God's Prescription For Endurance In Difficult Times - [Hebrews 10:32-39]

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My father died probably 30 years ago, but he was known for certain slogans and maybe your father has certain slogans and things that he says regularly.
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My dad would say about a particular singular person, they're good people. He liked to say that.
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He also liked to say, since he was a boxer, he'd say, don't cock it unless you're going to throw it.
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And I took that advice. He also went around all the time saying, your room doesn't get cleaned by osmosis.
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I didn't even know what osmosis was. We were in Nebraska. We don't use the large words. And he would say things like, keep your eyes peeled.
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Keep your eyes peeled. And so it was dawning on me this week, I don't even know where we get that background. What's the etymology?
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What's the background behind keep your eyes peeled? And there's two camps for keep your eyes peeled.
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One camp is, it comes from the old Latin word pelare, where we would get the word pillage, to plunder.
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And it means to take the hair off or to pluck or to remove. So figuratively, you're very alert by removing the covering of your eye, your eyelids, so you could pay attention.
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Keep your eyes open. But the other one I kind of like better, back in 1820, they needed to put a police force together in London.
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And so there was a man who organized it, and his name was Sir Robert Peel. And they were supposed to be very keen, watching out for things.
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And Robert, another name for Robert is Bob, and so they were known as Bobbies. And they were also known to keep their eyes open, not just Bobbies, but Peelers.
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Because they were following Sir Robert Peel. So one has stuck around the Bobbies, the other one has not.
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But both of them were supposed to keep their eyes open and pay attention. For the
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Christian, you've got to keep your eyes open as well and pay attention. Listen to what the Bible says these last days are like.
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Do you need to keep your eyes open with this kind of society around you? But understand this, that in the last days there will be times of difficulty.
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For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.
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Difficult times require people to pay attention. And that's the theme of our chapter today in the book of Hebrews.
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So take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews. This is really a sermon. It's in the New Testament and it's a book called
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Hebrews because it's written by Paul or another person like Paul with apostolic authority to talk to these
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Hebrew people about trusting in the Lord Jesus and not going back to the old sacrificial system that was very alluring to them, siren song -like.
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How do these people who are going through difficulties, trouble, trial, struggles, how do they walk in a manner worthy of their calling?
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What's their strategy? And so I think this is really neat because the Bible, since it is written by God, it's always relevant.
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Since the Bible talks about relevant things like sin, trials,
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God, forgiveness, Christ Jesus, we 2 ,000 years later can read this and say, while we might not be getting persecuted to the level that these people were, plundering their homes and eventually would be martyred, we can see how this pastor, this writer, the book of Hebrews, how does
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God want those people to go through those trials? And if you can figure that out, then no matter what trial you go through, you can use some of the same strategy.
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So this morning we're going to look at Hebrews 10, verses 32 through 39 as we round out this chapter, chapter 10.
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Now, if you're new to the church, we have something called expository preaching, and expository has a root word, expose, and I want to expose you to what the
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Bible says. I don't want to impose what I want it to say. Well, the Bible means this to me, or my
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God is, or my interpretation. I want you to see it with your very own eyes by keeping your eyes peeled, and so you can understand, yes, in fact, that's what the
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Bible says. So I'm going to read chapter 10, verses 32 through 39, and then we'll work through it as we dissect
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God's word. But recall the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
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For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
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Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.
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For yet a little while, the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith.
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And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
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Bow with me if you would. Father in heaven, we thank you for this time in your word.
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Would you use the word to encourage? Would you use the word to conform? Would you use your word by your spirit's power to convict?
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And Father, we want to persevere to the end. We want to be those that it's said of us that we walk by faith.
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We're weak, we're frail, we can't do it on our own. So we'd ask that you'd give us power. The power of the risen
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Savior given to us by your spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to talk this morning about the perseverance of the saints.
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How saints persevere to the end. And this is something that is a requirement. You must persevere.
