The Confident Church: Living in Gospel Confidence (Session 4) - Beacon Summer Retreat: August 24

Alright. Well, good morning. I felt like retreat went super fast. Right? And we're already at the end of it. And I just wanted to give you guys a thank you. It's been a refreshing time for me. I really just enjoyed getting to know some of you guys. Some of our conversations around the table or just walking around or even playing games. It wasn't because I was yelling, um, reach down, reach down. That's not why my voice is fading. Usually retreats, uh, if I get to teach at conferences and retreats, my voice is fading towards the end of it. And so this is normal. Don't feel guilty. That was a lot of fun. But listen, I really enjoyed uh just your company, your fellowship. Um encouraged by uh what your church is doing, um, uh the things that you guys are doing, and um and how you are trying to shine the gospel message of Jesus Christ to a dying world.

I mean, um this is what it's about, and uh it's about churches, helping churches and us partnering together because uh um we are all part of God's family in the large sense, and we're blessed to be part of his his particular localized church family in the specific sense, and uh um and I I love the church. Um I love my Lord Jesus Christ, and I love his church. And I mean every expression of every good, healthy church that he has created. And when I get the privilege of being able to, you know, to meet with churches, whether it's across the oceans, in other countries, other cultures, in other languages, or or just here in Southern California, it is an encouragement to me, and uh it fuels me because it lets me know because we're not we're not isolated, we're not by ourselves.

We're in a we're in a day and an age where everything will feel isolated, right? Um, like I was telling you, like uh um uh a book I I just finished, uh Digital Liturgy, so good, just as an examination of how there is a liturgy, there is a methodology of worship that the internet gives to us, and and part of that is isolation, like it encourages us to be separate and to be disembodied and to pretend that we're someplace and we're not, right? And it encourages us to think that, like, yeah, like why don't I just join a church on the other side of the country and just by via watching their videos? Well, all of that because you weren't created disembodied. We were created to be here. That's why we go outside and we look at nature and we take a pause and go, man, this is so good, right?

Why is it feel so good? Because we're here. I could go on the internet, look up pictures of like the you know, the Grand Canyon and stuff go, oh, that's that's awesome. That's all I'm not actually there. Um God has made us physical, spiritual, emotional beings, and we are meant to experience things in person. So I even love how you guys do like the the greeting part where you guys are um you know you guys do that every Sunday, right? That's that's wonderful. I that's part of it. That's part of why you're a church. And we're gonna we're gonna lean into that a little bit because we've been talking about a lot of things that that would mark a healthy church and a healthy church life, characteristics, spiritual characteristics that would demonstrate that we are we are distinct, we are intentional, we are faithful.

And this morning I want to finish off by saying that that this is uh a mark of a healthy church. It is a confident church, and I don't just mean confident in the way that we think of confidence, like with our sports athletes and stuff like that, you know. That that's a separate discussion, which which I actually kind of like, you know, because I I do like sports, and I I think it's interesting the their dynamic and their their um their their psyche. Okay, I'll give you a little just because you know, because what can I do? Where are our retreats? I get to I give it I I like water a lot with all the illustrations because we're at a retreat. If you if you come if you visit our church, I'm not I'm not that crazy with all this stuff, but it I just say whatever comes to mind because we're we have we have the freedom to do that.

But did you know like like one of the interesting things with like like the Hall of Fame sports stars, right? The Michael Jordan's like the greatest uh at their thing. There's an interesting kind of psyche to them that we would we would rightly designate as confidence, but it's this comfort level with the pressure on. In other words, like Cal Ripkin Jr. There's this one article I read, and it was like 20 years ago in Sports Illustrated about this. Cal Ruckman Jr., uh, he was talking about like uh when he was first in the majors, like he was in the he was in one of his earlier games, and the ball got hit to him and he made an error. Cal Ripkin Jr. almost never made an error, he made an error, and of course he felt terrible, right?

Because it allowed, like, you know, a runt score there behind, etc. And he said, but his mentality was that when the next guy came up to the plate, I mean, how would you feel? If it was me, I'd be like, oh my gosh, just don't hit it to me. It's already too us, I'll just hit it somewhere else, right? And he's like, dude, he I hope he hits it to me. I gotta get this out. Like I need it to come to me. I don't want it to go anywhere. If it's near me and it's between me and the third basement, I'm gonna grab it, right? Like, and so that's what happens. It kind of comes near him, he grabs it, he throws the guy out there out of the inning. He had already made that mistake, but it was already behind him.

There's a mentality there that's kind of different. It's the Michael Jordans that say, like, like, I don't care who else is on my team, I want the last shot, right? It's there's something about that comfort zone, that confidence that is helpful to accomplish a task that is otherwise stressful and difficult. Well, I'm not, I'm not, I know, I use too many sports illustrations. That's what my wife says. And so uh, I don't have a rom-com illustration for the ladies, no K drama thing I could help you. I don't, I don't know. This is this is the way God has made me to think, right? But but we don't want to use that because in a secular way, right? Like that, that is a good mentality to accomplish something in stressful, high leveraged situations.

The way that we want to think about it, though, in terms of confidence, is there ought to be a comfort level that makes what we normally do or what we want to do for the sake of the Lord that makes that kind of normal. It begins with how we think about our position in Christ and what our place in this world is, and then it turns into, well, how do we apply that? It turn to Hebrews chapter 10. We're gonna be looking at verses 19 through 25. Passage probably you know fairly familiar to you guys is a passage about um uh uh a number of commands that tell us to draw near, to hold fast, to stir up, right? Um, but as we look at this, the reason why I choose the term confidence, in fact, I could choose the term gospel confidence, is because the gospel, as it gives us that confidence, that that sensibility to say that we all belong here and we all belong here together, like that's what propels us to all these other things, like drawing near, holding fast, stirring up one another to love and good deeds.

Like the outflow of the one anotherings, it it all grows out of the soil of us knowing with confidence who we are and where we stand in Christ. And when that becomes that corporate, that corporate identity, when we together know who we are and where we stand with Christ, it allows us the capacity to do great things, to do things that we otherwise would not expect that we are capable of doing because God is God and we are his redeemed people. So Hebrews 10, starting in verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Let's pray.

In our final time of worship together this weekend, Lord, we give you praise for the conversations that we have had over this weekend. We give you praise for the word that we got to examine and to think about and and to consider what it means that we might grow a healthy church here at the beacon. Lord, we give you thanks that we have brothers and sisters that we can call brothers and sisters in Christ who are partners with us in our endeavor to build the kingdom of God and to seek the glory of Jesus Christ in this community in this church. And Lord, we give you thanks that we could lift up our praise to acknowledge our Savior, to sing of your grace, and to just sit in a moment, Lord, where we're undistracted from the things of the world.

