back to index2019-3-24 Do Not Neglect Your Salvation
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In Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, our main focus is going to be the second part, 00:00:10.000 |
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift 00:00:15.440 |
For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience 00:00:20.640 |
received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? 00:00:26.200 |
For it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 00:00:30.840 |
God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by various miracles, and 00:00:34.840 |
by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will. 00:00:37.880 |
Let me just jump right into the message this morning. 00:00:43.520 |
You know in every person's life we can divide our lives into four different compartments. 00:00:51.440 |
If you've done marriage counseling with me at any point, I think not 100% but a lot of 00:00:56.000 |
you, I kind of went through this about time management, and there's four different compartments 00:01:06.360 |
These are things like finals, your jobs, deadlines, bills. 00:01:12.240 |
These are things that if you don't take care of, there's immediate consequences. 00:01:16.280 |
So our tendency is if you're not good at taking care of the important and urgent things, it's 00:01:22.760 |
You're going to lose your job, you're going to fail your class, you're not going to be 00:01:28.240 |
So our tendency is because it's urgent and because it's important, this is where we give 00:01:34.320 |
So if you're poor at doing this part, if you're not responsible in the urgent and important 00:01:38.840 |
things, I'm pretty sure that you feel like your life is out of chaos, like it's completely 00:01:44.680 |
So you naturally tend to pay a lot of attention to this area. 00:01:48.440 |
The second part of our life is urgent but not important. 00:02:00.000 |
It's urgent because you volunteered, you're part of the team. 00:02:06.920 |
But it's not important in the scheme of life. 00:02:10.120 |
Because you didn't win this football tournament, you're going to regret it when you're 60 years 00:02:17.400 |
So it's urgent because we made it important, because we volunteered. 00:02:21.860 |
So it could be football, vacation plans, anything that you decided to do and you volunteered 00:02:27.080 |
to do, so as a result, you need to be responsible. 00:02:32.520 |
And then the third category are not important and not urgent. 00:02:44.040 |
Whatever it is, you're not responsible, you just enjoy doing it. 00:02:46.860 |
So after a long day of work, you just kind of come home and unwind. 00:02:50.800 |
So maybe you watch a lot of sports, maybe you watch a lot of YouTube videos, whatever 00:02:54.740 |
it may be, it's not important, it's not urgent. 00:02:58.040 |
Again, like I said, if you do too much of this, it will encroach upon other areas of 00:03:04.120 |
So our natural tendency in these three categories, we pay attention to the first, but if you 00:03:08.560 |
pay too much attention to the second and third, you begin to have issues in your life. 00:03:14.760 |
But the area that we would consider the most important fall into the fourth category. 00:03:25.120 |
What would fall into this category is typically God, church, family, health. 00:03:30.280 |
These are things that if you ask an average person, in particular a Christian, name the 00:03:35.680 |
things that are the most important in your life. 00:03:39.180 |
If you're a Christian, your first answer automatically is God. 00:03:42.760 |
My relationship with God is the most important thing in my life. 00:03:45.700 |
And then you would say maybe church or family, and then maybe health, maybe my friends, whatever 00:03:51.760 |
But almost everybody, every Christian will say God. 00:03:58.160 |
In fact, it's not just important, it's the most important thing. 00:04:02.520 |
Yet it is not urgent, because there is no deadline. 00:04:06.360 |
There's nothing that requires you to do it by a certain time. 00:04:08.840 |
So what ends up happening is, if we fill our calendar with all these other things, important 00:04:14.360 |
but not urgent, or not urgent and not important, that you start to run out of time to do what 00:04:23.920 |
This is the area of our life, by the time you retire and look back in your 20s and 30s 00:04:28.280 |
and 40s, this is the area of your life when you look back and say, "I should have spent 00:04:33.840 |
I should have taken care of my health better. 00:04:40.920 |
These are the things where you wish you had your 20s and 30s and 40s back to do over, 00:04:50.840 |
Strange thing is, the things that we say are the most important in our life is the area 00:05:01.480 |
Jim Elliot, if you remember, Jim Elliot was a man who died in the mission field trying 00:05:08.200 |
to share the gospel with a remote Indian tribe in Ecuador. 00:05:15.120 |
Many of you know who he is, and his famous quote in his journal, he says, "He is no fool 00:05:19.480 |
who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." 00:05:24.200 |
