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hello and uh welcome back to our study of the book of uh hebrews we're gonna continue with chapter 10
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today actually finished chapter 10 we're going to look at verses 26 2 39 but before i do that i just want to
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wish you a happy new year now a lot of times when the new year comes or people want to
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make good resolutions they want different things they want to look better they want to go to the gym they want to have better finances
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and all those good things like there's nothing wrong with aspiring and looking forward to a better
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year as far as like uh our bodies our finances and our emotional uh stability and all that this
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is that's not wrong with it but we need to remember as believers and i'm addressing only
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believers that god tells us through jesus christ what did he say in this world you will have trouble but take
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heart i have overcome the world for for us as believers what we are looking forward to is being
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more like christ because the scripture tells us be transformed by the renewing of your mind
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right and and then the scripture also tells us romans chapter eight that for all things work together for good for those who
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love god when i've been called according to his purpose for those who found we are so predestined so that we might be what we
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will be conformed to the likeness of christ so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers so we are not told
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that we will have a smooth sailing because in our lives there's going to be
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tribulations okay jesus himself on the scripture says of him in isaiah that he
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was a man of sorrows a man acquainted with soros a man from whom people used to hide their faces so and jesus tells
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us that in this world you will have tribulation so my uh exhortation for you
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for year 2022 is be strong in the grace of the lord 2021 was hard
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2019 was hard as my pastor said so 2022 will have his shares of what ups and
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downs but we have to be grounded in the truth of god because through these he's
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seeking to make us more like jesus because scripture tells us against in the book of james that consider pure joy
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whenever you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith
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produces what perseverance and less perseverance running score so that you may be mature and complete lacking in
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nothing for the last uh 16 years i've been struggling with one thing and i'm still struggling with it and we
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are in 2022 this is the second day and i've been asking the lord how long
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oh lord god is not finished yet so he's continuing to change me so until that
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happens this trial will still stand here it's been more than 16 years it is hard it is painful but i still
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trust in the lord not because of anything that i've done because you cannot manufacture faith but because the
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scripture tells us that it is god himself who works in us both to will and act according to his good purpose
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so my new uh my exhortation to you for 2022 is keep on leaning on the lord and
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his word for his word is powerful okay he sanctifies us by his word so i will
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exhort you to continue to look to the lord because he's the author and perfecter of our faith okay
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who for the joy that was set before him and endure the cross and then he despises shame so we have to look to him
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all right so last week in chapter 10 we looked at verses 19 to 25 and we talked about
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three exhortations okay the writer gave his readers three exaltations remember
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he's been telling them since the beginning of his letter that jesus christ is the guarantor and the pioneer
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of a new covenant so in those exaltation he told them listen come now to the throne of grace because jesus has paid
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the penalty for your sins and once he died on the cross his blood
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completely expiated and and appreciated for our sins so now we have access into the holy of holies because jesus said it
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is finished and the veil was turned from what from top to bottom so he's telling them because of what i've told you come
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now okay come with a sincere heart so that you may receive what you may receive
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grace in times of need now last week we talked about not going into the presence of god with a cavalier
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attitude just because we are told to come to the throne of grace doesn't mean that we're going there with this
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irreverent attitude now we learned from uh um saint john in in in this epistle in
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first john that if we confess our sin god is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us for or fall
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unrighteousness so that we may have unbroken fellowship with him so fellowship with god requires us to
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confess our sins now jesus christ paid a penalty for it so but we must still do what we must still
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have this there's a relationship ongoing relationship with god so when we sin against him we break that fellowship and
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we must ask for forgiveness we must ask him to search us so that's that was the first exaltation and the second
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exaltation was he was telling them to hold on to the profession of faith that they the professor he was telling them
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because these guys were going through persecution and the tendency was to give up so he's telling them no this thing
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that i'm telling you about is sure it is true so hold on to it with all your
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heart because the words that he spoke to them and the covenant that jesus inaugurated it is true so he's saying
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don't give up keep holding on and the third exhortation was don't give
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up meeting one another don't give up going to church because guess what he was telling them a lot of them had
