Gracious and loving Father, we thank you so much for this morning. Lord, we do want to confess our love for you. We thank you for our mothers who have labored and sacrificed that we may be here as an evidence, Lord God, of your agape grace in our lives. We pray this morning that you would enlighten us, that your word would truly speak to us, cause us to have a greater vision of you, that our life, our worship, all of it, Lord God, may be a reasonable response to what you've given.

May your word come alive as we continue to seek you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now as I was preparing for this message, you know, I googled "mothers who sacrificed themselves to save their children." Right? I googled to see, you know, if I could find some stories. And I was surprised just how many stories, and again, not made up stories, about actual events that are listed on Google.

And I couldn't, there were so many that I couldn't go through all of them. So many story after story after story about moms sacrificing their bodies to protect their child or in a burning building and finding the mother cradling the child and then the mother burns to death and the child is saved.

And over and over and over again about stories about how mothers sacrifice themselves to save their children. Now I didn't Google fathers. Today's not Father's Day. So you know, but naturally when we think of mothers, we automatically, and I know that we may not have all experienced childhood in that sense, but just universally, naturally, when we think of mothers, when we think of the greatest love, humanly speaking, that we can relate to is probably a mother's love for us.

You know, one story in particular stood out to me. This lady, a young lady named Chelsea Russell, 35 years old, and she had a two-year-old child and they were in a lake and she turned around and found her child slipped into the lake. So instinctively she jumped in. And she jumped in and not being a good swimmer, she had to save her child and there was no one around.

So in order for her child not to drown, she went in under the water and held her child up above the water while she was drowning underneath. And she held her in that position for over five minutes before any other relatives realized what was happening and they came out and they got them out of the water.

But by the time the relatives came to get her, she was already under the water for five minutes, trying to keep her child afloat, and they tried to resuscitate her and they could not and she gave her life trying to save her child. Again, I can tell you countless number of stories.

The only reason why this one stood out, just five minutes, thinking how she probably in every ounce of her energy wanted to get out of that water, but she gave, literally gave her life to save that child. The Gospel message at the core is about our Savior who gave his life for us.

The text that we looked at this morning, it ended, last time that we were in this text, it ended by saying how God created us in majesty to have all things subjected under us and that it ends at the end of verse eight, but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

In a nutshell, it's a summary of where we are as mankind, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Even though God created man to be a reflection of God's glory, that is not where God sees man today. And he said, because of the fall of man, we begin in verse nine, but we do see him.

Even though we don't see man in the place where God created him, but now we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus. In other words, because we had fallen, Christ came to us in our fallen position in order that he may taste death on our behalf.

He came to get us because we could not go to him. And that's in a nutshell what the gospel message is. He is in glory and honor now, but he became lower than the angels to suffer death. You know, if you look at Hebrew chapter 2, 9, it says, we do not see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.

So if you look at the NASB version, the word for because, it kind of makes it sound like, if you don't read it correctly, that because of his suffering, he was crowned with glory. If you look at the King James version, it actually gives a better rendering that you see literally in Greek.

He says, we see Jesus who was made for a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Do you get that? Did you catch the subtle difference between the two translations? The NASB and most other translations translates it because, and it makes it sound like, because he lowered himself, he was raised in glory.

In actuality, the way it really should be read, like the King James, that Jesus was lowered a little while for the suffering and now raised in glory. Do you see the difference? I cannot tell at all. Do you see the difference between the two translations? Okay, alright, good, somebody.

So in the first translation, which most of the other translations have, that because he was lowered, he was honored. So the emphasis in that he was honored because he lowered himself. In the actual translation, the word for for, gar, is really connected to the previous, that Jesus lowered himself for the purpose of suffering.

For the purpose of suffering, but now is in glory. The whole reason why he became a man is to suffer and taste death on our behalf. Now whenever we hear the word taste, right, if you want to convince your friend that the boba that you're drinking or the pizza that you're eating is delicious, right, how do you get them to eat it or order it?

