WEBVTT 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:06.160 I'm going to invite you to turn to Hebrews chapter six as we continue on this series together. 00:00:06.460 --> 00:00:10.890 We are walking in the series with just a simplicity of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. 00:00:11.540 --> 00:00:15.800 The Book of Hebrews shows us the supremacy of Christ in all things, how Jesus is greater. 00:00:16.040 --> 00:00:23.080 Summer is a time of season where there is a lot of change, a lot of things going on, a lot of things you don't normally do in the routine of life, but you've got to get everyone 00:00:23.080 --> 00:00:24.400 back in line when school starts. 00:00:24.740 --> 00:00:31.820 But knowing you're typically out of routine this time of year, we just want to focus on in your Christian life, what it means to be a pursuer of Jesus and to 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:32.680 rest in Him. 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:37.960 Enjoy the reason for which God has created you as you enjoy His presence in your life. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:45.940 I'm just going to be frank in starting this off and let you know, Hebrews chapter six is kind of the tying together of everything we've learned so 00:00:45.940 --> 00:00:48.340 far, in saying to you, so what. 00:00:49.260 --> 00:00:53.700 Like, what are you going to do with the topic of which we have discussed together as it relates to Jesus. 00:00:53.800 --> 00:01:00.880 We have seen the significance of Christ in our lives through everything that's been described the first five chapters and we're 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:01.940 going to continue to see that. 00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:05.200 In fact, I'm just being honest, my favorite chapters are seven, eight, and nine of this book. 00:01:05.740 --> 00:01:09.480 Then in chapter 10 it makes application to living out the Christian life. 00:01:11.380 --> 00:01:18.600 At this juncture of the book, we kind of hit the pause button in what's being stated here and sort of do a heart check of 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:21.720 where our lives are as it relates to Christ. 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:26.610 The beginning of this verse, it says this, "We're leaving the elementary teachings about Christ. 00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:34.840 Let us press on to maturity." So, the idea of this section of scripture is to recognize God desires for 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:36.680 you to grow in Him. 00:01:37.440 --> 00:01:38.760 To be mature in Jesus. 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:44.320 If we remember the end of chapter five, kind of a weird verse that it used to illustrate what it means to be mature in Jesus. 00:01:44.800 --> 00:01:50.960 It talks about the nurturing of a child and Paul says, "You're all still on milk when you should be biting into steak," right? 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:52.960 Instead of meat, you're on milk. 00:01:53.080 --> 00:02:00.140 It's kind of the picture of as a mother nurses a baby within the first year of life looks totally normal but when you get to 00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:02.360 like age 15, man, people freak out about that. 00:02:02.600 --> 00:02:03.110 That is weird. 00:02:03.520 --> 00:02:05.140 You don't want to be doing that at that point of life. 00:02:05.460 --> 00:02:07.030 You need to become rather, teachers yourself. 00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:13.040 What it's saying to us is that God wants to do such incredible work in you that he then works through you. 00:02:13.420 --> 00:02:18.200 That God doesn't want you to hoard what he does in your life to yourself, but let that light shine through your life. 00:02:18.480 --> 00:02:20.460 He's describing this as maturity. 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:29.360 Just so you know where we're going, I'm going to start here in and end here and I want you to know that the life of the gospel ends in death, or, 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:30.900 begins in death, I should say it like that. 00:02:30.980 --> 00:02:32.660 The life of the gospel begins in death. 00:02:33.980 --> 00:02:39.580 Meaning, what Jesus did for us in His death, brought us life and that is the Gospel. 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:48.640 Jesus dies on the cross for you, he says, "To tell us thy pain for it is finished for you." He becomes the atonement, taking on your 00:02:48.640 --> 00:02:48.960 sins. 00:02:48.980 --> 00:02:50.010 The bible calls him the propitiation. 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:57.060 He satisfies the wrath of God, invites you to trust in Him and what He has done is a sufficient sacrifice so that you can experience life. 00:02:57.340 --> 00:02:59.000 In death, in the Gospel, there becomes life. 00:02:59.700 --> 00:03:01.520 That's how the Gospel continues to move forward. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:06.840 As you lay down your life in Christ, God continues to work in you and through you. 00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:14.940 So when we talk about Christian maturity, it is literally the laying down of your life so that God can work in you and through you. 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:18.750 The Gospel, or the goal of Christianity isn't about just information. 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:25.980 We study the Bible together and we're not just studying the Bible, it's a beautiful picture we've seen, but we're not studying the Bible for information. 00:03:26.660 --> 00:03:28.750 What we desire in is transformation. 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:32.620 Our goal isn't to make you smart, our goal is to see you holy. 00:03:34.100 --> 00:03:35.480 Separated in Christ. 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:45.200 What Paul is doing in this passage of scripture, he's calling out the body of believers, that he desires Christians 00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:52.220 to experience maturity and he's calling out the body of believers to move forward in maturity in Christ because we meet certain challenges in our lives that 00:03:52.660 --> 00:03:58.940 can bring hang-ups, but what the author of Hebrews desires is for you to thrive in your Christian living. 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:03.440 Liken it to what a parent's desire is for their children. 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:07.800 You don't want your children to be dependent forever, but rather become independent. 00:04:08.880 --> 00:04:12.680 You don't want to see your kids become a drain on society, but a blessing to society. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:15.950 Not a taker, but a giver, a contributor. 00:04:16.260 --> 00:04:17.540 Life-giving in this world. 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:21.440 The same is true with Jesus' desire for you. 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:29.100 That as he makes you new on the inside, transforming your life, you express that newness in this world. 00:04:30.320 --> 00:04:34.460 So, God's desire for you is to see this maturity be made known. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:39.640 That what God produces in you reproduces in this world. 00:04:40.580 --> 00:04:47.680 In fact, Paul said to Timothy, in Second Timothy, 2:2, "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:54.760 these to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also." So, he's saying to Timothy, "Look, Timothy, there's going to be all kinds of people in this 00:04:54.780 --> 00:05:01.800 world that are challenging, but look for those individuals that are on fire for the Lord and continue to pump life into them so that they can begin to express 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:02.360 that in this world. 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:09.900 Help them develop in their maturity." I think that's an important concept to think about because in our lives, what we tend to do as people is we get really fixated 00:05:09.900 --> 00:05:12.280 on the problems, like especially perfectionists. 00:05:13.180 --> 00:05:20.240 We'll get so fixated on the problems that we forget what's working and we want everything to work well, but any good business man will tell you when it 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.840 comes to business, you can't fix every squeaky wheel. 