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Our theme in worship this morning is remembering, and the message is entitled, Some Things to

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Remember.

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Most of us remark from time to time about losing our memories as we grow older.

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Perhaps Ben Franklin had the best advice for all of us when he said, Don't worry if you

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start losing your memory.

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In fact, just forget it.

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Memory loss is not just the result of the aging process.

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It is in part the result also of sin.

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Human beings easily forget what we should remember, and we remember what we should forget.

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God warns the nations, for example in Psalm 9, He warns the nations that forget Him that

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they will be turned to Sheol, that is the realm of the dead.

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The nations forget that.

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Again, the psalmist in Psalm 50 says, and those who forget God should consider this

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fact that there is none to deliver, none to deliver them.

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But people forget that as well as God.

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Even we who are God's people easily forget our blessings, don't we?

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The psalmist confesses for ancient Israel, and by way of application perhaps for some

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of us or all of us from time to time, in Psalm 106, they quickly forgot His works.

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They forgot God their Savior who had done great things in Egypt.

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But the apostle Paul sets it straight when he says as he does in Philippians chapter

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3, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

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That should be the direction of our lives, and yet too often don't we reach back to

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what lies behind and we forget what lies ahead.

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If you and I want to live for Jesus Christ, and I trust that is our great motive for living,

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we must get our memories activated.

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There are some things that we must remember.

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God's Word gives us those things to remember, and I'd like for you to look into God's

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Word with me this morning at these.

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If we remember these things, then we will walk with God and be enriched in that walk

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with Him.

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First, turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2, where the apostle says in verse 8, remember Jesus

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Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David according to my gospel.

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He tells us here to remember Jesus Christ, and as we look in the broader context of this

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verse, we see that he is writing to soldiers.

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He says, for example, in verse 1, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

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In verse 3, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

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Some of the Lord's soldiers today are weary and stressed out.

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Others are surrounded and feel defeated, overwhelmed.

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Some are wounded and bleeding.

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To those who are the Lord's soldiers, he says, remember the grace of Jesus Christ.

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It is good for all of us to be reminded that spiritual warfare is not a war game.

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It is something that is very real, the pressure, the obstacles that confront us, the opposition

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that is there that we face.

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Spiritual warfare is very real whenever an individual desires to grow and to advance

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for Jesus Christ.

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Hardship comes, and he tells us to suffer that hardship.

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We are incapable though of facing it in our own strength, our own wisdom, our own cleverness.

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We must call upon the Lord for His grace.

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We need His grace.

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This is God's grace given to enable.

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It is His supernatural enablement given to the soldier freely.

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It is available from Jesus Christ, the one who is said here in verse 8, who has died

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and has been raised from the dead.

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The one who is victorious in his own battle.

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The one who joined with humanity and experienced as we experience opposition and suffering.

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He suffered hardship because he was of the seed of David, a descendant of David.

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But he was victorious though he suffered death.

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He rose from the dead, and he lives today to minister grace to his people.

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Do you need His grace today for what you are facing?

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In your family, in your personal health, in your job situation, in your Christian fellowship,

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do you need grace?

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Remember the grace of the risen Christ.

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It is grace that He is able to minister to you in your time of need.

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When you and I are in the battle and we feel as though we just cannot continue on any further,

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it is time then to remember the grace of the risen Christ, which is available to all of

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us if we will but appropriate it.

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You say, well how do I appropriate it?

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How do I experience that grace?

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I need that grace today.

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The very first thing we have to do is to acknowledge to the Lord our need for it.

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We have to humble ourselves and say, Lord, here is the way I am today.

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I am weary.

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I am discouraged.

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I am disappointed.

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I am wounded.

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I am bleeding.

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Tell Him how you feel.

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Then after you have acknowledged that need, say to Him, Lord Jesus, you give me the grace

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that I need right now.

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In that act of asking and appropriating by faith, that grace will begin to minister to

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you in your life.

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Do not forget this.

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If you forget this, you will fall in the battle.

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There is no hope for you.

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You will not be able to gain victories.

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You will not advance unless you remember the grace of the risen Christ, for it is only

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in that grace that we can move forward.

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It is only in that grace that we can stand and suffer the hardships that confront all

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of us.

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There are some things that we need to remember today that will enrich our lives and give

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us victory.

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The first one is to remember the grace of the risen Christ.

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Now if you will turn to the book of Hebrews in the thirteenth chapter, we will see something

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else to remember.

