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Hebrews 5 - What Does the Bible Say about Being Saved? · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, friends and faithful listeners and faithful members,
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning into the Bible Explained podcast.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to correct something that I said on the
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  Speaker 1: podcast yesterday, and this is the second day in a
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  Speaker 1: row that I've had to correct something that I've said.
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned yesterday on the podcast that worship services should
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  Speaker 1: be entertaining because the definition of entertaining is just to
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  Speaker 1: keep one's attention, and I think that when you go
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  Speaker 1: to church, it should keep your attention. It should be
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  Speaker 1: set up in such a way where you are not
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  Speaker 1: bored to tears essentially. You know, I've been to churches
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  Speaker 1: in my life where that has unfortunately been the case,
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  Speaker 1: and it's not very worshipful if you're sitting there, you know,
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  Speaker 1: bored to death. But after the episode was published, I
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  Speaker 1: felt kind of convicted because I didn't get to the
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  Speaker 1: heart of the real problem. It's not really about entertainment.
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  Speaker 1: It's about glory given to God. So if you're going
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  Speaker 1: to a church service and it's not as entertaining as
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  Speaker 1: some would think entertainment is, but it's very worshipful, it's
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  Speaker 1: very theologically sound, then I would argue that that church
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  Speaker 1: is going down the right path even if they aren't
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  Speaker 1: super entertaining. But on the flip side, if a church
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  Speaker 1: is truly being entertaining for the sole purpose of giving
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  Speaker 1: glory to God, like being really high tech and doing
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  Speaker 1: all of these things with a genuine heart of worship
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  Speaker 1: trying to give God the glory, then that's also a
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  Speaker 1: really solid and sound church. So I just wanted to
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  Speaker 1: qualify that that it's not really about how entertaining a
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  Speaker 1: church is exactly, but more so about the heart when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to how worship services are set up. And
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  Speaker 1: I did not make that clear on yesterday's podcast episode,
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  Speaker 1: and I'd like to apologize for that. Before today, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to be talking about Hebrews chapter five, the entire
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  Speaker 1: chapter before we get into today's episode. As you all know,
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  Speaker 1: there is going to be an ad break, and while
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  Speaker 1: these ads are playing, this is going to be a
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  Speaker 1: great time for you to grab your coffee and also
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  Speaker 1: your Bible out of the version that you prefer, or
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  Speaker 1: your cup of tea for you crazy tea drinkers, so
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  Speaker 1: or if you already have your coffee, you can go
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  Speaker 1: take some time to heat it up in the microwave,
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  Speaker 1: or grab yourself another cup. So while this ad is playing,
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and get yourself cozy and do all those things. Alrighty,
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  Speaker 1: With all of that said, let's go ahead and jump
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  Speaker 1: into Hebrews chapter five. As always, I'll be reading from
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  Speaker 1: the web. Let's give reverence to God's word together. For
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  Speaker 1: every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed
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  Speaker 1: for men in things pertaining to God, that he may
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  Speaker 1: offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. The high priest
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  Speaker 1: can deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray,
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  Speaker 1: because he himself is also surrounded with weakness. Because of this,
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  Speaker 1: he must offer sacrifices for sins for the people as
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  Speaker 1: well as for himself. Nobody takes this honor on himself,
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  Speaker 1: but he is called by God, just like Aaron was
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  Speaker 1: so also Christ. It didn't glorify himself to be made
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  Speaker 1: high priest, but it was He who said to him,
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  Speaker 1: you are my son. Today I have become your father.
