back to index2019-08-04 Let Us Hold Fast
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By now, my guess is that many of you, if not most of you, have heard 00:00:12.300 |
about what happened to a very famous pastor that wrote a book when he was young, 00:00:17.540 |
became an international bestseller, and he's been a very influential pastor 00:00:22.820 |
since he was in his early 20s, and he's publicly come out and denounced his faith. 00:00:26.780 |
And he says that he's separating from his wife, and he's no longer a Christian. 00:00:33.220 |
Now, if you are a young Christian, you may have never seen that before. 00:00:37.300 |
And say, "What? Somebody at that level, who was that influential, 00:00:41.860 |
could just walk away from his faith? And so, if that can happen to him, 00:00:46.000 |
could that not happen to me? Could that not happen to you?" 00:00:49.980 |
And that is a natural question that we should be asking. 00:00:54.980 |
And the warning that we are given in the Scripture, in Hebrews, is that exact warning. 00:01:03.960 |
The next question that may come from that is, if somebody like him can fall, 00:01:08.220 |
and just come out and just publicly denounce his faith, 00:01:12.360 |
can a Christian who seemed like he was a genuine Christian just walk away from his faith? 00:01:17.240 |
So, is he really saved? Can a Christian lose his salvation? 00:01:22.300 |
And let me make that absolutely crystal clear. 00:01:26.680 |
The Scripture is not ambiguous about that. It is not ambiguous about that. 00:01:30.740 |
I don't care who tells you what book you've read. 00:01:33.180 |
The Scripture is absolutely crystal clear about that. 00:01:35.820 |
We did not earn our salvation, so you cannot lose your salvation. That is clear. 00:01:41.620 |
Now, if you hear that, some non-Christians, and maybe very, very young Christians may hear that, 00:01:48.300 |
"Well, then I don't need to really hold fast. I don't need to work hard. 00:01:52.500 |
What's the point of being diligent? What's the point of fearing if the point of the Gospel message is, 00:01:58.380 |
'You didn't do anything, so you don't have to do anything, and you're going to persevere.'" 00:02:03.080 |
In fact, the text that we're looking at is warning us not to drift. 00:02:09.280 |
It says that we ought to fear so we do not fall short of the rest that is promised in Christ. 00:02:14.360 |
That we need to be diligent to enter this rest. 00:02:17.660 |
And today it says we need to hold fast to the promises that we've been giving. 00:02:21.400 |
And then next week we'll be talking about, "Let us therefore draw near." 00:02:24.840 |
So, the command not to drift is coupled with, "Let us." 00:02:29.340 |
This is what we ought to do, and to do it with all our might. 00:02:34.380 |
Then how do we reconcile this with the question of, 00:02:36.840 |
if you're genuinely saved, that you can never truly lose your salvation? 00:02:43.720 |
You may, for a period, be dry in your faith, but you can never lose your salvation. 00:02:52.560 |
The reason why you can never lose your salvation is because 00:02:56.860 |
you can't have your eyes opened and then have it shut by your will. 00:03:03.640 |
Meaning, I can't look at the truth and then, because of my struggles, 00:03:08.180 |
and all of a sudden say, "You know, I'm just going to close my eyes to this truth." 00:03:11.240 |
If you are a genuine believer, and God opened your eyes, 00:03:14.680 |
and you saw and experienced the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:03:18.520 |
you can't one day, just because it's hard, say, 00:03:21.020 |
"You know what? I'm going to pretend like I never saw that. 00:03:24.300 |
I'm going to pretend that I never heard that. 00:03:26.460 |
I'm going to pretend that I don't believe this." 00:03:29.940 |
If an individual is capable of losing his salvation, 00:03:40.480 |
If you are capable of losing your salvation, you would have lost it already. 00:03:44.880 |
Think about how many times, if you've been a Christian for more than a few years, 00:03:51.620 |
You may have been discouraged, something tragic may have happened, 00:03:54.060 |
or you just kind of drifted so far away that you could have seen yourself, 00:03:57.760 |
if you kept on going down that path, to have just said, "You know what? 00:04:03.360 |
If you've been a Christian for any period of time, you could probably think of one, 00:04:10.180 |
