Turn with me to Hebrews 10. Hebrews
10. Let's read verses 23 through
25. Hebrews 10, 23 through 25. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering, for He is faithful. And let us consider one another
to evoke 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. Pray with me. Our Lord and our God, again, we say as our brother
has already prayed on our behalf, we thank
You for bringing us here. We thank You for this another
blessed opportunity to come and sit and read Your Word together
with Your people, to hear it proclaimed, to sing these hymns
of worship to call upon You in prayer, to worship. Thou art worthy. And we ask You,
Lord, that You would send Your Holy Spirit, whom we just sang. We ask that You would send Him,
the Heavenly Dove, and these cold hearts of ours, and kindle
a flame of sacred love. We grovel here below. We try
to rise up, but without Thy Holy Spirit, we cannot worship. We cannot have our minds and
hearts set on things above. We're earthbound creatures. But if you, by Your Spirit, rest
our hearts and thoughts and attention for a little while, let us watch
with Thee and look forward and hasten Your coming. Ask, Lord,
that You would Bless Your Word here and everywhere Your people
meet tonight. Bless Your church. Hedge it about. Bind it together in this love
for You and one another. And call out Your sheep. We pray
for the meeting coming up, Lord, that You might bring these men
here safely. And bless the Word It goes forth
from here. Bring someone here to hear it.
This Lord's Day, we pray for Brother Gabe, Brother Mahan,
the meaning that Georgia may be for your glory, the good of
your church there, the praise of your great son's name. And
again, we ask for your presence. We pray that you would make us
Persevere in faith. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. As I said Sunday, this is an urgent
exhortation, an urgent message. As you read with me, and you
are familiar with these verses, To all who profess faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, to lay hold, that means to grab hold of your
only hope. Lay hold of the hope that is
set before us. The profession of our faith is
Christ Himself. He is the one we profess to believe
and love and trust. Lay hold of Him. Hold fast. That means hang on tight. Not
let go. for anyone or anything. And he
says we need to consider one another. We need to always be
considering one another. Remember Job. The Lord turned
his captivity when he prayed for his friends. We need to consider
one another to provoke, to urge. Provoke in a good way. Provoke
to love. Provoke to love the Lord, number
one. You do love the Lord, don't you?
I know you do. Well, this is how we grow to
love Him. When we're here and we hear about
Him, the more you hear about Him, the more you're around somebody,
the more you fellowship with somebody, the more you grow to
love them, don't you? You can't love anybody unless
you spend time with them. That's true with the Lord and
it's true with one another. We provoke one another to love
one another. We provoke one another in every
other way, in a bad way, don't we? Being sons of Adam. But we
need to try to make one another love one another. And that takes the grace of God
to provoke one another to love and to good works. The main thing
is this labor of love in the service of our Lord, in the service
of His church. Good work. I remember the Lord
said of that woman who anointed His head with the alabaster bottle,
she hadn't done a good work. What must we do to do the works
of God? They asked Christ. He said, this
is the work of God. You believe on Christ. Serve
His people. Christ said, do this unto My
people. Provoke one another unto love
and good works. In verse 25, not forsaking the
assembly of ourselves, together to worship and fellowship. Now,
some do, sadly. Some do. But to urge one another
more and more, he said. Exhorting one another. Urging
one another. Don't quit. So much the more. I've told that story, Brother
Don, Bill, and I, going up the peaks of honor so many times,
but I don't know of a better illustration. I only have so
many. You know, we're going to tell
it anyway. But you remember, don't you?
