Drawing Near: The Call to Genuine Faith and Encouragement

• Perseverance and Endurance 00:31:41 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines the Christian walk as a race requiring endurance, citing James 1:12 to explain that perseverance under trial leads to the crown of life.
• Direct Access to God 00:36:54 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts Old Testament animal sacrifices with the New Testament reality that Jesus' blood provides direct access to the Father, eliminating the need for human priests.
• Three Exhortations from [Hebrews 10](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+10&version=KJV) 00:35:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor breaks down the passage into three 'let us' commands: draw near to God (v. 22), hold fast to hope (v. 23), and provoke one another to love (v. 24).
• Direct Access to God 00:37:16 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that believers have direct access to the Father through Jesus, contrasting this with the Old Testament Levitical system where priests mediated sacrifices.
• The Nature of True Prayer 00:39:08 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to close their doors and pray genuinely, laying burdens before God and listening to the Holy Spirit, rather than treating prayer as a routine.
• Assurance of Salvation 00:43:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the fear of losing salvation due to sin, using the analogy of a good father to explain that believers are cleansed by Christ's blood and can approach God with full confidence.
• The Danger of Fear and Unbelief 00:45:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the 'perfect love' of Jesus which drives out fear with the fear of punishment, citing 1 John 4 to encourage believers to approach God without shame.
• Illustration of Teenage Boys' Faith 00:46:32 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal story of talking to four teenage boys in a Chicago park, highlighting their lack of confidence in their salvation despite claiming belief in Jesus, and explaining the gospel to them.
• Active Faith vs. Passive Belief 00:50:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines 'holding fast' to faith as an active responsibility, not a passive state, warning against the world, devil, and flesh trying to make believers 'let go' of Christ.
• Active Faith and Holding Fast 00:50:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that faith is not passive but requires active engagement to resist the world, devil, and flesh, citing the Greek meaning of 'hold fast' as keeping secure possession.
• Divine Faithfulness and the Holy Spirit 00:51:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that believers do not hold fast on their own strength but rely on God's promise and the Holy Spirit's help to keep them from straying.
• Mutual Encouragement and Church Community 00:54:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor urges believers to actively encourage one another through love, good deeds, sharing possessions, and meeting together, contrasting this with the self-centered culture.
• The Necessity of Gathering 00:58:41 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to prioritize church attendance, arguing that it is essential for receiving encouragement, using gifts, and being shepherded by mature believers.

• Sermon Illustration 00:30:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his own struggles with faith, mentioning that he has had times where he wanted to give up on following God due to the hardness of the world and the reality of the enemy.
• Sermon Illustration 00:46:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about visiting his family in Chicago and walking in a park where he encountered four teenage boys. He engaged them in a conversation about their belief in God and Jesus, noting their surprising affirmation of faith. He then asked them to rate their confidence in their salvation on a scale of 1-10, revealing that three of them felt insecure (7, 7.5, 9.5) due to their perceived sin, while one felt 100% confident. The pastor used this to illustrate the lack of assurance among some believers and the need to explain the gospel of grace.
• Sermon Illustration 00:53:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about struggling with the temptation to return to sin (like a 'club' or 'party scene') and feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, illustrated by receiving a text message from a friend praying for him.
• Sermon Illustration 00:59:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts his own teenage years when he did not believe in the power of the church, thinking only a personal relationship with God was needed, but later realized the church is essential for encouragement and shepherding.

• Pastoral Charge 00:39:08 ▶️ 📄
  > Go to a private room, close the door, pray to God, lay burdens before Him, listen to the Holy Spirit, and read the Word of God.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Testing Testing Testing Testing Testing Testing

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
You know, we had to move out yesterday for the wedding.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
and more.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Testing, testing.
[00:02:48] Testing, testing.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
TAS

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Test, test Test, test

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you.
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[00:07:24] .
[00:08:35] Let us pray.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Welcome to First Presbyterian Church, Lawrenceville, where our mission is to love God, love the people, and the disciples.
[00:09:32] We're so glad that you're with us today.
[00:09:36] And if you're listening, please completely text us to the portal, and we'll be there to give you any information that you might need, or want, or even if you just want more information about our church, we'll be there to help you.
[00:09:49] Now please join me in a call for a chapter that's located on the bottom of your book.

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord.
[00:10:00] Lord, hear my voice.
[00:10:02] Let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
If you, Lord, were to know what is done in us, O Lord, would you save me?

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
For the earth is certainly in this with you.
[00:10:16] Therefore you shall be feared.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I wait for you, O Lord, my soul waits for you, and your word is my hope.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
After these learning and affirmation, O God, you come to us in the depths of our darkest despair, in the suffering of Jesus Christ, by the rising of your Son, give us new light to guide us, that we may always praise your holy making, through Jesus Christ our
[00:11:11] Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, O Lord, the foretaste of glory divine.
[00:11:28] Bell of salvation,
[00:11:38] This is my story, this is my song.
[00:11:53] Praising my Savior all day long.
[00:11:54] This is my story, this is my song.
