An exhortation to genuine ca..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brethren. As I said, I want to speak to you from these verses, verses 24 and 25, that you have there in front of you, chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews.

And this is going to be an exhortation to all of us to care for one another. This is an exhortation to genuinely care for one another. If by grace through faith you are a Christian, it is your duty and is the expectation of God from the Scriptures that we will care for one another and that we will care spiritually and genuinely. And I want us to consider that from those two verses that you have there, verse 24 that says, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. This is once again an exhortation to genuinely care one for the other.

Brothers and sisters are exhorted, are called, their duty is to care for one another. And what we're going to do, brothers and sisters, is read the context from verse 11 in chapter 10 all the way through chapter 10, verse 31. We're going to be reading those verses from 11 to 31 to get the context of that exhortation that we have in those two verses, verse 24 and verse 25. Now let me say something important about the text. I just want to say this once because it's going to help me just to make things clear.

As you can see, verse 24, as we are about to read the context, verse 24 is translated in the ESV and says, "...and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works." You see it there, right? Those of you who have the ESV. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

And that is an excellent translation of the verse. And the translators of the ESV have tried to show you something very important that is in the text there. And that is the strong relationship that exists between stirring up, as a verb, and also one another as a pronoun, and those two connected to the main verb, and forgive me for using those words, but I have to do this, the main verb, which is consider. So those who have translated the ESV are trying to show you the important connection of those two words, stirring up, and one another, and that connected with the verb consider. While that is a very good translation, I'm going to ask you to bear with me and to please go with a different translation of that verse for two important reasons.

The first reason is because the word how, as we have it in the ESV, is not in the Greek text from which the ESV is translated. So the word how is not in the text. And second, because the order of words, even though in Greek sometimes the order of the words are not very important, in this case, because of the relationship of these two words with the verb, the order of those two words are very important. And once again, forgive me, I never do this from the pulpit, but just simply just for the sake of clarity of how I have it in my mind. The order of words is important in this case.

And the order of the words in the Greek text from which the ESV is translated, it is, consider one another to steer up. So you will have, if you have a different translation, if you have the CSB or if you have the King James or the New King James, you will have something like, let us consider one another. in order to stir up to love and good works. And that translation is more literal and more according to the words as they are given in the Greek. One thing is to consider how to stir up and another thing is to consider one another in order to Stir up for love and good works.

So brothers and sisters, having said that, you can ask me any questions if you have any questions. After that, verse 24, I'm going to have it in my mind. This is the way that my mind works. So I'm just going to have it in my mind. Let us consider.

one another in order to stir up love and good works. And verse 25 is going to go as it goes in the ESV. So having said that, let us please read the context starting from verse 11 going all the way to verse 31. And one thing I ask you, first, that you pay careful attention to the context of this exhortation that we have in verse 24 and 25. And please, pay careful attention to how the author of Hebrews has placed this very practical exhortation for the church, for you, between the reality of the sufficiency of the atonement of Christ and the reality of the coming judgment for those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

The author of Hebrews has placed this practical exhortation for the church between the reality of the sufficiency of the atonement or sacrifice of Christ and the reality of the coming judgment for those who reject that atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the author, the Spirit of God has placed that in between those two. So now let us pay careful attention from verse 11. And I hope that you understood what I tried to say about verse 24. Please let me know you understood what I said about how I'm going to be taking verse 24.

Okay, thank you so much. Verse 11 in chapter 10, And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his feet. Verse 14, "...for by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also bear witness to us. For after saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then the Spirit, He adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, that is, sins, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, it says in verse 19, brothers and sisters, brethren, 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 priest over the house of God, Pay attention to verse 22.

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. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another, in order to stir up 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. 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 has 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 trampled underfoot the Son of 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 thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. And as I said, I want us to pay careful attention to verses 24 and verse 25, in which the Spirit of God, through the author of Hebrews, speaks to the early church and to all Christians in all generations, giving this clear exhortation that we are to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not neglecting the gathering of the saints coming together as is the habit or the manner of some, but rather encouraging or exhorting one another, even more as we see the day of the Lord approaching. As I said, brother and sister, this is an exhortation.

