The Benediction Of All Benedictions - [Hebrews 13:20-25]

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Well, if you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Hebrews chapter 13, our final message in the book of Hebrews.

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I think this is message 129. It�s a great day because we�re going to hear a good word from God in this section, but it�s also a sad day for me because we say goodbye to a dear friend, and that is the book of Hebrews.

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Really revolutionary in my own life as I think about differences between faith and faithfulness.

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Old Testament proclaiming Christ Jesus as you see in Hebrews chapter 1.

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A book that teaches us that you really need to know who you are in Christ and who the great shepherd is, so that you have a reason to morally obey and to be holy.

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Such a great book. We�ve been in chapter 13, and he�s been giving a lot of commands.

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Remember, he says things like, �Let brotherly love continue.� He�ll say things about remembering prisoners and being hospitable, honor marriage.

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He says things like, �Be content with what you have. Don�t get led away by a bunch of different weird things about food, proper attitude when it comes to leaders, praying.�

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What do you think he�s going to end with? Do you think the writer would say something like this?

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�You need to do all these things in response to who Jesus is. I hope you make it. Good luck.

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Rooting for you.� But instead, he gives something called a benediction.

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Today we�re going to look at the benediction of all benedictions maybe found in Hebrews 13 verses 20 and 21.

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I think you�re familiar with benedictions. Let me read you a few outside of Hebrews, and then we�ll look at Hebrews.

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Ephesians 3, �Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think according to the power at work in us.�

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Jude 24, �Now to him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us blameless before his presence with great joy.�

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2 Corinthians 13, �The grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.�

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1 Thessalonians chapter 3, �Now may the God and Father himself of our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the

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Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God our

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Father.� Those are all benedictions, and today we�re going to look at the benediction in Hebrews chapter 13.

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You may be saying, �What is a benediction ?� The dictionary definition of benediction is the bestowing of a blessing, especially at the end of a religious service.

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If you think about the Latin benediction, where it would be bene and desere, even some of you that speak

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Spanish, and you know my Spanish accent is very poor, you think about muy bien, bueno, good, and then dice, como se dice, here�s a saying about something good.

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It�s a good saying. So he gives a good saying at the end of a book where you think, �You know what? I need help.

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I�m weak. I struggle. I don�t do things like I should. Am I on my own in the Christian life ?�

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And a benediction says, �You know what? You�re not on your own. Here�s who God is. Don�t forget who

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God is. I have a good word for you.� A benediction is simple. A benediction just means it�s a word from God through a minister to make you encouraged, to give you strength for you to say, �I�m not on this, in this by myself.�

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Sometimes if you think of a worship service, there�s an invocation at the beginning and a benediction at the end.

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We invoke who God is, he gets the first word through Scripture, and then he gets the last word as well.

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A benediction simply means a word from God through ministers for the purpose of encouragement and sustaining you.

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The Westminster Assembly�s Directory for Public Worship says that a preacher should dismiss the congregation with a solemn blessing.

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And so this writer, this preacher in this book of Hebrews, this sermon, does that very thing. He ends with a blessing, a benediction.

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Maybe you can think about it this way. When we pray, there�s an upward movement. We�re praying to God, asking him for help.

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It�s kind of going up. It�s this northward thing. And now for the benediction, it�s coming down to us.

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God is speaking to us. In prayer, we ask God for help. In benediction, God declares who he is to try to give us an encouragement.

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Maybe the most famous benediction in the Old Testament is something you�re very familiar with.

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It�s a good word from God through ministers to encourage. �Thus you shall bless the people of Israel, Aaron, and you shall say to them,

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The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

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The Lord shall lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.� Why is that given?

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So you think, you know what, I can do this, I can�t do this on my own. I need help.

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I�d like to be blessed by God and have assurance that he�s going to be with me. I need my faith strengthened.

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I�ve had a hard week. I need to be emboldened with my obedience.

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How can I do this on my own? So we have something called a benediction. It�s simply a pronouncement.

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We don�t have a lot of pronouncements these days. I did one yesterday though, by the way, based on the

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Commonwealth of Massachusetts and myself as an ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

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And then for the first time I said, �You may hug your bride.� Asher looked at me.

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I said, �No, you may kiss the bride.� And then I think out of all the people that I�ve ever officiated a wedding,

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I think he gave the longest kiss to Emily. And so it was a pronouncement, a blessing.

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I mean, how could I not notice? Do we have to live the

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Christian life on our own? I like that sound, by the way, so that�s fine. I need grace to obey.