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But it's also a certainty. You will, in fact, persevere. It's a requirement and it's a certainty because God asks you to require.
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He commands you to persevere, rather. But he will give you the ability to do it.
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The outline today is super easy. I'm going to give you three kind of ways to look in keeping with my eyes peeled, kind of trifold -like.
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And if you'd like to deal with trials and difficulties, God's prescription is going to be very simple.
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It's going to be look back, look forward, and look up. It's going to be very simple. I don't always have easy outlines.
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As a matter of fact, sometimes I like to preach without an outline just to see if you'll pay attention. Let's see if I can do it.
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But it's going to be super simple. How do you persevere to the end? Did you notice twice in that section the word endurance or endure was given?
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How do you endure when times are difficult? We're living in these last times. Things are hard. The world's chaotic.
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You just watch MSNBC. You watch Fox News or anything in between. And you think, how am I going to make it to the end?
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And so this is what God says for us to do because we'll learn from these people who are going through more difficult times than we are.
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Look back, look forward, and look up. Now, before I get into the passage any further, remember the big picture of Hebrews.
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The big picture of Hebrews is about Jesus. Jesus is a priest.
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Now, sometimes in our minds we think, oh, priest, and we don't like priest controversies. Priests simply pray for people.
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They stand in between God and you, and they make sacrifices. They go up to an altar.
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So this particular Jesus, if you're thinking about Old Testament priests, he's the one that prays,
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Hebrews 7 .25, and it's great to have Jesus pray for you. And he's the one who gives the offering, which happens to be himself.
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And Hebrews would tell us that this was all decided when, as a reaction to, as plan
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B, kind of this is kind of messed up. No, Hebrews is going to tell us this is the eternal plan of God.
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Before Genesis 1, this was in the mind of God to go rescue, to take a people.
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He didn't have to take anyone, but to take some people and rescue them and bring them to himself.
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And how do you do that when those people are sinful and you, God, are thrice holy? The sins are going to have to be dealt with somehow, and since God is righteous and just, that sin has to be punished.
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And so God just can't say kind of like a grandpa, okay, come on in, come one, come all. He can't do what we do, and that is, well,
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I just forgive you. The wages of sin is death. That something has to die, and so God has devised this great plan.
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It's not like he thought about it, but this is just called for us the plan of God so that Jesus, the eternal son, to be our representative, he has to add human nature because he's the eternal
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God and he needs a nature like ours so he could be a sympathetic high priest, so he could be in our place as a substitute.
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And so he lives this law -keeping that God requires. The way to get to heaven is simple, just obey the law.
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Well, if you can't obey the law, you're going to have to pay for it or you're going to have to trust in one who does obey the law, and that's the book of Hebrews.
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Can you imagine we just sang a song that had the propitiation as a word? Several syllables, propitiation.
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God is holy, therefore he has wrath on sin, and therefore something has to assuage that wrath because how are you going to get him to have no more wrath poured out on you?
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There needs to be someone who steps in and takes it, and we call that a propitiatory sacrifice.
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Jesus undergoes the punishment for our sins, and Jesus lives the life that we're supposed to live.
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The book of Hebrews talks about this blood of Jesus. This is not just red and white corpuscles and other things, no, no, this is a sacrificial death, and God gives this to his people simply through faith.
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Can you imagine all these promises of eternal life and the things we just sang about? He gives to his people freely.
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He gives to his people graciously. He gives to his people abundantly. So today we're going to look at Hebrews 10, verses 32 through 39.
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Look back, look forward, and look to Jesus. I love his pastoral heart because the last section, as we looked at last week when all the air was sucked out of this room for 45 minutes when we talked about the doctrine of eternal hell, he goes from warning, and you can see that warning section in verses 26 through 31 that ends with, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living
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God. If you will reject the sacrifice, this high priest that God has provided for you and has had to suffer for you, if you reject him, then he's going to have vengeance on you, and he will personally be offended, and he will personally take it out on you and repay you for thinking so poorly of his exalted servant,
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Jesus. But now like a pastor does, he knows there's unbelievers in the congregation. He addresses them, and now he knows there's believers in the congregation, and he tries to encourage them.
