1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 And all the kids said, oh man. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:13,000 And all the parents said, it's the most wonderful time of the 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,000 year. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,000 No, you know I love summer and I love being with my kids. 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,000 I love being with them and all the extra time that happens. 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,000 How many of you like being with your kids? 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000 You like being with your kids? 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,000 You like being with your family? 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,000 There's something so important to that. 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,000 That's a very powerful word. 11 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,000 There's this powerful, very, very powerful word that maybe you 12 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,000 not considered as important. 13 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,000 But you've been moved by the power of it. 14 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:52,000 You've been moved by the power of what this word means. 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,000 It's a relational word and it's a very common word. 16 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,000 And if you ignore this word, it could have detrimental effects 17 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 in your relationships. 18 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Every one of us has been deeply impacted for the good and for 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000 the bad by this word and it's the word with. 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,000 With. 21 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000 What do I mean? 22 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 It's important that we be with people. 23 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 It's important that we be with our family. 24 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000 It's important that we be with our church family. 25 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,000 It's important that we spend time with the Lord. 26 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:37,000 We live in an age that's full of information but not necessarily 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,000 full of wisdom. 28 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 We live in a time where you can connect with almost anyone at 29 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,000 any time. 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 You agree with me? 31 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 You can get to, if you want to get to me, you can email me. 32 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,000 You can Facebook message me. 33 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000 You can post on my wall. 34 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,000 You can text me. 35 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:58,000 You can call me. 36 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,000 You can come visit me at the church. 37 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,000 How are you with me? 38 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 We have so much access to each other in so many ways. 39 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000 But making connections that are authentic and deep with someone 40 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000 in the same room because of the same tools that we have to 41 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,000 make connections sometimes makes connections very difficult. 42 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,000 Have you felt that before? 43 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 You go in public and you say hi to somebody and it's more and 44 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,000 more rare for people to respond to you, right? 45 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,000 It was a time when everybody said hi to each other. 46 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Even in our own home sometimes we're all in the same room but 47 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 we're not with each other. 48 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Have you ever experienced that? 49 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 And I'm not saying that as like some old guy getting older. 50 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,000 I do that. 51 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,000 There are times where somebody is trying to get my attention but 52 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,000 I'm really focused on this thing in my hand. 53 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad. 54 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,000 Anybody have that? 55 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 And that goes on. 56 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 When you think about the people though that have impacted you, 57 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,000 I believe there is a correlation between the amount of time 58 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:15,000 that they've spent with you and the impact that they had on you. 59 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,000 There is such a thing as quality time but I believe a lot of 60 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,000 times quality time does not come but by a quantity of time. 61 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,000 There has to be time with each other. 62 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,000 When you think about those people that have impacted you, 63 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,000 they spent time with you. 64 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Now over the last two chapters in this book of Hebrews that we 65 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,000 have been studying, Hebrews chapter 9 into chapter 10, there 66 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,000 has been a description of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 67 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Jesus Christ sacrificed his own body. 68 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,000 He is both priest and sacrifice, the Bible teaches us, that he 69 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 died on the cross and when he died on the cross he was 70 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,000 sacrificing his life. 71 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 He was substituting himself on our behalf. 72 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 When God poured out his wrath for Jesus, he was paying for our 73 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,000 sin. 74 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,000 He was pouring out his justice, his judgment on Jesus for 75 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,000 our sin so that God could then declare us righteous like the 76 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,000 choir saying today, he can come back with a verdict of not 77 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 guilty because Jesus Christ paid the price so that we could be 78 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 declared not guilty. 79 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Who is excited about that? 80 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000 That is an amazing thing, right? 81 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Why though was we know that being given justification, being 82 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:43,000 declared righteous is a good thing and being free from the guilt 83 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 of that is a good thing. 84 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:50,000 But is that the soul and only part of the reason why Jesus did 85 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,000 that? 86 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Why did God do that? 87 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Why was the sacrifice made? 88 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Why was it needed and what does it mean for us today? 89 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,000 How should we live and how can we live now that the sacrifice has 90 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,000 been made? 91 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,000 And when you put your faith and trust in Jesus for his sacrifice 92 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,000 and you allow his substitute, his payment for your sins to be 93 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,000 put on your account, God takes away his sin, gives you his 94 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,000 righteousness, how though, it's kind of like that famous question, 95 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,000 how shall we then live? 96 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,000 What should we do with that? 97 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,000 Why did God do that? 98 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,000 And I believe that at least in part the concept can be found in 99 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:32,000 this little word with. 100 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:37,000 When you get to Hebrews 10, verse 19, you will find it to be 101 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,000 we will read verses 19-25 and study that all the way through 102 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 and you will find two sentences. 