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Christ the True and Better - Hebrews 12 - Christ The Founder and Perfecter Of Our Faith · Mount Eaton Church

• 0:00
  Good morning, family.
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  All right, so please grab your Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter 12.
• 0:25
  Yes, I didn't forget about the reading.
• 0:27
  I gotcha.
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  Thank you.
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  We are going to go through the entire chapter.
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  So this is a summary of this chapter.
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  I'm going to pull out some major points.
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  But before we do that, we have a reading to do.
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  So I will ask the question and you read the answer.
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  We will go to our Doctrine of Focus as soon as I can get to Hebrews.
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  Chapter 12 in my Bible.
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  All right.
• 1:01
  Here we go.
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  How are we made partakers of the redemption of Christ?
• 1:08
  Excellent.
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  Westminster Shorter Catechism, question number 29.
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  So love those little things.
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  You know, it's going to take an entire lifetime to go through the catechisms and the confessions and all the other stuff.
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  We haven't even gotten to the Heidelberg yet.
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  It's so many things.
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  So it's really good stuff.
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  So I encourage you to continue, you know, if you want, read that.
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  Before we get started, I want to pray and then we're going to dive right in.
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  Okay.
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  Father, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and your goodness.
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  Thank you that we can come before you.
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  We can laugh and we can come in reverence and awe and respect of you even in our frailty and our joys and our laughter.
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  And you are father.
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  And by the work of Christ, you have given us free access to the throne room of God, to the holy of holies.
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  We praise you.
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  So, Lord, as we go through your word, I pray that the full counsel of your word is spoken, that we rightly divide the word,
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  that you teach us your ways that we may know you and have favor with you,
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  that we would understand clearly that you are the founder and perfecter of our faith.
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  You are conforming us into the image of your son and that you will complete what you started and that we will be perfect as you are perfect.
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  And Lord, we praise you and thank you.
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  Help us to see some very important truths and how to really understand them, apply them, but most of all,
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  that we would know you and that we would apply what we learn from you to you be honor and glory in Jesus' name.
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  Amen.
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  All right.
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  So here we go.
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  So we're at the end of the book.
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  We're at this moment where you probably grab chapter 12, verse one and two, and you make a sermon on that.
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  But we don't have that option today because we're trying to do the whole book verse by verse.
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  And so in the future, I will be doing some particular sermons on just portions of chapter 12 expository.
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  We'll do one through four and then eventually another one through five through 18.
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  It'll be just a message on those things.
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  And but I want to give you a summary why the writer writes this, why God gives us chapter 12 and the importance of it.
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  And it really starts off in the first two verses of why chapter 12 so important.
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  So principle number one, we run the race not for a place in heaven, but we run for the prize who is the founder and perfecter of our faith, Jesus.
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  We don't run the race of faith to get to heaven.
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  You don't run the race of faith because you want a room, a mansion.
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  You don't run the race of faith in order to receive something.
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  You run the race of faith because Christ is the prize whom you've already received.
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  OK, now that's a very important understanding here.
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  Many people go, well, I want my mansion.
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  I just want Jesus. OK, so how do we know this to be true?
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  First Corinthians nine, twenty four through twenty five.
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  You know, I give a scripture precept upon precepts context and context.
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  Here we go. Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize?
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  So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
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  They do it to receive a perishable wreath.
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  But we but we and imperishable wreath, which we have Christ our crown Christ our prize.
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  Now, how do we know this to clarify this in Hebrews chapter 12, verse one, one through four?
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  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
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  how many of you guys have have been taught or have heard that this cloud of witnesses are angelic beings?
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  All the angels are watching us. Oh, good.
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  We've had some good teachers, man. I'm getting excited. Right.
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  How many of you guys have heard that this is all of the people before Jesus?
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  So this word, this term so great a cloud of witnesses is a great dense,
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  dense multitude of spectators in the historical sense are witnesses of how we run the race.
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  So all the way to Adam, all the way to the saints who have passed,
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  all of them are our witnesses of how we run the race.
