[0:00] I'll be reading from Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 to 31. And we have just learnt that Jesus, his death for us, his sacrifice for sin has been effective.
[0:16] So he could sit down next to the Father, job done. And we have the promise of the Holy Spirit fulfilled where it says, where he says, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.
[0:31] And so then it is on every person who hears that message to choose what to do about it.
[0:43] From verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
[1:19] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
[1:49] For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
[2:18] How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
[2:35] For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people.
[2:47] It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Well, good morning, everyone.
[3:00] It would be wonderful if you could have Hebrews chapter 10 open. We'll be looking at that passage closely, especially the first half of what was read. I'm just going through it verse by verse.
[3:14] My name is Martin, and welcome to any who are new amongst us. It's wonderful to have you with us this morning. I hope you are encouraged by all the time we share together, including the time in God's Word now.
[3:28] I'm going to pray again and ask God to help us as we come to his Word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you speak to us in the Scriptures and that everything written here is for our encouragement and hope.
[3:42] We pray, please, that you would be with each one of us as we meditate on your Word this morning. Please help us to receive what you're saying, to be strengthened in faith by it, and to be spurred on to strengthen and encourage one another.
[3:58] We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. When you give someone a gift, you hope that they will both accept it and enjoy it.
[4:10] If they don't accept it or they don't enjoy it, no matter how well-meaning your act of giving, there's a sense in which the gift has failed. It's incomplete.
[4:21] Your act of giving has not reached its intended goal, that is, to produce joy in the one you give the gift to. Now, there are different reasons someone might not accept a gift.
[4:33] Maybe they don't want the gift. They're just not interested in it. Maybe their pride gets in the way and they don't want to accept it, an act of charity. Maybe they think, rightly or wrongly, that the gift you're offering comes with strings attached and they don't want to be in your debt.
[4:53] There are different reasons someone having received a gift might not enjoy the gift. Maybe it's something they didn't really like or need in the first place. Maybe they don't enjoy it, though, through their own neglect of the gift.
[5:10] My mum and stepdad are here with us this morning and I confess I've frustrated my mum many times when she's given me money to buy something nice like a jacket or a pair of shoes and I just never got around to doing it.
[5:23] Sometimes gifts miss the mark. Sometimes the gift is perfect, but the act of giving fails because of reluctance or negligence on the part of the recipient.
[5:40] Well, God has given us the most exquisite and precious gift. He's given us his son. He's given us his son. The main theme of the book of Hebrews is how precious and exquisite is the gift of God's son.
[6:00] He is a better messenger than prophets or angels. We saw that in chapter 1. He's a better leader than Moses. We saw that in chapter 3.
[6:11] He's a better rest giver than Joshua in chapter 4. He's a better high priest than Aaron. He inaugurates a better covenant than the law. He offers a better sacrifice once for all than the endlessly repeated sacrifices that were prescribed by the law.
[6:29] He is better in every way. And if Jesus is better than prophets and angels and Moses and Joshua and Aaron and the law, if Jesus is better than all these things, then he is categorically and absolutely and unequivocally better than Peter Dutton or Anthony Albanese or Elon Musk or Joe Rogan or Jordan Peterson or the Dalai Lama or Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift or anyone else that people might look to for hope and meaning and peace.
[7:04] Jesus is the supreme and all-sufficient saviour. He is everything we need.
[7:17] And he's also a gift, a gift to be accepted and a gift to be enjoyed. So as Hebrews has shown us all these different aspects of Jesus' perfection, like facets of a diamond, there have also been repeated exhortations not to refuse or neglect what God has given us.
[7:42] I've seen these in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 6. In each case, each of those exhortations or warnings has driven home the truths about Jesus that have just been taught in the scriptures.
[7:56] So in chapter 1, Jesus is a better messenger than prophets or angels. The exhortation in chapter 2 is, well, pay close attention to what we've heard, the message we've heard.
[8:09] Chapter 3, Jesus is a better leader than Moses. Well, the exhortation in chapter 3 is, don't harden your hearts as the Israelites did who were led by Moses in the wilderness. In the same way, as we come to this exhortation, this admonition in the second half of chapter 10, it is driving home all the truths about Jesus that have been taught in chapters 7 to 10.
