I'd like to ask you if you would
turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. Allow me if you would to read
from this morning's bulletin, an article written by our dear
friend who's gone on to be with the Lord, Pastor Henry Mahan. He titles, What is Your Hope?
Lay the foundation of your hope in Jesus Christ. Begin with Christ
and end with Christ. As Christ Jesus becomes more
to you, self will grow less and less. If your faith puffs you
up, it is not the faith of Christ. God will help us when we are
weak. He will bless us as long as we confess our dependence
upon His blessings. He will fill us when we are empty. He will feed us when we are hungry.
He will be our all when we are nothing. He will forgive us when
we are guilty. But the moment we begin to boast
in ourselves and feel sufficient, We will be left to learn in no
uncertain terms that we are naked, poor, blind, and miserable. Terrible will be the day when
proud rebels discover too late that the dust and the ashes are
of human merit. I've given you the title for
this morning's message, Exhorting One Another. That's what that
article is all about. I know he spoke about our faith. And I know he spoke about our
weaknesses in the faith and how the Lord will give us strength. But that's why he spoke of those
things, to exhort you and I to build us up. We can listen and
read articles like this by men and see that we're in that boat. We're having the same trouble
as what maybe inspired him to write that. Maybe I am struggling
a little bit Boastfulness. Don't tell me you don't it sometimes.
We're all human. We all do, don't we? I mentioned
this in Bible study. Folks, if you say you don't sin
now, you realize you're making God out to be a liar, and therefore
you're sinning. There's sin in every one of us.
We're going to fight that battle. We're onward Christian soldiers. We believe in Christ, but we
keep fighting the good fight, don't we? The fight of faith.
The fight in believing Christ? I know my flesh is trying to
do this. And sometimes I think it's winning,
but folks, it never does. It never does. God's already
put it away. I mentioned this also in Bible
study. A good friend of mine says, I
may be doing what's wrong, but God has never done anything that's
wrong. And if He's allowing me, like
Jonah, to run off, It's for my good and the good of God's people. Plain and simple as that. Our
Lord does all things good. And what an exhortation that
is to you and I. We come to the table of remembrance
to do what? To remember that we can rest
in His works. The perfect works of Christ.
Does that not lift you up? That's what exhortation is. It's
lifting one up. When sin has engulfed you in
one way or another, whether it be the sin of the world, and
there's plenty of that, but there's plenty more just as much right
here in this body of flesh. When the sin has just overwhelmed
us in some way or another, or maybe we think everything's going
good right now. My mind's been on the right level
with God. I'm doing the right things. Folks,
that's when we're most vulnerable to our weaknesses right there.
When we start getting a little puffed up. Oh, I know I'm saved. When we forget, we're that beggar
over in the corner begging for God to have mercy on me today,
now, and again, in five minutes, and again in five minutes, and
again in five minutes, over and over again, to be exhorted by
those who love God as much as I do. You folks, just being here, not
because of John. I know you're not here because
of me, because there's way better men that you could go listen
to than me. Don't say anything. I know there are. I'm the weakest
link, as far as I'm concerned, in God's chain that he's got. I'm down there at the bottom.
So I know you're here for something other than me. You're here to
hear the word of God. You're not exhorted in me. You're exhorted
in what is being preached. The good news. The message. And
the message is the same every Sunday. It's Christ and Him crucified. We point you to Christ. That's
who you're being exhorted by. That's what you're being exhorted
by. Well, you showing up desiring that exhortation from God exhorts
me. It helps me to keep on keeping
on. If you were in the position of
a pastor, or a preacher, or whatever, and you had a church, a congregation,
and one day just nobody showed up, including your wife. I couldn't
comprehend with those poor, dear men that were back east that
had to cancel services during the COVID. They literally came
in and set up their cameras and preached to the camera only.
I couldn't do that. I don't even understand what
that, I'm so glad we didn't. I'm thankful to the Lord that
we didn't spread the disease even worse. But I just couldn't,
I don't know that I could continue with it. You folks exhort me
just being here. You lift me up. You show me God's
people are still here, even here in rescue. God's people that
need to hear the truth. Maybe you've heard about that
Jesus who's trying, and you said, I don't want anything to do with
that. Only place I know to go is rescue, or Yuba City, or maybe
down to San Diego, or maybe one of the other churches where they
preach the truth. I gotta hear the truth. Isn't that the way
with you? I've heard a brother James tell
me, poor guy, he's had COVID more than anybody I know of.