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Every pastor knows when he preaches, some people are saved in the congregation and some are lost, and so he moved from talking about lost people now to save people, and let's look at outline point number one.
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If you'd like to see the world rightly with God's prescription, look back. Verses 32 through 34.
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But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, that's where I get to look back, recalling, you endured a hard struggle with suffering, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those who were so treated.
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For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
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So the first thing this writer says is, I want you to just take a good look and recall what's happened in the past.
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Now what I would do if I was not thinking properly, I'd say, listen, you're going through a tough time now.
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Remember the good old days. Remember when things were good. Remember when things were easy. Remember when all pistons were firing properly.
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Remember when you had a lot of money in your bank account, and God just blessing you. That's not what he says though.
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These people were experiencing persecution. For us it could be anything. I don't think it's to the point of what they went through, but the principle is still the same.
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They're getting their houses taken away. They're going to be killed one day. Titus is going to come and destroy everything.
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And you know what? We could alleviate our sufferings if we just went back to Judaism, if we just went back to that temple.
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And here when I'm following Jesus as a Jew, it's even worse. It's not just following Jesus as a
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Gentile or a Greek person, but as a Jew there's persecution. And you get kicked out of the synagogue, and you get kicked out of society and civil life.
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And so he says, I want you to go back. Remember, it's a forceful word in the Greek. If you want to make words forceful in Greek, you kind of add prepositions to the front.
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And here's one of those times where it's forceful. Remember, go back and think about when you used to get persecuted when you were first a
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Christian. And I can make it simple for us now. If you're going through a tough time now, or if the tough time is coming for you soon, first thing you should do is go back to when you first were a
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Christian. How did the trial seem to you when you first were a Christian? I don't know about you, but when
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I first became a Christian, I didn't care if people insulted me. I'm going to heaven. I didn't care if people said, oh, you know, he's born again, kind of Jesus freak.
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I'm thinking, I'm reconciled to God. I knew I was guilty on the inside. I knew there was hell to pay.
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And now Jesus, based on sheer love of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, I get to go to heaven.
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And I don't care what you say to me. I don't care how you say it. You're going to say to me, well, Mike's into all these fads, and he's into another fad now.
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I don't think that'll last either. I'm thinking, well, my pride was sinking. Bring it on. But he's saying, go back after you enlightened.
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Now, sometimes people think that's baptismal language, and traditionally sometimes that's been used. You got baptized when you were a new
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Christian. But after you were enlightened, after you saw the truth of the gospel, saw your sin and saw the Savior, you wanted to show gratitude toward Him in response.
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Remember back in these times. Remember how faithful God was. When you need bolstering and support during trials, go back to when you first were saved, and you remember how
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God was faithful then. And God's faithful now, too, isn't He? He's the same God. Don't go back to when it was easy.
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Go back to when you first were saved. Remind yourself of that. I was studying this week a little bit about V -J
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Day, Victory Over Japan Day. The war is over. Essentially, World War II is over, too.
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But victory over Japan, August 15, 1945, and it was announced that Japan had been defeated.
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A week prior, on the 6th and the 9th, the two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 9th, when that second bomb was dropped,
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Soviet Union declares war on Japan as well, and so things are coming to an end. And all of a sudden, one week later, we have the announcement.
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War is over. And I studied this week how people responded to the good news that war is over.
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How do you think they responded? In Manila, people sang God Bless America. Okinawa, they took their weapons and just started firing them into the sky.
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Several were wounded, they said. London, they're dancing the conga line.
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In Paris, they're singing Don't Fence Me In. American soldiers in occupied
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Berlin, it's over in the Pacific, Life Magazine said.
