Latest / Simply Christ Podcast / Hebrews Part 42 - Simply Christ Podcast
Transcript
- 0:05All right, we'll get started here.
- 0:08Welcome to our weekly Bible study where we discuss God's
- 0:12Word and Word and we let it transform our lives.
- 0:15For the next hour, we're going to discuss Hebrews chapter 12
- 0:19and 13 and talk about God's Word.
- 0:24You have any questions or comments you can type them in
- 0:26the comment section or raise your hand digitally and we'd be
- 0:30having on mute you and let you speak your peace streaming
- 0:34Facebook live on Facebook and YouTube.
- 0:37You can see past episodes at simplychristministries.com as
- 0:42well as find the links to our website or our podcast there.
- 0:46Tonight we are beginning in Capital 12 verse. 2017.
- 0:52Hebrews. And we'll, we'll start right in
- 0:56there. I'll ask Dad to open us up with
- 0:58a word of prayer if you would please there.
- 1:01Father, we're thankful to be here together.
- 1:04You said we're two or three are gathered there.
- 1:06Are you in the midst of them? And we're excited and thankful
- 1:09for the technology that we have that we can be gathered like
- 1:12this digitally across the Canada and into some of the states
- 1:16here. We're just we're appreciative of
- 1:17it. And we just pray God that you
- 1:19give us wisdom, insight, understanding of your word and
- 1:22that people who TuneIn now live and people that later TuneIn to
- 1:26hear it after would be affected by your word in a way that we
- 1:30wouldn't be able to drum up. That you would have a way with
- 1:33them, Lord, and your name would be made much of, and that Jesus
- 1:36would be seen clearly through text and that ultimately you
- 1:39would get more glory because of what we're doing here.
- 1:41We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
- 1:45Thank you there. All righty we are ready to go in
- 1:50verse 27, but to get a running start last week we talked about
- 1:54the terrible mountain that Moses went up and he met God there and
- 2:03there was a lot of smoke and noise.
- 2:06And Moses said that it was terrible in his sight and it was
- 2:11exceedingly he was exceeding says there but that we come into
- 2:18the living God in the heavenly Jerusalem and just made that
- 2:24point said that Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant to
- 2:26the blood of sprinkling and better things and I speak of
- 2:30better things than that of Abel. So really good discussion here.
- 2:34I'm enjoying this part of it tonight.
- 2:38We'll start with verse 27. He's he just got done saying
- 2:43that he spoke once that shook the earth and yet once more I
- 2:53shake not the earth only, but also haven't so there's time
- 2:57coming. The entire thing's going to
- 2:58shake, not just the earth, but the entire creation.
- 3:03And so anyway, then he says, and this word yet once more
- 3:08signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of
- 3:13things that are made, that those things which cannot.
- 3:17Now there'll be things that cannot be shaken.
- 3:21And, and we already we're in the middle of a pretty good
- 3:24discussion before we started here.
- 3:27So you get back to the discussion right now.
- 3:30Aaron, I'll turn it over to you and let you go.
- 3:33I'm not in my usual spot. I'm on the sitting in a parking
- 3:36lot of the mall, actually in my truck.
- 3:37So my wife's inside shopping and we're on the way back home and
- 3:41and pulled off into town here for this.
- 3:43So, but anyway, go ahead Aaron with what you got on 27th.
- 3:47Yeah, I guess I'm going to kind of put 26 with it because, well,
- 3:53actually, I guess we even need to think about it before that.
- 3:57He's comparing when when God came down on top of the mountain
- 4:02there to give the law to Moses and they were afraid of it.
- 4:07Moses said he was even afraid of it.
- 4:10There was thunderings and lightnings going on and God was
- 4:12shaking all this. His presence was shaking it.
- 4:15And he says there in 26 Joy read whose voice then that is when
- 4:21that happened shook the earth. But now he hath promised saying
- 4:25yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
- 4:31And this word yet once more signify the removing of those
- 4:34things are shaken as as of things that are made.
- 4:40And I wanted to point out that he, you know, if you think back
- 4:43on chapters 8-9 and ten, he was comparing the the temple and the
- 4:49Tabernacle rather that was made with hands to the one that
- 4:53Christ actually makes his offering in, which was not made
- 4:56with hands. That's actually in the heavens.
- 4:59And he says there that, you know, he said there in verse 27,
- 5:04here in chapter 12 of those things that are shaken as of
- 5:07things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken
- 5:11may remain. And that's what I was saying.
- 5:14I just like Leon said, we was discussing this beforehand that
- 5:19verse 26 is actually a quote, the part where it says yet once
- 5:24more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
- 5:27It's a, it's not a perfect word for word quote, but it's, it's a
- 5:31pretty close quote from Haggai chapter 2.
- 5:35And he says in verse 6 for thus saith the Lord of hosts.
- 5:39Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and
- 5:45the earth and the sea and the drive of land, and I will shake
- 5:49all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I
- 5:53will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
- 5:57So to me, that's what I was kind of asking and saying is it seems
- 6:02like he is making a, a reference to me as this maybe even, maybe
- 6:09even this New Jerusalem that's coming down.
- 6:12You know, because if you think about all the things that go on
- 6:14on the earth before the new Jerusalem comes down, all the
- 6:18shaking, all the, you know, the destruction, all the death and
- 6:22all those things that go on. And then he's going to bring
- 6:26this down. Everybody going to see it coming
- 6:28down. It's the real one, right?
- 6:30I mean, it it be the the real Tabernacle and in the temple, I
- 6:35guess you could say, but it's going to come down and people
- 6:38are going to see that. In fact in verse 7 of Haggai
- 6:41chapter 2 he says I will shake all nations and oh sorry.
- 6:44Verse verse 8 says The silver is mine, the gold is mine, saith
- 6:49the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter.
- 6:52House. Shall be greater than the
- 6:54former, saith the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give
- 6:58peace, saith the Lord of Hosts. So I guess the reason I thought
- 7:06that was relevant is because if again, if we think about the
- 7:09context of what we're talking about, he is talking to people
- 7:13that are being tempted to put their trust back into a temple
- 7:17that they don't even realize is getting ready to be destroyed
- 7:20again in just a few short years, right?
- 7:22So I think, I think this is a maybe a reference to the one
- 7:27that can't be shaken, right? A reference to the one that
- 7:30can't be shaken, giving them hope.
- 7:33They have put their hope out of that one that was made with
- 7:36hand. The price is walking through.
- 7:38And his disciples says, look at these stones.
- 7:40And he says, I'll tell you that they'll not be left one stone
- 7:43upon another. And I think he's directing these
- 7:45people's hope towards that one which is to come.
- 7:50That one can't be shaken. But but like I said, I'm I'm
- 7:53glad to hear what you all think about it.
- 7:54But that's that's what I thought.
- 7:56Yeah, that's interesting, Andrew.
- 7:59Yeah, I would agree with it's most likely that I I do think
- 8:05that he's talking about also the transition because it says it's
- 8:08it's signifying this also signifying a removal of I think
- 8:161A shakable administration to an unshakable 1.
- 8:22And that's good news for someone that is really struggling in.
- 8:29I had it pulled up here in. Matthew 2435 says Heaven and
- 8:39earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
- 8:44He says it again in Luke, Same thing and, and second Peter 310
- 8:53But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in
- 8:56the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
- 9:00elements shall melt with the fervent heat, and the earth also
- 9:02in the works that are therein shall be burned up.
