Enduring, Embracing, and Expecting (Hebrews 12:1-29) | Sunday Worship Service

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October 10, 2022

Enduring, Embracing, and Expecting (Hebrews 12:1-29) | Sunday Worship Service This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

20:18: Good morning, and welcome to Kootenai Church. We're glad you're here today. We're going to sing the same song we just heard,
20:24: Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. Would you please stand as we sing? to sing with you today. piano plays
20:33: Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
20:39: Enlightened, accessible, hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious,
20:47: The Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
20:56: Unresting, unhastening, And silent as light, Nor wanting, nor wasting,
21:04: Thou rulest in might. Thy justice like mountains
21:09: High soaring above, Thy clouds which are fountains Of goodness and love.
21:18: To all life Thou givest, To both great and small, To all life
21:24: Thou livest, The true life of all. We blossom and flourish
21:31: As leaves on the tree, And wither and perish,
21:36: But not change and flee. Great Father of glory,
21:42: Pure Father of light, Thine angels adore Thee, Ovailing their sight.
21:50: All praise we would render, O help us to see
21:55: Tis only the splendor Of Thine identity. Jesus, Lord, I know,
22:18: More of His grace to others show, More of His saving fullness see,
22:26: More of His love who died for me, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of His saving fullness see,
22:43: More of His love who died for me. More about Jesus let me learn,
22:55: More of His holy will discern, Spirit of God my teacher be,
23:02: Showing the things of Christ to me, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of His saving fullness see,
23:19: More of His love who died for me. More about Jesus on His throne,
23:32: Riches and glory all His own, More of His kingdom sure increase,
23:40: More of His coming Prince of Peace, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of His saving fullness see,
23:56: More of His love who died for me. Come behold the wondrous mystery,
24:17: In the dawning of the King, He the theme of Heaven's praises,
24:27: Wrote in frail humanity. In our longing, in our darkness,
24:36: Now the light of life has come, Look to Christ who condescended,
24:44: Took on flesh to ransom us. Come behold the wondrous mystery,
25:00: He the perfect Son of Man, In His living, in His suffering,
25:09: Never trace nor stain of sin. See the true and better Adam, Come to save the hell -bound man,
25:22: Christ the great and sure fulfillment Of the law in Him we stand.
25:38: Come behold the wondrous mystery, Christ the
25:43: Lord upon the tree, In the stead of ruined sinners,
25:51: Caves of Lamb in victory. See the price of our redemption,
26:00: See the Father's plan unfold, Bringing many sons to glory,
26:09: Grace unmeasured, love untold. Come behold the wondrous mystery,
26:24: Slain by death, the God of life, But no grave could ever restrain
26:33: Him, Praise the Lord, He is alive. What a foretaste of deliverance,
26:42: How unwavering our hope, Christ in power resurrected,
26:51: As we will be when He comes. What a foretaste of deliverance,
27:00: How unwavering our hope, Christ in power resurrected,
27:09: As we will be when He comes. Good morning.
27:28: Just a couple of announcements. Maybe a little bit of a longer one, actually, and that has to do with some construction projects that we have about ready to start here around the facility and need to make everybody aware of.
27:40: We spent the last couple of months just seeking to jump through the hoops and satisfy our all wise and benevolent overlords who give us permission to build when we want to build, and we finally were able to do that so we can move on now to construction projects.
27:54: So this week, we're going to have two things going on. One, work progressing on the upstairs finishing that with insulators and drywallers moving in there this week, and then on Monday, and that is tomorrow, not a week from Monday, but tomorrow, there's going to be some excavation done in front of the south entryway doors, those two main doors on the south.
28:13: That's going to be excavated, and we're going to be putting in a concrete slab out there with footings for eventually the portico that is designed to be part of that building structure.
28:21: So that will start tomorrow. It may be that next Sunday when you show up, you're not able to come in those doors. If that's the case, that will be obvious to you, and you'll have to use the entrance on the west side as your main entrance and exit, and that will probably certainly be the case if you're using the building in the middle of this week.
28:38: You'll need to come in that west entrance as well, and then starting the following Monday, thanks to a very generous donation toward this end, we are going to do something that we're probably putting off for a few years, and that is paving the parking lot, and that will be a week from this, a week from tomorrow, that will probably start, or that week, that third week in October.
28:58: So that will be paved and striped as well, and during that construction process, if you need to use the building, you'll need to see which entry into the property is open for you, and you'll have to either park on the grass that is on the east side of the building or on the gravel that is over here on the west side of the building as everything from the south end of the building all the way over to our western property line all the way south is going to be in the process of getting paved and worked on.
29:26: So just be aware of that if you're using the building in the middle of the week. Turn now, if you will please, to Psalm 99.
29:34: Psalm 99. And if, by the way, there is some construction project that is going on that prohibits us from meeting in here for a
29:43: Sunday, that will either go out in the weekly update or in that emergency text update that we send out sometimes last minute, and if you, there's information,
29:52: I think, in the bulletin if you want to be added to those so that you get any last minute changes to our schedule. Just take note of that in your bulletin.
30:00: Psalm 99. I'm going to read together this entire psalm and you can remain seated for the reading and for the prayer this time.
30:07: Psalm 99. The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He is enthroned above the cherubim.
