Sermon - October 25, 2015 - Hebrews 6:1-3 - A Useful Reminder

Psalms 63:1

“God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.”

The world we live in today is very dry, it is desolate, and without water. Now, I am sure you realize I am not talking about the water we drink. The problem this nation faces is that people are not standing up for Biblical values because they do not know what the Bible actually says. That is why we spent so much time in the book of James, why we are spending 12 weeks going through Hebrews, and why we are reading book by book together for Sunday School. Our land is without the living water and the best thing we can do is became fluent in every aspect of it and be prepared to share every chance we get.

We are continuing our series through the book of Hebrews this morning. If you have not picked up a reading guide, please do so. Today would be day 29, remember the more you read along the more you will get out of this series. It is only a couple of verses a day.

Hebrews 6:1-3

“6 Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, ² teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.³ And we will do this if God permits.”

The author of Hebrews wanted his readers to move beyond the basic teachings. Even though mature believers need a reminder of the truths that they know so they might not forget.

I have heard people complain that pastors always preach about the same things. I am sure there are some cases where this is true, the fluff or feel good preachers might do this. Most Biblical teachers do not but if we do, it is probably because the message is so important, or it might  be we are all forgetful.

Here are some questions for you:

What was the name of the message last week?

Can you name a scripture from last week?

What was our Sunday School lesson on back on July 19^th?

What about who won the World Series or the Super Bowl in 2010?

Our memories are not the best, we cannot remember everything. Teachers may be forgetful of what they have taught and the people they are talking to may have forgotten what has been said in the past. Regardless, repetition is necessary for us to truly learn something and apply it to our lives.

The New Testament writers were often repetitive. You see it in their different letters. All of John’s letters addressed false teachers in one way or another. Paul regular wrote on spiritual growth and even Peter admits to preaching reminders.

2 Peter 1:1-4

“1 Simeon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. ² May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ³ His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. ⁴ By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.”

In his opening Peter does not set himself as above his readers. Using both of his names, the one given to him by his parents and the one given to him by Jesus, demonstrates the change and grace in his life. He also says that even though he is an apostle who walked with Jesus, heard Him teach first hand, prayed with Him, did ministry with our Lord, and witnessed the miracles Jesus performed; that he, Peter, is no more than anyone else. He has the same privilege as a child of God that we do.

I want to make sure that sinks in. It is sometimes hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that each of us sitting here today regardless of how long we have been saved, regardless of what gifts we have, we are on equal footing with the Apostles. These guys walked and talked with Jesus, we have to read about it. How can I have the same rights? They were right there; we are here in another country 2,000 years later.

‘Through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ’ all of us are equal. We have the same rights and privileges as the Apostles. We get to talk to Jesus every day. We get to read His teachings. We get to spend eternity with Jesus and He loves us just as much as the guys who wondered around with Him for several years.

It does not matter if you accept Christ as your savior today or if you accepted Him many moons ago, He loves you just as much as the next person and is bestowing all that is His to you. It is not something that we can earn or have any right to, but Jesus freely gives it.

Peter goes on to point out that we are given everything we need to live a godly life and that we get to share in the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is God and our relationship with Him, our sins are wiped away. As we continue down the path before us, letting Him increase and us decreasing, we can live a life that is focused on Jesus and not on the sin we struggle with. Through the amazing gift from Jesus and the promises of God we can escape the corruption of this world.

2 Peter 1:5-7

“⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, ⁶ knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, ⁷ godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”

God is eager for us to grow, but Peter says we are to make every effort with earnest or zeal. Not a halfhearted attempt, not something to do on the weekends, or Sunday morning, but an all-out, all in, effort. No half way here.

Faith must lead to action, which shows goodness and the experience of caring for others deepens our knowledge of God. Knowing God will help us to understand our short comings and in turn we will learn self-control as we try to be more like Christ. As we learn to live more like Jesus we will learn endurance as we stay focused on God and the ultimate prize we have been given. The more we are focused on God the closer we become to living with a godly character. Living godly leads us to be open to all of our fellow believers which in turn develops into an unreserved and unrestricted love for others. 

Colossians 3:14

“Above all, put on love – the perfect bond of unity.”

