WEBVTT 00:00:00.580 --> 00:00:03.810 Hebrews chapter 12, let's dive into this together. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:11.400 If you've been with us in this series, you know that we're looking at the supremacy in Christ in all things, how it affects our life, to know God as 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:14.280 he desires to make himself known in scripture. 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:22.140 The book of Hebrews is a beautiful book and we have just been blowing through this book, just chapter and time, taking out 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:27.360 the chunks of the big pictures that are created for us in these passages of scripture, very important. 00:00:27.400 --> 00:00:29.100 Book of Hebrews is a beautiful book. 00:00:29.220 --> 00:00:31.200 Sometimes we come to it, it's difficult to understand it. 00:00:31.400 --> 00:00:37.140 It's one of the more complex books in the New Testament, and the reason is because it's so deeply rooted in the Old Testament. 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:40.480 It ties together, from beginning to end, the picture of scripture. 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:45.870 And so if you get the concepts of what Hebrews talks about, you have a good overview of what the Bible is about. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:48.320 Then, it switches gears as we're going through that. 00:00:48.400 --> 00:00:54.760 We've done that through the first 10 chapters, and about chapter 10 it switches gears for us and it starts making the practical application. 00:00:55.640 --> 00:01:02.880 In light of all that Christ is, Hebrews ties together the story of redemption in Jesus, how the Old Testament was a shadow of what Jesus 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:05.980 would ultimately fulfill for us in him. 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:08.230 And so we now look to Jesus. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:09.940 Everything is in Christ. 00:01:10.020 --> 00:01:11.930 In fact, Hebrews starts off that way. 00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:14.430 In times past, God spoke to us through the prophets. 00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:17.180 Today, he speaks to us in Christ. 00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:20.700 And what God has done for us is establishing this new covenant. 00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:23.140 Old Testament, they looked for this new covenant. 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:30.440 Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 36:26 talks about a new covenant, what Jesus would do for us on the cross, 00:01:30.740 --> 00:01:38.180 bringing us in relationship to God because he paid for our sin and reconciles us to the Lord as we put our faith in what Jesus accomplished 00:01:38.300 --> 00:01:39.880 for us on the cross. 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:42.000 Religion will never do it. 00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:44.180 Only Christ could do it. 00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:50.760 In fact, to choose anything other than Jesus is to diminish what Christ has accomplished for you on the cross. 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:58.060 It talks about that in Galatians chapter 2, and as you get to chapter 10, it starts to share with us now how do 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:00.260 you apply this to your life. 00:02:00.660 --> 00:02:08.580 And you probably notice as we go through this series, this is where I really tap the brakes, and I want to move through this in 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:09.509 a very... 00:02:10.310 --> 00:02:12.300 let's just say not as fast as we've done before. 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:19.860 I want to be aware of exactly what the writer is saying as we look through this verse by verse and relating all of this to our lives. 00:02:20.220 --> 00:02:27.260 In chapter 12, he summarizes the idea with the thought of running, and he uses this concluding word 00:02:27.260 --> 00:02:29.320 when he begins this chapter, saying, therefore. 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:38.160 "Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses, let us run with endurance or let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin and let us run with endurance, looking 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:45.780 into Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Now, he's calling us to run in Christ, 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:49.600 to look at the hope that we have in him. 00:02:51.380 --> 00:02:58.880 When we talk about running a race, and especially with endurance, let's just be honest and say sometimes it's 00:02:58.880 --> 00:03:00.580 just not easy. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:09.160 Life can take it out of you, and that's true with the people in the book of Hebrews. 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:16.830 They're about to face tremendous persecution in the early church that would last 250 years. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:26.780 Life has adversity, and sometimes you just don't feel like running, and this passage calls you 00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:28.780 to not only run, but to do it with endurance. 00:03:30.540 --> 00:03:37.640 It's thinking towards the longevity of your life, and sometimes you're just like, "Man, I just want to make it through today." And 00:03:37.640 --> 00:03:41.880 so the author starts to share in the book of Hebrews where you find that strength. 00:03:42.980 --> 00:03:45.220 That's the first 11 verses of this chapter. 00:03:45.260 --> 00:03:46.660 That's what we took some time to go through. 00:03:46.660 --> 00:03:47.880 That was broken up into two weeks. 00:03:48.160 --> 00:03:50.330 "You've been surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:58.030 Let us run with endurance the race that's set before us," reminding us that this cloud of witnesses, they're just not watching you as spectators, 00:03:58.380 --> 00:04:00.350 but the word witness actually means martyr. 00:04:01.320 --> 00:04:07.460 They're not witnessing of you, but witnessing to you, that what God calls you to, he provides the strength for you. 00:04:07.760 --> 00:04:13.040 And sometimes we look at what scripture says about Godly individuals, which we've seen in Hebrews chapter 11. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.300 Hebrews chapter 11, that's the story of faith. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:23.520 We see all these great leaders in Christ and we try to compare our lives to that, and the news for us, guys, is you're 00:04:23.520 --> 00:04:24.220 not them. 00:04:25.820 --> 00:04:30.600 Truthfully, if you examine their lives, they weren't that great. 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:37.300 They were deeply flawed in their own walks with the Lord, and you're not them. 00:04:38.940 --> 00:04:41.950 So, when God calls you to run this race, look, I think it's very important to understand. 00:04:42.580 --> 00:04:45.000 God's not calling you to run another person's race. 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:54.100 He's not calling you to look at other people and to see all the things that they have and all the Godly things that they do and just stress yourself out about all the things that you're 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:55.680 not capable of because you're not them. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:57.140 God doesn't call you to be them. 00:05:00.340 --> 00:05:03.860 God calls you to be you in him. 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:06.940 God knows where you're at. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:13.520 I think even in position of being in ministry, man, my heart is for people. 00:05:13.520 --> 00:05:20.600 I love people, and I want to be everywhere that people are, and I can stress myself out if I just think about how I could fail people, not always being 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:21.580 able to be there. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:23.380 It can get ugly. 00:05:23.400 --> 00:05:24.500 You just start serving the ministry. 00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:31.680 You know what happens to a person after they feel the need to always do and always do and it's never enough or people put that demand on you, 00:05:31.940 --> 00:05:33.910 which I will just reject that. 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:40.100 You get cynical and you get bent, bitter, and you get burned. 00:05:40.440 --> 00:05:41.850 We're going to talk a little bit about that today. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.980 And you end up hating what this created in pursuing God. 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:47.440 God doesn't call you to that. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:50.480 God knows right where you are. 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:53.160 He's not surprised by your circumstances. 00:05:55.520 --> 00:06:00.180 He's not surprised by the challenges, but he calls you to run the race with endurance. 00:06:00.420 --> 00:06:02.100 So, where you are before the Lord. 00:06:02.420 --> 00:06:03.740 Who cares what other people think? 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.630 Before the Lord, are you faithful to him? 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:10.940 That's it. 00:06:11.340 --> 00:06:13.000 You live your life for an audience of one. 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:18.780 And that's what Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 12, that's what God's calling you to in him. 00:06:18.840 --> 00:06:19.880 It's faithfulness. 00:06:19.940 --> 00:06:26.900 When you get to the end of your life, God's not going to look at the list of everything you performed in comparison to other people and try to judge you based on those standards. 00:06:27.200 --> 00:06:28.320 He just wants to know one thing. 00:06:30.260 --> 00:06:30.740 Are you faithful? 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:37.160 Did you come to Jesus, trust in Jesus? 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:40.020 Just walk with Jesus. 00:06:41.880 --> 00:06:46.900 This run of endurance, what these cloud of witnesses are saying to us that God is able. 00:06:46.940 --> 00:06:48.500 What he calls you to, God is able. 00:06:48.520 --> 00:06:49.760 Just place a trust. 00:06:49.760 --> 00:06:51.520 He says, "Put your eyes on Jesus. 00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:52.960 Don't compare to these other things. 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:57.520 Put your eyes on Jesus." Here's how you know you can do it, because Christ came in the flesh and Christ lived it. 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:01.200 Verse 3 and 4, that's what it said, Christ lived this out in the flesh. 00:07:01.200 --> 00:07:04.040 He lived what it was like to be a man, so we know it's possible. 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:06.080 He's demonstrated that in his life. 00:07:06.380 --> 00:07:11.900 And then he says this beautiful thing for us in chapter 12, verses 5 to 11, we looked at last week. 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:16.200 He's talking about this idea of discipline, which is a scary, freaky word, if I'm being honest. 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:21.120 Use the word discipline, and I'll talk about all the other Godly topics. 00:07:21.140 --> 00:07:23.200 I am not signing up for discipline, God. 00:07:23.260 --> 00:07:24.970 But what discipline is actually saying is maturity. 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:27.620 Discipline doesn't have to be bad. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.420 God loves you where you are, and God loves you too much to leave you there. 00:07:33.820 --> 00:07:37.320 God wants to do a miraculous work in your life, in your heart. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:42.200 So, for us, it's about surrendering to this king to let him do it in us. 00:07:42.200 --> 00:07:43.970 It's not by our strength. 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:49.260 And so he compares it, and this verse says, to this thought of a father coming alongside of a child. 00:07:51.080 --> 00:07:56.860 When you think about parenting a kid, as a parent it's not about winning the little battles. 00:07:56.880 --> 00:07:58.180 It's about the overall war. 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:01.620 It's about looking to where you want your child to be in the future. 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:03.600 What kind of man or woman do you want them to be? 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:06.660 So, you're training them towards that ultimate goal. 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:09.500 Sometimes you give in to battles to win the war, right? 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:14.300 And so this is God walking with us as a loving father side by side. 00:08:14.340 --> 00:08:16.980 So, when he calls us to run this race, he's not saying, "Good luck. 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:17.420 You're on your own. 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:17.850 I don't care. 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:24.740 In the end, I'll tell you if you fail or not." He wants to walk with you. 00:08:26.260 --> 00:08:31.950 And so in verse 12, this important passage, this is where we're going to pick up. 00:08:32.140 --> 00:08:39.460 In verse 12, he says, "Therefore..." He gives us another summary word, so the first 11 verses are running this race, and it's 00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:43.140 everything God wants you to know about your position in him. 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:45.780 So, this is where God's meeting you in running this race. 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:48.360 And now in verse 12, he's saying, "Now let's run this. 00:08:48.460 --> 00:08:55.460 This is how we want you to do it." He's going to give you five ways to run this race in this passage, but this is where he starts, "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are 00:08:55.460 --> 00:08:56.900 weak and the knees that are feeble. 00:08:58.020 --> 00:09:06.040 Make straight the paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed." So, 00:09:06.140 --> 00:09:10.640 he's saying, "Get up." Life can take it out of you. 00:09:10.680 --> 00:09:10.960 It can. 00:09:12.020 --> 00:09:13.040 But here's where we got to put our eyes. 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:19.480 We got to put our eyes on Jesus and understand where God meets us in this running with endurance, and you've got to get up. 00:09:22.260 --> 00:09:23.080 God is with you. 