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  Speaker 1: As he also says in another place, you are a
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  Speaker 1: priest forever after the order of Melchisedek. He in the
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  Speaker 1: days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions
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  Speaker 1: with strong crying and tears to him who is able
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  Speaker 1: to save him from death, and having been heard for
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  Speaker 1: his godly fear, though he was a son, yet learned
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  Speaker 1: obedience by the things which he suffered. Having been made perfect,
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  Speaker 1: he became to all of those who obey him, the
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  Speaker 1: author of eternal salvation, named by God, a high priest
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  Speaker 1: after the order of Melchisedek. About him, we have many
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  Speaker 1: words to say and hard to interpret, seeing how you
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  Speaker 1: have become a dull of hearing. For although by this
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  Speaker 1: time you should be teachers, you again need to have
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  Speaker 1: someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of
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  Speaker 1: the revelations of God. You have come to need milk
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  Speaker 1: and not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk
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  Speaker 1: is not experienced in the words of righteousness, for he
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  Speaker 1: is a baby. But solid fe food is for those
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  Speaker 1: who are full grown, who by reason of use, have
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  Speaker 1: their senses exercised to discern good and evil. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: gonna lie. When I was reading the very end of
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  Speaker 1: that for you, guys, I was having a hard time
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  Speaker 1: not cracking up during the middle of it, because you know,
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  Speaker 1: we don't know who wrote the Book of Hebrews. But man,
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  Speaker 1: the ending just sounds like Paul where he's like, you
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  Speaker 1: guys have made yourselves into babies. You are infantilizing yourselves,
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  Speaker 1: and that's not good. And unfortunately I have to speak
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  Speaker 1: down to you because you guys are a bunch of children.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds like Paul a lot, quite honestly. But starting
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  Speaker 1: in verse one, here's what the author says, for every
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  Speaker 1: high priest being taken from among men is appointed for
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  Speaker 1: men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer
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  Speaker 1: both gifts and sacrifices for sins. And then he continues
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  Speaker 1: on in verses two through five with the same kind
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  Speaker 1: of idea, explaining what the high priest was supposed to do.
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  Speaker 1: Because remember, the Book of Hebrews was obviously written to
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  Speaker 1: the Hebrew Christians, the people who believed in Jesus but
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  Speaker 1: were born Jewish and understood a lot of things about
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  Speaker 1: the high priest and the Old Testament laws and all
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  Speaker 1: of that stuff. So the reason he's explaining the office
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  Speaker 1: of the high priest is to bring it forward into
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  Speaker 1: Jesus and to begin to explain how the office of
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  Speaker 1: the high priest has now changed. So he says, every
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  Speaker 1: high priest being taken from men is appointed for men
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  Speaker 1: in things pertaining to God that he may offer both
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  Speaker 1: gifts and sacrifices for sins. So that right there is
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  Speaker 1: the basic function of the high priest. He is appointed
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  Speaker 1: by God for the service of the people, so that
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  Speaker 1: they can get closer to God. And part of that
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  Speaker 1: role of the high priest was to offer gifts and
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Then in
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  Speaker 1: verse two, the high priest can deal gently with those
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  Speaker 1: who are ignorant and going astray because he himself is
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  Speaker 1: also surrounded with weakness. Now, that is something, unfortunately that
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  Speaker 1: the high priest did not have in the days of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: because the office of the high priest had become so politicized.
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  Speaker 1: There's so much red tape around it, and it became corrupt.
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  Speaker 1: It was all about politicking in the days of Jesus, Whereas,
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  Speaker 1: in contrast, when God made the office of the high
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  Speaker 1: priest back in the Old Testament, the high priest was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be somebody that could relate to the people
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  Speaker 1: who had the same sins, the same struggles, the same
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  Speaker 1: weaknesses as the people. And because of that, the high
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  Speaker 1: priest then would understand compassion and forgiveness because he himself
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  Speaker 1: also struggled with these things. So the high priest was
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  Speaker 1: not really supposed to judge the people, but kind of
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  Speaker 1: the opposite actually, if you think about it, the high
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  Speaker 1: priest was supposed to intercede for the people. He was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to help the people seek God and seek forgiveness
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  Speaker 1: through the offerings and the sacrifices. Generally, the high priest
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  Speaker 1: was not a judge. On occasion that would happen. For example,
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  Speaker 1: I believe Samuel, the last judge of Israel, was also
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  Speaker 1: the high priest, But generally the high priest was different
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  Speaker 1: from a judge. But unfortunately, the high priest never really
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  Speaker 1: did what he was supposed to do. He either became
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  Speaker 1: a very judgmental person, kind of like in the days
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus where the Pharisees were always judging the people
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  Speaker 1: and acted holier than now, or the high priest was
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  Speaker 1: just going right along with the sins of the people
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  Speaker 1: and not doing anything to help them get closer to God.
