Responses To The Greatness Of Christ - [Hebrews 13]

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If I were to tell you that Jesus was and is a great high priest, how should that affect your life?
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If we talked about this morning, the relationship between what we believe and how we act, if Jesus is the great high priest, if he's the superior one, if he's the excellent one, in light of that, how should we live?
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What would be some good practical application? So, before I get into the text, what would be some application of Jesus is a great priest, a great sacrifice, he's superior to all other prophets, priests, and kings.
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How should we then live? Yes. As our, pardon me?
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Mentor. Okay, good. Excellent. What else? Yes.
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Good. Like it. Excellent. What else? Bruce?
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Trust him completely. Good. Pretty.
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Sold out lives, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Unto the Lord for what he's done. Good. The Johansen's are sitting,
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Tracy's like this, Austin's like that, Josh is like this. It's kind of, you know, if you were in my shoes and you saw that.
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Okay, what else? Vida? Okay, good.
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We would have sure confidence in our prayer that is offered in the name of Christ.
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Yes, Becky? We'd be quicker to obey? Okay, I like it.
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Good. Bruce, did you have another one? Anybody know why I'm asking these questions? You put you on the spot, yes, because you all look very tired.
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Because he is our high priest and for 12 chapters, the writer of Hebrews establishes, reestablishes, confirms and affirms the fact that Jesus is the great high priest.
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And then in chapter 13, he gives practical application that is amazing because I don't know if anything that's been said is the application in Hebrews 13.
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It's weird application in one sense because it's so far removed from our normal thinking, but it's very good application supernaturally.
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So let's turn our Bibles to Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. We are going to go at a fairly fast pace through chapter 12.
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We're going to start in Hebrews 1. We're going to go Hebrews 1 to 12. Extended jet rocket tour through 1 to 12.
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Then we'll focus tonight on the 10 responses to the high priest
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Christ Jesus that we should understand. There's going to be 10 things at the end.
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We learn throughout Hebrews about Jesus and then he gives 10 things to the listeners.
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And so for those of you that know Hebrews, you'll probably know Hebrews 13.
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But I don't want to just jump there because there's so much great stuff in Hebrews 1 to 12. And so I can tell you look tired and you're here.
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And so we'll just be engaged. Make sure you have your Bible. And we'll go through fairly quickly
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Hebrews 1 to 12. I know some of you are saying, prove it. This is not going to be a two -part sermon or anything like that.
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Next week, we'll get to attribute letter M. But we're going to go through Hebrews 1 to 13 with a focus on 13.
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But initially, I want you to see how great Jesus is portrayed by the writer of Hebrews.
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And early on, you'll see how majestic Jesus is.
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And after you learn 1 to 12, there should be a response. And no response is a response.
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And so we don't want to have no response when we see this great book. The temple was probably still up when this book was written because the language is present tense when it's coming to the sacrifice and the
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Levitical issues that were going on. It's not post -70 AD. It's pre -70
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AD. And so you'll notice a very rapid pace, present tense type of speaking in the writer of Hebrews.
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Who wrote it? It doesn't matter because it's inspired. And we'll just get right into the passage.
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The theme of Hebrews, the absolute and total supremacy of Christ Jesus, the great high priest.
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Greater, better, more eternal, He is great.
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Chapter 1, verses 1 to 4, He's superior to the prophets. In the old days,
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He spoke in various ways and means. But in these last days, He spoke to us in His Son.
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By His Son, chapter 1, verse 2. Well, there's another mediator of God's truth.
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And that was not just a prophet, but it would be angels. Angels were mediators of the truth as well. Chapter 1, verse 5, all the way to chapter 2, verse 11.
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Jesus is better than the angels. And if you look down in chapter 1, verse 8.
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But of the Son, He says, Your throne, O God. God the Father talking to the
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Son. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Does He talk like that to any angel?
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And the answer is no. Jesus is better than the prophets. He's better than the angels. There's a warning in chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.
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Don't drift away. This book is punctuated by these warnings, and you know that.
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Chapter 3, we're almost moving in smaller, concentric circles. Prophets, angels, it's getting smaller now.
