♪ Once composed ♪ ♪ So rich ♪ ♪ Oh, grand ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Bids me come and lie ♪ ♪ And find that I ♪ ♪ May truly live ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ All who gather here ♪ ♪ By grace drawn in ♪ ♪ And bless your name ♪ ♪ In the whole realm ♪ ♪ Of nature mine ♪ ♪ That were an offering ♪ ♪ Far too small ♪ ♪ Love so amazing ♪ ♪ So divine ♪ ♪ Demons my soul ♪ ♪ My life ♪ ♪ My all ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Bids me come and die ♪ ♪ And find that I ♪ ♪ May truly live ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ All who gather here ♪ ♪ By grace drawn in ♪ ♪ And bless your name ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful cross ♪ ♪ Bids me come and die ♪ ♪ And find that I ♪ ♪ May truly live ♪ - You can move to the next clip.

Oh yeah. (laughing) (soft music) ♪ Love so amazing ♪ - Good morning, church family. Happy Lord's Day. As a reminder, the lyrics to the praise songs will be on the Brewery app. So with that, we'll get started. (soft music) ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ All of ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I do ♪ ♪ You do ♪ ♪ So for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ ♪ The best things in the past ♪ ♪ I've seen ♪ ♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ ♪ All of my hopes ♪ ♪ All of my plans ♪ ♪ I write in my book ♪ ♪ All of this is to you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I do ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I do ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ - All right, good morning, Breen Community Church.

The weather has cooled down significantly. This morning it was like a 84, actually 82 and the humidity was 80 and now it's 80, 65. So it's gonna get cold. All right, I gotta, let me start. Oh, here it is. Okay, so I'm gonna start with the happy birthday. So Maddie Lowe, okay, online, she's turning eight this week, so happy birthday.

And then Gracie Kwok, she's only one, I can't believe one year has gone by already. So happy birthday to you, even if you don't understand. All right, happy birthday to you. We have just a few announcements before we get started. First of all, our weekday Bible study, a home group weekday Bible study is gonna start not this week, but next week.

So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up as soon as you can. We've already made small groups, but if you would need to be added to the groups, please do so. Even if you are part of the home group and it's kind of assumed that you're gonna be participating in that, please sign up for that because we wanna make sure that there's plenty of room to be able to direct you towards certain places.

The other thing is we have the outreach event that's gospel night that's happening this coming Saturday at 4 p.m. We actually have quite a few people who have signed up. And so I think one of the benefits of doing it online, there's more people who are able to come as a result of that.

So even if you're not coming, please continue to keep them in your prayer. As the Bible says, it's the Holy Spirit that convicts and opens the eyes of sinners to be able to see the truth of the gospel. And so we really need the whole church to be praying for this Saturday, the event's at 4 p.m.

And so if you're bringing friends again to keep praying, but even if you're not coming, please keep that in mind. And every day as you guys are taking time to pray, to remember that, that again, that everyone who's participating, that the gospel message will be clear. Those who are presenting, the pastors and the elders who are presenting that and leading that, that God will give them wisdom and grace.

And again, that it would be a very fruitful time this coming Saturday. All right, look at that. You feel the wind? I feel it. Thank you. All right, so we're gonna pray. And then again, get an opportunity to give and then our physical offering is in the back corner.

So please, if you're gonna do that, do that afterwards. All right, let's pray. Gracious Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for the privilege that we have to be able to come and worship you. Help us, Lord God, to have a thankful heart that even in this hot sun, the privilege that we have to be able to gather.

And we know that there are many brothers and sisters around the world, Lord God, who risk health and sometimes even their lives to fellowship together, to worship in spirit and in truth. So we pray, Father God, that you would give us focus, that you give us courage to live the conviction that you've given us.

And even in our giving, help us to do it in a manner that honors you as an act of worship. May it be multiplied for your use. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) - Let's all rise as we sing these next phrases.

(upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord, I pray ♪ ♪ When I in awe of someone there ♪ ♪ Consider all the words that I've said ♪ ♪ And stand in ♪ ♪ I see the stars ♪ ♪ I hear the rolling thunder ♪ ♪ The loud, new howls ♪ ♪ The universe displays the things ♪ ♪ It seems my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ It seems my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ - One more time, one more time, sing.

♪ And when I think ♪ ♪ That God, His Son, must perish ♪ ♪ Sent Him to die ♪ ♪ I scarce can take it ♪ ♪ That on that cross ♪ ♪ My burden gladly bearing ♪ ♪ Be bled and die ♪ ♪ To take away my sin ♪ ♪ It seems my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ It seems my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ When Christ shall come ♪ ♪ With a shout of affirmation ♪ ♪ And take me home ♪ ♪ What joy shall fill my heart ♪ ♪ And I shall bow ♪ ♪ With humble adoration ♪ ♪ And there proclaim ♪ ♪ My God, how great Thou art ♪ - Let's sing.

