(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - All right, good morning, Church family.
Happy Lord's Day. It is always a joy for us to gather together to worship our awesome God. So let us begin by singing the song, "I Stand Amazed." (soft music) ♪ I stand amazed in the presence ♪ ♪ Of Jesus the Nazarene ♪ ♪ And wonder how he could love me ♪ ♪ A sinner condemned unquenched ♪ ♪ I stand amazed in the presence ♪ ♪ Of Jesus the Nazarene ♪ ♪ And wonder how he could love me ♪ ♪ A sinner condemned unclaimed ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ - It's at my sins.
♪ It's at my sins and my sorrows ♪ ♪ He made them His very own ♪ ♪ He bore the burden to Calvary ♪ ♪ And suffered and died alone ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪ And with the ransomed in glory ♪ ♪ His face I last shall see ♪ ♪ Will be my joy through the ages ♪ ♪ To sing of His love for me ♪ ♪ How wonderful, how marvelous ♪ ♪ How wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪ Sing it ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ - All right, good morning.
Welcome to Berean Community Church. We have a few announcements before we get started, but we're gonna ask Pastor Peter Chung is gonna come and give the announcement about VBS. - Hi, good morning. You guys know the last couple years, COVID messed up a lot of different plans, but hopefully this summer, we're gonna be holding just a full VBS like we have done in previous years.
And so we've locked in the dates for July 11th to the 15th, and we're expecting probably about 120 plus kids. So what we actually need, as it's gonna be a very interactive one, just a high energy one, we're gonna need a lot of people to volunteer. And so, and especially this is like a call for the parents, not to just drop off your kids and go on a date, but to really spend that week also just helping and participating.
So we're taking registration for volunteers. The more, the merrier. If our whole church volunteers, that's great. We just have to worry about parking, but there's no cap. And so if you can sign up on this link, there's all kinds of different jobs and things that you can do. So please do fill that out.
For the registration of the VBS itself and the children, the details are still rolling out. The schedule is still being put together. So that we're gonna push out at a later time, but this is just kind of a save the date. And this is a request for you guys to sign up and volunteer.
This is open to members only from college age and up. So if you are a member, please do that and then know that there will be safety training involved. And we will be meeting about once a month leading up to the VBS just for preparation and trying to make sure everything is coordinated well and smoothly.
So we're gonna not open up the signups for too long. So please do that sooner than later. All right, thank you. - Okay, we also have an announcement from our sister's ministry. So our sister, Jen Choi, is gonna come and give the announcement. - Hi, everyone, I'm Jen. I'm making an announcement for the women's ministry.
We would like to invite all women, college age and above, to join us for another round of tea time. Our sisters of various life stages will come together for a time of intentional fellowship. Team time will be on Saturday, April 30th from 9.30 in the morning till noon. And at that time, sisters will be assigned to smaller groups and meet at designated homes over tea and snacks.
We'd love for you all to join, as this is a great opportunity to get to know other sisters at church and to hopefully build relationships that will go beyond just that date. You can go to the Marine Facebook pages or the app to sign up, and the deadline for sign-ups is Saturday, April 16th, and it will take place on Saturday, April 30th.
And if you have questions, please contact Grace Kim. Thank you. - All right, so we have a few more announcements before we get started. Starting from today, we have the college study hall. And so whenever after church, and the church will be open for that in the cafe side, if you have food and snacks that you want to encourage your college students with so that they can focus and actually study, you can just bring it.
If you haven't signed up, you can sign up, or you can just bring it and drop it off just to encourage them. So that'll be from today till Tuesday. And then next Sunday, we have a new visitors welcome lunch. So if you are visiting the church and you want to find out more about the church, maybe meet some of the leaders in the church and just kind of ask some questions, this would be a great time for you to come and check the church out that way.
That's happening at 1.30 next Sunday. So please sign up, go to the welcome table and let them know or respond to the email that you might have gotten so that they can make sure that that's prepared. The other thing is we've been mentioning about the devotional seminars that we're having next week at 2 p.m.
The first one, the personal devotion, being led by Elder Phillip, is a one-day course just to teach you about how to do personal devotions. And then family worship devotion by Elder Joe. Both of them are taking place at 2 p.m. I think the personal devotion is going to be taking place at 2 p.m.
up in the seeds room. Seeds, sprouts. Seeds upstairs, sprouts downstairs. So seeds room upstairs. And then the Elder Joe, he's going to be in the youth group room on the other side. So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up for that. And then we have evangelism outings that's going to be taking place.
We'll give more specific instructions as it comes, but they're going to be doing it more frequently so that they can prepare for the Easter that's coming up and so that we can really maximize the opportunity that we have each Easter that we do have. And so, again, the sign-ups for that and just to let them know that you're coming.
There are three places that they're going to be going to, Irvine Spectrum, UTI--oh, not UTI, UTC. UTI is something different--Source at Buena Park. Okay? You know what I meant. So those three places, so if you are able to sign up for that, please sign up for that as well.
Erase that from your mind, okay? We're going to give one more push for the Ukraine special offering we took last week. We had a lot of people just contacting us that they missed it and they want to help. And some people just gave during the weekday, but we want to give you one more opportunity to do that, and every part of the offering that you'll be giving will be going directly to the missionaries and the local--the Baptist local churches there who are already heavily involved in helping people evacuate, those who have been displaced, to find homes for them and provide food and care, health care, all that stuff that's going through specifically through the local church.
