Scripture referenced 12 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Colossians 1:16 quoted at the opening to introduce worship, 'for by him all things were created, both the heavens and the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers, authorities, all things have been created through him and for him'
16 For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him.
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Keep this verse
Psalm 92:1
quoted and sung as the congregation centered before the sermon, 'it is good to praise you Lord and make music to your name, oh most high'
1 It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High;
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Hebrews 12:3-11
the main passage for the sermon, read in full and expounded throughout
3 For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
4 You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6 For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11 All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
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Hebrews 11:35-38
referenced as the 'cloud of witnesses' passage describing the faithful who were sawn in half, beaten, mocked and scourged
35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36 Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
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Hebrews 12:1-2
referenced as the 'fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith' passage the preacher had ended on the previous two Sundays
1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Proverbs 3:5-6
cited as being in the same passage as the Proverbs 3 discipline quote, 'trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path'
5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
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Proverbs 3:11-12
identified as the source of the Psalm 3 quote the preacher attributes to the discipline passage; he refers to it as Psalm 3 but also calls it Proverbs 3, noting 'my son, do not reject this one, for whom the Lord loves he reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he loves'
11 My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:
12 for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.
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Hebrews 10:32-35
referenced to show the first-century context of persecution, 'remember the former days when after you were enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle'
32 But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;
33 partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so.
34 For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
35 Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.
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1 Peter 5:6
quoted as Peter saying 'humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you at the proper time'
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;
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2 Corinthians 7:10
quoted to contrast godly sorrow with worldly sorrow, 'godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation, sorrow of the world produces only death'
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
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John 20:31
paraphrased from the end of the Gospel of John, 'these things have been written so that you may believe and believing have life in his name'
31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
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Romans 2:4
referenced briefly, 'the kindness of God is what leads to repentance'
4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mark opened Hebrews 12:3-11 by admitting this is a hard passage, one he wrestled with personally before he had been through much real pain, and one that requires sitting with until you find rest in God rather than running past it.
What was said
The passage opens with a call to consider Jesus, who endured hostility from sinners, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. The first-century readers were facing real persecution, public mockery, property seizure, imprisonment, and the threat of worse. The writer of Hebrews reminds them that they have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood, which implies that point may still be coming, and that in the face of all of it they have forgotten an old word from Proverbs: God disciplines those he loves.
That is the theological hinge the passage turns on. The hostility is real, it comes from sinners acting by their own free will, and they are responsible for it. And yet, over and above that, God is sovereign and uses it. Pastor Mark acknowledged plainly that he cannot fully explain how both are true at the same time, only that the Bible holds both without letting go of either.
To make that concrete, he played a video of a Nigerian pastor who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram. The man said he had never been discouraged, that the conditions he found himself in were in the hand of God, that he believed God had made his captors act in such a way, and that if his release were not granted, perhaps it was the will of God. His words were a live example of Hebrews 12 being believed and lived out under the worst kind of pressure.
The passage then asks the congregation to reason from the smaller to the greater. Earthly fathers discipline their children, and we respected them even though they worked through faulty, limited judgment. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits, who disciplines not as it seems best to him but for our actual good, so that we may share in his holiness. Pastor Mark noted that if a person's idea of father is someone who abandoned or abused, that image will work against receiving this truth, and that the work is to push past it rather than let it persist.
He connected the final verse of the passage to 2 Corinthians 7:10, which he said had changed the way he thinks about suffering. Godly sorrow, sorrow that runs through the discipline of God rather than around it, produces a repentance without regret that leads to salvation. Worldly sorrow, resisting or avoiding the discipline, leads only to death. The passage is not asking people to enjoy what is happening. It says plainly that discipline seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. The promise is what comes afterward: the peaceful fruit of righteousness, carried visibly by people who have been through hard things and found their rest in God.
He closed by holding up a simple picture of Blake's two-year-old daughter being buckled into ski boots for the first time, crying against something she had no framework to understand, while her parents did it because they knew what was on the other side. The point was not that suffering is harmless or that parents always get it right. The point is that for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross, and the same pattern runs through the life of everyone who follows him.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Nathan mentioned that going through real hardship changed the way he read Hebrews, and that before that he had been in what he called a greenhouse. How has your own experience of pain or difficulty shaped the way you read or trust scripture?
- The passage in Hebrews twelve draws a direct connection between the hostility the first-century believers were facing from sinners and the discipline of God. How do you react to the idea that both of those things can be true at the same time?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,581 words
0:00
Alright. We are on. Hey, everybody. How are you? It's good to see you.
0:05
It is good to see you this morning. Hey, would you stand up? We'll we'll warm up to the Lord by singing. And I would like to share us a a verse from Colossians. It says, for by him, all things were created, both the heavens and the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers, authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.
0:30
Let's sing of it.
