Drawing Near

The book of Hebrews, the 10th chapter, verse number 19, as you look at what the Bible says concerning what it means to draw near to God.

The Bible says in James chapter 4, verse number 8. Draw near to God, and he will draw ne to you. That 's an Old Testament expression that explains how people come to God in penitence and humility. Just because you call upon the name of the Lord doesn't really mean anything unless you call upon the name of the Lord in truth. The Bible says in Psalm 145, the Lord is near to those who call upon him, to those who call upon him in truth. He is not near to those who don't call upon him in truth, only near to those who call upon him in truth. The Lord is concerned about the heart of a person. That's why in Isaiah 28, verse number 13, God condemned Israel because they Honored him with not their hearts, but with just lip service. They would speak about God, but their hearts were so far from him. That's why the Bible says in the book of 1 Chronicles 29, verse number 9, or excuse me, 28, verse number 9. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. God is concerned about the heart.

The writer of Hebrews is concerned about the heart of this Jewish audience who has come to listen and to hear about the person and work of the Messiah.

So here, the writer of Hebrews, for 10 chapters and 18 verses, he has given them all the doctrine they need to understand the supremacy and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ their Messiah. And now they need to respond. What will be their response? He's telling them, he's instructed them on how it is this Messiah came and was greater. Than everything and everyone else, because he ushered in the new covenant, which all Israel longed for. And now, what is going to be their response? What will they do now? Because once you give a theological explanation of who God is, then and then only can you challenge people to now respond to him. In the proper way, because they can't come to a God they do not know. So, having explained everything to them about this great God. This Savior, this great high priest, this sacrifice that was greater than every Old Testament sacrifice. Who ushered in the new covenant, this one you need to come to. And so, from a very positive way, he's going to give them the reasons why they need to come to him. And then he's going to give how it is they actually do come to him. Because next week, or in the next set of verses, he's going to say, if you don't come. If you don't respond in a proper manner, and you continue to go on sinning willfully, there no longer remains a sacrifice for your sins. And it is a terrible, terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So he's going to go into that fourth warning.

Remember, all throughout Hebrews, he's given warnings. He gave one in chapter 2. Verses 1 to 4, the very first warning he gave. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Don't drift by. Don't just keep going on by the opportunity. Take advantage of what's before you. If not, you'll never escape the punishment of God. And then in chapter 3, into chapter 4, he gives another warning. Today, if you hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation. Now is the day of salvation. Don't continue to go on down the track you're going on and become calloused and cold, having heard the truth and not respond. And then at the end of chapter 5, into chapter 6, he gives that third warning: how it will be impossible to ever renew you to repentance if, having heard what you have heard, seen what you have seen, and don't respond. You're in danger of never having the opportunity to repent ever again. And he inter these warnings all throughout his book. And then he goes right back into the doctrines of our Lord to convince him once again that this is who he is, this is what he did.

Now, in verse number 19 of chapter 10, he says, Now you've got to respond. Now you have to come. Because then next week he'll give the fourth warning. You need to do this today.

And maybe you're here today, and you've been coming all throughout our study of Hebrews, and you have yet to give your life to Christ. Don't put it off any longer. Because what happens is that he explains to them what it means if you don't respond. Having heard all that they heard, Having seen everything in the Old Testament foreshadowing the arrival of the one they longed for, having explained it to them thoroughly, they are without excuse. But if knowing the truth, they don't respond to that truth, they're in danger of falling away. And never ever being able to repent of their sins again. It's a dangerous place to be.

But that's why the writer of Hebrews gives the warnings. We need to understand the implications of rejecting the gospel. We need to understand the implications of what it means to say no to Christ. We need to understand that it's a very dangerous place to be in a Bible-believing church. Hear the gospel. And not respond. You become calloused and cold, and your heart becomes hardened. And before you know it, you come to a place where it's impossible to renew you to repentance. But the problem is, you don't even know you're there, but you are. That's why when you hear the gospel cry, you need to come and rep and believe the truth.

