We are almost to the end of our series through Hebrews. I
want to encourage you to keep following the reading plan as we wind down this
week. It has been a high level review of the key points, good reminder of what
it means to have faith, and even a refresher on who Jesus is and how we are to
depend on Him.
Can anyone remember a birthday or Christmas gift you
received 10 years ago? How about 5 years ago? How about last Christmas?
Are you still using these items?
Anything we buy or get as a gift will not last, and is often
forgotten.
The unforgettable gift of Jesus allows us to look forward to
the promise of God’s unshakeable kingdom. A kingdom made available to all of
those whose faith is true, strong, and enduring. Last week we spent our time
together talking about how people can endure, but our focus should be on the
only thing that truly endures.
Psalm 102:25-27
“25 Long ago You established the earth, and the heavens are
the work of Your hands. 26 They will perish, but You will endure; all of them
will wear out like clothing. You will change them like a garment, and they will
pass away. 27 But You are the same, and Your years will never end.”
It is not us in these fleshly bodies, it is not creation in
general, neither of which were meant to be permanent. God has always had a plan
for something much better and only God can truly endure.
God’s Power is Permanent.
Hebrews 12:25-27
“25 Make sure that you do not reject the One who speaks. For
if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth, even
less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. 26 His voice
shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, Yet once more I will
shake not only the earth but also heaven. 27 This expression, “Yet once more,”
indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that
what is not shaken might remain.”
If you were to look back in Genesis chapter 1 you will see
that God spoke each part of creation into existence. He said and it happened.
The Lord spoke and light was created, the earth was created, and so on. When
God spoke all of creation was shaken, it was changed.
The evolutionist would have us believe that earth was slowly
created into what it is today. This huge land mass slowly broke up and moved and
formed the continents over millions of years. Problem is the earth is not that
old, but even if God moved the continents they would have moved quickly and I
am sure it would have been impossible for a person to stand on it while they
moved. Whether God created the world the way it looks today of if He started
with one giant piece of land and shaped it from there. God spoke and all of
creation shuddered. His voice literally rocked the world.
When God speaks in the future the world and the heavens will
be rocked. As verse 27 is clarifying that anything that can be shaken will be
removed. All of creation will be wiped out. I know the world we live in seems
permanent. It was here when each of us were born, we have history going back
thousands of years, and unless something like God speaking happens soon it will
outlast each one of us. It may seem permanent to us, but it is not. The earth
as we know it will not last for eternity, it is not intended to. When God is
ready, the permanent plan will be put in place. The New Heaven and New Earth
will be created for us to spend eternity with Jesus.
What can we do? We need to make sure we cling to our Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, I said cling to Him. There is no better place to be than
right next to Him.
Those following Moses were under the Old Covenant and they
did not escape the punishment for turning their back on God. Today we live under
the New Covenant and there is nowhere to run if you turn your back on God. Their
Covenant was imperfect and they needed to comply or face the consequences, ours
is perfected through the blood of Jesus Christ and complete obedience is
expected.
There are too many people in the world who reject God or
deny that He even exists. Things will be really bad for them when God speaks
and the world is rocked. We need to be sharing God’s message with everyone out
there to prevent them from suffering. We need to make sure we are living our
faith and witnessing daily.
God’s Power is permanent, depend on Him to help you carry
out what you were created to do.
God’s Purpose is Permanent.
Hebrews 12:27-28
“27 This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal
of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might
remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and
awe,”
God’s plan and purpose cannot be stopped. We are told in
these verses that ‘what is not shaken might remain’ and ‘we are receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken.’ God is unshakeable. His Kingdom in unshakeable.
His Word is Unshakeable.
They are unshakeable, permanent, and will remain forever as
they are part of His purpose.
God’s plan from the very beginning has been to spend time
with His creation. Things did not work out to well with Adam when he and Eve
ate the forbidden fruit. God continued with His Purpose. Cain and Abel were to
give God offerings in faith and love, that did not work out. God’s purpose continued to be unshakeable.
