Word of Salvation – Vol. 44 No.31 – August 1999
My Relational God (3)
(Acknowledging God in All My Life)
Sermon by Rev G Van Schie
on Hebrews 10:19-25
Scripture Readings: Proverbs 3:1-12; Hebrews 10:19-25
Suggested Hymns: BoW: 147:1-3; 195; 48:3-5; 63; 450; 532
[The third in a series of sermons on the subject of the covenant, following the theme of having a living relationship with God through Christ as the only means by which we are saved.]
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we take up the third in our series of sermons on the Covenant that God has made with us. We continue to explore what it means to be in a living relationship with God as opposed to a mere outward practice of Christianity which does not impact the heart.
The first sermon in this series took a look at Genesis 1 and focussed on the truth that the God we worship is not an impersonal force or power, but He is a relational God. We see that in the Trinity we have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit present in the creation of humanity in Genesis 1:26 when God says, “Let US make man in our image”. From the beginning God has revealed Himself as a God who is a personal being, whose desire it is to have a personal relationship with each one of His people.
A major point made in that sermon was that you can know Scripture back to front, and you can know Calvin’s Institutes from cover to cover, you can be as Reformed in your theology as much as you like, but unless you have a living relationship with this relational God, then you’re sure to go to hell.
Since our denomination is like any grouping of God’s people in any given point of history, with tares amongst the wheat, the reality is that when time is finished and Jesus has finished the separation of the sheep from the goats, there will be many who have been members of the Reformed Churches of Australia who will not find themselves in the Kingdom of God. They will find themselves separated with other goats and cast off into hell rather than in heaven. One of the main reasons how this could be is that it’s very easy for us to put our confidence in a system of doctrine but not the one to whom the doctrine points; not the One of whom the doctrine speaks.
This is not to put down our precious Reformed heritage and the tremendous contribution made by the Reformers. Yet as they themselves pointed out often, salvation is by living faith in Christ alone.
The Jews, when Jesus spoke to them, said that they had Abraham as their father. Their reply revealed they saw no need for any special deliverer or Saviour as He presented Himself to be. We, today, could easily say that we are the children of John Calvin, or going back to our Dutch roots, Abraham Kuyper. But it’s not enough to have the right theology. It’s not enough to have the head knowledge with regard to the Scriptures. The only thing that saves us is a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
This is not to say that right doctrine and theology is unimportant. To get our doctrine right is essential, for only then can we come to a right understanding of our sin and God’s means by which we are saved. What we are saying here is that we must avoid the pitfall of settling with the doctrines and not really living with Christ as our life!
The next thing that’s important for us to realise is that the world is the way it is at the moment because, through Adam and Eve, humanity broke the relationship we had with God at the beginning. A lot of people ask the question “Why is there famine? Why do children die?” etc. The answer comes back to what humanity did in the rebellion of Adam and Eve. God gave us this beautiful relationship, but WE broke it.
When you go back to Genesis chapter 3 and take a look there, you find the sin of Adam and Eve involved three things, especially when you compare it to what it says in Proverbs.
First of all, they didn’t trust God. When Satan appeared to them in the form of a serpent and then made suggestions with regard to why God didn’t want them to eat the fruit, instead of saying, “that can’t be true, God isn’t like that,” they immediately began to distrust God, they began to listen to Satan saying, “maybe this is true.” The moment they entertained the thought that God could have lied or had devious reasons for telling them not to eat of the fruit, then distrust entered the relationship on their side. They didn’t put their trust in God.
Secondly, they depended upon their own understanding. How often do you and I get hurt when people who we think know us well, will straightaway believe a lie against us? How often does it happen that instead of coming to us and saying, “Listen, I’ve heard this, what’s your side of the story?” people immediately believe what’s said about us. And, of course, we do it to others. Adam and Eve leant on their own understanding. At least they could have given God the courtesy of checking out with Him first, “Lord this weird thing just happened, this snake talked to me. And he said this… now what do you say?” Instead, they thought they could sort it out for themselves and thought they didn’t need God’s word any further on the matter.
Thirdly, of course, leaning on their own understanding they went their own way. They didn’t acknowledge God’s way. God had said, “You shall not eat of the tree.” So when they ate of it they didn’t acknowledge His way and they went their own way. Essentially the sin they committed was that they wanted to be like God. And that was what Satan had said, wasn’t it? “The reason God doesn’t want you to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is because the day you eat from it you’ll be like God.” They wanted to be like God, so they ate.
The chip hasn’t fallen very far from the block, for you and I are just like Adam and Eve. It is so easy to look at the Old Testament saints and see the mistakes they made and point the finger and say, “Well, if we were back in that situation, we would have handled it a lot better.” But Scripture tells us differently. Today, we are just like Adam and Eve.
