Be Faithful to the End

[Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] point it's a beautiful day in the house of the Lord to stand and sing this wonderful hymn the Christ the Lord is risen today Christ the Lord is risen to hallelu Sons of men and angels hallelujah praise your joice and tri Hallelujah singing heavens and earth reply hallelu Liv again our glorious King Hallelujah where death is now th s Hallelujah once be our soul to S hallelu when I Victory oh great oh hallelu redeeming were is done hallelujah to the than the battle one Hallelujah the son the watch the SE hallelu Christ the gates of hell Hallelujah that is high our next song is Shout to the Lord Psalm 998 4-6 States shout joyfully to the Lord all the Earth Break Forth in song rejoice and sing praises sing to the Lord with the harp with the harp and the sound of a Psalm with trumpets and the sound of a horn shout joyfully before the Lord the king [Music] my Jesus my there is none like you my days I want to praise the wonders of your in [Music] love my comfor my shelter to of refuge and strength let every breath all that I am never cease to Worship You Shout to the Lord all the Earth let us sing power and mesty praise to the king mountains are down and the Seas will at the sound of your name I sing for Joy at the words of your hand forever I love you forever I'll Stand nothing compares to the i in [Music] you my Jesus my My Savior Lord there is none like you all of my days I want to praise the wonders of your might love my comfort my shelter Tower of Refuge Str let every breath all that I am never cease to worship Shout to the Lord all the Earth let us sing and M bra the King Mountain down the SE at the sound of your name I see more joy at the work of your hands forever I love you forever aome nothing compares to the promise I have Shout to the Lord all the Earth let us sing power and mesty praise to the king mountains bow down and the Sea will at the sound of your name I sing more joy at the words of your hands forever I love you forever ever a nothing compares to the prise I have in nothing compared to the promise I have in nothing compared to the prise I have in you yes give the Lord [Music] praise good morning okay I got some good news here this is uh a couple of verses I'm going to read about trust and it's from first John chapter 5 uh verses 13 through 15 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life this is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what he what we asked of him um sometimes when I pray I'll ask for something or I'll give praise and I'll uh I I know that God is capable of providing and I've seen him do it before but sometimes they're just a little bit of trust missing but uh he's he's working on me with that and he's uh he's showing me uh just this weekend I I I saw something happen that I've been praying for and sure enough it it came to pass and um I'm I'm glad that I've been trusting him in him for that so let's go to the Lord in prayer uh Heavenly Father what a wonderful thing it is to trust and even more so that that you are trustworthy Lord we know that we can put our trust in in you and we've seen you answer prayers and we've seen you in your work and when we're in trouble or we have a need Lord we can come to you we've seen you answer prayers and uh we've seen your goodness Lord and we know that we can come to you and ask for things or we can come to you and just praise your Holy Name Lord father today we ask that you would provide for the needs of your church here and that you would help us to trust more we pray this in Jesus name amen [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you mine I was joking with Trent I hadn't heard that second song since I was a kid prails if that tells you what kind of nerd I was when I was a kid all right announcements happy birthday to Kelly on the 7th w w sorry we have ladies Bible study on Wednesdays in the joy classroom at 10:30 if we need for any more information please speak to miss Marilyn men's prayer breakfast is this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. in the fellowship hall uh please join the pastor and other men of the church for time of prayer in fellowship and food Sunday September 15th is our back to church Sunday at 10:30 I think we still have some flyers to hand out yes of course and just hand them out and get the word out our GES conference is on the 25th and 26th it is going to be a great time lots of deep scripture diving and it's going to be good we have our online prayer meeting on Wednesdays at 7 the information is in the bulletin on the website and the share Faith app which also Al has the bulletin and the Ser the sermons and the Sunday schools and all that on there all right our next song is Living Hope 1 Peter 1 3-5 States blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His abundant Mercy has begotten us again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance Incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away reserved in heaven for you who were kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time let's stand and [Music] sing how great the C that lay between us how high the m I could not climb in desperation I turned to heaven and stroke your name into the night then through the darkness your loving kindness T through the shadows of my soul the work is finished the end is written Jesus Christ my living home who could imag so great a mercy what I could search this gra the god of ages set down from glory to where my sin and there my shame the cross has spoken I am forgi the king of kings CR me his beautiful savior of your ever Jesus Christ my living hallelujah praise the one who set me free hallelu death has lost it GP on me you have broken Every Chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ my living home hallelujah praise the one who set me free Hallelujah death ex losted grip on me you have broken Every Chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ my Liv home then came the morning that Shield the promise the buried body began to breathe out of the silence the Waring lion declared the grave has no claim on me then came the morning and seal the prise your very body began to bre out of the silence theing declares the grave has no claim on me Jesus yours the victory hallelujah praise the one who sets me free Hallelujah death has lost it GP on me you have broken Every Chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ my living hallelujah praise the one who set me free Hallelujah death has lost it grip on me you have broken Every Chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ my living home Jesus Christ my living home God you are my Liv yes give it up Hallelujah last song is a well-loved hymn I was reading up on the story behind it and Horatio spafford is probably his