If you've been a Christian for more than 5, 10 years, several times in your life, 00:04:13.580 |
you say, "You know what? I didn't live like a Christian at that time. 00:04:17.040 |
I could have easily seen myself drift out and just fall away." 00:04:27.120 |
What caused you to say, "This is not the right path, 00:04:35.440 |
Was it because you were more moral than other people? 00:04:43.040 |
No, in the end, God opened your eyes, and you couldn't deny what you believe. 00:04:50.420 |
If you're not a believer, and you begin to drift away from God, 00:04:54.920 |
you feel perfectly fine going that direction. 00:04:59.560 |
In fact, you're drifting toward where you feel the most comfortable. 00:05:03.900 |
So when you hear this warning today, if you hear His voice, "Do not harden your 00:05:07.400 |
heart," because there's no faith in you, it doesn't incite any kind of fear 00:05:14.720 |
I'm just headed down that path, and I feel comfortable. 00:05:17.400 |
So you just kind of grab on to any loose theology, "One saved, always saved," 00:05:24.960 |
Christianity, all it is, is a security blanket, and that's all you need. 00:05:34.840 |
It's just, "I just want to make sure that I just want to have insurance." 00:05:45.040 |
And the warnings that you hear in the book of Hebrews, you'll hear it, 00:05:48.960 |
you'll remember it, but it's not going to cause you to turn. 00:05:52.880 |
Because you feel very comfortable where you're drifting to. 00:05:56.200 |
So whether that happens in a single day when you publicly denounce and say, 00:05:59.760 |
"I don't believe this," or whether that happens in years and years and years 00:06:03.000 |
of just drifting, and your heart has become so cold that none of the word 00:06:10.760 |
But if you are a believer, no matter how far you have drifted, 00:06:16.960 |
when the word of God is taught and is warned, it causes you to say, 00:06:25.560 |
And it causes a fear, a sense of reverence toward the things 00:06:30.360 |
A sense of urgency is incited in us when the word of God is taught because it 00:06:35.360 |
judges the thoughts and intentions of our heart, and then it challenges us 00:06:40.800 |
So if you hear His voice and you do not harden your heart, let us be diligent. 00:06:51.000 |
It is not enough for us to say, "You know what? 00:06:52.800 |
I believe this truth, and I'm headed down the wrong path." 00:06:55.400 |
And then go Monday through Saturday, do the exact same thing. 00:07:00.160 |
You've probably heard that cliche that insanity is doing the same thing all the 00:07:07.400 |
That's proof of unbelief, that you feel guilty and I ought to do this, 00:07:12.520 |
but there is absolutely no change, there is no diligence that the word 00:07:17.360 |
The text that we're looking at today challenges us in the third 00:07:21.940 |
If you hear the word of God and you've been drifting, it says, "Let us fear." 00:07:26.200 |
And if you have this reverence and there's a sense of urgency that is sparked 00:07:31.320 |
And if you are committed to be diligent, he says, "Let us then hold fast to the 00:07:39.160 |
There is a difference between somebody who is just confessing versus somebody 00:07:45.800 |
We see that difference in Revelation 3, 1-3, this rebuke to the 00:07:52.280 |
"He who has seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this, 00:07:55.360 |
'I know your deeds, but that you have a name that you are alive, 00:08:01.800 |
Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, 00:08:05.760 |
for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. 00:08:08.840 |
So remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. 00:08:14.880 |
Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will 00:08:22.160 |
If you're not a believer, there is nothing to keep. 00:08:29.240 |
If all that we have is a facade, if all we've been doing is jumping 00:08:33.400 |
through the hoops so that we can feel like we are part of this community, 00:08:39.040 |
you can only keep and you can only hold fast if something was already 00:08:44.920 |
And so, therefore, he's talking to the church. 00:08:46.760 |
He says, "Remember, if you have received this confession and you genuinely 00:08:58.360 |
Well, he says in the previous passages, in Hebrews 3.6, "Christ was faithful as a 00:09:06.120 |
In other words, we are his children, "if we hold fast our confidence and the 00:09:17.160 |
