Hebrews chapter 10, and tonight
we'll be looking at verse 22, down through verse 25. And the title of the message is,
Two Words of Encouragement. Two Words of Encouragement. Let Us. Let Us. Let us. Look at this in our text. The apostle says in verse 22,
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. Look at this. Let us. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith and that word faith is
better translated hope so i'm gonna be using that tonight instead
of the word faith i'll be telling you let us uh... uh... hold fast
our profession of hope without wavering for he is faithful that
promised and here's the third one 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. Let us, let us, Now the apostle,
before this, having displayed the perfection of Christ and
his offering to God on our behalf. How that this man offered one
sacrifice for sin, forever sat down on the right hand of God.
Which none of the priests of the old covenant could do, seeing
they were only shadows and types. They were only pictures. They
could never sit down. Their work was never complete,
because their work wasn't the work. It was only a shadow of
what Christ was to do. The apostle, having showed us
that the great and high and victorious offing of Christ, that what he
had done upon the tree, was forever, and that he had sat down on his
immutable, incorruptible throne at the right
hand of God. This has been vividly displayed
for us in our text. Look just above this, at verse At verse 12, But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He had sat down on the throne
of God. You remember in Revelation chapter 5, when the picture was
John was weeping, they said, who is able to open the book
of salvation? Who is able to loose the seals
thereof? And John was weeping. He could
not contain it. No one was able. No one was able
to look on the book. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He
came in as the Lamb. And He took the book from the
right hand of God. And he opened it. This is exactly
what Paul is showing us here. That this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice, he took the book of salvation from the hand of
God. He had a right to it, being the most excellent sacrifice
for sin. And he opened salvation to us. By his perfect redemption, his
perfect righteousness, His perfect sanctification, His perfect wisdom,
He now gives to us. He gives to all of His people.
For He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those
who are sanctified in election, He has perfected them. Those
who are sanctified when He died upon the tree, He redeemed them. Those who are sanctified by the
Holy Spirit in regeneration. Believer, behold this. Christ
you are made perfect now let it sink in Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified This
is the message. You have been perfected not by
your works, not by your love, not by your service, and listen,
not even by your faith. You're not perfected by your
faith. Your perfection solely rests and completely rests on
the perfect person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
where your perfection rests, completely in Him. Thus he hath
redeemed us to God and made us by his grace, what the scripture
says, kings and priests. You know who I'm preaching to?
Kings and priests. That's who I'm preaching to.
You who are sanctified, you're kings and priests unto your God.
Kings and priests. Therefore Paul tells us in verses
15 through 19 of this chapter He tells us what is ours in Christ
seeing what Christ has done for us now He tells us again. What
is ours what has been given to us? He said wherefore the Holy
Ghost verse 15 also a witness to us and For after that he had
said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, said the Lord. Listen, the first thing you have,
I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will
I write them. What is that, this gospel that
I'm preaching to you? It is first of all in your heart.
It is effectual to you. You have an affection to this
gospel. You love it. You love it. Believer who twisted your arm
to come here this Now I know the loss you got to twist them
to get them in here You got a you got a corral seem like you got
a push and make them come when I was a kid You had to make me
come I wasn't gonna come willingly and I was gonna put up a fight.
I Didn't want to come I didn't have any interest in this thing.
But when God wrote this in my heart, I had an interest in it
I had a love for it an affection for it and he put it in my mind.
I couldn't get it out of my mind I can't get it out of my heart.
I can't get it out of my mind. It's in there God put it in there. He wrote it in there Ain't nobody
erasing this When the Apostle Paul was describing
how this happens, how he writes this in our hearts, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, he says this, how be it we speak wisdom. This is
what it is. You have this gospel of Christ
and his perfect righteousness and salvation. You got that written
in your heart and mind. He said, let me tell you how
you got it. This is wisdom. And we speak wisdom to them that
are perfect. See, tonight I'm speaking wisdom.
To who? You that have been made perfect
by the Son of God. I'm speaking wisdom to you. Not
the wisdom of the world. No, not. Nor none of the prince
of the world. Why? That comes to nothing, Paul
says. That comes to nothing. What is
all this wisdom? You know, when I was in college,
I took calculus too. You know what that wisdom's got
me? Well, I had to pay the teachers,
so I actually lost on the deal, because I have not used that
stuff since I learned it. It's worthless to me. It's useless.