And these exhortations are very important in the Scriptures. Exhortations in the New Testament are somehow different to clear commandments. Clear commandments are given, you shall not do this or you shall do this particular thing. But exhortations are duties to which Christians are called that usually come with reasons, arguments, and also this purpose of persuasion. You may remember, for instance, in Jude 1, there's only one chapter, but from verse 3 and onwards, it says, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write concerning this common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you, to you content earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Jude is writing to the church. Initially he wanted to write about their common salvation, about the gospel, but then he found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Why? He gives the reason. For certain men have crept into the church unnoticed, unawares.

Men who long ago were marked out for discrimination, ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you read the book of Jude, there is an explanation for the exhortation of verse 3. Exhortations in the New Testament have this form. They are not clear commandments that tell you you shall do this or you shall not do this, but rather, it's an encouragement. It's an exhortation so that Based on reason, based on arguments, based on persuasion, you will see the value of the duty that you have as a Christian.

And what we have here in front of us in verse 24 and verse 25 is precisely that. It's an exhortation that in general, brother and sister, can be summarized with this. It's an exhortation for you to care for your brother and sister. It's an exhortation. It's an encouragement.

The author is going to give you some reasons here, but it's an encouragement. It's an exhortation for you to care for your brother and your sister genuinely. And when we think about care, brother and sister, we have to think about two aspects that are going to be summarized in this text here. Protect and provide. If we are going to care for my brother and for my sister in Jesus Christ, I have a duty before the Lord of protecting him or her spiritually and providing for him or her spiritually.

Of course, we are called as Christians to provide and to protect our families and brothers and sisters in the physical aspect. But it's more important for the well-being of the soul and of the spirit that we will care for the soul, spiritually speaking, of our brothers and sisters by protecting and by providing. If you are a genuine Christian, if the Spirit of God has come upon you, if your heart has been transformed, If the heart of stone that you had has been genuinely changed to a heart of flesh, if your eyes have been opened to behold Jesus Christ, the One who died upon the cross, if your eyes have been opened not to see self, but to see Christ and in Him, His church, then by virtue of the genuine, organic, natural, spiritual presence of the Holy Spirit, Christians will be moved to care for their brothers and sisters spiritually speaking. The church is not going to be successful spiritually speaking. It's not going to thrive, I think is the word that you have in English.

The church is not going to thrive spiritually speaking if the members of the church do not care for each other in a spiritual way. If we care more about the things that our brother or sister is going to eat with the mouth, and not so much about the state of his or her heart, that is hypocrisy. Because now we are feeding that which is going to perish, and we are being negligent with that which is supposed to sustain the whole life of the brother and sister. And we are tempted to more easily do those things which are practical and physical in nature, and to remove ourselves from the duty of spiritual care of our brother and sister. Caring for the spiritual condition of our brothers and sisters is something that is against the flesh, because as we are going to see it here in this text, This requires that the relationship between brothers and sisters will not be shallow or guarded by reputation or guarded with what would they say, but rather it requires that these walls of indifference that we naturally build around us against others are destroyed so that in the love of Christ and in the Spirit of Christ, we can care for one another.

genuinely and spiritually. And this exhortation, brother, sister, my dear friend within the sound of my voice, is of vital importance. Here in the context of this text we have at least three important reasons why this exhortation that we have in verse 24 and 25 are important. The first one is that caring genuinely for my brother and my sister is a qualifier of the genuine work of the Holy Spirit in my life. Caring genuinely for my brother and my sister, not only for the things that they are going to eat or the places that they are going to go, but caring for the soul and the heart of my brother and sister, and the spiritual condition of my brother and sister is a qualifier of the genuine visitation of the Holy Spirit upon my heart.

You see that the flesh, and naturally speaking, we seek only our own interest. We only have relationships in the flesh with other people as long as we can derive some level of satisfaction or some level of pleasure from the relationships that we have. But when Christ comes upon the heart of a person, then self is moved to lust even when it's difficult for the flesh. Because that is what Christ Jesus came to do. He came to sacrifice His life for His church, for His people.

And when the Spirit of Christ genuinely takes abode in the heart, in the soul, in the being of a person, then that person is going to progressively manifest genuine spiritual care for his or her brothers and sisters. And in this text we can see it very clearly because the exhortation that we have in verse 24 and 25, I don't know if you saw it, it is the third of three exhortations that the author of Hebrews has given us in verse 22, 23, and 24. And bear with me as we look at the text. The exhortation that we have in verse 24 and 25 is the third of three exhortations that the author has given us in verse 22, 23, and 24. And these three exhortations are for brothers and sisters, as he says in verse 19, who are forgiven of their sins because of the once for all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 14, if you pay attention to verse 14. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, genuine believers. Verse 18, where there is forgiveness of these sins, there is no longer any offering for sin. There is a sufficiency of the work of Christ for those who are being sanctified. And then he says in verse 19, Therefore, as the result of the fact that you are being sanctified by the single offering of Jesus Christ, as the result of your sins being forgiven for this single sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, brothers and sisters, the exhortations come in this section here.