♪ It seems my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ It seems my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Christ in power resurrected ♪ ♪ As He will be when He comes ♪ (gentle music) - Amen, you may be seated.

Okay, if you can turn your Bibles to Hebrews 10:19, and we're gonna be reading to verse 25, but we're gonna be getting up to verse 23 today. Okay, Hebrews 10:19-25. All right, reading out of the NSV, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence "to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, "by a new and living way, "which He inaugurated for us through the veil, "that is His flesh, "and since we have a great priest over the house of God, "let us draw near with a sincere heart "in full assurance of faith, "having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience "and our bodies washed with pure water.

"Let us hold fast a confession of our hope without wavering, "for He who promised is faithful. "And let us consider how to stimulate one another "to love and good deeds, "not forsaking our own assembling together, "as is the habit of some, "but encouraging one another, "and all the more, as you see the day drawing near." All right, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for the privilege that we have to come and draw near to the throne of grace with confidence. I pray that Your word would have its effect on us. May it not return until it has accomplished the purpose that You have ordained.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. - Amen. - You know, today, if somebody says that they're Christian, the word Christian has been diluted to the point where you have to ask further questions. What kind of Christian? Do you believe the Bible? Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Do you believe that Christ is the only way? And you have to clarify that because more than 70% of the United States identify with Christianity. People say that they're Christian because they were born into a Christian home. People say that they're Christian because they admire Jesus as a great man.

People will say that they're Christians simply because they're surrounded by other Christians. And so for whatever the reason, the term Christian itself isn't what it used to be. So you have to figure out like what specifically do they believe? And we find out that, you know, majority of people who claim to be Christians are not biblical Christians, because the Bible describes what a Christian is.

Well, years ago, that was not the case. When the term Christian was first given to Christians, it was to identify clearly those who belong to Christ. And the word Christian literally just meant the little Christ. And so it was identifying people who are followers of Jesus. Now, prior to that, obviously you had people who said that they were Jews and they were, you know, were they part of the Essenes?

Were they Sadducees? Were they Pharisees? Who are they? And so they had all these different distinctions of people who are theists, right? Now, well, you believe in many gods and I worship this God or that God. And so when they started calling Christians Christian, that term Christian identified everybody, no matter what background you came from, whether you were formerly an idol worshiper, whether you are a Jew and you worship the God of the Old Testament, but you had different views, different theology.

So when they say he's a Christian, it was clear identity with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that they were actually following him, that they were new creation. The old is gone, behold, the new has come. So the biblical understanding of a Christian is a Christian who's made a decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ, not simply an admirer, not simply somebody who says, you know what?

I agree with these set of doctrines. The Bible makes that very clear. Even the demons believe who Jesus is. And because they know who Jesus is, they shudder, they fear. They fear God more than average theist in our generation because they know who he is. They know that judgment is coming.

But in the book of James, it says that just identifying and say, well, we believe, we believe that there's one God. Good, even the demons believe that and they shudder. So the biblical understanding of a Christian is someone who not only embraces the doctrine, but has identified as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Follower meaning that you have to go where he goes, you have to do what he does, and you actually follow his steps. All that the author of Hebrews has been teaching about Christology, all of it is really to bring us to this point so that the readers of Hebrews would change their behavior.

Whatever that they were doing to cause him to drift, it wasn't simply because the author of Hebrews was concerned, he said, you know what, they took a test and they just didn't know how to answer these questions. You know, they didn't know how to answer Christology and about the identity of Jesus and how he fulfilled the tabernacle.

And so the point of the letter to Hebrews wasn't simply to get the doctrine right. They needed to get the doctrine right so that they can change their behavior. And if you read the New Testament, all of the letters are written in that format. They would give us the correct doctrine and then it always leads to therefore.

Therefore, this is how you ought to apply this. So you guys, you know, we just finished the study of the book of Ephesians chapter 1, 2, 3, basically is Christology about salvation. Chapter 4, 5, 6 was the application of that, right? Book of Romans, we finished a while back, chapter 1 through 11 is about soteriology, about, you know, study of the doctrine.

And then chapter 12 and on is the application of that, right? And so book of Hebrews has heavily emphasized and in between it would give us these imperatives, but we're at a point where he's beginning to move away and maybe at the end part of Christology and then we're going to get into chapter 11 as examples of people who are living by faith and then chapter 12 and on, he's going to just heavily emphasize what we ought to do.

So we can say that this section, the text that we're looking at now, is the beginning of that, right? Is the beginning part of introduction to the imperative. Now that you have all the doctrines of Jesus, superiority of Christ, what does that mean outside of, you know, right? What is the proper response to that?

