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Hebrews 4:1-7 - Enter God's Rest TODAY · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio. Howdy and good morning friends and faithful listeners,
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Speaker 1: and welcome to the Bible Explained Podcast on this lovely
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Speaker 1: Tuesday morning. Since it's Tuesday, we are in the Book
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Speaker 1: of Hebrews. As you guys know, on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
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Speaker 1: I do a New Testament episode, and on Mondays and Wednesdays,
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Speaker 1: I do an Old Testament episode, and then on Fridays,
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Speaker 1: of course, that is for the members and we are
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Speaker 1: going through the Book of Psalms over on the Bible
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Speaker 1: Explained on Fridays. But I do have an exciting announcement
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Speaker 1: for you guys speaking of the Friday podcast. This Friday,
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Speaker 1: because it is good Friday, I will be putting out
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Speaker 1: an episode for you guys. So I'm looking forward to
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Speaker 1: that and I hope you all are as well. Before
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Speaker 1: we begin today's episode from Hebrews chapter four, here's a
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Speaker 1: quick ad break from the first sponsor. Okay, let's turn
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Speaker 1: to Hebrews four and read verses one through seven. We
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Speaker 1: read this already a couple days ago on Thursday, but
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Speaker 1: on Thursday it did something very different where I actually
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Speaker 1: talked about a completely different portion of scripture the entire time,
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Speaker 1: rather than our reading for the day, and that is
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Speaker 1: not something I usually do. So today we're going to
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Speaker 1: go back to Hebrews four and read verses one through
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Speaker 1: seven and talk about the entire thing once again. However,
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Speaker 1: if you didn't get a chance to listen to Thursday's episode,
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Speaker 1: even though it was different, I highly recommend that you
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Speaker 1: all do, because it is a good episode that all
1:24
Speaker 1: of us, I think really should understand. It's how to
1:27
Speaker 1: be assured of your salvation, how to understand that you
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Speaker 1: truly have faith in Jesus, because this is something that
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Speaker 1: a lot of Christians do struggle with. They think, maybe
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Speaker 1: God doesn't love me, maybe I don't truly have faith
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Speaker 1: like I think I do. So we'll hopefully ease some
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Speaker 1: of the questions you've been having. Or for those of
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Speaker 1: you who do dip your toes into Christianity but never
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Speaker 1: took that step into faith, maybe it will actually help
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Speaker 1: you take that step into a true faith in Jesus.
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Speaker 1: So I do recommend going back and listening to that episode.
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Speaker 1: But for today, let's go ahead and read Hebrews four
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Speaker 1: one through seven. As always, I'll be reading from the web.
2:02
Speaker 1: Grab your favorite cup of coffee or a cup of tea,
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Speaker 1: this morning, and actually I am drinking tea this morning.
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Speaker 1: For the first time in months, I am drinking a
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Speaker 1: hibiscus tea. It is one of the few teas that
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Speaker 1: I actually do enjoy and can tolerate. Now I'm teasing you, guys,
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Speaker 1: I actually do like tea from time to time. It's
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Speaker 1: a good nighttime drink if you want something warm or
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Speaker 1: when you're cold. I do enjoy a good cup of
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Speaker 1: tea from time to time. But I am definitely not
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Speaker 1: a crazy tea drinker. I will never claim that title.
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Speaker 1: You guys are the crazy tea drinkers. I am a
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Speaker 1: crazy coffee drinker. All righty, grab whatever hot beverage you want.
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Speaker 1: Let's read a Hebrews four one through seven. Let's fear therefore,
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Speaker 1: lest perhaps any one of you should have seemed to
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Speaker 1: come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
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Speaker 1: For indeed, we have had good news preach to us,
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Speaker 1: even as they also did. But the word they heard
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Speaker 1: didn't profit them, because it wasn't mixed with faith by
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Speaker 1: those who heard. For we who have believed, do enter
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Speaker 1: into that rest, even as He has said, as I
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Speaker 1: swore in my wrath, they will not enter into me rest,
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Speaker 1: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
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Speaker 1: For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day.