story is a very sad one he had nine children and lost six of them at different times four of them in a shipwreck at the same time time and even through that htio praised the Lord he wrote this song and it has been sung for Generations my favorite line out of it is and Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the Trump shall ReSound and the Lord shall descend even so it Is Well with My Soul when like aend my way when s rolls like sea BS rooll whatever my life th has me to say it is it is my soul it is well it is well with My Soul with My Soul it is it Is Well with My Soul my S of the bless of his glorious my S not in part but the whole is to the cross and th in the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul with My Soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul oh Lord day when my face shall be S the CR be R there at the scoll that shall res and the Lord shall he even so with My Soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul with My Soul It is Well is [Music] most gracious Heavenly Father the love that you've shown us the blood of Christ that allows us to unequivocally say no matter what we face no matter where we go no matter what happens it is and always will be well with our soul because our soul is yours we are your children and we will stand in glory before you without question Lord we pray that you will guide and direct Bob as he brings the message today Lord we pray that you would Empower him uh fill him with your spirit show him what he needs to say and have our hearts ready to receive it Church of you I'd like you to turn to Hebrews chapter 12 our last message in Hebrews 12 and as you're turning to Hebrews 12 I have in my hand one of our handouts for back to church Sunday we handed these out last week so you would have these ready to pass out and uh we have more today in the uh um information desk over here right when you go out don't forget if you didn't get any last week be sure to get some or you may need to get more but you know what last week all of you should have gotten one of these in your email what I'd like you to do over the next couple of weeks maybe you could send one out this week and then send it out again but send it out to everybody in your in your list just send it out to folks write a little note saying hey we're having a very special day and by the way on that Sunday everybody I'm going to be sharing a short message on eternal life it's not going to be a regular 45 minute long sermon it's going to be a shorter message on how can a person possess eternal life right now and it's going to be directed toward God's or the people it's it's for us so we're reminded but it's for the people that come that maybe they're our neighbors maybe they don't have I'm going to be talking to some neighbors that are not Believers and I would like them to be Believers so this is a very special day we need need everybody's help you you can take that little thing I put in the email and put it in a text you can text it to people and so please do that and so these will be ready for you when you leave today okay and we'll have more next week as well we'll have them now of course whenever we come to a new passage we should get some context about what we're dealing with here okay so we know through this whole series that the people in the book of Hebrews the Hebrew born Saints of the most high God they were struggling because it was difficult they lost friends they lost jobs they may have gotten kicked out of the synagogue because they were declaring Jesus is Israel's Messiah and they were being tempted to give up okay these are good godly people and yet man they're wavering remember they're running the race but man they're running they're like at the end of the marathon their arms are hanging down their knees are wobbling they're they're staggering they're going off the path and they need God's help they need each other's help and they were tempted to go back to the old way of the Old Testament and Judaism they've been blessed with the new wine of the New Covenant and they want to go back to the old wine Jesus says the new wine is better much better why would you want to go back and we're going to see that today and last week the passage we looked at the writer told the readers in no uncertain terms no uncertain terms that they don't want to be like they don't want to be a profane person like Esau Esau sold his Earthly inheritance the double portion the firstborn son twice as much as all the other children he sold it for a bowl of soup he says I'm hungry all of soup in the world we live in they look at the things of this world and they compare that to the things of God Bible study Prayer church giving sacrificing serving and they say man I like the things of this life but Jesus was tempted by the devil and the devil said Jesus I'll give you all the kingdoms on Earth and all the glory of them I'll give them to you if you'll just Bow Down and Worship me and Jesus said no way Jose I'm not bowing down and worshiping you because it's written and then he quotes Deuteronomy you shall Worship the Lord God only and him only shall you serve Okay so we don't sell what we get for a bowl of soup we sell it for something far less the things of this life focusing on Earthly things that in eternity aren't going to matter a whole lot okay so God wants our focus on our Heavenly inheritance we've got to focus on if I keep running if I keep walking with God if I keep going in Jesus's direction if I keep my eyes on Jesus and I keep my eyes on that Eternal Pride that's what I need to focus on I can't get bound up with these things by the way I'm not saying don't play golf I'm not saying don't go to Six Flags don't watch a football I'm not saying things like that I'm just saying don't let that be your focus okay everybody needs rest everybody needs the kick back and have enjoyable thing but I'm just saying when people say you know I don't go to church anymore used to but I just don't that's the writer here is telling God's people don't turn away whatever you do by the way today's going to be pretty serious until we get to Point number three because this is the last warning of the five warnings in Hebrews and let me tell you the writer is pouring on the fire okay so just get that up front when we get to number three it's a lot more encouraging but he's telling these people because they're about to throw in the towel and so we should be listening and in fact the first eight verses or so six seven verses that I'm going to read I'm not even going to teach on them for longer than a few seconds we're really going to park in the last few verses the warning passage itself the first is pretty straightforward you can grab a hold of it and understand it and I'm going to explain it for about that long and then we're going on and