Therefore......

Look at the Santa Jesus seriously. All other systems and ways to give to God—how should we respond to that truth, to that fact? Open with us to the book of Hebrews as we discover what our response should be. Amen.

Well, welcome again! Would you take out your Bibles and open them to the book of Hebrews? While you're standing, the book of Hebrews is right near the end of your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one.

As you're turning there, I have a couple of things to say. I'm very grateful; I had a great vacation with my family over the last couple of weeks. I am super grateful to our ministry team here. Garrett was able to fill in for me last week, and then Pastor David Guzik was here a couple of weeks ago. If you missed those messages, you should check them out on our website.

Also, today is not only a big day because it's Reiter's fourth birthday, but it's also mine and Andrea's eleventh anniversary. And I didn't forget! God is good; thank God for little reminders. Other than on occasion, I remember. Come on, it's a big day!

Okay, Hebrews chapter 10. We're going to pick it up at verse 19.

Hebrews 10:19 reads: "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching."

Father, thank You for Your Word. We believe that it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and that it cuts deep and exposes the thoughts and intents of our hearts. God, by Your Word, Your servant is warned and strengthened, and Lord, through Your Word, we are cleansed.

And sanctified, Lord, by Your word, we grow to produce fruit. I pray, God, that You would do a work in our lives by the power of Your Spirit through the working of Your word. Now transform us by the renewing of our minds as we consider this text and as we seek to make application from the things that we've been studying here in the book of Hebrews. Teach us, we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."

You can turn back to February when we began a mission to move through the book of Hebrews here in the New Testament. When we first started, the pace we were going at drew a few detractors who came to me and said that at this pace, it would take like two years to get through the book of Hebrews. Now, I just want to point out that it has only been five months, and we are moving pretty well through the book of Hebrews. In fact, if we stick to the schedule that we're on, we will probably finish the book of Hebrews right at the end of August, by God's grace.

That said, as we come to the text we are in today, Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 and onward, we encounter a transition in the book of Hebrews. This transition is clearly marked by the first word we find in this text: the word "therefore." I have jokingly said many times before that when you see a "therefore" in the Bible, you need to ask the question, "What's it there for?" It always points back to what we've already seen. Therefore, here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19, it points back to all that we've previously seen from Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 10, verse 18.

This transition now moves away from the largely doctrinal portion of the book of Hebrews and into the more practical application side. It is now moving into the area of our response to all the doctrine presented, which means we should take just a moment to consider what exactly was covered in those previous ten chapters. This book was written 2,000 years ago as a letter to Christians who came out of Judaism to follow Jesus. I believe it was written by a man named Timothy, a student of the Apostle Paul's ministry, who was also a Jewish man that came to faith in Christ through the ministry of the Apostle Paul when Paul was preaching and planting churches.

What is modern-day Turkey was, at that time 2,000 years ago, a place called Galatia. After Timothy became a follower of Jesus and started to grow in his faith, Paul brought him along with him in the work of the ministry. For the next many years, Timothy sat under that ministry and grew both as a disciple of Jesus and as a pastor and church planter himself. I believe it is him who has written this book, and he wrote it to Christians very much like him—Christians who had come out of the Jewish faith and practice, out of Judaism, to follow Jesus.

Of course, at the very earliest days of the church, pretty much every single Christian came out of Judaism to be a Christian in the first several years of Christianity. However, as the gospel began to move out of Israel and into the Roman Empire of the day, it began to reach non-Jews, or Gentiles, which is probably most, if not all, of us here today.

Sometimes, when we come to a passage of Scripture like the book of Hebrews, which is written to a Jewish crowd that understands their Jewish history, we can pass over it quickly and think there is not much here for us. However, I believe that would be the wrong track to take because there is so much here for us to learn from. The context is important.

