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Speaker 1Is this thing on? Can y'all hear me? Okay, very good. I'm going invite Scott on up to the front. We've got a few songs to start off with this morning.
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Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. If you knew all of the verses of this, my goodness. They're amazing. Look it up sometime, Google it, and see Charles Wesley wrote this song upon, he says, his salvation and for this to be the song you write upon your salvation is a pretty amazing one. So, oh for a thousand tongues to sing, my great redeemer's praise.
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We're only going to sing, I think, four of em but whatever comes up on the wall, would y'all sing with us? Hymn number 21, if you're looking for your part.
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Speaker 2Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and king, the triumphs of his grace.
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Speaker 1Amen. That's a straight out of the gate. That's a pretty good one. My goodness. That's wonderful.
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Love lifted me. Hymn number five zero eight. Assist me to proclaim
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Speaker 2I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more lifted me when nothing else could help
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Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat but I will invite the frontline team to come forward and would y'all pray with me? God, we thank you for this morning Did I do that the right time? I did. Wow.
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We're going to do it anyway. How about that? Can we do that? We mix things up every once in a while. One day, y'all are going to come in.
5:13
The chairs are going be facing that way. Nobody's going know what to do. We're going to do it just like this. Lord, forgive us where we fail you, where we go astray, where we don't know what we're doing because all of those things are an absolute possibility, lord, but you are our master, the bill, the the sea obeys you. Lord Jesus, we ask that you would do your will and your way in our hearts this morning.
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I pray that you would surprise us with your grace. A recognition of it. I know that Charles Wesley had been raised by his mama that whole his whole life. He knew all of the doctrines of scripture. He knew him well.
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He's on the way on a boat to be a missionary when you overwhelmed him with your goodness and your grace and he felt that he was completely submerged in your Holy Spirit and he wrote that song. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great redeemers praise. Lord, I pray that you would surprise us with your grace and that we would surprise others with it. I pray that you would spread your good gospel that they would have the the news, the good news of the kingdom preached that lord by the way we live our lives and the way we use our words. Lord God, I pray that you would do your will and your way this morning.
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Take this offering and bless it and multiply it. I pray that you bless the gift and the giver. Amen. Amen. Through the whole system off there but I appreciate that.
9:29
That was beautiful. To God be the glory. Wow. I have a few announcements that I do want to go through right now. So, announcements, Monday nights at First B is happening tomorrow night.
9:38
Carl is in a series. It's a second in a series but you didn't have to hear the first one to hear the second one about the power of words. When words go wrong, I think it's what he's going to concentrate on tomorrow night, 06:00. It'll be meal, music, and a message tomorrow night in the fellowship hall. We have coming upon us.
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It's Old Bills season. Old Bills is the community fun run, you know, that we do, and our benevolence account here at First B is something that goes through the community foundation and it amplifies giving. Y'all know about all bills, right? Yes. Now, I'm going to invite Chuck if he'll come up.
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I just wanted Chuck to have to wait a little extra longer before doing the announcement. There's that and I think. There you go.
10:24
Speaker 3Yeah, I'm checked from the Good Samarit Mission and in your bulletin, you'll see one of these things. Fill it out. If you're not on our mailing list, fill it out. There's a little thing you can tear off the tab on the bottom so you can like me on Facebook or go to our website and see what we're all about. What are we all about?
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We got 30 beds for men. We got five for women. That's that's good. We feed meals. We do three hundred sixty five days a year.
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We feed lunch and dinner. We have breakfast and dinner, lunch on weekends, and over 10,000 meals a year since I've been there. We do food boxes for people that are hungry, hundreds of thousands of pounds since I've been there. The children's learning center, there's been 40 children that have been identified as food deprived families, and each week, I deliver 40 bags of food over to the children's learning center. One of my favorite programs.
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Great statistics. Lot of work being done. Great stuff being done at the mission. Come on in. Come on by and take a tour.
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If you've never been there, it's right on Pearl Street next to the theater. Come in and take a look and see what we're doing so you can become a part of it. Then you can ask me about what my dreams and my goals are for that place because they're a lot bigger than what we are right now. So that's good. But the thing is about changing lives.