30:13: Let the earth shake. The Lord is great in Zion and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise your great name and awesome name.
30:22: Holy is He. The strength of the King loves justice. You have established equity.
30:27: You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool.
30:33: Holy is He. Moses and Aaron were among His priests and Samuel was among those who called on His name.
30:40: They called upon the Lord and He answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept
30:45: His testimonies and the statute that He gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving
30:51: God to them and yet an avenger of their evil deeds. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill for holy is the
30:58: Lord our God. Let's pray together. Our Father, it is the joy and delight of us,
31:04: Your people, to gather together to be called by Your name and to gather together for worship, to praise and honor
31:10: You, to lift high Your name, to reflect upon all that You have done for us in Christ, to remember
31:16: Your mercies to us which are new every morning, and to remember, of course, our unworthiness to even enter into Your presence apart from the work that You have done in Your Son.
31:28: And so we thank You that You have forgiven sinners and that You have called us to Yourself, that You have chosen us, that You have changed our hearts, that You have regenerated us and given us new affections so that we may worship
31:39: You in spirit and in truth. It is our joy and delight to do so and we thank You for the freedom that we enjoy, for this place that we get to worship
31:46: You. We thank You for the great grace that You have lavished upon us in Christ. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is ours and even if we had a thousand tongues to sing and all of eternity to sing it, we would never be able to praise
32:00: You enough or thank You enough for what You have done for us as Your people. We pray that You would tune our hearts to sing
32:06: Your praise and of Your grace today to exalt Your name as we focus our time, our attention, and our affections upon You, our great
32:15: God and our King. Be exalted here amongst and through and in Your people, we pray, both now and forever in Christ's name.
32:23: Amen. Mountain foals breed
32:50: And sinners plunged beneath Lose all their guilty stains
33:01: Lose all their guilty stains
33:09: Lose all their guilty stains
33:15: And sinners plunged beneath That flood
33:22: Lose all their guilty stains
33:28: And I rejoice to see
33:45: That fountain in His day
33:51: And then as He Washed all my sins away
34:12: Washed all my sins away This is my faith
34:21: I saw the stream My flowing wounds supplied
34:32: Evening love Has been my theme
34:37: And shall be till I die
34:43: And shall be till I die
34:51: And shall be till I die Has been my theme
35:03: And shall be till I die
35:09: Wash all my sins away Wash all my sins away
35:24: Redeeming love Has been my theme
35:29: And shall be till I die
36:26: Please stand, and let's sing The Love of God. The love of God Is greater star
36:47: Than tongue or pen Can ever tell
36:53: It goes beyond The highest star
36:58: And reaches to The lowest hell
37:04: The guilty pair Bow down with care
37:11: God gave His Son To win
37:17: His erring child He reconciled
37:23: And parted from His sin
37:28: O love of God How rich and pure How measureless
37:37: How strong It shall forevermore endure
37:45: The saints' and angels' song
37:51: When years of time Shall pass away
37:57: And earthly thrones And kingdoms fall
38:03: When men who hear Refuse to pray
38:09: On rocks and hills And mountains tall
38:15: God's love so sure Shall still endure
38:20: All measureless And strong Redeeming grace
38:30: To Adam's grace The saints' and angels' song
38:37: O love of God How rich and pure How measureless
38:47: And strong It shall forevermore endure
38:54: The saints' and angels' song
39:01: Could we with eek The ocean fill
39:07: And were the skies Of parchment made
39:12: Were every stomp On earth a quill
39:18: And every man A scribe by trade
39:24: To write the love Of God above Would drain the ocean dry
39:36: Nor could the scroll Contain the whole
39:41: Though stretched from sky To sky
39:47: O love of God How rich and pure How measureless
39:56: And strong It shall forevermore endure
40:05: The saints' and angels' song
40:12: In Isaiah chapter 30 verse 18 it says Therefore Yahweh waits with longing
40:18: To be gracious to you And therefore He is on high To have compassion on you
40:24: For Yahweh is a God of justice How blessed are all those Who wait for Him Let's end our music service this morning
40:32: By singing Turn Your Eyes Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face
41:04: And the things of earth Will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace
41:23: Turn your eyes to the hillside
41:30: Where justice and mercy embrace
41:37: There the Son of God gave His life
41:43: For us And our measureless debt was erased
41:53: Jesus to you we lend our eyes Jesus our glory and our prize
42:07: We adore you Behold you Our Savior ever true
42:14: Oh Jesus We turn our eyes to you
42:32: Turn your eyes to the moon
42:39: And see Christ the light of the way
42:46: What a glorious dawn Fear of death is gone
42:53: For we carry His life in our veins
43:01: Jesus to you we lift our eyes Jesus our glory and our prize
43:14: We adore you Behold you Our Savior ever true
43:21: Oh Jesus We turn our eyes to you
43:27: Turn your eyes to the heavens
43:39: Our King will return for His own
43:46: Every knee will bow Every tongue will shout
43:53: All glory to Jesus alone Jesus to you we lift our eyes
44:07: Jesus our glory and our prize
44:13: We adore you Behold you Our Savior ever true
44:20: Oh Jesus We turn our eyes to you
44:27: Oh Jesus To you we lift our eyes
44:35: Jesus our glory and our prize
44:41: We adore you Behold you Our Savior ever true
44:48: Oh Jesus We turn our eyes to you
44:56: Oh Jesus We turn our eyes to you
45:17: Let's take a moment before we open God's Word together to pray and ask His blessing upon our study. Let's bow our heads.
