Well, I haven't finished the
series going through the minor prophets, but I just want to
continue from Haggai chapter 2 with a little bit more expansion
of it this week, and move over to Hebrews, because of course
the book of Hebrews, the epistle to the Hebrews, is that which
makes the implicit truth of the Old Testament and its sacrifices
absolutely explicit. Couldn't be clearer. When Peter
was reading it before, you must have been thinking, I'm sure
you've read it many times, but every time you read it, it's
like, wow, why don't people see this? Why don't people see that
this is the case? Anyway, so what I want to do
is to consider the purpose of all religion. The purpose of
all religion is to give the followers of the religion assurance about
heaven, about life after death. Assurance comes in many ways. There's religious groups that
say, if you are very good at adhering to the rules of this
religion, then you will have heavenly peace. Of course, you'd
better not slip up in any way. you need to attend certain places,
you need to attend certain buildings, you need to go on pilgrimage,
you need to be in a particular place, you know, there's a lot
of history of pilgrimages and pilgrims going here, there and
everywhere, because fulfilling that obligation of your religion,
ah, that gives you heavenly peace, it gives you assurance that if
you've done that, you will be alright when it comes to death.
Oh, you must be careful what you wear. You can only wear particular
clothes. You have to be dressed in a particular
way. Your women can only be seen out
in public when they're completely covered from head to foot. Fail
on that, and I'm sorry, your assurance about eternity is very,
very suspect. You must only eat certain things,
and oh, there's a whole load of things that you must avoid.
You mustn't eat that food, you mustn't drink that drink, you
mustn't do this thing and you mustn't do that thing. However
good you are at doing those things, or abstaining from those things,
that's good for you in eternity, is what they say. They even go
to the extent of completing mad challenges. I don't know if you
remember, but I suppose it was about 20 years ago now, but there
was an Indian guy in India who attained world fame in pursuit
of his religion because he thought it gave him favour with God if
he rolled along the ground. And apparently he rolled for
miles and miles and miles and miles and miles. Unbelievable!
Because he thought that if he did that, that made God say,
I'm pleased with you. That's an exceptional thing you've
done. You're going to be all right
in heaven. But you know, none of it, none of it satisfies God's
requirements. What are God's requirements?
I can tell you simply. If you turn over a couple of
pages from Hebrews 9 to Hebrews 12 and verse 14, We're told to
follow, let me turn over there, we're told to follow peace, pursue
peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord. You must have holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord. You must be as holy as God is. You must be as holy as God is.
Perfect. A good effort is never good enough. Do you know there's lots of religions
that call themselves Christian, and they say, well we know you
can't be perfect like God, but God has to see that you're sincerely
making a good effort, and then he'll accept you. No he won't.
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. The Christian
gospel, the scriptures are clear. It is possible to have what Hebrews
10.22 calls the full assurance of faith. It is possible to be
fully assured The full assurance of faith, that you have peace
with God. Hell-deserving sinners, which
is what we all are by nature, by birth, by practice, by speech,
by everything. Hell-deserving sinners assured
of peace with God. Isn't that a good thing to know?
Peace with God. Where we're naturally enemies.
He is holy, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot
look upon sin. And yet it's possible for we
who are sinners, and rebels, and aliens from the Kingdom of
God by nature, and the enemies of God, and what the Scripture
calls enmity against God, it is possible to have peace with
God. And the only thing that gives
that assurance of peace with God. Don't you want that peace
with God? Don't you want to know that when
you lie down to go to sleep, you have peace with God if He
takes your soul this night like He did that man in the parable?