00:05:24.700 --> 00:05:30.130 Rather, you want to continue down the path of what your business or what it's created to do, what you're about. 00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:32.600 The same thing's true with Christianity. 00:05:33.260 --> 00:05:40.320 Sometimes we get so fixated on our problems that we just simply try to treat the symptoms, but what God desires 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:42.400 to do is completely transform your life. 00:05:42.420 --> 00:05:45.340 It's like this, it works like this in our life, when we think about the fruit of the spirit. 00:05:45.700 --> 00:05:48.020 We know it's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:55.480 From a legalistic, symptomatic solution, we'll be like, "I'm okay in loving, but I don't have joy." and so we'll fixate on 00:05:55.480 --> 00:05:55.830 joy. 00:05:56.580 --> 00:06:03.700 But when the Bible talks about the fruit of the spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, what it's saying to you is not to treat the symptoms by being 00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:05.760 more loving or being more joyful when you don't have it. 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:09.340 Rather, it's surrendering your life to the spirit of God. 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:11.080 Let God have your life. 00:06:11.080 --> 00:06:12.800 Saying to the Lord, "Lord, have your way with me. 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:14.520 I'm created for your purpose. 00:06:14.700 --> 00:06:17.600 I no longer want to live for my glory but it's about yours, God. 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:25.100 Do your work in me." It's not about the symptom, but 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:26.960 rather, the solution. 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:35.360 This idea of maturing in Christ, it's putting on the big boy pants, right? 00:06:36.420 --> 00:06:43.540 I mean, you think, maybe as a young person, this certain monumental moments of life that you waited for because you knew once 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:46.180 you got to that point, you were going to be so grown up, right? 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:54.280 I mean, the first time you got your driver's license or maybe voted or for me, this is kind of unique, 00:06:54.280 --> 00:06:58.200 maybe a little bit weird, but I remember the first time I went into McDonald's. 00:06:58.380 --> 00:07:04.600 I can still see it in my mind, I went into McDonald's and rather than order the Happy Meal, I got the Big Mac. 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:12.100 I put it down so fast, I beat everyone to the finish line and I wondered why in my life I had not tasted the glory 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:13.600 of the Big Mac much sooner, you know? 00:07:14.020 --> 00:07:15.880 That thousand island dressing, it was just... 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:17.320 it was magic in my mouth. 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:26.680 But that step of maturity, that mark of growth, that's what the author of 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:31.570 Hebrews is pursuing your life because he understands what God can do in you and through you. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.240 How powerful that becomes. 00:07:36.500 --> 00:07:43.740 Sometimes we get focused on the problems, treating the symptoms rather than just letting 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:46.520 our heart rest in the solution which is Christ. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:54.420 At the same time, believers within the context of what's being written here, they're focused on the past as well. 00:07:54.460 --> 00:07:57.040 Look at this, it says, "Leave the elementary teachings about Christ. 00:07:57.400 --> 00:08:04.720 Press on to maturity." Not laying, again, a foundation of repentance from dead works and the faith toward God of instruction 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.620 about the washing and the laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment. 00:08:08.900 --> 00:08:14.680 See, it goes on these different areas where they're going back to their repentance from dead works and the faith toward God but they're living in the past. 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:20.200 For them, they can't move forward because they're not looking for the sufficiency of Jesus. 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:22.520 They're stuck in the identity of the religious past. 00:08:23.780 --> 00:08:30.740 It's if they're saying in the living of their life, what Jesus did was good, but it just wasn't good enough. 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:35.780 You remember the sort of the conundrum these individuals were in, this is the Book of Hebrews, written to the Jewish people. 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:44.400 They've lived with this religious identity and they're about to be persecuted because of their faith now, in Christ and what he's accomplished for 00:08:44.400 --> 00:08:45.080 them. 00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:51.960 In Acts, Chapter Seven, they've already experienced the persecution with Stephen, when Stephen was martyred, that sent the church spreading all over the Roman empire. 00:08:52.540 --> 00:08:59.880 Paul, in fact, before he became the Apostle Paul, went out to persecute the church and when he was on the way to persecuting the church, that's when he became 00:08:59.880 --> 00:09:00.600 a believer. 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.080 But, he wanted to devastate Christianity in its beginnings. 00:09:04.680 --> 00:09:09.660 So, Christianity begins to spread but we're now on the cusp of Nero beginning his persecution. 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:11.730 The writer of Hebrews can see this coming. 00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:14.850 He wants to see the believers in Jesus solidifying their faith. 00:09:15.100 --> 00:09:22.360 They're stuck between these two worlds, pursue Christ in all that he is and the sufficiency of him and alienate my people, 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:30.480 or make my people happy by partaking in the religious works that undermines the sufficiency of Jesus and still hang 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:31.740 out with the Christian community. 00:09:33.400 --> 00:09:37.240 What the author is saying in this passage is "Look, that's dead works. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:38.840 You can't have it both ways. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:47.200 It's either Jesus' sufficient enough and you walk with Him, or you deny Christ and 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:52.860 you embrace your community." That's the conundrum in which they are in. 00:09:54.980 --> 00:10:02.080 The way that the author is calling this, he's recognizing they're reverting back to their past and not living in their present and the sufficiency of Christ, 00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:04.180 but he's referring to it this way. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:08.940 That it's they're going against the repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. 00:10:10.160 --> 00:10:17.400 He doesn't want them to walk this road again, but I love that he's saying in this passage these two ideas of repentance and faith 00:10:17.400 --> 00:10:21.190 because it's the same idea but just different sides of the coin. 00:10:21.640 --> 00:10:26.130 Sometimes we read the word repentance and we have such a bad idea of what repentance is. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:29.110 We have a religious mentality of thinking about repentance. 00:10:29.140 --> 00:10:32.800 When we say repentance, oftentimes what happens in our mind is this thought of penance. 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:40.800 Like to come before God, I've got to pay a certain amount of guilt on my shoulders, a certain amount of pain, a certain amount of sorrow, a certain 00:10:40.800 --> 00:10:43.760 amount of beating myself up because of what I've done wrong. 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:46.360 We see it as an attitude of penance but it's... 00:10:46.780 --> 00:10:47.940 Repentance isn't penance. 