(Pause) If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews 10. We're going to be finishing up our sermon I started last week, verse 32 through 39. Hebrews 10, verse 32 through 39. Reading out of the NASB, "But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of suffering, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.

For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession of a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the persevering of the soul." Let's pray.

Christian loving Father, we thank you. Thank you for the privilege that we have to come and worship you, to enter the throne of grace with confidence. Lord, whatever we have been distracted by, whatever we have brought into this room, whatever we have been entangled with throughout the week, I pray that this time that we may be able to offer it up and give to you a worship that you truly deserve.

May your word have its effect on us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so as you guys know, this is the second part of the text that we're looking at, verse 32 to 39. And again, as you know, it is connected to the previous passage where he gives a warning.

He basically had 10 chapters of calling people back to being anchored in Christ, the supremacy of Christ, how he is greater than everything else, and warning them in the previous text a couple weeks ago that there are serious consequences. This is not just a suggestion, that if a Christian or someone professing to be Christian continues to slide to the point where we no longer recognize him as a follower of Christ, he says whatever we said in the past really doesn't matter because there is a stark warning.

In fact, the most severest warning was found, again, a couple weeks ago, when he said, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But again, the point of that was not simply to end with that. The point of that is for the hearers to have a seriousness of what he's been saying all up to that point, and really to get the genuine Christians to recognize how serious this is and to encourage them to persevere.

And so the exhortation that we're looking at this, started last week, was an exhortation to persevere by looking at the past, it's an exhortation to persevere by looking to the future, and an exhortation to persevere by recognizing who we are in the present. So today we're gonna be looking at the exhortation to persevere by remembering their future.

But just so that we can connect this to the passage that we were looking at last week, he starts by telling them, remember in the beginning, when you suffered many things and even your possessions were being taken, and that you had people around you that was being dragged into prison.

So this was no ordinary just kind of, pointing fingers and people snickering at them, we're talking about their livelihood. Some of them, and they said during the time that this was being written, if Nero was in charge, which most people believe, we're talking about a situation where Christians are being dragged into the Colosseum, being torn apart by animals.

And he reminds them, do you remember that time in the beginning, when you suffered? And we talked about that last week, why would he point that out? If he wants them to persevere, why would he remind them of the intense suffering that they came from in the midst of the intense suffering now?

He said the difference between the beginning and what they were experiencing now is, in the beginning, in the midst of this intense suffering, he said they had joy. Now that they're in this intense suffering, they're experiencing fear. So the distinction between what they were experiencing then and what they were experiencing at the present time is the way that they were responding to this persecution.

And so he doesn't tell them, remember the beginning, how courageous you were. Remember how disciplined you were, remember how organized you were. He doesn't tell him that, he points him back, the reason behind why you had joy in the midst of suffering is because you were anchored in Christ then.

But since then, you've drifted. You have forgotten who Christ is. He's not fresh in your memory. You're relying on your own strength. So now you're facing this persecution. Instead of causing joy, it was causing fear. And really, that's the whole point. That's the whole point of what he's been trying to say all through Hebrews, and he's gonna continue this point all throughout, that if we're not remaining in Christ, it is not the circumstance.

Right now, we're in the middle of a pandemic. We have an election that's coming up. We had an earthquake just this Friday. We had all this crazy fire. We have civil unrest because of race relations. We have missionaries who are being kicked out of the countries that they've been in for decades.

I mean, all kinds of craziness is happening right now. The temptation that you and I can get into when things are stirred up is simply, wait, if we pray, if we're faithful, maybe all this will pass and we'll go back to normal. And maybe we can get back together, enjoy fellowship.

Maybe we can go to restaurants, and maybe the political situation will be better. Maybe the race relationship will be better. And if we pray enough, our circumstances will calm down and things will get better. So persevere, stay the course. But that's not what he says. He doesn't promise that things are gonna get back to normal.

He doesn't promise and say, if you just continue down this path, just wait a little bit longer, that God's gonna deliver you from this and things are gonna be okay. He doesn't say that. There is no promise. Now, there are periods of life where we experience peace and there are periods of life where there is tremendous turmoil, but God doesn't promise that we're gonna live a life of peace.

But what he says is the distinction between joy and fear was not the circumstance. It was their anchoring in Christ. And that's why he says, do not forget. And that's why even David, when he repents of his sins in the book of Psalms, he says, what does he say?