I know many of you have probably heard that phrase before, that quote before, but it fits 00:05:30.360 |
in right in with what the author of Hebrews has been saying. 00:05:35.120 |
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep. 00:05:39.080 |
These temporary things, these urgent but not important things, not important, not urgent 00:05:44.520 |
things, who gives up these things in order for him to pursue what is important, but what 00:05:55.200 |
This is not as famous, but in that same journal, just a few months before he actually goes 00:06:01.560 |
to Ecuador and dies, he writes in his journal, "I seek not a long life, but a full one like 00:06:09.920 |
And he wrote this in one of his devotionals, and again, it's not a well-quoted one, but 00:06:18.760 |
He was a man who fully understood what was most important in his life, and he was willing 00:06:24.080 |
to give his life to share this gospel, whether he lives a long life or a short life. 00:06:30.000 |
That's exactly what Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, 19. 00:06:34.500 |
He looks at his life, he says, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself 00:06:42.640 |
Apostle Paul says that because of what Christ has done, he's the one who argues in Colossians, 00:06:48.920 |
He's the one who argues, not to be caught up in saying, "I'm going to do this or not 00:06:53.680 |
do this," because in and of itself has no power. 00:06:57.880 |
Our salvation is not based upon our works, but the grace of God. 00:07:06.740 |
And yet he says, "Though I am free, I make myself a slave that I may, by all means, save 00:07:15.160 |
He knew what was important in his life, and he knows it wasn't much of a choice for him 00:07:20.200 |
to give up what he could not keep in order for him to share the gospel and bring people 00:07:26.040 |
Again, in 1 Corinthians 9, 22, "To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. 00:07:30.760 |
I have become all things to all men so that I may, by all means, save some." 00:07:37.200 |
If we're not careful, we can get into this constant argument of what is and isn't allowed 00:07:46.360 |
And in the context of arguing that, our motivation at times is, "Well, God set me free, so don't 00:07:53.280 |
See, that argument in and of itself is based upon a wrong desire. 00:08:00.960 |
He's saying in Hebrews, "Considering what we profess, considering the songs that we 00:08:06.880 |
sing, considering the gospel that we know that has come to us, how will we escape if 00:08:12.120 |
our response to that is simply, 'I believe,' and that's it?" 00:08:16.840 |
See, these areas, other areas of our life that we tend to drift and neglect, that's 00:08:25.040 |
That we don't live the rest of our lives and look back and say, "You know what? 00:08:28.440 |
I wish I watched more movies when I was younger. 00:08:33.080 |
You know, I wish that I spent more time doing this or that." 00:08:39.120 |
But to live consistently with the things that we profess, that we do not simply drift, we 00:08:45.200 |
He says, "How will we escape this if we do this?" 00:08:47.480 |
Well, it's understandable if non-Christians do that. 00:08:50.520 |
In 1 Corinthians 1:18, it says, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are 00:08:54.480 |
perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." 00:08:59.320 |
So to those who are perishing, who have not seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:09:14.560 |
How can you possibly believe that a human being died and came back to life? 00:09:20.040 |
So if you're a non-believer and you believe that the cross is foolishness, then it's understandable 00:09:28.080 |
It's understandable that they don't pay attention, that they just move away from it. 00:09:35.600 |
They might come to events if a good Christian friend invites them to come. 00:09:41.780 |
But he says, "But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God." 00:09:48.680 |
So it doesn't make sense for someone professing the gospel to be true and to simply neglect 00:09:56.440 |
it and respond no different than an unbeliever. 00:10:05.400 |
And the only difference is you profess to believe it versus somebody who profess to 00:10:10.880 |
See, people who neglect and drift away from their faith, they don't drift away from their 00:10:17.980 |
They don't drift away by saying, "You know what? 00:10:23.360 |
They don't drift away from God clinging on to heresy. 00:10:31.400 |
They'll say it's important, but it's just not important enough. 00:10:37.120 |
They'll say it's most important, but by the way that we live, it's just not that important. 00:10:43.640 |
There are a lot of other things that are urgent, but this is just not urgent. 00:10:47.080 |
It just goes into one of those categories, important but not urgent. 00:10:50.640 |
See, 1 Thessalonians 5.3, it describes how people are condemned. 00:10:58.400 |
While they are saying, "Peace and safety," then destruction will come upon them, sudden 00:11:02.880 |
like labor pains upon a woman with a child, and they will not escape. 00:11:09.120 |