00:10:49.400 --> 00:10:53.440 Repentance is to understand in a biblical perspective that Jesus is already paid it all. 00:10:54.540 --> 00:11:01.720 Repentance is this idea that we're walking down a particular path in life and we begin to realize this path is messed up. 00:11:02.300 --> 00:11:06.960 This path is not getting me ultimately where I should be in life, not what life is all about. 00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:12.670 Rather than continue down this path, in this case a religious path, I'm going to turn from this path. 00:11:13.380 --> 00:11:20.640 But repentance is only one side of the coin because the question you'd have to answer is when you turn from this path, what path are you turning toward? 00:11:21.400 --> 00:11:28.760 It's like this, anyone that struggles with addiction, wonderful, wonderful, which we all do in a certain degree of whatever sin that you just fall into. 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:37.050 All right, we all have that sin in our lives where it's like, "I just can't beat this." But, when you talk about repentance from sin, 00:11:39.260 --> 00:11:46.360 or the turning from something, the question isn't just what you're turning from, but also what you're turning toward because if all you're doing 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:50.480 is leaving something behind, what you'll do is find some other vice to replace it. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:55.370 Some other fixation, something else to be addicted to that's not healthy. 00:11:56.060 --> 00:12:00.170 It's not just about what you're turning from, but what you're turning toward. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:03.770 The idea of faith in this passage gives that expression. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:09.260 See this written in the bible, often times they'll carry these two words together, repent and believe. 00:12:10.520 --> 00:12:11.470 Repent and have faith. 00:12:11.540 --> 00:12:14.980 Turn from the road of destruction and turn to the one that gives you life. 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:22.220 So he's saying what they're doing in this passage is they're going back to the very thing which they left and which doesn't work. 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:30.300 This calling to maturity is to see the sufficiency of Christ, laying down your life in the sufficiency of him. 00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:34.240 Not laying the foundation of the past, but moving into the presence in Jesus. 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:39.480 Then he begins to list certain areas in which they're faltering. 00:12:41.040 --> 00:12:45.640 Verse Two, it's the instruction about washing and the laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:52.360 I want you to know this verse drove me crazy because I went and read tons and tons of commentaries on this, trying to figure out what exactly this was talking about. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:55.460 This is the conclusion I got, you can join me in this challenge if you want. 00:12:56.040 --> 00:13:01.200 No one knows, no one knows exactly what Verse Two is talking about and the reason is they don't have enough detail here. 00:13:01.680 --> 00:13:07.420 What aspect is it referring to when it talks about the washing, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment. 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:15.040 No one really knows exactly what it's talking about but the overall implications are this, that they're seeing this as sufficient as it relates to the Gospel and they're adding 00:13:15.040 --> 00:13:15.800 to it. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:23.390 For us, we don't need to know the details of what's taking place here to still make application to our lives. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:32.220 But, nonetheless, he's presenting to the early believers where they're faltering in the faith of pursuing 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:34.420 God with their lives. 00:13:34.420 --> 00:13:38.120 Getting caught up in these secondary issues and making them primary to the Gospel. 00:13:39.660 --> 00:13:42.700 Then you get to Verse Four, to Verse Six. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:51.290 Just to scare the life out of you this morning, I want you to know Verse Four to Verse Six, 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:56.500 some people say are the most challenging verses in all of the New Testament. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:05.580 In fact, they definitely agree that in the Book of Hebrews, these three verses are the most challenging verses in Hebrews, if not the 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:06.480 entire new testament. 00:14:06.560 --> 00:14:08.830 But, I want to read it to you and you're going to see it as read along. 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:16.720 It says this, "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:23.740 tasted the good Word of God and the power of the age to come and then have fallen away," look at this, "it is impossible to 00:14:23.740 --> 00:14:25.160 renew them again to repentance. 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:32.840 Since they have again crucified to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame." Now here's 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:35.300 the holy cow moment, right? 00:14:36.640 --> 00:14:38.260 Unless you're in India, that's offensive, don't do that there. 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:46.960 But what this verse is saying here is it's saying it's describing an individual partaking of the Holy Spirit in 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.320 some way within the context of the community of Christ. 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:56.660 They see who Jesus is and whatever decision they make, they ultimately decide to just move away. 00:14:57.900 --> 00:15:00.050 So, is this passage teaching you lose your salvation? 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:01.020 Or, what about this? 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:07.530 What if in your life, you were a follower of Christ and you walked away from Jesus, but now later in life, you came back to Jesus? 00:15:08.180 --> 00:15:09.400 Can you really come back to Him? 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:13.680 Like, once you left, is that all for you and you're just here wasting your time, today? 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:15.330 Is that what this passage is saying? 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:17.960 Freak out, right? 00:15:18.040 --> 00:15:18.440 This is a... 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:26.000 Well, okay, this is a sobering moment to think about walking after Christ and what it means to be pure in your walk with Jesus and giving your life 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:26.460 to Him. 00:15:27.880 --> 00:15:29.500 What is this passage saying? 00:15:30.100 --> 00:15:30.700 I'm not going to tell... 00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:31.770 I'm just kidding, I'll tell you. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.840 I want you to know, too, if you look this up there's... 00:15:37.520 --> 00:15:43.060 Some people debate a little bit over what's being talked about in this section, this scripture. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.590 Wayne [Groodham 00:15:44] agrees with what I'm about to tell you. 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:48.390 Warren [Whiresby 00:15:47] has the same stance. 00:15:49.290 --> 00:15:52.700 What I'm going to say to you is not an unpopular position in Christianity. 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.310 I think the majority of people would fall under this. 00:15:56.580 --> 00:16:03.640 First off, when you read this passage, I want you to see in Verse Four that the author is distinguishing between believers and someone different, because it's saying 00:16:03.640 --> 00:16:04.920 those people, right? 00:16:05.260 --> 00:16:08.600 And in verse four, it's those that have experienced this. 00:16:09.400 --> 00:16:16.620 And when the author's describing this in this passage, I think what he wants to do is to make these individuals look as Christian as possible 00:16:16.620 --> 00:16:18.420 without truly being a follower of Jesus. 00:16:19.380 --> 00:16:21.590 And so the way that he describes them is they've been enlightened. 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:23.620 They've seen the heavenly gift. 00:16:23.760 --> 00:16:26.040 They've seen the way the Holy Spirit has worked in the lives of people. 