There's a reason, the purpose why this book was written was, again, written to the Hebrews,
okay?
And you need to understand that, obviously, when we read the New Testament, we're speaking
about a new covenant that God has created, which came by the death of the testator,
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, we are living today in New Testament times.
But you need to understand that the Hebrews, they were making a transition, weren't they?
Many of them were transitioning from the old covenant to the new covenant, and it's
challenging.
It's difficult.
And one thing you need to understand about the book of Hebrews, even though it is primarily
to the Israelites, the Hebrews, we can obviously learn from this as well.
And the other thing you need to understand about the book of Hebrews is that it is
written to a mixed group.
Some people are saved and some people are not saved.
What you need to understand about the old covenant in comparison to the new covenant,
when we think about the new covenant, we think about a spiritual nation, a nation
of believers.
The only way you can be in this new covenant is to be saved.
That's how you enter in.
You enter in through Jesus Christ.
That's how you enter the new covenant.
So when it comes to the old covenant, it was with a physical nation, not with a spiritual
nation, but with a physical nation.
And obviously within a physical nation, you're going to have those that are saved and
those that are unsaved.
And so when this letter, this epistle is written to the Hebrews, you need to understand
it's written to the Hebrews of the old covenant to help them transition to the
new covenant.
And being part of that old covenant, you were saved or you were unsaved, it didn't really
matter because you were part of that physical nation, of course it matters for eternity,
but it's written to these group of people.
And you know, while the book of Hebrews is doctrinally heavy, and there's a lot
of symbolism, teaching about the symbolism of the old covenant, teaching us about the
new covenant, you also need to understand the book of Hebrews is also a book which
is a call to action.
I believe it's the Apostle Paul writing this book, it doesn't really matter who
wrote it, it's the Lord God who wrote it, but I believe it's a call to action to
the Hebrews.
And of course then we can take this for ourselves, and we can say, hey, what actions
do we need to take to serve the Lord Jesus Christ?
And so the title for the sermon, let's look at Hebrews chapter 4, Hebrews chapter
4 verse number 1, it begins by saying, let us therefore fear.
The title for the sermon this evening, brethren, is let us, let us in the book of Hebrews,
let us.
This phrase, let us, appears 11 times through the book of Hebrews.
And every time we have a doctrinal heavy teaching in this book, you then have this
conclusion, well let us therefore, right, it's great that you've learned doctrine,
it's great that you've taken the lessons of the old covenant, you now see it in light
of the new covenant, but now that you see that, let us therefore take action.
And so the title for the sermon once again is let us in the book of Hebrews.
As I said, this phrase appears 11 times in this book.
And that's what we're going to be looking at, these 11 references in the book of Hebrews.
And if you just, you know, to me that is the key.
If you are struggling in the book of Hebrews, just look up every time it says let us,
because that is kind of the conclusion of the doctrinal heavy lesson, okay.
And by just looking at these phrases, you'll get a good picture of what the book of
Hebrews is all about, all right.
So the very first let us is there found in verse number 1, let's read it again,
let us therefore fear, okay, so that is the first, let us therefore fear, lest a promise
be left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
The very first thing that has been challenged to the Hebrews is the very first to let
us is referencing the Hebrews that are not saved.
These Hebrews that are not saved, they should have a fear of God, you know, they're
not people that you would want to come short of the salvation.
And so the very first let us is a call to salvation.
It continues in verse number 2, it says, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as
unto them, but the word preach did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them
that heard it.
And so you can see, hey, you know, the gospel is being preached, we go out many
times door to door preaching the gospel, but what we want people to do is to mix faith
with the gospel.
You need to believe the words that are being preached, and when it comes to the Hebrews,
many of them, as I said, were not saved.
We know that many of them rejected Christ, hey, but they knew what Christ did, they
saw him on the cross, in fact, many of them were responsible of crucifying Christ,
and then we have the witness of his resurrection.
All right, you know the doctrine, great, you know the story, so let us therefore
fear.
You know what we're trying to do when we preach the gospel to the lost?
We're trying to give them a healthy fear of God.
You know, we're telling them, look, you're a sinner, you've broken God's commandments,
and for the wages of sin is death, and we teach them about the second death, which
is the lake of fire, and we teach them that because they disobeyed God, because they're
a sinner, they deserve hellfire, they deserve the judgment of God.
And the reason we teach that, you know, it sounds quite negative, but we teach that
because we're trying to instill in them a fear of God, a fear of judgment without
Jesus Christ, and then we can give them the good news of salvation.
We can give them the gospel that Jesus Christ has done it all.
But the very first thing that someone needs in order to be saved is to have a fear of
God, a fear of judgment.
You know, we don't want them to come short of this salvation.
And so that's the very first thing that we learn here, is that the very first
let us is therefore fear.
And for us that are saved, okay, you know, we still need a healthy fear of God.
You know, we need to have a balance.
I love our God who is merciful.
I love our God who is long suffering with us, okay.
But we shouldn't think that God is all one way, because what it might instill in
us is a bit of laziness, or, you know, a life where we're just not living to
please the Lord, and we just, oh, God's just going to be merciful with me.
Well, you need to fear him as well, because when the time of judgment, you know,
if it's time for God to chastise you, he will step in and do such a thing, okay.
But a healthy fear.
Let us therefore fear is the first call of action primarily to the Hebrews that are not saved.
Let's continue, let's go to verse number 11, Hebrews chapter 4 verse number 11.
The next let us is let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief.
So once again, we see the next thing here is let us labour therefore speaking to
the unsaved Hebrews.
How do you know they're unsaved?
Because it says, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief, okay.
And so, you know, the Hebrews have been taught, listen, you just can't continue
with your unbelief.
You need to believe the gospel, you have to believe the good news in order to enter
into that rest.
But how do you enter into that rest?
Let us labour therefore, right, to enter into that rest.
And again, the problem with a lot of, you know, workspace doctrines, they'll take
a passage like this, and I've talked about this just recently.
Because they say the labour is a work in order to be saved.