0:51
Alright. Let's sing Before the World. Before the world was made, before you spoke it to be, you were the king of kings. Yeah, you were. Yeah, you were.
1:06
And now you're reigning still in front of above all things. Angels and saints cry out. We join them as we
1:16
sing glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God forever. Let's sing that again. We sing glory to God.
1:30
Glory to God. Glory to God forever.
1:38
Forever.
1:45
Alright. Creator God, you gave me breath.
1:50
Creator God, you gave me breath so I could praise your great and matchless name. All my days, all my days. So let my whole life be a blazing golfer marine. All life that shouts and sings the greatness of our king. Glory to God.
2:15
Glory to God. Glory to God
2:20
forever. We sing
2:24
glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God forever forever
2:48
Alright, y'all can have a seat. Got a few announcements this morning. Let's see what they are. Monday nights at first B, Home Sweet Home.
2:59
Yes, we're on tomorrow. Mule Music message. It's Martin Luther King Junior Day. Tomorrow, I'm gonna use some clips from a Martin Luther King Junior. Why Jesus called a man a fool?
3:11
It also ties into Proverbs. Just want you to know the door is open. Don't all come at one time because we wouldn't all fit. But if you ever say, I I wanna check out Monday nights, please do. I really encourage you to because it is a great worship gathering and you get to know people.
3:27
So, please, please, it's there for you.
3:29
Meal, music, and a message every Monday night. It is really, really good and if you do, we'll we'll cram in there. If we need to, we'll cram in there. That happens at the same time as Awana is happening, starting off in this room and then spreading out over the rest of the church, pouring scripture into the minds of the kids, hopefully, to reach their heart. It's a great great program.
3:49
Requires a lot of volunteers and a lot of y'all are active in that. We're thankful for it. So, I wanna 05:45 to 07:30. Today, this morning, actually, it started last Sunday but there is a Bible study for young men from eighth grade, twelfth grade that Tim Dalton is leading and he's calling it why Jesus. So, why Jesus?
4:12
He's studying why Jesus really is that awesome, okay? That's a really really good group for eighth to twelfth grade guys. So, if you are from the eighth to twelfth grade and you are a guy, you have a study down there. There's also a girls study, eighth, twelfth grade girls, Judy, Basie, I would, not Judy Basie, Judy Wales is leading that study. That happens at the same time as children's church.
4:34
Snowmobile retreat is happening next weekend. So, next weekend, January 24 through the twenty sixth, that's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday up at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. If you have if you have signed up, yeah, absolutely. Go. If you haven't signed up, you can talk to Kyle Knutson today.
4:54
Are you, is it still okay? Yes, today. Today is the day. Alright. Today is the day.
4:59
If you, what's that? Okay. He's given the number for groceries. They they do good food. It's a great place to sleep.
5:09
It's a great place to be get warm by the fire but it's it's fun. You don't have to ride a snowmobile to go but it's a good time and Kyle Knutson is the guy to talk to. If you wanna go on that, let him know today. It's next weekend starting Friday. So, that's that's a good one.
5:22
Fight club, Nehemiah four fourteen, this is a men's group that meets Wednesday mornings at six and there may be other groups meeting at other times but Dan Tolson is the guy to talk to about that. There are few other guys that would know about it. If you don't know who to talk to, talk to me and I'll get em get you in touch with somebody. Community Christian book group is starting up. Always near by Robert Morgan.
5:47
10 ways to delight in the closeness of God and that is on Wednesdays. Lunch in the library. Fantastic. That sounds good too. Lunch in the library downstairs.
5:59
Contact Anne Stocker if you have more questions about that and if there's anything else that I'm forgetting, I'm not forgetting you. If there's anything else I'm forgetting, would you speak now forever? Hold your peace. Is there anything else? James, would you jump up?
6:12
And there's a microphone right down there. Yep. Push the button till the green light comes on. Thank you. Hello.
6:19
Hello. There you go.
6:21
Good morning, everyone. There's a lot more people than I thought in the morning. So I'm coming later. So if you want to just look away and speak. I don't have a fancy slide.
6:30
I'm James Landis. For anyone who doesn't know, I'm really excited. First b is starting community groups in the first week of February. Community groups are going to be structured couple groups at a time. Meeting once a week for about six weeks and so, essentially, that's going to be Bible study, discussion, but really cultivating relationships within our church community.
6:54
And so that's really why we wanted to do this, get you kinda out of your comfort zone, meeting people that you might just say hi to here. So really just cultivating that that church body. And so more information is gonna be coming next week probably, and then there's gonna be something in your bulletin next week as well. So we'll probably have it on different days to hopefully help with everyone's schedule. I know it's busy.
7:20
And so, hopefully, we can get everyone who wants to come to be able to come. If you have any questions, talk to me, as well as Mike Demetrius. He's, gonna be heading that up as well. So thank you.
