Hold Fast to the Confession

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. You're about to hear God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit our website at cornerstonerbc.com.

That's cornerstonerbc.com. very good brother and sister. As I said, we're going to be addressing this idea of holding fast to the confession of our faith, particularly in times of need. We're gonna be addressing that from verse 14, 15 and 16.

And as I said before, I'm going to invite you to read with me from verse eight in Chapter four. We're gonna be going all the way through Chapter six verse six. So as we read the Scriptures, I want you to pay careful attention to how the author of Hebrews is very seriously giving a warning to this church about not to fall into the disobedience like the people of Israel fell in disobedience. The warning is a very serious warning not to disobey the word of the Lord. And in disobeying the word of the Lord, you are not holding fast.

to the confession of your faith. So let us read. This is the word of the Lord. Hebrews chapter four, reading from verse eight. This is the word of the Lord.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter the rest. so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his eye, but all are naked. and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people.

And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. And he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. In the days of his flesh, he, that is Jesus, offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.

And he was hurt because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. About this, we must have to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.

You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the world of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith towards God and of instruction about baptisms or washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, the eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.

and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Amen. This is the reading of God's word. My dear brother and sister, perhaps one of the most important truths and messages that we have communicated from this pulpit in the last six years is that Christ is the center, that Christ is the focus, that Christ is the primary and ultimate purpose of the Christian life. Christianity finds its main purpose in Christ alone.

And if Jesus Christ is not the center, if Jesus Christ is not the focus, if Jesus Christ is not the primary and ultimate purpose of Christianity, then we no longer have genuine Christianity, but false Christianity. Christ is only Lord of those who have generally received Him. He's not Lord of those who have not received Him. And we have a great, vast difference between genuine Christianity and false Christianity. When the Spirit of God visits a person, when the Spirit of God gives life to a person, then that person places the Lord Jesus Christ.

as the focus, as the center, as the ultimate purpose of their life. When the Spirit of Christ takes possession of a person, then this person is completely transformed and changed. And now the eyes of that person are placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But if the Spirit of Christ has not visited a person, then that person is going to put themselves as the center and as the focus and as the primary and ultimate purpose of their lives. They are going to be king to themselves.

They are going to be the objective of their own life. They are going to be the center of everything that they do. Christianity, genuine Christianity, is vastly different to false Christianity. Genuine Christianity produces genuine salvation. False Christianity does not do anything in the spirit of a person.

And if that person is only within the context of the church, perhaps that person may learn some of the traditions and some of the behaviors that Christians do, but they will never be transformed by the power of the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Genuine Christianity provides a spirit that gives power to the one who receives it to overcome sin and to become like the Lord Jesus Christ. false Christianity does not provide any power to be transformed. And rather, the person remains within the context of religion, is still dead in their sins, dead in their trespasses, many times just disguising their unrighteousness, either in morality or disguising their unrighteousness in a life of immoral freedom, trying to be what they actually are. And when they are in the context of the church, trying to be like the people that are in the context of the local church.

That is a vast difference. genuine Christianity and false Christianity. And that which separates the two of them is Christ Jesus. Christ is meant to be the center. Christ is meant to be the focus.

And Christ is meant to be the primary purpose, the ultimate purpose of the life of the one who has been transformed. And from very early on in the life of the church, the apostles, the shepherds, the pastors had that issue within the context of their churches, that there were people in the context of the church that even though that they say that they profess with their mouths that they were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, Very deep inside, they did not have the spirit of Christ, but they had their own spirit. And because they had their own things, they were following their own ways. And the apostles did not know who is in Christ and who is not in Christ. And for that, they will come and write different warnings, calling the people in the context of the church primarily to place their eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ and then to examine themselves to see where they are.

That is the situation that we have with the Hebrew church, or at least this church that is receiving this letter here. There were people in the context of this church that were not following the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And hence, the apostle or the author of this letter is concerned that within the people that are seated in the chair, in those chairs, there might be people that are following the example of the people of Israel in the Old Testament. The people in the Old Testament, they were liberated from Egypt. The power of God was manifested among them.