You've got to work, you've got to keep the commandments, you've got to clean
up your life, you've got to labour to enter into salvation.
But you know, what's always strange about that is when you just read the verse
before that in verse number 10, it says, for he that is entered into his rest,
he also have ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
And so how do we enter into that rest?
You have to cease from your own works.
You have to stop trusting your works to be, you know, and you just enter into the rest.
You have to trust the work that Jesus Christ has done.
And so labouring to enter into the rest is not saying you've got to work.
In fact, the previous verse said, you got to stop working, stop trusting your works.
And of course, we're trusting Christ.
What is the labour there for?
And I've taught this recently, you know, I don't want to go over this same thing
over and over again.
The labour there, therefore, is obviously, for some people, it is hard to reject what they used to believe.
It's hard for people to reject who they used to trust, or they're from a church or they're from a religion.
It's hard to let go of the family religion.
You know, when I met my wife, Christina, obviously we were dating, gave her the gospel.
It took her about two months to finally believe the gospel.
Okay, I'd give her the gospel again and again.
And she tried to understand, but you know, to let go of the Roman Catholic religion
requires some effort, right?
Because that's what she's grown up believing.
That's the family religion.
You know, for me, I grew up in a Christian home.
My mum gave me the gospel when I'm four years old.
I said, yep, I'm believing Christ.
I barely had to labour.
In fact, there was no labour.
My mum gave me the gospel.
It was easy for me to enter into that rest.
But for a lot of people, it does require labour.
They're so accustomed to a false religion.
They're so accustomed to putting their faith on something that is false or trusting
their own merits, their own works to go to heaven.
And so we need to, you know, encourage people as we give them the gospel that they need
to let go of the former things they would trust in and put all their faith and trust
on Jesus.
Again, salvation is easy, but the effort that someone needs to make to put that faith
on Jesus can be tough for some people, okay?
For the Hebrews, especially unbelieving Hebrews, you know, we learn in the epistles that many
of the Jews were trusting in the law.
You know, they were trusting in their circumcision, they were trusting in their outward flesh.
Hey, they trusted that they were children of Abraham and they just thought they were
right with God.
Those unbelieving Hebrews, yeah, they have to put the effort in.
They need to let go of their former trust and their former faith and put it solely
on the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so the second let us is let us labour.
You know, and again, the very first to let us therefore fear, let us therefore labour,
this is referring to the unsaved Hebrews, all right?
Now let's continue there.
You're there in chapter four, let's drop down to verse number 14.
Drop down to verse number 14.
So once someone does have a healthy fear of God, and they know, man, I'm not right
with God, and they've made the effort to let go of the former faith or the former
religion or whatever it was, you know, and they've come to Christ alone, hey, now that
person has entered into that rest, they are saved, all right?
Now, when you are saved, what's the next thing that we need to do?
Well, it's found in the same chapter, sorry, Hebrews chapter four, verse number
14.
It says this.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, look at this, let us hold fast our profession.
Let us hold fast our profession.
So what's that?
What did we learn there?
Well, the third one there, of course, is let us hold fast our profession.
Hey, once we have confessed, hey, once we've believed and we've confessed and we've
trusted Christ for salvation, we've made a profession of faith, as it were, let us
hold fast to that, let us stand firm, right?
Let us be people that are not ashamed of the gospel message.
You know, it's the gospel message that saved us, hey, then we need to be people
that proclaim that same gospel message.
I used to be embarrassed as a child, I used to be embarrassed of salvation.
You know, I wanted to see my friends saved but, you know, just to open and talk about
Jesus and church, you know, I guess sometimes when you're young and you're a teenager,
you want to put on this impression that I'm just this cool dude, right?
Religion?
Who cares?
But really, in my heart, I love the Lord Jesus Christ and I wanted my friends saved.
And it's very hard, you know, hard for a child and, you know, sometimes I suppose
you can be a little bit ashamed or embarrassed, right, to open and speak of Christ but that
ought not to be us.
We ought to go from strength to strength, you know, we've received the light, now
we need to shine that light of Christ and invite people to come and receive Jesus
as our Saviour.
But I want you to notice that, again, who is it that they've trusted on?
It says Jesus the Son of God.
The moment you've believed on Jesus the Son of God, that great high priest that
we have, praise God that Jesus is our high priest.
Praise God that we don't need to go to some other man to be some mediator between
God and us.
No, we, our mediator is God himself, God the Son and he mediates us to the Father.
Praise God that salvation is coming to Christ.
He becomes our high priest.
Praise God.
Can you please keep your finger there and go to Hebrews chapter 10.
I just want to show you this again.
This letter about the profession of faith is also mentioned in chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 23.
And before we read this, I just want to think about this idea.
So if we're trusting Christ, the Son of God, the high priest, we have the high
priest.
It's saying to let us hold fast our profession, doesn't that point to stability
and strength?
Like to hold fast means we're stable, we're unmovable, you know, we're not
going to move away from proclaiming Christ, you know, and being a witness of Christ.
It talks of stability, doesn't it?
To hold fast to this profession.
Well, look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 23.
It says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith.
Notice the next words, without wavering, for he is faithful that promised.
Without wavering, right?
Listen, the moment you've trusted Christ, we don't need to waver.
The reason a lot of Christians waver and they start to doubt, oh, am I saved or not,
is they start to look at their own life and try to judge their life in terms of salvation.
Like they might do something wrong and go, man, I don't know if I'm saved anymore
because I did something wrong.
Yeah, but salvation was never based on you doing right or wrong.
Salvation was based on the finished work of Christ.
So the moment you put your professed Christ, and you know that he's done all the work,
then there's no reason to waver.
Because if you start wavering, what starts to enter your mind is, did Christ do enough?
You know, did Christ do 90%?
Maybe I need to do 10% of my salvation.
No, no, no.
Christ has done 100% of it.
And because of that, because it's not dependent on our efforts, we can not waver.
We can hold fast.
We can be stable on the faith of Jesus Christ.
