1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Good morning, family. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:25,400 All right, so please grab your Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter 12. 3 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,200 Yes, I didn't forget about the reading. 4 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,400 I gotcha. 5 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,200 Thank you. 6 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,600 We are going to go through the entire chapter. 7 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,200 So this is a summary of this chapter. 8 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,400 I'm going to pull out some major points. 9 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:46,800 But before we do that, we have a reading to do. 10 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,000 So I will ask the question and you read the answer. 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:56,400 We will go to our Doctrine of Focus as soon as I can get to Hebrews. 12 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,600 Chapter 12 in my Bible. 13 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,400 All right. 14 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:03,200 Here we go. 15 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:08,800 How are we made partakers of the redemption of Christ? 16 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:21,000 Excellent. 17 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,400 Westminster Shorter Catechism, question number 29. 18 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,000 So love those little things. 19 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,400 You know, it's going to take an entire lifetime to go through the catechisms and the confessions and all the other stuff. 20 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,400 We haven't even gotten to the Heidelberg yet. 21 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,400 It's so many things. 22 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:38,600 So it's really good stuff. 23 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:43,200 So I encourage you to continue, you know, if you want, read that. 24 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,600 Before we get started, I want to pray and then we're going to dive right in. 25 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:47,200 Okay. 26 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,000 Father, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and your goodness. 27 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,800 Thank you that we can come before you. 28 00:01:52,800 --> 00:02:01,600 We can laugh and we can come in reverence and awe and respect of you even in our frailty and our joys and our laughter. 29 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,800 And you are father. 30 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:12,800 And by the work of Christ, you have given us free access to the throne room of God, to the holy of holies. 31 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,200 We praise you. 32 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:22,200 So, Lord, as we go through your word, I pray that the full counsel of your word is spoken, that we rightly divide the word, 33 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,000 that you teach us your ways that we may know you and have favor with you, 34 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,600 that we would understand clearly that you are the founder and perfecter of our faith. 35 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:42,600 You are conforming us into the image of your son and that you will complete what you started and that we will be perfect as you are perfect. 36 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,000 And Lord, we praise you and thank you. 37 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:52,800 Help us to see some very important truths and how to really understand them, apply them, but most of all, 38 00:02:52,800 --> 00:03:02,200 that we would know you and that we would apply what we learn from you to you be honor and glory in Jesus' name. 39 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:03,000 Amen. 40 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:03,400 All right. 41 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,300 So here we go. 42 00:03:05,300 --> 00:03:07,000 So we're at the end of the book. 43 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:14,200 We're at this moment where you probably grab chapter 12, verse one and two, and you make a sermon on that. 44 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:19,800 But we don't have that option today because we're trying to do the whole book verse by verse. 45 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:30,600 And so in the future, I will be doing some particular sermons on just portions of chapter 12 expository. 46 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,000 We'll do one through four and then eventually another one through five through 18. 47 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,600 It'll be just a message on those things. 48 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:45,000 And but I want to give you a summary why the writer writes this, why God gives us chapter 12 and the importance of it. 49 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:50,300 And it really starts off in the first two verses of why chapter 12 so important. 50 00:03:50,300 --> 00:04:03,700 So principle number one, we run the race not for a place in heaven, but we run for the prize who is the founder and perfecter of our faith, Jesus. 51 00:04:03,700 --> 00:04:09,000 We don't run the race of faith to get to heaven. 52 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:15,700 You don't run the race of faith because you want a room, a mansion. 53 00:04:15,700 --> 00:04:20,000 You don't run the race of faith in order to receive something. 54 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:28,100 You run the race of faith because Christ is the prize whom you've already received. 55 00:04:28,100 --> 00:04:32,000 OK, now that's a very important understanding here. 56 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,200 Many people go, well, I want my mansion. 57 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:41,800 I just want Jesus. OK, so how do we know this to be true? 58 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,100 First Corinthians nine, twenty four through twenty five. 59 00:04:44,100 --> 00:04:49,100 You know, I give a scripture precept upon precepts context and context. 60 00:04:49,100 --> 00:04:58,100 Here we go. Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize? 61 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:04,700 So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. 62 00:05:04,700 --> 00:05:08,400 They do it to receive a perishable wreath. 63 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:21,600 But we but we and imperishable wreath, which we have Christ our crown Christ our prize. 64 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:27,400 Now, how do we know this to clarify this in Hebrews chapter 12, verse one, one through four? 65 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:34,300 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 66 00:05:34,300 --> 00:05:41,000 how many of you guys have have been taught or have heard that this cloud of witnesses are angelic beings? 67 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,000 All the angels are watching us. Oh, good. 68 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,600 We've had some good teachers, man. I'm getting excited. Right. 69 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:53,500 How many of you guys have heard that this is all of the people before Jesus? 70 00:05:53,500 --> 00:05:58,500 So this word, this term so great a cloud of witnesses is a great dense, 71 00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:06,300 dense multitude of spectators in the historical sense are witnesses of how we run the race. 72 00:06:06,300 --> 00:06:14,800 So all the way to Adam, all the way to the saints who have passed, 73 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:21,100 all of them are our witnesses of how we run the race. 74 00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:26,000 We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. 