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Jesus is greater than who? Moses. Can you imagine if you were a
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Hebrew reader? Reading this, or a Hebrew listener listening to this,
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Jesus is greater than Moses. And the way the writer says it is, he says,
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Moses was faithful. He's not saying Moses was a slouch. Moses was faithful. But Moses was just a servant, and Jesus is the
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Son. He gives another warning in chapter 3, verse 6 and following.
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Don't defect. We move to a smaller, concentric circle. And the smaller circle, concentrically, chapter 4, verse 14.
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Go down to 4 .14. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14 says,
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Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
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And this section begins, Jesus is greater than Aaron. So if you had the outline in your mind, it's pretty easy to think through.
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He's greater than prophets. He's greater than, say it out loud, angels. He's greater than Moses. And he's greater than Aaron.
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Greater than all those people. They were fine. They served their purposes. But he is greater. And then in chapter 5, verse 11, it says,
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Another rebuke for immaturity. Be careful. Well, Jesus, in chapter 8, 9 and 10 through 1018, is greater than the old covenant.
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It's a better covenant through Jesus. It's a better sanctuary. It's a better sacrifice.
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And so let's go to chapter 10, verse 19, to see the application of Jesus' greatness.
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In this book that calls Jesus the finisher, the firstborn, high priest, mediator, shepherd, son.
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Is there a difference? Does doctrine matter? Chapter 10, verse 19.
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Application of the greatness of Christ. And I like this. We've learned all this truth.
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Who can tell me off the top of their head? Frank, can you do it? Jesus is better than who are those that I gave you?
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Who and what? Okay, there you go.
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Just everybody, A to Z. Good. And in order, prophets, angels, Moses, Aaron, and the old covenant.
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He's greater than all those. So what's the point? You know, when you preach, how many people here have ever taught Sunday school, want to teach
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Sunday school, or has taught Awana, or want to teach Awana? You all have to raise your hands now.
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There should be a so what. There should be a punchline. I'm teaching all this truth, and there should be a response.
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Correct? So what? When you preach or teach somebody, we write down so what.
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Well, here's the so what. 10, 19. It's a wonderful so what. Therefore, chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 through 18.
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Therefore, brothers. What would you say, by the way, in response to Jesus, the great high priest?
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He's greater than anybody and everyone, anything. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us what?
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Draw near with a true heart or sincere heart in full assurance of faith. In other words, the response to Jesus, the great high priest, is you want to get saved.
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That's what he's talking about. He's not saying get really close to God, prayer partner. No, he's saying draw near to God with a true heart, a sincere heart with full assurance, with a heart sprinkled clean.
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See that in verse 22? From an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. What's the response to Jesus as the great high priest?
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You ought to repent, believe, trust, follow. And this is just Hebrew language drawn near.
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This is like James chapter 4, draw near to God and he'll draw near to God. Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you.
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Jesus is the great high priest. Respond with belief. Respond with ownership.
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Look at verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession. Grab hold.
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All right, we'll use a football analogy because I know you're all the football fans. Remember the old cornerback for the
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Oakland Raiders? And his first name was Lester. And he put all kinds of stick -em all over his hands.
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Remember, they had to make a rule. What was his last name? Lester Hayes. And they had to make a
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Lester Hayes rule because you can't put so much stick -em all over your hands. It got all over the other players and it just made the ball stick to his hands.
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He had an advantage. And it became a psychological advantage, too, against these other players. Stop getting that all over me and everything else.
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That's the idea. Grab hold. Vice grip like. Here the text says in verse 23, let us hold fast the confession.
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Jesus is a great high priest. Therefore, draw near. That is, come close. Believe. And then grab a hold with all you've got.
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Super glue. What's the other kind of glue that's out now? Crazy glue.
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No. Gorilla glue. With thorough possession. Without wavering.
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Don't look back, as it were. Don't be like Lot's wife, wanting the better life, the
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Old Covenant, the prophets, the Moses, the Aaron, the Old Covenant.
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That's all behind us. If something's better, why do you go for the old, not as good?
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So hold on. Look forward. That's the idea. And stir each other up.
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Verse 24, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Think about it.
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You say to yourself, consider. I'm going to properly think of Jesus, and that should make me want to help my brother, help my sister.
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Then he gives a great illustration, many illustrations, of real faith in chapter 11.
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What do you call this? What do you know chapter 11 as? It's the hall of faith. Description of faith starts early.