It is not enough to have confessed it 10 years ago, five years ago, 00:09:20.720 |
or a year ago, to publicly confess it in our baptism and say, 00:09:27.600 |
But he says, "Perseverance in our faith is the proof that you have genuine salvation." 00:09:38.640 |
If God opened your eyes and you've genuinely seen the glory of the gospel 00:09:44.880 |
of Jesus Christ, you met the risen Savior, he says to hold fast. 00:09:50.840 |
Hebrews 3.14, "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the 00:09:56.040 |
beginning of our assurance firm until the end." 00:10:00.800 |
In case anybody is sitting here thinking, "One saved, always saved, 00:10:03.680 |
so therefore I just need to relax and just kind of coast along," right? 00:10:11.000 |
That's a mindset of somebody who hears this truth and is just drifting, 00:10:14.560 |
and they're perfectly fine with this drifting because I got this ticket. 00:10:18.240 |
So no matter how far I go, as long as I have this ticket, I'm fine. 00:10:21.520 |
That's not the language of the New Testament. 00:10:23.760 |
New Testament constantly warns us and challenges us. 00:10:32.960 |
1 Corinthians 15.1-2, "Now I make known to you, brethren, 00:10:35.560 |
the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and which you 00:10:42.440 |
If you hold fast the word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain." 00:10:47.400 |
There's a difference between somebody who confesses and somebody who holds fast. 00:10:52.400 |
That's a difference that is made in the book of James, of a confession of a demon. 00:10:58.600 |
You say that you believe that there's one God. 00:11:00.680 |
Great. Even the demons believe that, and they shudder, and they are in fear. 00:11:05.560 |
Demons have greater faith than most people because they believe that he's one God, 00:11:09.800 |
but it is not saving faith because there's no fruit that comes out of that. 00:11:14.560 |
They don't hold fast, and that's the distinction he's making here. 00:11:18.240 |
If you have confessed it, you must hold fast. 00:11:23.720 |
But there's a second reason why he says to hold fast, not simply because it is the 00:11:27.640 |
proof of our genuine salvation, but because he has already made it possible. 00:11:36.800 |
In verse 14, it says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed 00:11:42.440 |
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast." 00:11:45.160 |
So the reason why we need to hold fast is because Jesus has gone through the heavens. 00:11:52.960 |
One of the questions that I asked, right, if you were on Facebook, 00:11:56.440 |
and I gave a question last night in preparation for today, why is it, 00:12:03.080 |
So, "Therefore," in verse 14, obviously connects us to what he was saying in verse 13. 00:12:07.040 |
So in verse 12, he says, "You know that famous passage, 00:12:10.320 |
'The Word of God is living and active,' and then at the end, 00:12:12.440 |
'Judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart,'" and then it ends in verse 13. 00:12:16.760 |
And how you receive verse 13 really depends on where you are in your walk 00:12:22.480 |
In verse 13, it says, "And there is no creature hidden from his sight, 00:12:26.080 |
but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." 00:12:36.800 |
You can hide things from your wife, from your children, from your pastors, 00:12:40.080 |
from your neighbors, but in the presence of God, we're completely bare. 00:12:48.920 |
No matter how long it's been, there is no depth that you can hide in 00:12:56.800 |
We could even fool ourselves, but God cannot be fooled. 00:13:00.840 |
Now, when you hear that, and you are an unbeliever who has been 00:13:04.720 |
drifting away from God, and you don't want to hear it, I like where I am, 00:13:12.280 |
I just want encouragement to know that God sees through all the outside facade, 00:13:19.720 |
all the presentations of our goodness, all the religiousness that we present 00:13:26.600 |
If that's where we are, what a suffocating passage, to know that 00:13:34.520 |
See, but verse 13 is connected to verse 14 because he says, "Though the word of God 00:13:39.800 |
finds us and convicts us, and we cannot hide." 00:13:47.520 |
He cuts through all of that, and there's nowhere you can hide. 00:13:51.680 |
But to an individual who is convicted, who's trying to be diligent, 00:13:56.400 |
