Unbelief: The Hoax Of The Ages - [Hebrews 3:12-19]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Once in a while, I like to study the subject of psychology, not because I believe in psychology, or maybe they can analyze behavior, but they certainly can't change behavior into Christ -likeness.

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Recently, I learned about something called attachment styles in psychology. Attachment styles.

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It's in Psychology Today magazine, and people can range from secure attachment to dismissing avoidant attachment, to fearful avoidant attachment.

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But my favorite attachment style is preoccupied attachment. People who are preoccupied, and they have a need to be close to other people, and they cling to them.

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While the psychologist might think that's something wrong or negative, I thought that is perfect, because that describes the author to the book of Hebrews.

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He has an attachment style, an attachment preoccupation with the

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Lord Jesus. And he wants to cling to Him, not in a negative clingy style, but by trusting and by believing in Him.

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Take your Bibles, please, and turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 3, because this author has a preoccupation with Jesus.

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He is absorbed with the concept of who Jesus is. He is engrossed.

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He is obsessed. Even that word preoccupied, it means to see something beforehand.

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And so everything about the book of Hebrews is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Many have called this the fifth gospel,

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Hebrews. And from the very beginning, from the starting gun, as it were, there is an extolling of, a praising of, a description of who

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Jesus is, as a creator, as a sin purger, as one who has been seated at the right hand of the

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Father. And it just doesn't end. It's almost like you want to stop and slow down a little bit because it's about the superiority of Jesus.

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Against all comers, frankly, He's greater than prophets. He's greater than angels. He's greater than Moses.

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He's greater than Aaron. He's greater than the old covenant system. He's greater than the tabernacle.

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He's greater than the temple. It doesn't matter who the author lists, Jesus is greater.

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Because what every person needs in life, and especially in a trial, as these people were in, as many of us are in, as many of us will be in, is not how do

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I get out of the trial, but how do I think rightly about Jesus? How do

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I keep walking by faith? Faith isn't just enough to say, I got everything right with God when

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I first became a Christian, and I believed in Jesus, but now it is I must keep believing in Jesus.

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And so the author paints the object of his faith, our faith, in the words of Scripture, in the

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Greek language. And now we're looking at the English. Of course, what you believe about Jesus will affect your life and should change your life.

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And so later on in the book, he'll have very practical outworkings of Christ's superiority.

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Chapter 3, verse 1. And by the way, I have a special announcement to make this morning. We're going to finish Chapter 3 today.

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That is big. I met some visitors a while ago. They've been coming for six or seven weeks. Yeah, you've been in Hebrews 3, 7.

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We left for a couple weeks, we came back. You're still in Hebrews 3, 7 and following. But we, God willing, will finish

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Hebrews 3 today. I said to someone last week, I'm 57 years old.

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I've been in better health. This is probably the last time I ever preached the book of Hebrews in my life.

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So we're just going to take our time. And I've told you many times about that pastor in New England who preached

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Isaiah for 40 years and died in Chapter 8. So compared to him, we are so fast.

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It's unbelievable. Hebrews 3, 1.

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Now, therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling. This really could describe the whole book.

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Consider Jesus. Think a lot about the human God -man. Jesus, the

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Apostle. He was sent by God to rescue us. And High Priest, He makes intercession for us of our confession.

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Who was faithful to Him who appointed Him. I mean, Moses was faithful, but Jesus was more faithful.

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Just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

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As much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. And so in Hebrews 3, the writer's been now focusing for a while on Moses' greatness.

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But Jesus is greater. He doesn't say Moses sinned, even though Moses did sin. But as Moses had a glory, and it was a reflected glory, wasn't it?

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When God sent Moses up to the mountain, and that glory was on Moses' face, and people were afraid to look, and he had to cover his face, that was external glory.

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That was God's glory on Moses' face. When Jesus, on the other hand, went up to a mountain, a different mountain, what was in Jesus came out of Him at the transfiguration.

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And so His glory is greater. The glory of a son is greater than the glory of a servant. And that's what

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He's talking about in Hebrews 3. And then we've been working through this warning passage that starts in verse 7.

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Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, and He's using the backdrop of Psalm 95 and the rebellion of the

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Israelites in the wilderness to tell them, don't you do the same thing. It would be worse for you because we're not talking about temporal wilderness.

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We're talking about eternal wilderness, that is, hell. So what's the response?