then we're going to do those last five verses or so okay so as we read verses 18- 24 the writers he's encouraging God's people to take their future inheritance seriously if you don't get that if you don't hear Jesus say Well done good and faithful servant you know what that's going to be a really really sad day for you before the Lord Jesus I want every one of you here and those who are listening from afar I want every one of you to hear a well done good and faithful servant you can't sell that for the cheap things of this life and expect to hear Jesus's Commendation so first verses 18- 24 the writer telling them this is why it's such a bad idea to turn back to Judaism to turn back to inferior worship of God rather than sticking with worship of Christ it's a terrible idea he's telling them so let's start reading in verses 18 in verse 18 and following okay don't go back to Judaism or don't go back to the things of this world nowadays you know I don't think any of us in here or anybody that's listening is in danger of going back to Judaism but you know what a lot of people will go back to things that don't matter all right so let's get the scripture on the screen here there we go thank you Lord okay don't go back to Judaism don't go back to the world why for you all notice I put the all in there cuz he's talking to them as a family as a body of people a body body of Christ the community for you all have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with what mountain is that that's when Moses was getting the law this isn't what you've come to that's what those people back then came to you New Testament Christians have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burn with fire and Blackness and darkness and Tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore for they I'm sorry don't come any farther than the base of this mountain you touch it you will die wow that doesn't sound sound like a an very inviting mode of worship of God is it they're seeing lightning the things shaking like an earthquake the the trumpet's so loud they couldn't stand it and then they get this commandment don't touch the mountain or you'll be shot with an arrow or killed some other way you're going to be executed you don't get that close to God this is a different age this is the Mosaic Covenant this isn't the New Covenant this is the old Covenant the Old Testament and it was scary Moses look they could not endure what was commanded and then verse 21 says so terrifying was the sight of Moses or so terrifying was the sight that Moses said I am exceedingly afraid and trembling that's quoting the Old Testament he was terrified Moses was and actually he had to go up on the mountain so can you imagine God said don't touch this mountain and he says Moses come up he's like Hama Hama Hama Hama Hama it's like Ralph cramden the writer saying to them why would you want to return to the old religious system you were under when God was very unapproachable even terrifying you all as New Testament Believers have already been told you can come with confidence to my throne of grace you can receive Mercy from me for your sins and I'll give you Grace to help whenever you're in need what a difference hey do you like don't touch this mountain or you're all going to die or do you like come boldly come confidently to me to my beautiful throne of grace that you may receive my mercy and find hey what's more Superior the old Covenant or the new come on and that's what the writer saying you're going to go back to that but look at verse 22 what about the New Testament uh Saints but you all you haven't come to that mountain you've come to Mount Zion the Heavenly Mountain and to the city of the Living God look at all these twos two two two you've come to this you've come to this you've come to this you lot of twos here not TW wo but t o you've come to Mount Zion you've come to the city of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem you've come to an innumerable company of angels see angels are there to serve those who will inherit the Eternal rewards go God's Not only there to help us he's sending angels Hebrews 1:14 to be our ministers to be our servants as we they're not for every Christian maybe they are maybe every Christian has a guardian angel but there's definitely angels that are given to those who are going in God's direction for special help to run the race see Hebrews 1:14 later you've come to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly that phrase the general assembly to the festive the festival the festival Gathering and the Church of the firstborn these are the firstborn these are the inheritor these are the firstborn sons and daughters and in the New Testament spiritually that's those who are going to get the inheritance you've come to the church the assembly don't think church church think of assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven these are ones who are on God's list of those who are going to rule because they're serving Jesus now you can get taken off that list and lose that inheritance you can't lose eternal life your name will never be blotted out of the book of life but you can get off of this list you've come verse 24 uh or 23 uh to God the judge of all you've come to the spirits of just humans made perfect you've come to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel the Old Testament okay so you have a contrast here you have not come to Mount Si where the law it was terrifying people but you've come to Mount Zion way better the blood of Jesus Jesus Jesus is your mediator and you've got all these privileges what a contrast what a privilege we have under the New Covenant in Christ's blood God says to us come boldly to my throne of grace as opposed to don't touch this mountain or you may die now we're not going to take time we just that's all the time we're taking on those seven or eight verses you get the gist you can go back and dig more on those but it's a contrast why are you wanting to go back to this you haven't even come to this you've come to this what are you thinking going back to that okay you got it when and and for our application what are you thinking of going back to the evils of the way you used to live before Christ to doing those things to acting like a pagan to looking at Pagan things thinking Pagan things going Pagan places what are you thinking now starting in verse 25 here we go this is the fifth and final warning to God's born again but tempted Saints by the way it's an inclusio because it's very similar inclusio is like the Oreo cookie chapter one God spoke has spoken to us through his son chapter 12 God has spoken to us through his son that chapter 1 chapter 12 are the book ends and everything else inside is the the sugary good stuff okay so you got these two things and they're