and whose things will those be then? If he takes you this night,
you have peace with God. The only thing that gives that
assurance of peace with God is the remission of sins. Look at
verse 22. We're in Hebrews 9, so stay in
Hebrews 9. In Hebrews 9, verse 22, almost
all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. You can't get rid of sin without
the shedding of blood. And it's only the shedding of
blood. And blood, the Old Testament
tells us, the life is in the blood. It's the life. The law,
the justice, the holiness of God demands that the soul that
sins, it shall die. It shall lose its life. And the
life is in the blood. The blood must be shed. That
is the only thing that satisfies the demands of divine justice,
that says this soul that has sinned against the being and
person of God, who fills everywhere and everything, unavoidable,
the only thing is the shedding of blood. The soul that sins,
it shall die. But not just any blood. It must
be the blood of which Peter writes in his first epistle, chapter
1 and verse 18. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed you were not paid for, you were not bought
from your position of condemnation and slavery to sin. You are not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, because however
permanent silver and gold are, eventually they tarnish and they
will pass away. No, you're not redeemed with
those things from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers. What does do it? The precious
blood of Christ. as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, the precious blood of Christ. That alone gives
the full assurance of faith. That is my text this morning,
Hebrews 10.22. Hebrews 10.22 says this, Let us draw near to God with
a true heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water,
made pure like God is pure, let us approach, let us draw near
with a true heart in the full assurance of faith. So the full
assurance of faith is my text this morning, but How shall we
obtain the full assurance of faith? How shall you and I, who
are sinners living this life, knowing that the day is approaching
when we will die, when we will leave this life, knowing that
for sure, how will we have that full assurance of faith? How
will we obtain it? Now last week, We were in the
prophet Haggai, those two chapters before Zechariah. Haggai chapter
2 and verse 9. And in Haggai chapter 2, just
if you can turn there, do so, but it doesn't matter. We were
looking, the text was the glory of this latter house, chapter
2 verse 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater
than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts. And in this place
will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. What's he talking
about? Well, they were rebuilding the
temple that the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, had destroyed.
Which temple? The temple that Solomon built.
David wanted to build it, but couldn't because he was a man
of bloodshed, said God. So his son Solomon built the
temple, and it was glorious to behold. They said it was so magnificent,
you just would be amazed at how beautiful it was. And the things
that went on there was such a glorious picture of God's salvation of
his people. And it was destroyed because
of the idolatry, and they were taken away into 70 years' captivity.
But then, exactly as God prophesied, they came back and they started
to rebuild, Zerubbabel and Joshua, they started to rebuild with
all the people, and it was a very dispiriting task. and they got
so far and opposition arose and things got more and more difficult
and in verse 3 of chapter 2, the Prophet, God asks via the
Prophet Haggai, who is left among you, you lot laboring here, that
saw this house in her first glory? Is there any of you that were
a little boy, let's say, when you saw Solomon's temple before
it was destroyed? Wasn't it a glorious place? And
now we're trying to rebuild it. How do you see it now? How do
you see what you're doing? Is it not in your eyes? Look
at it, look at it. By comparison, it's nothing,
it's not a patch on it, it doesn't come close. And you know we read
in Ezra chapter 3 and verse 12 that there was a great shout
of joy when they'd laid the foundations. This was the young ones who'd
never seen the old temple, but the old ones who'd seen it as
it was and they saw this and they thought, is this it? Is
this all there is? And they wept greatly. In your
eyes, is it not as nothing compared with Solomon's temple? It was
made glorious, this temple, when it was finished. It was finished,
it was topped off. It was made glorious when God
walked in it. How did God walk in it? The Lord
Jesus Christ came. He was circumcised there as a
baby. He argued with the elders there when he was 12 years old.
Throughout his ministry he taught there. He drove out the money
changers. He performed miracles. He did
all of these things. God walked there in Christ and
therefore that made that pile of stones, that replacement inferior
pile of stones, more glorious than the one that had gone before.
But What that pile of stones pictured was the true temple
where God would dwell among his people. What's the true temple
where God dwells with His people? It's His church. And that church
goes on into His heaven. It's His kingdom. It's the New
Jerusalem. That's the kingdom of God. That
is the latter house which is more glorious. In 1 Corinthians
3 and verse 16, Know ye not that ye, you believing people, you
Christians, you church, you are the temple of God. It's not a
building, it's a company of people, believing people. You are the
temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. That's
where God dwells with his people, and his people with God. It's
in the context of the church, the believing people of God.
Grace is God's chief glory, as we saw last week. Exodus 33,
18, Moses said to the Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord showed
him his grace. He said, I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. I will be compassionate to who
I will be compassionate. This is sovereign grace, and
that is his greatest glory. That God, who is holy, should
save sinful people from their sins, that they might populate
his kingdom. on the basis of justice satisfied. You know, Satan, the accuser
of the brethren, tried to accuse that they were not there justly,
but Christ came and died. Who shall lay any charge to God's
elect? Christ has died. He's paid the
penalty. There is no charge sheet outstanding.