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So how does that work? Somebody comes into the mission. One man came in. He was right out of jail. He had a DUI.
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I put him into our program. We have a drug and alcohol program. He counsels with me every day for that first month, Monday through Friday when I'm there. He takes a class online. He have he goes to the two Bible studies every day that I have.
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And at the end of the month, then he's required to get work too. Hopefully, he's learned to put the cross first in everything and be free from his addiction by the end of those thirty days. And a lot of people have made it this one man that came in with the DUI. He got a job at Dollar Tree, and then he got a job as a manager in one of the local stores. He's now married and having a successful life.
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That's what I call it. That's what it's all about. So, again, fill that out. I'm not gonna stay here and pick them up like I did for first service. So there's a little basket at the end where you have your bulletins.
12:47
Put it in the basket with your name or your your name and address, snail mail address, or your Email address, put it in the baskets. I'll pick it up in the morning. So, one last thing, Good Samaritan Mission, Old Bill's Fun Run, Good Samaritan Mission, Old Bill's Fun Run. One third of our support comes through Old Bill's Fun Run. What?
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Good Samaritan Mission. You got it. Good Samaritan Mission. Thank you.
13:17
Speaker 1That's good. That's a great thing. Thank you, Chuck. Appreciate that and we have a couple others I think. First, we camp out.
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There, it's a was a little light in the first service. It's a little light in this service too because the camp out was still going on last night and they did a church service up at Coulter Bay Group Site Number 6. So, that was a pretty good gathering up there about 40 something last night. If you want an opportunity to share the gospel with a receptive audience, Awana is a great, great, great ministry and could be a great ministry for you to be a part of. It's kids.
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We used to go, we would say from three up through fifth grade with Awana but now, we have added a group called the Puggles, the Puggles. Is they even smaller? This is little little kiddos, so two and three year olds are welcome in that and even younger than that, I think, too. But puggles, big truth for kids to know. Most of what they're gonna be doing is eating and singing songs, I think.
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I would imagine. It's not as much heavy memorization when you're two, you know, but Awana is good about memorizing scripture, getting the great truths in there so that the Holy Spirit has something to draw on for the rest of your life. Community Bible study groups are starting up the fourth week of September and that'll be on a, I think it is a Tuesday and a Wednesday but there are two. One of em is in the morning and one of em is in the evening and they'll be studying Galatians. It's a fantastic ministry.
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Connect hour still happens between services, usually about 10:00. And if there's anything that I've forgotten, it seems like there might be one. Kyle Knutson announced it this morning that there will be a men's horseshoe tournament on September 4 at Mike Yockel Park at 05:00 in the evening and of course, we will eat. Okay? 05:00 in the evening.
15:03
Yes, Nancy? Sure. Fantastic. And Dan and Dancy are acting as commander of Awana. Right?
15:23
Together, they are they are a formidable force. Would y'all please see them? If you would see them, that'd be great. I think we still have to greet each other time. So, would y'all stand and greet one another and then we'll bring you back together with more music.
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Speaker 2His presence on holy ground
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Speaker 1father God, hymn number one forty one.
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Speaker 2God
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Speaker 1Alright, y'all can have a seat and what do we do now that we don't take up the offering at this point? Seven years. We've done that every the same way for seven straight years. That's that one caught me by surprise this morning. We're we are in a long, long study.
19:08
It's the study of the New Testament. We we've take undertaken it to go in order that the books were written since we study the life of Jesus and the life of the early church and we're up to Hebrews four four one through 13 particularly is what we're going be looking at today. Actually, I had it set up so that we're previewing next week but I might get to it this week. I did in the first service because I speak so fast. Quite honestly, I'm sorry.
19:34
If y'all can't keep up, I'm sorry. I'm so excited about this stuff that sometimes it runs away with me. So, Hebrews four one through 13 is the first 11 verses especially are the most difficult grammar in the New Testament as far as I'm concerned. It's the hardest thing to understand. It's the hardest to follow the line of thought and the argument that's being made by this anonymous writer of Hebrews.
