Well, we're going to continue
in the book of Hebrews. Our text that we've been looking
at these last couple of Sundays has just got so much in it. I
love the way our pastor, Norm Wells, up in the Dalles, talks
about this at times. He was raised on a farm. They're
in Northern California, and he spent a lot of time stacking
hay and going out and plowing. Of course, with tractors, not
with horses. He ain't that old. But he shared
with us many a times how his dad would say, go out there and
plow it again. I know he plowed the field over
once, but we need to go and do it again. There's more to get
out of that field. And every time he'd go out there,
sure enough, there'd be more rocks that need to get moved.
Every time we go through the verses of God, this book, it
doesn't matter where we're at. How often have we looked at something
and said, oh, you know what? I've been looking at that. In
fact, I've almost worn those pages out in my Bible. And look
here. I never saw this before. It's not that we're declaring
there's something new to God's Word. But here's a diamond. The diamond, the Lord Jesus,
where we've turned over another piece of dirt and found our Lord
once again. So we're looking here in the
book of Hebrews, and I want to read verses 24, 25, 26, and 27
together once again if you would. Hebrews chapter 10, and you remember
we read these beginning at verse 22 where it says, In verse 23
it says, let us, and then in verse 24 it says, 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. Notice what it says there about
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, but exhorting. See, I can't exhort you unless
you come to worship. And I know you folks on the internet
are with us from a long distance away, but isn't that why you're
here this morning? Isn't that why you're joining
us today in the graciousness of our Lord through the internet? To come out of the world and
be exhorted? To be built up in the gospel?
I was telling somebody yesterday, I think it was Friday night,
you know, Recordings are nice. They're better than nothing.
But they're not the same as in person. Today, even these dear
folks who are online with us right now, they can see me, they
can see my body language, they can see me, and therefore, it's
as though they're here in person, whereas a recording, you can
stop it and go off and do whatever you want, your mind can trace
off and so on and so on. But we've come together to exhort
one another. And so much the more, as you
see the day approaching. Boy, we sure need exhorting more
and more and more as the day approaches, doesn't it? One of
the things I believe I've witnessed in some of our elderly, speaking
of my dear pastor, Gene and Judy. As the day approaches, as they
get closer and closer to that day approaches, we don't know
when, but we do know it's not going to be over 120 years. Very
few live to be a hundred. And the closer you get to that
mark, the closer you are to that day the Lord's going to take
you home. As we see that day approaching, God's people become
weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker. We know as we get
closer to that door just how weak we truly are. We exhort
one another, so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Verse 26, 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 a judgment and a fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversaries. Now there's five reasons that
I want to talk about this morning. I want to give you five reasons
not to abandon the Assembly of the Saints. And folks, we can
be as guilty of that as anybody can. I'm going to stay home today. There's a golf tournament going
on that I really want to watch. It starts at 10 a.m. I'm going
to stay home and watch that. I'm guilty of that. There was
a day when I may have even said that about football. Fortunately,
the Lord removed football from my life long before he called
me out of the darkness that I walked in. I was a stout, a very stout
49er fan at one time. You couldn't get me away from
that TV on a Sunday morning when I was a 49er fan. Five reasons not to abandon it.
the assembly of the saints. Brother Don Fortner wrote this,
and I want to open with this. In recent past, some have begun
to call for believers to abandon the worship of God in local churches. Now, you and I recall that. We
remember a time when there was a church over there in the Bay
Area, a group of people, and their leader said it was the
end of the church age. We remember that. That's what
Don's writing about here. declaring that the era of the
church age has come to an end. Throughout the history of the
church, see this is not the first time men have come and said,
oh no, the church is over with, we don't need churches anymore.
I remember when I was a kid, the hippies were all about that.
The hippies were all about, we don't need churches, we can go
off into the woods. and worship God. I remember that. That was the whole beginning
of tree huggers is what we called them. Men have sought to promote
their own cause. And that's all that was. And
that's all it is in today's world, too. They have sought their own
cause and their own name rather than the cause and the name of
Christ. And then Don closes that statement with this. He says,
be assured. God has not yet finished using His church. And He gives us an example of
that. I want you to turn over to Ephesians chapter 3. And Don
gives us an example of Scripture declaring this very thing. That
He is not finished using His church. In Ephesians chapter
3, we see two verses over in 20-21. Now unto him that is able
to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us, listen to these words.
Unto him be glory in the church, by Jesus Christ, and then what's
it say after that? Throughout all ages, world without
end, amen. There you go. Our Lord is not
done using His church. Without question, those who worship
God must abandon all the synagogues and all the false religions.