People who are going to hell did not decide to go to hell. 00:11:16.360 |
It says that when they were saying, "Peace and safety," they are drifting. 00:11:21.480 |
Which is the greatest tragedy of human history? 00:11:25.040 |
That most people will find themselves under God's judgment because of sin. 00:11:39.800 |
But outside of just professing, there was no evidence of genuine faith, and it wasn't 00:11:45.920 |
They were satisfied that they participated in the church, and that was it. 00:11:51.220 |
And so for the rest of their life, all they did was drift. 00:11:55.320 |
While they are saying, "Peace and safety," while they are pursuing what everybody else 00:12:00.360 |
pursues, while they are pursuing what everybody else desires, while they rejoice over everything 00:12:06.600 |
else that everybody else rejoices over, while they are pursuing peace and safety, He said 00:12:12.360 |
they will neglect their salvation, and they will not escape. 00:12:16.720 |
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 1, it says, "Therefore let us fear, while a promise remains of entering 00:12:23.060 |
His rest, and any one of you may seem to have come short of it." 00:12:27.200 |
You know, I found that especially in our generation, the word "fear" is feared. 00:12:35.220 |
Every time the word "fear" is mentioned, there is always a knee-jerk reaction. 00:12:39.100 |
Doesn't the Bible say that love casts out fear? 00:12:48.660 |
Paul says to live out our salvation with fear and trembling. 00:12:52.220 |
The chief end of man is to obey God and fear Him over and over again. 00:12:59.580 |
There is a healthy fear that keeps us away from danger. 00:13:04.660 |
If you get in a boat and you know the storm is coming, and you are afraid that if you 00:13:08.020 |
get on this boat that you might drown, that's a good fear. 00:13:13.140 |
If you go up to the skyscraper and there is no railing, and the platform is slippery, 00:13:19.800 |
and that causes you to stay away from that platform, that's a good fear. 00:13:25.820 |
If you live without any fear, you are not going to survive for long. 00:13:31.060 |
The fear that the Word of God teaches us and warns us, it is for the purpose of keeping 00:13:39.360 |
And yet in our generation, especially where you and I live, the idea of disturbing peace 00:13:48.560 |
Any kind of sermon or message or community or small group that challenges the status 00:14:08.480 |
He's talking to Christians who are drifting to their old way of life. 00:14:13.080 |
How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 00:14:19.320 |
A lot of times, the neglecting happens because we allow doubts in our head. 00:14:26.560 |
It's been so long that you've had answered prayers in your life, that in the back of 00:14:30.800 |
your head you're asking, "Is God really real?" 00:14:34.720 |
You've been studying the Word of God, and you're at a church where the Word of God is 00:14:38.880 |
exposited and is taught and memorized, but there's this nagging fear in your mind or 00:14:50.120 |
I know you believe it, and I know a lot of other people believe it, but I'm not sure 00:14:56.040 |
And as a result of that, it doesn't have the kind of authority in your life. 00:15:01.840 |
We allow certain doubts in our head because those doubts allow a certain type of lifestyle. 00:15:09.840 |
In fact, one of the most honest confessions that I've heard from a sister years ago was 00:15:15.440 |
she said, "You know, I didn't know the suffering that many people were going through." 00:15:21.760 |
The honest confession was, "I didn't know because I didn't want to know." 00:15:26.840 |
I didn't know because I didn't want to know, because I knew the moment that I dug and I 00:15:30.480 |
found out how many people were suffering that it would make me feel guilty about what I 00:15:35.040 |
So she turned it off, or she moved on, or she would make a tiny donation, just enough 00:15:40.280 |
to calm her conscience, but never did she pursue this. 00:15:43.920 |
And again, to me, it was one of the most honest confessions. 00:15:47.640 |
She said, "I was callous because that's the way I wanted to be." 00:15:52.280 |
See, he says here, how can we escape such a great salvation? 00:15:56.400 |
After it was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who had heard, 00:16:00.320 |
and God also testified through signs and wonders and various miracles. 00:16:04.000 |
In other words, this gospel that you heard, it was so important that he says three things 00:16:10.680 |
First thing that he said was that he sent his son himself to speak. 00:16:16.920 |
How often do we think to ourselves, "Only if God would speak to me audibly." 00:16:23.360 |
If you went home today and God said, "Stop," or "Go," or whatever it is that you're asking 00:16:30.800 |
for, if God audibly spoke to you, how would that change your response? 00:16:36.440 |
I would assume that we would be a lot more obedient. 00:16:39.940 |
We would take the Word of God a lot more seriously. 00:16:43.180 |
We would be a bit more careful about what we do and don't do. 00:16:48.000 |