I love that.
And the reason I love that, brethren, is because I've gone to churches and you know,
I've probably used bad terminology as well, where when somebody gets saved,
and look, I'm not attacking my old churches, all right, if I have brethren listening in
my old church, I'm not taking you guys, right?
But you know, we need to fix our vocabulary.
You know, we need to make sure that when we speak, we line up with God's Word.
Hey, making a profession of faith is something we're not to waver about.
It's something that gives us stability, strength.
And the problem with a lot of Baptist churches is that when we say, look, this person
has trusted Christ, you know, or this person, like, I've experienced this, right?
You say, look, pastor, this man has called upon the Lord for salvation, you know?
And the lingo that gets used is, well, this man made a profession of faith.
And correct, he did make a profession of faith.
But what they interpret that as is, well, let's just watch him for a while.
He's made a profession of faith, but you know, until he starts coming to church, until
he starts reading his Bible, until we start seeing all this change in his life, then
we'll truly know if he's saved.
Look, there's a lot of Baptist churches like this.
And look, maybe I've used this lingo as well, potentially, okay?
But we need to fix that.
You know, a profession of faith is not something we waver about.
Oh, we don't know just yet.
He made a profession, but we don't know.
No, no.
The profession of faith is something that gives us stability.
We're to hold fast without wavering.
If we're going to say that someone, they've made a profession of faith, what we're saying
is they have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.
This person is saved, right?
It's not something to waver about.
I'm not sure.
No, no, no.
The moment you've trusted Christ, you've made that profession.
Praise God.
Again, it's a profession of faith, right?
It's not just empty words.
You know, when we help someone say a prayer to speak to Christ about salvation, when
we lead someone to say a sinner's prayer, we don't want someone just saying empty
words, right?
We don't just knock someone's door and say, hey, say these words with me and you can
be saved.
No, it needs to be a profession of faith, that their faith is on Jesus.
Jesus, I'm only trusting you.
Please give me everlasting life, right?
We can see it and they've made a confession that they're placing their faith on Jesus.
That profession of faith is something not to be wavered on.
It gives us stability.
It gives us strength.
So brethren, this is for us.
Let us hold fast our profession.
Let's not be ashamed of salvation.
Let's make sure that God uses us in a mighty way to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Back to Hebrews chapter four, Hebrews chapter four, verse number 16, Hebrews chapter four,
verse number 16.
This is the fourth letter.
Hebrews chapter four, verse number 16.
The next one here, brethren, is, let us therefore, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need.
So the fourth one, brethren, is, let us therefore come boldly, where?
Unto the throne of grace.
This is speaking about us on this earth being able to enter into that throne where
God sits in heaven.
You say, what?
We can't do that, Pastor Kevin.
We're here on the earth.
That's what prayer is all about.
And the moment you bow your head and you go before God in prayer, you know what?
Spiritually speaking, you've entered before the throne of God, that throne of grace.
So when we come before God and bring our requests, our supplications, our needs, and
unload our fears and concerns to God, God wants us to come boldly, boldly.
We should not be timid about coming before God.
Don't forget, the moment you were saved, you were made, what, a child of God.
He's our Heavenly Father.
You are his child.
And parents, you know full well that if your children had great needs, if they had
great burdens, if they needed to speak about some difficulties, you know, you as a parent
will say, son, daughter, speak to me.
Come to me.
Talk to me.
Don't hide it.
You know, I can be a help.
I can give you some advice.
I can give you some guidance.
Don't hold it in.
That's how God is with us.
He wants us to come boldly.
We're his children, okay?
I mean, the heavenly angels will make space for you, okay, to come before that throne
and God will hear you.
It's unbelievable that God will hear our prayers.
I mean, we think about how many millions of believers there are in this earth and we're
all praying.
We're going before God.
And you know what?
God is not lost.
You know, when he hears all these prayers at one time, you know, God still hears
you as though you're the only one speaking to him.
That's the kind of boldness that we ought to have.
Going before our Heavenly Father and say, God, we have needs.
We have weaknesses.
Please help us.
Please answer our prayers.
So Brethren, our prayer life needs to be something.
This is an action.
This is a call to action, a prayer life.
And I often share with you guys certain weaknesses that I have.
Praise God.
Being a pastor has been great because one of the responsibilities of a pastor is to
be prayerful, to be praying for his people, to be praying for the ministry.
And so being a pastor has really pushed me to be more of a prayer warrior.
But I know in the past, I wasn't really someone, oh yeah, I pray for my meals,
I pray for the day, I pray for church, I pray for, I guess, my needs.
But you know, I'm not, in the past, I wasn't really this person that would there be praying
and having that sweet hour of prayer as we sing about sometimes in our hymns.
But you know what?
We need to be someone that has this action.
We put this into place.
Praying should be just a regular part of the Christian life.
If you can just go back to one more verse there, Hebrews chapter 4, verse number 15,
it says, for we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the feelings,
the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.
And so what that should remind us, because I'm sure you've felt this way, when you
commit a sin, you're kind of ashamed to go before God.
You're ashamed to go before God and say, God, I've done that again, I've sinned
again, Lord, please forgive me.
We can be ashamed of that, but you know, what we learn here is that our great high
preacher is Christ.
He knows what we go through.
He knows the limitations.
You know, when he came to this earth, you know, he's a hundred percent man, right?
You know, he took on our infirmities, he took on our sins, he took on our pains.
He understands what we go through.
Praise God that we have this great mediator in Jesus Christ.
Hebrews chapter 6, please, Hebrews chapter 6, verse number 1.
Hebrews chapter 6, verse number 1.
The Bible says, therefore, leave in the principles of the doctrine of Christ.
Let us go on unto perfection.
The fifth let us is let us go unto perfection.
And not long ago, I was doing a series on the perfect man, okay?
And that is the goal, right?
We need to move on just from the principles, referring to, you know, the very basic,
the very fundamental doctrines of the Bible.
You know, we should not remain as babes in Christ.