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Hebrews 13.

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Look at verse 3.

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Here, remember the prisoners as though in prison with them, and those who are ill treated

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since you yourselves also are in the body.

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Here we are told to remember the bond with suffering saints.

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None of us ever suffers persecution isolated from other believers.

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Those who today are languishing in prison camps in Russia or in other parts of the world

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where there is totalitarianism, or those who lay down their lives in a terrorist attack,

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whether it be in the fields of South America or Southeast Asia or Africa, no one who suffers

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persecution for Jesus Christ suffers alone.

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We are told here that there is a bond between us and them, but isn't it true that too easily

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are they out of sight and out of mind?

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The apostle uses two striking phrases here to remind us of how significant that bond

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is.

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Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them.

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He says imagine yourself in the same cell, or to put it differently, in the stocks with

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them.

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We don't have stocks anymore.

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That's cruel and unusual punishment I'm sure.

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We used to in the early days of this republic, and of course they did in biblical times.

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In Acts chapter 16 we have an example of what Paul is talking about here.

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When he and Silas were thrown into the inner prison and there the two of them were put

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into stocks.

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They were suffering, they were bound together.

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A stock of course is a heavy wooden frame into which the feet were placed, or sometimes

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even the hands in order to secure a person.

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Today we would call it handcuffs.

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So if we put this in the vernacular of our day, he is saying to us, remember the prisoners

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as though you were handcuffed with them.

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We are to be mindful of them.

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In fact, we are to be as passionate regarding their situation as we would be as if we ourselves

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were there.

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In Colossians 4-8 the apostle pleads with the believers in Colossians.

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He says to them, remember my imprisonment.

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Remember as he wrote that epistle, he was in prison in Rome.

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He said, remember my imprisonment.

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I want to say to you today that there are multiplied thousands of believers who are

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suffering for Jesus Christ.

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I receive a bulletin every quarter from an organization that publicizes the names and

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often the pictures of those who have been incarcerated, particularly in Russia, for the

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simple reason that they have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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We are to remember those people.

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We are not to forget them in their suffering.

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But he goes on to say, also remember those who are ill-treated since you yourselves also

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are in the body.

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He is not talking here about imprisonment necessarily, but he is talking about mistreatment

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or maltreatment, perhaps the loss of what they own or the inability to get a job to

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provide for their families or the denial of an education because they choose to believe

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in God.

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Of course, that happens in our world, mistreatment.

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It happens in more subtle ways even in our own nation.

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Back in chapter 11 of Hebrews in the 37th verse, he uses the same word and it gives

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us something of a context.

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He says, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to

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death with a sword.

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They went about in sheep skins, in goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering

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in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

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And he inserts in there, of whom the world was not worthy.

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The world counts believers sometimes in some situations as absolutely irrelevant or sometimes

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worse than that, they look upon believers as being the enemy, as being a scourge.

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But God's evaluation is of whom the world was not worthy.

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But nonetheless, they suffered.

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And the people to whom this was written were told, remember those who are ill-treated.

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If you see a believer who is ill-treated, how do you remember them?

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If you see a believer in Jesus Christ who is suffering persecution in your office, do

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you identify with him or with her?

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Or if there is a believer in Jesus Christ who is publicly held up to ridicule because

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of his stand or because of her commitment to Jesus Christ, do you seek ways in which

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you can stand beside that person and remember them?

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Remember something.

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You too are in the body.

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Just as no member of your body can suffer without the other members of your body being

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affected, so there is not a believer who can be mistreated without the rest of us in some

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sense, in some way, being affected by that.

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So remember them.

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Pray for them.

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Publicly identify with them.

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If it's within your power, seek to help meet their needs.

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If you and I would be enriched in our spiritual walk today, we have to remember the bond with

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the suffering saints.

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And then if you look down a few verses here in Hebrews 13, you come to another statement

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that tells us to remember the example of godly leaders.

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Hebrews 13 verse 7, remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and

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considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

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Of course, the readers of this book were being tempted to return to their former religion

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of Judaism.

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They were being enticed to turn aside in unbelief, to apostatize.

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They were being tempted to forsake the better provision, the final provision that God has

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made for sin, and to go back to the old and incomplete and shadowy system of sacrifices.

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They were being drawn away because of trials they were passing through.

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And so to them, the writer gives a series here of important statements.

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And among those, he says, remember those who led you.