During the time in which this letter was written, right around the mid to late 60s AD, almost 2,000 years ago, there was great tension in the relations between Jews and non-Jews in the world of the day. Just a few years after this letter would be written, the city of Jerusalem, and right there in the middle of the city, the Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Roman Empire. The Jewish people who lived there, and many in that area of Judea in Israel, would be dispersed from their country and pressed out into other parts of the world. This would be one of the first great dispersions of the Jewish people under the Roman Empire.

As a result of this tension, there seemed to be a draw in the hearts of many of the Jewish Christians to return to their Jewish community and, in some ways, back to their Jewish faith and the practice of Judaism. The author of the book of Hebrews writes to address this situation.

The group is tasked with defending or contending for the superiority of Jesus over the old ways they came out of, specifically their old religion. The first ten chapters of Hebrews, from chapter 1, verse 1 through chapter 10, verse 18, serve as an apologetic—a defense for the superiority of Jesus to a Jewish audience.

In these chapters, it is shown that Jesus is superior. He is better than the Jewish patriarchs, the fathers of the Jewish family and religion. He is better than the Jewish prophets, better than angels, and better than Moses, the great lawgiver of Judaism. He is also better than the priests and the high priest. Jesus, our great High Priest, offered a better sacrifice, and therefore, He brought about a far better covenant. This has been the thrust of all that Timothy has been saying in these ten chapters: Jesus is superior to all that you came out of, so you should not return to that because Jesus is better. It is an apologetic defense for the superiority of Jesus.

By the time we reach Hebrews chapter 10, verse 18, it seems that Timothy feels he has done a sufficient job of making the case that Jesus is better, and I believe that is true. He pivots and transitions, using the transitional word "therefore." Because of all that teaching and doctrine showing that Jesus is better, using the Old Testament, the Old Covenant Scriptures, and the Hebrew Scriptures, we must consider our response.

How should we respond? How should we now live if all of this is true? This brings us to a very important point: every defense of the faith requires a response. The response to this defense of the faith is fairly simple; it is an either-or response. Either the defense that Timothy has given here is adequate, and because it is a strong and adequate defense, the response is that you should continue to press on in your walk and relationship with Jesus.

Either it's that, or the defense has been insufficient, and therefore you will reject what Timothy is saying. Consequently, you will reject Jesus. In the next section of Scripture, which we'll get into next week, Timothy is going to give one last caution to his readers about what it means to reject Jesus. It is a really striking and challenging caution.

He says that if you reject Jesus and you happen to sin, that is, you transgress God's law—which every single one of us does because we're sinners—then there is no other sacrifice for sins. There is nothing you can do to take care of your sin. You can't go back to the Old Covenant sacrifices and temple system because those things are insufficient; they are not enough to deal with your sin.

He states, "If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of this truth" (Hebrews 10:26), "there remains no sacrifice for sin." The only thing we have is a certain and fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation. Those are heavy words, and they lay out for us a challenging reality living here in 21st-century America, where those words are incredibly politically incorrect.

Yet, that's exactly what you believe if you are a Christian today. If you put your trust in Jesus, even though it's not palatable for the culture we live in, you are affirming that Jesus is the only way to deal with sin. If you don't trust in Him, you reject Him. This means the only thing you have to look forward to or anticipate is a fiery judgment. That's bad news, and we must reckon with the reality that this is the message we have.

There is just no way to lessen the punch of that. For some reason, we feel fearful; it's our cultural influence. Our culture influences us to the point where we just don't want to offend someone. We don't want to offend your senses or make you feel bad. But listen, this is what the Bible teaches.

The Scriptures say, and if you're a Christian today, this is what we believe. That is the heavy caution that Timothy gives to his readers. Listen, if you reject the defense that I've given, if you reject Jesus, then you reject the only sacrifice for sin before a holy God. The only alternative to that is a certain and fearful expectation of judgment.