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:25.260 He knows where you are. 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:27.000 Get up. 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:35.420 And he's saying in this passage that as we get up as God's people, we make these paths straight. 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:39.540 The limbs which are lame may not be put out of joint, but rather, they're healed. 00:09:39.660 --> 00:09:40.900 Here's what I think happens, guys. 00:09:42.140 --> 00:09:49.140 When God starts working in us as we've given our lives to him and we see him moving, sometimes we find ourselves 00:09:49.140 --> 00:09:50.600 in different positions in the body of Christ. 00:09:50.900 --> 00:09:52.200 Sometimes we're on mountaintops. 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:52.840 We feel strong. 00:09:53.040 --> 00:09:53.800 Sometimes we feel weak. 00:09:55.140 --> 00:10:00.540 But you know what happens when God's doing something in the life of a believer and they start to just acknowledge it? 00:10:01.780 --> 00:10:08.980 People are encouraged by the way God heals and the way God works and the way God moves, and it just breathes 00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:09.980 life to the body. 00:10:11.660 --> 00:10:12.820 That's a beautiful thing. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:20.640 We've been doing baptisms over the last few weeks of people that have talked about what God's done in their lives and how 00:10:20.640 --> 00:10:24.040 beautiful that is, how encouraging. 00:10:25.160 --> 00:10:32.460 See in this valley God working, and as we move together, we just think about the hope of all that comes in Christ 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:34.320 because of what he's doing. 00:10:34.560 --> 00:10:36.020 What Jesus does in our... 00:10:36.060 --> 00:10:37.380 It's a walking miracle. 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:46.560 So, he says, "Make these paths straight and let God work." Just get up, 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:49.160 and we're running with him who is a father. 00:10:49.160 --> 00:10:55.270 And then he starts to list off these five ways that we should run as believers and how to set this trajectory. 00:10:55.580 --> 00:11:04.300 This is what he says, "Pursue peace with all men." Pursue 00:11:04.300 --> 00:11:05.420 peace with all men. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.440 What a beautiful word. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:13.240 Pursue peace. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.920 If you just let that thought, there's just two words to set in your soul. 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:21.540 I think as human beings, we crave for that. 00:11:23.140 --> 00:11:24.510 I just want peace. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.560 If everyone would just do what I wanted to do, then we would have it. 00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:31.040 Right? 00:11:32.700 --> 00:11:36.330 If you don't see the fallacy in that statement, then I can tell you you're the problem. 00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:43.440 Pursuing peace, and this idea of pursuing literally means strive. 00:11:45.020 --> 00:11:47.520 This is something we're working toward. 00:11:47.640 --> 00:11:49.180 And sometimes when we think about the word peace... 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:56.960 I want to be careful with the perception that we have about peace because sometimes we look at peace, and we're like, yeah, the person 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:57.890 that we call pansy. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:05.180 Being someone of peace, you're just a pushover, and you just want to slide everything under the rug and make sure 00:12:05.180 --> 00:12:09.660 everyone gets equal treatment, which we do want equality as people who were created in the image of God. 00:12:10.040 --> 00:12:11.700 But let's just get along. 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:12.830 Can't we all just get along? 00:12:12.920 --> 00:12:13.500 Who cares? 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:17.000 We'll just give in to the bad bully so that we can just have peace. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:25.730 If that's your picture of peace, yes, that's a pretty pansy picture of peace, but that's not Biblical peace. 00:12:26.780 --> 00:12:32.590 When you think about peace and the idea of striving for peace, it's saying we're working towards something. 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:40.540 And I'm just being honest when we think about this, that when we talk about Biblical peace, it takes a strong individual to 00:12:40.540 --> 00:12:41.060 live that out. 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:44.440 In fact, Jesus said it like this in Matthew 5. 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:51.500 He said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." And sometimes we think about pansy peace, we read it like this, "Blessed are the 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:52.160 peacekeepers. 00:12:52.880 --> 00:12:53.730 Guys, don't fight. 00:12:54.690 --> 00:12:57.960 Let's just be nice." That's not what Jesus was saying at all. 00:12:57.980 --> 00:12:59.220 He's not saying you're keeping the peace. 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:02.000 He's saying you're strong enough to make the peace. 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:10.000 That's a completely different concept, and the idea or the perception it creates for us 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.430 as being peacemakers versus peacekeepers. 00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:16.440 Peacemakers are not wimps. 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:25.000 I think peacemakers have to carry a bit of a meekness with them, but if you think being meek is 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:27.680 weak, try being meek for a week. 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:31.720 I'm a poet and didn't know it. 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:33.260 Right? 00:13:35.020 --> 00:13:35.020 Yeah. 00:13:35.020 --> 00:13:35.560 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:13:37.680 --> 00:13:38.100 You know why? 00:13:40.900 --> 00:13:42.670 Because this peace is rooted in something. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:51.200 Peace isn't just about let's just be good or let's not work through struggles or you have 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.400 your truth and I have mine. 00:13:53.660 --> 00:14:01.420 The idea of peace in this context in scripture is rooted in an identity from where it comes, and 00:14:01.420 --> 00:14:03.140 that identity is in the gospel. 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:11.220 So, he's saying in this passage that we're called to pursue peace with all men. 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:18.610 And so when you think about the idea of peace, the context from which we pursue it is all men, and if we know something about all men, not all men are interested in peace. 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:21.500 And yet, God calls us to that. 00:14:25.290 --> 00:14:26.820 The idea is we can't force peace. 00:14:28.920 --> 00:14:30.660 You can lay the road for it. 