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Speaker 1: God rested on the seventh day from all of his works.
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Speaker 1: And in this place again they will not enter into
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Speaker 1: my rest. Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter
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Speaker 1: into it, and they to whom the good news was
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Speaker 1: preached before, failed to enter in because of disobedience. He
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Speaker 1: again defines a certain day today, saying through David, so
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Speaker 1: long as time afterward, just as has been said today,
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Speaker 1: if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts.
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Speaker 1: On Thursday, we discussed only the first two verses of
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Speaker 1: this passage, and those two verses say, let's fear therefore,
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Speaker 1: lest perhaps any one of you should seem to have
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Speaker 1: come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
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Speaker 1: For indeed, we have had good news preach to us,
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Speaker 1: even as they also did, but the word they heard
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Speaker 1: didn't profit them because it wasn't mixed with faith by
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Speaker 1: those who heard. Now, a lot of people have this
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Speaker 1: misconception that the Book of Hebrews teaches them that a
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Speaker 1: person can lose their salvation. But I argued that Jesus'
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Speaker 1: is salvation is powerful, because Jesus is powerful. So the
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Speaker 1: salvation that he gives us is not something that we
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Speaker 1: can lose. Once we have it. We have it, and
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Speaker 1: that's what Jesus said. Actually, I believe in John chapter
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Speaker 1: ten was the verse that I mentioned where Jesus says
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Speaker 1: he knows his sheep. The sheep follow him, and nobody
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Speaker 1: can take the sheep out of his hand. And if
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Speaker 1: we have salvation, we are the sheep. But what Hebrews
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Speaker 1: is talking about is not necessarily the loss of salvation,
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Speaker 1: but the fence sitting Christians, potentially the lukewarm Christians, the
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Speaker 1: people who just kind of dip their toes into Christianity
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Speaker 1: without taking the full dive. And how they do that
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Speaker 1: is they attend church, they listen to the sermons, they
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Speaker 1: might even do ministry in the name of Jesus, but
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Speaker 1: they don't actually have the faith of Jesus truly in
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Speaker 1: their heart. It says in Romans chapter ten, verse nine,
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Speaker 1: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
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Speaker 1: and believe in your heart that God raised him from
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Speaker 1: the dead, you will be saved. It also says in
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Speaker 1: Ephesians two eight and nine. For by grace you've been
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Speaker 1: saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.
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Speaker 1: It is the gift of God, not a result of works,
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Speaker 1: so that no one may boast. So faith is not
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Speaker 1: a work, but it is something that we have to
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Speaker 1: have in order to take hold of that free gift
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Speaker 1: of salvation. Hebrews eleven, verse six says, without faith, it
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Speaker 1: is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to
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Speaker 1: him must believe that He exists and that he rewards
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Speaker 1: those who earnestly seek him. So there you go. Faith
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Speaker 1: is necessary in order to please God and in order
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Speaker 1: to have salvation. So who Hebrews is talking about here
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Speaker 1: is the people who say that they're Christians. Might actually
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Speaker 1: believe that God exists, but they don't have the true
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Speaker 1: faith in their heart. That's why the author of Hebrews
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Speaker 1: four says, let's fear therefore, lest perhaps any one of
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Speaker 1: you should seem to have come short of a promise
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Speaker 1: of entering into his rest. For indeed, we have had
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Speaker 1: good news preached to us, even as they also did,
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Speaker 1: meaning the Israelites back in the wilderness. But the word
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Speaker 1: they heard didn't profit them because it wasn't mixed with
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Speaker 1: faith by those who heard. So like I said on Thursday.
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Speaker 1: The people in the wilderness, you know, they knew God existed.
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Speaker 1: They could see him right in front of their eyes,
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Speaker 1: you know. I mean I just talked about a verse.
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Speaker 1: Was it yesterday? I think it was how God actually
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Speaker 1: spoke to them from Mount Horeb. They all heard God's voice,
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Speaker 1: they knew God existed, but they didn't have faith in God.