- 9:06So what do you think of the idea that heaven and earth, even
- 9:10heaven is going to pass away? You said it's not going only to
- 9:14shape the earth. I think we have scripture there
- 9:18in Peter where heaven and earth is going to be burned up and or
- 9:22his words are not going to get burned up.
- 9:24They're they're everlasting and this has words and think of the
- 9:31spirit remain. They're unmovable, unshakable.
- 9:35So Jesus Christ in us and we inherit the Kingdom of God is a
- 9:41foundation that is unmovable, unshakable will never be moved.
- 9:46It's somewhere we can it's our it's an anger of the soul for
- 9:49all throughout all eternity. Heaven and earth can burn up,
- 9:52but that remains. And how cool is that?
- 9:56Like what? What can be bad, you know, in
- 10:00this life or heaven or whatever like that, you know, what can go
- 10:05wrong? We have a Kingdom that is in the
- 10:07high, in the like, above the heavens, like in the Kingdom of
- 10:10God is made-up. You remember how God says he
- 10:13doesn't have a place to lay his head, right?
- 10:16I think it's cool that we don't even need a building.
- 10:19The Kingdom of God doesn't need a building, I don't think.
- 10:21I think it's something that's just going to remain forever,
- 10:24whether we have a new heaven or an old heaven, you know?
- 10:28And that's cool. I like that.
- 10:31But I mainly like the signifying of putting away the old for the
- 10:35new, the old shakeable. It couldn't do the job.
- 10:38It fell short every time. And that's what the whole book
- 10:40of Hebrews is all about. And it's reminding.
- 10:42It's like, hey, you guys got a Kingdom that can't be shaken.
- 10:46Even heaven will be shaken, but this Kingdom cannot be shaken.
- 10:49Lift up them hands that hang down them feeble knees that want
- 10:54to bend over that heart of you that is defeated.
- 10:57You're you feel like you're about to faint.
- 10:58He used the word faint twice in this chapter.
- 11:01It's like, don't faint. That means that he's telling
- 11:03it's going to be really hard. You're almost fainting, like
- 11:06it's almost taking you out. And it's like, don't allow it to
- 11:09do it. We're we're a part of the
- 11:11Kingdom that can't be moved. And so I like that a lot.
- 11:15Yeah, that unbevable, immutable word we were just reading.
- 11:21I was just reading in, you know, John One talking about Jesus,
- 11:25you know, him calling him the word gives you a little bit of a
- 11:28significance there too. But go ahead.
- 11:33Yeah, I'm kind of sad that I missed out on the last week's
- 11:36discussion. I don't know where you guys all
- 11:37went, but some interesting things here.
- 11:40I'm, I'm reminded of the passage we went to in Hebrews 13, Sorry,
- 11:458 verse 13. It says in that he saith a new
- 11:48covenant, he hath made the first old.
- 11:51Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
- 11:56away. And so the Hebrews were still
- 11:58halfway thinking of maybe turning back.
- 12:02We've kind of made this point over and over and over again
- 12:04throughout this study. They were tempted maybe just to
- 12:07go back to the temple, but he's warned them several times that
- 12:10it's about to vanish away. Like you might think there's
- 12:12some semblance of Judaism left there, but it's it's about to be
- 12:16completely wiped out. And sure enough, 70 AD came
- 12:19around and Earth was shaken yet again.
- 12:21It seems you could maybe take it that way.
- 12:23But I think probably more importantly, I, I would lean
- 12:26maybe towards the idea that the whole old covenant, that whole
- 12:31system has now been shaken. It's the invisible things.
- 12:35How does it say here not earth only, but also heaven?
- 12:41But it it does seem to be indicating too.
- 12:43And I feel like I'm kind of rambling here, but that there is
- 12:46a the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem coming.
- 12:48So it's maybe beyond my full grasp of of the meaning here.
- 12:53I attend a church right now, as I've said several times where
- 12:56they are post mill preterist. And so they would look at this
- 13:01passage and say the old Kingdom was about to vanish away and we
- 13:06are now in that new Kingdom, that that was the end of all of
- 13:10that. And now we're living in this
- 13:12constant reign of Christ. We are ruling and reigning with
- 13:15Christ until his enemies be made his footstool.
- 13:17We were. We will continue to reign until
- 13:19all the world is subject to the Lord Jesus.
- 13:22And so they would say that one more shaking was actually the
- 13:27destruction of Jerusalem and all of that.
- 13:28So that was all done away with and now we're in the New Kingdom
- 13:32waiting for the final day when everything will be handed over
- 13:35to him. So I'm not sure sometimes I'm
- 13:37seeing things from their perspective, trying to think of
- 13:39how might they look at some of these passages, right?
- 13:42So not sure if you guys have any thoughts on that.
- 13:46Yeah, except the, you know, not everything shook there in the
- 13:51temple. You know, they're in 8070 or
- 13:53wherever they pinpoint that that happening there.
- 13:58That would go ahead. Yeah, I, I guess I tend to look
- 14:03at things a little more simple, but I guess to me he's just
- 14:07pointing out here that this, you know, like you were saying, Dan
- 14:13earlier he was saying it's the old covenant.
- 14:15Now there's a new color. He talked about, you know, the
- 14:18earthly Tabernacle in the heavenly Tabernacle, which is
- 14:22now where God is on the throne and Jesus is a mediator.
- 14:26And and now he's saying that also that that we are of a
- 14:32Kingdom that can't be shaken and that will always stand like he's
- 14:38the old was like he's referring it to the earth and the heavens
- 14:44now, which is going to burn up and and going to disappear and
- 14:49is going to be replaced with a with a new heaven and new earth.
- 14:53But right now, right now in Christ, I am part of the Kingdom
- 14:57of God, like, and it at some, some point, we're going to, you
- 15:02know, be with him in that eternal Kingdom.
- 15:05But as of now, we're part of that king of God spiritually,
- 15:10you know, so that's kind of what I see because I, I went to this
- 15:15second Peter 3 also, Andrew, you highlighted one verse for me.
- 15:20But the second Peter, there's an interesting verse in verse 3.
- 15:24It's seven, it says, But the heavens and the earth, which are
- 15:28now, which are right now by the same word are kept in store,
- 15:35reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and the
- 15:38perdition of ungodly men. And so, yeah, later in verse 11
- 15:46it says, you read verse 10 where it says, But the day of the Lord
- 15:51will come, and an element shall melt with fervent heat, and the
- 15:54earth and the works. And then in verse 11 it says,
- 15:56seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved like
- 16:00this earth now, this heaven and earth now, what manner of
- 16:04persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
- 16:08looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord,
- 16:12where in the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the
- 16:15elements shall mount with fervent heat.
- 16:17So in other words, he's pointing out here.
- 16:20And what I see is that, look guys, you are part of something
- 16:23way bigger than than this earth. And this, you know, the
- 16:27Tabernacle that is now a heavenly Tabernacle.
- 16:31And Christ, when you become part of Christ, it's no more than
- 16:34law. And this earthly Tabernacle, it,
- 16:37it's way bigger than that. It is what I see he's pointing
- 16:41out out. So he's just saying, look, guys
- 16:44don't go back to that, that earthly thing, right?