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  We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
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  OK, witnesses that not only can go before a judge by the testimony they have given that the truth of Christ is true,
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  but also condemn us if we are judged by our sin.
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  So there is a great cloud of witnesses who are watching how we run.
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  This is not a legalistic point of view.
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  This is a point of view of understanding that we are in a race.
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  We are in the race of life and that how we live matters.
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  How we present the truth of Christ matters in how we live.
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  How do we know that? Look, keep reading. It says, let us also lay aside every weight.
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  This word weight is burden or mass.
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  It's interesting they use the word mass. Right.
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  This heavy thing that we carry. OK.
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  And sin. The word sin here is ha-martia, meaning to miss the mark.
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  It's where we get ha-martiology from the study of sin. OK.
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  So we must lay aside every mass or missing the mark, the standard, which clings.
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  Now, how many of you guys think about clinging?
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  When you put your clothes in the dryer, they get all clingy or static cling.
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  Right. When you put in, you put in a sheet, it clings.
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  Everything clings to something. Well, this word isn't that.
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  This word is the idea of like a leg cramp.
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  When you're running and all of a sudden that leg cramp comes and you run with a stiff leg.
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  How many of you guys have had leg cramps?
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  I don't know about you, but I don't like leg cramps.
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  Because I'm sitting on the couch and that thing kicks in, you're like, whoa. Right.
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  It clings to you and it won't let go. That's the idea.
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  This idea, which is the term, which clings, is the word besetting or to prevent running.
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  Leg cramps cling to you. They prevent you from running.
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  So when we are carrying a burden or a mass or we are missing the mark,
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  that prevents us from running rightly.
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  So, okay, which clings, these besetting sins, these things that prevent us in our living
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  are closely connected. Right.
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  That which so closely and let us run, this idea that it's close and trust me,
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  a leg cramp can't get any closer.
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  And if this is true, let us run, treco, to exert, strive, hard, spend,
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  all one strength to attain something.
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  Are you running the race in such a way that you are exhausting yourself?
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  You're leaving it all out. You're emptying yourself of everything that you have
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  because you want to run the race in a way that glorifies God,
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  in a way that brings him honor, in a way that you carry his name
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  and when it's all done, he can say, well done.
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  That's the idea here.
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  So are we striving hard? Are we spending all of our strength to attain something?
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  Now, this spending all of our strength requires that we endure with endurance
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  the race that is set before us.
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  So let us also lay aside every weight, every burden, every mass
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  and let us not miss the mark which clings, which prevents us from running so closely
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  and let us run, let us exert, let us spend all of our strength with endurance
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  the race that is set before us.
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  I mean, are you running to the point that you are exhausted,
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  that you're fighting against, making war against your sin?
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  Now, this word with endurance, the race that is set before us
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  means to exert ourselves like a runner in a contest to attain a goal of perfection
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  which we are destined for.
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  You are destined for perfection.
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  What God starts, he will finish.
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  You will be like Jesus.
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  You will take off the corruptible and put on the incorruptible.
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  Your body will become like your spirit, perfect in every way.
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  That's the point.
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  And if we know this, how should we live?
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  And what has caused this to happen for us?
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  And how can we continue to strive in this manner as a runner running a race?
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  Well, looking to, verse two, to turn our eyes away from distractions
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  and fix them on Christ, our prize.
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  So when we think of the term repentance, you probably have been taught,
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  which all of us have been, it's a turning away from sin.
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  It's more than that.
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  It's a turning to Christ.
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  And by turning to Christ, you turn away from sin.
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  We don't turn away from something that you love.
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  You turn to something that's of greater value.
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  And as a result, you will turn from that.
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  That's what repentance is.
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  It's a turning to Jesus.
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  And as a result of turning to Jesus, you turn away from that which is killing you.
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  And so repentance is more than just turning away from sin.
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  It's a turning to Christ.
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  And that's what you see here.
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  Turn your eyes away from distractions and fix them on Christ, our prize.
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  You see, if Christ was not our focus, when we turn away from sin,
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  you will be quick to turn back.