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  Speaker 1: So the high priest never really did what he was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to do. But in an ideal world, the way
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  Speaker 1: God had it set up, the high priest was supposed
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  Speaker 1: to help the people get closer to God by interceding
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  Speaker 1: for them. Then in verse three of Hebrews five, because
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  Speaker 1: of this, he must offer sacrifices for the sins of
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  Speaker 1: the people as well as for himself. Nobody takes this
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  Speaker 1: honor on himself, but he is called by God, just
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  Speaker 1: like Aaron was. So the office of the high priest
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  Speaker 1: was not something that just anybody could become. The high
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  Speaker 1: priest was appointed by God, was called specifically by God.
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  Speaker 1: It was never supposed to be a political office where
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  Speaker 1: people could like vote you in. God himself would choose
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  Speaker 1: who the high priest was supposed to be. But again,
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  Speaker 1: that is not how things were really done, unfortunately. But
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  Speaker 1: then in verse five, after explaining what the high priest
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to do, the author goes on to explain
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  Speaker 1: how Jesus became the high priest. And we've talked about
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  Speaker 1: this concept a handful of times before, already in the
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  Speaker 1: book of Hebrews. I believe it was mentioned in Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: two and also Hebrews three. And now we're going to
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  Speaker 1: get a lot more into this topic in the next
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  Speaker 1: few chapters. So he says in verse five, so also
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  Speaker 1: Christ didn't glorify himself to be made a high priest
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  Speaker 1: but it was he who said to him, you are
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  Speaker 1: my son. Today, I've become your father. So Jesus did
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  Speaker 1: not glory himself essentially to be come the high priest. Rather,
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  Speaker 1: he was appointed to become the high priest. The author
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  Speaker 1: brings forward a verse found in the Book of Psalms.
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  Speaker 1: You are my son today, I have become your father.
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  Speaker 1: Now a lot of people get really confused actually about
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  Speaker 1: this verse, because we know that it's talking about Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: But we also know that Jesus was not born. He
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  Speaker 1: has existed from the very beginning. That is what John
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  Speaker 1: chapter one says. He is God. He is the same
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  Speaker 1: as God, so he's always existed. How does this make
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  Speaker 1: sense that Jesus is the father's son and today the
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  Speaker 1: Father became Jesus's father. This verse is not talking about
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  Speaker 1: God conceiving Jesus or anything like that. This verse is
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  Speaker 1: talking about God showing the entire world that Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: his son. And when did this happen? When did this
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  Speaker 1: prophecy from the Book of Psalms come to fruition. It
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  Speaker 1: came to fruition when Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
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  Speaker 1: Because Jesus, with his resurrection proved that he was God,
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  Speaker 1: proved that he was God's son. All of the disciples
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  Speaker 1: that saw Jesus when he was resurrected now truly and
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  Speaker 1: surely understood that Jesus was the Messiah, that he was
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  Speaker 1: the son of God. And with his resurrection he was
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  Speaker 1: appointed as the high priest. As he says, also in
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  Speaker 1: another place, you are a priest forever after the order
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  Speaker 1: of Malchisedec. Now I'm not going to get into Malchisedek
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  Speaker 1: just now, because I believe Hebrews seven is going to
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  Speaker 1: go a lot more in depth about Malchisedek, so I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to discuss that now, But essentially, just understand
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  Speaker 1: that one of the reasons why Jesus did not have
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  Speaker 1: to be a Levite in order to become the high
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  Speaker 1: priest was because the order of the Levites is now gone.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is now part of the order of Malchisedec, not
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  Speaker 1: the Levites. And I'll get into what that means more
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  Speaker 1: in depth once we hit Hebrews seven. But continuing on
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  Speaker 1: in Hebrews five, it says he, in the days of
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  Speaker 1: his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong
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  Speaker 1: crying and tears to him who was able to save
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  Speaker 1: him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
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  Speaker 1: though he was a son, yet learned obedience by the
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  Speaker 1: things which he suffered. Having been made perfect, he became
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  Speaker 1: to all of those who obey him, the author of
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  Speaker 1: eternal salvation, named by God a high priest after the
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  Speaker 1: order of Malchisedek. So with Jesus's resurrection, he also became
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  Speaker 1: our high priest. Human beings no longer needed to be
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  Speaker 1: high priests anymore. They were imperfect high priests, as we
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  Speaker 1: already know because if you look through the entire Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: they were never doing what they were supposed to be doing.