But the reason why we don't respond that way, because we don't give the Word of God that 00:16:54.400 |
The Bible says the words that are contained here was the audible voice of God. 00:17:00.000 |
That in the past, God spoke through prophets in many ways, in many avenues, but in the 00:17:07.080 |
new covenant, he spoke directly through his son. 00:17:09.560 |
Hebrew chapter 1, 2, "In the last days he has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed 00:17:15.200 |
heir of all things, through whom also he made the world." 00:17:18.900 |
Not only did God speak to us audibly through his son directly so that there is no confusion, 00:17:39.660 |
He was tempted in every way, yet without sin. 00:17:42.620 |
Not only did he speak to us audibly, he came and he took on our form. 00:17:53.180 |
In fact, the early hearers of Jesus Christ, says Matthew 7, 28-29, "When Jesus had finished 00:17:58.580 |
these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one 00:18:08.300 |
I don't think, it doesn't explain to us how they knew, but they heard something different 00:18:14.700 |
That they weren't, he wasn't just regurgitating what he heard. 00:18:18.480 |
He wasn't just a messenger who came to give a message that somebody else told him. 00:18:35.620 |
If we neglect the son of God who came here and spoke to us directly. 00:18:41.040 |
In Mark chapter 12, 1-11, Jesus gives this parable about this vineyard owner who planted 00:18:45.680 |
a vineyard and he began to send his servants to go and speak to them. 00:18:50.700 |
Every one of them, they beat and they killed. 00:18:53.980 |
So he thought, "They will not do that to my son. 00:18:57.220 |
They know the consequence if they do that to my son." 00:19:00.060 |
Because all the other servants, they didn't take seriously. 00:19:02.100 |
They didn't come with the same kind of authority. 00:19:09.380 |
They come, not only do they beat him and reject him, they end up killing him. 00:19:13.540 |
In verse 8, "They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 00:19:20.340 |
He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. 00:19:26.500 |
The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone. 00:19:30.340 |
This came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes." 00:19:34.700 |
He said that the message of the cross wasn't simply distributed. 00:19:46.020 |
Obviously, he came to be crucified and take away our sins. 00:19:48.940 |
But everything that he said, he said directly from his mouth. 00:19:52.860 |
We can understand if there was misunderstanding. 00:19:55.740 |
We may be able to understand and excuse it if it was vague. 00:19:58.780 |
In other words, he's saying, "How can you escape when Jesus himself spoke out of his 00:20:07.980 |
Not only did he speak directly, number two, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. 00:20:15.500 |
In 1 Corinthians 15, 3-8, Paul says, "For I delivered to you as of first importance 00:20:22.700 |
In other words, before we go on any further than that, Paul says, "Of all the things 00:20:27.220 |
that I'm saying, this is the most important." 00:20:33.380 |
No matter what is going on in your life, there's nothing more important than what Paul is saying 00:20:41.180 |
It's not that I don't care, but I don't care, right? 00:20:46.540 |
No matter what it is that we're going through, it is not important than this. 00:20:52.940 |
Whatever job problems you have, whatever marriage issues you have, whatever problems you have 00:20:56.380 |
with your children, whatever business issues that you have, of first importance, because 00:21:05.420 |
When we get to heaven, there's no more crying, there's no more dying, there's no more sorrow. 00:21:09.960 |
So whatever problem that we have, as difficult as it may be, it is temporary. 00:21:15.580 |
And there is nothing more important than what Paul says here, "For I delivered to you as 00:21:23.620 |
That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and 00:21:28.460 |
that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to 00:21:34.940 |
If He stopped there, He said He appeared to the disciples, He appeared to a few of the 00:21:39.780 |
disciples, and now they are propagating this message of Jesus said He was going to be crucified, 00:21:44.820 |
He was going to be resurrected, and the disciples are validating that. 00:21:48.100 |
Now if He stopped there, that would have been enough. 00:21:51.020 |
He goes further and says, "And after He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one 00:22:02.180 |
I mean, two thousand years removed, we look at this statement, we just kind of read it 00:22:08.620 |
Imagine this being said at the time that these people were living. 00:22:15.040 |
If it wasn't true, Apostle Paul is a very, very foolish man, because all they had to 00:22:23.980 |
And if they can't find him, it would completely invalidate what he said. 00:22:26.980 |
He said five hundred are eyewitnesses, and the majority of them are still living, but 00:22:35.500 |
Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely 00:22:43.060 |