There is nothing that can be held against them. Satan, the
accuser of the brethren, is cast down. He's cast out of heaven.
He cannot accuse anymore, because his argument has lost all validity,
because Christ came, and Christ died. As much as he tried to
stop Christ from coming, as much as he tried to destroy Christ,
he failed, and Christ was triumphant. The kingdom of God triumphant.
And that grace is displayed, that glory is displayed in New
Testament days, in the New Testament church, the true New Testament
church, not the fake, not the sham, not the one that calls
itself that, but in the true it is displayed above all else
in Gospel preaching. Because in the preaching of the
Gospel, that redemption from sin's curse accomplished by Christ
is held up and declared. Look, Christ has died for a multitude,
an innumerable multitude, and thereby they are justified for
heaven. They are qualified for the eternity
of God. And that declaration, by it the
Spirit of God calls sinners out and shows them the truth. And
seeing it, they believe it. Seeing it, they believe it. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. In true preaching, the accomplishment
of Christ in redemption by his death is lifted up for those
who hear to see by faith, and thereby the church is glorious,
thereby this latter house of the New Testament church, the
latter house, Haggai 2 verse 9. This latter house of the New
Testament church, which is the ultimate fulfillment in eternal
glory of that which God promised, it is more glorious than Solomon's
temple, or any of the rites and ceremonies, or the elaborate,
gorgeous robbery of the priesthood. Look at Hebrews 9 and verse 11.
But Christ, being come, and high priest, of good things to come
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle than the one that
went before, the Old Testament one. Not made with hands, not
built by Zerubbabel and those who laboured to put the stone
upon stone. That is to say, not of this building,
not of this building. No, it's not that. It's what
Christ has done. A greater and a more perfect
tabernacle, which is his church going on into his kingdom, where
two or three or more meet, and a man sent of God preaches God's
Word of saving grace, and where the Spirit of God takes the things
of Christ and shows them to his people, there is true glory. There is true glory. It's not
in ornate buildings. Don't think for one minute it's
in ornate buildings. I find it interesting to look
at the old cathedrals of Britain and of Europe. They're magnificent
pieces of architecture. It staggers me how on earth they
built something like Salisbury Cathedral's 30 miles up the road
from where we are now. What a magnificent building.
It's an absolutely beautiful building. And it was built when?
1200s? Something like that? They didn't have any hydraulic-powered
machinery to dig foundations, or cranes hundreds of feet high
to lift the bit. They did it all just with wooden
scaffolds, and manual labour, and wheelbarrows, and shovels,
and muscles. Magnificent, I'm fascinated by
it. But you know, not one of those buildings gets any one
person any closer to God. The glory of God is not in those
buildings, not in the slightest. The glory of God is not in those
cathedrals any more than the glory of God is in this room
as it is, per se, of itself. Do you know what makes this room
more glorious than those cathedrals and those gatherings? It's if
The Gospel of Christ is lifted up clearly. It isn't in elaborate
liturgy. It isn't in the pagan robes that
the priests put on. Do you know the Anglican priests
and the archbishops? Do you know what that robe really
is? It's the old pagan fish god, that hat like that, that mitre
thing. It's the old pagan fish god.
What they did was they combined the old superstitions with what
they thought was a new religion. It's not in priestcraft. We don't
come to God by priests. There's no priest, human priest,
makes us any closer to God. Not in the slightest. God has
given pastors and teachers to his church, but they're not the
ones to intercede for him. It's Christ who intercedes for
his people. He is the one who is the mediator
between God and man. Not a priest. What pompous, blasphemous
arrogance to think that a man dressed up in fancy pagan robes
gets you one little jot or tittle nearer to the true living God.
No! Again and again the New Testament
speaks about, as it does in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3, the simplicity that
is in Christ. I fear that you're moving away
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Christ and his church
is the true glory of God in this world and in that to come. Look
at Hebrews 8, 1 and 2. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum, this is the main point, this is the
key pivotal point. We have such a high priest. who is set on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of
the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched,
and not man." He's speaking of Christ, the priest who was the
fulfillment of all the types of the Old Testament priests.