So there are three things that he, three imperatives that you'll see. So in verse 22, the first imperative is, "Let us draw near with sincere hearts." Let us draw near. And so I titled that "Reaching Up," right? Our response, first and foremost, is to reach up. 23, "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope," to reach in, right?

So first, to draw near to God. Second, to hold fast to what we have. And then verse 24, "And let us consider how to stimulate one another," is to reach out, right? So this, these three imperatives really is the outline of every imperative in the New Testament. It falls into these three categories.

So every preaching of the gospel leads to a challenge to reach up, reach in, and to reach out, right? So every imperative you see in the New Testament will fall into one of these three categories. Draw near to God, persevere in your faith, right, and be sanctified, and then to reach out to other believers and to the world.

Reach up, reach in, reach out. So that's the outline of the sermon for today. I'm going to just get into the first two imperatives, and then the third one, the verse 24 and 25, we'll get to next week, okay? Just so that, give you a heads up. We're going to spend most of our time with the first imperative, and then we're going to spend some time in the second one, and then again, third one, we'll get into next week, okay?

So the first imperative, right? "Therefore," he says, "since we have confidence," and again, he's reminding us, this is something that he's been saying all along. "Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus," in other words, since now the door has been opened where it wasn't opened before, "by the new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil," that is his flesh, "and again, since we have a great high priest over the house of God," since all of these things that I've been saying is true, then our proper response, first and most important response is, "Let us draw near." Draw near.

Now, like I said, the first and most important response of every person who hears the gospel is to draw near to God. That's his whole point. Now, how many of you have ever heard the term "inclusio"? It's not Italian. It's Greek. Okay? Well, it's basically a literary form of the New Testament where it begins a thought at one part of the letter, and then that thought kind of is concluded at another part of the letter, and usually the inclusio could be a very short text, but sometimes it could be a long text, and usually the reason, how you know that that's the case is that you'll see almost verbatim the same words, the same phrase, same idea that started in one text, and then almost exact repeating of that happens at another text, which means the main point was introduced, and then they gave the argument, and then they're giving the conclusion.

So this text is the end part of that inclusio. The first beginning part of that happened in Hebrews 4, 14-16, and let me read it for you, and it's going to sound exactly like this text because this is the beginning of this inclusio. It says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have the high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." So it almost is verbatim of what he is saying in this text, and so this idea is introduced to us in chapter 4, and so in other words, this is kind of like a conclusion of the point that he was trying to make, and then he's going to go into the imperatives and saying that this is how we ought to live.

So just so that you know the structure of what's going on, and it helps us to understand the importance of what he is saying in this text because it is the conclusion of everything that he's been saying. And the most important part of this conclusion of all his argument was to draw near.

That's his main point, to draw near. Not to simply admire from a distance, not to just give information. In fact, that imperative to draw near is not unique to this text. He repeats it over and over again in chapter 4, 16, chapter 7, 19, chapter 7, 25, chapter 10, verse 1, chapter 10, 22, chapter 11, verse 6, chapter 12, verse 23.

Over and over again, as he is teaching Christology, he will conclude or he will begin by saying, "Let us draw near." We need to draw near, draw near. He's saying this in particular in this context because the people were drifting. They were moving away from Christ. So every little thing that he says, every imperative, every Christology he gives, he says, "We need to draw near." Remember, the very first things that he said to his disciples, he said to come, right?

"Come to me and I will make you fishers of men." When he invited the sinners, first and foremost, before he sent them out, he said to come. You know, typically when we think of Jesus' ministry, we think of at the end part of it, he has a great commission.

He says to go, right? Go make disciples. And so the mission of the church is to go. And so we have a lot of people who are like geared up to go. We got to be a missionary. We got to share the gospel, which is true, right? God called all of us to go.

But remember, the very last thing that Jesus says to his disciples before he leaves in John, chapter 15, is to stay. The last of the seven "I am" statements, he says, "I am the true vine, and you cannot bear fruit unless you remain with me." And that word "remain" basically means to stay.

That as I called you to myself, you cannot bear fruit unless you remain with me. So his last imperative that he gave his disciples before he gave the commandment to go is to remain, to continue to draw near to him, to be connected to him. Even the great commission, if you remember, he says, "Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." And then how does it end?

"And lo, I am with you to the end of the age." Right? So his commandment is to go, but in order to go, he says, "You must stay. You must remain." So the most important imperative for any sinner or any believer of Christ is to continue to draw near to God.

We cannot bear fruit. We can act, we can perform, we can work hard, but unless we are near Christ, we cannot bear fruit. He says to draw near, right? But he doesn't just say to draw near. He says to draw near with confidence. I mean, it's one thing to just draw near to the throne of God, it's just to come with confidence, with boldness.