Having faith and acting on it leads us to Love others. That is why we are to make every effort to pursue faith.

Are you living a nice comfortable life or are you putting yourself out there to figure out what God wants you to do? Do your days fit nicely inside your box or are you stretching your limits and trying to figure out what you can do next to live out your faith?

Take Peter for example. He was a humble fisherman but stepped out of his comfort zone and followed Jesus. He stumbled, put his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion, and even denied Jesus. He then tried to go back to fishing as a career. At this point I would question if he was a good example of stepping out in faith, it appears he tried it and failed.

In Luke chapter 21 Peter gets a pep talk from Jesus where Peter is told to feed and shepherd Jesus sheep. A short time later Peter preaches and 3,000 are baptized. Peter stepped out in faith and his faith grew into goodness as he looked out for others, his knowledge of God grew, it appears his self-control improves as we do not see him getting into as much trouble, he stayed focused on the plan God had, and continued to pursue God every day which lead to a brotherly love for other believers and a love for the lost that caused him to risk his own life to share with them.

Peter may have not looked like a great example, but as time went on it is obvious that he truly lived out his faith and it changed him.

We may look at our lives and wonder if we can do much, but only God can answer that question. If you step out in faith today and perform a single kind act to help someone, the ripple effects could be amazing. You may not know the outcome but a life could be changed and as you continue to step out in faith, your life will be changed.

2 Peter 1:8-11

“⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. ¹¹ For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.”

If these qualities or fruit are active and growing in our lives people will see them. They will be the evidence that could be used to convict us of being a Christian. On the flip side if these qualities or fruit are not in our lives we would essentially be blind, shortsighted, and have forgot about what Jesus has done to cleanse us of our sins.

Matthew 12:33-37

“³³ “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴ Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. ³⁵ A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. ³⁶ I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Our fruit is either good or bad. What kind of fruit are you seeing in your life? Is it stepping out in faith that will lead to love or is it something you need to get out of your life?

Accepting Jesus as your Savior is just the first step in a life of seeking Him. Don’t stop there, pursue Him every day so that it changes who you are and what you value. Step outside of your comfort zone, look for people in your path that God wants you to bless, let the fruit in your life grow into good fruit. If you are seeking God you will not be blind or short sighted, your eyes will see exactly what is needed.

2 Peter 1:12-15

“¹² Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you have. ¹³ I consider it right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, ¹⁴ knowing that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has also shown me. ¹⁵ And I will also make every effort that you may be able to recall these things at any time after my departure.”

Peter concludes this passage by stating that his intention was to remind his readers of these qualities. He does not want them to be forgotten after his death. Some of his audience may have been tired of hearing the same things over and over, but the message is important.

Qualities such as self-control, endurance, and love can only be observed. Without a doubt, Peter would have told of his own journey through this list of qualities. But, for the people to heed Peter’s words they would have to see it in his life. Deeds and words are needed. They were needed by Peter’s audience and they are needed to the people watching us. Like those who came before us, we must be reminded of our need to continue to grow in the fruit that lead to love.

A Useful and Needed Reminder. It feels like a dessert out in the world and we need to share the Living Water, first in actions then in words.

Thanks for reading!

God Bless,

Robert

Sermon - October 18, 2015 - Hebrews 4:14-5:6 - Bold, Not Brash

I have had several verses that I keep reading and praying over this year Acts 4:31 is one of them.

Acts 4:31

“31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.”

Are we supposed to be afraid? No!

Are we supposed to be bashful? No!

Are we supposed to second guess ourselves? No!

We are supposed to carry God's message to everyone with boldness. That means we approach every opportunity to share the amazing grace we have been given with boldness, but also with Love. We need to remember that we are to love people, not beat them upside the head with our Bibles. We are supposed to be lovers not thumpers! Bold, Not Brash.

Hebrews 4:14-16

“14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”

Not only are we supposed to carry God's message with boldness, we are told to approach God with boldness. Now, Moses sinned by not following God's directions exactly as he was supposed to. He did not get into the promised land because of his sin. Yet, we see in verse 16 that we can draw near to the throne of grace, despite our sin. He could not get into the promised land, but we can approach the throne of grace. Nothing we have done could open that door for us, it is all due to what Jesus did for us. Thanks to Jesus we can approach the throne, thanks to Jesus we have a message to share, but we need to know our limits. Moses was brash when he hit the rock, we need to know our limits, but be bold. We have to be careful to be Bold, Not Brash.