75 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:36,800 OK, witnesses that not only can go before a judge by the testimony they have given that the truth of Christ is true, 76 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,100 but also condemn us if we are judged by our sin. 77 00:06:42,100 --> 00:06:47,400 So there is a great cloud of witnesses who are watching how we run. 78 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,200 This is not a legalistic point of view. 79 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,500 This is a point of view of understanding that we are in a race. 80 00:06:54,500 --> 00:07:00,100 We are in the race of life and that how we live matters. 81 00:07:00,100 --> 00:07:04,500 How we present the truth of Christ matters in how we live. 82 00:07:04,500 --> 00:07:11,700 How do we know that? Look, keep reading. It says, let us also lay aside every weight. 83 00:07:11,700 --> 00:07:14,500 This word weight is burden or mass. 84 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:18,000 It's interesting they use the word mass. Right. 85 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,800 This heavy thing that we carry. OK. 86 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,800 And sin. The word sin here is ha-martia, meaning to miss the mark. 87 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:32,000 It's where we get ha-martiology from the study of sin. OK. 88 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:43,200 So we must lay aside every mass or missing the mark, the standard, which clings. 89 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,200 Now, how many of you guys think about clinging? 90 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:51,800 When you put your clothes in the dryer, they get all clingy or static cling. 91 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,400 Right. When you put in, you put in a sheet, it clings. 92 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,300 Everything clings to something. Well, this word isn't that. 93 00:07:57,300 --> 00:08:01,500 This word is the idea of like a leg cramp. 94 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:07,000 When you're running and all of a sudden that leg cramp comes and you run with a stiff leg. 95 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,600 How many of you guys have had leg cramps? 96 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,200 I don't know about you, but I don't like leg cramps. 97 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:17,200 Because I'm sitting on the couch and that thing kicks in, you're like, whoa. Right. 98 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,900 It clings to you and it won't let go. That's the idea. 99 00:08:21,900 --> 00:08:28,800 This idea, which is the term, which clings, is the word besetting or to prevent running. 100 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,900 Leg cramps cling to you. They prevent you from running. 101 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:39,400 So when we are carrying a burden or a mass or we are missing the mark, 102 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:45,500 that prevents us from running rightly. 103 00:08:45,500 --> 00:08:53,200 So, okay, which clings, these besetting sins, these things that prevent us in our living 104 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,800 are closely connected. Right. 105 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:03,600 That which so closely and let us run, this idea that it's close and trust me, 106 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,400 a leg cramp can't get any closer. 107 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:12,800 And if this is true, let us run, treco, to exert, strive, hard, spend, 108 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,600 all one strength to attain something. 109 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:22,000 Are you running the race in such a way that you are exhausting yourself? 110 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:27,900 You're leaving it all out. You're emptying yourself of everything that you have 111 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:32,800 because you want to run the race in a way that glorifies God, 112 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:37,600 in a way that brings him honor, in a way that you carry his name 113 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,200 and when it's all done, he can say, well done. 114 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,100 That's the idea here. 115 00:09:43,100 --> 00:09:52,000 So are we striving hard? Are we spending all of our strength to attain something? 116 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:59,200 Now, this spending all of our strength requires that we endure with endurance 117 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,300 the race that is set before us. 118 00:10:01,300 --> 00:10:07,200 So let us also lay aside every weight, every burden, every mass 119 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:14,200 and let us not miss the mark which clings, which prevents us from running so closely 120 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:22,000 and let us run, let us exert, let us spend all of our strength with endurance 121 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,200 the race that is set before us. 122 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:30,300 I mean, are you running to the point that you are exhausted, 123 00:10:30,300 --> 00:10:37,500 that you're fighting against, making war against your sin? 124 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:42,600 Now, this word with endurance, the race that is set before us 125 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:50,800 means to exert ourselves like a runner in a contest to attain a goal of perfection 126 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,500 which we are destined for. 127 00:10:53,500 --> 00:10:57,200 You are destined for perfection. 128 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,200 What God starts, he will finish. 129 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,200 You will be like Jesus. 130 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,700 You will take off the corruptible and put on the incorruptible. 131 00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:12,900 Your body will become like your spirit, perfect in every way. 132 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:14,300 That's the point. 133 00:11:14,300 --> 00:11:18,400 And if we know this, how should we live? 134 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:23,100 And what has caused this to happen for us? 135 00:11:23,100 --> 00:11:29,800 And how can we continue to strive in this manner as a runner running a race? 136 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:35,600 Well, looking to, verse two, to turn our eyes away from distractions 137 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,100 and fix them on Christ, our prize. 138 00:11:39,100 --> 00:11:42,700 So when we think of the term repentance, you probably have been taught, 139 00:11:42,700 --> 00:11:47,100 which all of us have been, it's a turning away from sin. 140 00:11:47,100 --> 00:11:48,300 It's more than that. 141 00:11:48,300 --> 00:11:50,500 It's a turning to Christ. 142 00:11:50,500 --> 00:11:53,700 And by turning to Christ, you turn away from sin. 143 00:11:53,700 --> 00:11:57,600 We don't turn away from something that you love. 144 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,300 You turn to something that's of greater value. 145 00:12:01,300 --> 00:12:05,500 And as a result, you will turn from that. 146 00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:07,100 That's what repentance is. 147 00:12:07,100 --> 00:12:09,500 It's a turning to Jesus. 148 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:14,700 And as a result of turning to Jesus, you turn away from that which is killing you. 149 00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:17,900 And so repentance is more than just turning away from sin. 150 00:12:17,900 --> 00:12:19,100 It's a turning to Christ. 151 00:12:19,100 --> 00:12:20,400 And that's what you see here. 152 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:27,900 Turn your eyes away from distractions and fix them on Christ, our prize. 