Fellowship With A Side Of "Let Us"

Fellowship with a side of Let Us

Hebrews 10:19-25

Intro: “Us” magazine...it says us, but it’s really about them.

If it was about us it would have more about football, hunting and food.

The reason

Read Heb. 10:19-25 and pray.

There are 3 doctrinal exhortations in our passage that I want us to consider this morning and they actually come in response to the doctrinal truths presented in the preceding chapters.

Each of these are “Let us” phrases and they use present tense verbs in the Greek; meaning they are a continuing action...and before we are done this morning we will see how they coincide with three great Christian virtues that should come as a result of our fellowship with God.

1.Let us Draw Near

vs. 22

Our fellowship with each other begins with our fellowship with God.

This is a reminder to us first of all that we must prepare ourselves spiritually for our time in His presence.

The language used here goes back to the OT and temple worship.

The OT priests had to go through various washings and the applying of blood on the Day of Atonement according to Leviticus 16.

This went along with the daily ministry they had where the priests had to cleanse themselves by washing themselves that the laver before entering into the holy place themselves according to Exodus 30.

What this should remind us is that as New Testament born again believers we must come before God with a pure heart and a clean conscience.

That word “conscience” literally means with knowledge, so that means we should have a pure heart and we should know it because God knows it.

Fellowship with God demands first and foremost purity.

The Apostle Paul describes us this way, Read 1 Cor. 6:9-11.

We have been cleansed and we need that to be evident in our lives, most of all when we enter into God’s worship arena.

This command is not only an individual command, but also a corporate demand.

It says “let us” meaning that we not only should do this individually, but also corporately.

Remember...we need each other.

And like the old adage says we are only as strong as our weakest link.

What this says to me is that if I don’t don’t take my worship preparation seriously, it will not only effect me, but will effect you.

And If you don’t take your worship preparation seriously it will effect someone else.

And went our lack of worship preparation begins effecting the lost who are here t witness what we do and hear the Gospel proclaimed..then that has eternal consequences

Our preparation isn’t in sacrifices, cleansing and ceremonies..but in prayer and supplication.

It is in anguishing over the things of God to the point that we realize we can’t live without His presence and we long for an opportunity to gather with others before Him.

We have been called to draw near to God...which means not a single one of us has a right to hinder anyone else from that and we have an obligation to lead each other.

This morning, have you been drawn near to God?

Have you done what is necessary for you to experience God in worship?

And most of all have you done your part for “us” to all draw near to God?

We have been first of all called to draw near to God, our 2nd “let us” phrase is...

2.Let us Hold Fast

vs. 23

This letter was written to a group of Hebrew believers, those Jews who came into Christianity as new believers but had a hard time leaving behind many of the worship requirements of the Mosaic Law.

In fact many of the first readers of this passage were being tempted to forsake their confession of Jesus Christ by going back to the old covenant worship.

Here in vs. 22 the writer of Hebrews invites them to hold fast, or hold unswervingly, to the hope that we profess in Christ.

Although the Greek word is “hope” the confession of hope comes as a result of a profession of faith in Christ.

What this means is first of all a profession of faith is required, a moment where you are I have understood our sinful natures require some thing more than us to save us and call upon Christ for salvation.

When we make that profession of faith in Christ then we have something to hold on to, something that we can never lose.

According to Romans 8 nothing, absolutely nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that we experience in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Being told to hold to the profession of hope is also a reminder to us that we have yet to fully realize or even appreciate all that the salvation we have in Christ consists of.