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And Americans began celebrating in the U .S., quote, as if joy had been rationed and saved up for three years, eight months, and seven days since Pearl Harbor.
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People tried to break into the White House, shouting, we want Harry, we want
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Harry. Come out and talk to us, our president. The largest crowd, as you know, is in New York Times.
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And the news ticker on the New York Times Square had six asterisks, one for each branch of the military.
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And it said, official, Truman announces Japanese surrender. They started throwing people pieces of cloth out the window, ticker tape, five inches deep on the street.
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And everything, it says right here, sparked a, quote, coast -to -coast frenzy of servicemen kissing everyone in skirts that happened to come along.
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And you know that one picture, right, that famous picture of the man who went on a first date with a lady, by the way, and kissed this other lady, who he thought was a nurse, she was a dentist assistant, but it doesn't matter.
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But crowds were celebrating over good news. And they didn't care how they act, obviously.
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That guy didn't care how he acted. They were so happy, I have good news, war is over.
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Now let's just multiply it by like a thousand. God's angry with the wicked every day, the
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Bible says, Psalm 5 -5 and Psalm 7 -11. He's angry, if you're not a
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Christian, He's angry at you. And then somebody comes along and tells you, by the way, there's this merciful
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Savior, He'll take God's anger for you, He'll live the life you're supposed to live, and you don't have to pay for it, you get it free.
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It's a simple gift, receive it by faith, and you're free forever in the sight of God, and you have heaven for you.
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Remember those days when you heard that good news, I get to go to heaven? You didn't care what happened, you didn't care about how people acted, or what they said about you, what persecution you would have.
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So this writer here, and you can see it again, can you not? Recall the former days, after you believed or enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.
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Things were so difficult back in those days, but you did not care. He, the writer, is doing what he did in chapter 6.
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He says, you know, there's going to be a warning, and then there's going to be a blessing. Hebrews 6 .10,
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God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
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Remember back in those days? Just think about it. So when you're going through a trial, some of you have trials this week, I want you to go back to the time in your life when things were the hardest that they've ever been.
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You can just think of a couple. Your mom dies, your dad dies, your baby died, you get cancer, you have this, you have that.
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When you went through those horrible trials, I want you to go back and remember those and ask yourself the question, was
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God faithful then? Was God faithful then? Well, how is He not going to be faithful now?
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That should give you courage and hope, confidence. The text says in verse 32, hard struggle.
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That's where we get the word athletics. It was like a fight. It was so intense.
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It was a 12 round battle, a contest, a reproach.
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Remember those days? And back in those days when you first were saved and you went through trials, you did it without flinching.
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You did it without wondering, is God good? Don't think that way now. When you first got saved and went through a trial, you didn't say,
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I think I'll go back to my easy days. No, you kept persevering. So now you're more mature, you're farther along in the faith, you've learned more.
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Now you're going to go back and say, just because you have trouble now, God's not good? Remember that first time that happened, you didn't say that at all.
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It's like Acts 5 .41. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
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I want to suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus. Wild language in verse 33.
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Publicly exposed. That's where we get the word theater. That's where we get the word theater.
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Now this was not Shakespeare theater. This was you parade people up on a stage and you mock them and you spit on them and you hold them to contempt.
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You got to get them high up so you can see them, so you can give the kind of calls of derision that are out.
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Paul said he had, in 1 Corinthians 4, become a spectacle, a theater to the world, both to the angels and men, condemned to death, apostle least of all.
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Mockery. They used to mock you. They used to do all those things. When I was younger, I went to, I was not a
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Christian. You have to throw that in. I went to Vegas and I saw Don Rickles. Remember Don Rickles?
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His job was insulting people. And of course today, comedians can't insult anybody anymore.
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But in the old days, if you went to Vegas and you wanted to sit up close, you'd give people a tip and then they'd set you up really close to the front of the stage at Bally's or wherever.