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  How do we know that?
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  Scripture interprets scripture.
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  Just look at Lot's wife.
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  So we are looking to Jesus, the founder, the beginning,
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  the one who started it all and perfecter of our faith.
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  He founded our faith.
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  He has started our faith.
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  And he is the perfecter of our faith.
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  Who for the joy, for the absolute joy that was set before him, endured the cross.
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  When he was presenting himself as the sacrifice, he joyfully did it.
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  Of his own accord.
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  Why?
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  For you.
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  Set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame,
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  and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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  That idea of the right hand of the throne of God is the ultimate authority of all things.
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  He is the authority of God.
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  Now, consider him, Christ, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself
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  so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.
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  Why did Jesus go to the cross?
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  Not only to redeem us, but as a reminder that he has won.
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  It is finished.
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  And that we don't need to grow weary and faint-hearted.
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  We will receive what was promised.
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  He has endured the cost for you.
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  And so, in your struggle against sin,
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  you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your own blood, have you?
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  No.
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  Christ did.
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  He shed his blood for you.
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  And we haven't resisted to the point that we would shed our own.
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  That's the idea.
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  Principle number two.
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  Repentance is not enough for salvation.
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  Ouch.
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  People are bugging out right now.
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  Well, doesn't it say in John 1, 15, repent and believe the gospel?
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  Yes.
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  But it doesn't say just repent and you're in.
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  Just say a prayer and you're good.
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  It's not what it means.
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  Repentance is not enough for salvation.
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  Salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone.
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  Repentance is a result of transformation.
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  When somebody is transformed in the heart, justified,
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  they confess Christ as Lord and Savior,
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  and they turn to Jesus and turn away from sin.
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  They turn to something.
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  And as a result, turning to something, they turn away from something.
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  That's the idea here.
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  So in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary,
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  you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith,
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  more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire,
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  may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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  First Peter 1, 6 through 7, that the reality of our faith is proven genuine because of Christ
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  and his preservation of us, his preserving us,
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  the perseverance of us through all these things.
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  Now, that being said, Hebrews 12, 5 through 17.
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  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
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  You are children of God.
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  Have you forgotten how he has called you sons?
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  My son, and this is what he's, listen to this.
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  My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
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  nor be weary when reproved by him.
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  He's talking to us, you, his son and daughters, his sons and daughters.
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  Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, the chastising of the Lord,
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  nor be weary when reproved by him.
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  How do you know when God is disciplining you?
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  Well, we're going to talk about that right now.
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  For the Lord disciplines, paiduo, to chastise by the infliction of calamities and sufferings.
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  In the BLB, it doesn't use the word sufferings, it says evils.
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  The problem is that in modern English, evils mean that it's the devil,
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  that anything that brings deep harm, pain to you is evils.
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  That's a correct term in the Old English for suffering.
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  But in our modern English, they have a very distorted view of what evils are.
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  That being said, chastisement, the Lord's discipline is chastisement
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  by the infliction of calamities and suffering.
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  Do we look at our lives and go, I'm suffering because it's just not fair.
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  It's just not fair.
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  It's not fair that I suffer.
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  I'm innocent.
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  There's no one innocent.
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  It's not fair that I suffer.
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  I'm not doing anything wrong.
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  You don't know the intentionality of your heart.
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  You don't know the deep issues of your heart, do you?
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  That's a hard thing to kind of understand.
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  So when we look at discipline and we look at all the things that happen to us,
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  understand that God is using everything to conform you into the image of his son.
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  He's disciplining you.
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  He's training you.
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  So for the Lord disciplines, the Lord inflects calamities and suffering on the one he loves.
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  Notice it doesn't say ones.
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  He's talking to you.
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  He loves you.
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  If you're going through stuff, it's because he loves you.
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  You're like, well, I don't want that kind of love.
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  Well, neither did my kids.
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  Here's an example because every he chastises every son whom he receives, right?
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  Like my oldest son, my wife remembers this.
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  How many of you guys know the paddle with the little ball and it could do, do, do, do, do?