- 16:47Yep. You're part of a.
- 16:48Bigger thing. And, and both could be true at
- 16:51the same time, you know, the the part that we're a part of by
- 16:55faith will never be shaken or moved, you know, even if the
- 16:59whole earth and the heavens and everything else get shaken, you
- 17:02know, So, yeah, that's a good. And then that's how that's how I
- 17:06kind of understood it. And I, and I think that's kind
- 17:08of what Andrew and Aaron both were playing a little bit, if
- 17:11I'm right, I. Yeah, that's that's why I was
- 17:15more leaning towards this is what Nolan was saying.
- 17:20Yeah, to what Dan was asking about if we're reigning with
- 17:28Christ right now. I'm disappointed.
- 17:33Well, it says Satan's. Sorry, go ahead.
- 17:36Andrew no, go ahead. I was just going to say it says
- 17:38that Satan is bound for 1000 years.
- 17:41That's what I mean it. Physically.
- 17:43Mean. Some people say, well he is
- 17:45bound spiritually, but no, it says he's going to be physically
- 17:50bound like he's not going to be able to reign or.
- 17:53Any well, he's going to be bound in a way that the people are
- 17:55going to live good lives. That's right.
- 17:57That's not happening, No. So I yeah, like I said, there's
- 18:03a lot more things that are promised in that time.
- 18:07According to my understanding. I don't think we're dying,
- 18:11right? Aren't we living 4000 like
- 18:13we're, I guess I now I'm second guessing myself, but I always
- 18:18thought we're not dying at that point.
- 18:21Like we're going to reign with him for 1000 years, not as in
- 18:25every 100 years a new generation.
- 18:26I thought it was like a like believers and yet we see people
- 18:30dying and also Satan not bound and also I don't know when the
- 18:41transition of the body of Christ would end then for the the
- 18:44gospel to come to the Jews if. They would have they would have
- 18:49a different view on all of that as well, obviously.
- 18:53Yeah, I I've sat under preaching.
- 18:56We went over to that church, Melvin and by maths there we
- 19:00would go Sundays that he was a preterist and I found it really
- 19:05intriguing and and I think actually Cameron hit it on the
- 19:08head. He commented here and he says
- 19:11that that's interesting there, Dan, we had preterist visitors
- 19:15this week. Very interesting.
- 19:16I noticed they took a lot of literal scriptures spiritually
- 19:19and even allegorically. Yeah.
- 19:22And, and I would say that's exactly what I experienced
- 19:25there. You know, they were taken.
- 19:26And I guess we all vary on what we take literally and what we
- 19:31take allegorically or spiritually.
- 19:34I mean, I know in in our group, even there are people that take
- 19:38things as a spiritual definition where I would say, no, that's
- 19:44absolutely literal, you know. So I mean, I think that's, I
- 19:48disagree with the preterist view for sure, you know, but I think
- 19:51it's largely a a matter of what you take as literal versus
- 19:54spiritual large is one of the difference.
- 19:58And I'm, I'm kind of fine with it.
- 19:59Like, I don't, I just want to reign with it, you know?
- 20:02I don't really care when. The the one positive that I'm
- 20:07seeing from the post mill view is that they always say this,
- 20:11that they have a very optimistic view of the rule and reign of
- 20:15Christ in that we are going to win the the gates of hell will
- 20:19not prevail against the church one of these days.
- 20:22And one of them has said recently that he believes one
- 20:24day in the future, they'll talk about our generations now as the
- 20:27early church. That's how long it may take for
- 20:30us to continue. But they're, they're, they're
- 20:33looking at trying to reinstitute godly institutions.
- 20:36Let's bring godliness back to society or let's develop it
- 20:40maybe for the first time. And let's have godly schools and
- 20:43godly hospitals and godly politicians and let's slowly
- 20:48make the world the place that Christ died for, right?
- 20:51And we're to teach all nations and so on and so forth.
- 20:54So one thing it has motivated them to do is to say, like
- 20:58sometimes our view can be a little bit of a, what's the
- 21:01point? It's all going to hell anyway.
- 21:03You know, Christ may come to tomorrow.
- 21:05Why? Why bother where these people
- 21:07are thinking I want to build something that my grandkids will
- 21:10take over and we're going to change our little corner of
- 21:13society here. We're going to actually make a
- 21:15difference. And so in that sense, I'm like,
- 21:18I like what they're what they're what it's motivating them to do
- 21:21sometimes. That's a good point.
- 21:24I would just say I'm on board with that philosophy, but I
- 21:30don't agree with like I think us as as pre trip or whatever or
- 21:35whatever we are like we well, not even pre trip, but that it's
- 21:38still coming our pre Rep to get all the pre pre, pre pre.
- 21:50I don't like the view that we're just passing through and it's
- 21:54all like it's pointless. I don't like that view at all.
- 21:57I don't think that's a bad testimony.
- 22:00I think we should try to set up things to make us a better place
- 22:05because our kids will live in this country.
- 22:08And I think we're. Yeah, I very much agree with
- 22:12that. Like I always say, the one guy
- 22:16with the that got the talents got one talent and he went and
- 22:22buried it because he thought, what's the point?
- 22:25It's one talent and it's God's a heart judge and it wasn't worth
- 22:30the fight for and wasn't worth the investment for what it was.
- 22:34And that's kind of how I look at this in this life.
- 22:38It's I want to go out swinging. I don't care if I die right in
- 22:42the middle of it. I turn 90 years old right when
- 22:46it's in its prime, fine, I'm going out like I, that's my view
- 22:51personally is I'm going to go out swinging.
- 22:54It's not well, if I die, then what's what's the point?
- 22:58I think it was a good thing to learn.
- 23:00It's good to, it's a good experiment for a believer.
- 23:03It's optimistic. It's it's someone that would
- 23:04believe in eternal life, right? Yeah, I was just going to say I
- 23:13believe our view can be very optimistic as well, but we don't
- 23:16have much hope in this world's institutions and in the
- 23:20betterment of society as a whole.
- 23:22Like, we do believe that God can still save and revive and help
- 23:26little pockets of people here and there.
- 23:28But ultimately we believe that in the last days, men shall wax
- 23:33works, right? And things are going to get
- 23:34darker. And so in that sense, they're
- 23:37feeling like, well, then why bother, right?
- 23:39It's not any point. But there was one of the old
- 23:41reforms that may have been Martin Luther said something
- 23:43along the lines of, if I knew the world would end tomorrow,
- 23:46I'd still plant the apple tree today.
- 23:48And there's a great metaphor in that.
- 23:50And that even if Christ returns tomorrow, I'm going to act and
- 23:54raise my kids as if it could be hundreds of years still, right?
- 23:59Yeah, that's all I was going to say was it is true.
- 24:03Very faithful men have thought that their day was the day that
- 24:08Christ was going to return, right?
- 24:10And, and in fact, he, he encouraged us to do so, but he
- 24:14still hasn't returned, you know what I mean?
- 24:17So I'm just saying, very faithful men have said, oh, this
- 24:21has got to be the end, right? I mean, look at look at what's
- 24:24going on around us. And I would just say that that
- 24:29that is that is biblical for us to always watch and always
- 24:36anticipate in. But it is also biblical,
- 24:39biblical to live as though you don't know the day nor the hour.