We could sit for a moment and recognize how good and faithful our Savior is. Lord, from that, may I have the capacity to explain this scriptures? And would you apply this to our souls so that we might understand that out of our gospel confidence, we might have capacities to minister, to reach out, to care for one another, and to build a community that looks like the gospel lived out. We pray that that would be what develops in the beacon amongst these brothers and sisters who have become precious to me. I pray that you would do an excellent and good work and propel them forward, Lord, for spiritual victory in the name of Christ into your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

So gospel confidence, not just confidence in your abilities or a desire to accomplish much in the eyes of others, but a confidence in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that's where we begin. Verses 19 through 21 explains to us something that Hebrews has been hitting hard throughout. And that said, because of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross for us, we should be rooted in gospel confidence. Look at verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. Now say I've been using the word confidence, and I want to I want to define it in terms of it's its biblical use here. It's a word that in other contexts is translated boldness. And so, I mean, that that's probably not weird to you.

I mean, that's what we think of as confidence. But it has it's a word for confidence or boldness. It has as part of its sensibility, right? A sense of freedom, or maybe this is an easier way to say it, an unreserved nature to it. This is the way I can explain it to you. There's a familial certainty or confidence in terms of how we can freely or unreservedly speak to one another. Right? So, in other words, um, if uh if I go home, I was I was telling some of the guys at the table at breakfast, if I go home, my youngest son, and he's like, you know, he's you know, he's he's a he's 16, so he's trying to be cool. So he talks to me like, hey, what's up, Pop Man? Oh, I love you, man. I miss you, bro.

Like, you know, like that's how like my my own son talks to me. I'll go, yeah, I miss you too, bro. Like, you know, like what? You know, I just think it's funny, it's endearing to me. I don't mind, right? And so, so that's how he'll he'll he'll come and he'll talk to me, and he doesn't approach me like, oh, master of the house, I'm glad you're home, right? You get what I'm saying? Like there, there is a familial confidence, right? Not familiar, it's familiar, but it's familiar, like it's family. And that's how this word is used. The word is used in the sense that you feel free to come in, to put your feet up and to relax. Like if you invite me to your house, I'm probably gonna be a little bit more polite than I usually am at my house, right?

I'm gonna go to my house, I'm literally gonna kick my shoes off in the garage, right? And they're gonna be scattered somewhere on my way in. I just want to walk in, probably grab something to drink and then and to sit down on the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table. Probably won't do that at your house. Not the first time, right? Second time, you know, you know, you don't know, right? But there is a natural kind of, I belong here, this is my place, and I feel comfortable here. That's what this word means. And so, so the author of Hebrews has been driving home the point that what Christ has accomplished as our great high priest, as our sacrifice, as the finished work of atonement for us, he's brought us into to the Father's presence in such a way that we should have confidence.

So he's saying, not that you should strive for confidence. He's saying, since we have it already, therefore, brothers, since we have this comfort level to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. You think about this, and the author of Hebrews is excellent, in that he is building off the imagery of the Old Testament sacrificial system. And he's saying, you think about this, you're welcome to walk in, kick off your shoes, and put up your feet in the presence of the holy places. This is what he's referring to. So imagine if this is uh this is the tabernacle or the temple, right? It'd be a little bit bigger than this, right? A little bit further back and a little bit higher. But um, somewhere right about where these raptors come down, right?

Like, like straight down, there'd be a curtain that divides the holy place, right? Back there, there's the table for the showbread, there's the candelabra, right? Like uh, there's a um, there's a bunch of stuff out there, including like little mini, like uh incense altar, etc. And then there's this curtain that divides the holy place from the holiest, or sometimes called the holy of holies, right? And in the holy of holies was the Ark of the Covenant, right? Had the had the angels kind of looking at each other with their wings this way, right? And inside was uh was the Ten Commandments and Moses' staff with the almond bud and all that kind, right? It was the presence of God. And where the angels like kind of look at each other this way, in the middle of that, that area is called the the it's called the mercy seat.

Not because they like you know, do that. What's that? Remember that game buck buck or something, right? Like where you hold something, was that no buckbuck's the one where you hug a tree, huh? Like right, it's that game where you make a chair. There's nothing that looks like a chair, but it's called the mercy seat because God's presence in the tabernacle would literally sit, right? Between the cherubs, um, above the Ark of the Covenant. It's as if God sat to kind of hear from Moses or from the high priest. And so that's called the mercy seat, and all of that was uh was to represent to us that we just we can't come into the holy place. In fact, it was baked in that the high priest part of his garments had bells on it, and he would put um a rope around one of his ankles as he went to minister in the holy place, right?

On the day of atonement, he would sprinkle blood on the altar, right? Blood on uh um uh on the mercy seat, and he would atone for the sins of the people, and and what's implied by that by the rope and by the bells is that there's a chance that if he approaches God in an unworthy way, he just falls down dead. And we just like he's not moving. You hear bells? I don't hear any bells. Uh-oh, you know, like you gotta that that's that's what's implied by that. I don't know if that's ever actually happened, but that was the implication of that, that you don't approach the holy place except the high priest and once a year. So this statement, this singular verse, this sentence, all right, this phrase packs a punch that if we're not familiar with some of that old testament, you know, jargon, we might not appreciate the depth of this.

Listen to it again, having heard of all that. Therefore, brothers, brothers, since we have this family confidence, to enter into the holy places by the blood of Jesus Christ. So he is saying that we have a gospel, family confidence that invites us in. This is the same chapter, chapter 10, in the early part of the chapter in verse 4, where it is declared that it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins forever. Right? They they killed bulls and goats and sprinkled blood on the day of atonement and on a regular basis offered sacrifice as a means of atonement, but that could not cleanse from sin eternally. If it could, the argument that the author of Hebrews makes is then why did they keep going?

You did it once and it's done, right? Says, no, they needed to be repeated because they were not sufficient. They aimed at something greater, and that was the blood of Jesus. That when our Passover lamb was killed for our sake and in our place, that our sins would be atoned for once for all. And Hebrews loves that phrase, once for all. The gospel provides for us a family confidence to enter into the holy places. That in itself is amazing. Look at verse 20. He does that by the blood of Jesus, it says, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. So again, that's the curtain that he's talking about. We have entered or we have pierced the veil.

We have come through that that curtain, that veil, into the presence of the Almighty and all holy God. This is a God that knows everything. His omniscience reaches not just to the knowledge of our deeds, the things that we have done physically that is sinful, but to our minds, to the thoughts that we had that are sinful, to our motives, the reasons why we did some things and how they were sinful, to our idolatry, every he knows every moment of every sinful act, thought, feeling, deed, etc. Right. He is perfectly just and we have come into his presence. You can't come into his presence. And I'm pretty sure Moses is a lot holier than I am. He told Moses, you cannot see my glory and live. And yet we are invited in like family.

