Book of Hebrews - Ch. 11, Vs. 16-Ch. 12, Vs. 7 (02/10/2002)

Park Meadows Church

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We're in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, beginning with the 15th verse.

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I think we had the 15th last time, but I'd like to repeat it.

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And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

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They had their minds full of their old home. Nobody really likes change.

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They wanted to return. Now, do you love the things of this world more than you love

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Jesus? Remember when our Lord asked Peter this question. Do you have anything now of this world which you will, as Lot's wife, look back longingly and hate to leave it?

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If you have, you're not going. Hebrews 11, 16.

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And now they desire a better country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their

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God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Does your daily living prove that you truly are strangers here on earth?

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We have an address, I know, but that's just earthly. Do we desire to return to Egypt?

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Are we like Lot, looking forward and desiring position, personal gain, or are we like Abraham?

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If you have things that you would hate to leave, you're not going.

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17. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son.

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We remember the story, how Abraham offered

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Isaac. Abraham was put to the most crucial test any mortal could ever be called upon to do.

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Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Abraham had other children, but Isaac is the one called his begotten, his only begotten.

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The word son in verse 17 is not in the original test. Isaac was the only begotten because God gave him the promise concerning him.

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Why did God wait so long in Isaac's life, or in Abraham's life, and call upon him to offer

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Isaac as he did? Greg, do you have any thoughts on that?

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All right. Because he would have a much more difficult task to do it.

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Jesse, do you have any thoughts on it? All right.

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Joy, do you have any thoughts? Well, Isaac was about 30 years old.

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What's that got to do with it? All right.

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Everything you said is true. Dennis, you have anything to add? Well, he already had that.

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All right. We know he believed God. And we know that it occurred at the right moment in time.

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God did not ask Abraham to offer up Isaac until he had come to the end of his life.

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The reason is that Abraham would not have had the faith to do it until the end.

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It's a great test of your faith that your faith is tested at the right time.

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God will never test above that which we are able to bear. 1

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Corinthians 10, 13. That's right.

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David, we had just discussed the question, why did God wait so long for Abraham to make this test of faith?

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It was simply because he didn't have that much faith before. He now had the faith, and God knew it.

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God had brought him to this point. By faith, Isaac blessed

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Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Now, there's very little said about Isaac in comparison to Abraham.

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What can we say about Isaac? He represents the willingness of faith. 21.

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By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

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Jacob was a heel -grabber, if you remember his birth. He shows us how

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God can transform one's life. By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children out of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.

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There is no one in the Old Testament that is more closely a type of the Lord than Joseph.

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23. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

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Moses had godly parents, wouldn't you say? Parents who were willing to take a real stand for God.

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Faith was involved in the very birth of Moses. 24.

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By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

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We see faith at work here. In the life of Moses, he was brought up in the palace and would have been the next

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Pharaoh, had everything as far as the world was able to offer. But he chose faith instead, and he made the right choice.

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26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

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Someone else other than Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoiced. Who was it?

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Someone other than Abraham saw Christ's day. Greg?

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Moses saw it. Do you remember? He was hid in the cliff of a rock. 27.

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By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured it, seeing him who is invisible.

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Moses had faith to act. Faith will lead to action.

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Many folk today are saying, I believe, I believe, but they do nothing.

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May I say, faith reveals itself in action. You can talk about it forever, but until action is part of it, it's just words.

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God saves us without our works, but the faith that saves produces works.

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Do you believe that, Greg? God saves us without our works, but the faith that saves causes works.

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Therefore, Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured it, seeing him who is invisible.

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Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

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By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land, which the

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Egyptians, asain to do, were drowned. Do you remember the story?

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Now, whose faith do we see here? Is this the faith of Israel, of the children of Israel, Jesse?

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That's it, it's Moses' faith, the faith that Moses saved the children.

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The children didn't have faith. When they saw Pharaoh and his chariots coming, they said in effect to Moses, Let's get back to Egypt as quick as we can.

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We made a mistake. It was

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Moses who had faith. He went down to the water's edge, smote it with that rod, and it was by his faith that the waters opened up, and they were able to march over to the other side.

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Thirty, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

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We have in Joshua the watch of faith. Can you imagine, going back to the story for a moment, the children marching around a city, a walled city, for seven days?

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At the same time, every day, they'd march around it. Can you imagine that,

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Russell? By faith, the harlot

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Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

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And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and Jephthah, of David also and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought over righteousness, obtained promise, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword out of the weakness, were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the enemies, the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

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And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bombs and imprisonment.

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They were stoned, they were sung of thunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute and afflicted, tormented, tempted.

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Here, other translations have said that they were branded, burned, alive, mutilated, having different parts of their body lopped off, pierced through, strangled.

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Now we read all these things and it's really just a bunch of words to us.