And he mentions that same term all over Hebrews, but again, in the beginning of Inclusio, he said, "Hold fast our confession," right? "That we may draw near with," what? "Confidence." And then chapter 10, he begins, "Therefore, since we have confidence to draw near." So in both Inclusios, it says not only to draw near, but to draw near with confidence.

Beginning, draw near with confidence. Now, since we have this confidence that this is what we ought to do. Now, why do you think he emphasizes to be able to come with confidence? Imagine as a Jew, every part of the tabernacle in the Old Testament law, the old covenant, did not tell them to come.

In fact, remember when God was given the covenant at Mount Sinai, remember what he told Moses? Tell these people not to come to the mountain. If they come and touch even the outskirts of the mountain, they or even an animal touches this mountain, what did he say? "You shall surely die." Every part of the tabernacle was to teach them to not to casually come in.

They couldn't come in. In fact, remember after he sets up the tabernacle, the very first offering wasn't given correctly and they were consumed with God's fire, with judgment. So a Jew would have naturally thought, "How can I possibly just enter in?" That's what a Jew would have asked, first question would have been asked, "How can I possibly just enter in?" And that's why he's telling them, "No, you're able to come in with confidence.

You're able to be bold." Consider that to today. Even non-Christians have this confidence based upon whatever it is that they heard about God, whatever it is that they heard about the gospel, for whatever the reason, confidence in the presence of God is just assumed. They say, "Yeah, me and God's like this." You see rappers and movie stars and living in licentious sins and they have no fear of God in their life and they say, "You know what?

Thank my Lord. God did this and God did that." Their relationship with God is just so casual. It was just assumed. And they have no idea what the scripture says, that in their natural state, inasmuch it is appointed for all men to die once, after this comes judgment. But they have no idea of this judgment.

So entering into the presence of God is just assumed in this generation and I think that's the fault of the gospel preachers. There's no fear of God and the gospel was preached without any kind of warning and so we have a generation of people who don't understand the holiness of God and so there's this casual understanding, of course, we enter into the presence of God.

I entered this morning. I entered at night. When I die, I'm going to enter. So when I see Jesus and I'm going to have dinner with Him and I'm going to just have a conversation and I'm going to do this with Him. It's just so casual because our understanding of who God is isn't coming from scripture.

It's coming from our culture. There's a reason why their author is telling them and reminding them and encouraging these Jews that you're able to come with confidence. But this confidence wasn't coming from just, again, their experience or their background. It was from their knowledge. In Romans chapter 10, one through two, Paul describes a nation of Israel this way.

Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. Paul's talking about the Jews. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God. They're passionate about God. And I'm pretty sure that Paul's describing himself here. Because Paul was a zealous man.

He was a passionate man, even to the point where he was willing to kill people and be killed, thinking that he was doing what was righteous in God's eyes. He said, "They have zeal like I did, but not in accordance with knowledge." They had this confidence, but it wasn't correct because they had the wrong knowledge.

See, this confidence isn't just boldness, or it's not just our personality, or it's just courage that we're able to muster up. He says this confidence comes from correct knowledge of who God is. And that's why he starts by saying, "He opened the door. He's our high priest. He shed his blood.

The veil was torn." And so because of all of this that he has done, this knowledge gives us confidence to enter. It is lack of knowledge, or lack of conviction over this knowledge that causes us to be timid. Years ago, when I was 19, when I first went to school, college, I thought I was going into business.

So I wanted to learn about real estate. I wanted to learn about sales. And so I had a friend who was a peer, but he was into business. His parents were already pretty wealthy. They had several factories. And his dad actually owned a plastic bag printing company. So he would supply those plastic bags with the Ralph logo and, you know, Lucky's.

I don't know if they still exist today. But he would have these contracts, and they would print on the plastic bags. So every once in a while, the dad would print something, and it would be off. So it's not centered or something was off. And so basically it was trash.

So him and I would take these plastic bags that he couldn't give to them, and we would load it up in our vans, or his van, and we would drive around, you know, L.A. And we spent a lot of time in South Central because that's where all the mom-and-pop shops were because big chain stores didn't want this.

So these personally owned stores would buy it. So every time we sell, we would make about $5, $6. But this is, you know, the product was free. So we would walk around from store to store, and then we would try to sell some. And he was a good salesman, and I thought, you know, I was decent at sales.

So we were making some money. But I remember walking into this one particular Mexican market, and it was not a small one. It was privately owned, but the size of it was probably like the size of our sanctuary. We went in there, and my friend started talking. He was using his broken Spanish, and he was trying to sell these plastic bags.

And we could tell immediately they were hostile. And my friend, we just wouldn't let it go. You know, and he said, "No, you've got to buy this. It's for free, and he's using his broken Spanish." And you could tell they're getting irritated. We were probably there about 15, 20 minutes, and I kept on telling my friend, "Hey, let's get out of here.

