Go with me, if you would, back
to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. The title of this
message is, Therefore Let Us. Therefore. We just heard our
brother read these verses and he is recounting the things that
he's told us. And he ended that portion of
scripture he just read with, therefore, let us. This chapter, Hebrews 10, in
my Bible, when I turn the page and look at the heading of the
next page, it says, an exhortation to steadfastness in faith. Hebrews 10 is an exhortation
to faith. It's an exhortation to the vitalness
of faith. It stresses how vital faith is. If you look at verse 38, Hebrews
10 verse 38 says, Now the just shall live by faith. But if any
man draw back, if any man denies the faith, just denies the faith, He said,
My soul shall have no pleasure in him. No pleasure. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition. Thank God. We, God's people,
God's chosen people, and it's because we're kept by the power
of God. We are not of them that draw
back unto destruction. That's what perdition means.
We're not going to be destroyed. But he says, we are of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. So Hebrews 10 is a strong
exhortation to faithfulness. Faith and faithfulness. And then Hebrews 11 tells us
what faith is. Hebrews 10 says, have faith. And then Hebrews 11, if you look
at verse 1, it says, now faith is. It tells us what it is. And really one of the best ways
to understand faith is to think about a child and a parent. That's one of the best ways to
understand. When we talk about faith, if
we want to get our minds around what faith is, the best way to
do that is to think of a child and a parent. That child believes
the parent. Isn't that right? Just flat believes
them. That child trusts the parent. That child is dependent on the
parent. Humanly speaking, all things
are of the Lord, but humanly speaking, without Hannah and
I, Isabella and Sophie would have no house to live in. I mean,
they'd have no shelter. Without us, they would have no
food on the table. Where would you get your food? A child looks to the parent,
a child depends on the parent, relies on the parent, and a child
follows the parent. They are at an age, they're getting
old enough to where we don't watch every single step that
they make anymore. When they were babies, we carried
them everywhere we went. And then they were younger children,
and we literally held their hand everywhere we went. Now, we just
say, follow me. And, you know, we go to a store
or do whatever we're going to do, and Hannah and I go about
our business, and you know what they're doing the whole time?
Following us. They're staying right behind
us. Drawing near, staying near to us. And that's faith. That's all that faith is. That act is faith. Does that make sense? It's as
simple as that. It is as simple as a child responding
naturally to a parent. That's faith. God, through His
Apostle, is telling us here in this chapter that faith in and
faith towards Christ is the number one most important thing in this
life. The most important thing. Now
look with me at chapter 10 verse 1. It says, For the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year
by year continually, Make the comers there unto perfect. Don't look to the law. Don't
look to the types. Don't look to the ordinances.
I love partaking of our Lord's table. I love it. I love it. I love putting the
table out here, setting the bread out here, setting the wine out
here. It is special to me. As often as we do it, when that
night rolls around, it's very special to me. But that service
is not one ounce more special than any other service. You know
that? And the reason is because we
don't worship the Lord's table. We worship the Lord of the table. And every now and then we gather
around that table, but every single time we gather, we're
gathering around Him. Every single time. That table
does not sanctify us. It doesn't redeem us. It does
nothing for us other than remind us of who the one is who sanctified
us and redeemed us, right? Christ Jesus the man. He is our
sanctifier. So verse one says, the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, And not the very image of the
things can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. It never did put away
sin. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? If sin was gone, wouldn't there
be no more need of sacrifices? Wouldn't they have ceased to
be offered because that the worshipers once purged should have had no
more conscience of sins? But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. In the ordinance of that sacrifice,
a remembrance was made. That's all it was. That's all
it was. We're here worshiping our Lord
right now in remembrance of Him. All worship is in remembrance
of Him. We're not here to try to earn
anything. We're in remembrance of what he's already earned.