- 24:43And that's also true, right? I mean, that's also just as
- 24:47true. I I think I gather my thoughts a
- 24:50little better on what I was trying to point out is you don't
- 24:54build character, you don't build patience, you don't feel you
- 24:58don't build experience with the attitude that it's pointless.
- 25:05God is he says he homie loveth you Jason.
- 25:08It's just in this chapter, like how can you Jason, you you're
- 25:11laying in bed, you know, like a guy that is out an active God
- 25:17can do something with something that was active, but he would
- 25:20just throw our hands off. But it's not worth it.
- 25:22Let's say you had a kid and it's just not motivated because he
- 25:25knows that. And in 15 years or 10 years, I'm
- 25:30going to get married and I'm going to get on my own.
- 25:32So what's the point of doing stuff with my dad?
- 25:36There's a whole lot of points. You get experience, you learn
- 25:39patience, you learn, you get callous hands, you get a
- 25:42workout. And what better way to get on
- 25:44your own, having a good workout, Lot of experience.
- 25:47Because I think we go right from this life to another life.
- 25:50And the more experience, the more patience that we have
- 25:52learned, the more we've gotten along with our wives, our
- 25:55families, our church brothers and sisters in Christ, the more
- 25:59we've embraced that and practiced how to get along with
- 26:01different people. We're at a different level when
- 26:05we crossover, I believe. Yeah.
- 26:08Absolutely. Didn't we just read here a
- 26:10couple studies back the verse that says let us run with
- 26:13patience the rate that is set before us?
- 26:17I mean, really? So yeah.
- 26:21I would very much agree with them that we should live that
- 26:24way, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
- 26:28All right, moving on. Wherefore we receive a Kingdom
- 26:32which cannot be moved. Let us have grace whereby we may
- 26:36serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
- 26:42For our God is a fire. He gives us a reason to keep in
- 26:49that grace. I just like this is a very good
- 26:53extension of verse 27. What kind of here's what we were
- 26:57discussing about. Go ahead, Eric.
- 26:59Oh, yeah. No, I think you're right.
- 27:00I think it's an excellent summation of kind of what we
- 27:03were saying, because I think we all, I think we all agreed, I
- 27:08think that we should, we should be, if you all reference running
- 27:16this race that is before us with patience with and this verse
- 27:21says serving God acceptably. You know, like we should be
- 27:24doing that. You should be pouring yourself
- 27:28into your family, into the people around you.
- 27:30You should be trying to make all those things more godly and more
- 27:37and closer to to God and bring his word into it regardless,
- 27:43regardless of when Christ returns.
- 27:46You should be doing that at all times because as I said a while
- 27:50ago, we don't know the app, right?
- 27:52I mean, like I said, that was my point by saying what I said was
- 27:56there have been lots of people that sincerely felt like how I
- 28:01mean, hundreds of years ago that this, I mean, look at times,
- 28:06this has to be the end. And, and I just feel like that
- 28:09it's very possible that I don't know.
- 28:13I've just, I've never been one that's willing to say, folks,
- 28:17look around you. It has to be tomorrow.
- 28:19I've just never been willing to say that because I feel like
- 28:21people have done that for hundreds of years.
- 28:23So you need to be living and pouring yourself into life as
- 28:28though there's 1000 years left. You know what I mean?
- 28:31Like you should be living that way.
- 28:33And I think that that verse kindly tells us to press on.
- 28:37I mean, I think the whole, the whole book has told us to do
- 28:41that. Nope, I agree 100% Andrew.
- 28:50Encouraging these believers that are struggling says, hey, a
- 28:54Kingdom that cannot be moved, how do you like that?
- 28:58Because of that, let's have grace whereby we may serve God
- 29:01acceptably. So they're not fighting.
- 29:04They're not walking away from God.
- 29:06They're not counting and adding up.
- 29:09Remember when he was talking about the sum, like, here's the
- 29:12sum? Like, yeah, he's hoping that
- 29:14they're kind of stacking these things on top of each other and
- 29:17then they start adding it up. And he said some, like he says
- 29:24in in times past, people have added and didn't act correctly
- 29:28and it didn't go well for them. They were destroyed.
- 29:32He says if you add up and your Psalm is short when it comes to
- 29:36the blood of Christ, and you count like there's some
- 29:39counting, you count it as an unholy thing.
- 29:43After you have known it, you tasted it like there is no more
- 29:46often like it, it's going to be bad for you if you doesn't don't
- 29:51add that up correctly. And the way you add it
- 29:56incorrectly is when you add it all up and he's telling us an
- 30:01unmovable thing. It's like that's something you
- 30:04can add in there. It's a complete victory,
- 30:07unmovable, unshakable, will never go away.
- 30:09Heaven and earth will burn up, disappear, but it will not go
- 30:13away. And on top of that, God is a
- 30:15consuming fire. Remember how people just
- 30:18disappeared fire. That's that's who you're dealing
- 30:20with. And Jesus Christ made us to be
- 30:24able to meet that God of fire in peace.
- 30:27And we won't be dissolved. We won't we're fit to be to meet
- 30:32our maker through Jesus Christ. And if you add that up
- 30:36correctly, you will rest. Remember did not enter into the
- 30:40rest. Why?
- 30:41Because of unbelief. They thought they would get in
- 30:44based on some works or whatever. And it's like they did not enter
- 30:47in because of unbelief. And I'm telling you, if we add
- 30:51up the sum of everything that Jesus Christ has done and the
- 30:55Kingdom of God that is unmovable.
- 30:57It's an eternal Kingdom and we added up and we go so well.
- 31:03Here I see where it falls a little bit short, I'm not going
- 31:07to eat pork. Or here I see where it falls a
- 31:09little bit short. I'm going to get circumcised.
- 31:12I'm not doing it to make the purpose because I don't believe
- 31:15the gospel. I'm just doing it because it
- 31:18makes me feel better. Well, if that makes you feel
- 31:22better, then evidently the sum and the victory that Jesus
- 31:26Christ and all that's been added up fell a little bit short.
- 31:29Because if that doesn't make you feel better and offering a gift,
- 31:34your work, doing something in your mind just as an
- 31:37appreciation for God that I don't think we're adding
- 31:40correctly. I think we're coming up with the
- 31:42wrong answer. I think when you add up Jesus
- 31:45Christ, you'll say, wow, that's perfect.
- 31:48I can rest. That can be an anchor like a
- 31:51boat anchor, an anchor for the soul.
- 31:53Strong, sure, steadfast, unmovable, unshakable.
- 31:57And I will not chase after any other doctrine except Christ and
- 32:00him crucified When Paul said that's all I wish you guys would
- 32:03know. And if we added up any
- 32:05differently, I'm worried. I'm worried for you.
- 32:08Boy, that's really good, Andrew there.
- 32:11Yeah, Dad, go ahead. It seems to me the the longer we
- 32:15go through this book, the slower we go through it.
- 32:17Like I went through it rather quickly on my personal study and
- 32:22now seeing it more slowly, it's like these people must have been
- 32:25struggling a lot more with this temptation to go back to the old
- 32:29ways than what we even realized. Because I don't I don't know too
- 32:33many Christians today who are attempted to go back to Judaism.
- 32:37A lot of them are tempted to go back to some kind of works like
- 32:39Andrew's talking about there or, you know, circumcision or
- 32:42whatever. Those kinds of movements do
- 32:44arise. But these people still have the
- 32:46temple. They still had Jerusalem in mind
- 32:48and they were very much tempted to go back.