So the finances, I think, are being used well for that purpose, so if you wish to give, this is a great opportunity to do that. So we'll pray for the offering. We'll give you a minute to give the offering, but again, if you are giving it specific for Ukraine, make sure that you make note of that, saying that this is for Ukraine so it will be set aside.
And sometime this week, we will be handing the offering over. Okay? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your continued grace with all the various things that are happening at church. Lord God, help us to do it in a manner that truly is worshipful, that we will bear fruit as we abide in you.
We pray specifically for what's going on in Ukraine. I pray that you would raise up men and women, your children, Lord God, in that place, to be a greater witness, that through these trials, Lord God, that your love, your hope, the gospel, Lord God, will be highlighted, and more and more people will come to find their security and refuge in you.
And so we pray that you would ignite the believers, strengthen them, and that as opportunity has arisen, Lord God, for the church to step up, that this would truly be an opportunity that you've created that we can honor and glorify you. May the offering that we give multiply 30, 60, 100-fold for the sake of your kingdom.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Church family, would you please stand with us as we continue our worship? ♪ ♪ ♪ Who has held the oceans at His hands? ♪ ♪ Who has numbered every great estate? ♪ ♪ And kings and nations tremble at His voice?
♪ ♪ All creation rises to rejoice. ♪ ♪ ♪ Who has given? ♪ Who has given counsel to the Lord? ♪ ♪ Who can question any of His words? ♪ ♪ Who can teach the one who knows all things? ♪ ♪ Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds? ♪ ♪ Behold our God seated on His throne.
♪ ♪ Come, let us adore Him. ♪ ♪ Behold our King. ♪ ♪ Nothing can compare. ♪ ♪ Come, let us adore Him. ♪ ♪ ♪ Who has spelled? ♪ Who has spelled the nails upon His hand? ♪ ♪ Bearing all the guilt of sinful man? ♪ ♪ God eternal, humble to the grave.
♪ ♪ Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign. ♪ ♪ God eternal, humble to the grave. ♪ ♪ Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign. ♪ ♪ Behold our God seated on His throne. ♪ ♪ Come, let us adore Him. ♪ ♪ Behold our King. ♪ ♪ Nothing can compare. ♪ ♪ Come, let us adore Him.
♪ ♪ ♪ You will reign forever. You will reign forever. You will reign forever. You will reign forever. Our God is seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our God is seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him.
Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. Should nothing of our efforts stand, no legacy survive. Unless the Lord does raise the house in vain, its builders strive. To you who boasts tomorrow's gain, tell me, what is your lie? A mist that vanishes at dawn, all glory be to Christ.
All glory be to Christ our King. All glory be to Christ. His rule and reign will ever sing. All glory be to Christ. His will be done, His kingdom come on earth as is above. Who is Himself our daily bread? Praise Him, the Lord of love. When many wonders satisfy, well-adversity without price, we'll take the cup of kindness yet.
All glory be to Christ. All glory be to Christ our King. All glory be to Christ. His rule and reign will ever sing. All glory be to Christ. On the day, the great I am, the faithful and the true, the Lamb who was born, sinners slain, is making all things new.
Behold our God. Behold our God shall ever last, and be our steadfast light. And we shall ever be, we will be. All glory be to Christ. All glory be to Christ our King. All glory be to Christ. His rule and reign will ever sing. All glory be to Christ.
All glory be to Christ our King. All glory be to Christ. His rule and reign will ever sing. All glory be to Christ. Amen. And may they be seated. All right, we are finally at the end of the book of Hebrews. So today is the last sermon. We've been on it actually exactly three years.
We started three years ago, March 10th. So we're actually almost exactly three years it took us to go through Hebrews. And there was a stretch, I think, in the middle when we were-- because of the pandemic, we went through the I am statements of Christ. But outside of that, I'm almost reluctant to leave.
One of the benefits of teaching through the Bible is that I benefit from it. I remember in the beginning of ministry, when I was a youth pastor and I was a college and EM pastor, I was just preaching just kind of topically, what does the church need? And I would choose that.
And I would preach like that for three, four, five years. And at the end of it, I didn't feel like I knew the Bible any more than I did after five, six years of it, because I just knew the topic of discipleship, about prayer, about evangelism. And so there's like 15, 16 different topics.
And you give different versions of that. But then I remember very specifically, I decided to just preach just verse by verse, starting from John and then Philippians. And then I would just make it through the New Testament. And I remember specifically, after finishing Philippians, it's like, oh, even though I was an undergrad Bible major and I went to seminary, I learned more from studying to teach it that way than I did in all the years that I was in seminary.
And then so the benefit, ultimately, I get the first benefit, because I'm able to dig through the scripture and examine it better than before. So Hebrews, I've gone through several times. But I feel like I probably gleaned more than you did from the study. So I'm almost reluctant to leave it.
But I do have other passages that I do want to go into. I'm still not sure exactly where. But I'll let you know as we get closer. After today, we're going to probably take about a month of various different topics that we want to cover. And after Easter, I'll jump into the new area of what we're going to study.