He said, this do in remembrance. That's what all of those Old
Testament ordinances were. Verse 5, wherefore, when he cometh
into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. Sacrifice and offerings couldn't
do it. He said, but a body hast thou
prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sins, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. That's a wonderful revelation
to men and women. When their eyes are opened to
the gospel, when they are, when the scriptures are opened up
to them, this book is so closed, it is so unknown. It's so mysterious. Nobody knows
what it's saying. And then all of a sudden, the
Lord, when He chooses to, He opens up the eyes of a sinner
to see that the whole volume of the book is about Jesus Christ
doing the will of His Father. All of those laws, everything
Moses wrote, that's not about us doing the will of God the
Father. Not one bit of it. All of it
is about Jesus Christ doing the will of His Father. Every single
bit of it. And until we see that, we don't
see the gospel, do we? Until we see that, we've never
seen the gospel. Without Christ crucified, there
is no gospel. If we don't see him in the text
accomplishing that work his father gave him, then there is no gospel. There's truths. We do see truths,
and we see correct doctrine, but we don't see the gospel.
The gospel is Jesus Christ crucified, a man, who He is and what He's
done. And the gospel is in every word
of this book, every single word. Verse 8 says, Above, when He
said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He's saying this is what He did.
He took away the first that He may establish the second. By
the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. This is a recount of everything
we have seen in all of these chapters leading up to this.
He is repeating everything He has said leading up to this point. And everything that God commanded
in the Law of Moses showed us our need for Christ to fulfill
it. Every single thing. God's first
commandment with man showed us our need for God's commandment
with Christ. God's covenant He made with Christ. Verse 11 says, And every priest
standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins. They kept offering
sacrifice for sin, same man, same sacrifice. He'd sin again,
he'd sin again, sacrifice for sin. Verse 12 says, But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool." Every single enemy is going to
bow to this man. Every single enemy. But I love
the thought of knowing that we were all at enmity with him. every single one of us, God's
enemy, that's us, God's enemy. But God lovingly, mercifully
brought us to Himself and He made His enemies, He made
us His enemies, His footstool, He brought us to His feet, He
caused us to bow and now that's where all of His people sit,
they sit at His footstool. Verse 14 says, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." It's done. It's done. One sacrifice forever. It's over. All right, now, this
is where faith comes in. Okay, this is where faith comes
in. It's done. That's what he just said. Fourteen
verses, he said, it's done. It's over. One sacrifice and
it's over. Now, this is where faith comes
in. Verse fifteen, whereof the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us. Now God sends His Holy Spirit
to His people. It's over. It's done. And now the Holy Ghost comes
and is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their
minds will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. That's what God said
He would do back in Jeremiah. And the writer of this epistle,
he quoted that in Hebrews 8. And he's quoting it again. This is what God said He would
do. God said He would accomplish this salvation for His people.
And that's exactly what God did. He did it. And now that it's
over, he sent his Holy Spirit to witness to us that there is
remission. There is no more sin. No more sin. No more offering
needs to be made. I hope I don't ever experience
this. We live in a time where there's a lot of cancer. Cancer
is very prevalent. Seems like a lot of people get
cancer. And we have it here, we have it there. We're always
having things checked out. Is it cancerous? I would be thankful to my Lord
if I never had to endure this. But eight or nine years ago,
my father was diagnosed with cancer. Two kinds of cancer in
his bladder at the same time. And he went through the agony And I was told one time I had
it, but I didn't have it. And it was tough to hear. He
went through the agony of knowing this is the reality. That turmoil,
that fear. This is the reality of my condition. Shocker, you know. And he said
he dreaded calling us and telling us, and he finally called us
and told us. But he went through all of that agony, and he went
through surgery, and he went through chemo. He went through
all those things. And then one day, he went back to that doctor.
And you know what that doctor told him? He said, you're in
remission. You're in remission. Nothing
more to fear. It's over. It's over. All that
worry, all that fear, everything that you endured, it's over.
