0:38
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you this morning? Here we are. It's good to see you. Thankful to see you this morning.
0:45
We're looking forward to Thanksgiving. If y'all would, stand up with me. We're going to sing about it and counting our blessings. So, be thinking of one. Be thinking of something.
0:54
This is name em one by one. So, I'm going ask you to be thinking about em literally. What are some of your blessings that you got going into this morning right now? So, seven eighty six, hymn number seven eighty six. If you want your part.
1:08
Speaker 2When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed when you are discouraged thinking all is lost when many bless ings name them one by one it will surprise you what the Lord has done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what God has done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings, see what God has done. So what are some of them?
1:52
Speaker 1Family. Family. That one was resounding, family. I heard pecan pie too. Good good health.
1:59
Alright. Really?
2:01
Speaker 2Anybody? Anybody? We'll give you another chance between the next couple of verses. Are you ever burdened with the Lord of care? Does the cross seem heavy?
2:13
You are called to bear. Count your many blessings every doubt will fly and you will be singing as the days go by count your bless ings name them one by one count see what God has done count blessings name them one by one count your your many blessings see what God
2:49
Speaker 1Next level, what what are you thankful for? Health, students. Oh, that's good. What's that? The father, son, and Holy Spirit.
2:58
Fantastic. Family. Yes. For what's that? Our view.
3:03
Yeah, that's pretty good. Okay. That's great. Yeah. That's cool.
3:07
Let's go for another verse. When you look at others,
3:10
Speaker 2When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold. Count your many blessings money money cannot buy your reward in heaven nor your home all night count your blessings name them one by one count your blessings see what God has done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what God have done so amid the conflict whether great or small be discouraged God is count your many blessings angels will count your blessings one by one count see what God has done count name them one by one count your your your many blessings see what God have done
4:41
Speaker 1Yeah, the next one is, Jesus, we just want to thank you. Jesus, we just want to thank you. Hymn number seven ninety one. Special times and seasons. Jesus,
4:53
Speaker 2we just want to thank you. Jesus, we just want to thank you Jesus, we just want to thank you for being so good Jesus we just want to praise you Jesus we just want to savior we just want to serve you savior
5:55
Speaker 1to savior
6:00
Speaker 2we we just just want to serve you for being so good and on the last Jesus we know you are coming Jesus we know are Jesus we know you are coming to live in home
6:37
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. I've I've actually switched up the announcement some. Just going chronologically, this is a last week announcement.
6:48
The Operation Christmas Child. We think this is a record for first B, a 196 boxes were filled, sealed, banded, and put in a car and have been delivered. Fantastic. That's really cool. That's a lot of that's a lot of joy being spread out over a lot of the world.
7:04
So a 196 boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We have Monday nights at First B happening as normally scheduled. Mondays at 06:00 in the evening, but it is gonna be Thanksgiving turkey and sides. Carl, do you have anything that you'd like to say? It's a it's a Thanksgiving potluck.
7:27
Yep. And so, typically, the
7:30
Speaker 2way that we deal with
7:30
Speaker 1this, Thanksgiving is a potluck. We're going to do song and scripture. So, it'll be meal music and a message but it's a Thanksgiving. So, there'll be a lot of Psalms and a lot of Psalms of thanks but if you promised that you would cook a turkey for us last week, would you please do that and bring it? We had turkeys that we bought and then handed them out to different people to cook because we can't cook all the turkeys at one time here.
7:54
We're handling the turkeys and hopefully, y'all will handle the sides and desserts. So, bring what you will tomorrow evening, 06:00. That'll be fun. Also, community entry services, there are several folks who go to church here who work with CES and they ask if we would help and so some of y'all have also volunteered just a reminder on that. If you volunteered to help out with that, take them whatever you said and there's one more celebration on Thanksgiving Day.
8:20
If you are not here with your family or you don't have family in town and you wanna come to a place for Thanksgiving, it's happening here. They call it Friendsgiving. It's just Friendsgiving people and that's a potluck too. I wanted to remind you of the three different options there. There was a meeting about going to Kenya with Tanya in my office in between services today.