But I want to read with you, as we wrap up the study, just to kind of give, again, an overview. And it'll be very similar to the introduction that I gave three years ago. Hebrews chapter 10, 32 to 34, it says, "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 a seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better position and a lasting one." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that your word would convict us, lead us, transform us into the very thing that you desire us to be.
We thank you, Father, for your living word that judges the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, gives us great encouragement. And we pray, Father God, that as we wrap up the study in the book of Hebrews, that all that we have learned, Lord God, would transform us, build us up, that we may be sanctified according to the purpose and will of your Son.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, last week we had our Salt and Pepper, more Salt and Pepper fellowship. And so I think we were expecting maybe about 30 people in the church. To our surprise, we actually have close to 70, over 50 at our church. We had about 56, 57.
Then we had at least a dozen who were in that category but wasn't able to come. And so to our surprise, we actually have a lot more people than we thought that are over 50. We just scatter, so we normally don't see. Typically, when people come to our church, it's like, yeah, it's all college students.
That's what people tend to see. But when we had that fellowship, even I was surprised that we have that many people at our church that are over 50. One of the interesting thing was, because we have older people at church, that our testimonies and our background is very diverse.
We have people who've lived in different continents. They were playing one of the games of what's unique that are at our table. And we had actually two cancer survivors at our table, so we thought that would be unique enough. And then when we presented, we found that we had three other cancer survivors.
And so the stories that were coming out of the different tables, these are from all walks of life, all different backgrounds. One of the benefits of getting older is you have the ability to be able to see. When you're younger, there are certain things that seem so important, just seems trivial now as we get older.
Like when we're young, we're so consumed with what other people think of us. And the older we get, we just don't care. You know what I mean? I mean, it's not that we don't care at all, but it's just not as important as it was when it was younger.
And then as we get older, there are certain things that become a lot more important, like our family, our health, things that have more value long term. That's one of the benefits of getting older. But one of the things that we have to be careful as we get older is that the things that we started with sometimes become just routine.
And that specifically happens with our faith. We start out with a-- just like the recipients of this letter, it says, remember. Remember because they forgot. That's why he's telling them to remember. Remember your former days. Remember when you first met Christ, how exciting church was, how exciting fellowship was, singing new songs, studying the Bible.
Every part of your faith is like, wow, this is a privilege. But for some reason, as time passes by, everything about our faith becomes a mandate. Like I have to do this, and I don't want to do this. And fellowship becomes a burden because you've been burned in the past.
And if we're not careful, we can just go through the motion. And you do that for a while. After a while, just like the Bible says, you have a form of godliness, but there is no power. You've just become a very religious Christian. But there's no power. You don't see any fruit.
No one has ever come to Christ because of your sharing. Everybody says, oh, you go to church. You're a very religious person. But there's no power behind that because it's just a formality. There's no real inner change or inner joy that's happening. In fact, Jesus warns about this in the parable of the seeds.
In Matthew chapter 13, 19 to 22, Jesus says, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart." This is the one in whom seed was sown besides the road. Those are people who are typically not in the church.
They hear the word, I don't understand, or I don't believe it, and they don't make it the way into the church. These are people who we're trying to invite to our services, to get to hear the gospel. They may be our co-workers or family members. But the word of God has no effect on them.
The second seed, it says in verse 20, "The one whom seed was sown on the rocky places," this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. There seems to be immediate response. Yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary when affliction or persecution arises because of the word.
Immediately, he falls away. You probably know of some people who at one point in their life were excited for God. But as soon as they began to realize the consequence of following Christ, as long as they only saw the benefit, it was fine. But as soon as their faith started to get tested, they started drifting away, and they disappeared.
So I'm sure every one of us knows somebody in our life that came and was excited for a period, and they disappeared. But those people are not in the church either. Because eventually, they leave. It's the third group that we constantly struggle with. It says in verse 22, "And the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns," this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Now, the third soil are people who are still in the church. Third soil are people who don't pack up their bags and leave. Because it looks like they're bearing fruit. In every way, they may act like a Christian. But it says the word of God is being choked in their life because of the worries of this world and deceitfulness of riches.
And so on Sunday, they are pursuing Christ. But Monday through Saturday, they're pursuing the world. So only time where there's any conversations about Christ, it happens at church or it happens at Bible study. But it doesn't happen in any other context. Because the word of God is being choked in their life.
And that's the concern that we have in our generation. I think that the authors of Hebrew, the author of Hebrew, is addressing that particular issue. Because these people are not specifically shaking their hands at God and say, you know what? I'm going to be apostate. I'm going to walk away from God.
I don't believe this anymore. He's not addressing those people. He's not addressing people who have physically left the church. He's not addressing people who have made it very clear where that line is. He's addressing people who are in the church and is trying to have the benefit of the both worlds.
How can I retain my salvation and still pursue the world? That's what he's addressing. Because these people are starting to gradually drift back into their old life. There is no specific doctrine that they were guilty of rejecting. It was just they're just drifting back into their old life. In fact, that's the language that's repeated over and over again.
In Hebrew chapter 2-1, for this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have here so that we do not drift away from it. And I mentioned this over and over again. Drifting is something that happens when you do nothing. You get on a boat, say you want to drift, what do you do?
You don't need to paddle. Just get in there and just sit. Enjoy life. Look at the sunset. Play with the water. Go fishing. You just start drifting. If you're not anchored, if you're not deliberately anchored because you're concerned about drifting, you're going to just drift. And that's why he says to pay much close attention to the things that you have heard.