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He is saying, remember the example of godly leaders.

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One significant qualification is given here, though.

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He says, considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

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You know what he's saying?

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He is saying that their lifestyle validated their testimony.

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Remember those who led you, who spoke to you the word of God, who were faithful, and considering

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the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

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Mimic them.

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It is good for you and for me when we are passing through temptation, when we are tempted

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to turn aside from our walk with God, to bring to mind the example of godly men and women

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that have had influence in our lives in the past.

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It may be a parent, or it could be a pastor in our early years.

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It could be a youth leader that meant so much, or that person who put his arm around us at

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that critical point as we were facing a tough decision.

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But as you and I pass through the trials of life and we are tempted to turn aside from

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the Lord, he says, remember the example of godly leaders who have influenced your life,

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those who spoke the word of God to you.

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And he says, considering how they lived, considering the outcome, the full result of their life,

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their manner of living, imitate them.

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Imitate them.

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Imitate them in what sense?

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In sticking with it, in persevering, in going on and not being turned aside.

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Godly leaders come and go, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and yes, forever,

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he says.

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He is the great example.

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Sometimes we need someone down here on earth to look to who is able to live out in flesh

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and blood before us, an example that is worthy for us to follow.

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He says, remember those examples when they come to you.

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I can look back in my life and name a score of people who have had an influence upon me,

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who at critical times, God brought into my life.

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When I might have turned this way or that, but they were there and they spoke to me the

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word of God and they left an example for me.

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And their manner of life was such that it validated their claim to faith.

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There are times in my life when still I look back to those people who have influenced me

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and I mimic them.

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Remember the example of godly leaders, he says.

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Then moving ahead into 2 Peter, this time, the third chapter.

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He says if our walk with God is going to be pleasing to him and if we are going to enrich

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our lives, we need to remember some things.

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Through Peter we are told to remember the nature of the last days.

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Second Peter and the third chapter beginning in verse 1, this is now beloved the second

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letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that

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you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of

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the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

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What is he saying to these suffering saints?

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He is saying to them remember the nature of the last days.

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By the last days, keep in mind, he is talking about this whole age, the time of Christ's

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sacrificial work until the time that he comes again.

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This whole age is the last days.

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However, what he says about the last days seems to be intensified in the last days of

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the last days.

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In other words, they were already in the last days but he seems also to point ahead to some

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days that were yet coming.

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The apostle Paul does the same thing.

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In one sense the last days is the whole age.

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In a special sense the end of the age is the last days.

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He says remember the nature of the last days.

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He says to us that this age will close with mockers.

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Verse 3, know this first of all that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking

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following after their own lusts.

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He is saying to us here that things considered sacred will become a joke.

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Jesting will become about those things that are holy.

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Mockers will come, he says.

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They will not consider the things of God to be relevant to them.

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They will not take them seriously.

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Now the motive for this is not actually one that is intellectual but is one that is moral.

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For he says following after their own lusts.

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In other words, the reason for the mocking is not that they have investigated intellectually

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and found these things to be false.

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But the reason they mock is that they choose to follow after their own lusts.

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It is their own passionate and depraved desires that motivate them to make mockery of the

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things of God, hoping and so doing that somehow they will escape what God has warned about

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in his word.

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Now he says their mocking specifically will be regarding the coming of Christ.

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Where is the promise of his coming?

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For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning

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of creation.

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When they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens

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existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which, by

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the way the word which here is plural.

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So he is not only talking about the water but he is talking about the word of God in

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the same verse.

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Through which, that is through what God said and through the water, the world at that time

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was destroyed being flooded with water.

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Now isn't it interesting that as you read religion pages and other articles that deal

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with religion, two things that are especially held up to ridicule in our day are the idea

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that Jesus Christ is coming again and the idea that God ever sent a flood on the earth

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in the days of Noah.

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Those are two particular points in our day of jesting and making fun.

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The apostle says that we can expect that.

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Don't be discouraged he says.

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Remember the nature of the last days.

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They will involve mockers who will come in their mocking being motivated by their own

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lusts so that they can continue their own sinful lifestyle that they have chosen.

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They don't want to face up to that.

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Therefore they will mock any thought of divine intervention whether it be through the flood

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in days of old or the second coming of Christ in days of the future.

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They will want to deny that because they wish to continue in their sinful lifestyle patterns.

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But he says also that the last days or this age will close with a denial of historical

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evidence of divine intervention, specifically mentioning the flood.