In Acts 17 first of all we are told we are descended from them. From one man, God made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth and he determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live. Straightaway in the Reformed Churches and any other church, that rules out racism. From one man God produced the whole human race.
We’re connected to Adam biologically, and we are connected by what we call original sin: the corruption of our spiritual lives, the corruption of our relationship with God. You find that in Psalm 51, for example, where David confesses his sin with regard to the adultery concerning Bethsheba and then the murder of Bethsheba’s husband. He says there, “For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me; against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you will prove right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
There are no such things as innocent children. From the point of conception, when that egg in the womb becomes fertilized, that child needs the Lord Jesus Christ. From that time the gospel becomes an absolute necessity for the yet unborn child. From the time I was conceived, I was a sinner.
As children of Adam and Eve, we don’t trust God by nature. By nature we depend on our own understanding. By nature we don’t acknowledge God’s ways and we go our own. The Heidelberg Catechism tells us that our natural tendency is to hate God and our neighbour. We are so much like Adam and Eve. We turn Satan’s, “Did God really say?” into, “Where does the Bible say?” When there’s a command of God or a teaching of Scripture that doesn’t go down well with us, and we don’t really want to obey, then we look for loop holes. And then we will say to those who are correcting us or admonishing us, “Where does the Bible say?”
To demonstrate that we continue in the sin of Adam and Eve, let us focus on one area of life where we do that. One important area that has to do with the command you find in Hebrews 10:.not to neglect the meeting together of God’s people. So often in pastoral ministry when pastors bring this to the attention of congregations and individuals in their homes, the response is, “Where does it say in the Bible that I should go to church twice? Where does it say I need to go to Bible Study? Where does it say I need to go to prayer groups? Where does it say these things in the Bible? Show me!” As soon as we say things like that, we’re being just like Adam and Eve.
Consider the following questions and notice how conceited our hearts are. “Where does it say in the Bible that children ought to be baptized? Where does it say in the Bible that there is a Trinity?” You see how conceited we are; see how arrogant before God? On the one hand we’ll accept that there are no single Scripture passages that we can turn to and say that children ought to be baptized or that there is such a thing as the Trinity. You’ll never find the word Trinity anywhere in the Bible. And those who favour adult baptism over infant baptism continually say, “There is no such passage.” Yet, when we apply the great Reformational truth with regard to understanding God’s word – to compare Scripture with Scripture – what we discover is that there’s a covenant relationship. There’s this relationship we have with God that does not cancel out the children but includes them.
Where does it say in the Bible, that I need to go to church regularly, that I need to go to church twice, that I need to go to Bible Study Fellowship, that I need to go to prayer groups? We now are going to turn to scripture for the answer. As we do so we will certainly not lean on our own understanding. We will turn to God’s understanding of the matter. We want to see why it’s so absolutely important that we don’t neglect the gatherings of the saints; how necessary this gathering of the saints is that we participate in right now!
When we turn to scripture, everywhere you will discover the emphasis of how important it is, how beautiful it is, to come together. In our first reading in Acts 2:42-47, we find Jews who already knew God and who came to the realisation that Jesus was the person He claimed to be, that He was the promised Messiah whom they had just crucified. They had cried out, “What are we going to do now!?” The answer came back, “Repent and believe.” And three thousand did just that. Three thousand were added to the church that day. And what happened to them? What was their lifestyle, their Christianity, as they came to know Christ? We read, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.”
They were so full of Jesus! They had come to the realisation of just how important He was in their life. That He was indeed the One through whom this broken relationship with God had now been reconciled. Nothing was more important to them in all the world than this Christ! They then longed to come together to celebrate the fellowship they had with God through Him.
Likewise, in Acts 5:42, “And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” In the public place but also in the private place, daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. This, of course, had to do with the disciples going out. Daily they went out publicly and privately, teaching and preaching; not just anything, but teaching Jesus Christ. The one through whom the relationship had been restored.
But this grace isn’t only found in the New Testament, you find it right throughout the Old as well. Think of Psalm 84 verses one, two and ten: “How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”
Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere! Now why did the Psalmist think that? Was it just a matter of, well, there I get to meet my mates and knock around with them and we have a good time and afterwards we go off in our cars for coffee? Is it just a social thing the Psalmist is delighting in? The Scripture makes it quite clear why the Psalmist yearns and faints for the courts of the Lord. Why one day there is better than ten-thousand elsewhere is because of his understanding that God in His grace has renewed the relationship. That what Adam and Eve had undone, God in His grace was restoring. It provided the sacrifice. There was this teaching that a life would be laid down for the sins of the worshipper.