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:34.460 In the book of Romans it says it like this for us. 00:14:34.660 --> 00:14:42.120 It says, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." Sometimes 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:47.920 it's unattainable between two individuals because someone else just isn't interested in it. 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:55.860 When it comes to being a believer, the attitude that we carry is that we make it hard for people to hate us, that 00:14:55.880 --> 00:14:56.520 we aren't the problem. 00:14:58.020 --> 00:14:59.000 Rather, we are the gospel. 00:14:59.540 --> 00:15:00.360 We live the gospel. 00:15:02.100 --> 00:15:02.940 We don't throw mud. 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:08.580 Some people are unhealthy. 00:15:10.700 --> 00:15:12.540 And if you're a peacekeeper, you tolerate it. 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:21.780 You just let them be, but in tolerating it doesn't 00:15:21.780 --> 00:15:27.180 help you, it doesn't help them, it doesn't help the people around you. 00:15:29.930 --> 00:15:34.020 What God calls us to is to make peace. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:37.760 We come to the situation, we say, 'Look. 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:41.340 I'm not going to contribute to what this is, but here's where we're called to. 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:45.590 This is the path of making peace." We're called to making peace. 00:15:45.800 --> 00:15:50.860 It's meaning we lay the foundation or we pave the road for reconciliation in the circumstance. 00:15:51.540 --> 00:15:58.440 We don't necessarily give in to the demands of someone else, because what they're living in may not be healthy. 00:16:00.160 --> 00:16:06.410 So, we can't make peace with everyone, but we certainly don't shut the door for the opportunity for God to let the gospel work in their lives. 00:16:09.060 --> 00:16:10.110 Do you know who does this beautifully? 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:13.480 Jesus. 00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:17.250 Peace was a mark of the gospel. 00:16:18.800 --> 00:16:22.840 Jesus says, "I love you," and Jesus still calls out sin. 00:16:24.220 --> 00:16:26.360 Some of the craziest things in scripture when you read. 00:16:26.420 --> 00:16:33.660 The Pharisees get so mad at Jesus, but the people that are hanging out with Jesus tells you are the sinners, the drunkards, the prostitutes, 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:34.860 the tax collectors. 00:16:34.880 --> 00:16:35.920 They were attracted to Jesus. 00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:43.260 Jesus didn't shy away from the truth that made for peace in relationship to him, and he still loved 00:16:43.340 --> 00:16:44.100 them deeply. 00:16:45.900 --> 00:16:51.160 In their lives, there was the attraction to who Christ was because he valued their identity. 00:16:51.160 --> 00:16:58.180 In our lives, what we end up doing because people don't agree with us is we not just disagree with the idea, but we diminish the 00:16:58.180 --> 00:16:58.800 person. 00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:09.880 Leading the path for peace, God calls us to be peacemakers. 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:11.980 In fact, it says this in 1 Peter 2. 00:17:12.040 --> 00:17:17.770 By the way, this first point I want to tell you, I want to spend more time on this idea of peace because it carries the concept through in this passage. 00:17:18.020 --> 00:17:25.119 But 1 Peter 2, it says this, "Keeping your behavior excellent among the Gentiles in the thing in which they slander you 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:32.840 as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God on the day of visitation." What 00:17:32.840 --> 00:17:34.260 you see Peter calling them to is... 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:34.480 Look. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.500 He knows people are not going to pursue peace. 00:17:37.520 --> 00:17:44.700 He knows that the world is going to stand in opposition, but God's people seek and pursue things that make peace to the point 00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:50.980 that they make it hard for people to hate them, and those people are able to see the glory of who God is. 00:17:53.480 --> 00:18:01.260 Peacemakers, to be a peacemaker, you have to come to serve for the benefit of others, and 00:18:01.260 --> 00:18:06.880 the truth is it's found because of your confidence in your position before God. 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:09.980 Make peace. 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:11.740 Why peace? 00:18:14.280 --> 00:18:16.800 Because for us, peace isn't just about being calm. 00:18:19.520 --> 00:18:20.780 Peace is about reconciliation. 00:18:23.360 --> 00:18:30.840 You put it in the context of our world today, I'm going to probably turn on the TV some time this evening and I'm probably going to watch some football, and 00:18:30.840 --> 00:18:38.160 you can't help but think Jesus is sure being clouded in the last year or two over just some controversial things, people 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.140 arguing back and forth about positions and certain things. 00:18:41.600 --> 00:18:46.550 I find myself, I'm just being frankly put in the middle of a context. 00:18:46.800 --> 00:18:54.720 I find myself as a person looking at this position and saying, "I don't like racism, and I like honoring people." And 00:18:55.180 --> 00:18:59.700 people throwing these two positions together, can I tell you the thing that heals all of it? 00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:03.160 The thing that brings truth to everything? 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.840 We could go on in our country today, Democrat, Republican, Hilary, Trump, Russia and on. 00:19:07.840 --> 00:19:07.940 Right? 00:19:08.300 --> 00:19:08.840 Just pick it. 00:19:09.320 --> 00:19:11.460 Everyone's got opinions and your opinion's going to fix it. 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:11.580 Right? 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:14.520 But do you know what really heals all of that? 00:19:16.840 --> 00:19:19.760 At the end of the day, if one of those sides wins, do you think that's the cure? 00:19:22.050 --> 00:19:27.040 Temporarily, it might bring relief, but can I tell you what heals it all? 00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:29.700 It's the gospel. 00:19:32.800 --> 00:19:33.290 It's the gospel. 00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:38.820 Government isn't the ultimate hope, guys. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:42.450 You are really into racism? 00:19:43.480 --> 00:19:45.500 How about the one who created us equally in him? 00:19:48.040 --> 00:19:49.620 It's not the social issue that's going to win. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:57.000 That social issue will only be as good as the people that promote the gospel behind it, because it's God who defines the purpose for our existence and 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:58.460 the identity that we have as people. 00:20:00.220 --> 00:20:01.920 Don't be fooled into thinking it's the issue. 00:20:02.020 --> 00:20:03.580 I'm not saying issues aren't important. 00:20:03.840 --> 00:20:04.700 I'm not saying that. 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:08.060 But the issues aren't what drive it. 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:08.640 It's truth. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:13.360 You can always get to the end of those issues, but that issue wins, you can be like, so what? 00:20:13.360 --> 00:20:13.600 Why? 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:14.400 Why is that important? 00:20:15.560 --> 00:20:16.280 Why is that important? 00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:18.500 Where is the foundation for why this is important? 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:23.840 And just doing it because gives you no foundation for it to ultimately matter in the end. 00:20:25.260 --> 00:20:25.780 It's the gospel. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:27.700 It's the gospel. 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:28.280 It is. 00:20:29.520 --> 00:20:34.260 It's what gives us the ability to understand what it means to honor people because we're created in the image of God. 00:20:35.340 --> 00:20:40.860 It's the ability in racial tension in the lives of people, because we're all created as one people. 00:20:40.860 --> 00:20:42.960 There's only one race in scripture. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:43.680 It's the human race. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:49.820 There's different ethnicities, but it's the gospel, the gospel that unites all of it for us. 00:20:49.900 --> 00:20:56.920 So, this idea of pursuing peace carries the thought of just knowing in our mind what makes for 00:20:56.920 --> 00:20:58.540 peace for us is the gospel. 00:20:58.600 --> 00:21:03.060 So, this word peace is rooted in the gospel. 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:13.180 And I think even in our context, some people don't like the majority of their community, things 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:14.520 that happen around them. 00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:18.520 Rather than love people, we bash them. 00:21:19.800 --> 00:21:23.760 Rather than build bridges and share the gospel of peace, we tear them down and make war. 00:21:25.360 --> 00:21:32.220 Guys, it's Biblical to love people regardless of where they are and to serve them for the sake of the gospel. 00:21:32.800 --> 00:21:34.320 That's the only thing that changes hearts. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.540 That's what changes yours with Jesus. 00:21:36.580 --> 00:21:40.480 You were an enemy of God, and he made the way for peace. 00:21:42.420 --> 00:21:47.660 You think about people that irk you or get you tense, and you think about what Jesus says to us in scripture. 00:21:47.860 --> 00:21:48.520 I may not have it. 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:50.350 Oh, man, I don't. 00:21:51.080 --> 00:21:55.420 Jesus says in Matthew 5:43, he says, "Love your enemies. 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:01.100 Pray for those persecuted." Love your enemies. 00:22:02.540 --> 00:22:06.910 It's the idea of making peace, and so let me just say this bluntly and move on. 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:13.960 But, therefore, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus and you have no want or desire to love and care 00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:17.330 for the people around you, let me just ask two things. 00:22:20.120 --> 00:22:22.960 One, be honest with God where your heart is. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.550 When God calls you to be a peacemaker, just be honest in that struggle. 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:38.980 Two, if you have no concern in being honest before God over the word in your own heart, you have no care or 00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:44.360 concern for the people around you, you'd rather bash them than serve them, go worship somewhere else. 00:22:50.600 --> 00:22:53.160 Now let me say, guys, I say that for the sake of believers. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:59.540 So, if you're in a place where you're questioning and challenging and wanting to live in scripture, good. 00:22:59.700 --> 00:23:07.560 If you call yourself a follower of Christ and you're more interested in tearing the people down around you than to lovingly serve them and make peace, for 00:23:07.560 --> 00:23:10.460 the health of the church, worship somewhere else. 00:23:13.950 --> 00:23:15.060 I care about this community. 00:23:17.520 --> 00:23:18.320 I care about their hearts. 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:22.230 God doesn't call us to fight against them. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.460 God calls us to fight for them. 00:23:27.800 --> 00:23:30.330 The people in this world, they're not the deceivers. 00:23:30.460 --> 00:23:31.340 They're the deceived. 00:23:32.840 --> 00:23:40.260 If you have the gospel that lays the foundation for reconciliation with God, make peace. 00:23:42.040 --> 00:23:45.060 You look at this passage and you think about running, my heart... 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:49.800 In this verse, just look at it and say, "God, please, please let this be me. 00:23:51.120 --> 00:23:57.100 I know I'm not perfect, but, God, do not let my heart run from these words. 00:23:57.360 --> 00:24:00.220 And these words can be painful, these words can be hard. 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:04.460 God, I want to quit running." And then verse 12:13 says, "Get up. 00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:09.360 Make peace." Make peace. 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:12.600 And then he says it like this in the rest of the passage. 00:24:12.900 --> 00:24:20.020 He says, "Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification with which no one will see the Lord." This idea of sanctification is the word for holiness or set 00:24:20.020 --> 00:24:20.560 apart. 00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:22.460 So, let me put it like this for you. 00:24:23.020 --> 00:24:24.700 You want to know what I think about this verse? 00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:26.860 Nobody? 00:24:28.040 --> 00:24:29.340 Does anybody want to know what I think about this verse? 00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:29.760 Yes. 00:24:29.760 --> 00:24:29.960 Okay. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:37.980 What I think about this verse is it doesn't matter what I think about this verse, but when we talk about running after the Lord, what it means is, God, what 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:38.880 do you think? 00:24:39.060 --> 00:24:39.180 Right? 00:24:39.520 --> 00:24:44.160 And so this idea of sanctification and holiness is saying, who cares what Nathaniel thinks for a minute? 00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:51.520 In our culture today, we base a lot of theology off of 00:24:51.520 --> 00:24:52.600 how we feel. 00:24:52.780 --> 00:24:56.360 It's this post-modern existential way of thinking. 00:24:56.380 --> 00:24:57.820 You define your own truth and reality. 00:24:58.780 --> 00:25:01.260 But the problem with that is we didn't create it. 00:25:01.260 --> 00:25:03.620 And if we didn't create it, we shouldn't be defining it. 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:08.320 And if you want to step into a healthy pattern of living in this life, it doesn't start with you. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:09.340 It starts with God. 00:25:10.760 --> 00:25:11.460 And so rather than... 