The Promise Keeper (part 2) - [Hebrews 6:13-20]

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The Promise Keeper (part 3) - [Hebrews 6:13-20]

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the psalmist writes Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law
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I've been studying the Bible for almost 30 years now and there are occasions where you just say wow
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That is unbelievable. Oh the goodness of God and his character and his work and it's it's one of those aha moments
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Where where the Spirit of God illumines your mind and you understand one of these truths and you think
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I now know God better I understand his work his character his perfections his attributes.
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I Had an aha moment this week studying the Bible and I can't wait to tell you about it
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Made me even think of the word aha first used in English the Canterbury Tales 1380s and Chaucer writes they cried out aha the
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Fox and after they ran Soon Shakespeare in the 1600s had
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Hamlet say to Horatio. Aha Come some music. Well today we're gonna have one of those aha moments and it's not gonna be in Canterbury Tales It's not gonna be in Shakespeare.
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It's gonna be from one of my favorite passages in all the Bible Hebrews chapter 6 turn your
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Bibles to Hebrews chapter 6 and we are just Moments away from one of those aha moments
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Delighted discovery is a good definition of aha surprise exaltation
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This writer wants you to know that you can trust the Lord Jesus Christ with your soul that you can trust that his promises are true about forgiveness and Justification and reconciliation you can trust him because his character is full of fidelity and he's sure and trustworthy he keeps his promises
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And we need someone like that with our salvation Theodore Beza Said truly it is more than necessary that our salvation be in better and more secure hands than our own
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Beza said truly it is more than necessary that our salvation be in better and more secure hands than our own and The writer here in Hebrews wants you to know that this great
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Person the Lord Jesus Christ keeps your salvation secure
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The future salvation is certain because God's purpose is Unchangeable and of course the book of Hebrews if you had to summarize it it would be that Jesus is superior no matter
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What system what person that comes up against Jesus? He's better. He's better than remember. He's better than angels.
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He's better than prophets He's better than Aaron. He's better than Moses. He's better than a Levitical system He's just better and the writer wants you to understand that and we come to chapter 6 today
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Remember chapter 4 he's been talking about the high priestly work of Christ Jesus as Jesus is the intercessor
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And he's the sacrifice and he went on a little deviation to challenge people that they might have mature faith
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He he warned them not to just coast and backslide And we come to chapter 6 we've seen the last few weeks that you're not saved by doing religious things that was in verses 1 & 2
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Verse 3 you're not saved by your own power or will you're saved by God's power Verses 4 through 6 you're not saved by having
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Religious experiences you can die in the wilderness as an Israelite and not make it into the promised land
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Temporally and you can have apostasy experiences a Judas like experience and be really close to the
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Lord Jesus But still not rest in him and trust in him and so he wants you to really truly believe and not just Experience things or just intellectually know about things and then he he turns
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He turns to verse 9 of chapter 6 Completely different from the warning completely different than the exhortation and he gives promise and hope now to every believer
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Though we speak in this way this very hard way in the earlier verses yet in your case
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And now everything turns he's talking to Christians beloved. We feel sure of better things things that belong to salvation and Everything is driving toward this object of your faith the
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Lord Jesus And it says in verse 10 for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name and serving the
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Saints as you still do and We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you might not be sluggish or may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises
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And if you were a Jew, and I said to you faith promises inherit
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Who would you think about if I said faith promise inherit? Maybe you would say maybe
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Adam or maybe Moses But every good Jew would know he's talking about Abraham Abraham is a man who put his faith in who
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God was Because God made a promise to him and that's exactly what our writer does he talks about Abraham and How Abraham believed and so this morning we're in part 2
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Hebrews chapter 6 verses 13 through 20 we got through three verses last week that was pretty good by the way
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I don't mean my sermon, but that we got through three verses And I think that's about how many we'll get through today as well.