framing listen to God listen to God so you get it the Crux of Hebrews is don't go back on listening to what God is teaching you and saying to you I told you this is going to be in your face okay so since God's people have been given such amazing blessings under the New Covenant through Christ's blood here's his warning to them and he starts off here with a bang see that's too that's too just too weak it's like it's like see to it but it's like this beware Christian son and daughter of God beware beware beware that you do not refuse him who speaks why because if they Old Testament did not Escape who refused him who spoke on Earth at Mount Si Escape what if they didn't Escape judgment Hey listen you remember they didn't listen to God they didn't listen to his law did they go in did they go into the promised land like they were supposed to at the beginning no they didn't they didn't listen to God they wandered around for 40 years and they died and never went into the promised land and you know what happens the Christians that don't want to listen to God they get started they're going toward God they give up on God and for quote unquote 40 years they wander around as a True Believer in Jesus a person that's going to live with Jesus forever and then they Keel over dead what was their life worth basically nothing practically nothing Eternal and they will not reign with Jesus so if they did not Escape who refused him who spoke on Earth at mou sin know is this circle that much more if they didn't Escape so much more shall we notice we who's that the writer of Hebrews and his audience so and us so much more we Believers shall not Escape God's judgment he's talking God's judgment I'm talking about him pouring out his fiery wrath I mean this is really really this isn't chastening this isn't discipline that all of us go through no this is special judgment special wrath on a apostate child of God who's turned their back on Jesus and they're going backwards okay how much more shall we not Escape if we turn away yeah yeah but Pastor Bob a True Believer can't turn away from Jesus they have eternal life and they've got God living in them and they can't do it wrong I was trying to imitate president Trump but I could wrong that's not wrong because it says we shall not Escape if we turn away if we can turn away we can turn away if we turn away from him who speaks from Heaven they turned around away from God as he was speaking on earth now he spoken to us from Heaven through his son whose voice then at SI shook the Earth his voice caused an earthquake but now he has promised saying yet once more I shake not only the Earth but also Heaven put an S on Heaven it should be the heavens um yeah once more and this is at when he destroys the universe this is second Peter this is when he shakes the whole universe and melts it with a fervent heat he says listen I'm not just shaking a mountain my voice is so powerful I'm going to shake the universe and I'm going to destroy it it will collapse it could be just a massive black hole that collapses on itself and it goes back to infin uh in in infinitesimal nothingness it was created from nothing and it's going back to nothing and then he'll create he'll recreate now yet once more and I shake not only the Earth this is an Old Testament quote but also the heavens the atmosphere outer space now this once more let me change now this once more yet once more indicates what does it indicate the removal of those things that are being shaken what's that Earthly things what's being shaken right now everybody Earthly things things that don't matter okay they're being shaken as of things that are made the creation that the things which cannot be shaken May remain Eternal things you got what what can be shaken and it's not going to last and you got what cannot be shaken man that's what we're shooting for everybody the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus therefore verse 28 since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken this Kingdom cannot be melted this Kingdom cannot be dissolved because it's God's Eternal Kingdom let us have Grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire let's go back 15 years do you remember this guy Bo bergd doll he's a US Army soldier he's stationed in Afghanistan and on June 27th of 2009 he wrote just a little over 15 years ago he wrote an email to his parents and two times in his email this is what he said to his parents back in Idaho he's in Afghanistan he's emailing him and this is his spelling these are his words with his spelling I'm ashamed to be an American twice he said that in the email he also wrote these words in the email the horror that is America is disgusting and two days after this email on June 30th of 2009 just over 15 years ago he walked away from his Command Post in The Afghani desert and he left he just walked away he went AWOL he quit he quit and guess what he walks into the desert and guess what happens to him he gets captured by the afghanis okay and he got thrown in the Clank for the next four years and 11 months serves him right that he would just be you know just mistreated tortured thrown in the clink okay whatever a man SWS that will he also reap he was in thrown in there according to a senior Us official Berg doll told military officials that he had been tortured beaten held in a cage by his captors after he tried to escape medic he told medical officials that he was locked in a metal cage in total darkness for weeks at a time as punishment for trying to escape now shockingly unfortunately on June 1st 2014 this is almost exactly 5 years later our president President Obama he swapped these low lives that were in Guantanamo Bay for 911 what a Trader to America and you're going to give them these low lives so you can have a Trader come back to the United States leave them there let these guys rot in Guantanamo and let him rot in Afghanistan but they didn't do that so he's brought back to America you saw the helicopter in the whole thing and three years later three years later he pleads guilty so here's a picture of him in the court they you know how they paint they can't be in there with camera so they're writing they have an artist three years later October of 2017 bergd doll pleads guilty to charges of desertion misbehavior before the enemy and not surprisingly one month later listen to this he was dis honorably discharged and fined but given no jail time say what he pleads guilty and so your punishment is nothing what the guy was a traitor the guy was AWOL and what jail time does he get in America none worse than that six years later just one year ago in July of two 2023 one year ago just a little over one year ago a Washington judge named Reggie Walton he vacated he vacated bergd doll's conviction completely Mr bergdall you know what you got