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of it this is the Word of God psalm 5 beginning in verse 1 to the chief musician with flutes a psalm of David give ear to my words O Lord consider my meditation give heed to the voice of my cry my king and my god for it to you I will pray my voice you shall hear in the morning O Lord in the morning I will direct it to you and I will look up for you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with you the boastful shall not stand in your sight you hate all workers of iniquity you shall destroy those who speak falsehood the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man but as for me I will come into your house and the multitude of your mercy in fear of you I will worship toward your holy temple lead me O Lord in your righteousness because of my enemies make your way straight before my face for there is no faithfulness in their mouths their inward part is destruction their throat is an open tomb they flatter with their tongue pronounce them guilty o God let them fall by their own counsels cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against you but let all those who let but let all those rejoice who put their trust in you let them ever shout for joy because you defend them let those also who love your name be joyful in you for you O Lord will bless the righteous with favor you will surround him as with a shield amen well let's stand and sing hymn 164 in your Trinity hymnals 164 [Music] [Music] [Music] we rejoice in you our God and give you thanks and praise getting to gather together a second time on your Lord's Day truly we accounted as a high privilege and honor to gather together in the name of Jesus Christ for the worship of father son and spirit and do help us again God to do so in spirit and in truth and we pray that our hearts would be genuine here in worship that we would worship you in earnest and with great joy help us to be those Lord God and return to you praise who returned to you joyful Thanksgiving for having brought us from out of darkness into marvelous light and we rejoice in Jesus Christ who we rejoice in the glorious gospel of you are blessed God and we sing the praises of so great a Salvation and we do pray Lord God that all of these things would come to you through our mediator the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing that we have a blessed intercessor at your right hand we rejoice in this truth and we pray that each and every day we would take fresh courage knowing that in Christ Jesus we have a perfect Savior and we do pray Lord God that you would be with those says we prayed this morning for many Lord we pray again that you would be with those who are sick that are who are unwell who are traveling we pray Lord God that you'd watch over them that you would guard that you would heal that you would restore that you attend to your struggling saints Lord and cause them to know the glory of God the faithfulness of your promises and that they would in the midst of suffering rejoice in you and we thank you Lord God that you've returned many from traveling and many for long periods of time we thank you for watching over our dear brothers and sisters and we do just pray God that you would cause each and every one of us to reflect with great joy that we have a God in high heaven who deals favorably and who deals mercifully with his saints and we would always through the good and through the bad sing your praises and rejoice in so great a God we thank you again for the birth of Samantha vish we rejoice with David and Melissa over this news and we pray that you'd cause them to be rejoicing we pray that you would just cause them to count at a high honor to be given gifts from on high the blessed benefits of children and these blessings and we do just pray that you'd be with them and that you'd be with this young one that you caused her to grow in health and that in due time she would be brought forth to the worship you are gone and to rejoice in Christ our Savior we pray this for all of our young ones we pray for those in the womb that you'd watch over them we pray for all of the children in this in our church Lord God that you would in due time bring them forth by Amazing Grace to worship our God to rejoice in Jesus Christ the Savior and we longed to see that the young ones in our church Lord at a young age they come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and we do pray unto that end for the power of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the word we do just pray for this church as a whole that you'd continue to be with us as we enjoy a time of peace and unity and all of these things God we would ask that you would nourish and flourish this that you would grow this that you would cause us to be a body who are marked by that that Philippians that a reality that we have by Paul and the letter to the Philippians that we are one mind that we are one spirit we are a church that rallies around before the unity of the gospel for the striving for that faith in the gospel and we do just pray that you would strengthen us daily as individuals but as individuals that make up a corporate body of believers and in this church do help us and do cause us to rejoice in the grace that you've extended to us and we do pray God that you'd be again with those who rule over us cause them to do so righteously and we long to see Lord God changes in the ranks of a government where your will is upheld we're righteous laws are carried out and Lord God your name is vindicated we long to see Lord God those who continue to perpetrate wickedness cast from out of the ranks of influence and rule and we do pray throughout the world that your name would be vindicated in all the earth justice and equity and a proper righteousness would be upheld we do pray that your Saints that you would by your spirit cause your Saints to be faithful and praying for these things be with us now in worship lord help us to worship you in spirit and in truth help the preacher Lord help those in the pews might we together worship you and these various elements of worship prayer the reading of the scriptures the preaching of your word the singing of hymns Lord do be with us and we do pray once again that you would be the recipient of all honor and praise a father son and spirit that you would cheer our hearts and that we would return unto you the appraises do your name be with us now help everything that we do to be done to the praise of your glorious grace and we pray in christ jesus name amen well let's stand again and sing this time 151 if you'll stand with me that's him 151 [Music] [Music] turn in your Bibles to the year Old Testaments hosea chapter 13 as we continue to read through the Old Testament we're now at hosea 13 I was a a 13 beginning in verse 1 once again the word of the living and true God when Ephraim spoke trembling he exalted himself in