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We say, my, isn't that awful. Well, it was awful. I hope we never undergo such things.

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Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in the deserts and in mountains and dens and caves of the earth, and these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.

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They died before the promise came. What promise is it that they did not receive?

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Bill, what was the promise? Alright, what else?

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Alright, they didn't see the first coming, did they? Yea. Yea.

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God made many promises and many, they received the promises that he had made to them, but the promise is his promise that he will raise them up, that there will be a kingdom established here on this earth.

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They have not received that promise yet. They're still waiting for that promise.

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We all are. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

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They without us, that's important, without us, shall not be made perfect.

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What has us got to do with it, David? Well, that's all true.

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Although all of these have long since been dead and are now in heaven with our Lord, and even with their own personal loved ones have gone on,

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I want you to understand something. The great, great party, if I may be allowed to say that, the party in heaven will not start until all of his children are present.

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That gives me goosebumps, I don't know about you. Explain to me how

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God in his sovereignty causes and controls every event, every happening, every movement of every object of nature and man, and at the same time holds man responsible for his action.

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Greg, can you explain that? All right, listen.

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Explain to me how God in his sovereignty causes and controls every event, every happening, every movement of every object of nature and man, and at the same time holds man responsible for his action.

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All right, does everybody understand that? You're ahead of most seminaries.

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Man cannot see the future. I care less about the TV programs and everything else.

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They cannot see the future. Man does not absolutely know absolutely

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God's will absolutely. Man has a will that motivates him to act.

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Would you agree? Man has a will that motivates him to act. Everything that man does is because he wants to do it.

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We do because we want to. Now, I may not like this, but in order to get what I want,

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I'll do this. Therefore, he will be judged according to what he does, even though the doing is

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God's decree. So we find that even when man commits a sin, he's doing

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God's will. Now, David, you'll have to answer that. No, it isn't.

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That's right. Have you stopped?

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The sin, the sin is not God's will. The sin, where does the sin reside?

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In the mind. The sin's not his will, but the doing of it out here is his will.

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That's right. So we have to divide someplace, and I prefer to put it in my mind that I sinned.

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Everything's first thought, yes. That's right.

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Well, sin's only in the mind only. All the action is ordained of God.

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Now, if you can comprehend that, like I say, you're ahead of most seminary students.

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Now come to 12. I want to go just a little ways in 12. Wherefore.

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Why is the wherefore here, Bill? What does wherefore do?

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That's good. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

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Now, we're in a race. Paul compares this life to a race.

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Our destinations are as already given, but the running of the race.

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This does not mean that those in heaven can see us and know what we're doing. Forget that.

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Just carry that out to everybody that's gone before, is looking at us.

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No, that's not it. That wouldn't be very joyful for them.

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It would be too many of them. Yes. I'm coming to that.

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Yes. That's right.

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That's good. They are our witness. We read about them.

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We have their life story. Yes. The word weight, anything that hinders our spiritual growth.

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Now, I ask you to look at your own life. There are many things in which believers can participate and still not miss heaven.

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Remember, we do not live to ourselves. Our lives affect the lives of others. We should never ask,

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Is it a sin for me to do this thing? Now, why is that wrong within itself?

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Is it a sin for me to do this thing?

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That's right. It isn't the doing. It's the thinking. You thought to do it, so that's the sin.

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Not the doing. We should ask, Will this bring praise to God? Too many

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Christians today are charmed about how near the world they can live and still not go to heaven and go to hell when they die.

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Looking unto Jesus, the author, finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.

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Was the cross a joy? No. Well, what joy did he see?

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Yes. Right. And the will of the Father included the cross.

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And the joy was on the other side. Beg your pardon?

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That's right. That's right.

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That's it. Doing the will of the Father. That should be the joy for all of us.

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Set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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Now, did he go through the cross, go to heaven, and sit down? David, on his own.

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Right. He was invited to sit down because of what he'd done.

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And what he had done was fulfill the Father's will. He is the one that designed and implemented our salvation.

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Jesus the Christ. It was he who, while doing everything that the

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Father willed and wanted, saved us. We read in the first part of this epistle of the peril of drifting, that is, of just being hearers, drifting along, doing nothing at all about God's salvation.

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You can be saved and drift. Or consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

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Now comes the question. What sin is it that we are to lay aside? Well, what does it say?

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Laying aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us.

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Now, Greg, what is that sin? It's easy for me to do.

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All right. Unbelief is a sin. The sin that so easily besets us.

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Now, he's talking to Christians, not the world. Now, I have here something

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I would like Greg and Russell to pass these out.

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Give everybody a tube. In the days before telescopes, before magnifying glasses, before anything through which you could look, they had a way, the interior decorators, if we can call them that, had a way of looking at something.