Take a taste, right? You buy it and then you're eating it, and say, "Well, just take a bite. Trust me, it's good." So the scripture says that Jesus tasted death on our behalf. Now when it says he tasted death, it doesn't mean that he just took a small bite and was like, "Oh, okay, I know what that means." The reason why the author used the term taste is because Jesus did not stay dead.

For everyone else, when we die, it is permanent. That's where we are. You don't just taste death. You enter into death and that's where you stay. But in Jesus' situation, we know that he tasted death. And so it doesn't mean that he only tasted a portion of it. He experiences death, but it is not his permanent state because there was a goal to him tasting the death.

In fact, in 2 Corinthians 5.21, the passage that we know well, "He made him who knew no sin to be sin." Paul is very precise in the way that he describes this. He uses this deliberately. You notice that he doesn't say that he made him who knew no sin to be a sinner.

He doesn't say that. You ever wonder why he uses sin? What does it mean for Jesus to become sin? Well, Paul is being very precise. Jesus was never a sinner. He didn't die because he was a sinner. He didn't become a human being and lived in humility and became a sinner and died because he was a sinner.

Paul is being very precise that even though he was crucified on the cross because of sin, it was not his sin. He became sin. And you notice he goes on, "On our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of him." Right? Righteousness of God. Again, Paul is being very precise.

Jesus becomes sin in order that we may become not righteous on our own, not righteous on our own. Innately, do you still sin? Are there still lusts in your heart? Do you still have greed and pride? When Christ became sin for us, his righteousness was imputed to us in order that when God sees us, he no longer sees sinners, but he sees the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ.

The language that he uses here is very, very precise. And that's why it's important for us to not to just read it and kind of like, "Oh, Jesus died for us because of our sins and he was raised in..." All of that is true. But when you dissect exactly what it says, we see a better grasp, we have a better understanding of what it is exactly that he did for us.

Can you think about what the greatest sacrifice you've ever made? Most people, if you think about the greatest sacrifice, you might try to think of an event. But most likely, when you think of the greatest sacrifice, it's not an event. It's probably somebody in your life who continuously is watching out for you.

Small things that they do year after year after year after year is probably a greater sacrifice than one big thing. Maybe you graduated and a bunch of your friends got you this nice car. Man, that was the greatest thing that I've ever received. But in reality, there is somebody in your life every single day, every morning, every night, no matter what you do, is behind your back, watching over you, sacrificing.

And oftentimes, those kind of things don't stand out. Until way later, after we've lived many, many years, we look back and think, "Wow, there's somebody who did that for me." Now, obviously, the answer is pretty clear. It's Mother's Day. And I'm not milking that. And I think most people will agree.

The greatest love that you've ever received, the greatest love that you've probably ever given as a mother is that, to your children. But the love that you may have sacrificed for or we've received comes nowhere near how the Bible describes what Christ did for us. I mentioned to you many times that being involved with the homeless ministry for many years, I see why there's such a high turnover rate.

Because you use your own finance, and you go out there, and you think you're doing something really great. And then you go out there, and then every once in a while, you'll get yelled at for not bringing enough coffee, for not bringing enough hot dog. And I remember routinely, we would collect jeans and jackets and blankets, and we would go out there and start spreading it out, and we didn't bring enough.

So every once in a while, we would have a crowd of 20, and then every once in a while, we would have 60 or 70, and we only brought enough for 30. And so we have 30 people who are happy and then 30 people who are discontent. Why do you guys come?

And you experience that once or twice. I mean, that's enough to drop everybody. Man, these people aren't deserving of this. To take time out of your day and collect jeans and your own money to go give it out to these people. That's such a high turnover rate. You know, we have these great ideas of what it means to serve sinners, and then as soon as you are faced with the sin, our natural reaction is to run the other direction.

Romans 5, 7 through 8 says, "For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare even to die." Maybe. You know, we hear stories oftentimes about soldiers. You know, they're in a time of war and somebody throws a grenade, and in order to save his friends, they jump on the grenade and he dies.

