name a law you've obeyed completely, perfectly, and without
sin. Name it. Well, I've never committed
adultery. Yeah, but have you done it with
love to God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and body?
Then you've not done it. Sorry. You failed. You've not
kept one commandment, not one, without sin being mixed with
it. People divide the law, don't
they? Worst religionist man, they say,
well, we know that we're not supposed to sacrifice animals
anymore. You don't see a free will Baptist church sacrificing
animals, do you? No, they believe that's gone.
That's no more. You don't see them not eating
pork. We all love bacon. I don't know a Baptist that don't
love bacon. So we know that law is gone. Yet they say, well, the Ten Commandments
still remain. All those other laws are gone.
You know what the problem with that is? The Word of God never
divides the law. The law is the law is the law,
no matter which one you find. And you know what Paul said about
this? He said, anybody who wants to be under the law, he said
this, it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in, listen to this, all things. written in the book of the law
to do them. You want to be under the law? Is that what you think
John's talking about? The Ten Commandments? Well, you
can't be under the Ten Commandments without being under the sacrifices.
You can't be under the sacrifices without being under the dietary
law. You can't be under the dietary
law without being under the governmental law. Why? It's the law. If you
want one point, you're guilty in all points, James said. But look, believer, into the
perfect law of liberty. And that's what James said. James
said we're under a law. We're not lawless. That's what
I'm getting at here. John here is talking about the
law. But it's not the law of Moses.
It's the law of liberty. Paul calls it in Romans 3 and
verse 27, 28, the law of faith. And in Galatians, that passage
in Galatians, I just quoted with Galatians 3 and verse 10, and
Paul in that same passage there in Galatians, try to find it,
Galatians chapter 3, he sets two things in opposition, faith
and law. Faith and law. He says this,
no man is justified by the law on the side of God, that's just
evident, for the just shall live by faith. Now how do you live?
By law or faith? The just shall live by faith.
Listen to this, and the law is not of faith. You see that? The law of Moses and faith are
two opposing things. You are either under the law
of Moses, or you are under the law of faith. You can't be under
both. So what does John mean? If we don't keep his commandments,
we don't know him, and we're liars. What is he talking about? Look in chapter 3, I tell you.
I love the Word of God. It just gives you the answer.
It don't leave it up to your imagination what He's talking
about. Look at chapter 3 and look at
verse 22. He said, Whatsoever we ask, we
receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those
things that are pleasing in His sight. This is his commandment. Oh Boy, I like answers to questions
This is his commandment That you should believe on the name
of Jesus Christ That's that deals with the first two of these let
us in Hebrews doesn't it let us draw near by what faith? How
do you draw near? By faith. Constantly by faith. Clinging to the hope that is
set before you. By faith. And what's the second
commandment? That's what we're dealing with
this morning. Here's a commandment. To you that believe. Not an option. Not a suggestion. Love one another. Now how are you to consider me? How are you to love me? And how
am I to consider and love you? Listen to this. Look what he
says. As he gave us commandment. That's how, why we're to do it. He gave us commandment to do
it. Look at John 3 and verse 11. He said, For this is
the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another. Look at verse 16. Hereby we perceive
the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. We ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. And whosoever hath
this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion for him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him? So how are we to love Listen
to this, even as he loved us. That's the commandment Christ
gave the disciples. He said love one another, listen to this,
even as, in the same way I love you. John says it should be even unto
death. That's how much you should consider
one another. even to the offering up of your
own life for the good of the brethren." John says, even unto death, we
are to love. You know what Paul says about
love in Corinthians? He said, love seeks not its own.
If we're commanded to love, we must understand what that means.
Love doesn't seek its own. It's not, it's kind. It's long-suffering. It does
not envy. It does not boast itself. Look at how much I love. Oh,
don't you see me loving this person? It doesn't vaunt itself. It wants the best and gives the
best for its object. Now who else has done that perfectly
but Jesus? Is there anybody that's loved
like Him? Can you imagine His love for
us? How great is His love? That He condescended to obey
the law of God in our stead and die for us under the justice
of God. Did He not consider you? How much did He consider you? He said, I know my thoughts towards
you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. Is that what you deserve? And yet, even when you deserve
the opposite, what do you do? He loved you. He loved you. this commandment, love one another
even as I have loved you, consider one another. This is not a suggestion,
it's not an option, therefore let us love, let us consider
actively setting our hearts and minds to do good toward one another. And what's the motivation for
that? Listen, if you look to Me, for
any reason to love Me, you're going to fail. You're going to fail. You're
going to find some reason not to love Me. But if you consider His love
to you, is there any reason in you that He should love you? And yet He does. Is there any
reason He should pour out His grace to you? Why you? Why are your friends not here?