103 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,000 That's what this whole paragraph is, two sentences. 104 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:52,000 And there are two terms that are used multiple times that give 105 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,000 us the structure to our text. 106 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,000 If you look in verse 10, you have your Bibles, you have Bibles? 107 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Okay, it's always good to have a Bible. 108 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Chapter 10, verse 19, you see the first word in verse 19. 109 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Everybody say what the first word is in 19. 110 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Having. 111 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:16,000 Then you go to verse 21 and it says, and what's that? 112 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Having. 113 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 And then you have two havings, having this and having that. 114 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:27,000 And it says with that, verse 22, let us. 115 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,000 Do you see that? 116 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,000 What's the first two words? 117 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,000 Verse 23, you got it? 118 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,000 Verse 24, let us. 119 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,000 Here's this basic structure. 120 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000 Since you have this and since you have that, because of that 121 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,000 on that basis, let us do this. 122 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,000 Okay, do you get it? 123 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Because you have that, let us do this. 124 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,000 You've been given a million dollars. 125 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,000 Let's go on vacation. 126 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Right? 127 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Do you get it? 128 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,000 Because this has happened, this is how you live. 129 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 Who agrees if you get a million dollars, you're going to take a 130 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:15,000 few weeks off? 131 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,000 Okay. 132 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 Kind of the idea. 133 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,000 He says in verse 19, having there for 21 and having verse 22, 134 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,000 let us, verse 23, let us, verse 24, let us. 135 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,000 And what I'm going to show you today from this text is that the 136 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:35,000 preacher, the author of Hebrews, is making a case for the why, at 137 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,000 least a part of the implication of the why for Christ's sacrifice. 138 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,000 Now I know the ultimate why. 139 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Jesus wanted to glorify his father. 140 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,000 He wanted to make much of his father. 141 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,000 But that's not the only reason. 142 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,000 He's making the case that not only was Jesus wanting to be 143 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,000 obedient to the father, and of course Jesus turned the cross to 144 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,000 make payment for our sins. 145 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:08,000 And of course Jesus rose from the dead and is sitting, remember 146 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,000 last week? 147 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:14,000 He's sitting on the right hand of the father. 148 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,000 The whole thing has been done. 149 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,000 Everything that was, if you weren't here last week, the previous 150 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,000 passage talks about how he's sitting on the right hand of the 151 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,000 father. 152 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,000 The sacrifices in the Old Testament kept going and kept going 153 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,000 and kept going and the priests never sat because sin is never 154 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,000 ultimately finally paid for. 155 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,000 But because Jesus made the full and final price for sin and his 156 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,000 sacrifice, he can now sit down because everything that's needed 157 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,000 to be done to pay for my sin is complete. 158 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:45,000 It's over. 159 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,000 It's been done. 160 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,000 He became a propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only 161 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,000 but for the sin of the whole world. 162 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,000 It's good news. 163 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,000 Why did he do it? 164 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,000 The answer is found in that little word with, through Christ's 165 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:08,000 sacrifice, here's the point, God has made it possible for us to be 166 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,000 with him. 167 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:23,000 And not just one day, right now, you can spend time with God. 168 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,000 You can spend time in God's presence. 169 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,000 You can go to God. 170 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,000 And because of Christ's sacrifice, God has made it critical for us 171 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:38,000 to be with each other. 172 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,000 So based on Jesus' sacrifice, I can go to God. 173 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:42,000 I can be with him. 174 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,000 And I should have a relationship with people based on that 175 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:47,000 sacrifice. 176 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,000 These two phrases that begin with having, this word having, point 177 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,000 to what God has done for us and given to us. 178 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,000 And then these three phrases that begin with let us point to 179 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:03,000 what we ought to, how we ought to live with these new realities in 180 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:04,000 place. 181 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:09,000 And so if I were to summarize the sermon today, I would say this, 182 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Christ's sacrifice is so important, not just for the after life but 183 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,000 for the life of disciples now. 184 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,000 If you're a believer, it's important for you now. 185 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,000 If you're an unbeliever, it's important for you now. 186 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,000 You need to understand what I'm about to tell you. 187 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,000 We should respond to his sacrifice. 188 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,000 He's laid out the case for Christ's sacrifice being superior. 189 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:36,000 We should respond to his sacrifice in these three ways. 190 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:41,000 We'll find it in those three let us statements. 191 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 The first thing we ought, the first way we ought to respond is this. 192 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,000 Let us enter God's presence. 193 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:56,000 Let us enter God's presence. 194 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000 Look at verse 19. 195 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Having therefore brethren, these are people who know Christ's 196 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:12,000 Savior, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the 197 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,000 holiest by the blood of Jesus. 