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To do something? No, to believe someone. Verse 12 of Hebrews 3.

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There's kind of some neat bookends between 3 .12 and 3 .19, so you know exactly what's in the center.

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What's 3 .12 to 3 .19 talking about? Do you see the connection? Verse 12, take care, brothers.

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That's the word to see, where we get the word bleppo. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

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God. And then what does it say in verse 19? So we see, same word as take care in the

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ESV, bleppo, that we who were unable to enter because of unbelief.

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So if you want to look at the bookends, 3 .12, take heed so that you are not an unbeliever.

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3 .19, take heed so that you're not an unbeliever. And everything in between drives from that point and ends to that point.

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Stated negatively, unbelief leads to tragedy. Stated positively, care very much about your faith in Christ Jesus.

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Cotton Mather once said, the great design and intention of the office of a Christian preacher is to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men.

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That's exactly what this author is doing. Any type of rival claim, any type of competition, any type of rivalry or allegiance to someone else, to some other system, to some other person, to some other thing, has to be destroyed.

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And it can be destroyed by, don't do that, it ends poorly. And it also can be demonstrated by, look at who

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Jesus is. I mean, even the titles of the book of Jesus Christ in this book alphabetically,

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Author, Apostle, Captain, Christ, Finisher, Firstborn, God, Heir, High Priest, Lord, Mediator, Shepherd, and Son.

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Don't run to anyone else, keep believing. And if you don't believe, you should have no assurance of your eternal life.

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But the positive side is true. Are you believing now? Then you should have great assurance.

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Because you only stand before God on the basis of the work of another.

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Jesus perfectly obeyed. God expects perfection. You say, I'm going to stand before God based on my good deeds outweighing my bad.

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There's no hope for you. That's why you need to see the excellencies of Jesus, because He was the one who was not just the one who redeems us, but He's the ransom price.

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God slays Him in our place. Jesus perfectly obeys. So everything is driving to who

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Jesus is. Now, if you'll turn to Romans 9, please, I want you to see where the author is going.

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And I know it's a joke, and it doesn't even really mean to be a joke, but we're not going to be there for a couple of years, so I want you to see ahead of time.

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It's true, I know. Where he's going. So he's giving these warnings, but he's driving somewhere.

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To where is he driving? You can almost imagine, you know, you take your kids to a fairly long trip.

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They're little. And they're going someplace exciting, the water park, or maybe at Six Flags, or maybe to the beach.

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And, you know, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Daddy, are we there yet? Quit asking me, are we there yet?

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When I put the car in park, we're there. Now, get back to your Rafi songs. I mean, whatever you're listening to.

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Where is he going? Now, remember, this system of Judaism, sacrifices and blood, wages of sin is death.

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Something has to die. God has instituted substitution. I'd walk over to my children at nighttime, and I would say to them, what's the most important concept in all the

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Bible theologically? God? Yes. Jesus? Yes.

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Substitution. Because God needs to provide that lamb that has its horns stuck, so it's not

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Isaac getting slain. God has to provide that lamb in the Passover, so the death angel doesn't kill you.

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God has to provide that offering in the Day of Atonement, in our place, in our stead, on our behalf.

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Substitute. So when Jesus shows up on the scene, John the Baptist recognized Jesus as what?

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The Lamb of God. So when you get to chapter 9, verse 11, of course, in Judaism, they understand the sacrificial system, but it just had to happen all the time.

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Verse 11, but when Christ the Messiah appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

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And, of course, remember, we're not talking about blood types. Was Jesus O positive or A or something like that?

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We're talking about sacrificial death. When you see blood in this kind of language, he had to die, yes, but he didn't just bleed.

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It was a vicious, vicarious death. From the blood of, verse 13, goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh.

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How much more? See, this is greater language. Will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

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God? Verse 15, therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

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I mean, you could ask the question, if you have to keep doing a sacrifice, how good is it?

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If something has to be repeated over and over and over, is it really efficacious? Chapter 10, verse 1, for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

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Otherwise, they would not have ceased to be offered since the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins.

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But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, obviously with a backdrop of the great day of atonement.

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Verse 4, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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Now, see, we might not understand that language, but the Jewish people did. I could maybe put it in modern parlance this way, for it is impossible by giving something up for Lent to take away sins.