45:26: Father, we turn now to Your Word with the full realization that if it were not for Your work of grace in our hearts to give us proper affections, and if it were not for Your work of grace to open our eyes and our minds and our heart to Your Word, that we by ourselves would have no ability to understand
45:41: Your Word, to comprehend spiritual things, to rightly apply it, or to see
45:46: Your working in history and to even know of the redemption that You have revealed in the pages of Scripture.
45:53: And so we owe all that we know and understand to You and Your grace, and we pray that You would increase that this morning as we read and look at Your Word.
46:02: We pray that You would be honored through the explanation of it and through our meditation in our hearts on Your Word.
46:08: Open our eyes and our hearts, we pray, and send Your Spirit to be our teacher and our guide, we ask in Christ's name.
46:15: Amen. Turn now, if you will, please, to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12.
46:25: We're starting Hebrews chapter 12 this morning. Having finished chapter 11 last week, you might have been able to predict that the next chapter was going to be 12.
46:33: Sometimes the chapter divisions that are there in the text of Scripture can trick us into thinking that there is some break in the passage, some break in the flow of thought.
46:42: And we always need to remind ourselves that chapter divisions were not added until hundreds of years after the passages were written, and verse divisions were added even later than that.
46:52: And so it does us well sometimes, I think we are well served, to remind ourselves to put out of our minds as much as we can the chapter divisions and the verse divisions when we are reading and studying
47:04: Scripture so that we can see the flow of the passage and get the argument of the author and to read it and understand it in the way that the original audience would have.
47:14: Because in their minds, in their text, there were no chapter divisions or verse divisions. But the chapter division in this case does allow us the opportunity to zoom out a little bit and to remind ourselves of where we're at in the book of Hebrews and how all of these final passages in the book of Hebrews fit together.
47:32: There is a division at the beginning of chapter 12 or what we mark as chapter 12. There is a division in this sense.
47:40: The author is moving on from the examples that he gives us in chapter 11 to applying the lessons that we learn from those examples in chapter 12 and 13.
47:49: So he's done with the Old Testament examples of men who persevered and endured in faith, and now he's moving on to exhortations of faith.
47:58: And as we went through chapter 11, we dove deep into the lives of those men and women who are mentioned there in chapter 11.
48:06: We took all of 37 sermons to work through all of those examples in chapter 11.
48:11: I know it doesn't seem like it was that much, does it? It seems like it just went by like that for all of us. Unless you're a post -millennialist, then it felt like a long, insufferable train of spiritual abuses that you wanted to get to the end of.
48:24: But for the rest of us, it went by really quickly. Almost a year that we spent looking at those examples, but now we kind of come to where the author has turned a corner of sorts, and it's good to zoom out to kind of come up to the surface and get sort of an overview of the landscape of these last couple of chapters, remind ourselves of what the author has started to do back in chapter 10, actually, and how that sort of unfolds all the way through the rest of the book.
48:49: So that's what we're doing this morning. I'm just gonna give you an overview of these next two chapters of Hebrews. We're gonna go through chapter 12.
48:56: I'm gonna give you something of an outline of chapter 12 and show you how the author wraps up with application and exhortations, the grand and glorious truths that he has unpacked for us in chapters one through 10.
49:09: So chapters one through 10 is very doctrinal. Chapter 11 is filled with examples of the kind of faith that is the response to the truth that he gives us in the first 10 chapters.
49:20: And then chapter 12 and 13 are these admonitions and exhortations, these commands of what it looks like to live a faithful life.
49:27: So go back now, if you will, and we're not gonna go back to the beginning of the book of Hebrews, certainly, but just into chapter 10.
49:33: Turn back to Hebrews chapter 10. I probably should have just told you to do that instead of turning to Hebrews chapter 12, but that might have exhausted your patience.
49:40: We're back in chapter 10 again? Like what happened to chapter 11? Back in chapter 10, the author extolled the glories of Christ and his sacrifice, that once for all perfect sacrifice whereby in one offering he has done what millions of animal sacrifices under the old covenant could never have done, namely to perfect forever, to perfectly atone for and to pay the sin penalty for all those for whom that sacrifice was made.
50:12: This was something that all the thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of animal sacrifices under the old covenant could never do.
50:19: But what could never be accomplished by the blood of bulls and goats has been accomplished by the blood of God's only son.
50:25: He has perfected forever all those who are sanctified. So chapter 10 is this explanation, a long theological explanation of the superiority of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice to all of the forms and the functions and the animal sacrifices of the old covenant.
50:41: Look at chapter 10, verse 10. By this will, that is the will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
50:52: That is a glorious phrase, once for all. Not the millions of sacrifices, not the countless feasts, and not the countless festivals, and not all of the offerings, and not all the gifts, and not that priesthood, but now we have been perfectly made complete, total whole by the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
51:13: Chapter 10, verse 12. But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.