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:13.830 Sorry, I baited all you guys to say yes there, that said yes. 00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:20.260 But rather than caring about what I think, this idea of sanctification which no one will see the Lord, is saying to us, look. 00:25:20.260 --> 00:25:23.070 Holiness is setting apart your heart for Christ. 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:25.720 So, it starts with God, what do you think? 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:33.220 Pursuing peace, setting apart myself for your glory? 00:25:33.260 --> 00:25:36.300 Otherwise, no one will see the Lord? 00:25:37.900 --> 00:25:42.020 So, my heart surrendered in this thought for you, God. 00:25:42.260 --> 00:25:49.360 And then he goes in these last three things, he talks about in the beginning, it's you and what you're pursuing, so this idea of peace, setting 00:25:49.360 --> 00:25:52.380 yourself apart, laying down your life that God can work through you. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:55.900 And now he talks about external to where you are. 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:05.740 In verse 15 he says, "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God." See 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.420 to it means to oversee. 00:26:10.860 --> 00:26:12.540 Oversee that this happens. 00:26:13.260 --> 00:26:14.140 We all have this responsibility. 00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:15.200 This is where you're looking. 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:17.300 Oversee for everyone around you. 00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:24.580 You kind of oversee that no one fails or falls short to 00:26:24.600 --> 00:26:27.200 see the grace of God. 00:26:27.660 --> 00:26:32.580 There was an emperor, fourth century, Emperor Julian. 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:40.880 Thinking about Christians and the grace of God, he said about Christianity... 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:43.140 He was alive from 330 to 363. 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:46.780 He referred to Christianity as atheism, believe it or not. 00:26:46.780 --> 00:26:51.420 It's kind of a unique thing for Christianity, but in the first century, Christians only worshiped one God. 00:26:52.060 --> 00:26:57.840 In Rome that has tons and tons of gods, when you look at a Christian only worshiping one God, they got referred to as atheists quite often. 00:26:58.940 --> 00:27:06.100 And so he says this, "Atheism, or Christian faith, has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers and 00:27:06.100 --> 00:27:07.840 through their care for the burial of the dead. 00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:15.580 It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but 00:27:15.580 --> 00:27:23.340 for ours as well, while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them." What 00:27:23.380 --> 00:27:31.480 Julian is saying is the Christian community got so good at caring for people and the grace of God that was bestowed to them, that 00:27:31.480 --> 00:27:40.380 they even started to care for people outside of their community, so much so that the people outside of the community didn't need to turn anywhere else and it was a shame to them because 00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:42.430 the Christians oversaw this. 00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:44.880 Let me say it like this. 00:27:45.060 --> 00:27:52.240 If you think there's someone around you that doesn't deserve the grace of God, you don't understand grace. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:57.220 By definition, it's meriting favor that we do not deserve. 00:28:00.020 --> 00:28:03.660 There isn't a person in this room that got to where you are today apart from grace. 00:28:06.620 --> 00:28:13.660 And so for us, we understand that this is the root of the gospel, that God's grace meets us 00:28:13.660 --> 00:28:18.020 in our darkest places and heals our grievous needs. 00:28:20.440 --> 00:28:24.010 And so we oversee the idea of his grace in this world. 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:29.680 We aren't surprised when people act in sin because we know our own heart. 00:28:31.660 --> 00:28:36.390 We're sinful, but God's grace renews us every day. 00:28:37.520 --> 00:28:43.800 That well never runs dry, and as people, we have opportunity to emulate and share it. 00:28:47.100 --> 00:28:54.200 I love how he then talks about this grace, and then he shares this next thought against that, because when we go serving 00:28:54.200 --> 00:29:01.040 in this world and you extend his grace, what often can happen to us is what happens in this next part. 00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:08.120 It says this, "That no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled." 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:11.100 This is so important. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:18.360 And when you do ministry, you'll meet people that rub you wrong. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:21.180 People will take advantage. 00:29:23.360 --> 00:29:29.710 And when you care about a soul and that soul is in a place that needs help, sometimes you get to those places because you've taken advantage. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.780 And so as you minister in those arenas with people that are sinful, people will disappoint you. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:38.480 And then what happens? 00:29:40.820 --> 00:29:41.740 It can make you bitter. 00:29:43.740 --> 00:29:50.780 You help somebody out and they take advantage, and the next time a different person steps in and you say to 00:29:50.780 --> 00:29:55.680 yourself, "Oh, I've already seen how this goes." Root of bitterness comes in. 00:29:55.700 --> 00:30:03.280 You start projecting future failures on past experiences and 00:30:03.280 --> 00:30:10.540 assuming things, and so that attitude of bitterness just takes root in your heart, and really, Satan 00:30:10.540 --> 00:30:15.300 uses that to prohibit you from all the hope that God can bring in the life of the people around you. 00:30:19.260 --> 00:30:21.130 The people in this context, they're going to go through persecution. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:23.440 They're going to suffer. 00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:28.560 In fact, we looked at it in previous chapters, in chapter 10, where they saw friends going to jail. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:31.920 They had the loss of their possessions, their property. 00:30:35.160 --> 00:30:36.520 Opportunity for the root of bitterness. 00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:44.880 It says in this passage, "It will spread." If you looked at it in the context of Ephesians 4, it 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:52.140 says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with 00:30:52.140 --> 00:30:55.100 all malice." This is actually a building of what happens with bitterness. 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:57.780 This is why it becomes so toxic for people. 00:30:57.800 --> 00:31:02.100 You get bitter and it starts with anger and clamor and wrath and gets all the way to the point of malice. 00:31:02.260 --> 00:31:04.240 And malice literally means in the Greek, physical harm. 00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:07.060 At first, it roots in your heart. 