So the writer of Hebrews says these words, verse number 19.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembly together, as is the habit of some. But encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

He says, We have access. The reason we have access is three. Number one, because of his atonement. Number two, Because of his avenue. And number three, because of his ass. His atonement was satisfied. His avenue has been set. And his assurance is secured. This is what he says.

Therefore, brethren. Now, don't mistake. We've told you this before. Just because he calls them brethren doesn't mean they're saved. If he calls them holy brethren, then we know they're saved. But because he calls them brethren, he's just referring to them as his Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ because he's a Jew and they're Jews. He's not writing to the Gentiles, he's writing to the Jewish people, the Hebrew people. And so he calls them brethren. He says, listen, brethren, since we have confidence, since we have boldness, same phrase used over in chapter 4, rem chapter 4, verse number 16. It says, Therefore, let us draw near with confidence, with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Why can you come boldly? Why can you come with confidence? It's an ancient Roman term that says that you can speak freely because there is no longer any guilt. That's how you can come confidence before the throne of grace. Why? Because you're not coming to plead for justice, because if you did, you'd be killed. But you're coming based on the mercy and grace of God. That's why. And that's why you can come with confidence. That's why you can come with boldness. There is access there. Why? Because of the atoning work of Christ by the blood of Jesus, he says. He's already explained to them the blood of bulls and goats never take away your sin. He said back in chapter 10, verse number 3. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Listen, all the blood sacrifices you offered, millions and millions of them over the years, they could not take away your sins, but they didn't remind you that you were a sinner. They kept reminding you of your sins, but it's the blood of Jesus that gives you access. It's the blood of Jesus that allows you to come because it's through that one sacrifice that was forever, for all time. Is the opportunity for you to come into his presence? He said over in verse number 6 of chapter 10: In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you have taken no pleasure. Our Lord was not pleased with any of those Old Testament sacrifices. Why? Because they were all shadows, they were all pictures that pointed to the ultimate sacrifice that was going to come. Those did not please him, but what was going to come would please him. So he gave them an opportunity to understand. The coming of that one sacrifice through all the shadows, all the pictures that were being painted week after week, day after day, through all the sacrifices they offered. Because when they offered that blood sacrifice, they lived in anticipation. Of the perfect sacrifice that was going to come because all those sacrifices pictured that one true perfect sacrifice. And so he says very easily, very clearly, here's the reason why you have access. Why you can draw near. Why? Because of the atonement that has been satisfied. There has been a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice given, that was once forever, once for all, and that sacrifice was a sacrifice of Our Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This one frees you to come with confidence and boldness.