8:39
We've already passed that point but if you are thinking about it and you missed that meeting, you're welcome to let us know and we'll get you the information you need and now, today, following this service right now, after this one, a potluck luncheon that's honoring Francis Salamone. Y'all y'all know Ferry. Ferry is the guy who sets up the chairs in here every week. He sets up the tables in the fellowship hall for everything. He is one of the most industrious and hardworking people I've ever met in my life.
9:08
And a few weeks back, we went to Casper and he passed his citizenship test. And so he texted about half of y'all on the way home to tell you that he had passed the test. This is a celebration of that. If you would, please come join us. We'll have and we provided the meat but it's sort of a potluck after this service.
9:25
So, come on down and celebrate Ferry's upcoming US citizenship. One more thing, In your bulletins, the paper bulletin this morning, there's a little insert. I'm going to borrow yours there, Judy. So we always do the paper bulletins. We print them up for a reason.
9:40
I'm going to skip some of the stuff that's in there when I do announcements from upfront, but you can know what's going on based on this. I will say this, there's no youth group tonight. I didn't put it in my announcement, but no youth group, 05:00 tonight. We're not doing that tonight. Happy Thanksgiving.
9:55
We're not doing that. Spend some time with you folks. But in the middle, the little insert, this is a printout. What we're trying to do, a couple weeks ago, we hit the passage of stir one another up into love and good works. Stir one another up, we should be drawing near, holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering, and considering how we may stir one another up into love and work.
10:19
So, for everybody that's here today and if you missed one, I'm going to send somebody. Carl, would you Blake, would you mind grabbing more of these out there if there are more of these out there? If you missed one and you don't have one, I'd ask you to raise your hand and Blake will bring you one of these. And this is not something we do every Sunday. It's not something we've ever done since I've been here from seven years.
10:43
But since we're trying to stir one another up, I'm asking y'all if you would be interested in any different kind of ministry that we are doing or attempted to do here at first B. You might be somebody that we could call. Will you fill this out with your name? We're not going to send you a bunch of Email. We're not going to send you spam.
10:59
I'm not nearly consistent enough on email to do that. But if you would fill it out with your phone number. If you want your email address on there, put that on there. Give us a way of contacting with you. If you think, I wish Ray wouldn't do this, write that down.
11:11
Pretend you're writing something that you're willing to do. Okay? Write it down. Sign it anonymous. I don't care if you don't want to have me to have your information.
11:18
Just scribble something on this page, please, and turn it back in. I'll give you some music to think about it. Okay? So we'll give you thirty seconds or so. There you go.
11:32
Put them in the offering plate when the offering plate comes around. Alright? Thank you. Thank you very much That's good and I think that that's it. So, if there's anything else, like I said, it'll be in your paper bullets and I'm going give you a chance to just say how to you.
12:05
There are a lot of people in town that aren't normally in town because of Thanksgiving. Tons of folks that are gone for the same reason but if you would stand up and greet somebody, we'll bring you back together with a song in just a minute. Another Thanksgiving number.
13:04
Speaker 2Good job. With a grateful heart give thanks to the holy one give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks for the holy one give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us. And now let the weak say I
14:14
Speaker 1We're going to sing father God next. Father God, I give all thanks and praise to thee. Number one forty one.
14:56
Speaker 2Worship father God. Let's sing that one again. God give all thanks and praise to thee father God my hands I humbly raise to thee for thy mighty power and love amaze me amaze me and worship
15:37
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I'll invite the frontline team though to come forward Would you pray with me? God, I thank you for this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful morning. I thank you for giving us lord this day. Breath in our lungs that we may breathe out praise to you and lord, I pray that you would that you would have us do just that, that we would be doing what is your will done in your way.
16:06
I pray that the ones here who know you, lord, would be so moved and so humbled by your goodness and your grace and your love and so thankful that it would just spill over onto the people around them. This this week as we go and we gather different groups and families and friends get together. Lord, I pray that you would be magnified and glorified by those obedient servants that know you. Would you accept lord what we place in these plates right now? A portion of what you've given to us.
16:36
Lord, we are saying in this, you, we trust you to do or you your plan A which is we'll be your witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part. We're starting with this community right here, the people and the families are represented here this morning, reaching all the way to the other end of the world, the other side of this globe. Lord, would you do your will? We humbly bow and ask for your blessing. Amen.
18:26
He will give me grace and mercy. He will give me grace and mercy. I'll go with him through the judgment. What a song that is Amen. We've got a doozy in front of us today.