[8:37] In some ways, though, it's kind of the culmination of the book as a whole. Chapters 11 to 13 are somewhat different. We're going to see that in coming weeks. But in a sense, this exhortation here is the culmination of the entire Christological focus of the book of Hebrews.
[8:58] We're going to look at it over two talks today, verses 19 to 31, and in a couple of weeks after Easter, Matt Hunt will take us through verses 32 to 39. But really, those two passages belong together as part of an exhortation.
[9:14] But they're short sections, so that'll give us time to slow down and notice some details. I've split up verse 19 to 31 into three sections, although on your outlines, if you have an outline, you're following it, I got the verse numbers wrong.
[9:28] So point one is actually verses 19 to 21, and point two is verses 22 to 25. I just made an error there in one of the verse numbers. So three sections.
[9:39] First, verses 19 to 21, what we have received. Then verses 22 to 25, what we are to do, what we are to do with what we've received.
[9:51] And then verses 26 to 31, the folly of doing otherwise. First, let's think about what we've received from verse 19. Look at verse 19 with me. Therefore, brothers.
[10:03] Now, or brothers and sisters, the word Adelphoi, brothers, is used inclusively of men and women here. Therefore, brothers. And it evokes that unity and mutual affection which we share as believers.
[10:18] We all share the same fundamental status and relationship. We are brothers and sisters of one another, whoever we are. Teacher and those who are taught alike.
[10:30] Everyone. Therefore, brothers, since we have, verse 19 says, since we have, and we have two things. First, in verses 19 and 20, there's something we have because Jesus died.
[10:44] And then in verse 21, there's something we have because Jesus lives. So first, the thing we have because Jesus died, verse 19 to 20, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.
[11:10] In other words, what these verses are saying is that we have complete, uninhibited access to the presence of God. In the tabernacle and in the temple, the holy place stood behind the curtain.
[11:27] The holy place behind the curtain was the innermost room and it was the throne room of God. Symbolically, the place where God dwelt among his people.
[11:37] But access was strictly limited. Only the high priest was permitted to enter. And even the site of the most holy place was concealed behind a curtain.
[11:55] The curtain guarding the most holy place made an emphatic statement. Sinners that we are, we may not enter the presence of God, the holy God. But now, we are authorised to enter.
[12:12] Jesus has opened the way, a new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, verse 20 says. And he's done this by his blood and through his flesh.
[12:24] Those parallel phrases at the end of verse 19 and 20 point to Jesus' death. By Jesus' death, he has opened the way that we may have access to God.
[12:41] Now, likely the writer has in mind that dramatic moment which is recorded for us in the Gospels when Jesus was on the cross, when Jesus died. We read in the Gospels that the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom.
[12:55] No more separation between God and humanity. The way opened. And so, God's word says here to us in verse 19, we have confidence to enter.
[13:12] We have bold, free, uninhibited rights of approach. We have security clearance not just to enter a room or a building but spiritually to approach the presence of God himself, the God whom no temple can contain.
[13:30] It's a new and living way that has been opened for us, verse 20 says, a new and living way, living because it's the way of life. We approach God and yet we live.
[13:46] The presence of God and life, two things lost when humanity fell into sin in Genesis 3, are ours now by right through the blood of Christ.
[14:00] brothers and sisters, do you realise that? There is no barrier between you and God, no barrier.
[14:16] The curtain has been torn in two. We're like, you know, like one of my children, when one of my children wakes up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, they feel complete confidence to wander into Jen's and my bedroom and climb into our bed.
[14:36] They know they belong there, they have free access and they can stay there as long as they don't make too much noise. But that's we have a backstage pass stamped with the blood of Christ.
[14:57] We may approach God and that's expressed in prayer, of course. We can approach God in prayer anywhere and anytime. But I don't think these verses are just talking about prayer.
[15:11] It's talking about the fundamental reality of our relationship with God as we experience it both now and forevermore because of Jesus' death. But there's more.