[00:12:05] Eucharist, Episcopal, Episcopal, Episcopal, Episcopal, Episcopal, Episcopal, Episcopal
[00:12:44] of the Lord
[00:13:16] This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all along This is my story, this is my song

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
[00:14:16] The third day he arose again from the dead.
[00:14:27] He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:14:34] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I believe in the Holy Ghost.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Go not far from me,

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Cast me not away in the time of age Cast me not away in the time of age
[00:16:17] Forsake me not, forsake me not, forsake me not, when my strength faileth me.
[00:16:47] Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, be filled with thy praise, that I may sing, that I may sing thy glory.
[00:17:14] O let my mouth be filled with thy praise O let my mouth be filled with thy praise O let my mouth be filled with thy praise
[00:17:43] All the glory all the day long that I may sing of thy glory all the day long O let my mouth be filled with thy grace O let my mouth
[00:18:06] All the day long, all the day long, all the day long, all the day long.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Coming up this week, there's a lot happening in the life of the Church.
[00:18:48] Coming up this week on Tuesday, Saints Alive 1230.
[00:18:52] And this Tuesday, Meredith Whitlow, who...
[00:18:55] Last year, if you can't be seeing a woman that is there, she was the mother of a woman that is there.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
She will be sharing a little bit about her ministry and her practice.
[00:19:04] She's a music therapist here in Warsaw.
[00:19:06] She has a practice called Rejoice Music Therapy.
[00:19:09] And she'll be sharing a lot of benefits of music therapy for all ages.
[00:19:14] So if you're interested in coming to Munchen at 12, 30, and Tuesday for Saints Alive and listening to marriage, it'll be a wonderful treat for you.
[00:19:22] And then also next week, October 26th, we will have our church picnic at 1230 at Corunitas State Park.
[00:19:33] We have a church picnic twice a year, so this will be our wonderful fall.
[00:19:37] And the church will be providing hamburgers and hot dogs, but please, if you can, bring a side to share.
[00:19:44] And it's just a wonderful time for fellowship with the church family.
[00:19:48] And I hope to see you as many years as possible.
[00:19:52] And I also wanted to announce on November 9th, just a reminder, we'll be having one service that Sunday, November 9th.
[00:20:02] And we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of First Presbyterian Church in Orangeville.
[00:20:10] So we'll have one service that day, 11-15 here in the sanctuary.
[00:20:13] And then in the fellowship hall we'll have a luncheon.
[00:20:17] Followed by a brief presentation talking about the history and for our church, this story, a wonderful church story we've been sharing, the history of the church, and we've been working hard preparing
[00:20:32] Slides and pictures and presentations all about the history of the church, so it will be very interesting.
[00:20:38] And then, not only talking about the history, but then also a presentation on where we see the church moving forward for the next 150 years or so.
[00:20:49] So, I hope you can come to that November 9th, one service at a day, and then in the budget hall, one of these will follow that presentation.
[00:20:57] So, at this time, I would like to invite Klav Ohman to come up and share a little bit.
[00:21:05] Klav is a minister, pastor in Tanzania, and our church supports his ministry.
[00:21:10] So, Klav, where are you, Klav?
[00:21:14] Thank you.

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Good morning, church.
[00:21:16] Good morning.
[00:21:17] I'm blessed to be here for Sanctuary in Washington, D.C.
[00:21:21] My name is Claude Robin and I'm from Tanzania, East Africa.
[00:21:26] I'm just here to thank the Lord and just thank you, the Church, for praying with us, for praying for us and supporting us financially.
[00:21:37] We, my wife and I, the three of us, have started a new ministry we call New Beginning of Manzunite, as we call it in Swahili.
[00:21:44] And this is a ministry that we are reaching to the Muslim community, in Tanzania, and our community is called the Rang people, who are 8 out of 93 Muslims, as we speak now.
[00:21:56] So we are using this ministry just to put our love for God in practice, and just reach to them with the Gospel.
[00:22:05] But we are doing it a little bit different, because these are Muslims, and it's time to get an audience with Muslims, especially in all their direction.
[00:22:12] So we have built a model that they also use to educate children when they are very young.
[00:22:20] So we have a ministry to reach the young children beginning with age 4.
[00:22:28] So we have a Christian school, a charity school, and we have so far 35 children.
[00:22:35] It's four to six, and they're coming to our school, and we're teaching them, apart from other things, but the Word of God.
[00:22:44] And the majority of those kids are from Muslim families, so we pray to God that through this ministry, the Muslims are sending their kids to us, knowing that we are going to teach the Word of God.
[00:22:56] And they will stay with us until they are a kid, so we believe we will make a decision to follow Jesus.
[00:23:01] And also we have another ministry which is coming in 20 weeks.
[00:23:05] It's about many commissions.
[00:23:07] We are establishing a clinic for maternity centers for women and children as well.
[00:23:12] So we thank God for your prayers.
[00:23:15] We thank God for your support.
[00:23:16] And we have seen already, you've been existing for like three years, but we've seen great change.
[00:23:22] And God is opening doors for us to reach to the Muslim community.
[00:23:27] Thank you so much for considering us and for blessing us with your prayers.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
You guys hear me all right?