And the first exhortation that we have in verse 22, it is an exhortation to fellowship with God by faith. It says in verse 22, "...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." That is that we can have, by virtue of the single sacrifice of Christ, we can have entrance, access into the presence of God with full assurance, and we can do that by faith. The second exhortation that we have in verse 23 is an exhortation to hold fast the confession of our hope that we are to endure with this hope that we have.

We are to continue and to endure until the end. Not only faith to approach God, but also to hold this hope that we have of the things that come ahead. And then finally, in verse 24, we have the exhortation of which we are trying to speak and which we are trying to explain. exhortation to love. And I don't know if you paid very careful attention, but three important virtues of the genuine Christian life are referred in these three verses 22, 23, and 24.

22 faith, 23 hope, and 24 love. These are the virtues, if you remember, of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And of those, the greatest is love. Why? Because love stands upon the shoulder of genuine faith and genuine hope.

And this is what moves genuine love to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the brethren. Hence, here, we have characteristics of what the Spirit of Christ does in a person who has been genuinely saved. A person who has been genuinely saved has a heart of full assurance to come before the princess of the Lord knowing that they have been forgiven and that moves them to endure in the hope of this salvation that they have that is ready to be revealed. And then this exhortation of verse 24 that relates and pertains to the life of brothers and sisters. This is the first reason why this is very important.

It's a genuine qualifier of genuine salvation. Second, caring genuinely for our brothers and sisters is important because this is the way that the church awaits for the second coming of the Lord. Caring for one another. Encouraging for one another. Caring for the interests of my brothers and sisters is the natural way in which the author of Hebrews expects that the local church will be awaiting for the day of the Lord, it says.

But encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. All the more you are to encourage one another. You are to minister to one another. You are to care for one another. But all the more, as you see the day of the Lord approaching, that day as He's drawing near, And third, it is not only important because it's a genuine qualifier of your salvation, and secondly because this is the way that the church awaits for the coming of the Lord, but third, because this is the way that we prevent our brothers and sisters in the context of the visible church to fall into judgment because of sins and repentance.

This is the way that we protect ourselves from brothers and sisters who are in the context of the visible church falling away from grace or falling away from their walk and then receiving the judgment that they deserve. Did you pay attention to the conjunction there in verse 26? It says, 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. Four, it's a conjunction that is connecting the preceding statement. And the preceding statement is the necessity, the need, brethren, that brothers and sisters will care for one another, that will encourage one another, that they will not have shallow relationships only in which we care for the physical matters but rather that the unity of the church will be such that we care for the standing of each one of our brothers and sisters.

I thought that the author of Hebrews has already explained in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12. If you go there very quickly, there you have the parallel explanatory idea of this important topic. Chapter 3, verse 12, it says, Take care, brothers and sisters. Okay? Speaking to brothers and sisters.

Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. Pay attention to the weight of the exhortation in verse 12. Take care or take heed, it says. Brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to separate, to fall away from the fountain of life that is God himself, to fall away from the living God. The solution given in verse 13, but exhort one another every Sunday.

but exhort one another every day or daily as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." That any of you, that you may not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Brethren, I don't know why, but somebody told us and to our nature and to our hearts that we can fight this battle on our own. And this is not the way that the Lord designed this thing to happen. The Lord designed the way for us to be saved by the Spirit of Christ, be united to Him, and be put into the context of the local church and the ministry of brothers and sisters is of vital importance for my sanctification, for your sanctification, for my Christ-likeness, for your Christ-likeness, for my power, for your power, for the power of the local church and the salvation of those who are lost around us.

The church has been designed to be the spiritual environment in which your heart and your soul is looked after, is protected, and is kept by the one who is going to keep you until the end through your faith as it is exercised in the context of the church of the living God, and in this case, the local church. So, brother and sister, the exhortation that we have there, the third one in Hebrews 10.24-25 is of vital importance. Vital importance. Qualifier of genuine salvation.

