← Back to sermon library

You can turn in your Bibles to 
Hebrews chapter 10. I'll begin reading in verse 11. 
And finish at verse 25. And every priest stands ministering 
daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can 
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered 
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of 
God. From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his 
footstool for by one offering, he has perfected forever those 
who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses 
to us for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will 
make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my 
laws into their hearts and in their minds. I will write them. 
Then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember 
no more. Now, where there is remission 
of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, 
brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for 
us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest 
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in 
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an 
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us 
hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he 
who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another 
in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the 
assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but 
exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see 
the day approaching. Amen. Let us open again with 
a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you again 
that we can consider now your holy word and we can engage in 
that act of worship, of worship, the preaching and the hearing 
of your word, Lord God. And we would ask that you would 
again now be with us. We thank you that you are with 
us, the living and true God, and that our Savior, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, walks among his lampstands. And we would ask, 
Lord God, that we would that we would know in that biblical 
and right way the presence of our Lord among us. And we thank 
you again for your holy scriptures. Might we glean and be well instructed. 
Might we glean from them, Lord God, and be well instructed in 
them this morning. We pray in the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, what I thought we would 
do this morning is we would take up an exercise in making the 
statement I am in church because and then be biblically informed 
in filling in the blank. Now, the reason I chose Hebrews 
chapter 10, I chose it as something, again, of a base camp to explore 
what the Bible says concerning why we need to be in church or 
perhaps the statement I am in church because and it is good 
that we are to be or we should be. We ought to be biblically 
informed when we come to why we are in church. Why do we come 
to church as Christ's people? Now, there are obviously a number 
of reasons why we ought not to come to church. But when we ask 
that question, When we ask the question, I am in church because 
it is not certainly is not because of the brilliance of the architecture. It's not the externalism of the 
infrastructure that causes us to want to enter in. It is not 
because of a pre-service coffee shop. That isn't the reason why 
we come if they have good decaf or good caffeinated coffee. That's 
not a reason to enter in and to enter into the worship of 
the triune God. We do not come to church for 
lights and music. We do not come to church for 
the impeccable timing of the photo of the PowerPoint guy and 
clicking the next slide button. That's not why we come. There 
are reasons why we come to church. We do not also. It is not the 
case that we come to church because the preacher is winsome and charming 
and well-dressed. There are biblical reasons why 
we come in as Christ's people and enter into the church of 
the living God and engage in the worship of our triune God. And in this text, we have one 
of those reasons. And we're going to branch out 
from Hebrews 10 and we're going to look at seven reasons why 
we are to be in church or seven reasons that we slot into the 
blank when we make the statement, I come to church because and 
notice here. Point number one or reason number 
one is because of the perfect crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to come to church because 
Jesus Christ has infallibly shed his blood upon the cross of Calvary 
to save us from our sins. Reason number one. Hebrews 10. 
We have here in Hebrews 10. We have the author setting forth 
the supremacy of Christ's saving work. Throughout throughout the 
book of Hebrews, we have the author holding forth Christ Jesus 
and him alone as the supreme one, as the sufficient one, as 
the complete one. Everything else, the articles 
of old covenant religion are cast off, not because not because 
of anything inherently evil, but because of the one the one 
has come, Jesus Christ, that one to whom to whom all of those 
articles of old covenant religion pointed. And the author is holding 
forth this perfect Christ. He says he argues for his perfect 
atoning work that need no addition or supplementation. Verses 11, 
12, 13 and 14. Every priest stands ministering 
daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can 
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered 
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of 
God from that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. 
For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified, 
the perfect completed work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing 
to be added, nothing to be nothing to supplement it with. There 
is nothing else needed save for a battered and bleeding savior 
who died infallibly upon the cross and rose again the third 
day for the justification of his people. And brethren, this 
leads us into an argument for the perfection of the covenant. 
that there is now the reality, that new covenant reality, that 
Jesus Christ as the ratifier, Jesus Christ as the surety, Jesus 
Christ as the perfecter of that new covenant has secured remission 
of sins and there is no longer an offering for it. And as the 
trajectory or as the movement of the text comes to verse to 
verses twenty three, twenty four and twenty five, we see the reasons 
behind Paul's exhortation are the finished and perfect saving 
work of Christ and his supremacy. Notice verses twenty three, twenty 
four and twenty five. First off, steadfastness in doctrine 
or steadfastness in the faith that was once for all delivered 
to the saints. Let us hold fast the confession 
of our hope. without wavering for he who promised 
is faithful. Also, brotherly love and encouraging 
and edifying one another in the church of the living God. Verse 
24. Let us consider one another in 
order to stir up love and good words. And then the reason to 
come to church is, again, the shed blood of the sovereign Christ. Verse 25, not forsaking the assembling 
of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting 
one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. 