Every defense of the faith requires a response. When you are called upon to defend your trust in Jesus—and if you haven't been, if you're a Christian today, at some point you will be—some family members, some friends, some co-workers, or some neighbors are going to ask you, "So why do you believe this? Do you really believe that if I died without Jesus, I would go to hell? A fiery exit? You really believe that?" Then you're going to be put on your heels to defend that. You've got to defend that; it's called an apologetic, and every Christian is called upon to be ready to do that.

The Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 3, says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within you to anyone who asks a reason for it, with meekness and fear." We should do it with gentleness. I can tell you from experience that there have been times when I haven't been entirely gentle in my defense of the faith, and God forgive me. We need to seek to do it with gentleness, with meekness, and with a level of reverence for what it is that we're talking about when we engage with people.

We need to be those who are ready to defend the faith. You may say, "Well, I'm just not sure I can." Well, we want to enable you and equip you to do that. That's why we teach through the Scriptures and why we have discipleship classes like we do. We'll have another round of those coming up in September, and I hope you jump into those so that you can be more ready to defend the faith.

When you do defend your trust in Jesus with that co-worker or family member, it always brings them to a place of decision, a place of response. They have to make a decision. You may not like what I'm saying as you're sharing your faith with someone else; you may not agree with what I'm saying. But you have a decision: you can reject it, but here's what that rejection implies, or you can accept it, and that means there will have to be a change in the way you live your life from that point on.

Every single one of those defenses of faith requires a response. In light of the great doctrine expressed in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 through chapter 10, verse 18, it is clearly shown that Jesus is a better priest, He has offered a better sacrifice, and He is assured in a better covenant.

How should we respond? What should the response be to this truth that Jesus is a better priest, that He has offered a better sacrifice, and that He has established a better covenant? This is the question that Timothy is going to address with three responses. He gives us these responses in Chapter 10, verses 19 through 25. Each of these three responses begins with the words "let us."

Let us look at what we have here in this passage. Therefore, brethren, he presses it now in verse 19: "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God."

Let us, he says, draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. He is practicing his responses here, and he says, "Therefore, because of all that has previously been written, brethren." He is speaking to Christians; that is why the word "brethren" is there. For those who have put their trust in Jesus, this word is for you.

Therefore, because of all that truth, brethren, having then boldness—boldness that is fearless confidence, careful courage, assurance—because of who Christ is and what Jesus has done, you and I, as followers of Jesus, should have boldness. Boldness to do what? Well, he says boldness to enter the holiest, or maybe other versions would say boldness to enter the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place.

Now, for the Jewish reader reading this 2,000 years ago, they know exactly what that means. For us today, maybe we need an explanation. You see, Jewish life, especially 2,000 years ago, prior to the year 70 AD when the temple was destroyed, was centered completely around all that took place at the Temple in Jerusalem. You can go to Jerusalem today; you can go to the Temple Mount. The temple is not there, but even for those who are truly seeking God through the Jewish faith, they know that is the center of their faith. The whole of their life was centered around the temple, and everything that took place at the temple was centered around this room in the temple called the Holy of Holies.

In the Holy of Holies, there was a box made of wood, two feet by three feet, overlaid with gold. On the top, there was a cover, and over that cover was a carving of two angels with their wings outstretched. Some of you may already have a picture in your mind; there is Han Solo—what's his real name?—going to get that Ark, right? The Ark of the Covenant represents the presence of God in the Holy of Holies. It was the very place where God's presence would manifest.

Here, it is said that we, through what Jesus has done and because He is a better high priest, have access to come boldly into the presence of God. The Jewish reader would say, "No, that's impossible," because they would have known that under the Old Covenant, under Judaism, only one man on one day a year could go into that place, the Holy of Holies. The high priest could enter on Yom Kippur, which is still celebrated today in September.

The high priest would only go into the Holy of Holies after a specific sacrifice was offered—a lamb without spot or blemish would be sacrificed for the sins of the people of Israel. He would take the blood in a basin and enter that sacred place with it. He would not go in boldly or with great confidence; he would go in cautiously, with a level of timidity.

