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Well, I do greet you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, I've been asked why I've been here. Exactly where is Toledo? It's south of Detroit. Our claim to fame is Jeep. So if you've seen Jeep, that comes from... My house is actually one mile north, I've told some of you, of the old Jeep plant. I live on Willys Parkway. So that's about all that I can say about Toledo other than we live on Lake Erie.

Now, I want to talk in just a moment about your elders, especially Pastor Jim. But first, I need to clear something out. Rich often likes to point out that he's three months older than me. I don't know why, because he never points out that I'm also six inches taller than him. And I wonder what happened to the stool. Somebody must have moved that out.

He's a good friend. Was a good friend. Your pastor has been a very good friend to me, as has Cam. There have been a number of times I didn't meet Cam face to face until I was here, but there were many times I called him and asked him questions, theological questions, usually around the patriarchs, and he always had the answer. I'll leave it to Jason as to whether or not they were accurate answers, I really do appreciate your elders, your deacons, the members of this church.

I have to confess, it's not easy for me to be here because I love my church. I love my family. And you've not made it easy. Let me give an example. What I'm talking about last night went over to Pastor Jim's son's house, and we walk in, and there are all these kids running around, and I hear someone say, Papa! Well, that's what my grandkids call me.

And it was a joyful time, but my heart ached. So I do look forward to getting home. And then here, being with you, the people of God here, it's been wonderful and painful. because you remind me of the people of God that I love and that I'm a member of. So consider yourself blessed.

I can tell you this about your pastor. We talk fairly frequently. Jim and Rebecca, I've been in their home. They're the real deal. When I talked to him, now he stole my thunder the other day, you said the two things you know about me, I love my bride, love my wife, and I love the people of God. Right back at you, brother.

I know that, and quite frankly, when we talk, we're not talking sports or weather, sometimes a little bit of politics, but most of the time, we're talking about the word of God and the people of God. And so I have found a real, kindred spirit with Pastor Jim. I'm not gonna make fun of how he preaches in the coat rack. I actually like it when I go online and I see.

I like it, because I know he's looking at the Bible. And I love that. Well, turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. Now we're going to be in Hebrews. And in many ways, I realize what I'm gonna preach tonight might seem kind of odd because the people of God, here you are on a Sunday night.

You've left the comfort of your home. There's so many other things that certainly you could be doing before the work week begins and yet you come here. And I'm certainly not gonna bark and scold you. I got that from Doc Barsalas, don't scold God's people. But I hope to come back sometime in the future, not to preach, but just to be with you. And my goal is that when I come back, you're all still here. So that's my goal with God's help.

Hebrews chapter one. Verse one, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers, in the prophets, in many portions, and in many ways in these last days, has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And he, that is the son, is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels as he had inherited a more excellent name.

Well, before we continue, let us once again join together in prayer. Oh Lord, God of hosts, hear our prayer. Would you give us your ear, for you are our shield. You are both sun and shield. You give grace and glory. and there is no good thing that you withhold from those who walk according to your ways. Lord, teach us your way that we might walk in your truth, unite our heart to fear your name.

Blessed Spirit, we thank you for the inspiration and the preservation of holy scripture. And now we would ask, knowing that without your help, This book remains closed, so unite our heart that we might reverence you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I really only have two headings.

The first one, I wanna look at these first three verses here in Hebrews chapter one. the greatness of God's word in Christ. Now, what you have that follows is putting before us the greatness of the Son of God. And the Son of God is the one through whom God has finally revealed himself. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portion, many ways, he's saying Old Testament, Genesis all the way up to Matthew. God spoke through prophets. And by the way, we now as Christians own that as Christian scripture.

I've been told that's Jewish ground. It is, if they're Christians. I was here this morning and I heard as we worship together, we heard beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus showed himself to those on there. And that's a wonderful, you look at that, I think we're getting ahead probably next week, or was it this week? It's next week.

You know, if it would have been me, I would have shown up say, I'm alive, but he shows him, he takes him through the Bible because he knows that the word of God by the spirit of God going into our hearts is even more certain than this passing experience of seeing Christ resurrected on the road to Emmaus. And that's why Peter could say to us, we have the word of prophecy made more sure. We're not at a disadvantage. by having our Bibles, and our Bibles is about Jesus. Now, what begins to take place there, verse four, just to give a real quick survey, is Jesus is greater than those great messengers, the angels.