It's like he's a magnet attracting it or something. But he's come
to me afterwards, after at least two or three of them, of his
bout with COVID, and said, man, I just, I couldn't wait to get
back here to hear the gospel preached. What an interpretation. What a lifting up. What a boosting. There's a man who needs to hear.
I ask, is there any here this morning? Oh, I see faces who
do need it. I'm so thankful. that God still
has people here in rescue, and many other places. We have folks
in Arizona. We have a man out in Kansas.
I asked him, Greg Roberts. I've never met him. I hope it's
not until after we've left this world that I get a chance to
meet him, but I've never met him in person. I asked him one time,
I said, where do you go to church out there, Craig? And he goes,
John, I've been to several churches. There are nobody, if any, anywhere
that I can go to that preach like you do. What an exhortation. What an exhortation. Look with
me if you would at verses 19, Hebrews chapter 10. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's the beginning of every
message right there. We boldly come before the throne of grace.
but not in anything we can do of ourselves. We know, I mention
this again in the Bible study, we're like that blind man. I
don't know who healed me. I don't know a lot about it.
I know it was a man by the name of Jesus. I don't know much about
him, but I do know this. Once I was blind, but now I can
see. Could you imagine that? For the
first time ever, that man saw what it was to be blue. He looked
at the skies and he saw blueness in the sky. He said, I could
never see that before. He knew he was blind. You and
I know that we were blind to the truths. That we had no way
to approach God. Well, we may have thought we
had ways, didn't we? But when God comes to us and
calls us out of that darkness, we know. We know a few things. And one of those few things we
know is that we can come to the throne of grace with boldness,
not in anything of ourselves, but in the blood of Jesus. The
blood that washes us white as snow. The blood that cleanses
us and perfects us before God. Because that's the only thing
God will accept, folks, is perfection. We have therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated, which he hath prepared,
which he hath provided all for, for us. Through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh. Remember what the veil was? Do
you remember what that was of the temple? thick, heavy coat
material. Some said it was like five inches
thick. That's how thick it was. You
could get right up there with a magnifying glass and you're
not looking through that. And only one person could go
through that veil and that was the high priest. Did you know
that Jesus Christ had done that for us? He went through that
veil. He is that veil. And when He
died on that cross, that veil was ripped wide open for all
of His people to come through and see who it is that's behind
that veil. The holiest of holies. By a new
and living way which He had consecrated 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 in full assurance
Remember what the subject was last week? That very rock? The
very rock that is the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? The Son of the living God upon
that rock? God will build His church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail? Let us draw near with a true
heart full of assurance and 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. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the mannerists, some is, but exhorting,
encouraging, lifting each other up, in exhorting one another
and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Oh, how
I pray that all I say and do would exhort my brothers and
sisters in Christ. Lifting each other up in spirit,
encouraging one another to stand strong in the faith. Mark your
place there in Hebrews 10. We'll come back to it. But I
want to turn over to Hebrews 3 for just a moment. In Hebrews
3, look at verse 1 with me. Wherefore, holy brethren... We're talking about exhorting
one another. This is what Paul is doing here with the Hebrews.
Wherefore, because all that he had wrote to them in chapters
1 and 2, he says, wherefore, holy Brethren, if we look at
each other as we are, as God looks at us, there'll never,
ever, ever be a problem between God's people. If God's people
would just stop looking at each other in the flesh and start
looking at each other in the spirit of God, we would see that
each and every one of you that I can see here, that I can see
on the internet, each and every single one of you are as pure
as Christ himself. How could I hold anything against
you? Can you hold anything against
Christ? Absolutely not. If you're in Christ, you're as
pure as he is. Holy brethren. Holy brethren. What a great statement of exhortation. Paul's saying that you are as
holy as He is, and it's not something in His flesh, but it's in Christ
that we're holy. It's in Him. Holy brethren. Partakers. He didn't even stop
with that, with being holy brethren. You're not just holy, you're
partakers. You're part of this inheritance
that we receive through Christ. You're right there along with
me. You have it all. You have everything. He who did
not withhold the death from His Son, He who gave His Son for
us, how shall He not give us all things? How shall He not
give you everything? He gave you His Son. Isn't that
good news? Paul's exhorting these Hebrews.