I know you guys are distracted by that bird. I want to read a passage for you. In Psalm-- oh, I lost my-- OK, I'm not going to look it up now. Anyway, Psalm, I think it's chapter 50, where it says the birds and all the creatures are mine. So that's God's creature also.
And he found this home, so he wanted to join us for worship. So let him chirp, and we'll pretend like we're out in the woods, enjoying God's creation. Actually, he's been here all week. He's got to be hungry. Anyway, let's get back to the Word, all right? I'm more distracted than you are.
So we do not drift away. And that's the temptation that all of us are in. You start out with a bang, and then every year that goes by, we just slowly drift. And then we wake up one day not recognizing even our own selves. That person I was when I was in my 20s or 30s is I'm just not the same person.
And that didn't happen overnight. It's just years and years of just neglecting and allowing this thing to keep drifting. And then saying, you know what, it just happens. That's what happens. And then so we have this attitude of, you know, yeah, that happens. And in college, yeah, that's where all the passion is with college students or younger.
But nobody in their 30s does that. Nobody in their 40s or 50s does that. And so we kind of think that passionate pursuit of Christ is something you do when you're young. But when you're old, you just kind of sit through, and we just make it to the end.
And that's what he's warning us about not drifting. Hebrews 2.3 is how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? I mean, think about it. Think about what we sing, what we study. God who created the universe, the universe, for whatever the reason, had pity on us, and sent his only begotten son in order that we can have eternity with him, that we can call him our Abba Father.
So the hope that we have in the gospel is one day when all this passes, which is 100% guaranteed, Christian or non-Christian, when this passes, that we will have eternity with him in full glory. That's the promise of the gospel. And to profess that, sing about that, memorize that, read about it, and then to simply neglect it.
Just let it be. Work. You're not doing crazy things. You're just doing what everybody else in this world does, going to work, paying your bills, raising children. And then in the meanwhile, just living like the rest of the world, we're just neglecting. We're not passionately pursuing anymore. That's something that was in the past.
And that's what he's addressing, not to neglect. Hebrews chapter 3, 7, it says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, as when they provoked me, as in the day of the trial in the wilderness." Today. In other words, it's the kindness of God that leads you to salvation, leads you to repentance.
It's not God's knocking on the door and saying, oh, not today. And then, OK, then I will knock tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the next day, I'll knock next day. So no, today, it's the kindness of God. If the word of God comes and convicts you, and you say, not today, and most people who at least profess to believe God never says no to God.
They just say, not now. Now is not the time to get too serious. Now is not the time to really devote my time, because I just got a new job. I just got married. I just had kids. I'm trying to get into this career. I have all these things.
Not now. I will. So we think that we're obeying, but he says, if you do not obey today, he says, you deliberately harden your heart. So the next time that maybe there's a knocking on the door, you don't even hear the knocking anymore, because your hearts have become so hardened, you don't feel anything anymore.
It's just a lot of information getting into your head, but it's never enough to move you, because our hearts have become hardened. So when you are here, hearing the word of God week after week after week, when you're participating in Bible study, and you're not responding to that every week, your heart is becoming harder and harder and harder.
And that's what he's trying to address, not to neglect our salvation. Hebrews chapter 13, 312, "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God." I mean, that sounds pretty harsh for just being lukewarm, just neglecting.
An evil and unbelieving heart. I mean, from our perspective, it just seems like, well, that just happens. We just drift. We need to work harder. But from God's perspective, he says, it's unbelief, and it's evil. I mean, think of it from his perspective. He gave his only begotten son.
What's the greatest gift that you've ever given anybody? I mean, think about it, whatever that may be, if you gave that to somebody, and they just kind of received it, it's like, oh, thanks, and they just kind of threw it on the couch. They didn't realize the gift that you've given.
They don't realize the sacrifice that you made so that they can have that, and it's like, okay, thanks, you threw it on the couch. He said, it's an unbelieving, evil heart to profess this and then live your life like you don't even believe it. You profess it with your mouth, but by your life, it demonstrates your unbelief.
So from God's perspective, I mean, it makes perfect sense that he would say this. Perseverance of the saints is one of the greatest indicators of genuine faith. Do we persevere? You know, everybody has, again, even the three soils that are mentioned, there's some response. One, they hear it, and it's okay, I don't want this.
But the second one, they hear it, and they have immediate response, but they don't persevere. And the third one, they seem like they're bearing fruit, but then as soon as the worries and concerns and, you know, you start coveting what other people have, you know, all of a sudden, those concerns start to choke it away, and then there's certain parts of the Bible that you don't want to hear because you've hardened your heart toward that.
And he says, ultimately, God will test through various trials, through various stages in life, that is, Jesus is really better than that. You know, Hebrews chapter 6, 4 through 8, you know, a lot of people read this passage and misunderstand because they read it just in this context, but read what it says.
Hebrews chapter 4, it says, chapter 6, verse 4 through 8, it says, "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come." I mean, a lot of people read this passage and say, "Well, this must be a Christian who loses his salvation," because it sounds like a Christian.