Like, oh, it's good that you're here. Where have you been? And we are invited in because the blood of Jesus. Verse 20 says, by a new and living way, right? That is open to us through the curtain. That is through his flesh. I think it's making a reference to Matthew 27. Remember on the moment that Jesus is crucified, the moment that He He gives up or yields up His spirit, the scriptures say that the thick veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. And I think that top to bottom is meant to emphasize that it wasn't like a bunch of disciples snuck in like ninjas and they started pulling and then tore it from bottom to top. This is the Lord saying, Hey, the veil is pierced because of the death of my son for you.

The barrier, right? That is the curtain. On the one hand, yes, it was meant to protect you know sinners from coming into the holy God. It's like to keep people out from God. That's part of it. But I think the emphasis is actually meant to protect those sinners on the other side of the veil from thinking that they can come into his presence. Not into the presence of a God that knows everything about you. We have we have no right standing before that holy and omniscient God. That veil was there to protect us from his wrath. And in Christ's death, that veil is pierced. It is torn in two, and we are welcome to directly enter in and have access to the one and true living God. Verse 21 says, And since we have a great priest over the house of God, so if it's not enough to this point to say that Jesus has been our sacrifice and his death, his blood has allowed us to enter into the presence of God, even though we shouldn't deserve to be in the presence of God.

We are invited in like family. Verse 21 tells us that our gospel, that the gospel confidence we have is provided through us to us on a continual basis because of the great priest who is over the house of God. Now, this is obviously referring to Jesus as the great priest. Earlier in Hebrews, like in Hebrews 4, Jesus is called the great high priest. In other parts, he's called the high priest. I think the great attitude, high priest or priest is meant to be superlative. There is no priest like this priest. There is no ministry like this ministry. There is no ongoing, right? A petition and care for us, like the kind of shepherding, care, ministry, love, affection, thoughtfulness that comes from our great priest who stands, right, before the throne of God to plead on our behalf on a regular and eternal basis.

The whole point is Jesus is better. He's a better priest, he's a better sacrifice, he's a better everything. This is the entire argument of the book of Hebrews to this point. And so, verses 19 through 21 is just the establishment of that. We are rooted in this gospel confidence. We are welcome into God's presence. So, based on these things, the fact that Jesus is better because he has done better, because everything that he has done has an eternally significant right stamp upon it. They're saying the author is trying to say that we should be living in that confidence that we are his, in that comfort that we are his.

We should be confident to hold fast, we're confident to stir up, and should be confident to finish our race before that day. Um the second major movement here is verse 22. If we are rooted in gospel confidence, verses 19 through 21, we are compelled, we are encouraged forward. The application of that gospel confidence comes to us in 22 to 25. There's three commands that are clear. Let us draw near, let us hold fast, let us stir up. They're structured the same way. Grammatically, they're not imperatives. In fact, they're kind of weird because they're first person plural. That's a we, right? That's a we. Um, and they act like an imperative, but they're called volatives, right? Um the way that is it's expressed.

If uh if you're reading this, like, like I think as a young believer, I would read this, and it sounds like like, I don't know, just a strong encouragement, right? Like, kind of like a hey, if you got time, let us draw near. You know, like if you, you know, if you're not too busy, right? Like, that's how we say stuff politely, right? Like, that's how my wife, like, I am not particularly polite, I'm kind of blunt. My wife's very polite, we're very opposite that way. And so, you know, like I'll I'll be saying something, like in even in counseling, I'll say something, and then she'll kind of touch my shoulder, and then she'll kind of say it more nicely, and she'll say something like that, like I think we should, like, like we should.

And I'm thinking, no, no, you should, right? Oh, oh, yeah, I guess we should, and the kind of it's a nicer way of saying it, right? And that's what it sounds like. It sounds like a divine suggestion, but that's not it. It is an actual command, but our English language doesn't have commands or anything sounding like a command that is in the first person plural. We talked about that, right? We talked about you individually, talking about y'all as in, you know, second person plural. This is almost like a first person plural command. We, yeah, right? We stand up. That don't that don't make no sense, right? I think the closest equivalent I could come uh come up with is when we say, Let's go. That is a command, kind of, right?

And and technically, that second person plural. That's that's let's go, and we're kind of trying to say you guys get up and go, but we're together. It's kind of an awkward thing, but that's exactly what it is. It's let us, let's go, right? And it's meant to be volatile, it's meant to be an expression of command with some force. That's what the author of Hebrews is saying. So think about it this way: he is established. Listen, the blood of Jesus Christ means that you enter into the presence of the living God. The blood of Jesus Christ means that all your past sins, the sins that you might commit today, and the sins that you'll commit for the rest of this earthly life, they're all washed in the blood of Christ.

You have a standing before God that was unthinkable, right? To the saints of the old testament. All of us have have just trusted in God by faith, old Testament and new, that he would provide what was necessary, and he has, and you know we are blessed to be in the church race because we know what that provision is. It's the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins. We are in the eyes of God, covered in Christ's righteousness, and we are his children. We are his sons and his daughters, and we're welcome here. And having established that, he's saying, so based on that, he's saying, let's go. What are you doing? Is what I say, right? Oh, my sons play volleyball, my girls did competitive swimming, and competitive swimming is kind of individual.

So it's like, ah, yeah, good job, you drop time, right? Right? So it's it's alright. I'm not mad at them, you know. Like, you know, that's cool. But then volleyball, like, you know, Micah, the youngest, his team is pretty good, and they they go, we go to nationals every year, you know, and they they do pretty well, and then as they play, but every once in a while they they're just playing like crazy. Guys are shanking everything, you know, like everything's off, the timing's off, and they just look real bad. And at some time at some point, like, and I'm I'm very thoughtful about having a good testimony, so I'm not like mad or yelling out mad, but if I'm really frustrated, I'll be like, dude, what are we doing?

And the other parents are like, Yeah, man, what are we doing, man? Like, you know, like it just feels like what are we doing? And this feels to me like this. The author is asking us, what are you doing? You are his child. And would you not recognize that there is a let's go? And the first thing he would say is, let's go and draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. This is how he's defining the application of this gospel truth. He's saying this confidence should exude in such a way that you could draw near to the living God, you can approach him as if he belonged to you and that you belong to him with a heart that is true, meaning sincere, and that is fully assured of the faith that Christ has accomplished everything on your behalf.

This is an amazing statement. And something that we live short of regularly. God, our Heavenly Father, He draws us to Himself. And He would love to have us for Himself. J.I. Packer, great Anglican, he once said this about the fatherhood of God. He said, if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God.

He says, in quotes, Father is the Christian name for God. We pray to our heavenly Father. Why? Because that's what he is. And as we pray to our Heavenly Father, we are affirming something that the author was saying, yeah, based on that, what should you do? What should you do with the knowledge of your right standing with our heavenly Father? Let us draw near. What are you doing? Let us draw near with hearts that are filled with an assurance of faith. And I love the second part. With our hearts sprinkled clean from evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Sprinkling is what happens in the in the ministry of the priest. Takes blood and he sprinkles the altar, sprinkles the people, right?