a bad rap where you had to plead guilty I'm going to wash that clean you're not a felon you're not they might have they should have just given him the Medal of Honor what a Croc so this entire episode is sickening bergd doll's hatred for his fellow soldiers his desertion of America Obama's swap of the five Taliban prisoners for bergd doll bergd doll being given no prison time and then finally the judge completely vacating his by the way that's four things the fifth thing is the absolute worst you say what's that Pastor Bob when he had taken off and they didn't know know where he was what did America do did America say hey he walked away let him rot well they don't know what happened they maybe he went to go to the bathroom or something they thought and maybe he got grabbed and now he's a aw they didn't know what Happ and so America sends out soldiers and they go out looking for him and guess what soldiers get killed soldiers get brutally injured by the Taliban for a traitor you know there were people who lost their lives lost their families lost their long life on Earth for this you know this story is about a soldier that went AWOL but he was ultimately able to avoid jail time because human courts as we all know they're often corrupt you know human courts are great this last week this poor guy from Dallas he was thrown in jail in 1987 and he finally got out and they found out he wasn't guilty think about that 35 years longer than that so that poor guy gets out so we have these corrupt courts they can't get who's guilty right and they can't get who's not guilty right guy bergd doll's guilty he confesses hey I'm guilty and they say well you're not getting any I'll just find you you're not getting any jail time i' hate I don't even want to look up the fine I'm just going to get more Angry Cuban courts are often corrupt fail to bring people to justice but we're not talking about in Hebrews here human courtrooms we're not talking about that we're talking about God's courtroom how does God judge God is just the Bible says over and over he's Fair he's just he never gives people less than they deserve he never gives them more than they deserve he is perfectly perfectly fair and so many people want to say so many Christians would want to say I'm God's child and and God would never hurt me God would never Hey listen God says if you turn away you go awl a wol for God and you're in big big trouble folks this is God's word this is the Son of God speaking from Heaven yes the same God that hung on a cross the same God that paid for your sins is the same God that's saying you go awl on me and you're going to be so badly punished you will regret the day you were born I told you this is going to be tough but I'm talking this morning to you about people who turn their backs on Christ and they're going to get an inescapable Judgment of God the reason I call this judgment inescapable is because the writer said how shall we escape who are under the New Covenant if they didn't escape and they were under an inferior Covenant to the Covenant in Jesus's blood how will we escape we're not Bo bergd doll and all these others that have gotten off nowadays they don't want to punish people for crimes like stealing $900 worth of stuff from stores Ah that's just we're just paying them back because yeah so today I'm going to talk to you about this inescapable Judgment of god so let's pray together everybody and don't forget the third points is an encouragement so don't worry father we thank you for your word we thank you Lord that uh yes Lord you are just and we have to understand you and this is difficult today Lord but you know what Lord these are your people they want to know what God says and so Lord help us to rightly divide the word of Truth and we pray it in Jesus's precious name and for his sake amen okay so God tells people that if they turn away from him they're in big trouble 20 years ago Washington DC lobbyist Jack abramof he was gaming the system he was a Lobby OB he's gaming the system he's getting rich and he knew he was gaming the system okay he defrauded Amica Americans out of millions of dollars of hard-earned money and he used that money to go to people in Washington and bribe them and pay them off to get the things that he wanted I don't know if it was for his company what he wanted personally what he wanted for his area of the country I don't know but he was bribing people and he of course got caught and he was arrested he was tried he was found guilty and he had to sered four years in federal prison for his crimes now in the aftermath of all this the aftermath of his crimes and his sentencing and his and I don't know if this if he said this after he got out of prison or before but this is what he said when he looked back at this everybody he said God sent me 1,000 hints that he didn't want me to keep doing what I was doing but I didn't listen so he set off a nuclear bomb wow I don't even know if the guy's a Believer but he at least has some kind of fear of God where he says you know God told me a thousand time you know I think maybe he's thinking of maybe he was talking about his conscience God told me a thousand times not to do this but I did it it's like he set off a nuclear bomb in my life I was not with my wife anymore I was not with my children anymore I lost everything to my name I had to pay he probably had to pay a fine so throughout the Book of Hebrews God's been dropping hints all along that to to people that were ready to abandon you see what this is what is this that's doing a 180 okay this is telling you hey you can turn in fact you know what I should have put a line through it but this is saying you can make a U-turn here but God's saying don't make a u-turn on me don't go don't do a 180 don't turn completely around and go in the other direction sometimes in the past it was so funny in my brain I got it confused and I'd say don't do a 360 I'm like no wait a minute that's 180 that's not 36 okay so thankfully I didn't do it today not because I've gotten any smarter or wise no I'm just kidding anyway so essentially God's telling them if you refuse to listen to me you make a spiritual uturn I'm going to set off a nuclear bomb of divine judgment and so we get to that verse beware that you do not refuse him who speaks from Heaven okay this brings us to lesson one here's lesson one today believers who refuse to obey God and turn away there it is he said if we turn away he uses those words and turn away this is apostasy what's apostasy turning a 180 Jesus you're behind me that's what hey that's what Peter did that's what Peter did he put himself in front of God and he was wanting Jesus behind him and Jesus said Peter get behind me get behind me start following me again you're getting out in front of me I'm in the front you're the follower