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Here's the outline in Hebrews 6 13 through 20 Six descriptions of God so that you continue to rest in him that you trust in him for your eternal salvation
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Christian you put your faith in Christ Jesus you can rest securely in him if you're not a
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Christian This is the object of your faith this Lord Jesus and so this
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Writer this preacher wants you to understand the object of your faith. We're not talking about faithfulness here
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We're talking about faith in the object of the Lord Jesus Christ six Descriptions of who
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God is so that you continue to rest in him ie Believe in him and trust in him for what purpose it's tucked down in verse 18
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Do you see it that we who have fled for refuge might have strong? Encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us and that is what every
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Christian needs because there's different there are difficulties in life, and you need to have hope so you can keep trusting because when your
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Gaze becomes on your problems, and you're only glancing on the Lord There's trouble so the writer wants to fix your eyes fix your hope on Gazing on who
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God is so you only glance at your problems, so you keep eternal perspective in front of you
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Last week we saw the first description of God and that was promise keeper remember that God is a promise keeper
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We found this in verses 13 14 and 15 for when God made a promise to Abraham Since he had no one greater by whom to swear
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He swore by himself Saying surely I will bless you and multiply you that's right from Genesis 22
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Where Abraham was supposed to slay Isaac and thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise
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Remember God promised Abraham to have many progeny many children as many as the stars in the sky as many as a sand on the seashore and of course his wife was barren and There's the whole
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Hagar incident and Ishmael, and how is this all going to happen? Especially when finally after 25 years
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Isaac is born and now God tells Abraham to go kill Isaac.
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How is this all going to work out could God be trusted? Did God say the right things?
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Paul Relates this story in Romans 4 about Abraham without becoming weak in faith
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Abraham contemplated his own body Now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb yet with respect to the promise
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Of God he did not waver in unbelief. What does the King James Version say he what you guys awake today?
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Okay, he staggered not at the promises of God He staggered not
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I Dreamt last night that when I was preaching that I'd have to slam down my my hand on the pulpit
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That I was an actual dream I don't think it was an inspired dream, but I thought well now I'm gonna have to use that that is inspiring to me
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Even though it isn't inspired Is it too hot in here? All right, I'm gonna just have to you know in the old days.
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Here was the old pastor Mike. This is God's Word pay attention The new pastor
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Mike the kind of grandfatherly pastor Mike is It is God's Word and you should pay attention, but I'll try to help you pay attention by the way
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I preach How's that so wake up? He staggered not at the promise of God He determined you know what
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God has promised to bless me with children And now God has told me to kill that child the only thing
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I can do instead of blaming God are not trusting to God I'm going to make a deduction. He's faithful.
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He's trustworthy, and there's only one outcome God will raise that kid from the dead after I kill him
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And so the writer here knows that these recipients are struggling. They're getting persecuted.
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They're losing homes What do you tell people who are getting persecuted and losing homes are having some medical issue?
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It could be any trial What do you tell them you tell them listen
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God's faithful and God said I'm going to be faithful to the end you can trust me in spite every
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Evidence to the contrary for Abraham. He's old his wife's old. He's got to kill his son
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Yet Abraham believed God and he is a great Person to imitate great only because of his great
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Savior Now we break new ground verses 16 and 17 the second description of God so that you might continue to rest in him
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He's an oath maker very closely related to promise keeper. He is an oath maker verses 16 and 17
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For people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation
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You can think about our own legal system So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise of the unchangeable character of his purpose
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He guaranteed it with an oath That's pretty amazing
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God not only promises he makes an oath Designed so that you trust him remember he could just say it's my word take me at my word
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But because we're weak because we're frail because he he really wants to make sure we believe he not only gives his word
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But he gives a promise and then he gives an oath all designed so that we might take him at his word
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That's incredible to me. Does God take an oath because he's untrustworthy Does God make a promise because you can't really believe in him?
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No, he makes a promise to engender your faith People swear by something greater than themselves.
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We know that from verse 16 in in in legal matters
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Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I solemnly swear to that and what do they say at the very end? Even in courts today.
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So what? So help me God making an oath Here's God Not trying to swear by some judicial system on earth, but he swears by himself.
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No higher power This is a legal device that the people would understand back in those days
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And we understand so that it might force us to realize God guarantees his word
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This should be the final solution to any dispute. We might have is God faithful He says it in his word.
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He makes a promise and he gives an oath So everything is confirmed That's what an oath does it confirms and it puts to end every argument
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The language here Could be summed up with some of these words swear confirm guarantee give proof
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And that's what God was doing when it comes to Abraham verse 17.
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So when God desired to show more convincingly I mean what's more convincingly more convincingly than his word more convincingly than his word and a promise
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But now with an oath to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose He guaranteed it with an oath
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What great condescension to to to our frailty to accommodate himself so that we realize his promises are true
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Now if you go too fast, you missed some of these words the unchangeable character of his what?