- 32:50And so he's using all these Old Testament references and verses
- 32:54to show them like The thing is done.
- 32:56It was prophesied that it would be this way.
- 32:59The Kingdom that we now have is the fulfillment of all that was
- 33:03being prophesied of this future on on non earthly Kingdom,
- 33:07right. And even like the comparison
- 33:09back in in chapter 2, he said the words spoken by angels was
- 33:13steadfast and every transgression and and every
- 33:17transgression disobedience received a just recompense of
- 33:19reward. How shall we escape if we
- 33:21neglect so great salvation? And He's still making that same
- 33:25argument. Here you go back to some of
- 33:28these passages. Exodus 2417.
- 33:30And sight of the glory of the Lord was devouring, like
- 33:33devouring fire on the mount in the eyes of the children of
- 33:37Israel. Numbers 111.
- 33:39When the people complain and displease the Lord, and the Lord
- 33:41heard it, and his anger was kindled in the fire of the Lord,
- 33:44burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost
- 33:48parts of the camp. Deuteronomy 423.
- 33:51Take heed unto yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the
- 33:54Lord your God, which He made with you and with your, and make
- 33:57you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the
- 33:59Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.
- 34:02For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous
- 34:06God. And then there's a passage in in
- 34:08Daniel 7, verse 9 and 10 where he talks about the fiery stream
- 34:14issued forth and came before him.
- 34:16And it just this terrifying image of God.
- 34:19And we know that God has moved on from dealing with the Jewish
- 34:22nation at this point. He's moved on.
- 34:25He's given Christ all authority in heaven and earth.
- 34:27And these people had attached themselves to that message and
- 34:31were rejoicing in it. And now we're thinking of going
- 34:34back and he's like, you want to go back to to that.
- 34:38You know that the our God is a consuming fire.
- 34:40And if you if those people didn't escape, how much more you
- 34:45if you go back to something that God has left, you know, God has
- 34:48departed from that ancient system and he's given us
- 34:51something far superior. We've seen that throughout the
- 34:53last 12 chapters and it's it's so much better that you should
- 34:58be terrified to think of going back that way.
- 35:00If he consumed them with fire, how much more sore punishment
- 35:04shall we be thought worthy? Who trodden under foot the blood
- 35:07of the Son of God, right? Well, I'm just sitting here, so
- 35:11could I'm loving this. Oh no, go ahead.
- 35:13It's so good. Yeah, that is good.
- 35:15You covered it very well. I it says there he says let us
- 35:19have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
- 35:24and godly fear. That kind of hit me.
- 35:26I guess I just sometimes I'm not a very gracious person, but when
- 35:33we understand that we are part of the Kingdom that cannot be
- 35:37shaken, you know, an eternal Kingdom, it should, it should
- 35:44make us live differently, right? And he's saying, let us have
- 35:48grace. Let us have grace with others at
- 35:52the end that we may serve God accepted with reverence and
- 35:57godly fear because our God is a consuming fire.
- 36:00There's so many verses in the Bible, and you've quoted some of
- 36:04them, Daniel, Dan. One of them is, you know, like
- 36:10we just read earlier in Second Peter where God is going to
- 36:13ultimate lay at the end of time. He's going to consume this earth
- 36:19and heaven with fire. And so it's just pointing out
- 36:24who God actually is. And there's only one way that we
- 36:29can be right with God and righteous in God's eyes and come
- 36:34to God earlier said, that we may come to the throne of grace
- 36:38boldly. There's only one way that we can
- 36:41do that, and that is through his Son, Jesus Christ and only his
- 36:45Son and nothing else, right? I mean, we can't be adding
- 36:48anything to that. Or or.
- 36:50Going away from that. Yeah, yeah, that's good.
- 36:56And what is the the definition of grace?
- 36:59Is that unmerited favor, right. Some would say or if you know,
- 37:04and really we do need the favor of God to be able to serve God
- 37:10acceptably with reverence. I mean, we really do because we
- 37:14are a hard hearted oftentimes people, you know, we we tend to
- 37:19stray away. We just, we just do.
- 37:21So, yeah. It's having that, having that
- 37:24favor, that grace of God that we could acceptably and with
- 37:29reverence, yeah. And remember and remember how he
- 37:33earlier in the chapter with about even the sin even
- 37:37ascendant so easily, right, right, easily censor.
- 37:40Oh yeah. All the, you know, the things
- 37:42that we struggle with, he says. If we would understand this and
- 37:46understand the, I don't know, it's the white word viciousness
- 37:51of righteousness like God. This just doesn't sound like a
- 37:56good word for God. But I Can you imagine coming to
- 38:00the mouth shaking like that? I mean, the people were
- 38:02terrified. Even Moses was absolutely
- 38:05terrified. And then he come, let's say
- 38:08Moses then you know, with all the administration of the law,
- 38:11he knew everything and he was terrified.
- 38:15What do you think Moses would have thought if the Son of Man
- 38:18was walking right up to them in his place?
- 38:20Say, hey, I am going to stand in the gap.
- 38:23I'm going to be the mediator that we talked about last week
- 38:27and I'm going to take the heat and you can come you you follow
- 38:31me to God and I will take you to glory straight in and you'll be
- 38:36you'll be in me and I and you and me and you in God and we're
- 38:41going to be mate one. I think Moses and all the
- 38:46children that's put us once, it would have said somebody would
- 38:49have to be absolutely ridiculous to have that invite to go and
- 38:53meet this holy God that isn't consuming fire, that anything
- 38:57that ever comes close to him is so defiled that the glory, just
- 39:01pure righteousness would consume it.
- 39:03That's how holy he is. It's not that he's angry, It's
- 39:05not that he's upset, it's that he's holy.
- 39:08He's pure. It's like, it's like trying to
- 39:13get light not to Pierce through darkness.
- 39:15It can't. It's just going to Pierce
- 39:17through it. It's going to devour the
- 39:18darkness and that's who God is. And Can you imagine if someone
- 39:23would say, you know what, let's bring some of the old way along
- 39:26here and add it to Jesus? You know, when they were up on
- 39:29that mount, they would are you crazy?
- 39:32You know, like, you know what I said this fire, you know, so I,
- 39:36I want to be more terrified like that, right?
- 39:40But I want to, I wish I was more terrified than I am.
- 39:43I was more bold and exhorting people to not go after other
- 39:49ways like or to subtract from the cross.
- 39:52I don't think we're, I don't think we get it right.
- 39:55I don't think we get the seriousness of adding up what
- 39:59Jesus did and saying we believe it, but then yet subtract a
- 40:02little bit from the sufficiency of the blood.
- 40:05I I just don't think we get it. I think I'm a coward on it
- 40:10because I'm worried about what my friends think.
- 40:13And it seems so petty. It seems so whiny.
- 40:18It seems so entitled in a way, or like, oh, except you exactly
- 40:21believe like I. So we kind of shy away from the,
- 40:24you know what? What you're doing is subtracting
- 40:26from the cross. Well, no, I'm just doing it for
- 40:28my own. No, you're like God's
- 40:31definition, not my definition is you're a liar.