Quantified that the Lord has generally visited you. This is the way that the church prepares for the coming of the Lord. And this is the way that we protect those who profess to be in Christ from receiving the judgment that they will deserve otherwise. You know that popular verse that we have in verse 31? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

You know that this is not speaking about the atheists sometimes to whom we preach the gospel. This is speaking about a person who is in the context of the visible church, who professing to be Christ has trampled upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. A person who professes to be a Christian, a person who has deviated and now it is a willful sin. Knowing the truth and knowing the things of the Lord, now this person has gone the ways of unrighteousness and it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This is the exhortation that we have in v.

24-25 and it's actually very simple. We have the exhortation given to us in those first words. Let us consider one another. Each one of you, according to the Scriptures and the Spirit, each one of us, brother, is called to consider one another, is to consider our brothers and sisters. We have a spiritual duty before God who sees it all and who can discern the genuine intentions of your heart and your mind and your soul.

We have a duty to care for one another. If I'm preaching this sermon with an intention of self that would be impossible for you to discern. If I'm preaching this sermon and preparing all of these things with the only intention just simply to speak, to be heard, to be observed, to be received, to be accepted. If I'm preaching this ceremony in that way, which will be almost impossible for you to discern with your senses, I will be accumulating unto myself wrath for the day of wrath. Because I'm not caring for the souls of those who are receiving the words, I'm only caring about myself.

And that would be against the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then, if you come to church, and if you do this, or if you do that, or if you participate in this and in that, and you have your only desire to please self, let me tell you that you will be committing the same sin that I would be committing if that was the case. So brothers and sisters, let us consider one another. What is consider? We may understand that word just simply as beholding or acknowledging or being aware of our brothers and sisters.

This is actually a very powerful concept that doesn't happen much in the New Testament. Considering here, as I'm going to show you from the Scripture, means this. To carefully look or carefully observe so that I can identify something. That I carefully look, that I carefully observe, in this case, my brothers and sisters, so that I can identify something. This concept is very well illustrated in Matthew chapter 7.

If you go there with me, I will explain the concept from the scriptures and then I will tell you what it means in the context. So Matthew chapter 7, this concept is used there. In Matthew chapter 7, you remember the passage of judge not that you may not be judged, right? That is Matthew chapter 7. This concept there is used.

Consider or sometimes not. So I said to you that to consider one another means to carefully look, to carefully observe my brothers and my sisters So that I will identify something. That I will be able to discern, if you want, something. It's not about just simply being around and just simply looking and acknowledging the existence as another human being next to me. but rather carefully looking to my brothers and my sisters with the purpose of identifying something.

It is looking, yes, or it is observing, yes, but it's much more than looking and observing. It is looking and observing carefully, with dedication, so that you are able to understand, to discern something. In Matthew 7, verse 3, we have here the concept, but here it is very good because we have it illustrated that which is not and that which it is. So Matthew 7, let us read from Matthew 7, verse 1. It says, Judge not that you be not judged.

For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Now here, pay attention to verse 3. Why do you see? Why do you look the speck that is in your brother's eye?

But do not notice or do not consider the log that is in your own eye. Here, the concept is in that word notice that you have there in the ESV. That is exactly the same word consider that the author of Hebrews uses in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24. This consider here is to look carefully so that you will be able to discern, to identify which is exactly what this person was not doing. This person was easily just looking to the brother and finding guilt and finding error and finding sin in the brother, but this person was failing to consider, to look carefully, to identify, and to discern his own ways.

Discerning, or better, considering, does require looking, but it requires carefully looking. The prideful person and the cardinal person will be easily driven to look to others and to judge others, but self-introspection, that is the way you say it, right? Introspection requires that you will carefully look, trying to discern something. Considering brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters, considering one another, requires not that we will just simply acknowledge that there is a human being with a head and a hair that usually sits around me and that comes on Sundays and sometimes I say hi, sometimes I don't, and that I speak to them from time to time, generally speaking about shallow matters, but rather, brother and sister, that we will look carefully, our brothers and sisters, trying to discern something. Trying to discern something.

Now, this illustration that we have in Matthew chapter 7 is very good because not only teaches us what the concept of the word means, but also teaches us what considering doesn't look like. Genuine caring or genuine considering of brothers and sisters does not look like this. Because brethren, just pay attention to the definition of considering and you will see the dangers of it. I'm telling you that we ought to look carefully for one another or to one another so that we will be able to discern. Imagine that done in the flesh.

