WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.140 Hebrews chapter 10, we're gonna dive into this text and here's how I wanna treat this for us. 00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:09.680 We're in a transitional period in this text of Scripture where we have... 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:16.700 the beauty of Hebrews is it takes the Old Testament and shows us how everything culminates in the identity of what the New Testament is and specifically 00:00:16.700 --> 00:00:24.220 in who Jesus is: prophet, priest, king, temple, sabbath, law, sacrifice. 00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:29.180 You think of all the pictures that the Old Testament wraps itself in, especially as it relates to the old covenant. 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:31.460 Jesus is the fulfillment of all those things. 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:37.980 Everything that in the Old Testament was a shadow of who Christ is for us and the significance of who he is. 00:00:38.540 --> 00:00:45.760 Chapter 10 comes this transitional period where we now not only understand the 00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:49.300 theological implications of Jesus but now we answer the question, "So what? 00:00:49.720 --> 00:00:56.980 What does that have to do with our lives?" So this chapter starts to make the application for us and it gives us somewhat of a recap of 00:00:56.980 --> 00:01:01.440 everything that we've experienced together, so we've actually going through half of chapter 10. 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:08.480 We're gonna pick up in verse 26 and I'm gonna go to the end of the chapter from verse 26 and then I'm gonna bounce all the way back to verse 19, because 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:12.100 19 to 25 I think is the foundation of this chapter. 00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:19.560 I'm gonna do this fairly quickly but I want us to see the significance of what's communicated from verse 26 to the end because it highlights 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:22.220 the importance of verses 19 to 25. 00:01:22.860 --> 00:01:29.040 He starts verse 26, this paragraph, if you look at it in Scripture you'll see it's broken into paragraphs. 00:01:29.820 --> 00:01:34.000 Verse 26 to 32 in that area, or verse 31... 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:34.240 excuse me... 00:01:34.300 --> 00:01:34.780 is the first paragraph. 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:37.320 Verse 32 starts the next paragraph. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:38.510 So it's this thought. 00:01:39.100 --> 00:01:46.980 Verses 26, 31 is a warning, verse 32 to 39 is an encouragement, and then all of the significance 00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:52.000 of chapter 10 is sandwiched in what really verse 19 to 25 communicates for us. 00:01:52.020 --> 00:01:55.160 So now that you can process through that, let's start with a warning. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.840 I wanna start with the hard stuff, right? 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:01.460 The challenging things, and then get to the spurring of us on. 00:02:01.460 --> 00:02:08.860 So verse 26, "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:14.580 sins." Let me define what it means from this passage, what it means to go on sinning willfully. 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.700 When we think about sin, it's anything that is contrary to the nature of God. 00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:20.800 That's really, in a nutshell, what sin is. 00:02:21.160 --> 00:02:28.420 What makes murder murder isn't that you just end a life, it's really that God is life, He creates life, and when we commit a sin, we're always 00:02:28.420 --> 00:02:29.960 violating God from the beginning. 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:32.240 That's the general idea of what sin represents. 00:02:32.540 --> 00:02:35.600 But in this particular passage, it's taking the thought a little further. 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:37.890 When we go on sinning willfully, you could think... 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:45.060 in Hebrews chapter 10, it's now this culmination of everything that we've read, and all of it has identified the significance of 00:02:45.060 --> 00:02:45.760 Jesus. 00:02:46.040 --> 00:02:47.180 Chapter one, verse one. 00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:48.420 It started from the very beginning. 00:02:48.720 --> 00:02:55.940 "In times past, God spoke to us through the prophets, but today He speaks to us through Jesus." And then it's off to the races and showing the fulfillment of Jesus in 00:02:55.940 --> 00:02:56.640 everything. 00:02:57.140 --> 00:03:04.360 So when we're sinning willfully, it's now looking at the picture of Jesus being the culmination of all things and rejecting who 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:05.120 He is. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.920 So sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there's no longer remains any sacrifice for sins. 00:03:11.720 --> 00:03:19.000 In fact, it went so far as to say this in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13: "Jesus obliterated the old covenant." And 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:26.100 so having done away with the old covenant, we're now in the new covenant of what Christ has done for us and if we reject that, there's no longer 00:03:26.100 --> 00:03:29.280 any sacrifices for sins because Jesus paid for it all. 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:32.820 And so that's what the identity is in sinning willfully. 00:03:32.840 --> 00:03:39.980 In verse 27 then he goes on and says, "But a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will 00:03:39.980 --> 00:03:44.060 consume the adversaries." This is a fun verse to talk about, right? 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:46.940 He's talking about consuming adversaries. 00:03:47.420 --> 00:03:49.490 What in the world is an adversary? 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:55.040 A lot of times in our legalistic religious mentality we like to say it's the bad guy. 00:03:55.040 --> 00:04:01.020 I'm the good guy and everybody that does less than me, that can be them, but I'm doing the good so I'm not there, right? 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:03.840 But in this section of Scripture that's not what it's talking about. 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:06.660 We wanna ask, okay, what is an adversary? 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:09.900 When you look at it in the context of this passage, it starts to tell us. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:14.740 In verse 26, rejection of Jesus, and then it goes on in verse 28 and 29. 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:15.740 Listen to this. 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:21.000 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 00:04:22.260 --> 00:04:23.980 The law of Moses was Old Covenant. 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:26.390 Old Covenant was carried out by people. 00:04:26.700 --> 00:04:31.160 You break the Old Covenant, you face the consequences and is executed by man. 00:04:31.760 --> 00:04:32.400 That's what it's saying. 00:04:32.440 --> 00:04:33.760 That was a pretty significant thing. 00:04:33.940 --> 00:04:38.940 When you think about laws in your land, there's a certain code that we go by as people. 00:04:39.280 --> 00:04:44.500 If you go before someone on the street and you insult them, you could get smacked upside the head, right? 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:48.560 If I were to go out and insult a rock, no big deal. 00:04:48.760 --> 00:04:51.560 The value of the rock, insignificant in comparison to humanity. 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:55.400 You insult a human being, sometimes they take it personal and they may react. 00:04:56.060 --> 00:05:00.060 You insult a police officer, that takes it to another level, right? 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:02.120 You insult a dignitary, another level. 00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:08.840 You try to attack, say, the President of the United States in the middle of a speech, it's not gonna go well for you, right? 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:14.940 You go to a country that's run maybe as a dictatorship, you say something, no one will ever see or hear from you again, right? 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:20.290 There's a certain level of, based on the reverence of the identity of the person. 