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And so when the writer writes it, there's no doubt the points that are trying to be made, but it's cumbersome and it's difficult, especially for New Testament believers because we don't have exactly the same hangups that these folks had and removed by two thousand years. It's hard for us to imagine what it would be like to be tempted to go back to Old Covenant because we stand in the new covenant and when we stand, it's because of Jesus and we know that but imagine that you're thirty years out from crucifixion, thirty third, thirty three, thirty four years out from the crucifixion. It might be a temptation especially if you got people around you all the time nagging you saying that come on back in. This is crazy. You've done this long enough.
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Come on back in. You're being persecuted for it. They don't treat us the way that they're trying to treat you. Do do you get what I'm coming at? So their situation and hours are kinda difficult.
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The grammar is incredibly difficult, and y'all know how I am about that. So we're gonna go with Warren Weirsby. Warren Weirsby is passed away this past year. He did a bunch of little booklets. They're commentaries, but he simplifies things wonderfully and makes it easier to understand and more manageable, and each of his commentaries are usually two word titles.
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It's be righteous like for Romans or be joyful for Philippians and this one is be confident and it's Hebrews and it might seem odd to you that I say be confident as Hebrews because Hebrews has in chapter four, chapter six, and chapter 10, some fairly severe warnings but the warnings are to help us be confident. That's what Weirsby's point is and I have stolen his three headings today for let us take heed actually covers all that we covered last week versus three seven through three nineteen. We'll get to today's let us fear. Oh boy, you got that to look forward to and then, we'll get to let us be diligent before the end of this sermon today but I stole those headings from him because I think it'll help you give it some structure to hang things on. Other than that, try to follow the argument.
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I'll try to lay it out as best I can so that you just hear exactly what it says and then, let the Holy Spirit direct as to what it means for you today. We're going to go back. This is the passage from last week. I'll try not to preach it. I'm just going to read it but this is let us take heed is the Weirsby's little section for this.
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So, therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, almighty God, the spirit is writing this to the people through David. We'll get to that in a minute but just as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me as in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried me by testing me and they saw my works for forty years and therefore, I was angry with this generation and I said, they always go astray in their heart and they did not know my ways. Even though they'd seen it, even though they'd seen it work, I did not know my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. So take care.
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Brothers and sisters, that they're not be in anyone of you, that in anyone of you will resonate today. We'll see that in this next section, the let us fear section. Take care, brethren, that there not be in anyone of you an evil or unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. Right there, you can see that these people have been exposed to the living God, exposed to it though and completely all in is not the same thing. So, take care brothers and sisters.
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Let there not be in amongst any of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God but encourage one another day after day. Oh, what a sweet thing this is. You, believers, encourage one another day after day as long as it's still called today. Again, quoting from Psalm 95. So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin because you have a choice before you every single day that's still called today.
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You've got a choice before you to either obey what the spirit of God is impressing upon you. Soften your heart and obey and see him transform your life or through the deceitfulness of sin, you can harden your heart and you will get further and further away from the will of God for your life. Today though, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end while it is said, quote Psalm 95 again, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoke me and then the writer of Hebrews ask a series of rhetorical questions. Bam, bam, bam, bam. For who provoked him, God, when they had heard?
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Well, those people. Indeed, did not all of those who came out of Egypt led by Moses, the ones weren't they the ones who provoked him and they were and with whom was he angry for forty years? Who did God get angry with for forty years? It's that Exodus generation that rejected him and hardened their hearts and went after other gods. Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
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Yes, it was. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient? Disobedient and why were they disobedience? So, we see then that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. So, disobedient and unbelief.
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Unbelief is the state of mind. It's the state of faith. It is a state of no faith. Actually, unbelief is unfaith, really. Pistis is the word.
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So, unbelief is not having faith and then disobedience because what God says is going to stand and if you go against it, you are disobedient. Unbelief is the state of mind and the action that follows that unbelieving state of mind is disobedience and it comes back to this over and over and over. The writer of Hebrews does. Next section is let us fear. This is the new passage for today.