Great act of heroism. They'll talk about him and remember him the rest of his life. But that does not describe the love of Christ, because that was the death that he died for his friends. That's not how the gospel is described. He says, "For a righteous man, for a good man, someone may possibly die.

And if he does, that person is a hero, will be honored and venerated all of his life, even after his life." But in verse 8, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The love of Christ isn't a love for the righteous.

The love of Christ aren't for the people who are desirable and loving, who are thankful. The love of Christ is a love for sinners while we were yet blaspheming, while we were yet shaking our fists. Christ drew near to us. Even the people who loves us the most, at our ugliest state, at our most selfish state, they will not tolerate us.

They'll try their best, but it's difficult. If a child acts up, no matter how much you love that child, it is hard when they're being selfish. Send them to their room. See, the illustration of a soldier jumping on a grenade doesn't do the gospel justice. He would have to have jumped on a grenade to save the terrorist who killed his family.

He would have to have planned the whole thing for years and years to enter into enemy's territory, learn his language, eat his food, become their citizen, living among them, and then years and years and years and years of sacrifice and planning, knowing the exact day that that would happen, and you walk in and do that voluntarily to people who are hostile to you and to your family.

That's how the Bible describes what Jesus did. Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, because we are not yet, we are not in the position of honor in which God created us. He says, "Now for a little while we see him who humbled himself, became one of us." He was made like us so that he can make us like him.

Let me say that again. He was made like us so that he can raise us back to glory of what he intended. Jesus humbled himself and he learned under the Pharisees. You know, if you've ever read the Gospels, if you've ever read the Gospels, you know the kind of disdain that Jesus has toward the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy.

Even the righteousness that they practiced, it was only for other people to see. And yet, as a child, he humbles himself and he goes to the temple and he sits under their tutelage, and he learns. Think about that. Think how humbling, think how difficult that must have been, knowing who these people were.

Jesus worked with his hands. He was a carpenter's son. Think about the paradox of Jesus being a carpenter's son. The Bible says that all things were created by his hands. And yet he was making chairs and tables, fixing houses with his hands. It may not seem like much, but for knowing who he is, how humiliating and humbling that is.

Though he was immutable and all-powerful, he tasted fatigue, he tasted hunger, he tasted thirst, cold, sadness, loneliness, betrayal, and pain, and all voluntarily. For a little while, he became lower than his own creation, the angels. It wasn't just a nail in his hands and feet and the whip on his back and the crown on his head that describes his suffering.

Every moment of his human existence was suffering for him. To be humbled, another way to describe humility is to be humiliated. The reason why we don't like to humble ourselves is because it's humiliating. Because we see ourselves a certain way, and that's beneath us. And so we try not to put ourselves in those situations.

His whole life was humiliation, and he did this voluntarily. We do not yet see all things subjected to us, but we do see him, who was made for a little while, lower than the angels, namely Jesus. You know what's crazy about this? I mean, if that isn't crazy enough, if you look at verse 10, it says, "For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering." It was fitting.

How can you possibly describe what Jesus did as being fitting? The word fitting basically means to become, or simply, right or proper. I hope when you read that, you didn't just pass through. Oh, it was fitting for him. It was proper for him. It was right for him to do what he did.

How can you possibly say that what Jesus did was fitting? The author of life, everything was made by him and for him. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. All the angels worship at his throne, and it was fitting for him to humble himself beneath his own creation and to be humiliated as a human being, as a carpenter, and then to be crucified and then mocked and then killed.

All for what? For sinners who are shaking their fists at him. Enemies of the cross. How can we possibly think that that is fitting? The greatest injustice in history is not the Holocaust. It is not slavery, as horrendous as that is. Even to this day, when we think of US history and slavery, people cringe.

You want to erase that. You know, one thing I learned as I traveled throughout the different parts of the world, every country has certain things that they're ashamed of in history, and they don't like talking about it. In fact, oftentimes, if enough years pass by, they just get rid of it.