00:05:21.780 --> 00:05:25.650 When disrespect happens, it adds to the magnitude that takes place. 00:05:26.140 --> 00:05:30.720 What he's saying in verse 28, when you break the laws that are carried out by man, yeah, that's important. 00:05:31.520 --> 00:05:33.040 But now look at this in verse 29. 00:05:33.900 --> 00:05:41.080 "How much more severe a punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded 00:05:41.080 --> 00:05:48.160 as unclean the blood of the covenant which He has sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace?" He 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:51.340 goes on in verse 30, "For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is mine. 00:05:51.340 --> 00:05:58.480 I will repay,' and again, the Lord will judge His people." It's one thing to insult a person, it's one thing to insult a dignitary or 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:05.600 a leader, but in rejecting Jesus, we're talking about the very blood of God 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:12.780 who became flesh to serve you, this God that's pursuing you, has given it all for you, and to just walk 00:06:12.780 --> 00:06:16.020 away from that, to just call that insignificant or to say it's not enough... 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:19.920 that's a sobering statement to consider in this passage, isn't it? 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:22.180 The magnitude of that [inaudible 00:06:22]. 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:29.400 And that's what chapter 10 verse 26, this is where the author is at, is saying, "Look, don't just treat Sunday as something where we're here today because 00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:30.520 you're supposed to be here today. 00:06:30.940 --> 00:06:38.320 What happens in this room has to do with something sacred and which God has established for us, this new covenant which cost His life. 00:06:38.700 --> 00:06:41.400 There is no greater value that could ever be paid. 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:49.980 There is no greater moment in history than what took place on the cross, because it was for you." So 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:54.930 the thought in this passage is don't trample this underfoot. 00:06:55.640 --> 00:07:02.760 In fact, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18 says this: "For we know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you 00:07:02.760 --> 00:07:10.100 were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors," in verse 19, "but with the precious blood 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:17.260 of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." What Jesus 00:07:17.260 --> 00:07:18.120 has done is significant. 00:07:20.440 --> 00:07:21.320 You don't wanna play games. 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:29.060 This is the pinnacle of everything history has foretold. 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:31.200 That's what Hebrews has said. 00:07:32.380 --> 00:07:39.640 It goes back through this beautiful picture in the Old Testament how God didn't just slap this history together, that this 00:07:39.640 --> 00:07:44.500 is Him unfolding His redeeming story for you from the beginning. 00:07:46.100 --> 00:07:47.220 It's not to be taken lightly. 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:52.260 But to understand that Jesus desires to lay hold of you... 00:07:52.580 --> 00:07:59.660 you were created for relationship in Him and then, as if it's not enough just to leave that there, He takes this one step 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:07.160 further and says in verse 31, "It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." This 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:10.420 is the pee your pants moment right here, right? 00:08:11.140 --> 00:08:12.460 It's gonna be like that, huh? 00:08:12.460 --> 00:08:13.060 Is it, God? 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:15.480 It's about to go down, right? 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:17.620 I mean, this is a powerful statement to think about. 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:25.220 People don't like to deal with this, but I think when you deal with it in the right way, it can be a very beautiful, secure place to be. 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:29.820 You don't wanna be on the bad side of God's judgment but you do wanna be on the good side of God's judgment. 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:31.540 Judgment doesn't have to be a bad thing. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:40.340 When you think about all the things in this world that tear at your soul, that you despise, that you wish were different, that causes tears 00:08:40.340 --> 00:08:43.799 and pain in our life, Jesus does not like those things either. 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:47.980 In fact, God is coming to do something about it. 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:56.290 But where it puts us is in this place to need to have this understanding of what it means that God is a judge and God has wrath. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:58.740 God has wrath. 00:09:00.660 --> 00:09:05.920 God's gonna bring judgment against things in this world and you don't wanna be on the bad side of that judgment. 00:09:08.540 --> 00:09:09.430 What do you do with it? 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:18.120 I like my Grandpa God version, where He just sits in the rocking chair, He's too old to throw the lightning bolts anymore, and He just kind of pats you going by. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:19.790 "Aren't you just a good little child? 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.440 Be blessed and go on." I like that. 00:09:22.580 --> 00:09:24.000 My God is love, right? 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.840 1 John 4:8, I'm gonna get it tattooed, right? 00:09:26.940 --> 00:09:28.240 My God is love. 00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:29.620 I don't believe in the wrath God. 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:30.960 I believe in the love God. 00:09:30.980 --> 00:09:32.120 But can I tell you and remind us...? 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:33.800 We talked a little bit about this last week. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:43.100 God can't be a loving God without His judgment, because He can't be good, He can't reconcile 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:48.210 the things of this world that are wrong, without His ability to judge it. 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:56.820 God will make all things new but it's because of His nature that wars against sin and the power to do something about it, that's what makes His goodness echo in 00:09:56.820 --> 00:09:57.660 this world. 00:09:58.680 --> 00:10:05.720 The beauty of what Jesus has done for you is He gives us that place of grace to be on His side of judgment which frees us in 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:12.200 Him, because we're created to belong to Him, to find identity in Him. 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:13.260 So listen to this. 00:10:13.540 --> 00:10:20.700 When it comes to Scripture, wrath and judgment, even in the New Testament, it's talked about dozens and dozens of times. 00:10:20.760 --> 00:10:27.500 In fact, if you were just to do a word search on the word wrath, you'll find wrath used over three dozen times in the New Testament. 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:29.400 You gotta deal with it. 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:36.200 And it's important as it relates to the goodness and love of who God is, because that judgment is to the benefit of His people. 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:44.480 If you were just to even pore through some of the most significant passages of Scripture like John 3:16... 00:10:44.680 --> 00:10:46.560 everybody loves John 3:16. 00:10:46.560 --> 00:10:50.780 You're supposed to carry a poster and show that in the back of end zones if you ever go to a football game. 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:52.820 John 3:16, "God so loved the world". 00:10:52.860 --> 00:10:53.660 I believe in a loving God. 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:55.020 He gave His only begotten Son. 00:10:55.020 --> 00:10:55.580 What a gift. 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:57.570 Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. 00:10:58.060 --> 00:10:58.700 I get to live forever. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:00.780 I'm not gonna be separated from God. 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:01.820 I love that verse. 