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I need help. And that�s what a benediction is. So let me read you this benediction, this good word from God to try to encourage you that you�re not on your own.

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Here�s the God who�s with you. �Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our

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Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good that you may do

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His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

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Amen.� Christian, weak, struggling, difficulties, discouraged, happy, joyful.

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I have a good word for you, a pronouncement from the book of Hebrews. So this morning we�re going to look at the pronouncement, the benediction, and then there�s a few final greetings maybe your

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ESV says at the end and we�ll finish up the chapter. When I read the benediction,

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I want you to get a sense that the pacing�s different. There�s kind of a rhythm that�s a little different. And when

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I say, you know, verse 18, �Pray for us.� Verse 19, �I urge you.�

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And then he begins this kind of wonderful, appropriate conclusion to this sermon.

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�May the God of peace who brought up again from the dead our

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Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.� He just keeps going and going and going.

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Even poetically, even grammatically, there�s a difference. Why do

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I need a good word when I�m going to try to obey the Lord and walk by faith? Well, let me put it this way and then we�ll get back to the text and I think this will help.

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This is going to be a good detour. If I ask you the question, where are the Ten Commandments in the Bible, what would you say?

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Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Let�s go to Exodus 20. And as you�re turning there,

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I�m going to ask you the question, what�s the most important part of all these Ten Commandments? If you had to pick the most important part of a

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Ten Commandment, what would it be? Anybody? People have taught you that.

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Just pretend like you don�t know. Just kidding. The Ten Commandments are important. And we�re seeing here, this is the moral will of God as we see this law from God.

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And of course, they�re all important. The first commandment, verse 3, �You shall have no other gods before me.�

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That�s important. Verse 4, �You shall not make for yourself the carved image.� Exodus 20, verse 4.

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That second commandment is important. The third commandment is important, �You shall not take the name of the Lord your

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God in vain.� The fourth commandment is important, �Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.�

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The fifth, �Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God has given you.�

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Verse 12. That is important. �You shall not murder.� Important. �Don�t commit adultery.�

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Important. �Don�t steal.� Important. �Don�t bear false witness.� Important. �Don�t covet.�

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Important. All these things are important, but the most important part about the Ten Commandments is found in verse 2.

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God says in verse 1 this, verse 2, �I am the Lord your God.� That�s a personal name of God.

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That�s His covenant -keeping name. �I�m Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.�

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And if you can grasp that that�s the most important part of the Ten Commandments, you can understand sanctification.

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Sanctification, living a holy life, responding to who God is and who we are in Christ, is not just a bunch of to -do lists.

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It�s not just a bunch of law by itself. It is law. That�s true. But the most important part of the

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Ten Commandments is who this God is and what He�s done, and then we respond with gratitude.

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There are moral implications of this God who has rescued us and we want to obey those.

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But I don�t want to untether the two. Here�s who God is. Here�s who Jesus is. Now think Hebrews chapter 1 through 12 for a minute.

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This great high priest is so great. He�s rescued you in such a great fashion. Now I want you to obey in chapter 13.

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What�s the most important part of Hebrews? It�s not necessarily these laws although they�re important. It�s that Jesus is the high priest.

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Then He gives the commands to obey in chapter 13. And then He almost outdoes

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Himself. He shows who He is as a high priest. He gives the commands and then He says, �Don�t forget, this is who

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I am as your God to help you, to encourage you, to strengthen you as you do those very things

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I command you to do.� And so when we think properly about the Ten Commandments, that�s why whenever I go to a courthouse and I see the

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Ten Commandments, I think to myself, �I�m happy to see Scripture anywhere.� But they�re missing the most important part.

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I want those first two verses up there. Here�s who God is. Good thing

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He�s so gracious because we�ve been so guilty. And then because He�s been so gracious even though we�ve been guilty, we want to respond properly.

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That�s the paradigm for Christian living. And so it�s the same thing with Hebrews. Let�s go back there. Hebrews 13.

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It�s true. It�s important. This is how we live in light of who we are in Christ. But we�re going to need help to even do those things.

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Let us never think that we can just baldly obey Scripture without the grace of God. This benediction is not just God talk.

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It�s not just words. It�s important. You�re not on your own. You need to live the

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Christian life. You need to be a good dad. You need to be a good mom. You need to be a good spouse, a good churchman, a good church woman.

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You need help. You need grace. Remember Augustine in his confession said, God, command what you will and give what you command.