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And I thought, I don't want to sit up close to Don Rickles because he's going to insult me the whole time.
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So we didn't give him a tip and they set us up in the front center row anyway. I thought, I'm going to so get called up on stage.
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I just have that face. Remember those hard times when you first were saved?
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Particularly these readers here where you were paraded in front of people and they're whistling and they're calling at you.
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They're calling names at you. Remember? You thought, no big deal. I get to go to heaven. So now later, don't have suffered for nothing and don't act that way.
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This is language in Acts. When they had heard this, they were enraged and crying out, great is Artemis of Ephesians.
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So the city was filled with confusion. They rushed together into the theater, dragging them, with them,
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Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, who are Paul's traveling companions. But when Paul wished to go among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.
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We're going to go make fun of these people in the auditorium at the theater. And of course, what these people knew and what you know too, dear
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Christian, Jesus is a suffering servant, Isaiah. And he has servants who suffer.
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True or false? True or false, it's God's will for Christians to suffer. But see, we don't hear that.
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We don't hear that on TV. Here's what we should be hearing on TV. For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
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And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.
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And therefore, I want to say pastorally, if you feed yourself on a regular basis of people who are prosperity teachers on TV, like Joe Osteen and others, you are listening to demonic doctrine and Satan talking.
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Satan says, don't you go to that cross, Jesus. Glory first. And Jesus said to Peter, get behind me what?
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Satan. Jesus is out in the wilderness and Satan is trying to bypass what's going on.
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You don't need to suffer, go straight to the cross. Christians, I wish it weren't true that we had to suffer because suffering is difficult.
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But it is God's will for you to suffer. And when people are on TV telling you it's
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God's will for you to be rich and you think that's good and you try to defend it to me behind the scenes, well, he does say some good things.
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You are immature and you're going to go fading back if you're not careful because you're listening to this when
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I'm trying to tell you, is that the way this writer talks? Is that the way Jesus talks? Is that the way the Bible talks?
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No, no, no, and no. But that's the way you want them to talk when you're acting fleshly. I want you to give me soothed, palatable words, give me another week,
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God's blessing me, God's giving me things, good favor. I watched this clip this week of Joe Osteen and I thought, demonic, demonic.
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I also thought, you know what, if I was crippled and I was in a wheelchair, I wouldn't want to go there. He's trying to tell you, go back and think of the times when you did get to suffer.
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You get to suffer for the Lord Jesus. I hope you watch those TV shows and go, you say exactly what
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I say, that is a different religion. The name Christianity is taken. Sometimes, verse 33, publicly exposed to what?
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Reproach and affliction, disgrace, insult. I want you to remember that. Go back and when you went through the trial and people used to talk that way of you, you didn't care.
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Because like Moses, you thought the reproach of Christ was greater than Egypt. You remember
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Jesus' words, if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. And if you were of the world, the world would love its own.
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But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates me, hates you rather.
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Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
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And sometimes you were so excited, dear readers of this book, the end of verse 33, you were just willing to be partners with those so treated.
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You just wanted to go serve other people that got the short end of the suffering stick and you didn't even know if people cared.
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You didn't even care if people knew that you would go take care of sufferers. You were willing to put your neck out on the line like Corey Ten Boom's family taking in Jewish people so that the
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Nazi prisoners would not take them to concentration camps and then the Ten Booms go to concentration camps instead.
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Jesus suffered. This is language to describe the suffering of Jesus in Matthew 27,
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Mark 15, Romans 15. The fellowship of sufferings.
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We don't talk that way. That's a different language. Verse 34, you had compassion on those in prison.
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That's important because they didn't get three squares back in those days. They got what people would bring them. Somebody in the church might bring them something.
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And by the way, if you're going to go bring somebody food, then they're going to think you're a Christian too. They'll probably throw in you too.
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And now here's a line that unless you see eternity, you'll never say this.