00:16:26.260 --> 00:16:30.440 They've tasted the good Word of God and the powers of what's to come. 00:16:30.780 --> 00:16:32.000 They've walked with the early church. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.320 They've experienced this, but I don't think they've ever really belonged to Christianity. 00:16:36.580 --> 00:16:38.840 And the reason I say that is because of what verse six says. 00:16:40.020 --> 00:16:47.320 "They have fallen away and it's impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified to themselves the Son of God." And 00:16:47.340 --> 00:16:50.780 this idea of crucifying is actually in the active tense. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:52.280 Meaning... 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:56.600 In Christianity, we talk about the crucifixion of Jesus that happened for us a couple of thousand years ago. 00:16:57.400 --> 00:17:01.300 But it was sufficient for my life today, because when Jesus died, He died once and for all. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:08.760 In fact, I would tell you, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 12 and 14 should become your pillar verses in this section of scripture, because what it says to us is Jesus 00:17:08.760 --> 00:17:11.579 died once and for all, having perfected us in Him. 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:14.980 His sacrifice, once and for all, was sufficient for you for all time. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:23.079 But what's happening in this passage is these individuals have seen and heard and experienced the sufficiency of Jesus, and rather 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:28.780 than allow that sacrifice to be sufficient for their lives, they continue to re-crucify Jesus as if He wasn't enough. 00:17:30.120 --> 00:17:37.420 And so what it's saying, in the active tense, because Jesus is sufficient enough for them, they continue to do these works as if they add to the sufficiency 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:38.160 of Jesus. 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:42.500 And when they do that, they're re-crucifying Christ over and over and over again. 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:47.600 And as long as you have that believe that Jesus isn't enough for you, then He's not enough to save you. 00:17:49.860 --> 00:17:52.660 Because Jesus, when He died for you, said it is paid in full. 00:17:54.920 --> 00:17:56.220 His sacrifice was sufficient. 00:17:58.060 --> 00:18:05.180 So what I think it's saying in Hebrews chapter six with the individuals that are practicing religious law is they need to come to a place 00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:06.640 where they see the sufficiency of Jesus. 00:18:06.760 --> 00:18:14.000 But as long as they don't see Jesus as sufficient, they can never fully turn to Him, never fully trust in 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:18.460 Him, never fully lay down their life to Him. 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:27.640 So for us, as Christians, or as people that are looking at Jesus, the question becomes for us, where 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:28.730 is your faith in Christ? 00:18:30.580 --> 00:18:32.240 And have you trusted in Him? 00:18:34.040 --> 00:18:36.200 And is He sufficient for you? 00:18:37.660 --> 00:18:44.780 That's the beauty of what they're saying about Christ in this passage is that in our lives you may not ever feel good 00:18:44.780 --> 00:18:49.380 enough, but because of what Jesus has done for you are. 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:53.380 He loves you right where you are. 00:18:53.420 --> 00:19:00.600 This is the place in life where, when Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I give you rest," in Matthew 11:28, what He's saying to 00:19:00.600 --> 00:19:04.470 you is Jesus doesn't want you to pretend to be something different. 00:19:06.260 --> 00:19:10.890 Jesus wants you to present yourself to Him exactly where you are, exactly as you are. 00:19:11.740 --> 00:19:12.820 And He loves you right in that spot. 00:19:14.980 --> 00:19:20.110 And when you surrender your life to Him in that spot, that's where Jesus begins to do His transformation work in you. 00:19:22.520 --> 00:19:25.760 But it's not until you lay your life down before him. 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:35.160 It's kind of like these individuals in the story who are holding onto something, as if to say by doing all these extra works, "Jesus, I'm going to give you part of my heart." 00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:36.970 But that's not how a relationship with Christ works. 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:40.120 That's not how a healthy marriage works. 00:19:41.980 --> 00:19:46.310 You got to give it all, just as Jesus gave His all for you. 00:19:47.820 --> 00:19:50.290 So this is pointing us to that. 00:19:50.320 --> 00:19:51.900 Then he goes on and just gives an illustration. 00:19:52.060 --> 00:19:56.900 He wants us to recognize within the Christian community, not everyone that is a part of us belongs to us. 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:02.040 There are some people that are just attracted to the church and just examine what's taking place there. 00:20:02.080 --> 00:20:03.960 So this is this place to call us. 00:20:04.180 --> 00:20:06.140 Look, just put your trust in Christ. 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:07.260 And the illustration goes like this. 00:20:07.560 --> 00:20:14.680 "For the ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is 00:20:14.740 --> 00:20:17.080 also tilled receives a blessing from God. 00:20:18.020 --> 00:20:25.140 But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to be cursed and it ends up being burned." So God wants to 00:20:25.140 --> 00:20:26.600 do a work in you. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:31.040 Do you allow what God wants to do in you to produce the life of a crop, or is it just grow up to thorns? 00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:35.640 Where your faith is in Christ, that matters. 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.230 How you surrender your life to God, it matters. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:43.100 So from this point, because Paul's just not... 00:20:43.100 --> 00:20:48.980 or the author of Hebrews, I should say, is not just fixated on the problem, but he's looking for the individuals that want to walk by faith. 00:20:49.420 --> 00:20:52.060 He then in verse nine starts calling us into that. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:53.990 So what he says in verse nine is this. 00:20:54.380 --> 00:20:59.880 "But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you." This is the beloved. 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:06.900 "Now the body, the people that are loved by Christ, who belong to Jesus, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:13.980 salvation though we are speaking in this way, for God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:18.740 which you have shown toward His name in having ministered and still ministering to the saints. 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:26.320 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end so that you will not be sluggish 00:21:26.320 --> 00:21:33.480 but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." This is what he's saying in verse 10. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:42.440 Guys, those that are in faith, sometimes we do things for Jesus in this world and it doesn't receive accolades, it doesn't receive praise, 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:44.880 and in fact some people don't even recognize it in life. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:45.940 No one else around you sees it. 00:21:46.840 --> 00:21:53.840 There are some of you in this room that have paid sacrifices for Christ that you know, if you go back into your life, you have felt the pain because of decisions in following 00:21:53.840 --> 00:21:54.340 Jesus. 00:21:54.760 --> 00:21:55.740 Yet you remained faithful. 00:21:57.020 --> 00:22:02.180 And sometimes when you get to those points, we get in such discouragement, we wonder ourselves what's it all for. 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:06.380 Who really cares? 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:12.120 Yeah, I think for my own family, this happens every time we go back east. 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:21.080 Visit my parents, my wife's parents, my mom who likes to remind me that I'm keeping her grand babies away. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:23.300 For what? 00:22:25.040 --> 00:22:26.140 And in verse 10, it gives the answer. 00:22:28.140 --> 00:22:34.020 "For in God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name." Look, I want you to know this. 00:22:35.300 --> 00:22:38.440 Some of the sacrifices you have made for Christ in your life, other people... 00:22:39.380 --> 00:22:41.100 Other people may not recognize it. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:43.000 It may have been painful. 00:22:44.080 --> 00:22:45.520 It may have taken you a while to get over it. 00:22:45.600 --> 00:22:52.620 But before Christ it is some of the most beautiful praise that you have ever given to God. 00:22:52.780 --> 00:22:59.880 In your deepest pain in pursuing Jesus, before the eyes of God has been some of the most beautiful sacrifice 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:03.220 of praise to Him. 00:23:03.540 --> 00:23:10.600 So he's saying to us in verse 10 and on that God is not ignoring this, and God is not absent to what you are 00:23:10.600 --> 00:23:11.640 doing for Him. 00:23:11.660 --> 00:23:17.040 So Paul is calling us out in the midst of this story to keep pushing forward. 00:23:18.300 --> 00:23:25.260 To keep pursuing him, to keep letting God be the joy and love of your life, to experience that great reward which is in Him. 00:23:26.500 --> 00:23:29.390 And look, in this first century, no doubt the Jews faced challenges. 00:23:30.040 --> 00:23:30.980 It was religiously. 00:23:32.080 --> 00:23:36.340 And they looked at their community, and in some cases their communities just say to them, "Look. 00:23:36.540 --> 00:23:43.780 You can still have your Jesus and talk about Jesus, but you need to just embrace this legalistic living that we're telling you brings you righteousness, 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:44.860 because Jesus isn't enough. 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:49.940 So if you just do a little bit of this, we'll still accept you, and you can still have your Jesus." Half in, half out. 00:23:52.080 --> 00:23:56.100 But with Jesus, all in is where we find joy, right? 00:23:56.280 --> 00:23:56.900 That's their challenge. 00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:02.420 And today, we can look at this and read about this and look down at them, really, with our noses, and think, "How foolish. 00:24:03.080 --> 00:24:10.320 How foolish in that century to see what Jesus has done for them and then just go back to that." But I want us to know, rather than just point a finger 00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:11.380 or say anything negative... 00:24:11.540 --> 00:24:18.580 Maybe we can relate to it, but in our case, if we just think about this text, I want us to recognize that the church 00:24:18.580 --> 00:24:25.620 in every culture in every time period needs to discover how to live for God within 00:24:25.620 --> 00:24:25.900 their context. 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:35.240 Because while they faced this in the first century, we face similar temptation but it just looks a little different, has a little different flavor, in our 00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:36.340 society today. 00:24:37.700 --> 00:24:42.900 And when culture rises up contrary to God, the temptation is for us to do one of two things. 00:24:44.100 --> 00:24:45.700 To be a pushover or to be a bulldozer. 00:24:47.120 --> 00:24:54.140 To be a pushover and just go with the flow and what the culture represents to us which, by the way, when you look just like your culture you can't make any difference 00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:54.460 in it. 00:24:56.300 --> 00:24:59.520 Or to be a bulldozer and try to railroad people. 00:25:00.860 --> 00:25:07.960 Rather, what the Gospel calls us to is to stand firm on truth 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:12.020 and to share that truth in love. 00:25:14.280 --> 00:25:20.780 To stand firm on what we believe and rather than beat up on people, serve them. 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:23.860 It's what Jesus did for us. 00:25:26.020 --> 00:25:32.880 But, guys, I want us to realize in life when culture pushes against you, we're not fighting against people. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:33.960 We're not here to beat up people. 00:25:34.320 --> 00:25:35.240 We're here to reach people. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:41.980 The church is the only organization in really history, I think, that exists for a purpose outside of itself. 00:25:44.280 --> 00:25:46.040 We are called to reach people in this world. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:51.040 To stand on truth and to love people where they are, just as Christ has done. 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:58.300 Everything we do as a human being is driven by a belief, a faith or a theology. 00:26:00.120 --> 00:26:07.200 Everything you do, whether you recognize what that belief is or not, everything you do is driven by a belief or a 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:07.440 faith. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:16.460 In fact, if I went back to this first century, I would see them stuck in this position between the Gospel, which is sufficient only in Christ alone, 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:18.880 and religious living. 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:25.880 And by denying this and moving back to religious living, they're saying something about the Gospel, though they may not be saying it directly, in that it's 00:26:25.940 --> 00:26:26.360 not sufficient. 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:32.480 Everything we do as human beings is driven by a belief and a faith. 00:26:33.020 --> 00:26:40.220 The ideology of our current American culture isn't about trusting an external religion as much as it's trusting in yourself 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:41.380 as your religion. 00:26:42.820 --> 00:26:49.860 In the context of our culture today, we have smoothed throughout the decades further and further from the existence of a god, claiming really 00:26:49.860 --> 00:26:54.900 there are no absolutes, or not even maybe saying there are no absolutes, just not teaching them any more. 00:26:57.420 --> 00:27:04.300 Educationally, we are not providing any more answers to the ultimate meaning and purpose in life. 00:27:04.300 --> 00:27:08.660 We're really telling people what to do, but not defining the ultimate reason as to why they're doing it. 00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:14.900 I don't want to ride this hobby horse but I'm going to say it, at least. 00:27:16.660 --> 00:27:18.000 In our culture today... 00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:26.720 Well decades ago, hundreds of years ago, there was the phrase that was coined, "separation of church and state" around the time of Thomas Jefferson. 00:27:26.840 --> 00:27:29.500 I can't remember if even Thomas Jefferson might have been the one that phrased it. 00:27:30.120 --> 00:27:33.940 But when he made that statement, what he wasn't saying is what we've applied it to today. 00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:38.840 Separation of church and state was never intended to move church from the things of the state. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:47.000 What it was intended to do, rather, was to keep the state out of the things of the church, to continue to let the church place its influence on the lives of people, because 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:50.420 that's where the answer is to the ultimate meaning of life. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:56.440 We've fallen on this trajectory educationally of not defining any of this. 00:27:56.460 --> 00:27:59.440 I was listening to a speech by Ravi Zacharias. 00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:06.620 He was talking, and he mentioned back in the economic downturn that a reporter came to him and wanted to have a theological perspective on what was 00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:10.780 taking place in the world and the type of questions people were asking because of the hardships. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:11.500 It's interesting. 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:16.580 When things are difficult, we ask the theological questions, but when life is fine, we just want to leave God behind, right? 