It's over. It's gone. No more chemo. It's
all over. Verse 18 says, Where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. There's nothing
more to be done. What better news can you get
than you're in remission? It's over. It's absolutely over. And he said, there's no more
offering for sin, verse 19, having therefore, and here's where he
picks up with faith, because of all of this, therefore, because
of everything we know Christ did, because we know what the
law couldn't do, We know that the blood of bulls and goats
can't take away sins. We know that they kept offering
and working and doing in vain. But we know that the Redeemer
came and by Himself with one sacrifice put it away. And with
us in His blood there is complete and total remission. Therefore, verse 19, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which he hath consecrated. If you see
in your margin, that means new made, newly made. He put away the first and he
established the second. this living way which he hath
newly made for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. When Christ on the cross cried,
it is finished, and he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost,
at that moment, God the Father ripped that veil, top to bottom. He ripped the veil and he opened
up the way into the holiest of all. And what that said to his
people was, this is the flesh of my son that I have broken
for you. His broken body, His shed blood,
because of my son, you now have free access to me. Free total
access to me. Verse 21, he said, and having
a high priest over the house of God, because of all this,
because we have a high priest who's made intercession for us,
an advocate with the Father. Because Christ made himself to
be our sacrifice and our high priest, now he's going to give
us three let us's. He says let us three times. And here's what I want us to
get a hold of. because of this and I do pray the Lord would
teach us. I do sincerely pray for myself
and this congregation that the Lord would ground us, settle
us, teach us, don't leave us to ourselves. I pray he would
conform us to his image. I pray he would make us to be
disciples of Christ, followers of Christ. I pray he would put
a fervent heart in here. I pray that he would Do a work
in us. Don't you pray that? Don't you
pray that? May the Lord not leave us to
just our flippant ways. Lord, lay hold on us. Teach us. Now here are three let-uses of
faith because of what Christ has done. Therefore, verse 19
said, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. Here's the first one. Verse 22. Let us draw near. Let us draw near. Because he
said come, let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. This is an exhortation to faith
in Him. Let's go. He said come. We all know He's going to draw
us, don't we? We all know that not one elect
is going to be lost, not prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Not
one elect is going to be allowed to just go on and never come
back. He's going to draw us to Himself if He has to drag us
to Himself. But with that being said, brethren,
because He said, we may come boldly to the throne of grace,
we can come to Him, we can draw nigh to Him, because He said,
you draw nigh to God and God will draw nigh to you. Because
He said that, let's go. You ask, what does that mean?
I'm not 100% sure. But let's do it anyway. It has
something to do with His heart. I know that. He said, come to
me. And as a parent to a child, a
father to a child, we're going to spend eternity in faith. And I know faith is going to
give way to sight, but it's going to be the same thing. We're going
to be looking to him. We're going to be trusting him, relying on
him, following him. And he said, come. So brethren,
let's go. 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. Let's come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, number one, with a true heart. I would strongly encourage
every soul in this room. I mean every single soul in this
room. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ in the heart and in the
mind, acknowledging to Him what we are. What we are. We know what we are. We know
what we are. Acknowledge it to Him. Tell Him
I know. I know. Do it. Acknowledging our sin. We're
sinners. Come to Him acknowledging our
unworthiness. Come to Him acknowledging what
we deserve. Do we know, do we really know
what we deserve? Tell Him. Tell it to Him. I know what I deserve. I deserve
an eternity of hell's judgment. But you sent a lamb, and that
lamb by one offering, one shedding of his blood, forever put away
my sin. And you said, I now can come
boldly to your throne without being killed on sight, and Lord,
I come. I come. Verse 22, though, says, Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Let's come believing in our hearts
that He will receive us. He will receive us. And the reason
is because our hearts have been sprinkled, as He says right here,
which means completely dumped under the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. completely plunged into His blood. Our bodies have been washed with
the pure water of His Spirit, and the commandment has come.
The Father gives that commandment, and with that commandment, the
Father, number one, will draw that child, but the Father will
also put a willing heart in that child to want to come. He will. He will put a heart. He said,
my people will be willing in the day of my power. And the
commandment and the call goes out, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us draw near to him. Every soul that God draws will
want to come. I'm so glad he will drag his
people, but he won't have to drag his people. They'll all
come willingly. And if God has put a heart in
us that wants to draw nigh to Him, then let's draw nigh to
Him. Let's draw nigh with a true heart of faith. 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. Now here's the second one. Let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for
He is faithful that promised." Now what he's saying is, let's
persevere. Let's persevere. Let's come in full assurance
and let's keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. You know God's preachers don't
beg anybody of anything. Everything about the gospel is
a declaration. And it's not a, we're not begging
men to come to the Lord and keep coming, but the declaration is
with absolute compassion, love, heart, urgency, keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Should I come? Should I not come? Should I go?