who's trying to get back on the right track, this passage is a source 00:14:02.800 |
Because this passage reminds us that no matter where you go, 00:14:06.240 |
no matter what you have done, God is able to reach you. 00:14:11.080 |
Even when you try to run from God, there is no height, there's no depth 00:14:15.920 |
that you can go where God is not already there. 00:14:20.880 |
There's nothing that you could have done that God was not already there. 00:14:25.280 |
So if you're a man or a woman running from God, this is a suffocating passage. 00:14:30.040 |
But if you're an individual who's struggling, and you can easily see 00:14:37.360 |
If we were able to run from God, you would have done this already. 00:14:43.080 |
And if you've been a Christian for any number of years, you know. 00:14:51.880 |
If God left that up to you, and it was simply of your own will, 00:14:55.960 |
we would have all denied Him already and walked away. 00:14:59.360 |
See, the way that verse 13 is connected to verse 14, after telling us this 00:15:04.200 |
suffocating passage, he says, "Therefore, since God is everywhere, 00:15:09.400 |
since you can't run from God, since you can't hide from God, 00:15:12.440 |
therefore, since we have this great high priest who has passed 00:15:15.840 |
through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, this great high priest, 00:15:22.840 |
God is not telling us to do anything that God has not already done to us. 00:15:29.040 |
In Philippians 3, 12 through 14, "Not that I have already obtained it or have 00:15:32.880 |
already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also 00:15:42.000 |
I'm striving after the very thing that He already gave me. 00:15:48.160 |
"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, 00:15:51.280 |
but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies 00:15:55.960 |
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God 00:16:01.040 |
I am straining toward the call which He already gave me. 00:16:06.880 |
So, a believer is someone who is living out and pursuing what God has already 00:16:15.800 |
That's a genuine believer because our eyes have become open. 00:16:19.560 |
You have tasted the goodness of God, and there's no other taste that can 00:16:25.440 |
So, if your eyes have been genuinely open, you can't run from God. 00:16:29.080 |
You can't just one day choose to say, "You know what? 00:16:30.960 |
I'm just going to close my eyes and pretend like I never saw that. 00:16:34.440 |
Pretend like I never met God, and I'm just going to live like an unbeliever." 00:16:37.400 |
Only an unbeliever can continue to live like an unbeliever. 00:16:42.920 |
Once your eyes have been open, you can't shed it. 00:16:47.960 |
But this is not just somebody who's confessing, but is an individual who 00:16:59.640 |
We are able to suffer because He suffered on our behalf. 00:17:04.760 |
And he said, "This God," he says, "Jesus Christ, He came down. 00:17:11.520 |
The great high priest came down, and He went to the heavens for us." 00:17:16.960 |
You know, we've been studying through the book of Leviticus, and in the book of 00:17:23.280 |
You have the office of the priest, and you can't be a priest, you can't serve at the 00:17:29.280 |
temple and the tabernacle unless you were perfect. 00:17:34.920 |
You couldn't be blind, you couldn't be lame, you couldn't be disfigured in your 00:17:37.680 |
face, you couldn't be deformed in the limb, you couldn't have broken foot or 00:17:41.160 |
hand, you couldn't be a hunchback or a dwarf, and it goes on and on. 00:17:44.480 |
If you have eczema or any kind of skin disease, and it may, on the surface, 00:17:49.280 |
it may sound harsh, but the purpose of all of this wasn't simply trying to be cruel 00:17:54.320 |
to people who are already having a hard time in life. 00:17:57.400 |
Everything that he taught at the tabernacle was an example, was a foreshadow of what 00:18:06.280 |
And so, that was an example, it was a shadow of the reality of what Christ was 00:18:13.240 |
So, when he taught that the priest had to be without defect, it was to be embed into 00:18:18.360 |
the culture of Israel that a sinner could not approach a holy God. 00:18:28.720 |
And so, no sin of any kind can enter into his presence. 00:18:40.400 |
A high priest was an individual, one individual. 00:18:44.360 |