7:31
Thank you. And so, there should be about three new community groups starting up. It's not something that's established that you feel like you'd be getting into. It's these are starting, right? So, three new community groups will be starting up first week of February about 15 people each.
7:47
So, there's space and if we need to make more, we'll make more. So, that's good. Community groups. We used to a long time ago, these things were called life groups. Living in faith every day which is a great acronym but it sounded like a life sentence.
8:00
Okay. So, this is community group. We're trying to foster community six weeks, maybe eight weeks at a time and trying to get these things rolling kind of organic but we're fertilizing a little bit here, okay? Alright. Would y'all stand and greet one another and we will bring you back together with a song.
9:15
Check. Check. Check. I stand amazed in the praises of Jesus the Nazarene And wonder how he could love of me. A sinner come down unclean.
9:37
And how marvelous. How marvelous. How wonderful and my son shall ever be. How marvelous. How wonderful is my savior's love for me.
10:01
He too. He too. My sins and my sore horrors, he made them his very own. And bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. Marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall ever be.
10:35
How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior's love, holy. When with the ransom den glory his face I at last shall see. It will be my joy through the ages to sing all his love for me. Let's sing How Marvelous. Marvelous.
11:09
How marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior's love for me.
11:30
Let's sing that again. How marvelous.
11:32
How marvelous, how wonderful and of We're Jesus. Love. He's my
11:59
love me. Can we pray together, please? Lord, as we sing that song, I just keep thinking about grace upon grace upon grace upon forgiveness upon love is what you heap on us as your people. If we would only receive it. Really, that unmerited favor, that grace that you offer us, that love and forgiveness and freedom is what you're offering if we would only just grab a hold and take it.
12:30
It truly is marvelous. It truly is wonderful, And we sing of it this morning. We sing of you Christ, our cornerstone, the author and perfecter of our faith. We look to you. We sing to you.
12:44
We have our joy and our purpose in you. Amen. Hebrews three. For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God. Christ.
12:58
He's in charge of God's entire house. Isn't that comforting to know? Like, I'm so glad it's not me. It's Christ. He's who we look to.
13:09
The author and perfecter of our faith. He is the foundation, the cornerstone of what we believe.
13:17
My hope my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus good and I can just miss. I dare not trust the sweetest prayer, but only trust in be
13:41
I'm
13:43
way. And righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest prayer, but only trust in Jesus' name. Christ alone, cornerstone. Weeping strong in the savior's love.
14:20
Through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all. When darkness seems to hide his face, My anchor rolls within the Christ alone, cornerstone. Weep made strong in the savior's love through the storm. He is the well, Lord. Lord When he shall come with trumpets out, only how they can't even be found.
15:35
Dressed in his righteousness alone For this, I'll stand before the throne I stood on
16:36
God, as we sing that song, I I I think about the unpredictability of life and how there are times it just seems like any moment we could blow away. And yet you are that anchor for our shoulders, and you really are the foundation, the cornerstone, the anchor. You're what's solid beneath our our feet. So so that we don't sink. And so Lord, would you uphold this church?
17:05
God, would you uphold us individually? Would you uphold us together as a church body? Would you show yourself strong in us? That's what we pray. As we humble ourselves before you and go, Lord, we don't have the answers.
17:19
The answers are found in you. Again, I go back to the author and perfecter of our faith. That is what you are. And again, we thank you for grace. We sing of it.
17:34
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that seemed to wrench by me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was why, now I see. And 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears really. How precious did that grace appeared in the hour I first being leave. My chains are gone.
18:29
My chains are gone. I've been set free. My God, my savior has ransomed me. And like a flood, his mercy reigns a bending of amazing grace. And the Lord has promised.
19:08
A lone war has promised good to me. His word, my whole circumcures. And he will my shield and portion be as long as life induces. Chains are gone. I've been set free.
19:42
My God, savior has ransomed me. And like a third, his mercy reigns undending the amazing grace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun for bear to shine. But God who called me here below. But God who called me here below will be forever mine.
20:40
You are forever mine.
20:42
You are forever mine. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, lost eye. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. Oh, most high.
23:04
Let's sing that together,
23:06
shall we? It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. To proclaim to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.
23:44
Let's sing that again to proclaim.
23:45
To proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. And I sing for joy. Woah, woah, woah, I sing for joy at the sound of your name and the works of your hands. Oh, you make me glad. And for all of my life let my song to rise, oh, most high.
24:35
Let's sing again. Is good. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh most high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh most high.
25:23
It's time for children's church now. Downstairs, there's also, in addition to children's church, there's young men's and young women's eighth through twelfth grade studies going on down there too. Can y'all hear me? Is the mic working? Yeah.
25:41
Okay. Amen. Can we take just a second? Kinda center our stuff. It's Psalm 92 really really good.
25:54
The passage today, we're gonna be wrestling with. We're gonna with, okay? And it's wrestling but we're wrestling towards resting. So, if we can start off with a little brief moment here, let's do that. It is good to praise you lord.