You know, we should not remain as people that are just reliant on the milk of God's Word.
Hey, the milk is great, we need to receive the milk to learn and to grow.
Hey, but once we've established ourselves on the fundamental truths,
the principles of the doctrine of Christ, then we need to move on, we need to continue to learn,
we need to continue to grow, let us go on to perfection.
We need to mature, we need to develop, we need to grow,
not remain as children, but become adults in our Christian lives.
That's the next call of action.
We need to keep growing, we need to keep growing.
And it continues there, it says,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.
I mean, these are the very principle things,
these are the very simple things that we learn the moment we're saved,
is that salvation cannot be by dead works, all right?
And so we repent from the dead works, and we say,
no, we need to have our faith toward God.
I mean, that's like doctrine number one, the moment you're saved, right?
So we need to be able to move on.
Like, we shouldn't be able to like, you know what?
I've been saved for five years, but I'm kind of thinking now,
maybe our works do play a part in salvation.
Say, man, look, you've not grown.
Or maybe you're not even saved, I mean, that would be a concern, right?
If you haven't got this settled, right?
If you don't understand that salvation is by faith alone,
look, you're still a babe.
You need to move, hey, I've locked it in.
I see that salvation is repentance from dead works,
it's faith toward God, it's only God who saves.
Well, great, that's good, you've locked that in.
Now you need to move on, you need to grow,
let us go on to perfection.
And verse number two, of the doctrine of baptisms.
So baptism, hey, that's, you know,
when we do a water baptism, for example,
yeah, that's the next step, right?
Someone gets saved, hey, we say,
hey, the next step that you should be doing,
the first step of obedience is to get baptized.
You know, a public declaration that you've placed
your faith on the death and burial resurrection
of Jesus Christ, and of laying on of hands.
And you know, I believe it's just referring
to the ordination process, and of resurrection,
and of resurrection of the dead.
Hey, you know, that is also a fundamental easy doctrine,
that there's a resurrection of the dead.
Hey, you know, there are Christians
that differ on the timing of the rapture,
but at the end of the day,
the resurrection of the dead is a simple doctrine.
That, you know, our bodies,
these bodies are not going to heaven,
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
but one day God will give us a new resurrected body,
and we're going to live for eternally
with God in the new heavens and new earth.
That's a simple doctrine though.
Like, just that idea of the resurrection of the dead,
that's something straightforward.
Verse number two, I'll start and continue there in a sense,
and then it says, and of eternal judgment.
Okay, so we know that there is judgment coming.
Hey, there's judgment for the non-believers,
right, they're going to stand before
the great white throne judgment,
and they're going to be judged for their works,
their names are not going to be found
in the books of life,
and they're going to be cast into eternal torment.
Hey, but even Christians will be judged
at the beamer seat of Christ,
the judgment seat of Christ, okay?
We're not going to be judged for our sins,
but we're going to be judged for the works
that we did for Jesus Christ.
And look, if you've got gold, silver, and precious stones,
hey, that's going to pass through the fire,
they'll remain, God's going to reward you,
give you great rewards in heaven for serving him,
but don't forget,
we're all going to be judged by God at some point.
Praise God that you're saved,
your sins aren't going to be judged,
your sins have already been judged on Jesus Christ, okay?
Your sins have been taken off you,
they have already been judged on Christ, okay?
Christ became the curse for us.
So, you know, as a believer,
you never need to have a fear
that you're going to stand before God
and he's going to judge you in sin,
that's not going to happen,
but he's going to judge you
for the works that you've done for him.
You know, and based on your works,
that's how he's going to reward you eternally.
Anyway, what we learn here
is that these are fundamental doctrines.
These are things that we ought to understand,
this is milk of the word of God,
but we need to let us go on to perfection,
we need to continue to grow,
we need to continue to understand,
continue to read our Bibles.
You know, my strongest recommendation to you
is that once you've locked in a doctrine,
and you've locked it in
not because Pastor Kevin preached it,
you locked it in because you've gone to God's word,
you've seen it for yourself, all right?
And that's it, that's what the Bible says,
you just lock it in, just lock it in and you move on.
Okay?
And then everything else,
anytime you have a scripture,
it's a little bit hard to understand,
just don't forget the fundamental truths.
You need to let us go on to perfection,
you need to continue to grow.
What sometimes bothers me, you know,
in Christians, and when I say bothers me,
it's because sometimes Christians haven't locked in
the very fundamental truths, okay?
And they get to a verse and it kind of looks,
that verse, Pastor,
looks like you can lose your salvation.
So maybe you can lose your salvation.
Yeah, but I mean,
one of the fundamental truths is eternal life, right?
I mean, it's not temporary life that God has given us,
it's everlasting life.
Jesus has paid for all our sins,
past, present, and future.
In fact, all of your sins when Christ was on the cross
was future sins,
because you weren't born yet.
People say, oh, maybe Christ has just saved me till now,
but my future sins,
that's me making my effort to be,
all of your sins were future sins,
when Christ was on the cross.
That's silly, it's teaching,
but you know, they get confused like,
well, this verse sounds like.
Well, don't forget the fundamental truths,
the same things that you've learned,
the things you've seen as God's word that are clear,
obviously that verse is not saying
you can lose your salvation, okay?
And then you've got to just run through other thoughts,
other ideas, pray to God,
you've got the Holy Spirit,
Lord, please show me what the scripture is teaching me.
And if you really get stuck,
if it's really bothering you,
okay, come to your pastor and ask me,
more than happy to talk to you about 10 verses, okay?
But we need to move on, we need to grow.
And the reason this has been highlighted
is if you go back,
because you're in Hebrew chapter six, right?
If you just go back to Hebrew chapter five,
look at verse number 12,
Hebrew chapter five, verse number 12, it says,
for when, for the time you ought to be teachers,
you have need that one teacher again,
which be the first principles of the oracles of God,
and it becomes such as have need of milk
and not of strong meat.
For everyone that use of milk is unskillful
in the word of righteousness, for he is obeyed,
but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age.