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It is impossible to have your sins forgiven by having no fish on Friday. It is impossible to have your sins forgiven by saying, you know what, before we go have

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Thanksgiving dinner, let's go to the soup kitchen and serve. It is impossible to have your sins forgiven by saying,

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I hope God just looks at the sincerity of my heart. It is impossible to forgive sins by saying, you know what,

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I am not as bad as those other people. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, because mankind cannot solve the sin problem.

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I am a sinner. You are a sinner. How can we solve our sin problem? We couldn't, but God did, verse 5.

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Consequently, I mean, if God was not a loving God, what would this word consequently imply?

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If God were not gracious, what would God do if we are sinful and we are sinful?

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Consequently, He just cast everyone to perdition. Consequently, He judged everyone.

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But no, since God has great love, as Ephesians 2 says, with which He loves us, consequently, when

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Christ came into the world, He said, wouldn't you like to eavesdrop on what the

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Father and the Son were talking about when Jesus is going into the world? Remember, Jesus exists before He was born.

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By the way, what did you say before you were born? I know what you said when you were born, most likely, but it didn't really make any sense.

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In eternity past, the Father sends the Apostle, Jesus, because He loves sinners and is going to forgive them.

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We get to overhear the Son talking to the Father. Wow! When Christ came into the world,

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He said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for Me.

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In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold,

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I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll. Why did the

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Eternal Son have to have a body? Because He's going to be our representative.

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We were to perfectly obey the law, do this and live. But we couldn't and we fell short.

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Sacrifices had to happen in the Old Testament, over and over and over and over. Will it ever stop? I just think about my life, if I was a

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Jewish priest versus a Protestant pastor, if you ever needed help carving your turkey or butchering a cow, you'd want to call me, if I was an

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Old Testament priest. Because my job would just be slaughtering animals over and over and over.

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Kim and I years ago went to the Sterling Lake and we saw a guy with his grandchild there and the guy looked, he just looked older, and he looked normal until we saw from the ankles down and his feet were bloody, dried blood.

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I thought I'm going to have to call Sterling Police or something because I think there's like an axe murderer here with this grandkid, but what am

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I going to do? Where's Sergeant Steve Cooley when you need him? So we began to talk and he was a butcher.

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And he normally had his apron on and so his apron got all bloody, but he didn't have an apron for his shoes and his shoes were all bloody.

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Can you imagine the blood? You sin, blood, and death. You sin, blood, and death. You sin, blood, and death.

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Isn't anybody going to obey perfectly? And so Jesus does.

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To die for people, He has to become a person. He has to add humanity to His eternal

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God. It's amazing to think about.

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Christ had to be born because only His perfect law keeping and His once -for -all perfect sacrifice could atone.

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Verse 8, When He said, Above you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings.

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These are offered according to the law. Then He added, Behold, I have come to do your will.

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He does away with the first, Old Covenant, in order to establish the second.

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And by that will, God the Father's will, we have been sanctified or set apart through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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You talk about the Hebrews author preoccupied with Jesus. Jesus is preoccupied with the

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Father's will. Whatever you want me to do, I will do that. Unlike me, unlike you, unlike everyone else.

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But Jesus says, I'm going to do exactly what you will. We're preoccupied with God's plan and God's decree,

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God's design. Salvation doesn't originate with us. It originates with the triune

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God, and now it's being executed by the Son. If I just read you a few verses and ask you the question,

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Who's the Savior? Would you say me? Would you say you?

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Would you say the government, education? You realize who the Savior is.

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Listen, Titus 2, Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession.

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1 Peter, Knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited with your forefathers, but with precious blood, as a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

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Or Paul in Galatians 3, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written,

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Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. I draw your attention to verse 11 in the same chapter that we've been in, and every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices.

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There's blood everywhere, by the way, which can never take away sins. But when

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Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice, He sat down at the right hand of God.

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Priests don't sit down, why? Because tomorrow the next person comes in with their sin. Tomorrow I sin, later today

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I sin. All kinds of furniture in the tabernacle, all kinds of furniture in the temple, but no seats. Job's not done.

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Look at the language here. It's done. No wonder when Jesus says, It is finished, He meant it. Waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet, for by a, you see the refrain again, a single offering

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He has perfected for all time, those who are being sanctified. What other religion says,

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Here's this event, the God -man who lives and dies, that secures salvation. And the

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Holy Spirit also bears witness to us, for after saying, Verse 16, This is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days declares the

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Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds. Then He adds,

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Wonderfully, if you're a sinner, I've got good news for you because of Jesus. I will remember their sins, and their lawless deeds every day.