18:39
I'll just go ahead and say it. There's quite a bit of information Now, right there, you see that it's Hebrews ten thirty two through 39. So that's eight verses. That's not that hard to get through, especially after having last week's solemn exhortation or warning. This one ought to be pretty easy.
18:55
Well, it would have been, but I decided what we needed was a review. So I couldn't get away from it, and when I can't get away from it, I try to go back and say the point of this book, and and actually by this point, the writer of Hebrews has done this a couple times already, restating the case. I'm gonna throw it all at you and towards the end, I'm coming back to these eight verses. But I'm gonna hit you with the first 10 chapters of Hebrews all at once right now. Okay?
19:21
I am convinced the more I study this book that this book, the whole one, all 13 chapters is a sermon. It's a long sermon Maybe not by that day but by our day it is. So, it's a sermon that was to be delivered at once and we've got 10 chapters that we're to go and just hit the highlights pretty quickly but I think that you get the force of that and then you land on this and it could be something that God really moves among us. Here we go. Hebrews ten thirty two to 39 is an encouraging confirmation and you can find great comfort for yourself here but there's nowhere to hide.
19:55
There's nowhere to hide. Your heart is laid bare by the word. So, here we go. Quick review of this book as a whole. The Exortium is the very first four verses of this book and I think the Exortium is the pastor's point upfront.
20:09
This is going to be my big idea, right? And he, this is what it says. God, almighty God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets and the many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son. Now, Jesus is not called Jesus in this chapter. It's the next one but there's no doubt about who this is.
20:31
This is God almighty, his son, Jesus, whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world, agent of creation. We see this. In Genesis, we see it. John, we see it throughout. Colossians says, the same.
20:46
The main point right here in the middle of the exordium and he is the radiance. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and he is the exact representation of God's his very essence and he, Jesus, upholds all things by the word of his power and when he had made purification of sins and he has done that. He had, when he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Amen. We think a lot about the life of Jesus and his example and we think a lot about the death of Jesus and the cross.
21:21
The burial, the three days, and the resurrection. We talk about that a lot. We hit the ascension but I don't think we spend a lot of time thinking about Christ's session. He is seated at the right hand of God and he's interceding for those who would put their faith in him. That's amazing.
21:39
That's a privilege. And this is from the writer of Hebrews to those first century Jewish background believers. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much better than the angels as he has an inherited a more excellent name than they. We could study this forever and never hit the end of it but I'm not going to do that. We're moving on Exodiums verses one one through four and it starts off by saying Jesus is it.
22:05
He is better than everything else and it specifically mentions angel Chapters one and two will mention Jesus is better than angels and he's better than Torah. Now, Torah is given by God and it's good but Torah points us towards our need for a savior The Torah is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus is better than angels. He's better than Torah. Also, the Jewish Jewish folks at that time believed and played up the fact that the Torah was delivered via angels.
22:35
So, makes sense to start there. Jesus is better than angels and better than Torah. There's a warning passage that goes along with it. It's a light warning comparatively speaking. The rest of the warnings and it says this, for this reason, we must pay closer attention much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it He's telling Jewish background believers in the first century pay attention to everything That you already have heard but pay attention to it in the light of Christ, in the light of Jesus, the new covenant.
23:07
You see the old much better looking through the new. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and it did and every transgression and disobedience received its just penalty, then how will we escape escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Jesus is better than it. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory. Jesus is seated at the hand of right hand of God.
23:31
Jesus has made purification of sins. He is the way. He is the only way. It's an exclusive gospel. How will we escape the peril that we deserve if we neglect so great a salvation?
23:45
Don't go back to the copies of shadows. Don't let go of this great salvation. Chapters three and four, go beyond angels and Torah to Jesus is better than Moses in the promised land. Now, if you are a Hebrew, one of the Hebrew children or one of the Jewish background folks, you look back to Moses and say he's a completely faithful servant and I want to know how he did, what he did, and I want to emulate his humility. I want to emulate his following God's leading but the author of Hebrews is saying, Moses was great.
24:20
He was a servant but Jesus was the son and there's a difference between servant and son. Jesus is better than Moses and the promised land which Moses was leading the people towards and Joshua got to crossover and lead the people into that promised land was not the eternal rest that we are all longing and looking for. It was an earthly rest but it was temporal. It was not forever. Jesus is better than Moses in the promised land.