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  Speaker 1: So human high priests are no longer needed or necessary
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  Speaker 1: because we have a perfect high priest. And it says
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  Speaker 1: right here that Jesus was made perfect through his obedience.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about that concept a little bit because
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  Speaker 1: it's it's confusing. You know, we know that Jesus was
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  Speaker 1: a son of God. It says right here that though
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  Speaker 1: he was a son, he learned obedience by the things
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  Speaker 1: which he suffered. Having been made perfect, he became to
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  Speaker 1: all of those who obey him, the author of eternal salvation.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus was the son of God right, meaning before
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  Speaker 1: he came to earth, he lived up in heaven in perfection.
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  Speaker 1: He was God, and he showed up many times actually
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  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament as God himself. Even before Jesus
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  Speaker 1: came down to earth. The prophets would talk about the
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  Speaker 1: Son of God, the Messiah, the Holy One. So people
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  Speaker 1: knew this about God. In fact, in the very first
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  Speaker 1: chapters of the Bible, in Genesis, God calls himself We,
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  Speaker 1: so people knew. People understood that there was a trinity
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  Speaker 1: even back in the Old Testament, and Jesus was the
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  Speaker 1: son of God, he was God himself. But still when
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  Speaker 1: he came down to earth, he had to learn obedience,
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  Speaker 1: is what is said. And this is not to say
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus was disobedient until he became obedient, because we know,
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  Speaker 1: based upon other things that Hebrews has said that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: was without sin, and we know that disobedience equals sin.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus was always obedient. And you might be like, well,
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  Speaker 1: then how does this make sense. How did he learn
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  Speaker 1: obedience if he was always obedient? Well, think about it
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  Speaker 1: this way. Since Jesus was God before he came down
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  Speaker 1: to earth, he never had to obey anything. He was
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  Speaker 1: the one who was to be obeyed, So obviously Jesus
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  Speaker 1: knew what obedience was. And when he came down to earth,
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  Speaker 1: he was obedient. But he had to experience obedience for himself,
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  Speaker 1: which is not something that he ever had to do.
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  Speaker 1: When he lived up in heaven, he never had to
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  Speaker 1: obey because he was the one giving all the orders.
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  Speaker 1: But now down on earth he had to experience what
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  Speaker 1: obedience actually felt like, what it truly meant to obey.
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  Speaker 1: Right before he went to the cross in the Garden
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  Speaker 1: of Death, semone, he struggled with obedience. He didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to die and experience a miserable death, and who knows
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  Speaker 1: what else. You know, the suffering I'm sure was not fun,
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  Speaker 1: But there was a spiritually dark element that Jesus had
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  Speaker 1: to deal with as well. On our behalf, he had
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  Speaker 1: to experience the full wrath of God, the wrath of
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  Speaker 1: human beings and the wrath of God. Which I'd rather
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  Speaker 1: experience the wrath of human beings than the wrath of God.
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  Speaker 1: And even Jesus himself said that he told his disciples,
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  Speaker 1: don't fear those who can kill the body. Rather fear
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  Speaker 1: the one who can not only kill your body, but
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  Speaker 1: can also so cast your soul into Gehenna. Jesus experienced
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  Speaker 1: both the wrath of man and the wrath of God,
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  Speaker 1: and he had to be obedient in order to do that.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus truly experienced what it meant to be obedient.