The Psalmist understood that the most important thing in his life was to receive this grace from God, this forgiveness, and to have this relationship again. Nothing else counted, nothing else mattered. No matter what the world could offer, this grace was all important, this relationship with God!
Likewise, Psalm 122 verse one: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’.” The Psalmist, on hearing the call to worship, doesn’t say, “Oh no!! It’s time to go again to the temple. I’d rather not go; what a bore.” That’s not the attitude you find here! “I rejoiced with those who said to me…, ‘It’s time to go! It’s time to gather with the saints and to come and celebrate the grace of our God’.”
Likewise, Psalm 42 verse 4. “I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with the multitude that kept the holy day.” In such gatherings the focus was not the other believers, the focus was always upon the God with whom the sinner needed to have relationship. There was preaching and there was singing. In the New Testament there was the Lord’s Supper. In the Old there was the Passover Feast. There was prayer, yes, there was fellowship. There were money offerings in the New Testament church, but all of this had its focus on God and His grace. Take away that element, take away God as the focus, and there wasn’t a reason to come together. That which united them, that which brought them together would have been taken away if you took away that focus.
Note the atmosphere when God is the focus. Glad and sincere hearts: praise, joy and rejoicing. And note the way of approach to worship. There was devotion to it. There was a yearning. There was a fainting. The day couldn’t come soon enough! It’s like that beautiful song we get from the Psalm 42, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul thirsts for you, O God.” A real thirst nothing else can quench, except being with the Lord.
It’s of such gatherings in Hebrews 10:25, brothers and sisters, we read the instruction, “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing.” This is not just talking about formal worship services. There are those who turn to this passage and say, “Well, here’s the proof that you should be in church twice on Sunday. This talks about church services.” Well, that’s a lot of nonsense. You can’t use this passage in that way because this passage does not confine itself to what you and I are doing right now in this worship service.
It says, “Do not neglect the assembling together as is the habit of some.” It does not specify what gathering together, it’s all inclusive. Wherever the saints are coming together – wherever they come together to focus upon the Lord and His grace and to grow in that relationship, which is now possible for them in Jesus Christ – BE THERE! Whether it’s worship, whether it’s a fellowship gathering in the home, whether it’s for Bible Study, or for prayer: don’t neglect these opportunities, the writer says.
But you and I can ask, “Why?” Here let us be cautious, brothers and sisters. Let not a rebellious heart interfere with hearing the Word of God. Let’s lean on God’s understanding as to why we shouldn’t neglect these gatherings. Let’s not fall into the same trap as Adam and Eve by leaning on our own understanding. Let us lay aside our views and opinions, the rubbish that they well might be. Let us go to God’s Word. What does God say is the reason why we shouldn’t neglect these gatherings?
When you turn to Hebrews 10, you find some very important reasons spelt out. We will begin with the less important, and move toward the more important.
It tells us in verse 24, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.” Various translations interpret that word ‘spur’ in different words. Let us provoke one another, let us stir up one another, let us stimulate one another, let us excite one another to love and good deeds. You see, when we remember that God is a relational being, and that He made us for a relationship, that’s just it! He did not make any of us to be ‘lone rangers’. He made us so that we need each other. Anyone who says, “I don’t need the gatherings”, anyone who says “I’m strong enough in my faith and I can do it on my own”, is denying the way God made us!
There’s a very simple object lesson to demonstrate this point. Think of a piece of coal, a piece of wood that has been burning, and you take it out of the fire and it’s all blackened. The fire is still going on it but you’ve let it cool down on the hearth in front of the fire. Yet, what eventually happens when the coal is taken out and separated from the other coals in the fire? It dies out. Now throw that black dead coal back into the fire. Guess what happens? Through the stimulation, through the excitement as it were of the other red hot coals, this one begins to burn again!
This is the meaning of the word that we’ve got here, Let us STIMULATE one another, let us provoke one another, let us excite each other to love and good deeds. All the people I know who’ve claimed that they were strong enough in their faith to not need to meet regularly with the saints and acted upon it, have been the focus of pastoral concern, and have proven in their life that this concern was well founded.
Today the Lord says, “I’m not interested in your opinion and I don’t care what you think. As your God and as your Creator and Designer this is what I know. You need to be stimulated! You indeed need to be provoked to love and good deeds. Not just any love and good deeds, but those which will honour me.” Let the people see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. God wants us to stand out like lights. God wants us to stand out as Christians in an unbelieving world. But we can only do that if we come together in His name and celebrate this relationship that we have through Christ in Him and where we stir each other up to live this way.