They saw with their eyes the power of God. They were liberated from their oppression in Egypt. Yet when they came through the wilderness and when Moses went up to Mount Zion to take the Ten Commandments, then the people of God rebelled and they worship idols and they disobeyed the Lord. Why did they disobey the Lord? Because they were not in pursuit of God when they were liberated out of Egypt.

They were in pursuit of their own freedom and their own comfort. They accepted to follow the Lord when the offer was, I'm going to take you out of Egypt, but they were not pursuing God. They were pursuing themselves. And because they were not pursuing God, they did not have the Lord in their hearts. They did not have genuine faith.

And because they did not have genuine faith, they perished in the wilderness. So the author of Hebrews, concerned that that may happen in the context of the local church, brings a warning to the Christians to say, you see that example of what happened to the people of God in the wilderness? hold fast to the confession of your faith, that you may not fall away, that you may not be like them, that they experienced, that they received, that they tasted the powers of God, that they heard the words of the Lord, that they heard the words of the prophets, that you may not be like them, that being in the context of the people of God, you do not hold fast to the confession of your faith, and then you fall away. Because if they fell away and they received such a great condemnation that they received the Word of God through the prophets, how much a greater condemnation will you receive that God has spoken to you, not through the prophets, but that he has spoken to you through the Son of God? They received the words of the Lord through prophets in shadows and in ways that were not as clear.

But you, then he says to the church, you have received the message of God from God himself in his son, Jesus Christ. How much of a greater condemnation will you have if you forsake such a great salvation that he has given you? And hence, he says, do not fall away or hold fast to the confession of our faith. And in times in which we come to the end of a year and we assess all the things that we have done in the previous 12 months, and we plan for the future that is ahead of us, and we plan about what we're going to do. What are we going to do for work?

What are we going to do with our money? What are we going to do with our education? What are the things that we are going to do? Let me tell you something, my dear brother and sister, that independently of what the future brings for us, independently of the money that we're going to have or not have, independently of the work that we will have or not have, independently of the country in which we will live or will not live. That which is of most importance for the Christian is to belong to Christ Jesus, and by the end of next year and the following year, to remain steadfast in the Lord.

Because if someone loses their faith, they have lost something of more value than money, or a house, or education, or reputation. If someone falls away from the Lord, they have lost something much greater than what this world offers. Hence, the Lord, but better the apostle was the Lord through the apostle is going to come and give us this warning here to hold fast to the confession of our faith. He says that in verse 14. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.

Jesus, the son of God, let us go fast to our confession of faith. That is what I want us to consider. And there's a couple of things that I want us to do from these three verses that we have before us. The first thing that I want us to do is to answer a very simple question, and that is, what is the meaning of holding fast our confession? What is the meaning of that?

That is the main exhortation that the Apostle, perhaps the Apostle Paul, has given us in this passage of the Scriptures, to hold fast our confession. What is the meaning of that? Second, I want us to consider the reason why the apostle calls us to hold the confession of our faith is going to give us a reason. And he's going to say that since we have Jesus, who is a great high priest, then we are to hold fast the confession of our faith. And then finally, I want us to consider how are we supposed to hold fast the confession of our faith?

The apostle is going to tell us that in verse 16, when he called us that we are to draw near to the throne of grace and that we are going to receive mercy and grace in times of need. However, you can see here that the structure of the text is very simple. The instruction of the text is very simple. The Lord, through the apostle, is calling us to hold fast the confession of our faith. And the reason why we're to hold fast the confession of our faith is because we have Jesus.

And Jesus is a great high priest, a great high priest that is not only the son of God, but he's also one like us. And because he's like us, he can sympathize with our weaknesses. And in knowing that, he calls us that we are supposed to enter into the throne of grace in prayer. And then he says something very interesting in the end, and that is that we may receive help in time of need. And I don't know if this is the question that you have asked yourself about this passage, but I asked myself this question during this week.