Now the reason why this is so important is because in every other religion, you have 00:22:51.500 |
If you ever studied Buddhism, you know that there's one man named Gautama. 00:22:55.260 |
He was the guy who said he found enlightenment. 00:22:57.200 |
He didn't talk about all the details, he just said he found enlightenment. 00:23:01.260 |
Or he kind of referred to it, and then his disciples went around and propagated this 00:23:06.420 |
And what's interesting about Buddhism is that Buddhism looks very different from country 00:23:12.500 |
It just kind of took a life of its own, and they just kind of started to have basic teaching, 00:23:17.860 |
but it was all based upon supposedly this one man. 00:23:20.260 |
So whether you believe him or don't believe him, everything falls. 00:23:23.900 |
Joseph Smith found the tablet, and so whether you believe him or don't believe him, everything 00:23:28.820 |
falls and rises based upon if you believe him or not. 00:23:32.660 |
Muhammad, one guy, had a vision, and all of a sudden, he has this new prophecy, and he 00:23:38.900 |
turns the world upside down, and all of it is based upon this one man and what he says. 00:23:43.580 |
Just in case, just in case somebody would come and say, "Well, Jesus is a crazy guy. 00:23:49.500 |
I know he had a large following, and I know his disciples loved him, but he's just one 00:23:56.280 |
And he made sure, because it's easy to nullify one guy and say, "Well, the whole thing is 00:24:03.940 |
He made sure that he left a witness with his disciples, and then again for 500 other people. 00:24:08.460 |
And what's the craziest thing about this is that even secular scholars today, even those 00:24:14.220 |
who reject the resurrection, nobody refutes the fact that the early church believed it 00:24:24.620 |
Because all of a sudden, the Jews and the Gentiles, the Romans and the Jewish community, 00:24:29.860 |
all of a sudden were calling each other brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:24:32.860 |
You had Matthew, the tax collector, that they hated, became one of the first apostles. 00:24:38.100 |
I mean, humanly speaking, anywhere he went, the Jews would have thrown rocks at this guy. 00:24:42.940 |
But he becomes one of the first apostles that God uses to establish the early church. 00:24:48.260 |
Crazy things were happening in the early church. 00:24:50.580 |
Some people say, "Oh, it's because they were poor, and Jesus fed the poor." 00:24:55.980 |
There are very, very wealthy people, all mixed group of people. 00:25:03.140 |
Nobody refutes that the early church believed it. 00:25:06.700 |
But if they're going to acknowledge that, they have to explain then what happened. 00:25:11.820 |
So you have some theories that Jesus had a twin brother and he faked people out, or he 00:25:15.860 |
was a mass hypnotist, or he didn't really die. 00:25:19.380 |
He just kind of had a light heart attack, and then he just came back to life because 00:25:27.660 |
The reason why they refuse is because they love the darkness rather than the light. 00:25:31.820 |
So if they're going to embrace the darkness, they have to justify the darkness, even though 00:25:44.940 |
What Jesus came to do is of first importance. 00:26:00.340 |
We don't have to imagine God to be some cloud. 00:26:03.580 |
We don't need to draw him that way because he came to us, and he left witnesses with 00:26:11.380 |
In Luke chapter 1, 1 through 4, Luke is writing a detailed account of what happened in the 00:26:18.260 |
early church to a man named Theophilus, possibly a Roman official. 00:26:23.740 |
And this is what he says, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the 00:26:27.980 |
things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the 00:26:32.440 |
beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word." 00:26:36.340 |
Luke being a physician took his discipline, and he went around, and he started to jot 00:26:43.020 |
down, just like a historian would, to jot down the history of Christianity. 00:26:48.380 |
It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to 00:26:52.300 |
write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may 00:26:56.800 |
know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. 00:27:00.260 |
Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts. 00:27:04.380 |
And those two letters were written specifically to give account, historical account. 00:27:10.420 |
So he went and began to interview those people who saw Christ, the early apostles, and what 00:27:19.660 |
And obviously Matthew, Mark, and John is also an account. 00:27:35.580 |
Because, just like that sister I told you made an honest confession, "I am ignorant 00:27:43.260 |
You and I lived during a period where we have access to the truth like no other generation 00:27:52.540 |
And I remember early years preparing for sermons, I mentioned to you, like back then I thought 00:27:57.060 |
it was, you know, like I actually moved to La Mirada just so that I can be closer to 00:28:03.140 |