believers who refuse refuse Circle that to obey God and turn away from the truths of the New Testament bring severe and inescapable you can't escape this judgment it will fall nobody escapes this judgment because God said I'm going to judge you and again this isn't the normal spankings we get along the way from God the normal problems the normal tests the normal suffering the normal aches and pains and troubles and blown engines and so on no those are what we all got to go through cuz we're we're trying to get to that final prize that happens to continually okay he's not telling them they'll go to hell this is not the Judgment of Eternal fire that's only for people who are unbelievers he's talking to Believers he's saying Believers if you become apostates you turn away from my son his word you won't go to hell but you're not going to escape my fiery judgment in the here and now you'll pay a huge price for refusing to listen to me and if you die in Rebellion against me if you die in Rebellion you will lose the special inheritance of the firstborn Sons and Daughters see right now y'all right now I'm pretty sure I can't be 100% sure but I'm pretty sure that the all of you or most of you are right now first born in the sense of not being born again I'm talking about you're the one that God considers a follower an obedient person not perfect but going in his Direction you're not making a U-turn and he's got your name on that registry for right now but you could sell that for a bowl of soup and it could be taken off of that not not eternal life eternal life is eternal life okay this is talking about the inheritance of a firstborn getting twice as much as all the other children that's what we want in eternity because on Earth you might get 2 million instead of 1 million but in heaven it's Eternal that $2 million whatever that is whatever that reward is you go out and spend it one day and guess what you go back and look at your bank account and you still got $2 million because it's Eternal rewards it's like oh my goodness wait a minute I just spent that today but God says no what I'm giving you is eternal wow wow okay so I'm not just talking about money either okay that's crazy okay so if you if a Christian dies in Rebellion if a Christian dies in apostasy they will they will be taken off that list and they'll stand before Jesus and here you Wicked and lazy servant five uh many years ago Gerald Wright told me the story about a family that he went to church with they had five Sons they had five sons and all of these five Sons grew up and rebelled against they went to church every week with Mom and Dad they grew up and they all rebelled against God every single one of them the firstborn son died the second born son died the Third born son died the fourth-born son died after the funeral Gerald told me of the fourth-born son he heard the mother talking to the last remaining son who was in Rebellion at time that time against God and she was begging him saying son if you don't come back to God what happened to your brothers is going to happen to you she understood God she understood this passage she didn't look at her son's deaths premature deaths as oh well you know that's that's such a strange coincidence it wasn't a coincidence she knew exactly what happen and by the way I take brother Gerald very highly I take him at his word that that was is the god- honest truth about what happened and what he saw and heard so that's lesson one apostasy leads to severe lifethreatening inescapable judgment okay that's number one now in verses 26 and 27 the writer continues to warn God's people okay at Mount Si the giving of the Mosaic law God's voice was so powerful it shook the Earth but now verse 26 he makes another promise once again I will shake not only the Earth but the heavens also this means that all of creation will be shaken and removed Revelation I mean yeah Revelation 20 2 Peter 1 all creation will be shaken and removed D so that only unshakeable only Eternal things will remain and this is our second lesson okay this is very straightforward Believers must not and the key word here is focus everybody I'm not saying you can't enjoy wonderful things going to a play going to you know see uh um what's the big uh Broadway thing that they've been do oh uh U it's it was the one of American history that what is it Hamilton that's what I was about to say another guy's name Hamilton I'm not saying that you can't go and enjoy things like that go see Wicked that play that is I I I thought I I'm not going to see Wicked and then I went and saw it I said that was so great it wasn't Wicked it was really a great thing about Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz and all that but there's that play if you haven't seen Wicked I highly now again I didn't say wicked things if you haven't seen wicked things go and see no I said Wicked that play because it's just awesome it's so it move it'll move your heart like you you can't even imagine the music is wonderful hey man God's all for that God loves to see us enjoying our life but what he's talking about is this we can't focus on temporary things and never focus on Eternal things hey we need to focus on this we need to focus on getting people here that need Jesus okay I'm trying to help you down this road to get you closer to Jesus and pointed and you know what and if I can get you to break the ice quit being so afraid I talk to people all the time and by the way I know I'm an extrovert I love to talk to people and all that but the thing is is that you know what I'm like you sometimes I'm a little bit nervous about talking to people like uh you know this past week we had a guy come and he's a bus businessman and he's you know he's this really he's been doing this for 42 years and talk to him and uh when he was leaving you know I gave him you can be sure and you know what I did that because I wanted him to have a shot and I told him what it was about and I told how God used a booklet like that in my life when I was a college student and other people this week I talked to three guys that came and worked at my house on something man I just got to give them a mini gospel there on the front porch and the blazing sun the Blazing Morning Sun but you know what man they were listening man they're looking at what I gave them and they're and you know what you can do that listen you can you can say you know you can put this in somebody's hand say say we're having a very special day on September 15th would love if you could come that's it you could do it you could do it you can do it all right so and you know what September 15th you don't go I'm glad that's over because man I don't want to have to invite anybody ever again no I'm going to keep pushing this because this is God's God's desire for our life you shall be Witnesses