- 40:34You know, you can't do both. You can't either serve the one
- 40:39and or honor the one and dishonor the other like you
- 40:42can't do both according to God. That's God's thing.
- 40:45So I again, I just think we're not.
- 40:48I think I'm a. Coward.
- 40:50Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those two things are mutually
- 40:53exclusive. It's one of the other.
- 40:55A little of both. Yep.
- 40:58It's firing language, though. It could lead to some of that
- 41:06almost how do you call it like panic stricken kind of
- 41:09Christianity, right? Like stand on the street, yell
- 41:12at everybody. You got to repent.
- 41:13You've got to change. Got it.
- 41:14You know, and it, it doesn't seem a winning kind of attitude,
- 41:18a winning kind of character or spirit, right.
- 41:20So it's almost like we have to be cautious not to just be like,
- 41:25hey, people are going to be consumed by fire like in worse
- 41:28than that, because the judgment that is coming for those that
- 41:30reject Christ or those that turn away from Christ is far worse
- 41:34yet. But that is the kind of language
- 41:36he's giving us that we, we should almost be not panic, but
- 41:40we should be very calculated in the way that we feel about this
- 41:44stuff, right? But it's like, like Andrew said,
- 41:46I agree on the passion and the zeal is not, not at the level
- 41:51that it ought to be many, many times.
- 41:54No, I, I think we all struggle with that a little bit.
- 41:56And the ingredient there, Dan, good point.
- 41:59I like that. The ingredient that we have to
- 42:02be careful to keep in that it says the Bible teaches us to
- 42:06speak the truth in love. You know, I've seen truth spoken
- 42:11that was not in love. Actually, it was true, but it
- 42:14was not lovely, you know. So I think, you know, if we have
- 42:18those two ingredients, the truth and love, if they're together,
- 42:21you know, we don't have anything to be worried about though,
- 42:23certainly. Also read the room like, yeah,
- 42:28somewhat like, well, I struggle with the fact because you have
- 42:34to have your heart in the right place because this stuff will
- 42:38actually make me angry. But then the way I come across,
- 42:40if I come across anger, it's going to be an effective, you
- 42:43know, who can hear an angry man, you know?
- 42:46One, one thing I've noticed in the scriptures is, you know,
- 42:50like even reading through Hebrews here and many books in
- 42:53the Bible, you know, he talks about how God is a consuming
- 42:57fire and, and how, you know, righteous God is and, and just
- 43:02God is and all that. But in the in the middle of that
- 43:05he he puts verses like and and to Jesus, a mediator of the new
- 43:10covenant to your blood sprinkling that is better the
- 43:12things that Abel In other words, what I'm getting at is if we if
- 43:18we are diligent in speaking the truth in love and we speak the
- 43:22truth, it should come in love because.
- 43:26The scriptures. Are set up like that.
- 43:27In other words, what I'm getting at is it's not just all
- 43:30consuming their scriptures mixed in where it shows us the hope in
- 43:34Christ. So.
- 43:36Yeah, I, I think too, if I can say one more thing, that the way
- 43:40Jesus approached sinners and the way he approached hypocritical
- 43:45people who were denying Christ, denying the work of God, was
- 43:48much, much different. And so with people who name the
- 43:51name of Christ and are now slowly departing, I think we
- 43:54need to be pretty firm at times, way more firm than we are.
- 43:58Often we'll give a much easier pass to people who, you know,
- 44:02maybe have their shirt buttoned up and look a certain way and,
- 44:05and act like a Christian outwardly.
- 44:07And then we'll be really hard on say like a homosexual or
- 44:10somebody who's sitting with their, you know, their
- 44:13rock'n'roll music or who knows what a little thing we might
- 44:16pick on when Jesus called the, the Pharisees that were dressed
- 44:21perfectly sons of snakes and, and, you know, whitewashed
- 44:24tombs. And then he went and ate gently
- 44:27with sinners, publicans and heathen.
- 44:29And so I think a lot of Christian St. preachers have
- 44:31gotten that wrong where they'll be yelling at sinners on the
- 44:34streets and calling them to repentance and God's going to
- 44:37damn you to hell and whatnot, when Jesus and even Paul's
- 44:41message towards them was one of acceptance and love through
- 44:44grace. But the the fire and brimstone
- 44:47type of stuff was often more for these kinds of people like
- 44:51Hebrew Christians who are thinking of maybe going back to
- 44:53some way that God has forgotten or left, not left off.
- 44:57Yeah, yeah. What I was referring to that I
- 44:59was still a coward. Is that like, that's what I'm
- 45:01talking about? It's so hard to stand up to a
- 45:06nice family man that has his house in order or whatever.
- 45:11Like it looks good, like he's a well known guy in the community.
- 45:16But it's hard for me to just say you know what, you're deceived
- 45:21like, or it's a lie or you know, just yeah, I feel like I'm a
- 45:25coward in that. And sure, I don't, I don't.
- 45:29Well, maybe a coward's not the right word.
- 45:30Just I wish so we'll be able to get the weight of this Hebrews
- 45:36that we're just going through right now across where it makes
- 45:39sense where they would flee it like it's a like flee it like
- 45:44they fled that mountain, you know, terrified of the noise and
- 45:47the shaking. Like, I mean, how would you want
- 45:50to get close to it? You know, that type?
- 45:53But as far as the sinners, I love talking to sinners because
- 45:57I was like, you know what God said?
- 45:58It's a faithful saying that Jesus Christ came for Sinner.
- 46:03So if you feel like you're a Sinner, you qualify.
- 46:09Good stuff. All right, we're going to
- 46:12shoehorn what in here, yet let fatherly love continue.
- 46:17What do you think about that air?
- 46:21I think that I actually don't think this is quite as out of
- 46:26context as it might seem, because I think that the one of
- 46:31the greatest keys to to these Hebrew people moving forward is
- 46:38by loving each other. You know what I mean?
- 46:40Like I think that the way that they would treat each other if
- 46:44they would actually have the kind of love, I mean, that's
- 46:48Jesus said that, that that's how you would know that you're his
- 46:52disciples if you love one another.
- 46:54And I think they could, and all the discouragement they were
- 46:58getting from the outside, I think they could hand out a
- 47:01great amount of encouragement by loving one another.
- 47:05So I think it's, I don't, you know, it seems like he just
- 47:08totally changed the subject, but I don't think he is.
- 47:11I think he's actually encouraging them to love one
- 47:14another. And that will that will be a
- 47:17great key in continuing to be Christ's disciple and.
- 47:23Yep, 100%. And that's what I was going to
- 47:25say too, is that there is a testimony in brothers that have
- 47:31dealings with each other on a regular basis for a continued
- 47:34time to actually love one another because the naturally
- 47:39the opposite is true. Where guys that especially.
- 47:43Yeah, especially guys probably, well, maybe anybody, you know,
- 47:47for a continued time working together, you know, meeting
- 47:50together once a week, twice a week or whatever, naturally
- 47:54you're going to find differences, differences that
- 47:57become irritating and aggravating after a while.
- 47:59So it's easy to get, you know, contrary with each other.
- 48:03So it's a testimony mothers to love one another and continue
- 48:09with that. Yeah, very much in context.
- 48:11Andrew, hang on a second. You're muted there.
- 48:16There's people no sorry. Think about it this way.