It wasn't an office of many, one individual who had to be a descendant 00:18:48.800 |
of Aaron, and this individual was set apart in his clothing. 00:18:54.280 |
So, every priest had to wear a special clothing while he was administering 00:19:03.440 |
And so, as soon as you entered the tabernacle, you could see who the priests 00:19:06.200 |
are, and you can identify if a high priest walks in, you could immediately, 00:19:09.680 |
by his clothing, know that that's the high priest. 00:19:12.120 |
He wore a very colorful outfit, and they had a special name called Thumim and 00:19:17.040 |
Umin, and he had to wear that at all times to separate him from other priests. 00:19:23.120 |
But because the high priest was also a man, he had to constantly go through a 00:19:30.680 |
To the nation of Israel, a high priest was connected with more 00:19:36.600 |
In the nation of Israel, the high priests were known to be an office where it 00:19:43.440 |
So, you may have heard of the cities of refuge. 00:19:45.440 |
There are six different cities that were set apart in the nation of Israel. 00:19:49.480 |
All of them were spread apart, all of them were uplifted high, 00:19:53.680 |
and those cities were specifically created so that just in case somebody 00:19:58.560 |
killed by accident, not murder, but by accident, a relative of the person that 00:20:04.640 |
was killed, who's called the Avenger of Blood, would want vengeance because he 00:20:09.240 |
killed a relative, a brother, a sister, or whoever. 00:20:12.760 |
And so, out of anger, he would chase that man. 00:20:14.920 |
And so, that man who kills by accident would run to one of these cities. 00:20:19.840 |
And when he gets to the city, he would be interviewed as to, 00:20:24.200 |
And finds out that he killed somebody by accident, they would open the door, 00:20:27.680 |
he would be allowed in for protection under the high priest. 00:20:31.440 |
The high priest basically was the owner of these cities. 00:20:34.400 |
And every city in the nation of Israel, every cities of refuge were... 00:20:39.440 |
The roads that led to these cities were the best roads. 00:20:42.720 |
So, when you see the language in the New Testament, the valleys are made low and... 00:20:47.720 |
Or the mountains are laid low and the valleys are made high, 00:20:51.040 |
it's in the language of preparing the roads to go to these cities of refuge. 00:20:56.160 |
And as long as the high priest was alive, they found refuge under his protection. 00:21:02.880 |
So, for the Israelites, the high priest was not just somebody who served 00:21:06.560 |
at the temple, but they equated refuge with high priest. 00:21:13.200 |
So, every time you see the language of high priest, an Israelite would have 00:21:19.880 |
He is the one we run to when we get into trouble. 00:21:28.960 |
But if you look at the passage carefully here, he's not just the high priest. 00:21:45.120 |
not only was he the place of refuge that people ran to, he is distinguished 00:21:50.240 |
than any other because everything that God did through the tabernacle, 00:21:54.520 |
through the cities of refuge, all of it pointed to him. 00:22:02.640 |
So, when the scripture says that you are able to hold fast because Jesus is the 00:22:08.680 |
great high priest, meaning that all the things that were embedded into the culture 00:22:14.360 |
and the life of the nation of Israel, Jesus came and he fulfilled it. 00:22:20.760 |
Of all the things that Jesus did, the greatest activity of the high priest 00:22:31.160 |
Okay, so that's the picture of the Ark of the Covenant, and on the top of it is the 00:22:36.880 |
If you can see just to the right, you'll see Harrison Ford. 00:22:40.120 |
All right, so I could have given you a better picture of the Ark of the Covenant, 00:22:44.480 |
but I chose this one because this is the movie, Ark of the Covenant. 00:22:51.080 |
But anyway, if you remember watching this movie, this is where it's from. 00:22:53.760 |
That's actually a pretty good picture of the Ark of the Covenant. 00:22:56.960 |
It's crooked, but the point that I'm trying to make was in the holiest of holies, 00:23:03.320 |
it is a chamber where only the high priest can go in once a year at the Day 00:23:09.400 |
And because he was a man, he had to go through a ritual cleansing himself. 00:23:14.360 |
And once you got in there, you have to hurry up and do your business. 00:23:17.040 |