People outside the country talk about it, but within the country, they get rid of it in their textbook. So the people within their country know very little about the injustices that their own government committed against their own people, because they don't like talking about it. They want to forget about it.

We can think of all kinds of injustices that mankind has committed to other human beings, but none of that is compared to the injustice that was put on Jesus Christ. The greatest injustice in Jesus Christ is the crucifixion of the Son of God, because all of the injustices are sinners hurting other sinners.

People who are under condemnation condemning other people. No matter how horrendous it is, because no one is righteous. Whether we were, we suffered greatly while we were living, or we suffered greatly after death. The scripture says all is under this condemnation. Only one person, the king of kings and Lord of lords, suffered this injustice.

So how can this possibly be fitting? How can this be right? How can this be proper? Why would the author use this word? You know, previously we looked at Hebrews chapter 2, 6, where David is crying out saying, "What is man that you remember him, or the Son of Man that you are concerned about him?" Why do you care?

Why do you even know my name? Anybody who has a proper grasp of who it is that we worship, anybody who has a proper grasp of who we are, and knows even a bit of the sin that dwells within us. That's the first question that we should be asking.

Not why do you care? Why do you care? Or, why don't you care? But why do you care? What is man that you even think of me? Now as crazy as that is, that was said in the old covenant. David was in the old covenant before the cross. David was perplexed.

Why would this holy God have anything to do with me? From the old covenant. Imagine what David would say from this side of the cross. Why would you be mindful? Why do you care? Why do you even know my name? But can you imagine if he was looking at the cross, and he had a clear vision of what Jesus did, how he would rewrite this?

What is man that you would send your only son to die for me? What is man that you would suffer and become sin so that I might become the righteousness of God? What is man? What have I done? Exodus chapter 15, 1 through 6, Moses breaks out in praise because they just experienced delivery from the Egyptian army.

They come in and they cross the Red Sea, and as a result, they were desperate, and God miraculously saves them, and they're on the other side, and they break out into this spontaneous praise to God. And Moses sings, "I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted, the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and song, he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea, and the choices of the officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

The deeps cover them, they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy." And he goes on and on for the rest of the chapter, this spontaneous praise to God. And there's many records of spontaneous praise when God performs a miracle and delivers them.

But none of these things can be compared to what we see at the cross. That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 12, in view, in light of this mercy, that he spent 11 chapters expositing, describing why and what he did and what he accomplished, he says, "It is a reasonable response, a spiritual act of worship, to give our bodies as a living sacrifice." If a simple deliverance from Pharaoh's army broke out into this spontaneous singing, what response would God's people give when we come to realization what Jesus did for us?

What the Son of God, he didn't just snap his finger and part the Red Sea and then covered over their enemies. He came down and he took on human flesh, was humiliated all of his life, knowing full well that at the end of 33 years of serving them, that they would spit on them, mock them, beat him, and then crucify him.

What kind of praise would God's people give spontaneously when we come to the full realization of what it is that we have in Christ? That's why, this is the reason why Jonathan Edwards says in Religious Affection, "The greatest evidence of someone who has met the Lord is his affection for God." That's the greatest evidence.

It's not how hard you serve the church. It's not how much you study the Bible. It's not how much you give. All of these things are byproducts, but the greatest single evidence that somebody met this Lord in full realization of what it is that he has done for him, and he believes that with all his heart, is affection.

How could you not? How can you not love a God who gave you everything? You know why we love our moms? Not because they're prettier than any other moms. It's not because their breakfast is more tastier than any other person. I mean, we could name all these things, and when we're younger, you ask a young child, like, "Do you love me?" You say, "Why?" And they'll answer you, "Because you made me breakfast," like the kids, right?

"Because I can't buy food," right? They'll give you straight up because that's what they know. But as we get older, we know that those are very minor things compared to the larger things that every mom did for their child. They sacrificed, they served us, and they loved us so much, and we know that our love for our moms is simply a response, a response of realization of what it is that we were given.