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Now, I want you to take that tube and close out all of the light that's going in, shut the other eye, and look at the flag.

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Boy, if I could get a picture of you all right now. You may have to look at it a little while, but it will become brighter, more real.

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Now, why is that? Just looking through a paper tube. Jesse, why?

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Why, looking through that tube, can I get more brilliance out of it?

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All right, he guesses. Yes. All right, that's good.

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That's the scientific explanation, somewhat. What you're doing, as Jesse pointed out, or alluded to, you're looking away from everything else.

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Are you not? And you're looking just as it. Now, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in your minds.

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You're looking just at one thing. It is like you're looking through that tube at Jesus.

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When you do that, you look away from everything else. There is nothing else that matters to you.

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Do you get it? Now, I don't want you walking around with the tube stuck to your eye, but the principle is right.

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When you concentrate on Jesus, other things don't make a thing.

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Any comments? No comments from anyone?

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All right. There are times when we become discouraged. When is that,

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David? We need to consider him.

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Do you sometimes feel that everyone's against you and that no one cares? Do you ever feel like that?

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I haven't since I was about 18 or 19. These feelings are not from God.

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The Christian discouragement is from the devil. If Satan cannot damn your soul, and we know he cannot, he immediately declares war on the mind.

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Now, he cannot penetrate the born -again mind, but you have the option of working in either one.

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You can think worldly. You can control that. But he cannot control the born -again part.

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The Bible says that because his seed remains in you. It doesn't remain in the old part, but he put in you a new life.

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Now, he has a word of advice and caution.

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You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. When you're striving against sin, resisting unto blood would mean what,

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Russell? What?

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Death. You haven't, any of you, been killed yet. You have not resisted unto blood.

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Many of those already mentioned were martyrs for the truth. Many of those in the

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Bible. They persevered unto death, lost their lives in barren testimony to the truth.

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Though you have had opposition, persecution, yet you have not been called in bearing your testimony against sin and sinners to seal the truth with your blood.

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There are people today that are being called to do that.

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And you have forgotten the exhortation which, speaking unto you as children, my son, despise not thou the chastening of the

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Lord, nor faint when thou rebuke, when thou art rebuked of him.

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If God chastens you, think it a privilege instead of. I heard

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Dr. Criswell ask this very question when he retired here the other day.

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They asked him, What is the one thing that you do not yet comprehend that you would ask

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God? You know what it was? I have never understood why people that are

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Christian suffer. I would have thought of all people he would have known that because you're

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Christian. There's always been those that ask,

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Why do godly people suffer? That's a question that's asked by the uninformed.

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God has decreed a course for every person ever born, saved and unsaved.

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We will run the course set before us. We will never suffer as he did.

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Many times the first question asked when a saint becomes ill is, Is God punishing this person for his sin?

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Do you think that? Don't think.

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Yeah. What makes you think you're better than he because you're not punished?

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The answer is no. Remember, sin brings its own punishment.

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The believer has an entirely different position from the unbeliever. He is a member of the family of God.

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Would you not correct your children? If they're in a group doing something, you would correct your children.

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My dad never did whip the neighbor's child. For whom the

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Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Now, why can that statement be in the

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Bible? He doesn't know me. He doesn't know you.

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Yet he wrote that whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth.

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Why can he say that, David? Yes. Well, he was scourged physically and mentally by our sin.

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He was chastened for our sin, if that's what you're saying. Yes. For our sin.

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That's true. The son here is not capitalized. So it means every human being that is the family of God.

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That loveth is forerunner unto chastening, and that chastening is consequential unto love.

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You cannot, even God cannot love unless he hates, unless added to that hate.

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David, you can't love any one certain person unless you hate. We don't hate that person.

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But unless you have the capacity to hate, you cannot love on any level, whether it's physical or spiritual.

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Yes. That's right.

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But if Jesus, who was perfect, underwent the scourging, which he did physically, but mentally he was separated from God, if he did that, then why wouldn't he do it to us?

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Here's the reason why we shouldn't either neglect correction or faint under it. It is a proof of the fatherly love of God Almighty.

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Now, how many of you think that the instant something goes wrong, it shows his most gracious design toward us, from which we may be fully convinced that the affliction will prove a means of good to our souls if we make a proper use of it.

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All of you are here today because of your past life. I'm here because of my past life.

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I wouldn't want to go back and relive some of those things because of the pain and suffering.

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But it was good. Look at your own life in that light.

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One more. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.

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For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? If you endure chastening, if you submit to his authority, humble yourselves under his hand, and pray for his blessing, you will find that he deals with you as beloved children.

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Correcting you that he may make you partakers of his holiness.

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We'll stop here. Any word from anybody?

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Remember the tube. Look unto

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Jesus. Roger, would you dismiss us please?