That's not what we're talking about. I've told you this before. I've gone to a church in Grants
Pass. I'm sorry, not Grants Pass. Fort Bragg one time. Kathy and
I were over there for a weekend and I just needed, I wanted some
preaching. It had a tough week in the world,
and it needed some preaching. And being on vacation over on
the coast was nice, but it wasn't preaching. So we went to a church. And sure enough, sitting in that
church for just a few minutes and reading what their thing
on the front of their bulletin was for that day, we both got
up and said, I can stand here. I'm getting out of here. This
ain't the truth. God's people cannot stand the lies that are
made up about our Lord. Once God has spoken to your heart,
if He has truly spoken to your heart, you will not have lies. How often have we gone to services
for folks that either passed on or have gotten married or
whatever it may be, and you get there and you hear some guy get
up and he gives a message about some, just lies, just lies against
our Lord. And you sit there and think to
yourself, listen, I wish I had just stayed home. I wish I hadn't
even come here. Don't want to sit here and listen
to lies about my Lord. Lies about how weak he is, and
he's just waiting for you to do something. He's just waiting.
He's done all that he can. Lies, lies, lies. And we won't
stand for it, will we? Sometimes I'll listen to a minister
speak. Somebody will say, hey, would
you just listen to this guy? He's such and such and such and
such. And I'll tune in and I'll listen to him for a few minutes.
It only takes a couple minutes for me to figure out whether
he's speaking about the true and living God or not. Without
question, we are to abandon all false teaching churches. Churches of Satan, where men
and women are made drunk with the wine of Babylon. Listen to
these words of Revelation 18, 4, and I heard another voice.
Did you catch that? Another voice from heaven saying,
come out of her, my people. that ye be not partakers of her
sins. This is talking about Babylon.
And the wine that tickles our ears, the wine that grabs a hold
of the hearts of men, natural men. Be ye not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plague. Those who follow
Christ cannot and must not give any credence to will worship. Look over Colossians, if you
would. Look over Colossians chapter
2. In Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse 16, we read these words,
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect
of any holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath day,
which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body,
by joints and bands having nourishment, minister, knit together in secretion.
with the increase of God. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which all are to perish with the user, after
the commandments of the doctrine of men, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in all in will, worship, and humility, and neglecting
of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. You know, I'm going to call my
sister this afternoon who says that she worships the Sabbath
day for this reason only, because it's good for her health. She
sits under the ministry of a false teaching, knowing and declaring
herself that, oh yeah, there's some things that aren't true
that they teach. I'm going to go and read those very scriptures
to her this afternoon. We who follow Christ, back in
our text, Hebrews 10. We who follow Christ must not
give any credence to those who worship the will of men. But
we will not abandon the worship of God and the assembly of His
saints so long as the world stands. And here are five reasons we
want to look at this morning. First is this is the place where
God meets sinners. This is where the Lord meets
sinners, right here at the pulpits where the Lord sends a preacher
to preach the gospel. to preach the truth. It's true
that God uses personal witnessing, witnessing tracks maybe, tapes
to draw people into the church. It's true that He uses our witnessing
to our neighbors, our witnessing to co-workers, but it always
leads them to where the congregation of God's people are. I remember
Bill sharing with me how the manager of his apartments, shared
the Gospel with him one day. And he thought all these years
that that was when the Lord called him out of darkness. But it wasn't
until the day that he sat in this church right here. Later on, he admitted to me,
he said, it wasn't until I sat in the church and did the preaching
of the Gospel that God came and truly opened my heart to the
truth of His Word. God saves His sheep and the congregation
of His saints when they are gathered to worship. Look over at Acts.
We'll look at a couple of verses over there at Acts chapter 2,
the great sermon of Peter. Beginning at verse 1, we read
these words, Acts 2 verse 1, and when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord and what? one place. It doesn't say the
day of Pentecost was spread out all over the country, all over
different places, different houses here and there. They were all
in one place, the gathering of God's people to hear God's Word. Now, look over at verses It's
37-41 of that same chapter. Over in verse 37 of Acts chapter
2, we read these words, Now when they heard this, this is all
those who had gathered in one place. When they had heard, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. There's the Gospel
message. Peter preached it right there,
and he says in verse 39, For the promise is unto you, and
to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall, what? Call. And many other words did
he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this outward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto
them about 3,000 souls. Sinners in need of mercy seek
mercy where mercy is always found in the great overflowing abundance. And mercy is always found in
the house of God. I pause. Why are you and I here
today? Are we not here for that very
reason? To hear about the mercy that God has for His people?
The graciousness in sending us a Savior, His Son, the Lord Jesus? Is that not why we're here? We
seek mercy where it's always found. In the house of God. God's saints know themselves
to be sinners, don't we? We know ourselves to be sinners
that are in need of mercy, so we come with all of our needs
to the house of mercy seeking our Lord. Secondly, this is a
place where our family gathers. I have brothers and sisters.