24:48
Actually, in this, there's a very positive one right here and I think we all need to do this and we need to do it all the time. Brethren, holy, partakers of a call in heavenly, carefully consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus. Maybe it would be better translated decisively consider. Consider it all the way through out the other end and come down on Jesus being your aunt. Jesus is the answer.
25:16
You carefully consider it for yourself. He, the apostle, one sent from God. He is the high priest, one who can mediate for man towards God. The divine God man carefully, decisively consider Jesus and be sure he is your answer. There is a warning passage with that one too.
25:36
Chapters three and four have a warning. Let us heed. Sounds a whole lot like that first warning in chapter two that said, pay closer attention to what you already know. Let us take heed to what the scripture say. Let us fear if anyone of us should seem to fall short and let us be diligent to enter into that rest that divine and heavenly holy and eternal rest.
26:00
Let us each be diligent. There's a warning there. This is the specific warning. So, therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today, this is a Psalm of David inspired by the Holy Spirit. It's talking about the Moses generation 1400 BC but it's being written about 1,000 BC and it's a warning, solemn warning.
26:27
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. So, I'm going to say, this is always true. Today, if you hear the voice of God or the impression of God on your heart, in your life, in your mind, and you're thinking right now, there's something that God wants me to do. Do it. Today, if you hear his voice, do not hard your hearts as when they provoke me in the wilderness as in the day of trial where your forefathers tried me by testing me and saw my works for forty years.
26:55
They saw all the good but they didn't soften their hearts. They harden their hearts. Therefore, I was angry with that generation said, they always go astray in their heart and they did not know my ways as I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter into my rest. You know what?
27:11
Because they couldn't find the promised land that they wandered for forty years. They can find it. They wandered around for forty years waiting for a generation to die off. Isn't that horrible? Four also has this positive, let us hold fast the confession.
27:31
Jesus, it's about Jesus. He's better than. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. The whole reason that Jesus came and lived that perfect life and died that perfect sacrificial death was to make for God to make an offer of his riches at Christ expense. God's riches at Christ expense.
27:50
Grace is unmerited favor. It's offered freely. So with each of the warnings, there are certainly positives to say cling to Jesus. One and two, three and four, five, six and seven are about Jesus being better than priests and Melchizedek. We talked about Melchizedek for weeks.
28:11
It's five, six, and seven that that he mentions him and then comes back to it and then really goes to it in chapter seven but Jesus is better than priest and Melchizedek and I said in the first service, it kind of snuck up on me that I grew up thinking priests were bad guys. I I grew up Southern Baptist. So, for me, the priest, I don't think a priest is being good guys. Hebrews is presented. The priests were good guys.
28:34
They were good guys. They were weak and they were imperfect but they were good guys and Jesus is better than all of those other priests. And he's of the line of Melchizedek but because he is forever, he is better than Melchizedek. There's a warning passage that goes with that too and it's a hefty one. Probably the strongest warning in the New Testament.
28:59
I'm not going to cover everything but it starts off with another warning that's much like carefully consider, pay attention to what you've already heard, take heed of that which you know. This one says, concerning him. We have much to say and it's hard to explain but the reason it's hard to explain is because you've become dull of hearing. You've just stopped listening. For though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the very elementary principles of the oracles of God.
29:33
You've come to need milk and not solid food. If a baby goes from drinking and having only milk and goes to solid food, we think, oh, that's progress and that's normal and that's the way it's supposed to go but when someone goes from eating solid food to having to eat only milk, something's wrong. That's that's a malady. That's something that's wrong and that's what the writer of Hebrews is saying was the case for the folks that he originally wrote this letter to and I think it's probably case for some of us here today. Now, this is the hefty warning for in the case of those who have once been enlightened, they found out.
30:11
Jesus, they've tasted of the heavenly gift. They see what it's like to be in the family kind of they've been partakers of the Holy Spirit and they've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then after that, they have fallen away. It's impossible for them to renew again to repentance. It's impossible for anyone else, I believe, to renew them again to repentance. Since they again are crucifying to themselves the son of God and they put him to open shame.