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Four one through eight says this, therefore, because of all what I just said, let us take heed. Let us pay attention to the example that they set before us and it was not a good example. It's a wise person that can learn from the mistakes of another. Therefore, let us fear and it flat says fear. If you have an NIV Bible, it says, be careful.
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That's not what it says. Let us, Fobas, fear. Let us fear. Oh my goodness. Really?
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How many times in the Bible do we read fear not and hold on to that? Fear not. God says, fear not. God says, fear not. The angels always say, fear not.
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Well, if you're standing before a dazzling, brilliant, heavenly celestial being and has a message for you, I think you're going to cower and obviously, they're going to say, fear not. I've got good news. Fear not but this flatly is it's not an imperative technically. It's a hoardatory subjunctive. For those of you who care but a hoardatory subjunctive of let us fear, okay?
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Let us fear means let us fear but it's us. Let us fear. It could be give you a grammatical possibility here. It could be that the writer of Hebrews is really writers of Hebrews. I actually think that it is.
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Writers of Hebrews more than one. That's a unusual view but it it I think that that's the case. I don't think it means that here It could be the writers of Hebrews say it's a couple of people or three people and they're writing this treaties and they say, let it's right for us. Let us fear If there and that's a big if by the way. Okay.
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Sorry to be so literal but it is a big if. Therefore, let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest, and there is a promise that remains of entering the rest of God, that anyone of you may seem to have come short of it. Therefore, let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest, anyone of you may seem to have come short of it. I think rather than it being the writers of Hebrews that put this down and say, let us fear as writers. We are trying to direct you so that none of y'all miss it and it says that.
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It's therefore, let us fear. I think that it's more collective than that and it is the body of Christ as a whole. All of those true believers, everyone who has put their faith in Christ and will persevere and persist until the end. It said, let us all together because this book is about being together confident. Let us pull together confident and stir one another up into love and good works.
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It says in chapter 10. Three thirteen, Blake, thank you. Look at him. Wow. Take care brothers and sisters that there not be anyone of you with an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God but listen to this church but instead of that, encourage one another day after day.
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As long as it's still called today. We're in the age of grace. It's still there's a chance that others will enter the rest of God. So, encourage one another day after day as long as it's still called today. Y'all stir one another up into love and good works while there's still a possibility that others may be saved.
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So that none of you, yourselves, will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin because it is possible if you don't feel encouraged and you don't, if you're not encouraged to stay and persist and believe, sin is very deceitful and can lead you astray. So, in order to counteract that, let us fear if anyone of you, excuse me. There we go. Let us fear if if while a promise remains of interest, anyone of you may seem to have come short of. The seem there too is hard because man judges on outward appearance and God judges the heart and so all we really have to go by as a body of believers, I don't want to be all up in your business all the time.
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I promise I don't. I don't even like telling you what to do. Really. I just want to read the word, say exactly what it says. Let it do the convicting and we'll get to that at the end of the message but I don't I I honestly don't care to try to control you at all because I know that's not possible.
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It's an illusion if I thought it was. But let us fear while a promise remains of inner and his rest that anyone of you may seem to have come short of it. For me, it's hard to see. Sometimes, you can hear somebody say, oh, I believe in Jesus but they don't act like it at all. They either act like their religiosity is what saves them or that they're completely free to do whatever they want to no matter what.
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Jesus saved me from that. He saved me from all the future sin I'm planning on doing. And that's a treacherous place to be. And if we do as a body, see brothers and sisters that are claiming something, saying something but it's not lived out. There's a little bit of push pull here that's difficult that we need, we do need to let judgement begin in the house of God.
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We do need to do that but often times, it's either not practiced at all or it's over practice and church discipline is used like a sword rather than a loving remedy or it's not used at all. Therefore, let us fear if while a promise remains of entering God's rest, anyone of you may seem to have come short of it. It is fearful to think that there may be some among us who will not enter the rest because of unbelief and therefore, following unbelief, disobedience. For indeed, we have had good news preached to us just as they also. So, this does actually set up an us and them.