26:19
Amen. So, Hebrews, we're back in Hebrews. So, Hebrews twelve three through 11. Now, I have ended with verse three the last two Sundays. I ended with verse three and I told you two weeks ago that I was running past something to get to something.
26:34
I hope to call back on some past this morning. I'm trying always to be sensitive to the first century text but also the twenty first century context and in particular, the context in this community with these people who are going through some of the same things. So, I'm gonna go back to a couple things. I don't have slides on em but I'm going back to em. Hebrews twelve three through 11 is a heavy text that needs to be wrestled with and I I've done a lot of wrestle with for a long time and a lot of wrestling with hard situations and and people who have been through hard situations will often find hope in Hebrews.
27:18
They'll find a lot of hope in the book of Hebrews but folks who have not been through real hard situations, bless your heart, really. Not just the Southern deal. Bless your heart but I had not been through a whole lot quite honestly. I had not been through a whole lot of pain in my life up through early married life. I had not been I'd been in a kind of a I don't know, not really a buffer state but in a a nurturing environment, a greenhouse, a hot house.
27:48
The word of God been planted in my mind and it was coming up. It was there was fruit there. Yeah. I was but I hadn't been through a whole lot and then, I was exposed to a lot of pain and then, we moved to the mission field. I was really exposed to a lot of pain.
28:05
The first two weeks, I didn't I despaired of life. I did not think I'd make it and it hurt something awful but I thank God now for those two weeks more than any other two weeks in my life. Now, and during those time, during that time, I had the head of ministry down there that said and I think I've told several of y'all this before but he said, hey, it's good from the backside of this. It's good from the other side of it. It's not good now but it's good from the other side of it and I was hanging on that.
28:36
I trusted that guy and but I was despairing of life and I wasn't sure if I trusted God or if he knew me and I knew him, I had those moments because of the pain. So, Hebrews twelve three through 11 is about the hard stuff that we go through. So, Let's go through it. This is the whole passage we're going to cover today. It's small print.
29:03
I know that. That's all we're going to cover today though. It it's we're not going to be able to run through it and if I go long, will you forgive me? Okay. We were short last week.
29:14
Remember that. Alright. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood and you're striving against sin and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. It's addressed to you as from Psalm three.
29:43
I'll preach this in a minute. I'm just reading it right now. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you're reproved by him for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. And he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure.
30:04
God deals with you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. But if you're without discipline of which all have become partakers. If you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, then, your illegitimate children and you're not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live?
30:37
For they, our earthly fathers, disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them but he disciplines us for our good. And there's no seeming with God, right? He knows Our earthly fathers do the best they can as it seems to them but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share in his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful yet to those who've been trained by it. Afterwards, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
31:13
That's the whole passage. God, would you bless that to our lives this morning? And would you do it, lord? In a way that we can hold onto it. When the times are difficult, may we endure and count that as discipline in moving forward and in being able to help others.
31:33
Would you use our testimony and our witness, lord, to bring others in to relationship with yourself. In Jesus name, amen. So, that's the whole passage. I'm gonna go back just a couple of verses and hit the fix in our eyes on Jesus and I've focused on this last couple weeks. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, that's pointing backwards to 34, 35 through 38 in the previous chapter where it tells of the prophets and the other faithful ones that by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, and then it says, they did not receive on the earthly side, the promise.
32:15
That they were sawn in half, that they're beaten, they're mocked, they're scourged, they were treated in all manner, ill treated ways. Of whom the world was not worried. That's what that's pointing back to. We're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let us, let us also then lay aside every weight and encumbrance.
32:37
Everything that hinders and holds us back whether it's the cloak of a runner or just extra weight, whatever baggage holds us down. Let us lay aside every encumbrance and weight which in the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance, the race that set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. The author and perfector of our faith. He has done this and Peter calls it the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ when we go through hard stuff. If we are going through it with Christ.
33:11
There there are different ways that you can go through suffering. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Despising the shame. And he sat down or he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God and then we start with today's text. For consider him, most Bibles have that as a new paragraph.
33:35
I have been ending with it because I wanted to get you to the sow that, okay? The sow that you will not grow weary and lose heart but this introduces our next section. So that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Our approach today, we're going to notice in the passage, first century context, we're going to notice the pain and the sorrow that they are going through in this passage and I'm I would guess it has for me. I would guess that you're going to be going through the pain and sorrow that you're going through in your head and in your mind and in your heart.
34:04
So, we're going to notice their pain and sorrow and then, we're going to ask what kind of pain is it and where it comes from and then, we're going to ask if it has a purpose or a design and what the purpose and design is. So, usually, you see me just sequentially go through scripture, right? And that's what I'm going to do. It is basically in this order. I've already read it to you.