Number two, because of the avenue. There's only one avenue to the Father. Look what he says. This is so rich. By a new and living way, verse number 20. Which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. A new way, a new and living way. You mean the old way was not the right way, but the new way is the right way? No. No, the new way has always been the same way, but the new way is not na or kyn, which we understand the word new, but it's a word that means, listen to this. Freshly slaughtered. Great word. It helps you understand the essence of the new way. This is a freshly slaughtered Living way. Do you know all the animals they sacrificed and they would slay on the altar never rose from the dead? Because they were dead sacrifices. But our Lord was a living sacrifice. Oh, yes, he gave his life away, but it speaks of the resurrection of our Lord. You see, the fleshly slaughtered way or the freshly slaughtered avenue is the only way to obtain the life of the living God. That's what we need to understand. It is a new and living way because it's as if, listen carefully, it's as if he was slaughtered today. It is so fresh. It's as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago. When you offered a sacrifice in the Old Testament, it was a dead sacrifice. And it was not a fresh sacrifice. You'd have to go back and offer another sacrifice, and then another, and then another, and then another. But this sacrifice is a freshly slaughtered living way. In other words, It's as fresh today as it was in eternity past as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. That's how beautiful this understanding of the gospel is. Our Lord is the freshly slaughtered living way. His sacrifice was once, never to be repeated again. His sacrifice was sufficient. And therefore, you need to embrace that. You need to come to him. Why? Because, listen, he says this: by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. When the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies, he would have to push the veil aside, right? Go into the Holy of Holies, let the veil come back again, offer the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement once a year. And then he had to push the veil aside again and then go outside of that holy place, he'd be done with the sacrifice. But our Lord's body is the veil. Listen to this. As long as Jesus lived. Man was barred from access into the presence of the living God. He had to die. Because through his death, Everything about God is opened up to us. The presence of God is now opened up to us. Remember, the old covenant, Israel could not get into the presence of God. Oh, the priests, they were willing, they just weren't able to get them in there. They could go in, but only once a year. But they couldn't get Israel into the presence of God. That was reserved for the one sacrifice that would be forever, the Lamb of God who came and taken away the sin of the world. And that one sacrifice was the veil himself. For when he died, the veil wasn't pushed aside, it was torn in two from top to bottom. Why? Because now there's full access. Now you have the opportunity. Anybody can come. Anybody can receive. Anybody can believe. It's the opportunity that's there now. That's why we preach the gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's why He preached the gospel to people. That's why, on our door-to-door ministry this past Saturday, we had people going and present the gospel to seven different people on a Saturday morning. Just because they were willing to hear the gospel door to door, park to park. People want to know the truth. We have the truth. So we want to explain the truth to them. So here you have the opportunity to understand: listen, you need to respond. Why? The atonement that was offered. Satisfied the living God. He was now pleased. The avenue by which you enter is through his flesh, the veil. Because it is a freshly slaughtered living way. And you know what the great thing about that is? Is that the living way gives you life. That's why Christ says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. That's why he said in John 10, I came not just to give you life, but to give you an abundant life. That's why in Colossians 3:4 it says that when Christ, our life, appears. Listen, if you don't know Christ, you have no life. I don't know how else to say that. Oh, you exist. You walk around, you breathe, you eat, you drive, you go to work, you exist, you have no life. Because life is eternal life. Life is the life of God. That's why Christ said, I am the resurrection. And I am the life. I've come to give you life. That's why John said in John chapter 1, verse number 4: In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That's why the Bible is so clear on helping us understand the beauty of the life of Christ. Why? Paul would say, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. Unless Christ lives in you, you have no life. You live, but you have no life, no eternal life. You don't have Christ's life. That's why we are buried with Him. In the likeness of his death, and we're raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection, Paul says in Romans chapter 6. Why? Because now, for the first time, we have life, the life of Christ in us. The right of Hebrews says, listen, there's an atonement that's been offered, a blood sacrifice that satisfies the living God. And that atonement provides for you an avenue, the only avenue by which you can enter into the holy place because the veil has been ripped apart. Because the veil was his flesh, and he opened up that which had been barred for centuries so you could enter the presence of God.

And then he says, Here's your assurance. This is verse number 2. And since we have. A great priest over the house of God. Here's your assurance: you have a priest, not just a high priest. But a great priest, the greatest of all priests, who is over the household of God. What's the household of God? That's the body of Christ. Peter says in 1 Peter 4:1, if judgment's going to begin, let it begin with the household of God. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 that we, we now are the house of God, and we are being built up. Based on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, we become that household of God, and He is that priest who is our advocate. He is that priest that intercedes for us. Here's your assurance: once you enter, the priest, the great priest, is over you. And when you enter into his presence, guess what? You are with him on his throne. Revelation:. He sits down on his father's throne, and we sit down on his thr. We have complete and total access. I love what it says in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 18. For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. Chapter 3, verse number 12, in whom we have boldness and confident access through him or through faith in him. And then over in Romans chapter 5, verse number 2, it says this: through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into his grace. In which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory. In other words, we have obtained not just the introduction of faith, we've obtained access through faith that we exult with all glory. We have the access. We have the opportunity. The reason you come is because now you have the life of Christ. The reason you come is because there's an atonement that's been offered that satisfies God Himself. He's pleased with the sacrifice. And that atonement gave you the avenue by which you enter into the presence of the living God. It's through his blood that was shed because it was his body that was the veil, that once he died. Access was now made available to all.

And then he says, Here's your assurance. Once you arrive, You have a great priest who intercedes for you, who is your chief advocate, who is your defender. Remember in Revelation 12, it's Satan who accuses the brethren day and night, but there's no accusation that holds against us. Why? Because we have the great advocate, the great priest, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our defender. We are defended by Him. He is our ass. And so he gives the reason as to why we gather together.