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In verse 5 it says they maintain this, when they maintain this it escapes their notice.

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That word escapes means this, that as an act of their will they choose to overlook this

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fact.

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A very scholarly Lutheran by the name of Alfred Waywinkel wrote a book a number of years ago

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now entitled The Flood.

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In that rather brief book he lays out the evidence of the flood that exists in the world

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today and explains the disappearance of dinosaurs, the deposits of coal, the deposits of oil

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in the world, all in the light of a global flood.

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You bring that subject up to a geologist or paleontologist who has been trained in the

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universities of our world and they will laugh you to scorn.

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In other words what we have in our world today can be explained by a universal flood.

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But that is absolutely ruled out before the discussion even starts.

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Why?

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Because they refuse to acknowledge the fact that God does, can and will intervene in human

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history.

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Rather they choose to talk about uniformitarianism.

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Everything continues on like it always has been.

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We can expect the last days to involve that.

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But he also tells us here the age will close not with mocking, with denial, but with judgment.

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He says in verse 7, the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire,

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kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

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How is this time going to end with judgment?

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And he tells us that there is going to come a time upon the earth called the day of the

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Lord, the end of that time, when the earth as we know it now is going to be destroyed

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but not by water the next time.

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Just as by God's word it was destroyed by water the first time, so in the last days,

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the end of the last days, it will be destroyed by the word of God and fire, which God says

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here has reserved and kept for that day of judgment of ungodly men.

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As you and I look around us today, we could become anxious at the direction of human events.

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We might be tempted to compromise with a very powerful world system around us.

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We may be enticed to enter into a lifestyle like the ungodly.

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But Peter says before you do that, remember the nature of the last days.

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The judgment is coming, but everything is moving in the direction which God has assigned.

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And one day again He will intervene.

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And so he says in verse 14, therefore beloved since you look for these things, be diligent

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to be found by Him in peace.

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Not anxiety, not worry, not upset at the direction of politics and the direction of human events,

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not upset by the predictions of people, but in peace, and then spotless and blameless.

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Holy lives.

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Remember the nature of the last days, and as we do that, we will remember that God is

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in control, we can be at peace, and that because everything is moving toward final judgment,

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we want now to be living lives that are spotless and blameless.

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And should we become curious, perhaps even doubting, because it seems the Lord is delaying

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His coming, He says regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.

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Does it seem as though the Lord has delayed His coming to you?

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Perhaps He has.

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There is indication that He did so in the days of Noah, delayed the judgment.

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Then if it is so, understand that that is simply the patience of the Lord, and the result

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of that is the salvation of more.

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But be sure of one thing, the end is coming.

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Remember that.

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And then if you'll turn to one other passage, we'll close with Revelation chapter 2.

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We're talking this morning about some things to remember.

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Revelation chapter 2, verses 4 and 5.

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We come into the middle of a letter that Jesus dictated to the pastor of the church at Ephesus.

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In verse 4 it says, But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

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Remember, remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds

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you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its

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place unless you repent.

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Jesus sends this personal letter to a group of Christians in the city of Ephesus who could

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be described as sincere, busy, hardworking, and even disciplined.

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What we would observe is this, that one can be all of these things and in the midst of

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them lose his first priority, that of loving Jesus Christ.

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Thirty-five years before this letter was sent by Jesus to the church, another letter was

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penned by the Holy Spirit through Paul.

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In that letter, the first chapter, he commended them for the love that they had.

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What happened?

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What happened in thirty-five years?

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A church that was once well known for its love, now thirty-five years later rebuked

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by Jesus because they had left their first love.

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Well, it would seem that what happened was that another generation had come.

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The generation that was alive and in leadership in the days when Paul wrote had passed off

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the scene.

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And now the church was populated by a second generation of Christians.

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These had adopted the doctrinal purity of their fathers.

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They had maintained the same faithful pattern of service.

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All of the outward things were in place, but internally there was a problem.

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They lacked devotion to Jesus Christ.

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And this was not accidental.

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This was the result of a choice that they made.

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For when Jesus says, you've left your first love, he doesn't mean somehow you have accidentally

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stumbled away from it.

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The word there means you have forsaken.

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It was an act, a choice on their part.

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You have forsaken, he says, your first love.

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They chose to leave that behind as they pressed on in other things.

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And so to them, Jesus says, remember.

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Remember from where you have fallen.

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He says, look back.