Let me make this very clear. A genuine Christian can never lose his salvation, okay? The reason why, first of all, because you didn't earn it, so you can't lose it. God gave it to us sovereignly, okay? Then what does he mean here if that's the case? Look at verse 6.
"And then have fallen away. It is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame," right? What does it mean? Does this mean if he's referring to a Christian who loses his salvation, does this mean that God gives you one chance and you had that chance?
And because you've fallen away, that God will not accept your repentance? Is that what this passage means? If this means a Christian loses his salvation, once you backslide, you're done. Clearly, that's not what this means. The clear explanation is in verse 7. "For the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God.
But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." So what he's referring to are people who are in the church, have benefited from the Word, where the Holy Spirit is working within the church. He has the Word.
So in every way, he's been exposed to everything that a genuine believer needs to be saved, and yet he bears no fruit. He's an individual who willfully rejects the things of God, willfully. So he's not talking about somebody who wants to follow Christ and he didn't do well and he backs it for a period that he can't repent.
Clearly, that contradicts everything that we know in the Bible. What he's referring to are individuals who are in the church, the third soil people who've been in the church, who are going through the motion, have the form of godliness, but there's no power. Who have received every blessing that you could.
You're around Christians, you're around the Word of God, you're around missions, fellowship, and then you choose to pursue after the Word. There's no other repentance because the only way of repentance is Christ, and so by your action, you reject Christ. You receive Christ with your mouth, but by your life, you pursue the World.
That's what he means by that. And that's why he spends the whole book of Hebrews reminding them that Jesus is better than everything that you're tempted by. And so that's the question that we need to be asking ourselves, "Is Jesus really better?" Because you couldn't love the church without loving Jesus.
You couldn't love other Christians without loving Jesus. You couldn't love the leadership without loving Jesus. You can do missions without loving Jesus. You can become a pastor without loving Jesus. As crazy as that sounds, you can be a missionary without loving Jesus. He says, "The remedy for a Christian adulterous life is to have the best marriage that he can have." You know, what prevents me, right, and I think every single one of us is capable of adultery because we're all tempted.
But what prevents us, what was the greatest guarantee that prevents someone from adultery is to have the best marriage that he can have, to love your wife, to love your husband, so that everything else, everybody else looks like rubbish, right, at least on the surface, right? And I don't think this is any secret.
I think the best decision I've ever made in my life outside of following Christ is marrying Esther, right? I mean, it wasn't like perfect from the beginning. I mean, God allowed us to go through this stuff and we were able to be where we're at now, you know. But I don't get tempted with that.
Again, I'm... You know, you're supposed to knock on wood on this, right? Because I can't imagine anybody better than her, right? I can't imagine that. So why would I forsake that, what I have, the gift that God has given me through my wife, to play around because of the temporary temptation?
And that's why he's going back. He said, "Maybe you've forgotten what you have in Christ. Maybe you've forgotten your first love. You've forgotten what it was like when you first met Christ. You forgot who he is." And that's why he spends the whole letter going over Jesus. It's not simply to, "I want to make sure that you understand all Christology, that if somebody asks you about the New Covenant and somebody asks you about the, you know, Melchizedek, that you can say, 'I can answer these questions.'" No, every part of what he's been saying is to remind them of the preciousness of Christ.
So that whatever it is tempting them out of that is that, "Do you really think that the angels are better than Jesus?" Jesus is the creator. Angels are just created. "Do you really think that Moses is better? Moses was a servant. Jesus is the Son of God. You're tempted because you think that somehow that if you purchased land and had a nice house and you have enough money in the bank account that that's where you're going to find rest?" Jesus is the true rest, the labor to find rest in Christ.
You're drifting back to your old system under Aaron? Christ is the fulfillment of all. The only reason why God even put up with Aaron is because Aaron served the purpose of pointing to Christ. I mean, if it was up to... Aaron should not have lived, if you know anything about Aaron.
Aaron should have been wiped out a long time ago. Only reason God even put up with Aaron is because he was being used to prepare for the coming of Christ. And you're tempted to go back to that system? See, only reason why genuine believers get tempted into this world is because we've taken our eyes off of Christ.
We've forgotten our first love. Do you remember when you first met Christ? I know some of you, your salvation wasn't like, "Wow, my eyes are open and I love Jesus." Some of you, it's gradual. Whether you got bonked over the head or whether it had gradual understanding, you know early on what your Christian life was like.
Nobody grabbed you by the throat and forced you to come to church. When young Christians come to church, I always love the questions that they ask. "Am I allowed to sit up in the front? Can I come to Bible study?" Because they're just so excited about their faith because they met Christ and it changed everything.
And then you talk to Christians who've been walking for 30, 40, 50 years like, "Is that mandatory? Do I have to do that? What happens if I don't?" The difference between the first and the latter is their affection for Christ. It's because their first love is still there. And so everything becomes a privilege.
Your worship is just something that happens. It's not something that you do because you came on Sunday. Everything hinges upon Christ. When we recognize the beauty of Christ, the love of Christ, the gentle beckoning of Christ, the enduring patience of Christ, the sustaining power of Christ, the immutable nature of Christ, how can you not but to fall in love?
Because just like Paul says, in view of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, everything became rubbish. Our struggle is we're trying to make the world be rubbish without Christ. It's just not going to happen. Because Satan is beautiful. Satan is not described as ugly in the Bible. He's an angel, just a fallen angel.