[00:23:44] Testing.
[00:23:49] Hello?
[00:23:50] Yeah, it's on.
[00:23:51] Can you hear me now?
[00:23:53] It's working?
[00:23:53] Okay, cool.
[00:23:55] Let's pray.
[00:23:58] Let's pray.
[00:24:06] Lord Jesus, we praise you and we thank you
[00:24:12] You are an awesome God.
[00:24:16] You are worthy of being praised.
[00:24:18] You're worthy of being exalted.
[00:24:21] You're worthy of our lives, Lord.
[00:24:24] And we thank you for our brother in Christ, Cloud, who is laboring in Tanzania to proclaim the gospel, to teach the youth and train them up in righteousness and reach people who are bowing down regularly to a false god in the Muslim faith.
[00:24:45] God, we thank you, Jesus, for what you are doing through Cloud.
[00:24:50] May you continue
[00:24:52] To bless him, to pour your favor out over him and his family in the ministry, God.
[00:24:58] Would you provide all of his needs as he seeks first the kingdom of God and righteousness?
[00:25:04] All else will be added unto him.
[00:25:07] Lord, we lay his life down.
[00:25:10] On the altar for you to be exalted through Him, God, in any ways that you want our church or congregants in this room right now to support the ministry that Cloud is doing.
[00:25:25] Would you make that happen according to your will, Lord?
[00:25:31] God, it's a reminder to all of us that you are so much bigger than Morrisville, North Carolina.
[00:25:37] You're so much bigger than this church.
[00:25:41] You are moving everywhere at all times.
[00:25:44] You are drawing people to yourself.
[00:25:47] You are working, God.
[00:25:48] You are advancing your kingdom, and we praise you for that, Jesus.
[00:25:54] Please, Lord, show us how you want us to partner with you as your hands and feet.
[00:26:00] God, we are sorry that we often neglect the promptings, that we often say no and we do not obey, and we run like Jonah.
[00:26:13] And so Lord, we take this time now to silently confess our sins to you.
[00:26:33] Hallelujah, Jesus.
[00:26:34] You are faithful.
[00:26:36] You are the one who is faithful.
[00:26:38] You have saved us.
[00:26:41] We are forgiven only by your blood.
[00:26:45] And we are righteous because of what you have done on our behalf.
[00:26:52] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:26:54] We receive your words and your life this day.
[00:26:59] We live into the freedom, the abundant life that you offer us.
[00:27:06] And we open up our hands and say, here we are, Lord.
[00:27:10] Send us, not as a way to earn you, but because we love you and we know what you have done for us and we want to live for you.
[00:27:22] Lord, anyone in this room right now who is struggling and suffering with physical pain, emotional pain and turmoil in their mind, or spiritual pain, I ask, Lord Jesus, that you would bring your healing, that you would show yourself to them, that you would remind them that you're right there with them, that you're holding their hands,
[00:27:53] and that you are working all things together for good because they love you and they're called according to your purpose.
[00:28:03] Lord, for the unbeliever in this room, maybe someone who's been coming to church a long time but they still don't truly trust in you for their salvation.
[00:28:24] to see the light.
[00:28:33] And lastly, Lord, I pray, I just pray a blessing over families.
[00:28:41] Lord, families right now, mothers and fathers, grandparents, great-grandparents, children, Lord, I pray
[00:28:52] that you would shine your face upon those families, that you would be prevalent, that your presence would be felt in the home, and that those kids would be brought up in a way that is according to your word, God, that these grandparents would be able to encourage their children, and that, Lord, as these families are unified,
[00:29:24] You would be glorified.
[00:29:27] Just feel led to pray that today, God.
[00:29:30] May that touch whoever needs to receive that.
[00:29:35] And now, Lord, we pray together the prayer that you taught your disciples to pray.
[00:29:39] Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen amen
[00:30:10] My name is Zeb.
[00:30:12] If you haven't met me yet, I serve as the youth director here at the church.
[00:30:18] Our pastors, Pastor Dave and Pastor Moses, are out of town, so I'll be giving the word today.
[00:30:23] So glad to be with you, though.
[00:30:26] Lord, would you help me now proclaim your word faithfully?
[00:30:31] I've been doing a lot of, as I was preparing this message, I've been doing a lot of reflecting,
[00:30:37] and thinking in this past week even was really hard for me in a lot of ways personally and I just as I look back and even now there's many times honestly where I want to just in my flesh give up on following God and living for Jesus and because it's so hard
[00:31:06] It can get so hard.
[00:31:08] This world is very broken.
[00:31:11] And the enemy is very real.
[00:31:13] And his attacks are not anything to mess around with.
[00:31:19] And in my humanity, in my weakness, I many times just want to say, Jesus, I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this.
[00:31:34] But He is faithful.
[00:31:36] and He carries us through even in those lowest of moments.
[00:31:41] And if there's one thing I've learned up to this point, it's that the Christian journey, the Christian walk, the Christian race takes perseverance and it takes endurance.
[00:31:53] James 1.12 says this, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
[00:32:11] We are able to persevere because of His great love for us and because of our love for Him.