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:02.920 That's a loving God. 00:11:02.920 --> 00:11:10.000 And then when you read the verses that follow after that, listen to this, verse 18: "He who believes in Him is not judged." 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:11.480 Really cool, right? 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:18.960 And then it goes on: "He who does not believe has been judged already." It's like you're already standing in this place of judgment, 00:11:19.020 --> 00:11:21.540 you're already in this place of wrath. 00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:28.860 John 3:36, just a few verses on: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but He who does not obey the Son will 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:35.020 not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Holy cow. 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:35.500 Right? 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:38.580 It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 00:11:39.940 --> 00:11:44.900 Or if you were just to crack open Romans, listen to how Romans starts, Romans chapter 1 verse 18. 00:11:44.900 --> 00:11:52.120 "For the wrath of God was revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Romans 2:5: 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:59.640 "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are stirring up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation, the righteousness of judgment of 00:11:59.640 --> 00:12:06.720 God." Romans 2:8: "But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation." 00:12:07.880 --> 00:12:09.280 Holy cow, right? 00:12:09.280 --> 00:12:10.440 Like, enough is enough. 00:12:10.760 --> 00:12:12.020 I don't believe in that God. 00:12:12.180 --> 00:12:13.970 Those verses have been ripped from my Scripture. 00:12:14.660 --> 00:12:15.940 What do you do with wrath? 00:12:19.340 --> 00:12:20.300 God's not a good God without it. 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:24.980 Sometimes when we think about wrath, we often... 00:12:25.040 --> 00:12:32.060 or when we think about character of God, we try to equate it to places in life that we're familiar with, and sometimes that gives us a hard 00:12:32.060 --> 00:12:39.140 place to recognize God, because when you think about wrath, a lot of times we've seen it maybe emulated in the life of a person and it's 00:12:39.180 --> 00:12:42.860 when they flip their lid and you are in the path of their fury... 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:44.120 I don't wanna be in that wrath. 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:51.760 But when it comes to God, I think it's very important to just say we don't equate wrath in humanity, which is sinful wrath, with that 00:12:51.760 --> 00:12:57.080 of God, because God's not just sitting there waiting for you just to slip up to blow His lid. 00:12:57.460 --> 00:12:59.540 God doesn't lose it. 00:12:59.760 --> 00:13:01.860 God's not surprised by the things we do wrong. 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:03.460 God already knows everything. 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:05.960 There's nothing you've done in your life where God's like, "Oh, didn't see that coming. 00:13:06.060 --> 00:13:06.760 What a failure. 00:13:07.540 --> 00:13:14.820 My cross won't cover that one." We read last week in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14 where it tells us Jesus' 00:13:14.880 --> 00:13:18.450 sacrifice paid for your past, present, and future sin. 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:25.400 His sacrifice was sufficient for all of your life and He was able to do that because he's omniscient and there's nothing that you've done that surprises God. 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:28.100 God loves you right where you're at. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:34.600 He may not love the way that you're doing things with your life, but He loves you right where you're at, and Jesus died for that. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:37.780 His sin covers that. 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:45.760 Wrath isn't about God flipping His lid but it's a calculated response to the sin of this world where God is finally gonna 00:13:45.760 --> 00:13:49.880 say, "Enough is enough." You think about what creation is. 00:13:51.040 --> 00:13:51.700 God is King. 00:13:52.060 --> 00:13:52.760 God created all. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.300 Everything belongs to Him. 00:13:55.400 --> 00:13:58.460 And in creation, Adam and Eve from the beginning said to God, "You know what, God? 00:13:58.480 --> 00:13:59.220 We're gonna do it our way. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:06.280 We're gonna make life about us and the things that you created in this world that belong to you now are gonna be used for us, to serve us, because we're king." And they 00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:07.020 committed treason. 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:09.780 That's sin. 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:11.700 It's taking things God created... 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:13.380 we defined sin a minute ago... 00:14:13.640 --> 00:14:16.000 and using it for your glory rather than his. 00:14:16.900 --> 00:14:17.720 It's about you. 00:14:19.420 --> 00:14:26.500 When God pours out His wrath, its' against those things which are contrary to 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:27.800 His Kingdom. 00:14:28.560 --> 00:14:36.300 Peter says it this way, to those that are in Christ: God isn't not gonna fulfill His promises, but rather, He's longsuffering 00:14:36.300 --> 00:14:40.960 towards us, not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance. 00:14:42.400 --> 00:14:46.380 See, what these moments are each and every day are a place of God's grace. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:55.440 God is extending, in the midst of us rebelling against Him, God is extending grace to all of us to come to Him because of the price He's 00:14:55.560 --> 00:14:56.240 paid for us. 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:57.400 He has paved the way. 00:14:57.400 --> 00:14:59.190 This God is pursuing us. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:08.880 But he starts off this statement in Hebrews helping us to recognize it's not just Grandpa God who just 00:15:08.880 --> 00:15:10.640 pats everything and says, "I love you. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:12.260 You're good." God is love. 00:15:13.900 --> 00:15:20.940 But a part of what makes Him so loving is that He's extended a place of grace for you to be securely under Him as he pours out His 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:27.220 wrath on the things that shatter and destroy the world that He has created, of which you are designed to be a part of. 00:15:28.900 --> 00:15:34.860 We don't take this passage lightly but we see the significance for which it was created in Scripture multiple times. 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:43.820 The wrath of God is an act of the love of God, because God hates sin and He hates seeing how sin destroys His creation. 00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:46.000 Here's another good verse to think about for us. 00:15:46.040 --> 00:15:50.340 In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, it says this: "For God has not destined us for wrath... 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:52.540 " Thank God, right? 00:15:54.540 --> 00:15:55.720 God didn't create you for that. 00:15:57.940 --> 00:15:58.900 God created you to belong. 00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:03.500 God made you so beautifully different than any other creature. 00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:05.740 He made you in His image, that you could connect to Him. 00:16:06.040 --> 00:16:07.240 God made you to belong. 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:14.000 God didn't design us for wrath but for attaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.140 He was only thinking about you. 00:16:18.300 --> 00:16:19.580 It was for you. 00:16:21.280 --> 00:16:28.640 So in the midst of this God coming against sin, you still see the love of God communicated, and so then in verse 32, he starts to exhort 00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:35.820 the Church because they're gonna experience hardship in their lives, and in verse 32 it says it like this: "But remember 00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:42.860 the former days, when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of suffering, partly 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:49.900 by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated, for 00:16:49.900 --> 00:16:57.160 you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourself a better possession and a lasting 00:16:57.160 --> 00:16:57.500 one. 