30:40
Jesus really is the only way. Now, I'm going to stop right here because this one's a heavy one. It's can you lose your salvation or not? And I want to clarify. I do not believe that you can lose your salvation but tell me this, what's the difference in a Christian Absolute, no doubt about it, really a Christian and someone who is professing Christ.
31:05
That's good. I'll take all comers. Yeah. I think that there that's easy for us to look from the outside and when someone says that they are a Christian, I I tend to trust that. If they tell me they're a Christian, I tend to trust that.
31:17
That's that's between them and Jesus. I know that but you can profess Christ and not be a Christian, can you not? You can't and sometimes it's advantageous politically to do sometime and sometimes it's advantageous socially to do so and sometimes it's just the path of least resistance. I have been in church since nine months before I was actually born every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, and every Wednesday night until after I got married, right? It's a very common thing.
31:43
And if there was anything to be done, we were doing it. But I will say this too. I thought of this analogy this morning too. Hopefully it'll work. If there is a test and you get to an answer on a test and you read it and you go, I don't know this answer.
32:02
Oh, I don't know this answer for this test. I've studied, I thought I knew all I needed to know coming in here, but I just kind of blew it. I don't know the answer to this question on this test. And then you see, not because you're looking, but you see the answer on somebody else's test and you go, oh, that's the answer. And you write it down, and you didn't know that.
32:22
And actually, till the teacher grades it, you don't you still don't know it, right? But you got it off somebody else's paper. For a teacher, if you write the right answer right there, you got the right answer. You pass on through. God almighty knows whether you're copying off somebody else's paper, right?
32:39
If you're copying off mama's paper because mama knows this is true, I don't really know the answer that but I'll say Jesus, she's pretty good one to trust. You don't usually cheat off of people that you don't think much of. Right? Eyes on your own paper. You, for yourself, carefully consider this Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our calling.
32:58
You carefully consider him for yourself. Don't just take it on someone else's word. Test God and see. Carefully consider it until you can write the answer as Jesus yourself and know it with confidence and see God work in your life right there. I hope that.
33:18
Hope that works because I think that what's being described here anytime that you present to a group of gathered Christians, you're going to have some hangers on that are not true believers and I I say that because Jesus said in that day, the great mighty day of judgement, there will be many who say, lord, lord, did we not cast out demons in your name and he'll say, depart from me for I never knew you. So, there is there are some folks who are professing Christ that are not Christians and there are some Christians. I I say that in all humility because I I don't like even thinking that someone but that's let us fear. Let us fear if anyone of us should seem to have fallen short. There's a warning.
33:58
Here we go. Through chapters five, six, and seven up to eight through 10. Oh, this this actually is a throwback right here. The former priest and Jesus, a comparison. Former priest, they're not the bad guys.
34:12
They were a concession by God so that people could have somewhere to go with their guilt and see something done. There were former priests. They were greater in numbers. Why? Because they died.
34:26
Jesus is absolutely unique and that he lives forever. He's resurrected and living forever. Their ministry was temporary but his is permanent. Theirs was temporary and pointing towards his which is permanent. He is able to save forever.
34:42
They're not able to do that and so therefore, don't give up this great salvation. You have to go back to some system that is dying off and is not here forever. He lives to make intercession. We've seen twice already that he's seated at the right hand of God making intercession and they don't. They die.
35:02
He is the only holy, innocent, and undefiled one and standing up next to him, they are unholy, guilty, and defiled. Even though they are good guys and the writer of Hebrews presents them as good and says, graciously that they can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided and I think I have a whole new appreciation for priest after reading this book thoroughly as many times as I have in the last six months. He did the perfect sacrifice once and for all in offering himself and it was perfect and he had no issues of his own. They did and so their blood was not worthy. Even Paul after Christ when he said, if it were possible, I would give my own life to save others but he knew that his blood was not worthy.
35:49
So, if we look at that, the former priest are weak and Jesus is absolutely perfect. Here we go in the chapters eight through 10. Jesus is better than old covenant sacrifices. Old covenant sacrifices were good what they were good for. That was pointing towards the fulfillment that would come in the new covenant in Jesus blood.
36:09
Now, the main point in which this is the way chapters eight eight through 10 start off right here. It's the writer of Hebrews doing his own review, okay? Their own review right now. Now, the main point in what has been said is this, we have such a high priest. We have that great high priest.