Takes blood and he goes behind the veil, he sprinkles blood in front of the mercy seat. He sprinkles blood, he sprinkles blood, he sprinkles blood. So in that same way, it's drawing on that metaphor, and it's saying your hearts have been sprinkled by blood. In the in a similar way as the high priest would sprinkle blood for the atoning of sins. But your hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. And your bodies have been washed with pure water. The idea that the blood of Christ is now sprinkled us clean from an evil conscience means that you can live without guilt. You could live without shame. If you commit sin and you feel bad, you feel guilt, that's appropriate, right? But you have the opportunity to confess that, be right with the Lord, etc.

But the covering of Christ's righteousness over you and the fact that he has atoned for your sins once for all means that you can walk and live with a clear conscience. See, this is something the Pharisee could never have, not really. This is something our Muslim friends never have, not fully, right? This is something that every religion, you walk it out, can have, but only maybe momentarily until something bad happens, etc. They can't live or abide in a state of being cleansed from even evil conscience. And by evil conscience, I mean the guilt, evil in the sense that it is bad, it is it is it is uh um you know a discontented conscience, our conscience hurts us. We can be free of that because our sins are actually forgiven.

Our sins are actually paid in full. We are literally and adoptively and truly God's children. The value of that is immeasurable. And the fact that we can be so so confident of the gospel message that this is how we exist. We have the capacity to live for him without being hindered by guilt and shame. Guilt and shame has not the capacity to sanctify you. The Christian needs grace upon grace, and the more he recognizes his inability without God's grace, that's what sanctifies you. Guilt and shame can make you the best of Pharisees. And that's like other religions can use guilt and shame to become kind of good at doing religious stuff, as living as a hermit, as doing this, right? It's cutting off from these things, as denying these fleshly things, but they cannot, all of those things have not the capacity to make you more godly, to make you more gracious, and to draw you nearer to the Lord.

It is all done in Christ. We have been sprinkled clean. And so our hearts are cleansed from an evil conscience. In the second part, our bodies are washed in pure water. That's just directly symbolic language that fits that of the priesthood. It implies that now you are ready for something, for a ministry, to bear his name, to do something on his behalf. Because what bodies washes, pure water is what every priest had to go through so that they could minister in the temple, so that they can minister in the tabernacle, so that the high priest can actually perform the rites of the Day of Atonement. And it's implying that your hearts are sprinkled from that bad conscience because Christ has paid for that sin already.

Confess, receive his blessing of the forgiveness of your sins, and recognize that your bodies have been washed. You're already prepared for ministry for purposes that will help and encourage others. You guys realize part of the corporate dynamic of the gospel truth for each of us. Every one of us has come to salvation in the same way. Through faith in Jesus Christ, right? To pay for the debt, the sin debt that we have committed through the course of our lives. We get that. But once we're in, the gospel confidence should be compelling us to draw near to the Lord, but not just for ourselves, but as we draw near to the Lord, the implications left behind in that last phrase is that you're ready to do some ministry.

You're ready to make some impact. God has saved you not just for yourself, but so that your bodies are washed, right? With pure water, and now you are a consecrated vessel, useful unto his purposes. Every one of us began in the recognition of our own sins. And in one form of another, we were like Peter, right? In Luke 5. Depart from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man. Like he recognized there's something special about Jesus, he's saying, Man, you shouldn't be associated with me. Right? I would love to be associated with you, but you should not, you should not name me as one of yours. In a similar way in Luke 18, right? Remember the tax gatherer, his one prayer was, God be merciful to me, the sinner.

The term he uses is a term that's used for atonement. He's literally saying, Hey, cast an atoning mercy upon me, because I'm the sinner. And the use of the definite article means that he recognizes I'm not talking about other sinners around me. I'm not saying I'm I'm in the general category of sinners like all sinners. I just know my own guilt. I am the sinner standing before the holy God and judge. And I am asking for his atoning work to be done for my soul, for his mercy to be cast upon me. And the gospel message of Jesus Christ, if you have repented and turned to him for salvation, is granted. I'm glad to have you. You you are welcome here. The author of Hebrews is trying to try to help us to understand that that part of our the implication of our salvation is that we are supposed to draw near, and we're supposed to help others draw near, right?

John Piper. I love John Piper. He says the great aim of this writer is that we get near God and that we have fellowship with him, and we we do not settle for a Christian life at a distance from God. That God not be distant a distant thought, but a near and present reality, and we experience what the old Puritans called communion with God. See, this is the point. Come on, let's go. Let us go and draw near to the Lord. And it's let us, plural, us together. Let the community of God's people hear this this established body of believers. Let us let us strive together to draw near to the Lord. In this first one, draw near. I love it. It has that component of, hey, you guys, get in here. What are you doing?

Come on in. You're welcome here. You belong here. There's some ugliness in the sinfulness of our past that we might even be too ashamed to bring up publicly, and then there might be an appropriateness to that, right? But Christ has paid for that. And he's He's paid for that. I think the message here is if he's paid for it, come on in. I give you one more illustration because this is so so endearing to me. Charles Weinberg was a long time president at the Talbot Theological Seminary. I think he served as I think he was a president at one point. He is a professor there. Did I say his president the first time he said? Right? He's professor, he's president. Um sharp man taught Hebrew and Greek.

He came from an Orthodox Jewish family. He got saved when he went off to college. And when he told his dad that he had become a follower of Jesus Christ, his dad said, You are not my son, and you're no longer welcome in my home. And so I don't know if he was like 19, 20 years old. He said the first um you know few um vacations, right? When he's supposed to be home for a family meal, Thanksgiving, that stuff, he would park across the street and look through the the glass window in the living room and watch his family have their thanksgiving or their their festive meal together, right? Because how he's kind of, you know what I mean, separated out from his family. He he lived a godly life, raised two sons, both of whom became theologians in their own right.

But see, that separation and that loss is tremendous. But on the other side of it, Charles Weinbrook understood that he was drawn in, that he was encouraged in, that he was welcomed home into the presence of the living God. If the gospel doesn't feel like that to you, then you're not exploring the depth of what it means that Christ died for you and what that death earned for you. It's not Christ didn't die so that you know that he could pay for your sins up to this point. Don't you love that? Because it would have been, it would have been an act of mercy and grace if Christ died for us, and at the moment of conversion, when I realized like this is true, Christ died for my sins. If the Lord audibly spoke to me and said, That's right, so now you are you I wiped the slate clean.