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A lot of times, we say, well, it's not really nuts and them. We're supposed to love everybody. We are supposed to love everybody but the we and the them here is important. Indeed, we have had good news preached at us or to us. I'm going to ask you a question.
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Have y'all had good news preached at you? I hope so. I've been trying to do this for seven years. I hope that every time I've been preaching, even when I give bad news, hopefully there's good news that follows close on its heels, right? Indeed, we have had good news preached to us.
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Yes, I I will say that since nine months before I was born, I had a muffled version of good news being preached at me and then every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, thereafter until I got married, right? It was preached at me or to me and then this is, just as they also. It's talking about that Exodus generation having heard not just good news, it's the gospel. It's it's it's which is gospel. Good news.
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They have been evangelized just as we. So, in my upbringing, I think the hardest part for me to comprehend because we got a even smattering of old and new testament and I think the hardest thing for me was, what happened to all those Jews that went by the old covenant that were doing it? Well, they were failing at it but God's mercy was there. God's mercy was still there and he said, this is the system that points to this, that points to the truth but go by this, recognize this, come before me, contrite heart, and I will, I'm slow to anger and I'm sure to give mercy. I'm good and gracious.
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God, but still a day comes where you pass that point of God pleading with you. It says that indeed, we have had good news preached to us and we have. Just as they also had, it was possible for them to accept what God said to Abraham or what God gave through Moses and what God gave through the prophets and hold on to hearing the voice of God and submitting and softening their heart to it. It was possible for them to look forward to the savior that we look backwards to. Are you with me?
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We have to look back to what Christ did and they had to look forward to what he did. Now, for them, it was a little bit fuzzier image. We've got a very clear, crystal clear picture of what Jesus did but they were looking forward in faith. It was not by sight, it was by faith. Indeed, we've had good news preached to us just as they also.
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But the word that they heard, they, the Exodus generation, did not profit them. They heard good news. Can you imagine Moses? He's been to Pharaoh. Let my people go.
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Let my people go. Let my people go. Let my people go. And eventually, after all the plagues and everything, he lets the people go. Can you imagine Moses standing up before the assembly of Israel and saying, alright, slavery is over.
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We gotta walk ahead of us but we're going to go into the promised land. This land that God has promised and he has made it available. We are to trust him and go forward from this place of slavery into that place of rest. Was it not, was it an unconditional promise? It was not.
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You have to trust him. You have to believe. You have to put your faith in him. It says right here that the word that they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. So, to hear a good news and not accept it by faith, you deny it completely and it's not good news for you.
35:58
Pistis, faith, belief, trust, confidence. That has to do with your state of belief. It is faith, belief, trust, confidence which is an internal, mental, and heart attitude and then, fidelity or faithfulness is the action that grows out of that faith, belief, trust, or confidence. So, it says here, indeed, we've had good news preached to us or preached at us just as they also but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith or belief or trust or confidence in those who heard. For we who have believed, enter that rest.
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When you have put your faith in Christ, you enter into his rest. You have ceased from your labors and your labors are never going to get you there but you recognize that Christ is the way, the truth, the life. You submit yourself to him. You are entering into the rest. You've got an already, not yet, but an already state of mind going.
37:00
I've put my trust. That seems odd too. Like I said, the grammar is weird and the examples seem odd to us. That he would say, we enter in and then the proof of that is just as he said, as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. He's talking about a rebellious generation and we enter when we believe.
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It is about belief. They did not because of unbelief and disobedience. It goes on to say, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. This is something that people camp out on if they are in the sovereignty of God camp or maybe you want to call it a a straight up Calvinist or hyper Calvinist camp. But camp out right here for a while and say, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
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He already set it in place. It's predestined to happen but what he said in place was the plan. The plan of the gospel that there is a way. Trust in God through faith in Christ. Looking forward to the Messiah or looking back to him is the way that God has made.