[00:32:22] And as a church, we've been going through the book of Hebrews together, and we're continuing through that series this morning.
[00:32:28] We'll be specifically in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25.
[00:32:35] So if you want to turn there with me in your Bibles, you can, or you can just follow along on the screen and listen.
[00:32:41] Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25.
[00:32:45] And the author of Hebrews in our passage today calls us
[00:32:52] To keep going.
[00:32:53] He calls us to persevere.
[00:32:55] He calls us to endure.
[00:32:58] Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble but take heart for I have overcome the world.
[00:33:05] And this writer of Hebrews gives us some practical things that we can actively engage in as disciples of Jesus.
[00:33:14] While we're waiting for his return in the midst of suffering, in the midst of trial, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of pain, in all the hardships that come with following Christ.
[00:33:25] So hear now the word of the Lord from Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 25.
[00:33:33] Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
[00:33:51] Let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
[00:34:04] Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
[00:34:12] And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day approaching.
[00:34:25] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:34:28] Thanks be to God.
[00:34:31] So this passage begins with the author of Hebrews reminding us of the gospel.
[00:34:38] He starts out with reminding us of the gospel.
[00:34:40] We're reminded of the great power that is in the blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:34:45] It says things like this in the beginning.
[00:34:47] Since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, and since we have a great high priest over God, He's showing us that there's power in the gospel, and because of that power in the gospel, we should be doing certain things.
[00:35:02] We should be living in a certain way.
[00:35:04] We should be persevering and enduring,
[00:35:07] and specific actions.
[00:35:08] And he lays out three let us exhortation statements in this passage.
[00:35:14] I don't know if you caught that or not, but maybe you circled these phrases in your Bible.
[00:35:21] There's one in verse 22, there's one in verse 23, and there's one in verse 24.
[00:35:28] And all of these let us exhortations give us clarity
[00:35:34] on things that believers should continually be doing in this life.
[00:35:40] Okay, and I believe this morning that the Holy Spirit wants to speak to each of us through maybe all of them or one of them right now.
[00:35:47] And he's saying, I really want you to listen and lean into this and go deeper with me in that area of your walk.
[00:35:58] And the basis for all of those statements, again I'll say it,
[00:36:03] It's in the Gospel.
[00:36:04] They're rooted in the Gospel.
[00:36:06] Because of what Jesus has done, let us do this.
[00:36:10] So verse 22, because Jesus
[00:36:15] has given us confidence to enter the sanctuary by his blood.
[00:36:20] And because, verse 20, he's opened a new and living way through the curtain, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us do what in response to Jesus?
[00:36:29] Verse 22, let us draw near to God with genuine hearts and complete assurance of faith.
[00:36:36] Let us approach with a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
[00:36:48] He's just saying let us approach God.
[00:36:51] Let us draw near to God.
[00:36:54] Because we no longer have to offer sacrifices, animals, like they did in the Old Testament under the Levitical law.
[00:37:02] We don't have to do that anymore.
[00:37:04] Jesus was sufficient, more than sufficient, what he did on the cross.
[00:37:08] And because Jesus is our high priest now, we don't have to go to a priest to bring atonement to us and to go to God on our behalf.
[00:37:16] Instead, we have direct access to the Father through what Jesus has done.
[00:37:21] Because Jesus has done all this, let us draw near to God.
[00:37:26] Let us approach God.
[00:37:31] And my question is why so often are we not approaching God?
[00:37:39] Why so often are we not drawing near to Him?
[00:37:44] Like do we understand this great privilege that we have as believers?
[00:37:50] If you really pause and think about it, we have access, personally, to the holy, holy, holy God, the Creator of the universe, the one who's in control of all things.
[00:38:08] That God, through Jesus, we can actually talk to Him, and listen to Him,
[00:38:20] and he speaks to us and have this relationship with him it is so beautiful and there's nothing else like that in our lives but we take that for granted so much and I'm talking about myself right now too I take that for granted so much that I can enter into God's presence and maybe you're in this room right now and you're thinking well I don't know Zeb that that doesn't
[00:38:50] Sure, that sounds okay, but I'd really rather be doing a lot of other things.
[00:38:57] I challenge you today to go into your room and to close the door like Jesus instructs us in the Bible and to pray to your Father who is in heaven.
[00:39:08] and to genuinely lay your burdens out before Him and just let Him know how you feel right now in your life and then to pause and listen and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and maybe open up the Word of God which is alive and active and let that touch your soul.
[00:39:29] I challenge you to do that because I know if you do that and you seek God
[00:39:36] You will come to find that there is nothing like being in His presence in the whole world.
[00:39:44] Nothing compares to that.
[00:39:48] Nothing compares to just sitting in the presence of our good Father and letting Him speak to us.
[00:39:59] Let us draw near.
[00:40:02] Let us draw near.
[00:40:05] And the more time you spend with Him, the more you will grow in your love for Him and want to be with Him.
[00:40:13] It says in James 4.8, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
[00:40:19] Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
[00:40:22] A lot of us are as close to God as we want to be.
[00:40:27] He has already taken the first step in sending His Son and He wants to be with you all the time.