The only difference between a devil and an angel is his moral nature. The external beauty, usually when we picture an angel from God, is beautiful with white wings, attractive, you know, glow, and then a demon is hunched over with fangs. That's not how the Bible describes him. The angel in his outer beauty is beautiful.
So the angel in his temptation is also beautiful. Only in comparison to Christ, it becomes rubbish. So the moment we take our eyes off of Christ and our affection is not in Christ, then of course you're going to give in to temptation. Who doesn't want to live comfortably? When you get on an airplane and they offer you the first class seat, do you say, "No, no, no, give it to the next person." Is that you?
Weirdo. Of course we want to be comfortable. You want to eat nice stuff. You want to have nice things. By our nature we want that. And there's not necessarily like, "Oh, if you want to be a good Christian, you always have to take the bad seat and live hard." I'm not saying that either.
But when that becomes our primary pursuit, and you're willing to sacrifice an active, passionate pursuit of Christ in order to have that, then that has become your idol. You're taking your eyes off of Christ because you think somehow there's rest there. You think somehow there's more life there. When every time you come to church you profess it is not.
Whatever you are willing to compromise to have, that's your idol. That's your idol. That's your pursuit. That's your passion. It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what you profess. Because our actions always say more than what we say. That's why he says, "Knowing the surpassing knowledge of knowing Christ, that He's more beautiful than anything that we can be tempted by by this world." He says, "Let us," chapter 4, verse 1, "Therefore let us fear while a promise remains of entering His rest." You know, fear typically we think it's negative, but fear is not always negative.
Fear prevents us from walking into danger. If you see a dark alley and you know there's drug activity going on with gang violence, you don't walk in there. It's like, "I have no fear." No, that's dumb. You know what I mean? You don't buy a house near biohazardous thing in the ground because you're afraid that that's going to somehow harm you.
So fear is good because it causes you to take things seriously. There's weightiness. So when it comes to the things of God, and we are nonchalant about it, we're very fearful that we're not going to be able to pay our bills. We're very fearful, "But if I do things, my friends are going to reject us." We're very fearful, "But if we don't save up enough, that we're not going to have enough money for retirement." So because of this fear, it causes us to change our behavior, our values.
But of all the things, all the good fears, the greatest and the most beneficial fear is to fear the Lord and see the weightiness of what it is that we are dealing with. You're not just hearing empty words. I'm not just giving you philosophy where you can take it or leave it.
This is the Word of God that is warning us, encouraging us, and challenging us. So he says, "Let us fear while a promise remains." Verse 11, "Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest." Let us be diligent. Be active. Apply the things that we learn. You know, in the sports arena, there's usually, let's say you're playing basketball, there's usually about 20 experts in that stadium, 20.
They're experts because they're playing. They're sweating, they're getting cut, they're getting injured, and they're fighting with every ounce of energy they have. Even as they're injured, they go back. Or the coaches who are maneuvering every knowledge that they've had in basketball in order to win this competition. And then we have about 40,000 experts from analysis.
They're experts because they've watched a lot of basketball. They watch so much basketball that every decision that the coaches make is like, "Ah, it's so dumb. Shouldn't do that. LeBron shouldn't dunk with his right hand. He should be dunking with his left hand. You shouldn't be taking shots from out there." And so we have 40,000 people who are experts from analysis.
We shouldn't be experts of the gospel because we read, because we exposited a text. We should become experts of the gospel because we labored and strived to share the gospel, because we were on our knees begging for their souls with the cuts and bruises that come along in the context of doing ministry.
If we're not careful, we can be a church filled with people who become experts in all these fields from analysis because we read someone else's testimony. We read what someone else did, but it's not from personal experience. We're all armchair experts if we're not careful. If Christ truly is what we profess that he is, he says, "Let us be diligent to enter that rest." Verse 14, chapter 4, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." Hold fast.
To proactively hold on. Apostle Paul, I think, explains it the best in Philippians 3, 12 through 15. This is an apostle who probably preached the gospel to more people and has suffered more than any other person at this time. Sitting in prison, possibly awaiting his death, and this is what he says, "Not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." I press on.
Sitting in prison, you think there's an opportunity. It's like I'm relaxing. I'm taking it easy because I'm in prison. But he says, "I press on." Verse 13, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." He's sitting in prison and he's writing this letter because he's concerned about the Christians who are outside the church.
If you've never studied the book of Philippians, you would never know that this is a man sitting in prison. Because when you think of Philippians, you think of rejoice always. It's an epistle where he's rejoicing. He's thankful. He's praying constantly. But he's sitting in prison, possibly awaiting his death writing this letter.
And he says, "I have not laid hold of it yet. I press on. I strain." Which is, again, one of the temptations when we get older is we think that passion and diligent pursuit is for the youth. Yeah, yeah, 20s. And we always get excited when young people come to faith.
It's like, "Yeah, yeah, they're so excited." That's what happens in your 20s. Yeah, of course. When's the last time you met somebody in their 60s, passionate for their faith? Because we have a tendency to kind of take the back seat as we get older, as if we've already retired.