00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:12.170 Then it comes out in your vocabulary and you start spewing the toxin till you just sock somebody in the face. 00:31:14.580 --> 00:31:15.540 Then it contrasts it. 00:31:17.560 --> 00:31:19.980 We contrast that thought in verse 32, "But rather, do this. 00:31:21.320 --> 00:31:28.520 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just 00:31:28.520 --> 00:31:35.520 as Christ has also forgiven you." If you 00:31:35.600 --> 00:31:43.020 get bitter, I think what happens to us first is we start to get cynical, and the cynicism, negativity 00:31:43.020 --> 00:31:43.840 can come out. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:47.580 You know what's interesting about cynical people? 00:31:49.900 --> 00:31:53.060 Cynicism doesn't exist in people because they didn't care. 00:31:55.420 --> 00:31:57.880 Cynicism really is a reflection at some point, you did care. 00:31:57.960 --> 00:31:59.120 You just got burnt. 00:32:02.620 --> 00:32:07.220 And in this passage, he then calls us to step into this. 00:32:07.220 --> 00:32:14.460 So, if being bitter and cynical is about past failures on future successes, 00:32:14.580 --> 00:32:21.840 we live in the past, the answer to that is, yes, the world has problems, but before you can start taking the 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:24.180 step out of cynicism, here's what you got to do. 00:32:25.080 --> 00:32:26.360 You got to live in the solution. 00:32:27.360 --> 00:32:32.780 You ever meet those people that are like, you want to do something but they want to tell you 500 problems of everything that's going to go wrong? 00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:35.440 That's great, you know what the 500 problems are. 00:32:35.500 --> 00:32:36.630 I'm not looking for the 500 problems. 00:32:36.780 --> 00:32:38.330 I'm looking for the path of success. 00:32:39.020 --> 00:32:46.230 And all those problems now that you've got that identified, and sometimes we have to work with that, it's good to know what causes a problem so you can prevent it in the future, 00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:47.180 but here's the step. 00:32:48.200 --> 00:32:48.700 What's the solution? 00:32:52.780 --> 00:32:54.700 How do you move forward in the solution. 00:32:54.740 --> 00:32:56.360 And that's what he's saying in verse 32. 00:32:56.360 --> 00:32:58.720 He's talking about words that are words of solution here. 00:32:59.620 --> 00:33:00.770 But can I tell you what the solution is? 00:33:00.820 --> 00:33:02.000 You've already seen it in Hebrews. 00:33:04.520 --> 00:33:11.520 Fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of 00:33:11.520 --> 00:33:16.700 faith as you serve a big God full of power and hope. 00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:19.020 So, get up. 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:24.180 Start risking again over what a big God can do. 00:33:26.540 --> 00:33:33.840 And as you serve, listen, our motivation, sometimes we can project expectations on people and we see them fall short. 00:33:34.220 --> 00:33:41.500 Then the failure of that, we get jaded by that and get cynical by that, but our goal, our goal in serving God is never about 00:33:41.500 --> 00:33:41.980 people. 00:33:43.720 --> 00:33:45.260 It's about honoring him. 00:33:47.260 --> 00:33:48.500 Our goal is about pleasing him. 00:33:48.520 --> 00:33:50.930 We don't live our life based on what people do or don't do. 00:33:51.020 --> 00:33:52.240 We pursue people in ministry. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:53.480 Ministry exists for people. 00:33:54.760 --> 00:33:56.440 But it's regardless of what they do. 00:33:56.440 --> 00:33:58.140 It's always about glorifying him. 00:33:58.320 --> 00:34:00.050 The goal is always about him. 00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:03.700 And so people are going to sometimes embrace it, sometimes people are going to reject it. 00:34:04.040 --> 00:34:09.820 But if you live your life for an audience of one, either way, it's not going to matter because before the Lord, you've been faithful. 00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:16.679 God's not putting on you the ability to change their heart. 00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:18.960 And don't wear that. 00:34:20.060 --> 00:34:22.360 You don't have the power to change someone else's heart. 00:34:26.659 --> 00:34:27.659 Just walk in the solution. 00:34:30.520 --> 00:34:31.540 It's not changing them. 00:34:32.900 --> 00:34:34.000 It's living for Jesus. 00:34:35.340 --> 00:34:35.800 It's faithful. 00:34:36.620 --> 00:34:37.300 How do you do that? 00:34:37.380 --> 00:34:39.219 Well, he tells us not to do this, but, look. 00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:43.500 It's kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as Christ has also forgiven you. 00:34:43.540 --> 00:34:43.860 Look. 00:34:44.460 --> 00:34:45.760 Jesus could have been bitter about you. 00:34:46.500 --> 00:34:48.080 You don't always do what he wants you to do. 00:34:48.620 --> 00:34:48.940 Right? 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:56.000 And thank you, God, you're not, because he keeps moving towards a solution in your life. 00:34:57.180 --> 00:35:00.500 He keeps promoting that gospel in us. 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:01.960 And I got to move on. 00:35:02.060 --> 00:35:02.320 One more thing. 00:35:03.720 --> 00:35:10.980 This last thought, he says to us in verse 16, "Let there be no immoral or Godless person 00:35:10.980 --> 00:35:14.000 like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 00:35:14.120 --> 00:35:21.440 For you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:27.140 it with tears." I like this last thought in the example, because this really becomes an examination for us. 00:35:27.180 --> 00:35:29.720 Because we could talk and be like, "Do you like peace?" "Yes, I like peace. 00:35:29.800 --> 00:35:35.800 I live for peace." "Do you like holiness?" "Yes, I like holiness." "Do you like grace?" "Yes." "Do you want to be bitter?" "I'm not bitter. 00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:36.340 I don't want to be cynical. 00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:40.670 And so, therefore, I'm Godly." Then he gives this last illustration. 00:35:40.860 --> 00:35:41.740 It's sort of a testing ground. 00:35:42.700 --> 00:35:48.420 And when he talks about in verse 16 that there be no immoral or Godless behavior, or person, he's actually... 00:35:48.660 --> 00:35:53.960 That word for immoral is actually the [foreign language 00:35:52] where we get the same word for porno or pornography. 00:35:55.640 --> 00:35:56.980 And he compares that to Esau. 00:35:57.720 --> 00:36:01.740 The stories are in Genesis 25 and 27 if you want to read it. 00:36:02.200 --> 00:36:11.360 But what made Esau's life, what drove Esau's life was instantaneous gratification, where 00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:15.480 he puts himself first and he sells his birthright. 00:36:17.120 --> 00:36:23.280 In an existential culture in which we live, our tendency is to become the definers of our own reality. 00:36:24.060 --> 00:36:26.240 And when we wake up every day, we start with this question. 00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:27.640 What will make me most happy? 00:36:29.460 --> 00:36:30.610 And then we pursue that. 00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:36.280 In the end, we find really no joy in the people around us either, but no ultimate joy anyway. 