Imagine that dawn in sin when I'm telling you let us look at each other and consider each other carefully that we might be able to discern our ways. Imagine that dawn with the spirit of the person here in Matthew chapter 7. we will end up as Pharisees, hypocritical people, identifying the sin in others and not being able to identify the bigger sin in ourselves. While considering that's required that we will pay careful attention to our brothers and sisters, there is a heart that goes with considering that is illustrated to us in Galatians chapter 6. So let us go to Galatians chapter 6 because in Galatians chapter 6 we're going to see the heart of genuinely considering one another.

We have seen in Matthew chapter 7 the concept and definition of what it is to consider and how considering should not be done and now I'm calling your attention to Galatians chapter 6 so that we will see the heart of the way that we are to consider one another. You might remember the famous and very well-known verse that I think it is in Verse 9 of chapter 6 that says, And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. We are to do good to everyone, especially to those who are our brothers and sisters. The Christian is called to have good works to everyone, but especially to brothers and sisters, those of the household of faith.

The apostle has explained the heart of what that looks in the first verses of chapter six. So please pay attention to the heart of considering one another. It says in verse 1 of chapter 6 of Galatians, brothers and sisters or brethren, if anyone is caught in transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him or her, of course, in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you to be tempted. bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And you remember what the law of Christ is, brethren? What is the law of Christ? Love. Loving one another. What is the heart of considering brothers and sisters?

It's a heart of humility. And it's a heart of love. We are told If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted, and we are to bear one another's burdens. Considering one another for the purpose of caring for one another, brothers and sisters, requires humility and requires love.

It requires that when you see carefully, when you look carefully to your brother and sister, you will not be looking at your brother and sister from your pedestal, from your lofty city, from your prideful structure, but rather that you will condescend in the Spirit of Christ. And I think that condescends is a positive word in English. That you will come down in the Spirit of Christ. that you will humble yourself in the Spirit of Christ, not for the purpose of pointing the error, not for the purpose of pointing that which is lacking, but rather with the intention of restoring the soul of your brother and your sister. Because in considering one another, brothers and sisters, We are going to, yes, encourage one another, but we are also going to identify things in our brothers and sisters that are not according to the scriptures.

And we have two options. To ignore them so that we can continue to smile when we are eating the food together. or we can address them in love and in humility before the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us consider one another. That is the heart and the spirit of how the Christian is to consider one another.

If you return there to Hebrew chapter 10, then we are given the purpose of that considering one another. So let us consider one another in order. In order. To stir up, to stir up love and good works. Oh brethren, to stir up love and good works.

Think about that brethren. Love and good works, how necessary they are for our Christian life. Love and good works, qualifiers of a genuine faith. They are important qualifiers of the genuine visitation of the Holy Spirit, that we will grow in love, not only to the Lord, but that we will grow in love to others and to our brothers and sisters, and that our faith will be seen evidence in good works. And the author of Hebrews says that we are to consider one another with the purpose or in order to stir up Love and good works.

This word is very powerful, brother. It only happens two times in the New Testament. And the Holy Spirit used those two times to give us the opposite on one side and the other side on this case. Come with me to Acts 16 and you will find the negative side of this word. But when we see the negative side of this word, we can see the power of this word.

Acts 16. Acts 15. You remember the separation between Paul and Barnabas. Remember, brethren? You've read the Scriptures many times.

You remember the separation between Paul and Barnabas. Luke is going to use this word to speak about the type of disagreement that they had. Let us just quickly remind ourselves from verse 36. And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the words of the Lord and see how they are. Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other. That is, that that which happened between them was not a superficial thing that could be easily solved. The difference that they had one with the other, good or bad, was in a level that was so profound, that was so deep, that the only outcome that the apostles here, Barnabas and Paul, had, it was to separate and to take different paths. Okay, it could have been right, it could have been wrong, whatever, but it was deep. so deep, this sharp disagreement, that the outcome of it was the decision of Paul and Barnabas to take a different path.

Because stirring up happens in the depths of our soul, in the depths of our heart. Some translations will have the word stimulate. Some other translations will have the word provoke. It is to ignite fire inside of a brother or sister. Imagine that.