Don't mess up anymore. That would that would have been an act of grace if he was just like I canceled all your past sins, but going forward, this is all on you. That is not what he does. He's cancelled all my sins that I will commit that I have committed that I will commit. He's canceled it all, and I am righteous in the righteousness of Christ before our holy judge because of what Christ has done for me, and the weight of that, the wonder of that, the joy of that, is that I'm welcomed home. That's home. As much as I love going home, as much as you love going home, and as much as so much in the internet and the things around us are constantly displacing us and making us feel like I don't belong somewhere.

Christian, you belong with Jesus Christ in the presence of our Holy Father by the ministry of his Holy Spirit because you are his.

Placed and depending on other Christians to care for them, all kinds of stuff is going on. They are they are dislocated and struggling. And to them, this command, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promises faithful is a tremendous help. For us, we love it. But we'll love all of these promises even more in that moment of crisis when everything seems to be going wrong, right? When life is taking a left turn and a tragedy has fallen into our laps, when things are not what we expected them to be, when our hopes in this life are dashed to pieces, when all of that is taking place, it is a wonder and a help and a blessed salve to our souls to hear that he who promised is faithful.

What's interesting about the phrase though, the command is let us hold fast the confession of our hope. Right? Because if you think about it, we usually talk about the confession of faith. And because a confession is basically your verbal proclamation that you have a conviction about whatever you profess. So we we were reading earlier, right? Um we're uh um reading uh a catechism, and the idea of of walking that out, um you could technically say we confessed a catactruth, right? We confess that truth, meaning we verbalize something because the conviction of our hearts and we believe this truth. That's that's what it means. And so usually a confession, a verbal affirmation is applied to faith.

And so confession of faith means this is the gospel, this is what I believe, that's what catechism is. It's like a confession of our faith, what we hold to, what our beliefs are. Hope is a little different, meaning like it's interesting that the author, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, chooses that we are to hold fast to the confession of our hope. It's a word that means to have something with an added prefix that intensifies it to means that you are clutching something, you're holding fast to something, and so it's an excellent translation. We are gripping tightly to something, and that something is our confession, not of faith here, as we would expect, but of hope. Why would it be of hope?

Well, a couple reasons. One, because um, if you can tolerate my definition of it, hope as expressed in scripture is just faith aiming forward, right? Is it whatever I believe right now is what I have faith in. And that faith expressed in terms of what is going to happen when I pass away or when the Lord comes for me, what is the what is our eternal future in Christ, that's my faith just aimed that way, and that's how scripture thinks of hope. Because the way that we use the term hope, right, in in our vernacular, in our in our context in our world, it sounds like wishful thinking, you know. Dude, I hope the Dodgers win today. Because they they've been sticking up the joint, and I'm hoping that they win, right?

That's just is wishful thing. They could win or they might not win. I have no certainty of that. I mean, that's that's better odds than most because that's like 50-50. That's different from saying that I hope all my kids stay in California and remain at my church. Because the odds of that are there's so many varieties of variations of what could possibly happen. But all of that are variations of wishful thinking. Like the whole, it's it's the whole Disney thing, right? If you could believe it, then it'll happen, all that nonsense that Disney has been indoctrinating our kids with, right? Like, it's just wishful thinking. That's not Christian hope. Christian hope has a sense of faith, look forward, looking forward, meaning that there's a sense of certainty.

I know for a fact where I will be when I die. Right? Because faith looking forward, that hope is that I will be in the presence of the Lord. I know for a fact what'll happen when the Lord comes back if he is to rapture us and he's take us up before death. I know exactly what where we will be in eternity because hope is just faith, right? Thinking about the future. So if that's the case, then here he's saying, hold fast to the confession of our hope. In other words, whatever we confess to believe about what will take place in in our future, in our personal eschatology, in terms of what Christ is going to accomplish for us. He's saying without wavering, hang on to that. And he's saying that appropriately to people to a Christian group that is that is under persecution.

Because they don't know what's going to happen. And the author Hebrews is not promising something they can't deliver. He's not saying, Oh, don't worry, God will rescue from this, you guys get your homes back. Everything will be okay. He's saying, no matter what happens, hang on to your faith that looks forward to what is eternal. And this life might be pretty messed up. And there's some Christians that suffer greatly before they go be with the Lord. So the underlying hope is, but they will be with the Lord. And you will be with the Lord. And sometimes that's the only thing we have left for us. Right? Romans 8 18, promise that I love. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

That's that expression of hope. The genuine hope. The true hope. The true faith applied to what is coming in the future. So let us draw near, right? And with the true heart, cleanse from an evil conscience, bodies washed with water. Let us hold fast the confession that is our hope of what is to come without wavering. Because he who promised is faithful. Because he's faithful. One of the benefits of walking with the Lord for years, for decades, for a long time, is you see his faithfulness constantly. Right? And you'll see that over the course of the life of your church. How God has brought certain people here, how God has brought you, Peter as to pastor and shepherd over you, how he'll raise up leaders in the church, how he'll be gracious to offer salvation to some of the kids.

Like all these things will happen over the course of the next few decades, and you will give thanks as you look back on all those series of graciousness. I told you, like the way we did church planning, I would not recommend to anybody. We just did not know what we were doing. And the Lord proved himself faithful. That's all glory to him. And if you've walked with the Lord for some period of time, you have been through the ebbs and flows of life. You have gone through difficulties and tragedies, and you've had highs of blessings and good fruit, etc. And in all of that, you look back and say, Man, this is how good God is. And that past is meant to be a testimony to aim our hope forward and to believe.

If God has been that good then, why would he change going forward? If he knew all of my junk and he still rescued me from my sins then, why would he abandon me later? And the answer is he would not. And that's a tremendous comfort to us. And it's a comfort, it's a comfort that is meant to be shared among us. Let us first person plural, not let me, right? This isn't me going, like, yeah, let Nam Bark, like let me hold fast, the confession of my hope. How are you guys on? I don't know. That's on you, but for me, I'm the it is us, it is the church. This is one of the things that marks a gospel-centric church. It knows who they are, it knows what we deserve, and we know we know how good it is that God has cast his love on us in Jesus Christ, right?

Our hope is in him, and he is waiting for us, he is waiting for us. Um we talked about like John MacArthur passed away and his memorial is yesterday. I I don't know how it went, you know, since we're up here, and uh, and that that was a tremendous uh um, you know, he was a tremendous gift to the church, and there's others like him. I was thinking about Billy Graham, and Billy Graham, I don't know if you knew, but he was he was um bedridden for I think like like two years before he passed away. And uh um the testimony of one of his sons was like, yeah, or his grandson was that, yeah, um grandpa Billy would just just say, hey, don't pray for my help. Pray that the Lord take me home. I'm like, I'm I'm not doing much here, I'm waiting to go home.