Remember that song that we sing a lot? "Restore unto me," what? "The joy of my salvation." The greatest concern that he had as a result of his sins was he lost the joy of his salvation. So when an individual is not anchored in Christ, any little discomfort, any little thing that can go wrong causes turmoil, a relational issue.

Maybe you didn't get the job that you wanted. Maybe the circumstances isn't exactly what you wanted. Maybe you wanted to go to a vacation and the prices went up. And any little thing can rock your boat. But when we are anchored in Christ, even in the midst of suffering, it's an opportunity to glorify God.

And as crazy as things have been, and I think most of us who are old enough, I mean, I think most people will admit that as crazy as things have been in the past, this is pretty crazy. 2020 is pretty crazy. But along with the craziness, we also have to admit that there have been more opportunities to glorify God in this midst because of this.

More opportunity to share the gospel, more people who are searching, more people who are looking. So when you're not sober, we may just look at this situation as we need to just persevere and get back to normal. And not looking at it as an opportunity to glorify God. That's the difference between an eternal perspective and a temporary perspective.

So last week he says, "Remember, because you drifted away from Christ, "that you forgot even in the midst of suffering "how you rejoice." But today we're gonna be looking at the second part. The exhortation to persevere by remembering. Remembering that this is not all. There is a reward coming if you continue to persevere.

Verse 34b, "Knowing that you have for yourselves "a better possession and a lasting one." Not only is it better, but it is permanent. That whatever is being sacrificed now, whatever we need to endure now, he said, "Compared to what's coming," he says, "it is not worthy to be compared." Verse 35, "Do not throw away your confidence, "which has a great reward.

"For you have need of endurance." He says it again, verse 36, "For you have need of endurance "so that when you have done the will of God, "you may receive what was promised." So he repeats it over and over and over again in this text. That the motivation behind our perseverance is to look to the future.

Not to the future next year or after college or after you set it down or after you bought a house or after your kids are raised. He said, "In the future, when Christ comes." And that's why he says repeatedly over and over again, "The key to our perseverance "is constantly looking to Christ "and comparing what's coming with Christ "with what we have now." But if we're not anchored in Christ, we only see Christ as an avenue to make this situation better.

And if you're living by flesh and not by faith, all we see is what is this gonna produce for the next stage of life? So I don't mind, just like we put money in the bank, we take it out of my pocket, put it in the bank. If I can earn interest, and then I can pull it out when I need it.

But what would cause an individual who has money in his hands, security in his hands, and to be willing to give that up simply because of a promise? That is not tangible. You cannot see, you cannot taste, you cannot touch. Why would an individual who has his security in his hands, all that he desires right in front of you, to be willing to put that away simply because somebody said that there's a better investment if you persevere and endure?

And I'll give you the answer to that. It's pretty simple. It's because you believe. Only an individual who believes the promise of eternal reward would be willing to let this go. There's a reason why, you know, when we're suffering, we're having hard times, and we can't find a job, we cling to God because we have nothing to lose.

You know, we cling to Him. God, help me get a job. Help my children be healthy. Help our marriage, help this. And we cling to God, but as soon as we have something tangible in our hands, we don't really need Him anymore because I have what I need in my hands.

In 2 Corinthians 4, 17 to 18, it says, "For momentary light affliction is producing for us "an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison." You know what's interesting here? It says, one, this, whatever suffering that you're going through, it's momentary, right? Compared to the eternal glory, it's momentary. And then he says, "Light affliction." Now, if you look at that and say, well, maybe it's light, you know, it's pretty relative, right?

They're snickering and pointing fingers and saying, oh, I don't want to be his friend. Is that what he means when he says light? I think you and I all know that the first century Christians, their persecution was very intense and physical. You remember in Corinth, Apostle Paul was very concerned about going in there because he was being beaten and chased out from every city.

And Jesus had to speak to him, not to be fearful because I have people here, but he was heavily persecuted even in Corinth. And when I say heavily persecuted, we're talking about beatings. We're talking about being thrown into jail. Many people, this was already happening during this period, but the way Paul describes it, it says, "Momentary light affliction," and the reason why he's able to call it momentary and light is because he's comparing with the eternal glory beyond what?