Israel but when he offended through bail worship he died now they sin more and more and have made for themselves moulded images idols of their silver according to their skill all of it is the work of craftsmen they say of them let the man who sacrifice kiss the calves therefore they shall be like the morning cloud and like the early do that passes away like chaff blown off from a threshing floor and like smoke from a chimney yet I am the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt and you shall know no god but me for there is no Savior besides me I knew you in the wilderness in the land of great drought when they had plan they had past year they were filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore they forgot me so I will be to them like a lion like a leopard by the road I will lurk I will meet them like a bear deprived of her Cubs I will tear open their rib cage and there I will devour them like a lion the wild beasts shall tear them o Israel you are destroyed but your help is from me I will be your king where is any other that he may save you in all your cities and your judges to whom you said give me a king and princes I gave you a king in my anger and took him away in my wrath the iniquity of Ephraim is bound up and his sin is stored up The Sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long where children are born I will ransom them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from death Oh death I will be your plagues Oh grave I will be your destruction pity is hidden from my eyes though he is fruitful among his brethren an east wind shall come the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness then his spring shall become dry and his fountains shall be dried up he shall plunder the Treasury of every desirable prize samaria is held guilty for she has rebelled against her God they shall fall by the sword their infants shall be dashed in pieces and their women with child ripped open amen well let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for this your word we thank you for the reading of it a truly Lord God we ought to be brought to a place of reverential awe before a God of such holiness a God of such justice we thank you Lord God that we are saved from the terrors and from the horrors of divine justice a divine justice that would be due for our having violated your holy law for truly we were like these who built gods of silver and stone and rock and wood and yet you and your condescension came forth by Amazing Grace and brought us forth from that darkness to light in Christ and we rejoice in that and we thank you that in him we have our Savior we thank you that in you we have our God we do pray that you'd continue with us now in worship help us to worship you are right to give you honor our Father Son and spirit and to rejoice in so great a salvation and we pray in Christ's name Amen well one more hymn that we can stand together and sing before the preaching is 133 if you'll stand with me and sing 133 together [Music] [Music] please be seated in turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 10 a number of Lord's days ago in characteristic fashion I was unable to finish a sermon that I had on Hebrews 10 that contained twofold foundation for the threefold exhortation in verses 19 through 25 we left alone and left untreated verses 24 and 25 so I want to pick that up make sure that we give due attention to the Word of God in this place because there is much encouragement much admonition there is much instruction for Christians in those two verses so I'm gonna read Hebrews 10 beginning in verse 19 reading through verse 25 and then we'll pray and then we'll have a look at these two verses in the preaching of the word so this is Hebrews 10 beginning in verse 19 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's pray god we thank you now for the preaching of your word do be with us again help us to be attentive health help us to take in by your spirit and by your grace the Word of God and we do pray that it would that it would land well upon our hearts and upon our minds that we would contemplate that we would dwell upon we would rejoice in your word and it's truth Lord God that we would reflect and rest upon the Christ to whom it points with great joy and we do just pray that you would be exalted in this act of worship that your saints would be strengthened and that sinners would be saved and that this would all be on to the praise of your most high name we pray in Jesus Christ's name Amen well we bent we began that last sermon by sort of asking the question what do we do as Christians and more specifically what are we to do as Christians corporately as we go about our Christian Way in this lower world what do we do as Christians and as Christians gathering together in church well the Apostle Paul here in the book of Hebrews sets before his recipients and sets before us a proper pattern before living corporately before God resting upon Jesus Christ and the perfection of his salvation there are some things that he exhorts Christians to do in light of this so great a salvation Christ Jesus the Lord has shed his blood for guilty sinners by His grace and for His glory God by virtue of that perfect sacrifice has brought us forth from darkness to light in Christ what do we do now then as Christians and Paul gives us or the author to the book of Hebrews gives us a twofold foundation for these three exhortations that he gives and the foundation if you'll remember was this therefore the statement that begins in verse 19 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 that's foundation number one and then the having is supplied in italics here but it it's repeating this this having and having a high priest over the house of God so that's the the twofold foundation for these three exhortations that follow our Christian the exercise of our Christian duties the exercise of our Christian obedience a joyful compliance to the commands of God in light of so great a salvation they rest upon these two foundations the blood of Jesus Christ and the the fact that he is our high priest over the house of God now remember that all of this is delivered within a particular context it's helpful to remind ourselves of what's going on in a particular context the reason why the Apostle Paul is setting before them these two foundations for their Christian performance and why the Apostle Paul is then exhorting them with this threefold exhortation is because they were being tempted to be stolen away from Christian worship to go back to temple worship all of those washings and all of those ceremonies and all of those sacrifices were to be put away with the coming of Christ because they pointed forward to this Christ and so they weren't to be tempted to go back to temple worship because because Christ is the fulfillment of all of those articles of Old Covenant religion don't go back but rather