He was looking forward to his homecoming, and there's no homecoming like going home to be with the Lord, right? Like whatever it feels like for you to go back home, go down the mountain today and go back home and feel relaxed, comforted, and feel like you belong here, this is your place. And you amplify that unto eternity because that's what the Lord is prepared for you in his presence. If there's anything else that the presence of God in the new heavens and the new earth would feel like to us, it'll feel like we belong here. Alright, no imposter syndrome about that, no need to put up face. You know, things are hard, but I'm going to church, I want to minister to others, so I'm gonna at least at least try to have a good idea.

You don't need to do that. It's all good, it's all perfect, and it's all prepared for him, and it's one for us in the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us draw near, let us hold fast. The third, verse 24. Um let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Now, if it hasn't been a kind of explicit to this point here, it's very explicit that it's not just about us, right? And again, it's the same construction, it's the let's go, it's the let us, and it's let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. The key command, though, right, that we should think we need to think about is it's not let us stir up one another to love and good deeds, it is let us consider how to do that.

We've been mentioning it and we've been finding this as kind of a theme in all the verses that we're looking at, right? That there is this concept of thinking that precedes like our heart uh motives and then our actions. It is our meditations that begin first, and here it's saying, let's go and let's think. It's literally a word that means to use our minds to cogitate, right? To to use our minds and our mental faculties to be thoughtful about how to do some things. This is the arena where you, in the way that God has created you, have the capacity to minister in a way that he has not created anybody else, right? Because I think I think a lot of times we naturally gravitate towards uh towards the the front gifts, and you think, like, oh yeah, that that young man, he's he's an excellent communicator, loves the word, like he's probably gonna get a good teacher.

That's that's good. That's how gifted he is, right? And then how how about you know that that other guy or that other sister, you know, that that is in that same class, like like, oh yeah, like you know, she has a missionary heart, how gifted she is, right? She she likes to reach out to people, she does stuff like that, or or individuals that have gifts of music. I have no music gift, you know what I mean? And the Lord is gracious to me. Peter, you play some guitar, right? Like you've led worshiping. See, I can't do that. I could just go, hey, let's just let's sing, you know, and that's just lead it to Zacapella, right? That's that's all I got, right? And but but I mean, those are all gifts, and they're gifts that we we recognize corporately because they're easy to see.

But there's so many giftings and so many variety of gifts and so many shades of the mixture of those gifts that are different in you. I know I know of guys because I I'm curious, and I I try to lean into um, especially the members that have been members for a while, trying to think about like what what drives their passions, their thoughts, their concerns, right, and how they think about stuff. And there's certain guys, like one of my good friends that that I went to college with, and we mess around a lot, and he is an excellent thinker about scripture, right? He's not a good public speaker, he's not gonna be a teacher, he's not gonna volunteer for that stuff, you're he's too shy, he won't even, he won't even do like you know, uh the the offering prayer on Sunday services, even though you know we ask him to, etc.

He won't do that. But if we're doing a Bible study and we're walking through a passing and go, hey, what are some insights that you catch in there? What are some things that are unique there? He says stuff that I go, dude, that's really good, right? I appreciate it. You know you're good at that. Yeah, I for me, part of how God has gifted me is in the encouragement of it. If I see something, especially if I see something that is unusual, there's not me, right? Is it doesn't just look like miniature nam. I love that, and I want to highlight that because the last thing I want you to do is to leave and kind of think like, oh yeah, God hasn't really gifted me with much, right? The only part of our bodies that are useless is our pinky toe, as far as I know, right?

I don't know, it might be useful for something, but I don't think I don't think it is. They're weird and they're small, right? I feel like if you cut those off, like they they would do nothing. But when the scripture talks about our body, it talks about all this interesting stuff. Like, what if like the hand says to the eye or the nose says to the this or something says to this, but I don't listen. If you cut off my pinky toe, even though I'm saying it's useless, as far as I know, it'll hurt like crazy. It will bother my body, right? If I break my pinky toe, like my body will begin to have a fever to keep it from getting an infection there. Isn't that weird? It's just a pinky toe. Like, like I could be like, dude, just cut it off, just cut it off, man.

I can get back in the game. You guys remember that story, Ronnie Lott? Ronnie Lott is an SC guy, so I was like, hmm. And he went to San Francisco, and I was like, hmm, right? But but he is a phenomenal player, and what happened is he he got his his finger. I think it was this finger, this pinky finger. Was it the ring finger? He gets it caught in a guy's um face mask during the playoff game, and it's broken, and the bones sticking through, so it's hanging off this way. So he tells the trainer on the cell line, just cut it off. And so they do they cut it off, but they tape it as a big old ball, and he finishes that game. I don't know why I'm telling that story. I just because I I love I love like manly things like that.

I'm like, I'm like so impressed. So that is so good, right? I don't know how we got all that, but all that to say, right? You are you are a mixture of gifts, like like maybe you're you you have some ability to to know the scripture, read the scripture and understand it well, but you think, oh, but I'm not as good as so and so. That may be true, but there's other things connected with like the way that God has gifted your life and has sovereignly directed your life that you connect with people that that person doesn't connect with, that you sense things that other people may not sense. The whole point is it's not about do I have the gift of teaching or do I not? It's not a just yes and no, it's variations of like you could capacity, you have capacity in this, you know.

Maybe you're not pastoral level that, but you have capacity in that can minister to people. Do I do I have the gift of encouragement? Yeah, you know, maybe not as good as someone else, like I told you, like I I think I am pretty good about trying to spot something and encourage people. I know people in our church that have the gift of engagement way better than me, right? To where we will be in a conversation with people and go, dude, I appreciate that about so-and-so. And then they'll jump in and go, yeah. And then you know what? Like, you know, like when you did this and you do that, like I was thinking about that, and I and I thank the Lord for that. I'm like, what the you do, you just stepped on my encouragement moment, man.

Like you you outdid me. And that's a praise the Lord. Like, you know, it's not about having, right? Being the best or the most needed gift in the church, it's about whatever the Lord has given you by experience and by design and by sensitivities, leverage that. So then let us consider, let us use our minds, let us use our creativities. How can you how can you be a comfort, encouragement, etc. to others, because we're trying to stir up people, one another, to love and good works. The love and good works, I think become obvious. We get what that means. We want to see them sacrifice. That's loving Christian sacrificial love for the sake of others. We want to see good works, we want to see them engage in things that have a kingdom-mindedness that is good for the name of Jesus Christ and for the reputation of our God.

We want to see them do that kind of stuff, and all of this for the one anothering. But what I want you to catch is that the command here is not you need to go and love and do good deeds amongst one another. The command is for each of us to think about how we can provoke others, the rest of our church community to kind of engage in the same way. We we talked yesterday about training up another generation. Um verses like this remind me that that's not just a good idea, right? For the longevity of the church, it is essential, and I believe it is a command of God. If I leave my church, like kind of thinking like, oh, that's my job, and I take off, right? I think my thoughts of how I'm understanding my role as a shepherd and as uh a leader and as a brother in that church, um, it's that's messed up.