What is that time of need? He's also referring to a time of need in a general way. Every time that I have a need, I'm supposed to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that I may receive mercy and find grace every time that I have a physical or emotional or any type of need in a general sense. Or does the apostle have something more specific? in mind of approaching the throne of grace.

And then when you read the context, you will realize that the instruction of the apostle, of course, serves us as an instrument to pray every time that we have a need. But the apostle has something more important or more specific better in light or in his mind here in the context of this passage. And that which the apostle has in mind is the struggle of the Christian with sin. The context has very clearly tells us that, that just as the people of Israel fell in disobedience because of their sins, we are not to follow the example of Israel. So the Apostle will tell us that we are to hold fast our confession in time of struggle with our sin.

Can we use this passage to every time that we have a need? Of course we can use this passage every time that there is a need, that we can come before the Lord and pray. But let me submit to you that the intention of the Apostle here is more particular and more specific. You are going to struggle with sin in your Christian life. And that is going to be a time of need.

And in that time of need, you're not to put your eyes in yourself. But in that time of need, you're to put your eyes in Christ Jesus, who is the great high priest. And if you put your eyes in Christ Jesus in that time of need, that is struggle with sin. Then the grace of the Lord will rescue you so that you will not follow the disobedience of the people of Israel. Did you hear these very strong words in verse 11 when he says, let us therefore strive to enter the rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience?

You should not follow in that disobedience of the people of Israel. They had a physical, a man, a high priest who was a human. You have Jesus Christ. So when you're found in time of need, Remember that you have someone who happens to be the son of God, who happens to be your high priest, who happens to have a struggle with sin, or at least facing in the same way that you did, because he was a human, he is man. And you can enter the throne of grace in which he's now seated at the right hand of the Father, because he has gone through the heavens.

And you can approach him with boldness and confidence And whether you fall in temptation, or whether the temptation is knocking at the door, or whether you have fallen in sin, in that time of need, remember that you have a great high priest that is better than Aaron, that had to offer for his own sins. So perhaps just perhaps there may be someone among us that is facing any sort of temptation Then my message for you is going to be look to christ jesus Because in your struggle with temptation what your struggle with sin what the scripture tells us is that you are to approach Christ as your high priest and he is the one that is going to sustain you And he's the one that is going to uphold you and he is the one that is going to make you not to be like the people of Israel and like the people of God who enter into the eternal rest of God, not because of their own works or deeds, but because of the pure grace of the Lord. There is going to be time of need, brethren. There has been time of need. There has been time of need, perhaps this week or perhaps even today, in which we are struggling with temptation.

We're struggling with sin. That is the message of this passage. that we may not be like the people of Israel, who follow their hearts and their own imaginations and their own fleshly desires, but rather in the time of temptation, when Moses is gone, and when we are on our own, that we will follow the word of the Lord, not because we need it outside of us and see it with our senses, but rather because the word of God that is piercing, that is a two-edged sword, who happens also to be Jesus Christ, It's within us. And because the Word of God is within us, points us not to ourselves, but points us to heaven. And I could finish my sermon there, because I have said absolutely everything that I was going to say.

But I just simply wanted just to make that clear, because I feel that I don't have clarity today. So brother and sister, in your struggle with sin, do not look to yourself, look to Him. So first, What is to hold fast the confession of our faith? Verse 14. That is the main exhortation, right, that he's given us in verse 14.

What is the meaning of it? Before I tell you the meaning, let me just simply tell you that this is a very serious matter. It's actually a very, very serious matter. This idea of holding fast the confession of our faith is so important for Paul, for the author of Hebrews, that he's going to repeat this idea many, many times. Perhaps the passage or the parallel passage that makes the urgency of this call more clear is found in chapter 10.

Just come with me to verse 10. Let us just simply read there. So I just want to show you the seriousness of what it is to hold fast the confession of our faith. In chapter 10, in verse 35, the author of Hebrews is going to use very similar language to what he said in Hebrews chapter 4. of holding fast our confession.

Pay attention there in 10, 35. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence. That is similar to hold fast to your confession, Hebrew chapter 4. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.