Hebrews 5:1-4

“5 For every high priest taken from men is appointed in service to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this, he must make a sin offering for himself as well as for the people. 4 No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.”

When the Hebrew people first entered the wilderness God began the process of teaching them many things. One of the things that was necessary was for Aaron and his sons to be consecrated, or prepared for their service to God. They were called by God to be the priests for His people and they needed to follow the process exactly as God had laid out. They had to be physically clean and spiritually clean. They had to washed with water and cleansed through several sacrifices.

In the Old Testament we find several types of offerings that can sometimes be hard to understand since we do not deal with them today.

The Sin offering is to atone for a specific sin where they were not able to take care of it on their own.

A Burnt offering is a general offering for sin that allowed unholy people to go into the presence of a holy God.

With the sin and burnt offering the person making the offering is not allowed to eat any of it since we cannot truly offer anything to God to cover our sins.

The Grain offering obviously has no blood so there is no forgiveness of sins from it. It is truly about faith. The burnt offering allowed people to approach God while the grain offering was to show their faith. Remember it is impossible to please God without having faith.

A Peace or Fellowship offering is not about making peace with God, as that is what happens with the Burnt offering. The peace offering is a way to celebrate or enjoy the peace one has with God.

Now when we pick up with Aaron and Moses they had performed some of these offerings.

Leviticus 9:22-23

“22 Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. He came down after sacrificing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering. 23 Moses and Aaron then entered the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.”

All the people were seeing the glory of God with their own eyes. Nothing was hidden from them. Aaron made the offerings exactly as God wanted the high priest to do and God was responding to Aaron's obedience. The glory of God appeared as Aaron and Moses came out of the Tent of Meeting.

Mosses and Aaron followed God's steps to the letter of the law in these sacrifices and God was pleased. We need to make sure we are doing what God is telling us to do. He wants to SEE our faith, and I emphasize the SEEING part of it. He wants to hear that we love Him, He wants to know us, but all of that should result in seeing our faith in action. Are you doing what God wants you to do? Are you following the path that God has laid before you?

Leviticus 9:24

“Fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell facedown on the ground.”

The people 'shouted and fell facedown on the ground'. They were in awe of the Glory of God. They realized how Awesome God is and what their rightful place was. They fell on their faces out of reverence to God. The people had a constant reminder of God's glory.

While we have seen that we are to approach the throne of grace with boldness, we also need to remember who we are and who God is. We are here to worship and serve Him, not the other way around.

Leviticus 10:1-3

“10 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own firepan, put fire in it, placed incense on it, and presented unauthorized fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them to do. 2 Then fire came from the Lord and burned them to death before the Lord. 3 So Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when He said: I will show My holiness to those who are near Me, and I will reveal My glory before all the people.” But Aaron remained silent.”

Some people take that boldness and turned it into brashness. They were trying to manipulate God's glory for their own glory. They had witnessed the glory of God and now wanted to get God to respond the same way but by doing things their own way. Their confidence in God had turned into arrogance. These guys had seen God do amazing things, they saw Him on a daily basis, they were priest and had been instructed in what they were supposed to do. Yet they had this crazy idea that they could 'call God' when ever they wanted to, they could do it their way not God's way. A very bold move, but also a very brash one.

How often in our 'infinite wisdom' do we think we know best and try to do things our way? Way to often. We think we know the best way to do something or what is the right path for us to follow. Sometimes we are lucky and things turn out ok, but there are a lot of times taking things into our own hands is not a good thing. Thankfully those of us sitting here have not experienced the same results as Aaron's sons but I am sure we all have a story or two to tell about when we tried to do it our way and things did not work out as we planned.

How about when we share our faith with non-believers? I think Nadab and Abihu would be the type of people who would go door to door and flat out argue with people. They would tell them that they were wrong for not going to church. They would come across as being superior to the people they were witnessing to. They would be just like your a-typical Bible Thumpers and Holy Rollers. Bold? Yes. Brash? Absolutely.