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Speaker 1: So the thing that I really hit home on Thursday was,
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Speaker 1: how do you know if you have that true faith,
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Speaker 1: how can you be assured of your salvation? And that's
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Speaker 1: where I directed everybody to the Book of First John,
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Speaker 1: because that is exactly what the entire Book of First
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Speaker 1: John talks about, how you can be assured of your salvation.
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Speaker 1: But let's continue on. In Hebrews four, verse three, it says,
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Speaker 1: for we who have believed, do enter into that rest,
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Speaker 1: even as he has said, as I swore in my wrath,
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Speaker 1: they will not enter into my rest, although the works
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Speaker 1: were finished from the foundation of the world. So that's
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Speaker 1: kind of a confusing verse because it talks about three
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Speaker 1: different ideas in one verse. The first thing is that yes,
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Speaker 1: we who have believed, do in fact enter into that rest. Secondly,
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Speaker 1: as I swore in my wrath, they will not enter
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Speaker 1: into my rest. And that's the verse that the author
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Speaker 1: keeps repeating here. And I believe that verse is from Psalm.
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Speaker 1: Was it Psalm eighty five? I think it was. Nope,
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Speaker 1: I just looked it up a Psalm ninety five, verse eleven.
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Speaker 1: So if you go to Psalm ninety five, it talks
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Speaker 1: about the rebellion of the people in the wilderness, and
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Speaker 1: it says in verse ten, for forty long years, I
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Speaker 1: was grieved with that generation and said, they are people
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Speaker 1: who aer in their heart. They have not known my
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Speaker 1: ways verse eleven. Therefore I swore in my wrath they
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Speaker 1: won't enter into my rest. And that is the verse
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Speaker 1: that the author of Hebrews is quoting here. And the
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Speaker 1: reason he quotes it is because certain people, even if
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Speaker 1: they claim to be God's people, are not going to
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Speaker 1: enter into that rest. And then in the same verse
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Speaker 1: he alludes to what this rest actually is. He says,
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Speaker 1: although the works were finished from the foundation of the
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Speaker 1: world verse four. For he has said this somewhere about
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Speaker 1: the seventh day. God rested on the seventh day from
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Speaker 1: all his works. And in this place again, they will
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Speaker 1: not enter into my rest. Now I'm not gonna lie.
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Speaker 1: When I first read this, I was extremely confused because
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Speaker 1: I'm like, what does God resting on the seventh day
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Speaker 1: have to do with his rest now? And I'm not
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Speaker 1: gonna lie. I didn't get a lot of good answers
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Speaker 1: about this until I talk to my mom. My mom
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Speaker 1: is really good at like breaking things down, so I
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Speaker 1: understand them really well. I don't know. She's a teacher.
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Speaker 1: She was my teacher growing up, I was homeschold, and
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Speaker 1: she's just really good at what she does. So she
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Speaker 1: brought it to my attention that this rest that God
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Speaker 1: is talking about is both an earthly rest and also
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Speaker 1: a heavenly rest. Let's talk about the earthly rest first
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Speaker 1: by going to Genesis chapter two one through three, where
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Speaker 1: God institutes the first rest. It says in verse one,
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Speaker 1: the heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were
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Speaker 1: finished on the seventh day. God finished his work which
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Speaker 1: he had done, and he rested on the seventh day
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Speaker 1: from all his work which he had done. God blessed
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Speaker 1: the seventh day, and he made it holy because he
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Speaker 1: rested in it from all his work of creation which
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Speaker 1: he had done. So that is talking about how God
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Speaker 1: made everything in the first six days, and then on
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Speaker 1: the seventh day, he rested from creating, and he blessed
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Speaker 1: that day and made it holy because he rested on it. Now,
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Speaker 1: let's not to say that God needs to rest, but
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Speaker 1: the reason he instituted a day of rest was actually
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Speaker 1: for humanity. Humans need that day of rest. And that's
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Speaker 1: actually what Jesus told the Pharisees when they were getting
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Speaker 1: really mad at Jesus for performing miracles on the Sabbath day.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, Sabbath was made for man, not man for
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath, because you know, the Pharisees believed that the
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Speaker 1: Sabbath day, because it was holy, you couldn't do anything fun,
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Speaker 1: you couldn't do good deeds, you couldn't do anything really,
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Speaker 1: you can only take a certain amount of steps. They
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Speaker 1: are making it ridiculous and completely unenjoyable. But the fact