We were both walking up that mountain, and he'd get tired,
and he said, let's go back. I said, no. We've come this far. Let's go a little further. And
then I'd get tired, and I'd say, let's go back. He said, no. We've come this far, and we went
on and on like that. The whole time, we were talking
about the Lord, talking about the Scripture. And when we finally
got up there, a mile and a quarter or so uphill, you've been there,
we forgot all about the climb. Forgot all about the weariness
and the journey, because the view was so wonderful. And we
sat up there and just had the best time we could. And so it
will be with us. This is seemingly a long journey,
seemingly a hard uphill climb, but it's really not very long
now. It's short. The time is short, as some of
you old folks can attest to. And we need to exhort one another,
urge one another so much more as you see the day approaching. What day? The Scriptures talk
so much about that day. The day of the Lord. The day
we're waiting on. The day all of God's people are
waiting on. Our redemption. The redemption
of our bodies, our souls, together, when the Lord comes. The return
of our Lord, that's what we're waiting on. So much more as you
see the day approaching. You do see the day approaching,
don't you? Only the believers do. That day,
Paul says, is not going to surprise God's people. It's going to come
on the world unaware, because they're not looking for them,
and they don't see the signs. But we do, don't we? It's so clear. Margaret was bemoaning
the state of things today. We worry about our children,
our daughter up there at the university, and how bad things
are. She began to talk about the way
things are. And I said, Marvin, you just
quoted 2 Timothy 3. Perilous times. I mean, lovers
of self. Lovers of pleasure more than
God. Lovers of self. Proud, heady, high-minded, boasters,
covetous, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
violent, so on and so forth. Have a form of God in them. She
was saying those things. And so you see the day Now those
things have always been in this world. Those things. But they've never been so widespread
except before the flood. Our Lord said that in Genesis
6. He said, He looked and the whole earth was filled with violence. The whole earth, He said, had
corrupted His way. That's the truth. They have corrupted it, twisted
it. And our Lord in Matthew 24 talked about wars and rumors
of war. Well, those have always gone
on, but more widespread than ever. Earthquakes, famines, hurricanes. You'd have to be blind not to
notice these things. And the world is blind, but we're
not. We've seen those things. Sky is red and glowing. We've
talked about false prophets and all these things. That's what
the Lord told us to look for. And they said the gospel will
be preached in all the world, in every nation, for a witness
then shall the end come. And there's never been a time
where the gospel had inroads into everywhere in the world,
DIA computers. If it's good for anything, that's
about it. But now, have they not all heard? Barely. The sound has gone throughout
the world. So the end of the world, that
day, is very near. But the beginning, it's just
the beginning of the new one. new heaven and new earth for
God's people. That's a wonderful thing. And as I've said so many
times, for your comfort and consolation, especially you young people,
children and so forth, there will be no fear, no trepidation,
there's no need to worry because it's going to be like that. In a moment, the twinkling of
an eye will change. They won't be any, oh no, fear,
get my babies. No, no. He'll get your babies. Instant glory. That's what our
Lord said. It's not long now. Lift up your
heads. Behold, our redemption draweth nigh. That's good news. So this is a good exhortation.
But it's full of warnings, isn't it? Hebrews. The whole book of Hebrews is
an urgent message. That gives warning, after warning,
after warning, things like this. And it's to the Hebrew, it's
to the Israelites, because they were the professing believers.
They were the professed people of God. So it was to them, preaching
tonight, not to the world, but to you, professing believers.
And the Lord, throughout Hebrews, warned and urged those Hebrews. Why? Because many, it says, forsook
the Lord. Many were overcome in the wilderness. And we will too. We will too. But by the grace of God. Unless
we give heed. Hear, he said, hear His voice
today. Harden your heart. He goes on
to say things like this. Don't let these things slip.
Oh, don't let these things slip. Don't let it slide. It's too
important. Don't neglect. It's so great
a salvation. Neglect. Neglect your car. Neglect your house. Neglect anything
but this. It goes on to say, if we hold
fast, we're His house, we're His people. If we hold fast.
If. It says, harden not. Harden not your heart. We harden
our own heart by not being under the sound of the Word. I look
around here, and there's people that are generally here when
you can be here. That's good. But it didn't happen
to any of us. Again, we all get so busy. We're flesh. And we're tempted
by the flesh, and we always will be. And it's happened to better
people than me. A lot better people. Paul said of Demas, who was his
constant companion, He heard Paul preach. I said, demons have
forsaken that. He loved the world. He loved
the world. Take heed. He said, take heed. Hear and do what the Scripture
says, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
and forsaken, departing from the living God. He said, let
us fear. It says things like this. Let
us fear. Talk to believers. Let us labor. Put in some effort to enter into
this ray. Let us come boldly. Come! You better come boldly. Let us
draw near. Let us hold fast. Let us lay
aside the weight of sin that is so easily set up. Let us go
forth unto Him without a camp. Let us. Let us. Let us, shall
we? Let us. Let us consider one another,
not forsake. This is urgent. Verse 26. He
said, If we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Now, some
have wrongly used this, not grace preachers, but false preachers
use this to scare people. After you say that you willfully
sin, then you're lost. There's a little bit of willfulness
in every sin we commit. Right? Except maybe presumption
sins, or secret sins you're not aware of. In the context, he's
talking about, I believe, Not being under the sound of
the word. Leaving the gospel. Apostasy. Apostate is the word meaning
going away, departing. I've said this before. People
don't just miss Christ like they miss a bus or a train or miss
a ship. No, no, no, no. They're like
Judas or Demas. For the love of money and the
world, they sell it. Our Lord said this, what will
a man give in exchange for his soul? That's what people do.
That's what we all do if the Lord doesn't keep us. We sin
willingly. We make a choice. We do what
we want to do. No. We go where we want to go.