How much more when we come to the realization of what it is that we have in Christ? Part of the reason why so many Christians live their lives nonchalant, almost as if they've never met Christ, is one, that may be evidence that they never met Christ. It could be evidence.

They love the church, they love what the church is about, they love the friends at church, they love the mission of the church, but they don't love Christ. And it could be, I'm not saying it is, it could be evidence that they never really met Christ. But another reason could be that we are so entangled and tempted with the things of this world that we so easily just drift, just like the recipients of the letter of Book of Hebrews.

It's not that they didn't believe in Jesus. There's nothing that Paul or the author of Hebrews is saying that they didn't already know. He was reminding them, "Remember when your property was being confiscated and you were fellowship with those who were in prison and you were glad to do it?

Remember at that time when Jesus meant everything to you? What happened? Why are you drifting back to your old way of life? Remember the height from which you had fallen. Repent and do the things that you did at first." What does he mean then? It's not fitting. It is not fitting.

It is not proper for the Son of God to experience what he has experienced. When he says it is fitting, basically what he's saying is that the only way that you and I could have been saved is through what Jesus did. There's no other man. There's no other method.

If there was any other way that we could have been saved, wouldn't God have done that? If God's righteousness could have been imputed upon us just by God saying, "Forget it," wouldn't he have done that? If there was even a 1% chance that he'd throw down a rope and whoever can climb this with his good works, those of you will be saved.

Wouldn't he have done that? The only reason why the Son of God was sacrificed on our behalf, because he was the only fitting way. He was the only way. That's what he means by it is fitting. Not that it is just, not that it is right, but it was the only way.

And not only was it the only way, it was only fitting because that's who he is. The Bible describes God as being holy, holy, holy. And in 1 John 4:8, it says, "God is love." He doesn't just practice holiness. He is holy. He doesn't just practice love. He is love.

We don't say Jesus is love because we see all these actions. We know what love is because of what we see him doing. Do you understand the difference? He is the standard of love because the Bible says he is love. So he tells his disciples before he leaves, "The primary evidence that you are my disciples is what?

If you have love for one another as I have loved you." The primary identity of Jesus that he left with his disciples is his love. But it is built upon the foundation of his holiness. So the only way that God's holiness and his love can be satisfied was at the cross.

And when Jesus says, "It is time for me to go to the cross so that I may glorify you so the Father can glorify the Son." Basically what he meant was to highlight the cross. The word to glorify basically means to take God's nature and put it on a pedestal so all can see.

You know, there is a spotlight right here, right? There is only one right here. We don't have one on you. There is only one right here. It's not because I'm better looking than all of you. I'm better dressed. Because the word of God is going forth here. So we want you to see.

That's why in the stage area we have a lot more lights than we do there. Because we're spotlighting this area because we want you to pay attention to what's happening here. When Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, it was put on a stage to be displayed. And every aspect of the gospel, there's a reason why there's four different gospels.

Because every gospel highlights a different aspect of the cross. Of his kingship, of his humanity, of his servanthood. Every aspect of it. And then after that, all the epistles are describing what other people saw of the cross. Paul describes one aspect. Peter describes another aspect. John describes another aspect.

And over and over again, we see different aspects of the cross. Because God's glory is being displayed at the cross. His very nature of holiness. His very nature of love. If you want to know who God is, study the cross. If you want to know the core nature of our God, know the cross.

Study the cross inside and out. And you will see why God displayed himself at the cross. That's what he means when he says it is fitting. It fits him. That's who he is. Exodus 34, 6, "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth.'" He wasn't just gracious.

He is gracious. He wasn't just kind. He is kind. He's the standard of kindness. Years ago, Dr. Harris came to our church and he gave a bunch of messages that very few people understand. You remember? He wrote a book called "Darkness and the Glory," one of my favorite books.

Again, very difficult to read. But in his chapter, he has one chapter called "The View." And in the chapter, basically he describes the view that Jesus has from the cross. And he's reciting the book of Psalms. And he takes bits and pieces of what clearly is messianic and what Jesus is seeing.