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And you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property. How many of you have property and you just go, oh, just take it?
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You joyfully accepted it. Why? Because you knew yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. The words of Jesus, Luke 6.
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Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the
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Son of Man. Not on account of we're just offensive people, but on account of the
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Son of Man. And listen to what He says, Rejoice in that day and leap for joy for behold, your reward is great in heaven for so their fathers did to the prophets.
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I know what I want to do. I'll tell you my shtick. I'm ashamed to tell you, but I'll tell you. I kind of want to be the guy that you don't know
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I'm a pastor unless I tell you. Because I can kind of roll with the guys and I can do the stuff.
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I don't know what pastors look like, but I don't look like one. What am
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I thinking? So these days when people say, well, what do you do for a living? I just say, I'm a Bible teaching pastor.
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Because pastors aren't necessarily Bible teaching, but I just say it. What do I care? What do I care how they see me?
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And by the way, you think this is bad because things are said about you at work? You can see, can you not, in the news?
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You can see what's happening with society. You can see what's happening with these younger students growing up and are going to take over the government.
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It's going to start with taxes and then it's going to start with penalties and we're going to get really persecuted.
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And when we do, here's what I'm going to say to you. Remember back in those days when you first were saved and you were persecuted and insulted and thrown into disgrace and your family didn't like you?
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Was God faithful then? Remember those days? Remember your suffering for a kind of Christ? So keep suffering.
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This produces endurance. That's the point. It produces endurance and that's what we need. Look back.
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Well, not only that. Look forward. I know what you're thinking. Three points. The first point was a half hour and we've got 15 minutes left.
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But second points and third points are always faster. Look forward. And he gives a hint of that in the last verse when he talks about possessions that are abiding and better.
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And so he continues that theme here. Look back. Look forward. Think about heaven and its realities.
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Think about the promise of God. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. You have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay.
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Do Christians suffer for nothing? The answer is no. It's worth it to suffer because there's a payday one day.
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Christians don't suffer for nothing. Your suffering means something. And it will be proven on the
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Lord's Day. It will be proven on the Lord's Day and it's also proven even as we suffer today.
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God is working in our hearts as we suffer. Show me people who are mature in the faith.
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Show me those special Christian people and I know something about every one of them. God has made them like that through not prosperity but through suffering.
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Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
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Not only that, we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that the sufferings produce endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame.
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They might shame us but this hope doesn't shame us because God's love has been dumped out, poured out into our hearts through the
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Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Yes, there's a time now where God is maturing us when we suffer but He's saying in these three verses there's a future time.
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There's a future time. It will be proven your sufferings mean something on that day, that final day.
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God isn't unjust as you suffer. That should give you boldness. That should give you courage.
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No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 5, Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great.
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Semicolon, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. There's something about persecution and something about trials that God says, you know what, that reminds me of my son and I will reward you for that even though I'm the one working in you to do the very thing.
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Richly rewarded. So persevere. If you're struggling now and you're going through a trial, dear
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Christian, persevere. It's worth it. Persevere. Don't just look back to when you first were saved.
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Look when you'll be ultimately vindicated when God will say, this is my beloved son's handiwork.
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Chapter 11 verse 6, Without faith it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists.
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And what's the next part? And that He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him. So, don't throw away your confidence, verse 35.
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Don't toss it. It means something. That's a good motive to be bold. God rewards people who go through that.
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Don't throw that away. This word reward is used only here in Hebrews.
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It's emphatic and it means there's a reward for true believers on that day, that day called Judgment Day.
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Great reward. Verse 36, You need endurance. So that by the will of God, when you've done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.
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God's promised that. He's promised you forgiveness if you'll look at the Lord. And He's promised you reward at the very end of days.
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Hebrews 6 .11, 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 may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
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Everything about this section and everything about these words I've told you from Jesus today should make you think all these people who are doing the prosperity now, that's the sign of God's blessing, don't even know what the
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Bible says. When you've done the will of God, you get the reward.