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Is that what the text says? Maybe we've been in a relationship, and we can't stop thinking about that particular sin, that that loved one has committed against us, or against someone else.

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And it's almost like, you begin to see people, through their besetting sins, and you recognize your fellow

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Christian, your fellow husband, our wife, our children, our parents, our brother in Christ, and the way you see them, is you see them through the lens of their besetting sins.

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That's the most ungodly thing you could do by the way, because what does God do? He sees a sinner, and He sees all the sin, and He says what?

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I remember your sins, what? No longer. That's why we're to forgive as Christ has forgiven us.

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That's why it's so nice to be able to say, once you grasp this doctrine of forgiveness, based on this high priest.

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God does not see me as the person who's done all those sins. He sees me as what?

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A son. While justification is awesome, and I will defend it, and have been on social media, where in the court of God's law, you stand before God as a sinner, and God says, not guilty, no condemnation, because my son has kept the law in your place, and he's died for your sins, and I've raised him from the dead, not guilty.

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What Hebrews will also make you think is this, now the judge takes off his gown, and he walks around the side of his desk, and the gavel, and sits down, and says, these are the papers

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I have to adopt you as my son. God sees you as a son.

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He doesn't remember your sins, so as a very practical side note, if someone says to you, please forgive me, and you ought to say,

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I forgive you, then don't bring that up to other people, don't bring it up to yourself, think about something instead, don't bring it up to God, act like God, and say,

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I will remember their sins, what? No more. If we could grasp this by the

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Spirit's power, it would change our church. I don't think we're imperfectly, you know, we're just as bad as we get doing that, but we have a long way to go, someone has some sin, besetting sin, something in their background, friends, welcome to Bethlehem Bible Church, and if you're trusting in this

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Jesus, who's captain, author, apostle, high priest, I need to see you as God sees you, the

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God of the great Lord Jesus, sees you as son, and therefore I see you as brother, I will remember their sins no more,

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I'll take that as an amen. She said earlier when we were singing, can we go home now? So I'll take that.

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And guess what? When there's true forgiveness found in God, what's verse 18 says? Where there is forgiveness of these, there's no longer any offering for sin.

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And if there's no sin that you have, what's your entree into God's presence? Can you saunter right in?

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Yes. Verse 19, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places, not by our own merit, not by my own sacrificial life, but by the blood of Jesus, it would be good for me to stop and ask, do you believe this

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Jesus? Do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ? Now let's go back to chapter 3.

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We've been in chapter 3, and we want to finish it off today. I'd like to expand what we did a little bit last week, because there's some treasures in this text that we need to make sure to understand.

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He basically is saying in chapter 3, verses 12 through the end of the chapter,

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I want you to really take heed that you keep believing, and I want you to encourage other people to believe.

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That's what he's saying. So let's just have a little review, and I'll add some new information in that's important.

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He first says, take care, take heed, see to it. Take care brothers, verse 12 of Hebrews 3, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

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God. As I stated last week, once a lack of trust seeps into a relationship, it's hard to keep that relationship where it's supposed to be.

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When my kids were little, I would tell them, I want you to walk toward the kitchen table, and you do not stop.

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If I don't say stop, just walk into the table. But just before they got to the kitchen table, I would say repent, and they would turn around, and they'd walk back.

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By the way, when kids are really young, and you just need them to do something, you can either try jumping jacks or that. But this at least teaches them the lesson, what is repentance?

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If you're moving towards unbelief, the only response is to change your mind, and to repent, and to start thinking this way about the object of your faith.

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And if you're going the right way already, don't be tempted to look in the rear view mirror and think, remember how good my life was before I was a

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Christian? It might have, by the way, been great. But you still go to hell when you die with a great life?

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How's that? Take care therefore.

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Hebrews 12 .25 translates it, See to it. Unbelief is so evil.

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Do you notice what the text says? An evil, unbelieving heart. The worst sin in the world isn't found on the drudge report.

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It's unbelief. God, I don't care who you say your son is, I won't believe.

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I refuse to believe. That's the worst sin. It says it's evil. I mean,

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I've been studying this week Christian scientist doctrine, and they don't even believe sin exists.

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Sin, sickness, and death are so to be classified as effects of error. Christ came to destroy the belief of sin.