Like that that's not correct, right? We have an obligation, right, to serve outside of ourselves and just provoke others to do that. That word provoke, right, or that word to stir up is that is a word that that is translated provoke. And like our English word, um, when used classically in Greek, because it's not used very often in the New Testament, but when it's used classically in Greek, it's usually used negatively. Like you are poking the bear. Like you are provoking these guys to love and good deeds. It's a weird statement, right? It was used um in Acts 15 for how Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement of provocation concerning John Mark and his usefulness, and so their ministries went separate ways, right?

I'm not mad at Paul, and I'm not mad at Barnabas. I don't I don't know the entire discussions, right? I know that John Mark was useful to Paul at the end of 2 Timothy, so at least on his part, he had done better, right? But regardless of what all of that was, there was a provocation. There was a poking, a prodding that kind of hurt. And the idea is not to hurt our brothers and sisters, but it is to say that some of our brothers and sisters need to wake up to the fact that they're placed here by God's providence. That they belong here. They need to know one that they belong here, and two, they need to know that they have a part in making this church happen, in making this congregation work, in raising up another generation of believers to take the name of Christ to the ends of the earth, like all that encompasses love and good deeds.

Every one of us has a role in that. Even the pinky toe. Like I said, I don't know physically what it, but it must have a purpose. God gave us a pinky toe, right? And I do know this. If you cut off that pinky toe, the body hurts.

It's not meant to be. We're all members of one another. And if we recognize the value of that, then a church feels like a family. Alright. It feels like you belong. And it's the flavor of all of this. All the theological weight of the book of Hebrews about who Christ is, our great priest, the greatest of all priests, right? Everything that is given to us, he wins us to God the Father because of what he has accomplished on the cross and what he continues to do by way of his ministry. And the application of that is draw near, hold fast, and to consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. I give you this last one. It's not a it's not grammatically a command, but I separated out verse 25, just so that we can emphasize the idea of finishing when the day draws near.

So if this is the gospel confidence we're talking about, then I think it's meant to be a confidence unto the end to the finish line. Verse 25 says, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some. The word neglecting, right, is a word that means to abandon or to forsake. And it's saying it's a warning, right? To those that call themselves followers of Jesus Christ. And it's saying, don't forsake the assembly, the meeting together, right? Because again, we are created in God's image, but we are created embodied, right? Embodied image bearers. We're meant to be present. And don't ever forsake, right? Or don't ever diminish the value of the ministry of presence. You know what I mean? Just being there.

It's a ministry. Job's friends, man, they did that right in the beginning. They all showed up. They threw ashes on themselves, they sat next to them, they weeped, and they were just there. And a lot of your ministry might be, right? Just to be there. And then when they spoke, then they started accusing them of weird stuff. And you know, and then that kind of went sideways. But, right, at least that first part, the ministry of presence, that's something that every Christian has capacity to do. Show up to a thing, right? Engage in conversations with people, find some encouragement. It's a delight for me to get to know some of you guys. And some of our conversations about family or kids, about church, about life, about the Lord.

It could be any of those things, and I'm encouraged by that. And you should be encouraged by that. The ministry of presence is it's the bottom, right? It's the bottom row fruit that every Christian should draw into. And this is what's saying is if you're forsaking that, the meeting together, as is the habit of some, some have formulated a disassociation with the body of Christ. Um there's something that is wrong about that. When you think about what is the opposite, biblically speaking, what is the opposite of love? It's not hate, right? It's just apathy, it's just disassociation. Right? You think about the way that the scriptures speak about love that is active, it is engaged, it's others-minded, right?

It's sacrificial, etc. How would we act out the opposite of that? Probably not hating somebody, it's just probably just cutting it off, having nothing to do with them, right? And it's warning against that. That's the opposite of a gospel confident body of believers. The gospel confident church is engaged with one another. Even in mundane things, it cares about one another. And that last phrase there, even though there are some that are neglecting the meeting together, as a habit, it says the second part of verse 25, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. I was talking about a ministry of presence and of you know of just kind of having kind of an understated ministry.

There is a um an 80-year-old sister in our church. She's been married for I don't know, like six fifty something years to a guy that's not a believer, right? She came to our church and she knew about me because some of the guys at our church are friends of her adult sons. And these guys all grew up together in the San Fernando Valley. Um, you know, Fabian, Jason, I could name off Pat. Uh, there's like three or four of them that was friends with his her son Bruce, but it was her, Sandy, um, that would encourage them to come to church with with her. Hey, hey, I'll pick you guys up in the neighborhood, I'll drive you guys to church. She's a member of Grace Church for a long time, Grace Community Church, and she picked them up, and she would drive these like rascally middle school kids to church.

They're all friends from school, and um, except for her son who grew up in the church because she was a believer, even though her dad was not, or their dad was not. Um, they would she would drive all of these unbelieving kids to to church, and all of those young men are walking with the Lord today. She was instrumental in that. And they all of them talk about how she was instrumental in that. And how, like, oh, Mrs. H, her last name is Hamamoto, right? Mrs. H. Like, oh yeah, Mrs. H is the one that introduced me to the faith. She taught she talked about the gospel, asked us what we learned in Sunday school every time she drove us. She made, you know, that whole church experience possible because they all came from unbelieving families.

I think one of them had believing uh parents, but the other guys came from unbelieving families, and they came to faith because of her ministry. And so when she became a member um a few years ago, uh I was like, I was like Sandy, and it's weird because you know, because like she's old enough to be my mom, but I feel like I shouldn't call her Mrs. H, you know? So I was like, it's okay if I call you Sandy. She's like, of course. I go, Sandy, like um, hey, I want you to know that like a lot of uh, you remember like baby and Jason I run them down because you remember that? She's like, yeah, of course. I went to their weddings and everything. Yeah, you know, um, they think you are instrumental in them coming to faith.

She's like, what? No, I wasn't. And I was like, no, seriously, like, didn't you give them rise to church and something? Yeah, I did. Did you have conversation with them? Oh, I don't even remember, right? And I was like, how interesting. From her perspective, she's just doing what is natural to her, encouraging others, right? And just kind of sharing the goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to others. She's going through her life, just being a good Christian. Her husband has still yet to come to faith. She still prays for him regularly. And and the the my you know, these friends that know that family well. So, yeah, like it's trippy that Mrs. H is married to Mr. H. Because Mr. H is so worldly, he's like all of what you'd expect.

And she is the most gracious wife and mother, and she's been such an example to us, and she doesn't even know it. It's just who she is. I love that about Sandy, right? And our women love her because of that. So understand, and she's always doing something, right? We have a small church library, and then so you know, uh, after church, when everything's done and we're packing and we're getting ready to leave, and I'll see Sandy goes, Sandy, what are you doing here? She says, Oh, I'm uh organizing some of the books over here, they're out of order or whatever. Like she's always doing something. I love that. Brothers, sisters, that should be us, all of us, maybe not to that degree, but that's how it impact the kingdom.