So, brethren, the reason that we enter within these doors is 
for a high and lofty and righteous reason. It is because Jesus Christ 
upon the cross shed his precious blood. It's it's an amazing thing 
that it's an interesting thing that God's reasons for our ethical 
conduct. Are always much higher, are always 
much loftier, are always much wiser than our own. We often 
have we don't often have we well yeah we often have defective 
reasons and deficient reasons for engaging in ethical conduct 
for coming to church for an example. But we see this we see this throughout 
the scriptures if we if we look at particular things like the 
holiness of the Christian. What is the reason that we are 
to be holy? Well, you'll probably receive 
different answers if you're to ask that question from a number 
of professing Christians. Why are we to be holy? Well, 
it's so that we can show others that we are, that we're legitimate. It's so we can show others and 
we can boast in the fact that we are the children of God. Or 
perhaps some will say that we are to be holy so that we can 
merit our salvation. Godless doctrine. We are to be 
holy. Why are you to be holy? Well, 
we are to be holy because we need to, by our holiness, enter 
into everlasting life as a reward for our ethical conduct. But 
God's reasons are always higher and loftier. Why are we to be 
holy? Because he is. Be ye holy, for 
I am holy. His reasons are always higher 
than ours. Or if you think about wives and husbands, if you think 
about your conduct, one towards the other. Wife, you are to submit 
to your husband, and you might ask why? Well, because he's nice 
to me, because he cuddles up with me in bed and speaks sweet 
nothings into my ear. Why are you to submit to your 
husband? Oh, as long as he takes out the garbage on time, as long 
as he does this, as long as he does that, then I'll submit. 
But if not, I'll just rebel until he does. No, the reason that 
you're to submit to your husband is because the church is under 
submission to the head of the church, even Christ Jesus, our 
Lord. So you submit to your husband, 
not for some low reason, not because you're waiting for a 
conditional fulfillment of obedience on his behalf, but because Christ 
shed his blood for you and has brought you into joyful obedience 
to him. You submit to your husband as 
unto the Lord, who is the head of the church. Or husbands, you 
don't get off the hook either. Husbands, your conduct towards 
your wives. Why are you to love your wife? Is it because she makes you a 
sandwich on time? Is it because she does this and 
that? Is it because she does X, Y, and Z in the home? She 
keeps it clean. She does the laundry. She does 
the dishes. She does all things impeccably in the home. If she 
does that, then yes, I'll love her more. No, no, no. You are 
to love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself 
for her. God's reasons for conduct are 
always higher and loftier and holier. The reason for us to 
come into church, the reason for us to enter within these 
doors, to sit in the pews, is because Christ shed his blood 
on Calvary's tree. To use the language of Melito 
of Sardis in the early church, he who fixed the stars in place 
It was fixed in place upon a tree. And because of that fact, you 
are to enter in within these doors and worship along with 
your people. Do not forsake the assembly of 
yourselves together, as is the manner of some. It was no doubt 
the context of that statement that many people who profess 
Christ were falling away. They had the pressures and the 
persecutions of Jews around them who were still going to the temple, 
who were still going to offer up sacrifices, who were still 
engaged in those articles of old covenant religion. And they 
were being pressured to fall back away, to fall away, to not 
stay, to not be steadfast, to not to not hold fast the confession 
of their hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. 
Much persecution, much heat, much hatred coming down upon 
them. And it was easy to go to go back to those multitudinous 
washings and ceremonies that they were familiar with. It was 
easy for them to set aside the statement of their profession, 
that Jesus Christ was their all in all, if they believed in vain. 
That Jesus Christ was their all in all. And to own that statement, 
are we to believe in a crucified Messiah? I'll take the multitudinous 
washings that I'm familiar with. I'll take the ceremonies. I'll 
take old covenant religion. But a crucified Messiah? That's 
a stumbling block. That's a rock of offense. And 
those would prove to be those who were not Christians in the 
first place. The exhortation is to Christians, do not follow 
that way. Don't go back to the old things. 