00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:20.680 But here he is, the reporter coming to ask Ravi Zacharias, and he said, "Listen. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:28.160 I'll give you your interview if you let me ask you one question." The report was a little bit taken back by it, but he allowed Ravi 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:29.030 to ask the question. 00:28:29.040 --> 00:28:30.920 He gave this comment first. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:38.500 He said, "Take for example a young guy studying business or economics in school, and we teach them there is no morality or 00:28:38.500 --> 00:28:40.840 ethics in business or economics. 00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:48.040 Then when he's a businessman and acts corrupt, we respond shocked and throw him behind bars for living out the very way we have taught 00:28:48.040 --> 00:28:55.300 him to act in this world." Then he want on to ask the question, "Should we throw teachers and lecturers in jail for warping the minds of our young people?" 00:28:56.820 --> 00:29:03.640 But the interesting thing about it, I know it's an overstatement that he was getting at, but the interesting thing is that what ultimately should drive us is people. 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:06.860 We really aren't defining within the education of our young people today. 00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:09.040 We're leaving them devoid of those ultimate answers. 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:14.380 And when they're not living life out in light of a God which they're accountable to, we're still holding them accountable. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.360 How can you claim there is no morality and then live like it? 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:23.860 We divorce our society from God. 00:29:24.940 --> 00:29:28.340 We no longer have an ultimate basis for why we exist and where we are going. 00:29:30.040 --> 00:29:37.160 What we ultimately do is allow self to become god, and our morality will be defined by what we want, since the 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:38.180 individual is god. 00:29:39.360 --> 00:29:44.860 When the ultimate purpose of life is about you and your pleasure, it affects everything around us. 00:29:45.840 --> 00:29:49.510 Without even defining it, we're living by a belief. 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:57.840 If we are the supreme purpose of life and we are gods ourself defining our own morality, this defines everything we do. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:01.980 The significance of life and how we take it, pro-choice, pro-life. 00:30:03.420 --> 00:30:05.500 Sexuality, politics. 00:30:07.060 --> 00:30:11.400 Read in this Hebrews chapter six, in Judaism they were about religion. 00:30:11.600 --> 00:30:14.460 In American today, we debate whether or not there's even a god. 00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:20.860 Then the end, without God, might makes right. 00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:30.420 Not even the majority, but the minority if they scream loud enough, the might will make 00:30:30.420 --> 00:30:30.700 right. 00:30:31.760 --> 00:30:33.160 Can I tell you where else we've seen that in history? 00:30:35.060 --> 00:30:35.460 Nazi Germany. 00:30:37.600 --> 00:30:40.300 The silent majority made up 80% of Germany. 00:30:42.180 --> 00:30:48.780 But yet the strong minority who voiced their statements into this world, might made what was right. 00:30:48.860 --> 00:30:50.320 Now what they did was not right. 00:30:51.980 --> 00:30:58.240 But when individuals start dictating by themselves, being the idol of society, what is right, then they determine it. 00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:02.800 And I'm not telling us that we need to go out and lambast everyone that disagrees with us. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:03.880 I'm not saying that at all. 00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:10.440 What I'm saying, rather, is we need to get to the basics of what drives the significance of who we are as human beings. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:16.480 And when the church is silent over these issues, it affects the generations to come. 00:31:17.360 --> 00:31:24.160 You think about Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was a Christian during the time of Nazi Germany, who was given a pastor position in America. 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:29.570 And rather than stay in America, he chose to go back to Germany because he had to preach the truth to his people. 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:33.720 He made this statement that just resonates through history. 00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:42.660 He says, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil." That 00:31:42.760 --> 00:31:44.120 God has given you a voice. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:50.970 You don't make a different in your culture when you look just like it. 00:31:52.320 --> 00:32:00.080 In a Nazi Germany, the silent majority gave way to 00:32:00.080 --> 00:32:00.740 the loud minority. 00:32:02.020 --> 00:32:03.240 And Hitler went down in history. 00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:03.480 Listen. 00:32:03.520 --> 00:32:10.800 This is what Hitler said about his desire, "I want to raise a generation of young people devoid of conscience, imperious, relentless, 00:32:10.800 --> 00:32:13.480 and cruel." Can I tell you how to do that? 00:32:15.220 --> 00:32:15.960 Make yourself God. 00:32:17.460 --> 00:32:19.620 Make yourself and your desire the center of the universe. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:28.140 If someone comes in this morning we have no basis for truth, no basis for morality, and they come in this morning and they say to me "In five seconds I'm gonna turn 00:32:28.140 --> 00:32:35.430 around and kill the person right behind me unless you can convince me otherwise that it's wrong." Apart from a moral lawgiver, 00:32:35.560 --> 00:32:36.420 what do I have to argue? 00:32:38.660 --> 00:32:43.100 He says "It feels right to me, it feels good, it feels like this needs to happen." What, am I gonna argue feelings back? 00:32:43.320 --> 00:32:54.280 "Well, I feel like it's wrong." On what basis? 00:32:54.280 --> 00:33:00.920 Victor Franklin was in a concentration camp during the days of Nazi Germany's reign. 00:33:01.840 --> 00:33:05.340 He was a brilliant man, he ended up dying in 1997. 00:33:06.120 --> 00:33:13.200 In his assessment of what took place here, this is what he said, "I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of 00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:20.380 Nazi Germany were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks 00:33:20.380 --> 00:33:24.680 and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers. 00:33:26.520 --> 00:33:32.300 What gave way to what was produced was the education of the minds of the people." That's where the battle started. 00:33:36.080 --> 00:33:43.140 For us, as believers, it becomes paramount for you in what you choose to do in the 00:33:43.160 --> 00:33:45.020 time that you're given, in the culture in which you live. 00:33:45.740 --> 00:33:52.940 Can I tell you, most specifically, if you find yourself involved in the educational system of our society today, if you're directly on those front lines, 00:33:53.540 --> 00:33:56.500 I'm not saying all this to stand against you? 00:33:56.800 --> 00:33:59.380 Rather I would stand behind you and just lift you in prayer. 00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:02.530 What a beautiful spot to be. 00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:05.320 What a great place to influence in our society. 00:34:06.580 --> 00:34:09.980 Because it's not just to elevate that position but to recognize in all of us. 00:34:11.179 --> 00:34:16.340 All of us the voice that God has given and the happens here, where you lay down your life for the sake of Christ. 00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:21.520 And to understand that when we make decisions in Jesus, it could cost you. 00:34:23.120 --> 00:34:30.320 In fact, the Bible tells us "It will cost you." So to do that, to take those steps 00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:37.440 in Christ, you stand over the precipice, and before you even step forward you need to know, is Jesus sufficient for you? 