Again, speaking about becoming an adult, right?
Even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
And so because many of these Hebrews,
hey, they're great, they're saved, okay?
But listen, they're not able to absorb the meat.
You know, they're being rebuked, hey?
Some of you ought to be teachers by now.
Some of you ought to be standing behind the pulpit
and helping out the pastor.
Preach a sermon.
Hey, praise God for the men that we've got here
that helped me out.
That's good, that's right, okay?
Never have the attitude of saying,
well, you know, I don't think any other men
should be preaching behind the pulpit just the pastor.
No, we're people that are growing, okay?
And there are many things that men will preach
behind this pulpit that I can learn from.
There are things that Pastor Stevenson
has preached behind this pulpit that I have learned from
because we're all learning together, we're all growing.
We all have the Holy Spirit.
We're all able to be an encouragement to one another.
I love it when a brother shows me a passage in the Bible
and says, pastor, what do you think?
And I'm like, I'm not sure, what do you think?
And they give me a great answer.
I'm like, amen, you're probably right, all right?
Let's go with that.
You know, this is awesome.
You know, we need to become teachers, we need to.
And mothers, you say, well, ladies, you say,
well, it's not my role to be behind the pulpit.
You're right, okay?
But mothers, you've got children.
Teach your children, okay?
Help them grow.
As you grow in God's Word, you help your children,
you become a teacher
to the children that God has given you.
All right, let's go to Hebrew chapter 10,
Hebrew chapter 10 and verse number 22.
Let's go to the sixth, let us.
Hebrew chapter 10, verse number 22, it 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.
What's the next call to action?
Let us draw near.
God wants us near to him, all right?
Jesus, sorry, King David would say
that he would set the Lord at his right side, okay?
I mean, King David desired
that the Lord would be right there next to him.
You know, God wants our fellowship.
God wants us near to him.
Don't forget that positionally,
we're righteous before God,
but when it comes to our walk,
we get a little dirty in our journey, okay?
We sin.
You know, we have impure thoughts, all right?
These things happen in our life.
I'm not excusing that,
but that's the reality of the Christian life.
Don't forget we have the battle
between the flesh and the spirit.
You guys know this, I teach this often, right?
I teach this a lot because people get confused.
Again, people think, man, I've sinned,
I've done this, I've done that, am I saved?
Positionally, you're saved, okay?
You're in the righteousness of Christ,
nothing can change that.
But when it comes to our fellowship,
we can get far from the Lord.
That's the idea of the backslider, all right?
You've sinned so much,
you no longer desire the fellowship
and the friendship of God,
and you go off and you say,
Lord, I'm just gonna live my way.
I'm not gonna seek your word anymore, Lord.
No, that person has backslidden.
That person is far from God,
and if you're far from God tonight,
well, your call of action is let us draw near.
We have a true heart in full assurance of faith.
Look, having a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience.
Right now, maybe you have an evil conscience.
Maybe right now, it bothers you
that you're far from God.
All right, you're far from God.
Put your hand up and say, God, help me.
Help me draw near to you.
Please forgive me for my sins.
Lord, help me press this reset button tonight.
You know, I wanna be back in your presence, Lord.
That's your call of action
if you're far from the Lord tonight.
Let us draw near.
Please keep your finger there
and go to 1 John 1, 1 John 1, verse five.
1 John 1, verse number five.
And look, if that's you,
if you're far from the Lord tonight,
I'm not having a go at you again, all right?
Because I've been far from the Lord, all right?
I mean, there are times, again, you go to church.
You know, there are times I'm just on fire.
I'm like, I just can't get enough of the Bible.
I just read, read, read,
and there are times when I'm going back to my teenagers,
when I was inconsistent,
when I was still young in the faith, right?
There'd be times I wouldn't pick up my Bible
for months, months, all right?
And I'd be far from the Lord.
I would not be praying.
I would just, I'd be going to church
because, you know, got to keep up appearances,
but, you know, my heart was far from the Lord.
And so when I say these things about you
and I say, look, you might be far from the Lord,
I always, just because I know what I've gone through,
like, I'm not this guy that thinks, man,
I'm just righteous.
Every day I'm just walking to the Lord, right?
Hallelujah, every single day of my life.
It wasn't like that.
That's not reality.
There's good days, there's bad days, there's ups and downs.
So, you know, I assume there are people in church
going through this, all right?
Now, I don't think you're this horrible person
if you're not walking the Lord tonight,
if you're far from the Lord.
I just think your flesh has gotten in the way.
It's the same battle that we all have, all right?
And you're downcast, and the last thing I want to do
is kick a brother while he's down.
I want to encourage you in the Lord.
Hey, you're far from the Lord, all right?
You know, plenty of people have been far from the Lord.
I've been far from the Lord.
King David has been far from the Lord.
Plenty of Old Testament saints
have been far from the Lord.
I'm going to try to run away from the Lord.
I have to be swallowed by a whale.
That's how far he got until he got made right with God.
It happens to all.
So don't beat yourself up if you're far from the Lord,
but hey, just make a decision tonight.
Lord, I want to draw close to you once again.
I want to be close.
I want to feel your presence.
In 1 John chapter one, verse five, it says,
1 John chapter one, verse five.
This then is the message that we have heard of him
and declare unto you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him
and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
So let's make that very clear.
If you're walking in darkness,
you're not walking in God's paths,
you've sinned against the Lord
and you're not getting right with him,
you don't have fellowship with God.
You can't tell me you are fellowship with God.
The Bible says you're lying, okay?
Because God has no darkness in him, okay?
He's light.
But look at verse number seven.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ the Son
cleanses us from all sin.
Verse number eight.
And look, verse number eight is just a reality
that you need to accept in your life.
If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Meaning we all sin.
So stop beating yourself up, okay?
Don't think, I'm just a lousy Christian.
Maybe you're a lousy Christian, I don't know.
But you know what?
You don't have to remain a lousy Christian.
You can fix that tonight.
Right now, you can fix that.
All right?
Verse number nine.