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Doesn't that remind you of the Lord Jesus? He comes to do the Father's will, He gets the reward. Jesus said,
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For I've come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. So the Son suffers, we suffer.
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The Son does the will of God and is rewarded. We do the will of God and are rewarded. It's amazing to me.
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I was reading R. Ken Hughes' commentary, Rick Phillips' commentary this week. And he said,
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Early in our married life, my wife had a friend whose faith during trials left a lasting imprint on our lives.
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One of her favorite sayings made me thought of the writer of Hebrews. There are only three things that can happen to a
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Christian and all three of them are good. First, you can be blessed and that's good.
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Second, you can die and that takes you into the presence of Jesus. That's good. Third, you can suffer and the
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Lord uses that to make you more like Jesus and that too is a very good thing. And that will give you motivation to keep going.
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The world says, Suffer. We don't want to.
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The Bible says, Suffer now, receive later. It's amazing. Endure.
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It gives you boldness. It was R. Ken Hughes who related the story about Hugh Latimer and he preached a sermon in front of King Henry VIII and he offended
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King Henry VIII with his boldness and Christ -centered preaching. And so, come back next week,
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Latimer, and you make an apology to the king. And so, here's how he started the next week,
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Hugh Latimer, saying this to himself. Hugh Latimer. This is
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Hugh speaking. Does thou know whom thou art this day to speak to the high and mighty monarch, the king's most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest?
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Therefore, take heed that thou speak not a word that may displease. But then consider well,
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Hugh, does that not know that from whence thou comest, upon whose message thou art sent?
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Even by the great and mighty God, who is all -present and who beholds all thy ways and who is able to cast thy soul into hell.
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Therefore, take care that thou deliverest thy message faithfully. And then Hugh Latimer preached the same sermon he preached the week before, but with more passion.
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How do you act like this if you're like, the guillotine's going to get me now, but there's a later payday? That's how they do it.
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And look at the language. What do you do if you're writing to Hebrews? You quote the Old Testament. And here he puts together
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Isaiah and Habakkuk in verse 37. Yet for a little while. That's your Isaiah 26.
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It's just a little while compared to eternity. And the coming one, what a great name for the
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Lord Jesus. The one who is and the one who was and the one who is going to come. And the coming one will come and will not delay.
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Think about the return of Jesus. That's what you do.
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Remember John the Baptist. Men, are you the one who is to come or should we look for another approaching
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Jesus? The angels around the throne of God, the one who was and is and is to come.
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Remember back in chapter 9, verse 28 of Hebrews, Jesus will appear a second time for salvation for those who eagerly wait for Him.
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It is true. Dear Christian, you're looking forward to think about the
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Lord Jesus' return. And what do you think will happen on that day? That very last day? One of the great confessions of the
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Reformation said this, The faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honor. The Son of God will confess their names before God His Father and the holy angels.
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All tears will be wiped from their eyes, and their cause at present condemned as heretical and evil will be acknowledged as the cause of the
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Son of God. And as a gracious reward, the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the heart of man could never imagine.
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So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus our
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Lord. So dear Christian, don't get discouraged.
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And then finally, looking back, looking forward, and looking up, walking by faith.
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This you're going to be able to tell is the lead in for chapter 11, the faith chapter. By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.
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And so he says, with that very important slogan from Romans 1, Galatians 3, The just are the righteous one shall live by faith.
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My righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
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So this whole section is just saying walk by faith. And so I've just made it easy so we look back, we look forward, and now we look up.
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That is we walk by faith. What do you give Jewish people to help them persevere?
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The Scriptures. And you can say, you know what, what went on in... I don't know why I kept saying Habakkuk, because I heard somebody mispronounce it once and now it's always in my mind that way.
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Habakkuk. Remember what was going on in Habakkuk? And will the Lord be faithful and answer this triumph of praise?