For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Now, you heard that with a Colombian accent, so let me just read it once again so that you can feel the weight of those words, right? Just pay attention to verse 87. For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one shall live by faith. You remember Romans chapter one, that we live by faith. And he says something very interesting here. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Praise God for verse 39.

Really, praise God for verse 39. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. but of those who have faith and persevere their souls. So brethren, the one that is going to hold us fast is not ourselves, it's Christ Jesus. But because of that, I don't want you to lose the seriousness of the warnings that we have in these books.

I don't want you to simply just take a passive idea when you hear these words that we hear in Hebrews, and they just passively just simply say, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that keeps me in his hands, and he's the one that is going to complete the work. It is true, brethren. But the fact that we endure and persevere until the end is a sign that we have part with the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, holding fast the confession of her faith is not just simply that I was a Christian 11 years ago, and then now I say that I'm a Christian, and perhaps when I turn 80 or 85, I'm going to continue to say with my mouth that I'm a Christian. To hold fast the confession of your faith is not something that happens with your mouth.

and holding fast the confession of your faith is something that happens with your heart. Because that which we say with our mouth is supposed to correspond to a spiritual reality that has taken place in the heart of a person. So when the apostle is calling us to hold fast the confession of our faith, or our confession, that's what he refers to, when he's calling us to hold fast this confession, he's calling us to endure in obedience. to faithfully hear the voice of God and obey. Contrary to what the people of Israel did, you remember, they received the word of the Lord, but they did not receive it by faith.

And because they did not receive it by faith, they ended up in disobedience. Then he tells us, you people of the New Testament, you are to hold fast your confession. What is that? You are to faithfully hear the voice of God. And the evidence that you faithfully hear the voice of God is not that you come and say, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, I come to church, but rather that you obey the Lord.

That you hear His voice and that you follow the Lord. Because it's easier to say with your mouth that you're a Christian. It is easier to say with your mouth that you believe. But faith without words is? We need the Spirit of God to produce in us the fruits of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So holding fast the confession of our faith is when we faithfully hear the voice of the Lord. We obey Him and we become like Him. And this is an evidence that you are a genuine Christian. Because when you come to Hebrews chapter 3, you will realize that for the first time when the apostle uses this expression of holding fast our confidence, he is going to tell us that holding fast our confidence until the end, it is actually a sign that we have shared in Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 14.

It says, for we have come to share in Christ. You have there Hebrews chapter 3 verse 14, for we have come to share in Christ. if indeed we hold our original confidence firm until the end. In other words, those who will hold their confidence until the end, those who will hold to their confession until the end, those who will endure until the end, is because, not because they are strong, or not because they are smart, or not because they have learned from the example of the people of Israel, which we should do all of those things, perhaps don't be strong, but at least learn from the example of the people of Israel. But it's better, or rather, because Christ Jesus is in them, or better, because they have shared in Christ Jesus.

If a person is united to Christ Jesus, then the life of Christ is in them. And if the life of Christ is in them, then that person will hold fast unto the confession of their faith until the end. Will that person fail many times? Yes, that person will fail many times. But the Spirit of God will come and restore that person and bring them until the end.

The one who has begun a work will bring it to completion. The Lord will not forsake the works of his hands. The Lord will not abandon his people. The Lord will not abandon his children. He will bring to completion the work that he has started and yet We are to hold fast unto the confession of our faith, because the Spirit of God is in us.

And we should be fearful when it comes to sin. When sin is knocking at the door, when temptation is knocking at the door, when temptation is coming through our lives, we should be fearful of it. Because the sign that we have shared in Christ, is that we make it until the end. And just as many people fell in the wilderness in times of Israel, brother and sister, many professing Christians have fell in the wilderness of this world throughout the years. You may know people in your lives that profess to be Christian and they are no longer in Christ Jesus.

You may know people that were in the context of the church serving the people of God and no longer are either in the church nor in Christ. They have abandoned the faith. They have fallen away from the Lord. This teaches us not only the seriousness of sin, brother, but the importance of Christ as the center of genuine Christianity. I said to you with broken words in the beginning of my message that the difference between genuine Christianity and false Christianity is that in genuine Christianity, Christ Jesus is the center, he is the focus, he is the primary and the ultimate purpose.