He says next, he says, partakers of the heavenly calling. Consider. Stop and think about it for a
moment. Ponder it in your mind for just a moment. Stop and think
about this one who is an apostle. You know what that is? Yeah,
did you know that Christ Jesus was an apostle? He was THE apostle. THE apostle. Those other guys,
the other 12, they were just men that God had assigned as
apostles to go out and prove that they were sent of Him. Christ
is the one who they did their miracles through. In the name
of Jesus, this man got up and walked. Isn't that what they
said in the book of Acts chapter 2? In the name of Jesus this
man got it. Not in the name of Peter. Not
in the name of one of the apostles. But in the name of Jesus. Well,
Jesus is an apostle. A messenger with power to prove
who He is. He told men over and over again. And He proved who He was by what
He did. No man had ever fed 5,000 people
with a couple of fish and a couple of loaves of bread. Christ proved
it over and over and over again that He was God. The divineness
of God in the flesh. Consider Him. It says that at
the end of the verse there, doesn't it? Christ Jesus. Considered. The Apostle. And then Paul goes
and he doesn't stop there. What does he call Him next? The
High Priest. He's not just the king, he's the high priest like
the order of Melchizedek. Remember him? He was king of
Salem. He was the high priest of God
at that time. That too is a picture of Christ
because Christ is the only one who has ever been king and high
priest in one body. He calls him high priest and
then he says this about himself and you and I. the apostle and
high priest of our profession. I had the honor of attending
a wedding yesterday. Daniel Lesher was the young man
who officiated the service. He stood before, he went down
and got himself ordained by the state of California, and he officiated
the service. Skylee and her now husband, Cameron,
And I know we don't see Daniel very much. He's got a large family
of small children. Poor Becca. They both have got
their hands full with kids, little ones. And I don't get to see
Daniel very often. I've had some conversations with
him over the years. I know he loves to hear the gospel.
I know he comes when he can. He attends many a times on the
internet from his own home. But I'd never heard him speak
before a group of people. You talk about exhortation, building
me up, giving me a boost of confidence. Yesterday I heard that man preach
Christ. to a bunch of folks who could
have cared less what he was saying, other than I pronounce you man
and wife. He preached Christ. That just
blessed my heart more than anything. I heard his dad, who hardly ever
says a word about anything other than good message and he's out
the door and gone. I heard his dad preach or pray
a prayer and just praise the Lord. Give God all the glory. He professed God in the face
of his son, the Lord Jesus, before everyone there. It wasn't a long,
lengthy prayer. You don't have to say it in words
that take a whole hour. People know who Shane's God is
after hearing him pray for that food, the blessings on the food.
All blessings, he said, flow through you. And he's absolutely
right. Oh, it's so good to hear. What an exhortation to hear from
those two men yesterday. Consider, Paul says to you and
I, the apostle, the high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,
who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses
was faithful in all his house. Consider Christ, the faithful.
We've spoken a lot about faith over the last few weeks. And it always comes down to this,
and be reminded of this. It's not our faith that we look
to for our comfort. It's who our faith is in. Him
who is faithful in all that he did. You know who he was faithful
to? He was faithful to his father.
God the Father said, I give you this people, but this people
needs to be saved. And Christ said, I'll do it.
And he did. Perfectly. And when he was done,
he said these words, it's finished. It's done. This is my heart's
desire. This is my thought as I prepare
this message this morning. My desire is to Exhort you, exhort
one another. I notice these words that the
writer is not addressing the preachers, the pastors and the
deacons alone. Notice in verse 19 he says, brethren. That's all of us. Back in our
text, I'm sorry, you're still in Hebrews 3, huh? Back in our
text in Hebrews 10. Look at verse 19, he says, brethren,
the words are all the people of God. This separation between
the Church of San Diego and our dear brother Kevin breaks my
heart to no end. For both sides. I love Kevin
dearly. He's a child of God as far as
I'm concerned. But so are the folks there at
the church. And the first thing I heard was this, what's going
to happen to the church? And my only thing I could think
of to bring comfort when that question was asked is this. The
church are you. The called out. The people of God. Children of
God. That's the church. And like our Lord said, the gates
of hell shall not prevail because He builds His church on His Son,
the Lord Jesus. Not on what goes on in this world
around us. Notice in verse 24, what it says
down there. Look down there, verse 24 again.