34:28
You've already heard the answers to these three questions. I've been studying this for weeks now and wrestling with it because there are a lot of hard situations in the church. Family right now and in the greater community and in the world. Quite honestly. And so our approach, I want to do this.
34:44
I'm stealing those three questions from John Piper, alright? Warning. Okay, all the Calvinist said, yay and all of the others said, oh. But this is what the passage says, alright? It is what the passage says.
34:56
Sometimes when we read scripture, we go, wow. The sovereignty of God really comes out here and then other times, we think, wow, the responsibility of man and we can easily fall off of this razor's edge of the center of biblical tension but this passage is very comforting if you understand it and believe it. If you don't, you're going to be wrestling and wrestling and wrestling. The point of the passage is keep on wrestling until you find your rest in God, okay? Keep on wrestling till you find your rest in God.
35:30
Earthly term torment is difficult. Eternal torment is worse, okay? Wrestle with God until you find your rest in him. Wrestle with the passage until you find your rest in it. He is sovereign and we are responsible.
35:50
I don't know how. It's just the way it is. For consider him, Jesus, who has endured such hostility by sinners, such hostility could be such hostility greater in but it's not. It's consider him who has endured this kind of hostility For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You are also in facing hostility.
36:24
Next verse says, you, y'all, have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. So, in our world today, there are a lot of people who are being persecuted for their faith. Just this month, the January 5, these are Boko Haram soldiers, if you want to call em soldiers. They have guns and uniforms. S.
36:53
Boko Haram is a terrorist group and they are very active in that. Some of y'all know this very well. The Lilos are missionaries we support. They're active in the city of Jas and so is this group, Boco Ram. They've done all kinds of horrible things.
37:13
We, in this church body, have not yet resisted persecution. I don't think in this body, in this town, we've not yet shed blood but they have. In Nigeria, it happens all the time. In a lot of places, it happens all the time. Mexico, it happens all the time.
37:32
There's a list. Christianity today, this month, by the way, if you read it, has a list of of a lot of this kind of stuff. It will change your prayer life if you pay attention. To what's going on. You all have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood and the striving against sin.
37:49
Some people take that to be other your personal sin but the context screams out that it's about there is sin in this world and there is hostility by sinners toward the gospel and towards the cross of Christ and anyone who believes in it. You've not yet resisted. You have not yet murdered anyone. There's not been anyone who has died from this yet. But it says yet, it's coming, okay?
38:18
That's the the encouragement of this letter is to stand under extreme pressure and you, y'all, have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. So, it's addressed to you and he, the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm three right here, my son. It's addressed to you as a son. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. Wait a second, we're talking about persecution and now it's the discipline of the Lord.
38:49
How can that be? Well, this is this is what this passage is saying. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you are reproved by him for the Those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. Those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son, every son. He scourges every son.
39:13
Whom he receives. This is what Psalm three says, my son, do not reject this one. Lord, or loathe his reproof, but for whom the Lord loves, he reproves. Disciplines. Even as a father corrects the son in whom he loves or delights.
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You have forgotten exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. Remember in Hebrews, we've already seen it a couple times. Pay more attention to what you already know. Go back to Proverbs and study them. Wisdom is crying out.
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Grab onto it. Psalms crying out. Psalm three. Wow. Proverbs three.
39:56
So good. Actually, the same place where this is is the same place where we find trust in lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all of your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path or make your path straight. He will direct you. So, it's taken that we have a faulty system of viewing but God is all knowing and almighty and he will and can lead us for our good even through the difficulties. So, here we go.
40:29
You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. That's the one from Psalms. Here it is, my son, do not regard lightly or ignore the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you're reproved by him for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. It is for discipline that you endure.
40:52
God deals with you as with sons and I might point out again that the way that that fathers dealt with sons and daughters at the time was very different. Sons had tons of rights. Daughters really kind of bitten. If if you went by the way that the culture of the time treated daughters, they were a drain on the family's economy and the sons were a positive. It was assets, liabilities but he's saying for all of us that God deals with us as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline.
41:28
Now, living in the twenty first century in Jackson, I've seen a Right? I've seen a few folks that it looked like they didn't have a whole lot of discipline in their life and I've seen some unusual parenting styles where we're never going to use the word no. Not even a homonym. We're just never going to use the word no ever ever to our kids. Wouldn't consider any kind of discipline whatsoever.
41:52
Because people are naturally good and what drives that into em is all of this negative stuff we're throwing at em. So, we're just not going to use no. Those are the kids that are throwing chairs in the classroom, alright? What son is there that his father does not discipline? If a father loves their child, they will discipline the child But if you are without discipline of of of which all have become partakers.
42:21
Discipline is being put upon us all of the time. If you are without it though, you're rejecting it out of hand completely. If you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, then, your illegitimate children and not sons. So, if we're talking about God the father, I think of Jesus speaking to the Pharisees and they say, oh, Abraham, Abraham is our father, one thing and then they said, God is our father and he he says, you are of your father, the devil. There are two different ones and if you're an illegitimate child, you're not a son at all.