And that's just exactly how the wisdom of the world is. It is
worthless in comparison to what we've been given. The wisdom
of God's what we have. We've been given this wisdom.
Their wisdom comes to nothing. It's like thorns in a fire. It
doesn't do anything. It pops and it's gone. It's empty.
But we speak wisdom of God, Paul says, listen, in a mystery. Even
the hidden wisdom of God. You know what? This wisdom you
have is not common knowledge. And even if they know it, they
don't love it. and wisdoms given of god it's
a mystery to me it's a hidden wisdom of god which god ordained
before the world onto listen our glory which none of the princes
of the world new for had they known that they would not have
crucified the lord of glory but god has revealed yet too what
is yet wisdom what is the wisdom Even what Paul determined to
preach, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the wisdom
of God. How that God can be just and
justify the ungodly is only in the cross of Jesus Christ. It's the only way you'll see
it, the only place you'll see it. You won't see it anywhere
else. And this wisdom God has determined to give us, He's given
us, that's part of the covenant. He said, I'm going to write this.
You realize there was no way that you were going to miss this.
There was no way to miss it. God was going to give it to you.
He determined to give it to you. That's why you got it. He said,
I'm going to give it to you, and I'm going to give it to you,
and I'm going to give it to you. And you know what happened? He
gave it to you, and to you, and to you. He did, just like he
promised. Do you know this wisdom? Has
God revealed this to you? Because this is the new birth.
The new birth, people think the new birth is some kind of lightning
strike, like you got struck by lightning in order to have, that's
not the new birth. New birth is something that happens
even before you're aware it happens. One lady, she came to me and
made her profession of faith and told me about it. She said,
you know, the way it happened to me is before I knew what was
happening, I was believing. That's right. Before you know
what's happening, you're already believing. Why? It's a work of God. And we, in
faith, turn to Christ alone and in love for Him and His Word
and His brethren. All of these things come to us
by the gift of the Spirit. And everyone who comes is saved. They're saved. Saved and this
is our confession that we've come to Christ that Christ is
all Christ is all there is no other message, but Christ there
is no other wisdom But Christ there is no other redemption,
but Christ there is no other salvation, but Christ Christ
is all We know this Jesus is mine and
I am his We know this This is wisdom. We are His children. And His
children, all of His children are my brothers and my sisters. His gospel is my song. His blood
is my atonement. His righteousness is my robe
and covering before God. This is common salvation. That's what Jude called it. A
common salvation. You know, I'm not saying anything
you don't know. Isn't that something? These things
that I'm telling you are things that you already know. I'm just
reminding you. And the Spirit reminds you when
he takes this and applies it to you, you go, yep, that's it.
Yep, that's it. I know exactly, that's right,
that's exactly how it is. That's what preachers are for. Just tell you what you already
know. Nothing new here. So then if this is yours, you
should rejoice Why because look at this he says in verse 17 and
their sins and iniquities. I will I will remember no more
No more God ever writes this gospel into your heart and your
mind. I know this your sins. He will Remember no more He will
remember them no more Jesus our Savior has bled and
therefore there is full absolute complete remission of sins and
no more sacrifice is required No more sacrifice He says in
verse 18 now where remission of these is there is no more
offering for sin No more offering for sin Can you fathom this? How offensive it is to God that
men should try to offer their works as a sacrifice for sin. It is as though a man had took
their works before God and says, yeah, I know your son paid for
sin But I've got something to offer. I also have a sacrifice
for you. And you know what's going to
happen to that man? The same one as that one that attended
the wedding feast in his own garment. He said, friend, how
art thou come hither without a wedding garment? And the man
was speechless. I tell you what, self-righteous
men in our day are not speechless. They got a lot to say. But when
they stand before God, I guarantee you this, they'll be speechless.
Won't have anything to say. It's an affront to God to take
your works and try to mix them with the work of His Son. It
is a dishonor to God. And make no mistake, all works
religion is dishonoring the Son of God. they're saying his work
was not sufficient not for us not for us we dare not take our
works before god we dare not take our works god forbid that
we should offer anything for sin it is blasphemous to mix
our works and our obedience to his it is blasphemous to make
ceremony and religious deeds with the blood of christ such
wisdom is not of god but it is wisdom of the world and Paul
says it shall profit you nothing nothing so the only sacrifice that the
Saints you now there are sacrifices we offer never for sin these
are the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving See, what's the
difference between that sacrifice and the sacrifice of Christ?