Let us consider one another. That's why I'm going to San Diego
on Tuesday. I can't help but consider one
another. I consider you folks more than
you know. The prayer of, Lord, what would
you have me to bring for your people today, your church? Have you ever thought about how
it is that you exhort the others here at rescue? Mark your text in Hebrews and
turn over to the 122nd Psalm. Have you ever thought about how
it is that you exhort each other? Roger, who sits here quietly
in the front of the church, is as much an exhortation to you
as you are to him. It's obvious how A preacher exhorts
you, he stands up before you and he preaches Christ. Is it
not? We bring messages in hopes of
encouraging poor sinners in their walk before God. We point them
to Christ. We sing this song, turn your
eyes upon Jesus, look full on his wonderful face, and the world
will turn strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
Yes, we must bring out the total depravity of man, but along with
that comes the grace of election. You know what election is? Election
is Christ choosing a people from before the world was, despite
them hating Him. It's like the blind man. I know
I was chosen in Christ because if He'd left me to myself, I
know I would have never chose Him. Along with that comes the
grace of limited atonement. We know that Christ died and
that His precious, honoring, divine, holy blood that He shed
upon that cross that day made atonement for a people no matter
what. We stand on the scriptures of
God the Father all the Along with that, we get how the
grace is irresistible. It's the grace of God. It's irresistible
because once He has shined His grace, we see that all His Word
is true and we turn to the truth because of a new heart that He
has given us. And of course, we never leave
out of that grace because it's preserving in Him. But our text
is talking about all of us, about you and about me. And I don't
mean you, I don't mean me exhorting you. I'm talking about you exhorting
me, we exhorting each other. How are we to exhort each other?
We are to exhort each other, and the word means to call near. In other words, that is to invite,
to invoke, to beseech, to call for, to intrigue, to pray, lift
up. King David was lifted up. A joy
was raised in his heart when the people of God did something.
Remember the words just before our text in Hebrews 10? Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together? Look here at Psalms 122. I was glad, it says in verse
1, when they, when the people of Israel said unto me, let us
go in to the house of the Lord. You're here today because you
have said, Go in to the house of the Lord. That exhorts each other. Folks, if you're feeling a dreaded
necessity to be here today, then something is wrong. Are you glad
to be in the house of the Lord like Brother David just wrote
there? I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house
of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem. Worship services should be a
time of refreshment, a banquet, a feast, a feast to poor sinners
who need raising up from that sin that dwelled within the flesh.
A feast on Jesus. the bread of life. Salvation to a sinner is a joyous
thing. When one has had the depth of
what they are, a sinful creature before thrice holy God, salvation
becomes our greatest desire. The house of the Lord is where
we hear of this salvation. Am I glad to see you here? I
am. I am very glad to see you come.
I'm exhorted, I'm encouraged to see that God is still doing
a work in rescue, calling his chosen people unto himself through
the preaching of his word. Do we not get a little down when
our numbers are small? Yeah. Yeah, we do. But there's still two or three
here to hear God's word. More than that even. If no one
showed up, including my wife, I would be a little discouraged.
Oh, how exhorted I am that you are here. Look at your brothers
and sisters in Christ who have come to feast. The day of Jubilee
is here today. God has brought His sheep in
to graze in green pastures. We have come for the still waters. Turn over to Psalm 23 for just
a moment, if you would. We won't be much longer. You
know this psalm. Some of you have memorized it
by heart and can say it without even reading it. But I'd like
you to look at it anyway. The Lord is my shepherd. This
is what we're feasting on. This is the peace that we have.
Christ Jesus, the Lord, is my shepherd. And because He's my
shepherd, all that I need. He maketh me, I shall not what?