153 00:12:27,900 --> 00:12:31,900 You see, if Christ was not our focus, when we turn away from sin, 154 00:12:31,900 --> 00:12:34,000 you will be quick to turn back. 155 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:35,700 How do we know that? 156 00:12:35,700 --> 00:12:37,900 Scripture interprets scripture. 157 00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:39,500 Just look at Lot's wife. 158 00:12:39,500 --> 00:12:46,700 So we are looking to Jesus, the founder, the beginning, 159 00:12:46,700 --> 00:12:51,100 the one who started it all and perfecter of our faith. 160 00:12:51,100 --> 00:12:52,800 He founded our faith. 161 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:54,200 He has started our faith. 162 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,800 And he is the perfecter of our faith. 163 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:05,500 Who for the joy, for the absolute joy that was set before him, endured the cross. 164 00:13:05,500 --> 00:13:13,200 When he was presenting himself as the sacrifice, he joyfully did it. 165 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,200 Of his own accord. 166 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:16,400 Why? 167 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,900 For you. 168 00:13:18,900 --> 00:13:22,700 Set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, 169 00:13:22,700 --> 00:13:27,400 and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 170 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:32,900 That idea of the right hand of the throne of God is the ultimate authority of all things. 171 00:13:32,900 --> 00:13:36,400 He is the authority of God. 172 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:43,700 Now, consider him, Christ, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself 173 00:13:43,700 --> 00:13:47,700 so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. 174 00:13:47,700 --> 00:13:50,300 Why did Jesus go to the cross? 175 00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:56,800 Not only to redeem us, but as a reminder that he has won. 176 00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:58,600 It is finished. 177 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,300 And that we don't need to grow weary and faint-hearted. 178 00:14:01,300 --> 00:14:03,700 We will receive what was promised. 179 00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:07,400 He has endured the cost for you. 180 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,800 And so, in your struggle against sin, 181 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,300 you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your own blood, have you? 182 00:14:15,300 --> 00:14:16,800 No. 183 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,500 Christ did. 184 00:14:18,500 --> 00:14:21,100 He shed his blood for you. 185 00:14:21,100 --> 00:14:24,300 And we haven't resisted to the point that we would shed our own. 186 00:14:24,300 --> 00:14:25,300 That's the idea. 187 00:14:25,300 --> 00:14:26,900 Principle number two. 188 00:14:26,900 --> 00:14:29,500 Repentance is not enough for salvation. 189 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:32,300 Ouch. 190 00:14:32,300 --> 00:14:34,800 People are bugging out right now. 191 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,200 Well, doesn't it say in John 1, 15, repent and believe the gospel? 192 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:39,800 Yes. 193 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,500 But it doesn't say just repent and you're in. 194 00:14:43,500 --> 00:14:46,100 Just say a prayer and you're good. 195 00:14:46,100 --> 00:14:47,100 It's not what it means. 196 00:14:47,100 --> 00:14:49,200 Repentance is not enough for salvation. 197 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:54,100 Salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone. 198 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:57,600 Repentance is a result of transformation. 199 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,500 When somebody is transformed in the heart, justified, 200 00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:03,000 they confess Christ as Lord and Savior, 201 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,100 and they turn to Jesus and turn away from sin. 202 00:15:07,100 --> 00:15:09,300 They turn to something. 203 00:15:09,300 --> 00:15:12,600 And as a result, turning to something, they turn away from something. 204 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:14,200 That's the idea here. 205 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:19,500 So in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, 206 00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:27,000 you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, 207 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,200 more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire, 208 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:37,900 may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 209 00:15:37,900 --> 00:15:45,100 First Peter 1, 6 through 7, that the reality of our faith is proven genuine because of Christ 210 00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:51,800 and his preservation of us, his preserving us, 211 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:57,200 the perseverance of us through all these things. 212 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:02,700 Now, that being said, Hebrews 12, 5 through 17. 213 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:09,100 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 214 00:16:09,100 --> 00:16:10,900 You are children of God. 215 00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:18,100 Have you forgotten how he has called you sons? 216 00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:21,600 My son, and this is what he's, listen to this. 217 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,600 My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, 218 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,300 nor be weary when reproved by him. 219 00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:37,200 He's talking to us, you, his son and daughters, his sons and daughters. 220 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:46,700 Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, the chastising of the Lord, 221 00:16:46,700 --> 00:16:51,300 nor be weary when reproved by him. 222 00:16:51,300 --> 00:16:53,600 How do you know when God is disciplining you? 223 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:55,800 Well, we're going to talk about that right now. 224 00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:05,000 For the Lord disciplines, paiduo, to chastise by the infliction of calamities and sufferings. 225 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,800 In the BLB, it doesn't use the word sufferings, it says evils. 226 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:17,200 The problem is that in modern English, evils mean that it's the devil, 227 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:23,300 that anything that brings deep harm, pain to you is evils. 228 00:17:23,300 --> 00:17:28,200 That's a correct term in the Old English for suffering. 229 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:34,400 But in our modern English, they have a very distorted view of what evils are. 230 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:40,800 That being said, chastisement, the Lord's discipline is chastisement 231 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:47,000 by the infliction of calamities and suffering. 232 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:57,100 Do we look at our lives and go, I'm suffering because it's just not fair. 233 00:17:57,100 --> 00:17:59,300 It's just not fair. 234 00:17:59,300 --> 00:18:00,900 It's not fair that I suffer. 235 00:18:00,900 --> 00:18:02,200 I'm innocent. 236 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,200 There's no one innocent. 237 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,400 It's not fair that I suffer. 238 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,000 I'm not doing anything wrong. 239 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,400 You don't know the intentionality of your heart. 240 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:17,400 You don't know the deep issues of your heart, do you? 241 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:19,400 That's a hard thing to kind of understand. 