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I hope you memorize this. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
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I say many times, in heaven, there's no faith. Why? Because you can see.
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No faith. Tom Shepard, he has no faith. Because he sees. For by it, faith, the people of old received their commendation.
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It's good to believe. It's good to take God at his word. By faith, we understand the universe was created, etc.
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Great confidence in this person who's the high priest of God. And we are given demonstrations of people who are sinful, finite, fallible human beings, yet they took hold of Jesus personally.
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They made application of the high priest, Jesus Christ, and the great sacrifice that he provided for us, and they grabbed a hold.
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And then you just see how all these verses start. Verse 3, by faith. Verse 4, by faith. Verse 5, by faith.
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And it goes on and on. So much so, look at verse 6. Without faith it is impossible to please him.
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How can you see Jesus better than Moses, better than Aaron, better than the prophets, better than Abel, and you go,
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Nah, I don't really buy it. It's not that big a deal. No.
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Luther said, Faith apprehendeth nothing else but that precious jewel, Christ Jesus. Christ is the bread of life.
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Faith feeds upon him. Christ was lifted up on the cross. Faith gazes at him there.
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Well, there's more motivation for endurance. A saving faith, a lasting faith. Chapter 12. See, we're getting through this, aren't we?
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Some of you are smiling. There's motivation for endurance.
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To stay in the race. The number one motivator for every one of us should be the endurance of Jesus himself.
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Chapter 12, verses 1 through 4. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, those in chapter 11, don't think that somehow there's a stadium, as it were, full of people up there, and they're all cheering you on.
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They're like, Go, Mike, go. Go, Mike, go. Gracie's doing it right there.
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Gracie's got the pom -poms out. We've got spirit. Yes, we do. We've got spirit. How about Mike? It's not like that.
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The cloud of witnesses are other people who have ran before us. And if you look at some of these, some of them are fairly sinful people.
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They're not perfect people. We have the same object of faith that Joseph did, that Abraham did, that Isaac did, that even that conniver
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Jacob did. Those people are the witnesses. And since we have been surrounded by them, verse 1 of chapter 12, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.
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Doesn't sin do that? And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Just imagine a runner looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Think about him. Verse 3, Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint -hearted.
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If you have a demotivated Christian life, I have the answer for your problems. Look to the cross.
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Pick up Leon Morris' book, The Apostolic Teaching of the
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Cross. Pick up John Stott's book, The Cross of Christ. Study the cross. Read the Gospels.
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That's how you're motivated. Consider Jesus. Actually, the word consider, for those
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WPI students that are here, some have graduated, it's where we get the word analog. Analogos.
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Think. Reason up. That's what analog means, to reason up.
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I know it's got a computer terminology now. By the way, he says in chapter 12, verse 5 and following, when you're disciplined, be encouraged.
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There's grace to be found. Hebrews 12, verse 12. Don't have the wrong attitude.
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Hebrews 12, verse 15 and following. Don't deny the faith. And then he says the great contrast in chapter 12, verse 18 and following.
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Sinai and Zion, they're nothing like each other. One you look at and you shake in your boots.
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The other one you look at and you smile with a huge smile. Do you see these verses?
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Look at verse 18. Maybe my friend Bruce Vinney's favorite set of verses. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of the trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.
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For they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.
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They were almost afraid to death. Deuteronomy 5 says,
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Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our
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God any longer, then we shall die. And basically the writer of Hebrews says, these people heard the voice of God and trembled, but they didn't take it in personally.
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Look at verse 20. This is fascinating. For they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.
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Verse 21, Indeed so terrifying was the sight that Moses said. Moses! He was up in the mountain, wasn't he?
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I tremble with fear. But he says to these people, seated in their small little homes, all the other
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Jewish people at the temple, the smells and the sounds and the trumpets and the sacrifices and the beauty.
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But they've got Jesus. Verse 22, But you have come to Mount Zion. Isn't there a song?
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Coming to Zion or something? What's the song, Bruce? Let us go to Zion.
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Beautiful, beautiful Zion. Is that how it goes? Marching to Zion. We go to Zion.
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We march to Zion. What else do we do? I don't know.
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But you have come to Mount Zion. Look at the language to these Hebrews. And to the city of the living
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God. The heavenly Jerusalem. And to innumerable angels in festal gathering.