[15:24] There's not only something we have because Jesus died, there's also something we have because Jesus lives. Verse 21, and since we have a great priest over the house of God.
[15:37] Now you might read that and think that the house of God here refers to the temple or the tabernacle after all there's a lot of sort of temple tabernacle imagery going on in these chapters of Hebrews.
[15:49] But in Hebrews house doesn't ever refer to God's temple. It refers to something else. The house refers to God's people. So just if you've got your Bibles open, keep your finger there in Hebrews chapter 10 and turn back to Hebrews chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 3, verse 5 and 6.
[16:15] Hebrews 3 verse 5 and 6 says, Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.
[16:27] But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
[16:38] Notice there's growing a contrast between Moses and Christ. Moses a servant but Christ a son, a son over God's house, the son. But then in the second half of verse 6 it says, And we are his house.
[16:53] Who is the house? What is the house? It's the people of God. God. In chapter 3, Christ is the son over God's house and that idea that he's the son, that points to his divinity, his divine nature.
[17:08] He's the heir of all things. He's the radiance of God's glory. He upholds the universe. He's worshipped by angels. The master who rules over God's people, over the house of God, is the majestic son who has no peer.
[17:23] But here in Hebrews chapter 10, we read that we have a great priest over the house of God. And priest points to his humanity.
[17:37] He's the man, Jesus, whose blood was shed. He was made flesh and blood like us. He suffered like us, weak like us, sharing our humanity, identifying with us so that he can represent us.
[17:53] As our high priest, he offered himself, unblemished to God, and he rose from the dead and he lives. And in his resurrection life, he remains our great high priest.
[18:05] Hebrews 7, verse 24 and 25, he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.
[18:20] the one who rules over us as the son is the same as the one who represents us as our priest. We have a great priest over the house of God.
[18:36] And if the one who rules us is also the one who represents us and intercedes for us, what could we possibly have to fear?
[18:46] can you sense how secure our position is? How secure is the position of those who have come to the Lord Jesus?
[18:59] Jesus Christ is our all sufficient saviour. He has done and is doing everything we might possibly need so that we belong. We belong in the presence of God.
[19:13] We belong among the people of God. So how do we respond to our all sufficient saviour? We've seen what we've received, confidence to enter, a great priest over the house of God.
[19:28] What are we to do with what we've received? Well, verses 22 to 25 spell out what we are to do. Three things. Draw near, hold fast and consider.
[19:41] Notice similar expressions there in verse 22, 23 and 24. Let us draw near, let us hold fast, let us consider. What did Don call them?
[19:52] Was it God's lettuce patch? God's lettuce patch? Well, grammatically these three verbs function as what are called cohortatives, which is just exhortations to common action.
[20:06] The exhortations to common action. It's where the speaker or the writer includes himself with those he's exhorting. This is for all of us.
[20:17] Let us. These are exhortations to common action. So what are we to do? First, verse 22, we draw near. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
[20:39] Essentially, this is just saying, let us approach God because we're free to do so. Let us approach God because we are free to do so. The second half of the verse is about things that have already taken place for the believers that he's writing to.
[20:58] The second half of the verse is about existing and enduring realities. Our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
[21:13] Chapter 9 talked about how under the old covenant people would be sprinkled with the blood of sacrifices that would make them for the cleansing of their flesh that would make them outwardly or ceremonially clean.
[21:27] But the blood of Jesus purifies us inwardly. It cleanses our consciences. It cleanses us from the guilt of sin.
[21:38] so that our consciences are no longer stricken with the sin that stands against us. The blood of Jesus cleanses our hearts.
[21:51] It cleanses our consciences. And our bodies washed with pure water, that likely alludes to Christian baptism as a sign of the purification that God works in our hearts.
[22:08] the writer wants his hearers to recall what their baptism signified. That our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, forgiven, cleansed, purified.
[22:25] We no longer carry around the guilt and conviction of sin in our hearts. Jesus has atoned for it. God has forgiven it. Chapter 10 verse 10 says, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
[22:46] It is done, it is finished. Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? I'm sure you have in some context. You know imposter syndrome where you kind of feel like you don't really belong somewhere?