with these two glorious foundations in view do these three things and therefore go about your Christian Way in the way commanded by God in the way inaugurated by the Lord Jesus Christ and the first two exhortations were first confident New Testament worship born of a perfect sacrifice and amazing grace you'll remember that was verse 22 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 remember there is a there is a vanquishing of fear that comes with Christ and the perfection of his sacrifice and those who he is saved by Amazing Grace let us draw near with a true heart we can draw near in worship we can come before our God we can come into the presence of our God without fear not because of something inherent to our Christianity not because we are so great and we are so lion-hearted and we are so awesome but because of what Christ has done for us we can come with confidence and courage before God bringing to him our petitions our supplications our prayers our Thanksgivings resting upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ let us draw near with a true heart now you'll notice in these three exhortations is that they're marked by the exhortation proper and then they're also they're also marked by the manner in which we are to go about in obedience to them for example let us draw near with a true heart the manner by which we are to do that is in full assurance of faith resting upon this reality that our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience now notice the second exhortation was an immovable constancy in our profession of faith but Trust bar by our unchangeable God we have the exhortation proper here let us hold fast the confession of our hope and it is after the manner of without wavering or it is according to this manner without wavering we lay hold of the confession of our hope and we do that without wavering we don't Evan flow we don't wax and wane we don't come to church and then go back to temple worship we stay with our Christ we stay with our brethren and we hold fast the confession of our hope this Jesus who shed his blood this High Priest over the house of God while thirdly then and that's where we're at now the third exhortation and that comes in verse 20 in verse 24 the third exhortation is the thoughtful diligence in our communion with each other that spurs charity and joyful obedience to Christian duty is say that one more time if you'll allow me a thoughtful diligence in our communion with each other that Spurs charity and joyful obedience to Christian duty and hopefully you see that in the text let's read it verse 24 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 Paul wraps up this three-fold exhortation with this third exhortation which again is that Christians are to be marked by a thoughtful diligence a thoughtful diligence in our communion with each other remember when we come into here too Church we're not so many individual Christians coming in sitting in proximity to others and then just leaving you know we just so happened to come in here together you know to worship and then and then you know we're gone we're in here for each other we're not in here as packed in individuals who then depart we're in here as individuals yes but we're in here as individuals who are in communion with each other who are in fellowship with each other who associate with one another we have a we have a loving reciprocity we have a mutually beneficial reciprocity one to each other where we are to be considering one another we are to be mindful away from ourselves and towards one another that we might arouse that we might stir up charity love good works we come in not as in well we come in yes as individuals but individuals in communion with one another it is a thoughtful diligence in our communion with one another unto a particular purpose and that is to stir up charity and joyful obedience to Christian duties so first off we want to note this that there is a particular activity that Christians are to engage in we are to have Christian hearts that are directed in service to our fellows that's what we have here in this language that the Apostle sets before us and let us consider one another we are to be mindful towards each other we are to have this character about us Christian hearts that are directed in service to our fellows Owen puts it this way and in his particular time there was what he observed to be a departure from this particular Christian ethic and he notes the this from the words of the Apostle Paul let us consider one another he writes this this is the great end of the communion that is among Christians in the mutual consideration of one another just pause for a moment that's what we're to do so it were to be marked by a mutual consideration for one another considering the circumstances conditions walking's abilities for usefulness Oh one another they do excite one another unto love and good works which is called the provocation of them or the stirring up the minds of men unto them this was the way and practice of the Christians of old but is now generally lost with most of the principles of practical obedience especially those which concern our mutual edification as if they had never been prescribed in the gospel there is a command there is an exhortation there is an admonishing by the Apostle Paul in this third admonishing to consider one another to be mindful of each other well we'll look at a number of ways that this that this can flesh itself out but turn with me for a moment to Philippians 2 you know with our with our minds drawn to the Incarnation this time of year and we should say hopefully our minds are drawn to the Incarnation each and every Sunday we gather together in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord the Incarnate one the god man our mediator we're drawn mindfully to consider his glory his riches his Excellency's each and every Lord's day and hopefully as you go about your Monday through Saturday you're waking up and you're falling asleep with contemplations and reflections upon so great a savior it's so great it's so great of God but in Philippians 2 do you notice what we have here we have the Apostle Paul exhorting in perhaps a more expanded way if you will the ethic of Hebrews 10 24 and 25 notice in verses 1 to 4 therefore if there is and we we might read this therefore since there is therefore if there is any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any I hopefully I did say Philippians 2 1 2 for if any affection and mercy verse 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded having the same love being of one Accord of one mind let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others you see here a mutual consideration you see what's important in this Apostolic exhortation for each and every one of us is to vanquish to get rid of to jettison our selfishness our selfish ambition and to be mindful towards each other