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Can you believe that? That's why, as my friend used to say, Christian science, it's not Christian, and it's not science.

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Jesus came to destroy the notion of sin? No, He came to be a sin bearer. What is sin?

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What's the root of sin? Now, you might say sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.

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That's true. 1 John 3, 4, sin is lawlessness. But keeping your finger here in Hebrews 3, just quickly go to John 16, and I think you'll see that the root of all sin, according to Jesus, is unbelief.

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You say, well, Adam and Eve, they were prideful, and they were self -righteous. Isn't that? No, they didn't take

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God at His word. The root sin is unbelief. It manifests itself in lawlessness and ends up in immorality.

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That's true. You might describe it as the subjective root of all sin is unbelief. Objectively, it's lawlessness, and then it spirals into everything else.

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But just listen to what Jesus said. Why is unbelief so awful? John 16, verse 7,

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Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away.

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Boy, those would be hard words to hear from Jesus. For if I do not go away, the Helper, we're talking about the

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Spirit of God, will not come to you. But if I go, I will send

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Him to you. So my Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is going to come. And when He comes, what does

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He do? He will convict the world of sin, or concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment.

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Concerning sin? What's the sin that He's talking about? What's the big sin? What's the root of sin?

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Because they do not believe in Me. Martin Luther said that unbelief, and particularly that unbelief, in Jesus is the sin.

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Is the sin in the New Testament He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not

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My words hath one that judges him. Luther went on to say,

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We cannot do any greater despite to our Lord God than by unbelief.

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For by it we make God a devil. Again, we cannot do Him any greater honor than by faith when we regard

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Him as Savior. Therefore, we cannot abide a doubting heart. Like the

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Turk who doubts. Or the monk who in despair runs to a monastery and says, Oh, how hot is hell!

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I will therefore do good works to placate God. But by good works we do not become a Christian, but we remain a heathen.

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And Luther expresses it very definitely here when he says, Unbelief is the chief sin and the source of all other sins.

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Yes, it leads to lawlessness. Yes, it leads to immorality and idolatry and pride and self -righteousness.

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But at the root, do you take God at His word? Now let's go back to Hebrews chapter 3.

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That's why it's such an awful thing. No wonder Octavius Winslow says,

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The cause He traces all departure from God is unbelief. That's why it's so evil.

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And I know it's hard to look at your friend and your unbelieving sister, our mother, our children as wicked and evil, but that's what an unbelieving heart is.

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And so what does the writer say? Don't go that way because what will happen at the end of verse 12? You're going to fall away from the living

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God. You're not going to fall away from the dead temple or a dead person, but the risen

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Savior who's alive. You're going to go away from Him. Don't do that. It's a warning. But now he gives the positive thing in verse 13 of Hebrews 3.

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We saw this too last week. Exhort others to keep believing. Avoid unbelief and tell them to keep believing.

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But exhort one another every day. Remember the bookends, unbelief, unbelief. He's talking about that here, but the positive side.

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You could translate it this way. But exhort everyone every day to keep believing in this

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Messiah revealed in Hebrews. As long as it's called today, seems like that's today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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We walk by faith and not by sight. We say to ourselves when a Christian's struggling, we should come alongside and help them in temporal ways, in physical ways, and then remind them who

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Jesus is. How do you counsel other people? It must include encouragement, coming alongside to believe in Jesus, to talk about Jesus.

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I wonder, I know it's only hypothetical, but if the Israelites in the wilderness would have done this, encourage one another to believe, to say,

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God keeps His promises, He's been faithful. I wonder if they would have done that, how soon they would have gone into the promised land.

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Again, it's hypothetical, but it's a good question to ask. I saw a picture of somebody the other day and they said,

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I'm celebrating church by myself today. And this person had their feet up on a dock and it looked like it was by some kind of Florida lagoon or something.

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I know there's times on Sundays when you can't get to church and something happens in your home, taking care of your sick child or whatever.

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But there's a reason why even in the book of Hebrews, it says to people who are on the run because of persecution, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but exact same

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Greek word, encouraging one another. How do you encourage one another?

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Well, the persecution will be ended. Well, we'll be in heaven one day. Fine, that's true.

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But we can keep trusting in God. You can keep trusting in who God is.

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What's the function of a local church gathering on Sunday? To extol God, amen. But to encourage one another.

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And not just, way to go, you passed your driver's test. That's good. But I know things are hard.