[23:03] Like you're a bit of a fake or a fraud? Let me tell you, one of the times I experienced imposter syndrome was quite a few years ago when I played in the Newcastle representative ultimate frisbee team.
[23:18] Because I was, let me tell you, I was one of the lower order players. I mean I kind of just only scraped my way into the team and so I often felt like I didn't fully belong.
[23:30] I knew that as soon as a better player came along, I'd lose my spot, as indeed happened. And then I found it much more relaxing and enjoyable playing in the B team because you know, the standards weren't so high.
[23:45] Do you ever feel that way about being a Christian though? Do you ever feel like you don't really belong? That you know everyone else seems to have it all together but if they knew what you were really like they'd show you the door?
[23:57] maybe you even find it more relaxing hanging out with non-believers than hanging out with Christians because the expectations are lower.
[24:07] I think most of us feel that way at least sometimes but when we do feel that way what I want us to recognise is that when we feel that way we are failing to enjoy fully what God has already given us I'm not saying this to make you feel even worse if you feel that way so you don't only feel you know you feel bad about not fitting in and then you feel bad about feeling bad and I'm not saying that I'm just saying like when we feel like we're for those anyone who believes in Jesus if we feel like we're an imposter among the people of God we are failing to enjoy what God has already given us confidence to enter by the blood of Jesus a great priest over the house of God verse 22 is simply saying enjoy what we've received let's draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith we are free to bask in God's goodness to us to live our lives close to him to know we belong for he has cleansed us through
[25:20] Christ the second thing we're to do there's the first thing let us draw near the second thing we're to do is to hold fast verse 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful Christians have always been people who say we believe we believe in what God has done in the past we believe God created all things we believe God came amongst us in the person of his son we believe Jesus died for our sins we believe Jesus rose from the dead we believe we also believe what God has promised for the future and here's where the emphasis of verse 23 lies we believe what God has promised for the future we believe Jesus will return we believe we will see him we believe God's kingdom will be established over all we believe in the resurrection that we will be raised as
[26:25] Jesus was raised we believe in life everlasting we believe here in verse 23 the emphasis is on that future because you see there it says let us hold fast the confession of our hope the things we are waiting for I won't say too much more on this because this is a major theme in the chapters of Hebrews to come in fact even in verse 32 to 39 so I'm sure we'll come to it in future talks but in brief living as people who believe what God has promised about the future and God's word assures us that God is faithful he will keep his promises the promises of God will never fail because they're the promises of God he doesn't forget them he won't neglect them he can't be thwarted nothing can obstruct him from keeping what he's promised from doing what he said now life is very different when we believe
[27:31] God's promises for the future it changes how we think about what matters now so for example it means it enables us to say with Paul that physical training matters less than training in godliness so if you believe that this present life is all there is then physical training has supreme value your health fitness physical condition they will potentially enable you to live longer and live better maybe but if you believe God will raise us from the dead physical training has only limited and temporary value now I say this as someone who values I enjoy physical training but no matter how hard I train or how well I eat my present body in a few short decades will waste away and die but God has promised me a better and imperishable body he has that covered
[28:34] I don't need to worry about that so as Paul says godliness unlike physical training godliness is a value in every way it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come there are all kinds of forces in our world that will tempt us to live only for the present and not for the future to live only by what we can get or achieve now and not by faith in what God has promised us even something as simple as envy can tempt us to live only for the present and not for the future we look around and we see people who live only for the present we see what they're enjoying and we want to enjoy what they're enjoying and we want to have everything they have and we want that they have all their good things in this life and we want all our good things in this life or maybe we just even want to fit in and be!