51:25: For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
51:31: Look down at verse 18. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
51:38: And the application of this glorious truth that in the one death of Christ, through the one sacrificing of that better blood by a better priest to inaugurate a better covenant, that he has done something that all the
51:48: Old Testament forms and functions could never do, the response to that, the application of that is laid out beginning in verse 22.
51:55: It is very simple and it is clear. You and I are to draw near, to hold fast, and to encourage others to do the same.
52:02: You remember that outline? We spent three or four weeks on that. We are to draw near, to hold fast, and to encourage others to do the same.
52:09: Verse 22. Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. That is a call to faith.
52:15: You see, given what Christ has accomplished in his sacrifice, you and I are to draw near to God and to respond in obedient faith.
52:22: To draw near in full assurance of faith. We're called to respond this way, to trust God's word and what it says concerning the sacrifice of Christ on behalf of those for whom he has died.
52:33: And in response to that, we are to, with faith, with belief and trust in God's word and what it reveals concerning his death, we are to draw near unto
52:41: God. That is the invitation. And it is not faith to doubt the sufficiency of Christ's work.
52:47: It is not faith to doubt whether or not his sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to pay the debt for all of my sin.
52:55: It is not faith to wonder as to whether or not I am included in that sacrifice. Faith is expressed when we draw near unto
53:02: God and believe what God's word says concerning the sacrifice and the death of Christ on our behalf.
53:08: And then having drawn near, you and I are to hold fast to that. To endure in that faith.
53:13: Not just to draw near and then fall back. Not to draw near and then fall away. Not to come near and then distance ourselves again.
53:20: But having drawn near to hold fast to that, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
53:29: This is the call to enduring faith. The examples that we looked at in chapter 11 were men and women who, having drawn near to God, endured in faith, waited for the fulfillment of God's promise and trusted him and his word and what he said.
53:42: You and I are to emulate that exact same kind of faith. The faith that draws near and then the faith that holds fast. And our drawing near and our holding fast is to be done inside of a community of believing people who have done likewise.
53:53: They have all drawn near. They have all held fast. And then, having done those two things, we are to encourage others to do the same.
54:00: Verse 24, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. And we can't leave verse 25 out of the mix because this addresses our coming together and doing this as part of a corporate body.
54:12: Verse 25, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
54:21: He's gonna return to this theme of assembling in chapter 12, but I want you to notice here we are to draw near to hold fast and then to encourage others to do the same.
54:30: These things we are to do in terms of the corporate body of believers, something we do together. And then verse 25 begins a warning.
54:39: Sorry, I should, verse 26 begins a warning. The one who does not draw near and the one who will not hold fast to this once for all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ has no further sacrifice available for their sins.
54:51: But in the words of verse 27, they can expect nothing but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries because they will fall into the hands of the living
55:01: God. And that is a terrifying, terrifying thing. In other words, neglect that sacrifice. Do not heed the warning of judgment that is to come.
55:09: And you have nothing to look forward to except the terrifying expectation of fiery judgment when
55:15: God consumes those who will not draw near and hold fast and join with others in encouraging one another to do the same.
55:24: And that's a warning to unbelievers who are pretending to be believers. But it does not describe, it does not describe those of us who are believers.
55:32: Verse 39 does. We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
55:38: Those with that soul -preserving faith will endure all of the reproaches that are listed in verses 32 to 35.
55:44: The one who is righteous by faith will live righteously by faith looking forward to, as it says in verse 35, the great reward that is to come.
55:54: So that is not to say then that persevering is easy. It's not to say that enduring is simple and that it is effortless.
56:02: But it is to say that all those with the kind of faith modeled in Hebrews chapter 11, the kind of faith that draws near and holds fast, all of them have that faith to the preserving of the soul.
56:11: And all of them will persevere and will endure all the way to the end, never falling back to destruction, but always holding fast and holding onto the
56:20: Savior who has saved them. Now are there examples of people in Scripture who have drawn near to God, held fast to Him, and endured through hostility, through persecution, through suffering and affliction, through good times and bad, to trust in something that they had to wait even a very long time to receive as a reward from God.
56:40: Are there examples of such men and women? Why, yes, there are. That's what Hebrews chapter 11 is all about.
56:46: And then we have this list of examples of those who have drawn near and held fast and encouraged others to do the same.
56:52: So chapter 10 shows us the necessity of faith for righteousness. Chapter 11 gives us examples of men who had faith to righteousness.
57:00: And then chapters 12 and 13 are the admonitions and exhortations to those who have that faith to continue and persevere in lives of righteousness.
57:10: So we turn something of a corner at chapter 12 where we have moved on now to some admonitions and exhortations.
57:19: And I hope you see, by the way, how all of this is connected. How the exhortations in chapter 12 are grounded in the realities of the salvation of faith that we have in chapter 11 and chapter 10.
57:31: In fact, chapter 12, verse 14, says we are to pursue sanctification without which no one will see the
57:37: Lord. Well, that exhortation to pursue sanctification, that is grounded in the amazing truth that we find all the way back in chapter 10, verse 14, that by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
57:51: You see it as our positional sanctification in Jesus Christ that enables us and strengthens us to persevere and to pursue sanctification which he has purchased for us by his death.
58:02: So all the admonitions of chapter 12 and 13, those exhortations, those commands, these statements that we're gonna read in these two chapters, they're all grounded and rooted in the realities of the gospel.
