Exhortation #4, Life in the Holiest

Will you please turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. Hebrews, chapter 10, we'll read from verse 19 to verse 31. Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 19.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies, by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way, which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of the hope, unwavering, for he is faithful who has promised. And let us consider one another for provoking to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some, but encouraging one another, and by so much the more, as ye see the day drawing near.

For where we sing willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and heat of fire about to devour the adversaries. Anyone that has disregarded Moses' law, dies without mercy, on the testimony of two or three witnesses, of how much worse punishment they give, shall he be judged worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has seen the blood of the covenant, whereby he has been sanctified commonly, and has insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know him that said, to me belongs vengeance, I will recompense, said the Lord.

And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing, falling into the hands of the living God. Let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for Thy precious Word. We ask, O Lord, that Thou will breathe upon Thy Word, and make it living to us. We pray that as we go into Thy Word, we may hear Thy voice speaking to us directly, and to Thee be all the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Amen. It has been some time that we have been on this book of Hebrews, and I'm a little bit fearful that probably you have forgotten what we have mentioned before. So I have to use maybe five minutes to roughly bring you to this point that we are going to share this morning.

The book of Hebrews is a letter of exhortation. You find that in Hebrews 13, verse 22. The writer said he write this letter as a letter of exhortation.

Now, exhortation in the Scripture means calling attention to, warning against, and encouraging unto. And in this letter to the Hebrews, we find five distinctive exhortations. And all these exhortations are centered upon one or some important theme.

Because of the importance of what the author is presenting to us. Therefore, on the one hand, he encourages us, and on the other hand, he warns us. Now, the first exhortation is found in Hebrews chapter one and chapter two.

The theme is so great salvation. Salvation is not a little thing. Salvation is so great.

Why? Because it is concerned with glory. One day, the Son of God will lead many sons into glory. And because of the importance of this theme, the writer encourages that we should pay special attention to what we have heard.

Lest it slips away from us through negligence. Now, the second exhortation is found in chapters three and four. And it is centered upon this matter of the heavenly calling.

We are called with a heavenly calling. We are called to be the house of God. We are called to be the companions of Christ.

We are called to enter into His rest. And because of such a calling, a heavenly calling, we are encouraged to consider, to consider Jesus, the apostle of our faith. We are encouraged to encourage one another daily as long as it is today.

We need to encourage one another. Lest we are deceived by sin. Lest we fall away.

And this is the exhortation. Now, the third exhortation is found in chapters five, six, and seven. And this is centered upon the theme of perfection.

We need to grow into full growth. It is not the will of God that we should remain as babes. Having the foundation laid, we should build on it.

And in connection with that, we are encouraged to press on. We are to consider Jesus as the high priest of our confession. Because He is able to succor us, to support us.

He ever lived making intercession for us. And He is well able to save us to the uttermost. And in view of that, we are warned against being sluggish.

Because by faith and patience, we shall inherit our promises. Now, this morning we will enter into the fourth exhortation. The fourth exhortation is found from chapter eight through chapter ten.

And here, in chapter ten, we said, having, therefore, brothering. Now, therefore, we know, is a word that shows us it is a continuation of what has already been said. So we may say that, if you read from chapter eight through chapter ten, you will find a number of things there.

And these things are for the sake of enabling us to enter into the Holy of Holies. I wonder how much we understand about this matter of entering into the Holy of Holies. You know, in the Old Testament, God wanted to dwell among His people.

And to do that, He commended Moses to build Him a tabernacle. And a tabernacle has an outer court, a holy place, and the Holy of Holies. Now, the Holy of Holies, or the holiest, is actually the place where the glory of God abides.

So entering into the Holy of Holies simply means to enter into the very presence of God. To live in the very presence of God. To behold His face.

To commune with Him. To have fellowship with Him. To abide in Him.

And this is a privilege that people did not have in the Old Testament time. Why? Because in the Old Testament time you find people had to worship God far away. They could enter into the outer court to offer sacrifices to God.

But they were not allowed even to enter into the holy place. Only a few people, the priesthood, they could enter into the holy place to serve God. But they were not allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies.

Only the high priest, one man, in all the nation of Israel, he was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year. With blood and smoke of incense to cover him. To go behind the veil.

To offer blood, atonement for the whole nation and just for a little while. And according to the interpretation of the Holy Spirit, in Hebrews we find that it simply means the way to the holiest has not been opened. In other words, no one can see the face of God.