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  Speaker 1: Obedient to the point of death, even death up on
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  Speaker 1: a cross, is what scripture says. And all of this
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  Speaker 1: obedience that he did proved his perfection. It says in
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  Speaker 1: verse nine, having been made perfect, he became to all
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  Speaker 1: of those who obey him, the author of eternal salvation. Now,
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  Speaker 1: notice something about that verse. It says he became to
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  Speaker 1: all of those who obey him, the author of eternal salvation.
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  Speaker 1: Not too long ago, when we discussed Hebrews chapter three,
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  Speaker 1: I talked in some detail about James chapter two, where
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  Speaker 1: it says that the demons believe in God, and they
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  Speaker 1: even shudder at his name and his presence, but they
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  Speaker 1: don't have a true faith God. And this verse right
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  Speaker 1: here is describing that very thing. Having been made perfect,
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  Speaker 1: he became to all of those who obey him, the
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  Speaker 1: author of eternal salvation. Not too long ago, my husband
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  Speaker 1: and I were discussing this concept of what it really
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  Speaker 1: means to be saved. And this is something that I've
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  Speaker 1: been pondering myself, especially going through the Book of Hebrews,
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  Speaker 1: because growing up in the church that I grew up in,
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  Speaker 1: they were really big on the sinner's prayer. Essentially, if
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  Speaker 1: you could get somebody to say the sinner's prayer, which
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  Speaker 1: was Jesus, I'm a sinner, I accept you into my
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  Speaker 1: heart and I believe in you, then that meant that
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  Speaker 1: that person was saved. As long as they said the
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  Speaker 1: sinner's prayer, that meant they were saved. Other churches might say,
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  Speaker 1: as long as you are baptized into that church, you
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  Speaker 1: are saved. But is that really what salvation is? Being
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  Speaker 1: baptized into a church denomination or saying a sinner prayer.
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  Speaker 1: And so this is where I'd like to kind of
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  Speaker 1: go through the concept of how to be saved. The
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  Speaker 1: easiest answer comes from Acts, chapter sixteen, verses twenty nine
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  Speaker 1: through thirty two. This is where Paul is thrown into
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  Speaker 1: prison Paul and Silas and they convert this jailer who
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  Speaker 1: almost died because he thought that Paul and Silas escaped.
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  Speaker 1: So the jailer goes and asks Paul and Silas, how
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  Speaker 1: can I be saved? Essentially, so this is Acts sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: starting in verse twenty nine. The jailer called for lights,
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  Speaker 1: sprang in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas,
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  Speaker 1: and he brought them out, and he said, sirs, what
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  Speaker 1: must I do to be saved? They said, believe in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you
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  Speaker 1: and your household. They spoke the word of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: to him and to all who are in his house.
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  Speaker 1: So that right there proves that if you believe in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, and the word Christ, there
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  Speaker 1: is very important. Which, by the way, the word Christ
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  Speaker 1: is not Jesus's last name, which is what a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people think. It is. No, the word Christ means Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of God. Essentially, if you believe in the
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  Speaker 1: fact that Jesus is the son of God, and that
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  Speaker 1: he came to earth and he died for your sins,
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  Speaker 1: then you, in fact will be saved. So it is
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  Speaker 1: true that if somebody is genuinely praying the sinner's prayer,
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  Speaker 1: not just repeating after the pastor which is what they
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  Speaker 1: always did, but genuinely saying a sinner's prayer and accepting
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  Speaker 1: Jesus into their heart, then they will be saved. But
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  Speaker 1: a prayer isn't even necessary actually, because Paul says that
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  Speaker 1: all you have to do is believe, So you don't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily have to say a sinner's prayer or anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: In order to be saved. You just have to believe
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  Speaker 1: what the Bible says. It has to be true faith
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  Speaker 1: on your part, true faith that Jesus was in fact real,
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  Speaker 1: that he died for your sins, and that he resurrected
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: on the third day. Those are the basics of becoming.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: But going back to our passage for today, Hebrews five,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: it says in verse nine again he became to all
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  Speaker 1: of those who obey him, the author of eternal salvation.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Faith and obedience go hand in hand. You can't really
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: have faith without obedience, and you can't really have true
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: obedience without faith. For example, if you just obey the
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: principles of the Bible, if you're like a cultural Christian,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: let's say you think the principles of the Bible are
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: good and you want to obey those things, you're not
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: doing anything different than what the pharisees did in the
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: days of Jesus. And I'm not calling you a pharisee
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: because you might not have the hypocrisy of the Pharisees,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: but you're not really doing anything different. Then Let's say
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Paul did before he believed in Jesus. You know, he