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Remember? Command what you will, whatever he�s telling us to be obedient to here in chapter 13.

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And give what you command. I can�t do it on my own. And so the benediction says, here�s help. You�re not on your own.

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I mean, can you imagine if God said, I want you to obey me now, dear Christian? Be warmed, be filled.

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No, no. He says, I�m right there with you. I�m going to help you. And that�s what this benediction is. So our outline this morning for verses 20 and 21 is simple.

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Let me give you several divine pronouncements. A series of divine pronouncements designed to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ and to teach you this lesson,

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Christian, you�re not alone when it comes to obedience. You�re not alone when it comes to the Christian life. You�re not alone when it comes to walking by faith.

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And I will tell you ahead of time, it�s God -centered. I will tell you ahead of time, it�s Christ -centered.

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I will tell you ahead of time, it just rounds out the book. Chapter 1 was so great about in these last days,

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Jesus is the one to whom God speaks through. And then at the very end, it�s an exaltation of who Jesus is as well.

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It is a God -centered. What God has done in Christ and what God is doing in Christ�s people.

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Benediction pronouncement number one to give you hope. Christian, God is a

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God of peace. God is a God of peace. By the way, super simple outline today.

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I�m just going to go phrase by phrase by phrase. Even my preaching discipleship lab could figure out this outline.

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Just one after another after another. No, you do a good job. By the way, how many people have been to the preaching class? So many.

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Good. I think it�s time for some fresh blood, don�t you? Some new guys to do that.

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We�re just going to go section by section. You�re going to already know what the next one is. It�s going to be about the resurrection and the next one is going to be about the shepherd.

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But the first one here, now may the God of peace. I don�t want you to read that too fast. He doesn�t say may the peace of God.

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Now that would be good if it said peace of God because I need that assurance on the inside that I�m good with God.

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That would be true, but that�s not what he says here. He says it�s the God of peace. Think about it for a second.

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The God of the Old Testament. He�s the Lord of hosts. The Lord of the armies.

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Can you imagine if you�re told to do all these things and then you realize, you know what, the Lord of hosts is after me.

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God is a consuming fire. I have to be very careful and the writer wants you to know something simple.

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You�re good with God. You�re friends. You�re reconciled.

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God�s the one that did it, right? We don�t make God be at peace with us. We were at war with him but he made peace.

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Jesus is the Prince of peace. There was peace in the Trinity before the world began and there�s peace in the

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Trinity now. A tranquility, a shalom, a wholeness and then there�s a bunch of rebel people that now the triune

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God goes and rescues and because of the Father�s plan, the Son�s work, the

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Spirit�s accomplishment, we�re at peace now with God. And so I don�t want you to run out of here thinking somehow

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I need to obey these things and God has got this Damocles sword and he�s going to be after me the first time

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I sin. He, rather, is a God of peace, wholeness, tranquility, soundness, well -being.

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He, the source, the giver of peace, the author of peace. I love Romans 15, �May the

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God of peace be with you all.� Romans 16, �May the God of peace soon crush

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Satan under your feet.� 2 Corinthians 13, �And the God of love and peace shall be with you.�

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Philippians 4, �The God of peace shall be with you.� Jesus has made peace with the

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Father for us by the blood of His cross, Colossians 1, verse 20. He�s the

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God of peace. We don�t have to go out and say, �You know what?

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I am going to have to obey to keep the peace. I�m going to have to obey to get the peace.�

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No, God is at peace with you and since He�s at peace with you, respond with obedience. I love

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Romans 5, �Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have� present tense �peace with God through the

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Lord Jesus Christ.� The war with God is over, so go live your

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Christian life. You say, �Well, you know what? I�m kind of afraid to obey in these areas because I don�t think my obedience is ever going to be perfect.�

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Newsflash, nobody here�s obedience is ever going to be perfect. It�s always going to be tainted by something.

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But you know what? If you go and obey and you still have remnants of the flesh and sin and this, that and the other,

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God�s not going to say, �I�m going to change my position and be at war with you.� He�s at peace with you. This is a fact.

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This is not a feeling. This is not a sensation. God is not angry with you. Hence, I can�t lose my salvation.

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Even if I do something without the perfect motives, Jesus has been judged for my sin.

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You look at the world, pursuit of peace. It�s been done by God. We have peace with God, Romans 5, right in His face, as it were, before God�s face.

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He�s not mad at us. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, as I said, Isaiah 9.