They have it wrong, we are to be Bold, Not Brash. When we share with people we need to find common ground, find something we can connect with them on. It is through that connection that we can share what Jesus has done in our lives, share how He has saved us, and look for that door to share what Jesus can do for them. Afraid or bashful? No! Bold? Yes, but not brash.

Whenever we want to take things into our own hands we need to remember the Lord's Prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13

“Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]”

We need to be seeking God's will not our own.

Leviticus 10:8-11

“8 The Lord spoke to Aaron: 9 “You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. 10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean, 11 and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given to them through Moses.”

Everyone needs to realize there is a difference between holy and common, a difference between God's way and our way. The priests were tasked with teaching everyone the difference and how they were to act. They were to be bold and stand with authority, but they need to not be brash and take things into their own hands.

Hebrews 5:5-6

“5 In the same way, the Messiah did not exalt Himself to become a high priest, but the One who said to Him, You are My Son; today I have become Your Father, 6 also said in another passage, You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

Jesus is our high priest and He has told us that we to are to share with others. We are to be bold.

Matthew 28:19-20

“19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are to be bold and teach others as we have been commanded. Teach them what? 'everything Jesus has commanded us.' Boldly teaching. God's will not ours!

Many people want to approach God on their own terms. Yet, He has been pretty clear what He expects. We have no right to demand God to come to us how we want, we need to bend to His will. Thankfully we can approach the throne of grace with boldness, but only because Jesus has already shown us the way.

John 14:6

“6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus paved the way for us, but we need to remember that it is God's throne we are approaching, not ours. Bold, Not Brash.

To often we try to do more for God than He asks. We try to work out every little detail ourselves, make sure we have all the money, all the resources, the time, etc... We try to do it all without Him. We need to remember that it is His will, not ours and through His will He wants to do more through us than we can even begin to imagine.

Are you doing what you know God wants you to do? Do it boldly.

Are you doing the things you think He wants you to do? Do it boldly, but seek His leading.

Are you doing what you want Him to allow you do do? Stop, don't take matter into your own hands.

Be Bold in your faith. Let it lead to action. Do not be brash, let God guide you. 

Thank you for reading. I pray that God truly blesses you!

Robert

Sermon - October 11, 2015 - Hebrews 3:7-15 - Path to Eternal Rest

Last week we looked at how many people witnessed all that God had done in the Old Testament, yet did not believe. We reviewed how people saw Jesus perform miracle after miracle and still questioned if He really rose from the dead. Seeing is Not believing. We were not alive when the Hebrew people left Egypt, we were not there when Jesus walked on water, but today we believe. We do not need to see to believe, because God has given us a sign and a wonder. The cross and the blood of Christ speak volumes and inspire our faith in Him.

Hebrews 3:7-15

“7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works 10 for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.” 11 So I swore in My anger, “They will not enter My rest.” 12 Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. 15 As it is said: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

How many have had children who just hated going to bed? I can tell you even today, our boys are never enthused about going to bed and really just want to stay up until they feel like it. Many years ago it used to be worse in the Hudson house. When Chris was little he hated going to bed without us. He was a baby and he would sleep in his bouncer, on the play mat, or in the playpen until we went to bed. There was a period of time we tried to get him on a bed time and he hated it so much he would scream and scream. We were afraid someone would call the cops. He actually would shake his crib so much that he stripped the screws out of it. As he got a little older he would not go to sleep in his own bed. We would have him lay on the couch turn off all the lights and if we were lucky we could be at our computers and he would fall asleep at some point. Chris has never liked going to bed when he was told, I guess some things never change.

Children resist bedtime. Sometimes routines help, but most children feel like they are missing out on something and it drives them to stay awake. As parents we know that rest is a good thing, I know I get cranky or struggle through the day if I do not get enough. It is necessary, but the kids hate it. Our Father knows we need rest, but I think His idea of rest may be different than ours. It is obvious by what we see in scripture that historically man did not agree with or understand what God meant by rest.

Exodus 20:8-11

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.”

God commanded the Israelite's to rest.

They had been slaves for so long they did not know what rest was. They did not understand how they were to rest and worship God. Shortly after leaving Egypt God spelled it out for them, but history has shown they did not understand or choose not to listen. They had created hundreds of laws that people needed to follow and things they could not do. I think they got the idea right. They built everything up around spending time with God and family and no work was to be done. Problem is they went to far. They thought they had it, but they had strayed from the path.