Because I needed to be in the library to get to the reference books. 00:28:05.500 |
And some of you guys may remember the duodecimal system, right? 00:28:09.980 |
Anybody who, any response, I know how old you are, right? 00:28:16.660 |
So some of you guys know, they got rid of that now, right? 00:28:19.540 |
You have to go find a duodecimal system and find it, and you got to go where it is, and 00:28:23.900 |
If you happen to be a big library, you got to walk a while, get the books, bring it back 00:28:27.900 |
You know, I remember back then if I had a question about the Bible, I had to wait till 00:28:31.980 |
I made an appointment with my professor, and I would go in and ask him a question. 00:28:35.980 |
Sometimes it would take two weeks just to ask him a question. 00:28:39.260 |
I mean, today I do all my sermon prep right in front of my computer. 00:28:47.460 |
And sometimes you guys ask me questions, and then I say, "I'll get back to you," and I 00:28:52.020 |
I was like, "I wonder why you can't Google it." 00:28:55.220 |
But I Google it, and I send it right back to you like I did it myself, right? 00:29:00.860 |
We have access to the truth like no other generation. 00:29:07.380 |
And yet, there is more doubt and more drifting and more neglecting in our generation than 00:29:15.500 |
any other generation, simply because it's easy. 00:29:28.240 |
And then whenever we have even a slight bit of doubt, we allow that to linger and use 00:29:33.620 |
that as an excuse of why we don't pay attention. 00:29:37.540 |
There's a huge difference between questioning and asking questions. 00:29:40.600 |
And I would never discourage anybody from asking questions, because I'm a firm believer. 00:29:45.060 |
I believe what I believe and what I profess to be absolutely true, that any genuine pursuit 00:29:50.820 |
of truth, genuine pursuit of truth, will lead you to God. 00:29:57.500 |
If you are genuinely pursuing truth, but when you are questioning, there is no answer for 00:30:03.620 |
that, because when you are questioning, you already made up your mind. 00:30:07.060 |
And if you find an answer, you'll find another question. 00:30:10.140 |
And if you find an answer, you'll find another question. 00:30:11.860 |
I don't know how many times I counsel somebody who says, "You know what, I don't know if 00:30:17.900 |
And then they'll throw it out there, and I say, "Well, great. 00:30:19.780 |
There's some great material for you to read." 00:30:21.580 |
And I give it to them, and they never read it. 00:30:26.900 |
You just told me that you're about to walk away from your faith because you have this 00:30:30.100 |
doubt, and you won't even take ten minutes to read this material to find out if it's 00:30:37.060 |
That says a lot more about your questioning than your question, because you're looking 00:30:48.100 |
But if we pursue the truth, Scripture says God left His imprint in creation. 00:30:57.680 |
And then He left His imprint among His disciples in the early church, and He gave us His word. 00:31:04.700 |
And to not to examine that, not to carefully look into that, and simply say, "I doubt." 00:31:11.100 |
You're not doubting because you've examined, and you looked, and you asked, and your end 00:31:25.080 |
They refuse the truth because they prefer the darkness, and doubting justifies the darkness. 00:31:34.100 |
How can you escape if you neglect such a great salvation that was spoken directly from His 00:31:37.700 |
Son, that was given to His disciples in the early church and left a clear imprint? 00:31:44.540 |
That's why Paul says in Philippians chapter 1, 20 through 26, "For to me to live is Christ, 00:31:51.900 |
If I am to live on the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which 00:31:55.900 |
to choose, but I am hard-pressed from both directions. 00:31:59.500 |
Having a desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better, yet to remain 00:32:03.340 |
in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 00:32:06.620 |
Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress 00:32:11.340 |
In other words, Apostle Paul says, "If you're asking me, it's better for me to go." 00:32:17.780 |
We look at something like that where Apostle Paul says, "Man, this guy's extreme. 00:32:29.380 |
But clearly, this is not for average Christians. 00:32:36.660 |
Think about what it is that you and I profess to believe. 00:32:41.340 |
What Paul is saying here is a logical response. 00:32:46.260 |
I have a room filled with people who say that all of this is vanity. 00:32:54.620 |
Once we die, there's judgment, inasmuch as it is appointed for all man to die once. 00:33:00.940 |
We're not talking about getting a better job. 00:33:02.540 |
We're not talking about consequence of our children not making it to the school that 00:33:11.260 |
What Paul is saying here is that in light of this message, in light of what he has seen, 00:33:17.180 |
in light of what he believes, everything else truly is rubbish. 00:33:44.940 |
And the longer you live, the more you will see the effects of sin close up. 00:33:51.380 |