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Doom and dread. Mount Sinai. And now joy and life. To the general assembly.
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Verse 23, Of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. And to God, the judge of all.
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And to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. And to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
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What a joy to live in that city. Have you ever read those things that say, These are the best cities in the world to live in.
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These are the top ten cities in America in which to live. Have you ever read those things? And I always look to see
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Worcester's in the top ten. I haven't seen it yet. But I enjoy living here in New England.
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Bloom where you're planted. But this is the best city. This is the best city because Jesus has made us residents.
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Jesus isn't terrifying like Sinai when Jesus is yours. And then we come to chapter 13.
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All that was an introduction. How then shall we live? The first 12 chapters of Hebrews.
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This wonderfully knit argument. And now all of a sudden with no phrase, no connector, no transition.
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He just gives these ten commands. In light of who you are.
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In light of what Jesus has done. In light of God being a consuming fire. How do you live?
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What do you do? Some of these I could guess. Some of these I could never guess as long as I lived. And that's why
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I think it's really interesting and very fascinating. And very wonderful that we have
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God's revelation to us. Number one. First of ten responses to the great high priest
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Jesus Christ. Number one. Love the brethren. Do you see it there in verse one? Let brotherly love continue.
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Present imperative. What's that mean? It's a command. Ongoing command. What kind of love is this?
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Heiress love? Agape love? What kind do you think it might be? Brotherly love?
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Philadelphia love. It's a love that says, Mark Schaefer doesn't have a job.
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I have to be concerned about Mark Schaefer not having a job. It's a brotherly love.
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It's a family love. One man said,
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Those Christ has died for cannot live for themselves. Isn't that true? Those Christ has died for cannot live for themselves.
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So love other people. Number two. This is an interesting one.
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Be hospitable. Verse two. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
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Present imperative. Always be hospitable. Always have your doors open. Be a lover of strangers.
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It's fine to say, The Williams are in town. We want to house them. The Andrezen's are in town.
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We want to house them. That's good. And I think in one sense that's hospitality. But really here this is a love of strangers.
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They didn't have any place to go back then. They couldn't go to the hotels. Many times they were full of prostitutes and other things.
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Here these are loving strangers. It even says that they're in the ESV, Show hospitality to strangers.
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Abraham and Sarah did in Genesis chapter 18. And it happened to be an angel.
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Now one of the things I don't like is when I hear Christians and they said, I was driving down this street and it was all dark.
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And then I was going to go off the road. But there was a man on the road. Stop. Don't go over the road. And then
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I drove back and then drove farther. And there's a big huge meteor crater in the road. So I went back to find the guy to say,
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How did you know? And he was gone. He was mysteriously transported to Klingon.
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No. Maybe some of those are true. But that's not really the context here. The context is you never know who you're going to entertain.
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And there have been illustrations. Manoah, Judges 13. Gideon, Judges 6.
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And Abraham and Sarah, Genesis chapter 18. Show hospitality because you don't know who the guest might be.
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No touch by an angel jokes. Number three, remember the prisoners. I always look at this and think,
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Do I do this? Do we do this? Jesus is a great high priest.
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Prove it. Love other people. Entertain strangers.
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Remember the prisoners, verse 3. It's a present imperative again. Remember. Keep on remembering.
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Don't forget. Have you forgot the prisoners? As though in prison with them.
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Say, well, how do I treat people who are in prison? How would you like to be treated if you were in prison? Would you like visitors?
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Many of these people were in prison for their faith. And those who are ill treated, the
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ESV says, and those who are mistreated since you also are in the body.
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Helping them in their affliction. Praying for them. That's what it means. We still have a correctional facility right down the street.
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Does anybody know where it is? West Boylston Correctional Facility. I would love to have a ministry there.
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I would love to have one of you lead the ministry there. We don't know people who were in our body, got persecuted for the faith, or did something stupidly sinful in time and then are in there.
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That doesn't mean we can't go there to minister to the body. I would love Bethlehem Bible Church to reach out to the correctional facility that's in our town.
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Maybe you could pray about that. Number four. Jesus is a great high priest.
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How do I live? This is interesting. Be faithful to your marriage partner.