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  Yeah, I was like, yeah, I'm taking that off.
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  That bro took it off.
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  That was my little paddle.
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  One covers a good surface and it doesn't hurt too bad.
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  Spoon's a different story.
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  The wider it is, the better off it is.
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  The smaller it is, the worse it hurts.
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  My mom, my mom's like switches.
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  I don't, who ever got switched?
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  Oh, everybody, a lot of hands.
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  Ooh, go, go cut that off that tree.
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  Bring it over here.
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  Well, I didn't.
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  I used the paddle.
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  And so one day my son does something and I say, and this is why I did this every time.
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  So I would have to be calm.
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  So in your anger, do not discipline your children when you're angry.
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  If you're angry, don't touch your kids.
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  Don't say a word to them because you're going to say something you're going to regret
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  and you're going to do something you're going to regret.
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  Don't do it.
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  Calm down.
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  Take a breath.
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  And then I would say, Jared, go get the paddle.
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  I don't want you to get so angry.
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  She remembers.
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  I'd be like, go get the paddle.
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  Oh, okay.
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  He'd go get the paddle and bring it.
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  Give me the paddle.
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  And then it turned around.
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  And I'd smack his butt for it.
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  And it would all depend on how bad it was.
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  See, my youngest, they didn't get that.
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  They didn't get paddles.
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  Someone said, oh.
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  So he would get, the severity of the paddle would be dependent on the crime.
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  The worse the crime, the worse the paddle.
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  Well, he did that.
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  He got one time he did something really bad.
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  I broke the paddle.
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  Once, one time.
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  It's a thin piece of, come on, it's a Luan.
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  It's not like a thick one.
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  It's not like a ping pong paddle.
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  Those would work great.
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  All right.
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  So the point is that I did that because I love him.
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  I don't want him to do wrong.
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  And the only way to change, to move the heart, to direct the heart in the direction
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  that the child should go is discipline.
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  So because I love him, I chastise him.
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  And if I chastise him, then he is my son.
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  If I don't chastise him, he's not mine.
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  And so the point of chastisement is because I love him.
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  And God loves us and chastises every son whom he receives, whom he has brought
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  into the family, whom he has decided is mine.
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  Now, verse seven, for it is for discipline, paidaya is the word here, paidaya,
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  discipline, calamities and sufferings that God visits for correction.
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  That God will use things that are besetting upon us because of stuff such as sin
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  or just that we live in a very broken world, God will use it.
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  Or that God will cause calamities and sufferings.
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  You ever wonder about that?
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  And that you have to endure those things is all you have to do is look at Job.
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  There wasn't, if you were to look at Job outside of Job's life,
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  you would think he didn't deserve that at all.
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  But God's like, no, so you don't see the intentionality of the heart that I see.
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  And so God says, hey, talks to, you know, Apollyon, Lucifer and says, Satan,
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  however you want to call him, have you considered my servant Job?
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  He's like, yeah, but I can't, I just, you know.
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  He's like, fine, you can do all this, but you can't do that.
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  Calamity kills all his kids.
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  Satan kills all his kids, steals all his stuff.
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  That's called a calamity.
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  And then God says, second time, have you considered my servant Job?
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  I can't touch him.
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  Fine, you can touch his body, but you can't kill him.
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  Sufferings.
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  Did he deserve it?
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  You would say no.
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  God says he did.
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  Because what you end up finding about Job's life is God dealt with the pride of his heart.
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  Job felt he was good.
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  I'm good, I'm doing my thing.
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  I bring offerings to the Lord.
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  I pray on behalf of my kids.
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  Like, I'm wealthy.
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  I'm doing the right.
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  And God's like, yeah, but your heart is messed up, man.
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  And God ultimately will perfect us.
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  And that's what you see in Job's life.
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  That we, just like Job, should endure the discipline of God.
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  God is treating you, continue on verse seven.
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  God is treating you as sons.
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  For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
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  If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, all of us have been disciplined.
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  If you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
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  We should be going through stuff.
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  Now, some would say, well, I've had enough of that stuff.