unto me in Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the utter parts of the earth okay so we can't focus on temporary things of this world Esau sold his rewards for a bowl of soup okay those rewards of this life can't compare with eternal rewards yes every person you talk to man cha ching cha ching it's not our job to win people to Christ it's our job to share good news with them and that God win them God's the winner we are just the conduit okay you can do this okay and you can make a cherry pie or in my case if you're making one for me blueberry but you can make a cherry pie and take it to a neighbor give him a cherry pie and say hey by the way on September 15th would love for you to join us man we have an awesome church it's a family we love one another there's not controversy in people gossiping and hating one we get together and we love and hug one another man you know just share your life with people okay that's lesson two okay believers who refuse to listen to God to The God Who will shake everything one day not just a mountain and the Middle East Sinai but the God who will shake everything they will lose their rewards they won't hear well done that's lesson two okay now how does the writer finish and this is the encouragement for you all okay here we go therefore whoops sorry therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shap Shen you and I are in the process of receiving this Kingdom we're almost there we can see the Finish Line we're getting close we're running the race okay all right since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken we're in other words an eternal one it can't be shaken this Kingdom will last forever uh Luke Chapter 2 I think it's Zechariah that's holding the Christ child I think I can't perfectly remember it could have been the other guy the old guy but he's holding Jesus and he says and he shall reign over the house of Jacob uh Luke 133 he shall rule over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end don't you want that don't you want an eternal reward do you don't you want to be an heir a joint Heir with Jesus you are all heires of God because you're Believers but you are joint heirs Romans chapter 8 with Christ if if if you suffer with him so that you may be glorified together you and Jesus co- glorified that's fact that's the Greek co-s suffer with him you will co- glow you'll co- rain and you'll will Co be Co co- glorified with him those are all uh in the same mode there in Greek Co coo co-s suffer coign Co Glory that's in our Bibles it says suffer with it means co-s suffer you right now you're joining Jesus Lord I'm going to go down your road lot of suffering there a lot of discipline yeah I know but that's all right bring it on Bring on the trouble because you you know what it's going to make me endure better and it'll it'll make me what I ought to be I don't want to be like that Bo Berg doll guy I want to be I want to be on on the top of things okay so we're receiving a kingdom which cannot be sh shaken an eternal one notice what do we do since we're redoing receiving that let us have and notice what I put here it's so important let us obtain Grace you guys Jesus is sitting on his throne and he says I've got Grace for every one of you I've got more grace than you'll ever need I've got more Mercy I if you drop the ball I'll pick you up I'll dust you off I'll wash you white as snow you just keep going just keep going don't get up the just man falls seven times and Rises up again keep going for me I'll make you white as snow after you've sinned and you just keep on going forget about what the things which are behind reach forth to the things which are before oh my goodness he's got Grace that you can't imagine you feeling down you feel in troubled go to his throne say Lord I need some of that Grace in other words what we talk about you get Grace it means I'm going to get what I need remember he said I'll give you mercy and you'll get Grace to help in time of need we need to obtain Grace from Jesus by which we may serve God acceptably with rever and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire he says never forget that he's a god of absolute Grace but he's also a god of fire a god of Truth he's mercy and Truth mercy and Truth Grace and Truth Jesus is full of grace and truth is he full of grace yeah but if you turn your back he says I'm a consuming fire I'm pointing back there our God is we need that Grace why because if we don't serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear our Gods a consuming fire if you won't take his grace you'll taste his fire his judgment inescapable it can't be avoided anybody that turns around now I'm not saying the minute they turn around they get whacked I'm saying they turn around and they keep going and they don't listen to the God speaking to them he's talking to them on the inside they keep going eventually if they don't ever turn back they keep going and keep rebelling and keep rebelling and keep rebelling the hammer is going to fall that nuclear bomb of divine judgment's going to fall okay let's wrap it up finally lesson three this is the encouragement Believers must must obtain God's Great you can't can't live without it you can't live without it you must obtain God's grace in order to serve him in an acceptable way so you can hear well done good and faithful servant that's the only way you can't say man I'm just going to I'm just going to ratchet it up I'm going to I'm going to be stronger for God than anybody around me I'm just going to I'm going to pull myself up no you'll fall flat on your face every day throughout the day Lord please need your help need your grace here oh Lord thank you that you love to keep Grace upon us I need your mercy Lord man the last few days I haven't been listening to you very well I've been complaining I've been griping and Lord and Lord I I'm sorry have mercy on me and Lord come boldly to the throne of grace Hebrews 4:16 that you may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need hey anytime you have time in Need You go to God and he'll get you through it he may even send some some money your way if you're in that kind of need he's good okay so what a great word this is to struggling Christians don't feel like you're doing well spiritually feeling down and discouraged come confidently To God In Prayer ask the one who created the entire universe to help you hey do you think God's Mighty enough to help you and I do you think he's Mighty enough Elders to help this church community become what God wants it to be I believe he is and that's why I haven't quit I've been I've been with you for for a long time decades and I keep going and keep going and keep going why because I just believe that God uses our work for him okay and you know what sometimes you know the Lord