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Keep trusting in Christ Jesus. Keep believing. Someone said to me last week, are you going to quote the

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Journey song, Don't Stop Believing? I said, over my dead body. I don't like Journey so much.

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So there you have it. God keeps me to the end, eternal security.

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Yes, by the means of all kinds of things, including we all say to one another,

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God can be trusted. God is faithful. He's brought you thus far. How often should

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I encourage? I could ask you the question this way. How often would you like to be encouraged? Every leap year.

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Today. That's what I'm talking about, today. Could I just give a little pastoral plea?

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This is not chasing, this is not I'm mad at you, this is just coming alongside. I know if you have to leave right away, you have to leave right away.

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But if you could get here early or stay a little late to encourage people, that would be wonderful.

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We're kind of a commuter church now, so we all have to drive a long way to get here. It's not like we can all go next door and have some fellowship.

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There are people here that need not just a hug, but a reminder to come alongside.

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That's what the word encourage means. And to say, I know things are hard. I love you, but God loves you.

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And he's shown that by giving you the son. Don't doubt the goodness of God. I think that would change our church.

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He gives the warning, but he gives the encouragement. It's better than looking into ourselves.

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What are we going to find there? But it's tricky. Look at verse 13, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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If I just go back to Judaism, things are going to be so much better. That's a deception. Those leeks and garlic in the wilderness didn't taste so good.

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You might think so. Sin's deceitfulness. The context here is, go back to Judaism, you'll be better off.

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For us, to go back to our old life. I thought when I came to Christ, everything would be great.

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My marriage would be great. My kids would be great. My neighbors would be great. My job would be great. It all might be worse, except your relationship with God who made you is great.

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He accepts you. That's why don't ever evangelize by telling everybody what they're going to get.

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Except they're going to get themselves right with God by His work. Verse 14, for we have come to share in Christ.

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This is language that was found earlier in chapter 3 as well. If we indeed hold our original confidence firm to the end.

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Now, you could read that and say, well, yeah, but what if we don't? Well, let me just give you the bar back. What if you do?

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Don't automatically turn this warning into something negative, because on the flip side, if you do keep believing, if you don't stop believing, you have assurance.

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You have confidence. You have actually, what's the text say? Your original confidence.

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Remember when you were first saved. Boy, those were the days, weren't they? I remember driving in the streets of Los Angeles as a sales rep, hospital, hospital, hospital, and I would listen to sports radio or,

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I don't know, punk rock or whatever I was listening to. It didn't even matter. Finally, I thought, you know what? Kim said they have Bible teaching on the radio.

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My father was dying at the time. I start listening to the radio and they have Bible teaching. And the one guy

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I particularly like, he was a Vietnam vet and a black belt and all that, because I was thinking in my mind,

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I think pastors should be masculine and had all these ideas of what a pastor should be instead of just a

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Bible teacher. And I remember they'd have altar calls, but it's now broadcast on the radio and I'm in the car on the 405.

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I remember one time trying to move up to the front of the dashboard because he's like, come to the front if you want to have your sins forgiven.

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I mean, I'm moving up. The defroster's here. I know

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I've been created to worship God. I know I don't. I know I've sinned. I mean, I really know I've sinned.

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I'd like to be right with God. I remember God granting me saving faith. It probably wasn't that moment, but He grants me saving faith.

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And how did you act when you first were saved? Specifically when it comes to assurance.

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Now I know as we live our Christian life, our assurance ebbs and flows and sometimes we have less assurance, sometimes more.

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Sometimes we think about ourself too much, our own sin and not who Jesus is. But at that moment, those first moments when you were believing, did you even have any doubt?

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The doubt was not there. It was whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth, whoever believes in the

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Lord shall not be disappointed. That original confidence. Oh, what a day that was.

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By the way, you can have that confidence. But the confidence cannot be found when you go back, tricked by the deceitfulness of sin.

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I just need to go back. You know what? I can make more money as an unbeliever. I could. Okay, I'll just go back.

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I had more friends when I was an unbeliever. I did. I got along better with my neighbors when

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I was an unbeliever. I mean, whatever it is, fill in the blank. Don't forget that first time though when you realize,

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God is at peace with me based on the work of another. I didn't do anything.

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When I first realized that God chose me in eternity past, I couldn't hardly believe it. But if you don't hold that confidence and you say, you know what?

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I'm turning my back on God. I got the raw deal. Then you're just reflecting that you don't share

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Christ. You haven't come to believe in Christ. The evidence of salvation, Mark, it is perseverance.

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The ground of your salvation is Christ's perfect work. He's the one that did it. But the evidence, the fruit, the outworking is trust.

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A trust that perseveres. Warren Wiersbe said, the fact that we are standing firm is proof that our faith is genuine and not empty.

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Notice what the text says? Does he switch from second person to first person we?

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Includes himself here. That's interesting. It's a statement of fact. We're made partakers of Christ if we persevere.

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Jonathan Edwards said, the sure proof of election is that one holds out to the end. True believers hold fast to the gospel.

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John MacArthur. Now you said, well, you're going to try to finish the chapter.

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We're out of time. Here's what the writer does. He brings to the surface, through this rolling boil, the same topics he just covered earlier in chapter 3, verses 7 and following.

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So we don't have to really dive so deeply into this section as we would because he's got this pattern of preaching where he reviews things.

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He goes back to things. You ever heard a preacher do that? This is a sermon, remember? Hebrews 13 .22. It's a sermon.

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And he does it by asking a bunch of rapid fire questions. Look at verse 15.

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Not all questions, but there are going to be many in this section. And they're right from Psalm 95 that we've looked at before.

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As it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

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Remember the backdrop of temporal wilderness, a real place to now.

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We're thinking spiritual thoughts. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left

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Egypt led by Moses? See the questions there?

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One question, then the next, then the next, all with a subplot of don't be an unbeliever, keep believing.

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There's a commentary written by David McWilliams and he says this. What needed changing for those who rebelled in the wilderness?

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Was it their wilderness setting? This is what they argued. Our circumstances need changing.

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But God answers the question what needs changing with your hearts? The questions continue.

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Verse 17. And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? We know the answer. Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

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He asked more questions. All designed for you to keep believing. And if you're not a believer, to believe the first time.

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And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient?

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Certainly unbelief will lead to disobedience. Don't go back.

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The sad conclusion is found in verse 19. So we see that God just is a despot and He just randomly with arbitrary things just judges people for no good reason.

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Judges one day, forgives the next day. No. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

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The outcome of unbelief always ends poorly. The outcome of belief always ends wonderfully.

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Unbelief and disobedience, close connection. Belief and obedience, close connection. We trust in the

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Lord and in light of who He is, we obey out of gratitude. Unbelief is a wicked sin.

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Therefore, if you're here today and you're not believing, while it is the worst sin in the world, unbelief, it is not unforgivable.

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Whoever believes in the Son, John 3, has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the

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Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. And Christian friend, while you want to maybe go back to the old life because there were some definite advantages,

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I hear the alarm. If you got your key. So, I know I was landing the plane, but I have to do this until somebody shuts their car off.

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What if it was me? I was preaching in a little studio in North Hollywood and there was a bunch of like motorcycle parts there,

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Harley Davidson stuff, and I had a TV show called The Narrow Gate Ministries. And so we had a little pulpit that was built and it was hot in this garage.

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All these motorcycle parts and everything. We go there late at night, sometimes at midnight to film. And I always remember because I had a suit coat on up here and a tie and my

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Bible, but it was so hot in there I just had shorts on, right, behind the pulpit because nobody would notice.

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I'm kind of, you know, you can tell when this was because I think they were OP shorts. And so I had the shorts on and I'm preaching the narrow gate message.

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And all of a sudden, it wasn't a car alarm, it was a siren from an ambulance.

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And this is one take TV, this is not a bunch of editing stuff. So I said, if you're listening today, you hear that siren, that siren's coming for you.

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One man said, the easiest person to deceive is one's own self. If you think you're going to trick

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God and get out alive without believing in Jesus Christ, Proverbs 14, 12, is something

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I need to put under your saddle before you ride out of here. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

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And might I do my own interpretation on that? And there is a way that has been devised by God, the

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God man, for forgiveness and its end is the way of life. Aren't you glad to be forgiven?

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Why don't you encourage someone today to keep believing? Let's pray. I thank you, Father, for your word.

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It is true. It is inerrant. It is infallible. It is authoritative. It has stood the test of time.

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Nothing will be absolved of your word. And we think then of the

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God man who is called the Word. We're thankful for him. And how do we say thank you except to praise you?

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Just like in Ephesians chapter 1, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.