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  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who discipline us and we respect them.
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  Trust me, I know some really good dads.
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  Here we go.
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  So, it says that we had earthly fathers who discipline us and we respect them.
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  Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of Spirits and live?
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  If we are subject as its children to him, then we will live.
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  But if we are not subject to him and we don't belong to him, there is no life for you.
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  Verse 10.
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  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them.
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  But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
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  That you may be like him, perfect, the perfector.
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  That's what this is all about.
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  Verse 11.
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  For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.
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  Trust me, it doesn't feel good.
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  Your suffering isn't good, doesn't feel good, but it's good.
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  Your suffering is painful and it hurts, but it's good.
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  Why?
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  Because later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, the conformity to Jesus.
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  Jesus is our righteousness.
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  The peaceful fruit of righteousness is to be like Christ.
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  To those who have been trained by it.
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  When you discipline, it's training.
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  You train, you are trained by discipline.
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  Not only self-discipline, but discipline for the wrong that you do.
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  Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths.
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  What does it mean to lift up your drooping hands?
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  When you got a leg cramp and you're in a race because we're still running,
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  we're still in the running idea here.
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  When you see the end of the race, they're like spent.
• 26:48
  They're exhausted.
• 26:49
  Their electrolytes are low.
• 26:51
  What do they do?
• 26:52
  They're like, they're dragging, right?
• 26:54
  They're like, and their stuff's all coming out of them and you're like, they're about to die.
• 27:04
  That's because they're exhausted.
• 27:07
  They've gone through it.
• 27:08
  They have been beat down.
• 27:11
  Well, this is what he says, lift your drooping hands because when your hands are up, you can run.
• 27:18
  Strengthen your knees, get your knees back under you because when your knees are back under you,
• 27:22
  you can run hard, firm, strong.
• 27:28
  The race isn't over for us.
• 27:31
  It's not the end.
• 27:33
  Doesn't matter how old you are.
• 27:35
  There's no retirement for Christianity.
• 27:38
  It's not a spectator sport.
• 27:40
  You must participate.
• 27:43
  And so get your hands up and get your knees under you and make straight paths for your feet.
• 27:52
  This is what this means.
• 27:54
  When you are not drooping and your knees are good under you and you're running strong,
• 27:59
  you can stay in lane.
• 28:02
  This word, paths, is this idea of walk or ride in the track that has already been laid, the rut.
• 28:10
  So horses and buggies would ride the rut.
• 28:13
  You would go from Strouds on the rut to Sellersburg, well, Ross, that would be called Ross.
• 28:21
  You would be riding the rut.
• 28:23
  You don't ride off the rut because you ride off the rut, you're going to find stuff you don't want.
• 28:28
  You stay in lane.
• 28:29
  That's the idea here.
• 28:31
  So we walk and ride in the rut, in the track that's already been laid for you.
• 28:37
  Why?
• 28:38
  So that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
• 28:44
  See, when you're on the rut, sometimes there's a rock there.
• 28:50
  You can avoid that.
• 28:51
  Sometimes there's a hole.
• 28:53
  You can get through that.
• 28:54
  But as long as you stay in the lane, the wheels are sure and they're not going to fall off.
• 28:59
  As long as you're running in the lane, you're not going to go off into a different direction
• 29:05
  and break your ankle.
• 29:06
  That's the idea.
• 29:09
  And this is what he's telling us here.
• 29:10
  So how many of you guys have read Pilgrim's Progress?
• 29:14
  Watch Pilgrim's Progress.
• 29:17
  If you haven't read it, watch it.
• 29:19
  If you haven't watched it, read it.
• 29:20
  Either way, what happens to Christian is he decides, I'm going to do a shortcut.
• 29:26
  And every time he does a shortcut, it's like he breaks an ankle.
• 29:29
  He does something foolish.
• 29:31
  And what happens?
• 29:32
  He gets disciplined.
• 29:34
  Wow, because he's in a bad place.
• 29:38
  And God uses it to teach him something and to conform him into the image of Christ, to
• 29:43
  put in the character of God to make him holy.