I have a brother who lives right up the road. You have family
members. Maybe some have passed on. Maybe
some are still here. You have children maybe? Grandchildren? I have two children who have,
and one of them has two children, and both of those children have
children, which makes me great at something. I don't know what,
how it makes me great. I don't see anything about me
that's great there, but they say I'm a great grandfather.
Not one of my members of my, of my line, want anything to
do with the God that I worship. Now, I trust that the Lord, if
they belong to Him, He'll call them out of darkness. I have
no doubt about that. But I trust that what my Lord
does, everything He does is right. And if He does or does not call
them out of darkness, it's right because it's of the Lord. I don't
know how to describe this, Mike. But I have a love for you that
I don't have for my children. Roger, Shirley, Cheryl, I don't
know how to describe this in words, but my love for you is
more than my children even. It's a love that God has put
there. I have nothing in common with you folks outside of what
we know in the Lord, but I see you as more of my family than
my own children, my own grandchildren, my own great-grandchildren. I
wouldn't want to put this burden on anybody. But if I had to leave
and go live with somebody, I'd rather live with you. I know
that'd be a burden on you. I know. But if I went to live
with my children, I wouldn't have anything to relate to them. You see, you folks, I don't know
if you remember this or not. Antony, over there in the Bay
Area, he's the only one in his family who knows the Lord. His
wife despises it. I remember when my wife despised
it. Do you remember that? Remember
when it was just me? I can't express in words the
wonder, not just the wonder of the Lord calling her out of darkness,
not just that which is wonderful enough, but that I didn't have
to live alone anymore. And that's what it would be like
living with my children if I had to. I would live alone. You're
my family. You're the ones I can relate
to. You're the ones I can get a phone call from and say, John,
what do you think of this, of what this guy is saying? Well,
that's something else. And I don't want to go into any
details about that. But a family member calls me
and asks me these things. Or I sit at the table with my
loved one. And we talk about the Lord in
certain things. Do you get it? Do you get it?
We're family. This is where family comes together
and meets and worships our Lord. Thirdly, this is a place where
the Lord Jesus Christ meets with His people. This is where He
comes and meets with us. He says where two or three are
gathered in His name. Kathy quoted that very thing
this morning. We were talking about another
brother's church that when he travels, he just shuts down. There's not even enough people
that attend His church for Him to call a minister in. They can't
afford it. We've got two ministers coming
to visit us in seven days. God has blessed us over this
last year. We've been able to save up enough
money we can pay for it all, and we'll be kind of broke afterwards. And maybe He'll bring in enough
monies while people are here. We never want to count on that,
except for that He will provide what we need. And He's provided
what we need. But could you imagine if it was just us right here,
right now? I told Kathy, I said, sometimes
this dear brother has to pay for the lights himself. Kathy
and I are prepared to do that if that's necessary. This is
where God's people come to meet. And it doesn't matter how many
of us there are, as long as there's two or three. Kathy and I count
as two, you know that? One more. One more. That's all we need. And we got
it. Our Lord meets with us right here, you folks. How does He
meet with us? Right here in His Word. Right
here in His Word. This is who I am. I'm God Almighty
is what He tells to us. I rule over everything. And I
love to hear that from my Lord, don't you? Fourthly, this is
where the Lord This is the place where God deals with men and
women. He deals with us. Pastor Clay Curtis once told
me, he said, John, I don't answer people's questions about God
outside of the pulpit. He goes, when we have some issue
going on in the church and somebody comes to me, he goes, well, how
do I deal with this? You know, just be patient, is what he says. He says, be patient. Trust me. The Lord will speak to you through
his preaching of his word. And he has. Clay Curtis has been
a pastor over there in Ewing, New Jersey now for, I think he
said 17, 18, 18 years, something like that now. He's not as old
as I am, so it can't be that long. He's a younger man by at
least 10 years, I think. He said it's never failed where
the Lord would answer a question from the congregation through
a message either one or two weeks later, Well, sometimes a little
bit longer. This is the place where God deals
with man. Look over at 1 Corinthians 3. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
3. Let's look at some verses there
for just a moment. This is where God deals with
His people. This is where He approaches us
and speaks with us. Look here at verse 16 and 17
of 1 Corinthians 3. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God? This is verse 16 of 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God, what? Dwelleth in you. Look at 17. If any man defile
the temple of God, he shall God destroy, for the temple of God
is holy. Which temple ye are. This is where He comes to us
and deals with our hearts. I hear a brother say, help thou
mine unbelief. I believe. Well, what is God
doing? He's dealing with that man's
heart right now, giving him assurance in His Word that this God is
true and living today, sitting on His throne this very moment.