[29:36] everyone else but when we live only for this world as Jesus said we are trying to save our lives but we don't need to save our lives we already have a saviour and we have promises of God which will not fail so brothers sisters let's hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful there's a third thing we have to do with what we have been given that is consider verse 24 let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works a more literal translation of the Greek would be something like this let us consider one another the object of the verb there is one another let us consider one another for the stirring up of love and good works that is we're encouraged to think about each other to keep each other in mind to consider one another
[30:47] Christianity is a team sport we're not solitary nomads we're brothers and sisters we're fellow members of the people of God we share in the same salvation we've received the same promises we're fighting the same battle it's God's plan and design that we reach our goal together so we're to consider each other to think about each other to keep one another in mind in particular to consider how to stir one another up the word that's translated as stir up it's a strong one it's used elsewhere in the New Testament of a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas in a verb form it's used with a sense of provoking it's kind of stirring up or provoking this is what my kids do to each other when they're annoying each other it's that kind of word here it's a strong word it's an uncomfortable word and using that word rather than like a more gentle word here
[32:09] I think it points to the fact that we're all of us are a bit slow to change too much of the old still clings to us we don't naturally slide into good patterns and good habits but that strong and uncomfortable word is paired with words that make a surprising contrast where to provoke one another to love and good works or possibly where to provoke one another by love and good works!
[32:40] we have an all sufficient saviour salvation doesn't stop with the forgiveness of sins and with the cleansing of our consciences but salvation goes on to produce transformation of life to change us our lives our actions one way we enjoy the salvation we've received!
[33:02] is to live out the transformation that God is working in us and so one feature of our life together as the people of God is growing together in love and good deeds considering one another for the provoking of love and good deeds and we get opportunities to do this don't we this is part of life together as the people of God there are always opportunities in our local congregation there are people who are isolated whom we could visit there are people who are sick and frail and who need support there are people who are facing difficulties who need prayer unemployment troubled relationships or other difficulties in life there are people who are grieving and we mourn with them there are people who have something to celebrate a new job a new baby and we rejoice with them not to mention all the opportunities we have for spontaneous acts of love generosity kindness there are opportunities in our local congregation there are opportunities in our immediate community
[34:13] I mean God has placed this church here in Glendale I know many of us the members of the church come from all over Newcastle and beyond which is wonderful but as a church we gather here in Glendale are there things we could do to bless this suburb and those immediately around us there are opportunities in the wider body of Christ the worldwide church in the bulletins for the last couple of weeks there's been a notice about fundraising for Lincoln and Leah following the earthquake in Myanmar Lincoln and Leah who run a Bible college in Myanmar we can support them as they show love and care to their neighbours and their fellow countrymen who have suffered under the earthquake their need the need of Myanmar provokes us to generosity and whatever we give our generosity will provoke
[35:19] Lincoln and Leah to use what we've given to use what they've received to love and care for those around them we're sharing together in love and good works but there's a baseline we need in place if we're to do all of this if we're to consider how to provoke one another to love and good works the baseline is that we actually meet together we actually gather as the people of God verse 25 24 and 25 why might we neglect meeting together we might neglect meeting together because other things compete for our time and attention we might neglect meeting together because life is complicated if you're anything like me there are times when
[36:22] I just find myself feeling overwhelmed and I just kind of want to retreat and turn away from everyone else and just retreat inside myself we might neglect meeting together because relationships are difficult maybe you have some strange relationships maybe you just find relationships not as deep as you'd like them to be in the church we might neglect meeting together because of social pressure and persecution that was maybe less our situation but it was certainly the situation of those to whom this was first written!