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Isaiah 53, He was wounded for our transgressions. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

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You don�t have to worry about being perfect Christian in your practice because positionally you are. I think

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I�ve told you all my daddy wound stories. I guess you�re not supposed to on Father�s Day, are you? Remember the days when the

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Mother�s Day sermon was, �Mothers are wonderful. Praise God for mothers.� Father�s Day comes around, duck.

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Dad, you don�t do enough. But since we ignore both Mother�s Day and Father�s Day around here for the

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Lord�s Day, it makes it easy, doesn�t it? Happy Father�s Day. My dad would send me out to mow and trim the yard.

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You know what? I can do it perfectly in my mind. He�d always find a problem. I�m like, you know what?

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He�s going to find a problem anyway, so I might as well do a half -baked job so it�s easier for him to find the problem so we can just get this whole thing over with.

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Never please Him, so why try? If I�m not careful,

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I could think of the same thing about God. His standards are so high. Why would I try to evangelize and to love and to deny self and all these other things when

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I could never please Him? But friends, God�s a God of peace. He�s at peace with you. And since Jesus did perfectly please the

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Father, you�re in Christ. God accepts your less -than -perfect works and my less -than -perfect works because He accepts me.

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I�m accepted by God, therefore He accepts everything I do because God�s a God of peace. Well, not only that,

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I want to give you encouragement, pronouncement number two. I want to strengthen your faith and embolden assurance.

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God�s not at war with you. He�s a God of peace. Your God is a God of peace. And number two, who brought again from the dead our

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Lord Jesus? Your God has raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus has raised

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Himself from the dead and the Holy Spirit has raised Jesus from the dead. So what�s the text say?

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Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. If you�re a

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Jewish person and you hear the words brought, brought up, brought again, you ought to be thinking

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Exodus, you ought to be thinking Egypt and Israel�s down in Egypt and God brought them up with the powerful right hand.

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You ought to be thinking Isaiah 63 language, brought up, and as God brought up Israel out of Egypt, He brings up the

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Son out of the dead. You say, well, you know what? Jesus is raised from the dead.

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What are the implications? Many. He was sinless because if Jesus was still in the grave, you could determine that He sinned and God punished

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Him or God did not accept His sin offering. But you could also say to yourself,

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Jesus said several times, Mark 8, I�m going to die and be raised. Mark 9, I�m going to die and be raised. Mark 10,

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I�m going to die and be raised. He is true. He is the prophet. He died and He was raised. You ought to be thinking that way.

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But you also ought to be thinking this way. The Father has accepted the Son�s sacrifice, so all your sins,

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Christian, placed on Jesus. Jesus dies for those sins, accepts the wrath of God for those sins by His free condescending grace.

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They�ve been paid for, no double jeopardy. God�s not going to say, I punish Jesus for your sin and I punish you for your sin.

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So the resurrection vindicates, the resurrection affirms, the resurrection says, you know what?

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When Jesus said, it is finished, as S. Lewis Johnson said, the resurrection says, Amen. I accept that sacrifice.

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What�s the point, pastor? Why would it be in a benediction? All your sins are forgiven.

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Even when you sin, and I don�t want you to, but even when you do, you don�t lose your salvation. How could you lose your salvation if it�s been done by God, secured?

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Your salvation is true because the tomb is empty, paid in full.

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And you say, but I need power to live my life now. Doesn�t that remind you of Romans 6 and Romans 8 about living your life as a

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Christian by the power of what? The resurrection? You�re not on your own. Who brought up again from the dead our

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Lord Jesus. The power that raises Jesus from the dead is the power at work in you to live a

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Christian life. Romans chapter 8, if the Spirit of Him who raised

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Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

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I can talk louder. I just keep getting louder and louder so you hear me, right? He�s equipped you for everything, and you don�t have to worry.

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You know what? What about that other sin? Your sins are gone as far as the east is from the west, past, present, and future all paid for.

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The Old Testament description is a God who brings up Israel brings up Jesus from the dead. The doctrine of the resurrection is so important.

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He�s pleasing the Father by doing the work on the cross, and then the Father commends

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Him by the resurrection. If the Son is beloved, and you�re in the Son, what does that make you?

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Now it�s interesting. He doesn�t really say the word resurrection in all the book of Hebrews.

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Exalted at the right hand, yes. Majesty on high, yes. Ascended into the heavens, yes.

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But it�s almost like He waits to the very end to talk about the resurrection here because it�s so powerful to be reminded of.