58:15: That one time, once for all death of Jesus Christ, that is what enables us to obey these exhortations.
58:21: If it were not for his sacrifice on our behalf, we would never be able to understand the reality of these commands, let alone obey them with affectionate hearts that long to be sanctified and to live righteously through that obedience.
58:34: It's all because of what Christ has done, back explained in chapters one through 10 that we are able to follow the exhortations, the examples of chapter 11, the exhortations of chapter 12 and chapter 13.
58:46: So as we go through 12 and 13, I'm gonna try as often as we can to ground the exhortations and admonitions of these two chapters back into the truths that we have sort of seen as we've worked our way through the first nine chapters of the book.
58:59: And when we get to chapter 12, we turn something of a corner. It's a corner, I guess, that was turned back in chapter 10, but it becomes more apparent in chapter 12.
59:07: And that is that the author is done explaining the long theological details of the old covenant versus the new covenant.
59:14: You get to the middle of chapter 10 before that exhortation to let us draw near, let us hold fast, and let us encourage others to do the same.
59:22: Right when you get to that, you get to the end of the long theological treaties on various subjects. We saw that in the first 10 chapters.
59:29: We don't have that in the last few chapters. It's not that the death of Christ is not mentioned in the final chapters, because it is.
59:35: It's mentioned in chapter 12, and it's mentioned in chapter 13. But it is that the explanations of those realities are in the first 10 chapters.
59:46: Do you remember the time we spent talking about Melchizedek? And how long and insufferable that was?
59:52: That was some long, dry stuff, wasn't it? I mean, it wasn't Ecclesiastes long and dry, but it was, in its own right, this long explanation of these nuances from the
01:00:02: Old Testament. We don't get that anymore in chapters 12 and 13. Now he's all about encouraging us to live righteously in light of everything that we have learned.
01:00:13: So we have in chapter 12 all of these admonitions. Let me give you an outline for chapter 12, and we're gonna read it here in just a moment.
01:00:20: Not the whole thing at once, but we're gonna read through it all before we're done today. And then I'm just gonna give you a brief survey of chapter 13.
01:00:27: In verses one through three of chapter 12, those are familiar verses to you. Let your eyes just kind of look over that there.
01:00:34: We are encouraged to endure hostility. Then down beginning at verse four of chapter 12 through verse 17, we're encouraged to embrace discipline that comes to us as those who are sons by faith.
01:00:46: And then in verses 18 to 29, we are to expect the kingdom. We are to endure hostility, embrace discipline, and expect the kingdom.
01:00:53: If we were gonna do just one sermon on Hebrews chapter 12, that would be it. In fact, if you wanted a brief description of what the
01:00:58: Christian life entails while we wait in faith for the king to return and to bring to us the reward,
01:01:04: I don't think you could get any better than that summary statement. That we are to endure hostility, we are to embrace his discipline, and we are to expect the kingdom.
01:01:13: There is an element of perseverance there which has been a theme throughout the book of Hebrews. There is an element there of enduring the sufferings which has been a theme throughout the book of Hebrews.
01:01:22: And then there is the element of expecting the reward that is to come. Endure that hostility from sinners, embrace the discipline that comes to us from the loving hand of the
01:01:31: Father, and while you're doing that, expect the kingdom. Let's look first at the example of Jesus where we are encouraged to endure the hostility, verses one through three.
01:01:39: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
01:02:05: For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
01:02:13: See, all of the examples that the author gives to us are not just found in chapter 11. Here is an example that comes to us at the beginning of chapter 12, but the example is not of one who lived by faith.
01:02:25: Jesus is not an example to us of one who had faith. Catch that. Everybody in chapter 11 is an example of those who had faith and persevered.
01:02:34: Jesus did not have faith. Jesus is the object of faith. He is the author of faith, and he is the perfecter of faith, but he is not an example of one who had faith.
01:02:45: Instead, he is the one who gives us faith, and notice the connection here between enduring reproach and the reward.
01:02:52: You'll notice the word endure or endurance is there three times in that passage. In verse one, we are to run with endurance, the race that is set before us.
01:03:00: How are we to do that? By fixing our eyes on Jesus, verse two, who for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.
01:03:06: Verse three, for consider him who endured such hostility. There is the theme of endurance. Remember, that goes back all the way into chapter 10.
01:03:14: At the end of chapter 10 in that warning passage, the author said to his audience, you have need of endurance so that having done the will of God, you will receive what was promised.
01:03:22: Right? We need endurance. The mark of faith is not an emotional response to a truth that you hear or something that comes out of man by which we just react to a song that we sing or a really good message by a really good preacher.
01:03:37: That is not the mark of faith. The mark of true, genuine, saving faith is endurance. The one who can suffer affliction, the one who can face tribulation, the one who can endure through all of life's trials and come out the other end with their faith intact and their confident belief in God, that is true and genuine saving faith.
01:03:57: That is what the author wants to work in us. That's what he wants to see. If we are to ask for the most ultimate example, it's not the example of faith.
01:04:07: It's the example of Jesus. It's the example of endurance. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself so that you will not what?
01:04:16: Grow weary and lose heart. He doesn't want us to grow weary and lose heart. Notice the connection with the reward that Jesus gets for his endurance, for the joy set before him.