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Look who it is that
maketh me. Is it something that I did? Is
it some decision that I made? No. He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness. And then he tells us what for.
For his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. What comfort is described
in this psalm, this hymn, this psalm? Turn over to Ezekiel,
turn to the right, go over to Ezekiel, just the other side
of Jeremiah, a few pages to chapter 34. God is not done with searching
out His sheep. Yes, He knows where they are,
they just don't know that they're His sheep yet. They're blind,
they're dead, they're lame, just as you and I were at one time,
and they do not seek the one that heals, just as you and I
had not seeked after Him. until He did a work in our hearts.
Yet He sought me, and He found me. And He brings His loved ones
under the sound of His Word. He says, Come with the power
of God, and by the power that is His, we come. Listen to John
chapter 10, verse 27-30. He says, My sheep hear My voice. Aren't you thankful for that?
I asked a dear brother here recently, when did things go sour for you?
What's the problem? that's plaguing you. Oh, John,
I just don't know that if I love the Lord..." I said, well, do
you believe Him? Oh, yes, I believe every word
that He's true and living God. I believe all that I read in
the Scriptures. I just don't know that I love Him. I said,
your love has nothing to do with it. Do you believe the truth? Our love is like our faith. It's weak. Sometimes it's not
even there at all. I haven't experienced the death
of someone so close as a son or a daughter, but I can tell
you, my imagination tells me I'd be angry. My imagination
tells me that I would feel like I don't love something if somebody
took one of my children or my grandchildren. I told that person,
quit looking at yourself. Turn away from that stupid mirror
that shows all the deadness that's in this flesh and look to Christ.
You want exhortation? Look to Christ. He's our greatness. He's our righteousness. He's
our wisdom. I don't need any wisdom. I don't
mind being a simple man. I don't mind it one bit. Because
my Lord's so wise I don't need it. My sheep hear my voice, and
I know them, and they follow me, and I will give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Folks, to a lost sheep, this
is a joyous thing. To a blind, the blind man told
all, he says, I don't know who or how or why, I just know this,
that once I was blind. Look here at verse 11 of Ezekiel
chapter 34, right? Look at verse 11. For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I, even I, Oh, that's some good words right
there. As the shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that
he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out
my sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they
have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I'm encouraged
to see sheep in this pasture. I am delighted to see God's not
done yet. Maybe there's another that is
yet to be called. How do we exhort one another?
By holding fast our profession of faith, that's how. Holding
fast. By provoking one another unto
love and to good works. Folks, be ye holy, for your God
is holy, but do this more than anything, believe. May God give
you the gift of faith to believe and to look to Him. When we have
a brother in Christ, now I had a very, I had a very blessed gift. His
name was Bill Silva. And I would spend, as you well
know, Most of my days, driving my truck around, making deliveries,
and in between deliveries. You know, that man used to be
on the phone. I'd have a little thing sticking in my ear, and
he'd be on the phone with me as I'm going through my deliveries. Kathy and I were in Kentucky
and Tennessee driving around. He's on the phone with me while
she's sleeping in the car, and he's with me right there watching
him on the computer where we're going. I had such a blessed conversation
with him at times. But you know, like we do in the
flesh, there's times when we would get off a little bit too
far on that branch. She's laughing over here because
she's been in some of those conversations with me, sitting over there in
the house next door. And either one of us would be
quick to, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, John. You might be going just
a little bit too far with that. Or I would say it to Bill. Or
believe it or not, Kathy has said it to us as well. Oh, you
two are getting a little bit too crazy here about oil leaking
from your Harleys in heaven. You get the point. You get the
point. We exhort each other and bring
each other back to what? This dear friend who was off
on the deep end, not sure If he even loved God. You know what
I did? I pointed him to Christ. You know what he would do to
me? He would point me to Christ. That's exhorting it. How can
I exhort you? You folks are exhorting me just
being here. Just showing up on a Sunday morning. Being here
today to hear the Gospel preached. Buddy, I tell you. Ladies, I
tell you. That exhorts me more than anything
I can think. That keeps on keeping on. That's
what that is. By not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together so much more than we see when the day
is approaching. God's grace is greater than all
our sin as we sing in that psalm. That should encourage God's people
to assembly together and praise His name.