And I'm careful there because in the Old Testament, we're to 
go and seek after the ancient past and the old past. But what 
I mean are those things that have come to fruition and been 
completed in Christ Jesus. We are to seek after those new 
covenant realities that Jesus Christ is our all in all. Yes, it is about a crucified 
Messiah. And because of that crucified 
Messiah, Paul can say, do not forsake the assembling of ourselves 
together. We are to enter into the church 
of Christ because of the perfect crosswork of Christ. Secondly, 
Why? Or again, the statement I am 
in church because it is the church of the living God. It is the 
church of the living God. Turn to First Timothy for a moment. 
First Timothy. And we'll come back to this text 
in a moment, but First Timothy Chapter 3. One of the reasons that Paul 
indicates his writing Why is writing these things to Timothy 
in the context here? We get we get. We get some of 
the some of the reasons, some of the backup as to why Paul 
is writing to Timothy, verse 14 of First Timothy, Chapter 
three, these things I write to you, though I hope to come to 
you shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know 
how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is 
the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the 
truth. Brethren, when we enter into 
a Christian church, I'm not saying when we work through these points, 
I'm not saying the reason why you would need to enter into 
this church. This is our local church. We ought to be committed 
to her for the building up of her, for the building up of one 
another within this place. But why Christians, generally 
speaking, ought to enter into a faithful and Bible preaching 
church and engage in the worship of the triune God? Reason number 
two, as the text says, because it is the church of the living 
God, the house of God, the church of the living God. When we look 
out at other religions, when we look out at other churches, 
that are not Christian, we do not look upon churches that are 
engaged in some sort of true worship, but rather we look at 
false churches. We look at churches where there 
is no God. We look at churches where there 
is no Christ. We look at dead churches. It 
is not the case that someone can say to us in our exclusivity 
and our commitment to separation from false religion that they 
can say, oh, but preacher, You're wrong in the oneness Pentecostal 
church where they deny the Trinity. There is lots of singing. There 
is rich and there is joyous raising of hands and there is much worship. 
No, that is dead and unsaving religion. That is not the church 
of the living God. If they deny the Trinity, if 
they deny the deity of Jesus Christ, if they deny anything 
that is essential to saving faith and biblical revelation, then 
they're not the church of the living God. We don't look for 
the validity and the veracity of the true Christian church 
in the raising of hands, in the singing, in joy or in anything 
else of external and subjective matters. But rather, we look 
at the church and we look at her and see objective things. Is she preaching the word? Is 
she exercising church discipline? Is she engaging in the proper 
administration of the sacraments? And is her doctrine biblical? 
If it is not, that is not the church of the living God. And 
throughout biblical history, that was the righteous boast 
of God's people, that they were not boasting in themselves, not 
boasting in what they had done or anything of human things, 
but rather boasting in divine things. The fact that they were 
the congregation of the living and true God. And it was with 
wholesome mockery, for example, that the psalmist would rebuke 
that the psalmist by God would rebuke the heathen nations around 
them who served gods that were no gods at all. Psalm 115. This 
is. The psalmist's wholesome mockery 
of the heathen gods around them, around him. Not unto us, O Lord, 
not unto us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy, 
because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, 
so where is their God? But our God is in heaven. He 
does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, 
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do 
not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, 
but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do 
not smell. They have hands, but they do 
not handle. feet they have, but they do not walk, nor do they 
mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like 
them. So is everyone who trusts in them. And the psalmist closes 
with concerning the living and true God, concerning Yahweh, 
concerning their covenant Lord, the heaven. Even the heavens 
are the Lord's. But the earth he has given to 
the children of men. The dead do not praise the Lord, 
nor any who go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from 
this time forth. And forevermore, praise the Lord. The psalmists realize God's people 
realize that their congregation is the congregation of the living 
and true God and all of those who surround them, all of those 
who surrounded them, all of those who did not exercise or who were 
not engaged in the worship of the triune God of the armies 
of Israel. It was dead and unsaving religion. 