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The intervention of God. He was not going to have Jesus stay in that tomb. Who raised

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Jesus? The Father vindicated His work. The Son that says, �You know what? Destroy this temple, and in three days, what?

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I�ll raise it up.� And the Spirit of God, 1 Timothy chapter 3, vindicates the work of Jesus, a triune work, the resurrection.

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To bring up is a nautical term. To bring up a vessel from the land of the deep.

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Fascinating. So when you sin, you ought not to sin. You ought to repent, but you don�t lose your salvation because the resurrection is true.

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Jesus, the sinless one, dies for our sins, and they have been paid for. I love 1

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Peter chapter 1. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

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Pronouncement number 3. God of peace, a resurrecting God, and now a great shepherd of the sheep.

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See it? The great shepherd of the sheep. He�s talking about the Lord Jesus, the King Jesus, divine human

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Jesus, God -man Jesus, truly God, truly man Jesus, and he�s called, what, the great shepherd of the sheep.

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Sometimes now when I hear a sermon, I think, �You know what? That was a good sermon.� Why? �Because I learned something new.�

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If that�s you, remember a lot of preaching is just reminding people, but here�s something new maybe for you that I learned new this week that made it kind of all come into place and I thought, �Oh

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Lord, that is so great.� Jesus, true or false, John 10, is the good shepherd.

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He lays down his life for the sheep, right? He�s the good shepherd. What�s he called here? Great shepherd.

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Good, better, best, good, great. Why is he great? He�s good, but now he�s great, and the answer is you go from a good shepherd to a great shepherd when you�re raised from the dead.

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Jesus was a good shepherd, that�s true, and still is a good shepherd, but he�s a great shepherd because he has conquered death.

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He�s the great shepherd of the sheep. That is so wonderful to me, and every

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Christian, because of faith alone, can say what? The Lord is what? My shepherd. Don�t you need someone to guide you, to direct you, to protect you, to feed you?

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My dad died 31 years ago, and lots of times I just want to call him up and say, �Help.� Sometimes I�ve been trained by pastors at other churches, and I think to myself, �I have to make a decision here.

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I wish they could come here and make the decision. I need help.� I have a good shepherd. You have to respond, walk by faith because of this great book, and there�s stuff about money and sex and foods and leaders and all these other things, and you think, you know what?

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And I want you to know you�re not on your own because you�re a sheep who�s got a great shepherd. Live in light of this great shepherd.

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It�s one thing to have a great high priest, and it�s another thing to have a great high priest who�s a great shepherd.

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He�s my shepherd. I don�t think sheep really do this, but you could just imagine some sheep thinking about other shepherds, and their shepherd wasn�t too good, but you�re like, �If only

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I could have that shepherd who so cares, who�s not a hireling, who�s willing to lay down his life for the sheep and feeds the sheep and takes care of the sheep.

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If only I could have that shepherd, a powerful shepherd, a great shepherd.�

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It�s one thing to be good, but if you don�t have enough power to enact your goodness, and here we have not only just a good shepherd, but a great shepherd.

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Spurgeon, he�s not the great shepherd when he dies. He�s the good shepherd.

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He�s the great shepherd when he is brought up again from the dead. In the resurrection, you perceive his greatness.

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He lies in the grave slumbering. He�s the good shepherd then, having laid down his life for the sheep.

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Life appears again in him. The stone is rolled away. The watchmen are seized with terror, and he comes out, the risen one, no more dying, the great shepherd of the sheep.

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He cares for you. He cares for the flock. Yes, he has saved you and commissioned you and given you these laws, but he is still your shepherd and will help shepherd you as you obey.

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I think of Matthew 9. Remember, Jesus felt compassion for people when he was on earth, and they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a what?

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Shepherd. That would be sad to be a sheep without a shepherd. He�s a good leader.

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When you think of shepherd, you could also think of a leader. That�s what the Near Eastern people thought of. God, the great shepherd.

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Doesn�t this recall, and I bet you they were thinking the same thing. Ezekiel chapter 34, there�s all these bad shepherds and shepherds that are corrupt and shepherds that are in it for their own good, and God said, �Away with them all.�

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I think I�m going to have to go be their shepherd because none of them are any good. That�s Ezekiel chapter 34.

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I myself will search my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he�s among his sheep that have been scattered.

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So I, God, will seek out my sheep and I will rescue them from all the places where they�ve been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

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What a great shepherd of the sheep. Well, is there anything more? Would that be enough? Yes, but there�s more.