Ours are bloodless sacrifices. Those are bloodless sacrifices.
We're not offering sacrifice for sin. We're not offering blood. Blood has been offered. Blood
has been accepted. Now then, we offer the sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving to our God. We offer praise and thanksgiving. So then by faith we clearly see
that all who would oppose us, all that would obstruct us to
God, has been removed by Christ. That's what this the Apostle
is telling us in verse 18 listen now that all of that had been
accomplished all of the all of the covenant is given to you
Listen, he tells you now what you have what you have Based
on what Christ has done. This is what you have verse 19
having having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. That law that opposed us, the
flesh refused to come, the devil accused us, but all of them by
Christ have been cast out, and now they're not allowed to say
anything. about you coming to God. Nothing
stands in your way to come to God. There's nothing that opposes
you. You see, because now God only
hears the voice of His Son. Your representative, man, your
representative is the only one God listens to. That's good news for you and
me because my representative always is there to intercede
for us before God. Our continually abiding high
priest is ruling over and overruling all things for your access to
the Father. He is ruling over and overruling
all things. Therefore, the Apostle says,
we have boldness, we have access with confidence to approach and
enter into the presence of God. The Apostle Peter says, for the
eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open
unto their prayers. You get that? Let it sink in. You have continual access to
God every minute of every day without interruption. You have
it. The court is open all the time. You have access to God. In Revelation
3 it says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee
an open door. Who is that door? Christ. Christ is the open door. And
listen, no man can shut it. No man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength,
and hast kept my word. and has not denied my name."
Now having come to the pinnacle, this is the pinnacle, isn't this
the pinnacle of all doctrine? That you by Christ have access
freely into the throne of God. That the law has been removed.
It's been accomplished. It's been satisfied. The veil
has been rent. The way is open. God says to
his people, come and I will hear your prayers. Come and have access
to me at all times. I will be your God and you shall
be my people. Come now. This is the pinnacle of all the
holy doctrine of scripture. But now having reached the pinnacle,
the apostle now goes down from there into the valley of practical
application. That's what he does in all of
his gospels. You'll notice that if you read his epistles, he's
always making a crescendo. He is building up to the highest
point, which is Christ. Salvation is perfect. Everything
is perfect. God has made it all. Christ has
done it all. Now then, practical. Here it
is. Come. That's about as practical
as you can get. you have it you have it now then
what do you do with it what do you do with it now that you understand
it now that you know it now that you love it what do we do what
do we do with it well he gives us three things here and all
of these three things come by these two little words of encouragement
let us and i like that the apostle includes himself includes himself
And so as I'm saying this, I'm including myself. And as you
say it, you would be including what? Yourself. Let us, all the
church of God, all those redeemed of Christ, let us, without exception
in his people, let us. And he gives us three things
here, three responsibilities of every believer. First of all,
he says, let us draw near to God in verse 22. And in verse
23, he says, let us hold fast the profession of our hope. Verse
24. He said let us consider one another
now I want you I don't have this in my notes But I want you to
see the consistency here that the Apostle is using the three
graces that he uses in 1st Corinthians 13 now remain at these three
faith hope and love isn't this three of these we draw near how
Faith and then he says let us hold fast the profession of what
our hope and what is this? Let us consider one another.