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: was always obeying what the law said. He followed the
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: laws to a tee. Actually, it's very possible that Paul
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: wanted to become the next high priest. Actually he was
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: doing these things for himself. He didn't have a true faith.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: His salvation in his mind, was based upon his works,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: which is why Paul rebelled very hard against that mindset.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: After he became a Christian, he no longer believed that
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: works could save Even if you follow the Old Testament
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: to a t, it is not going to save you
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: because works can't save you. So you can have the obedience,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: but if you don't have the faith, it's just nothing
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: but works. But on the flip side, you can't really
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: have faith without obedience either, because again you become like
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the people in the wilderness who only believed that God
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: existed and didn't have any of the obedience. So they
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: would go and worship God, and they'd say, yeah, God,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to give you my lip service
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: for today, and I'm going to worship you and offer
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: this thingy for you, and you know, give you all
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: this stuff, and then I'm going to go over to
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: this you know, ash or occult and sleep with a prostitute.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: They didn't have the obedience. They believed that God existed.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: They knew that God existed, actually, but they did not
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: have the obedience that came with that understanding. And they
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: also weren't truly saved. Again, what is James chapter two says,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: even Satan knows that God exists and he trembles at him.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Good for you, you believe that God exists. Good, But
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: show me through your obedience that God exists. Show me
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: your faith through your obedience. So faith and obedience go
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: hand in hand. And we're not going to get it
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: perfect every single time either. In fact, obedience is learned
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: because one of the things that Jesus said, right before
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: he has sent it up into heaven was the great commission.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: He said, go into all the world, preach the Gospel
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Son and Holy Spirit. And then the part that a
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: lot of people often leave out, including myself, I usually
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: only quote the first part, teaching them to obey all
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: my words or something along those lines. I don't have
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: that part memorized, but it's essentially teaching the people to obey.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So obedience is learned. Even Jesus himself says learned obedience. However,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: faith and obedience do go hand in hand. And actually
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the jailer who was told all these things by Paul,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: you know, to believe in Jesus, he immediately exercised obedience
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: after believing in Jesus. And you know what he did.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: He brought Paul and Silas out of prison. He dressed
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: their wounds, so he showed love to them, and then
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: he was baptized by them. That was his first step
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: into obedience. And that is something, interestingly enough, that a
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: lot of Christians just won't do. They don't want to
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: get baptized after becoming saved. But that's like the first
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: step to obey Jesus is getting baptized. And I'm not
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: trying to guildt anybody if you are not ready to
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: be baptized, I would never, ever, ever, in a million years,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: expect you to get baptized. You should not be getting
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: baptized because you feel forced into it. You have to
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: be ready to take that step yourself. But if you
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: are a Christian that's been a Christian for a long
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: time and for whatever reason, you can't take that step
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: into getting baptized when you're just not ready for it,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: it might be really wise for you to pray on
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: that issue and maybe ask God, like, what is keeping
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: me from getting baptized? Is it? Maybe you know, fear
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: of my family not liking it, fear of being judged,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: fear that I'm not good enough to be baptized, or
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: fear that I'm not worthy for God's love. Really analyze
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: yourself and ask that question, why have I not taken
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: that step of obedience, that first step of obedience in
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: my Christian walk. But the good news is in order
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to be saved, all you have to do is to
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: believe in Jesus. You don't have to say a sinner's prayer,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: you don't have to be baptized into a church. You
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: are saved. I mean, even the sinner up on the cross,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: though he was not baptized because he couldn't be, he
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: was still saved Jesus told him today you will be
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: with me in Paradise. And we know that that man
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: did not get baptized, so you can be saved without
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: getting baptized. But obedience and faith go hand in hand.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: And that's what James says as well. He says faith
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: without works, you know the work of obedience. Faith without
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: works is dead. Not saying it's not there, but it
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: is dead. It is not alive. Your faith is not flourishing,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: it's doing nothing. Here's the thing in a nutshell. Because