When you're younger, you think that maybe if I did this, maybe if I got a better job 00:33:55.780 |
and a better bank account, maybe if I did this, maybe if I met the right guy, maybe 00:34:01.300 |
And you're thinking this, but you know why people go through a midlife crisis? 00:34:06.500 |
Because they get to a certain point of age and they realize that everything that Bible 00:34:16.060 |
And everything that you thought was valuable, and you fall into despair. 00:34:23.020 |
Because all of a sudden, everything that you pursued, all of a sudden becomes a reality 00:34:35.980 |
But a wise person recognizes this truth and what we profess when we're young, just like 00:34:39.700 |
we were talking about, that you don't wake up after you have drifted and failed for a 00:34:47.500 |
You recognize the wisdom for what the Scripture says. 00:34:54.860 |
Third and finally, it says, "God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by 00:34:59.740 |
various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit." 00:35:03.860 |
Before we drift from the meaning of this, because one of these days I'm going to just 00:35:07.140 |
devote my time in understanding signs, wonders, and miracles. 00:35:10.580 |
But for today, I want to just make sure that we understand what he's saying here. 00:35:23.220 |
He says, "Signs, miracles, signs and wonders and miracles." 00:35:45.340 |
Well, that sign is not there as a decoration. 00:35:49.060 |
Sign is not there so it's like, "Wow, that square is perfect." 00:36:02.580 |
The reason why I say this is because a lot of times people look for signs and wonders 00:36:09.900 |
They look at signs and wonders to be touched. 00:36:13.680 |
But the purpose of signs and wonders is to point, is to direct. 00:36:18.700 |
And he says, "Through signs and wonders and miracles," what did it point to? 00:36:26.400 |
To Christ and to who He is and what He has done. 00:36:39.260 |
Because He was the Son of God and because of what He'd come to do. 00:36:43.580 |
The whole point of signs and wonders and miracles is to pay attention to what Christ was saying. 00:36:50.120 |
He was trying to get us to validate what He was saying. 00:36:53.700 |
And that's why the Scripture says about the Holy Spirit, John 15, 26, "When the Helper 00:36:58.820 |
comes whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from 00:37:08.020 |
The Holy Spirit didn't come so that we can have tingly feelings, so that when we sing 00:37:16.140 |
But the purpose of why the Holy Spirit was sent was so that it can point to Christ. 00:37:22.500 |
And that's why the signs and wonders and miracles were taking place. 00:37:25.260 |
And that's why it says John chapter 3, 1 and 2, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named 00:37:31.260 |
This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from 00:37:35.340 |
God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.'" 00:37:42.600 |
To validate what he was saying, to validate who he is. 00:37:45.220 |
Again in Acts 2, 22, Peter says, "Men of Israel, listen to these words, 'Jesus of Nazarene, 00:37:50.380 |
a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed 00:37:55.440 |
through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.'" 00:37:57.940 |
In other words, you may want to reject what he has said, you may want to reject what other 00:38:02.180 |
people said, but how can you deny what you saw? 00:38:10.180 |
And again in Matthew 9, 6, "So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on 00:38:15.260 |
earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, 'Get up, pick up your bed, and go home.'" 00:38:20.700 |
He didn't perform these miracles so that they could say, "Oh, you know, your life is hard, 00:38:34.640 |
But he says, "I perform these miracles so that you may know the real reason why I came, 00:38:41.780 |
The primary and of most importance for every Christian is not the miracles, but what it 00:38:53.420 |
I know so many people who profess to have all kinds of gifts, who've seen all kinds 00:39:00.620 |
of things, experienced all kinds of things with the Holy Spirit, who are no longer walking 00:39:07.160 |
And Jesus said, when Thomas saw the resurrected Christ, you know, he said, "Well, it's hard 00:39:13.200 |
for me to believe, even though he's standing right there. 00:39:18.520 |
He allows him to touch his scars, puts his finger in his scars, and then when he realized 00:39:22.940 |
that this was the resurrected Christ, he gets on his knees and he says, "My Lord and my 00:39:31.320 |
"You believe because you have seen, but blessed are those who believe and yet they have not 00:39:38.160 |
So in other words, you believe because I'm standing in front of you. 00:39:43.760 |
In other words, he's saying he left his imprint. 00:39:47.600 |
He left his imprint of who he is, his resurrection, who he is all around us. 00:39:52.760 |
If we pay attention very carefully, God is speaking. 00:40:00.240 |
And the reason why we don't listen, or the reason why we don't hear him, is not because 00:40:05.920 |
It's because we are cluttered in our life with noise. 00:40:10.480 |