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I mean, after all, if marriage shows Christ's love for the church, if it's a picture of an eternal truth,
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Jesus dying for the church, that idea came first. Then marriage came second.
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So let's make sure we, in our marriages, show a proper picture of the great high priest.
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Look at verse four. Let marriage be held in honor among all. Boy, doesn't our society need to hear that today?
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Slamming marriage. Blasting marriage. When you attack marriage, you're attacking Jesus. You're attacking the high priest.
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You're attacking this great sacrifice that Christ had accomplished. To be held in honor among all.
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Pagans, believers, Jews, Gentiles, we all should say, what a great thing, marriage.
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And let the marriage bed be undefiled. The marriage bed is not dirty or unclean or filthy.
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It's holy and good and righteous. Back in this day, people would say, you know, there's something better than marriage.
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There's something more holy than marriage. And what was it? Celibacy. You know, that's just kind of dirty, and it's okay for pagans and maybe new
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Christians, but we've arrived, and we're at the higher level, and so we're celibate. And Jesus, through the writer of this epistle, says, no, that's not the case.
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But for those who are going to be unholy sexually, all sex outside of marriage, look at the text.
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For God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
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If Jesus really is your high priest, be faithful. Stay clean.
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Don't violate God's protocol. Now, I think like an
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American, but if you thought like a Jew 2 ,000 years ago, do you know how weird it would be for you to say to a group of people,
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God judges sexual sin, to these people that would go to temples and say, the way
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I'm going to worship this god or goddess is to be physically with the temple prostitutes.
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How do you commune with God? You go be with the prostitute. People were perverted sexually, licentious sexually, and then you hear from the writer of Hebrews, in context, it's good.
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God has designed it. It's good for you. It's healthy. It's holy. It's right. In marriage, but outside of marriage, you don't think
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God's going to judge you? God is going to judge. Number five, do not covet.
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Jesus is a great high priest. How should I respond? He with the most toys wins, of course.
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No, verses five and six. This is good for us who live in a materialistic age.
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Keep your life free from the love of money. Wouldn't that be a good life if we could do that more often than we do?
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Money's not bad. What is bad? Love of money. But keep your life free from the love of money.
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It must be a problem. And be content with what you have. How do you keep your contentment up if you are struggling with discontentment?
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I'll give you a few illustrations. Here's one. Don't watch advertisements. Don't read advertisements.
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Because advertisements, as you've heard me say over and over and over, do what? What do advertisements do?
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They breed discontent because you've got to have something bigger and better and newer and faster. You thought you were styling in your car until you saw the car.
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Until you saw your neighbor's car. I remember we came back from India.
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I think Haley and I came back from India. And I walked into the supermarket. I walked into Stop and Shop.
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I couldn't believe, I almost thought I was going to get sick. There are 482 different kinds of potato chips.
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I mean, I don't know what the number is, but there's a lot. Think about how many different kinds of toothpaste there are. Sodas. I picked out 10 different kinds of ice cream tonight and there were probably 20 other kinds
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I could have picked. Got all sugar free tonight. It's really good. I used to go into a big supermarket in India and it was pretty little.
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It was kind of like our Cumberland Farms. And then I walked into our house.
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Kim and I have what? It's a 1 ,400 square foot house. I'm glad to have a house. Now I've got four kids and three in one room and you just kind of feel like...
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And I walked into that house and I thought I lived in a mansion. I couldn't believe it.
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I thought this is so huge. I was at a doctor's house. His wife was an anesthesiologist.
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He was a medical doctor and his house was about 15 times smaller than mine.
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And there was about 50 other Indians and then me in this house. We were eating pizza, hanging out, just loving life.
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We had ministered under the Lord's glory and the conference was over and we were just having a great time.
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I went to my house and I go, this is huge. Until I went to my friend's house and then
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I realized mine was pretty little. What does he say here?
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Verse 5. Keep your life free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. For he has said, going back to who
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God is, going back to this great high priest, the one, remember, that's better than the prophets, better than the angels, better than Moses, better than Aaron, better than the old covenant.
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He says what? I personally will never leave you nor forsake you. That's a promise
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Mark Schaeffer can bank on. Job or no job. So what's our response?
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There's revelation. There's response. Verse 6. So we can say confidently, the
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Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? For he himself has said.