• 29:47
  Well, when you go offline, that is the idea.
• 29:51
  And if we go offline, we have to be careful when we're offline.
• 29:56
  The reason why you should always stay in the rut.
• 29:59
  Why?
• 30:00
  Because we strive for, verse 14, we strive for peace
• 30:03
  with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
• 30:10
  This word holiness, hegasimas, hegasimas is the sanctification of the heart and life.
• 30:19
  It's the cleansing.
• 30:20
  It's the sanctification of the heart and life that we strive for peace with everyone
• 30:26
  and that we live in the sanctification of the heart and life by, without,
• 30:33
  that we will not see Jesus.
• 30:35
  Do you hear that?
• 30:37
  Not everybody gets to heaven.
• 30:39
  That's tough.
• 30:41
  Verse 15, see to it.
• 30:44
  Beware that no one fails, that no one is left behind, that no one, it fails to be a
• 30:52
  partaker to obtain the grace of God.
• 30:56
  Beware.
• 30:59
  Be careful.
• 31:01
  That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.
• 31:07
  This word of root of bitterness literally means what it means.
• 31:12
  It is the things that cause us to be defiled that by the root of bitterness continued
• 31:21
  and by it many become defiled.
• 31:25
  Many become worthless, unusable.
• 31:31
  Like the root of bitterness kills everything.
• 31:35
  It is a cancer without a cure.
• 31:38
  That's the idea here.
• 31:41
  If you live there, you're going to die there.
• 31:43
  And God says do not let it spring up and cause trouble.
• 31:48
  Why?
• 31:50
  Because it will pull others away.
• 31:51
  You'll see that in a minute.
• 31:53
  That no one is sexually immoral or unholy.
• 31:58
  This is the hard part.
• 32:00
  See, what the root of bitterness does, if it springs up and causes trouble, it defiles
• 32:08
  a lot of people.
• 32:11
  And it produces in people sin that is really bad.
• 32:17
  Sexual immorality and unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
• 32:24
  Now think about that.
• 32:25
  Porridge.
• 32:26
  I'm thinking porridge is like grits or, you know, cream of wheat, which I like.
• 32:36
  But I'm not going to give it up.
• 32:37
  I'm not giving up heaven for that.
• 32:40
  Jacob's porridge must have been really good though.
• 32:44
  Or he would have been really hungry.
• 32:45
  But Esau was a dog.
• 32:48
  Look what it says about Esau.
• 32:50
  You guys, this is going to hurt you.
• 32:52
  This is going to rustle some feathers.
• 32:54
  This is going to make you really uncomfortable.
• 32:56
  You'll be like, how many of you guys have heard that God is the God of second chances?
• 33:02
  Come on now.
• 33:03
  Listen, if you watched anybody on YouTube or if you watched Steven Furtick or Joel Osteen,
• 33:11
  I know you've heard God is a God of second chances.
• 33:15
  Nobody's heard God is a God of second chances?
• 33:17
  Okay, thank you.
• 33:19
  Here, listen to this.
• 33:21
  He's not.
• 33:24
  God is the God of the only chance, not the second chances, third chances, fourth chances.
• 33:32
  For you know that afterward when Esau, he desired to inherit the blessing, when he wanted
• 33:43
  the blessing back, when he's, I'm ready to get in line now.
• 33:49
  What's it say?
• 33:50
  He was rejected.
• 33:52
  You know what, that Jesus thing, I think I'm going to wait until I get my life together.
• 34:01
  Some things I need to fix first.
• 34:06
  You have the power to fix that stuff.
• 34:12
  Here it says Esau was like, God's like, yeah, it's too late.
• 34:18
  I don't want you.
• 34:19
  As a matter of fact, we know because in the scripture in Romans, it says that Jacob, I
• 34:25
  love, but Esau, I hated.
• 34:26
  Malachi says Jacob, I love, but Esau, I hated.
• 34:29
  And in Romans, it says that he loved Jacob, but hated Esau even before they were born,
• 34:36
  before they did anything.