42:57
That's what it's. Now, he's willing to accept and he's willing to receive. It says that he's willing to receive. He's made a way that you may be received. But consider that Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them.
43:18
Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live and live? It's pointing to the eternal living. Of course, we all do have death and then the judgment and then we live or we are continually separated from God, suffering the eternal separation and torment. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live, place ourselves under voluntarily under the hand of God.
43:57
Peter would say, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you at the proper time. Back to earthly fathers, for they, the earthly fathers, disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them. And we only have a few years with children. Before they're going to be out on their own. They disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them through their faulty lenses that we all have faulty lenses.
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If your idea of father is one who beat and not spanked. If your idea of father is someone who left and did not abide. If your idea of father, don't let your earthly father confuse you and it almost certainly has already but don't let that persist, right? They discipline as it seemed best to them. They're faulty.
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They're humans. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. But he, God almighty, disciplines us for our good and why? So that we may share his holiness. This author has already said something about our partaking in the divine nature through Christ.
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Who humbled himself, emptied himself, and came and lived a perfect life and died a perfect sacrificial death. So that we may share in his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. That word seems stand out to anybody? It does.
45:35
It seems horrible. It seems absolutely horrific and whatever it is you're going through, it may be the biggest thing in your life right now but you're sitting in here. It seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. Yet, However, yet, to those who have been trained by, who have gotten out of the experience, afterwards, it's applauding through this verse. Afterwards, it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness and there are folks who carry themselves with great peace and comfort and rest and many of those folks have been through really really hard things.
46:20
Have wrestled with it until they found the rest in God and that's what the passages pleading with us to do. It's a call to holiness and endurance and perseverance. So, our approach today will notice the pain and sorrow. Did you see the pain and sorrow in the passage? Yeah, there's pain and sorrow there.
46:38
Did you have any that came up in your own mind? I brought up one from our current study. So, we'll ask what kind it is. Now, in the text, what kind it is? It says, he endured such this kind of hostility from sinners against himself.
46:58
So, it makes sense. He says, if they mistreated me, they're going to mistreat you. So that you'll not grow weary and lose heart. You've not yet resisted. So, it is hostility from the outside.
47:10
If we go back to where it comes from or where it was coming from for them in the first century, we can go back just couple chapters to chapter 10. Remember the former days when after you were enlightened, you came to Christ and you endured a great conflict of sufferings. Partly, by being made a public spectacle, yeah, yeah, nanny, nanny, boo boo. Lots of mob activity all around them, making fun of them. Your public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations.
47:39
It it got physical. It got personal and partly by becoming sharers with those who are so treated and then it goes on. So, that's probably unofficial, not really governmental but then it says, for you showed sympathy to the prisoners. Oh, now people are being arrested. This is official persecution from the government and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property that strikes an accord here, doesn't it?
48:09
Got a little piece of the pie and then somebody takes your piece of the pie, moved your cheese, knowing that you have for your self possession and last a minute. This already starts to look hopeful again but it's official and unofficial. It's mob, rule, lynchings, and that sort of thing and governmental rule and regulations and laws made against them. Therefore, don't throw away your conscience. It has great reward.
48:36
That's the same message we're getting to today. For you have need of endurance. You need endurance so that when you have done the will of God and pass through this difficult time, you may receive what was promised afterward. The peace of righteousness. So, it is the hostility of sinners.
48:53
It's hostile people by their own free will mistreating you. That is what the passage says. But the passage we're studying today in Hebrews says this, it is for discipline that God deals with you. Over and above, someone else's will, God is sovereign and he uses it. Now, like I said, how is God sovereign and we're responsible?
49:23
Uh-huh. I don't know but I know that both of em are true. I know that both of em are true because the Bible constantly points to the truth of both. We are responsible and when Boko Haram takes captive someone, they are responsible for that sin. Blake, do you have the video of the guy that the most one of the most recent guys at Boko Haram captured was the a pastor of all things.
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I want you to, I've got his text here if you have trouble understanding him. Do you have the video?
49:54
I have never been discouraged because all condition that one may find his self is in the hand of God. God who make them to take care of me and to live my life will still work, will touch them. So in summary of my speech, that they request I should summarize it again in English. I appeal to my colleagues, reverence, particularly my president, Reverend Joel Billy, which is a strong man, man of compassion, man of love, that he can do all his best to speak to our governor, Omaru Jibrella, and other necessary urgent for my relief for my release here. These people have been doing good to me.
50:50
They are filling me with all what I want to eat. They provide a nice place for me to sleep, blanket and every need. So I believe they didn't do anything wrong to me. I still believe that God who made them to act in such a way is still alive and will make all arrangement. By the grace of God, I will be together with my, my wife, my children, and all my colleagues.