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Speaker 1: is that the Sabbath day of rest is supposed to
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Speaker 1: be an enjoyable experience for humans. The Sabbath day was
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Speaker 1: made for humans, is what Jesus tells us. But unfortunately
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Speaker 1: humans have this need to complicate everything. So they see
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Speaker 1: that God made a holy day and then they institute
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Speaker 1: all these rules of how to make yourself holier than
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Speaker 1: what God actually ordained. And that's where we get all
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Speaker 1: this legalism coming in. You know, all these extra rules
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Speaker 1: about how you can become holy. So you can't do
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Speaker 1: certain things on the Sabbath Day. You can only sit
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Speaker 1: in misery and reflect on yourself and maybe pray, maybe
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Speaker 1: take a nap. That's about it. In fact, I had
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Speaker 1: a family that went to the church that I grew
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Speaker 1: up in, and I remember them telling me that on
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath Day, or on Sunday, which is when they
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Speaker 1: celebrated it, they would only take naps. That was the
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Speaker 1: only thing they were allowed to do on the Sabbath day.
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Speaker 1: And I remember thinking how miserable that sounded, because as
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Speaker 1: a kid, I hated naps. I hated them. I didn't
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Speaker 1: want anything to do with them. I wanted to go
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Speaker 1: out and play. I was a very active kid, and
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Speaker 1: to this day, I really don't nap very much. I
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Speaker 1: am not a napper. So sitting there napping all day
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Speaker 1: just sounds like an absolute drudgery of a task. And
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Speaker 1: yet that's the kind of legalism that people bring into
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath day. So if we go back to Hebrew's
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Speaker 1: Chapter four, Our Passage for Today. I believe that's kind
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Speaker 1: of what the author is getting at here. It's these
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Speaker 1: people that aren't entering into God's rest because they don't
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Speaker 1: have the faith associated with what actually makes the Sabbath
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Speaker 1: day holy. Instead, they have all of the tradition and
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Speaker 1: all of the legalism, the stuff that isn't actually making
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Speaker 1: them any holier, even though they feel like they are
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Speaker 1: being holy. So they're missing out on the day of
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Speaker 1: rest and what it could really mean for them, the
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Speaker 1: piece it could give them. Because of all of this
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Speaker 1: legalism that they are bringing in, they're missing out completely.
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Speaker 1: So these would be the kind of people that are
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Speaker 1: going to church only for feeling like they're getting closer
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Speaker 1: to God, feeling like they checked off a box, like
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Speaker 1: a holiness box, or feeling like their works are actually
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Speaker 1: what's going to save them. Those are the people that
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Speaker 1: bring all of this legalism into the Sabbath day. And
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Speaker 1: now the Sabbath Day, don't forget was very important to
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Speaker 1: the Hebrews, which is who the author is writing to here.
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Speaker 1: He was writing to the Christian Hebrews broadly. Obviously, you
12:50
Speaker 1: know the Bibles for everybody, but he was writing specifically
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Speaker 1: this letter to the Hebrew Christians who had a lot
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Speaker 1: of that legalism associated with it. And I think what
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Speaker 1: the author is trying to do here is explain that
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Speaker 1: people are missing the mark of entering into this Sabbath
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Speaker 1: day rest because they don't have faith mixed in. They're
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Speaker 1: making Sabbath into a chore, into a drudgery. So what
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Speaker 1: is Sabbath actually supposed to do? How does it look
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Speaker 1: when you actually mix faith into the Sabbath Day. Well,
13:19
Speaker 1: there's somebody that I'm very close to who actually does
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Speaker 1: celebrate the Sabbath day, and that is my mom. She
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Speaker 1: celebrates the Sabbath every single Saturday. And this is why
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Speaker 1: I got a lot of clarity from talking to her,
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Speaker 1: because she's been doing this for years now, and she
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Speaker 1: told me, she's like, when I first started, I had
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Speaker 1: some of that legalism associated with the Sabbath day where
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Speaker 1: I was like, I can't do this thing and I
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Speaker 1: have to be home at a certain time, and she's like,
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Speaker 1: and I was making the Sabbath day miserable because it
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Speaker 1: was all rule based, and my Mom's like, and I
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Speaker 1: learned from that, and now I celebrate the Sabbath day
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Speaker 1: and I actually have fun. In fact, my mom and
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Speaker 1: I on Saturday this past Saturday, we actually went to
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Speaker 1: this like art fair thing and we walked around and
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Speaker 1: we had a ton of fun. And that was my
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Speaker 1: mom's Sabbath Day. The Sabbath day is not about rules.