We have such a high priest. Christ is our great high priest. He is the great mediator between
God and man. He is the one by whom we come
to God. He is the one in whom the people
of God are accepted. It's in Him, the Beloved, that
we're accepted. He is the minister of the sanctuary. He is the minister of the true
church. The Lord pitched this tabernacle, not man. The Lord
pitched it. How did he do it? Living stones.
The Holy Spirit cuts out of the quarry of humanity the stones
for the new temple of God, and it is more glorious than Solomon's
temple. Even though that was to the design
that God had given Moses, look in verse 5 of chapter 8, who
serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. As Moses
was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle,
look what God told him, he was about to make, there wasn't one
until this point, and God said to Moses, see, he saith, that
you make all things according to the pattern showed to thee
in the mount. I want you to make it exactly
as I've told you to make it. That's what Moses was told. He
made it exactly like that, yet, This more glorious house is the
gospel church of the day in which we live, ever since Christ returned
to heaven. This is the more glorious house
where the gospel of God's glory is held up and portrayed. And it is a spiritual house.
Look again in 1 Peter and chapter 2 and verse 5. You see, He says,
we're coming, verse four, he says, we're coming as believers
unto a living stone. That's Christ, the chief cornerstone
of the true temple of God. We're coming to him as a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, they reject, they stumbled over
the stumbling stone, a rock of offense, disallowed indeed of
men, but chosen of God and precious, and you also. as lively stones. You people, you believers, you're
like the living stones that make up the temple. You're built up
a spiritual house. Not a physical house of stones
that we can look at and touch, but a spiritual house. You are
a holy priesthood. You're not prancing around in
your elaborate pagan robes. You're a holy priesthood. And
you offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God. What are those?
It's thanks. for the gospel, for the redemption
accomplished by Christ in all that he has done. It isn't physical
in any way. It is a new covenant house. Look
at the new covenant in Hebrews 8 verse 6. I'm going to be spending
a lot of time in these three chapters, 8, 9, and 10 of Hebrews
this morning. He says, but now, verse 6 of
chapter 8, he hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. For if the first covenant, he's
talking about the one given to Moses for the tabernacle and
all the temple worship, if that had been faultless, then should
no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault
with them, he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. This
was given by Jeremiah. If you've got a marginal reference,
you'll see it's Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 34. I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day when I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the
land of Egypt, because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded
them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put My laws into their mind, and write them
in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall
be to Me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest,
for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and iniquities I will remember no more. This is the new covenant
of the gospel. But it's the eternal covenant.
The new covenant is the eternal covenant. It's the covenant of
grace between the persons of the Godhead. Here we have this
picture, under this new covenant, in this more glorious house which
is the church, of God communing with his people, here on earth
and into eternity. That which went before, of the
pattern of types that Moses had to make it exactly like, that
was just a design. The temple and the priests and
all of those animal sacrifices was just the pattern, the pattern,
the blueprint. I've probably told you before,
when I worked for the shipbuilder years and years ago, we used
to make nuclear submarines, and there was a fifth scale model,
probably all done in computer these days, but then there was
a fifth scale model in perspex, and a full scale model of parts
of it in wood. And it was all done so that you
could see how the real thing would work. But once the submarine
was built, and completed, and commissioned, the model served
no further purpose. You didn't take the model to
sea to defend your country, you took the submarine to sea. The
model, and I know because I've seen it happen, the model, what
does it say here down at the end in verse 13 of chapter 8? That which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. It vanished away. But like a
child, you know a child, you often see this, don't you? You
see a child who's well beyond the age of two or three years
old and still likes to suck, I think you in America call it
a comforter, we call it a dummy over here. And you see them continuing
to suck a dummy long after you think, oh, they're of an age
where they should have finished that. Well, many, many sincere folk
some with true believers among them. They love to cling to the
physical emblems of worship as if they have some currency with
God. No, it's spiritual, not physical. Hebrews was written to Jewish
believers. to true Christians, who were
struggling to see that the Old Testament religion of their fathers
was ended. The Temple was still there in
Jerusalem until A.D. 70, when the Romans destroyed
it. And some of these Jews who had
become believers or professed belief They still said we need
to carry out all the old patterns of the Jewish worship, the Old
Testament worship. And some infiltrated the true
church with their Judaizing doctrine of circumcision, etc. The Galatian
Epistle is written for that very purpose, to say how wrong it
was. But it was all destroyed in A.D. 70. Why was it destroyed then? Because God's Word said it would
be. Daniel chapter 9, we won't turn to it now, but read it.