242 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:24,900 So when we look at discipline and we look at all the things that happen to us, 243 00:18:24,900 --> 00:18:31,600 understand that God is using everything to conform you into the image of his son. 244 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:32,900 He's disciplining you. 245 00:18:32,900 --> 00:18:35,300 He's training you. 246 00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:45,100 So for the Lord disciplines, the Lord inflects calamities and suffering on the one he loves. 247 00:18:45,100 --> 00:18:48,000 Notice it doesn't say ones. 248 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,200 He's talking to you. 249 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,100 He loves you. 250 00:18:52,100 --> 00:18:55,100 If you're going through stuff, it's because he loves you. 251 00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:59,100 You're like, well, I don't want that kind of love. 252 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:01,700 Well, neither did my kids. 253 00:19:01,700 --> 00:19:09,600 Here's an example because every he chastises every son whom he receives, right? 254 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,200 Like my oldest son, my wife remembers this. 255 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,500 How many of you guys know the paddle with the little ball and it could do, do, do, do, do? 256 00:19:17,500 --> 00:19:21,700 Yeah, I was like, yeah, I'm taking that off. 257 00:19:21,700 --> 00:19:23,300 That bro took it off. 258 00:19:23,300 --> 00:19:25,300 That was my little paddle. 259 00:19:25,300 --> 00:19:29,300 One covers a good surface and it doesn't hurt too bad. 260 00:19:29,300 --> 00:19:31,000 Spoon's a different story. 261 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,300 The wider it is, the better off it is. 262 00:19:34,300 --> 00:19:36,400 The smaller it is, the worse it hurts. 263 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,400 My mom, my mom's like switches. 264 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,800 I don't, who ever got switched? 265 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:42,500 Oh, everybody, a lot of hands. 266 00:19:42,500 --> 00:19:45,200 Ooh, go, go cut that off that tree. 267 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:46,500 Bring it over here. 268 00:19:46,500 --> 00:19:47,000 Well, I didn't. 269 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:47,700 I used the paddle. 270 00:19:47,700 --> 00:19:52,400 And so one day my son does something and I say, and this is why I did this every time. 271 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:53,500 So I would have to be calm. 272 00:19:53,500 --> 00:19:57,200 So in your anger, do not discipline your children when you're angry. 273 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,200 If you're angry, don't touch your kids. 274 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,700 Don't say a word to them because you're going to say something you're going to regret 275 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:05,700 and you're going to do something you're going to regret. 276 00:20:05,700 --> 00:20:06,300 Don't do it. 277 00:20:06,300 --> 00:20:07,000 Calm down. 278 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,600 Take a breath. 279 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:18,500 And then I would say, Jared, go get the paddle. 280 00:20:18,500 --> 00:20:22,900 I don't want you to get so angry. 281 00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:24,100 She remembers. 282 00:20:24,100 --> 00:20:25,200 I'd be like, go get the paddle. 283 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:29,000 Oh, okay. 284 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:30,700 He'd go get the paddle and bring it. 285 00:20:30,700 --> 00:20:35,600 Give me the paddle. 286 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:40,100 And then it turned around. 287 00:20:40,100 --> 00:20:42,500 And I'd smack his butt for it. 288 00:20:42,500 --> 00:20:45,400 And it would all depend on how bad it was. 289 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,200 See, my youngest, they didn't get that. 290 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:53,500 They didn't get paddles. 291 00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:57,900 Someone said, oh. 292 00:20:57,900 --> 00:21:05,500 So he would get, the severity of the paddle would be dependent on the crime. 293 00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:07,200 The worse the crime, the worse the paddle. 294 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:07,700 Well, he did that. 295 00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:11,100 He got one time he did something really bad. 296 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:12,700 I broke the paddle. 297 00:21:12,700 --> 00:21:14,300 Once, one time. 298 00:21:14,300 --> 00:21:17,000 It's a thin piece of, come on, it's a Luan. 299 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,800 It's not like a thick one. 300 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,600 It's not like a ping pong paddle. 301 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,500 Those would work great. 302 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:27,600 All right. 303 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:33,300 So the point is that I did that because I love him. 304 00:21:33,300 --> 00:21:35,700 I don't want him to do wrong. 305 00:21:35,700 --> 00:21:41,300 And the only way to change, to move the heart, to direct the heart in the direction 306 00:21:41,300 --> 00:21:45,000 that the child should go is discipline. 307 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,200 So because I love him, I chastise him. 308 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:52,200 And if I chastise him, then he is my son. 309 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,000 If I don't chastise him, he's not mine. 310 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,300 And so the point of chastisement is because I love him. 311 00:21:58,300 --> 00:22:06,200 And God loves us and chastises every son whom he receives, whom he has brought 312 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,500 into the family, whom he has decided is mine. 313 00:22:10,500 --> 00:22:18,700 Now, verse seven, for it is for discipline, paidaya is the word here, paidaya, 314 00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:24,700 discipline, calamities and sufferings that God visits for correction. 315 00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:32,400 That God will use things that are besetting upon us because of stuff such as sin 316 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:37,400 or just that we live in a very broken world, God will use it. 317 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:42,500 Or that God will cause calamities and sufferings. 318 00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:45,700 You ever wonder about that? 319 00:22:45,700 --> 00:22:51,900 And that you have to endure those things is all you have to do is look at Job. 320 00:22:51,900 --> 00:22:55,400 There wasn't, if you were to look at Job outside of Job's life, 321 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,900 you would think he didn't deserve that at all. 322 00:22:59,900 --> 00:23:04,900 But God's like, no, so you don't see the intentionality of the heart that I see. 323 00:23:04,900 --> 00:23:11,200 And so God says, hey, talks to, you know, Apollyon, Lucifer and says, Satan, 324 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,300 however you want to call him, have you considered my servant Job? 325 00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:16,600 He's like, yeah, but I can't, I just, you know. 326 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,500 He's like, fine, you can do all this, but you can't do that. 327 00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:22,100 Calamity kills all his kids. 328 00:23:22,100 --> 00:23:25,600 Satan kills all his kids, steals all his stuff. 329 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,100 That's called a calamity. 