They're not interested." Well, the manager got so ticked off, he literally picked up a broom, and he chased us out of that store. You know, and we were walking out, and I said, "Dude, what are you doing, man? Clearly they don't want it." And he said, "Okay." So we walk out.

We spend the next few hours walking around different stores, and then we're going back, and to get back to our car, we had to pass by this store. So my friend has this great idea. He's like, "Let's go back in." I said, "What?" You know, we barely made it out alive.

How are we going to go back in? He said, "No, trust me." So we walked back in, and obviously, you know, I kept my distance, just in case he gets stoned, you know what I mean? I don't want to be stoned with him. So I'm in the back. I'm watching him do his work, and he's going at it with them.

They're yelling at him, "I told you to get out. We're not interested." And he was using his broken Spanish, and they were going back and forth. And interesting enough, five minutes into it, the owner--I guess the owner opens up the window from the top, and he's looking down, trying to chase us down, and you could tell his demeanor changes all of a sudden.

And then he says, "How much?" So I was shocked. He went from, "Get out of here," you know, "We're going to throw you out," to, "How much?" As soon as he said that, I was like, "Whoa, this guy's good," right? I'm going to make sure I'm friends with him for a long time.

This guy--I mean, he became a very successful businessman, but he ended up unloading everything that we didn't sell that day. And so because it was a big market, he bought everything that we had, and we made more money on that one sale than we did all day walking up and down.

So I was, like, thoroughly impressed with this guy, and we're walking out, and I asked him, I said, "How did you know?" Right? "How did you know that this guy was going to buy?" He said, "Well, I didn't know, but I've been in this store before, and they chased me out before." Yeah.

"And I've sold to them before." So he said, "This was a new--I didn't know any of this stuff," right? He said, "Yeah." I mean--and from his personal experience, he says, "Sometimes you could tell if they're really serious, or sometimes you're just annoying, they didn't see if you would leave," you know?

And wanted to see, like, if you're really serious about this sale. And so he was able to distinguish between the two, and that was the difference between him and I. I didn't know that. All I saw was their hostility, and I said, "Okay, we're done. You know, this is not worth it," where he saw a great potential.

And the difference between his boldness and my timidness was his knowledge. He knew something that I did not know. Our confidence to enter the throne of grace is directly linked to our personal confidence of knowing who Jesus is. If our confession is simply a verbal confession, it's just--we just admire him from a distance.

There's reasons why people are timid. They're timid to preach, they're timid to share, they're timid to walk in their faith, they're constantly concerned about what other people are going to think, and a lot of that is directly linked to a lack of conviction, lack of confidence that we have in Christ.

He says the confidence is based upon the blood of Christ, the confidence is based on the new and living way, the confidence is based on the fact that we have a great high priest. And our personal conviction and boldness is directly linked to having a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

In fact, remember in Acts chapter 4, verse 13, the apostles are preaching with boldness in front of the same people who crucified Jesus. These are the same disciples when Jesus is going to the cross, they were in fear and hiding and locked the doors, and they disappeared because they were confused.

Why would our Messiah go to the cross? They didn't make any sense. But now, after the resurrection, they recognize who he is, that even in death they cannot contain him, and all of a sudden they're preaching the gospel with boldness, and the people who are watching this and hearing this, this is what they say in observation, Acts 4, verse 13.

"Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John," again, the confidence of Peter and John, "and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men," "they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus." Their boldness didn't come because of their education, their boldness didn't come because of their experience, their boldness came, and even the non-Christians recognized that their boldness came from being with Christ.

It's our approaching Christ, it's our nearness to Christ, it's our strong near to Christ, is what gives us conviction, what gives us confidence. So the first and foremost, the most important call of any sinner is to draw near to Christ. The most important call of any Christian, before you make disciples, before you go overseas, before you feed the poor, before you march for justice, first and foremost thing that God demands and calls us to apply is to draw near to Him.

We are of no use when we're not near Christ. We are of no use, we cannot bear fruit according to Scripture if we are not remaining in Christ. Doesn't matter how hard you work, doesn't matter how much you give, it doesn't matter what your experience is, it just doesn't matter, because true fruit comes from Him.

He says we are to draw near with sincere hearts, to draw near in full assurance, with the hearts sprinkled and bodies washed by the blood of Christ. And all of this is simply to say, without hypocrisy, not pretending, not pretending on the outside and inwardly have nothing to do with Christ, that we have a reputation of godliness and you have no power in your life, because all of our connection with Christ is public, that all of our righteousness is for other people to see.

But when the cameras are not on, when people are not looking, you have no personal relationship with Christ. That's all that this means. With a sincere heart, with full assurance of faith, with our hearts, inner persons, and our bodies, internally and externally, washed in the blood of Christ. You see in Isaiah 29, verse 13, God says to the nation of Israel, "And the Lord said, 'Because this people draw near with their words, they honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me, and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote.'" Meaning it's just tradition.