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Speaker 1: It is about getting closer to God and having fellowship
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Speaker 1: with other people and helping other people. That is what
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath day is actually about. Taking an opportunity to
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Speaker 1: ignore the things of this world, the cares of this world,
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Speaker 1: whether it's your job or the chores that you have
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Speaker 1: to do or anything else like that, ignoring the unpleasant,
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Speaker 1: miserable parts of this world, and taking time to just
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Speaker 1: rest and relax in God's presence and in fellowship with
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Speaker 1: other believers. So when my mom put it to me
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Speaker 1: in that perspective, because I am not somebody, I'm gonna
14:49
Speaker 1: admit this right now, I don't celebrate the Sabbath day.
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Speaker 1: I do take days off, but I don't on a
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Speaker 1: weekly basis celebrate a Sabbath. I don't take time for that.
14:58
Speaker 1: So quite honestly, I didn't unders stand a lot about it.
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Speaker 1: So taking some time to just relax, putting the cares
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Speaker 1: of this world on a hold for a little bit
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Speaker 1: where you can actually enjoy time with God. That honestly
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Speaker 1: does sound very RESTful to me. And so the author
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Speaker 1: is warning these Christians that they're not fully entering into
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Speaker 1: rest the way that they could be, because they're just
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Speaker 1: dipping their toes in. They don't have faith associated with
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath day. They think that it's workspaced. They think
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Speaker 1: if they do something good, it's going to get them
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Speaker 1: closer to God, not understanding that the Sabbath Day in
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Speaker 1: and of itself is a day of rest and relaxation,
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Speaker 1: getting closer to God by having dedicated time of fellowship
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Speaker 1: with him. That is what the Sabbath day is about.
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Speaker 1: It's about faith. It was made for us. We were
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Speaker 1: not made for the Sabbath day, it says in verse six.
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Speaker 1: Here therefore it remains that some should enter into it,
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Speaker 1: and they to whom the good news was preached before,
16:05
Speaker 1: failed to enter in because of disobedience. He again defines
16:09
Speaker 1: a certain day today, saying through David, so long a
16:12
Speaker 1: time afterward, just as has been said today, if you
16:16
Speaker 1: will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. The author says,
16:22
Speaker 1: you can start having this true Sabbath rest today, instead
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Speaker 1: of making it miserable, instead of making it a chore
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Speaker 1: for yourself or just another to do box on your list,
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Speaker 1: You can start making the Sabbath day a genuinely RESTful
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Speaker 1: time in your life. You can start doing this today.
16:41
Speaker 1: He says, this is an urgent thing that the author
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Speaker 1: is bringing forth, saying, unfortunately too many people that go
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Speaker 1: to church are not actually celebrating the Sabbath Day the
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Speaker 1: correct way. But it goes far further than just the
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Speaker 1: temporal Sabbath day then you and I would choose to celebrate.
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Speaker 1: It goes way further than that, because entering into God's
17:02
Speaker 1: rest is actually a picture of entering into Heaven itself.
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Speaker 1: We know that that is when we finally truly have rest,
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Speaker 1: We have rest from everything we did here on the earth.