51:21
If the opportunity have not been granted, maybe it is a will of God. All person, all people, close and far, colleagues and other wishes to be patient. Don't cry. Don't worry. But thank God for everything.
51:41
Alright. Did y'all get that? Y'all some of y'all have as much trouble understanding my accent as you do his. I'm gonna reread what he said. I have never been discouraged.
51:53
He was kidnapped by armed men and taken away from his family. He's being held against his will. Still, I have never been discouraged because all conditions that one finds himself is in the hand of God. God, who made them to take care of me. So, summary of my speech, I am appealing to my colleagues, reverence, particularly my president, reverend Joel Billy, although he did say Billy Joel to begin with.
52:28
I don't want you to be confused. Reverend Joel Billy, who is a strong man, a man of compassion, and a man of love. He can do all his best to speak to our governor, Umaru Gibrilla, Fintiri, and other necessary agents for my release here. These people have been doing good to me. They're feeding me.
52:48
All that I wanna eat. They provide a nice place for me to sleep, blanket, and every need. This is a hostage. Okay? So, I believe they didn't do anything wrong to me.
53:04
He's refusing to hold on to this offense. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. It's hostility, armed guards, taking you in a van and pulling you away from your family. It's hostility by sinners. It is.
53:19
He goes on to say this, I believe that he who made them, that's God. Okay. No, it says, I believe that he who made them to act in such a way is still alive and will make all arrangements. By the grace of God, I will be together with my wife, my children, and my colleagues. If that opportunity has not been granted, Maybe it's the will of God.
53:48
I want all people close and far, colleagues to be patient, don't cry, don't worry, but thank God for everything. What stuck out to me is he says, I believe that he who made them to act in such a way. He gets this passage. This passage says, the hostility of sinners is against me. And the hand of a loving and a merciful, good God is disciplining me for my good.
54:22
Can we go back to wherever we were in the slides there, Blake? Our approach today. So, we noticed the pain and the sorrow in the passage and we ask what kind it is. It's from the hostility but it's also from the hand of God and there's nothing that surprises him and I know how hard that message is and that's what you'll be wrestling with. Did God do this?
54:45
Piper uses an analogy and if I ever get a foul with Piper, it's always that I feel like he's emphasizing the sovereignty of God too much If I ever do but I almost never do. He said that this is the difference in an emergency room doctor putting someone back together after some horrible ill has happened, some industrial accident and then they have to deal with whatever happened and make it good again. Versus a surgeon who knows ahead of time what needs to happen. And makes precise cuts. Lovingly, carefully, to bring about help and healing and goodness It's not pleasant.
55:37
The text itself points to the fact that sorrow is a part of our experience in life and honestly, if you had anybody presenting you with anything that said that wasn't true, wouldn't you think they don't know what's going on? The writer of Hebrews knows what's going on and is saying, God is good in the midst of all of this difficulty. We'll ask what kind it is. We also go further than that. Look, clickity clicker is not clicking like.
56:08
Yeah. Hostility centers, that's me. Sorry, that was me. Where it comes from? It comes both from other people and from God.
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Now, that also will bring you to a question if you're wrestling with it going, if God is sovereign and good and they're doing this and both of those work in such a way that it's still for my good no matter what anybody does me. Eventually, you're going to get but what about those natural occurrences? What about other stuff that didn't involve someone else's will? What's harder to understand theologically how God's sovereignty and the will of man can coincide. It's not as hard to consider that God is involved in acts of God.
56:51
Terrible blizzards. Hurricanes, that sort of thing. This, I said this was a hard message. Y'all look at me like, good grief, man. Literally, good grief.
57:03
Godly sorrow. Remember the former days when after being enlightened, you dirt a great conflict of serpents? Oh, this is still that passage. The and that's God. So, we'll ask if it has a purpose or a design and if it does, what?
57:20
It is and so we go from there to verses nine through 11 and I think he lays it out very very clearly. God lays it out very very clearly through the writer of Hebrews. For furthermore, beyond that, beyond the fact that it is true and it is happening, lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll direct your path no matter what comes down your path. Don't regard his discipline lightly. He reproves everyone that he loves.
57:47
Furthermore, we had our earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirit and live? Oh, the gospel of John. I've been counting the gospel of John here lately a lot. There are some copies back there, little copies.
58:03
I've been keeping one in my pocket, reading it. It's so good and at the end, it says, many other things can be written about Jesus. If if you did, it just fill up the whole world with him but these things have been written so that you may believe and believing have life in his name. This is the life that we're talking about. Trust God and live.
58:24
For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them but it they might have gotten it wrong but father forgive them for they know not what they do. Move past that and go, he disciplines us for our good. He is good and he disciplines us for our goods so that we may share in his holiness. Do you want to share in the holiness of God? Do you want for your answers to confuse people like Jesus's answers confuse people?