Mark 2:23-28

“23 On the Sabbath He was going through the grainfields, and His disciples began to make their way picking some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry— 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the sacred bread—which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests—and also gave some to his companions?” 27 Then He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus' response to the Pharisees is that the Sabbath was not created to make a series of rules that are hard to follow. It was not designed by God to be hard to follow. The intention from the very beginning is for it to be a time of rest, a time to relax, a time to be refreshed.

The Israelite's were told to rest on the seventh day and we are told to take a Sabbath. No one can continue to work without taking a break. Working non-stop makes us grumpy, makes us tired, hurts our health, and hurts our relationship with God and our loved ones. All of us can be like a toddler who wants to stay up no matter what, but at some point our body will force us to stop. God's plan for the Sabbath is for us to never get that bad.

If we take time every week to stop and rest, we are obeying God, spending time worshiping God, and being with our loved ones. Their is nothing more refreshing than that.

Matthew 11:28-30

“28 “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus offers rest to those who are weary. Jesus offered a rest that was not possible for those burdened by keeping the Law. Hundreds of rules to be followed was more than anyone could really handle. Imagine trying to live by these rules day in and day out. Law created by God was to help humankind to be Holy. The law created by the religious leaders was a yoke that many could not carry. The rules got harder and harder to follow and forget about doing something good for someone if it broke the man made law. You would be condemned for doing the right thing.

Jesus came to fulfill the Law and in this case to teach people how to live their lives. He was clarifying that the Sabbath is not meant to be a weight that cannot be carried. It is meant to be a time of rest where the weary can find relief.

The Israelite's had all these rules to follow that held them down. Today, weariness comes from enduring burdens caused by sin in our lives and the consequences of the choices we have made. Jesus is calling us saying 'come take my yoke, it is easier than it looks!' By choosing to take up Jesus' yoke and learning how we are to live our lives, we will find rest from our burdens and our sins.

We cannot find true rest on our own, it is only something given to those who connect with Jesus. Being yoked with Jesus is our only hope. All of us are called to serve Him, and I can tell you that it is not a burden. We will never get there on our own, we need Jesus to guide the way.

Hebrews 3:16-19

“16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? 17 And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

The author wants everyone to understand that unbelief, lack of faith in God, were the reason God's people did not enter the promised land. After all they had seen they did not want to follow God when things got difficult. They thought the burden of God's yoke was going to be more difficult than the yoke they carried on their own as slaves in Egypt.

They did not realize that the God that performed miracles right in front of their eyes was going to help them along the path. Joshua, the Son of Nun, tried to convince them that God would be with them but they did not listen. Joshua had faith and while we had to wait forty years he was able to enter the promised land. He was able to witness first hand what God did through the Israelite's.

Belief and faith are what is needed to not get caught in the same trap as the Israelite's did. We have not seen the same miracles that they did. We are not looking at a physical land for our people to conquer and inhabit. Instead we are looking for where we are going to spend eternity, where we are going to have eternal rest. Through belief, faith, and following what God teaches us in the Bible we will get there. Be faithful like Joshua and you will receive your eternal rest.

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of times so that we should walk in them.”

While our ultimate goal is to spend eternity in the presence of our Lord, we are here to serve Him in every way possible. We cannot earn our way into heaven as salvation is not something that we can work out on our own. Doing good works does not get us in the door, instead we are to do these good works that we were created to do.

Think about it this way, God has already prepared a path for us to walk along in this life. This path has pot holes, bumps, curves, and hills in it. It also is full of beautiful sunsets, beautiful views, and fragrant flowers. As we walk down this path God has already arranged that we will meet up with people along the way. Some of them are their to be a blessing to us, and others are meant for us to be a blessing to them. Our task is to walk in faith and do the things that God has put in front of us, essentially we are to let God work through us so that He can bless others by our faithfulness.

John 9:4

“We must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.”

We only have so many days on this planet. Our job is to make sure that while we are here, while we can bless others, that we do it. Our job is to bring Christ to others, by sharing His wonderful message of salvation and by showing how much He loves us. Don't waste today, share Christ everywhere you go, everyday of your life, and with every person you meet. They are on your path for a reason.