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He set that plan for he has said somewhere. That always cracks me up when I said, he said somewhere. They didn't have numbers for chapters and verses at the time when they wrote this and it might be hard to assemble but everyone of the people reading this knew this passage very well. It's Genesis two. If you're looking for it, for he has said somewhere concerning the seventh day and God rested on the seventh day from all his creative works.
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It's works but it's in particular, creative works. It is already said in this book that Jesus upholds all things in the now. He upholds all things by his enabling power. So, it's not like God completely went absentee landlord and doesn't do anything at all But he rested from his creative works on the seventh day. It's another interesting thing here that all of the days before the seventh one said, and it was morning and it was evening, the first day.
39:04
It was morning and it was evening. The second day is morning and evening, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and then it says and on the seventh day, God rested from all of his labors and it does not say that that day ended. So, there are a lot of people who believe that the Sabbath rest of God where he had done all he was going to do including establishing the plan of salvation that everything that he was creatively doing is rested from and he's ongoing and when it starts talking about the believer entering that rest, that's what we'll go to next and again, in this passage, they shall not enter my rest. So, God is in a state of rest. Sabbath rest particular.
39:49
It goes on. Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, that's God's rest. Therefore, since it remains for some to enter God's rest and those who formerly had good news preached at them failed to enter because of disobedience that it's also linked to unbelief like I've said over and over. It's unbelief which spawns disobedience. He, again, fixes a certain day.
40:16
The he there is the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit again fixes a certain day today. So, again, I said it last week, seriously, 19 times. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as they did in the rebellion. Just soften your hearts toward what God is directing from his word.
40:36
Let us take heed. Let us fear and let us be diligent today. Today, Holy Spirit again fixes a certain day today. Saying through David, the Holy Spirit speaking through David after so long a time just as had been said before, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Now, that might be confusing.
40:56
It was confusing for me. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. So, he's anticipating a Hebrew argument here and they love to argue by the way. At this time, the verbal Olympics of four hundred and something years of intertestamental silence, the rabbis were argue everything and all of these folks that would have been getting this letter knew their Bible very, very, very well. It's obvious the way the writer to the Hebrews writes.
41:27
If Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. I'm going put a timeline. So, the Holy Spirit speaking, alright, this little clickity clicker is not clicking. There it goes. We've got a timeline here.
41:44
Moses Exodus happens about fourteen forty six BC somewhere right around there. Joshua then, you know, he's one of the two spies that went in and said, yeah, we can take em. God said, take the land. He said, go in and whip em and I believe it. We're going to whip em.
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10 spies said, no, they're we're like grasshoppers then. We're not going into that place. That's crazy. There's no way we can win that. What is that?
42:06
That's unbelief because God had said, take the land. I'm sending you in there and I'll be with you and they chose not to. That's unbelief and disobedience. Now, Joshua was believing and he did get to lead people in whereas Moses didn't even make it into the promised land. Joshua did.
42:24
So, he leads him into Canaan about forty years after that original Exodus. David comes along four hundred years later. So, just for scope, Abraham believes God was about four thirty years before the Exodus and Joshua leads him into Canaan is about four hundred years before David is king and David as king writes Psalm 95. That's what I'm getting at. So, that writer of Hebrews says, so you might say, well, Moses didn't to go in but Joshua did.
42:57
He entered into God's rest. That's what the whole thing, the promised land. It's all about the land. It's all about the temporal blessing here on this side and he says, well, if that had been the true rest of God, then there'd be no reason for David to have to say in Psalm 95, today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. Just for good measure, Isaiah prophesied three hundred years later, seven hundred years before the announcement of that virgin birth of Christ and the cross is thirty years later and the writer of Hebrews is right just thirty years later.
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So, that's what the timeline looks like. If that helps, some people are begging the maps and some are in timeline. So that helps a lot, I think for me. So Hebrews four eight says, for if Joshua and by the way, Joshua looks exactly in Greek. Joshua looks exactly like Jesus.