330 00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:31,200 And then God says, second time, have you considered my servant Job? 331 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:32,800 I can't touch him. 332 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,700 Fine, you can touch his body, but you can't kill him. 333 00:23:35,700 --> 00:23:37,900 Sufferings. 334 00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:39,900 Did he deserve it? 335 00:23:39,900 --> 00:23:41,400 You would say no. 336 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,000 God says he did. 337 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:48,700 Because what you end up finding about Job's life is God dealt with the pride of his heart. 338 00:23:48,700 --> 00:23:50,500 Job felt he was good. 339 00:23:50,500 --> 00:23:52,200 I'm good, I'm doing my thing. 340 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,400 I bring offerings to the Lord. 341 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,400 I pray on behalf of my kids. 342 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:57,900 Like, I'm wealthy. 343 00:23:57,900 --> 00:23:59,200 I'm doing the right. 344 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,600 And God's like, yeah, but your heart is messed up, man. 345 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,100 And God ultimately will perfect us. 346 00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:09,200 And that's what you see in Job's life. 347 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,800 That we, just like Job, should endure the discipline of God. 348 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,000 God is treating you, continue on verse seven. 349 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,600 God is treating you as sons. 350 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:25,200 For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 351 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:30,900 If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, all of us have been disciplined. 352 00:24:30,900 --> 00:24:37,000 If you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 353 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,600 We should be going through stuff. 354 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:44,200 Now, some would say, well, I've had enough of that stuff. 355 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:51,000 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who discipline us and we respect them. 356 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,800 Trust me, I know some really good dads. 357 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:55,800 Here we go. 358 00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:00,700 So, it says that we had earthly fathers who discipline us and we respect them. 359 00:25:00,700 --> 00:25:07,300 Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of Spirits and live? 360 00:25:07,300 --> 00:25:13,200 If we are subject as its children to him, then we will live. 361 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:19,900 But if we are not subject to him and we don't belong to him, there is no life for you. 362 00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:21,000 Verse 10. 363 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:26,500 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them. 364 00:25:26,500 --> 00:25:34,800 But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 365 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,900 That you may be like him, perfect, the perfector. 366 00:25:39,900 --> 00:25:42,400 That's what this is all about. 367 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:43,400 Verse 11. 368 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:47,000 For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. 369 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,200 Trust me, it doesn't feel good. 370 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,500 Your suffering isn't good, doesn't feel good, but it's good. 371 00:25:54,500 --> 00:25:58,500 Your suffering is painful and it hurts, but it's good. 372 00:25:58,500 --> 00:25:58,900 Why? 373 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:05,900 Because later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, the conformity to Jesus. 374 00:26:05,900 --> 00:26:08,000 Jesus is our righteousness. 375 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,200 The peaceful fruit of righteousness is to be like Christ. 376 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:16,300 To those who have been trained by it. 377 00:26:16,300 --> 00:26:19,500 When you discipline, it's training. 378 00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:23,600 You train, you are trained by discipline. 379 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:29,000 Not only self-discipline, but discipline for the wrong that you do. 380 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:35,500 Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths. 381 00:26:35,500 --> 00:26:38,500 What does it mean to lift up your drooping hands? 382 00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:41,600 When you got a leg cramp and you're in a race because we're still running, 383 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,400 we're still in the running idea here. 384 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,200 When you see the end of the race, they're like spent. 385 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:49,600 They're exhausted. 386 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,100 Their electrolytes are low. 387 00:26:51,100 --> 00:26:52,000 What do they do? 388 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000 They're like, they're dragging, right? 389 00:26:54,000 --> 00:27:04,100 They're like, and their stuff's all coming out of them and you're like, they're about to die. 390 00:27:04,100 --> 00:27:07,300 That's because they're exhausted. 391 00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:08,700 They've gone through it. 392 00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:11,300 They have been beat down. 393 00:27:11,300 --> 00:27:18,400 Well, this is what he says, lift your drooping hands because when your hands are up, you can run. 394 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,300 Strengthen your knees, get your knees back under you because when your knees are back under you, 395 00:27:22,300 --> 00:27:28,400 you can run hard, firm, strong. 396 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,600 The race isn't over for us. 397 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,500 It's not the end. 398 00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:35,900 Doesn't matter how old you are. 399 00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:38,400 There's no retirement for Christianity. 400 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,500 It's not a spectator sport. 401 00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:43,100 You must participate. 402 00:27:43,100 --> 00:27:52,800 And so get your hands up and get your knees under you and make straight paths for your feet. 403 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,400 This is what this means. 404 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,300 When you are not drooping and your knees are good under you and you're running strong, 405 00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:02,800 you can stay in lane. 406 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:10,000 This word, paths, is this idea of walk or ride in the track that has already been laid, the rut. 407 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,900 So horses and buggies would ride the rut. 408 00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:21,600 You would go from Strouds on the rut to Sellersburg, well, Ross, that would be called Ross. 409 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:23,300 You would be riding the rut. 410 00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:28,100 You don't ride off the rut because you ride off the rut, you're going to find stuff you don't want. 411 00:28:28,100 --> 00:28:29,900 You stay in lane. 412 00:28:29,900 --> 00:28:31,400 That's the idea here. 413 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:37,100 So we walk and ride in the rut, in the track that's already been laid for you. 414 00:28:37,100 --> 00:28:38,100 Why? 415 00:28:38,100 --> 00:28:44,800 So that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 416 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:50,200 See, when you're on the rut, sometimes there's a rock there. 