Everything that places something else beyond Christ, and then Christ just becomes your appendix. Christ just becomes that which you do on a Sunday because you're religious, and you were born in a Christian family, and you learn all of these things, so you do these things because you learn all of these things. You don't want to cut the tradition of your ways. Anything that places something or someone different than Christ Jesus, brother, that is not the Spirit of the Lord. because the Spirit of the Lord points us to whom?

He points you to yourself, to your good look, to your power, to your money, to your talents? No, brethren, he points you to Christ Jesus. And the more that the Spirit of God points you to Christ, the more that you realize how small and unrighteous you are, and how big is the chasm of separation between you and Christ, and the more thankful that you are that he sent his only begotten Son to die for someone like you. but if the center of your life is only you, your reputation, it is you and you alone, then very well, congratulations, you are certainly placed in the throne of your own heart, but you will not be able to take you out of this world into heaven, because no one comes to the Father except through the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the warning, or this is the exhortation that he's telling us, not something that is from the mouth, not something that is simply an external profession of faith, holding fast to the confession of our faith, is remaining faithful in the heart.

That is that when you turn 80 or 85, that is what the Lord wants. And then you were saved when you were 14 or 15 or 50 or 60. That's no matter that you are not perfect, certainly not. But then when you look back, you're a little bit more like Christ Jesus. Because if the spirit of Christ is in a person, then that person will become like Christ Jesus.

And then we proclaim everything is for him and everything is unto him. And only Christ should receive the glory. But let me just call your attention to the reason why we are supposed now to hold fast to our confession. It was my intention, once again, with very broken words today, to show you the importance and the meaning of what it is to hold fast our confession. But the apostle or the author of Hebrews is going to tell us the reason.

And what a glorious reason we have, brethren. The reason why we are to hold fast to our confession of faith It is because we have verse 14. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. The reason why we are called to hold fast our confession.

The reason why we are even able to hold fast to a confession, the reason why the genuine Christian is going to make it until the end is because we have a great high priest whose name is Christ Jesus. It is not because of us. It is because of him. It is because of what Jesus Christ has done. And the puzzle does not tell us only that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

He tells us that this Jesus is a great high priest. He's not like the priest of the Old Testament, like Aaron, of whom he speaks in chapter five, that was intermediating. That's the word that you use in English, right? That was mediating better between the people of Israel and God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not like him who perished and died and was a sinner.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is without sin and he's God himself. A high priest, my dear brother and sister, had the duty to mediate between the people of God and God himself when it comes to sin. And when we look back in the Old Testament and we see the priest and we see the people of Israel and we see all of those ceremonies, many things that we can learn. But one of the most important things that we can learn is that God is holy. And because God is holy, sinners cannot enter into his presence.

Because sin is not just like an offense, that I'm just simply going to ignore that it happened or took place, but sin is a crime. Sin is the breaking of God's law. And because God is righteous and God is holy, he did not accept anyone in his presence. So he established the system of the priesthood so that the people of Israel will have access to the presence of God through the priest. But also the thing that we learn when we look back into the Old Testament is not only the seriousness of sin and the holiness of God, but the temporality of that system.

Because the high priest will have to come every year to do exactly the same. And the system was not enough or sufficient to provide forgiveness to the people so that they could remain in the presence of God. So God had to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Word in the flesh, the Son of God, to come upon this world to be like one of us, so that He, being our great high priest, will take upon Himself our sin, our unrighteousness. And by dying upon the cross, He will propitiate, He will pay the price of our sins. And then when he was heavenly resurrected, when he was resurrected and was taken up in glory, he will enter into the tabernacle of heaven.

The doors will be open for him to enter into the presence of his father. And his father will say, My son, you have completed the work that I gave you to complete on behalf of those who might have loved from the very beginning of the foundation of the world. And because you have completed that work that I gave you to do, not only you are going to sit at the right hand of the majesty on high, and for the very first time in human history, a man sits at the right hand of God himself, but also in you, those who have believed will be eternally forgiven. And sin will have no more power upon them. And because of that, once for all, my people will be rescued from darkness.