And so, brethren, when we come into this church, we need to 
realize that one of the reasons we enter in is because it is 
the church of the living God. And we ought to hold that with 
great zeal and with great jealousy and anyone anyone who would come 
to us, anyone who would come to us and boast Those who are 
erroneous, those who are cultists, those who are engaged in false 
religion, any of them who would boast in their prominence, in 
the prominence of their deities, we ought to be like David before 
Goliath. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine 
that he should defy the armies of the living God? We hold with 
zeal our church, not our church, but the church of Christ and 
the gathering together of his people. It's not a light and 
a lowly thing. It is a heavy and a high and 
a lofty thing that we come together because we do so in the name 
of the living God, because it is the house of the living and 
true God. Not a house of idols not a house 
of deaf mute and dumb gods and blind gods those who cannot walk 
but rather it is the church of the living God who is not constrained 
by the elements of stones and trees but rather is above the 
heavens even in the heavens and laughing upon those in derision 
who would mock him and say that he is not with his people. Point 
number three. I am in church because it is 
among the churches that the exalted and reigning Christ walks and 
fellowships. Blessed reality, you can turn 
to Revelation for a moment, Revelation chapter one, we come to church 
because it is in the church of the living and true God that 
the exalted and reigning Christ walks. Revelation chapter one, you'll 
remember the scene where John is given this vision of this 
one like the Son of Man in grandeur and in great glory, magnificence. And one of the aspects that John 
records concerning this one like the Son of Man is in verse 13. And in the midst of that, this 
is Revelation chapter one, verse 13, and in the midst of the seven 
lampstands, One like the son of man, we get an interpretation 
of what those seven lampstands are in verse 20. The seven lampstands 
which you saw are the seven churches. Jesus Christ walks among his 
churches. He walks among his churches with 
those eyes as of a flame of fire, gazing through the darkest veil 
to see the evil and to see the good. And he commends the good 
and the righteous, and he condemns the wicked and commands to repent. 
It's a blessed thing as we move to another point, but we're sort 
of here already with the fact that Christ walks among his churches. It's a blessed thing to have 
the presence of the ruling and reigning Christ for two reasons 
here, because, yes, he commends the good. He commends the good. He can look upon the church and 
he doesn't commend them because they're so great, but because 
they are in union with him and conducting themselves in a manner 
worthy of his glorious gospel. He can say, I commend you for 
taking those those who thought they were apostles, but were 
not out of the ranks of your church. I commend you for holding 
to sound doctrine and for hating the doctrine that I hate, the 
doctrine of the Nicolaitans. He can commend, but also brethren, 
it is a blessing to have the ruling and reigning Christ walking 
among our churches so that he can condemn in that in that Christ 
like displeasure for his people and turn us back to the right 
path. We need to understand that too, that Christ's condemnation 
in identifying error and those things that we are doing incorrectly 
is a benefit to us because then we can repent and seek the old 
path, seek the right path, seek to walk in the right way. And 
let us always welcome, though it is hard, let us always welcome 
rebuke. Let us always welcome correction 
because it is not an attack on your tight pride, but rather 
it is the ruling and reigning Christ walking among you for 
the good of your soul, giving you rebuke, giving you correction, 
causing you to return back to the path, which is the way everlasting. Always welcome that. Always rejoice, 
though it may be hard. Reason number four, brethren, 
I come to church. I am in church because the church 
is the pillar and the ground of the truth. You can turn back 
if you're if it's OK with you. First Timothy three verses 14 
and 15, because we have there that language of the church being 
the pillar and ground of the truth. And it's important As 
we consider reasons for entering within these four walls or within 
the four walls of a Christ preaching Bible preaching church, we consider 
this reason that she is the pillar in the ground of the truth. First 
Timothy three. Again, beginning at verse 14, 
these things I write to you, though I hope to come to you 
shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know 
how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is 
the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the 
truth. Brethren, it is in the church, 
a true a true Christian church, it is in the church of the living 
God where you will see the word of God held up. where you will 
see the doctrine, where you will see the theology, where you will 
see the rich revelation that God has given to us in the scriptures 
held up as it ought to be held up, certainly fallibly, because 
the preacher is not perfect, nor are the saints within the 
pews perfect. Nevertheless, in a true church 
of the living God, the word of God is held up. The church of 
the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. Now, 
this does not mean, of course, that the infrastructure or the 
institution, the physical institution of the church and and her rulers, 
for lack of a better term, are somehow over the word and sovereign 
over it, but rather that the church is the body that the body 
that holds up the infrastructure that holds up and extols the 
word of the living, true God, because it is God who who exalts 
his own word above his very name. And so a church of the living 
or in the church of the living God, insofar, of course, that 
she is a true church and is faithful. You are to enter within those 
doors because she is the pillar in the ground of the truth. She 
preaches the word that the preacher comes up here and in the power 
of Christ, under the ordaining of the Holy Spirit, opens up 
the Bible and seeks humbly to preach to you the riches and 
the excellencies of Christ Jesus. bringing to you the weight of 
the revelation, bringing to you the shining light of God's holiness, 
his righteousness, his sovereignty, his hatred for sin, the reality 
of that sin, biblical anthropology, that we outside of Christ are 
dead in our trespasses and in our sins, in bondage to it, blinded. by the power of reigning sin, 
but also pointing you on to that one that the Bible that the Bible 
is moving towards in in the pages of its revelation, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the perfect savior, the one who came in the fullness 
of time, born of a woman born under the law to redeem those 
who are under the law, our precious savior, who shed his precious 
blood for all those whom the father had given to him. It is 
in the church of the living God, where you should hear, where 
you will hear the preaching of the word unto your edification 
and your encouragement. If you are a saint unto your 
possible condemnation, if you are one who continues in your 
rebellion against God, but if you are such, it is also unto 
or designed for your salvation. If you are if you are Excuse 
me, if you are appointed unto eternal life, you are in a blessed 
place to be seated in the pews of a church because it is by 
the means of the opening up of the word. It is by the means 
of the preaching that you will bend the knee to the ruling and 
reigning Christ who walks among his churches and you will enter 
into Emmanuel's land, singing his praises with his precious 
saints. The church is the pillar and 
the ground of the truth. The church holds forth the word 
of truth as a divine design for her conduct and her activity 
in this lower world. Turn to Philippians for a moment. 