Comparison. He's comparing his suffering to the eternal glory that is coming in Christ, and in comparison, it's momentary and it is light. You see why, if we take our eyes off of Christ, I mean, how can you call that light? I mean, when you're suffering, I mean, it feels intense.

And that's why his point is not to simply be courageous, not to simply be organized and to be better disciplined, but it says the Christ who saved you in the past is the Christ that we need to be anchored to that's coming. Again, in Romans 8, 18, "For I consider that the suffering "of this present time are not worthy to be compared "with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Again, in comparison, right?

I mean, who wants to suffer, right? If it's a safer neighborhood, I mean, Irvine is always voted as one of the top cities to live in because it's safe, and the reason why the property value is high, because it's safe. Nobody chooses a house where it's dangerous. Apostle Paul says, "But in comparison, "in comparison with a glory that is to be revealed," he said this momentary suffering is nothing.

And then in Philippians 3, 8, he says, "More than that, "I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing "value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." In comparison, remember Apostle Paul? Remember who he was before he met Christ? Apostle Paul was already famous. He was one of the top scholars in the Jewish community.

People say that he may have already been a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the senators of Israel. He was already a rich man. He already had the Roman citizenship. He was already at the apex of what the Jewish community would have wanted, even just a portion of what Apostle Paul had.

But he says, in all that he has had, all the respect, all the money, all the honor, all the fame that he had, all the political power that he had, he says, "In comparison to the surpassing knowledge "of knowing Jesus Christ, it became," what? Dung. So the moment we take our eyes off of Christ, how can we in our flesh look at what Apostle Paul had and say it was dung?

We don't look at winning the lottery as dung. We don't look at moving into a nice house as dung. We don't look at getting promotions in our work as dung. When these things happen, we say, "God was so good to me. "What a blessing that my business is doing well.

"What a blessing my child was sick and now he is well." Nobody looks at that and says, "It's dung." It is only in comparison to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ. So therefore, once we begin to drift away from him, you cannot in your flesh win over the temptation, especially where you and I live.

I mean, you and I live in an area where if we dream it, we can actually do it. I mean, some of you guys may know, some of you guys may be shocking to you. Majority of the world does not get to look at a magazine in a beautiful place and say, "I'm gonna go there one day." That's ridiculous.

Majority, 99% of the world does not have the opportunity. That's just a fantasy. That's just like me saying, "One day, I'm gonna fly." Because they're struggling to feed their children. They're struggling to get a job. But in where you and I live, we think about career. Am I satisfied in my career?

Even that idea of career, there's a bunch of things that you and I do that people in the world would not understand, garage sales. The idea of having too much, so we gotta sell it for cheap. Something that I bought, upgrading our phones. These are things that if you travel around the majority of the world, it's ridiculous.

But you and I live in this place where we are constantly bombarded. Everything that we see, if you eat it, that's on my bucket list. I'm gonna go there, and we can actually go. It's just a matter of making time. You and I cannot, by our own flesh, win the temptation that you and I are surrounded by.

It is only in comparison to the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ. So the moment you take your eyes off of that, temptation will creep in. It is impossible to win over the temptation when we have drifted away from Christ. That's why he says, "Do not throw away your confidence." Okay, so we're doing inductive Bible study.

And in interpreting a text, what is one of the most important things that you need to do in understanding a text? Starts with a C. Context, right? You guys have your mask on, so I have no idea what you're saying. Context. So context, context, context. So if I say, "The bomb," you don't really know what I mean.

I could mean there was a terrorist that planted a bomb to get out. Or I could mean, "That was awesome." The bomb. So you have to know, is that part of my normal vocabulary? Yeah. Just kidding. Right? So, I mean, again, I didn't grow up using that term, so when you say, "Oh, the bomb," normally that's not how I talk, so you have to understand the context of who I am, how old I am, would I use that, have I used that before?

So all of that. So when we're interpreting the scripture, you can't just take, this is what you think it means, and just add it to that. That's why the digging happens, right? That's why we're asking questions, and you have to understand the context. How did he use that word?

What does he mean by that? So when the author says, "Do not throw away your confidence," the word confidence simply means to be bold. But boldness can mean a lot of things, too, right? It can be bold, being courageous, not having fear. But what is this confidence, this boldness that he's referring to?