36:26
In Jesus, we have what we need. Don't shy away from him. He's taking a seat at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens. He's interceding for us. He's a minister in the actual sanctuary in the true tabernacle of which that wilderness tabernacle was a copy, a shadow.
36:44
It was directed by God so that it would have meaning and purpose to point you towards the new covenant. It was pitched by God this true tabernacle not by man and then with chapters eight through 10, we also get a warning passage and that's what I sat in your last week but it's after this, two weeks ago, let us draw near. Ain't it good to get together? It's really, really good to be able to get together to know that there are people that are gathered together. There are folks in here right now who are from out of town and they came in Jackson.
37:13
They didn't know but they knew on Sunday morning, somebody somewhere was going to be praising God and they they got here, right? That happened this morning. When you go on vacation and you know that, you know what? I don't know where I might be in the world but I know that there are going to be some believers there that I can find and we're going to get together. Let us draw near.
37:31
Let us hold fast to confession unswervingly. I know it's unpopular in our day and age to say that the gospel is exclusive but it is. It is. It is limited to those who put their faith in Christ. All of us have a measure of faith that we are able to put somewhere and when you put it in Jesus, hold fast to that is where life is found.
37:50
Let us then consider how to stimulate one another up into love and good deeds and this morning, passing out the little hand helping hands thing is a part of that. We're trying to constantly stir one another up. It's not just because we need help but hey, we do need help. You know, but it's good when we can serve God together and stir up into love and good deeds and I had an unusual thought I'm going to share. I got plenty of time.
38:18
What's going on? Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Now, the the warning after that, I'll come back to my thought. For the war the warning after that one is if we go on sinning willfully, after receiving knowledge of the truth, you know, if it's an exclusive gospel, we're saying, we are not thankful for what God has done. We're not thankful for the blood of Jesus.
38:47
We, there's nothing else. There's no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but what replaces it is a terrifying expect of judgement and the fury of a fire which will consume the enemies or adversaries of God. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of just two or three witnesses. How much severer then do you think he will deserve who is trampled underfoot? Somebody who knows about Jesus, who knows about his blood, who has denied and said, you know what?
39:18
I'm going to do this on my own. Because old covenant, you're on your own. It's directed by God, humility before God, you can act, but you're gonna fail. You always fail. It's on you and you're gonna fail.
39:32
But the new covenant, the new covenant is on Jesus. All on Jesus has been laid. And if we will submit our will to his, we can see transformation in our life where we actually have the power of God. Everyone in Christ succeeds and everyone under the old covenant fails. How much severe punishment do you think you'll deserve who is trampled underfoot the son of God and is regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace.
40:02
I'm going to ask you again, carefully consider this Jesus and make sure that you for yourself have answered and you just haven't copied off of somebody else's paper. For we know him who said vengeance is mine. I will repay and the Lord will judge his people Last last verse last week was this one. It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I said that last week during the first service and I said, it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God and somebody walked through the door right before I said that and I thought, wow and I said, welcome to church.
40:40
I said that this morning in the first service and a guy walked in the door exactly the same time. It is actually a terrifying thing. It's either gonna be the most glorious experience you can not even yet imagine and it'll last for eternity or it's gonna be terrifying and that's gonna last for eternity. And the divine line is what you do with Jesus. When you carefully consider him and go, I'll either, yes, I'll take him in humility because I fail over and over.
41:09
Or you know what? I think I'm better than most people. God probably grades on a curve, right? I'm not Hitler. I'm not as bad as that guy.
41:21
No, it's what you do with Jesus. Even if you were a bad guy, what you do with Jesus? He can change it. So the Exortium chapters one and two together, angels in Torah three and four together Moses in the promised land five through seven, priest in Melchizedek eight through 10, Old Covenant sacrifices. Then, we're going to work our way into the hall of faith and a challenge as if there has not been enough challenge and then we're going to close with some personal greetings and that's the book of Hebrews.
41:53
Now, Hebrews ten thirty two to 39. This is going to close out chapter 10 right here. We're because this an encouraging confirmation. I wanted to give you the whole of it first and then let you decide whether this is an encouraging confirmation because it could be incredibly convicting, okay? Here we go.
42:11
But remember, remember this, remember the former days when after being enlightened. Now, this is the first century writer of Hebrews writing to those Jewish background believers. It's in really good Greek. It's Hebrew believers that speak Greek. Second generation writer, some he heard or this writer heard from someone who heard directly from Jesus.