What is that love? These are the practical applications
of the three graces Okay, let's take them in order first of all,
let us draw near to God in drawing near to God Owen says this I
In this little thing to draw near to God contains all the
holy worship of the church, both public and private, and all the
ways of our access to God by Christ. In other words, he's
saying, let us draw near to God by every means possible that
have been given to us by God. Draw near by public and private
access. By worship in the public worship
of God as we're doing now, tonight, together. Let us draw near. Isn't that what your heart's
desire is? I hope it's not just to draw near to me, but rather
to God. To draw near to the Father by
the message that we might love it even more, we might love Him
more. Draw near in prayer, isn't that an avenue by which we can,
by private study, all of these things, all of these avenues
we should use to draw near to God. And you should ask, what am I,
which one of these do I lack in to draw near to God? Which
one of these am I not using by which to draw near to God? And
so considering this exhortation to such worship of God, we must
remember this. Having access to God and drawing
near to God are two different things. Having it. That's the doctrine,
isn't it? Understanding that you have access
is understanding doctrine. You understand the gospel, you
have it. You understand how you have it,
by Jesus Christ. You have it. But applying it is altogether different. A man
may know he has access to God, he may love it, he may adore
it, he may believe this doctrine with all of his heart, and yet
utterly fail to do it. utterly fail to take advantage
of it and draw near to God. Believer, let us, let not our
religion be only theoretical. A theoretical religion is of
not much value to a man who's suffering, is it? But let our religion be very
practical. The doctrine is necessary. Now,
do not misunderstand. The doctrine is necessary. For
how can a man know he have access unless he know the doctrine? And by this doctrine, by this
Word of God, we are born again of the Spirit of God. By this
doctrine, the Spirit comforts, convicts, and moves us to faith
in Christ. So then what comfort will it
be to us then if we do not use what we know to be true? How foolish we are to neglect
so great a privilege, so high an honor as to come before the
holiest. Listen, you have access. Now
Paul said, let's do it. That's what he's saying. Let
us draw near by every means possible to God. Let us draw near. You remember back in the garden.
When God kicked them out of the garden, he had set that sword
around the tree of life so that no man could take the fruit of
the tree. But see now the picture of this.
By nature, we were not allowed. We were kicked out. We were not
allowed to have life. We could no longer reach our
hand forward and take life. We were sinners. But Christ,
having been under the sword of God's justice, has extinguished
the justice of God. And now then, God says, you may
freely come and take, freely come and eat. Eat. Seeing Christ has extinguished
the justice of God, the way of the door of heaven is open to
us. Jesus is the door. And by Him
we enter, listen, in and out and find what? Green pastures.
We may be able to feed by entering into His presence, by enjoying
His presence. I tell you, if any sinner refused
to come in, if any sinner refused to believe on Christ alone, Or
if he tried to add anything to Christ, no matter who he is or
what his person or rank is, they'll only receive damnation. But we who come, we come by what
Paul says. Listen, he says, We come by a
new and a living way, which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest
over the house of God. Let us draw near with a true
heart of full assurance. So then how do we draw near?
How do we draw near? What is this to draw near? It's
not physical. It's not physical. How many people
make drawing near to God physical? They say, come up to the front,
come to the altar, come down here, pray with the preacher,
come down here. I am not your access to God. By no means, don't come by me. I'm not gonna come by you. I'm
just not. I'm not coming to, I'm not drawing
near God by you. And you shouldn't draw near God
by me. It's not something physical or
carnal. This is a spiritual matter to
draw near to God. How do we do it? By faith you
draw near. By faith. We do not always need
to feel the presence of God to draw near. Isn't that a misconception
that if you don't feel His presence, you're not really near God? That's
a misconception. No. We want that. I know you want it. I want it.
Sometimes we have it, but not all the time. We do not always feel the presence
of God. Matter of fact, most of the time
we come to God. Why do we come to God? We come
to God with hearts so hard, our love is so cold, our faith is
so weak, our trials are so hard, our pains are so overwhelming. You see, it's these things that
God uses to draw us to Himself. And so when we come, if we wait
till we're better, we won't come at all. Draw near to God is we draw near
with our infirmities, with our troubles, with our cold heart,
with our indifferent attitude. We draw near to God, seeking
what? A loving heart, a merciful heart. We seek our heart to be melted
by his presence. We seek that he come to us and
cure our sickness, our pain, our trouble, our ailments. Like
this as reading in Psalm 107 and this caught my attention
I'm gonna I'm don't you don't have to turn that I'm gonna turn
there. I want to I want to kind of show you and Maybe you can
identify with this because I sure did Psalm 107 and verse 4 listen They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
They were hungry and thirsty and their soul fainted within
them. Listen, then they cried unto
the Lord. Their trouble and he delivered
them out of their distresses look at verse 11 It says because
they rebelled against the words of the Lord and contemned the
counsel of the Most High Therefore he brought down their heart with