So you have to take the blood of the bulls, and basically, you sprinkle it 00:23:20.080 |
on the curtain, and you sprinkle it on the ark, and you sprinkle it on the seat. 00:23:23.720 |
And then after you've done your work, you have to hurry up and get out. 00:23:27.800 |
And only the high priest was able to enter this room once a year. 00:23:33.720 |
You can't go in there and just kind of hang out. 00:23:36.040 |
In fact, every year, there was a fear that once a high priest entered 00:23:40.760 |
into this place, that when he confronted this holy God, that he would not live. 00:23:48.600 |
That once he went in there, and as long as the bell was ringing, he was safe. 00:23:52.200 |
But if the bell stopped ringing, he did something wrong. 00:23:55.000 |
Maybe he touched something he wasn't supposed to touch. 00:23:58.320 |
And all of this was to tell the nation of Israel that once you get into the inner 00:24:03.360 |
chamber of where God's glory is magnified, if you do not cover yourself 00:24:14.160 |
That was the duty of all the duties of the high priest. 00:24:20.160 |
Now, why is this important for us to understand? 00:24:23.400 |
Because in Hebrews 9, verse 1, it says, "Now, even the first covenant had 00:24:28.920 |
regulations of divine worship and earthly sanctuary." 00:24:32.040 |
And then verse 11, it says, "But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good 00:24:35.600 |
things to come," in other words, the heavenly things, "that all of that which 00:24:39.960 |
was preparation to point to what he was going to do, he entered to the greater and 00:24:44.920 |
more perfect tabernacle not made with hands." 00:24:48.120 |
So when he says Jesus went into the heavenly, he's talking about this. 00:24:52.200 |
That is to say, not to this creation, not through the blood of goats and calves, 00:24:57.000 |
but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, 00:25:03.040 |
So in other words, he didn't go in there and sprinkle the goat's blood or the 00:25:07.640 |
He says, "By his own blood, the most powerful life-giving blood, 00:25:13.200 |
he sprinkled it in the heavenly places for the blood of goats and bulls and ashes 00:25:18.640 |
of hypher, sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctified for cleansing 00:25:22.840 |
How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered 00:25:27.080 |
himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve 00:25:39.840 |
Everything that he embedded into the nation of Israel. 00:25:43.000 |
For this reason, he's the mediae of a new covenant so that since a death has taken 00:25:46.800 |
place for the redemption of the transgression that were committed under the 00:25:50.040 |
first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise 00:25:54.400 |
I'm not going to go and dissect this passage because we're going to get to 00:26:03.960 |
But today, the point of this is to just kind of point to you that this is what he's 00:26:08.520 |
talking about in verse 14, that we are able to hold fast because of what Jesus 00:26:16.280 |
And let me go a little bit further of what this seat, this mercy seat represents. 00:26:24.280 |
In Exodus 25, 21 through 22, God says, "You shall put the mercy seat on top 00:26:29.760 |
of the ark, and in the ark, you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. 00:26:39.840 |
"And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the 00:26:44.200 |
ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in the 00:26:53.600 |
The Holy of Holies was considered God's inner chamber. 00:26:57.600 |
The ark of the covenant was his footstool, and the mercy seat on top of that was 00:27:04.120 |
where God was going to come and the high priest who represents Israel, 00:27:15.000 |
And that's why he had to go and sprinkle the curtain and sprinkle the seats and 00:27:18.960 |
sprinkle with blood to cover so that he would not die from encountering this God. 00:27:30.720 |
Hebrews 10, 10 through 12, "By this will, we have been sanctified through the 00:27:34.720 |
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 00:27:37.040 |
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same 00:27:41.320 |
We can never take away sins, but he, having offered one sacrifice for sins 00:27:46.200 |
for all time, sat down at the right hand of God." 00:28:00.840 |
He said, "All the priests came and they just did their work and they heard and 00:28:04.240 |