In contrast, Timothy says that we, who are under the high priest Jesus and the sacrifice He has given under His new covenant, can come boldly to the holiest, before the very presence of God. This is something he has already mentioned back in Hebrews chapter four, verse sixteen, where he said, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace."

How can we approach this throne, the very presence of God? We can come not because of how good we are or because of all the great things we have done—because we are just not good enough and could never do enough good things. Instead, we come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need. How can we do that? Well, look at what he says.

Here, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way. The Old Covenant, under Moses and the Levitical priesthood, required continual sacrifices. Sacrifice implies death; it required continual death week by week, day by day, month by month, year by year, decade after decade. For fourteen centuries, they offered sacrifices—continual death.

But there's a new way, a new and better way under a new and better covenant, because of a new and better priest and his new and better sacrifice. It is called a new and living way. The New Covenant does away with the continual sacrifices of the Old Covenant; it does away with the continual death of the Old Covenant.

Now, even though I would assume that pretty much all of us—probably all of us—are not coming from a Jewish background, and even if you have Jewish heritage, you did not live under the Jewish sacrificial system. It hasn't been in place for almost two thousand years. So, even though none of us came out of that Jewish sacrificial system, sitting here today, we should still be incredibly grateful for this truth: that Jesus has brought about a new and better way.

There is an old dead way and there is a new and living way. The old dead way required continual religious ritual, informality, effort, and works. I think it's safe to assume that every single one of us here today would agree—especially if you have any sort of religious background—that religion is laborious. Religion is hard work to maintain a right standing through religious rituals and rites, along with all the different things that go with religion. It is very, very difficult.

There are a number of you, maybe many of you, who came out of a very religiously structured background where you had to obey a certain kind of lifestyle. You had to pray a certain kind of prayers, attend certain services, and go to certain confessions. All these sorts of things were followed as you tried to be right with God under that system, and it’s hard work. It is very, very difficult to do that under the old dead way.

You would never know if you've done enough under the old, dead way. You are careful to observe the right positions and the right prayers. Under the old, dead way, you are never confident of your standing with God. If you were to be asked, "If you died right now, do you think you'd be all right with God?" you would have to say, "I don't know."

Under the old way of religion, even if you didn't come out of a Jewish religious practice, you lived under the fear of death, subject to the bondage of that fear. But there's good news! We are told there is a new and living way. This new and living way, described in the book of Hebrews, offers confidence. Under the new and living way, there is joy, rest, and assurance—everything you could not have under the religious systems of man.

The new and living way of God provides rest and assurance. Why is this? Because the new and living way is by the blood of Jesus. It is a way that, as Hebrews tells us, He consecrated, inaugurated, and opened for us. How did He do that? Through the veil that is His flesh. His body was given for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. He stood in my place and your place to take the wrath of God upon our sin, placed on Him. He takes all of it for us.

He has inaugurated a new way because He is a high priest over the house of God. There is so much in this text that relates to essential doctrine and essential teaching within the church. You see, there are essential doctrines that are important for my salvation and your salvation. Non-essential teachings might divide churches over things like the kind of instruments used in worship, opinions on men and women in ministry, or views on eschatological end-time matters.

Is there a millennium? Is there tribulation? Is there a rapture? Those things may mean nothing to you, but they might be a big deal to someone else. Whatever it is, churches often divide over these non-essential issues. However, the one thing that remains essential is...

The Christian Church has in common the essential teachings and doctrines. What are these essentials? Some of the things we discover in this passage include the fact that Jesus, the sinless Christ, suffered and died as a sacrifice for our sins. He paid the payment for our sins; He is the substitute that stands in our place. By His death, He has satisfied all the righteous requirements of the law, and He has ransomed us, bought us back, and reconciled us to God. This is all essential teaching of the Church, and we agree on these things.