Still under point number four, the church being the pillar and 
the ground of the truth. There's a reason for us to enter 
into church, to be here Sunday in and Sunday out. Philippians 
chapter two. Beginning at verse 12, therefore, 
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence 
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both 
to will and to do for his good pleasure. Do all things without 
complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and 
harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked 
and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the 
world, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice 
in the day of Christ and that I have not run in vain or labored 
in vain. Brethren, it is your ability 
or you owe your ability, if I can use this language, to go out 
into a crooked and perverse generation and hold forth the word of truth. 
You owe that ultimately to a triune God who has saved you and brought 
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. But brethren, 
you need to be well equipped. You need to be fed the word of 
God. You need to be instructed and directed in the word of God 
before you can go out into a crooked and perverse generation and hold 
forth the word of truth. Lest you preach error, lest you 
preach heresy, lest you preach nonsense and you do not preach 
Christ crucified. It is in the church of the living 
God that the word of truth is held up, that pillar and ground 
of the truth, where we hold up the word of God as it ought to 
be held up, though fallibly, so that sinners and saints can 
look upon it and be well instructed. We go into church or I am in 
church because the church is the pillar and ground of the 
truth. Fifthly, brethren, I come into church because the church 
is God's ordained place for the care of his sheep. The church 
is God's ordained place for the care of his sheep. Certainly 
some notions and aspects of this already covered. But please turn 
to the book of Acts for a moment. The church of the living God 
that Christ purchased with his own blood, is a church that is 
God's ordained place for the care of his sheep. Acts, Chapter 
20. We begin reading at verse twenty 
five. And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have 
gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. 
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the 
blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you 
the whole counsel of God. Therefore, take heed to yourselves 
and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you 
overseers. to shepherd the church of God, 
which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that 
after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing 
the flock. Also, from among yourselves, 
men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples 
after themselves. Therefore, watch and remember 
that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night 
and day with tears." It's interesting, we have in here again point number 
one, the church to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased 
with his own blood. The Church of God was purchased 
by the shed blood of that one who fixed the stars in place, 
who was fixed in place upon a tree. And we gather together again 
because of that. But notice the notice the the 
other language here concerning care of the flock. Verse 28. 
Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which 
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Of course, Paul giving 
issuing this exhortation and command to the Ephesian elders. 
But this is, brethren, it is in the church of God where men 
have been put over you as bond servants, of course, for Christ's 
sake, but nevertheless put over you for your care, for your feeding, 
for your instruction, for rebuke and for correction, and so that 
you might be thoroughly equipped by the word for every good work. 
Notice also the language here made you overseers to shepherd 
the Church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. And then 
notice there's a context also here with regards to the activity 
of savage wolves, heretic and errorists and false teachers 
who would come in and seek to divide the flock. Verse 29, for 
I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among 
you, not sparing the flock, not only those savage wolves, but 
also from among themselves. Verse 30, also from among yourselves, 
men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples 
after themselves. It is under perhaps non normative 
circumstances where you may have to read, you may have to be instructed, 
you may have to open up the Bible yourself. and read and learn 
and pray that you would grow in the grace and in the knowledge 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because you're not under a normative 
circumstance where you can enter into two doors and be under the 
instruction of the word of God. Nevertheless, under normative 
circumstances, and this pertains to most of the time, we are to 
enter into this place. You are commanded to come in 
because this is the place that God has ordained to care for 
his sheep. So we come in and we are well 
instructed, Lord willing, by the pastors who have been set 
up by the Holy Spirit as overseers to shepherd us, to shepherd you. 