I imagine the new heavens and the new earth will run into people, and people will walk up and say, Hey, do you remember me? I said, No. And they'll say, Yeah, well, you know, I came to your church from this year to this year, and um that influenced me to go here and to do that, and as a result of that, I I did this, and I came to faith, and I did like I there are connections that we have no knowledge of now that I think will be part of the worship of our God and his sovereignty and his gracious goodness to us over the course of our lives, right? Because that's how good God is. There are Sunday school teachers whose names I've forgotten, because you know, I was like, you know, a raspoli, you know, third grader and stuff like that.

But I just remember they're really kind and they kept telling me stories about Jesus and that I should believe in Jesus, you know, and I didn't, but that built a basis for me to hear the gospel later and go, dude, all that stuff is true. This all connects, and it makes perfect sense in God's in God's word. I give you one final um uh illustration that I love. Um because it's about the gospel, and it's quite impact on us and the the familial confidence it gives us and how that should flesh out because it's all about encouraging one another all the more as you see the day John here, that day is the end, and when the end comes, we will be we will be amazed by the individuals that have impacted us.

Howard Hendricks, do you know that name? Howard Hendricks was a longtime professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, and he taught communication, uh Bible exposition. He was um he wrote books on just communicating well, and like uh some of his students who later became prominent writers themselves, um, one of them said that he took Howard Hendrix's class, and just to see, because he was so engaging, he said, just to see what would happen if he's not paying attention. He sat towards the back of the class and intentionally he just kept looking out the window of the entire class, and then and then he said uh um Dr. Hendrix would like get a little more aminant animated, he would he would ask questions, he would do this stuff, and eventually he looked to that student and and said his name, right?

And said, said, you know, Bill, I forget what which student it was, you know. Um, and he yells out, and he says, he says, What are you looking at? Like it bothered him that he's not engaging, right? And he goes, Oh, I'm sorry, Professor, like I'm back with you and stuff. And it was his little thought experiment to see like how would Howard you know engage in that? And he had such a tremendous impact on so many future seminarians and pastors and missionaries and professors, etc. He was known as uh an incredible and extraordinary communicator. His testimony is what I was gonna share. Um he grew up in a time when um uh he just had a mom at his house, right? Meaning his dad had divorced um and or I don't know if he even officially divorced, he just abandoned them, right?

And he grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and so um, you know, I might be conflating him with someone else. In any case, he grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, right? And as a poor young kid who didn't grow up in the church, there was um there was this older single gentleman in the church nearby who um walked to church every Sunday, and he tells the pastor of the church, Pastor, I'm concerned. There's all these boys that are out like just playing like in the street every Sunday, and someone should bring them into the church, right? And the pastor says, That's a great idea. Why don't you do that? He goes, Pastor, I I just I barely graduated high school, I can't teach them anything. I gotta do it.

So no, you should start a Sunday school class. You can I'm sure you could do it. It's like, oh man, okay, I'll try. And so he runs into Howard, right? And Howard's like this five, six-year-old boy, and he's playing marbles, and he's like, 'Hey, you want to go to church with me? ' Howard says, 'No, I don't want to go to church with you,' right? Like as honest kids would say, right? And he goes, 'Oh, what are you doing? ' Because I'm playing marbles. You guys can I play you? Can I play you marbles? Sure. So he plays marbles, and then he wins and he wins all his marbles. And then Howard Howard says to his testimony, like, yeah, so when he's walking away with my marbles, what can I do? I go to follow him to wherever he's gonna go, right?

And so, like, he's playing marbles with these other kids, and he collects these kids over the next few weeks, and that becomes a Sunday school class, right? And he says there was nine of us in that Sunday school class, and then we'd ask him questions because he'd teach us a simple lesson, and we'd ask him questions, and then a lot of times he'd be thumped and go, hmm, I'm not sure. I'm gonna talk with the pastor, and I'll tell you next week, and he would. He would tell us an answer next week. And it was simple, and it was that of the nine, seven of them went into full-time ministry, right? Two of them went on to be successful in other things, and and excellent members of the churches, but those all came to faith over the course of time.

And see, I don't even remember the name of the guy that Howard named, right? There's this faithful single man that just cared about the kids in his community. But I'm saying that's what Christianity looks like. Right? It doesn't look like conference speaking, you know what I mean? Slick haired back, like in the suit kind of dude. I mean, praise the Lord for those kind of guys, too. I'm not interested in being that guy. I I hope that my testimony at some point would be this, right? That I've encouraged us, the church, and I've encouraged us, the church, all the more as the day draws near. The last implication I'll leave with you is that the day draws near, meaning that there's going to be a time when the end comes and the Lord returns.

That's like the sun coming up, right? Do you know what the coldest part of the night is? See, I always thought it was kind of like a bell curve. It's like, eh, probably around like 1 a.m., 12 midnight, right? That's not how it works. The coldest part of the night is just before the sun rises. Because in that darkness, the earth is cooling and gets colder and colder and cold. And then the sun rises to reheat that stuff. Alright? Why am I saying that? Because I think even as the author of Hebrews is saying, all the more as you see the day draw near, he's trying to say something that it's likely, and this applies to us too. There's gonna be some mess that will fall into our laps. Life will get difficult.

Tragedies will abound. Things to be a good Christian in this world is going to be hard at some point. And things are gonna get worse before they ever get better. The warning in 2 Timothy 3. Remember the last days, there come difficult times, times of stress and pressure and all kinds of wickedness, right? Like that, that's happening around us. But that shouldn't discourage us from encouraging one another. Because the day is drawing near. And the colder and colder it gets, it's a reminder than God's faithfulness, the sun will rise. That's my encouragement to you. And then the gospel gives us this kind of familial confidence, this kind of sensibility that says, you know what? It's gonna be okay.

It may not be okay circumstantially, you know. If I get cancer again, I might go and be with the Lord. Would that be hard for my family? Of course. Would that be hard for our church? Of course. But it'll be okay. Because the Lord is still sovereign and he knows what he's doing. Our part is to be the best Christian, right? Seen or unseen that we could possibly be until the Lord calls us home, right? Or until he returns for all of us. And this is the church body. This is the healthy church that God has given to you to exercise that faith in. That's prayer. Lord, we give you praise. For just the encouragement of uh Hebrews 10 and how it reminds us of your great faithfulness to us. Lord, you are a good, good God.

And we are your children, and we can only give you thanks and praise for that. Help us to serve you all the days of our lives, knowing big or small, our encouragements matter. And they can make an impact that lasts so many generations later. We praise you that you have saved us, that you have cleansed us, and you've made us suitable to work and to please you in the pursuits of the gospel of this life. In Jesus' name we pray.