[00:40:35] But maybe we're too busy or there's other things that are preventing us from entering into His presence.
[00:40:42] And then the second part of that verse, verse 22 in our passage, it says, let us draw near with true hearts.
[00:40:52] So when we draw near to God, we do it with genuine, authentic hearts that are for Him, not just for Him to do what we want in our lives.
[00:41:06] We're not just seeking the provision of God, we're seeking Him, the face of Jesus.
[00:41:15] That should be our heart's desire, that should be our heart posture.
[00:41:22] Scriptures say in 423, above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.
[00:41:27] The heart is representative of not just our physical heart, but our will, our emotions, our mind, our thoughts.
[00:41:35] God wants us to draw near to him out of our love for him not just to receive something this scripture verse really grounds me in this all the time it's Psalm 27 verse 4 the psalmist writes one thing i ask from the lord this only do i seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the lord and to seek him in his temple this is all i want god just
[00:42:02] To gaze at your beauty and to dwell in your presence all the days of my life.
[00:42:08] If you don't do anything else for me, I'm okay, because I got you, and you are my greatest treasure.
[00:42:15] You are my greatest reward, Jesus.
[00:42:18] That's a true heart.
[00:42:20] And I know that some of us, we have those true hearts, and we want to draw near to God,
[00:42:28] But maybe we're not drawing near to God because we are ashamed of sin in our lives.
[00:42:36] And when we look at our lives, we're like, man, I don't want to go get in God's presence because then I'm going to have to deal with that.
[00:42:43] Or maybe God doesn't care about me anymore and He's mad at me and I've lost my salvation.
[00:42:49] I've lost my status in His family because I am sinning.
[00:42:58] And in the end of this verse, after he says, draw near with a true heart, the writer of Hebrews also says, in full assurance of faith.
[00:43:13] God wants us to come to him
[00:43:15] Those of us who have actually put our faith in Jesus by grace through faith and trusted Him for our salvation, He wants us to come to Him and know that we are saved.
[00:43:28] That all of our sins of the past, all of our sins right now, and all of our sins in the future are completely wiped clean by the blood of Jesus.
[00:43:38] We can be 100% confident that we are saved.
[00:43:44] This assurance is available to us.
[00:43:46] God is a good father.
[00:43:47] What good father who is on this earth would say to his child, you know what, I don't want anything to do with you anymore because you've made some mistakes.
[00:43:57] You're not in my family anymore.
[00:44:01] No good father would do that.
[00:44:02] He is a good father.
[00:44:03] Even when we make a mistake, when we fall into sin, we're still in the family of God.
[00:44:08] We're cleansed by the blood of Christ, and I'm not advocating for a life of just whatever.
[00:44:15] I live my life however I want.
[00:44:17] We know that.
[00:44:18] I teach this all the time.
[00:44:19] If you truly do believe in Jesus, you're going to strive to live into holiness, and you're going to strive to live the way that the Scriptures teach us to live.
[00:44:29] But I am saying,
[00:44:31] That God loves you and that if you have some sin in your life right now, that does not mean that you are out of His family.
[00:44:41] And He wants you to have this assurance
[00:44:44] He genuinely does.
[00:44:46] In 1 John chapter 4, it says this in verses 16 and 18, And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
[00:44:53] God is love.
[00:44:55] Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
[00:44:59] This is how love is made complete among us, so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment.
[00:45:05] In this world, we are like Jesus.
[00:45:07] There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.
[00:45:12] Perfect love
[00:45:13] drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment.
[00:45:17] The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
[00:45:19] That's what the Apostle John writes.
[00:45:23] The love of Jesus Christ, the perfect love of Jesus has casted out all fear and we can go to God now boldly, unashamed.
[00:45:39] Hallelujah, this is beautiful.
[00:45:43] This is so amazing.
[00:45:47] Often when I preach a message or I prepare for a message, I pray that God would tattoo the scriptures to my heart and that I just meditate on it throughout the entire week up to the point that I deliver it.
[00:46:01] And many times He makes me
[00:46:03] Live the message where I see things through the passage of scripture in my life that week leading up to the message and so this past week I was in the Chicago area visiting my family and I was walking around this park and I saw these four teenage boys and I felt led to go talk to them and so I went up and talked to these four teenage boys and I just said hey guys
[00:46:32] Do you believe in God?
[00:46:34] You know, there's no easy way to engage in that conversation.
[00:46:37] And sometimes that's just what you gotta do in faith.
[00:46:40] And so I just said, hey, do you guys believe in God?
[00:46:42] I just felt like to ask you that.
[00:46:43] And they all said, yes, we believe in God.
[00:46:45] And I said, okay, do you believe in Jesus?
[00:46:48] And they all surprisingly said, yes.
[00:46:51] We believe in Jesus, which was a shocker for me, because I've shared this before, but up north and where I'm from, there's not a lot of people, it's not like the south, who just go to church and believe in Jesus.
[00:47:03] A lot of them are atheists, a lot of them are agnostic, a lot of them believe in a different religion.
[00:47:11] And so when they said that they believed in Jesus, I'm like, wow, this is really amazing.