No. Yes, we do. We make choices.
And so He's just warning us as responsible people. If we leave
Christ and the Gospel, verse 26, there is no more sacrifice
for sin. Cannot presume that there will
be mercy for us if we leave. Cannot presume that. I'll leave
and I'll come back later. a grip on it, you know, and conveniences. I don't know. No, it wasn't there
for him. It's too late. Too late. And we'd no more sacrifice. But
a fearful looking for judgment, fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversaries. Adversaries, if we're not with
him, if we don't gather with him, we're scattering. Right? He that despised Moses' law,
verse 28, would have died without mercy unto two or three witnesses.
Now how much sore punishment shall he be thought worthy to
have trodden underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood
of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, or supposed to
have been, professed to be sanctified, an unholy thing, a common thing,
but despite, or despised, They're not thought much of the spirit
of grace. Jeremiah was a sinner. Is it
nothing to you, all you that pass by? That's bad enough. Nothing to you. Just don't give
God love. That's bad enough. It's worse
for those who did to leave and walk on by and to trot underfoot. That blood they once called precious,
and now the careless have it. So he said, how much sorer punishment.
Because we've brought greater reproach on the Lord Himself.
Verse 30 and 31. Now we know that Him that has
said, vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge His people. Peter
said this one time. He said, time has begun. that
judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first began
at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel
of God, if the righteous scarcely be saved? In other words, our
Lord said this, since John preached to the prophets, the kingdom
of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force,
like Jacob. Jacob said, I will not shoot. Now a man laid a hold of him.
Had that not happened, Jacob would have perished. But when
that man laid hold of him, what did he do? He laid hold back of him. He grabbed hold with all his
might. Saw him as his only hope from being blessed, being saved
from his enemies. He said, I will not let you go.
Now that's a good I will. I will not let you go unless
you bless me, until you bless me. Paul said, I haven't arrived
yet. He said, I haven't arrived yet,
but this one thing I do, I rest. I used to play basketball in
school, you know. Joseph, I wasn't too tall, as
you might guess. Still not. But I was tenacious. That's the reason I got started.
And I was pretty good on defense. They wanted the ball. I was all
over that fella. Give me that ball. Press. Full
court. Press. Give it to me. Give it. Well, that's a silly
illustration, Nathan. Press. He said, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. in Christ. It's a pressing matter. It's
an urgent matter. And the Bible's taking it. Those
sincerely interested that lay hold like Jacob will not let
go by his grave if we hold fast. That's what he keeps saying over
and over again. If we hold fast. If we hang on tight. We're going to find out if we
do. Why? Why did we? Because he held us. We can't blame Him. We give Him the glory if we don't. We blame ourselves if we believe. It says the Lord shall judge
His people, and it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God. Fear of the Lord, we looked at
that in Psalm 19. Fear of the Lord is clean. Fear
of the Lord is a good thing. Always. Fear of the Lord. Fear
of departing. He said, let him that thinketh
he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Let us fear. Let us fear
to fear. Because it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remember. Now here he says, remember the
former days. Verse 32. Call to remember the
former days. The early days. In the early
days, when you first heard the Gospel, when the Lord first revealed
Himself to you, it seemed like nothing mattered but the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nothing mattered but hearing
the Gospel. Nothing was more important than
worship. Nothing. It's like first love. You remember
that, don't you? You remember those days when
you were dying, don't you, Stan? Sherry? Ninety years ago? He had a head full of hair. You remember those days. Climbed
the highest mountains, swam the deepest sea, stayed, didn't need
sleep, lived on love and kisses. Well, that first love is what
the Lord said the church at Ephesus lost, left, left, got away from. Something else got their attention. Got too busy or whatever. The
world is always a game. And that first love though is
such a zeal, such a desire, such a hunger and thirst after the
gospel. Every message you heard was the best. Wasn't it? That's the greatest message I
ever heard. Just because a man said grace and mercy, you thought,
great. He said, remember that. I ought
to remember the former days, verse 32, which after you were
illuminated, your eyes opened, you were watchful, and you endured
a great fight of afflictions. There was persecution. He was
zealous for the truth. I, on the railroad, confronted
every person that I worked with. Wrongly, most of the time, most
of the time, I took his sword, and like Peter, I was aiming
not to save them, but to cut them with their heads off. Nevertheless,
there's that early zeal, and for some reason, you get away
from them. That's not good. Persecution,
rejection, and hatred. It didn't matter to me then.
It didn't matter. The whole world hated you. They
laughed at you. Verse 32 says, verse 33, they
made a gazing stock by reproaches and afflictions. Laughed at.