01:04:27: There's the reward. Reward has been a theme of ours since back in chapter 10. Remember those who endure faith's reproach receive faith's reward.
01:04:36: Jesus, for the reward that was set before him, endured the cross and despised its shame. We do not want to be among those who shrink back, but among those who hold fast to the preserving of the soul.
01:04:49: So you want an example of endurance? It is Jesus, and he endured that hostility. You and I are going to face hostility from sinners, and we can trust that even in the face of hostility that God is accomplishing his purposes, he is accomplishing his work, that sovereignly all of those things come into our lives so that he may produce in our lives the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
01:05:09: See, the affliction that comes against the righteous by virtue of their faith, because they are the faithful, that affliction, that suffering, that hostility is not wasted.
01:05:19: Rather, it is used by a sovereign God to refine his people to purge us of sin and to set our affections on heavenly things.
01:05:27: So the Father doesn't waste any of that hostility. In the lives of his people, he uses it as a form of discipline so that we may be purged of sins and pursue the sanctification without which no one can see the
01:05:38: Lord. And that brings us to verse four. Not only are we to endure hostility, we are to embrace the discipline that comes to us as sons.
01:05:47: Verse four. You've not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.
01:05:56: My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him.
01:06:02: For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.
01:06:08: It is for discipline that you, oh, there's our word again, endure. This is all connected.
01:06:14: This idea of endurance goes all the way back to chapter 10. You have need of endurance so that having done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
01:06:22: You will not receive what is promised if you do not endure. Now, am I suggesting that you will lose your salvation and your eternal reward?
01:06:31: No, but I am suggesting that those who do not endure to the end were never saved to begin with.
01:06:36: The mark of true genuine saving faith is that endurance that goes all the way to the end.
01:06:43: Pardon me. Verse seven, it is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons.
01:06:49: For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you're without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
01:06:59: Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the
01:07:05: Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share in his holiness.
01:07:14: All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful, yet those who have been trained by it afterwards, it yields the peaceful fruits of righteousness.
01:07:25: A subject of discipline, and this is not talking about church discipline, by the way, confronting a brother in sin and bringing it before the body, that's a different kind of discipline.
01:07:33: This passage is often treated on its own as if it is sort of a stand -alone subject, but you can see with the reference to endurance that the idea of discipline is not isolated from its context.
01:07:45: It is the suffering and affliction and hostility that the unbelieving world pours out against the church whom the loving
01:07:51: Father uses to bring discipline into the lives of his people. There is nothing like suffering to make us holy.
01:08:01: I tremble to even say that lest the Lord say, I think Jim needs to be more holy. I don't even want to have to say those words, but it's true.
01:08:09: There is nothing like suffering to make us holy because suffering reveals the true nature of our faith and it makes us long for the world that is to come and it makes us see how paltry sin is, how horrible sin is, and to pursue sanctification.
01:08:25: And so the Father, the loving Father, uses suffering in the lives of his people to train us and to teach us in endurance.
01:08:34: You want to produce endurance in somebody's life? You give them opposition. You give them hostility. You make them suffer.
01:08:40: That will produce endurance. And if Jesus, the perfect and holy Son, if he had to endure hostility against himself, how much more, you and I?
01:08:50: How much more should you and I? Hebrews chapter 12, this endurance, this righteous end, this sanctification is to be worked out amongst a body of believers.
01:09:01: Chapter 12, verse 12, therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
01:09:13: There is a healing and strengthening purpose and discipline that the author mentions in verses 12 and 13. This purpose is to bear fruit in the body of Christ and you and I have a role in this.
01:09:24: See, after talking about discipline in verses 12 and 13, he wants to make sure that we apply this idea of discipline and that we work out amongst us with each other the purposes, help each other, how do
01:09:37: I say this? We help, that's the wrong way of saying it too. We work with the
01:09:42: Lord in accomplishing his disciplinary purposes in our lives as we work in community with one another to strengthen the weak and to strengthen the knees that are feeble.
01:09:53: So if I see somebody going through discipline, I see somebody facing hostility, there is a role for the rest of us in the body of Christ to come alongside of them and see to it that we are working alongside of God to accomplish those sanctifying and redeeming purposes in the hostility that they face.
01:10:11: That's the idea in verse 12 and 13. Notice the change of focus is from the individual now to the corporate body which he continues in verse 14.
01:10:19: Pursue peace with all men. Now listen, if we were intended as Christians to be isolated mavericks on our own, doing our own thing, isolated from the body of Christ, there would be no need for such a command as you find in verse 14 to pursue peace with all men.
01:10:34: But the reality is when you bring sinners into a congregation together, seat them next to each other and do life together, there are opportunities for conflict and misunderstanding to come up.
01:10:43: And when that happens, you pursue peace with all men. And, sanctification without which no one will see the
01:10:51: Lord. See to it, now these are body commands in terms of the entire church body, verse 15, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many people be defiled.
01:11:07: That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal, for you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears.
01:11:21: These are warnings to be heeded amongst the entire church body. Sanctification and holiness and righteousness is a community pursuit.
01:11:29: We are to do this as an assembly together. The Christian life is a life lived in a body of people.