then they would leave because that wasn't their place. 00:28:07.440 |
When Jesus came, sprinkled it with his blood, after all the sacrifices were made, 00:28:12.920 |
the seat where God comes and man comes to connect with this holy God, 00:28:24.040 |
In Hebrews 12, 2, again, it says, "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, 00:28:27.200 |
the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the 00:28:31.520 |
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the 00:28:39.200 |
The whole drama of the Day of Atonement, of the Ark of the Covenant, 00:28:45.000 |
of the priesthood, and of that mercy seat in particular was about Jesus. 00:28:53.920 |
And Jesus was sent by his own blood so that he can sit at that mercy seat so 00:28:58.440 |
that mankind can come to Christ in his throne. 00:29:05.080 |
God speaks to us through his son, Jesus Christ. 00:29:11.760 |
That's why he says, "When we pray, to pray in what? 00:29:16.320 |
So no man can come to God until we come and bow down to his throne first. 00:29:28.200 |
And that's why he says, "To hold on to your confession." 00:29:34.640 |
And the reason why you are able to hold on to your confession is because Jesus has 00:29:40.800 |
He went into the inner chamber of God, sprinkled it with his blood, 00:29:45.640 |
And then what does he say in the next passage? 00:29:47.240 |
"Therefore, let us draw near to the throne of grace." 00:29:57.480 |
The cross, the cross to an unbeliever is a fixture of torture, of suffering, 00:30:06.760 |
a burden, which ultimately leads to humiliation and death. 00:30:15.000 |
If you're an unbeliever, as I said a few weeks ago, if Christ is not your rest, 00:30:24.000 |
You cannot carry the burden of the cross unless you really know Christ. 00:30:32.840 |
You can jump through the hoops and play the church game for a while. 00:30:36.960 |
But only an individual whose eyes have been opened, this object of torture 00:30:43.080 |
and suffering, and ultimately death became a place where we find life and joy. 00:30:51.280 |
And the distinction between the two is darkness and light, and you can't fake that. 00:30:58.960 |
Only a person whose eyes have been opened can come to the cross and find life. 00:31:07.200 |
In 1 Corinthians 1:18, it says, "For the word of cross is foolishness to those 00:31:10.680 |
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." 00:31:28.080 |
An individual can go so far as to write commentaries and books and speak 00:31:31.880 |
nationally and have mega churches and have every church wanting to come and speak 00:31:37.880 |
and become a mega superstar, and you can go that far and still fake it. 00:31:45.560 |
And his public confession is, "Now, I feel free." 00:31:58.880 |
That was his confession, if you guys read his confession. 00:32:02.760 |
But a child of God whose eyes have been opened, it will be a burden when you drift. 00:32:09.400 |
If you're a child of God and when you hear his voice, today if you hear his voice, 00:32:16.800 |
You fear that you've been drifting and you've been drifting away from where you 00:32:21.400 |
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart and it causes you 00:32:25.880 |
It causes you to see that this is not where you are headed. 00:32:29.200 |
And then he says, "As a result of that, you are diligent." 00:32:35.520 |
I need to carefully consider the way I'm having fellowship. 00:32:40.360 |
I know there's a lot of Christian gatherings, but are you really having 00:32:44.880 |
When was the last time you guys got together and really prayed for each other, 00:32:53.120 |
Let us be diligent that we may not have found ourselves fall short. 00:32:59.800 |
And then if we are being diligent or if we're committed to being diligent, 00:33:02.560 |
he says to hold fast, to not to just loosely hold on to this confession. 00:33:10.920 |
And whether that happens instantaneously or whether it happens eventually in time, 00:33:15.120 |
not to wake up one day and realize that you never really had faith. 00:33:19.840 |
But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. 00:33:25.240 |
In 2 Corinthians 2, 15 to 16, "For we are a fragrance of Christ to God 00:33:29.440 |
among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 00:33:33.200 |
to one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. 00:33:42.840 |