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purpose When you read that word purpose in the Bible Especially in Luke and Acts.
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It's talking about the saving purpose of God that God saves sinners It's an unchanging
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Great promise that God saves sinners That's amazing.
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If there's someone in your life that you know needs to be saved. The only hope that they'll ever be saved is what?
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Their own free will Ah left to themselves they could never be saved but when
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God has a purpose to save he will save that's the word here When God purposes to send his son to redeem people for his glory it happens
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And these people are called what heirs of the promise you don't choose to be an heir God chooses you to be an heir
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This is the language here of more certainty and more purpose and more resolve and the will of God Isaiah 46 it's so great saying of God's purpose
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It says my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure
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You can trust God because he he keeps his promises. He keeps his oath Thirdly verse 18.
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He's a truth teller. He's a promise keeper an oathmaker and a truth teller Now I use the positive phrase but in the scripture here
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It's phrased negatively something that God doesn't do Do you see it verse 18 so that by two unchangeable things that is the promise and the oath in which it is impossible for God to lie
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There are two things that cannot be changed his promise and his oath and God can never lie so you can trust in him
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Imagine if God lied Imagine if God's promises could be revoked God is unchangeable and cannot be
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Ever accused of lying because he never lies That word unchangeable there. I think you could probably get bogged down in too many word studies in a sermon
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But I love the word unchangeable for lots of reasons. Here's one It's used in secular Greek in the context of wills and contracts
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Signifying stipulations that could not be annulled This is this is the law of the
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Medes and the what? Persians this cannot be revoked. It's unchangeable and it's impossible for God to lie
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He's incapable of lying The Greek word is he has no power to lie. He can't cheat you.
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He can't defraud you. He can't say something that's untrue He's not going to keep a promise unfulfilled
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Numbers 23 God is not a man that he should what? lie Samuel and 1st
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Samuel 15 the glory of Israel will not lie Friends, let's make it very practical
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Jesus came to purge sins Hebrews 1 and it says if you trust in him all your sins are purged
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Guess what? That's true. That's not a lie. Take him at his word Say God has has said that if I trust in the
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Lord Jesus Christ I repent and trust in the Lord Jesus his death burial resurrection. I can be forgiven and have eternal life
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He didn't lie when he said it Because what's happening is these people are looking at their circumstances saying you know, what our
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Circumstances look pretty bad. I wonder if that's still true. Does God really love me or not? Don't question him when it comes to him telling the truth
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It's impossible for him to lie. He's never lied ever. No white lies. No gray lies.
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No black lies He's never lied in all of eternity And how about this
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First John 5 whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself
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Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his
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Son and This is the testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is in his
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Son Whoever has the Son has life whoever does not have the Son does not have life and You should have strong encouragement knowing that God doesn't lie
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And now we come to the aha moment verse 18 the fourth description of God So that you might continue to rest in him.
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He's a promise keeper. He's an oathmaker. He's a truth -teller And I'm not going to use two words here.
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I'll just use what's in the text. He's a refuge He's a refuge
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We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement Friends This is the aha moment.
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Do you feel it? Do you see it? You come to this passage you go. Aha. I get it
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I've been waiting for eight days to preach this section right here. And if I don't preach it, well
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Then it's on me, but the text is great That's part of being a pastor He's just trying to get out of the way so you can see it
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So you take your Bible home tonight and you reread chapter Hebrew 6 and you go, you know what Abendroth is crazy
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But he's not that crazy. I see it. Aha. I get it You like well, what's the aha moment?
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I know I'm trying to keep you awake. It's hot in here Now this seems simple and I've said it over and over and over when you read the book of Hebrews.
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You should think like a Jew You should think like you're
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Receiving it from this Jewish writer who's writing about a Jewish man
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Jesus To say don't be Jewish anymore when it comes to Levitical system, but still understanding things in a
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Jewish context It's a written to the Hebrews Hebrews think okay what when it comes to refuge what goes through their mind if it's word association
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I say to a Jewish person refuge they say what? That's what I'm after and you're saying.
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Well, I don't know Think like a Jew these people knew the Old Testament.
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Did they not this preacher? He's quoted Psalm 110 He's quoted Psalm 2. He's quoted Psalm 102.