01:11:35: It's not intended for us to be isolated and by ourselves and out doing our own thing but to be done in the context of a local gathering together.
01:11:42: Remember his command from chapter 10, verse 25, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
01:11:51: This is how we stimulate one another to love and to good deeds. In order to stimulate one another to love and good deeds there must be an assembling together of the saints.
01:12:02: There must be a life lived out in community. That's the focus of verses 14 and 17. Now speaking of communities and assemblings and the gathering together of peoples, here's another contrast between the
01:12:13: Old Testament old covenant gathering of people beginning in verse 18 and the gathering that we have under the new covenant.
01:12:19: Verse 18, for you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them for they could not bear the command if even a beast touches the mountain it will be stoned and so terrible was the sight that Moses said
01:12:39: I'm full of fear and trembling. That's a reference to that original assembly of the children of Israel coming out and receiving the law at Mount Sinai.
01:12:48: You remember the thunderings and the warnings and the threatenings? Those are for a disobedient and stiff necked and hard hearted people.
01:12:55: But we're not amongst those people. Instead, verse 22 says, We have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living
01:13:02: God to the heavenly Jerusalem to myriads of angels to the general assembly and church of the first born who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkle blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
01:13:18: You get the impression there that the author is just exhausting his vocabulary to describe all of the great graces and blessings that are ours in Jesus Christ and that are ours as we participate together.
01:13:32: We've not come to the foot of a mountain to cower in fear at the foot of that mountain wondering if the thunderings of judgment will fall upon us.
01:13:41: Oh no. The thunderings of judgment that belong to us have fallen on another so that now we can come to the mountain of God and do what?
01:13:49: Draw near and hold fast and encourage others to do the same. So we are now able to draw near just as he has told us back in chapter 10 and to hold fast just as he told us in chapter 10.
01:14:01: Why? Because we have come to the church of the firstborn. We have come to God the judge of all the spirits of the righteous made perfect to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant to the myriad of angels.
01:14:12: Ours is all of the blessings all of the grace. We have a greater light a greater revelation a greater salvation a perfect city a better mediator a better covenant a better sacrifice a better blood.
01:14:24: So the obvious conclusion then is if you neglect all of that and if you don't listen to all of that how will you escape on judgment day?
01:14:34: If you think you can escape the all searching one who sees all and knows all if you think you can somehow skirt around him on judgment day and get out of that condemnation having not drawn near by faith and held fast so there is a warning in verse 25.
01:14:55: The warning then is the fifth and final warning passage see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking for those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth how much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven.
01:15:10: So there is an argument from the lesser to the greater and this is another warning passage. Some people say that this warning passage starts back at the beginning of verse 18 and I'd be fine with that because he does set up the sense of judgment there and thundering and what we have been given and sort of the you know they had this and we have this what we have is greater therefore how shall we escape?
01:15:27: So it comes to the conclusion really the whole point of that warning passage in verse 25 if you refuse him who is speaking how will you escape?
01:15:35: How much less will we escape if we turn away from him who warns from heaven? Verse 26 here is a picture of eschatological end times judgment and his voice shook the earth then but now he has promised saying yet once more
01:15:48: I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain and when we get to that passage we will have an opportunity to go back into the
01:16:04: Old Testament and look at what the Old Testament warnings are concerning those eschatological judgments that he is just briefly referencing here in this passage.
01:16:12: This is judgment this is the final judgment and he is warning us here that there is a final judgment that is to come and only a fool would ignore those warnings.
01:16:23: God has an God has an incredible track record of warning of judgments and then fulfilling his word.
01:16:29: It is unbelievable. So far it is 100%. Now I have no reason to believe whatsoever that he is going to bat 99 or 98 % by the time it is all wrapped up and said and done.
01:16:41: So far it is 100%. God warns of a judgment that is to come and his people ignore those warnings and then they face judgment.
01:16:49: And here the author is drawing the conclusion that these thunderings and threatenings that were there under the
01:16:54: Old Covenant that God fulfilled when he judged his people for their sin. If you refuse to heed to draw near to hold fast and encourage others to do the same then those final eschatological judgments will fall upon you.
01:17:10: All the curses all the damnation all the just judgment for your sin continue on in your blindness continue on in your love for sin refuse to heed his warnings and you will face it.
01:17:25: There is a judgment that is coming. It is a sobering warning in verse 25 to those who will refuse that judgment.
01:17:32: The good news and the glorious news of the gospel is that those of us who are in Jesus Christ who have repented of our sins we have come to one we have drawn near to one by faith who has borne all of those judgments for us in our stead and in our place.
01:17:51: And therefore we who are in Jesus Christ we get to expect the kingdom. Verse 28
01:17:56: Therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken that final judgment in which everything is shaken in other words it's all dissolved it is all judged it all comes crumbling down it is all destroyed we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe for our
01:18:24: God is a consuming fire. Verse 28 that's our joy. We get to offer to God acceptable service with reverence and with awe it is the joy of those who are in Jesus Christ to do that to serve the
01:18:37: Lord in that way. But we are to do so with reverence and awe why? The statement in verse 29 is for you and I our
01:18:45: God is a consuming fire. So here are these two very awkward things that do go together we are to draw near and our
01:18:54: God is a consuming fire. And we have to have in our minds both of those realities.