This is how you fix it.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This is not about salvation.
This is about our fellowship.
This is about our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hey, we go before God and say, God, I'm sorry.
Just say, Lord, I've done this and I've done that
and there's probably other sins that I've done
that I can't even remember.
Can you please forgive me for those as well?
Lord, I wanna be in fellowship with you once again.
This is your call of action.
Let us draw near.
Verse number 10.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar
and his word is not in us.
So again, that reminder, we are all sinners.
We all get far from the Lord.
We all get dirty in this life.
But brethren, just press that reset button.
Lord, I wanna be in fellowship once again with you.
I've been far from you.
My heart's been far from you.
Let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith.
Back to Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 24.
The seventh led us.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 24.
The Bible says, and let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works.
The next call of action, brethren,
is let us consider one another.
Hey, when we come to church,
we ought to be considerate for others.
We should be considerate for our brothers
and sisters in the Lord.
You know, when you come to church,
yes, you know, I hope you get a blessing
when you're in the house of God.
But you know, your mindset ought to be,
when I come to the house of God,
Lord, how can I be a blessing to others?
How can I serve others, Lord?
Because if I'm serving others,
I'm serving you, Jesus Christ.
That's true.
You wanna serve Jesus, you gotta serve this family.
You gotta serve this body.
And look, again, I know we're not perfect.
Just like you, I would just rather serve Jesus directly
than have to serve sometimes
my brothers, sisters in the Lord.
But Jesus Christ is very clear about this.
You wanna serve Jesus?
You gotta serve the brethren.
You gotta serve the brothers, and they're not perfect.
Exactly, they're not perfect.
And you're not perfect.
You know what, you wanna receive a blessing, right?
You want people to love you and care about you
and pray for your needs,
but you're not perfect either, right?
You're not perfect either, but this is our family.
This is the body of Christ that we have here,
New Life Baptist Church.
We're here to serve one another.
We're here to consider one another,
and not just consider one another,
but provoke one another unto love and good works.
You know, if we're just beating each other up,
spiritually speaking,
oh, yeah, I knew that brother would fail.
I knew the situation would happen.
How are you gonna encourage that person
to pick themselves up, really,
and go on and serve the Lord Jesus Christ?
You know, if someone's downcast,
if someone's far from the Lord,
we'll just come alongside to that person
and greet them and encourage them.
Just greet them, just say hello to them.
Maybe they've got nobody else.
Maybe they feel alone,
and any place they feel some companionship,
some love is in the house of God.
Hey, you know what, just come and say hello to people.
Just tell them that you're praying for them.
You know, provoke them unto love and good works.
If you can please continue there, verse number 25.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is,
but exhorting one another,
that's like motivating one another,
and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
I've had several people in this church
and the church and the blessing of the church say,
you know, during the whole COVID situation,
go, man, I just feel like we're just getting close
to the end times.
I think we're getting close to the coming of Christ.
Now, I don't know if that's true.
I mean, of course, every day it goes by,
we're getting close now, amen?
But if that's the reality,
people are starting to have that mindset,
we're getting closer to the end times,
then what should we be doing?
We should be in God's house.
We should not be forsaking this place, right?
We should be gathering more often than not.
Now, look, I'm not the kind of pastor that says,
look, if you miss a service,
you forsaken the assembly of ourselves.
I understand other priorities come up, right?
Other things come up where you're not gonna be able
to be in the house of the Lord.
And you know, if you're not in the house
of the Lord tonight, if you're listening online,
no hard feelings, I love you.
Hey, but next time we have church service, be here.
Be here in God's house.
We wanna be considerate of one another.
We wanna provoke one another until love and good works.
And yeah, church is important.
If truly this world is getting more wicked, which it is,
if truly we're getting closer to the coming of Christ,
if truly you see events in this world develop,
we can see the potential coming of the Antichrist.
You can see the potential one world system
or one world government or one world currency.
You can see these things happening,
and you're just placing your heart, Lord,
I wanna be in the house of the Lord.
I wanna be provoked until love and good works.
And I wanna provoke others until love and good works.
So brethren, maybe that's you.
Maybe you don't make the house of God
a priority in your life.
Maybe it comes, you know,
it's something that you decide to do, right?
Do we go to the house of the Lord tonight or not?
But brethren, let me tell you, don't make a decision.
Don't make a decision.
Just set it in your heart.
This is the place that I need to be.
I need to hear God's word.
There's so much wickedness in this world.
There's so much wickedness as we go through the week.
Surely on a Wednesday night, I can just spend
an hour or two and just sit there in the house of God
listening to God's word.
Because I need to be provoked.
I need to be encouraged.
I need to be exalted until love and good works.
Can you please go to Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse number one.
The next let us is found in verse number one.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse number one.
Which reads, whereforeseen we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us
and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us.
Don't forget that you are on a race, okay?
The moment that you're saved,
Christ has placed you on that racetrack
and he wants you to run for him.
He wants you to see the finish line
which is eternity with the Lord God in heaven
to be made like unto Christ.
And God says to us, hey run, run the race.
Don't forget that the race is a marathon.
I gotta always say that.
It's not a sprint.
It's not a 10 meter sprint, all right?
Christianity is not a 10 day sprint, you know?
And you don't wanna burn out.
Because I think we've all seen Christians burn out,
haven't we?
I've seen Christians that are on fire for God
and they just set aside absolutely everything in life
and they just run hard but then they just burn out.
And they're not in the house of the Lord.
They're no longer serving him.
You gotta pace yourself.
Remember what we learnt earlier?
We're growing, all right?
We've taken in the milk of God's word.
The moment we're saved, we're a babe.
We're developing, we're growing.
Hey, growth takes time.
I've used the analogy before.
From a babe to an adult takes a good solid 20 years.
If you've been saved, let's say five years,
don't think that you're just gonna run as hard
and as fast as anybody else.
Just take your time.
You know, you go from a babe to a toddler
to a child, all right?
To a teenager, you know?
To a young adult and then you're the adult.