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It's quoted quoted Psalm 45 Psalm 89 He's quoted Genesis 22 these people knew these scriptures and they were their bedrock scriptures
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And when he says, you know what Christian, I know you're suffering. I know you're struggling But you can go to God for refuge and they knew right away what he was talking about We're in the
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Old Testament. Is this such a key foundational thought? refuge to flee for refuge
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And the answer is found in the devotional book of Numbers turn your
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Bibles to numbers, but here's what's the funnest thing about this We don't read numbers like we should we're like, yeah, it's a bunch of numbers well, that's true at the beginning but pretty soon you start reading about the snakes and the manna and the pole and Phineas and all these things
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Numbers 35 will never be the same again to me and I hope it's true for you as well because this is the foundation for refuge
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When you read the Psalms now dozens of times I I go to God for refuge.
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This is the background When you first understand a genealogy and why they're so important then every other time you read genealogy
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You see it Every time you read refuge now, you're going to see it. I hope that's my prayer cities of refuge numbers 35 verse 6
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Now before I read this if you had to summarize Hebrews, how would you summarize Hebrews? Jesus is superior and Is it talking about Jesus as a king?
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Well, yes, he's seated at the right hand. It's talking about Jesus as prophet Yes, he's better than the prophets. But what does he focus on most
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Jesus as prophet? King or what? Priest a little priest a low priest or what?
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See I'm trying to keep you guys awake. It's back to it's Monday co -op right now Okay, high priest think high priest.
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We have a high priest And he's a refuge and now we read numbers 35 verse 6 the cities that you give to the
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Levites shall be six cities of what Refuge where you shall permit the manslayer to flee and in addition to them
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You shall give 42 cities all the cities that you give to the Levites shall be 48 with their pasture land.
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So you had some for manslayers the rest for the Levites And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the people of Israel from the larger tribes
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You may take many smaller few Verse 9 the Lord Yahweh spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel and say to them when you cross into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be
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Cities of refuge for you that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may what?
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Flee there. There's the language of Hebrews flee for refuge. The city shall be for you a
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Refuge from the Avenger that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment and the cities that you shall give shall be six cities of Refuge you shall give three cities beyond the
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Jordan three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge these six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel and For the stranger and for the sojourner among them that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there
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Okay, so let's think about it There are special cities that God has and these cities that if you kill somebody on purpose
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You're gonna die. You're just a murderer You have intention to kill you're gonna die But if it's an accident and you don't want the family member of the dead a dead person to come and get you
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You can go for asylum. You can go for refuge. You can run and once you get to that city
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They can't do anything to you And you flee for the city of refuge now in verses 16 and following there are some examples of People that can't go to these cities of refuge.
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I mean if you're gonna strike down somebody with an iron object You're just a murderer But verse 22 if he pushed him suddenly without enmity or hurled anything on him without lying in wait
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It's not premeditated in other words Are used a stone that could cause death and without seeing him dropped it on him so that he died
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Though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm Then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the
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Avenger of blood in accordance with these rules And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the
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Avenger of blood that that local Person who had a relative was gonna try to come and kill them, but they can't when they get to the city of refuge
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Now here it comes aha moment and the congregation verse 25 shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the
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Avenger of blood and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he has fled and he shall live in it until the death of the
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You've got to be kidding me the death of the high priest you go there
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If you've committed one of these acts and you can have refuge and you can be having asylum
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And you have to stay cordoned up in this place But once the high priest dies, you can go back to life as it was you can go back to your city
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That's exactly what the text goes on to say verse 28 for he must remain in a city of refuge until the death of the high
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Priest but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession
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Do you see it? He's safe Until the high priest dies then he can go back to his normal life.
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I thought to myself this is amazing For all sinners, it should be amazing.
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No matter what sin you've committed. There's a place of refuge for you to go and You're safe.
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I Don't think we maybe have many murderers here in the congregation. Maybe there's one or two I'm not kidding.
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I Got dirt on all ya You got it on me You know sometimes people come in and tell me what's going on with their lives or what they've done in their past and I just Try not to let my mouth drop
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Because I know when I tell them what I've done that I don't want their mouth to drop either When I first would ride a bicycle and somebody would cut me off.
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I try not to be a jerky bicyclist But when some cars cut me off and there's some four -ton truck and I'm on you know
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Some 18 -pound bicycle with spandex. I'm like, you know, I'm not really that dangerous and then they cut me off.