It's more superstition. It's not real worship. It's not really drawing near to God. You see, when the Bible says and commands us to seek God with all our heart, it is not possible to seek God casually. If you really understand what it is that you're seeking, if you really understand who it is that you're asking, either you seek Him with all your heart, or you're not seeking Him at all.

See, in Psalm 119, verse 10, "With all my heart I have sought you; do not let me wander from your commandments." Jeremiah 29, verse 13, "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." When we draw near to God and seek God, we're not asking for lunch.

We're not asking for, you know, we have a hard relationship, and can you fix that for me? You know, like, we're not asking for a better job. I mean, again, not that he doesn't care about all of that stuff, but there's no urgency in any of that, because, you know, if you have financial issues, get a job.

Work harder. Invest better. If you have relational issues, stop being selfish. You know, work on your personality. There's, like, so many things that we can do, and say, well, you know, there's things that I can apply. And so, whenever we seek God, we seek God in things that we can do ourselves, and then we just sprinkle Jesus on it, right?

In the beginning and at the end, and God, can you make this better? But we seek God for things that only he can give us, and only he is the author of life. And so, when we seek Christ, we seek him for life, and nobody seeks God casually for life.

Just like a man who's drowning, if he recognizes the urgency of his situation, the desperateness of his situation, he doesn't simply ask. He doesn't simply ask for the rescuers to come and say, "Hey, hey, I'm drowning. If you don't come in the next five minutes, I'm going to drown and die." You will never see somebody who's drowning asking for help in that kind of manner, because he recognizes his urgency.

He recognizes his desperate need. So, you will, if somebody is drowning, he recognizes that he will be yelling and screaming. He will do anything that he needs to do to get their attention, because it is life or death. Remember what Paul told Timothy? To watch your life and doctrine carefully, and if you do so, you will save yourself and your hearers.

Your life depends on it. It is not possible to seek God out and draw near to him casually. If you are seeking him casually, it's because you do not recognize what it is that you are asking, and you do not know who it is that you're asking of. By nature, drawing near to God requires urgency.

Not because God commands it, but that's the truth. That's the fact. That's why in Joshua 24, verse 15, Joshua says to the nation of Israel, "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served with which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

But ask for me and my house, and we will serve the Lord." See, Joshua was tired of the Israelites who were going back and forth to serving the idols when it was convenient for them, and then coming back to God when it was convenient for them. So what Joshua is saying is, you need to make up your mind.

Who are you serving? Who's your Lord? Who do you follow? See, I think one of the biggest challenges that we have in our modern-day church, we have churches filled with people who never made up their mind. They've decided to come to church. They've decided to maybe sign on the dotted line.

They've decided to become members. They've decided to be identified as Christian. They are admirers of Christ, but they're not followers of Jesus. That's what he's referring to. Choose you this day whom you will serve. You can admire him from a distance, identify as a Christian, stand before the throne of God, and God says, "That had nothing to do with me.

"You used me as superstition. "You used me as some vending machine "to help you with your sorrow "because you were lonely, "because you were having a difficult time, "because you were sick, "because you were having business problems. "You wanted me to help you with your life, "but you never surrendered your life to me.

"Choose you this day whom you will serve." First and foremost, drawing near to him. Do you know him from a distance? Is the only relationship that you have with Jesus is a corporate relationship? You know him in the context of a community, and so that gives you some sort of assurance that somehow you are in the presence of God?

Well, that is not the Bible, the God of the Scriptures. The God of the Scriptures demand that if this is what we believe, the door was not opened for us so we can admire it. The way to the Holy of Holies was not opened so that we can say, "That door is huge!" And we thank God that he opened the door.

So maybe sometime in the future, if I want to visit, stick my feet in, go check it around, check the sea, kind of like we're tourists, wanting to see what it looks like, but we never go in. We're not dwelling in the presence of God. He is not our pursuit.

All we are are admirers, but we're not followers of Christ. See, the first and most important imperative that every Christian needs to embrace and decide for ourselves is, "Am I following Jesus?" And again, I may sound like a broken record. The question is not, "Are you coming to church?" The question is not, "Are you a member of Green Community Church?" The question is, "Are you following Jesus?" Is Jesus, his voice, his teaching, do you believe this, and are you following Jesus?

And let me get to the second one, and the second one is not going to be as long. If that is your case, we draw near, and as we draw near, he says, "Let us hold fast the confession." In other words, unswervingly, unbending. If this is what you believe, that we are to persevere.

Hebrews 2, 1, "For this reason, "we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard "so that we do not drift away." Man, you know what we need to do to drift? Nothing. Do nothing. If you're not clinging to Christ and actively drawing near to Christ, you're drifting, you just don't know it.