labor. They were they fell down and
there was none to help listen Then they cried isn't that always
the way? Isn't that always how it works? Isn't always when you're hungry,
when you're thirsty, when you're suffering, isn't then the time
you come? Then they cried. Yeah. After we are afflicted, then
we cry. I want you to see that because
afflictions are necessary. Well, they do. Your afflictions
draw you to God. That's what they do. They're
meant to draw His people. And surely we know this. It's
not always the case. Isn't that right? Sometimes we
draw near to God and we feel His presence. Sometimes we draw
near to God and we can taste heaven. We draw near to God and
we commune with Him. These times we feel His presence
and our hearts burn within us like those disciples. I love
that. Their hearts burn. Did not our
hearts burn within us while He traveled with us, communed with
us? To me, those times are so few
and far between, but I love them. I love them. And so as we draw near to God,
we know this is not a physical thing, but listen, he said, draw
near with a true what? Heart. A heart. A true heart of full assurance. How many suppose wrongly that
the posture of the body and the rituals of religious action make
them near to God? No. With the heart, man believeth. and so it is withdrawing near
and we use this example because it's the most most visual for
us is the roman catholic church because they're always using
bodily positions and bodily exercise to make themselves feel as though
they're in the presence of god if they do these rituals then
they're in the presence of god If we eat the Lord's Supper then,
if we have these rites and ceremonies, but Jesus said, no, no. He said, pray not with vain repetition
as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard by their
much speaking. Now we know that the heart does
affect the body. And we enter in with boldness
to Christ, we are often struck with awe and reverence at His
presence and feel our unworthiness. Isn't that how we usually feel
in the presence of God when we draw near? We feel our unworthiness. I like this, when John drew near
to God on the Isle of Patmos as well as Daniel, what happened
to their bodies? They fell as dead men. They fell
down dead in front of Him. So the heart does have an effect
on the body, but really what the body does doesn't make us
draw near to God. But believers come You should
come, even now, into the throne of grace. Come without delay. Come now with a heart of faith
and full assurance not in your merit to be there. Now, I tell
you this, if you think on your merit to be there, you automatically
lose all assurance. Why? Because you really don't
have a right to be there on your merit. Where's the full assurance? It is looking to the Son. That's
where you find full assurance to draw near to God. You may
draw near even now to God. Draw near and you will taste
the glories of His grace. Come near without doubting. Come
near in love and faith to Christ and full assurance of faith seeing
He is our high priest and ever lives to make intercession for
us. Draw near. You see, you may draw
near because the sufficiency of your drawing near is all on
Jesus Christ. You say, well, I don't... I don't believe I can draw near. You know what the remedy to unbelief
is? Faith. You should believe, because Christ
has sufficiently done it. Sufficiently done it. Now then,
look at the second thing, and I'm only gonna get to the second
thing, so we'll close after this one, and I'll pick this up next
time. It says here, let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering. Now, this word faith, I've told
you just a minute ago, it's better translated hope. This hope, this
hope that every believer has is not some uncertain wish, but
rather it is a rock-solid absolute confidence. Let us hold fast
this rock-solid absolute confidence. That's what he's telling us.
As believers in Christ, all his salvation has made us experimentally
partakers of the divine nature by which the Apostle Peter says,
we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. We have escaped because the new nature cannot by any
means be corrupted or separated from Christ. This is our hope. This is my confidence, is that
He has done a work in me. He has created a holy nature
in me that cannot be corrupted by the old man. It cannot be
overtaken. It cannot be separated from Christ. Ephesians 4.24 says you are a
new creature created after God in true holiness. And you know
in Romans chapter 8 the apostle says who shall they be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?
Nothing. Nothing. What does this give
you? It gives you hope. Not a wish. But it gives you
confidence. Confidence. The believer's confidence
is sure, even because our hope is Christ. Paul says this in
Colossians 127, Christ in you, the hope of glory. What is your
hope of glory? What is your anticipation of
eternal life and acceptance with God? What is your hope? What
is your rock upon which you stand and rest the weight of your soul
tonight? It is Christ is my hope. Christ is my rock. Christ is
my foundation. My hope is in Christ. Believer
sets all of his hope upon Christ Even so Before our text the Apostle
says this about hoping in in Hebrews chapter 6 Hebrews chapter
6 and verse 19 he said this is where our hope is he said verse
18 He said by two immutable things in which is impossible to God
for a lot to lie. We might have a strong a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold here it is
lay hold of what upon the hope which is set before us which
hope we have as an anchor for our soul both sure and steadfast
which entered into the veil whether the forerunner has for us is
for us entered even Jesus made in high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek so what is our hope here's my hope God
who cannot lie swore an oath God said, I swear that I will
get my sons to glory. I decree it. And by these two immutable things,
his oath and his counsel, we have a strong consolation. Who has a strong consolation?