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Speaker 1: That is why at funerals when somebody dies they often
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Speaker 1: say rest in peace. It's an idea that when you die,
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Speaker 1: you enter into rest if you are saved. So that's
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Speaker 1: the second thing that this rest is signifying. There are
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Speaker 1: some people who claim to be Christians that are not
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Speaker 1: going to go to Heaven, and honestly, that should make
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Speaker 1: us afraid. That should make us analyze, do we truly
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Speaker 1: have faith in Jesus. Do we truly believe in the Bible?
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Speaker 1: Because we don't want to miss out on that rest
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Speaker 1: talked about in Hebrews chapter four. And honestly, that is
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Speaker 1: what everybody is looking for, aren't we, like true deep peace,
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Speaker 1: relaxation and rest. Can you imagine if you eternally missed
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Speaker 1: out on that gift. And that's why the author of
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Speaker 1: Hebrews is warning us so harshly. He says, do this today,
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Speaker 1: Do not wait until tomorrow. Do this today, meaning you
18:07
Speaker 1: can start having faith rite at this very minute. In fact,
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Speaker 1: Jesus gives up parable about this very thing in Matthew
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Speaker 1: twenty five thirteen through thirty from the Web version. Jesus says,
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Speaker 1: watch therefore, for you don't know the day nor the
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Speaker 1: hour in which the Son of Man is coming. For
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Speaker 1: it is like a man going into another country, who
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Speaker 1: called his servants and entrusted his goods to them. To one,
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Speaker 1: he gave five talents to another, two to another, one
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Speaker 1: to each according to his own ability. Then he went
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Speaker 1: on his journey. Immediately, he who received the five talents
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Speaker 1: went and traded with them and made another five talents.
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Speaker 1: In the same way, he who also got the two
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Speaker 1: gained another two. But he who received the one talent
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Speaker 1: went away and dug in the earth and hid his
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Speaker 1: lord's money. Now, after a long time, the lord of
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Speaker 1: those servants came. He who received the five talents came
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Speaker 1: and brought another five talents, saying, Lord, you delivered me
19:00
Speaker 1: five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents in
19:03
Speaker 1: addition to them. His lord said to him, well done,
19:07
Speaker 1: good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a
19:09
Speaker 1: few things. I will set you over many things. Enter
19:13
Speaker 1: into the joy of your lord. He who also got
19:16
Speaker 1: the two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to
19:19
Speaker 1: me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents
19:22
Speaker 1: in addition to them. His Lord said to him, well done,
19:25
Speaker 1: good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a
19:28
Speaker 1: few things. I will set you over many things. Enter
19:31
Speaker 1: into the joy of your lord. He also, who had
19:34
Speaker 1: received the one talent, came and said, Lord, I knew
19:37
Speaker 1: that you were a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow,
19:40
Speaker 1: and gathering where you didn't scatter. I was afraid and
19:43
Speaker 1: went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold,
19:46
Speaker 1: you have what is yours. But his Lord answered him,
19:49
Speaker 1: You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap
19:52
Speaker 1: where I didn't sow, and gather where I didn't scatter.
19:54
Speaker 1: You ought, therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers,
19:58
Speaker 1: and at my coming I should have received bad my
20:00
Speaker 1: own with interest. Take away therefore the talent from him
20:03
Speaker 1: and give it to him who has the ten talents.
20:05
Speaker 1: For to everyone who has will be given, and he
20:08
Speaker 1: will have abundance. But from him who doesn't have, even
20:11
Speaker 1: that which he does have will be taken away. Throw
20:14
Speaker 1: out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where their
20:18
Speaker 1: will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So you can
20:21
Speaker 1: see in that story that unfaithful servant knew that God existed,
20:26
Speaker 1: He was the servant of God. Even he did things
20:29
Speaker 1: for God, but he did not have a true faith
20:32
Speaker 1: in God. Maybe didn't believe that God would ever return.