Should I not go? Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep on coming. Keep coming. I just don't know if I... Keep
coming. Keep coming. If we keep coming,
it is Him that's keeping us coming. We acknowledge that. Isn't that
right? We know that. But with that, in the heart and
in the mind, keep coming. Keep coming. What am I going
to do? Keep coming. Verse 23, the end of it says,
He is faithful that promised. He's the one that's keeping us.
And because of His faithfulness, that's the exhortation. Let's
keep going. Let's keep going in faith. Let's
keep going in grace. Keep going in the gospel. Keep
going in the gospel. The Lord, if He is merciful to
us and if He tarries and the gospel is here for 20 years,
we are all going to be hearing the same message we're hearing
right now. The same message. You know how
easily it would be for this flesh to get so sick and tired of hearing
this message? Keep coming. Keep coming. This is the only message that
will save a soul. This is the only sacrifice that
God will accept. Keep coming. Keep coming. Whatever trials come, trials
are going to come. Trials are going to come. This
is a hard life. Whatever fears may come, whatever
doubts may come, let's never forget that God is faithful to
His promise. He is faithful to His promise.
He said all that come to Him by Christ are going to be accepted
in the Beloved. Keep coming. Keep coming. That
is the profession of our faith, isn't it? He made a covenant
with us in His Son. And the blood of His Son calls
that covenant to be ordered and sure, and He's going to keep
His promise through that covenant. He's going to keep His promise.
Let's keep coming. Keep going. Let's draw near to
God with a true heart and full assurance, and let's keep going. Let's not lose steam. Don't lose
steam. Don't lose steam. 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
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He
is faithful that promised." And here's the third, let us. Let
us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
I love that. I just love that. I'm so thankful
the Lord put those kinds of verses in the scripture. Let's consider
one another. In our mind, in our heart, let's
actively think about each other. Let's consider each other before
God. Let's pray for each other. Pray
for each other. Let's consider each other's frame. Do you know what we all are?
Sinners. You know what sinners do? They
sin. Against who? Against me. You know what I am? I'm a sinner. You know what sinners
do? They sin. Against you. Against
God. Let's consider each other's frame. Aren't you so thankful that our
Lord said He considers our frame? He knows we're dust. Let's consider
each other's. Let's consider each other's feelings. Should I really say that? Is
that really necessary? Let's consider each other's well-being. What can I do to help you out?
What can I do to help you? Let's consider how badly we need
each other's support, each other's unity and fellowship. You don't
realize how badly you need it until it's gone. We need it. Verse 24, He said, Let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Provoke unto
love. It's easy to understand that
through provoking to anger. You can walk up to somebody and
hit them square in the jaw. You have accomplished it. You
have, at that moment, provoked them to anger. Right? But you can also walk up to somebody
and invite them to eat at your house. Whatever it may be, let's
provoke each other to love. Provoking is an active action. Let's provoke each other. Why?
Because our Lord provoked us, didn't he? Boy, we were at such
enmity with Him, we gritted our teeth at Him, we held our fist
at Him, and He provoked us, and I'm going to tell you what, I
love Him. He got the job done. It worked. I love Him. Verse 24, let us
consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. What are some good works? Come
to Christ. That's a good one. Believe on
Christ. That's a good one. Let's follow
Christ. Let's worship Christ in the way
that He ordained for us to worship Him. Verse 25 says, 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." He said because of what Christ has done for us,
because of what we have through his blood, before he says anything
like this he reiterates it in every chapter. every chapter,
because of the blood of Christ, because of what He's done, let's
not forsake the assembling of ourselves together to worship
Him, to worship Him. Why do we gather? Number one
reason to worship Him. It's all about Him. It's not about me. If He blesses
my soul, I'm so thankful for that. If He feeds me, I'm so
thankful for that. But worship is about Him. It's all about him. So let's,
and here's what he's saying here, is let's exhort each other. Let's
exhort each other to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. As the manner of some is, he
said, let's exhort it so much more as you see the day approaching.