Likewise in verse 25, “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Here encouragement is the main concern of the Lord for us. Encouragement. Think about it for a moment. Consider a brick wall in a building. When you take a look at one of those bricks, brothers and sisters, what you see is one face exposed. Anyone who has experience with regard to the weathering of materials will tell you if one brick is left out on its own on the ground for a number of years, you’ll find it will break down rapidly because it is exposed on all sides. But you put a brick like that into a wall and even though it has one face exposed to the weather on the outside, guess what? It will retain its condition better because it’s surrounded by the other bricks. It only has one of its sides exposed.
And that is the picture of the encouragement that you and I need. We need to be surrounded by brothers and sisters who will uphold us. We need that building up, that protection, that support. On our own we don’t have it! Again the Lord says, “If you think you can do without it, then you’re not leaning on my understanding, you’re leaning on your own”.
Take a look again at verse 25. See what it says also about this encouragement we need. “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all – the what? – all the more.” This makes garbage of the opinion of those who say, “I can do with less gathering of the saints.” This was written nearly two thousand years ago and God in his wisdom tells us, “We need this encouragement even MORE as the day of Jesus comes closer.” We’re two thousand years on from when this was written and the Bible tells us WE WILL NEED IT MORE, not less! It’s a lot of bunkum when people say, “I’m strong enough; I can do with less of the gathering of the saints.”
But these pragmatic reasons of stimulation and encouragement pale in comparison to the essential reason why we should not neglect the assembling of God’s people.
When we take a look at the context of Hebrews 10, you find it has to do mostly with the relationship we have with God through Christ. Look now at verse 19: “Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open to us through the curtain that is his body and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God..!”
Here is the heart of the gospel. This the only motivation that you and I should need for not neglecting the gathering of God’s people. What is it? Jesus Himself and His saving work for us on the cross! The relationship was broken through Adam and Eve. Through Jesus Christ the curtain that separated us from the presence of God, that which was a barrier on account of sin, was torn asunder when He died on the cross precisely at 3pm, as the evening sacrifice was being made. On the cross, as He died, He declared, “IT IS FINISHED.” From that point on, anyone who believed in Him had direct access to the Father again. No need of priests, no need of an altar in the church, or of sacrifices any more. This high priest, that you and I have, has seated himself at the right hand of God. This sitting down means the work of reconciliation is completed – no more sacrifices are needed.
In the book of Hebrews we find this truth spelt out. The priest of the Old Testament couldn’t sit down. Continually they stood up because there was never a complete sacrifice for sin. Every day sins still needed to be paid for. They couldn’t sit down, the job was never done. But not so with the sacrifice of Jesus. When Jesus made THE sacrifice, the curtain was torn in two. And we now have confident access to the Father through Jesus. Now we have the right to address God as ‘Father’. This is the only priest that you and I need. The one through whose blood the price has been paid, once and for all.
It is because of what Jesus has done for us that we are invited in Hebrews 10:22 to “…draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.” In Christ our sins are dealt with and we stand before the Father as those spotless, without wrinkle or blemish, part of that bride of Christ who is ready to be presented to the bridegroom.
It is with Jesus and His completed work before us that we are not only called to draw near to God, but also, on this same foundation, we are commanded…
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds” (vs.24);
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing” (vs.25a);
“But let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (vs.25b).
Want a reason, a motivation for not neglecting the gathering of God’s people? Well don’t look at whether it’s a reading service or not. Don’t look at what the presentation of the service is going to be like. Don’t look to see whether it’s got contemporary or traditional singing involved. Don’t look at any of those things because none of those things should be motivating us. What should be motivating us, what should be drawing us, is our relationship with God through Christ, and nothing else!
Yes, brothers and sisters, the Bible is clear. God knows that you and I desperately need this sort of gathering. And the day may arrive when we need it three times a day, not twice. But the Lord says, however it is that the church organises its worship, then let us not forget what we have been given opportunity to do. In our coming to worship may Jesus Christ alone be that which draws us, not the style of worship, not whether we’ve got contemporary or traditional songs, not whether it’s a minister in the pulpit or whether it’s a reading service, or whether the present pastor has a good preaching style. But let Jesus Christ and who He is to me, and what He has done for me – let that alone be what draws me.
Knowing all this, how then shall we live? By God’s grace, in this and all areas of our live, may we follow the wisdom of the Spirit as revealed in Proverbs. Let us trust God, lean not on our own understanding and in all our life acknowledge His ways.
Living then in covenant fellowship with God though Christ, we shall seek to worship Him in all of our life, in every part with praise.
Amen.