You have friends? Why are they not like this? Why
do they not want to be here? Why you? Why you? Why me? love divine, all loves excelling. My Lord's love to me is immeasurable. And if He loved me, how could
I not love you? He loved me freely. Well, that's
how I'm to love you. He forgave me freely. That's how I'm to forgive you. He always considers me. Is that
not something that He always thinks about me? He thinks about me more than
I think about me. That's amazing. But He does. That's how I should think about
you. That's how you should think about
one another. Love must be done by seeing believers as we are all in Christ. You look across and you see another
believer in Christ, I want you to know that he is loved by the
same Lord you're loved by. He's saved by the same grace
you're saved by. He's upheld by the same omnipotent
love and grace that you're upheld by. He's washed by the same blood
that you're washed by. He's robed in the same righteousness
that you're robed in. There's no difference. You got
that? It's all self-righteousness to
suppose that one believer somehow is going to get something more
in heaven than somebody else. That's another heresy. It's another opinion. That's
all it is, an opinion. It's not any good. Why? Because
Christ is all my righteousness. Is He all your righteousness?
Then how is your righteousness any better than mine? It's not. Doesn't His blood cleanse you
of all your sins? Though you may have less sin
than I do, yet He cleanses you of all your sin, well, He does
so for me too. He cleanses me of all my sin. We are one body, Paul said. We are one body. How do you treat
your body? You get up and you stub your
little toe in the middle of the night, your whole body reacts
in love for that toe. Now you didn't think a little
lick of that toe until it hurt. But when it hurt, your whole
body caves. That's how the church is. We
are one body, each having different functions, different gifts, yet
one body. The toe belongs to my body just
as much as my hands. So it doesn't matter what part
of the body. We don't exalt ourselves because
of the part we have, because we are all one body. How should
we dare exalt ourselves? And so what covers every gift
should be love. I should consider your gift and
be thankful for it. I should love you and seek to
encourage you. If you have something that the
Lord is calling you to do, we should encourage one another
in it. This is what it is to consider
one another. And so what does your Savior
command? He commands you to love one another
regardless of how the other person treats you. What if you've got
somebody in the body that's offended you? How do you deal with that?
That's a real thing, isn't it? We're sinners, saved by grace. We still have this old man of
flesh, and yes, we are prone to offend one another. What do we do? And I've seen
this happen and it's the saddest thing in the world. Some brother
offends some other brother and he just leaves. I ain't gonna
sit there and take that. That sound like love? Listen,
what he said, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. Any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. When you consider
one another, you're talking about love and forgiveness regardless
of what somebody else has done to you. He ran my name through
the mud. Love him. You don't know how he hurt me.
Forbear with him. Doesn't Christ forbear with you? Isn't He long-suffering with
you? How often do you defend Him? How does He treat you? This is what it is to consider
one another. Even as Christ forgave you, so also do you forgive Him
freely. That's how He forgave me, freely.
How does He continually forgive me? Freely. He forgives me completely. You
realize that? He said, I will remember their
sins and iniquities no more. So how should you remember your
brother's iniquities against you? You shouldn't. They should
not even be in your memory. You should forgive them completely. How often should you forgive
Him? Well, how often does He forgive you? Tell me, how often
does He forgive you? Do you not need His forgiveness
every hour, every day? Do you not need it? Do you not
ask for it? Does He not freely forgive you?
Forever? Well, how often do you forgive
your brother? Remember Peter asked that question? He said,
well, how often should I forgive him? Seven times? That's a lot, isn't it? I think Peter thought he was
being very good. He said, seven times? The Lord
said, no. Seventy times seven. He didn't
mean just a finite number. He meant this, forever. So when
we consider one another, how would we consider one another?
How would we love one another? How would we forgive one another?
Even as Christ forgave us. Let us consider one another that
we are all in the same body, we are all the servants of Christ. We are all saved by the same
grace and loved and adored by the same God. See that we consider one another by example. Love one another
by example. The purpose of our love, our
consideration, the Apostle tells us, look back in your text, so
we see the command, consider one another, love one another,
forgive one another, forbear one another. How? Even as Christ
forgave and forbears with you. Now listen, for the reason, the
purpose, provoke one another to love and
to good works. I like this word here, provoke.