As I say this, I can't help but have the thought go through my
mind. that the natural response is, Gabe, you want that for two
reasons. You want to preach to a full
house and you want job security. That is not the case. That is
not the case. The end is coming with every
day that goes by as we see the day approaching. That day, I'm
going to tell you, it's going to be a glorious day. for all
those in Him. But if we are outside of Him,
that's going to be the most horrific day this world has ever known. That day is coming. It's coming
fast. When He said, I'm coming quickly,
He meant quickly. And every eye is going to see
that day It is approaching, and as we see it more and more, let's
more so and more so have a fervent heart to worship Him and bow
to Him. Let's be His children. Let's
be His disciples. Let's follow Him. We do rest
in Christ. Isn't the message rest? Sit still and rest. We do. You
know, we could go back through those first 14 verses and say,
the law couldn't do anything, but Christ did it. It's done. It's done. It's over. We do rest. But it strikes me very seriously
that God's apostle, God used this man to write half of his
word, and it's God speaking through him. And he keeps saying, press,
fight, Verse 23, He said, Let's hold fast the profession without
wavering. And He's warning us. He's warning us. Steer clear of that attitude
of, I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Lighten up. I'm safe. said the unsaved man. Right? Let's draw nigh. I mean draw
nigh. Call on Him. Pray to Him. Beg
Him for mercy. Tell Him in your heart what you
are. I know what I am. I know you're my only hope. Draw
nigh. Let's hold fast the profession. Our profession is that there's
one hope and it's in the blood of Jesus Christ. That's it. And
let's consider one another and let's provoke each other to love
in these good works that He desires of us. And the reason is because
we see the end approaching. We see it approaching. Now more
than ever, let's not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
It's such a privilege. It's such a privilege. The ability
to gather with God's saints, and again, we would not recognize
it until it was taken from us. As soon as that ability is taken
from us, we would realize, oh, what a privilege it was to gather
together with God's saints and worship Him. That fellowship
with His people, and fellowship with him. He said, and you just
prayed it, where two or three are gathered in my name, I'm
in the midst of you. And that assembling of the saints
is where he said he would meet with us. And it's fellowship
with him. So let's not forsake it. And
I'm going to close with this, but here's three reasons why
we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Number
one, He is worthy to be praised. Number one, He is worthy of it. Let me not be taken up with anything
until I've given honor where it's due. Offer the first fruits,
He said. That's not just my paycheck.
That's my heart, my love, first and foremost. And that's our calling is to
worship Him and bow to Him. And so that's the first reason. It's owed to Him. The second
reason not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together is because
we need it so badly. I need it terribly. I need it
so badly. I'm so encouraged through the
assembly of the saints. I'm so refreshed in my spirit
by it. Hearing the Word, rejoicing around
God's Word with His people, it comforts me. Not only is God owed it, I need
it. The third reason is my brethren
need it. My brethren need it just as badly
as I do. I need it, they need it. If enough of God's saints stop
assembling, there will no longer be an assembly of the saints. to believe it's just me. Well, if enough of God's people
believe it's just me, there will be no assembly of the saints.
And again, I'm not getting on to anybody. I hope this is in
love and encouragement and in exhortation. The day is coming. The day is coming. One thing
needful. One thing needful. Let's gather
together, gather around Christ. This is the only thing that matters. We may not believe it now, But
we will, we will. So may the Lord keep us, may
He truly keep us and cause us to draw near to Him with a heart
of faith and cause us to hold this profession. And here's really
one key to the whole thing is when we do draw near with the
saints, when we assemble with the saints, we are drawing near
to God. That's one way we do draw near
to Him is by gathering with His saints. He said, I'll be with
you. And when we do assemble with
the saints, that is how we're holding the profession of our
faith. This is the message we believe. And when we assemble
with the saints, this is how we are provoking each other to
love. You're provoking me to it. I'm
provoking you to it. So therefore, for Christ's sake,
Let's do these things if God will strengthen us to and if
He'll cause us to grow in these things by His grace. And I'll
read verse 39 again. The good news, the reason is
because we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. Thank
God. And all this, we talk about these
duties and we talk about these responsibilities and it gets
so scary because you think if this is left up to me, I'm not
going to make it. I can't live up to what He requires,
but thank God He is not going to let us draw back unto destruction. But we're of them that believe
to the saving of the soul. All right, let's all stand together.