We're already drifting. Drifting doesn't require any effort. Here's what you need to do to drift. Get a job, wake up early, go to work, get paid, and with that money, pay your bills, and with some of that money, enjoy yourselves. Come to church, serve a little bit, have fellowship, attend Bible study, take a little trip, donate a little money here and there, and then just casually walk along in life.

And that's all you need to do is to drift. That's all you need to do. If we're not actively pursuing Christ, you're already drifting. We just don't know. That's why he says to hold fast, do not bend. We cannot fight for our opinion and so easily compromise with the truth.

You know, we're willing to march, we're willing to stand up, we're willing to protest, because this is my political opinion. But when it comes to the truth of the gospel, where it's literally life and death, eternal, we're timid, we're quiet, we're submissive. What he's saying is, with the truth, we should be bold.

With truth, we should be confident. With truth, we should be willing to sacrifice. With our opinions, we should be gracious. With our opinions, we should be quiet. With our opinions, we should not be fighting. But with the truth, he says to hold fast. Do not bend. Do not compromise.

2 Timothy 4.2, "Preach the word, be ready, in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Do not turn from the word. Do not compromise. Do not cut the sharp corners. Do not only give them what's palatable. Give them the truth, even if they don't like it.

Even if they get offended. Even if you lose friends. He said, do not turn from the word to the left or to the right. Because true life is found in Christ and Christ alone. That's what he means by hold fast. No matter what the consequence. Because God is faithful.

You know what God is faithful means? Because, again, because of our cultural baggage, our false understanding of Christ, whenever we hear God is faithful, we automatically think God is merciful. Or God's going to be gracious. What does faithfulness mean? To be consistent. You can rely on him. So a judge who is faithful will judge faithfully.

A police officer who is faithful isn't a police officer who just lets you off the ticket, you know, gets you off all the time. He's a good police officer. He's consistent. You can rely on him. So faithfulness simply means he is consistent. That's why he says we ought to take this seriously, hold fast this confession, because God is faithful.

And then he reminds us of his faithfulness in the very next section in chapter 10, verse 25, 26, and 28. The harshest and the most severe warning in the New Testament is found in the very next text after he says we ought to hold fast because he is faithful.

And then he describes his faithfulness in verse 26 of chapter 10. "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. But a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries, anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimonies of two or three witnesses." And he goes on and on and on.

God is faithful. He is faithful to repentant sinners, to forgive us our sins. He is also faithful to judge us of all our unrighteousness who are unrepentant. The word glory, literal meaning of the word glory means to be weighty, to be serious, that our worship before God, our presence to be able to draw near to him is never meant to be casual.

We don't come to God casually. There's weightiness to what we do. There's weightiness to these words. If we hear it and we're kind of, you know, like I'll deal with it later. It's because you have not seen his glory. You do not know him. And that's why he says we ought to hold fast for dear life.

We ought to anchor with Christ for dear life, to watch our life and our doctrine closely because if you do so you will save yourself and your here's because our life depends on it. And because he is faithful, he will reward the repentant sinners and he will judge the unrepentant.

So there is a greater need in this world than social justice. There is a greater need. We can make this world a better place with no prejudice, no poor, no sex trafficking. We can make this a better place with better politics, better economy. And at the end of all of that, all our effort and to create a great society for our children, our great grandchildren.

But the Bible says that the end of all of that is judgment. Don't get me wrong. God calls us to call out injustice. God calls us to feed the poor. We ought to be compassionate. We ought to stand up for those who don't have voices. Don't get me wrong.

It is the character of a Christian to be gracious and merciful. But don't get our priorities mixed up. That in our priorities that we try to save a leg while the person is dying, our priority is the gospel and it will always be the gospel. Until they come to Christ and they know Christ, this faithful God will carry out his mercy and his justice in this world.

So as Christians who believe this, we need to first and foremost draw near. We need to hold fast. And we need to be the light in this world. So my prayer again, with all the stuff that's going on around us, cling to the word of God, cling to the gospel, cling to Christ, that even though they may not understand, that we make it very clear.

The wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness. And the only hope for the wrath of God is the blood of Jesus. And I pray that we may be so deeply convicted that we would not drift. We're going to take some time for the communion. And so let me ask Rachel to come up.

And if you can take your cup with me. And before I ask, we're going to take it together. So please don't open it up until we're ready. So those of you who did this with us last time, so you'll remember. So there's two things that you have to open up.

So the first one is there's a little plastic thing. And that will open up the wafer, okay, the bread. And then the second part, the thicker one, has the grape juice underneath. So if you rip the first one off, you're not going to -- only the first one, the big one off, you're not going to get to the wafer.

You understand what I'm saying? Okay. So don't open it yet. We're going to do it together, okay, since we're going to be able to do this. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the text. I'm going to open it up. And then I'm going to give you about a minute or two to read it.