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stopped coming to church because first of all they did not want to get persecuted so they didn't want to be associated with the church folks and
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guess what happens when you're isolated that's the playground of the enemy that's when doubts that's when you begin
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to drift that's when you begin to just fall into what just sin and you fall away so he's
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telling them stop giving up meeting one another because you need to meet together and there's nothing better than
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meeting with are born again holy spirit failed believers because they have a way of strengthening one another because
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iron sharpens iron so he was telling them don't give up meeting with a brethren and i and i submitted that to
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you last week so we talked about all of that now he's going to talk about something more serious okay and we're
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going to look at verses 26 to 39 and the title is christ or judgment again this
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is a very very very difficult passage and i don't claim to know it so i'm leaning totally on the holy spirit to
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enlighten me on this one so i will encourage you to also go back and search the scriptures yourself
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because god promises to open the scripture to anyone who is diligent and then if you need some teachers that you
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want to listen to maybe check us out on ligonier ministries or john mccarthy or
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there's many other good teachers out there all right you can see what they are saying about this this chapter here
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it's a very very difficult one so let's read it and then we're going to unpack this so let me go to the scripture so
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the scripture tells us in verses 26 2 39 4
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if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the
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truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful
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expectation of judgment and the fury of fire that will consume the adversaries
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anyone who has set aside the law of moses dies without mercy on the evidence of
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two or three witnesses how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved
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by the one who has trampled underfoot the son of god and has profaned the
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blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit
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of grace for we know him who said vengeance is mine i will repay and again the lord
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will judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god
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but recall the former days when after you were enlightened you endured a hard
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struggle with sufferings sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction and sometimes being partners
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with those so treated for you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your
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property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and and an abiding one therefore do not
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throw away your confidence which has a great reward for you had need of endurance so that when you have done the
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will of god you may receive what is promised for yet a little while when the
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coming one will come and will not delay but my righteous one shall leave by faith and if it shrinks back my soul has
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no pleasure in him but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who have faith and preserve
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their souls this is heavy stuff so i'm just gonna try to do my best with
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the help of the holy spirit and i will encourage you again to go back and double check these scriptures and ask
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and then seek and then still do your research on it okay so now let's go and try and unpractice
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so again the first verses 26 and 27 read for if we go on
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sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a
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fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of fire that will consume the
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adversaries so what is the writer trying to say here again several things come to mind because as you read this very
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sobering word from the writer but to correctly interpret these verses we need to stay within the context of
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the passage okay because he had just finished giving his readers three
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positive exhortations which i told you in the beginning drawing near the guard and holding fast to the confession of uh
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of hope that they professed and not giving up the assembly of the church we talked about all of that so now and he
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follows these exaltations with verses 26 and 27. so the people that he was talking to were going through
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persecution and the temptation was they wanted to go back to the old practices
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of judaism they wanted to go back to the rituals in the temples and sacrificing the lamb and all these other things all
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the practices so and ever since he began his letter the writer has been
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warning his readers about the danger of doing what falling away if you and i want to recall some key
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moments if you go to hebrews 2 verses 1 through 4 he warns them against drifting
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from the world and neglecting such a great salvation that was brought by jesus christ so in chapter 2 he talks
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about the warnings against drifting from the word and neglecting the salvation and in
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chapter 3 in verse 12 to 13 he warns them against falling away because of
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what unbelief okay and in chapter 5 verses 11 to 14 he warns him against
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apostasy and spiritual immaturity so all those chapters from two to like five
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they were filled with warnings against like drifting away from the world against unbelief against disobedience
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and the heart and heart and against spiritual immaturity and against apostasy so we talked deeply about those
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in the previous uh presentation so now there could be several things that the writer was trying to address here
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but one thing he made clear is this you say if you go on sinning deliberately