198 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,000 Now, when the preacher writes the word therefore, he's 199 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:24,000 establishing that what he's about to say on what has been said 200 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 throughout the book, especially in chapter 10. 201 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,000 In chapter 10 so far, we've understood or we've been taught 202 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,000 that Christ has become the testator or the one who guaranteed 203 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:39,000 by his death our inheritance through the payment of his blood. 204 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Anybody looking forward to that inheritance? 205 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,000 It can be awesome. 206 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,000 In doing this, he became a sacrifice for sins forever. 207 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,000 He's now seated at the right hand of God in the presence of God. 208 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:54,000 He intercedes for us, meaning he goes to God on our behalf and 209 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,000 will one day defeat all his enemies. 210 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And it says he'll even make him his footstool. 211 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:06,000 He has made this new covenant, this new promise, which puts the 212 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, down into us as a 213 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,000 down payment of our inheritance. 214 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,000 The Bible talks about an Ephesians that he's the earnest of 215 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,000 our inheritance. 216 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,000 He's a down payment letting us know that more is on the way. 217 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,000 And our sins have been totally forgiven, if you know Christ is 218 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,000 your Savior, by the blood of Jesus. 219 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:32,000 He now uses the word having to establish what we have now in 220 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:33,000 Christ. 221 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,000 He says in verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness to 222 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:40,000 enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. 223 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:44,000 The preacher describes the place where God dwells as the holiest. 224 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:48,000 In the day and time, even when this is written, this is written 225 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:53,000 before the temple was destroyed in 8070. 226 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 And in that temple, there was, we've described this several 227 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000 times, it was an earthly temple that was kind of modeled after 228 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000 the earthly tabernacle, this tent that Moses made, God 229 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,000 instructed Moses to make, when they went from Egypt into the 230 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:10,000 promised land. 231 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,000 And in this place, there was the outer court, there was the 232 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,000 inner court, there was the holy place, that's where all the 233 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,000 priests could be and that's where they did their sacrifices. 234 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,000 Then there was the holy of holies. 235 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,000 How many of you have heard that before in church? 236 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,000 If you haven't, that's fine. 237 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,000 The holy place where the priest could go, the holy of holies is 238 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,000 the place that only one priest could go. 239 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,000 He could only go in once a year and he would go in and sprinkle 240 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,000 the blood of a spotless lamb on the mercy's feet on the Ark of 241 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:39,000 the Covenant. 242 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:47,000 No one would think in that culture that it was appropriate 243 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:52,000 or proper, there was no Jew who would just walk in to the 244 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:57,000 temple, walk past all the priests and just pull the veil back 245 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,000 and walk into the holy of holies. 246 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,000 That would have been atrocious, that would have been 247 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,000 blasphemous, it would have been shocking. 248 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:09,000 When you come here today, we may have a door too locked but not 249 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,000 because we are worried about you going into a blasphemous part of 250 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,000 this place, are you with me? 251 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,000 It wouldn't be blaspheming for you to go into a different room 252 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:22,000 because this is not the temple. 253 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,000 I don't even think this is the sanctuary. 254 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,000 This is where the people who are now the sanctuary meet once a 255 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000 week. 256 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,000 We don't have a temple. 257 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:35,000 We are the temple. 258 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000 Do you get it? 259 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,000 To go into that holy of holies at that time would have been 260 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,000 like, oh, what is he doing? 261 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,000 If you had a kid, it would have never been able to happen. 262 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,000 It wouldn't have happened. 263 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,000 But someone to go in and get into that place, no one has the 264 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,000 boldness to do that. 265 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,000 In fact, according to tradition, we find that even the one who 266 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 was allowed to go in once a year, they would tie a rope around 267 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,000 his leg so that if he went in there and he wasn't worthy and 268 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,000 had the presence of God, they would be able to pull him out 269 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:05,000 without going in. 270 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,000 Do you get it? 271 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:13,000 But he says, when Jesus died on the cross, something happened. 272 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,000 The veil that separated the holy of holies from the holy place 273 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,000 got torn from top to bottom. 274 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Now we don't worry about the holy of holies because now we can 275 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:24,000 go to God. 276 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,000 We can get to God ourselves. 277 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,000 We don't need to go through a priest. 278 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,000 In fact, the priesthood is over. 279 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:32,000 That priesthood is. 280 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000 There's a new priesthood, the priest after the order of Melchizedek 281 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,000 and there's one person holding that office and his name is Jesus 282 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Christ. 283 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,000 So now we have boldness. 284 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:51,000 We can go to Jesus, we can go through Jesus and get to God 285 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,000 because of what? 286 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000 Verse 19. 287 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:04,000 We enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus. 288 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,000 God is omnipresent and doesn't dwell in a temple made with hands 289 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:08,000 anymore. 290 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,000 We are the temple. 291 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000 First Corinthians 6.19 says, what? 292 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,000 Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which 293 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,000 is in you, which you have of God and you are not your own, for 294 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000 you are bought with a price. 