42:37
Remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings. Now, we we think of persecution and we think of ourselves being persecuted in our current climate, our current, you know, social society climate, our political climate in some ways. Remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings. Historically, Nero was the emperor when this was written. I believe from my time frame I believe that Nero was the emperor when this book was written and we look at that and we look at images of Nero whether they be on coins or a bust of him like this marble bust.
43:19
That's a seventeen hundreds from the '7 or sixteen seventeen hundreds bust of Nero right there. He's got a neck beard but other than the neck beard, he looks just like a statue, right? We we don't we just think of him. Well, they copied it from this was made when he was still living. They stamped these coin and he has a neck beard on that one and he's not the most attractive guy.
43:43
This is a bad bad guy, okay? He was a horrible, horrible guy and he was politically motivated and extremely selfish and let me let me go on for just a second. I'll come back to him. Remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of suffering Now, the Jews were persecuted to an extent for being Jewish because they believed in one God and they didn't placate the Roman gods but especially in Jerusalem and around Judea where they live, where most of them live, you know, there was an imposed peace, the Pax Romana, an imposed peace, militarily imposed peace and so, yeah, they were persecuted some but after the Christians, the way, the followers of the way started to grow, they really were persecuted by the Romans and Nero was one of those guys. He already knew that Romans didn't like Christians.
44:40
Romans didn't like Christians because they wouldn't placate the Roman gods. They wouldn't bow to the emperor. Nero certainly didn't like that. Anytime that there was a pestilence or famine or a sickness, they blame the Christians. It's the Christians.
44:53
It's the Christians they should be. Killed You endured a great conflict of sufferings partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations. I know that at work, it feels like people are against us sometimes when we're Christians in a lot of workplaces. My workplace is alright. They don't they don't do that no more.
45:13
Yeah. Partly by being made a public spectacle. Tell you what, when I go out in the public square though, I get a lot of condescending looks like, oh, what is this guy? Charlatan, some old time nonsense. Partly about being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations.
45:31
I want you to think about Nero as he as he was actually. This is an artist representation based on busts and coins and different things we see. He's not a very attractive guy, is he? He burned Rome to make room for a larger palace. The the great Roman fire, he set that.
45:51
Had it set probably. He blamed the already hated Christians for the fire. The the old story is he fiddled while Rome burned. It was probably playing a harp or something else but He also burned Christians to light his parties thereafter. His garden parties were Christian set of flaming.
46:10
This is a terrible persecution and you know what? From Nero, it got worse. For a couple hundred years. So, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. So, if you weren't publicly being persecuted yourself, you are part of a body of people who were and they were thrown into prison.
46:36
It says in you, you showed sympathy to the prisoners, the ones who were hauled off. Unjustly. Actually, it goes further than that for Americans. This next line is kind of hard and you accepted joyfully the seizure of your property. Can you imagine that?
46:55
Finally, getting the house in Jackson and then having somebody take it from you because of what you believed? Boy, that flies in the face and it says, not just accepted it because you couldn't do anything about it but accepted it joyfully and considered it one of the fellowship considered yourself fellowshipping with the suffering of Christ. Knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one, an incorruptible hope is what Peter would say. Fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, Peter would say. So, you have to look forward to this great and incorruptible hope in heaven for sure.
47:30
Knowing you have a for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence. What Hebrews is overall, it's in it's Jesus is better than. So, don't give up on Jesus. Endure, endure, endure.
47:48
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence. It has great reward. You will see this in the end, but right now you have need of endurance and the word there is hupamones. Hupamones is endurance or steadfastness, patient waiting for. So properly, it is remaining under the burden and enduring with steadfastness, especially and this is important as God enables the believer to remain under the challenges that he allot in life If you follow after a crucified savior should you not expect some difficulty Yeah For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God and this is where my thought came in that I mentioned a little while ago.
48:37
I have not ever considered this this way but so that when you have done the will of God, you've done the will of God for your life. When you've done it, you will receive what was promised. We go back often to Ephesians two eight and nine because we don't want for anybody to ever mistake Christianity for a works based religion. It is not. It's by grace only.