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I used to just yell idiot And then I read in Scripture in Matthew chapter 5 6 and 7 and Raqqa is idiot and it's like you're committing murder essentially with your words
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So I thought I better change that so now I just say classy That's really classy.
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But my heart is probably still you idiot The other day,
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I mean, I I'm a pastor and I know these things and everything and somebody cut me off I thought he killed me. I go you idiot.
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It's just in there What do we do when we just have those remaining sins still in us?
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And we think I still have to stand before God one day how am I going to do this the Lord Jesus the great high priest who offers himself as a
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Sacrifice and intercedes for us says what you can flee from for refuge to me and no matter what you've done
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It's been paid for because I the high priest have died and so now you go back home
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It's amazing We're guilty of manslaughter maybe not with our hands but with our words
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We fought against the Lord Jesus Christ. Have we not? But we're forgiven because there's a salvific effect of the death of the high priest
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It's almost like you could see the picture the types in the Old Testament when that high priest died It was like that other person died and now he's free to go back one writer said
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His death as high priest is the anti type for the atoning deaths of the high priest of Israel in antiquity
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You're free to go back never to be subject again to that Avenger that relative who wanted to pay back
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What a great picture of redemption What a great picture of the death of the high priest ends one era and inaugurates another era and right at the very beginning of Hebrews It says
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Jesus has purged our sins. He's died and he's been exalted to the right hand of the father He died and that has been raised.
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I'd have to be in this imposed asylum anymore Warren Weersbe writes we have fled to Jesus Christ and he is our eternal
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Refuge as a high priest he will never die and we have eternal salvation no
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Avenger can touch us because he has already died and risen from the dead and This is really important because if I think about what if I went to one of the other non
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Specified cities of refuge would there be hope for me there? No only in God's appointed city
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What happens when a manslayer goes outside these boundaries they could be killed It's only one high priest and his name's the
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Lord Jesus the ultimate high priest one writer says
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This fleeing for refuge speaks of a sinner fleeing for refuge from the penalty of sin To the high priest who has offered atonement for him and his sin
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His only hope is in the high priest the Messiah that is so great dear
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Christian Turn with me to Psalms and I want you to see some of the great language of refuge in the
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Psalm No matter what you've done in the past and it could even be premeditated murder in the past There's forgiveness because you fled for refuge and that high priest has died and now you're able to live cities of refuge
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I Don't think we read the Psalms in light of numbers 35 either, but now when
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I do read the Psalms. I'm reminded about our great Refuge the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can flee to him like a fugitive
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Because he has paid for our crimes. He's paid the penalty for our sins He's paid the penalty for our guilt
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What a perfect refuge Have you not seen the shows where these people and even happened in Germany where people run into a house of worship for?
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asylum and Then they burn it down anyway, right? But not this particular asylum not this
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Lord Jesus all sinners trusting in this high priest have refuge
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Psalm 212 I Mean you can just go through the Psalms and see these great words pop up fleeing and refuge
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And I want you to just think high priest in each one of these You look back to numbers and you go look forward to Hebrews Psalm 212 kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled On the other hand blessed are all who take what?
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Refuge in him Psalm 511 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice
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Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them that those who love your name may exalt in you
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Christian I hope you're just singing for joy. You don't have to go to hell You don't have to pay for your own sins, even though you did all those sins.
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You have a place of asylum and refuge Psalm 7 1
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Oh Lord Yahweh my Lord in you do I take refuge save me from all my pursuers and deliver me
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I Mean can you imagine what if we had to really worry about Satan robbing us of our salvation?