They called you brainwashed. You're in a cult. Has nearly everybody heard that?
You're in a cult. What denomination? Well, not
really anyone. Oh, then you're a cult. No. We just believe like the Early
church did. There was no denomination. It
was just a church. And you endured this being a
gazing stock, reproaches and affliction. You became companions
of them that were so used. You lost all your friends. And
that's alright. You've got better ones. You've
got true friends. A true family. And they were
used and abused just like you. Remember, he said that to the
Thessalonians, this is a token, a manifest token of God's righteous
judgment with you, that you endured this hatred. Because he said,
you will be hated. And read on. He said, and you
had compassion of me and my bonds, took joyfully the spoiling of
your goods, meaning that they loved the preacher. Loved the preacher. supported the gospel, gave money,
time, labor, considered it a high honor and a privilege, knowing
that all this stuff, verse 34, knowing in yourselves that you
have in heaven a better and enduring substance, that this stuff down
here is just that. Stuff. Looking for better than
that. But you know something? We all
kind of lose that, don't we? Everybody in here is honest,
he'll say that, especially older believers. So there's a danger
of being overcome in this wilderness of this world, so the need for
this urgent message. So he says, verse 35, don't cast
away your content. Don't throw it all away. In the
context of the whole book of Hebrews that led up to them,
He's talking about Christ being all. And don't go back to the
law. Don't go back to any legal thing
like that. That Christ is all. We have a
great high priest. The blood is on the mercy seat. We have boldness. Access to the
Father. And that's your comfort. That's your
comfort. We come boldly. In full assurance
of the faith. Remember that? Full assurance.
I'm a sinner and He's the Savior. But those two things you can
be sure of. And this is a faithful saint. He came to save sinners. So that's our confidence. Our confidence. Hold it steadfast. Fastly unto the end. Because
it has great recompense of reward. Great recompense. It does not
yet appear what we shall. I have not seen. That is, we've
never really seen. It goes on to say we have seen
by His Spirit. We have seen for the eye of faith. Someday, like Job said, I'm going
to see God. You know, every now and then
we get a glimpse of His glory, don't we? We get a glimpse. Somebody
says to me, or whoever is preaching, you made Him real to me today.
Well, He is real. A real person in whom we live
and move and have our... Someday we're actually going
to... And you know how great it is, how glorious it is, when
you just get a brief fleeting glimpse of His glory, and you
just... Like Peter, oh, let's build three
tabernacles, you know, this is wonderful. Ain't what's going
to be like Barbara when we actually see Him. That's why there's going
to be silence in heaven. All those people silent. Why? Because their mouths are open. Gazing at Him who loved us and
washed us from our sins with His own blood. Eye hath not seen,
ear hath not heard. Paul said, And He came back. Not, I saw a thing, but I heard
a thing. And the hearing, this is our
great blessing now, is to hear. Hearing to see. And when we really
hear, boy, it goes down in our heart. And did not our... Well,
I got the disciples and said, did not our hearts burn within
us as He opened up the Scriptures, by the way? But that was what we're going
to hear. Him who spake like no man. Voices
like many waters, singing in perfect harmony. Holy, holy,
holy. All God's people, ear hath not
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath prepared for them that love him. And all of God's people,
it's great recompense. They all are recompensed. This is what fathers do, don't
they? Give to their children when their children really didn't
give much. They're just giving back what the Father gave them. They're not giving anything.
Yet the Father is so righteous to reward any sacrifice or whatever. Recompense. What are we being
recompensed for? That's what He said. Any sacrifice. Nobody is forsaken houses or
land or home or anything like that. There will be recompense.
A great recompense of reward. And let me remind you. That the
Scriptures doesn't talk about rewards. Never. Never. It's always singular. Reward. Wow. We all get one thing. That's what we want now. Christ
Himself. He is our reward. Like marriage,
you know. When you fall in love and you
get married, you're not interested in houses and lands and all that.
You're interested in that person. Right? I saw it on your face,
Sammy, coming down the aisle. That was her. It was like nobody
else was here. She wanted her. And that's the
bride for him. Looking for him. And he for us.
So it says you have a great reward coming to him. You have need, verse 36, of patience. Patient, or the Roman, uh, uh,
providentially read Romans 5, it spoke of patience, didn't
it? Tribulation, work of patience. Trials, all of these things we
go through, work of patience. What is patience? Waiting on
the Lord. Waiting on the Lord. Submitting to His providence.
Submitting to His sovereignty. And patience, work of experience. You experience His Word, the
truth of His Word. You experience it. You go through.
You wait, and you see. And you actually know by experience,
don't you? And an experience gives you hope.