It says quite clearly that that temple, that system was going
to be destroyed. Christ made an end of all sacrifice. He made an end of all of those
things when he died as the sacrifice for sin once for all. Jesus himself
in Matthew 24 stressed it. This is all coming down. The
temple, Jerusalem, it's all to be destroyed. The sacrifices
were going to be ended, never to be reinstated. Here we are
2,000 odd years later, and they haven't been reinstated. But
ever since, down 2,000 or so years, so-called Christianity
has clung to physically trying to recreate Old Testament symbology
and patterns. And so, we have cathedrals, we
have icons, we have priests in their robes, we have incense,
we have even the rite of circumcision but under the guise of infant
baptism in so many places. They're all things to see, they're
all things to smell, to touch, to... imbibe the atmosphere of,
to obey, to follow the rules, to do the thing that you think
is going to give you assurance of peace with God when you die.
But all along, God's word is clear. Christ and Him alone. is the only basis of full assurance. The full assurance of faith?
Christ and Him alone. There's no other basis. Why?
Because He has fulfilled everything that the physical pattern that
Moses was told to make exactly as He was told, He has fulfilled
everything that physical pattern pointed to. And this is what
Hebrews makes clear. I want to be very quick, but
just look down some of these verses, you see. In Hebrews chapter
9, He says there was this worldly sanctuary, now pick it up in
verse 2. There was a tabernacle, and it was made first, there
was a tent before the temple, wherein was the candlestick,
and that pictured the light of the world, Jesus is the light
of the world, and there was the table on which was the bread
of life, the showbread. and which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil of
the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, the holiest
of all parts of that tabernacle and temple. And in there was
the golden censer. where the incense was burned,
which speaks of Christ our intercessor with God. And there was the Ark
of the Covenant, which was that most revered box in which God
told Moses to put the emblems of the Gospel of Grace. All of
those things were in there. It was overlaid with gold. It
was made of wood which doesn't rot. It was picturing Christ
so clearly. And in it was put the pot of
manna with which God fed the people. There was the broken
law. There was the law that they'd broken. There was Aaron's rod
which budded, speaking of the power of God. And over it was
the golden mercy seat with the cherubims either side of it.
And all of these are described here, Aaron's rod that budded,
and over it the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy seat,
which we cannot, he says we haven't got time to speak of it particularly
now. Now, when these things were thus ordained, the priests went
always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of
God. That was a daily thing, morning and evening, sacrifices,
were made. They went into that temple. But
into the second, the holiest of all, went the high priest
alone once every year on the day of atonement, not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people.
The Holy Ghost This signifying that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest. There wasn't a clear way in.
Once a year, only with animal blood, while the first tabernacle
was yet standing. It was only a figure for the
time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices,
that couldn't make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. They were only symbols. They
stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal
ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation, but
Christ being come, and high priest. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem those who are under the law. God sent forth
his Son at the right time. He came, a high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
more glorious. The gospel, his church, his kingdom,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and of calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkle in the unclean, sanctify
us to the purifying of the flesh, that blood had a sanctifying
influence on the physical emblems, but look, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. You see, all of these are patterns
that are purified. Look in verse 23, it was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens, what was
that? It was the temple made on earth. That was the patterns
of things in the heavens. It was necessary that the patterns
of things in heavens should be purified with these symbols,
the bloods of animals, but the heavenly things, the truth themselves,
with better sacrifices than these. And it was done once, look in
verse 25, nor that he should offer himself often, as the high
priest entereth into the holy place every year, for then he
must often have suffered. But it's once in the end of the
world that Christ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Appointed to man to die once,
but after this the judgment, so Christ. was once offered,
not repeatedly offered, to bear the sins of many. And unto them
that look for him, he shall appear the second time without sin.
He's not going to be made sin a second time. Unto salvation.