Well, the author uses it several times prior to using it here, and so let me look at this so that we can have a better understanding when he says, "Do not throw away your confidence," Hebrews 3:6. But Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and boast of our hope firm until the end.

What does he mean here by confidence? Your courage? What does he mean by here, confidence? He's talking about the blood sacrifice of Christ, that our confidence to come to Christ isn't because you're bold, isn't because you're righteous, isn't because you've done these great things. He says, "No, do not throw away the open door "that Christ has given you, the blood sacrifice, "so you are able to be bold." Again, he says it in Hebrews 4:16.

"Therefore, let us draw near with confidence "the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy "and find grace to help in time of need." So what does he mean by confidence? Because you're older, because you're more experienced, because you study the Bible better, because you have a position in the church.

What does he mean by that? The blood sacrifice of Christ. He said we are able to enter the throne of grace with confidence because Christ covers us in our sins, because we have been atoned for, our sins have been atoned for. So he says we can draw near to the throne, the throne, the king, with confidence.

He's not talking about us. He's not talking about our righteousness. He's talking about the imputed righteousness of Christ. Again, in Hebrews 10, 19 to 20. "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence "to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, "by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us "through the veil that is his flesh." Just in case we didn't know, just in case after he said all of this that anybody was missing the point, he actually describes it here.

Confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. The living way, a new way. So what does he mean here? Do not throw away your confidence. Meaning, do not try to continue on this path by your own strength. You're not gonna be able to make it. If we drift from being anchored in Christ, the Christ who justified us, and the Christ who will glorify us, and if we try to add anything to that, you will end up throwing away your confidence.

The only way that you can have confidence to enter the throne of grace. And that's what he means, to be anchored. And there's a reason why Jesus, in his seven I Am statements in the book of John, his last thing that he tells his disciples to do what? To remain.

He doesn't say go, before he goes, you have to remain. Before you preach the gospel, before you convert unbelievers to Christ, before you engage in this spiritual battle, he says to remain. That's why a Christian who's studying the Bible, but is not praying, is completely impotent. Because it is not our knowledge, it is not our will, it is not our courage.

It is by his might, it is by his strength. And that's why he says, you have to remain. You cannot bear fruit. You cannot engage in this spiritual battle unless we remain, continue in Christ. Unless we are absolutely dependent and anchored in the Christ who saved us, and in the Christ who will glorify us.

That's what he means by confidence. Do not forsake this confidence. You know, the problem is, when we first become Christians, you know, we are so enamored by our justification. And we're humbled, usually. Because we've just recognized that every righteous deed that we did, and we recognize all the sinful things that we have done.

And so we come to church and we're humbled. We wanna know what the Bible says. Every song, every word is impacting us because that's me, that's what he did for me. But for whatever the reason, after two months, a year, 10 years, 30 years, we add to our justification our works.

That I've done this and I've done that, and we compare our righteousness, at least I'm not as bad as them. You know, I know I'm not perfect. And whenever somebody states that, states anything with I know I'm not perfect, you know what's coming, right? I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as them.

So for whatever the reason, we start out with justification, and then we add our own righteousness as we go along. And the longer that we've been a Christian, the longer we compare our righteousness to other people. And we're no longer students. We're mighty warriors by our own strength. And we become absolutely impotent.

That's what he means. There is not a single person in this room who is not in dire need to fight to remain in Christ. You know when you really need to remain? Is when you're young. You know, when you're in high school, or you just graduated high school, and you're college students, man, you really need to remain in Christ.

You are desperately in need of Christ. 'Cause you have freedom now all of a sudden. You don't have your parents looking over your shoulder, and all of a sudden you're able to stay out late, hang out with your friends. And there is great temptation that comes with the freedom.

With all the choices that are in front of you. So if you don't anchor yourself to Christ, you can easily drift. You know who else is in need of desperate, hanging on to Christ? Those of you who just graduated. You just graduated, you're in the workforce, and you have a job, and you're working, and all of a sudden you don't have the accountability that you had before.

The majority of the people that are surrounding you are not like you. In fact, you're kind of weird. And so you're being tempted to drift. So if you're not anchored in Christ during that period, you can easily drift. In fact, the statistics say more than 60, 70%, by the time they graduate, before they become 30, they've already drifted and they're gone.