Good works and love can be ignited inside of me from the considering of my brothers and sisters. The consideration, the looking, the encouragement of my brothers and sisters can be used for the purpose of igniting inside of me love and good works. The life of my brothers and sisters and the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of my brothers and sisters can be used so that I wicked men may be made like the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord uses the local church and the members of the local church as instruments of sanctification for the vessels whom He has saved. Not only through their prayers, but also through their forgiveness and the relationship that happens among them.

Because we are called to consider one another in order to stir up Good works and love. Oh my dear brother and sister, how are we going to do that? How are we going to stimulate? Brethren, just let me tell you this. That growing in good works and growing in love is equal to edification.

The outcome of considering, of caring for one another, for the purpose of steering up love and good works is edification in the life of my brothers and sisters. That is that the Spirit of Christ moves inside of us in such a way that when Jesus Christ is genuinely leading and ruling our hearts, We are going to expect, desire, and want that our brothers and sisters will be edified. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 9 and onwards, it says the apostle that the authority that has been given to him is an authority not for destruction, but an authority for edification. That the ministry of the Apostle Paul is not for the purpose of destroying the life of another person, but rather with the purpose of edification. While brethren, many times for our flesh, it is natural to see others destroyed with the purpose of seeing myself being on top of the mountain.

That is what really is in the hearts of men. Yet the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ is that we will look to each other and that we will find ways to edify one another. And what is the way that we have to edify one another? Through the Word of God. Read Ephesians chapter 4 from verse 11 and onwards.

We are not to be like infants that are tossed by the wind from one place to another, but rather speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in maturity. The maturity of the Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of the words of God. Christians have been called to minister unto each other in such a way that the outcome will be Christ-likeness. Pay attention to Colossians 3, verse 16.

A verse that we have mentioned in the past. Please, brethren, pay careful attention to Colossians 3, verse 16. Speaking to all Christians. Colossians 3, verse 16. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Speaking to all Christians, brethren. Speaking to all Christians. Not only speaking to teachers or pastors, but let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

That is, whatever work of ministry you do for your brothers, taking from the vessel of your heart and taking from the riches of the Word of God that the Spirit has deposited in you, take those and bring them to your brothers and sisters. Speak to each other. Admonish one another. And when you do so, you will do it in thanksgiving before this Lord that is the one that edifies the church. Brethren, We are not edified only by coming and hearing and preaching a sermon or something like this.

We are, and we are to apprehend that very importantly. But brethren, we are nourished, and we are fed, and we're growing maturity by the relationship that we have to each other. And that happens through your mouth. Because your heart or your mouth speaks from the abundance of what is in your heart. And if the abundance of what is in your heart is not the things of Christ, then the things that are going to be coming out of your mouth are not going to be for the purpose of beatification of the one that is receiving those words, even if those words are just okay.

Brethren, we are in need, spiritually speaking, this church and us as a church people, we are in need of being a divide and being made like the Lord Jesus Christ. And that can only happen through the love of Christ working in us mightily and powerfully. Because knowledge puffs up, but the love of Christ is the one that edifies. And it's only when Christ comes upon us, in our hearts through his word and his spirit that we can be vessels of ministry one to the other and we can consider one another in order to stir up love and good works and of course brethren the method of how this happens is by the coming together of the saints because if you go there once again to hebrew chapter 10 it says Not neglecting to meet together, as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. Verse 25, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.

What is to neglect the coming together? It is something that becomes a habit. It is something that becomes a manner. It is something that now, that is not taking place in the outside of the person, but is happening in the inside of the person. This was the habit, this was the manner of some people in this context of the church, and it happens and continues to happen throughout church history, that some people will be moved for lack of love and excessive love to self, not to desire to be in the context of the brothers and sisters, and now they move to patterns and routines and habits and manners of neglecting the gathering of the saints.

And please pay careful attention that the author of Hebrews in verse 25, instead of contrasting the neglecting of the meeting together with meeting together, right? It would be a better contrast to say, not neglect to meet together as is the habit of some, but gather together and come together. The contrast or the opposite of neglecting the gathering together is encouraging one another. because it's not about only coming to church as in Spanish we say to warm up a chair, but rather it is to come to the context of the church and to be an instrument of encouragement one to the other. It is not only to receive and to judge and to be critical and to say this and that, but rather of how can I be an instrument of encouragement to my brothers and my sisters?