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after receiving the knowledge of the truth then there is no more atonement for your sins there no longer remain any
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sacrifice for your sins so we need to know what truth is he referring to okay
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so since the beginning of his letter right he has been proving by the old testament scriptures that
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jesus was what the pioneer and the inaugurator of a new covenant that god promised to bring about in jeremiah 31
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verses 31-34 let's go to jeremiah real quick listen to what the scripture says here behold the days are coming declares
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the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and the house of judah
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not like the covenant that i made with their fathers on the day when i took them by the hand to bring them out of
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the land of egypt my covenant that they broke though i was their husband declares the lord
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for this is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those dead days declares the lord
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i will put my law within them and i will write them on their hearts and i will be
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their god and they shall be my people and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying
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know the lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares of the lord for i will forgive
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their iniquity and i will remember their sins no more again this is so clear that jesus christ came and fulfilled that
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covenant okay when he died on the cross and he said it is finished that was when he was inaugurated and now we have the
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holy spirit that lives in us and he enables us to do what to love the law of god and to do the will of god that was
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impossible before because people didn't have the capacity to obey the law because they
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can do it because the flesh hates the law of god the scripture tells us that the natural man does not love
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the things of god okay the man without the spirit of god does not love the law of god but the mainly spirit of god
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loves the law of god and the new covenant under the new covenant we talked about the spirit of god coming
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and taking residence in our heart so those were the benefit of the new covenant
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so um this meant that the old covenant and his rights were no longer what valid once
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jesus died on the cross and said it is finished and the veil was torn from top
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to bottom that meant a new covenant had began had begun so jesus death and
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resurrection meant that the old covenant was now what obsolete so
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the writer says if you deliberately insist on pursuing the old covenant practices after being made aware of the
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truth about christ is synonymous to what defying god let me
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repeat that again deliberately insisting on pursuing the old covenant practices
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after being made aware of the truth about jesus christ is synonymous to define god and the end result according
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to the writer is a fearful what expectation of the wrath of god because
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you are saying to god what jesus did means absolutely
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nothing to me i'm going to continue to do what i want to do i'm going to continue to go to the temple and jesus
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christ sacrifice on the cross means absolutely zero to me so now this is basically saying to god i don't care and
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you are defying god so the scripture says all you can expect is a fearful expectation of the wrath of
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god because you have trembled under foot the son of god okay so he's he's going
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to elaborate more on these in verses to come i just want to say if you deliberately insist on
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walking that way that's what you are making yourself an enemy of god so now i wanted to add some more comments to this
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i don't think those were the writers initial thoughts but they are worth like mentioning so when people hear that
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their past present and future sins have been paid for they can develop like what
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an irreverent attitude towards the sacrificial work of christ okay basically showing contempt to what he
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went through to purchase the freedom that we have today to rescue us out of darkness and from sins so people have
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the tendency to say oh i'm we are now under grace so i'm covered i guess i can do whatever i want
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because my past present and future sins have i've been paid for so therefore let me just do whatever
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but the apostle john's gives us a warning he says in his epistle we write these things to you so that you may not
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sin but if you do sin we have an advocate before the father well he is telling his readers we write
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these things to you so that you may not sin and the writer of the book of hebrews might be echoing the same
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sentiment maybe he also means this that jesus christ paid a penalty for your sins
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not so that you indulge in a sinful lifestyle and receive what is commonly
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known as what sheep grace this an attitude that finds its roots in easy believism okay
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is the attitude of a person who claim that jesus is their savior but not their lord
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okay you hear you heard about people like that well jesus is my savior but i've not made him my lord yet like i'm
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still i'm still fighting like you're not a christian make no mistakes about it
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because he can't be your savior not your lord he doesn't work like that jesus is your lord and savior
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okay and and so those people they continue to live in a sinful lifestyle and they claim that well they are under
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grace now that god understands nah that's not true okay so i just
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wanted to make sure i pointed out okay so god never made any provision for
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willful disobedience or high-handed saints we talked about that before so so those that insist on living in sin are
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making themselves what enemies of god and the only thing that awaits them is the wrath of god so i don't necessarily