And brethren, this is again a joy. It ought to be a joy when we 
when we get to the end of this, we will see that when we come 
into church or we come into church and it is both a duty and it 
is a privilege. If it is just duty, then that 
touches upon the things of external religion and bringing our blind 
and bringing our lame into the church of God. But it is duty 
we are exhorted, and it is a privilege because we joyfully obey the 
master's command to enter in and sing the praises and worship 
our triune God. So brethren, it should be a joy 
to come in here and to be sitting under instruction. I'm not boasting 
in myself and I'm not saying that you need to exalt Pastor 
Butler and Pastor Porter because it's a joy to come in and listen 
to them and to sit under their instruction. No, it is because 
in the church of God, God has ordained people to preach to 
you, to open up the word, to instruct, to tend to wounds, 
to feed you the word of God, to feed you the things of that 
Christ who is full satisfaction and full and eternal soul nourishment. Yes, the preacher is fallible, 
but the preacher is such if he follows after the Apostle Paul, 
he is one who does not preach himself, but Christ Jesus, the 
Lord and ourselves, your bondservants for Jesus sake. So, brethren, 
when we come into church, it is a joy because we can be well 
instructed. We can be fed the riches and 
the excellencies of such a savior. We can be rebuked. That is a 
good thing. We can be corrected. That is 
a good thing. Why? Because it realigns us onto 
the way everlasting. The word of the word of the living 
and true God. We need that realignment. We 
do need that realignment. It is it is not to say impossible 
because with God, all things are possible. But under normative 
circumstance, it is God's ordained means of feeding the sheep to 
enter into this place, to sit under the instruction of an ordained 
minister or a preacher of the word under the providence of 
God and learn of the riches of Christ and grow thereby. Point 
number six, point number six, because it is in the church that 
the Lord's Supper is administered. Because it is in the church that 
the Lord's Supper is administered. We've been here many times before, 
but turn to First Corinthians 11 for a moment. I am in church 
because there the Lord's Supper is administered. The Lord's Supper 
is not something that is some sort of a loose observance or 
some sort of a loose admonition or a loose suggestion or recommendation 
by the by Christ, but rather it is a command. It is it is 
a command for our obedience that we, again, don't just approach 
with a sense of duty, but with a sense of privilege. 1 Corinthians 
chapter 11 at verse 23. This is the Apostle Paul. For 
I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you 
that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, 
took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 
Take it. This is my body, which is broken 
for you. Do this in remembrance of me. 
In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, 
This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often 
as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat 
this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death 
till he comes. This is something that has been 
given by the Lord, Paul says, for I received this from the 
Lord and then he delivered it to them. And what this ordinance 
is, is it's a remembrance of Christ's body broken for us, 
Christ's blood shed for us and the command of the Savior. This 
do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So, brethren, 
we come to church because it is in the church where we engage 
in joyful obedience unto the commission of the Savior to do 
this in remembrance of him. And it is a joy. It should never 
be, brethren, and shame on any of us if this is our disposition, 
that on the Lord's Day, when the sermon is finished and the 
preacher says, OK, now turn to First Corinthians 11. We've got to be here, I forgot, for 
another You know, another 25 minutes. Listen to him regurgitate 
again this ordinance. Heaven forbid. Heaven forbid. After the preaching is finished 
on the Lord's Day, we finish the prayer. We give up. We you 
know, we finish. We finish the prayer after the 
sermon. We say turn to First Corinthians chapter 11. Praise 
God. We get to engage in the ordinance 
of the Lord's Supper. Do this in remembrance of me. 
The pre-crucified Savior said as he was on his road to Calvary, 
where he was on his on the road to that cross, where we where 
he would receive bruising, where he would receive nails in his 
hands and in his feet, where he would before that be spit 
upon. He'd be lathered in the spit 
of his mockers, be put to death for our sins. And heaven forbid 
that we should ever say, oh, great, now we get to engage in 
this again. I forgot I'm not going to get home sooner. Praise 
God for the Lord's Supper. And so when you're here and we 
finish praying and we say, OK, now it's time to engage in the 
Lord's Supper, turn to First Corinthians chapter 11. Praise 
God. I'm going to do this in remembrance of my Savior who 
shed his precious blood, who had his body broken for me. Brethren, 
pass around that bread. Pass around that wine and let's 
proclaim our Lord's death till he comes again. I am in church 
because it is the church in the church that the Lord's Supper 
is administered. And seventhly, brethren, and 
finally, I am in church because or you are in church because 
you are to be a contributor to and recipient of the building 
up of your fellow saints. Again, you are to be a contributor 
to and a recipient of the building up of your fellow saints. And 
we can turn back to where we started. Hebrews, Chapter 10. 