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:44.139 The rest of this chapter reminds of the sufficiency of Christ, but I want us to know, this entire book is laying this out for us. 00:34:45.060 --> 00:34:51.310 It's showing us from beginning to end how God just didn't come up with this plan last minute in order for the preservation of your soul. 00:34:51.520 --> 00:34:53.300 This has been dictated to us from the beginning. 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:58.880 In fact, he starts verse 13 this way, he says, "For in God made the promise to Abraham..." going all the way back. 00:34:58.900 --> 00:35:02.100 This is where it begins, where God is laying this out for you. 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:04.900 This wasn't something he just came up with out of the dark. 00:35:05.240 --> 00:35:06.800 This has been known from the beginning of time. 00:35:07.300 --> 00:35:14.840 And so he goes back for us, "For when God made the promise to Abraham since he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying 'I 00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:22.700 will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.' And so having patiently waited, he obtained the promise." So 00:35:22.700 --> 00:35:27.290 he's saying this idea's rooted in the promises of God, how important it is for us to see this picture. 00:35:27.680 --> 00:35:35.160 Throughout the book of Hebrews, in verse 16 "For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them, an oath given as confirmation is 00:35:35.160 --> 00:35:36.440 an end of every dispute. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:44.140 In the same way, God, desiring even more to show the heirs the promise, the unchangeableness of his purpose, interposed with an oath, so 00:35:44.140 --> 00:35:51.340 that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have taken refuge will have strong 00:35:51.340 --> 00:35:58.620 encouragement to take hold of the hopes that before us." God wants you to take hold of the hopes that before you, and where does he wrap that 00:35:58.620 --> 00:35:58.880 hope? 00:35:59.420 --> 00:36:00.120 In his identity. 00:36:00.500 --> 00:36:01.940 His nature cannot lie. 00:36:02.180 --> 00:36:07.300 The promises to you will be delivered, and God can promise by no one greater than himself. 00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:14.500 He says in the beginning of this verse, we promise in one another all the time, and especially in this day, your word is as strong as oak, 00:36:14.680 --> 00:36:14.800 right? 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:20.460 When you're a kid "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." If you ever said that you're gross, right? 00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:25.580 But as kids you try to make promises, "I swear on my mama's grave." You know, somethin' like that. 00:36:25.900 --> 00:36:30.200 "You're mama's not even dead, what are you talkin' about?" But we say things like that because we want our word to matter. 00:36:30.300 --> 00:36:33.520 But he's saying in this passage, God's word is pure. 00:36:33.560 --> 00:36:37.080 If there's something that you can trust in it is God's word. 00:36:37.340 --> 00:36:39.240 If you ask the question "How do I know? 00:36:40.160 --> 00:36:43.300 How do I know?" I'm telling you, we're doing this throughout the whole book of Hebrews together. 00:36:44.460 --> 00:36:51.460 We're looking at the picture that God has orchestrated from the beginning in Jesus, to see how God just didn't slap this plan together, 00:36:51.540 --> 00:36:55.200 but he has been showing these foreshadows of what Jesus would ultimately fulfill. 00:36:55.980 --> 00:37:02.820 I cannot wait to get to Hebrews chapter 7 to chapter 9, because that section of scripture for me ties it all together so masterfully. 00:37:03.040 --> 00:37:05.000 Those are my favorite chapters in this book. 00:37:06.380 --> 00:37:12.900 So I realize in saying this, for some of us we need to see how we can trust Jesus more deeply if we haven't put that faith in Christ. 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:18.920 But for the rest of us who have, it's to understand how significant that position in Jesus really is. 00:37:20.220 --> 00:37:27.300 To understand that his promises, and the truth that he's declared to you, how important it is to stand on that and to recognize, you will pay a cost for 00:37:27.300 --> 00:37:28.580 Jesus somewhere, some way. 00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:36.980 But can I remind you guys, when you think about the early church and the sacrifice that they've made? 00:37:36.980 --> 00:37:38.420 And I'm gonna tell you some of that here in a minute. 00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:42.100 Today we see those individuals as heroes. 00:37:42.200 --> 00:37:43.740 We talk about them like they're heroes. 00:37:45.160 --> 00:37:50.260 But when they stood for Jesus, at the time in which they stood for Jesus, they were not looked at as heroes. 00:37:51.720 --> 00:37:54.260 At best they were looked at as nuisances to society. 00:37:55.820 --> 00:38:02.880 That's why I wanna say to you, in Christianity, for the first 250 years it existed, 125 of those the church 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:03.420 was persecuted. 00:38:05.260 --> 00:38:06.220 No one sang their praise. 00:38:07.580 --> 00:38:10.420 They were looked at as enemies, and in many cases, they could've died alone. 00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:13.960 But to God it was beautiful. 00:38:15.100 --> 00:38:17.060 Do you know the effects of what they did in their society? 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.180 It revolutionized the world around them. 00:38:22.500 --> 00:38:29.540 If I just told you, I don't think we even live in this world today recognizing how Christianity has transformed society around us. 00:38:30.660 --> 00:38:37.140 During the days of early Christianity, infanticide was practiced in the lives of individuals that didn't wanna keep their kids. 00:38:37.180 --> 00:38:44.200 What they would do is, if they had a kid that they didn't feel like was gonna contribute to the family, it was gonna cost them more to be a provider, they would take them out and just lay 00:38:44.200 --> 00:38:46.620 'em in the street and leave 'em to the elements and let them die. 00:38:48.180 --> 00:38:50.120 And it was seen as okay to do. 00:38:51.120 --> 00:38:58.120 Christians began to gather them because they learned from what God taught them that everyone's created in the image of God, that everyone has inherent worth, value, and 00:38:58.120 --> 00:38:59.900 meaning, and Jesus died for them. 00:39:00.560 --> 00:39:02.340 So the early church started to adopt. 00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:03.820 Adoption begins in Christianity. 00:39:04.680 --> 00:39:07.450 That's really where it takes root and catches on fire. 00:39:08.920 --> 00:39:16.200 In the early days of Rome, women especially, they were seen as devalued in comparison 00:39:16.200 --> 00:39:23.360 to men, and sometimes they would look at women and realize that they weren't worth having around, so they, in that culture, would just leave young 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:27.300 girls out on the sides of the street, and people would come by and they would pick them up. 00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:31.980 Not Christians, but other individuals would come by and pick them up, and they would do one of two things with them. 00:39:32.560 --> 00:39:35.000 They would either turn them into slaves or they would pimp them out. 00:39:36.520 --> 00:39:39.380 Christianity sees the worth, value, and meaning of women. 00:39:39.500 --> 00:39:40.700 I can promise you. 00:39:40.700 --> 00:39:47.880 I try to think of instances where this isn't true, but if you go through societies in our world today, and you compare 00:39:47.880 --> 00:39:51.780 where women are valued and women are devalued, and I'm not saying it's perfect for women in this world. 00:39:52.720 --> 00:39:59.780 But I can promise you that to my knowledge, almost every society where you look at where women are valued, Christianity has already been 00:39:59.780 --> 00:39:59.920 there. 00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:08.560 It might be a post-Christian society, but the value of women began to be preached in the realm of Christianity. 00:40:10.060 --> 00:40:13.620 That's why when you look at the conversions in early Christianity, you know what it is? 00:40:14.540 --> 00:40:16.700 It's the poor, it's the slaves, it's women. 00:40:17.740 --> 00:40:21.160 Because the first time in their lives, they're seeing the value of who they are in light of who God is. 00:40:22.080 --> 00:40:25.560 The other thing in this society, if you were a slave in Rome, the majority of people are slaves. 