You know who really needs to really cling on to Christ? Those of you who are dating. Those of you who are dating, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The temptation, the struggle, and even the miscommunication. Your world gets flipped over upside down every time you have a fight.

And if you're not anchored in Christ, it's a very, very difficult period of life that you're not gonna make it through. You have to anchor in Christ, you're desperate. You know who else needs to really cling to Christ? Those of you who are not dating. You know, you're living in coveting and watching, and say, "Why isn't this happening to me?" And then your coveting and your mind starts to drift away, and then after a while, it's like, "Why is God, "why did God put me in this situation?" And your coveting causes you to drift away from Christ.

And if you're not careful and you're not anchored in Christ, this envying and desiring, and all you are thinking about is the next stage of life, and if you're not anchored in Christ, you can easily drift. You know who else needs to really be anchored in Christ? Those of you who are engaged.

And you're looking to the next stage of life, and then those of you who just got married, and all of a sudden you feel like you've arrived, and then you're no longer actively pursuing Christ anymore because you're relaxed, you know? And you're just waiting to have kids and get to the next stage, you're enjoying the things that God has given you, the next thing you know, you've drifted together.

It's much harder to remain sober together. So during that period, if you're not really anchored in Christ, you can easily drift away. You know who else really needs to be anchored in Christ? Brand new children, the parents who have kids. Oh my gosh, I don't even have to explain.

Everybody who's like half falling asleep, or the parents who didn't get enough sleep last night, they're free, what do you do in your free time? And they get angry that you asked them that. Right? Free time, what is that? So if you're not anchored in Christ during that period, you're not even doing anything bad.

You're just trying to feed them and take care of them and make sure they're not sick and not getting hurt. And you're literally giving your life for another human being, and you're huffing and puffing just to make it to the next week. If you're not anchored in Christ, you do that for a year, two years, five years, 10 years, next thing you know, you don't even remember what you were like before you had kids.

But you know who really needs to be anchored in Christ? You know, parents who have children who are beginning to grow up and move out. You know, as we hit our 50s and 60s, we kind of drift into this oblivion, thinking like, oh, hard life is behind us, and we can just kind of drift and just kind of coast along, you know, waiting for retirement to happen, because retirement is close.

And if we're not careful, we can just kind of coast along and drift. And if we're not really anchored in Christ, we're just kind of waiting for the end to happen, we just drift along. But there is a period when you don't need to worry so much, is when we die.

That is the only period in life where you don't have to be so worried about being anchored. The temptation that we have is we think, and I can tell you right now that every stage, no matter what stage you're in right now, that you probably agree with everything that I said.

Most of you are sitting here probably thinking, during that stage, like, yeah, it is tough. It is tough being married. It is tough having a kid. It is tough going to college. I didn't realize the temptation that's there. Man, it's tough graduating. And all of you, whatever stage in life that you're in, you agree that there is pressure to constantly drift.

But the temptation is to think that if we change the circumstance, if we get to the next stage, if we do this and do that, that maybe it'll become easier. Every stage of life, there's a different challenge waiting for you. Every stage of your life until we meet Christ.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 5, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. "Your adversary, the devil, "prows around like a roaring lion, "seeking someone to devour." He's never at rest. The spiritual battle is not just when we're young, is not when we're single, is not when we get married, is not when we have kids.

Until the day we die, we are in this spiritual battle. And that's why the moment that we are not anchored in Christ, we will drift. That's why he says again, 35, "For you have need of endurance." And then he says again, verse 36, "For you have need of endurance." Now, whenever you see anything in repetition in the Bible, inductive Bible study, what does that mean?

Emphasis, right? So if Jesus has something really important to say, what does he say? Truly, truly, I say to you, if Peter's about to put his foot in his mouth, or maybe after he put his foot in his mouth, Jesus say, "Simon, Simon!" In other words, pay attention, right?

If I wanted people to pay attention, you'll hear my voice go up. I don't do that deliberately. That's just the way I talk. I talk like that even off the pulpit. If I get excited, it tends to go up. If I really get excited, sometimes you'll see me banging on the pulpit.

I don't do that deliberately. It's not on my notes, bang here. (congregation laughing) It just happens, I get excited. Or if I plan it, I might put it up on the screen and say, "This is important, "you need to pay attention to this." Well, obviously, the authors of the Bible, the way they communicated is they did it by repetition.