But it takes time, okay?
You just take one step at a time.
Just make sure that you're running the race though.
Don't stop running.
Don't go backwards.
Don't get off the racetrack.
You know what?
Just slow down, slow down,
but make sure you're taking one step at a time.
You're still growing.
You're still receiving God's word.
You're still opening the Bible.
Because last thing I want is for you to burn out.
But the commandments, the let us there,
is let us lay aside every weight.
There are things in our life
that are stopping us running the race, okay?
There are certain things that are just seemingly
a higher priority in your life.
Now, these things are not always sins
because it says there, let us lay aside every weight
and then it says and the sin which doth easily beset us.
You see, our sins do beset us.
The word beset means, it's like kind of the word
to beseech, like a besiege, like a besiege city.
A city that's under siege.
What it's saying is that we can, our sins,
like when you think of a siege of a city, right?
They're stopping movement.
They're stopping that city from functioning
the way they would normally function.
Well, sins do that to our life.
They stop us from running the race.
They stop us from moving forward.
Yeah, lay aside your sins, that's one thing,
but you've got other weights, you've got other interests,
you've got other hobbies that are stopping you
running this race as well.
Again, those other things are not sins in of themselves.
All right, if you have good time management
and you can have your hobbies from time to time,
you can have your enjoyments,
but as long as you're on the race, that's okay.
But if it's stopping you running the race,
if you're saying I'm not picking up my Bible
because I've got to read Facebook,
Facebook is not the sin, hey, but it's a weight
that's stopping you from reading your Bible.
You've got to lay aside that Facebook
or whatever it is that's stopping you
from serving the Lord running the race
the way that you ought to.
Think of what that is.
Maybe that's your call of action today.
Let us lay aside every weight.
What's stopping you from running the race
that God has set before you?
In the same chapter, drop down to verse number 28.
This is the ninth let us, the ninth let us,
Hebrew chapter 12, verse number 28.
It's wherefore we receive in a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace,
whereby we may serve God acceptively
with reverence and godly fear.
Let us have grace.
This is not saying that God has grace
and of course God has grace.
We know we do things by the grace of God.
Hey, we love God's grace,
for by grace are you saved through faith.
What is grace?
Remember, grace is undeserved merit.
It's goodwill toward others.
Grace is free.
You know, when God has given us salvation,
his grace is free.
He says, look, here it is.
We don't deserve it, we're sinners.
We've broken God's laws.
But God has given us his grace.
Praise God for it.
And we like God's grace, right?
God has given us so many abilities.
He gives us his spirit to do great works for him.
All right, that's great, you understand that.
But now God wants you to have grace.
Let us have grace, because we have to put up
with brothers and sisters in the Lord
that aren't perfect, like I said before.
Okay, and if you haven't got the grace,
you know what's gonna happen?
You're just gonna get bitter.
You're gonna get angry toward others that do you wrong.
Okay, hey, we need to be gracious toward people.
God's been gracious to you.
Now you gotta be gracious.
Be gracious to others.
That's the harder part though.
I mean, God is full of grace,
but for us, it's not easy.
In fact, let's backtrack a little bit.
Let's have a look at the reason why
this call of action is being said here,
let us have grace.
Because it says in verse number 14,
it says, follow peace with all men
and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
So the Lord is asking us to follow peace.
God wants us to have peace with men.
Look at verse number 15.
Looking diligently lest any man fail
of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.
See, God is teaching us that we can become bitter
one toward another.
Now here's the thing about bitterness.
It's such a strange sin.
Have you ever been bitter toward someone?
I'm sure we have.
We all experience things, right?
These emotions.
And when you're bitter and you think about
what someone has done, has someone's done you wrong,
it kind of feels good, a little bit.
You know, like, I'm kind of like this frustration.
I'm like, I'm speaking about it, I'm getting out.
But the strange thing with bitterness
is that it doesn't hurt the person you're bitter toward.
Like if you're bitter toward me right now,
I have no idea.
It doesn't bother me.
It doesn't hurt me.
It's only hurting you.
And that's the strange thing about this sin, right?
You think it's your way, your gateway
of getting back to somebody, but it's only damaging you.
Bitterness is a root and it grows.
What did it say there again in verse number?
Let me just find it again.
What was that, sorry?
15, looking digitally, lest any man fail
with the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you, look at this,
and thereby many be defiled.
You see what happens in a church when there's bitterness
is that bitterness can spread, okay?
And you're angry, you're upset about
what this person has done.
You go and talk to somebody else,
and they say, oh yeah, that's not right.
They start to get bitter, and it starts
to spread throughout the whole church.
Now that will destroy a church, that root of bitterness.
And so brethren, instead of being bitter,
what should we have?
Let us, what did it say again?
It said let us have grace.
Let us have grace, okay?
That's the opposite to bitterness.
You wanna overcome bitterness, you need to be gracious.
God's been gracious to you.
Okay, you be gracious to others in our church.
Be gracious to this pastor, please.
I'm not perfect.
I try my best, but I need your grace.
And you know what, I wanna show grace toward you, right?
Like can you say pastor, I'm just the best church member
you've ever had.
If you can't say that, you know what,
I need to show some grace toward ya.
I hope you are.
And I'm trying to be the best pastor I can be.
But I'm not necessarily gonna be the best pastor, okay?
So you need some grace toward me.
We need to have grace toward one another, okay?
This is how we keep the peace,
the unity within our church.
Let's go to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews 13, verse 13.
It says, let us go forth.
Okay, this is the 10th let us.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp,
bearing his reproach.
Now this thought of without the camp,
let's backtrack to verse number 12.
Let's start there.
Because this starts to explain what it means there
with verse number 12.
It says, wherefore Jesus also
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate.
Now don't forget when Christ was arrested
and brought forth before the chief priest and pilot,
hey, he was taken into Jerusalem, remember that, okay?
And then when it was announced that he would be crucified,
he was taken without the gate,
he was taken outside of the gates of Jerusalem,
and there he was crucified at Calvary, okay?