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What's that song? He will never know, never know, never forsake. For those of you that know any
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Greek, there are five negatives in this quote. For he has said himself in Hebrews 13 .5.
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Just stacked up to make sure we know that Jesus will provide for his people.
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Verse 7 and following. Number 6. Remember your leaders.
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If you've had a faithful pastor in the past, you ought to remember that pastor. If you've had a faithful Sunday school teacher, you ought to remember that Sunday school teacher.
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A faithful woman's Bible teacher, it could apply to. You ought to remember that leader. Verse 7. Remember those who led you.
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Of course, the context is elders and pastors who spoke the word of God to you considering the result of their faith.
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Remember your leaders. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate what?
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Their faith. It doesn't even necessarily mean imitate them, but imitate their faith. Present imperative.
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Keep on remembering that. Think back on some of the leaders that you've had. How do they live?
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And if you're old enough, how do they die? Faithfully dying. Remember them. It's important to follow them.
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But you know, there's a great leader. Who's the ultimate leader? To remember. To look back and go, I ought to remember that leader.
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How he lived and how he died. Who's the greatest leader of them all? Verse 8.
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This is not a charismatic verse. This is remember your leaders and there's a great leader.
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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now people try to use that verse to say, well,
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Jesus, they were speaking in tongues those days, they're speaking in tongues these days.
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The verse has nothing to do with that. The verse has everything to do with remember your leaders. Who's the greatest leader?
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Amen. Jesus is the great leader. Some of the adults are sleeping here tonight.
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You get first ice cream tonight, buddy. First ice cream tonight.
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You see, he did that? He's the ultimate leader.
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Earthly leaders come and go. Earthly leaders get older. John MacArthur's earthly leader,
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Charles Feinberg, before he died in a rest home, he grew up as an Orthodox Jew, and he began to go through senility and he denied
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Jesus Christ. I think he was saved because if God saves you, are you always saved? Yes.
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The only remnant MacArthur said that Charles Feinberg had of any of his Christianity was that he was a seminary professor, a president at Talbot and professor, and so he would gather all the nurses around him occasionally for a staff meeting because he would have staff meetings at the seminary.
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Well, he was a godly man, a great man, a man who learned Dutch in three days so he could read the new
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Dutch systematic theology. But he got old, and he faded away. But Jesus Christ, the great high priest, is what?
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What does the text say? The same yesterday, today, forever. That's the context.
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He'll always be here. Some come and go. They all come and go except for Jesus into the ages, literally in the
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Greek. Number seven. We are seven out of ten. Let's keep going. The seventh response to this great truth that Jesus is greater than prophets,
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Moses, Aaron, angels, everything, anyone, Old Covenant. Verse nine.
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Don't be carried away with legalism. Verse nine of Hebrews chapter 13.
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Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.
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I'm not talking about strengthened by food. Just don't eat pork and you're good. Not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.
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This message needs to be preached in Lancaster, Massachusetts. I'll tell you that. Present imperative. Don't be carried away.
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It's easy to be carried away. You can be carried away. Remember the centrality of Christ's sacrifice.
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And if Christ has saved you, then you can eat whatever you want. 1 Peter chapter 4. Mosaic laws regulating food have been completed in Christ.
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Don't be caught away with these kind of strange foreign things. You show me a false religion, and I'll show you food regulations almost always.
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Back in the day of the New Testament and today too, false religions like to have food regulations because what's easier?
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Husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church? Or just don't eat beef today? Well, maybe for some the other would be harder.
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For me, it's harder to love my wife like Christ loved the church. It's easier to say... I mean, if that's harder to do, it's easier for me to say, well,
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I just won't have meat today. It's Fish Friday, you know, after all. Seriously.
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That's what we do. Don't be carried away that way. You think you're going to please
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God by what you eat? No, God is pleased by you looking away from yourself and trusting in the one that He's pleased with,
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Christ Jesus. Now, I've made a vow to Steve and the other elders that I'd never do an altar call, but I'm going to do one right now.
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Verse 10, We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
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For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
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In a way that only the book of Hebrews could address, Jesus' sacrifice could probably be spoken of as an altar.
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The cross of Christ. Verse 12, So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.