[00:47:15] So I have this one last question for you boys.
[00:47:18] And the question was this.
[00:47:20] I ask people this all the time who say that they claim to believe in Christ.
[00:47:26] On a scale of one to ten, how confident are you right now, if you were to die, that you would make it into heaven?
[00:47:34] And I asked all four of the boys this, and one of the boys said,
[00:47:39] I'm seven out of ten.
[00:47:40] And the next boy said, I'm seven and a half confident out of ten.
[00:47:44] And the next one said, I'm nine and a half confident out of ten.
[00:47:47] And then the fourth one said, I'm ten out of ten confident that I'm making it to heaven.
[00:47:52] And you could just see a joy in that last boy.
[00:47:55] like a genuine joy i feel like he might be called to ministry in the future we can pray for him i can't remember his name right now but i asked these other boys well why do you feel that way why do you feel like you're a seven out of ten and they would say all of them i have sin in my life right now and i believe in jesus but i have sin in my life right now and i don't think he would accept me that is
[00:48:25] Heartbreaking because our God says in the scriptures we can be confident and we should be confident that we are saved.
[00:48:36] We should all be able to say we are a 10 out of 10.
[00:48:39] If we genuinely believe in Jesus and so I had to explain the gospel to them and I don't know if all of them actually were saved in that moment and believed because they didn't fully understand that it was by grace.
[00:48:52] There was a lot of workspace righteousness still going on in their theology.
[00:48:57] So we prayed for them and that was beautiful.
[00:49:02] But maybe your scale right now is not a 10 out of 10.
[00:49:10] I want to tell you, you can be a 10 out of 10.
[00:49:14] God wants you to be a 10 out of 10.
[00:49:16] In 1 John 5, 13, we just got through this series as a church.
[00:49:21] John wrote, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
[00:49:29] He wants you to know and be confident.
[00:49:33] So because of what Jesus has done, let us draw near to God
[00:49:38] Now verse 23, let us hold firm to our hope in him, in Jesus.
[00:49:46] It says in that scripture, verse 23, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
[00:49:56] So while we are waiting for Christ's return, we as believers have an active responsibility
[00:50:02] Two, engage in holding firm to the faith.
[00:50:07] Holding fast to our faith.
[00:50:09] It's not a passive thing.
[00:50:11] We have to be active in that.
[00:50:13] The Greek word says this.
[00:50:15] The Greek word for hold fast can also be translated as keep secure or keep firm possession of.
[00:50:25] And why is it important that we do this?
[00:50:28] Why is it so important that we hold fast to our confession in Jesus?
[00:50:32] It's because the world and the devil, the enemy, Satan, the accuser, and our flesh is always out to tell us, let go.
[00:50:43] Don't hold on to Christ anymore.
[00:50:45] Let go.
[00:50:46] Live how you want to live.
[00:50:48] This is too hard.
[00:50:50] You're not going to make it.
[00:50:51] I experienced so much of this this last week.
[00:50:53] Just give it up.
[00:51:01] But we have to hold fast to our confession in him because he's the only way.
[00:51:05] As he says in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:51:10] No one comes to the Father except through me.
[00:51:12] Not a way, the way.
[00:51:16] And when we start to dabble with other confessions and we start to say, you know what, I can maybe
[00:51:22] Practice New Age and believe in Jesus or I can do some of this stuff and follow this God and believe in Jesus.
[00:51:32] No.
[00:51:34] To do that is to denounce our confession in Jesus because He claims to be the only way.
[00:51:40] And so we've got to hold firm to this.
[00:51:42] Life and death is on the line.
[00:51:44] Heaven and hell is on the line of us holding firm to the confession of Jesus, keeping the true faith in Jesus.
[00:51:51] But here is the good news.
[00:51:53] He does not make us do it on our own strength.
[00:51:58] Did you catch that in verse 23?
[00:52:01] At the end of it, it says, For he who has promised is faithful.
[00:52:06] God promised the salvation.
[00:52:10] God is the one who initiated all of this and he is faithful to bring it to completion.
[00:52:16] Philippians 1.21, Paul writes, I'm sure of this, confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.
[00:52:30] The ground for standing firm in our faith is not human determination.
[00:52:35] but rather the dependability of our God who made us the promise in the first place and began the good work in us.
[00:52:42] We didn't begin it, He began it.
[00:52:46] He began it.
[00:52:47] And when you believe in Jesus, this crazy thing happens.
[00:52:50] The Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity, comes and lives inside of you.
[00:52:54] And now, He helps you.
[00:52:57] When your flesh starts to stray away, He helps you hold fast to Christ.
[00:53:02] What does this practically look like in our lives?
[00:53:05] It looks like when you want to curse out God and you're done, and everything is not going the way that you want it to go,
[00:53:11] and so you're just gonna go back to the sin that you lived in before you believed in Christ and surrendered to him and you're back at the club or you're back at that party scene and all of a sudden you get there and your heart just doesn't feel the same way anymore.
[00:53:27] You can't enjoy it like you used to because he's convicting you and he's saying, my son, my daughter, I have so much more for you.