20:36
Speaker 1: Maybe thinking, oh, I have plenty of time. I'm not
20:38
Speaker 1: going to worry about this. I am going to just
20:40
Speaker 1: enjoy my life and bury the things that God gave
20:43
Speaker 1: me and the opportunities that he gave me, and just
20:46
Speaker 1: do whatever I want to do. And then God indeed
20:49
Speaker 1: did return, and that servant had nothing to offer him,
20:53
Speaker 1: and God threw that servant, it says, into the outer darkness,
20:57
Speaker 1: where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now here's
21:00
Speaker 1: a caveat about the outer darkness. And I don't know
21:03
Speaker 1: if this is the truth or not, and I'm going
21:05
Speaker 1: to tread very lightly on this topic. I don't know
21:09
Speaker 1: if the outer darkness is the same thing as Hell.
21:13
Speaker 1: I have not done any research on this, so I
21:15
Speaker 1: don't want to specifically say that it is different than Hell,
21:19
Speaker 1: because I might be wrong. However, when I say that,
21:22
Speaker 1: it does not seem like the outer darkness is going
21:25
Speaker 1: to be any better than Hell, because it is separation
21:29
Speaker 1: from God. Jesus said, there's going to be weeping and
21:33
Speaker 1: gnashing of teeth in this outer darkness. That doesn't sound good.
21:37
Speaker 1: That sounds like pain and anxiety and misery and sickness
21:42
Speaker 1: and all the other awful things that we experience here
21:45
Speaker 1: on earth. So we don't want to be in that
21:47
Speaker 1: outer darkness, whatever it is. We don't want to be
21:51
Speaker 1: those fence sitting Christians that refuse to have true faith
21:55
Speaker 1: in Jesus. We don't want that. We want to be
21:59
Speaker 1: able to enter into his rest as what Jesus called it,
22:02
Speaker 1: actually in the parable of the talents. He says, enter
22:04
Speaker 1: into my joy. So you have a choice. Are you
22:08
Speaker 1: going to enter into Christ's joy or are you going
22:12
Speaker 1: to enter into misery? That is the two choices that
22:16
Speaker 1: you have. Going back to Hebrews four six and seven,
22:20
Speaker 1: it says, seeing therefore it remains that some should enter
22:23
Speaker 1: into it, and they to whom the good news was
22:25
Speaker 1: preached before, failed to enter in because of disobedience. He
22:29
Speaker 1: again defines a certain day today, saying through David, so
22:34
Speaker 1: long a time afterward today, if you will hear his voice,
22:38
Speaker 1: don't harden your hearts. So don't harden your hearts any longer.
22:43
Speaker 1: Those of you who are going to church, those of
22:45
Speaker 1: you who are listening to this podcast, you might be
22:49
Speaker 1: missing out on the rest that Jesus offers you because
22:52
Speaker 1: of your lack of faith. There is no work that
22:55
Speaker 1: you can do to let you gain salvation, nothing, not
22:59
Speaker 1: a single word, no matter how good it is, no
23:02
Speaker 1: matter how much money you donate, no matter what you do,
23:04
Speaker 1: there is not a single work that will get you
23:07
Speaker 1: into heaven. The only thing that will get you into
23:10
Speaker 1: heaven is Jesus's sacrifice, and that takes faith knowing that
23:15
Speaker 1: you are not holy enough to get into heaven, but
23:19
Speaker 1: that there is somebody holy enough to get you into heaven.
23:22
Speaker 1: You have to have faith in that that your works
23:25
Speaker 1: aren't going to save you. They're not going to give
23:27
Speaker 1: you the true rest and relaxation you need. The only
23:31
Speaker 1: thing that can is trusting in Jesus. Having faith in Jesus,
23:35
Speaker 1: knowing that he is the one who actually makes you
23:38
Speaker 1: holy and righteous and gives you a true rest, whether
23:43
Speaker 1: it's rest on the Sabbath day or the eternal rest
23:46
Speaker 1: that we are all looking for. Well, faithful listeners, I
23:50
Speaker 1: have a couple last words I'd like to say to
23:52
Speaker 1: you guys, But before I do and close out this episode,
23:55
Speaker 1: here is our last sponsor for today. One thing that
24:00
Speaker 1: I should mention with all of this is just because
24:04
Speaker 1: scripture says that good works don't save you, it doesn't
24:09
Speaker 1: mean that good works shouldn't be done. I think a
24:13
Speaker 1: lot of people misunderstand that it's like, oh, because good
24:16
Speaker 1: works don't save me, I shouldn't do any good works.