This is where our hope is. This is where our peace is. This
is where our salvation is. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at one more verse if you would with me over 1 Timothy.
Just to the left of Hebrews a couple of pages. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Paul writing under the inspiration
to Timothy, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he says, but
if I tarry long in verse 15. that thou mayest know how thou
oughtest behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth." You seek
the truth? You want to know the truth? What's
going on around us in the world around us? The chaos that we
face every day? God deals with us in seeking
that truth in His Word. In all the ages, the people of
God have known and identified by their public gatherings of
worship. Wherever God has had a people
in this world, He has had a congregation to worship Him. Sheep are always
found in flocks. The only sheep who are alone
are those who are either lost or sick. God's elect are sheep. These dear ladies in Utah and
Arizona, This dear man who joins us from Kansas. They have no
other place to go. They join us here. I asked our
brother over there in Kansas once, I said, do you go to worship
anywhere? He said, John, there ain't nobody around here that
preaches anything like you do. What's the difference? What do
I preach that's different than in the church across the street?
I preach about the sovereign God. I preach about the One who
is not waiting for you to make up your mind to follow Him. He's
coming to you and making you willing in the day of His power. All power belongeth unto Him. I'm teaching about the One who
shed His blood, His perfect righteous blood, and it effectually saved
every single one for whom He desired it to save. And if that's
me, If I'm the one that He shed His blood for, I'm saved. No ifs, no ands, no maybes, no
buts. I'm His. I am His and He is mine. From the beginning of the Bible
to the end, there's a clear line of succession in this matter
of public worship. Cain and Abel came to worship
God in a public assembly. They came together. They weren't
separate. Cain wasn't over here and Abel
over here. No, they came together. Cain
brought the wrong offering, and the Lord had no respect for his
offering, but they still came together, didn't they? So we
see from the beginning of the Bible, the Lord teaches where
His people come together. This is what the house of God
is all about, to come together. Public worship is one identifying
is an identifying mark of true believers. What are you doing
this weekend? I'm going to church. Why? Because I worship God on
Sunday. That's why. My family's gathering
together on Sunday. That's why. I've been in this
crazy world for a week now. I need some truth. I need some
sanity. I need something of a surety. That's why we come together.
The neglect of public worship, and I'll make this our last point,
the neglect, the neglect of coming together in public worship is
the first sign of apostasy. It's coming, it's leaving what's
most important to me and saying there's something else more important.
Golf, baseball, football, camping, whatever. Why did we go looking
for a church that Sunday Fort Bragg, because we needed to worship
our Lord. The beautiful waves and the beautiful
coastline of Fort Bragg wasn't good enough. It didn't fill the
needs of my soul. The first step, the neglect of
public worship, is the first step towards total apostasy. Seldom do men and women turn
away from Christ and his gospel, his gospel grace, suddenly. Very rarely do they just walk
away from it, unless it was never a gospel to them. We know of
some just like that, don't we? This is what I can't understand
about Michael Smith. He says he never left the gospel,
that the gospel has always been with him, even though he worshiped
alone. Really, I don't get that. I don't
get that at all. How somebody can leave a gospel
ministry if they still, if they believe the truth in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Apostasy is usually so gradual
that those who forsake Christ do not even realize that they're
leaving Him. How many there are who never
attend or seldom attend the worship of God who yet foolishly presume
they are children of God? They continue forsaking the assembly
of God's saints And we see it as proof that they really never
knew the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith. Turn over to 1
John 2, and I'll bring this to a close. How can I answer for
those who would walk away from the Gospel? In 1 John 2, we read
these words in verse 19. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, They
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Those who willingly neglect the
assembly of God's saints of public worship, though they know the
truth of God, tread underfoot the Son of God. Those who hear
the truth, and they know it as the truth, doesn't mean they
know the grace of Christ. Not all, who know the truth,
following. They count the blood of God,
the covenant of God, as a useless thing. I don't need that. I've
got it once. Okay, I'm good with it. I know
a man who used to attend these very services right here at Rescue.
Now he attends nowhere. I worked with him at FedEx. Not
James, another man. He claims to know the Lord, yet
he has no desire to meet and worship where God's people meet
and worship. None at all. I would have to
say that man doesn't know the Lord at all. Because this man
who does know the Lord, I couldn't be anywhere else. You might be
able to go somewhere else, but I can't. Some of you folks have
come to me at times and said, one hour a week is not enough,
John. Can we do something else? Can we do something more? Can
we just listen, get together on a Friday night and just listen
to somebody else preach? That was what gave me the inspiration
to start back up again and have our Friday night services. One
of the saints of God came to me and told me, John, I need
more. I need the Lord. I need to gather with God's people,
with my family. And we did. And I believe the
Lord is still blessing that saint. and the rest of us as well. Amen.