[00:53:36] This is not where you belong.
[00:53:38] You belong in my family.
[00:53:39] Leave that place.
[00:53:41] And you just can't even stay there anymore.
[00:53:44] Where it looks like you calling out to God in frustration, God, what are you doing right now with my life?
[00:53:51] I don't see you moving anywhere.
[00:53:54] And then all of a sudden you get a text message from a friend who you haven't talked to in like two years.
[00:54:00] And they say, hey my brother, I'm praying for you.
[00:54:03] Just felt led to reach out.
[00:54:05] And then you're like, what?
[00:54:09] That's the Spirit, that's God helping you.
[00:54:12] He who promised is faithful.
[00:54:15] So let us draw near to God because of what Jesus has done.
[00:54:19] Let us hold fast with the help of Him to our confession in Jesus.
[00:54:25] And thirdly, let us continually encourage one another.
[00:54:29] Verse 24, let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day approaching.
[00:54:43] Believers are called to be great encouragers.
[00:54:46] This is not just for pastors.
[00:54:47] This is not just for deacons or elders.
[00:54:50] This is for every believer in Jesus Christ.
[00:54:53] We are called to be encouragers.
[00:54:55] Even if you don't have necessarily the spiritual gift of exhortation or encouragement, you're still called to be an encourager to other believers.
[00:55:03] And we need you to do that.
[00:55:05] We need you to take ownership of that because living as a Christian is hard.
[00:55:11] and we need support and encouragement from others to make it.
[00:55:14] Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
[00:55:22] Daily, that is hard.
[00:55:24] Every day to wake up and say no to my flesh, yes to what you have for me, Jesus.
[00:55:30] which is why we need brothers and sisters in those low moments to come alongside us and say hey you can do this you can do this you got this I'm praying for you I'm here to help you
[00:55:43] We need each other.
[00:55:44] We need each other.
[00:55:45] We need each other.
[00:55:46] 1 Corinthians 12, 21, Paul writes, The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you.
[00:55:52] And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.
[00:55:55] The head and the feet are just symbolic of people with different giftings in the body of Christ.
[00:56:00] We need each other.
[00:56:03] And how then are we to be encouraging each other?
[00:56:08] the author of Hebrews gives us the answer to that in verse 24 he said encourage each other to act in love and good deeds we should be calling out spiritual giftings in each other and helping us get the opportunity to use those giftings we should be sharing our possessions with people
[00:56:30] When someone in here has a need and one of us is in a greater prosperous season of life, we should recognize that need and say, okay, I got you.
[00:56:43] God didn't provide for me for me to just hold it on to myself.
[00:56:46] I'm gonna help you out here.
[00:56:48] That's what they did in the early church.
[00:56:49] We should be speaking truth and love to believers who are struggling with sin in gentleness, but not just letting them stay in that place.
[00:56:57] Hey, you're better than this.
[00:56:58] God has more for you than this.
[00:57:00] We should be constantly praying for each other.
[00:57:05] Those are just a few examples of what it looks like to encourage people to love and act in good deeds.
[00:57:12] And in that beginning of verse 24, it literally says, consider, consider.
[00:57:18] That's implying think about these things.
[00:57:21] Like it should be a regular occurrence in our life as disciples of Jesus that we are thinking about how we can encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:57:32] And in a whole world that is so much
[00:57:35] We're focused on us and me, me, me, me, me all the time and what I need, what I want, how am I gonna get done everything I gotta get done in my life.
[00:57:44] That's hard.
[00:57:45] That's our culture in the West.
[00:57:48] And so we gotta be extra intentional with saying, Lord, help me think of others above myself.
[00:57:55] Philippians 2, don't do anything in vain conceit, but rather in humility, value others above yourself.
[00:58:03] Think about how can I encourage somebody today?
[00:58:05] How can I?
[00:58:06] And what's crazy is when you encourage somebody else, I found this in my life all the time.
[00:58:11] When I reach out and I'm selfless and I encourage somebody, usually, not always, that's not why you do it, but usually in that place, God also shows up for me and brings me joy or he touches me or he ends up providing what I needed in some crazy way, just showing me, Zeb, live for me and test me.
[00:58:29] When you seek first my kingdom and my righteousness, I will provide all else unto you.
[00:58:38] And then the writer says,
[00:58:41] Encourage one another, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.
[00:58:49] Why does he say that?
[00:58:52] Because if we want to encourage one another, we got to be meeting together.
[00:59:01] We got to be in the church.
[00:59:05] When I first became a believer in my teenage years,
[00:59:12] I did not believe in the power of the church that much, personally.
[00:59:16] I will confess that I thought that it was really just about my personal relationship with God and that I didn't need to go to church that much.
[00:59:25] I'm like, as long as I'm close with God, I'm good.
[00:59:30] But as I've matured over the years, God has revealed to me, Zeb, it's in the church that you then are going to be able to receive that encouragement that you need in hard times.
[00:59:39] And it's in the church that you're going to be able to use your gifts and help other people.
[00:59:44] And how are you going to be shepherded?