But he doesn't end there. He describes the view from God the Father. And what is he seeing? Seeing his son being crucified. He describes the view of the demons who tried so hard to prevent this and what they are seeing. He describes the view of his disciples of what they're seeing as Jesus is being crucified on the cross.

He's describing the scene from his earthly mother. What does the cross look like from the earthly mother, from Mary's point of view? He describes the view from the Pharisees and the Sadducees who wanted him dead. And they're looking at the cross. And what are they seeing? What is Judah seeing?

And so one by one, he dissects. And he takes passage after passage after passage after passage, highlighting from every angle of the cross what they were looking at. To me, it was mind-blowing. None of it was new, but all of it put together made so much sense. All of it was to put Christ and his crucifixion at the center.

He says he was made perfect, the author of their salvation through suffering. How do you perfect someone who is perfect? Paul doesn't even use the word. He became a sinner. He didn't say that. He said he became sin. He's very careful to describe that Jesus was perfect. So what does he mean here?

God allowed him to suffer to perfect the author of our salvation. The word "perfect," "teleo," basically literally means to bring it to completion, what God intended. What God had planned, what God had ordained, what God had predestined, he was going to allow it to take full fruition. So what he means by perfecting the author of our salvation is what he had planned, what he had promised in Genesis 315, that the son of the woman was going to crush the head of the serpent, that as soon as man fell, God revealed his plan, that my son is coming.

My son is coming. And for thousands of years, God had been preparing. He's been preparing. He's given the law. He would correct them, build the temple, made the sacrifices, sent his prophets, wrote scriptures, and then finally he sent his only begotten son. He said at the fullness of time, fullness of time, in God's ordained time, at the perfect time, he said the son of God was sent.

And God, through his suffering, perfected, completed what he had planned. Jesus came, learned our language, ate our food, made things with his hands. He learned what it felt to be cold, to be hot, to be fatigued, to be betrayed, to be lonely, to be tired, and to be in pain and in agony to the point where he, even though he volunteered to do this, as he was facing the cross, he prays to God, "Is there another way?" He experienced the anxiety of facing death like any other human being.

And that's what he means. He was perfected, the author of our faith. You know the word here, "author" here, archegos? In every translation, it's translated differently. In the NASB, it says he's the author of our faith. In the ESV, he's the founder of our salvation. In the New King James, he's the captain of our salvation.

In the RSV, he's the pioneer of our salvation. And the reason why there's a different word to describe this word "archegos" is because it's one of those words that is so rich in theology that you can't capture it with one word. So you could have written a sentence and described it in all these ways, but they chose what they thought their bent was.

But if we were to take this word "archegos" literally, it basically means to lead, to originate, to be the founder, to be the chief, to be first, to be prince, and to be distinguished, to be the cause. He is the originator, the founder, the leader, the chief, captain, pioneer, first, and the last of our salvation.

In other words, our past, present, and future of our salvation is firmly in his hands. Our justification was made perfect through his suffering. Our sanctification is being made perfect through his suffering. Our glorification will be made perfect through his suffering. This is the reason why Jesus says to his disciples in John 15, 4, "Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me." He didn't say it'll be very hard for you to bear fruit.

He didn't say that. He didn't say it will be very difficult. He didn't say you're not going to like the fruit that you get. He didn't say that. He said you cannot bear any fruit. Whatever fruit that you think you see, while you are not abiding in Christ, it is not a fruit from God.

It is not incomplete fruit. It is not half-rotten fruit. It is not fruit because you cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me because unless you abide in me, you can do nothing. You know what that nothing includes? You know what that nothing includes? Raising your children. You cannot bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit unless we are abiding in Christ.

I don't care how talented you are. I don't care how gifted you are. I don't care how old you are. I don't care how experienced you are. I don't care how wealthy you are. Unless you're going to prove him wrong in this text, he makes it absolutely crystal clear.