It means to agitate. You ever been mad at somebody
and they just pour out love to you? Man, that's agitating. It just is. You know, you want
a response. You get angry at somebody, you
want a response. You want them to get mad at you. So you can get mad at them. So
they can get mad at you. So it goes on. But what happens
when they love you? When you spit in their face or
slap them in the face and they say, man, I love you. And they
mean it. They just come and try to hug
you. I had a man that way one time and he just, he really offended
a lot of people. I really think that he is a believer.
Man, I just walked up and hugged him and he stood stiff like I
just hit him. I love him. I know what he did. Man, I desired him to return. I want
him to love. Believers, this exhortation.
is not to be contingent upon the action of others, but each
must love not by words only, but also by deeds." The Word of God says to us, be
followers of God, imitators of God. Isn't that what we're doing
by loving one another? Shouldn't we just be imitators
of our Father? Isn't that how we're to be? Yes. Walk in love, the apostle says,
by Christ says, and by this shall all men know you are my disciples. By loving one another. By our
walking in love for one another. And this will always stir up
love. Listen to me. Love in the believer will always
begat love. It will. And it does so in such a way
that you wouldn't think. It agitates. It agitates. That's what the word provoke
means. I'll give you an illustration of this. In Old Testament Scripture,
you read of people like Daniel. Look at what Daniel went through.
He was a slave. He was captured by the enemy.
He was made to be... Chains had to change his name.
He had to sit under the rule of a heathen king? And yet you read about Daniel
and how he was faithful. Does that not stir in your heart
your unfaithfulness? When you read about his faithfulness,
doesn't that agitate you? When you look at your life and
look at his. Isn't that agitating? What does that want me to do?
Maybe the Lord would move my heart to be more like my brother. Be more faithful in the midst
of my afflictions and trials and difficulties. And so if we love one another,
we will provoke one another as the people in scripture provoke
us when we see them and their love for God. Think of David.
Think of the faith of David. Don't you desire to have the
faith of David? David had faith when he walked
out there in front of the giant. This was a real event. Not a
fictitious mythological story. He actually did. He walked out
in the face of a warrior with nothing but stones in his hand
and a sling. Believe in God. So this kind of love, this kind
of faithfulness, when I see your faithfulness, it encourages me
to be faithful. When I see your love, it encourages
me to what? Love. And this is what we're
to do for each other, to encourage and strengthen one another, to
provoke and stir our hearts By our example, Paul said this
three times, be ye followers of me, even as I follow him. He was provoking men. He said,
look, look at my walk. He said, do that. Wouldn't you
desire to have the faith of Paul? The love of the apostle? Yeah. Therefore, let us consider one
another in love, acting, longing, actively longing and forgiving
and loving, actively walking in love to stir up our brothers
to love. Not for our glory, but for the
glory of Christ. Now, what is a good illustration of this consideration? How may we best provoke one another
to love? That's a good question, isn't
it? Well, again, the scripture doesn't leave you to guess. Look
at verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together as the custom, the habit, the manner
of some is. Now, I've preached from this
text before, and it seems to me that every time I've I've
preached from this text. The only people that seem to
be offended are the faithful ones. The only people that seem
to be hurt by this text are the ones who are faithful. Now, what
does this mean? Not forsaking the assembly. He
means a constant, perpetual, habitual forsaking. A sister
is sick. She can't come. She can't lift herself up. She's sick. That's not talking about that. There are people that are listening
to us online that have no way of getting out of the place they're
in. Some are in nursing homes. Some
are so elderly that they have to have constant care. I understand
those things. That's not what he's talking
about. He is talking about people who are willingly, continually,
absencing themselves from the assembly and worship of God. This loving consideration. This
example of love provokes the saints. Paul says, by the Holy
Spirit is exemplified by our gathering to worship. Do you
want to encourage one another? Do you have that love and consideration
for one another? What's the most important way
that we can encourage one another? Here it is, not forsaking the
assembling of yourselves together as a matter of something else. It's not complicated. It's not
a hard thing, is it? Pastor, you mean my attendance in the public worship is an act
of love for the brethren? That's exactly what the Apostle
is saying. Our faithful presence in the
worship of God is an encouragement, it is an act of love toward one
another. The assembly has here in view
every time the saints meet to worship God. This is the time where people
who are unfaithful will object. Remember what I told you last
time about an excuse? An excuse is a lie wrapped in a reason.
Well, I can't go because my family. That's a lie wrapped in a reason. You won't go because of your
family. Now, that's the truth, but the
lie is I can't. Oh, you can. You just don't want
to. My job! You know, my job prohibits
me from coming and worshiping faithfully. Well, didn't you find that job
when you were looking for one? Can't you look for one that doesn't...