You who have laid hold of the hope. Have you laid hold of this
hope? Have you laid hold of it? So
what is the Apostle Paul telling you? He's saying continually
lay hold of it. That's what he's saying. Let
us continually lay hold on this hope. Lay hold on the hope which is
Christ, the refuge for our souls. Take hold of Christ. We have
boldness in Him and access to God, even so we must use that
to draw near. We also have a sure hope and
anchor for our soul. Let us therefore hold it fast.
Hold it fast. Hold it tenaciously with all
your might. Hang on to Christ no matter what. Why? Why does He encourage us
to do this? Because everything around you
is against it. Everything around you tells you
there is no hope. Isn't that what it is? Your flesh.
Your flesh daily tells you there is no hope for you. Why would you have confidence
in God? Look what you've done. Now what Satan tells you? What does the world think about
your religion? What does the world think about your gospel?
About your Christ? Well, they say, no hope in that!
No hope in that! What do you say? It's all my
hope. Christ is all my hope. Christ
is my confidence. You hold it fast. You hold it
fast because everything is against it. Every circumstance seems
to be against you. Providence seems to be moving
against you. Is that not true with you? Wave
after wave of trouble, trouble after trouble after trouble,
trial after trial after trial, difficulty after difficulty says,
you've got no hope, you've got no hope. I beg to differ. I've got a sure hope. I like this in Isaiah, it says
that Christ is as a nail in a sure place. And you know what I do with that
nail? We've hung all of our soul upon the nail of Christ. You
stand back and you look and you say, that's my hope. And I'll hold to it to the grave.
Why? Because without it, I have no
hope. But in Christ we have hope and
listen what he says let us hold fast Listen, I like this word
profession of our faith. This word could be translated
confession Confession hold fast the confession of your faith.
What is he telling us? He's telling us not only to hold
this within our own sales, but also to hold it out before men
Let us be confident in this gospel Why? Because it's sure. It's
more sure than you sitting there. This gospel is more sure than
anything else in this world. It is steadfast. It doesn't move. I like those wheels within a
wheel. You know, they went straight and they never turned to the
right hand or to the left. You know why? God's providence
is always moving in the right direction. It doesn't have to
move. It doesn't have to move. It's sure. God knows what he's
doing. These works, the scripture says,
were done before the world began. They were finished before the
world began. You have a sure hope. Now then,
we should take this gospel as a light before men. You know, the Lord said this,
you are the light of the world. He didn't say you will be when
you learn enough. Now some of you are waiting till you learn
enough to be the light. No, you already are. You already
are. You are the light of the world.
What good then is it to hide under a bushel? No, you don't
do that with a candle. You take it, you put it up on
high so everybody can see it. And what happens when that happens?
Everybody is going to stand against you. The minute you hold fast this
profession of your faith. What is the profession of our
faith? Salvation is of grace alone, through faith alone, in
Christ alone, without the works of man, without the law. Our message is very plain. Salvation
is of the Lord. God chose a people. Christ redeemed
those people. The Spirit is calling those people.
The Spirit keeps those people. They all shall believe. None
of them shall be lost. This is the profession of our
faith. This is the profession of our hope. We say this without wavering. We willingly, joyfully hold this
gospel before men. Why? Because I tell you God has
a people. And this is how he'll draw them.
Through the preaching of our gospel. That encourage you? Should. It should. This is not a maybe, this is
not a perhaps, this is a sure thing. God will call his people
by this means. Now we pray God use us. Let us
draw near. Let us hold fast the profession
of our hope. Why? He is faithful. You notice he didn't
say nothing about you and your faithfulness. Ain't no confidence
in that, is there? No confidence. Confidence is
He is faithful. He is faithful. And Lord willing,
I hope to touch on the next one this coming Lord's Day, so be
in prayer about that. I do hope the Lord encourages
you, strengthens you, and gives us such ability and desire to
do these things we've been exhorted to do. Seeing we have such a
perfect gospel, perfect Savior, What then would hinder you from
drawing near to God? What should hinder you from holding
fast that hope? Nothing. Then let us do it. Do it. May God give us the grace
to do it. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.