That's why we know that the holiness of God is extremely important, because it's repeated three times, twice. In Revelation, the book of Isaiah, he is holy, holy, holy. I say all of this because he says in repetition, "You have need of endurance." That's really how he's saying this, 'cause he repeats it twice, back to back.

It is not, "You should endure." He tried to endure. That's not what he's saying. You have to endure. One of the key elements of our assurance of salvation is perseverance. You must persevere, because one of the true evidences of our saving faith is perseverance of our faith. Now, let me tell you why he says that, because the Bible describes a non-Christian becoming a Christian of his eyes being opened to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And you can never go blind again. Once you've seen it, once you've genuinely seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can't ignore that anymore, even when you are struggling. Even if you've drifted for a period. You can't just close your eyes and say, "I'm gonna pretend like I've never seen that." You can't reclose your eyes.

Just like if you've tasted something really good, and you say, "Oh, I'm gonna act like I never." No, what you've tasted, what you've experienced, you can't reverse that. And that's what he means by perseverance of the saints. If there was genuine faith, you may drift, you may struggle, but you can never shut that door again.

And that's why he says, you have to persevere. You have to persevere, because that's not who you are. God had made you a creature of light. And if you drift into darkness, you will sense that you do not belong. And that's why he says, we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, that's not us.

God fundamentally changed our nature. We feel alive in the light. We feel free in righteousness. God had changed the affections of our heart, so that what we long for is Christ. And so we may be temporarily stumbled, we may be temporarily tempted, but a true child of Christ will endure.

And he says, "Yet in a very little while, "he who is coming will come and will not delay." Did you notice the repetition in that too? He says three times, he who is coming will come and he will not delay. So again, what does it mean when he says it in repetition?

Let me read it the way that we should read it, okay? For you need to endure, you need to endure, he is coming, he is coming, he is coming. That's how it was meant to be read. He said we need to endure because this is momentary. Whatever temptation, whatever struggles, whatever period of life that you are in, it is temporary, momentary, and it is light in comparison to the glory that is coming in Christ.

So if you've forgotten about that, if that's a distant memory, that's the reason why we're struggling. That's why our sanctification is so hard, because we want something and then we come to church and the pastor keeps telling you, "You can't have it." And that's all sanctification is, when you've taken your eyes off the prize.

Here's a bunch of nice things that you want, you can't have it. And then you try to forget about it during the week and then you come and you say, "You can't have it again." And all churches, a constant reminder of the things that you love, things that you want, and then me telling you, "You can't have it, "you can't have it." If that's what sanctification is, you're not gonna make it.

And that's why he says to remember the God who justified us. And remember the glory that's coming in this God. In a little while. How can you even say a little while? It's been 2,000 years. That preaches well, but what does that mean after 2,000 years? Well, time is really relative, right?

If I say a year to a 50, 60 year old, the year's like, "Oh, that's just around the corner." You tell that to a five year old, a year! That's 20% of my life. Let me illustrate it this way. Imagine if you're on a cruise. I don't know if any of you have been on a cruise.

You're on a cruise and they drop you off at a nice, beautiful island. You go on and you're supposed to enjoy yourselves. You're supposed to come back by four o'clock because the ship's gonna take off. And once they take off, they're not gonna be able to come back. There's not some train that you can just drive and meet up with.

Once they're gone, they're gone. Once they're gone, they're gone. They told you to come at four. You ventured out 'cause you wanted to see the hills, but then you got a flat. And you know they're gonna leave at four. And there's no other ride to get back, and so you put on the backpack, you put on your running shoes, and you try to run as fast as you could.

You're looking at your time, and you're running and running and running. And the ship's about to go. Four o'clock hits and you're not there. They're going through the list and you're not there. And so they're waiting and waiting and waiting. And then 20 minutes, 30 minutes go by, and they wait as long as they could.

And at about five o'clock, they say, "You know what? "We've waited." And so they shut the thing and then they go. And so for the people who are running to get to the boat, they've done everything that they could, but they left too early. They missed it. But the ones who are sitting in the boat, it's like, "Oh my gosh, what is wrong with this boat?

"They said four o'clock, but now it's five o'clock. "They didn't keep their promise. "I told my friends that I was gonna meet them "at the other side, but they left at five." So to one group, they didn't keep their promise and they didn't leave on time. And then the other group saying they left too early.