And then I'm going to give you about a minute to take some time to pray and meditate. If you have unconfessed sins, you know, this is the time to confess your sins. And if you have, again, whatever that causes you to think that you're participating in an unworthy manner, this is the time to come before the Lord and get ready.

But, again, we don't come to the communion table because we're worthy. This is to teach us that our confidence comes from this, what this symbolizes. It is because of his flesh, it was because of his body broken for us that we're able to have confidence to enter the throne of grace.

And so this is what we remember. This is what we proclaim. And so let's take some time to prepare our hearts. And then when we're ready, I'll ask you to come, and then we'll do this together. Okay, so let's take some time to pray. For I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread.

When he had given things, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." So the communion table is meant for baptized believers. So it's meant to be a kind of like an anniversary, remembering Christ's sacrifice for us. So again, if you have not been baptized, we ask that you just kind of observe quietly, just watching and thinking through what's going on.

But again, if you are a baptized believer, we ask you to participate. So if you can, again, now open up the top, and take the wafer out. And we're going to do it together. So don't put it in your mouth yet. We're going to do it together. I see you.

Okay, so it's all open. Okay, let me pray for us. And then after we pray, we'll participate together, and then the worship team will lead us. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we participate in this sacred time, help us, Lord God, to recognize the sacredness and holiness, Lord, that you have set this apart so that we would not drift from this truth.

As Jesus commanded the disciples and told us to do this in remembrance of him, his sacrifice, his love, his holiness, his righteous judgment, and only by the grace of God that we are able to have this confidence to be able to draw near to you. Help us, Lord God, to do this in celebration, in thankfulness.

And I pray, Father God, that the truth of the gospel will never fade in our memory, that you would be our greatest and most important pursuit, Lord God, this week. So we ask that you would bless this time and unify the church for that sake. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Okay, so let's participate together. All right, let us rise as we sing our closing praise. The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend The agonies of Calvary You, the perfect, holy one, crushed your son You drink the bitter cup reserved for me Your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you Once your enemy, now seated at your table Jesus, thank you By your perfect sacrifice I've been brought near Your enemy, you've made your friend Pouring out the riches of your glorious grace Your mercy and your kindness, no, no, and your blood Your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you Once your enemy, now seated at your table Jesus, thank you Lover of my soul Lover of my soul I want to live for you Lover of my soul I want to live for you Lover of my soul Lover of my soul I want to live for you Lover of my soul I want to live for you Your blood Your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you Your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you Once your enemy, now seated at your table Jesus, thank you So before we end, afterwards again, if you guys can help us clear out and some of you guys take the chairs So if you are thirsty, we have plenty of water in the back, it's really hot so make sure you don't get dehydrated We also have some otter pops that we want to give you to cool you off So I think we have enough, so make sure when you go out there and grab some otter pops And again, don't be ashamed, we have plenty for everybody, it's not just for children It's to keep you guys cool So as you go out there, make sure you get some before you go so that you can stay cool, alright?

Alright, let's pray Heavenly Father, we thank you for your constant grace I thank you for, just my brothers and sisters, Lord God, in this church where we can run this race together We thank you Father for the privilege that we have to come before you and call you our Abba Father Lord, you know our weaknesses, you know how prone we are, Lord God, to drift So help us this week, Lord, to be anchored in Christ That we would passionately, with urgency, to draw near to you, Father God, more than any other endeavor in our lives I pray that the truth of the Gospel would grip our hearts so strongly That we would be gracious, we would be holy, compassionate In every way, Father, that we would reflect Christ in our lives So whether we eat or drink, truly help us, Lord God, to honor and glorify you Now the grace of our Lord Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Eternal love of God our Father Rest, restore, sanctify the church for the sake of your name Amen God sent his Son They called him Jesus He came to love Heal and forgive He lived and died To buy my party An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives Amen Trash cans all around so you guys can throw that in there Thank you Thank you for printing these No problem The leftovers, can you just keep it on the chair or put it right there I think we have right here God is glorious, oh God Engages our hearts May Jesus Christ be known Wherever we are We ask not for ourselves But for your renown The cross has saved us so we pray Your kingdom come Let's sing it together Let your kingdom come Let your will be done So that everyone might know your name Let your song be heard Everywhere on earth Till your sovereign word Call your kingdom Let your kingdom come Give us your strength Give us your strength, oh God Encourage to speak Perform your wondrous deeds Through those who are weak Learn, use, assess, you want Whatever the test By grace we'll preach your gospel till our dying breath Let your kingdom come Let your will be done So that everyone might know your name Let your kingdom come Let your will be done So that everyone might know your name Let your kingdom come Let your will be done So that everyone might know your name Let your kingdom come Let your will be done So that everyone might know your name Let your kingdom come