And that kind of tips off as we continue to go through. I think I heard Dr. Rinahan, I forgot to ask him, that he said Hebrews is a transcribed sermon. I've been stumbling over the best way to say that. I've said a sermon committed to writing. I like yours better. I'm stealing it, I'm claiming it as my own. And that's exactly right. I know that there's some of you here, besides the officers that aspire to preach, Hebrews is a good model. If you're gonna preach the Old Testament, even as we heard, as we worship God together, and we heard 1 Samuel read, what was that ultimately about?

Is it just about the King of Israel? Or is it about the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ? And so we see here, verse five and six, that the son is greater than the angels. So you see there, verse five, I'm not gonna go through all this, but to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I've begotten you? What's the answer? It's a rhetorical question. The answer's in the question, and just asking the question, you have the answer.

To which of the angels? Gabriel, Michael, none. We confess that Jesus was begotten, not made. God of God, light of light, very God of very God. And that's exactly what this is talking about. We call it the eternal relationships of origin. In other words, there's one God. Within this one God, there are the three that relate as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And so the son is greater than the angels, because as I already said, beginning of verse six to verse 12, the son himself is God. So right here at the very beginning of the sermon, he plunges us deep into profound, wonderful, necessary, revealed theology. Verse 6, let the angels worship him. Verse 8, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. The eternality of the Son and all the way down. And then finally in this chapter we see the Son is enthroned.

Verse 13, Now, again, I've read, I wouldn't know how to begin to confirm, but what I've read is that in the New Testament scriptures, the book that has Old Testament quotes, and I agree with Dr. Barcelos, I like the translations that put the quotes in caps. It's not because it's yelling at you. It's saying this is from the Old Testament. But there's also allusions. If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you go, that sounds familiar.

And from what I've read, the only book in the Bible that has more quotes and allusions in the Old Testament is the book of Revelation. Let me ask you something. What's the book of Revelation? This is always a tricky question. What is the Book of Revelation about? What is it revealing?

If you see Antichrist, see Pastor Cam and Jim after the service. It's revealing Jesus. And so right here at the beginning, we're seeing the greatness of the Son of God as the very Word of God. Verse 1. Verse 2. My mommy, I loved her, she was a godly woman. And she raised me and then I was baptized Pentecostal. And I'm thankful for my mom's Pentecostal church, taught me many things, that I'm a sinner and need a savior. They baptized me, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And then I spent too much time in the charismatic movement.

Now, they're not the same. They're closely related, but they're different. But they both share this in common, that God is still giving new revelation. That is false. All those claims, I assure you, are not holy. I'm not saying they're demonic. people's ideals running around their head. But when they claim to be speaking for God and they're not, not only is that a violation of the ninth commandment, it's a violation of the third commandment, you shall not take my name in vain.

Now, why am I so bold to say that? Well, I've been there, I saw that, literally had the t-shirt, and I can tell you now, God's final word is God the Son himself. And you know what? What do you want to hear from God besides that? Who I should marry. He told you who you should marry. In the Lord.

I've had people, because I get the question, we do Q&A, and people will talk to me, and I welcome questions. But I've had people say, well, but what if there are two women or men And I can't choose, that's hypothetical of course. I go, well, which one's a Christian? They're both Christian. And I go, okay, if you're at that point and you can't choose, sit down, don't marry either one of them. There's something clearly wrong with you. If you were a boy coming around to my daughter and you're going like, I'm thinking about two, I'm not really sure, I'm saying not this one.

I think it was J.I. Packard said, God gave us a wonderful leading when he gave us a mind. And so you don't, trust me, you don't need the visions, the dreams and all that because you have God's word and his son Jesus. What more to you can he say than what he has already said? What? What more could you possibly hear? when you are being stomped by your conscience and the devil into the ground, and you felt yourself worthy of death, of hell, eternally, and your conscience would give you no peace. And then somehow or another, the message came to you.

There was one who lived perfectly, who never had a bruised conscience, who'd never violated God's holy word. You might think, wow, that guy must have had a great life. His best life ever. And then you hear, no, he was betrayed. He was hated by his own countrymen. He came to his own. And his own did not receive him. I read the Gospels. Honestly, there are times I go, What is wrong with his disciples? But he's patient. He's long-suffering. And then one of those, it's really fascinating. One of you are going to betray me. One of you are going to betray me. And they're all going, who is it? None of them said, I know who it is. The dude with the money box. I've seen how he's been looking at Jesus.