• 34:38
  Why?
• 34:39
  Because God knows the intention of the heart.
• 34:41
  He knows the evil heart.
• 34:45
  And all of a sudden, Esau looks at Jacob and goes, I want that now.
• 34:51
  I'll give my porridge back.
• 34:54
  Nope.
• 34:56
  Too late.
• 34:59
  Look what it says after that, for he found no chance to repent.
• 35:05
  That's power.
• 35:06
  God says, not only are you rejected, but you're not even going to repent.
• 35:12
  It's not even going to happen.
• 35:14
  Why?
• 35:15
  Because I'm not going to let it happen.
• 35:18
  How do we know that?
• 35:20
  Because it says, though he sought it with tears, Esau begged for forgiveness.
• 35:27
  But what did God see?
• 35:29
  God saw the heart.
• 35:30
  See, that's what makes conversion so amazing.
• 35:35
  Because God changes the heart and makes it suitable for him, which brings repentance
• 35:43
  because it's been transformed and made new.
• 35:47
  Isn't that interesting?
• 35:49
  Repentance is not enough for salvation.
• 35:52
  It must be the faith of God as a gift given to the person by the power of the spirit,
• 35:58
  which transforms the heart.
• 35:59
  And in response to the transformed heart, the heart repents, turns to Jesus.
• 36:05
  The thing that he hates, he turns to and loves and adores and desires.
• 36:10
  That's the point.
• 36:12
  Repentance is not just turning away, it's turning to.
• 36:18
  So third principle, we must obey and never ignore God speaking through his word.
• 36:23
  And like Moses, our attitude must be, I tremble with fear.
• 36:29
  Everything will be shaken off its foundation and Christ's kingdom will be the only thing
• 36:35
  left standing.
• 36:38
  Everything on this earth will be gone.
• 36:40
  All the kingdoms made by man will become nothing.
• 36:44
  The only thing that will be left is Christ and his kingdom.
• 36:49
  Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire.
• 36:55
  The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled
• 37:01
  violently.
• 37:03
  As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered
• 37:09
  him.
• 37:10
  Exodus 19, 18 through 19.
• 37:13
  Look what it says.
• 37:16
  Hebrews kind of helps us understand even a little more.
• 37:19
  For you have not come to what may be touched.
• 37:23
  This is God speaking.
• 37:25
  Don't touch the mountain, he says.
• 37:28
  And a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and
• 37:34
  a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.
• 37:41
  God's presence on Mount Sinai was so intense that they said, please don't talk to us anymore.
• 37:48
  Why?
• 37:49
  For they, verse 20, could not endure the order that was given.
• 37:54
  They could not endure the commandments, the perfect law of God.
• 37:58
  We can't do it no more.
• 38:03
  And God says even a beast touches the mountain, it'll be stoned.
• 38:08
  Not even an innocent bird flying in the air who lands on the mountain will live.
• 38:15
  You are to kill it.
• 38:18
  That tells you the depth of corruption of sin upon all creation.
• 38:26
  Verse 21, indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.
• 38:35
  But you have come to Mount Zion, you, you have come to Mount Zion, the mountain of God,
• 38:43
  and to the city of the living God called the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels
• 38:53
  in festal gathering.
• 38:55
  God's angelic beings come and they gather in a festival singing and praising all because
• 39:03
  it's him.
• 39:04
  Do you come to church because it's him?
• 39:09
  Are we here because we are before the presence of the living God and his word is spoken and
• 39:16
  given and read and we sing of his glorious beauty and his doctrine and his truth and
• 39:22
  we soak in the reality of the character of Christ because that's the only thing that
• 39:27
  can change you or do you hear, oh, you're wonderful.
• 39:32
  God loves you.
• 39:35
  The very presence of God, the very character of God is amazing.
• 39:40
  And look what it says.
• 39:43
  Not only do we come before the mountain of God to the city of the living God, the heavenly
• 39:47
  Jerusalem and all the angels, the myriads and myriads of angels gathering, but we also
• 39:53
  come to the assembly of the firstborn, the protokos, those who have already inherited
• 40:01
  heaven.