No one can enter into His presence. Not to say, no one is able to live in His presence. That was a privilege never granted in the Old Testament time.

But thank God, today we find we are able to enter into the Holy of Holies. Why? Because as you read chapter eight, you find that under the Old Covenant of Law, the Old Covenant of Law, the Ten Commandments, thou shalt and thou shalt not. These are the demands of God.

And yet no one can fulfill such demand. Under the Law, everyone was condemned. But thank God, God has covenanted with us with a new covenant.

And in that new covenant, it is a covenant of grace. In other words, it is no longer thou shalt and thou shalt not, putting all the responsibility on man. It is, I will and I will.

It is a covenant of grace. God said, I will do everything for you. I will forgive your sins, or I will forget your iniquities.

I will dwell in you. I will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may know me. I will give you my own life that you may have the power to obey me.

In other words, you find God promised that He will do everything for us. And this has been sealed by the blood of our Lord Jesus. In other words, it is a covenant that cannot be broken.

In the old covenant, because the responsibility is upon man, and when men fail to fulfill their responsibility, God abolished the covenant, because it didn't work. But in the new covenant, God put all the responsibility upon Himself. And thank God, it never failed.

And therefore, this covenant can never be broken. Under the new covenant of grace, we can enter into the Holy of Holies. And then if you read on to chapter nine, you will find that under the old covenant, there will be sacrifices.

Why? Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And that's the reason why you find the children of Israel, they have to offer sacrifices again and again, day after day, month after month, year after year. But, the Bible tells us, the blood of bulls and goats really cannot wash our sins away.

In other words, they serve as a type, as a shadow. All the blood of the bulls and the goats only cover, as it were, our sins before God for a time. But the next year, the blood of bulls and goats had to be offered and brought within the veil to make atonement before God again.

In other words, the sins had not before forgiven. They were just covered for a time until one day, the blood of our Lord Jesus, He offered Himself by the eternal Spirit, spotless to God, and once for all, He cleansed us from all our sins. So dear brothers and sisters, we find that it is the blood of the Lord Jesus that washed all our sins away, and forever, once and for all.

It is finished. In the Old Testament time, there should be many sacrifices. But here we find, in the New Testament, through the offering of our Lord Jesus, just once, and it is perfected.

He has perfected eternal redemption for us. Under the Old Covenant, you find you need priests. Priests, human beings, just as we are.

They are weak too. But they were priests according to the order of Levitical order. And then they will help the people to offer sacrifices.

But, their priesthood often was interrupted by death. But here you'll find, in the New Covenant, we have a priest, Jesus Christ. He is after the order of Melchizedek.

In other words, after the life order of the indissoluble life. He lives forever, making intercession for us, that He may save us to the uttermost. In the Old Testament time, you'll find, when they offer sacrifices, and, once a year, the high priests enter into the Holy of Holies.

But, now you'll find, the shadow has passed away. It is the reality now. Why? Because our Lord Jesus has taken His blood, His own blood, not into a man-made tent, but He brought His own blood, even into Heaven itself.

We have the reality now. So dear brothers and sisters, the time of shadow is past. Now, Christ has brought us into reality.

And the reality is, we are able today, not only to enter into the very presence of God, but by His grace, we are able to dwell in His presence. Now dear brothers and sisters, this is the highest privilege that man can ever enjoy. And thank God, it is ours.

So the writer of the Hebrew said, we may approach, we may enter into the Holy of Holies, boldly, with boldness, no longer with fear and trembling, far, far away, but now we can draw near to the very presence of God with holy boldness. Now this boldness is not based upon ourselves. If it is based upon ourselves, it will be presumptuous.

And you know, in the Old Testament times, even to peace, at the very beginning, you will find two sons of Aaron. They presumptuously try to enter in the tent of meeting to offer incense to God with strange fire. And they were burned to death.

So brothers and sisters, it is not by any boldness in ourselves, because in ourselves there is no good. We are not worthy. We cannot stand under that impenetrable light.

We cannot stand the light of God, the holiness of God. It is something that we couldn't. But thank God our boldness is in Christ Jesus.

So here you'll find we have the boldness to enter into the holy of holies by three things. Number one, by the blood of the Lamb. We are able to enter into the very presence of God and stand before Him with boldness.

Why? Only because the blood of the Lord Jesus has been shed. His blood has washed all our sins away. So when we stand before God, God can see no iniquity in us.

It is all washed away by the blood of our Lord Jesus. That's where our boldness is. And secondly you'll find it is by His opening for us a new and living way.