You know, whenever we hear stories of persecution, and I'm sure you've been 00:33:46.640 |
reading it as much as I have, persecution meter is not just in India, 00:33:51.000 |
in China, in the Middle East, North Korea, everywhere. 00:33:54.480 |
And even in the United States, there is this hostility growing 00:34:02.160 |
We shouldn't be surprised by that because the Bible says, "To me, 00:34:11.480 |
Because what persecution happens, what persecution does is it reveals 00:34:18.440 |
And those who do not have genuine faith will drift because if you want to stay 00:34:26.320 |
You have to say certain things and do certain things so that you can fit in, 00:34:30.120 |
But those who have met Christ is not able to do that. 00:34:37.160 |
A genuine Christian is suffocated when he's not walking right with God. 00:34:41.920 |
And the hostility of the world will grow when the light becomes brighter. 00:34:47.520 |
So to me, the fact that persecution is rising around the world, 00:34:55.000 |
And God is distinguishing between those who are just going through the motion 00:35:03.160 |
My encouragement to us again as we, week after week, we're expositing this text, 00:35:16.440 |
Do what you did last Monday, do it again tomorrow. 00:35:19.560 |
What you did last Tuesday, do it again Tuesday. 00:35:22.720 |
What you did last month, do it again this month. 00:35:29.000 |
Just hear the word of God and say, "I liked your message. 00:35:33.920 |
And you will continue to drift, and you will continue to drift, 00:35:36.520 |
continue to drift, and there will be no sense of urgency. 00:35:39.600 |
And one day, you're going to find that this was all fake. 00:35:47.800 |
If you've seen Jesus, if you really met Jesus, whether that was last year, 00:35:54.240 |
yesterday, or 10 years ago, if you genuinely know this Jesus, 00:36:02.360 |
nothing in our life, not even raising children, not even our retirement plan, 00:36:06.440 |
not even getting ahead in life, nothing matters as much as this. 00:36:14.400 |
Because it affects your relationship with your children. 00:36:23.480 |
If you are drifting and you understand what I am saying, today, today, 00:36:30.600 |
not when your children are older, not when you have enough in the bank 00:36:33.160 |
account, not when you got your job, not when things are settled, today, 00:36:38.040 |
if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. 00:36:45.040 |
And I want to, again, encourage you with something practical. 00:36:49.120 |
Whenever we make applications, you know, like, we have a tendency to make 00:36:52.400 |
really big applications of, like, I want to be a better Christian, 00:36:55.840 |
or I want to sacrifice and do this, and I want my life to count, 00:36:59.040 |
and all these things may be sincere, but it's not applicable, right? 00:37:04.120 |
So it's just good intention with no application. 00:37:08.000 |
What I want to encourage you today is if you've been drifting, 00:37:13.040 |
think of one thing that you really need to be diligent. 00:37:18.240 |
Think of one thing that you really need to be diligent in doing and ask God 00:37:26.320 |
Take the step, take the actual step of being diligent and holding fast, 00:37:33.000 |
and to be reminded of who he is so that we may draw near. 00:37:36.320 |
So, again, as I ask the worship team to come back up, as I ask the worship team 00:37:42.360 |
to come back up, and as they lead us in time of worship, I want to ask you, 00:37:46.720 |
if you hear his voice, if you've been hearing his voice in the 00:37:49.800 |
warning, he said, "Let us fear, let us be diligent, let us hold fast, 00:37:54.440 |
let us draw near," what is one thing that you can do today to get back on track? 00:38:04.680 |
What is one thing that you need to get rid of? 00:38:06.440 |
What is one thing that you need to apply today? 00:38:10.320 |
And begin to take the proper steps to get to the place where you need to go. 00:38:17.440 |
And again, we can do this because God has already done it for us. 00:38:21.920 |
God's not saying, "Prove yourself so that I may open the door." 00:38:29.520 |
Now live up to the calling that's been given to you." 00:38:32.440 |
So, as we come before the Lord in prayer, let's make our prayers practical. 00:38:38.760 |
I need to get rid of this and I need to do this. 00:38:43.360 |
So, let's take some time to pray again as our worship team leads us.