And so because there's so much noise around us, we say, "God, where are you? 00:40:19.880 |
I know, boyfriend, girlfriend, and husband and wife, you know, one of the most frustrating 00:40:24.280 |
conversations is both of you are speaking, but nobody is listening. 00:40:30.640 |
And you just speak louder and louder, thinking that if you speak louder, the other person 00:40:33.520 |
will listen, but the other person listens even less. 00:40:38.280 |
I've never experienced that in my life, but I know you guys know what I'm talking about. 00:40:51.160 |
Not realizing that we have drowned out his voice with the things that we are engaged 00:41:00.000 |
Not only did the signs point to Christ, he gave that authority even to the apostles. 00:41:04.720 |
In Acts 2.43, everyone kept feeling a sense of awe that many wonders and signs were taking 00:41:11.680 |
2 Corinthians 12.12, let me read one more last passage. 00:41:16.080 |
Signs and true apostleship were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and 00:41:21.520 |
All of these things took place to ultimately bring us to God. 00:41:25.240 |
He says, and he finishes that with an exclamation mark, "According to his own will." 00:41:53.980 |
How often do you ask to know the will of God? 00:41:56.680 |
And the reason why we want to know the will of God is because we want his blessing. 00:42:01.400 |
Because we're afraid that if we go against his will, God's not going to bless us. 00:42:04.120 |
So ultimately, we're not really trying to surrender our will to God. 00:42:08.720 |
We're trying to seek where God's will is so that we can find the blessing. 00:42:12.080 |
So if I'm going to do this business, I want to make sure that God's will is this business 00:42:17.160 |
because if I do his will, he's going to bless my life. 00:42:27.820 |
It is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the 00:42:32.440 |
Paul says, "I resolve to know nothing but Christ crucified." 00:42:38.080 |
To me, everything has become rubbish in light of knowing the surpassing knowledge of Jesus 00:42:43.220 |
He said, "I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they too may come to faith." 00:42:49.900 |
So everything that Paul did, lived and died, was in accordance to God's will. 00:43:02.140 |
We don't need to ask questions because he made it crystal clear. 00:43:06.420 |
If Christ crucified is not the primary passion in our life, you are outside of his will. 00:43:13.300 |
No matter how successful you are, no matter how many verses you can quote, he says this 00:43:23.200 |
As I wrap up the message this morning, the book of Hebrews is so relevant to all of us, 00:43:31.020 |
including myself, because I catch myself drifting all the time. 00:43:36.260 |
You know the benefit of having to preach every Sunday is that I have to be sober or else 00:43:44.060 |
So the benefit is that I have to be in the Word and I have to encourage and I have to 00:43:50.540 |
So there's an added benefit of being a pastor because it forces me to catch myself when 00:44:04.940 |
Concerns for my family, concern for my parents, concern for my children, concern even for 00:44:14.780 |
Concern about world affairs, about politics, about the economy, bank account, retirement, 00:44:23.140 |
I mean you have so much that we're blessed with. 00:44:29.180 |
But then this blessing easily becomes a trap because we begin to rely on them. 00:44:36.300 |
There's no desperation in our hearts because my bills will be paid whether I pray or not. 00:44:42.780 |
You know, things will go, things will be fine next year. 00:44:51.980 |
But again, like I said, the benefit of being in front of the Word of God is the Word of 00:44:54.980 |
God constantly judges the thoughts and intentions of my heart to not to drift. 00:45:00.060 |
So if it's this hard for a pastor, I know how hard it is for you. 00:45:08.320 |
I know how easily just having finals can cause you to drift and then drift for a long time. 00:45:14.380 |
I know how easily getting married and being worried about your wife and husband, how that 00:45:18.140 |
can easily entangle you and you disappear for a while. 00:45:20.900 |
I know what it's like to have a kid and be sleep deprived and then just have no energy 00:45:27.740 |
to do anything and then you just start drifting. 00:45:35.660 |
He says, "Consider how you may provoke one another on toward loving good deeds, especially 00:45:42.780 |
As the world becomes darker and darker and they begin to embrace immoral things openly 00:45:47.300 |
and publicly, if we do not build a community that is provoking one another so that we do 00:45:57.500 |
It's not we might drift, we're already drifting. 00:46:03.180 |
And that's why the book of Hebrews is so important to us. 00:46:08.500 |
How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 00:46:15.020 |
So my prayer is again, as we continue to go through the Hebrews, one, that we recognize 00:46:21.060 |
And secondly, once we recognize that, we do everything in our power to not drift. 00:46:26.820 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.