Through the veil, His own flesh. In other words, you'll find that when our Lord Jesus was crucified on Calvary's cross, at the moment when He died, something happened in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple. There the veil has separated the holiest of all from the holy place was rent from top to bottom into two.

In other words, through the breaking of the body of our Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross, the veil that stood between the holiest of all and the holy place was rent in two. The way to the presence of God is being opened. And this is through the broken body of our Lord Jesus.

He was broken on Calvary's cross to open the new and living way for all of us to enter in and to live in the presence of God. And thirdly you'll find today we have Him, our Lord Jesus, as a high priest of the house of God. He is now seated at the right hand of God making intercession for us, praying for us, supplying us with His own life, with His Spirit, with His power, that we may live a life that will be pleasing to God.

So, brothers and sisters, how we do thank God that through our Lord Jesus, by His blood, through His broken body, and His being now living forever for us as our high priest, we have the boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies. Today it is a reality that we can live, not only enter, we do not need to enter in in a few minutes to withdraw. No, we can live, dwell, abide, make our home in God, in His very presence, and have loving fellowship with Him day by day, moment by moment.

And this is what the Lord has done for us. Dear brothers and sisters, isn't this a marvelous privilege? Today we do not need to worship God from afar off. We do not need to be in fear and trembling when we think about God.

Today we can come into God, dwelling Him, holding communion, fellowship with Him, love Him, worship Him, and gaze upon Him, and be transformed by the Spirit of God that we may be conformed to the image of Christ. And this is our portion, our privilege. Now, seeing such a tremendous privilege, here you'll find the writer of Hebrews encourage us, encourage us to approach.

Now, since we have such a privilege, why do you stay out? I think it will be, it cannot be imagined that having such a privilege, that we can live daily in the presence of God, with God, holding communion with Him, in sweet fellowship with Him, and yet we stay away from Him. It cannot be imagined. So the writers encourage us to approach.

Let us approach. Let us draw near. Let us draw near with a true heart.

Brothers and sisters, it is a matter of heart. It is not a matter of outward appearance. You know, you remember the Lord Jesus said, the hour has come, and it now is, that you do not worship God either at Mount Gerasing or in the temple in Jerusalem, because you worship God in spirit and in truth.

In other words, today it is not a matter of outward appearance. Where? How? No. It is a matter of heart.

Today we approach God with a true heart. Thank God, we can, or we do have a true heart today. Why? Because our heart has been sprinkled by the blood from an evil conscience.

Now formerly, you know, in our heart there is an evil conscience there. Whenever we think of God, our conscience accuses us, and we flee from God. We are afraid of God.

But thank God our conscience has been cleansed. We have a conscience without offense before God. So today we can approach God with a pure heart, with a true heart, a heart that really desires God, a heart that really loves God, and we can approach God with our full assurance of faith.

Three things. This life within the veil, this life in the holiest of all, this life with God, in the presence of God, actually is a life of faith, of hope, and of love. Therefore you find in Hebrews chapter ten, first of all, verse twenty-two, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

Let us approach in full assurance of faith. Now, there is a little bit, we need to add some little strength to that translation, because according to the original, it is not the full assurance of faith. It is the fullness of faith.

Now, there is a vast difference between full assurance of faith and fullness of faith. I don't have time to explain it today, because we have a baptism later on. But anyway you find that it is the fullness of faith.

Now, what is the fullness of faith? The fullness of faith means all that God has done in Christ, objectively for us. And all that we trust and believe, subjectively, in all that He has done for us. In other words, fullness of faith means whatever the Lord has done for us, we believe, and we appropriate.

That is fullness of faith. Faith, as we find in Hebrews chapter eleven, faith, verse one. Now, faith is, I am reading for a new translation, faith is the substantiating of things hopeful, the conviction of things not seen.

Now, what is faith? Faith is the substantiating of things hopeful. In other words, faith looks forward. It is something that we hope for.

But even if it is something that we hope for, it is being brought to us now, by faith. So, it is called the substantiating of things hopeful. Now, let me use an illustration.

We have a beautiful picture here. Now, the picture is hanged on the wall. How is it that it becomes something that you can enjoy personally? When you see that picture, your eyes substantiate.

Now, the picture is a substance. Your eyes substantiate that picture within you. In other words, it brings that beautiful scenery into your mind, and because it brings it into your mind, it gives you such enjoyment.