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We just celebrated Yom Kippur. Some did. Focusing, foreshadowing on the atoning work of Christ.
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Number 8, We're almost done. Hang in there. How do we respond to Jesus is greater than anyone and everything?
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Then you ought to praise Him, engage in good deeds, and share with other people.
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Verse 15, The sacrifice of praise. Through Him then, verse 15, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge
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His name. I can think of the songs. I wish I could sing better. We bring a sacrifice of praise unto the
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Lord. How does that go? Who can sing? A sacrifice of praise.
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Along with that, verse 16, Do not neglect doing good and sharing for with such sacrifices
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God is pleased. Koinonia. Number 9, Obey and submit to your leaders.
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God's sovereign over them and so obey them and submit to them. Verse 17,
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How to respond to the great high priestly work of Christ? Obey your leaders and submit to them. Verse 17, For they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.
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Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
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I think I've said it many times. I know Steve has said it. Sometimes when the elders have meetings, and well, always when we have meetings and we think about sheep that are either doing well or doing poorly and we pray for them, it's a lot better when we sit around and say, you know this particular saint, they're doing a great job.
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They're learning, they're growing, they're serving, they're not like they used to be five years ago and we are just, we want a hundred of them around and we're happy, we're rejoicing.
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God in His grace has saved somebody and they're learning and growing and they give the elders joy. But you know there's other people that don't really understand the high priestly work of Christ Jesus and they don't give the elders joy.
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I could go up to Dave Jeffries, Perdeep, Steve, or when Lewis was here and I could say these people's names to them and I could watch probably them be exasperated.
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They just won't learn. They won't listen. They won't apply this great truth found, these truths found in Hebrews.
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And Paul just, I don't know if it's Paul, probably wasn't, the writer of Hebrews says, they're going to give an account.
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Let them do this with joy and not grief. And you go, yeah, but that's just making their job easier.
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What about for me? But look at the end of the text, verse 17. No, this is for your good. For that would be of no advantage to the elders.
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Well, it wouldn't be an advantage to the elders, believe me. But it wouldn't be an advantage to you either.
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Just give way, yield to the elders. That's all he's saying and it's good for you. Number 10.
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Finally and lastly, the response. I thought we were going to make it. I think we're actually going to make it all the way through.
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Number 18. Pray. This is situational, but it's certainly a good principle.
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Verse 18. Pray for us. For we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.
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Present imperative. Keep on praying for us. Keep on praying for us.
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And then he gives the doxology. Don't you love it? Is there a better doxology? Now may the God of peace, verse 20, who brought again from the dead our
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Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good thing that you may do
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His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.
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And then like every good pastor, a final exhortation, even after the benediction. Don't you love it?
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Can you think of a greater verse in all the Bible? I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, the book of Hebrews, for I have written to you briefly.
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It's a short letter. Hebrews 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. It's a little letter.
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Bear with me. I could have written a lot more about Jesus to show that He's superior.
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You want to know how He's superior to Joseph? How He's superior to Abraham? How He's superior to Jacob?
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How He's superior to all these other folks and people? He's superior to these pagan religions? I could have went on and on, but I've written to you briefly.
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And then, Paul, remember, had written to Timothy. Timothy, stand firm, you're young.
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Stand firm, it's a horrible society. Stand firm, preach the Word, because people aren't going to like it.
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I wonder if Timothy did it. Was Timothy faithful? I wonder if he stood for the truth.
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He did, because he went to jail for the truth. Verse 23, For you should know that our brother
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Timothy has been released, faithful all the way to prison, and now he's been released, with whom
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I shall see you if he comes soon. He made it. Greet all your leaders and all the saints.
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Those that come from Italy, send you greetings. Grace be with you all. Your homework assignment?
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Read the epistle of Hebrews this week. You'll be blessed. Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, it's good to look at the book of Hebrews, even in this quick flyover. It's good to remember that you're a
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God of peace. It's good to remember that you raised Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep.
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We're so thankful that you're our shepherd. I'm sure other people wish they had a shepherd like you.
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So thank you. We just pray again tonight that you'd help our fellowship, help us to stir one another to godly discussion and to good deeds.
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Father, give our church a love for the prisoners in West Boylston, a love for one another, a brotherly love.
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And as it's been prayed, whether it's Dan Woodward or other men, including