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Jesus became obedient for us to the point of the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: most excruciating like that is literally where the word excruciating
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: comes from. Is crucifixion, to the most excruciating death you
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: can possibly experience, and also the wrath of God being
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: poured out on him, which is far worse than any
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: excruciating death. If Jesus can do those things for us
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and become obedient for our souls when he didn't have
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: to be, when he was God, when he could have
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: ordered us to obey him, If Jesus can obey for
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: our sakes, then certainly we should take steps, maybe slow steps,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: certainly imperfect steps into obedience to Jesus. All right, faith listeners,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to close out Hebrews five by discussing verses
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: eleven through fourteen at the end here. But before I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: do that, here is the last ad break for today.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: So in verses eleven through fourteen, the author of Hebrews
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: talks about how the Hebrew Christians became dull of hearing,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and he basically calls them babies, and he says the
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: reason he has to start at these rudimentary principles is
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: because the people have lost their ability to understand, and
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: they did it to themselves. Is what the author claims here.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: It says, you have become dull of hearing. And how
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: they probably did that was by going back to the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: rudimentary principles of the Old Testament law, trying to be
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: saved through works, or maybe being like the Corinthian Church was.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Remember how we talked about the Corinthian Church. They believed
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: they could do anything they wanted because of God's grace.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: There was two opposite viewpoints that the early Christian leaders
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: were constantly struggling with. Either Christians who said we can
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: do whatever we want because of God's grace, or Christians
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: who kept trying to earn salvation for themselves, but it's
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: neither of those things. Having true faith in Jesus means
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: obeying his word, not trying to work for salvation for ourselves,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and also not just going off and doing whatever we
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: want to do. There's a cringey old hymn that you
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: guys might know. I always thought it was kind of
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: cringe as a little kid, and I still think it's cringey. However,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the lyrics are kind of true. It says trust and obey,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: except to trust and obey. It's the truth. Obedience and
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: faith go hand in hand. But even believing in Jesus
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: in and of itself is kind of an act of obedience.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: So maybe faith and obedience kind of start at the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: exact same time, where once you give your heart over
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: to Jesus, that's an act of obedience to him. But
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely not trying to confuse you guys or make
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: it seem like there's something more that you need to
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: do in order to be saved. Jesus does the saving work.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: It says right here in verse nine that Jesus became
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the author of eternal salvation. So Jesus did the work
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: for us up on the cross and on the tomb,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and in order to be saved, all we have to
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: do is believe in Him, humble ourselves before him, take
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: that first step into faith and obedience by truly putting
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: your trust in him. Moving past this baby state the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: author talks about at the very end here into becoming
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: mature adults in the Christian faith. And how we do
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: that is by taking little steps of obedience and faith,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: by learning more about Jesus and following the path he
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: wants us to go, basically submitting to His will in
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: our lives. So, faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: I will see all of you guys on Monday. If
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I don't see you all tomorrow for the Bible explained
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: on Fridays, which, by the way, I forgot to tell
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: you guys, you don't have to go through PayPal anymore
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: if you want to become a member. I set up
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: something on my website. So if you go to www
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: dot p forty ministries dot com and click the more tab,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: you'll see an option where it says plans and pricing
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and when you click on that, it will say become
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: a member to gain access to the Friday podcast. And
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that's a way that you can bypass PayPal if you
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: don't want to go through PayPal, which I've actually had
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: a handful of people reach out to me and tell
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: me that they don't like PayPal and don't want to
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: go through it, but would still like to support me.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: So this is a way you can bypass PayPal and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: still gain access to the Bible Explained on Fridays if
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: you would like to do that, So that will be
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: linked in the description of this episode. If you don't
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: want to support me through KOFE, I completely understand. So
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: upgrade from being faithful listeners to faithful members today. All
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: righty guys, have a wonderful rest of your day. I'll
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: see you all on Monday, bright and early, happy listening,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if
• 29:40
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• 29:42
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