Now, that is what faith is. Faith substantiates all the promises of God. Faith brings all that Christ has done for us into our very life and make them our experience, so that we can enjoy them.

Now, that is faith. Brothers and sisters, what is the life within the veil? The life in the presence of God? The life in the presence of God is not a life by sight. It is a life by faith.

In other words, today we live a life by sight. And if you live a life by sight, you live externally. In other words, you live by the circumstances around you.

Know what you see around you. You know? And, as a matter of fact, what you see around you today will not give you much enjoyment. It is a sad sight.

But dear brothers and sisters, we do not live by sight. If you live by sight, you are outside the veil. We all live by faith.

Why can we live by faith? Because we see Him. We do not see other things. We see Him.

Or, may I put it this way, we see all things through Him. And that makes all the difference. All the difference.

A life in the presence of God is a life of faith. A life that sees God continuously. Looking off unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

The more you look at Him, the more your faith increases. And dear brothers and sisters, the more you are able to appropriate all that God has done for us in Christ Jesus. It is a life of faith.

And secondly, this life in the presence of God is a life of hope. So here it said, in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23, Let us hold fast the confession of the hope unwavering for His faithful who has promised. It is Robert Govett who makes a distinction between profession and confession.

There is a difference between profession and confession. Profession is made among people who are friendly. Confession renders in the presence of the enemy.

In other words, what is confession? Confession is you confess something, you acknowledge something, you declare something among people who are not friendly. That's confession. And the confession of hope unwavering.

Now, what is the confession of hope that we have? We have hope. Now, the world does not have hope. In Ephesians chapter 2 we find they have no hope, no God.

But we have a blessed hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory. We have hope.

And what is our hope? Our hope is that we may gain Him. We may know Him. We may know the power of His resurrection.

We may be conformed to His death. And we may arrive at our resurrection from among the dead. That we may be apprehended as we are being apprehended.

Dear brothers and sisters, we have tremendous hope before us. We have the hope to be transformed and conformed according to His image. We have the hope to rule and reign with Christ.

We have the hope to be joined with Him eternally, to be one with Him. We have tremendous hope before Him. And this is the hope that we confess even today in this world.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is true. We have to hold fast the hope, the confession of our hope unwaveringly. Why? Because we are surrounded by adverse situations.

The whole world, everything around us is trying to destroy our hope, is trying to shake our hope. But thank God we shall hold fast the confession of our hope unwavering. Why? Because our God is faithful.

We know that He will bring us to the end. And actually you'll find that in chapter twelve of the book of Hebrews. You know we are on an obstacle course.

What our brother has found in the beginning, just passing through these obstacles is nothing. But our life is such a big obstacle course. There are so many obstacles we have to overcome.

But let us run with patience. Leave aside every weight and the thing that easily entangles us. Looking off unto Jesus and run with patience knowing that our Lord Jesus has already run that race and He has won.

And even if we have to suffer a little bit for it, it's worth it. And do not forget that God in His wisdom is child training us that we may be made partakers of His divine nature. Now think of that blessed hope that is before us.

So brothers and sisters, a life in the presence of God is a life of hope. And then, of course, the third thing is in twenty-fourth. And let us consider one another for provoking to love and good works.

It is a life of love. A life in God is a life of love. Not only in the sense of loving God, but also loving one another.

And that's what you find in Hebrews chapter thirteen. That we need to love one another, the hospital to one another, and to remember those who are in bonds, and to, you know, submit ourselves to the leaders, and to go outside of the camp to join with Christ, and so on and so forth. So, here you'll find it is a life of love.

A life of love. And these are the things we are encouraged to do. So brothers and sisters, just remember, we are to approach, draw near to God, and live this life of faith, of hope, and of love.

And because of the greatness of the privilege, you'll find it brings to us also a tremendous responsibility. And if we fail in our responsibility, then of course we are warned that there will be a serious disciplinary action waiting for us. So, here you'll find the rite of the Hebrews not only encourages us to approach with pure heart, in fullness of faith, confession of faith, of hope, and love, provoking to love and good works, but immediately following, you'll find He begins to warn us.

Knowing that we have such a privilege, and if we should abuse the grace of God, if we should despise the grace of God, then what will happen? And He says, verse twenty-six, For where we sing willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful expectation of judgment and heat of fire are about to devour the adversaries. Here is the warning.