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So, it's not a play on words but it's a play on the name of Yeshua. Yeshua and Jesus, Joshua, they're indistinguishable from one another. So, when the writer says, if Yeshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. So, if if this type which was representative of Jesus, Joshua was, Joshua, the son of none, was representative of the way out and he makes it through and into the promised land but that's not the rest that we're speaking of here. If the Lord had given him that rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that.
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So, here we are. Let us be diligent. Sorry, it's not one through eight, nine through 13. So, conclusion drawn from all this. So, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
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Sabbath rest, right? There is the first time that anybody has ever heard of that word. The writer of Hebrews made it up because the writer of Hebrews is equating the eventual rest of the people of God, everyone who has believed throughout all ages, everyone who has put their faith in the way that God would make. Jesus Christ, if there remains a Sabbath rest for all of those people, for the people of God. He's equating that Sabbath rest with the rest of God.
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That's an open ended and eternal promise of rest. For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from all of his works or all of his labors as God did from his. There was a time when God was very actively creating things but you know, no matter can be created or destroyed, right? Hidden that one else, one of the new things that laws of thermodynamics. God has made what is and it is.
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All the energy. There's nothing that's ever lost. It's it is what it is. But the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from all his works. Now, that old covenant was a covenant of works.
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It was one-sided and God said, if you'll do this, I'll be your God. I'll do it. He was merciful and the people who are looking forward to that way that Jesus would come and do. The one who's in his rest himself also rested from his works as God has. So, it's leaving aside the works of the law and trusting in the one he's made.
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So, therefore, let us be diligent. Let's be diligent to enter into that rest. If you read, let us be diligent as let us work hard to enter rest. It seems odd but let us be diligent for what? The next verse will help us with that.
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Let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall. Let's all be diligent so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. It's unbelief and disobedience. So let us live out our life not as hypocrites who say one thing but do another, and let us live out our life as those who believe and act accordingly. So, how are we going to do that?
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Like I said, the next verse helps because it seems like being diligent is saying, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and go, strive is one translation. How are we going to do that? Well, it goes immediately to the word of God. For the word of God is living. Jesus, John presents as the living word of God but God's word, Old Testament and New Testament which Hebrews marries together very nicely.
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For the word of God is living and it's active and it's sharper than any two edge sword. Roman short sword of Makarios. It is sharp. Both sides, little dagger like it's sharper than any two edged sword and it's piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit. That's a pretty fine cut.
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Both joints and marrow and it's able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Now, way back here in Hebrews two, just a couple chapters ago, the writer of Hebrews says, for this reason, we must pay closer attention to what we've already heard. Y'all heard the Bible. It's been preached at you. A lot of you just as long as it has me.
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Some of you twice as long as it has me, right? Pay closer attention to what you've already heard and it will cut you to the quick. It'll cut you all the way down. It'll determine your heart. It'll discern what your true feelings are.
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Why would we pay closer attention to it so that we don't drift away from it? We don't want to be far from the word of God. For if the words spoken through the angels proved unalterable and it did, and if every transgression and disobedience receives a just penalty and it does, James says and even New Testament, James says, if you air in even one of the laws, you break even one of the laws of God. You've broken the whole thing. Every transgression and disobedience receives a just penalty.
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Everyone in this room will either be justly condemned or mercifully forgiven. You're not going to be justly forgiven, okay? Does that make sense to you? It's mercy. The mercy of God through the grace of Christ living this perfect life and having a perfect record.
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How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Christ came, lived a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death and he said it was for all who believe. What follows belief but obedience, transformation. How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
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After it was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles, by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. We must pay closer attention to that which we've already heard. Be careful. Let him who thinks he stands.
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Be careful lest he fall. How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? This is serious business. Be diligent about what God has said because it matters and it's of eternal importance and there is no creature hidden from his sight. You're not going to sneak by.
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Carl and I went visited Grace Brown a while back and we went into the the memory care facility in Aurora, Colorado. She's great. She was doing great. The day we saw her, it was just pure Grace Brown. Was wonderful.
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She was just a delight, you know. But when we went in, the lady at the gate that controls the door, she said, You're a big guy, which I am a big guy. And Carl looked at Carl and said, you're a pretty big guy too. I am. She said, when you come back out, there's a doorway there and it's closed and you have to buzz the people through, you know.