295 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are 296 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000 the presence of God. 297 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,000 The Jews had no access to the presence of God in their temple. 298 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000 The earthly temple was a picture of the true temple not made with 299 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000 hands where God dwells. 300 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,000 Since Jesus' blood cleanses us from sin, we can have boldness and 301 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 not fear going into the presence of God. 302 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,000 We don't come into the holy of holies or the presence of God 303 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,000 with fear like they did. 304 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,000 We can be with God. 305 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,000 We are two or more gathered in His name, so am I in the midst of 306 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000 them, right? 307 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000 Are you with me? 308 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,000 We can enter together into the presence of God. 309 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Hmm. 310 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,000 Are you guys excited about that? 311 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,000 You can't get to Joe Biden. 312 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,000 You can't get to Donald Trump. 313 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,000 You can't get to Joe Biden. 314 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,000 You can't get to Joe Biden. 315 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,000 You want to get to some of those guys, right? 316 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,000 You can't access those. 317 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,000 Are you with me? 318 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,000 You can talk to God right now. 319 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,000 And He pays attention. 320 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 And He loves you. 321 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 And He knows everything about you. 322 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,000 This is a, are you kidding me? 323 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,000 You can get to God. 324 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Some of you are doing your week without God. 325 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,000 Sometimes I do my week without God. 326 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,000 God, I got my planner and I got my agenda and I got my to-do list 327 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,000 and I got my calendar and I got this. 328 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:15,000 Some of you guys don't even have to-do lists or calendars. 329 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 I mean, you do. You just don't write it down. 330 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,000 You have no idea what you're doing. 331 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:27,000 We're trying to do things on our own power. 332 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,000 And then when it messes up, then that's when we go to God. 333 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,000 It's a bad plan. 334 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,000 God, what do you want from me? 335 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,000 We can go to God. We can be in the presence of God. 336 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,000 We have an access that they did not have because we've been given an advocate 337 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,000 that they did not have in dwelling them. 338 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,000 This advocate, Jesus also who paid the price 339 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,000 that the blood of bulls and goats could not ultimately pay. 340 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,000 We can go win because of the blood of Jesus. 341 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,000 And so we have boldness to enter. 342 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,000 How do we enter? Verse 20. 343 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,000 Buy a new and living way. 344 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,000 Jesus shed his blood and he died, but what happened? 345 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,000 He rose from the dead and now where is he? 346 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,000 Sitting on the right hand of God. You can go to God. 347 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,000 You can go to God and Jesus is right there. 348 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,000 Enterceeding on your behalf. If you don't even pray the right things, 349 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,000 the Bible says he prays the right things for you. 350 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,000 His body, it says here by a new and living way, 351 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,000 which he has consecrated for us through the veil, 352 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,000 that is to say his flesh. 353 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,000 Now he's making a metaphor, a picture. 354 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:03,000 The veil was torn. His body was torn. 355 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:08,000 And now we have access to God because there doesn't have to be a veil anymore. 356 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,000 There don't even have to be a temple anymore. 357 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,000 We can go to God without that. 358 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,000 His sacrificial death opened the veil to the Holy of Holies, 359 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000 the very presence of God. 360 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,000 We now have access to God through the person and work of Jesus Christ 361 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,000 by his torn body. 362 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000 Yet our sacrifice for sin, Jesus, did not stay dead. 363 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,000 No, our sacrifice for sin is alive right now. 364 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,000 He's our living sacrifice that intercedes to God on our behalf. 365 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,000 That's what he explained in verse 21. 366 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,000 Here's the second thing that we have. 367 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,000 Not only do we have boldness to enter, 368 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,000 we have a high priest over the house of God. 369 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,000 This is the second having. 370 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000 We have boldness to enter. 371 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,000 We have the high priest over the house of God. 372 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Not only was he the sacrifice for us, now he's our representative. 373 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:07,000 We can boldly go into the presence of God because we have an advocate. 374 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,000 We have a mediator. 375 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:14,000 We have Jesus Christ the righteous who goes to God on our behalf. 376 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000 So it's on the basis of those two arguments. 377 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000 Don't you see what you have? 378 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,000 You've got a million dollars. 379 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,000 Go on vacation. 380 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,000 You have boldness to enter. 381 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,000 There's no more veil because the veil was torn. 382 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:35,000 You now have access to God through the blood of Jesus who isn't dead. 383 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:41,000 He's alive and he's there by God for you as your mediator and your advocate. 384 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 You have a new and living way to get to God. 385 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000 So let us draw near. 386 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,000 Verse 22. 387 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,000 Let us draw near. 388 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,000 Love ones. 389 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Not only, you know, it's one thing to have like official access, right? 390 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,000 The president of the company may see you now. 391 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:15,000 You have from 10.05 to 10.10 to give them all of what you want to tell them. 392 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,000 You can have access to somebody without being close to them. 393 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Do you get it? 394 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,000 But he says, let us draw near. 395 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:32,000 You can not only have access to God in terms of just like straight like, yeah, God help me out. 396 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:37,000 You can have a relationship with God that's close. 