If we abuse the grace of God, if we despise what Christ has done for us, if we sing willfully, now here you'll find the sin is sin willfully. Well, maybe, first of all, I would say, what follows, sometimes people say, what you read from Hebrew chapter ten, verse twenty-six, to verse thirty-one, refers to unbelievers. Now, whenever we read something that becomes serious, we are thinking that it refers to other people.

But if you read very carefully the context, you'll find that the writer of the Hebrews is not talking to unbelievers. He is talking to believers. Why? You'll find he said, For where we sing willfully.

We. And we, not only the Hebrews who received the letter, but even the writer of the Hebrews. We.

If we sing willfully. And then you'll find after receiving the knowledge of the truth. Now, the word knowledge in Greek is ethynosis, which is full knowledge, experiential knowledge.

It is not just surface mental knowledge. It is an experiential knowledge. In other words, you have experienced already the truth.

Now, having received the full knowledge of truth. Now, an unbeliever doesn't have such knowledge. He's a believer.

And then if you read verse 29. Whereby he has been sanctified. In other words, he has been sanctified by the blood of the covenant.

He was forgiven. His sin was washed away. He had an experience of what we call salvation.

He has been sanctified by the covenant of the blood. And verse 30. The Lord shall judge his people.

You are his people. So, you find that these words are not spoken to unbelievers. They are spoken to believers.

Oh, brothers and sisters, because we have such high privilege, therefore we need to be severely warned. If we sing willfully. Now, the word willfully means deliberate, determined, sustained, continued.

Now, if we sing deliberately, decidedly, determinately, and continuously, after we have known the Lord, after we are saved, after we know the truth, after we are sanctified, and if we sing willfully against all that we have already known and experienced of the Lord, then it is a serious thing. Now, of course the sin does not refer to sometimes through temptation we fall. It doesn't refer to that.

Or, nor does it refer to some sin that often entangles you. In other words, there may be some sin in your life you are fighting against all the time, and yet you fail again and again. Now, it doesn't refer even to that.

It only refers to having received the full knowledge of God, and yet you sing willfully against it. Now, that's the thing that is mentioned there. Now, if you want to know what kind of sin it is, if you read on, you will find it is described a little bit in verse 29.

Think ye, shall he be judged worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God? In other words, he has known the Son of God, and yet he began to tread the Son of God under his feet. Think of that. And esteem the blood of the covenant whereby he has been sanctified common.

He has been sanctified by the blood, and the blood is holy, and yet he turned around and said it's common, it's nothing. And also insulted the Spirit of Grace. The Holy Spirit has wrought in his life and bring grace to him, and yet he insulted the Spirit of Grace, and just despised the Spirit of God.

Now, brothers and sisters, what is it? It is apostasy. Apostasy. Now, in the Bible you will find warning against apostasy.

Apostasy is a possibility. You will read 2 Peter, you will read Jude, and you will find warnings against apostasy. In other words, people may have come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and yet can turn around completely, and against in such a way that is blasphemous.

They misuse the grace of God for a dissolute life. And they even deny their only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in history you will find such cases.

But thank God, not too many. But anyway you will find apostasy is possible. So we are warned against it.

Warned against apostasy. Now, if such things should happen, it is that there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins. No more sacrifice of sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and heat of fire about to devour the adversaries.

And the writer used a comparison. He said, now, if you disregard Moses' law, on the testimony of two or three, you will die without mercy. Now, that's true.

Because if you read that in the Old Testament, you'll find it is true. When a person sins, and he knows about it, he can bring a sacrifice to God and ask for forgiveness. And his sins will be covered.

But there are certain sins people committed in the Old Testament time under the law of Moses that cannot be sacrificed. No sacrifice for such sins. For instance, murder.

Leviticus chapter 21 verse 12 to 14. You'll find that if a person should kill another person deliberately, there is no sacrifice for him. Even if he should flee to the city of refuge, he has to be taken out and bestowed to death.

Or adultery. Deuteronomy 22nd chapter to 22nd verse. There is no sacrifice for sin.

In other words, there are certain sins that are done deliberately against the law of Moses, and on the testimony of two or three, will be punished with death. Now, if this is true in the Old Testament time, how much more severe it will be. In the New Testament time, under grace, with such tremendous privilege, and people should turn around and dragon Christ, Son of God, under their feet.

How much more severe the punishment will be. The writer used that as a comparison. In other words, it is even more serious than death.

Thank God. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus, and has their sins forgiven, and has received eternal life, God will never go back and take away his eternal life. God will never again throw him into the lake of fire, as if he has never believed.