00:40:26.040 --> 00:40:30.390 Well not the majority, but a lot of the people I should say, are slaves, or you're poor. 00:40:32.080 --> 00:40:34.620 And in the context of those societies, you know what's taught in that theology? 00:40:36.460 --> 00:40:38.660 God doesn't love you as much as he loves the wealthy. 00:40:39.740 --> 00:40:41.100 That's why you are where you are. 00:40:42.820 --> 00:40:50.000 And now all of the sudden in Christianity, they see this guy that doesn't reject them because they don't have, but rather a God that's been pursuing them. 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:52.660 A God that loves them where they are. 00:40:53.700 --> 00:40:55.180 A God that shows them their worth. 00:40:55.220 --> 00:40:59.920 When you see this at the early church it's incredible how these individuals live for the sake of Christ. 00:40:59.960 --> 00:41:06.000 How it began to change society and end certain atrocities going on around them. 00:41:06.220 --> 00:41:13.280 Even when you look at the way Christians live their lives, they refuse to build anything that was dedicated to false gods, which in their society there was a plethora 00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:14.220 of that goin' on. 00:41:14.620 --> 00:41:21.680 They refused to go to hospitals for treatment during that time period because when they went there it was believed if you had some sort of sickness it was because the gods had 00:41:21.680 --> 00:41:27.900 some curse against you, so you went to the hospitals you didn't really get treatment, what you got was a priest who walked around who gave some chant over you. 00:41:28.660 --> 00:41:35.680 The Christians were like "No way, we ain't lettin' some false god chant over us, we're not going to the hospital." Sometimes in those societies, what happened if you had 00:41:35.680 --> 00:41:39.280 certain sicknesses, they would cast you out in the street and consider you cursed by God. 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:42.680 What happened in Christianity, Christianity really developed the hospitals. 00:41:43.640 --> 00:41:50.640 They started to recognize that people need to be treated by medicine, God created medication that could treat people, they started bringing these people in 00:41:50.640 --> 00:41:56.660 that were cursed because they understood that was a curse by false gods that weren't real, they started loving on these people, nurturing one another. 00:41:59.240 --> 00:42:06.420 And all the while in that society when bad things happened, when the Nile River flooded, when there wasn't enough rain, when there was an earthquake, where somethin' 00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:13.460 burnt, the people immediately jumped to the conclusion that the gods must be mad, and when the gods were mad that meant 00:42:13.460 --> 00:42:19.500 it was the Christians fault, 'cause the Christians weren't worshiping the false gods, so they would take the Christians out and they would martyr them. 00:42:21.300 --> 00:42:28.360 If you read in Fox's Book of Martyrs, you can read this free online, this is just a section of the chapter 00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:33.600 titles, but I've told you, first 250 years of Christianity 125 of that, it would cost you your life. 00:42:34.240 --> 00:42:36.880 These are the persecutions that took place under those rulers. 00:42:38.340 --> 00:42:45.380 There's one by the name of Decius that was the seventh persecutor, emperor leader that persecuted the church, and 00:42:45.380 --> 00:42:52.460 the way that he wanted to persecute the Christians that he found most effective was he would bring out a Christian family, and then he would take 00:42:52.460 --> 00:42:59.520 the children away from the parents, then he would proceed to mutilate the children in front of the parents in order to 00:42:59.520 --> 00:43:00.660 get them to renounce their faith. 00:43:03.210 --> 00:43:05.800 These people were considered nuisances. 00:43:08.040 --> 00:43:13.060 But yet what you find is that their faith moves forward. 00:43:14.900 --> 00:43:22.000 In fact, over and over again you'll read in history these individuals that persecuted the early church, that they'd gladly give up their life as if 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:22.900 they are immortal. 00:43:25.180 --> 00:43:31.340 It's as if they believe they would live forever, and allow themselves to be sacrificed for Christ. 00:43:33.020 --> 00:43:39.500 We see these people as heroes, but during their time the people around them saw them as a problem. 00:43:41.680 --> 00:43:46.320 The encouragement to you guys on all of this is to be faithful. 00:43:48.500 --> 00:43:55.520 To understand just exactly how God can use you to make an impact on society around you, and that when you choose not to stand in 00:43:55.520 --> 00:44:00.700 Jesus you're still teaching a theology, and it's the insufficiency of Christ. 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:01.370 But be faithful. 00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:02.640 Can I tell you this though? 00:44:04.840 --> 00:44:11.080 When I tell you to be faithful I'm not telling you or asking, whatever, however you wanna phrase this, to have this incredible amount of faith. 00:44:11.880 --> 00:44:18.280 I think what makes you powerful isn't the size of your faith, but the size of your God in which you express your faith. 00:44:20.060 --> 00:44:27.300 There are plenty of people in this world that have faith in all kind of things but at the end of the day, their faith isn't gonna save 'em because in what they trust in, it's 00:44:27.300 --> 00:44:27.540 worthless. 00:44:29.680 --> 00:44:34.240 When it comes to Jesus, you don't have to have this incredible amount of faith. 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:38.600 What you need is just a little bit of faith in this incredible God. 00:44:40.680 --> 00:44:41.930 It's God who does that work. 00:44:43.460 --> 00:44:44.320 And here's where it starts. 00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:54.220 "Jesus, as you've given your life for me, so use my life for you." At 00:44:54.220 --> 00:44:59.340 the end of this book, he starts speaking about the belief that the early church carried. 00:45:00.060 --> 00:45:04.060 The promises of God because of the sufficiency of Jesus. 00:45:04.500 --> 00:45:08.560 So much so that there is a statement that was birthed out of the early church called the Apostle's Creed. 00:45:09.760 --> 00:45:14.660 The Apostle's Creed that most people read today is a little bit more extensive than when it first began. 00:45:15.540 --> 00:45:19.460 But when the Apostle's Creed was first written it dates as early as 140 A.D. 00:45:20.360 --> 00:45:22.740 so in the middle of all this persecution you know what the church did in response? 00:45:24.460 --> 00:45:27.380 It solidifies its faith and sufficiency in Jesus. 00:45:28.640 --> 00:45:30.780 They created this creed that gave their identity. 00:45:30.780 --> 00:45:37.840 It says this, "I believe in God the Father all mighty, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our Lord." Can I 00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:41.220 tell you, just that phrase right there, in Rome, would get your head cut off. 00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:49.960 In Roman times, the people were expected to say "Kaiser Kurios" which is "Caesar is Lord". 00:45:50.900 --> 00:45:59.180 Christians refused to bow down to any other god except for Christ, and rather than saying Kaiser Kurios, they said "Christos Kurios", Jesus 00:45:59.180 --> 00:45:59.740 is Lord. 00:46:01.080 --> 00:46:05.440 In doing that they denied the gods of Rome, they denied Caesar and the faced persecution. 00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:13.400 But they allowed the statement to resonate from their faith, and it says this "He was born of the Holy Ghost, and of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius 00:46:13.400 --> 00:46:20.480 Pilate, buried on the third day, and rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the father, from thence he shall come to Jesus, the quick and the 00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:30.780 dead, and the Holy Ghost, the Holy Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, the life everlasting." 00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:32.040 God is able. 00:46:34.180 --> 00:46:39.720 And the sacrifices that we make to him is the praise of the glory of who he is. 00:46:41.280 --> 00:46:48.400 And the challenges we've faced as followers of Jesus, we should rest secure in the identity of 00:46:48.400 --> 00:46:48.600 our God.