397 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,000 That's intimate. 398 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,000 Now some of you like to be close to God. 399 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,000 That's intimate. 400 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Some of you ladies are shaking your heads but some of you guys are like, I don't want intimate. 401 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:55,000 But what I mean is, what did God choose to call himself? 402 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,000 Father. 403 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,000 He really can be our father. 404 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:06,000 He really can be someone who loves you and cares about you and takes care of you. 405 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:12,000 And he has a relationship with him. 406 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,000 Make sure you get the argument. 407 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,000 You have a new boldness to go into God's presence. 408 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,000 You have a new and living way. 409 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:24,000 So let us draw near with a true heart. 410 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,000 How's our heart true? 411 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,000 He made it true. 412 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,000 He cleansed it. 413 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,000 What does he say? 414 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:38,000 He's sprinkled from an evil conscience and our body is washed with pure water. 415 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,000 You're clean. 416 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,000 You're forgiven. 417 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000 Your sin is gone. 418 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,000 You can go to God. 419 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,000 You can be with God. 420 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000 He can be with you. 421 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,000 You can have a relationship with God. 422 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000 I've had people tell me, we talked about the gospel. 423 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,000 We talked about salvation. 424 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,000 We talked about, hey, you died in Christ on the cross for your sins. 425 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,000 You're a believer. 426 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:05,000 You turn from your sin to him by faith. 427 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,000 You can be forgiven. 428 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:12,000 I've had people in that moment tell me, but yeah, I just don't know if I'm ready. 429 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,000 There's some things I've got to clean up. 430 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:19,000 There's some sin I'm doing that I've got to clean up. 431 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:30,000 And while I think that repentance is necessary for salvation, if you're waiting to be perfect to get saved, you'll never get saved. 432 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,000 You'll never get saved. 433 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000 You'll never get saved. 434 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000 It's like saying, I'm too dirty for a bath. 435 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,000 The bath is what's going to clean you up. 436 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,000 Are you with me? 437 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:49,000 When we get saved, God cleanses us from our sin. 438 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:54,000 And if any man being in Christ, he is a new man. 439 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,000 He's a new man. 440 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000 He's a new man. 441 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,000 Being in Christ, he is a new creature. 442 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:05,000 The old is gone and the new has come. 443 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,000 We've been cleansed. 444 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:13,000 Here he talks about our hearts being sprinkled and our bodies being washed with pure water. 445 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,000 He says here, having our sins sprinkled from an evil conscience. 446 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:24,000 Every year, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies, like I said, and sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice on the mercy seat. 447 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,000 Christ's blood has sprinkled our hearts. 448 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,000 It says, on our bodies washed with pure water. 449 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,000 This phrase references all of the ceremonial clendings by the priest. 450 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,000 They were constantly washing themselves in basins of clear water. 451 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:45,000 This is not here referred to baptism, but to how the Holy Spirit cleanses us. 452 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:51,000 As referred to in Ephesians 5.25, by the washing of the water by the word. 453 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:56,000 Christ washes us by his spirit through his word. 454 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:02,000 This same idea of sprinkling and cleansing is exactly what was predicted that Jesus would do. 455 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:09,000 In Isaiah 52, which begins that passage that goes right into Isaiah 53, we studied it a few months ago. 456 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:15,000 It says this, talking about the servant that was to come who is clearly Jesus. 457 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,000 prophesied 700 years before Jesus came. 458 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,000 This is what it says. 459 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:26,000 Behold, this is God speaking, talking about his servant, the servant being Jesus. 460 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,000 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. 461 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:34,000 He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 462 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,000 As many were astonished at thee. 463 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,000 His visage was so marred more than any man in his form in the sons of men. 464 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:46,000 Wait a minute, that's two contrasting verses. 465 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,000 Your servant is going to be exalted and extolled and be very high, 466 00:26:50,000 --> 00:27:01,000 but his body, his visage is going to be so marred that he won't even be recognized as a man. 467 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,000 And his form more than the sons of men. 468 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:11,000 Verse 15, so shall he sprinkle many nations. 469 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,000 How is Jesus so marred that he's unrecognizable? 470 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,000 The crucifixion, the shedding of blood. 471 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:25,000 And when he died on the cross for our sins, he wasn't just paying for the sins of the Jews. 472 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:33,000 In this way he sprinkled many nations to the point that the king shut their mouths at him 473 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:39,000 for that which they had not been told this shall they see, that which they had not heard shall they consider. 474 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,000 The point of Jesus' sacrifice was to cleanse us. 475 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:50,000 And when we're clean, now we, because of what Jesus did, are acceptable to go into the presence of God. 476 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,000 Now we have boldness to get to God. 477 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,000 Now we have access to get to God. 478 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,000 We're going by a new and living way. 479 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,000 We have a representative. 480 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:05,000 Let us, brethren, I'm talking to you now, let us, everyone in here who knows Jesus as Christ 481 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:12,000 and even some of you that don't, let me help you to know Him so that you can draw near. 482 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,000 So that you can have a relationship with God. 483 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:23,000 So that you can talk to God and he can speak to you through his word. 484 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,000 What an incredible gift we have loved ones. 485 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:31,000 What an incredible thing. 