Hebrews, Chapter 10. Certainly, I don't think exhausting 
the reasons that the Bible sets forth or gathering together, 
nevertheless, some of the important ones, some of those high and 
heavy ones, that we find within its pages. But again, Hebrews 
chapter 10, Paul has already written concerning the efficacy, 
the power, the supremacy, the sufficiency of Christ Jesus as 
that surety, as that mediator of a better covenant. And again, 
beginning at verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our 
hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. And 
let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good 
works. Brethren, we are to have an others 
minded disposition when we enter within the doors of the church. 
We are coming in to worship the living and true God. We are coming 
in because Christ has shed his blood for guilty sinners. We're 
coming in for all of these reasons, but we're also coming in because 
we are to consider one another and stir up love and good works. We are to be found with love, 
brother to brother, sister to sister, sister to brother, brother 
to sister. Brethren, let this mark us. Let 
let this be our disposition that we enter in and we consider that 
one to anotherness, that Christianity, that Christ demands. We are to 
put the interests of others or we're not only to be about our 
own interests, but also about the interests of others. Paul 
writes the Philippian church. And then what does he do after 
that? He sets forth Christ Jesus as the example, as the one who 
perfectly did that. Let this mind be in you, which 
was also in Christ Jesus, he says, who being in the form of 
God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made 
himself of no reputation. We are to follow after our master 
and our example who did not come to be served, but to serve and 
to give his life a ransom for many. We are to imbibe the ethic 
of the risen Christ and engage in one anotherness in this church. 
Consider one another. Consider that that when you ask 
somebody, how are you doing and they say pretty good or fine, 
it might not be the case. I'm not I'm not going to I'm 
not going to constrain your conscience by pulpit commands that aren't 
in the Bible. Nevertheless, consider one another. 
Are you really OK? Are there any wounds, brother, 
sister? Are there any wounds in the inner 
man? Can I help? Can I pray? Talk to one another. Yeah, sure, at some point you 
can talk about the Canucks, but we're in the church of the living 
God. Talk about Christ. Speak about Christ in you, the 
hope of glory. Speak about our crucified and 
our risen Savior. Talk about... apply those balms 
of tending to wounds. Not the balms of personal opinion, 
philosophy, or psychotherapy, but the balms of Christ Jesus 
and His gospel. Apply those and love your brother, 
love your sister. It's okay throughout the week 
to put down cell phone And, you know, to put to put away the 
keyboard and pick up that old technology, the phone, say, brother, 
sister, thinking about you praying about maybe maybe you weren't 
even thinking about them. Start to think about them. Pick 
up the phone. How are you doing? Again, not 
imposing the iron fist of new command or, you know, some sort 
of imposition upon you. But just to imbibe that ethic 
that our Savior had, that the apostles had, who shed tears 
over their brothers and sisters, and to have this one anotherness. 
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good 
works. And what does this do? But it 
magnifies and extols the grace of God in saving us from out 
of darkness and into his marvelous light. It's not an act of self-congratulatory 
back-patting. Okay, check. I called so-and-so. Okay, check. I asked how so-and-so 
was doing. My list is done for at least 
three years. I'm done now. No, it's so that 
we can extol the grace of God, that we can lift up a crucified 
and resurrected and ascended Christ and say, I am exercising 
gratitude for my Savior, who fixed the stars in place, was 
nevertheless fixed in place upon a tree, shed his blood for me. 