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I do. I do. I want for it to be confusing. How compassionate and how loving and how it has no end. I really do.
58:57
I want to believe that you can't be bad enough to be excluded from the kingdom of God but the vilest sinner who repents is being drawn back into the family. That God leads that repentance, that the kindness of God is what leads to repentance. I want that. He disciplines for us our good so we may share in his holiness, his holy otherness, all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful and I hit the word sorrowful and I think immediately of this verse. It's second Corinthians seven ten and when I was presenting this, I think I presented the verse completely alone.
59:36
We were in context between everything else but it hit me and it had such a profound impact on the way that I view suffering that I I want to go back to it right now. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God or godly sorrow in some translations. Godly sorrow produces. If you go through something hard according to the will of God, new American Standard or if you go through God's discipline and you come through it out the other side, it's good from the backside of this ray, I promise. For godly sorrow or sorrow that is according to the will of God produces something and it produces a repentance that is without regret.
1:00:26
It will change you for the better and you'll never look back and think, oh, I wish I'd done that differently. Leading to salvation sorrow of the world produces only death. That's it. The end of worldly sorrow is death. The end of godly sorrow is salvation.
1:00:52
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful. It's sorrow. It's pain. It's not joyful. I I could say that we were using an athletic analogy last week.
1:01:03
The athletic analogy continues and you gotta train to be able to do well in sports, right? But it's not just that. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful. I remember running. I remember standing on the wall and jumping like this, tapping as high as you can every single jump.
1:01:19
That was painful but man, I could jump out of the gym when I was doing it. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. Yet, to those who've been trained by it, those who have been trained by it, afterwards, the during is really hard but afterwards, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. God almighty, would you? Keep it coming.
1:01:49
Give us soft hearts to receive the discipline and go through it to the place of complete and total rest. Lord, we strive. We have to strive but the striving lord may it always be striving to find our our place at the side of Jesus, the restful peace of righteousness. Hey, this is a good one. Thank you.
1:02:16
That's Devin Rose Morley, Blake's daughter, went out to the ski hill the other day. The Morley's have a long tradition out on the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and you know, brother's a ski coach. Blake's a skier, granddad, everybody in the family skiing. Devin Rose got out there and they didn't really explain to her exactly what was going on. How old is she, Blake?
1:02:38
Two. Okay. They started buckling her into ski boots. Are ski boots comfortable? She had understanding of what this was for but her parents, all of a sudden, were buckling her into something that hurt her.
1:02:58
Now, is skiing fun? Skiing's fun. Skiing's great. Skiing is sublime. People do it because they love it, right?
1:03:06
But buckling those ski boots on especially first time in the year or without really having your size exactly down. They buckled her in. She didn't like it. She screamed against it and you noticed she's on a snowboard. They're a little more comfortable.
1:03:25
Those boots are a little more comfortable. Eventually, this little girl will want to ski, right? Yeah. The rest of her family will want her to ski too. I'm not saying.
1:03:36
I I just thought that's a perfect example right there. There are things that on the other side. For the joy set before you, you endure some stuff, right? Jesus for the joy set before him endured the cross. Yeah.
1:03:47
Anyway, thank you Blake for throwing that up there. I appreciate it. Did that work? Yeah. Do you want to defend yourself?
1:04:08
The good part. Right. Right. You did as a father as it seemed best to you. That was my point.
1:04:18
Thank you very much. But for her, the experience is the same, right? For her, it's just that she doesn't know what's going on. Even an adequate explanation for me when you put ski boots on me, I'm like, no, this ain't worth it. But it is.
1:04:37
Once you get out there, that's the point. I think that that's the last slide. That's my closing. I think that's the last slide. Would you wrestle with this until you find your rest in God, please?
1:04:48
Because you got two choices. It's either godly sorrow that leads you to that place of rest and repentance or it's worldly sorrow that leads only to death. Would you stand with us and we'll sing? If you want to talk about it, I'm available.
1:05:28
I was lost, but he brought me in. Oh, his love for me. Oh, his love for me. Whom the sun, whom the sun sets free. Oh, is free indeed.
1:05:50
I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. Freed last he has ransomed me. His grace runs me. While I was asleep to send Jesus down.
1:06:13
Oh, yes, he did. Yes, he dined for me. Who the son sets free, who is free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
1:06:38
In my father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
1:06:52
And I'm chosen, not forsaken.
1:06:54
I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I'm chosen.
1:07:12
I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
1:07:51
In my father's eyes, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am in my father's house. In my father's house, there's a place for me I'm a child of God yes I
1:08:30
Amen. Hebrews twelve seven to 10. Let this act as a benediction, a blessing. It's tough, but let it act as a blessing this week. Endure hardship as discipline.
1:08:43
God is treating you as his children but what children aren't disciplined? Father, father, God, disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. Would you walk in the discipline that produces holiness this week? In Jesus name, amen.
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