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It's an Alzheimer's war and people have been known to wander. And so she said, when you get to this door, there's a camera up there and I want you to do this. And I said, why? It's like a dance move. Why?
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She said, because you're a big guy and people will try to sneak out behind you. It's happened before. I don't want it to happen again. Okay. So we got to the door and we did one of these, you know.
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There's no creature that's hidden. It doesn't matter how much of a Christian your mama was. It doesn't matter how much of a Christian your daddy was. Nobody's sneaking in. Nobody's sneaking in.
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It is there is no creature that's hidden from his sight but all things, all things are open and they're laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And the we there is all believers. It does set up a we and a them or an us and a them and he's fearful that any of us that are here are gathered together would fall into the camp of unbelievers disobedient to God. It's a it's a heavy passage. It's really heavy.
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Now, I got six more minutes. It's exactly what I had in the first service. I was going to do this as a preview but I think I'm just going preach it. Here we go. Hebrews four fourteen.
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So, I said, how are we going to do it? Well, the word of God is great but I read my Bible every day and it doesn't seem to do anything for me. Therefore, since we have a great high priest and we do, Jesus Christ is our great high priest and it says, since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, it's in a positive for Jesus because Joshua, the son of none, has exactly the same name in Greek. So, if Joshua had given him rest, this Joshua, the son of God, this Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hebrews says this over and over.
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Let us heed. Let us fear. Let us be diligent and let us hold fast our confession. Encourage one another more than more every day as you see the day approaching. Let us hold fast our confession for we we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.
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But one who has been tempted in all things just as we are tempted and yet he was without sin. So, we have a great high priest. The argument from here will be about Jesus's, he's already been Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than Joshua.
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Jesus is better than the sacrificial system. Jesus is better than the promised land. Jesus is better than all these things and the reason is because he has been here and he has done this and he did it flawlessly and he is tempted just in all things as we were or was tempted just in all things. We are. Yet, he was without sin and so he can offer that perfect record and he can direct us to submit to the Holy Spirit today if you hear his voice.
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Don't harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. Amen. That it's a throne of grace and not a throne of judgement. Today, we're in the age of grace.
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So, therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and we may find grace to help in a time of need and our time of need is every single day. The gospel is not something that you just accepted by walking an aisle a long time ago and then forget about it, you're good. It is something that is a daily, daily walk that you can apprehend through faith in Christ. I think that's it. Told Blake to throw this in from last week.
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So, this is the option. I said it last week. I I love this. I want to end on a on a positive note. Let us heed.
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Let us fear and let us be diligent and let us hold fast our confession and let us encourage one another to live this life instead of the last half of Psalm 95. Let's live the first half. So, would you stand? Miss Judy, would you come forward and oh come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
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Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully with Psalms. For the Lord is a great God and he's a great king above all gods and whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are also his. The sea is his for it was made. He who made it and his hands formed the very dry land.
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Come, let us worship. Let us bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he's our God and we're the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Amen. Lord, we ask for your blessing this morning as we sing out and mean it to cleanse us.
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It's great passage from Psalm 51 that David, man after God's own heart, recognized his own sin when he was looking at your holiness and he asked for you not to remove the Holy Spirit from it. Thank you God that you don't remove the Holy Spirit from us. God, I pray that we would hearken or heed your voice this morning that you'd direct us through your word and through your people. In Jesus name, we ask you lord to cleanse us. Amen.
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Amen. Thank you. And that selection of that song is perfect for this passage. It's absolutely perfect. It's asking for God to search us and show us our sin so that we may submit and the revival comes from exactly that feeling, exactly that.
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The Holy Spirit gives that. Start it with me. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's side. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account and so God, we come before you right now humbly asking that you would search us and cleanse us and show us and use us and direct us. In Jesus name, may you show who you are in our own mind and in our own heart so that we may walk out that belief with our actions and others may see you and glorify our fathers in heaven.
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Jesus name, amen.