They will be rescued not from Egypt, because they can be sent once again to Babylon, because they can be sent once again to their enemies. They are rescued from the power of Satan and from the power of sin. And now it's not only that they are forgiven, They are my children, because you have accomplished this on their behalf. And you sitting at the right hand of the father or at the right hand of the throne is them sitting at the right hand of God himself, because you have become like one of them. It is not like a great angel, or it's not like a great God that has just simply come down in a heavenly mission to rescue these people.

But it's the humility of God in sending His only begotten Son to be like one of us, so that by becoming like one of us, we can be in the place that He was exalted to. Christ Jesus has been exalted above everyone, and He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and in Him, We have been blessed with all the heavenly blessings before the foundation of the world. We have received all the grace that Christ has received. Why? Because he came and died for you.

And because he's your great high priest, brethren. Every time that we're thinking or every time that we're struggling with sin, remember this, fight and victory. Christ Jesus came to fight against sin, and He was victorious. And Christ Jesus was victorious in that He went through the heavens and sat down at the right hand of the Father. When you are facing temptation, brother, sister, even when you have committed a sin, Remember that the solution for your temptation, and the solution for the sin that you have committed, is not to enroll yourself in a psychological program to follow step 1, 2, and 3 so that I'm going to overcome pornography.

The solution to your problem is not to enroll yourself into an online video activity so that I'm going to overcome lying mouths. The solution is not to find the book, Three Steps to Righteousness. Or the solution is not just to go and put yourself through a program or a psychologist or to follow a person. The solution is found in Christ Jesus. He's the savior, the rescuer of our souls.

The problem of sin is only dealt upon the cross. That's why he sent his son. If there was a different way to deal with sin, He would have given us a different way. He would have given us a program, a system, a wisdom that is so good so that we can put it into place so that we can solve the problem of sin. But there is not such a program and there's not such a solution.

The only solution to the problem of sin is Jesus Christ. And he came and he fought. He came and he fought is the word that you have, right? He came and he fought sin. That's what he did.

And he fought sin like one of us. And he endured temptation. And he was victorious over that temptation. He was tempted in all ways like us, but he was not like us, weak. Because we're weak, every time that there is a temptation, you know how our weakness is manifested?

That we fall. Because it's easier not to fall in that temptation. It is more difficult not to fall, brethren, than to fall in a temptation. It takes more power, it takes more energy, it takes more of the person not to fall in temptation, than rather just to give up that temptation, right? Than just to fall in that temptation.

The Lord Jesus Christ never fail. all the temptations that he had, he was victorious. And he was setting an example that the Spirit of God that was in him as a man was powerful enough to overcome the temptations of this fallen world. So if he fought and he was victorious, how much more now us, I was just speaking in Spanish for one second there, how much more us, brethren, having the Spirit of Christ Jesus in us Are we going to be victorious like Jesus Christ was over sin? Of course not, brethren.

But we are not defeated. We have the power of the Spirit of Christ in us. And just as He fought, we are called to fight. And the way that we fight is not by going to the gym and becoming stronger and then fighting sin, brethren. The way that we fight is by fleeing unrighteousness and by coming to the feet of Christ.

If you flee unrighteousness and you don't come to the feet of Christ, you become a hypocritical, moralistic, legalist man or woman. If you only flee from unrighteousness, I don't want to do those things. I don't want to be seen or observed doing those things. I'm not like those people who commit those things. If you only flee unrighteousness, that is not enough.

Because in fleeing, you need to pursue something or someone. And that someone must be the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 6, verse 11 and onwards. Flee unrighteousness. Flee sexual immorality, says Timothy, but pursue righteousness in the person of Jesus Christ. The way that we fight sin, brethren, It's not by being wise.

It's not by being strong. It is just simply this, by fleeing unrighteousness and in fleeing coming to the feet of our Savior. How? Through this book. to find our Lord and Savior in these pages, in prayer, in supplication, in the context of the local church, renewing our minds, being with one another, learning about Christ Jesus, fleeing the unrighteousness of this world, and going to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He fought, but also to fight sin.

