The Call for a Faithful Church
VGC & FBC Anniversaries • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsDelivered in the culmination of the month of celebration for God’s faithfulness.
Notes
Transcript
Opening Prayer for the Service
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Key Point: God is Commanding Us to March Forward into the World.
God calls us to confidence because of Jesus’s Finished work.
God calls us to confidence because of Jesus’s Finished work.
Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should push on into His presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.
Psalm 95:1–2; Hebrews 10:19–23; 1 John 1:1–3
The Pursuit of God, 34.
A. W. Tozer
We may look back at our successes, memorable moments, and hard-won lessons to encourage us, but not to live there.
As we trust God’s finished work we embrace change and the future because God is there already.
Since the work is accomplished we can carry out our work knowing eternity is in God’s strong grasp.
7 O Israel, wait for Yahweh; For with Yahweh there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.
God holds us fast to a transformed life that has been made possible by Jesus’s perfect life.
God holds us fast to a transformed life that has been made possible by Jesus’s perfect life.
Thus, he literally became the gate by which sinful people can approach God the Father. The author of the Book of Hebrews called him “a new and living way” (10:20). Paul wrote, “through him we … have access … to the Father” (Eph. 2:18).
James Montgomery Boice
If we are made new we must resist the temptation to encounter new opportunities for worship, service, community, and redemption.
Jesus Christ, being our sure pathway to eternal life, is the highway of righteousness, that leads us to display His work in us, leading others to Himself.
31 Yet those who hope in Yahweh Will gain new power; They will mount up with wings like eagles; They will run and not get tired; They will walk and not become weary.
The Church moves boldly forward because we have a great intercessor.
The Church moves boldly forward because we have a great intercessor.
The great theme of the letter to the Hebrews is the finality of Jesus Christ.
John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)
We each are a tabernacle for the Spirit of God, and in community, a stone on the tabernacle of the Universal Church.
We all must be about the business of edification, encouragement, teaching, and growing for the glory of God.
The Church must center herself not on the men leading it, but on the God-Man Jesus Christ, who died for her.
11 And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
The Church is purified by, in, through, and for us by Jesus’s substitution on the cross.
The Church is purified by, in, through, and for us by Jesus’s substitution on the cross.
A sound conscience therefore goes hand in hand with assurance of salvation (Heb. 10:22)
John F. MacArthur
By Jesus we are cleansed of our sin because Christ bore them to Calvary and the Cross.
In Jesus we take our place on the cross, the grave, and victoriously in eternity.
Through Jesus, the grave is not the end of life, but sweet release from a broken world into the myriads of a joyful life.
In the First Fruits of all things, we are gathered as a pleasing offering to God’s delight.
10 But Yahweh was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If You would place His soul as a guilt offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many, And He will divide the spoil with the strong; Because He poured out His soul to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
Disciples rest securely on the covenant accomplished by Jesus Christ.
Disciples rest securely on the covenant accomplished by Jesus Christ.
To the Greeks, the writer to the Hebrews said: ‘All your lives, you have been trying to get from the shadows to the truth. That is just what Jesus Christ can enable you to do.’
William Barclay (New Testament Scholar)
With great expectation and joy, we trust that God’s covenant through the blood of Jesus is the sufficient power for the Salvation of those who repent and confess Jesus as Lord.
The covenant sealed in Jesus’s body and blood is what we celebrate as the assurance of a new life in a new world, with a new heaven that will last eternally.
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
Perfected faith leads to faithfulness in our radically transformed lives.
Perfected faith leads to faithfulness in our radically transformed lives.
Hebrews does not deal with love as a feeling, but as a commitment that entails good works (10:24; cf. Gal 5:6; 1 Thess 1:3).
Craig Koester
The messengers are imperfect, yet being perfected by the message.
We must encourage seasoned, new, and would-be believers to remain focused on the herald but the message being heralded to the world.
1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
The Church must cling to one another, the commission, and commandment as we look to Jesus’s return.
The Church must cling to one another, the commission, and commandment as we look to Jesus’s return.
The use of the means of grace, such as reading, hearing, searching, meditating on, praying over, and practicing the Scriptures, is necessary to flee sin and promote holiness (John 5:39; 8:31–32; Heb. 10:25–26; 12:14)
Joel Beeke
Clinging to one another we are compelled by God’s Holy Spirit to work tirelessly to reach the lost.
Standing on God’s Word we lay our pride, selfishness, and illusions of ownership aside for the calling to be faithful stewards of God’s possesions.
16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.
17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The Joyful Church is Called to...
The Joyful Church is Called to...
Be a Prayer-Driven Family of Faith
Remain in Jesus Christ.
Great Commandment & Great Commission Focus.
Steadfast Hope and Assurance.
Faithful presence in the Darkness.
Worship the Living God.
Preach the Good News to All Who Will Hear.
How Can I Follow in Obedience?
How Can I Follow in Obedience?
Repent of your sins and confess Jesus Christ as King and Savior of your life.
Return from your selfish ways as a prodigal and trust His forgiveness for your sins.
Join this family of faith as we look to God’s work among us in the coming years.