Why is that? Because Jesus, even there in a human, in his human nature, he brought him in, it wasn't fake, he knew he was a devil from the beginning, he showed him patience and kindness, and Judas betrayed him. Remember how he betrayed him? From a distance, pointing him out.

He walked up to him, as he would obviously often do, And he kissed him. And Jesus took it. And they took him away. Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas, back and forth. They beat him. And we hear his countrymen, you want Barabbas? No. Well, what do I do with this one who is the king? You're king. And what did they say?

Not just one time, crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him. So they put Him on the cross. You know, you're here Sunday night, you know the message. But when you heard that at some point, you realize, and someone told you, believe and trust. And it's never just trust certain things that Jesus did. but trust Jesus who did all these things. Put your trust in this man, and you will be saved. And in a way, this wonderful and mysterious, it broke through in your heart in that moment, and you knew.

I am forgiven, and I will live forever. Hallelujah! What a Savior. Right? That's what you've heard. You've heard that. And you believe that. There's probably nothing I could say here tonight that you wouldn't say, Pastor Cam, Pastor Jim hasn't covered that repeatedly. You've heard that. Right?

Now, Hebrews was written, preached, clearly to a congregation that was largely, perhaps exclusively, Christians from amongst the Jewish people. And for a variety of reasons, some theological, which Hebrews is digging into, like here's a question. Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. And that's actually in here. If we had time to go back through, I could show you. It's all right there. I bet Pastor Jim or Pastor Kim has done it more than once.

Wait a minute, Jesus is a high priest? We know our Bibles. A high priest has to come from the tribe of Levi. And so if you know Hebrews, my guess is you're familiar, he spends a good amount of time talking about Melchizedek. And what is he trying to show? Jesus is a high priest of a different and greater order.

And so these Jewish Christians, because of persecution on the one hand, that comes out here in the Bible. They're feeling the pressure, imprisonment, confiscation of property, and they got some real legitimate theological questions. So what he does is he goes to the Old Testament and keeps showing this one thing. Even though we heard it tonight, 1 Samuel.

Jesus is better. When he came into the world, Jesus, the preacher rightly puts Psalm 40 upon Jesus' lip, when I came into the world, it wasn't sacrifices, but a body you've given me, a body, and why that? That he might offer that body, Christian, for you.

And so Hebrews is very much saying, here's what you've heard, don't leave it. Don't go away from it. Because they thought, well, I just go back to the temple, sacrifices, priesthood, and Hebrews is saying, if you go back to that, you fall away from the living God. And there is no opportunity for repentance in that religion.

The veil was torn in two, it's over. I don't know for sure, but you see right there at the beginning of verse two, in these last days. Last days of what? The last days certainly of the old covenant. It began with Christ and the last days will continue until Christ returns.

I don't mean to be controversial. Yeah, I do. The temple being rebuilt might happen. Don't know. I'm no longer charismatic, so I gave up on trying to be a prophet. But even if it's rebuilt, it's as good as a, we would actually say it's a synagogue of Satan. It's no better than a mosque. It's no better than the place where the Mormons, Ed, worship. Because those days are over.

We now come to God through Jesus. And by the way, look at this. You know, I got greeted by one of our little people, and they looked at me, are you preaching tonight? I said, yes, I am. I go, how long do you think I should preach, for an hour? He's like, no, I go, about a half hour. He's like, no, 10 minutes. I lost my, what was I gonna say?

Verse three, the last line of verse three. When he made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high because the work of redemption was done. Now, he made purification for sins Hebrews goes on to say, once and for all. Done. So when Rome comes along and talks about purification and purgatory, they're teaching heresy. Damnedable, if you trust it, heresy. You know what Rome believes in all that stuff?

November 1st is All Saints Day. October 31st is All Souls Day. And you know what All Souls Day is about? It's a day for you to pray for people who are in purgatory. Why are they in purgatory? Because they left this world with penalty and pain that needed to be paid for their sins. I'm going to say something again, Jim, if I cause controversy. I'm sorry. Every religion will bring you to God. All of them except ours will bring you to God to your damnation. Only the religion of God in Christ brings you safely, Richard said, all the way home because Jesus paid it all. Hallelujah. What a Savior. You've heard that. Do you love it?