48:58
In fact, eight and nine say this, of Ephesians two eight nine says this, for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and that is not of yourself. Don't be confused. It is the gift of God. It is not as a result of work so that nobody can boast. But 10 says this, for we are his workmanship.
49:20
Poema, we are his poem. We are his craftsmanship, his masterpiece. We are his artwork that was created in Christ Jesus unto good works for good works towards good works. So, salvation is what happens by grace through faith but as you are saved, then, it will produce good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them and something struck me about that that so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. Until you have done everything that God has for you to do here on this earth.
50:05
Until you have accomplished everything that God has for you to accomplish, you will not step across into that other side. There's a certain confidence that comes from that to me. There's a certain comfort that I can keep on doing all that I can do for Jesus because only that which is done for God will last and when I have done a final act, my final good deed inspired by God as an instrument of his. When I've done that, I can step into my incorruptible hope and that's not going to happen until I've done my last, right? I'm not saying that because you got a certain number of em.
50:38
You want to shy away and you'll live longer. I'm saying that you can have the confidence in knowing that I can just keep on going forward, trusting I can bear under this load, Christ did and was resurrected. And I can expect that after I have done the will of God, I will receive what was promised. Old Testament quote, as is the habit of this writer For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay but my righteous one shall live by faith and this is pointing towards the next chapter, the great hall of faith chapter 11 but my righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. That's a quote from Habakkuk.
51:23
It's the Greek translation of that time of Habakkuk. For the vision is yet for the appointed time and it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it. That's one of the things that people make fun of Christians about still today. It's like it's been two thousand years.
51:39
You really think he's coming back? Though it tarries, wait for it. For it will certainly come and it will not delay. When it happens, it's going be right on time. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him but the righteous will live by faith.
51:56
Amen. And then the closing verse for the day is verse 39 and this is where the encouraging confirmation comes in. If you can say this and write this answer on your own paper not because copying off mama, daddy, anybody else We are not of those who shrink back to destruction. We bear up under the burden By the power of God led of his spirit We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but we are of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. I think that there's a way in which the writer of Hebrews sees salvation as being ultimately achieved at that great and mighty day of the Lord and so therefore, the warnings make sense and that's why I always leave em in your lap but you can know that you are saved and you can know that you are of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul by not shrinking back.
52:56
Do it under God's power not under your own. Jesus is better than the old covenant sacrifices. There are warning passages throughout. Chapter 11 is going to be what's keyed up for next week and I'm looking forward to it because it is the hall of faith. It takes off of this last verse but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul, hall of faith is next.
53:17
I hope I haven't finished yet but it's not next week yet. So, I hope that what we get to is a comparison of some other halls of faith. Stephen's speech in Acts. There are couple of other contemporary ones and it's interesting to see how this author presents these folks and I hope that it'll inspire you to faith and not to shrinking back. This is the way chapter 11 starts.
53:44
This will be the opening verse next week and I won't do a review. Come on back. Chapter eleven one says this, now faith is the assurance or evidence of things hoped for. Hope in the Bible is always, always, always an absolute certainty that has not yet come to pass. So, faith is evidence or the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen.
54:09
In fact, I could even say things not yet seen because though they tarry, they will happen and they will not delay. God, would you help us as we consider this message this week, Lord, and we go in, may we be overwhelmed by how good you have been to us in spite of our wandering, in spite of our proneness to wander, that you, lord, you call us back. You call us back. You call us back and we can say, yes, lord. I'm back.
54:42
Would you keep me in your strength? Keep me in your strength that we can know that we have that salvation going forward. God, in Jesus name, would you consecrate our lives to you this week and may we be carrying your good gospel, reflecting your love. Amen. Would you stand with me and we'll sing, Blessed Be the Tie that Binds.
55:06
We'll sing whatever comes up on the screen. Alright.
56:09
Speaker 2But we shall still be joined in hope
56:22
Speaker 1in that song is exactly the same way. It's an absolute certainty that has not yet come to pass. And I've got a benediction for us this morning. It's from first Peter five, but may the God of all grace, who himself called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered for a little while. May he perfect establish strengthen, and settle or confirm you.
56:49
In Jesus name, that's our prayer lord. May we humble ourselves before you resist the devil be sober, be vigilant, and then see you do these things in our lives. Use us, Lord, to bring others to Jesus. Amen.