417 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:51,300 You can avoid that. 418 00:28:51,300 --> 00:28:53,000 Sometimes there's a hole. 419 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:54,400 You can get through that. 420 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:59,700 But as long as you stay in the lane, the wheels are sure and they're not going to fall off. 421 00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:05,000 As long as you're running in the lane, you're not going to go off into a different direction 422 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,900 and break your ankle. 423 00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:09,300 That's the idea. 424 00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:10,700 And this is what he's telling us here. 425 00:29:10,700 --> 00:29:14,900 So how many of you guys have read Pilgrim's Progress? 426 00:29:14,900 --> 00:29:17,500 Watch Pilgrim's Progress. 427 00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:19,200 If you haven't read it, watch it. 428 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:20,800 If you haven't watched it, read it. 429 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:26,100 Either way, what happens to Christian is he decides, I'm going to do a shortcut. 430 00:29:26,100 --> 00:29:29,000 And every time he does a shortcut, it's like he breaks an ankle. 431 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,000 He does something foolish. 432 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:32,400 And what happens? 433 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,400 He gets disciplined. 434 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,100 Wow, because he's in a bad place. 435 00:29:38,100 --> 00:29:43,000 And God uses it to teach him something and to conform him into the image of Christ, to 436 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,000 put in the character of God to make him holy. 437 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,200 Well, when you go offline, that is the idea. 438 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:56,600 And if we go offline, we have to be careful when we're offline. 439 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,300 The reason why you should always stay in the rut. 440 00:29:59,300 --> 00:30:00,000 Why? 441 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,900 Because we strive for, verse 14, we strive for peace 442 00:30:03,900 --> 00:30:10,000 with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 443 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:19,400 This word holiness, hegasimas, hegasimas is the sanctification of the heart and life. 444 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:20,900 It's the cleansing. 445 00:30:20,900 --> 00:30:26,800 It's the sanctification of the heart and life that we strive for peace with everyone 446 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:33,300 and that we live in the sanctification of the heart and life by, without, 447 00:30:33,300 --> 00:30:35,800 that we will not see Jesus. 448 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:37,600 Do you hear that? 449 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,600 Not everybody gets to heaven. 450 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,200 That's tough. 451 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,400 Verse 15, see to it. 452 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:52,100 Beware that no one fails, that no one is left behind, that no one, it fails to be a 453 00:30:52,100 --> 00:30:56,700 partaker to obtain the grace of God. 454 00:30:56,700 --> 00:30:59,100 Beware. 455 00:30:59,100 --> 00:31:01,800 Be careful. 456 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:07,500 That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. 457 00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:12,400 This word of root of bitterness literally means what it means. 458 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:21,000 It is the things that cause us to be defiled that by the root of bitterness continued 459 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,500 and by it many become defiled. 460 00:31:25,500 --> 00:31:31,000 Many become worthless, unusable. 461 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:35,200 Like the root of bitterness kills everything. 462 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,600 It is a cancer without a cure. 463 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,000 That's the idea here. 464 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,900 If you live there, you're going to die there. 465 00:31:43,900 --> 00:31:48,600 And God says do not let it spring up and cause trouble. 466 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:50,100 Why? 467 00:31:50,100 --> 00:31:51,900 Because it will pull others away. 468 00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:53,300 You'll see that in a minute. 469 00:31:53,300 --> 00:31:58,000 That no one is sexually immoral or unholy. 470 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,600 This is the hard part. 471 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:08,400 See, what the root of bitterness does, if it springs up and causes trouble, it defiles 472 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,200 a lot of people. 473 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:17,700 And it produces in people sin that is really bad. 474 00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:24,000 Sexual immorality and unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 475 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,600 Now think about that. 476 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:26,700 Porridge. 477 00:32:26,700 --> 00:32:36,500 I'm thinking porridge is like grits or, you know, cream of wheat, which I like. 478 00:32:36,500 --> 00:32:37,500 But I'm not going to give it up. 479 00:32:37,500 --> 00:32:40,600 I'm not giving up heaven for that. 480 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,000 Jacob's porridge must have been really good though. 481 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:45,800 Or he would have been really hungry. 482 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,500 But Esau was a dog. 483 00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:50,400 Look what it says about Esau. 484 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,600 You guys, this is going to hurt you. 485 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:54,400 This is going to rustle some feathers. 486 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:56,900 This is going to make you really uncomfortable. 487 00:32:56,900 --> 00:33:02,200 You'll be like, how many of you guys have heard that God is the God of second chances? 488 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:03,200 Come on now. 489 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:11,800 Listen, if you watched anybody on YouTube or if you watched Steven Furtick or Joel Osteen, 490 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,900 I know you've heard God is a God of second chances. 491 00:33:15,900 --> 00:33:17,700 Nobody's heard God is a God of second chances? 492 00:33:17,700 --> 00:33:19,200 Okay, thank you. 493 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,400 Here, listen to this. 494 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,200 He's not. 495 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:32,100 God is the God of the only chance, not the second chances, third chances, fourth chances. 496 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:43,400 For you know that afterward when Esau, he desired to inherit the blessing, when he wanted 497 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:49,600 the blessing back, when he's, I'm ready to get in line now. 498 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:50,600 What's it say? 499 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,640 He was rejected. 500 00:33:52,640 --> 00:34:01,800 You know what, that Jesus thing, I think I'm going to wait until I get my life together. 501 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,840 Some things I need to fix first. 502 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:12,600 You have the power to fix that stuff. 