00:36:36.860 --> 00:36:38.220 But that's what this is. 00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:40.200 This is defining existential behavior. 00:36:41.220 --> 00:36:44.400 And to put it in context, he just puts it in sexuality for us. 00:36:46.040 --> 00:36:48.320 And again, it goes back to the thought, who defines? 00:36:49.660 --> 00:36:51.480 Who defines what's right or wrong? 00:36:53.200 --> 00:37:00.240 Because when it comes to living our lives the way God has created us to, you didn't create sexuality. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:03.640 God did. 00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:07.060 And the one who creates it defines it. 00:37:08.700 --> 00:37:15.740 Now that's a difficult statement, because I know in humanity we have struggles, or you can compromise it to define it in three 00:37:15.740 --> 00:37:17.500 ways, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. 00:37:17.860 --> 00:37:24.960 Everyone in this room, everyone in this room has to work through and struggle through sexuality in some way because 00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:28.740 there's always a temptation to go outside of what God calls us to. 00:37:28.780 --> 00:37:29.200 There always is. 00:37:30.060 --> 00:37:31.900 There isn't a person in this room in some way... 00:37:31.900 --> 00:37:33.620 If you can't think of your way, you can come ask me. 00:37:33.620 --> 00:37:34.770 I can tell you whatever is. 00:37:35.180 --> 00:37:38.060 Hey, whatever you know in your context, I can just... 00:37:38.080 --> 00:37:38.880 Everyone has to... 00:37:39.020 --> 00:37:44.780 Heterosexual male, attract to the opposite sex. 00:37:47.700 --> 00:37:51.600 God calls you to define that sexuality in the context of boundaries. 00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:53.820 Everyone has to. 00:37:53.980 --> 00:37:54.940 Let me ask it like this. 00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:01.760 Just to be consistent with this, guys, is rape wrong? 00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:03.600 It's kind of an easy one, right? 00:38:06.580 --> 00:38:07.500 Hopefully, we all say yes. 00:38:12.740 --> 00:38:13.320 Rape is wrong. 00:38:13.660 --> 00:38:15.260 What if someone comes to me this morning and says, "No. 00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:15.940 I believe rape's right. 00:38:16.520 --> 00:38:23.620 I believe in existentialism as my truth, so you define it for you and I'll define it for me." What are we going to appeal to help that 00:38:23.620 --> 00:38:25.680 person understand rape is wrong? 00:38:28.200 --> 00:38:29.880 Existentialism? 00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:32.320 Well, he thinks it's right. 00:38:33.660 --> 00:38:34.370 Define your own reality. 00:38:35.080 --> 00:38:39.230 When we're not careful in our society, we let people do it that way, that's the path it leads to. 00:38:40.680 --> 00:38:42.260 You don't define truth that way. 00:38:43.440 --> 00:38:50.440 When someone's seriously thinking that rape could be right and you're trying to argue it wrong, you've got to go outside yourself to an objective truth to 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:52.240 appeal to, right? 00:38:52.240 --> 00:38:57.360 So, when we think this way, let's just be consistent with the way we define sexuality. 00:39:00.240 --> 00:39:07.800 What about bestiality? 00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:11.560 Again, what if someone comes to you and says, "Well, I think it's right," what do you appeal to show it's wrong? 00:39:14.040 --> 00:39:14.700 What about pornography? 00:39:19.570 --> 00:39:20.760 What about sex outside of marriage? 00:39:26.860 --> 00:39:27.770 Where do you stand on homosexuality? 00:39:31.200 --> 00:39:35.920 Look, when you talk about sexuality, the point is to be consistent. 00:39:38.140 --> 00:39:42.830 At no point are we the definers of that reality. 00:39:44.740 --> 00:39:44.960 God is. 00:39:48.370 --> 00:39:52.260 But the picture in all of this is for us to examine our heart, right here. 00:39:54.260 --> 00:39:55.860 What do you allow to define your identity? 00:39:57.820 --> 00:40:01.750 Because he appeals to this because he knows, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. 00:40:02.380 --> 00:40:05.200 In these three degrees, we struggle and sexuality's a big part of it. 00:40:06.420 --> 00:40:13.460 We make sexuality our identity, and we live in that impulse for our 00:40:13.460 --> 00:40:13.900 own pleasure. 00:40:15.540 --> 00:40:19.600 And so he's saying here in this passage that there be no immoral morality among you like Esau. 00:40:20.640 --> 00:40:21.880 Esau sold his birthright. 00:40:21.880 --> 00:40:26.460 He gave in to sensuality because that sensuality demonstrated what Esau was pursuing in his life. 00:40:26.980 --> 00:40:29.780 If everyone would do what I want to do, then we'd just all be happy, right? 00:40:29.780 --> 00:40:30.590 What we said in the beginning. 00:40:32.300 --> 00:40:38.820 What he's saying to us in this context is that the sexuality is a demonstration of what is ultimately leading your heart. 00:40:39.600 --> 00:40:45.740 It's a good litmus test to saying when it comes to peace, holiness, grace, bitterness, how do you know if God's gauging life, if God's leading your life? 00:40:45.740 --> 00:40:47.030 Well, just think about this area of sexuality. 00:40:48.640 --> 00:40:49.180 What do you surrender to? 00:40:55.200 --> 00:40:57.480 Run the race that's before you. 00:41:00.180 --> 00:41:06.060 Are you surrendered to God and serving others for his glory? 00:41:08.740 --> 00:41:10.120 Or do we put our desires first? 00:41:11.680 --> 00:41:19.440 We end every segment with a picture of church history, but let's define church history today as it relates to you, because 00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:23.460 running this race is about your time to run. 00:41:25.740 --> 00:41:26.220 How are you running? 00:41:29.740 --> 00:41:30.710 What are you running for? 00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:40.520 At the end of all these weeks of going into church history and I've taken a leader that's made an impact in church 00:41:40.600 --> 00:41:46.540 history and I've given a quote, sort of a quote that summarized what their life was about. 00:41:48.760 --> 00:41:52.480 Because at the end of your life, what will be your quote? 00:41:55.840 --> 00:41:56.720 What's your life about? 00:41:58.940 --> 00:42:02.360 If people hear you follow Jesus, are they shocked by that? 00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:06.280 Or is this consistent with who you are? 00:42:08.020 --> 00:42:15.630 When God calls us to run this race, he calls us to be peacemakers, set apart from him, 00:42:16.900 --> 00:42:18.380 extending the grace to the hills. 00:42:19.820 --> 00:42:26.840 Not walking in bitterness, cynicism, but to the hope that rests in 00:42:26.840 --> 00:42:27.440 Christ. 00:42:28.940 --> 00:42:34.660 Not given to our own sensuality that leads but surrendering ourselves for the cause of Christ. 00:42:34.820 --> 00:42:35.740 And why can we do that? 00:42:37.980 --> 00:42:45.000 Because all before us have gone, individuals who have walked by faith in Christ, and their witness to us has 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:50.110 demonstrated God is able to do that in you and through you. 00:42:51.620 --> 00:42:56.840 As a father loves a child, so God walks beside you. 00:42:58.800 --> 00:43:06.380 Don't let Satan sideline you to the circumstances that you endure, but point to 00:43:06.380 --> 00:43:09.860 a greater and stronger hope that you have in Christ.