486 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,000 We can enjoy the presence of God because of our intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ. 487 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:39,000 Do you have a place where you can go to meet with God? 488 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,000 It can be anywhere, but I'm saying more for you than for him. 489 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,000 Do you have a place? Do you have a time? 490 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:51,000 I meet with God at my desk at home most mornings. 491 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,000 I meet with God in my office sometimes. 492 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,000 I met with God with men in this church during the week. 493 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:02,000 We've come into this room and knelt down and prayed for many of you. 494 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000 I met with God in my car. 495 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,000 Don't worry, Doug, I keep my eyes open. 496 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:21,000 My Honda Accord can become the Holy of Holies. 497 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:27,000 I can be bold to ask for the things that I need to live the way God wants me to. 498 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,000 So can you. 499 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,000 Why? 500 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,000 Because you have an advocate with the Father. 501 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,000 Because His Spirit is in me, washing me from my sin. 502 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:42,000 Because He shed His blood for my salvation and my sanctification. 503 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:47,000 Because He wants to draw us near to Himself as sons. 504 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:53,000 So because of Christ's sacrifice for us, love ones, let's draw near into His presence. 505 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,000 Here's the second way we should respond. 506 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,000 Number two, let's endure without wavering. 507 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,000 Let's endure without wavering. 508 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,000 Here's what He says. 509 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:08,000 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. 510 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,000 For He, if you agree with this phrase, say amen. 511 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:17,000 For He is faithful, that promised. 512 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:24,000 The object of our faith that we possess and profess is the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed in the Old and New Testaments. 513 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,000 He is our High Priest to God. 514 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:31,000 He has made the boldness and the entry into this holiest of all possible. 515 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,000 He is who we profess. 516 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:39,000 He is faithful to keep us by keeping His promise to us. 517 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:48,000 And so in return, we ought to endure in our profession, living according to what we say we believe no matter the cost. 518 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,000 It cost Jesus what? 519 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,000 It cost Him His body and His blood. 520 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,000 It cost Him enduring the wrath of God. 521 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,000 And He is faithful. 522 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,000 Our sins, they were many. 523 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:09,000 His mercy is more. 524 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,000 He can be trusted. 525 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,000 You can trust God. 526 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,000 He made promises and you need to hear this. 527 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,000 It can be good for you, but it also could be bad for you. 528 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:33,000 God always, always, always, always, always, always keeps His promises. 529 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,000 He always keeps His promise. 530 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:41,000 God was faithful to us before we ever responded to it or even recognize it. 531 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:46,000 We love Him because He first loved us. 532 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,000 And you may be here today and you think that Jesus is a joke. 533 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:56,000 You may think that Jesus is just another religious entity used to control people, 534 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,000 but I want to tell you this. 535 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:04,000 Whether you believe it or not, your sin has made you God's enemy. 536 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,000 Just like my sin made me God's enemy. 537 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,000 But here's the good news. 538 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:18,000 God loves His enemies. 539 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,000 But God commended His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, 540 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Christ died for us. 541 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:33,000 Christ died for you before you believed and while you were a sinner. 542 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,000 And I don't think it's wrong. 543 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:42,000 I think it's specific to the verses and in the whole of Scripture that God is love. 544 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:48,000 And I can look at anybody and tell them God loves you. 545 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,000 God loves you. 546 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,000 He demonstrated that by sending His son to die for you. 547 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:01,000 With such a cost paid so that I can have eternal life and access to the Father, 548 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:05,000 it would be such a shame for me to deny my Savior. 549 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,000 We should not forsake Him in any way. 550 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:12,000 He has made a way into the holiest of all, so I should go there. 551 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:13,000 I should pray. 552 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:14,000 I should read His word. 553 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:20,000 I should go to Him for everything and with everything. 554 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:30,000 Why would I deny the only thing that, the only way that I can be made right with God? 555 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:35,000 Because of Christ's sacrifice for us, let us enter into God's presence. 556 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Because of Christ's sacrifice for us, let us endure for Him without wavering. 557 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:51,000 Number three, because of Christ's sacrifice for us, let us encourage Christ's body. 558 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,000 Let us encourage Christ's body. 559 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,000 Look at verse 24. 560 00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:09,000 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. 561 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:17,000 Consider here means to think about our brethren, to figure them into our thinking. 562 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:26,000 If all you think about is you and yours, you're doing it wrong. 563 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:33,000 We ought to consider everybody God puts a stewardship of us. 564 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,000 We have a stewardship of all of our relationships. 565 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:42,000 The word here for provoke is the word parak susmas. 566 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:46,000 It's where we get the idea of stimulation or provocation. 567 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,000 It can mean encouragement and sharp disagreement. 568 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,000 The idea is to stir up. 569 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,000 The idea is not disconnected from what he was saying. 570 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,000 He is saying let us endure without wavering. 571 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,000 He is saying let us stay true to Jesus. 572 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:13,000 And I don't know about you but sometimes for me, I get to places in my life where I am tempted not to be faithful to Jesus. 573 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,000 Anybody here like that? 574 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:24,000 In a moment of sin and temptation, when I am tired, anybody here ever tired? 