And because He was victorious brethren, He also gives us the promise that we can be victorious over sin. Is there something that is besetting you? Is there a sin that has taken you in such a way that you say, I'm never going to overcome this? Brother and sister, victory over sin is not granted to you because of who you are, but is granted to you because of what Christ Jesus has done. So we can have victory over sin because he has already gone through heaven and he's seated at the right hand of the Father.

What we ought to do is to have a gospel mind every time that we sin, every time that we fall. We are not to put our eyes on ourselves or circumstances or someone else. We are to renew our minds and to think through things in a gospel way. And what does the gospel say? That he came, that he died, that he was resurrected, that he was ascended.

And brethren, that now he's seated at the right hand of the Father. Let me show you a very beautiful passage that is found in chapter 9, a parallel passage to this. In chapter 9, just read with me this. Hebrews chapter 9. The apostle or the author of Hebrews comparing the Old Testament system with Jesus Christ says this in verse 11.

But when Christ appeared, speaking about a high priest, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. The apostle is describing there what happened actually in heaven, the entrance of Christ Jesus into not the tabernacle or the temple that was made by hands that was on the earth at the time of the writing this, but his entrance into the heavenly tabernacle, the heavenly places. You remember that Moses went up to the mountain and he was given the instructions to build a tabernacle. And he said, just as you have seen, then go and do. What did Moses see?

Moses saw the heavenly tabernacle to which Jesus Christ entered when he was ascended. And when Jesus Christ entered, he entered not only as a priest, but he also entered there as a king. And he sat down at the right hand of the father. Verse 13, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of Heifer, I think that's how you pronounce that, sanctify for the purification of the flesh. How much more will the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit offer himself without blemish to God?

Pay attention to this. Purify your or our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. You know, one of the greatest problems that Christians have when it comes to sin? Guilt. Because guilt is good insofar as it points you to Jesus Christ, and then you confess your sin, you repent of your sin, and then you know that in Jesus Christ you are forgiven, that he's just and faithful to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Guilt is good when guilt leads you to the Lord Jesus Christ. But because of our flesh, guilt can do something different sometimes. And that is not to take us to Christ Jesus, but to point us to ourselves. So now we have a problem. We have committed a sin and we know that we are guilty and our conscience is dirty because we have done something that we have not done.

And when we do not place our eyes in Jesus Christ, but rather in ourselves, then we try to find all ways to fix the problem that we have committed. If we said a word that we should have not said, then we think that fixing it is just by saying an opposite word. Or if we went to a place that we should have not gone, then we say we are going to go to a different place. The thing is that we are never going to be able to solve the problem of guilt on our own. You may distance yourself physically or in time from the thing that you have done.

And sometimes your emotions and feelings make you believe that the problem has been solved because it happened a month ago, three months ago, three months ago. But guilt that has not been resolved through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is guilt that has not been resolved at all. Because the only way that a Christian has to resolve guilt and the problem of sin, it is in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can purify our conscience from our dead works so that we can serve the living God. It is only the blood, the accomplishments of Christ, it is the death, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only thing that can liberate us from the burden of guilt and may move us into knowing that we are forgiven in Christ Jesus and that because we are forgiven, we are free.

By the moment that our flesh and Satan tempt us not to come to Christ, we're never going to be able to solve the problem. That's why when we return to our passage, and then I finish with this, after the apostle has pointed us to Christ Jesus as our great high priest, who is the Son of God, who has sat at the right hand of the Father, who has gone through the heavens, who is like one of us, he's going to tell us in verse 16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. In other words, brother and sister, have you sinned? Come to Christ. Are you guilty?

Come to Christ. Have you made a mistake or something that you were not supposed to do? Come to Christ. Because if you do not come to Christ, you're not going to be able to hold fast the confession of your faith. Because you're not going to be able to sustain yourself in your own strength, in your own power.