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By the blood of the eternal covenant, the fourth in a series of divine pronouncements, a benediction designed to give you a blessing, a pronouncement of God so that you can be strengthened in your faith and increase in your thanksgiving and be emboldened in your assurance.

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He�s a God of peace. He�s a resurrected God. He�s a great shepherd of the sheep. And how does he do it?

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By the blood of the eternal covenant, pronouncement number four. By the blood of the eternal covenant. Now some of you over the years, when

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I give operating room illustrations, you get kind of queasy when I describe what goes on in the operating room with all the blood.

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I think that�s a good thing to do. When you think of blood, you should think of there�s life in the blood. When you think of blood everywhere, you ought to be thinking of death.

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And I want you to know, this book, the Bible, this book, Hebrews, that book,

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Leviticus, is saturated and soaked and satiated with blood.

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There�s blood everywhere. And in this particular case, instead of our blood, our death, it�s by the blood of the eternal covenant.

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It�s by his blood. Remember, dear Christian, the old covenant served its purpose, but it was old because the new had come.

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The old covenant, temporary. The old covenant, fleeting. The old covenant, pointing to something else.

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The old covenant, built in obsolescence. It was in transit, that�s all.

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It would fade away. It would be assassinated by the new covenant, to use Hebrews 10 language.

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What is this covenant? Maybe I�m good with God now, but maybe in the future something might come up in my life.

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Maybe something in heaven might come up. Maybe God might do something in heaven and change his mind or something. Maybe there�s an old covenant, a new covenant, and a newer covenant.

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Maybe it�s good, better, best. Maybe it�s going to point to something else, even better. So what�s the text say?

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It�s the eternal covenant. It will not be replaced by another. Jesus�s death ratifies the covenant, verified by the resurrection, and it�s done.

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When you see blood, you ought to be thinking sacrificial death of Jesus, not just corpuscles, as we know. The old covenant is over.

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Permanent nature of Christ�s work. Priest had to die over and over and over, and then get a new high priest,

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Jesus once and for all priest. Animal slain over and over and over and over, Jesus slain once for all, through the blood of the eternal covenant.

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The sopping, drenched blood of the altars of the Old Testament have been replaced with a one and done

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Jesus. By the way, not the moral example. How do we get the eternal covenant?

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By Jesus being a good example. That�s how people think, by the way. Pelagianism says

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Adam was a bad example, and we follow his bad example. And Jesus is a good example, follow

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Jesus�s good example. If you want to follow Jesus�s good example, I have a question for you.

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How are you doing? And since we can�t follow His good example, we need for Him to pay for our bad following of His good example.

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So I don�t need Jesus as a moral teacher, a wise sage, a wonderful philosopher, a great moral person, the first Christian.

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Those things are all hogwash. I need Jesus as a savior. He�s not some enlightenment guru.

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He came to die. Why? Because sin is tragic. Sin is rebellion.

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Jeremiah borrows, �For hence we see what is the evil of sin.� How great it is that has made such a breach between God and my soul that the only way and means to take away my sin is the death of Jesus.

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I must either have lain under the burden of my sin eternally, or Jesus Christ, who is

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God and man, must suffer so much for it. And we know, don�t we, dear

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Christian, that sin is so awful and sin is so unrighteous because it�s going to take the death of our precious

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Savior to redeem us. J .C. Ryle, �Terribly black must be that guilt, be for which nothing but the blood of the

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Son of God could make satisfaction.� But when I think of blood,

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I think of something else. It might strike you strangely. I think about the love of God. The love of God that He would send

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His Son to do that for us when we deserved it and He didn�t. J.

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I. Packer said, �The measure of love is how much it gives.� How do you know how much somebody loves you?

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What do they give to you? How much do they give to you of themselves and all that they have? If the measure of love is how much it gives, how much does

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God love you, dear Christian? When I think of blood,

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I also think of this. I think of a God that�s not far removed and distant and only transcendent and different and other, although He is that.

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I think of a God who is simultaneously transcendent and holy, but also you think of the incarnation where Jesus adds humanity so that He actually could suffer wrath and He could actually bleed and die.

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Hebrews talks about the blood of the eternal covenant here in chapter 13. The Holy Spirit in chapter 9 is called the eternal spirit.