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Satan's real What if we had to worry I wonder you know kind of like this is this worldview that says
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God's powerful and Satan is just as Powerful but negatively powerful and I wonder how this battle is gonna work out except Satan is a created being and by the way
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We've already had our refuge confirmed. I don't have to worry about Satan Psalm 11 1 in Yahweh I take refuge
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How can you say to my soul flee like a bird to the mountain Psalm 14 6
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Mentions refuge Psalm 16 1 preserve me O God for in you I take refuge and maybe the one that we know
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Very well because somebody wrote a song about this song Psalm 1 sorry excuse excuse me
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Psalm 18 verse 2 Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my
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God my rock in whom I take refuge My shield and the horn of my salvation my stronghold
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Over and over and over the psalmist singing refuge refuge refuge refuge refuge you can take refuge in the one
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High priest the Lord Jesus And I don't know about you But to me that was an aha moment
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And how do you know it's an aha moment for you if you would just sit and think for a while about your sins
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And you think you know what? What does one of my sins deserve? As we've talked about regularly how many times do you have to spit in the king's face before he damns you
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And then you think you know what how am I gonna get rid of these sins? Here's how the unbeliever thinks you know what? Other people sin more more than I do
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What does that have to do with anything? We're talking about you standing before God the unbeliever says well
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You know I'm just gonna do more good than bad It's like the guy who who gets arrested for murder
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And he gets put before the judge and the judge says do you have anything you want to say before you're sentenced?
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Well, you know what I was really nice to my next -door neighbor I Worked No, we're not talking about what you did that outweighs your bad what you did was bad
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We are created beings and we're to love God with our heart soul mind and strength and love our neighbors ourself And we can't do it and we need a refuge
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We need someone who did perfectly obey who did love God who did love his neighbor and so you fleet him
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This is language of run for your lives And if you do guess what God's Word is true you can trust him you could be forgiven
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I said to the Friday night concert at the Friday night concert wouldn't you like to be forgiven our?
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Christian isn't it sweet to be forgiven Can you imagine he knows everything that you've ever done our will do and he says what assault?
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What is first John 3 say behold what manner of love we should be called children of God? That's amazing to me.
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Well. Let's go back to Hebrews for the fifth word and if you want to Put things out on Facebook and Twitter about how that's not your aha moment.
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Don't blind copy me, okay? I just think it's so great. I have refuge. I need safety
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God is a consuming fire Yes wrath on the wicked He punishes sinners, but I'm safe Even though I'm a manslayer.
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I'm safe now. We have another word and this changes the metaphor from a city of refuge
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To a nautical metaphor verse 19 you can trust and rest in Who God is and his promises because of his character?
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He's a promise keeper. He's an oathmaker. He's a truth -teller He's a refuge and he is an anchor verse 19 of Hebrews 6 we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul a
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Hope that enters in to the inner place behind the curtain We're moving from cities to the water
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What do anchors do Well, they give what? stability
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Surety Huh, that seems to make sense because the whole point is you can trust in God's Word you can trust in his integrity
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He's sure he's firm. He's faithful and Who's the anchor? Christ is the anchor.
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He's entered into heaven. Our hope is based on his promises
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He's our spiritual Anchor Calvin writes
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We are tossed about as if we were in the midst of the sea and a stormy stormy one at that The devil never ceases from stirring up countless tempests
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Which would at once capsize us and submerge our ship if we did not cast our anchor far down in the depths
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I mean left to ourselves. We're gonna be dashed to pieces. Are we not on the rocks and reefs of this world and our own sin the anchor
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Have you been to the catacombs in Rome before or any catacombs? Well, one of the things that you'll see there regularly in Roman catacombs is a little symbol
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And that symbol is the what? the anchor symbol That's amazing
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They knew okay What happens if you've got a bad anchor? It doesn't catch.
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It just makes you drag along the bottom. But what if your anchor is sure and firm And give stay and hope and it's a safeguard
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Bible dictionary said this it would appear that the Roman vessels carried several anchors Which were attached to the stern as well as to the prowl the
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Roman anchor like the modern one had two teeth or flukes in The word the word is used metaphorically
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For that which supports or keeps one steadfast in the time of trial or of doubt
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It is he said the emblem of hope Yeah, the storms coming my way
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And I've got that health diagnosis and I've got this going on I've got that going on and the world seems chaos.
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Listen underneath it all you can't see the bottom of the ocean But if you've got the right anchor, it's keeping you stable
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Even though everything looks chaotic and is chaotic see what the writers trying to do
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Why would you ever go back to that temple that's up right down there in Jerusalem? It was still up It wasn't smashed until 70
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AD here. We're in the 60s Why run back to this temple when you have an anchor? Don't go back
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Jesus is the anchor he's secure He loves nautical concepts in this book.
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Does he not chapter 2 verse 1? Lest we drift away from it chapter 3 verse 6
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Talks about holding fast like a rope that goes out to the anchor Verse 14 of chapter 3 hold our confidence firm.