Well in that same sense, that picture of Christ
being rejected by the city of Jerusalem,
taken outside and being crucified,
you know, it says then in verse number 13,
in light of that, let us go therefore unto him
without the camp, bearing his reproach.
You see, we too are gonna be rejected by this world.
Okay, as a Christian, the world is not going to love you.
In fact, Christ says that the world will hate you
and you shouldn't be surprised about that.
The world hated Christ,
and he was crucified without the gates.
Well in the same vein, we need to make sure
that we present our bodies, a living sacrifice,
willing to step out outside of this world,
willing to be different, willing to be hated,
willing to be rejected.
You see, a lot of Christians don't want that rejection.
And I understand, I don't want to be rejected,
do you want to be rejected?
Like who wants to be rejected?
Yeah, I just want them to hate me.
Nobody really wants that, okay?
But you know what, if we're going to live godly,
if we're going to live for Christ,
if we're going to appreciate his sacrifice,
we need to be willing to offer ourselves
as sacrifices to God, okay?
And if we continue there in Hebrews 13, verse number 14,
why should we be comfortable with being rejected?
Because it says in verse number 14,
for here we have no continuing city,
but we seek one to come.
And Christ was taken out of the city,
well, we too have no continuing city here.
Our affections, our love ought not to be placed
on this earth or on the Sunshine Coast
or in a earthly sense.
Our city is New Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem in heaven.
That's where our affections ought to be.
And so if we're citizens of that city,
you know what, if you're going to live
after that holiness,
then you will be rejected by this world.
But that's okay, because this is not our city.
This is not our permanent residence.
We're sojourners, we're passing through.
And the more holy that you live for Jesus,
the more you're willing to offer yourself a sacrifice,
it'll be easier for you to let go
of the affections of this earth.
And it'll be easier to be rejected.
And brethren, in that rejection,
you'll be glorified, you'll be glorified.
The rejection, the persecution,
the troubles you go for, for the name of Christ,
you know, you will be glorified in heaven.
You'll be exalted, you'll be given a great honour
for being able to face the turmoil, the problems,
all for the name of Christ.
It's all worth it in the end, brethren.
The rejection is worth it.
The Bible says in John 17, 14,
I have given them thy word,
and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world.
That's about you.
You are not of this world.
Even as Christ is not of this world.
It's the same, okay?
The same rejection that God had, Christ had,
on this earth is the same rejection that you'll have
if you live a holy life.
You say, pastor, I have no rejection.
It's just, it's great.
You know why?
Because you're probably not living a holy life.
You're probably just living like the rest of this world.
Of course, if you're gonna live just like this world,
you're not gonna face rejection.
But the moment you stand on the truth of God's word,
the moment you serve Christ of your life,
you will be hated, you will be rejected by this world.
But this is a call of action.
Let us go forth.
Therefore, unto him without the camp,
bearing his reproach.
Please go to verse number 15 now.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 15.
This is the final let us, number 11.
It says here, by him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to his name.
The final one, brethren,
is let us offer the sacrifice of praise.
I thank you for being in the house of God tonight.
Okay, it's not about listening to Pastor Kevin,
though that's important.
But really what I want you to be coming
to the house of God for
is to offer your sacrifice of praise.
It's that call of action to sing him,
to sing, you know, worship songs,
to praise him for who he is.
What a wonderful thing that we can worship
the God of all things, the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords.
This is our sacrifice of praise.
You know, I mean, the Old Testament sacrifices,
they would have to take a lamb
and slaughter that lamb, and it's a long process.
You know, all you have to do
is be in the house of God and open your mouth
and give your praise to God.
Don't forget, we want our mouths
to match the condition of our heart.
You know, we don't want to be people
that just sing vain repetitions.
We want to make sure that our heart is right with God.
Say, Lord, I love you.
Therefore, I want to sing praises unto you.
And what did it say, once again,
by him, therefore, let us offer
sacrifice of praise to God continually.
Don't let it only be when you come to church,
when you praise God.
Let it be something that you do continually,
in that you thank him, you praise him
for the great God that he is.
You know, if you haven't got any hymnals at home,
I've got spare ones here.
If you've lost some or you need extras,
let me know.
We've got spare ones here.
You know why?
Because I want you to be at home,
I want you to open this up with your family
and sing unto the Lord.
We learn hymns at church.
Great, we can sing at church.
Great.
But take the experience.
God wants it continually.
He wants these sacrifices.
Hey, the sacrifices in the old covenant,
how often were they done?
Everyday, daily.
All right, then you need to offer
your sacrifice of praise daily as well.
Take a hymn book home, if you need one,
let me know, all right?
And apply it.
This is your call of action,
if you don't do it already.
Look at verse number 16.
Hebrews 13, 16.
Continues by saying,
but to do good and to communicate, forget not.
For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.
What's another sacrifice that pleases God?
To do good and to communicate, forget not.
Communicate, there is the fellowship.
You know, God wants to have fellowship.
You know, when we stop
and we just chat with one another
and we just encourage one another at church,
God says this is a sacrifice that pleases Him.
Because you're sacrificing your time.
You're showing interest to someone else.
You know, you're telling them
that you care for them,
that you love them,
that you're praying for them.
Hey, that sweet fellowship in church
is a sacrifice that pleases God.
You know, please don't be someone
that just comes to church
and as soon as the service is over, gone.
Hey, no, no, no.
God wants your sacrifice.
Come and spend time and talk to the brethren.
All right, God, I want nothing to talk about.
Talk about the Bible.
Talk about anything.
Talk about the preaching, okay?
But just be there.
Communicate to one another.
Be in fellowship.
These are sacrifices that God is pleased with.
All right, brethren.
That's all that I have for you tonight.
Let us in the book of Hebrews.
I hope that you can see, yes,
the book of Hebrews is a very heavy doctrinal book,
but it's a book that calls you to action.
And once you get that biblical truth, the doctrines,
then you need to make sure
that you put it into action.
All right, brethren, let's pray.