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:04.619 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward." So in verse 33, he's talking about being 00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:05.500 made a public spectacle. 00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:11.960 That word is literally being brought up on a stage and being made a mockery of, people just shaming you before the world. 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:20.260 So the point that they endured this and blessing other people who were going through hardship, they themselves have lost possession because of 00:17:20.260 --> 00:17:23.960 all of this, and he talks about this reward I'll mention in a minute. 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:31.160 But what I really wanna highlight, in verse 32 he says that this is for those who were enlightened, and 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:38.240 enlightenment, I think, in this Hebrew passage or this book of Hebrews doesn't necessitate that it's 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.440 talking about a believer. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.340 Being enlightened doesn't necessarily mean it's a believer. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.840 I think it means someone who was made aware of the Gospel of which they could embrace, to become a believer in Christ. 00:17:49.320 --> 00:17:56.420 The reason I say that is in chapter six we've already seen this word enlightened, and in that section it wasn't talking about a believer, but in 00:17:56.420 --> 00:17:58.080 chapter six, verse four, listen to this. 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:06.060 "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been partakers of 00:18:06.060 --> 00:18:13.180 the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good Word of God and the power of the ages to come," or excuse me, "the age to come 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:20.180 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again through repentance since they are again crucifying to themselves the Son 00:18:20.180 --> 00:18:27.240 of God and put Him to open shame." So in this passage, it's saying there's someone who's enlightened, they've partaken of the Holy Spirit, which means 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:35.120 I think they've been a part of a church community and they've seen how the Holy Spirit has worked in the lives of people, but then they decided to abandon the 00:18:35.120 --> 00:18:42.320 Gospel and Jesus, and it tells us that it's impossible to renew them again to repentance since they are re-crucifying 00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:43.900 to themselves the Son of God. 00:18:44.840 --> 00:18:51.840 Well, what it's saying is these individuals heard the Gospel, they see the old covenant, they see the pressure put on themselves by their peers, 00:18:52.020 --> 00:18:55.300 the judgment they could face by society for following after this Jesus. 00:18:55.640 --> 00:19:00.200 Instead of pursuing this Jesus, they re-crucify Christ by going back to the old covenant law. 00:19:00.760 --> 00:19:04.840 Like, "My family still believes that so I'm just gonna believe it even though this Jesus thing might be true. 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:12.400 I'll kind of like Jesus and like you guys but I'm gonna just obey the Old Testament law." So what they're doing in that is re-crucifying Christ, because they're saying that 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:19.420 Jesus isn't enough, and as long as they're believing that in their lives and they're living that out, that Jesus isn't enough, they're re-crucifying Christ, they can't come 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:19.820 to repentance. 00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:28.120 So enlightenment doesn't mean that they're necessary believers, but what's happening in this passage in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32 is 00:19:28.120 --> 00:19:35.240 they're saying, "You guys have been enlightened." In the early church, it was difficult to differentiate between true followers 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:39.920 of Jesus among the Jewish community and just those in the Jewish community that were old covenant. 00:19:40.840 --> 00:19:47.840 They would hear the Gospel that the early church Jewish believers would mix together in the synagogues with unbelieving 00:19:47.840 --> 00:19:48.280 Jews. 00:19:49.080 --> 00:19:56.200 So it was difficult to tell in that enlightenment of the Gospel who belonged and who didn't, but what the author is saying in here is that these people started 00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:57.100 to show the fruit of it. 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:05.370 So their lives emulated the pursuit of Jesus, because they were coming alongside of those who were suffering for the sake of Christ and they themselves also suffered, 00:20:05.420 --> 00:20:12.460 and so in verse 35 it says, "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward or 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:15.100 a prize." What is that prize? 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:19.520 When you consider all of Hebrews that we've seen together, it's communicated. 00:20:19.520 --> 00:20:23.160 That prize is Jesus and the new covenant He brings to us. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:29.300 I say this to us every once in a while as a church because our longing, honestly, it's not really heaven. 00:20:29.780 --> 00:20:30.650 I mean, I wanna be in heaven. 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:31.410 Don't get me wrong. 00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:32.940 There's streets of gold and I'm gonna dance. 00:20:33.140 --> 00:20:38.460 But it's not this location that we're really called to. 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:40.340 It's a person that we're called to. 00:20:40.340 --> 00:20:42.240 What makes heaven heaven is Jesus. 00:20:42.780 --> 00:20:46.560 Where Jesus is, that is heaven, and that's where we should desire to belong. 00:20:47.320 --> 00:20:48.350 That's where we were created to belong. 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:53.700 The Bible communicates that we are in a covenantal relationship or marital relationship in Christ. 00:20:53.700 --> 00:20:55.390 That's how it describes it in the New Testament. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:01.340 You were designed to belong to Jesus, to have that relationship in Jesus. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:07.060 That prize for us is in Jesus, as He has brought that new covenant for us. 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.440 Old covenant obliterated, Hebrews 8:13. 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:12.860 New covenant inaugurated, because of Jesus. 00:21:13.560 --> 00:21:20.880 When the Bible talks about covenant, one of the best comparisons we have in our culture is the marital covenant, this place of intimacy, 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:28.780 this place of unity, this place where you don't wanna experience division because there should be a degree of connected towards 00:21:28.780 --> 00:21:33.280 one another, where the Hebrew text says in Genesis that two become one flesh. 00:21:33.280 --> 00:21:35.980 You can't tell where one ends and the other one begins. 00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:39.920 They have a likeness, a belonging together. 00:21:42.460 --> 00:21:44.340 Guys, you were created as a worship being. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:48.080 It is impossible not to worship something. 00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:56.560 You will look to something in this world to give you worth, value, and meaning, and if it's anything other than God, in the end you will find yourself bankrupt, 00:21:57.060 --> 00:22:01.700 because the only place you're ever intended to belong to is Jesus. 00:22:02.860 --> 00:22:10.100 So it's saying lay hold of this reward, and it goes on a little further and it says, "for you have need 00:22:10.100 --> 00:22:13.760 of endurance." It's not gonna always be easy. 00:22:15.320 --> 00:22:22.440 "So that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised in Christ, for yet 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:29.460 in a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:36.360 by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Commentators come and debate a little bit about what degree of shrinking is talked about. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:41.250 Is it shrinking in the sense where they don't wanna show up on Sunday because the church might get attacked? 00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:46.260 Or is it shrinking where they're completely denying Jesus because of the persecution that you're facing? 00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:51.540 Don't really know exactly to the extent of shrinking that could happen, but either way, God doesn't want you to shrink. 00:22:52.860 --> 00:22:56.320 As He has delighted in you and given you everything, He desires for you to delight in Him. 00:22:57.540 --> 00:23:01.630 In verse 39 it says something interesting here and I want you to see this in this text. 00:23:02.520 --> 00:23:08.070 If you go back and read through this passage, starting in verse 32, you'll see a lot of yous. 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:09.720 It's talking specifically here. 00:23:09.840 --> 00:23:10.920 You, and you and you. 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:13.390 But then in verse 39, it's now different. 00:23:13.420 --> 00:23:13.840 It says we. 00:23:14.420 --> 00:23:14.540 Right? 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:22.500 So that becomes important to understand this, because it says, "But we are not those who shrink back to destruction." True believers, followers of 00:23:22.500 --> 00:23:29.540 Jesus, we're not those who refuse to identify with Christ, "but of those who have faith for the persevering of the 00:23:29.540 --> 00:23:33.440 soul." What Jesus has done in us we cannot deny. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.880 So the identity of followers of Christ is to live in this. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:41.160 So think about Hebrews chapter 10, what is about to take place. 00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:47.160 The Church is gonna face tremendous persecution and what you do in that defines you. 00:23:48.730 --> 00:23:50.800 Let me say it like this, guys. 00:23:50.840 --> 00:23:58.160 He's telling us to hold fast in this passage of Scripture to what God wants us to experience 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:05.740 in Him, and when you think about the future of what our church is today as it relates to this passage, everything 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:07.120 that we are... 00:24:07.120 --> 00:24:09.500 live, breathe, and move in, as a church... 00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:10.400 is the Gospel. 00:24:11.820 --> 00:24:14.520 The Gospel is what gives us identity in Jesus. 00:24:14.560 --> 00:24:16.820 It's where we experience the love and goodness of God. 00:24:16.860 --> 00:24:24.080 It's where the judgment of God becomes protection from us and for us, because God wants to make all things new in 00:24:24.080 --> 00:24:24.380 Him. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:31.740 When you're a follower of Jesus, there is no suffering, there is no pain that you will ever go through in this world that 00:24:31.740 --> 00:24:32.680 will be wasted. 00:24:33.800 --> 00:24:36.920 Jesus counts every tear and God will redeem it all. 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:41.000 God will have victory over it all. 00:24:42.340 --> 00:24:49.520 Our lives are about living in this, and so if you think of the early church, this mixture 00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:56.860 of a community that some identify in Christ, others maybe not, because in the Jewish community they blended together. 00:24:57.080 --> 00:25:04.620 It's saying in this community, where you can't always distinguish, we, the true followers of 00:25:04.620 --> 00:25:11.960 Christ, it's not our identity to shrink away in these moments, but the story that we live and declare as 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:17.260 our anthem is demonstrated in the persevering of our souls in this gospel. 00:25:19.180 --> 00:25:25.160 If we let go, there is no power in what we do. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:34.690 So on the backdrop of that, let me just jump into verse 19 and share with us what this author is 00:25:34.800 --> 00:25:40.220 wanting us to communicate and live in, because this is the section where he gives us a call to action. 00:25:41.600 --> 00:25:48.840 In verse 19 to verse 22 is a concise summary statement of really Hebrews, and especially chapter 00:25:48.840 --> 00:25:51.550 5 to 10 that we've seen recently. 00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:59.100 We talked about from chapter 5 and 10, we specifically highlighted the law or the old covenant, the temple, the sacrifice, 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:01.980 the priest, and here it is in a statement now. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.040 He says, "Therefore." That's a summary word, right? 00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:10.360 "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place," talking about the temple, remember? 00:26:10.360 --> 00:26:13.320 We discussed together, you couldn't go into the rooms of the temple. 00:26:13.320 --> 00:26:18.280 Only the priest could do it, and there was one room in the temple that only the high priest could go to and it was only one time a year. 00:26:18.300 --> 00:26:19.780 It was a weird way to worship in church. 00:26:20.140 --> 00:26:21.760 You show up, you park your car, and you sit in the parking lot. 00:26:22.600 --> 00:26:24.040 There's the building, guys, but we can't go in. 00:26:25.100 --> 00:26:32.240 But now he's saying that you have confidence to enter the holy place, the temple, "by the blood, which is a sacrifice of Jesus, by 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:39.420 a new and living way, the covenant, the new covenant, which He has inaugurated for us through the veil", which is what separated the rooms in the temple. 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:40.280 There was a veil there. 00:26:40.660 --> 00:26:47.740 "That is, His flesh, which is His sacrifice, and since we have a great high priest," Jesus being that priest, "over the house of God, let us 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:51.420 draw near with a sincere heart." We're talking about a priest [inaudible 00:26:52] allow us to draw near. 00:26:51.420 --> 00:26:52.780 Jesus is our high priest. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:54.860 We are all now royal priests in Him. 00:26:55.300 --> 00:27:02.840 "In full assurance of the faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with the pure water, 00:27:03.100 --> 00:27:10.660 which is sacrifice." So you see, all of this talked about and the picture of which Jesus has created 00:27:10.660 --> 00:27:18.080 for us, and so in that statement then He gives us these three verses, verse 23, 00:27:18.100 --> 00:27:19.320 verse 24, and 25. 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:20.570 If you have it, open your Bible. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:28.660 I want you to see in verse 23 and verse 24 and verse 25, he says this phrase at the beginning: "Let us," verse 23. 00:27:28.660 --> 00:27:35.660 "Let us then," and then in verse 25, he gives a negative statement that we don't wanna do and then he says, "But do this instead." So in the middle of 00:27:35.660 --> 00:27:37.560 the verse, you'll see a but, and do this. 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.300 So this is the spurring on. 00:27:39.380 --> 00:27:42.200 This is how we are called to live our lives. 00:27:42.260 --> 00:27:42.740 So this is what he said. 00:27:42.740 --> 00:27:49.960 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering." Like it's gonna be difficult, there are gonna be challenges, but you've seen the security 00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:50.880 that's in Christ. 00:27:51.160 --> 00:27:54.960 You know that this is dependable, for He who promised is faithful. 00:27:56.260 --> 00:27:59.480 I can tell you in life, nobody wants to be burned. 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:03.100 When you trust in people, you don't wanna find them not dependable. 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:05.730 You don't wanna see the faithlessness of people. 00:28:06.080 --> 00:28:07.260 You trust them, you wanna see... 00:28:07.540 --> 00:28:09.600 there's only so much a heart can go through in life, right? 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:14.920 You don't wanna trust again to see something else fail you. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:18.260 That's what Hebrews 1 through 10 is. 00:28:18.280 --> 00:28:21.120 Those chapters, it's laying this foundation for our life. 00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:28.560 It's saying, "If anything in life you can trust and if there's one thing that you know tomorrow, it's not gonna change, it's gonna be the same forever, it's 00:28:28.560 --> 00:28:35.560 Jesus." So let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He 00:28:35.560 --> 00:28:37.640 who promised is faithful. 