575 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,000 I can point a few out that I know are tired. 576 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:34,000 You are trying to recover right now. 577 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:39,000 In those moments it's easy for us to mess up and not be faithful to each other. 578 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,000 We need each other, brethren. 579 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000 We need each other. 580 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:47,000 Let's consider one another to provoke. 581 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,000 Let's endure without wavering. 582 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Let us stay true to Jesus. 583 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,000 That's easy for us to waver from so we need each other. 584 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,000 This is not a time for fence sitting or neutrality. 585 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,000 It's certainly not a time for regression. 586 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:06,000 It's a time for progression towards love and to good work. 587 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,000 Good works. 588 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:08,000 Who here needs love? 589 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:09,000 Yeah. 590 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,000 We do. 591 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,000 If you think you don't, you're in trouble. 592 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,000 You need people in your life and they need you. 593 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,000 Anybody here need encouragement? 594 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,000 We need encouragement. 595 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,000 Anybody here need accountability? 596 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,000 I need it. 597 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,000 We need accountability to be all that God wants God for us to be. 598 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,000 Church, we need each other. 599 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:39,000 How does that look? 600 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000 Verse 25, this is so cool. 601 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:48,000 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. 602 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,000 What it doesn't look like, if you're going to endure without wavering, 603 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:56,000 you're going to need the encouragement of other believers. 604 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:57,000 What does that look like? 605 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,000 How do we provoke one another to love and good works? 606 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,000 Provoking can be encouragement to do good and it can be, 607 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000 hey, you need to stop doing the wrong thing. 608 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,000 Okay? 609 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:09,000 It can be correction. 610 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,000 It can be. 611 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,000 How would your family go if you never corrected your kids? 612 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,000 It wouldn't go well, right? 613 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,000 So you need, how would your family go if you never encouraged your kids? 614 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:24,000 Right? 615 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:27,000 So it's basic to human relationships that we need both. 616 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,000 He says let's consider one another to love and to good works. 617 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,000 Let's provoke one another unto love and to good works. 618 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,000 Well, what does that look like? 619 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,000 Well, it definitely doesn't look like this. 620 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,000 We're taking the assembling of ourselves together. 621 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:48,000 The word assembling here, you people who like Hebrews, 622 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,000 this is just right in there. 623 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:55,000 The word assembling is the word episynugage. 624 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,000 Episynugage. 625 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,000 What does that sound like? 626 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,000 Synagog. 627 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,000 Are you with me? 628 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,000 It's used two times in Scripture. 629 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:10,000 It's the act of being gathered together or assembled. 630 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:15,000 It has definite religious connotations to synagogue. 631 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,000 So here's the preacher who's definitely Jewish, 632 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,000 talking primarily to Jewish believers and says, 633 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:26,000 don't stop synagoguing. 634 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,000 Right? 635 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,000 Now he's already told them that you don't have to do the ceremonial law anymore. 636 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,000 You don't have to sacrifice anymore. 637 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:42,000 We know from that book of Acts that they don't have to have the dietary laws they had before. 638 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,000 Right? 639 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:48,000 But he says don't stop assembling. 640 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,000 That's how some people do life. 641 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:51,000 You don't do life that way. 642 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,000 You keep coming together. 643 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000 What do they do in the synagogue? 644 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000 They sang. 645 00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,000 They read Scripture. 646 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,000 They prayed. 647 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:05,000 They stood up and took the Scripture that was read and made sense of it. 648 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,000 What does that sound like? 649 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:12,000 That's not like what we do here. 650 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:13,000 Gather for worship. 651 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:14,000 Gather for reading of the word. 652 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,000 Gather for fellowship. 653 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,000 The word for church is the word ecclesia, 654 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:25,000 which literally means assembly. 655 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,000 So this preacher is telling people who used to assemble at the synagogue 656 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,000 to gather for singing, to gather for reading of the word, 657 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:35,000 to gather for fellowship, or to keep on synagogueing. 658 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:41,000 He's telling the ecclesia to keep ecclesia-ing. 659 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,000 He tells the assembly don't stop assembling. 660 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:45,000 And here's why that's so important. 661 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:52,000 You can't provoke people to love and good works if you don't know each other. 662 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:58,000 You can't provoke one another to love and good works if you don't have access to each other. 663 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:04,000 So if you're watching online, we're so grateful that you are. 664 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:09,000 But if that's all you're ever going to do, now there's some that maybe they have a physical reason, 665 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,000 and man, that's better than nothing. 666 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:17,000 But the assembly should assemble and should be here because you need encouragement. 667 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,000 We need your encouragement. 668 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:19,000 You need correction. 669 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,000 We need correcting. 670 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,000 Don't stop assembling as a manner of some is. 671 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:36,000 But exhorting one another, exhorting means encouraging, teaching, instructing, reminding, influencing. 