And then he says, now here's Here's your response. You do this because there's an atonement that satisfies, an avenue that has been set, an assurance that is secure. Now you got to respond. Use it with the phrase, let us draw near. Let us Hold on, hold fast, and let us consider. He used that great trilogy of faith, hope, and love. Faith, remember, is faith is our understanding or is the conviction of God's precepts. Hope is the anticipation of God's promises. And love is the realization Manifestation of God's person toward God's people. So he says, Let us draw near in faith. Let us hold on in hope and let us consider how we can move others, stimulate others to love. And good deeds. He says, I want you to come. Once you come, I want you to cling. And once you cling, I want you to consider how to love one another. And move one another in a way that honors the Lord. This is how they respond.

First of all, he says in verse 22, let us draw near with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled cleaned from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure w. He not only opened the way for us, he wants us to come to him. And so he says, Let us draw near. How? Only with a sincere heart. You can't come with an insincere heart. You can't come with a hypocritical kind of heart. You can't come with a A f heart. You can only come with a true, sincere, faithful he. One that is fully committed. One that's not partially committed, but is fully comm to come into the presence of the living God. Back in Jeremiah chapter 3, verse number 10. our Lord said these words Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but rather in deception. In other words, they didn't come with a sincere heart. They didn't come with a believing heart. They came with a treacherous heart, a deceiving kind of heart. They weren't fully committed. In other words, the right of Hebrews says, Look, you need to respond sincerely, truly, you need to respond fully. Not half-heartedly. You need to come and enter because of the blood that was shed, because the avenue that's been set, and now come because of the assurance provided. Draw near to the living God. Come near to him. Enter into his presence. It's now available. No longer are you held at arms' distance. No, you can come now. So why do you wait? Why would you hold back? Let us draw near with a true heart and full ass of faith. Faith is what? Believing what God has already said. He says, I've told you what God has said. I've quoted you the whole Old Testament. Everything that pertains to this great high priest, everything that pertains to this one sacrifice. Everything that pertains to the new covenant and the old covenant, and how the new is better than the old. I have given you what God has said. Faith is believing in what God has said, it's trusting obedience, it's trusting everything God says. So much so that I live in obedience to what he has said. It's just not trusting, it's obeying. That old hymn: trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. That's faith. It's trusting obedience. It's trusting what God has said and following through in obedience to Him. And so He says, Listen, in full assurance of faith. Come, come now, res now if you don't. He'll say next week, there is no longer a sacrifice for sin. There's no other way. But yet there is a terrifying judgment that awaits, for it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So come now.

And then he says, This: I love this: having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Wow, what a beautiful analogy of salvation. Now listen, they wouldn know what this means. This is fulfillment of new covenant promise in Ezekiel 36. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone. From your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. That's the new covenant promise. They knew it was coming. And you don't come with full assurance because your hearts have been sprinkled with blood. Whose blood? Christ's blood. Now he picks up an analogy from the Old Testament priesthood, where the priests would wash themselves, purify themselves, cleanse themselves, right? And then wash all the instruments and all the furniture to make sure they were clean, and then sprinkle blood on all of them. But it was all external. There was nothing internal about the cleansing, it was all an external cleansing. All symbolizing what would ultimately happen when the one true sacrifice would come and cleanse you internally. And so he says, Listen, you can come by faith, believing in what has been said, because God said it. I'm just quoting it. He didn't say it that way, but that's how I'm saying it. He says, I'm just quoting what God said. And you can come because why? Your hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and your bodies are washed with pure water. In other words, there is an internal cleansing. That affects your outward behavior. There's an internal cleansing because your heart has been sprinkled with clean water. And now the external has been washed, and so therefore all can see the reality of the inside because it manifests itself. On the outside, that's a transforming work of the Spirit of God. Ezekiel 36: I will put my spirit in you, I will cause you to walk in my ordinances. I will cleanse you on the inside so that on the outside everybody will know you're clean because you're going to manifest my presence, my glory. What a beautiful picture of salvation. Come now. Respond now. Respond in faith. Draw near. Come in faith, belie what God has said. Because he cleanses you. He washes you clean through his blood that was shed on Calvary's tree. So important. Remember over in Hebrews 9, verse number 14? He said this, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered him without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Same thing he's saying in chapter 10. You're going to be cleansed on the inside so you can serve the living God with all of your heart. That's why the book of Titus says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Spirit, one is born again. When Christ had the conversation with in John 3, I've drawn a blank. Nicodemus, yeah. I won't say Nehem, but Nicodemus, sorry. When he had a conversation with Nicodemus, we're talking about a man must be born again, he must be born of water and of the Spirit. He's referring exactly to Ezekiel 36. Nicodemus knew that. He was a teacher of the law. He knew the new covenant. He knew the cleansing work of the word that would cleanse you. Christ says, You're made clean now through the word which I've spoken unto you. It's the washing of regeneration, it's the renewing by the Spirit of God. It comes to Ephesians 5:2. Which explains to us that it's the word of God that cleanses us. See? He is saying to them, Come by faith, because I've given you the word. And you know what the word says concerning the new covenant promise? So now you can come, respond now. Let us draw near in full assurance of faith.