00:28:37.980 --> 00:28:40.540 One thing you can cling to in life, hold fast our confession. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:42.940 Every one of us will stand for something. 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:44.680 You are a worship being. 00:28:45.320 --> 00:28:48.160 You will find something to find worth, value, and meaning in. 00:28:48.520 --> 00:28:49.800 Everything else will sell you short. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:55.060 Everything else won't deliver the identity for which you truly have. 00:28:57.420 --> 00:28:57.780 But Christ. 00:28:59.620 --> 00:29:01.120 Hold fast. 00:29:02.820 --> 00:29:10.510 This phrase literally in the Greek means, "Do not give it permission to leave." I remember this cartoon... 00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:16.100 I don't even know if it's good because I saw it when I was younger, but I'm sure if I saw it now I probably shouldn't use that as an example. 00:29:16.460 --> 00:29:17.910 But here comes Animaniacs. 00:29:19.080 --> 00:29:23.480 I don't know if you remember that girl that loved animals, like she killed them all every time. 00:29:23.800 --> 00:29:27.220 "I wanna hug you and love you and squeeze you," and you just see them turning blue till they almost die. 00:29:27.580 --> 00:29:28.360 Okay, what was her name? 00:29:28.420 --> 00:29:29.760 Somebody remember that girl's name? 00:29:29.800 --> 00:29:31.240 Ah, see, you guys know. 00:29:31.340 --> 00:29:32.080 Elvmyra? 00:29:33.060 --> 00:29:33.600 Elmyra. 00:29:33.600 --> 00:29:34.000 There we go. 00:29:34.420 --> 00:29:38.020 Run away from her, but do what she does in that cartoon. 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:40.840 Let us hold fast to this. 00:29:41.060 --> 00:29:44.790 Squeeze the ever loving life out of this thing, you care about it so much. 00:29:44.940 --> 00:29:48.220 That's what this Greek passage is wanting us to understand. 00:29:48.420 --> 00:29:49.860 Cling onto it this way. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:55.200 What it wants us to have the idea of is guys, things are gonna be hard. 00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:56.440 Things can be hard. 00:29:58.800 --> 00:30:06.380 But don't let circumstances and people dictate 00:30:06.380 --> 00:30:08.720 the kind of person you're called to be. 00:30:10.560 --> 00:30:12.820 Don't let people or circumstances define you. 00:30:15.280 --> 00:30:16.280 Rather, let it refine you. 00:30:18.060 --> 00:30:19.920 When hardship happens, what comes out? 00:30:23.620 --> 00:30:30.640 Does it refocus you on what you're holding onto or do you allow the circumstances to dictate the kind 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:33.900 of person you wanna emulate yourself as being, right? 00:30:33.980 --> 00:30:38.320 "Well, they did this so I'm doing this." Don't give them that control. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:46.220 Hold fast to the identity which you were called to in Christ. 00:30:46.380 --> 00:30:48.400 You will stand for something. 00:30:50.300 --> 00:30:54.200 I want my life to be about something, intentionally. 00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:59.500 I wanna be in control about what, when my life was done, what it was about. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:07.740 I can't always dictate my circumstances and I cannot control people, but I can stand for 00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:10.240 something regardless of what happens around me. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:13.470 What God calls us into this world... 00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:17.090 guys, it's pretty simplistic, and it's understanding... 00:31:17.600 --> 00:31:23.020 I think, in fact, it's very simplistic, because the Apostle Paul defined his life very easily. 00:31:23.120 --> 00:31:29.540 I'll tell you if you wanna read it in Philippians chapter three, he goes back and defines his old life and religious way of living in Philippians chapter three. 00:31:29.540 --> 00:31:31.100 He says, "I was the Hebrew of Hebrews. 00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:32.560 I obeyed all of the laws. 00:31:32.560 --> 00:31:39.700 I did everything." But then he says, "I count it all as dung." I forget what lies behind and 00:31:39.700 --> 00:31:40.880 I move forward to what lies ahead. 00:31:41.980 --> 00:31:50.720 And he says in chapter 3 verse 10 this one thought, that I may know Him. 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:53.120 God made you to know Him. 00:31:54.620 --> 00:31:59.320 In fact, Jesus said in John chapter 17, "This is eternal life." You wanna know what eternal life is about? 00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:00.640 "This is eternal life," Jesus says. 00:32:01.520 --> 00:32:05.660 "That you may know Him." Wait a minute. 00:32:07.900 --> 00:32:08.510 You know what that means? 00:32:10.500 --> 00:32:15.760 God measures success different than we do as human beings. 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:20.880 We measure success by all the accolades and achievement in life. 00:32:22.300 --> 00:32:24.680 You got this, you accomplished this, bravo, good for you, right? 00:32:25.300 --> 00:32:26.060 You know how God measures it? 00:32:29.080 --> 00:32:32.160 One word: faithful. 00:32:34.940 --> 00:32:35.260 Faithfulness. 00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:38.620 That's what this new covenant is. 00:32:39.860 --> 00:32:42.220 You think about the marital relationship, right? 00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:46.130 They kind of correlate in their identity of new covenant and marital relationship. 00:32:47.660 --> 00:32:54.820 Faithfulness spurs the health of what marital relationship is, and Jesus pursuing us, Jesus paying a dowry for our lives, dying on 00:32:54.820 --> 00:32:57.600 the cross, and God calling us into relationship with Him. 00:32:57.840 --> 00:33:01.260 God's not gonna get to the end of your life and said, "You should've done 10,000 things more, man. 00:33:01.600 --> 00:33:03.580 Where was this and where was that?" You know what God cares about? 00:33:05.840 --> 00:33:06.720 Faithfulness. 00:33:10.040 --> 00:33:13.820 The things that I label in my life as what I need to achieve and what I... 00:33:13.900 --> 00:33:14.980 those are my desires. 00:33:16.620 --> 00:33:17.340 Those are my plans. 00:33:20.250 --> 00:33:21.740 God, He just wants faithfulness. 00:33:23.900 --> 00:33:31.080 God's calling us into relationship and so my confession is my target, what I 00:33:31.080 --> 00:33:33.780 want to be in the midst of circumstances that can rock... 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:36.960 I do not let them define me but rather, I want it to refine me. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:38.640 When hardship happens, what comes out? 00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:41.880 Because it's an examination of me to determine, do I do it? 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:43.800 Am I really doing it for God, or something else? 00:33:44.380 --> 00:33:45.240 Here's the hard statement. 00:33:47.220 --> 00:33:54.920 If adversity comes and in the midst of that adversity I choose not to follow Jesus anymore, perhaps 00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:56.720 I wasn't doing it for Jesus to begin with. 00:33:59.860 --> 00:34:06.920 I'm not telling you that's everybody but it's a good place to examine why, because what they're saying in Hebrews is that challenges 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:07.920 are gonna come. 00:34:09.219 --> 00:34:09.940 They're gonna come. 00:34:12.020 --> 00:34:12.860 But what defines you? 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:15.620 Don't give it that power. 00:34:17.100 --> 00:34:23.150 When you look at the totality of this statement from 19 to verse 23, what it's expressing to us is identity. 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:27.020 This is who you are now in Jesus because of what Jesus has done for you. 00:34:27.420 --> 00:34:30.739 I like the way the Bible describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:17. 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:32.620 It says that we have a metamorphosis. 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:36.159 It's the same thing a butterfly goes through. 00:34:36.500 --> 00:34:37.190 You're a new creation. 00:34:37.600 --> 00:34:40.250 Behold, all things become new, all old things pass away. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:42.860 If anyone's in Christ, it tells us, you are a new creation. 00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:44.340 Metamorphosis. 