- 48:20So let's say with what all is going on, I'm sure there's a lot
- 48:26of discussions going on among the brethren, especially after
- 48:30reading this letter. I bet there's a lot going on
- 48:33where people are saying, look, man, look at what this guy just
- 48:36wrote us. I mean, what are we doing?
- 48:38So you're going to you're going to need some serious brother of
- 48:42the love. And he's like, you know what,
- 48:45learn to love each other like Christ loved you and get keep
- 48:50keep that focus. What I think happens a lot in in
- 48:53deception is people get so educated in the word.
- 49:00Some of the most deceiving people that I find know the word
- 49:03better than anybody. They have studied it and studied
- 49:07it and studied it like crazy. And they know it almost by
- 49:09heart. And they can take you long
- 49:12circles all the way around, come get you from behind and just
- 49:15kind of sneak their heresy right into you where you're like, you
- 49:19know what? This guy knows the Bible way
- 49:21more than I do it. Can't you lose your confidence?
- 49:26I'm glad that he wasn't didn't say let the best argument win.
- 49:32I'm glad you didn't say let the best debater, the most
- 49:35spiritual, Let the let the one that is the most in the word
- 49:41kind of have the final say. I'm glad, he said.
- 49:43Let brotherly love continue. I think we need to do that
- 49:47today. Very good point, Dan.
- 49:52Yeah, I like that this chapter is 13 chapters into this book.
- 49:57A lot of churches, a lot of sermons are just these kinds of
- 50:01take teachings, right? Like topical messages on how to
- 50:03love one another, how to entertain strangers, how to, you
- 50:08know, be kind, be generous, be forgiving.
- 50:10Those are all obviously very, very good things, but this
- 50:13chapter is just a chapter of remembering, of reminding them
- 50:16of what they ought to know based on all that has come before.
- 50:20They ought to by now be firmly rejoicing in the work of Christ,
- 50:24firmly rooted in deciding I'm not going back to that old way.
- 50:28I am established here. This is my hope.
- 50:30This is my only confidence. That's what he's done for them
- 50:33to this point. Then he says, OK, there, now
- 50:35you're established. Now you're rooted.
- 50:37Now you're settled. Maybe you're eating some meat.
- 50:39Now He says, well, now let brother love continue.
- 50:42Don't forget this, do some of this, try to be this way.
- 50:46But if you just start with, you need to be more loving, you need
- 50:49to be more kind, you need to be more generous.
- 50:51It it doesn't have that, that same weight to it, it's like,
- 50:54OK, but I don't feel like it. Yeah.
- 50:56But if you remember all that I told you for the last 12
- 50:59chapters, then you have reason to let this love continue.
- 51:04And so each of these points could be a sermon on their own,
- 51:07but I don't think it's meant to be read that way.
- 51:09I think it's meant to be like rejoice in the glorious work of
- 51:13the Lord Jesus, be rooted there. And now here's a few things you
- 51:17got to remember. And because he says in this
- 51:19chapter, in 2nd chapter, second verse, he says be not forgetful.
- 51:24And then two other times he says to not forget in this chapter.
- 51:27So the the whole I or he says to remember rather two times in
- 51:31this chapter after that. So it's a lot about just
- 51:33remember to do the things that you obviously know that you
- 51:36ought to do. Brotherly love is natural.
- 51:38Once you become a Christian, you just genuinely care for the
- 51:42people around you. And now he says, don't try to
- 51:44act up like like it's there. Like just let it continue.
- 51:47I like the language that he uses like let brotherly love
- 51:51continue. It's there already.
- 51:53Don't stop it, don't hinder it, you know, just let it continue
- 51:57the way that it ought to be. It's it should be the natural
- 52:00outflow of a person walking with the Lord.
- 52:02Jesus, beautiful preacher. Yeah, obviously it was happening
- 52:09before because he says let brotherly love continue because
- 52:13we did read earlier, I couldn't. I was trying to find it.
- 52:17It says to provoke one another unto love and the good works is
- 52:20one of the verses you read about chapter 2 though.
- 52:23So yeah, it just like you said, Dan, he just got done
- 52:28explaining, you know, how we're in Christ, we're part of a
- 52:31unmovable Kingdom, and he just got done saying that God is a
- 52:36consuming firelight. In other words, I read this as a
- 52:38continuation, like it is a continuation.
- 52:42It's a new chapter, but it's still he's continuing on.
- 52:46And so he says, guys, remember that you know it where you are
- 52:51in Christ and don't go back to to that law.
- 52:55And because of that, you know, let brotherly love continue.
- 52:58You know, just keep loving your brothers.
- 53:01He we just he just got done saying that, like Liam pointed
- 53:04out that we do need the grace of God to serve God acceptedly.
- 53:09And part of that is loving your brother because you are going to
- 53:13need grace to love your brother because we don't all think the
- 53:18same or are not the same nature the same.
- 53:22And and so especially in the body of Christ, because it, you
- 53:26know, Jews and Gentiles and whoever and anybody, whatever,
- 53:29you know, so it, it doesn't all look alike.
- 53:31Like so many times we think that brother in love is, you know,
- 53:37accepting someone and loving someone who we think, who thinks
- 53:41like I think or looks the way I think he should look, when in
- 53:45reality it's exactly the opposite.
- 53:48Rather than love is loving a brother that maybe doesn't think
- 53:52the way I think or look exactly the way I look or dress the way
- 53:55I think he dresses. And so.
- 53:59Now that's, that's good stuff, guys.
- 54:03Let's let's, let's go through verse two.
- 54:06Yeah, we started a few minutes late, so we'll get our hour that
- 54:09way. Verse 2 says be not forgetful to
- 54:12entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels
- 54:17unawares. Yeah, Aaron, go ahead with that.
- 54:23I just, I don't know, Every time I read this verse, I think
- 54:30about, well, I guess I'd be interested to hear if you all
- 54:34think that if you've ever had an experience like this.
- 54:38I'm not saying I have, but I can't help but wonder about it
- 54:41when I see somebody I don't know broke down beside the road or
- 54:50somebody that seems to be a very out of place or out of
- 54:55situation. And I always think about this
- 54:57verse and I guess if, if that's true, in other words, if that
- 55:03actually does happen, that people entertain somebody that
- 55:08they didn't realize was an Angel, then that would almost
- 55:13seem to me like you might have a test, It might be like a test
- 55:19and you're tested to see whether you would entertain that person
- 55:23or not. And so I don't know, I just,
- 55:26that's all I'll say and I'll let you all talk about it.
- 55:28But I just, I wonder that when I read this verse, like, is it, is
- 55:31that a test? Is it, is it like a test?
- 55:33You know, like some have entertained angels unawares,
- 55:38like they didn't know that's what they were doing.
- 55:41So is it a test? Is it a would you would you
- 55:47minister to this person, this out of the blue situation?
- 55:51Would you minister this person? That was if because if they're
- 55:56an Angel, then they're they're not because they're a normal
- 56:01person, but because they're an Angel, right.
- 56:03So I don't know. I just that's what I just
- 56:06wondered that about this verse, but.
- 56:08If, if it would be a test, it would be for God to figure
- 56:12something out about us probably because obviously it's unawares,
- 56:16you know, So I never did something that I figured out
- 56:19later that it was an Angel, you know, And I don't think we would
- 56:22because this is a this, we are unaware of this happening.