Now I'm going to act according to my master. I'm going to follow 
the lamb wherever he goes. By the way, the lamb is in the 
church, so you need to follow him into the church. If you are 
a Christian who follows the lamb wherever he goes. Brethren, it 
is not the case that we look to the church and we try and 
find reasons that appeal to the flesh for us to be here. We don't we don't have a you 
know, we don't have a PowerPoint screen, they're not evil. We 
don't need one. We don't have fancy architecture 
that, you know, praise God for this building, but we don't have 
pillars of splendor and rich architecture and all that sort 
of thing because we don't need it. There are lots of things 
that we don't need and ought not to mark the church and ought 
not to serve as reasons for us to be here that we very often 
think are reasons that we should be here. We're here because of 
the shed blood of a savior. We're here because it is the 
church of the living God. We're here because it is within 
these walls. It is among the congregation 
of Christ's people that the exalted and reigning Christ walks in 
fellowships. We're here because the church 
is the pillar and the ground of the truth. A faithful church 
holds up the word of the living and true God and says, look to 
Christ Jesus for your salvation. We're here because the church 
is the ordained place for the care of the sheep, rebuke, correction, 
love, feeding, tending to wounds, discipline. We're here because 
the church in the church, it is where the Lord's Supper is 
administered. We get to remember, we get to proclaim the shed blood 
of Christ and his broken body. And brethren, we are to gather 
together here because we are to contribute to and be the recipients 
of the love of the brethren. And let's seek to do that. Let's 
seek to do that prayerfully. We don't we don't set up our 
own impositions and our own commands and our own criteria as to what 
that looks like. Nevertheless, prayerfully, we 
approach the scriptures and we see the exhortation to do it 
and we do it. Let us consider one another in 
order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling 
of ourselves together. This is duty and privilege when 
we come to church. It's our duty to come because 
we're commanded not to forsake coming. But it's also privilege 
because it's the church of the living God. It is the church 
of the living Christ where he walks in fellowships. And brethren, 
hopefully I shouldn't have to qualify this, but I'm going to 
do it anyway. I'm not indicting anybody. I'm 
not charging anybody with sin. I'm just trying to set forth 
what the Bible sets forth. Under normative circumstances 
where the children of God are able, we are to gather together 
where his people congregate in order to engage in the worship 
of the triune God. I realize things can get in the 
way. Legitimate reasons, whether health 
or otherwise. But brethren, insofar as it is 
normative and insofar as the Bible sets forth the fact that 
we are ought to and you're able to enter in within these doors 
and engage in the worship of our triune God with a congregation 
of people who do it as dutiful obedience, but joyful obedience 
to their risen King. And if you're and if you're here 
in this, you really don't care about gathering together as a 
church because you are outside of Christ. You are a sinner. 
You are outside of having been touched by amazing and sovereign 
and victorious grace. The church compels you. The preacher 
compels you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I deliver 
to you that which we have been delivered by preachers throughout 
the ages, that Christ Jesus died according to the scriptures. 
that he was buried and that he rose again according to the scriptures. And that act of salvation in 
history was for all those whom the Father had given to him. 
It was for guilty sinners. This is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world, 
sinners to save. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. And you will enjoy the riches 
of his providential blessings in the congregation of his saints. 
And brethren, let's let's let's consider one another and stir 
each other up to love and good works. When we enter into this 
place, let's enter in for the right reasons, for divine and 
holy and high and lofty reasons. And let us engage in the worship 
of our triune God with duty and with joy and with great privilege. 
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much 
that we can gather together in this place. We thank you, Lord 
God, for the shed blood of our Savior. We thank you, Lord God, 
that when we gather together, this is not a house of idols 
or dead religion. But Lord God, it is the truth 
that it is the church of the living God. And, God, we would 
pray that we would count it a privilege to be able to gather into this 
place, to come within these walls and worship our triune God. That 
we can engage, Lord God, in fellowship, in the gospel of saving grace, 
one with another. And we would ask, Lord God, that 
you would help us. Help us as your saints to stir 
one another up to love and good works. Help us, Lord God, to 
have the disposition of brotherly love that we might consider one 
another. And let us exercise this, Lord 
God, let us be found as those who are characterized by love 
for the brothers, because truly, Lord God, if we have no love 
for our brothers, then you are not in us and we are not Christians. 
Brothers, God, we just ask that you would now stir us up, help 
us to go into the fellowship luncheon, Lord God, and to have 
godly conversation one with another, to enjoy food, a bounty of food 
and drink that you've provided for us. And Lord God, might we 
go out into the lower world, into our various charges under 
heaven, Lord God, and might we conduct ourselves in a manner 
worthy of your glorious gospel. Might we live according to Christ 
and his commands, and might we do so dutifully and joyfully. 
So we just ask God that you would be with us, be with those who 
are not able to join us. Those who are ill, Lord God, 
lift them up in body and in strength and lift them up in the inner 
man and cause them to rejoice along with us, though away from 
us in Christ, his riches and his excellencies. We pray in 
his most precious name. Amen.