Oh, you can. You don't want to. Well, I can't move. I got my
house here, I got my family here, I got this here, I got that there.
Look, you can make any excuse you want to. How is that considering
the brethren? You're considering yourself. How can you encourage one another
when nobody sees you? Is it possible? I thought of this. What if I decided to come when
I felt like it? Would that encourage you? What if you showed up faithfully
every week, but I was hit and miss? Would this church still
be here? No, or that, or you'd get another
pastor. You'd find another pastor. Hopefully my faithfulness encourages
you. My faithfulness to study and
to preach the word to you? When God gives me a word, doesn't
that encourage you? I want you to understand this.
By seeing you, that encourages me. It provokes me, it encourages
me to love. As my presence does to you. People say, well, man, I can
worship God in my house just as much as I can worship Him
in that place there. Listen, you read about Jeroboam, that's
what he thought too, didn't he? The sin of Jeroboam, he said,
why go to Jerusalem? Why travel all the way down there?
You can worship God up here just as good as you can worship God
down there. Why did you need to worship God down there? Because
that's where God said to go. Why should you worship here or
any other place where the Gospel is preached? because that's where
God said to. I can worship just in private
just as much as I'm in public. I don't need to go to a church
building to worship God. I can read and pray. I'm better
than that pastor. I know more theology than that
pastor knows. Why should I go and listen to
him? Isn't God with us all? Isn't God with me just as much
as He's with you? So why do I have to go there with you? Why do
I have to be there? Now listen, I do not discourage
private worship. Matter of fact, it is vital.
Your private worship is vital. Your private prayer is vital. That would deal with the first
exhortation, let us draw near unto him. We draw near through
prayer, don't we? We draw near through study. Those
are the, how we draw near. There's no part of that. David said, I pray morning, evening,
and night. You should. Pray without ceasing. So then to answer those that
are unfaithful to attend the public worship, I say this. You should do it for the encouragement
of the saints. For no other reason. Because God said to, and it encourages
the saints. And I tell you, there is something
greater and of more value than private worship, and that's public
worship. Why is that? Why is that true? Because private worship only
benefits you. How does your private worship
help me? How does your private worship,
if it's not exercised in public, help you? It doesn't. It doesn't
encourage us to love. Public worship does. David said, as for me, I will
come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear
will I worship toward thy holy temple. You see, both are necessary
then, private and public worship. I tell you this, I, like David,
determined to worship God. Is it just really simple to get
here? Is that simple? No. It's not. I'm telling you, if anything
is going to happen, it's going to happen on Saturday night and
Sunday morning. My whole week can just go like,
you know, nothing. Wednesday evening. Man, Wednesday. Everything is fine until it's
time to worship. And then I've got so many obstacles
that appear in my way. I know that's true. But David said, I'm determined
to do it. I'm determined. That's what the apostle says,
if you're to consider one another in this matter of public worship,
it's not going to be accidental. It's going to require sacrifice
to do it. You're going to have to give up something to be here.
You're going to have to. Remember what David said, I will
not serve the Lord with that which cost me nothing. That's
cheap service, isn't it? The Lord's not going to be served
that way. If a man claimed to believe on Christ and willingly
refused public worship, there's two things here. He's either
sick or he's an apostate. He's either sick or an apostate.
Matter of fact, in verse 26 through 31 of our text, the apostle begins
to describe someone who willingly neglects the worship of God.
He calls him an apostate. How many people have you seen
come in the church and make a profession of faith and never come back? Why is it? Why don't they come
back? Oh, you go talk to them and they'll
tell you how much they believe in Jesus. They'll tell you. They'll tell
you how much they love Him. Yet they never seem to darken the
door of His place where He's worshipped. They never seem to
love or hear His gospel. They never love the brethren.
How'd a man tell me all his life? I believe! How dare you question
my faith! And yet I just ask, where's your
love for the brethren? Oh, I love them. When do you
visit them? When do you talk to them? When
do you encourage them? When do you strengthen them? Is that something
you long to do? Something God's people do. Why? Because He put that in our heart
to love one another. I'm going to give you reasons
here. First of all, I want you to see
this. We attend worship because this is the place where the gospel
is preached. When I say be faithful to attend worship, I don't mean
just any worship. Matter of fact, if you absent,
you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you absent yourself from the
preaching of the gospel, you are more likely to be duped by
a false gospel. You'll be more likely to compromise
with others. Well, at least they go to church. You've obviously not been listening
to gospel very much. Because this strengthens us in
our faith. The preaching of the gospel is the means that God
chose to save sinners. It is the means that God chose
to comfort His people. Are you comforted by the gospel?