1 Peter 2:9-10

“9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

While this sounds like something Moses might have said to the Israelite's, it is something that applies to all believers. Every person here whose Lord is Jesus Christ is a member of the royal priesthood and belong to God. What did the priests do in the Old Testament? They were God's representatives. They carried out His commands, they lived Holy lives, they intervened for other people, in others words they served God in every way.

Each of us are called to serve and we are uniquely gifted to serve in one way or another. We need to make sure we do not let our hearts be hardened like those who rebelled in the wilderness. Instead we need to serve as God's people, as His messengers, and share the message of mercy we have already received.

The Israelite's in the wilderness rebelled against God and did not follow the path of faith that God paved for them. We need to obey God and let His Spirit guide us down our path and to the tasks we are to perform.

Moses was one of God's greatest servants, yet he did not enter into the promised land. What must have been going through Moses' mind when God took him up on Mount Nebo to overlook the promised land?

As we read Hebrews 3:16-19, we discover something scary. Everyone had heard the message, Everyone knew what it meant, and Everyone would have said they believed. But very few entered into the promise land, very few received rest.

On judgment day are things going to be any different? Many will say they had heard of Jesus. Many will say they knew Jesus. There will also be many who will claim they believed in Jesus, but few will enter into an eternal rest.

Matthew 7:13

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.”

Are we there yet? No, but we need to make sure we are walking down that path that God has prepared for us, the path that leads to the narrow gate. 

Thank You for joining us on our adventure through Hebrews. 

God Bless,

Robert

Sermon - October 4, 2015 - Hebrews 2:1-4 - Week 2, Is Seeing Really Believing?

We are in week two of our journey through the book of Hebrews. So far we have seen that throughout time God's message has been the same. Moses, the Judges, prophets, and even Jesus told them three very important things. God loves them, repent, and follow God. It is also the same message we receive today through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to live our lives with these three things in mind so others can see God's message through our actions.

This week we are moving on to chapter two, so please open your Bibles as we look at our verses for this morning.

Hebrews 2:1-4

“2 We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. 4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.”

When we lived in So. CA my wife and I would tend to go to the Orange County Fair each year. In some ways the Orange County Fair is no different than the local fairs around here with people showing animals, projects, and plants. It was only much much bigger. It was not possible to see everything in a single day, you could not walk through every isle of vendors, games, and presentations. Not to mention the shows that you could see.

One year we had stopped to eat and were at the back of an auditorium and caught part of a hypnotist show. This guy was hypnotizing people and making them do funny things. Some of them would have been pretty embarrassed if they saw what they were doing. There was one person who was walking around like a chicken and was pretty convincing. There was a lady who was given a cup and was told when she looked through it she would see everyone in their underwear. She was a short, conservative looking lady and looked like she would be horrified if she saw how she acted. She was fascinated with looking through the cup at the audience.

I can picture the chicken guy and the cup lady even today. The thing is, all these years later, I do not believe that it was real. I am pretty sure these two people and maybe some of the others were plants. They acted their parts so perfectly, they had to be paid actors. I am very skeptical that any of that show was real and honestly do not believe it at all.

A skeptic is someone who questions the truth of something that is considered to be a fact. For example, a skeptic would be reluctant to believe that the hypnotist that I saw was real. It is likely that a true skeptic would question every little detail of something before they would be able to prove to themselves if it was true or not. They would require that proof to believe.

Many people are skeptical of the Bible. Some may be skeptical because parts of it can seem hard to understand at times. Others are skeptical because how long ago the Bible was written. Some are skeptical because all the people they see going to church are imperfect people and they think they are hypocrites. And still others won't believe anything that they cannot logically explain.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that we need to hold firm to what we have heard. We must also consider what we have witnessed that provides evidence of God's power throughout history.

God Showed His power so we could be certain, to eliminate doubt.

Hebrews 2:1

“We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.”

The author is reminding us that we need to pay attention to what we have heard. The audience would have had the Old Testament to 'pay attention' to in trying to understand if God was real.