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That's other nautical language of grabbing the rope That's tied to the boat Chapter 10 verse 23.
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He uses nautical language. Let us hold fast a confession Chapter 10 verse 38.
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He uses the same language the anchor keeps the ship from moving
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It gives stability. That's the point Now here's what I might do if I were God listen
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Jesus died up for your sins. He's been raised from the dead He'll keep you to the end
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That's true. I Guess it would make for a small Bible How many different metaphors does he give us to make sure we know he gives his word?
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He gives promises He gives oath. He says yeah like a city of refuge Yeah, like an anchor.
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He just keeps piling them on so, you know Life is difficult but for the believer
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They have an anchor the Lord Jesus. He's reliable.
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He's steadfast and friends He's reliable and steadfast even when your friends aren't when your family isn't when the church family isn't and when you're not
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Man -centered theology doesn't do any good at all. And where does this anchor go deep down into what's the deepest part of the sea?
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Marianas Trench to go way down to the Marianas Trench and we can't see it here. It goes into the veil of the temple
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Now you see what he's doing he's using all this high priest language and now it's back to the temple it's like that chain goes from Where you see it into the temple into the veil of the temple a hope that enters what the text a into the inner place behind the curtain
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That curtain that separated the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle from the outside That's where it goes.
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That's where that anchor goes right into the Holy of Holies Stabilizing the Christian and which one enters in the veil
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By the way, you could never enter into the veil if you weren't a high priest But now that the high priest has gone in there guess what happened when
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Jesus died. Did that veil get torn asunder? The Talmud said veils in the temple were 60 feet long 30 feet wide
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Thickness of a man's palm which is about four inches and it was made of 72 squares that were sewn together 300 priests had to work on it to hang that Veil because it was so heavy and what does
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Matthew 27 say and behold the veil of the temple was torn into from top to bottom
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Supernaturally by God doing it and the earth shook and the rocks were split Isn't that a coincidence?
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Perfect timing since therefore brethren Hebrews 10 we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus Christ has entered on our behalf and now we have access
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So what do we do with all this? Here's what we do Christian you can trust God no matter what the circumstances are you have a no up you have no option
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What are your options? You lay in that MRI table and all of a sudden you start hearing all those sounds go on.
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What's your only hope? Because what if it is bad news your only hope is What remember when
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John DeBriene was here I've told the story a hundred times and he said right over there John DeBriene said when I had a heart attack
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I was laying on the ground and here's what I was not singing Shine Jesus shine, by the way, if Mark ever has a sing that on Sunday, he's fired
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I have the authority to do that. By the way, Mark has really come into his own as he's been leading songs
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You notice that? Excellent What was my point? John DeBriene said what
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I said to the Lord was my hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus blood and righteousness
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That's Abraham hope against hope. I don't have any but where else to go storms of trial storms of difficulty.
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I have an anchor of my soul He's not only that he's a forerunner, but we're gonna do that next week.
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Aren't you glad Christian you have an anchor? Aren't you glad you could flee for refuge? I'm glad because I know what
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I've done in the past and I know you've done similar things But we are forgiven people and we can hope in the promises of God standing on the promises of God.
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Let's pray Father I thank you this morning that we can just rehearse these truths. I Probably used to think why are these cities of refuge in numbers 35?
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Why are there so many laws in Leviticus? Why are there so many genealogies? But now looking back
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I can see it and I pray father these dear people can see it as well We not only unintentionally killed but we killed with malice in our hearts
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Yet that was not a Sin that would damn us Because Jesus experienced the torments of the dam for those three hours on Calvary when you poured out your wrath that he didn't deserve
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What we did and he intercepted it for us He he assuaged your wrath for us and he is the real city of refuge incarnate
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And that gives our hope a Real anchor found in his work.
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I pray for these dear people I know many of them having issues behind the scenes
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Especially with health things big health things. I pray that you just help them not to worry
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And you would replace that worry with trust and hope having anchor that you are
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Faithful and we know whatever has happened or will happen in the future There's a promise that's sure for Christians and that promise is
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I will never leave you nor forsake you God Emmanuel you're with us and We're banking on that promise father.
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We're trusting in you for that promise For these tests for these cancers for these issues that are going on Including our very death because one day we will all lay our heads down And we need hope and we need a promise that sure and Even on our deathbed the promise is