Okay, now here's what I want to do, that was introduction. You're just like my people, they laugh when I say that too. So what is the application of this? Now one of the disciplines I started when I was preaching through Colossians is how did Paul, when he's writing Colossians, how did he apply what he reveals in the front part, the doctrinal part. And so when I come to Hebrews, I'm asking that. What do I do with this? Why are you telling me this?

And we don't have to look very far. Hebrews chapter two. What this is, we just saw the greatness of God's Word, who is Christ, and here is the greatness, the terribleness of the neglect of God's Word in Christ. Verse 1. This is now the first exhortation that we encounter in Hebrews for this reason. These words are very important, please get these. God spoke to us in his son, he spoke through the prophets and on and on and on.

For this reason, we must pay much closer attention. to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. Now I want you to, what I just read, notice there's two times you have the word we. That's very important, catch that because that'll come back later. For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. Why is that?

2. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will.

That's the application. You've heard it, don't drift from it. Now, I realize, especially for us Reformed people, because we are whole Bible people, right? And we don't settle on one text to determine all the other texts. And we believe that God will preserve us. I think, Rich, that was what you were wanting, that's what you said this morning. And we agree with that, right? But we also know that God accomplishes his will in our life through various means. So, when you pray, and I know you pray, give us this day our daily bread. And my guess is, it's true, in my life, even though I eat ketogenic diet, he gives me daily bacon. Is that controversial? I don't, okay. He gives me. He feeds me.

But does that preclude working and banking and grocery stores and bakers? No. You know, by the way, you need to read Luther on the ideal vocation because he said our various vocation is God's mask where he's serving us by providing us our daily bread through what the farmer does, the grocer does. and on and on and on.

So even as you say, God, feed me, you know He's giving you the means by which to bring that about, right? Richard said the other night, the other day, you were talking about, it was in the Q and A, about we recognize the means, otherwise, why don't you just die? In the same way, the warnings are not a threat against the security that we have, but the very means of it. Did God give you His holy word that you might hear it, believe it, obey it, and benefit from it? This is a part of that. God, through these kind of warnings, move us onward and upward by grace as we ever keep our eyes on Jesus.

I mean, think about it. If one of your members called you up, see, I'm sure there's nobody who's thinking about, I'm converting to Judaism. Probably not happening here. But you know what it's like. People go away. And what we have here, pay closer attention to what we've heard so that you don't drift away. I've seen people drift and go away.

If somebody came to you and said, one of your friends here at church, you know I've been watching these videos and I think I might be an atheist. You're not going to say, well I guess you're decreed to be an atheist. You're gonna be calling the pastors, you're gonna be doing all the research, all the apologetic, maybe put them in a headlock. One of my gifted brothers put Barcelos in a headlock.

It was great. Right? Isn't that what you would do? You wouldn't take this kind of a passive, like, well, if they were elect, they'll just, they'll believe. And that's what Hebrews is saying. So here's the question, you see the warning, listen, close, again, it's all, this is, going back to what Dr. Renahan, now I can safely say it forever, Hebrews was a sermon, and what the preacher is saying, keep hearing Jesus as he comes to you in the gospel, lest you drift away from it.

Now here's the question, looking here just at the text, why do some drift? Well, first of all, verse one, there's a familiarity. For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. You've heard it. And oftentimes, let's be honest, when the pastor comes to that point, and I'm talking about me, I start gathering my stuff, like for me, because I got to go up, we have benediction, when I'm back at home, We get familiar with the gospel. And it stops arresting our soul.

And the way the Bible's meant to be treated, live there, look at it. I'm not laying a guilty thing on you like, have you been in the Word today? I'm saying this, let the Word get into you. And don't be overly familiar with it. Like honey out of a rock, you gotta get it, it's there.

You know, once again, I hate complimenting the rich in public, but one of the great gifts that God has given to the church, the rich, is to help us see the Bible as the book about Jesus, and how he's there, and he's there, and he's there. Genesis three, all the way through.

I mean, let's be honest, here's the problem. Why are there smoke machines? I don't like talking bad about other churches, but there are bad things happening in other churches. And you look like, why the smoke machine? That's weird. I didn't like that when I went to rock concerts. And all the lights. I really would get a migraine if I was there. Why?