Do you need it? Do you need it? I need it. I
need this message. This is why God established the
church. So that we should be comforted
and strengthened. So that we should not be easily
duped. And if we forsake this, Most
likely going to be duped. Second of all, we come here because
this is where Jesus is. You believe that? Every time his gospel is preached,
he's here. How do I know that? That's because
he said so. Where two or three are gathered
in my name. Listen to this. There I am in
the midst of them. John saw him walking among the
golden candlesticks. He's always here. Do you really believe that? If you do, then why would you
absence yourself from his presence? Why? Do you not long for His presence? And yet He says, I'm here. Now
you can be at home and I know He's with you, I know He's with
you, I know He's there, but this is a special meeting. It's a
special time that He says where two or three. It is an assembly. I know He's with you by yourself,
but in this way, it's a special thing. Now, I'm grateful we've
got this. I'm thankful that this is here.
That people can watch in other places. I'm thankful. But they're
missing something. There's something special about
the assembly of the saints. Why? Because when I see you,
I'm encouraged by you. I'm strengthened by you. I can't
see them. I don't know. I don't know who's
watching. How can I be encouraged by something
I don't see? Fourthly, the assembly encourages
the brethren to love, exhorting one another so much more as you
see the day approaching. Those who forsake the assembly,
I believe, are selfish. because they're not considering
the brethren. Just not. I mean, we're all prone
to it, and I'm not trying to tell you that this is, why I'm
preaching this, because we're all prone to it. It wouldn't
be there if we weren't all prone to this. Yet if we fail to the assembly,
we're just, we're just being selfish. Those who neglected are focused
supremely on their own difficulties, their own pleasures, whatever
it is. I mean, I've gotten so down sometimes I just focus on
my difficulties, my troubles, my trials, my afflictions, and
I isolate myself. How's that helping you? Surely
I would feel better if I considered you instead of myself all the
time. We should consider one another. Therefore, let us consider and
love and encourage one another by not forsaking this, habitually,
continually. Again, we all understand that
there are things that you can't control. There are sicknesses
that you can't stop. This is not what it's talking
about. It's talking about those who constantly, habitually, for
the things of the world, forsake the assembling of the saints."
He said, don't do that. Don't do that. Instead, positively
consider one another, provoking one another. Listen, as you see
the day approaching, isn't the day of Christ coming closer now
than it was yesterday? Isn't this the means God chose
to save sinners? Is it? Should we not then faithfully
support it, constantly provoking one another to love and unity,
forgiving one another, forbearing one another? We do this because this is the
command of our Lord. It's not my command to you. I
can't make you faithful and I'm not going to try. I'm not going
to try. I can't do it. But it is His command to us. Is it grievous? Is this so grievous
to be faithful in His worship? Is that grievous to you? Is it
too much? Is it too much to consider the
other person? I know I went long, but I'll
give you this illustration. I was attending Lincolnwood.
I was working at night. I'd work all night, and I'd go
to school during the day. College, I'd go to school during
the day. I'd probably get two or three hours sleep. And I know when I absent myself,
my dad would come to me. He said, son, where were you?
That'd break my heart. And I started going back, and
every Wednesday and every Sunday, and I sat there, and all my eyes
were so heavy, I couldn't keep them open. I felt so bad. When I sat there, my pastor had
that message, and I just was nodding off all the time. Some weeks later, a brother come
up and he said, man, I'm just really encouraged. by your faithfulness."
Faithfulness? I didn't remember anything he
said. I don't have a clue what the message was about. Somehow my just being there provoked
my brother to love and service. That's what Paul's saying. Consider
one another. Don't consider yourself, consider
one another. Why? As he gave us commandments. God help us in this. We need His help. Is that not
true? We do. I pray God would help
this in the church today. I believe it's a plague. And
listen, a little leaven leavens a whole brum. If somebody is
continually forsaken, guess what? It'll grow. May God help us to
not do that. for His glory. Let's stand and
be dismissed in prayer. Our gracious Father, we dismiss
this with Your own blessings and mercies. I beg You for love in our hearts
for Christ. Love in our hearts for one another. Give us love and unity, fellowship. Help us to love one another as
you have loved us. I pray you would further your
gospel and the calling of your people. I pray you do this in
Christ's name, amen. I don't know. Y'all just ask. Oh, just to let everybody know,
we're having services begin Thursday, I mean Friday of next week. Friday of next week. So we're
not having Wednesday, but we're going to meet Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday next week. That's our conference.