We agree on these essentials with Presbyterians, Methodists, and Pentecostals. However, we do not agree with groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they do not believe in these truths. We also do not agree with the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower Society. They may talk about Jesus and even mention the Bible, but they do not believe in these essential truths. These are the essentials because we were powerless, due to the weakness of our flesh, to make ourselves right with a holy God. Christ did for me and for you what we could not do because of our inability to keep the law.

Point number two on your outline is that in response to the person and work of Christ, we can have boldness to stand before the holy and righteous God. So, how should we respond with this boldness? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22 says, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. In verse 24, we are encouraged to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another.

As you see the Day approaching, here's the response that we should have to the superiority of Jesus over every other religious system. Our response centers around three important words: faith, hope, and love. These are the marks of the maturing follower of Jesus.

As you grow, and as I grow in my walk with Jesus, one of the indicators of our growth is that we should be growing in our faith, hope, and love. We should be growing in our faith and our trust in Jesus. We trust in Jesus alone for our salvation. We trust in Jesus alone for our provision. We trust in Jesus alone for all things that we need for this life and for godliness. Our trust is firmly seated upon Him.

It's not Jesus plus our baptism. It's not Jesus plus our church attendance. It's not Jesus plus our tithing record or our serving record. It's Jesus plus nothing. Therefore, we need to be growing in our trust of Jesus, not only in that we trust Him for our salvation but also in the things that we have need of.

As you grow in your walk with Jesus, there should be a growing trust in what you trust Jesus for. When you encounter a difficulty, a trial, an illness, or a bill that you can't pay, do you trust God in that situation? As Christians, we should be growing in our trust of Jesus.

Not only should we be growing in our trust of Jesus, but we should also be growing in our hope in God. Where is your hope? These are really good measures of my growth as a follower of Jesus. Do I have hope in God, or do I hope in my 401(k), which would be really bad to hope in? Do I hope in my good looks, which would be even worse to hope in because those fade quickly? Am I hoping in my intellect? Am I hoping in my abilities? What am I hoping in? It needs to be built upon Christ.

The third mark of the growing, maturing Christian is that they are growing in their love—love for God and love for others, as expressed in good works and good deeds. These three things—faith, hope, and love—are found many times in the Bible.

Scriptures together, one of the places is in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1. Paul says there, "We give thanks to God always for you Christians in Thessalonica, making mention of you always in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God the Father." Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Listen, we are encouraged; we're filled with joy because we look at you and we see the marks of Christian faith, hope, and love."

At the end of that very same letter, in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 5, he encourages them to press on with this. He says, "For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But we who are of the day," contrasting Christians and non-Christians, "are sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation." He says, "Listen, as you're growing in your walk with Jesus, as there's a growing divide between you as a follower of Jesus and your old life without Jesus, there should be the evidence of faith, hope, and love."

To the church at Colossae, in the book of Colossians, Paul wrote in Colossians, chapter 1, verse 3, "We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." He says, "We give thanks to God for you because we see the marks of Christians."

The very last verse of one of the most well-known passages of the Bible, 1st Corinthians, chapter 13, the love chapter, is read at so many weddings, both Christian and non-Christian alike. We read the very last verse there: "And now abide these three: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." A great Christian man, Ray Stedman, speaking on this passage of Scripture, said these three things—faith, hope, and love—are central to all Christian living. They are the evidence of a maturing follower of Jesus.

Point number three: the right response to the superiority of Jesus is the increase of faith, hope, and love. This is why we read here in Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 22, "Let us draw near with a true heart."

If you're a Christian today, your response to all the superiority of Jesus—who He is and what He's done—is to draw near to God, the holy, righteous God. As a fallen, sinful human being, you are called to draw near to Him with a true, strong, confident heart in full assurance of faith. Have boldness to approach Him.