How can I open the eyes of my mind? How can I open the eyes of my heart to consider one another, to stir up this brother or this sister in love and in good works? How can I encourage this brother not to neglect the gathering of the saints? How can I encourage this sister to continue to abide in the presence of Christ? How can I be an instrument of encouragement?

And the answer to that is, you cannot. You cannot because the things that come from you usually are selfish, self-centered, or for yourself somehow. The only way that we can be instruments of encouragement in the context of the Lord, in the context of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is by dying to self and allowing Jesus Christ to be enthroned in our hearts, moving us genuinely to love one another in such a way. Brethren, but this sounds so romantic and so repetitious, even from this pulpit, four years of saying the same thing and preaching the same thing, which is true. But brethren, if we do not have the reality of genuinely caring in our hearts for our brothers and sisters, let me just simply put it more simple.

If as I speak, you know, that you don't have the care for your brother and sister, the love for your brother and sister, that the Spirit of God convicts you that you should have. If you do not care for the souls of your brother and your sister, as the Scriptures clearly explain and say, there are many other verses, brethren. I'm not quoting from Ephesians and from 1 Corinthians, because there are many verses that speak about encouraging one another and mutual edification. But if your affections, If you wake up in the morning and you're not thinking about praying for your brothers and sisters. If you are simply continually and ongoingly forgetful about the life of your brothers and sisters.

If religion is just this activity that I have on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, whatever you have commitments with the church, that you have managed yourself now to put into a scheme of repetition and ticking all of these things. but your heart is separated, removed from genuine care from your brothers and sisters. Remember, caring for your brothers and sisters is a sign of the genuine perfecting of the once for all sacrifice of Christ in the life of a person. Caring for one another is the way that the local church awaits for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And caring for one another is the way that we protect and keep the souls of our brothers and sisters from receiving the judgment of what a fearful thing is to fall in the hands of the living God.

Brethren, this is a matter of the heart. And it does not matter how many drops of sweat I sweat here. It does not matter how many words I use to speak all of this. If the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ does not move us to this, if we do not surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, then our hearts are going to be devoted of the love that God had for His church in the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand, brethren, that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we were predestined in love.

There is love. Love is the reason why He predestined a people unto Himself. Love is the reason why He sent His Son to die upon the cross. Love is the reason why all of these things that we see that are happening are happening in fulfilling of the decree of the Lord. The love that He had for His people in the Lord Jesus Christ is what moves all the decrees and all the acts of God.

And if our heart is absent of that, how are we going to say that we love God when we don't love the brethren whom we can see and God whom we don't see, brethren? 1 John chapter 4. How are we going to put in our mouth, Lord I love you, whom I don't see? If I don't love the brethren whom I'm able to see, The application of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is visible in your faces. The application of the decree of God and the grace of the Lord is visible in the countenance of the saints.

In the Old Covenant, the radiance of law was in Moses. But now, here in the New Covenant, we have the radiance and the light of Christ in the countenance of those who are members of the New Covenant. And we are called, brethren, to consider genuinely one another, to stir up love and good works, not neglecting the coming together of the saints. And this is not only Sunday, brethren, right? This is hospitality.

This is receiving one another. This is spending time with one another. This is opening our houses to receive one another. This is praying together. Brother, sister, come to my place.

Let's pray together. Brother, sister, come to my place. Let's open up the Scriptures together. Brother, sister, let's just partake this meal together. Brother, sister, let's go to the park together.

Brother, sister, let's pray together. This is what we need, and this is what we're not doing, brethren. This is the way that the Spirit of Christ moves among us. This is the way that the Spirit of Christ empowers us to go on our knees and pray, to go on our knees and fast, to go on our knees and study the book, to receive words from on high, to be illuminated in the eyes of our hearts, to be empowered to live like the Lord Jesus Christ, That happens by a simple manifestation of love one towards the other. How are we going to battle against the darkness of this world?

How are we going to oppose the dark government and the things that are happening in the world if we have not managed to love one another, brethren? If we have not managed just simply to die to self for the sake of the brethren, if we have not managed to genuinely care for one another, may the Spirit of the Son of God, who was sent by this Father and by this Son to dwell in us, this Spirit of adoption through whom we cry, Abba Father, my same Spirit that gives us illumination of the Scriptures, also move us to have the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, because when He came, He came to serve. And when He came, He came to die. And He completed the work that the Father gave Him. Are we going to complete the work that the Father has given us?

May the Lord help us, brethren. May the Lord help us. Amen.