Things got so bad that God sent a giant flood, but His purpose continued through
Noah and his family. God has continued to be unshakeable in pursuit of His goal
to spend eternity with His ultimate creation.
Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and David all have played a part in
God’s purpose and His continued unshakeable commitment to His plan. He is so
committed to His purpose that He sent His Son down to us so that He could live
a sinless life and be the ultimate sacrifice. God is unshakeable. He has spent
thousands of years following through with it and He will continue until
eternity with us is a reality.
If God has displayed such unending, unshakeable commitment
in spending eternity with YOU, how are you going to respond?
On Facebook I have seen the little cartoon pictures of a
person holding their heart and telling Jesus it is all they have as if it is
nothing of value, and His response is that is all He asks. God wants your
heart.
Mark 12:30
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
The greatest of all commandments, Love God. We need to give
God our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In short we need to give him
absolutely everything. Nothing less will do. If we are totally committed to
Him, our faith can be unshakeable. Life’s problems won’t interfere with our
faith, they will not interfere with us following Jesus and doing what He
created us to do. If your faith is unshakeable it will be visible by everyone
around you. It will be obvious by your attitude towards others, it will be
obvious in how you react when you are kicked, and it will be obvious by the
praises you share with others. Unshakeable faith means trusting God during the
peaks and valleys, the good times and the bad times.
God’s purpose is unshakeable and we need to be unshakeable
as we follow Him. He has promised to ‘never forsake us’, so we can count on it.
We have looked at how God’s Power and His Purpose are
Permanent. God’s People are also Permanent.
Hebrews 12:22-24; 28
“22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the
living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering,
23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to
God who is the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect,
24 to Jesus (mediator of a new covenant), and to the sprinkled blood, which
says better things than the blood of Abel.”
“28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot
be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with
reverence and awe,”
Just like the Israelites we are being given a choice. A
choice between following God or not. Many of the Israelites were unfaithful to
God and they suffered for it. Those who were faithful were blessed by being
able to see and go into the promised land. We can choose to follow Jesus
forever or to follow the world. Not much of choice if you ask me, but those are
the options before you today. Truly follow Jesus, going all in, with
unshakeable faith and spend eternity with Him, or don’t.
This is the choice before you. Jesus is ready to plead your
case before the Father. He is ready to vouch for you and state that you deserve
a place in heaven, a place by His side. All you need to do is take hold of that
grace that is being offered. Accept Jesus as your Lord and live your faith in
your life every day.
Remember we are to Love Him with all of our heart, soul,
mind, and strength and He has given us His blood that completely wipes away all
the garbage in our lives. That means the sin you are holding on to, let it go!
That bitterness that is holding you back, give it to God! That feeling that you
are too young, too old, too sick, to do anything for God needs to be tossed out
the window.
The grace that Jesus has given you takes away all of the
barriers, you need to live your faith. That grace that makes you clean knows no
limit. Grab ahold of that amazing grace and let it consume you. Not only will
it change you in this world, it will allow you to be in His eternal presence.
The only way to be permanently one of God’s people is to let His grace change
you.
Hebrews 12:29
“for our God is a consuming fire.”
All have sinned and God could consume all of us if He so
chooses.
God is so loving that while He could destroy us, instead He
is patient waiting for us to turn back to Him. He could wipe us out because we
do not measure up to His standards, instead He waits for us so that He can
spend eternity with us.
‘God is a consuming fire’ and for those that choose to
follow Him, He uses that fire to refine us. The refining fire helps to shape us
into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. It does not destroy us, it does not
consume us, it improves us.
The choice is yours. God has spoken in the past and He is
still speaking today. Unlike everything we touch and see, His Words are
permanent.
Hebrews 3:12-15
“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.”
Cling to Jesus, have unshakeable faith, live it daily, and
spend eternity with God.
Thanks for reading!
God Bless,
Robert
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