It's interesting that the words "let us draw near" in the original Greek language carry much more depth than in English. Greek is an inflected language, meaning that different moods and tenses add more weight to what is being said. When it says "let us draw near," the implied mood is a presently active decision. It’s not something that just happens automatically. As a Christian, you put your trust in Jesus, but you must actively decide in this moment to draw near to God. It’s not something you did in the past or might do in the future; it’s something we are called upon to do now.

Let us draw near to Him with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with total confidence that the door is open. I have two little dogs, Walter and Jack, and every night around the same time, they wait by the sliding glass door. Sometimes they jump on the door when they want to come in, and they are really excited about it. When I open the door, Jack runs right in every time. He has bold confidence, thinking, "I'm coming in; this is my house." He keeps marking it as his territory.

On the other hand, Walter, the white one, won’t go in as easily. Every time the door opens, he backs up, and I have to beg and plead with this little 12-pound dog to come inside. Sometimes I actually have to walk out and coax him, saying, "Come on, let’s go." I look like an idiot, but I just want him to come in the house.

In the house, some Christians live their lives like Walter the dog. The door is open; the way has been made for you to come in. Yet, so many stand outside, timidly shying away, saying, "Oh, is it okay for me to come in? I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I've done enough good works. I don't know if I've given enough, served enough, prayed enough, or confessed enough. I know the door is open, but I just don't know if I can go in."

Let me tell you, you will never be able to do enough, serve enough, give enough, pray enough, confess enough, or be enough on your own merits to come in before a holy God. But look at what Timothy says in this passage: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." We can do so because we have had our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Jesus died on the cross; His blood was shed, and our wicked, evil, fallen hearts have been sprinkled with the blood of the righteous Jesus. We have been washed by the living water of God through the Spirit of God, cleansed by the washing of the water of His word. We have been sanctified and cleansed by Jesus.

So then, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Our trust in Jesus should produce an unwavering hope. Let me ask you, do any of you know some religious people? Maybe you know some religious people because you know yourself and have the experience of having been religious. I'm not here to knock on religious people; there are some amazingly good religious people who do the religion thing far better than I ever could. However, one of the things I’ve often seen in very religious people is that they have a wavering hope. They have a kind of "I hope I win the lottery" kind of hope.

You have that friend or co-worker who is always saying, "Well, I hope I win the lottery." There's no confidence in that statement; there's a lot of doubt. The doubt that you will win is equal to the odds of winning. So, when someone says, "I hope I win the lottery," it reflects a kind of wishful thinking.

Many religious people find themselves in a similar place, expressing a wishful, very doubtful hope, saying, "I really hope that I'll be right with God." The reason that religious people often have this wavering sort of hope is that their hope is built on nothing less than all their works and best efforts.

In 1 Timothy, it says, "Let us hold fast the strong affirmation of our hope without wavering." How is that possible? Because He who promised is faithful. Would you underline those words in your neighbor's Bible? He who promised is faithful.

We hope for the eternal future of being with God in heaven, in His presence. This is not a wishful thinking sort of hope; it's not a "win the lottery" kind of hope. It is not a blind moonshot sort of hope. It is an absolute certainty that it will come to pass. Why will it come to pass? Because it is based on the fact that He who promised is faithful, not because I am faithful to keep His commands. I try to do the good things I want to do, but I often find myself doing the bad things I don't want to do, as Paul said in Romans chapter 7. I find that in me dwells no good thing. Can anyone relate to that?

He who promised is faithful, and so we can sing with confidence: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand."

Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.

The overflow of faith toward God and the certain hope of heaven should lead to genuine love for one another. Because you and I trust in Jesus and have hope for eternity with God, we should therefore be stirred up to love Him more and to love one another more. This love should be expressed in our good works.

Our good deeds and our love for God are not meant to earn the reward of eternity with Him. Some people perform good works hoping that by doing so, they will gain entry into heaven. They believe that if they just do a few more good works, they will be in better standing with God. This is akin to the person knocking at the door, trying to turn another transaction in hopes of gaining favor.