You cannot bear fruit because the archegos of our salvation is Jesus Christ, and he was made perfect through the suffering. There is salvation in no other name but Jesus Christ. It is not in your education. It is not in the economy. It is not in the next president. There is no salvation in any other name but Jesus Christ.

And that's why the conclusion of the book of Hebrews, we're many years away from that in Hebrews chapter 12. According to Harry, we're three years away. He was chapter 12. In conclusion of all of this, he says, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of faith." It doesn't say, "Look to Jesus." Some of the translation just says, "Look." It's not just looking.

Looking is just casually like you're just driving, just kind of like, you know. That word that he uses here is like if you're watching the game seven finals, you know, and Kobe has the ball. I know it's outdated, but Kobe has the ball, right? This last time we were relevant.

And clock is ticking down, and you're watching intently to see what's going to happen. And then so when he makes that game-winning shot with the clock running down for the championship, everybody is celebrating at the same time because we all know what just happened. And people are going to be talking about that for years and decades to come.

That's what he's describing in Hebrews chapter 12. Knowing all of that, knowing all of what he described about what he has done, fix your eyes upon Jesus. Not just casually look at him, not just casually skim over the Bible, not just be a casual listener of the Word of God.

You know, you stay up till five in the morning every Saturday and then you kind of, you know, just stumble into church and then get it over with. And so you can hang out with your friends. You're just kind of casual listeners of God's Word. He says, "No," he says, "fix your eyes, commit to fix your eyes the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the humiliation, the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Wow.

I know just like any other human being, there are times we get busy with things and our hearts become callous and we drift. I mean, that's a temptation of living in this world, especially in Orange County. And that's why we're studying the book of Hebrews, to help us, to help us to get on track, help us to get focused.

But man, when we come face to face to the Savior who saved us and the way he saved us and what he did to save us, how can we not break out in spontaneous praise? And you know the difference between praising God and singing songs. You know the difference.

Singing songs, you sing because it's time, because somebody's playing and the lights are on, and the words are up, and it's time for you to sing. Praise on the other hand, you can't help it. You lose yourself. It doesn't matter if other people are singing. You know, "Oh, how come other people aren't raising their hand?" It doesn't matter because you're not even thinking about that because you can't help it.

You can't help looking at Christ and what he has done. I want to share this song. You know, Nathan and Kat, yesterday at their wedding, they sang this song, and I prepared this before this. I'm not copying them. "As a Deer Panthers for the Water." I think I shared with you many times that this is probably my most favorite praise song.

Years ago, I think it was the first or second time I was out in India, and early in the morning, couldn't sleep, I woke up around 4.30, and about 5 o'clock, the mosque nearby in the city of Bangalore, India, they have a call. If you've ever been to the Middle East and other parts of the world, the mosque would just blast.

I think they do this about four or five times a day, basically calling all Muslims, "It's time for you to pray." Five times a day. The first one starts at five in the morning. I woke up in the morning, and I was doing quiet time, and I was being blasted.

It's like, "Oh my God, this is ruining my quiet time." Some of you guys may remember because I posted it up on Facebook. As this was blasting, I heard somebody downstairs playing this song, "As a Deer Panthers for the Water." My favorite hymn, favorite song. It almost felt like God was giving me hope, that in this dark country, I have witnesses here.

I remember, I was just ... It was my favorite song to begin with, but that made it even more precious, because now I have a context whenever I sing this song, "As a Deer Panthers for the Water." I don't know if Nathan chose this or Catherine chose this, and I was thinking yesterday, "Oh, this runs in the family." As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee.

You alone are my heart's desire, and I long to worship thee. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire, and I long to worship thee. You're my friend, you're my brother, even though you are a king. I love you more than any other, so much more than anything.

You alone are my strength, my shield. You alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire, and I long to worship thee. Let's sing this song together, as our worship team comes and leads us. Then as they lead us, as we sing, I invite you to take some time to pray, to make this song our true prayer.