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Walk by faith. He uses that on purpose. You think there's a delay now, but you don't have to delay forever.
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And while you delay, walk by faith. This has probably been one of the most impactful verses in my life the last 10 years, and I've regularly thought about it.
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Where does it come from? I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
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And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave
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Himself for me. That's Galatians 2, verse 20. That's how
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Christians are to walk. They're in a difficult time now, and they say, you know, I remember when I first was saved, God was faithful then.
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I remember there's a future reward, and now I'd like to please the One who's given me faith and keep trusting
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Him. Take His word for it. Remember that He's never going to leave me, He's never going to forsake me, and all the other promises of God.
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No wonder Luther called faith a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk a thousand times dying so it could trust in it.
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We know faith doesn't save. Faith in the object the Lord Jesus saves. Faith is I look away from myself,
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I contribute nothing like a child. What's childlike faith? You could ask that question. When my kids were all little, one of the most important things
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I had them all do was help pay the heating bill because the oil in New England to heat homes is very expensive, and so sometimes, you know, it'd go up to $5 a gallon, and I'd get a bill for $700, and I would make little
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Haley at four years old and Luke at one year old all contribute to pay for the heating oil because it takes a village, by the way, to do that.
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While they offer love, while they offer dirty diapers, while they offer, you know, comfort and all that other stuff, and they're all a member of the family, what do they contribute to the standing of the family?
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Answer? Nothing. They only receive. They only take. I mean, it's a good thing,
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I know, but childlike faith, I offer nothing to you, Lord, and so I'm just going to keep trusting in what you've done.
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I'm dependent on you. It's your works, not mine. The world is going crazy, and you've told me to walk by faith in who this
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Son of God is. I'm not going to walk by sight. I want to. I want prosperity preaching.
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I want to walk by sight. I want to trust in my own bank account, my own resources, and everything else, and the doctors.
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No, no, no. Here, he says, with the most seminal verse, maybe, in all the Bible, that just shall live by what?
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Faith, and that faith has an object. I could say, the one declared righteous shall keep trusting in, keep believing in, the one who has been raised for them, lived for them, and is coming back for them.
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There's no other way you can rejoice and be exceedingly glad in your suffering, in your trial.
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So what he's doing here, compared to last week, the cure for apostasy, which we saw last week was apostasy, turning their back
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Judas -like. What's the cure for apostasy? Faith. It's the very opposite of apostasy, faith.
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So dear Christian, if things aren't difficult for you, they will be, short of the
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Lord's return. But since we have VJ Day, in the ultimate sense, war is over, and we know where we're going, it'd be a good idea for you, the next time you're in a super bad trial, to remember back when you first were saved, and how did you handle trials then, even as an immature
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Christian? And I think you should probably look ahead and say, you know what, there are two days on my calendar, like Martin Luther said, today and that day.
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There is a final day, Jesus is coming back. The evolutionists don't want to believe it, the society doesn't want to believe it, but Jesus is coming back, and I'm going to live in light of the
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Son's soon return. And in the meantime, I don't know anything that's going on, I can't put it together, I don't understand, but I know the
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One who saved me, and the righteous one, the just, shall live by faith. Let's pray.
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Father, thank You for Your Word, thank You for the Lord Jesus, thank
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You that we suffer for a reason, thank You that You know all about it, and even when the suffering is intense,
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You're there, You do things for a reason, You're not unsovereign over some kind of accident,
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You weren't even falling off the throne when the Lord Jesus died, as we sang the song,
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You caused Him to be crushed, You took pleasure in that, because that was part of Your plan. And I pray for the dear
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Christians here, some big trials this week, I pray that You'd help them to see properly, to keep their eyes peeled.
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And Father, we, who are going through good times now, could we be used by Your Spirit to encourage these suffering
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Christians to have proper perspective, and remember the Lord Jesus, in His name we pray,