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Do you recall, he says, that intensity, that zeal, that burning of love that was present

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in the church a generation ago?

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He says, then repent.

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That is, change your mind about it.

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Deal with this sin, he is saying.

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And that going through the motions is not enough.

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It is good to be just as they were, busy, hardworking, sincere, disciplined.

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They judged false teachers.

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They took a stand.

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Those things are good.

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But without the heart of love for Jesus Christ, it doesn't mean anything as far as the Lord

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is concerned.

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He says, you need to repent.

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Change your mind.

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And then he says, do the deeds you did at first.

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What does he mean by that?

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Well, I believe our Lord is here calling upon them to make a clean break with their attitude

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of presence.

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He is telling them that their affections had to be changed and redirected to His own person.

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Then He tells them that their deeds need to be deeds of devotion, not deeds of duty.

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I believe that's what He means by the deeds as at first.

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They were doing the same thing really that was being done at first.

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It wasn't the kinds of deeds that had to be changed.

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It was the motive for the deeds.

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They needed to continue on being hardworking and faithful.

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They needed to deal with false teachers just like they had been.

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But He is saying, go back to the point where those things are motivated out of a sincere

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love for Me and not out of simply routine or habit or duty.

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It is from the devotion of this first love that the outward acts will flow in a way that

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it pleases God.

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Frankly, He delivers a very stern warning.

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He says, or else I am coming to you.

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Here we have another coming of Jesus Christ, not His second coming, but another coming

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preceding that.

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This is not a coming for salvation.

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This is a coming for judgment to this church.

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He says, or else I will come and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you

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repent.

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He warns them that if they do not look after the heart problem, He will come and remove

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the effectiveness of their testimony.

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That's serious.

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Jesus could not have said anything that should have caught their attention more than this.

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He is saying, I will remove your witness from the city of Ephesus.

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He says, Lord, look at all the good things we are doing, but your heart is not a heart

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of love for Me.

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Because of the lack of that devotion, I will come and I will remove you from having any

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influence of light in that community.

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Does it seem striking to you that Jesus is saying that the city of Ephesus would be better

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off without any light?

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The light from Christians who had no heart for Christ?

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Does that strike you as it strikes me?

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So He says, remember the danger of spiritual apathy.

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Jesus would rather have no church in a community than a church that is going through all of

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00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:47,560
the right motions but has no heart of devotion for Jesus Christ.

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What a warning.

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00:37:51,180 --> 00:37:55,280
If you and I on this Memorial Day weekend want to live for Jesus Christ in a way that

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pleases Him, if you and I want to experience an enrichment in our walk with God, there

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00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:06,600
are some things that we need to remember.

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We've talked about them this morning and now we need to respond.

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As we remember, what will we do?

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Let's pray.

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This is not simply the result of the aging process.

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It's the result of the age-old problem, sin.

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00:38:37,460 --> 00:38:41,600
We need to remember the grace of the risen Christ.

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Christian soldier, you, the one sitting there weary, wounded, worn, will you today remember

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00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:58,120
that grace of the risen Christ and appropriate it?

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00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:06,000
Tell Him how you feel and ask Him for a fresh endowment of grace, of supernatural enablement

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for your battle.

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Remember the bond with the suffering saints.

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If you have forgotten them, will you remember them today?

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Will you stand with those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake?

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00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:28,760
Are you ready to give up, to turn aside?

448
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:38,720
Will you remember the example of godly leaders who have influenced your life in the past?

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If you're anxious about the direction of our age, if you're living a life of compromise,

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will you remember the nature of the last days?

451
00:39:54,600 --> 00:40:01,160
Will you be reminded that judgment is coming, that God is in control?

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Then will you remember the danger of spiritual apathy?

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00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:14,160
Perhaps you need to come to the Lord right now where you're seated and say, Lord Jesus,

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I'm like the church at Ephesus.

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I'm going through motions, but the emotion, the devotion of love, is lacking in my heart.

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Will you repent?

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I pray that today, as we have heard some things to remember, we will allow our minds to be

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stirred up.

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We like the people of Israel of old are forgetful.

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Like them, we forget God, our Savior, and we forget the mighty works that you have done.

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Today we are reminded of some important things.

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I pray that you will apply these thoughts to our lives, and may the result of that be

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that we will walk on with you, be devoted to you, and be looking for the coming of Christ.

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Thank you for these reminders today.

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In Jesus' name, amen.