672 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,000 How often should we do that? 673 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:50,000 So much the more as you see the days, or the day it says approaching. 674 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:57,000 The day here is an allusion to the day of the Lord. 675 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,000 Jesus is sitting on his throne, but guess what he's going to do? 676 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:06,000 At some point he's coming back. 677 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:16,000 In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus gives what's called the Olivet Discourse. 678 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:21,000 And it's because he's on the Mount of Olives, and it's not a sermon per se. 679 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,000 It's a conversation that he has with his disciples. 680 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:31,000 He had been in the temple and he looked at them and said, hey, there's going to come a time where not one stone is going to be left on another. 681 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,000 He said all this is going to happen. 682 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,000 And in 8070, that happened. 683 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,000 Gold melted into the cracks as they were attacked. 684 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:44,000 And they literally to get the gold in between the cracks of the stones, they literally destroyed. 685 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:49,000 Every stone was lifted out to get all that. 686 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:56,000 But Jesus in that time, speaking of, and if you want to read more about this or understand more about this, 687 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:00,000 I did a series on Wednesday nights about a year ago. 688 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:04,000 You can go to our website and find the series where I go into detail about this. 689 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:11,000 But Jesus says that one of the signs of this coming day of the Lord, this thing that's going to happen in the future, 690 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:16,000 is that our birth pangs, what's called birth pangs, 691 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:21,000 and anybody that's ever had a child or was related to someone that had a child, 692 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:26,000 understands how the birthing process happens. 693 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:28,000 You start having pain. 694 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,000 There's contractions. 695 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:37,000 And those contractions and that pain, the birth pangs, go from further between each other to closer. 696 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,000 Are you with me? 697 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,000 Who understands that? 698 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:48,000 You start having them and the closer the child gets to arriving outside of the mother, 699 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:56,000 it's alive already, but coming, you know, being born, the closer the pain gets in duration. 700 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,000 And also the more intense. 701 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:03,000 It goes from less intense to more intense. 702 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:10,000 I believe with all my heart as you read Matthew 24 and you study it and compare Scripture with Scripture, 703 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:14,000 but that's talking about what's going to happen in the time of the tribulation. 704 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,000 So the birth pangs are going to happen during the tribulation. 705 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:22,000 And I believe with all my heart that I won't be here for the tribulation. 706 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:24,000 I think there's a lot of reasons biblically to believe that. 707 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:29,000 So I'm pretty tribulation on what I believe with the Bible talks about the rapture. 708 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,000 But what's interesting is that the birth pangs that Jesus talks about, 709 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:42,000 wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, antichrists, 710 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:46,000 that that's going to happen a lot during the seven-year tribulation. 711 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:53,000 And what I want you to know is that if you pay attention at all, you're seeing some of that stuff happen right now. 712 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,000 Why am I saying that? 713 00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:08,000 The writer of Hebrews seems to indicate that there's the possibility of seeing the day approaching. 714 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,000 Pay attention. 715 00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:18,000 He says, church, assembly, don't stop assembling. 716 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,000 Don't forsake the synagoguing of yourselves together. 717 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:29,000 Get together and pray and worship and love each other and provoke each other to love good works. 718 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:32,000 I don't want to hold this over you as some kind of legalistic. 719 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,000 You should be here Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. 720 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,000 And if you're not, you're in trouble. 721 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:42,000 We're coming to find you. 722 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:49,000 I'm making the case that he's making and that is we need each other now more, not less. 723 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:57,000 And we need encouragement and provoking of each other to love in good works now more, not less. 724 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:05,000 So much the more as you see the day approaching. 725 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:18,000 A faithful profession of faith vertically because of the faithful ministry and the promise of God to me should result in me encouraging others in that same way. 726 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:24,000 Jesus has not only been faithful to me, but he's also made his life available to everyone. 727 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:33,000 And so how do we be faithful and endure our profession, hold on to our profession of faith without wavering? 728 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:39,000 Well, one thing is we declare our profession of faith to the lost. 729 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:48,000 People need to know that the day of the Lord is coming, people need to know that Jesus died on the cross. There's a sacrifice that's been made. 730 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:56,000 You can have a relationship with God, you can draw near to God. 731 00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:03,000 And if you don't, you're going to spend eternity separated from God. 732 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:11,000 So to the lost we say, Jesus is the only way, he is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. 733 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:17,000 And to the saved I say, do you realize, brethren, what's been done for you? 734 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:21,000 Because we have boldness to enter. 735 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,000 Because we have a high priest who's an advocate. 736 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:36,000 Because he's sitting on the right hand of God and he's waiting, expecting one day for his enemies to be made. 737 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:46,000 His footstool. I need to work out. 738 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:54,000 Let us draw near. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. Let's endure without wavering. 739 00:46:54,000 --> 00:47:01,000 And let's gather together to encourage Christ's body. 740 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:15,000 And as you disciple your children, as you disciple your family, as you lead your family, you need to understand that your priorities will become your kids' priorities. 741 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:23,000 Your lack of priorities will become your kids' lack of priorities. 742 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:30,000 Church is not something you do when you're a kid and you grow out of it. 743 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:35,000 It's something for life. Are you with me? 744 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:45,000 So as we consider how we prioritize even our kids' activities, we need to consider what they need to be discipled in. 745 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:54,000 And they're going to need, do you think our kids will need the church in 20 years? 30 years? I believe you will. 746 00:47:54,000 --> 00:48:02,000 So the closer we get to the day of our redemption, the more we should commit ourselves to one another. 747 00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:07,000 The days are not getting easier. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me?