[36:58] to church is not! church is not a concert it's not like the theatre when we gather it's not gathering as performers and spectators we all gather as participants and the conversations we have together over morning tea or over lunch are just as much part of church and just as much an opportunity for encouragement and love as anything that takes place in the formal part of the church service we are building a community where we encourage one another in love perseverance and good works so let's value and persevere in gathering and meeting together on Sundays and in smaller groups as we are able brothers sisters this is enjoying the salvation we have received this is what we are to do with what we have been given we draw near to
[38:03] God we hold fast to our hope we consider one another in the final part of the passage before us today we see the folly of doing otherwise verses 26 to 31 give us a stern warning it's one of those parts of God's word that I think we might find a bit unsettling and so I want us to read the whole thing and then I think when we understand it in context we'll recognize it's not given to terrify us but we are to take it seriously so look at verse 26 to 31 I'll read the whole thing for if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the son of
[39:08] God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace for we know him who said vengeance is mine I will repay and again the Lord will judge his people it is a fearful of the living God now the reason we find this passage unsettling is because we read verse 26 and we think what if that's talking about me you know if we deliberately if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth what if that's talking about me I mean after all you know I sin and there are times when I sin deliberately that is it's not as if I only ever sin by accident you know I'm completely unaware I'm sinning and
[40:08] I just somehow stumble into sinning and oh whoops I've sinned that's not how it works there are plenty of times I've consciously chosen to do things that are sinful now I don't want to downplay the seriousness of sin but I don't think these verses are talking about individual sins the warning here is not about individual sins it's talking about apostasy it's talking about deliberately and willfully and finally repudiating our all sufficient saviour so you look at how verse 26 go on sinning deliberately is expanded in verse 29 how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace spurned or trampled underfoot the son of
[41:18] God profaned the blood of the covenant outraged the spirit of grace you know! those three terms in one sense each highlight the full and complete salvation which God offers us in Jesus the blood of the covenant the spirit of grace grace these verses are talking about the one who knows the truth who knows that the son is our all sufficient saviour the person who knows that Jesus blood sanctifies so that we can freely enter the presence of God the person who knows that God's spirit is a spirit of grace and his words are words of grace if someone knows all that and goes on to deny and repudiate and neglect and ignore it what's left for them as verse 26 says there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries for the one who rejects knowingly rejects the one full and sufficient sacrifice for sins there is no other sacrifice there's nothing else there's no other way to be cleansed of sin apart from the blood of
[42:43] Christ there's no other way to escape the fire of judgment apart from our all sufficient saviour our great high priest is enough and there is no other so if we know this why on earth would we refuse it why on earth would we neglect it now the writer of Hebrews doesn't think those he's addressing were in that category he's confident they weren't and I'm confident God's word to us is the same verse 39 we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who have faith and preserve their souls but the original hearers of this message you know if apostasy came for them it would creep up on them gradually through gradual neglect through the slow fading of their original confidence through the incremental erosion of their resolve and
[43:57] I think we're the same you know rejecting the truth for us is more likely to creep us on us gradually than come in an instant we're more likely to slide into apostasy than to fall in a moment but that won't be the case if rather than neglecting what we've received we enjoy it we enjoy it for Christmas we it was his birthday I can't remember we gave Connor a keyboard he's learning to play the keyboard and he enjoys playing it and he enjoys practicing and making music and sometimes making too much music and music gets a bit too loud he enjoys coming up with his own tunes tinkering away it's a gift he's enjoying now if the gift of that keyboard to
[44:59] Connor would become worthless it's not going to become worthless! overnight it will only become worthless through gradual neglect if he just sort of stops being interested and then at some point he's not making music and there's no joy in playing piano for him on the flip side it's a gift that the more he enjoys it the more he uses it the more he will recognise how precious music is he'll grow in his appreciation how do we enjoy what we've received we draw near to God we draw near to God we live our lives closely to the Lord confident that we belong in his presence we enjoy intimate access to the creator of the universe intimate access to our father we draw near to
[46:04] God and we hold fast the confession of our hope we believe the promises of God we believe what he's promised us and we live in light of that and we consider each other we keep in mind the people of God and particularly how we can encourage one another in perseverance in love and in good deeds as we do these things we will never stumble and we will never fall but God will draw us into the glorious future which he has promised us will you pray with me heavenly father we thank you that in Jesus Christ we have you have given us an all sufficient savior thank you that his blood cleanses our consciences of all sin thank you that he's opened the way that we might come to you even now at this very moment as we pray to you father we do it boldly and confidently because we belong in your presence we thank you father that you have appointed for us your son as our high priest forever who always represents us who always intercedes for us father you have given us every reason for confidence and every reason for hope and so fill our hearts with the full assurance of faith and we pray that you would enable us to encourage one another in this thank you for bringing us together in this church this local gathering and thank you for uniting us with the worldwide church your people in every place and so help each one of us to remember the people of
[48:11] God to encourage others and to receive the encouragement that you give us through being part of a! in this way keep us always in your son enjoying the salvation we've received in Jesus name we pray Amen