503 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:18,400 Here it says Esau was like, God's like, yeah, it's too late. 504 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:19,400 I don't want you. 505 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:25,120 As a matter of fact, we know because in the scripture in Romans, it says that Jacob, I 506 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,360 love, but Esau, I hated. 507 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,480 Malachi says Jacob, I love, but Esau, I hated. 508 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:36,620 And in Romans, it says that he loved Jacob, but hated Esau even before they were born, 509 00:34:36,620 --> 00:34:38,280 before they did anything. 510 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:39,280 Why? 511 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,720 Because God knows the intention of the heart. 512 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:45,640 He knows the evil heart. 513 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:51,240 And all of a sudden, Esau looks at Jacob and goes, I want that now. 514 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:54,280 I'll give my porridge back. 515 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:56,280 Nope. 516 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,120 Too late. 517 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:05,720 Look what it says after that, for he found no chance to repent. 518 00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:06,720 That's power. 519 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:12,200 God says, not only are you rejected, but you're not even going to repent. 520 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,200 It's not even going to happen. 521 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:15,200 Why? 522 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,920 Because I'm not going to let it happen. 523 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,800 How do we know that? 524 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:27,440 Because it says, though he sought it with tears, Esau begged for forgiveness. 525 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,480 But what did God see? 526 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:30,480 God saw the heart. 527 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:35,000 See, that's what makes conversion so amazing. 528 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:43,920 Because God changes the heart and makes it suitable for him, which brings repentance 529 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:47,240 because it's been transformed and made new. 530 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:49,280 Isn't that interesting? 531 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,080 Repentance is not enough for salvation. 532 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:58,160 It must be the faith of God as a gift given to the person by the power of the spirit, 533 00:35:58,160 --> 00:35:59,820 which transforms the heart. 534 00:35:59,820 --> 00:36:05,080 And in response to the transformed heart, the heart repents, turns to Jesus. 535 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:10,760 The thing that he hates, he turns to and loves and adores and desires. 536 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:12,520 That's the point. 537 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:18,080 Repentance is not just turning away, it's turning to. 538 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:23,560 So third principle, we must obey and never ignore God speaking through his word. 539 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:29,400 And like Moses, our attitude must be, I tremble with fear. 540 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:35,240 Everything will be shaken off its foundation and Christ's kingdom will be the only thing 541 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,040 left standing. 542 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,800 Everything on this earth will be gone. 543 00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,640 All the kingdoms made by man will become nothing. 544 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:49,360 The only thing that will be left is Christ and his kingdom. 545 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:55,640 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. 546 00:36:55,640 --> 00:37:01,800 The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled 547 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,680 violently. 548 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:09,360 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered 549 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:10,960 him. 550 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,960 Exodus 19, 18 through 19. 551 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,120 Look what it says. 552 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,280 Hebrews kind of helps us understand even a little more. 553 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:23,840 For you have not come to what may be touched. 554 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:25,800 This is God speaking. 555 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,580 Don't touch the mountain, he says. 556 00:37:28,580 --> 00:37:34,240 And a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and 557 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:41,600 a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 558 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:48,280 God's presence on Mount Sinai was so intense that they said, please don't talk to us anymore. 559 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:49,460 Why? 560 00:37:49,460 --> 00:37:54,120 For they, verse 20, could not endure the order that was given. 561 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,320 They could not endure the commandments, the perfect law of God. 562 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:03,440 We can't do it no more. 563 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:08,760 And God says even a beast touches the mountain, it'll be stoned. 564 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:15,440 Not even an innocent bird flying in the air who lands on the mountain will live. 565 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,960 You are to kill it. 566 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:26,800 That tells you the depth of corruption of sin upon all creation. 567 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:35,960 Verse 21, indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. 568 00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:43,720 But you have come to Mount Zion, you, you have come to Mount Zion, the mountain of God, 569 00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:53,200 and to the city of the living God called the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels 570 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,920 in festal gathering. 571 00:38:55,920 --> 00:39:03,640 God's angelic beings come and they gather in a festival singing and praising all because 572 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:04,640 it's him. 573 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:09,800 Do you come to church because it's him? 574 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:16,520 Are we here because we are before the presence of the living God and his word is spoken and 575 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:22,800 given and read and we sing of his glorious beauty and his doctrine and his truth and 576 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:27,360 we soak in the reality of the character of Christ because that's the only thing that 577 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:32,200 can change you or do you hear, oh, you're wonderful. 578 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,040 God loves you. 579 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:40,360 The very presence of God, the very character of God is amazing. 