And then he says this, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. He says, listen, come. Once you come, cling, hold f. Don't let go. This is that whole that old doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The ability to keep on, keeping on, because God grants you the opportunity to do that. Listen, faith is a gift, right? We get into Hebrews 11, the very next chapter, we're going to talk to you a lot about faith. Because we're going go through every single character in Hebrews chapter 11 to explain to them how they manifested their faith in the true and living God. So we'll see how we manifest that faith in the true living God, even as we speak and live today. But faith is a gift. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, For by grace you are saved through faith, that not yourselves, it is a gift of God. So, face a gift. So, if you've been granted the gift of faith, come because your heart is cleansed. Come because you have the opportunity to experience new life in Christ. You need to do that. But once you come, you've got to hold fast. You've got to cling. You got to stand true. This is so important because so many times there are people that don't hold fast. They make a profession. But how do we know their profession is with a sincere heart? How do you know that? We don't know that, do we? We go and we share Christ with someone and they respond in faith and say, yes, I believe, and they give their life to Christ. We have baptized so many people in our baptism here in the floor over the 27 years that we've been at Christ Community Church, only to find out that a year or two or three or four years later, they walk away from the faith. They made a profession of faith. But because he didn't come with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having their hearts sprinkled clean and their conscience cleared. They couldn't hold on. They didn't want to hold on. They didn't want to cling to the truth that they heard. And this is repeated over and over again in the New Testament, over in John's Gospel. In John chapter 2, verse number 23, it says, Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many belie in his name. Many. He was in Jerusalem, and there were many who believed in his name, observing the signs which he was doing, but Jesus on his part. Was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all m. And because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. See, God knows their hearts. So there were many who believed in what Jesus was doing. They saw him. They got on the Jesus bandwagon. But because Jesus knew what was inside of them, he never entrusted him to them. See? If you go on a little further in John's Gospel to the sixth chapter. In John 6, verse number 14, therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, This is truly the prophet. Who is to come into the world? That is the feeding of the 5,000. And they were so excited about what he wanted to do. Verse 15 says they wanted to make him their king. I mean, look, if he feeds all these people, the 5,000 is probably 25,000 people because they don't count the women and children. If he feeds all these people in a moment's time with a few fishes and barley lo. This has got to be our king. This has got to be the prophet that was spoken of by Moses. Let's take him by force and make him our king. Christ escapes because it wasn't his time. And then he goes on on the next day to talk to him about the bread that came down out of heaven, which he is the bread that came down out of heaven. He says these words in verse 57. Of John 6, as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever. And then it says this in verse 59. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Caper. Therefore, many of his disciples, many of his followers, many of his learners. When they heard this, said, This is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? It's too hard to digest. He wants us to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood? What is he talking about? And all it is, is symbolic for taking all of them in, as your fathers ate the manna in the Old Testament. And I fed them from heaven. And they took the food, and they ate the food. They took it in. So, you need to take all of me, all of who I am, all of what I've said, all of what I've done, and embrace all of who I am. But it was too hard for them to understand. In verse 61, but Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, Does this cause you to stumble? What then, if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. Verse 66. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him any. You see, they wanted to draw near. They wanted to come, but didn't come with a sincere heart. They came with a hypocritical kind of heart. They came half-heartedly. But when Jesus began to lay out the demands of the gospel and help them to understand what it means to be a follower of him, they're like, oh, no, I'm not doing that. They turned away and walked away. And Christ says to Peter and the disciples, Will you guys walk away also? What did Peter say? Oh, Lord, you have the words of eternal life. Where are we going to go? Where else are we going to go? We've left everything to follow you anyway. You have eternal words. We're not going anywhere else. See, Peter recognized the eternal words of Christ, but the others did not. They walk with him no more. So you move on to John chapter 12. And in John chapter 12. Verse number 42, it says, Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him. for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue for they love the approval of men rather than the approval of God. They didn't want to commit. They didn want to hold fast. They didn't want to cling to the Messiah because that's the words of eternal life. They did not. So he says, you need to come. Once you come, you need to cling, and God gives you the power to cling because he gave you the power to come through faith. And listen, then you come to the third part. Once you come, once you clean, now you need to consider. How you can stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Why? Because now everything is going be manifested in how you deal with other people. How they're going to see you respond. The word to stimulate is the word that means to provoke. It's the word that means to irritate. It's the word that means to arouse. It's a word that truly speaks of how it is we are to stir up and sharpen others. And this is why it's in the context of not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. Because listen. How else do we move you? How else do we stir you? How else do we motivate you? How else can I irritate you in a good way, right? Because it's the same word used of Paul and Barnabas when they were provoked or were content with one another because one wanted to take John, Mark, and the other didn't. And both of them were moved to action. Both of them were stirred to action. Same words used of Paul in Acts 17 when he was in Athens as he was moved in his spirit. To defend the faith and speak against idolatry, there was something that provoked his spirit. What was it? There was heres, and there was falsen and lies. And so he was stirred on the inside and motivated on the inside to speak the truth. Now he says, you need to consider how you can provoke others, how you can motivate others to what? Love. And good deeds. And the prerequisite is that you don't forsake the ass of yourselves together. You can't forfeit your time together. You must be together.