24:19
Speaker 1: But in the Book of James it says I will
24:21
Speaker 1: show you my faith through my works and you might
24:24
Speaker 1: be like super confused at this point because it's like, well,
24:26
Speaker 1: do I do works or don't I do works? Well, Yes,
24:29
Speaker 1: obviously good works are good because you are helping somebody else,
24:32
Speaker 1: and that is what Jesus tells us to do. I mean,
24:34
Speaker 1: if you look at Jesus's life, he did good works
24:36
Speaker 1: all of the time, and we are supposed to imitate Jesus.
24:40
Speaker 1: But what actually matters is the heart behind your good works.
24:44
Speaker 1: If you are only doing them because you think that
24:46
Speaker 1: is what's going to get you to heaven, that is
24:49
Speaker 1: not the right motivation. If you are doing them because
24:52
Speaker 1: they make you feel good about yourself, you are not
24:55
Speaker 1: doing them for the right motivation. Good works should be
24:58
Speaker 1: done to benefit an edify other people so that they
25:03
Speaker 1: can actually know who Jesus is. We are supposed to
25:05
Speaker 1: shine our lights as Christians, and one of the ways
25:08
Speaker 1: we do that is by doing good works. But those
25:11
Speaker 1: good works should point to Jesus rather than ourselves, and
25:16
Speaker 1: that's where it starts to matter. Good works are not
25:19
Speaker 1: for yourself, there for other people. If there's any selfish
25:23
Speaker 1: motivation with good works, you are not doing them for
25:27
Speaker 1: the right reason. Works cannot save you, but in their
25:30
Speaker 1: own way, they are still important to do, all right,
25:34
Speaker 1: Faith the listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I
25:36
Speaker 1: hope that last little bit didn't confuse you too much.
25:40
Speaker 1: But if it did, I encourage you to read Hebrews
25:43
Speaker 1: for yourself and see how it ties in to other
25:46
Speaker 1: parts of scripture. And maybe that's why I like the
25:48
Speaker 1: Book of Hebrews as much as I do, because it
25:51
Speaker 1: ties in so well to other parts of scripture. Because
25:55
Speaker 1: the Bible as a whole is all interconnected. You can
26:00
Speaker 1: just read one passage without reading other passages of scripture.
26:04
Speaker 1: It all ties in hand in hand with each other.
26:07
Speaker 1: And that's why in the Book of Hebrews I have
26:09
Speaker 1: been jumping around a lot, far more than I've done
26:13
Speaker 1: in other books of the Bible, because Hebrews ties everything together,
26:18
Speaker 1: and the entire Bible is the truth of God's Word.
26:21
Speaker 1: So if it looks like I'm jumping around a lot
26:23
Speaker 1: in scripture is because it's all God's word. It's not
26:26
Speaker 1: just about individual verses or individual passages in and of themselves.
26:31
Speaker 1: You have to understand the context of scripture. I mean,
26:34
Speaker 1: even the Book of Hebrews does this. How often does
26:37
Speaker 1: the author reference verses from the Old Testament, like every
26:40
Speaker 1: few verses. He's doing this because the Bible ties itself together.
26:44
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm specifically focusing on that right now
26:47
Speaker 1: in the Book of Hebrews. And I hope you guys
26:49
Speaker 1: have been enjoying. It might be a little bit daunting
26:52
Speaker 1: for some of you that are newer to the scriptures,
26:54
Speaker 1: but just keep going with it. I think it'll start
26:57
Speaker 1: to make more sense as we continue along. Soe for listeners,
27:00
Speaker 1: have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. As always,
27:04
Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless. I just want to take
27:12
Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
27:14
Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
27:17
Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
27:20
Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
27:23
Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.