580 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,040 And look what it says. 581 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:47,520 Not only do we come before the mountain of God to the city of the living God, the heavenly 582 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:53,920 Jerusalem and all the angels, the myriads and myriads of angels gathering, but we also 583 00:39:53,920 --> 00:40:01,400 come to the assembly of the firstborn, the protokos, those who have already inherited 584 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,020 heaven. 585 00:40:03,020 --> 00:40:04,360 They are there. 586 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:06,200 How do we know? 587 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:14,160 Well, scripture says that when Jesus gave up the spirit on the cross and the resurrection 588 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:23,880 and the dead came out of their graves, oh, that's called the first resurrection. 589 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,440 They are with him. 590 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:31,320 They have been bodily resurrected and have been taken with him. 591 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:37,860 He and they are there and they are the assembly of the firstborn proclaiming the holiness 592 00:40:37,860 --> 00:40:39,640 of our God. 593 00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:40,920 Why? 594 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:46,720 Because they were enrolled in heaven and through the assembly of the firstborn who were enrolled 595 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:50,920 in heaven, whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation 596 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:51,920 of the world. 597 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:53,080 That's why Abraham is in. 598 00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:54,640 That's why Jacob is in. 599 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:59,480 That's why Isaac is in. 600 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,600 They're in because they've always been in. 601 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,640 Well, that's not fair. 602 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:05,640 Since when is it fair? 603 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,840 God doesn't care about your fairness. 604 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:10,600 He cares about his holiness. 605 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:15,800 He's the determiner whether we like it or not. 606 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,800 What an amazing God. 607 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,120 How is all this accomplished? 608 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:30,480 Not only are we there in the sense that we are before the city of the living God in heavenly 609 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:33,960 Jerusalem and all the angels are there and all the assembly of the firstborn are there 610 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:38,400 and all that are enrolled in heaven and to God. 611 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:45,040 Yahweh Elohim, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the judge of all and to the spirits of 612 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:51,720 the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. 613 00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:54,360 How is all this accomplished? 614 00:41:54,360 --> 00:42:00,840 And to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, the blood of 615 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:07,640 Abel screams from the garden, I need a redeemer, but the blood of Jesus screams, I am the redeemer. 616 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:12,840 So see that you do not refuse him who is speaking. 617 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:18,320 If you are hearing the spirit of God speak through his word and he is speaking to your 618 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:19,880 heart, don't refuse him. 619 00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:25,220 Don't walk away knowing he's talking to you through his word. 620 00:42:25,220 --> 00:42:30,680 For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will 621 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:36,040 we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 622 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:42,960 Verse 26, almost done, four more verses. 623 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:52,760 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised yet once more, I will 624 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,240 shake not only the earth but also the heavens. 625 00:42:56,240 --> 00:43:05,120 Notice what it says in verse 27, there's one more time, one more chance, not because God 626 00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:09,400 is the God of second chances, God is the God of the only chance. 627 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:17,680 This is what it says, this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that 628 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:23,360 are shaken, that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot 629 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,120 be shaken may remain. 630 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:30,920 All of the kingdoms of the earth of men will be gone. 631 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:37,400 The only thing that will remain is Christ and his kingdom, therefore let us be grateful 632 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:41,480 to receive, for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. 633 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:43,040 Do you hear that? 634 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:47,480 It means present tense, future tense. 635 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:50,000 Well actually past, present and future tense. 636 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:55,500 We have received, we continue to receive and we will receive. 637 00:43:55,500 --> 00:44:02,960 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus as 638 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:10,580 a result of that, that we are not in those other kingdoms, let us offer to God acceptable 639 00:44:10,580 --> 00:44:13,560 worship with reverence and awe. 640 00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:14,560 Why? 641 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:20,440 For our God is a consuming fire. 642 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:25,680 I would be terrified to be in the hands of an angry God. 643 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:31,960 Let me say it this way, I am terrified to be in the hands of a holy God. 644 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:37,760 Therefore I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies 645 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:43,360 as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship. 646 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:48,760 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing 647 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:54,800 you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. 648 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:56,760 Romans 12, 1 and 2. 649 00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:07,800 Hopefully as I did a synopsis of chapter 12 what we see is God is so good to his people 650 00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:09,560 and I am thankful. 651 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,120 So to God be the glory. 652 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:12,120 That being said let's pray. 653 00:45:12,120 --> 00:45:14,640 Father I want to thank you so much for your word. 654 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:19,560 Thank you for the truth of chapter 12 that you are truly the founder and perfecter of 655 00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:20,780 our faith. 656 00:45:20,780 --> 00:45:27,040 That you are perfecting us through discipline and that we will be with you in your kingdom 657 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:32,840 which is unshakable and we praise you that you are our God and our Savior. 658 00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:47,080 In Jesus name, Amen.