00:34:44.780 --> 00:34:49.159 What a great picture, because when you think about a butterfly, no one hates the... 00:34:49.600 --> 00:34:50.940 well, if you hate a butterfly, you just need to... 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:54.580 no, I'm just kidding, but if you hate a butterfly, something's wrong though, right? 00:34:54.580 --> 00:34:57.460 I mean, butterflies, they're pretty, right? 00:34:57.460 --> 00:35:04.820 And the statement where every once in a while people will just get distracted and all of the sudden just yell the world, "Squirrel!" because they go off on a rabbit trail, 00:35:05.200 --> 00:35:10.200 truth is, I don't really care about squirrels that much, but butterflies are kind of cool, and they always capture your attention. 00:35:10.200 --> 00:35:17.200 I don't care how much you're not paying attention, they always capture your attention, because it looks like they kind of know where they're going but they don't always quite know how to get there, like 00:35:17.200 --> 00:35:18.220 when you watch them fly, they're like... 00:35:18.720 --> 00:35:22.400 trying to get to the next target they've got in mind. 00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:27.370 So we like to see things in rhythmic patterns and so we see this kind of sporadic thing. 00:35:27.460 --> 00:35:31.280 It just sort of captures your attention for a minute and you can look at it, you move on. 00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:34.260 But never do you think, "Ugly butterfly." It's beautiful, right? 00:35:35.140 --> 00:35:42.320 But how awkward would it be if a beautiful butterfly then comes and lands on you or maybe on a branch beside you, and all of the sudden you hear the butterfly 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:49.500 say, "I quit." And it starts crawling up this branch and it's like, "Back to worm life for me." And it just starts nibbling on this leaf and you look 00:35:49.500 --> 00:35:54.740 at this beautiful butterfly, capable of all these things in the world, and yet it's subjugating itself back to the life of the worm. 00:35:54.740 --> 00:35:57.180 You're like, "Butterfly, man, what's going on with you? 00:35:57.460 --> 00:35:59.560 Don't you know that you were created for so much more? 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:00.660 You're supposed to be beautiful. 00:36:01.200 --> 00:36:01.920 Just fly. 00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:04.300 Don't just eat leaves, man. 00:36:04.300 --> 00:36:05.580 You're called for flowers now. 00:36:05.580 --> 00:36:06.140 Get outta here. 00:36:06.140 --> 00:36:07.560 Get lost." Right? 00:36:07.560 --> 00:36:13.070 The butterfly is for so much more life, and when Corinthians talks about you and this metamorphosis... 00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:21.260 that's the rage within the life of the Christian, because this old nature isn't completely eradicated from us but we've got this new nature 00:36:21.300 --> 00:36:21.820 in us. 00:36:22.620 --> 00:36:28.340 It's not that God has just forgiven you of your past, but now God calls you a royal priest in His Kingdom. 00:36:29.260 --> 00:36:36.640 You've left something behind but you now have this new identity, and how weird it is if you're just crawling around on the ground eating leaves. 00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:43.040 God calls you into this confession, a living out this new identity. 00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:51.580 Maybe you think in terms of a criminal, if someone who's a criminal has a leader come before them and say, "I have the authority and 00:36:51.580 --> 00:36:51.920 power. 00:36:51.940 --> 00:36:52.500 You've been forgiven. 00:36:52.700 --> 00:37:00.200 Go on." There's no promise that criminal may or may not return to that life of crime, right? 00:37:00.780 --> 00:37:08.380 But what if it were a ruler, a king, and that king says, "You've 00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:13.020 been forgiven but not only are you forgiven, you now belong in my Kingdom and I want you to rule right under me"? 00:37:15.080 --> 00:37:21.300 It's a whole new identity, a whole new place to live, a whole new way of being. 00:37:23.340 --> 00:37:27.560 That's where we are in Jesus, all things being made new. 00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:34.520 And it's then on the backdrop of this thought, he gives these final words to us. 00:37:34.540 --> 00:37:41.660 He says, "And let us consider how to stimulate," which is also this word for provoke or contend, "one another to love and good deeds, 00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:49.320 not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near." The 00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:52.280 imperative in this section is actually don't forsake assembling together. 00:37:53.440 --> 00:38:00.440 Sunday is a good day for God's people to get together and our culture is taught to treat that day that certain way, so don't 00:38:00.500 --> 00:38:03.520 forsake opportunities that you've got to get together. 00:38:03.520 --> 00:38:08.500 And truthfully, guys, if we understand what Jesus has done for us, we really shouldn't have to have anybody tell us this. 00:38:08.580 --> 00:38:09.620 We're like, "No joke, man. 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:13.680 Do you know that this was the greatest thing in history that defines who I am and everything that I'm doing with my life? 00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:16.810 Do you know how important this is, not just for now but for all of eternity? 00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:18.480 I'm not just keeping this to myself. 00:38:19.410 --> 00:38:26.560 Why do I even have to say this?" But it's because within our soul, at some point we start waging this war, and the reason we 00:38:26.560 --> 00:38:33.640 leave this identity of beautiful butterfly and we go back is at some point in life, we had this tendency to start believing in lies as more beneficial for 00:38:33.640 --> 00:38:34.380 us than the truth. 00:38:36.020 --> 00:38:40.800 We need to be reminding one another of who we are and our identity, so do not forsake this. 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:42.020 He gives these three statements. 00:38:42.080 --> 00:38:42.780 He says this to us. 00:38:42.780 --> 00:38:48.790 He says, "Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." This idea of stimulating... 00:38:49.340 --> 00:38:52.200 the only other time it's mentioned in the New Testament is in Acts 15. 00:38:52.980 --> 00:39:00.040 Acts 15, when Barnabas and Paul are going on their second missionary journey and they're getting ready to leave, they have this 00:39:00.040 --> 00:39:02.660 argument and it's so intense that it separates them. 00:39:03.940 --> 00:39:11.280 That stimulation that happened there is now the same emotional stimulation or the same involvement with one another, only 00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:15.520 for a better purpose here, not to separate but to bring us together in Him. 00:39:15.520 --> 00:39:16.850 So let us figure out how to provoke... 00:39:17.200 --> 00:39:18.690 I think the better word is actually contend... 00:39:19.300 --> 00:39:22.540 one another to love and good deeds. 00:39:22.540 --> 00:39:29.800 This phrase literally means for us, it carries this idea to connect so deeply with one another 00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:32.780 so that we don't sit still as believers. 00:39:32.860 --> 00:39:34.180 We can't sit still as believers. 00:39:35.420 --> 00:39:42.800 So here we are, gathering together in this assembly not just to do it on Sunday, but because the greatest event for which we all stand for in Jesus, we're stimulating 00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:43.560 one another. 00:39:43.560 --> 00:39:50.840 We do not just sit still in this but we're called to something more in Christ, and so he says in the next thought, "But encouraging one 00:39:50.840 --> 00:39:57.530 another." Now, I want you to know, being here today, if you're living and breathing, you need encouragement. 00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:02.260 Whoever is sitting around you, near you, if they're breathing right now, they need encouragement, right? 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:04.600 We all need encouragement in life. 00:40:05.340 --> 00:40:11.940 But this isn't just saying you pass someone in the hall and you say, "How you doing?" "I'm doing all right." "How you doing?" "I'm doing good." "All right." The word of encouragement... 00:40:12.180 --> 00:40:13.740 it's not just saying a word of encouragement. 00:40:14.740 --> 00:40:20.060 The same word for encouragement is the Greek word where we get the word for Holy Spirit. 