With Christ's blood, things were purified. Because there were
limitations on the Old Testament picture, the pattern. Verse 4
of chapter 10, it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins. And he goes on to say more about
that in the verses that follow. In verses 16 to 20 of chapter
10, he repeats, 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, and I will write them. and their
sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and a living way, which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh. You see, that is the way
to God. And verse 22, verse 22, the conclusion
of it all is, let us, You believers, let us draw near with a true
heart in the full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
God is teaching his people by his Spirit which is the heavenly
revelation of divine truth. He is giving faith to discern,
to see with spiritual sight of the soul, to believe. That is
the basis of the full assurance of faith. The full assurance
of faith is assurance that is based on that which you see that
the natural man cannot see, for they're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. They're discerned by the Spirit of God showing
those things. and that we're qualified for
his kingdom. The result of it all, the full assurance of faith,
is this. It's peace with God. We know we have peace with God.
It's as Psalm 4 verse 8 says, I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep. You know, when you're worried
about something, when you're anxious, you can't sleep. when
the condemned person is in the cell on death row going to the
gallows, would find it very hard to sleep because of what's going
to happen tomorrow. But we're all in a sense in that way. We
all go to sleep not knowing whether we'll wake the next morning.
But the one who has the full assurance of faith says, I will
both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest
me to dwell in safety. We're able to sing, as we're
going to do at the end of this, it is well with my soul, it is
well, it is well with my soul. This is spiritual, it's in no
way physical. Apart from baptism and communion,
which are just physical reminders to us of the reality of union
with Christ and our interest in his shed blood and his broken
body, no, apart from that, apart from common decency, apart from
good order, apart from heart service, the things of place,
of dress, of ornamentation, of Sabbath observance, of meat and
drink, they contribute nothing to the basis of full assurance
of faith. Romans says this, Romans 14,
7, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. What is it? Not
physical things, not things of place and what you eat and what
you drink and what you wear and what you don't wear. No, it isn't.
It's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. albeit
avoiding giving offense. Read Romans 14, you'll see. Don't
give offense to weaker brethren. No, avoid excess. Does that mean
then, does that mean that every believer is an independent freelancer? Not at all. I just want to end
with this. Thinking about this latter house,
this latter house in due order. Look at Hebrews 10 verse 23.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering,
for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke and to 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 ye see
the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
While what you do, you say, what am I saying? That there's nothing
physical in our service of God, in the glory of this latter house,
and that's true. But am I saying everybody's an
independent freelancer that can do what they want? Well, while
what you do or what you don't do adds nothing or takes nothing
away from your standing with God. And that is true. That is
true. I know a lot of people find that
hard to believe, but that is true. Nevertheless, if you are
a regenerated person, regenerated by God's Spirit, the things you
do will be different from the things that unbelievers do. They'll
be different from the things that you did before you were
a believer. In this day of easy internet access to good preaching,
it's easy to be an independent freelancer, to just stay at home,
to sample an array of preachers, to even rate them, to have like
a weekly preacher's beauty contest, but never get involved. Look
at Hebrews 10, 23 to 26 again. Let's just read it again. Verse
25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is
the manner of some, but exhorting one another. We need to rub shoulders
with our Christian brethren. We need to provoke Christian
behaviour and attitudes. If you can get to an assembly
of saints, then go out of your way to meet with them regularly
for worship. Support them, get involved, be
part of them. The day is approaching. The day
of what? The day of Christ's return. And
if you physically can't meet because it's just too much and
too far, then communicate by the internet. Rub shoulders by
the only means that you have, but use the means. Exhort one
another, it says. Share something that you have
read. Occasionally go and stay near a fellowship in order to
meet physically with them. Willingly associate with believers
and their pastor, and don't hide away in convenient anonymity. Because, as verse 37 says, he's
coming soon for yet a little while, and he that shall come
will come and will not tarry. Christ is coming again soon.
The day is approaching, the day is at hand, but for now, While
we're here, if you are justified, you will live by that spiritual
soul sight that sees the foundation and the completion of your assurance
of eternity, the full assurance of faith. It's that full assurance
of faith which enables us to sing, it is well with my soul,
not because of anything I am or I have done, but because of
what he has done. Amen.