• 40:03
  They are there.
• 40:04
  How do we know?
• 40:06
  Well, scripture says that when Jesus gave up the spirit on the cross and the resurrection
• 40:14
  and the dead came out of their graves, oh, that's called the first resurrection.
• 40:23
  They are with him.
• 40:26
  They have been bodily resurrected and have been taken with him.
• 40:31
  He and they are there and they are the assembly of the firstborn proclaiming the holiness
• 40:37
  of our God.
• 40:39
  Why?
• 40:40
  Because they were enrolled in heaven and through the assembly of the firstborn who were enrolled
• 40:46
  in heaven, whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation
• 40:50
  of the world.
• 40:51
  That's why Abraham is in.
• 40:53
  That's why Jacob is in.
• 40:54
  That's why Isaac is in.
• 40:59
  They're in because they've always been in.
• 41:01
  Well, that's not fair.
• 41:04
  Since when is it fair?
• 41:05
  God doesn't care about your fairness.
• 41:08
  He cares about his holiness.
• 41:10
  He's the determiner whether we like it or not.
• 41:15
  What an amazing God.
• 41:18
  How is all this accomplished?
• 41:23
  Not only are we there in the sense that we are before the city of the living God in heavenly
• 41:30
  Jerusalem and all the angels are there and all the assembly of the firstborn are there
• 41:33
  and all that are enrolled in heaven and to God.
• 41:38
  Yahweh Elohim, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the judge of all and to the spirits of
• 41:45
  the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
• 41:51
  How is all this accomplished?
• 41:54
  And to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, the blood of
• 42:00
  Abel screams from the garden, I need a redeemer, but the blood of Jesus screams, I am the redeemer.
• 42:07
  So see that you do not refuse him who is speaking.
• 42:12
  If you are hearing the spirit of God speak through his word and he is speaking to your
• 42:18
  heart, don't refuse him.
• 42:19
  Don't walk away knowing he's talking to you through his word.
• 42:25
  For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will
• 42:30
  we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
• 42:36
  Verse 26, almost done, four more verses.
• 42:42
  At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised yet once more, I will
• 42:52
  shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
• 42:56
  Notice what it says in verse 27, there's one more time, one more chance, not because God
• 43:05
  is the God of second chances, God is the God of the only chance.
• 43:09
  This is what it says, this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that
• 43:17
  are shaken, that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot
• 43:23
  be shaken may remain.
• 43:26
  All of the kingdoms of the earth of men will be gone.
• 43:30
  The only thing that will remain is Christ and his kingdom, therefore let us be grateful
• 43:37
  to receive, for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
• 43:41
  Do you hear that?
• 43:43
  It means present tense, future tense.
• 43:47
  Well actually past, present and future tense.
• 43:50
  We have received, we continue to receive and we will receive.
• 43:55
  Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus as
• 44:02
  a result of that, that we are not in those other kingdoms, let us offer to God acceptable
• 44:10
  worship with reverence and awe.
• 44:13
  Why?
• 44:14
  For our God is a consuming fire.
• 44:20
  I would be terrified to be in the hands of an angry God.
• 44:25
  Let me say it this way, I am terrified to be in the hands of a holy God.
• 44:31
  Therefore I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies
• 44:37
  as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.
• 44:43
  Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing
• 44:48
  you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.
• 44:54
  Romans 12, 1 and 2.
• 44:56
  Hopefully as I did a synopsis of chapter 12 what we see is God is so good to his people
• 45:07
  and I am thankful.
• 45:09
  So to God be the glory.
• 45:11
  That being said let's pray.
• 45:12
  Father I want to thank you so much for your word.
• 45:14
  Thank you for the truth of chapter 12 that you are truly the founder and perfecter of
• 45:19
  our faith.
• 45:20
  That you are perfecting us through discipline and that we will be with you in your kingdom
• 45:27
  which is unshakable and we praise you that you are our God and our Savior.
• 45:32
  In Jesus name, Amen.