Listen, the corporate worship of the church is the most important thing that we do. What you're doing right now as a church is the most important thing that we do each and every week. Because this is where you are motivated, stimulated, provoked, aroused, stirred up. To act better than any other place. Why? Well, first of all, we know that the preaching of the word does that. Preaching the word causes people to be saved. It saves dead men. And gives them new life just through the simple preaching of the Word of God. And when we gather together and we preach the truth and give you the Word of God, there's something that motivates you, there's something that stirs you, there's something that moves you to action. Because we know that 1 Thessalonians 2:1 says that the Word of God works effectively in those who belie. So, if we're preaching the word of God to you and you're not moved to action, maybe it's because you don't believe. Maybe you think you do. But you don't because there's something about the Word of God that moves you to action. So, through the preaching of the Word of God, we're stirred up, we are motivated, we are aroused. Listen, when we come together, right? And we exercise our giftedness one with another as a body of believers that moves us to action. Do you know that your life, the example of your life, motivates others? Your marriage motivates those who have bad marriages. It motivates them to live for the sake of the Lord. They're able to see you in action. They're able to see what you do when you love your wife and love your husband. When they see you with your children and you discipline your children, it moves them and motivates them to action. It stirs them up. It causes them to want to respond because they see the work of God through the Spirit of God in your life. I told you before that when people come and they bring others, and you see them bring others, it motivates us to bring others. They're bringing other people to hear the gospel. They're sacrificing their lives for others to come. And so they go out of the way to bring them to church. And you watch that, you see that, it moves you to action. But if you're not here, you don't see it. You don't understand it. It's like the lady I talked about last week in the second service who has to rearrange her entire schedule on Sunday morning. Because she has a physical condition that causes her to take her medication on time at certain hours, so she can only come to the 10:4 service. But what she's going to do is reverse all that, change it to get up even earlier so she can be here for the one service at 9 o'clock. See, that motivates me. That stirs me to action. That says there's somebody here that will do whatever it's necessary. To be a church, even though there's only going to be one service for five weeks, and it's only five weeks. I can miss it for five weeks, right? It's only five. Listen, there's only 52 of them. But she says, I'm not missing. I'll do whatever I can. I'll sacrifice whatever I have to sacrifice to rearrange my schedule so I can be there for that one service to celebrate with the entire body of Christ. How many people do you know that does that? That do that? See, that motivates. That stirs us to action. So, if you forsake the assembly of yourselves together, it doesn't happen. Oh, on top of that, listen to this. When you're together, because we are to hold fast and we are to come in faith and draw near to God. The only way I know you're doing that is through constant prayer, admonishment, rebuking, confronting, serving, and watching you week in and week out. I don't know whether or not you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't know whether or not I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're pretty sure, but do we really know? See so you want to move on to that continue to stimulate them encourage them to love and good deeds because as you do this and they get involved in other people's lives and they begin to serve the Lord you begin to see that they're holding