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Hebrews 5, Jesus is the source of eternal salvation. There is eternal judgment,

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Hebrews 6, and Jesus has obtained eternal redemption. I want you to remember, if you think of the eternal covenant that goes that way, so here is the old covenant,

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Mosaic covenant, lamb slain on behalf of the family and Yom Kippur in the nation and then later you get the new covenant,

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Jesus. I want you to think of that eternal covenant not just working that way towards the future, but also that eternal covenant had its origins where?

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Pre -Genesis 1 .1 where the Father and the Son and the Spirit decide to go rescue the elect in what we call the covenant of redemption.

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What a glorious truth that is. The Father and the Son and the Spirit in great communion have a plan where the

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Father is the architect of that plan, go rescue people. The Son says, Father, I know you love those people,

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I do too, I'll go. And the Spirit says, I'll attend to you Jesus on earth because you're a man and I'll then apply what you did at the cross and what you did as you obeyed the law,

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I'll apply it to people in time. When I think of the eternal covenant, I think of that way in eternity past and of that way into eternity future, the eternal covenant.

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And of course it's all about the Lord Jesus and what He's done in Jesus. But there's more to this.

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There's something about what He does in us, verse 21. This is the next in the series of divine pronouncements.

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God's a God of peace, a resurrected God, a great shepherd by the blood of the eternal covenant. And now we move to what

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God is doing in you, His people. What God has done in Christ, what

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God has done in Christ's people is one commentator said, and he's right. Pronouncement five.

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This is encouraging. May God equip you to do every good.

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That's the pronouncement. God's going to equip you. You see it right there. If you go to chapter 13, verse 20, now may the

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God of peace. And then everything there is kind of in a bunch of commas. The main verb is found in 21.

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May the God of peace equip you with every good thing that you may do His will.

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That's good news. That word equip is simple. It means to prepare.

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It means to fashion. It means to my nets are broken and I need to mend them. It means to restore something, to prepare something.

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If I said to you, how could I work this out with another verse to help me explain this passage,

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I could easily do it by reading this one verse that's very familiar with all of us to all of us, excuse me.

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For by grace, you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

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What's the next phrase? And I hope you can do it on your own. Go get them.

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Eat or be eaten. Why was I going to say beat or be beaten? Which God prepared what beforehand that we should walk in them.

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Here's the benediction. Everything's been done by God. Your status before God is good. Why? Because Jesus has been raised from the dead.

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He's a great sheep. He's done all this for you. And by the way, you go do his work. It's already prepared for you ahead of time to do and you just walk in them.

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It's all been done for you from start to finish. That's what he's trying to say in Hebrews chapter 13.

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Everything's been done. Nothing's lacking. God didn't forget something. By the way, political theory in 2020 is going to be wild.

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And how to live with technology and computers and smartphones is going to change the human psyche and how we deal with God.

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No, no. Everything's been taken care of. He knows all the challenges that will come. God is transchronological and he's also in time because of the incarnation.

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And everything's been done. He's going to equip you with everything good that you may do his will. What if I said to you, he's going to equip you with a few good things.

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He's going to equip you with some things, but you need to find them out. He's going to equip you, but it's a hide and seek.

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You're getting warmer. No, no. I say to myself, everything I need, he's done positionally and practically it's been done.

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And I just need to walk by faith today. That's all I need to do. If God has justified you, isn't he going to make sure you're sanctified and glorified too?

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Well, you're, you're okay with me, but now you're on your own. And then number six, finally pronouncement six.

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It's almost a continuation of the last one, but it is another phrase. And so I give you the sixth pronouncement in a series of benedictive pronouncements.

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God's working in us, which is pleasing in his sight. Do you notice it working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ?

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How do I please God? What will please God? Well, God is working in us.

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This is a pronouncement. I just pronounce that this is what God is doing. He's a good mediator.

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He's a good savior. He's a good advocate, and he's going to help you do what's pleasing in his sight. He's given you, in other words, the

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Holy Spirit, has he not? Why? Why would he do this for our praise, for our glory, for our namesake?

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What's the text say at the end? To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Everything done for his glory, who you are in Christ, his glory, your sanctifying walk and mat maturity, his glory, your ability to evangelize other, be thankful to people, to be thankful to the

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Lord. We get no credit. Augustine said in his confessions, Lord, everything good in me is due to you.

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I ask you the question. Can you say that? Everything good in me, everything that I've ever experienced that's been good, it's because of the

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Lord. Every good is due me. The rest, our sin, that's on us, but for God, everything he has done for us.