We haven't retired at work yet, but we've retired spiritually. We just kind of let the young guys do the work. You know what's interesting is I hear that kind of sentiment earlier and earlier. I hear that from sometimes, like, I don't know why, it's getting early. I hear 25-year-olds saying, "Oh, man, my back." And they look at the 19-year-olds, "When I was your age." And then you know there's going to be a 30-year-old that's like, "Oh, you young punk.
25, wait till you get 30. When you're 30, it's over." And you know there's going to be a guy in his late 30s, like, "What, at 30, you infant? You think you're old?" Then 40-years-old is going to step in, it's like, "30? You wait till you get 40, you can't see anymore." And for whatever the reason, we hit that retirement early.
And we think this passionate pursuit of Christ is something that you do when you're young, and then you just kind of retire at 25, 30, 40, 50, 60. You know, I have all my roommates back in college, they're all 10, 11 years older than me, so they're in their mid-60s now.
And so last time I went to have lunch with them, you know, they're missionaries in different countries and pastors, and you know, and I sit down and I'm very curious because they're hitting their mid-60s, like, "What's your plan? What are you going to do? Are you going to retire?" Thinking that I'm going to get some pointers, like, "What's coming?
What's the next stage of my life?" And every single one of them, it's like, they have plans for their 70s. So I just shut my mouth. I couldn't even ask, right? They have plans. "What, 70s? You have plans for your 70s?" If it was labor, if it was just work, yeah, I mean, you've done it, if you have enough retirement saved, and that's it.
But when is retirement spiritually? When is the retirement age spiritually? There shouldn't be any. Because the seriousness of what He has called us to does not end at 30 or 50 or 80 until He comes or we go to Him. He says, "Let us diligently hold fast," and then verse 16, "Let us draw near with the confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Let us draw near to the throne of grace.
You know, I'm very encouraged that so many of our families are trying to adopt, who've already adopted and adopting, in the process of adopting, and even the embryo adoption is happening now, so we're encouraged to see that. But what if you adopted a child and that child is living in your home, benefiting from everything that you've done, but they always keep you at an arm's length?
They will only hold your hand if you grab their hand, but they never come and sit on your lap. They always kind of see you at a distance. Now, you're all, your biological children are jumping on you, but that child is always sitting in the back just watching them, you know, because I'm adopted.
How would you feel as a parent? You know, when we're told in the Bible, "Let us draw near to the throne of grace," this is not just a legal presentation. Now the barrier is gone. Now you're able to come. There's reason why he adopted us as his children. He didn't just say, "I forgive you, and you're no longer going to be judged," and then he remains the king, which he is.
There's a reason why he says, "Abba, Father, Daddy," because he has adopted us. Just like if you were to adopt a child, you want that child to embrace you and love you and to see you as their dad or their mom. So this invitation to draw near to him is our Abba, Father, telling his children to come.
That's why I sent my only son, so you can also be co-heirs with Christ. You're not a second citizen in the kingdom of God. You're my child. So when he invites us to come into the throne of grace, it is not a legal invitation that you have now the ticket to enter.
It's a loving father who wants to commune with his son, with his daughter. Come to the throne of grace with confidence. If you need help, come. Come. I'll give you help, because you're my child. Let us draw near to the throne of grace with confidence. Chapter 6, verse 1, "Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity." We have not come to full maturity yet.
Philippians 1, 6, "He who began a good work anew will carry it on to completion, unto the day of Christ. Our pursuit of him to maturity does not end at 30, 50, 80, until the day of Christ." Chapter 10, 24, "And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." To as I am pursuing Christ, help other people as well.
Tell other people. Encourage them. Stimulate. 12, 1, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles." What's hindering us? What has captivated your heart that is preventing you from running this race passionately?
What anxiousness, what fear, what concern is causing you to run this race with hindrance? 12, 1, "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, this marathon." You know, whenever you see a marathon, the largest number of people is in the beginning, right? And sometimes they come in groups.
Maybe some of you have done that. You get together with a bunch of your friends, and say, "Yeah, we're going to run this race." By the time they're halfway through, they're not together, right? By the halfway through, some of them are going to quit, have already quit. And then you could see who's going to quit by the time they're halfway through.
And by the time they're at the end of the race, nobody comes in holding hands. They come in one by one. Some of them already dropped out. Some of them are fatigued. Some of them are way behind. But the crowd is always largest in the beginning. And the finish line always comes one by one.
We should not be satisfied that we started the race. Paul says, "Run to win." To finish this race. To make sure that we commit and we get to the end. Not just be satisfied that we have the number we've registered. But to run to win. We're not there yet.
We're still living in darkness. Don't wait until deathbed to be concerned about your loved ones. Don't wait until you get an emergency call and then say, "Shoot, I only have a few days." Run to win. Run with sense of urgency. Run with fear, knowing that there are serious consequences.
Run as if we really believe what we're seeing and we're professing. Run to win. 1228, "Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude." Let us be thankful for all that God has given us. And then chapter 13, verse 3, "So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach." Outside the camp.
Part of the frustration for many Christians is they want to try to meet Christ inside the camp. They want to be inside the camp, accepted by the world, have what the world offers, and have Jesus too. And that's where the frustration lies. We want to enjoy all that the world has to offer inside the camp, wondering why it's so difficult to connect with Christ when Christ keeps telling us, "Come outside the camp." Christ is not in the camp.