It's really not that complicated. They're bored with Jesus. It's not enough to hear the man of God open up the Word of God and just read it and just preach it. They're bored with Jesus. But our hymn gets it right. The old, old story. I love to tell the old, old story. For those who know it best, love it most. So the familiarity. And again, along with this, verse three, there's a, the lesser things become greater. Why am I saying that verse three?

How shall we escape if we neglect? And notice you just say our salvation, but so great a salvation, a negligence of so great a salvation. And this is where, I'm not your pastor, but we live in the same time, the same culture, and I promise you I'm not scolding you. I just know as a people of God, and like I said, I hope I come back in the future, and the faces I see now will be the faces there unless you've gone on to glory because you were faithful until the end. We're really good at letting lesser things become the greater things. Now, some of you are gonna say right away, it's like, well, Pastor, I know, I've had a conversation too, or two with you about politics. And there's a good reason for that. Here in the West, we're under siege.

Political Islam, the Marxists with blue hair that don't know which bathroom to use, and they're coming after our children. The common kingdom is being perverted, right? But remember, it's the common kingdom. It's not the kingdom of God. You know, we live in this reality.

The Bible tells us the government is God's servant. Deacon has the sword to punish evildoers. Tells us that. Would to God that they would use that sword more regularly and justly. But Romans 13 is also have to be understood along with Revelation 13, where the state can often be the servant of the devil, right? Christ's kingdom suffers none of that. We as a church in Toledo, we pray at our stated meetings for the persecuted church of God.

And the thing that I always marvel at, sometimes their numbers are so tiny, but you know what? There's a church of God there. So, look, I have grandchildren, children, a church that I would gladly die for, and if lawfully necessary, I would kill for.

I get it. The kingdoms of this world are not the kingdom of God and his Christ yet. So we can get these lesser things, education, our wealth. I'm going to get in trouble. I know I am, Jim. I know that you believe this, so I'm going to preach it. Look, families are hugely important. I had one. I produced five more, my grandkids.

We're starting our own tribe. We're gonna live on a compound. They don't know that yet, so keep that a secret. Do any of you remember a radio program, Focus on the Family? My wife and I benefited a lot from that. We really did. But let's not focus on the family at the expense of staying focused individually, in our families, in our churches, on Christ.

You go through this. If we had time, we don't have time. The clock, I mean, you know, that little cute little kid wanted me to go 10 minutes. But in this very text, we hear Jesus from the Old Testament calling you brethren, the children of God. Let's focus more on that thing. So that's part of the drift. The lesser things become the greater things. There's also the reality that, and this is very much the burden of Hebrews, we end up having hard hearts because of closed ears. Let's do a real quick, I'm getting close to the end. Hebrews, just, but I want, look at this with your own eyeballs. Remember what Dr. Renahan says, and I believe this was a sermon, and we get something here that's really important.

Chapter three, verse 17, or verse seven, rather. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear His voice, do not pardon your hearts as they provoked Me. Now, here's what I believe He's saying. I'm preaching the Word of God to you. I'm quoting all these Psalms and other parts of the Old Testament. And God is speaking to you. And if today you hear His Word, Watch your ears, guard your heart. You see that right there? Now, verse 15. While it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me.

He goes on to say in verse 19, we see that they were not able to enter the land, because of why weren't they able to go to the land? Well, you could say, well, they grumbled, they complained, they worshiped the golden calf. All that's true. He's saying that's all rooted in unbelief. And why is there unbelief? Hardened hearts, closed ears.

Chapter four, verse seven. He again fixes a certain day, today, saying, through David, after so long a time, just as has been said before, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. So it's a theme that's been running, and I do believe that he's saying, as the word of God is coming to you, gathered as you are as the people of God, guard your hearts, watch your hearts, that you not drift from it. One more text with this, chapter 12. Verse 25, this church right here, all of you who are good members in standing, you came out on a Sunday night. That put you in a real minority. Like I said, when I come back, when I come back, I want to see you.

So, verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven." Speaking of Christ. So Hebrews is saying, don't drift, don't drift, don't drift.

You know, you can get the picture. You're on a boat, and it's rocking, and it's comfortable. And then all of a sudden, you hear a roar and a crashing. And you wake up, and you realize you've got exactly 15 seconds, and you're going over the precipice. Because the rocking, the gentleness, the comfort.