- 56:26So yeah. Andrew directly talked to a guy
- 56:31that has experienced it where it's always an aware scenario
- 56:37where it was like a weird, weird challenge to entertaining and
- 56:43then all of a sudden he was gone, you know, and there's
- 56:46nowhere to be found. Nobody knew where he was or
- 56:48nothing. I forget that all the details,
- 56:51but it sounded legit like he actually entertained a stranger
- 56:55and it wasn't aimed like he he just disappeared.
- 57:00I've had it a couple times. Like Aaron was saying, I see
- 57:04someone along the side of the road.
- 57:07The last time it really reminded me of this verse was I just left
- 57:14my property and one of the wheels was locked up and it was
- 57:20sliding and it was on fire. And people were screaming and
- 57:25hollering along the streets like, you know, it's on fire.
- 57:29And I stopped and this guy comes walking by and say, hey, how you
- 57:34doing? Like, hey, I'm walking to
- 57:36Columbus and I'm going to walk all the way.
- 57:38Like states walk. I'm like, yeah, right.
- 57:42You know, yeah, I just got dropped off over here and I'm
- 57:45walking. And I really thought of that
- 57:47verse right then. And it made me talk to him more
- 57:54and it made me try to figure out more what's going on.
- 57:57And but I also think people show up at church sometimes they're
- 58:02angels. I think there's people sometimes
- 58:05that sit in our congregation and it's that person that you were
- 58:09going to talk to. And later you find out that
- 58:11everyone was going to talk to him and nobody knew.
- 58:15It's like he came and was gone and nobody knew who it was.
- 58:19And I've asked people like what? Who was?
- 58:21I don't know. I saw him.
- 58:23I was going to say hi, but I never made it there.
- 58:26That's weird, you know, Never seen him before or never seen
- 58:29him since. Yeah, yeah.
- 58:33Let's entertain people that are weird.
- 58:35I think it's always a challenge of whether you're going to
- 58:37either be like, in this case, I felt like I was really trying to
- 58:43figure out what am I supposed to do with this guy?
- 58:45I was conscious of his verse. And at the end, I felt like it
- 58:51was for me to see if I got the wisdom to see through his lies
- 58:55and not just jump because, oh, I want to entertain it, you know?
- 58:58And when I was wrestling with it, when I left, I, I was
- 59:01wrestling when I did the right thing because his stories did
- 59:04not add up at all. So I just, I didn't support him.
- 59:09Yeah, there. I think it's just a very good
- 59:12reminder that pretty much anything that God recommends or
- 59:15encourages or commands is something that the devil will
- 59:18try to attack or to cause us to stray from.
- 59:23And so he says, do not be forgetful to entertain
- 59:26strangers. Obviously, in those days, a
- 59:28stranger in town was more obvious.
- 59:31Now we have the days of transportation where we can, you
- 59:33know, almost everybody in town is a stranger.
- 59:35We're more connected online than ever, but we don't know our
- 59:38neighbor up the road. And so almost everybody is a
- 59:40stranger in that sense. Somebody would come to town in
- 59:43those days and there wasn't 14 hotels up the road that they
- 59:46could go book themselves into, like you, somebody showed up in
- 59:49town, somebody showed up in church.
- 59:52You just entertain them. You have them in your home.
- 59:54And it can feel very strange to entertain strangers.
- 59:57Some people are naturally very good at it.
- 59:59Some people really struggle with it.
- 1:00:01But you know, often you, like, Andrew said, you'll have
- 1:00:04somebody come in on a Sunday morning and nobody talks to
- 1:00:06them. Normally nobody communicates
- 1:00:08with them because nobody wants to be to entertain strangers.
- 1:00:12It doesn't. It's not all that comfortable
- 1:00:14sometimes. So it's easier to be forgetful
- 1:00:17in this area. But it's a strange reason to to
- 1:00:20give that as motivation that, hey, some people have
- 1:00:23entertained strangers because of this.
- 1:00:26It's it's so it's because I don't really think about it when
- 1:00:28it when there's a new somebody around or somebody beside the
- 1:00:31road or, you know, somebody comes to visit church, I think
- 1:00:34we should just entertain them regardless of who they might be.
- 1:00:37But it is interesting that he adds that in there that hey, you
- 1:00:40never know, you might all of a sudden have the great honor of
- 1:00:43entertaining an Angel. And well, it's a strange concept
- 1:00:46to me, but it it would be neat to experience and maybe some of
- 1:00:48us have, right? Yeah, you know, or is he talking
- 1:00:52about Sarah or something? You know, he wasn't aware for a
- 1:00:56little, for a little bit, you know, that she was at a ticket
- 1:00:58Angel. Yeah.
- 1:01:00Yeah, we go ahead. Yeah, there's a there's a guy, I
- 1:01:03can't remember the book, there's a guy that went across the
- 1:01:07United States kind of acting like a homeless person just to
- 1:01:11see, you know, experience it and see what a homeless person is
- 1:01:14like and, and see who helps him. And one of the things I remember
- 1:01:19the most in that book is he said that the churches were the least
- 1:01:23of the people that were the least likely to help him or to,
- 1:01:29you know, be kind to him and, and entertain him.
- 1:01:32And so I guess he just got done saying let brotherly love
- 1:01:36continue. And then he says also now he's
- 1:01:39saying be not forgetful to entertain strangers because like
- 1:01:43Dan said, it's hard to entertain strangers, right?
- 1:01:47I mean, we see a strange person and sometimes we just, we'd
- 1:01:51rather not, you know, entertain him or talk to him.
- 1:01:55And so he's just reminding them, do not forget to entertain
- 1:01:58strangers because you might be entertaining angels unawares.
- 1:02:02That's right. And where I struggle with some
- 1:02:05of that sometimes is I think a lot of unbelievers, especially
- 1:02:10and also religious people that are not saved entertain homeless
- 1:02:14people more than Christians. It's because they're easily
- 1:02:17guilt tripped. So I also see that like I don't
- 1:02:23help some people because I know where they're at.
- 1:02:26I see where they're at. So I don't, I know of me helping
- 1:02:28them is not so they can't guilt trip me.
- 1:02:31So they would say, oh, that Andrew's a Christian, but he
- 1:02:34didn't help. No, I didn't enable you.
- 1:02:36And bring that side out too. Yeah, well, there.
- 1:02:40Is that wouldn't be a stranger though, would.
- 1:02:45It we had a guy come to our church services a couple times,
- 1:02:48Melvin, I think you were still up here that he wanted, he
- 1:02:51wanted money. Oh yeah.
- 1:02:53You're in from Charles City. Yeah.
- 1:02:54You know, that was one of those guys.
- 1:02:56He just tried to get us, tried to milk us for money, you know,
- 1:03:02So anyway, yeah. All right.
- 1:03:04Hey, that's that's good. We're up on our time.
- 1:03:06So I'll let you guys run. We'll, as we conclude today's
- 1:03:09study, remember Hebrews 11/1. Faith is the substance of things
- 1:03:12hoped for and the evidence of things not seen that I pray that
- 1:03:15your faith would reveal biblical truths more clearly than your
- 1:03:19physical eyes can perceive the things before you.
- 1:03:22What is next Monday as we continue to look at God's words
- 1:03:24through the substance of faith. God bless you guys.
- 1:03:27Thank you for your time. Appreciate it.
- 1:03:28See you next week.