That's the way it works. James said, let patience have
its perfect word. Because that patience will give
you experience, and experience will give you hope. We have need
of patience to wait on the Lord. Wait! You know, we're like children. How long, Lord? John read that. Psalm 13. He said it six times. How long? How long? How long? How long? How long? Remember
Steve? He'd take a trip somewhere. Kids
in the back seat. He'd leave Rocky Mountain to
get to Boone's Mill. They'd say, how much further? Can't wait at all. Have no patience.
How long, Lord? How long? It won't be long now. It won't be long. A little while,
verse 37, just a little while, sure is shorter now than it was
before. A little while, He that shall
come will come. He said He's faithfully promised. 2 Peter 3, they scoff and mock
and say, where's the promise of His coming? Everything continued
like it was. Oh no, it's not. Can't you see? He said, they're willingly ignorant
of these things. They don't see it. They're blind.
No, no. Everything's clearly pointed
to His coming. God is not slack concerning His promise to usward.
But He's long-suffering to usward, not willing that any of His people
should perish, but all should come to repent. In a little while,
He shall come. Paul said the trumpet will sound. It shall sound. And He will not
tarry. Now, the just shall live by faith. Justified, sanctified, the just,
those who believe God, believe Christ is counted unto them for
righteousness like Abraham, they're justified from all things. But they cannot be justified
by the law. They are wholly unblameable and
unapprovable. in God's sight by faith, by looking
to Christ. And they live by that faith.
They live with God. They're going to live with God.
They have this new life. And they have this life. We're
going to have to live by faith. Walk, talk, eat, drink a life
of faith. Look into Him. That's what He's
going to go on to say in the next two chapters. The next two
chapters, one of my favorite, if not my favorite. It gives all of these examples
of people just like us. I can't wait to get back to them.
All these glorious examples of people just like us who lived
by faith. They didn't see God. They didn't
hear His voice. Just like us, they had to live
by faith on His Word. Now, every one of them, he says,
died in faith, and they're all right now with the Lord. Great
cloud of witnesses to His faithfulness, to His promises. He that promises,
He's faithful. Cannot lie. I can promise you
something, and I might not do it. He can't. It's not possible. You can depend on Him. You need to. He says, now, if
any man draw back, And may we say with Peter, to
whom would we go? Where would we go? Draw back
to what? The Lord made it plain that the Israelites were so foolish
that they wanted to go back to Egypt, back to the slime beds. It would be like a man on a dunghill
raised up to sit among princes and think, I think I'd go back. Why would you want to do that? They said, we want those leeks
and onions. Milk and honey, flowing with
milk and honey. We're in Dwelleth, right? Leeks
and onions? Stinky stuff! I was fools. Why go back? Any
man does, God says, my soul shall have no pleasure in him or her.
No pleasure. And that's a mild way of putting
it. Well, if God be for us, how wonderful if He was against us.
Oh, but I like this. It ends up on a good note, that
but. Our salvation is in the word
but. but God, but we are not of them
who draw back to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. So, He exhorts us to exhort one
another so much more as you see the day approaching. You do see
it, don't you? We need to be looking for it.
and not sleep as to others, but look for it, hasten it, talk
about it. The more you talk about it, the
more we gather to hear about it and look into it, the more
real it is, the more we look forward to it, and the more we
urge one another, exhort one another, as we see the day approaching. And I really do believe He's
going to come back when His people are meeting together. I really
do. They were standing and watching
him go, meeting him together, and he said that his soul come
and life matters. He's seeing him go. And I believe he's going
to come with God's people, his true people, meeting together,
singing his praises, and he's going to... When we're dead, he's going to arrive,
Joe and Ellen, and Virgie and all of them are going to live,
and Becky and all of them are going to rise first. But then
we're going to meet him in the air, meet the Lord. We'll be
with him forever. That'll be wonderful. Amen. Our Lord, we thank You so much
for Your Word that is sure, firm, exceeding precious promises that
we lean upon and trust in. Your Word, the Word of God who
promised eternal life. God who cannot lie. Christ who
is. Life said, He that heareth My
word, believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, shall
not come into condemnation. He is passed from death unto
life. We've heard it. We believe it. By Your grace,
Lord, we ask that You would keep us believing. Keep us holding
fast our confidence, steadfast unto the end. Keep us, Lord.
Preserve us to that day. is our prayer. And let us exhort
one another, urge one another, lean together, tell a ship together,
talk about these things. Our conversation may be in heaven,
a heavenly thing. And we've met here tonight. We
pray, we hope, to the praise of the glory of thy grace. It's
in Christ's name we ask these things. Amen.