Jesus he had 12 followers in the end and then it whittel down to 11 Judas rebelled and Judas betrayed him and then those 11 they all fled and then he had John with his mom at the cross so he was down to one the one the disciple that Jesus loved H he had a special love for John I wonder he loved them all but he had a special love for John John leaned on his breast at the Last Supper and so Jesus you know he he gave his life he perished it looked like he was a total failure and they're walking he's walking on the road to emus have you heard remember he comes up with the two discouraged disciples have you heard uh Jesus they didn't know he was Jesus yet have you heard sir what's happened in in in Jerusalem no what happened you haven't heard and then they go on and on we thought it was going to be the one who was going to save all of Israel but now look he's dead man and here everybody's we don't know what to do and then of course he keeps walking with them and then they go in and they have communion and when Jesus prays over and breaks bread with them he reveals who he is and then they see it's Jesus and before they could even say anything he's gone did not our hearts they looked at one didn't our hearts burn as he was teaching us the Old Testament wasn't weren't they on fire it was Jesus and they went back of course they went right back they didn't keep going they went right back so you and I don't have to live in worry and defeat do you hear me we don't have to live in worry and discouragement and depression and defeat we go to God's Throne we get everything we need and so and so you you go to God's Throne you get his grace and say Lord with by your grace I'm just going to be I'm just going to be on fire for you that's all I want Lord I want to serve you and then one day I'll kick the bucket and uh and I'm going to be with you Lord and I and I want to hear well done Lord you know after I heard and I'm not saying this to brag or anything after I saw the movie For the First Time The Passion of the Christ in January of 2004 January 26 2004 in fact no no I'm sorry reverse that February 24th of 2004 I had to wait a month before I could leave after my brain surgery but after I saw that movie you know what I told God you know what I told God after I saw that I said I said Lord if you want me to die for you I'll die for you and guess what everybody I've never forgotten that CU I told God that would do that if he wanted and you know what he may not want but he may want that I'm going to die anyway at some time right we're all going to die but I said Lord if you want me to die for you I'll I'll I'll do it because you are the greatest person in the whole universe and I just saw what you did for me how could I not say that you don't have to say it okay you can you can think about it just so God's people don't don't forget he reminds them to take advantage of Grace there's that great scripture let us come boldly obtain Mercy find Grace to help serve him acceptably why should you and I serve him acceptably for our God is a consuming fire if you Ser him serve him unacceptably if you become apostate you Rebel uh you will have inescapable judgment it's a judgment that God will bring on the apostate okay one story and we're done in leadership magazine the famous and multi-talented and multi-published author best-selling author zigg Ziggler zigg Ziggler he was a um motivational speaker and he shared the following story here's here's uh a picture of zigg okay there he is great great motivating man he could he could he could make you want to charge hell with a squirt gun let me tell you something he can make people do stuff it's true I saw him in Port you saw him in Portland yes it is yeah so if you want to listen to him on YouTube you can go listen to him and get fired up but anyway this is what Zig Ziggler a story he shared he said this the longest 24 hours hours of my life were those after my daughter's death he had three daughters and one son when my when making the funeral arrangements with her husband and his parents I had to listen to a Salesman who was an incessant talker and told us at least 30 times that he wasn't a Salesman twice while we were making decisions about her casket and burial I had to leave the room I simply couldn't handle him the night before I had hallucinated half asleep half awake I kept thinking of my I kept thinking my daughter was wondering when when her daddy was going to come get her the next morning I took a walk and was praying and crying the whole way when I returned the Lord spoke in such a distinct way she's fine she's fine with me and you're going to be fine too I'm all you need just keep walking keep talking keep praying keep crying and my friends right there Zig Ziggler has encapsulated everything I said this morning God is there yes he punishes rebellious children with intense punishment not not child discipline the wrath of God poured out on one of his children the wrath of God yes God will do that but listen God is full of grace and mercy and if we come to him we'll be fine he's all we need we just need to keep walking with him looking unto him talking to him praying crying out to him and listen everybody he will see us across the finish line he will see us across the Finish Line I take great comfort in 1 John 2:28 where John the Apostle the one who leaned his head on Jesus's chest said this little children stay close to him that you may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming what's the answer to not being ashamed before him at his coming coming stay close keep walking keep talking keep praying keep crying let's bow our heads for prayer Lord we just want to praise you for your Mighty word we just want to praise you for being there for us day and night 100% of the time Jesus I put my faith in you and uh in June of 1979 and you have never left me nor forsaken me you have been with me every step of the way good times and bad times wonderful times and difficult times and Lord You've promised me and all of us Lord that if we're your children you will never leave us or forsake us so Jesus give us Grace today and help us to keep praying to keep crying to keep walking to keep talking and we ask these things in your precious name Jesus and for your sake amen hey let's give God a great hand for his promises everybody thank you all right everybody out on that table right out there is the back to church you know what everybody our neighbors and our friends they need to hear about a God Like The God we have that we talked about this morning they need to hear how great he is all right let's let's let's let God use us let's let's do great things for him all right have a great great week everybody and happy September it's September 1st happy September have a great month all right you're dismissed take care [Music] w