You are to come to Christ. Sin is going to tempt you to believe that you are not worthy to come to Christ. Let me tell you that you don't need sin to tell you that you're unworthy to come to Christ. You are unworthy to come to Christ. But Christ Jesus receives you with your sin or without your sin, not because of who you are, but because of what he did.

Why do you think that you are super righteous when you've done sin and then you are worthy to come? Brother and sister, do not allow your flesh just simply just take you to that place. Brother, sister, every time that we sin and that we experience guilt, we are to come. But brother, I have seen so many times. So you're going to tell me that the amount of times that you have seen is greater than the sacrifice of Christ Jesus?

But brother, sister, I have shame for the sin that I have committed. So brother, sister, you're going to tell me that when you come to Christ and when you come to God, you have received in the past a judgment that says you shouldn't have done that. You should fix yourself. That is the worst you have received from God before. That is the message of the gospel is not.

Shame is a manifestation of lack of faith in Christ Jesus or a manifestation of our pride. That we are trying to fix ourselves to our own standard and making ourselves worthy so that according to our own standard, we can come to the presence of the Lord. And now we say to the Lord, Lord, now I'm presenting something that is good. You should be happy that I'm coming to your presence this way. But brother and sister, with sin or without sin, with guilt or without guilt, we are already unworthy.

And the reason why we come to the throne is because of grace. Hence the name throne of grace. Because we do not deserve to be present at the feet of Christ Jesus. He paid it all. We sang that.

He is the one that completed the whole thing. He is the one that will hold us fast. We sang that. He is the one that is going to forgive us. He is the one that is going to sustain us.

He is the one that is going to keep us until the end. So the commandment is come. Have you seen? Come. Have you done something that you should have not done?

Come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you come, do not come without. But coming without to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ is saying your gospel is not enough to resolve this problem. And because your gospel is not enough to resolve this problem, then I'm not sure in the way that I'm approaching you. come to the Lord with boldness.

Not because you have something in yourself to offer to the presence of the Lord so that you are forgiven, but because what He did upon the cross is already greater than whatever sin you have fallen into or you have committed. Whatever mistake, whatever error, whatever sin that we have committed is not compared to the grace that is available in Christ Jesus and in His presence. That's why we have entrance into this throne of grace, even though we are on the earth. We close our eyes and we come to the presence of God. We confess our sins in times of need, and then we are in the very presence of the Lord.

And what a glorious thing it is for an unrighteous person who does not deserve to enter into heaven. By being present on this fallen earth, we can just simply close our eyes intentionally and with faith and be present in the throne of grace where our Savior is. knowing that this Savior that entered into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of the Father, at this very time, this very hour, is interceding for us. Because as a high priest and as a king seated at the right hand of the Father, He cares for His people. And because He cares for His people, the victory that His people will have overseen is not contingent upon the effort and the strength of His people, but it's contingent upon the fact that He's alive.

And while he remains alive interceding for his people, the church will be victorious. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. And the Christian will be rescued and taken out of this wilderness. And even though we may have made many mistakes and seen in many different ways against the Lord, if what we have in us is Christ Jesus, brethren, we're going to be received into the presence of God as faithful servants, into the presence of the Lord. And on that day, Ephesians chapter two, the grace of God will be exalted and everyone will praise the grace of God bestowed upon people like us.

Have you seen? Come to Him. Have you said something that you should have not said? Come to Him. Have you gone to places that you should have not gone?

Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you facing temptation in different ways? Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He's the only one that can save us and that can redeem us. And as we approach towards the end of this year, And as we make so many plans about what the future brings, money and different things and work and future, let us remember one thing. The most important thing that a Christian has is our faith.

And not because it's ours, but because it has been granted and given to us by the Lord. And in having genuine faith, we are with the Lord. And if we are with the Lord, we are to hold fast to our confession of our faith. not because we're strong or powerful, but because He has given us a promise that He will hold us fast until the end. And may Christ receive all the glory, not only today, but in every day with your lives and in the secret places of your families and of your marriages, and that He may be exalted in the hearts of all His people.

And it's in His name that we say all these things. Amen. Let us pray.