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You say, well, to whom be glory forever and ever. Is this Jesus? Is this God the father? I think this is a great triune praise for God's equipping.

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Is there anything else left to go for the book? Well, we'll find out next time. No, just kidding. We're going to finish today.

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Verse 22, we've seen the benediction and now we just have some final greetings.

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Remember, sometimes you might have some salutations. When you write a letter, you put them at the very beginning.

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In this culture, they put them at the end. So he says a few things. What does he say? Verse 22, I appeal to you brothers, bear with my word of exhortation for I have written to you briefly.

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What would a long letter have been? By the way, it's a sermon and if you read this out loud, it takes 45 to 48 minutes to read.

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If you ever have to teach a Bible study or teach a, go to a church and preach and you don't have anything ready because they ask you two minutes ahead of time and you just got up and said,

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I'm going to read a sermon today that's actually inspired by God. I'm going to read

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Hebrews. You would be well served. I appeal, bear with my word of exhortation.

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That's why we think it's a sermon because it's this preaching language for I have written to you briefly.

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It's just a short letter. I wanted to tell you more. I'm kind of apologetic. I could have said a lot more things about Melchizedek and about Judah and all these other things.

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Hi priests, but I just didn't have much time. Verse 23, you should know.

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In other words, a new English Bible translates that I have news for you. Here's a little update. Timothy, our brother has been released with whom

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I shall see you if he comes soon. Now some people think this is why it's Pauline authorship because Paul had to go to jail and imprisonment epistles and now

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Timothy, who's been told by Paul, I want you to be bold. I don't want you to look down. I have people look down on your youth.

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I don't want you to be timid. I want you to stand for the faith. Does Timothy going to do it? Will they stand for the faith? Yes. To the point of imprisonment.

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And now God has released him. He's been a faithful fellow worker. There was lots of Timothys back then, but everybody seems to know who this

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Timothy is lending itself to Pauline authorship. Some would say, and then he gives some greetings.

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Verse 24, greet all your leaders, all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.

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And then how does he end? It's almost like a PS to the benediction.

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Grace be with you all. That sounds like Paul to me. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.

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What's grace? When I was a kid, I was taught grace acronym, God's riches at Christ's expense.

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You ever learned that? Not bad. It just means goodwill.

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It means demerited favor. John Edy says one of my favorite definitions of all time.

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It's many sided favor that comes in the form of hope to saints in despondency of joy to them in sorrow and of patience to them in suffering.

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It's called well -timed assistance. They're struggling. They're suffering. They're in prison.

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There's difficulties, persecutions coming. And so I just want you to know God's gracious to you. The God of all grace.

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Ephesians one, it's glorious grace acts for its abundant race grace.

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Ephesians one, it's rich grace. And so he just wants to make sure they leave on that note about the grace of God.

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I almost don't want to end. It's been a good trip and I'm going to talk about the eternal covenant through the words of John Flavel to end our sermon this morning.

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The father says of the son, my son, here's a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice.

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Justice demands satisfaction for them or I will satisfy itself on them in eternal ruin.

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What shall be done for these souls? Christ replies, Oh my father, such as my love to and pity for them that rather than they shall perish eternally,

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I will be responsible for them as their surety. Bring in all thy bills that I may see what they owe thee.

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Lord, bring them all in that there may be no after reckonings with them and at my hand thou shall require it.

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I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than that they should suffer it. Upon me, my father, upon me be all their debt.

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But my son says God, if you undertake for them, they must reckon. Thou must reckon to pay the last might expect no abatement son.

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If I spare them, I will not spare thee. And Christ replied, content father, let it be so.

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Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it.

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That's what grace is. Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank you.

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Thank you for such a book. Thank you for a book that extols your son. I pray if there's someone here today that's not a

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Christian, they're not born again. They're trusting in their own works are ceremonially religious deeds.

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I pray that you would impress upon them by the word of God and conscience what a great sinner they are and how they need the

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Lord Jesus and that you would grant them faith and repentance savingly.

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Father, as S. Lewis Johnson would pray, let them not sleep or slumber until they rest in your son for the

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Christians that are here today. Father, what a good word this is. What a good benediction.

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We're not on our own. You're with us. Even Jesus on earth called God with us.

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Emmanuel, we thank you. Would you help us to live a life commensurate with our calling that we might live a life that would please you?

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And when we do that, we'll give you all the praise and glory because we know you've been working in us ahead of time.

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And I thank you in Jesus' name. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.