00:40:22.060 --> 00:40:29.200 It literally means "to come alongside", to be present in the life of someone for the purpose of what this passage is calling us 00:40:29.200 --> 00:40:29.700 to in Christ. 00:40:31.120 --> 00:40:31.520 It says, "... 00:40:31.520 --> 00:40:39.000 all the more as you see the day drawing near," which means every day, we're 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:42.460 one step closer to seeing Jesus. 00:40:44.200 --> 00:40:50.040 Every day, one less moment to glorify Him in this life. 00:40:52.600 --> 00:41:01.440 I think the only thing that you'll take with you in this world into the next, it's people, and 00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:04.210 the opportunity that you have to make the most of today. 00:41:07.320 --> 00:41:14.970 Hold this glorious confession contending to love and good deeds, deeply connecting and encouraging one another as the day approaches. 00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:23.500 I've ended every one of these talks, I think, or at least nearly all of them, with a little bit of lesson from church history, so let 00:41:23.500 --> 00:41:24.720 me close it with this. 00:41:26.780 --> 00:41:34.280 These two missionaries are connected together almost 200 years separated, but on 00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:36.150 the left hand side is David Brainerd. 00:41:36.200 --> 00:41:40.490 He was a missionary in America to Native Americans in the New Jersey area. 00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:44.760 On the right hand side is Elisabeth and Jim Elliot. 00:41:45.640 --> 00:41:49.650 Jim Elliot, that was the first biography I ever read about a missionary. 00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:52.770 Elisabeth Elliot wrote it about her husband. 00:41:54.220 --> 00:42:01.880 But when you read their stories, Elisabeth Elliot in Through the Gates of Splendor writes about their 00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:09.100 missionary journey to Ecuador, where they ministered to what they call the Auca Indians in Ecuador, and 00:42:09.100 --> 00:42:16.380 they went down as a group of missionary families, and when they first encountered up close, in 00:42:16.380 --> 00:42:23.060 a personal opportunity to interact with these individuals in Ecuador, the group of men went and the ladies stayed back. 00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:24.020 It was their first encounter. 00:42:24.680 --> 00:42:32.100 And all the men were speared to death and killed, including Jim Elliot, who was only 28 years old, leaving 00:42:32.100 --> 00:42:34.490 Elisabeth Elliot as a widow. 00:42:36.240 --> 00:42:40.700 David Brainerd was an orphan by the age of 14. 00:42:42.080 --> 00:42:42.860 He went on to college. 00:42:43.940 --> 00:42:51.300 He ended up getting kicked out of college because he criticized one of the professors, and his desire, though, was to go into ministry and he finds another opportunity 00:42:51.300 --> 00:42:53.300 rather than schooling into ministry. 00:42:53.400 --> 00:43:00.540 He finds another opportunity where he studies under a minister and then he ends up going to Native American tribes to do ministry, and 00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:02.900 he really only ministered for three years. 00:43:02.980 --> 00:43:06.740 He went to one tribe for one year, saw nothing take place there. 00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:09.140 He decided to move on to another tribe, saw nothing. 00:43:09.580 --> 00:43:11.960 Finally he gets to the third tribe and they start to turn to the Lord. 00:43:11.960 --> 00:43:19.060 He helps this tribe secure land, because at this time America was persecuting the Native Americans, and so he helps them secure land for 00:43:19.060 --> 00:43:19.600 their protection. 00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:21.800 And then he dies. 00:43:23.680 --> 00:43:24.260 29 years old. 00:43:25.120 --> 00:43:32.680 He starts to see all this effect take place with this people and the Gospel and he has tuberculosis. 00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:36.740 The story goes he went to Jonathan Edwards' home and he died in Jonathan Edwards' home. 00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:37.660 He died. 00:43:39.780 --> 00:43:41.820 All these things these individuals could accomplish. 00:43:41.820 --> 00:43:45.860 I mean, if I could give my life to let either of these guys come back... 00:43:45.860 --> 00:43:49.890 I mean, these guys loved God to a degree I don't even know if I could ever achieve. 00:43:50.020 --> 00:43:54.000 These guys gave it all for Christ. 00:43:55.360 --> 00:43:56.020 And what's God thinking? 00:43:58.100 --> 00:44:01.180 Doesn't He know what these people were capable of, right? 00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:09.520 When I first read the story that Elisabeth Elliot wrote about the missionaries, this phrase was in there that she placed in the book of what Jim 00:44:09.520 --> 00:44:11.900 had spoken that has just resonated with my life. 00:44:12.040 --> 00:44:12.880 It's something I've held onto. 00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:17.100 He says, "I seek not a long life but a full one." I tell my wife that all the time. 00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:19.920 But, "I seek not a long life but a full one," and he gave it. 00:44:20.880 --> 00:44:22.000 Or David Brainerd. 00:44:22.060 --> 00:44:22.500 Look at this one. 00:44:22.780 --> 00:44:29.900 "Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am." I feel like that's been my life every day following 00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:30.920 Jesus, right? 00:44:33.020 --> 00:44:35.220 But God is capable of doing in us and through us. 00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:37.600 Their lives cut short. 00:44:37.700 --> 00:44:38.040 Why? 00:44:40.300 --> 00:44:44.320 But [inaudible 00:44:41] before the Lord, their lives were beautiful. 00:44:46.540 --> 00:44:47.400 Why? 00:44:48.500 --> 00:44:50.850 Because God doesn't measure success the way we do. 00:44:53.260 --> 00:44:53.710 They were faithful. 00:44:55.700 --> 00:44:56.220 They were faithful. 00:44:56.380 --> 00:44:59.760 In fact, if I'm giving you a precursor to chapter 11, that's all chapter 11 is. 00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:00.500 It's the faith chapter. 00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:08.320 That's what God calls you to in your relationship with Him, God's desire for you. 00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:13.040 Don't let circumstances and people dictate who you are. 00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:21.040 In Hebrews he's saying the moments that you face in life, there will be adversity, there will be challenges, but all God 00:45:21.040 --> 00:45:24.040 asks in your soul is just to know Him. 00:45:25.420 --> 00:45:26.050 God knows. 00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:28.760 God knows the hardship. 00:45:29.620 --> 00:45:32.350 Guys, that's a hard thing to remind ourselves of when we go through difficult times. 00:45:33.420 --> 00:45:33.940 But God knows. 00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:36.760 God knows. 00:45:38.180 --> 00:45:39.240 And all He calls you into. 00:45:41.040 --> 00:45:41.300 Faithful. 00:45:43.540 --> 00:45:44.300 Elvyra, man. 00:45:44.600 --> 00:45:45.360 Or Elmyra. 00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:46.300 Whatever her name is. 00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:52.120 Squeeze the confession that you have in Christ. 00:45:53.080 --> 00:46:00.460 Just to give you just a beauty at the ending of this story, when David Brainerd was dying, Jonathan 00:46:00.460 --> 00:46:07.980 Edwards had his journal, and he decided to publish it, because he read what this young man wrote 00:46:07.980 --> 00:46:09.890 and the mind and the love that he had for Jesus. 00:46:10.040 --> 00:46:10.580 He published it. 00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:15.280 And here we have someone in the 1700s in America, before America was even America. 00:46:15.880 --> 00:46:17.040 Wasn't even founded as a country yet. 00:46:18.240 --> 00:46:25.100 Living for the glory of God, publishes this journal, and it gets into the hands of young people that it impacted for centuries. 00:46:26.420 --> 00:46:33.780 William Carey and Henry Martin, his companion to India, they 00:46:33.780 --> 00:46:36.340 were inspired by David Brainerd's book. 00:46:36.340 --> 00:46:37.050 It was one of their favorites. 00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:40.920 The same was true for Jim Elliot. 00:46:43.020 --> 00:46:48.100 Jim Elliot clung to David Brainerd's stories that he wrote in his journal. 00:46:49.780 --> 00:46:57.120 Long after his life was gone, his love for Jesus, though his life were short, that faithfulness continues 00:46:57.160 --> 00:46:59.420 to resonate in this world.