No. Because the calling and the gift of God knows no repentance. That is true.

But it is equally true. Even if God does not take away the eternal life, the gift that has given to you for eternity, but, if we willfully sin, and do not repent, a severe disciplinary action is waiting. And what is described there is fearful expectation of judgment.

And as a matter of fact, that judgment is grace. Through judgment, God will correct us. Discipline.

Use an illustration. David. David committed adultery and murder.

You remember the story. And after he committed that sin, God sent the prophet Nathan to him, pointed out to him what he had done. And as a matter of fact, you know, David, a man at God's own heart, his conscience has smitten him all the time.

Even before the prophet pointed it out. In other words, David really repented of what he had done. And God told Nathan that God has forgiven him.

But do you think he got off that easily? If you read Psalm 51, you find there is something there. Verse 16. Psalm 51, verse 16.

For thou desireth not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou has no pleasure in burning. You know, David knew for the sin of murder and adultery there is no sacrifice of sins.

David knew that. Then he said, if you still desire sacrifice, I will offer it. But David knew that is no use.

No use, no sacrifice for sin. But does it mean there is nothing that you can do? Thank God. Even though there remains no sacrifice for sins.

And yet, David said, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and uncontrived heart. O God, thou will not despise.

David offered the sacrifices of a broken spirit. A contrived and broken heart. And because of this, God does not despise him.

God said, I will forgive you. But discipline, judgment, will follow him and his house. And you find how terrible things happened to David's house.

Forgiven, and yet severely punished. Severely disciplined. And brothers and sisters, it is the grace of God.

It is still the grace of God. The sin of apostasy is a most serious sin. We do not know who has gone to the point of no return.

We only hope that even those who have apostatized may still repent and come to God with a broken and contrived heart. And they will still be forgiven, even though they had to be severely disciplined. But, it is possible that in this life some people may go to the point of no return.

And if that is the case, then in the age to come they will be severely disciplined. A very famous case on this matter of apostasy happened at the turning of the century. There was a very brilliant man by the name of F. W. Newman.

He was Carter the Newman's brother. He was a brilliant man. And in his early days he was in constant company with such great men of God like Jan Darby, Anthony Bruce, and these great men of God.

And he was in constant company with them. He was really saved. And he seemed to love the Lord.

But then, at a certain period of his life, he suddenly completely changed. For a number of years, twenty years or so, he became escapist. He began to oppose the truth of God.

And he polluted, deceived many young people in the university. He became an apostate. But thank God, before he died, he repented.

And he asked that on his tombstone it is written that he died trusting in the blood of the Lord Jesus. So we feel that even though it is such a serious thing, but God is so merciful that there is still opportunity for such people to return. But anyway, you'll find the writer of the Hebrew said, we haven't read that portion because we don't have the time, but now we can read it.

Verse 32. But call to mind the earlier days, in which having been enlightened, he endured much conflict of suffering. On the one hand, when he was made a spectacle, both in reproaches and affliction, and on the other, when he became partakers with them, with those who were passing through them.

For he both sympathized with prisoners and accepted with joy the plunder of your goods, knowing that you have for yourself a better substance than abiding one. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense. For ye have need of endurance in order that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

For yet a very little while, he that comes will come and will not delay. But the just shall live by faith, and if he draw back, my soul does not take pleasure in him. But we are not glorious back to perdition, but of faith to saving the soul.

So dear brothers and sisters, it is a real comfort, even though we find the warning is so serious. But we do not need to be afraid. Because by the grace of God, he has supported us, he has supplied us, that we may continue on, endure with faith, and do not draw back.

And brothers and sisters, just a little while, it will not be long, even though it is difficult. But just a little while, and he that comes will come, and the just shall live by faith. So may the Lord.

Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee, that Thou has given us such high privilege. Privilege that people in the old days could never have. But thank God that it is now our portion, that we may dwell in Thy very presence, and have sweet communion with Thee daily.

Our Father, we pray that having such privilege, through the blood of the Lamb, and the new and living way Christ has opened for us, with Him as our High Priest, we pray that truly we may draw near with fullness, with true heart, in fullness of faith, and with hope unwavering, and provoking one another to love and good works, as long as it is today. Lord, we pray that this may be true with all of us. Do deliver us from willfully sin against Thee, to turn our back against Thee, Lord.

We pray that we cannot keep ourselves, but we commit ourselves to Thee, knowing that Thou art able to keep us until that day. And to Thee be all the praise and glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.