See, 2 Peter 3.9, it says, "The Lord is not slow about his promise, "as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, "not wishing for any to perish, "but for all to come to repentance." Do you know why this was written? First century. About 30 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, the early church, early people say, "Where is he?" Do you know why he was probably saying that?

If you know the context of the letter, 1 Peter, he's writing during a period of Nero's intense persecution. So they wanted relief. So they're saying, "Why isn't he coming?" I mean, our friends are being dragged in the Colosseum, being torn apart by lions. Why isn't he coming? He said he's going to come, he's not going to delay.

Where is he? They were saying that in the first century. It's been 2,000 years since. But the reason why he hasn't come yet is because of me, is because of you. 'Cause he was holding up the boat until we got in. So when he says he's not going to delay, he's not going to delay any longer than he needs to until the full number of his elect come in.

And he will not delay any more than until everyone whose name is written in the book of life comes in to the boat. But let's see it from another perspective. No matter how long we've waited, there's nobody in human history that waited more than 100 years. Nobody. Unless you were born and you got saved at three months old and then you lived to 100.

Even if we did wait eagerly, I got saved 37 years ago and I've been waiting 37 years. I don't know how many more years to go, but at some point I won't be here. My waiting will end. So no human being has really waited 2,000 years. At best, maybe one, I don't know of any, possibly 100.

But when he says he will not delay, this is not an exaggeration. But he says we are not of those who shrink back in our disorder. That's not who we are. If the Holy Spirit is in you, you will not feel joy outside of Christ. If you are a Christian, even in the midst of pursuing the world, there will be an emptiness in your heart, even if you don't recognize it.

Something is off. You may not be able to pinpoint it, but something is off. Even as you're pursuing, even as you make money, even as your business is thriving, something is off. Because God created us to be creatures of light. You may stumble in the darkness. You may find a little bit of life in the darkness, but there is no true light.

And that's why he doesn't say, "Hey, prove yourself to be in the light." He said, "No, we are not. "We are not of those who shrink back." So let me conclude with this. In 1 John 3, 1 through 3, he says, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us." The word see is translated in other parts of the Bible as translations behold.

It wasn't just meant to be just kind of casually look. It says, "Behold how great a love "the Father has bestowed on us." In other words, think carefully, meditate carefully. If you do not see the great gift of salvation that we have in Christ, behold what love the Father has bestowed on us that we would be called the children of God.

You know your sins. Even before you came in, we're all nicely dressed. Our hair's combed nice, right? Most of us. And we were presenting our best, but you know your sins. You know the lust in your heart. You know the bitterness. You know the hatred. You know how you've drifted.

When we recognize who he is, and we look carefully of what he calls us, that's why he says, "Behold, behold, "how great a love the Father has bestowed on us "that we would be called the children of God, "and such we are." Anchor in Christ, and anchor in Christ to come.

For this reason, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. If you consider carefully, behold what manner of love and who we are in Christ, that what we are experiencing now is only temporary and is only partial, and whatever we are beholding, the true ramification of this is coming in Christ.

We know that when he appears, he will be like him. We will be like him because we will see him just as he is, and everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. So as we are wrestling, and I know there's every single one of us, no matter what stage in life you are, we are all wrestling.

The temptation to drift is tremendous. And if we don't actively, purposefully, deliberately, willfully anchor ourselves in Christ, we will drift. So behold what manner of love that is given to us, that we are called the children of God, and those who fix their eyes upon him will purify himself and will endure.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your continued blessing. I pray especially for my brothers and sisters who are drifting now, whether here or whether online and at home, and we caught ourselves, our hearts being hardened, and the things that are eternal just doesn't seem to matter as much as it used to.

Help us, Lord God, that your word would strengthen us. The Holy Spirit that you've deposited in us that is groaning on our behalf, that we may be united with you for eternity. Help us, Lord God, to groan along with the Holy Spirit. Help us, Lord God, to be desperate and to seek you with all our heart.

Help us, Lord, that our confidence is in what you have done and not in our own righteousness, that we would not forsake our confidence. Especially, especially now, Father, as the world becomes darker and more and more lost every single week, I pray, Father God, that your spirit would be mightier, that your word would be more powerful, and that your church would do what you called us to do, to be a light in this dark world.

So for that end, we pray for your blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.