[00:59:46] How are you going to be taught by people who are more mature and farther along in the faith than you if you're not surrounded by other believers in the church?
[00:59:54] How are you going to have people
[00:59:56] who show up and pray for you in those hard moments if your only friends are those friends that you hunt around at school who don't really care about God.
[01:00:03] How are you going to be able to even know who it is in your family, because we're literally a family in the body of Christ, that needs help if you're not around the people that need help.
[01:00:21] And so I've been very convicted on that.
[01:00:24] And I challenge you, make church a priority.
[01:00:26] And I'm not saying you gotta come to this church.
[01:00:29] I'm not saying you gotta come to every program that we offer.
[01:00:32] I'm just saying the scriptures are clear.
[01:00:36] We should be gathering together.
[01:00:39] Regularly.
[01:00:41] Regularly.
[01:00:46] We need each other.
[01:00:50] And then it ends in verse 25, our passage.
[01:00:54] By saying, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.
[01:00:59] The day approaching is Jesus Christ's return.
[01:01:04] So the closer we get to Jesus' return, the more we should be drawing near to God, the more we should be holding firm to our faith, despite all the false doctrines and temptations that are coming at us, and the more we should be encouraging one another and gathering together as believers.
[01:01:28] And unfortunately, I don't think in a lot of ways we're getting this right right now.
[01:01:34] I feel like we when you look at scriptures in Acts 2 that says the early church meant every day in the temple courts and that was almost 2,000 years ago and how far we've come along now and how many more signs we're seeing that the end is approaching and that Jesus is coming back we're way closer to his return than they were in the early church days
[01:01:57] and yet we're not gathering as frequently as them.
[01:02:01] We're not seeking after God as frequently as them in a lot of ways.
[01:02:05] I'm guilty of this too myself.
[01:02:09] God has way more for us in that area.
[01:02:11] I think there's a reason why Jesus prayed for our unity in John 17 right before he went to go die on the cross.
[01:02:20] It really matters to him.
[01:02:23] It's directly connected to our witness too.
[01:02:30] So I invite you now to close your eyes as we end and I'm going to pray for us.
[01:02:37] Just what is the Holy Spirit saying to you in this moment?
[01:02:44] Listen to the voice of the Lord as I read these three exhortations.
[01:02:51] Because of the gospel, because of what Jesus has done, let us draw near to God with genuine hearts and complete assurance of faith.
[01:03:02] Let us hold firm to our hope in Jesus and let us continually encourage one another.
[01:03:14] Father God, I pray right now that you would speak to your sons and daughters
[01:03:21] that you would ignite a passion and a desire to run to you in the secret place, Lord.
[01:03:30] To listen to your voice, to sit in your presence, to dwell in the house, God, to seek after you with a genuine heart, not just for something, but because they love you and you are everything to them, God.
[01:03:44] I pray, Jesus,
[01:03:46] that you would give assurance of salvation to those in this room who are wrestling with that and who feel like maybe they're not saved because they just sinned.
[01:04:02] Lord remind them of the truth right now that they can be confident that perfect love casts out all fear that if they have genuinely placed their faith in you they are in your family and in the kingdom of God I pray Lord that you would help us in our weakness hold firm to the faith just like you grabbed Peter's arm when he took his eyes off of you as he was walking on the water and you grabbed him and you pulled him up God would you do the same for us when we fall short and Lord I pray
[01:04:31] that you would ignite a fire in us to encourage other people that we would stop being so selfish all the time that we would think about how we can encourage others and that you would meet us in a holy way in that place and God for someone maybe who hasn't come to church in a long time would they see today why we go to church it's not just to be here it's not just to attend a service and be in a building
[01:05:01] It's to be around your people, and there's blessing in that, and favor in that, and power in that, God.
[01:05:07] Open their eyes to that truth.
[01:05:09] We surrender these things to you.
[01:05:11] It's in Jesus' name I pray.
[01:05:13] Amen.
[01:05:49] The last verse I'll read over us today is from Psalm 51 verse 12.
[01:05:54] It's King David and he writes, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
[01:06:04] That's what someone needs to hear today.
[01:06:08] There is joy in your salvation.
[01:06:10] God wants to restore it to you.
[01:06:11] It was never about you and what you could do.
[01:06:14] It's always been about Him and what He's done on your behalf.
[01:06:17] You can be confident 100% that you are His child, that your faith in Him by grace perfectly covers everything.
[01:06:29] And even when you fall short right now, you're covered because God looks at you the way He looks at His Son, Jesus.
[01:06:37] So go now, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
[01:06:45] Amen.

[01:07:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I am built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
[01:07:21] I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
[01:07:23] On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand When darkness veils His lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace
[01:07:53] The stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.
[01:08:15] On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
[01:08:19] His oath is common and His blood So put me in the whelming flood When all around my soul gives way He then is all my hope and stay On Christ the solid rock I stand All other
[01:08:50] All other ground is sinking sand When He shall come with trumpet sound O may I then in Him be found Dressed in His righteousness alone All place to stand
[01:09:23] All other ground is sinking sand.

[01:09:42] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
All other ground is sinking sand.
[01:11:17] of Christ.