You know, difficulties, God uses difficulties in our life to wake us up. Lewis, doesn't Lewis say, God speaks to us this way, but he screams to us in our suffering? And look, I've seen people drift away because of their suffering. Suffering can slay us thousands. Prosperity, it's tens of thousands.

That's why in this very chapter he talks about, don't treat lightly the discipline of the Lord. He brings these hardships and these crosses. He makes your battery die on one of the most busy days of your life. To awaken us, to make us realize this life is passing. You know, Hebrews, am I out of time? Shall I stop?

Okay, okay, he said I can keep going. But Hebrews, it's an amazing thing in chapter 11, You know, right now there's all this anxiety about the promised land and all that. Hebrews said, look, the Abraham and the patriarchs, they were living in the land of promise. And what did they live in? Tents. Sorry, Ed. People who are living in tents are saying, I'm not staying here. Not here, not yet. That's how we're to live. We're pilgrims. Not here, not yet. We're waiting for Christ's return. Until then, we keep listening, we keep listening.

I lied. I have one more text. So just to close out how I wanna press upon your conscience, Hebrews chapter 10. Now what I'm about to say, I promise you, this is not a conspiracy. I know some of you love conspiracies. because we live in a conspiratorial world. You know the old saying, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. So we did not conspire.

As a matter of fact, the other day I actually asked Jim if I had permission to say conferences are good, but they're not the best. And then Dr. Renahan, in his lecture, he started talking about those things that are good, but they're not the means of grace. Remember that list of things? And then Rich said, don't listen to podcasts that aren't church-based. Didn't you say that?

So we're not conspiring, but we all agree. In God's providence, we're saying the same thing to you, more importantly now. as you've heard God say to you. He saved you, you heard him in Christ, now keep listening to Christ. So Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. Therefore brethren, see the family language? And this church, again, you made me miss the church that I'm a member of because I see it, I feel it, I love it, you're a family. And that's what he's saying to this group of Jewish believers.

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 and full assurance of faith.

Notice that, full assurance of what? Faith. having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Put a pause right there, because I heard Dr. Renahan, I think we were like the second church you gave your baptismal lectures on, and he used that text to say it's talking about baptism. I about jumped out of my seat, I almost became charismatic all over again. Like, yes, that's what it's talking about, since you've been baptized.

So let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Why? For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate Provoke, stimulate one another to love and good deeds. How do you do that? Not forsaking your own assembly together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. God has given you the means of grace. and you need them every stated meeting. They're not means of guilt, as I'll tell my people all the time. They're not means of guilt, they're means of grace. And if you feel guilty about your prayer life, then let this be your prayer. God help me to pray. Amen. And then leave it with him.

You come to the table, you eat, you drink, you see the baptism, and God is saying to you in all those things, He's saying the same thing you hear in the gospel, they're visible gospel words to you. You've been accepted in the beloved. You are my children. I love you. I forgive you. And you need to hear that. This is why the Christian Sabbath is so necessary. You know what? I'm going to tell you.

Even if an angel from heaven came and told me, you really don't have to keep it. By the way, that's not going to happen. But even if, even if somebody were able to put it all together and convince me The fourth commandment doesn't abide. You know what I would do? Not a single thing different. You know why? We weren't made for the Sabbath.

It was made for us because we need it. And what you need to be is here. Now certainly there are certain things you can pray at home, you should pray at home, you should read your Bible at home. I guarantee you there is a wonderful reality about the gathering of God's saints when we gather together.

Richard preaches it. He got the sermon from a Puritan. God loves the gates of Zion than all the dwelling places of Jacob. He's not saying He doesn't love the dwelling places of Jacob, your house, your home, your prayer closet. He's just saying He loves it better when you're here together. So when we have that promise, when two or three are gathered together, Jesus is with us. And so He's blessing His Word, He's blessing you.

And so Hebrews is saying, really, here's what it's saying, keep coming to church and hear the sermons, hear the Bible read, don't drift away. That is the Word of God. Amen. Let us pray. O gracious Father, our hearts would reflect the words of the hymn writer, Lord, let us never, never outlive our love to Thee. So keep us in the Word of the cross, keep us in the work of the Spirit, Help us to love your people whom you have set your love upon before there was time. Until the great day when Jesus Christ returns, help us to fix our ears and our eyes upon him until that great day. And so together, Christ, we pray, come quickly. Amen.