The most common and something every Hebrew would have learned as a child were the wonders that God performed in Egypt leading up to the first Passover.

Water was turned to blood.

The plague of the frogs.

The plague of gnats.

The plague of flies.

The plague of Murrain, the death of their animals.

The plague of boils.

The plague of hail.

The plague of locusts.

The plague of darkness.

The death of the firstborn.

If these plagues did not inspire someone to believe in the power of God, I don't know what else would. Yet as we have seen throughout our Old Testament study in Sunday School the people keep seeming to forget it. You would think if you witnessed God do all that you would believe. Might make you question if seeing is believing.

Hebrews 2:4

“At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.”

The author is reminding everyone that God did all of this; signs, wonders, miracles, and giving of gifts according to His will so people would believe. They were not done so He could toot His own horn, they were not done to be flashy, they were done so people would believe.

Matthew 16:1

“The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and as a test, asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.”

If you look in the chapters prior to their request for a test Jesus had fed 5,000 men plus women and children, walked on water, healed a demon possessed girl, and so much more. How could they still doubt? Seeing must not lead to believing

Today we have all of this documented for us in our Bible, we have 2,000 years of history showing the impact this one man by the name of Jesus has had on so many. Yet people are still skeptical.

God spoke His message so we might believe.

Hebrews 2:2-3

“2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.”

This would have resonated with the authors original audience. Most of their teachings about the Old Testament Scriptures were given via word of mouth. As young children they would begin to memorize the first five books of the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

“6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

God's message was passed down from generation to generation, starting with those who heard it directly from God and witnessed miracle after miracle, and is still passed on today. God did not give us His message so we could second guess it or be skeptical about it. His message was given so that we would believe it. In other words, we need to have faith in it.

If we believe that our Bible is the Word of God and hence it is 100% accurate we need to believe everything it tells us. God's message is all over the pages of our Bibles. We get to read about the wonders and miracles performed throughout the entire book. We even get a snap shot of the future. All of it has been given to us so that we may believe, so that we may have faith.

God shared His gifts so we would serve.

Hebrews 2:4

“At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.”

God gives gifts according to His will and these gifts are given to us so that we can serve Him, serve others, and glorify God in every way.

John 14:12-14

“12 “I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

Through our faith in Jesus and the saving grace He has given us, we will be given gifts. These gifts are how the world will see God working through us. If we are seeking God and praying for the Father's will to be done God will work in us. Since Jesus mentions that He is going to the Father, the gifts mentioned here are most likely the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:7-10

“7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial: 8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of languages, to another, interpretation of languages.”

We do see these Gifts of the Spirit today, but not very often. What I have seen more of is the list of gifts found in Romans.

Romans 12:6-8

“6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one’s faith; 7 if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation;
giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.”

These gifts I believe are more common today. I am sure we have all known people who have one or more of these gifts. Some people give freely of themselves, their time, and their money. There are others we are willing to help no matter what, they have the gift of service.

Why is list in Romans more common today than the one found in 1 Corinthians? My opinion is that people today do not believe like previous generations have. They are skeptics of anything they cannot touch and feel. They are like the Apostle Thomas.

John 20:25

“So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in His hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe!””

Thomas would not believe even having witnessed the miracles Jesus performed. He did not believe hearing the other Apostles tell him what had happened. He need to see and touch on his own.

There are many things about following Jesus that can be difficult, hence the need for faith. There is nothing wrong with being skeptical, it keeps us from being deceived, but it also can keep us from seeing the gifts that God wants to give us.

We will encounter skeptics who will ask, “How can a loving God punish people to hell?” I think a harder question to answer is “How can an all powerful God not stop His beloved Son from being punished?” The answer is love.

Hebrews 2:3a

“how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

We can't! The offer is there and God has given us our sign and wonder, all we need to do is to believe. Our sign is the cross as it is the symbol of our death. Our wonder is the blood of Jesus, it is with His blood that we have been completely cleansed of our sin.

God took the punishment upon Himself because of His love, truly wishing that none would perish. Do we need to see to believe? No! I did not see Jesus perform those miracles, but I believe. I did not see Him take on my sin, but I believe. I did not see or touch His side, feet, and hands, but I believe.

Do You?

Thanks for reading and God Bless,

Robert