fast the truth that they say they believe But they stop coming or they come sporadically, you begin to wonder whether or not they're really committed or not. You begin to wonder, you really can't come for just 52 days a year? There's 365 days a year. You can't come for 52? There's something else that's more important to you than this? I know that can be deemed legalistic on these kinds of things, but let me tell you something. I take the word of God literally. Do not forsake the assembly of yourselves together, right? We gather together, as the early church did, on the first day of the week. Because the early church set the example. And when they gathered together, they were committed to the apostles' doctrine, to the breaking of bread, to fellowship, to prayer. They were committed to that because that's how they were going to motivate one another to love and good deeds. And so they would meet together on a regular basis because that's what they did. They modeled the way for us. There's only one day called the Lord's Day. That's today. And some will, every day is the Lord's Day. Come on, Pastor. We know that every day is the Lord's Day. Yes, I do know that. I do that. But he specifically calls this day the Lord's Day. Why? I know that you're to pray. You know you're to pray. But what Jesus said: when you pray, into your closet. And when you enter your closet and you pray in secret, your Father rewards you openly. Does that mean you don't pray at other times? No. But there's a special place of prayer that God has deemed best for you to go. And pray so no one else sees you, so you commune with the living God. Same is true with the Lord's Day. There's a day He is set aside for us to gather together and worship Him. He wants us to make him a priority. Once we begin to do other things on Sunday and not make God a priority, we have another priority, and that means that we are. Idolaters. Because there's something that takes precedence over God. What can take precedence over God? What's more important than God? See? Now I know I'm meddling, but you have to understand the importance of worship. It's the only judgment that God deems strong enough in the Ten Commandments that will be passed down from generation to generation. If you forsake me, if you don't worship me on the Lord's Day, if you have another idol and you serve someone else and don't honor me as the one true God over all, that sin will be passed down from generation to generation to generation. There's something about your lack of worship that's going to be passed down so easily to your children and to your children's children, and it will be a condemning act by you for them because you did not show the way. That's hard stuff. God's serious about worship.

So, well, Pastor, what if I'm sick? Hey, you're sick. You miss? You know? What if I work on Sundays? Well, you work on Sundays. Those things happen. I understand that. The Lord gets that. He understands all those things. What I'm saying is, do you want to be here? Or do you would rather be someplace else? Do you want to be here and do all you can to get here? Or to get to church, to worship God on the Lord's Day? Do you want to be with God's people on his day? Or are you the kind of person that can take it or leave it? Huh? There's always next week. Or the week after that. See, that's where the problem comes. It's a hard attitude. Have you approached him with sincerity of heart? Because in faith you come to him. Do you want to cling to him so tightly that you know that part of clinging to him is being around those people themselves who are clinging to him for the glory of his name? The right of Hebrews says you've got to come. Because if you don't come now, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That's next week.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity we have to worship you. We pray, Lord, that you lead us and guide us in the way that we should go, that we might honor you for the glory of your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen.