You Cannot Give In You Must Not Give Up

LaRue Baptist Church, OH

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Please stand in honor of God's Word. The Old Testament reading is in Psalm 102, starting in verse 25.

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Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain.

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They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.

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But you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure.

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Their offspring shall be established before you. The New Testament reading is

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Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 through 20. And that's on page 983, if you're using the pew

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Bible. He is the image of the invisible

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God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

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All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

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For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

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I imagine when you saw the bulletin this morning or if you got it the other day when Sharon sent it out, you probably flew into a panic thinking, oh, no, he's going to preach all 12 chapters of Hebrew.

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Well, that's not exactly the case. Close, but not exactly the case.

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You know, after preparing for this sermon, reviewing the book of Hebrews and thinking about Jesus, I have to say that as the children were singing, give me

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Jesus this morning, it about brought me to tears. That was marvelous.

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Take your Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 22, Hebrews 13, verse 22.

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The writer of the Hebrews says this, I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation for I have written to you briefly.

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Briefly, let's pray. Father, give us now the ability to hear your word in and of ourselves, we would not hear it.

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We need your spirit to open our hearts so that we embrace it and embrace it with joy and see the glories of the

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Lord Jesus in it. So do that for us today. Lord, help this not to be some mere lecture about this book, but make your words come alive that we would see the glories of Christ today.

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Would you grant that, Father, that we would leave here rejoicing in all that Jesus is and all that he has done?

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And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Every Saturday night

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I go to bed and every Sunday morning I get up and there's a ritual that I follow. Saturday night,

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I get into bed with my sermon notebook, and I read my sermon at least once and then go to bed.

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And I get up in the morning and whether I have coffee or whether I eat breakfast or not, I do the same thing.

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I take my notebook and I review my sermon at least two times, hopefully three.

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Now, I have to review because I too easily forget the things I wrote the night before.

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So I have to review it. Well, I would preach the last chapter of Hebrews.

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You've all been wondering, when are we going to finish this book? Well, I would preach the 13th chapter of Hebrews, except I think we need a refresher.

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We need to review what we've already covered because I fear that maybe you've forgotten some of the content of this book.

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And so this week, I want to review the first 12 chapters of this book before we dive into the 13th and two weeks, because next week is our

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Thanksgiving emphasis. The week after, we'll start in the 13th chapter and hopefully finish it in a couple of sermons.

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So let me begin this review by reminding you of the purpose of this book.

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Now, to do that, you need to recall the background of this book. You need to recall the fact that this was written by a

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Hebrew pastor to Jewish Christians. And the fact is that these

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Jewish Christians faced persecution. They faced persecution.

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In Hebrews chapter 10, we read that they had endured sufferings, that they'd been publicly humiliated, that they had gone to prison, that their property was being confiscated.

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And the writer says to them, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

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These Jewish Christians were facing persecution. It seems that they had begun their pilgrimage of faith well, but now they were contemplating renouncing

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Jesus, renouncing him because the cost was too high to follow him.

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And the writer had written to them, 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. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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Chapter three. It could be that that they harbor doubts about the gospel.

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And we just read in chapter 13, verse 22, I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of admonition.

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This is a sermon. This book is a sermon intended to exhort you. It's intended to move you to action.

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God intends to motivate you to remain faithful to Jesus, no matter what the cost, to remain faithful to Jesus in the face of persecution, to motivate you to remain faithful to Jesus no matter what comes, no matter what comes our way.

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God intends to motivate you to continue trusting in Jesus when you're tempted to move away from him, to motivate you to an unwavering hope in Jesus because he is our only hope.

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And so this book exhorts you to remain faithful to Jesus. This whole book is about remain faithful to Jesus.

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Do not abandon your confidence in him. That's the entire book in one sentence.

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How does it tell us that? How does it tell us? How does it exhort you to remain faithful to Jesus?

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It does so by showing that he is the superior and ultimate revelation from God and mediator from God.

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So that's the first thing. You remain faithful to Jesus. If you remember, he's the superior revelation and superior mediator, the final and ultimate one.

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It exhorts you to remain faithful to Jesus by sounding warnings about the cost that will be yours if you abandon him.

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And then it moves us to faithfulness to Jesus by telling us that we must believe

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God's promises if we will persist in our faith. So that's what we're going to talk about this morning.

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The first, if you'd remain faithful to Jesus, you must know the superiority of Jesus.

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Now, I don't want to keep us too long, but we got to read some of this book.

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I don't just want to tell you what's in the book. We got to read some of it. So you turn to Hebrews one verses one through four.

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Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

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He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power and making purification for sins.

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He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

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Here's the first thing. Jesus is superior to all past revelations. Again, if you're going to remain faithful to Jesus, you must know the superiority of Jesus.

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And the first way he's superior is that he is superior to all past revelations.

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He's greater, superior than those past revelations, because all past revelations came piecemeal over a great deal of time over centuries in very many ways.

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But now God has spoken supremely and finally in Jesus.

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The supreme and final revelation has now come to us in Jesus. He's greater than the past because he is

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God's messianic son. He's greater because he is God's divine son.

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He is greater because he is God's ruling son and has been exalted to that place because of his atoning death.

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He is greater because he has inherited a title above even those most powerful supernatural beings called angels.

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And so don't abandon Jesus because the final revelation is not piecemeal.

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It's in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can look at one person and see what he says and see what he's done and know what you need to know about who

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God is and what God expects and how to understand reality.

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The son is superior than all other ways that God has revealed himself. There it is. It's all summed up in Jesus.

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You must not give in to the competing explanations around you that give you different categories for understanding the world and yourself and God.

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You look to Jesus. He's the final revelation, the ultimate revelation. It's all summed up in him.

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Now, he goes on in chapter one, verse five through chapter two, verse 18, and he says to you,

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Jesus is superior to angels. Now, some of you who've been here long enough still hold it against me that in nearly 40 years of ministering here,

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I've never once preached one sermon on angels. Some of you hold that against me. I know you do, right?

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They are fascinating creatures. They are these powerful messengers of God who do amazing things.

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And yet Jesus is greater than even these powerful supernatural beings.

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Why? Well, the book goes on to tell us. Well, let me just read a section.

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Chapter one, verse five through nine. For which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son? Today I have begotten you.

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Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all

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God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire.

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But of the son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

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You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

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So in this section, what does he say? He's greater than these powerful supernatural beings because God declared him to be his unique son, to whom we owe worship and to whom the angels owe worship.

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Because Jesus is himself the Lord God, the eternal, unchangeable creator.

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He says that is Christ because Jesus sits enthroned on the king's throne while angels remain ministering servants.

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Jesus is greater than the angels because he has accomplished such a great salvation by his death.

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He picks up on that in chapter two. Which of the angels has accomplished these things?

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Look at what he did with his death. He tasted death for you, overcoming the curse and thus guaranteeing that you will fulfill your purpose as a human being to rule the creation in the world to come.

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Jesus is exalted. He's the representative man. He is now ruling and he guarantees that you will rule creation in the world to come.

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By his death, Jesus guaranteed that he would bring many sons to glory. By his death, he guaranteed that God would take us dust and bring us to glory.

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By his death, he overcame death, defeating Satan and freeing us from the fear of death.

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Chapter two, look at chapter two, beginning in verse 14. Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

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For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

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For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

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And so he defeats Satan. He overcomes our fear through his death. So we're no longer slaves.

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Great and powerful as angels are, they could never accomplish what Jesus did, becoming one of us and tasting death for our sakes.

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No angel had ever done that. Jesus does. He's greater than the angels. And so, therefore, do not abandon

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Jesus by turning your back on him. You offend God himself, the creator, because that's who

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Jesus is. Without him, you will never fulfill your purpose as a human being.

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You will never know the fullness of what it means to be human without him. And without him, you will never see glory, but you'll remain the pawns of the prince of darkness.

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So don't abandon him. He's all these things. Then he goes on in chapter three, verse one, if you're taking notes, chapter three, verse one through chapter four, verse 13,

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Jesus is superior to Moses. Now, remember who Moses is. Moses is the George Washington of the

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Jewish people. It's through him that God constituted the nation of Israel. Through him, he gave them the laws that bound them and that demarked them apart from the rest of the nations.

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And through them, through Moses, he consolidated them and brought them in to become a nation of God's people.

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But he says Jesus is superior to Moses because he is the builder of God's house.

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That is, he is the builder of God's people. God's house is God's people. And Jesus is the builder of God's house.

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Well, Moses was a servant in that house. Jesus is the builder, greater glory than the servant who serves in that house.

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Moses is a faithful servant to God's people, while Jesus is the ruler of God's people.

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And thus, he's superior to Moses in everywhere. So don't abandon Jesus. He's your only hope, because by belonging to him, you become

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God's house and you must hold fast your confidence in Jesus. Next, he says

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Jesus is superior to all the Old Testament priests. Chapter 4, verse 14 through chapter 7, verse 28.

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Big chunk there. But in it, he tells us Jesus is superior to the

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Old Testament priests. By the way, let me just stop for a moment and give you a suggestion. Jot these notes down, jot these sections down, and then this week, go and read the whole book of Hebrews.

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You can read the whole book within an hour at most. So take these divisions and read the book with them in mind and see it again come alive for you.

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But Jesus is superior to the Old Testament priests, chapter 4, verse 14 through chapter 7, verse 28.

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Now, again, you're going to have to take my word for it when I say all these things are in the text, or better yet, go back and read it.

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But let me just pick out one section here from chapter 7, beginning in verse 23.

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This is kind of a summation. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

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But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

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Consequently, he's able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

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For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

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He has no need like those priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

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For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

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Now, again, this section begins, this section of Jesus being a better priest than the sons of Aaron, begins with, we have a sympathetic high priest who cannot help but sympathize with us in our weakness because he experienced everything we did yet without sin.

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Therefore, hold fast the confession of your faith. And so Jesus far exceeds the high priest of Aaron's family because he is a sympathetic, divine high priest who gives you strength so that you can, so that you can hold fast your confession of faith.

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He is that kind of priest who sympathizes. He says, I know how hard it is to hold fast the confession of your faith.

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I lived it. Come to me and find grace and mercy to help you to hold fast.

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No other priest could do that. Like other priests, he's appointed by God, but unlike them, he is a priest who suffered and brought to us, became the source of eternal life.

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No other priest could do that. He can, he did. And then the, the one main thing that he says that, that, that one strange thing that he, he mentions in chapter five, verse 10 or nine, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

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You remember that whole thing, right? Melchizedek. He surpasses the priest from the tribe of Levi because he belongs to a different order of priesthood.

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He belongs to the superior priesthood of Melchizedek. You remember what that means?

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It means that Jesus is not just a priest. Jesus is a king priest. For Melchizedek was both king and priest.

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And notice as well, his name, this comes from the Hebrew, Hebrew, Melchizedek, which means king of righteousness.

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So he is the king of righteousness. And not only that, but Melchizedek was the king of Salem or in the

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Hebrew, king of Shalom. He is the king of peace. This is all what

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Jesus is. And it means that he has changed the law of the priesthood so that this priest,

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Jesus, brings you to perfection. The Old Testament law could never bring you to perfection.

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But the priest after the order of Melchizedek changes the law and he brings you to perfection.

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It means that he is the forever priest in the order of Melchizedek.

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Melchizedek, there's no record of his beginning. There's no record of his end. And therefore,

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Jesus is this forever priest, resurrected, exalted and enthroned in heaven, never to die.

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The one who is our priest forever, unlike any other priest. And finally, unlike those

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Old Testament high priests, he offers a sufficient sacrifice. One sacrifice, not repeated ones.

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One sacrifice offered once for all, for all of your sins.

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And so he's superior. And therefore, don't abandon Jesus. Don't give up.

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Don't give in. Who can make you right with God? Nothing else will.

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Who can turn away the wrath of God? You can't do that on your own.

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Who can quiet your accusing conscience? No amount of therapy will ever accomplish that.

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Who can transform you into a new person? Nothing else can. So you can't abandon

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Jesus. He accomplishes all these things. And then our

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Hebrew pastor tells us that Jesus is superior to all the ministries of the Old Covenant. The sacrifices, the sanctuary, all that's involved in Old Covenant worship.

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He's superior to all of those things. Chapter 8, verse 1 through chapter 10, verse 31.

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Please look at chapter 9. Let's take a snippet out.

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Chapter 9, verse 23. Thus, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified.

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Copies of the heavenly things. He's referring to the tabernacle and the temple right here. Thus, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites.

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But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands.

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Which are copies of the true things. But into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

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Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood.

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Not his own. For then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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And just as it is appointed for man to die once. And after that comes judgment. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many.

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Will appear a second time not to deal with sin. But to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

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And then over to chapter 10. Beginning in verse 11. And every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifice.

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Which can never take away sins. But when Christ has offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.

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He sat down at the right hand of God. Waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for a seat.

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For by a single offering he is perfected for all time. Those who are being sanctified.

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So Jesus has appeared all the ministries of the old covenant. Jesus work accomplishes far more than what the old covenant could ever achieve.

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That old system of worship and sacrifices only dealt with external cleansing.

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Jesus work actually purifies the conscience. The old covenant only offered, only had an earthly sanctuary.

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An earthly place of worship where temporary sacrifices were offered. Jesus opened the way into the true heavenly sanctuary.

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The very presence of God. And he offered himself in a permanent sacrifice that actually takes away sin.

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Which the old could never do. The old covenant was inaugurated with the blood of animals.

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The new covenant was inaugurated by his blood. And gained for us the scripture say an eternal inheritance.

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And so don't abandon Jesus. Without him your conscience has every right to accuse you of your sin.

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For nothing but Jesus can purify it. Without Jesus your sin remains.

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For only Jesus can put away your sin by a once for all sacrifice. Abandon Jesus and you have no hope of eternal inheritance.

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I don't know about you. But man, isn't this good news?

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Isn't this good news? I like that we're flying over Hebrews here. Man, we're getting it major big time.

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Boom. Give me Jesus. So if you're going to remain faithful to Jesus, you have to be convinced of his superiority.

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Now, the second thing I mentioned is this. If you would remain faithful to Jesus, you must heed the warnings.

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Now, sprinkled throughout this book are warnings. They pop up every once in a while.

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In fact, there are six of them in this book where the writer warns you of the cost of giving in and giving up on Jesus.

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We're going to just consider some of those warnings. Chapter two, verses one through four.

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Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

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For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

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It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the

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Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Here's the first warning. Do not drift into judgment and wrath.

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Jesus has accomplished a great salvation. And if the message that preceded that gospel, the message of the old covenant by angels delivered by angels, if that brought curses and judgment, how much greater are the curses and judgments that come with the superior message of the gospel?

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You turn your back on the gospel and there is no hope. So therefore, pay close attention, be diligent against any sin of unbelief that can creep in so that you do not drift into judgment.

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Pay attention to the great salvation that you have. Don't let any unbelief creep in.

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Chapter three, verses 12 through 14. I read that earlier. Let's look at it again.

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Chapter three, verses 12 through 14. Actually, 12 through 15.

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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. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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For we have come to share in Christ. If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, as it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

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Here's the warning. Watch your heart. Don't harden it. Watch your heart. It will harden.

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Be diligent and you have to be diligent, be diligent in dealing with sin.

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Don't let unbelief and sin even begin to take root. If you're not diligent, your heart can harden and lead you to fall away from the living

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God. Listen, my friends, I can look at this congregation. I've been here for nearly 40 years.

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I look at this congregation and I can see spaces that were occupied by people who once were part of this body, who, for one reason or another, gave up on their faith and obedience to Jesus.

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This is not something to me that is just hypothetical. And we can get into discussions about all of these things.

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This is not hypothetical for me. I can put names. I can put names on what he says in verse 12.

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You be diligent. You be diligent so your heart is not hardened. How is it hardened?

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It's hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin comes along and says, oh, I've got a better idea of what the good life is.

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Yeah, you've heard what Jesus says, but go my way, sin says, and I'll give you a better way.

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And that sin deceives you because it's not a better way. And that deception hardens your heart.

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And so he says, he says this to us, make sure that you exhort one another, exhort one another, because we're blind.

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We have blind spots to our sin. Others can see your sin that you don't, right?

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Listen, I'll never forget what Paul Tripp says, self -awareness is a community project. Don't think that you're aware of yourself and that you don't need anybody else.

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I know I've told you this, but I've got to say it again, because I look at that verse and I think about my relationship to my dear wife,

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Becca. My dear wife, Becca, would sometimes, I know you can't imagine this, but she would exhort me about something

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I might be doing wrong or something. And you know what my attitude was? Here's my attitude.

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I can't believe she's been the wife of a pastor this long and still does not understand the difficulties of this ministry.

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And I was the principled man who stood against the winds of opposition until I learned self -awareness is a community project.

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And she's seeing things that I don't, right? Bishop J .C. Ryle once said, your sins are pinned on your back.

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You don't see them, but everybody else does. And so we exhort one another so that sin's deceitfulness will not harden our hearts.

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And then he says, persevere, right? Persevere, you will, as he says in verse 14, if indeed, for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

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Don't harden your heart, he says. Chapter four, he says, look, this whole nation, the nation of Israel, and when they stood on the

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Jordan, who refused to believe the promise of God that he would give them the land, and they hardened their hearts, he says, don't be like them and miss the rest because of hard hearts.

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Here's another warning, chapter six, verses four through eight, probably the most difficult one in all of the book.

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Chapter six, verses four through eight, don't make repentance impossible.

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Don't make repentance impossible. Oh, yeah, there can come a point where it's impossible to repent.

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Be careful, he says. Chapter four, chapter six, verses four through eight. Boy, there we go.

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Wow, some of you have seen me grow old in this pulpit, now all of you are seeing it.

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Verse four, for it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the

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Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance.

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He's saying, once these things have happened and they fall away, they cannot be restored to repentance since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

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For the land that was drunk, the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

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But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

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There are many who, being part of the church, look like true believers, they've tasted the good things of the kingdom, they've tasted it, but they walk away from Jesus, and thus they become so hardened, it becomes impossible for them to repent and to turn back.

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Now think Judas here. Judas was a disciple, he saw all those great things, he tasted of those things, but he walked away.

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Right, he walked away. And he says, if that's the case with you, you're guilty of crucifying

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Jesus again. If you decide Jesus isn't worth the suffering that following him brings, you're in the same boat as the people who crucified him, and you hold

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Jesus in contempt. If Jesus is not worth the suffering that comes when you follow him, you're like ones who spit on him, mocked him, and nailed him to a cross in shame.

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And then one more, let's just look at one more, Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 32.

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But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

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For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

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Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised for yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.

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But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

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But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

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Do not throw away your confidence. Persevering faith brings the reward of promised eternal life.

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To abandon your confidence in Jesus brings destruction. Now, and again, we talked about this as we went through these warnings, but let's talk about it now.

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Does this mean you can lose your salvation? Well, I don't know. Let's think of what

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Jesus says in John 10, 27 through 30. He says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the

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Father's hand. I and the Father are one. So no, you can't lose your salvation. But how does

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God keep us then? He says he's going to keep us. How does he do it? He uses warnings, which keeps us believing.

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You know what? You know, we lived out in the country. We tell our kids, do not run out into the road because you can get hurt or you can die.

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What effect did that warning have on them? What do you think? They didn't run out in the road.

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And so the warnings here are addressed to you to say, don't fall away.

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And that warning, if you're one of God's children, keeps you from doing that.

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All right. And what if our kids started running for the road? What would we do? I could tell you stories of kids getting tackled by brothers and others.

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We were too slow. But they understood the warning, right? They weren't allowed into that street.

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The warnings help us to remain fit. That's one of the means that God uses. So if you remain faithful to Jesus, then heed his warnings.

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Heed his warnings. But you know what? Let's be honest. Warnings aren't going to take you so far.

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There has to be more. Warnings may keep you from jumping the ship, but what's going to keep you on the ship during a storm?

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What'll do that? What you need to see is that perseverance is fueled by faith in the promises of God.

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Now, of all the things, and by the way, you may not know this, but as those of us who preach the word, study the word, all the elders know here what it is, and some of you have also experienced preaching, studying the word of God actually teaches you something.

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Can you believe that? Even those who minister the word of God learn. And this is one of the biggest things that I learned from the study of this book.

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This is to me one of the most wonderful things I've learned from the Bible, and that is this.

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Perseverance is fueled by faith in the promises of God.

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Perseverance, let me say it again. Perseverance is fueled by faith in the promises of God.

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And so if you would remain faithful to Jesus, you must believe God's promises, all right?

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Perseverance, that is not giving in and not giving up, is not a matter of gritting your teeth as you work up the willpower to say faithful to Jesus.

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You will remain faithful if you believe God's promises.

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Chapter 10, you should be in the neighborhood there. Chapter 10, verse 34, he says,

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For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

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He says, you could give up your property because you knew you had a better one coming. You had better possessions coming, right?

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And then verse 39, But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

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Faith, you remain faithful as you truly believe God's promises. You remain faithful if you have faith.

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Listen, so many years I would say, man, you gotta remain faithful, and you do.

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And it's not easy, but it's not enough. I would just say, and the grace of God will give you the strength.

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The book of Hebrews says, you'll persevere if you know the promises of God, and if those promises are as real to you as the present suffering.

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You gotta have faith. What is faith? Chapter 11, that's what it's all about.

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I love it. I love the way he brings all of this about the superiority of Jesus, and then gives us these warnings.

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And then we come to the end of chapter 10 and chapter 11, where he says,

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Faith, let's look at it. Let's look at our fathers in the faith who suffered, but who made it through, who persevered.

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Why? Because they believed the promises of God, verses one and two. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it people of old received their commendation.

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By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen is not made out of things that are visible.

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What is faith? It's merely taking God at his word. He says,

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I'm gonna do this. And you say, boy, I don't see how that's possible. But you know what?

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I am assured of the things I hope for, and I'm convinced of the things not seen. God has said it.

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I don't see it, but I know he's gonna remain faithful to that promise. And so our fathers in the faith were able to face suffering because they believed

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God's promises. The promises of something better yet to come.

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Something better that is just as real as the present reality. Let me ask you, do you believe that the things that God has promised in the future, a life of eternal bliss with everyone loving one another, with no more death, no more mourning, no more sickness, do you believe that?

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If you truly believe that when the cost is coming down on your head, you're gonna say, this is hard and I may die.

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But I know there's something better for me. God has promised me something better, and I have it in Jesus.

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It's real to me, I can taste it. That's faith. And that's what will fuel your perseverance.

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He goes on, Jesus successfully persevered in suffering because he believed in God's promise.

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What is it? Chapter 12, verses one through three. Do you notice it? What does it say? Jesus endured the cross scorning its shame because why?

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Because of the joy set before him on the other side of that cross, on the other side of all the shame was the glory of sitting on the throne of heaven.

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Jesus believed that, and so he made it through the suffering.

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He goes on, you can persevere when you believe that all your suffering is a sign of God's love.

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The confiscation of your property is a message from God that says,

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I love you. Chapter 12, beginning in verse five, right?

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All the suffering that comes our way is disciplined from God so that we know the joy of holiness and the peace of righteousness.

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He says, I'm gonna give you joy and peace through the hard times, you see.

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I'm not hating you, I'm loving you right now. There's something good at the end of this process. So what is

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Hebrews about? Three words, give me

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Jesus. That's what it's about. There's nowhere else to go.

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There's no other hope. There's no confidence, no joy without Jesus.

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That's what it's about. It's not truth merely about Jesus.

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It's truth that says, where else will you go but to Jesus? It's a truth that says, he is your only hope.

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This book says, you cannot give in, you must not give up.

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God of heaven, I thank you for the simplicity of that song.

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Give me Jesus. Lord God, help us to see that this book says to us loud and clear, give me

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Jesus. And that it says to us, don't go anywhere else, nothing will satisfy.

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No one can tell you anything better. Oh God, help us to live in the truth of what this book teaches us.

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Thank you for revealing to us the glories of Jesus Christ.

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Now help us, Father, to remain faithful to him. Help us to believe the promises you've given us in him.