01:19:00: I think that verse 29 is there to describe for us to explain to us why it is that we serve with reverence and awe why we should not think that God is our chummy buddy that we can cuddle up next to him like he's a stuffed purple dinosaur we wrap our arms around him we speak of him flippantly we think of him flippantly we approach him with flippancy without any kind of reverence or awe we ought not to do that.
01:19:25: We ought to draw near while remembering that our God is a consuming fire. Now it's not going to consume us as believers.
01:19:34: It will consume the unrighteous. But he is still our
01:19:39: God who is a consuming fire. We have been brought near we have come to his grace we have received his blessings we can approach his throne we do have a mediator who stands between us and the
01:19:52: Father we have been brought into and given an eternal kingdom and it is true that all of the end times judgments fall upon those who will not draw near by faith and it is true that all of the end times blessings fall upon the head of those who do draw near by faith.
01:20:11: But let us not forget that our God is a consuming fire. Yeah, we get to draw near.
01:20:17: We have that blessing. We have an unbelievable grace. Don't forget the grace that he mentioned at the end of that section 18 -24.
01:20:27: We have come to this mountain. We are not among the children of Israel who came up to the foot of the mountain and heard the thunderings and the quakings and the shakings and the threats of judgment.
01:20:39: That is not our lot. We are part of a different assembly. We are part of the assembly that has been brought near to the mediator who has shed a better blood and inaugurated a better covenant and gives us better intercession.
01:20:50: He is a better priest. We have all of this grace and all of this revelation. That is all true. But let us not embrace that thinking that we can do so with a flippancy and irreverence.
01:21:00: We do approach him because he is a consuming fire giving him acceptable service with reverence and awe.
01:21:06: Now what does acceptable service with reverence and awe look like? That is chapter 13.
01:21:12: So in chapter 12 we are to endure hostility. We are to embrace the discipline and we are to expect a kingdom.
01:21:20: Chapter 13, we are to engage in good deeds. I want you to get a survey just of the things that are in chapter 13.
01:21:26: Many of these passages will be familiar to you so I just want your eyes to glance down over chapter 13 as we wrap this up.
01:21:31: Verse 1, here is what acceptable service with reverence and awe looks like. We love the brethren. Verse 2, we show hospitality.
01:21:39: Verse 3, remember the prisoners. Verse 4, keep your marriage bed undefiled. Verse 5, you stay free from the love of money and be content with what you have.
01:21:48: Verse 7, honor your leaders. Verse 9, guard against false teachers and false teachings.
01:21:55: Verse 13, gladly bear the reproach of Christ. Verse 15, offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.
01:22:04: Verse 16, do good and share with others. Verse 17, obey your leaders. Verse 18, pray for others.
01:22:11: That is the big picture of the book of Hebrews. What are you and I to do with that great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, given that it is a reality, given that it was offered on our behalf and has paid the price for our sins?
01:22:26: We are to draw near, to hold fast, encourage others to do the same, to approach God with the same kind of faith that the
01:22:32: Old Testament saints approached God with, following the example of Jesus in enduring hostility, embracing the
01:22:37: Father's discipline as those who are his sons, anticipating and expecting the kingdom while we engage in good deeds.
01:22:43: That is what you and I are to do while he leaves us here and we wait for the return of the
01:22:49: King. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so grateful for your grace that has made us yours in your
01:22:54: Son. We're reminded again of just how blessed the salvation is that you have brought to us.
01:23:00: We thank you for the faith that you have granted to those who are yours to believe. We thank you for strengthening us in and through your word.
01:23:07: We thank you for the hope that we have and we do pray for your grace to strengthen and encourage us, to work in us the fruit of endurance in our faith so that we may do all that you have commanded us to do and that we may offer to you obedient lives of righteousness.
01:23:22: Strengthen us, we pray, to pursue sanctification in our lives and together with others in the family of Christ whom you have brought together for our good and for our benefit.
01:23:31: We pray that you would be glorified as we look to you and endure the hostility of the world and embrace your discipline so that we may pursue sanctification and we expect that kingdom.
01:23:41: Work in us the good deeds which are fitting for those who have repented and drawn near to you, we pray in Christ's name.
01:23:47: Amen. Please stand and let's sing No Other Name. No other name but the name of Jesus No other name but the name of the
01:24:09: Lord No other name but the name of Jesus Is worthy of glory and worthy of honor
01:24:23: And worthy of power and all praise
01:24:28: No other name but the name of Jesus No other name but the name of the
01:24:39: Lord No other name but the name of Jesus Is worthy of glory and worthy of honor
01:24:54: And worthy of power and all praise
01:25:00: His name is exalted far above the earth
01:25:06: His name is high above the heavens His name is exalted far above the earth
01:25:18: Give glory and honor and praise unto His name
01:25:25: No other name but the name of Jesus No other name but the name of Jesus Is worthy of glory and worthy of honor
01:25:51: And worthy of power and all praise
01:25:57: To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
01:26:06: Have a great week. You are the
01:27:48: Savior of my ruin, my guilt, and cross laid on your shoulders.
01:28:02: In my place you suffered, bled and died.
01:28:10: You rose, the grave and death are conquered.
01:28:17: You brought shame.
01:28:55: May all things bring glory to your name.