One of the big pictures in the faith of Islam is the scales of God. On the day that you die and stand before Allah, your good works will be weighed against your bad works to determine if you will be allowed in. This is a hopeless and pitiful scenario, and it is not the faith that we have in Christianity.

Our love and good works are a response to the grace of Jesus Christ and the reward we have been given because of what He did for us. In response to His gracious gift, we love Him because He first loved us. Furthermore, in response to all that He has done for us, we love others, expressing that love through our good works.

Why do we do this? Well, because Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Again, He said in John 13:35, "By this, all will know that you are My followers, by the love that you have for one another."

Given this, we are to stir one another up and consider one another. This is a very interesting point that Timothy is making here. He says we are to consider one another so that we may stir each other up. What does the word "consider" mean in this context?

It means to observe. So, what do you see in this? Challenging for us as followers of Jesus is that we are to observe each other's conduct and watch how we are walking out this faith in Christ. We are to challenge each other to love God more and love others more.

We don't normally like it when someone challenges us. When someone comes along and says, "Hey, brother or sister, I saw what you were doing there," it can be uncomfortable. They might say, "You know you're a Christian, right? Well, that hand gesture out the window wasn't the best idea." We don't like to be challenged by people, but that's what we are called to do: observe one another's conduct. Let us consider one another so that we can challenge each other to be better at loving God, loving others, and showing it through good works.

Then he says, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching." I get it; when you challenge other people to be better in their love for God and love for one another, they might think, "I don't want to be a part of this. I'm going to stay home from church this week. Those people always make me feel like I have to do better."

However, he says, "No, don't forsake the assembling together of the body of Christ." Some people do that, and it's challenging. Over the years, I've seen this happen in our church. People get upset and frustrated because of something I said that was challenging or because of someone else who is challenging them to live better in their love for God and love for others. They might say, "I'm going to find another church," or "I'm taking my bat and ball and going to find another playground."

You know what happens all the time? It's unfortunate because God wants to grow us in our faith, hope, and love. Sometimes that requires challenging us to be better. Let's be honest; that's why marriage is hard. You're challenging each other. Eleven years in, we’ve made it this far, but there are challenges to be better. I have the added benefit of my wife being able to say, "Okay, pastor, you just praise Jesus."

That’s a challenging one. Happy anniversary! I got a big bouquet of roses. It’s all good.

Not forsaking the assembling together, but exhorting one another. That word "exhorting" means to come alongside and to challenge someone to press on. It’s the picture of someone who is coming alongside as a coach or a trainer and saying, "You can run one more mile. You can do five more push-ups. You can do this." Sometimes, you don’t like this coach. I remember playing football and wrestling, and I sold out. Sometimes, I didn’t like the coach exhorting me.

And so much more as you see the day. Notice the word "day" is capitalized, at least it is in the passage that I have here. Listen, Church, there is a day. We don’t know the day or the hour. We may know times or seasons, but we don’t know when it will happen. Jesus said it’s for the Father to know. I don’t even know this day or hour, but there’s coming a day when Jesus will return. There’s coming a day when you and I will stand before Him, and we will give an account for our faith, hope, and love.

So we need to stir each other up to greater endeavors of faith, hope, and love. Interestingly, as we get into chapter 11 of Hebrews, we’re going to see it’s the passage about faith. When we get into chapter 12, we’re going to be talking a little bit about hope. When we get into chapter 13, we’ll talk a little bit about love. It’s interesting that it just fits together like that, as if maybe God had something to do with it. May God grow us in our expressions of faith, hope, and love. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father, I thank You for Your great Word. Lord, I thank You that You take the time to challenge us so that we would grow, that we would no longer be little babes in Christ, that we would no longer walk in carnality, but that we would grow in our faith, we would grow in our hope.

Our love, and I pray, God, that it would be evident in us. I pray that we are growing in these things this week, and that it would be evident to others as they see the expressions of our love and our good works. May You be glorified by these things.

God, work in us, Your church. We ask and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.