He's outside the camp. We need to drop out of our rat race. It doesn't mean that you can't have a job. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't take care of your children. All these things are what good Christians do. But if that's our primary pursuit, and you're trying to fight and connect with Christ inside the camp, he made it very clear, you cannot serve mammon and God at the same time.
So the invitation is, if Christ truly is better than anything that tempts us, he says, "Come outside the camp." Join him where he went. The greatest commandment in the scripture is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And I remember early on as a Christian, this was such a stumbling block to me because I liked Jesus.
I mean, there's nobody or nothing like Jesus. I obey Jesus. I worship Jesus. But I'm not sure if I could say I love Jesus. Because I would compare, because what I know of love is, at that time, I loved my mom and dad. I loved my family. And I had some friends that I loved.
Do I love Jesus that way? You know, the way I think about this is, you know, those of you who love your mom or love your wife, and I hope you love your wife and your husband, right? As soon as somebody says something or sounds like they're going to say something about them, you get offended.
They don't even have to say it. You think they're going to say it, then you get offended. Your son is, and you cringe. Like, what are you going to say about my son? Or your mom, right? I saw your mom at the supermarket. She didn't dress nicely. You cringe, because you love them.
You don't want to hear it. How do you react when people blaspheme our God? When they drag His name through the mud, saying that maybe He had a child out of wedlock, and married Mary? That He was a liar? That He just fooled a lot of people? Do you just hear that as just information?
I think if we love Jesus, it would bother us more, right? If we really love Jesus. Because our natural tendency is whatever we love, we want to share. I know the best boba shops. I'm not even a boba drinker. I know the best boba shops in Irvine. You know why?
Because you tell me. You put it on your Facebook. I don't care. I'm not a boba eater, but I know. And I know which movies are the best movies. Because you share it. I know if I take a vacation, where I should go. Because you share it. Because whatever you love, you end up sharing.
Because you want other people to love what you love. If you're a Dodgers fan, you are a Dodgers apologist. You want everybody to be a Dodgers fan. Why aren't you a Dodgers fan? Because we have a tendency to share. And because we want other people to love what we love.
You see, loving Christ is the backbone of everything that we do. If you don't love Christ, you can't worship. If you don't love Christ, you're just regurgitating information when you're sharing the gospel. If you don't love Christ, you're just singing songs. If you don't love Christ, you're just studying words.
If you don't love Christ, you're just building friendships. You're not partnering. You're not fellowshipping. That's why he says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Because until you have love for Christ, until Christ becomes more precious than anything else, we may love the church without Christ.
We may love missions without Christ. We may love teaching without Christ. We may love theology without Christ. But at the end, it means nothing if we don't love Christ. So in conclusion, as we wrap up this letter, it doesn't matter whether our church is a thousand or ten thousand.
A church of ten that loves Christ with all their hearts has more power than ten thousand people just nonchalantly coming in and out of church. I pray that that would be you and I. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your constant grace and provision you give us.
We are truly unworthy of all that you've given. Lord, you know how easily we stray. We get so tempted with trivial things that we know it's trivial. And yet when we're tempted, we give in. I pray, Father God, that you would help us remember the height from which we had fallen, to repent and redo the things that we did at first, so that above everything that we are pursuing, that the love of Christ would take center stage.
We praise you. We thank you. Give us strength, Lord God, to persevere, to be anchored in Christ and Christ alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. I will glory in my Redeemer, whose priceless blood has ransomed me. Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails and hung Him on that judgment tree.
I will glory in my Redeemer, who crushed the power of sin and death. My holy Savior before the holy judge. The Lamb who is my righteousness. The Lamb who is my righteousness. I will glory in my Redeemer, my life He bought, my love He owns. I have no longings for another.
I'm satisfied in Him alone. I will glory in my Redeemer, His faithfulness my standing place. No foes are mighty and rush upon me. My feet are burnt out by His grace. My feet are burnt out by His grace. I will glory in my Redeemer, who carries me on eagles' wings.
He crowns my life with lovingkindness. His triumphs all the land will sing. I will glory in my Redeemer, who waits for me at gates of gold. And when He calls me, it will be paradise. His face forever to behold. His face forever to behold. I will glory in my Redeemer, who waits for me at gates of gold.
And when He calls me, it will be paradise. His face forever to behold. His face forever to behold. Let's pray. Now the grace that you give us through Christ, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that has been deposited in us, that we may have fellowship with one another and with you, with a tremendous love, Lord God, that we only comprehend as a child, that surrounds us, compels us, and moves us to worship you, to honor you, to love you.
I pray, would gather us, empower us, strengthen us, that you would be our greatest pursuit, that you would be our greatest love, that you would be our greatest hope, and that you would be our greatest proclamation. I pray that as you have placed us in this dark world, help us, Lord God, to be the brightest light that we can be, that the world would know that in the midst of chaos, turmoil, and war, that they would know, Father God, that there is hope in the name of Jesus Christ.
Help us to be that light in our generation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God sent his Son, begotten Jesus, he came to love, heal and forgive, he lived and died to buy my heart and an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lived because he lived I can face tomorrow because he lived all fear is gone because I know he holds the future in life his worth the living just because he lived I was an oak and lost at the fall running away when I hear you call to bother you were to your will I had no righteousness of my own I had no right to draw near your throne to follow you love me still and in love with all you laid the world's foundation