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think that this is what the writer was also mentioning but i think it's worth talk to you know that i talk about it
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because people may you look at this and then just develop an attitude of your reference saying that hey my past
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present future sins have been paid for so i don't care i'll do what i want and jesus owes this to me now this is still
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trampling the son of god on the foot when you do that so i just wanted to mention that now let's go to our verse verses 28 to 29
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and it and i've labeled that the severity of the matter which i already mentioned
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a few things about it but i want to be more specific here so in verses 28 to 29
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he says the following anyone who has set aside the law of moses
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dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses
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how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the son of god excuse
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me and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified
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and has outraged the spirit of grace this is important guys again
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the writer here is quoting deuteronomy 2 17 verse 2 to 6 and i'm gonna read it to
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you before we elaborate on the verse see the scripture says if that is found among
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you within any of your towns that the lord your god is giving you a man or woman who does what is evil in
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the sight of the lord your god in transgressing his covenant and has gone and served
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other gods and worship them or the son or the moon or any of the host of heaven which are forbidden
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and it is told you and you hear of it then you shall inquire diligently and if it is true and certain that such
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an abomination has been done in israel then you shall bring out your gates that man or woman who has done this evil
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thing and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones
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on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death a person shall not
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be put to death on the evidence of just one witness
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i i don't know how that makes you feel but this is serious stuff okay again
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this is just referring to believers okay he says in the house of israel in the verses so basically anyone found to have
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violated the law of moses was put to death on the account of at least two witnesses okay so the writer is calling
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his readers to put their thinking caps on he's saying basically this is what he's saying if this is how those who
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violated the law of moses were treated how much more do you think
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those who violate the covenant of jesus will be treated basically saying
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we've proved earlier that jesus far exceeded moses in glory
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right because he's the son of god and we saw what he did on the cross we talked about in chapter i think two or three
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that jesus is greater than moses in every way right so he's saying how worse will be the
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punishment and faith of those who have trampled the son of god okay under foot once again we see here
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that the deliberate sin that the writer is mentioning is synonymous to showing other contempt to jesus by considering
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as worthless his blood spilled on the cross that is supposed to sanctify the
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worshiper you see that so the writer is saying i don't think
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in my opinion i don't think anyone would display such an attitude is a believer if you have no regard
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for the blood of christ that was shed on the cross and you trample the son of god under food you have absolutely no regard
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for that then you are not a believer and we talked about the rocky ground in the parable of the sword i will quickly
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mention it he says he asked for what was sown on rocky ground this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives
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it with joy yet he has no root in himself but endures for a while and when tribulation
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or persecution arises on account of the word immediately he falls away
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so in my opinion i'm sure not everyone in the church that the writer was addressing
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was saved they might have made a profession of faith that was just lip service but under persecution and trials
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they've quickly folded and then they proved by that that they were not true believers and that they
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were just leap worshiping god and jesus okay so the writer is saying
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i'm sending a serious warning to to to all of you examine yourselves
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moreover by deliberately like rejecting the new covenant and treating jesus blood as
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common they were also doing what out raging the spirit of grace
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blaspheming and insulting the holy spirit because the holy spirit is the one who
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applies the grace of god to the believer so by trampling the son of god underfoot you
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are basically doing what insulting and outraging the spirit of grace
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and at that moment you are making yourself what an enemy of god because
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you are basically saying i don't care about what jesus has done
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i will continue to do what i want to do and we talked about the infinite worth
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of the blood of christ in the earlier chapters so when you reject christ's offer of salvation
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is not a small matter in god's eyes is not small it's serious it's life or death
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because what you're doing is you're calling the wrath of god on yourself it is blaspheming the holy spirit
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and the penalty is what eternal damnation you're gonna receive the
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eternal wrath of god so the writer was right in mentioning this and i think it's imperative that i
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do that as well you know we can't be playing games and tampering with the word of god this is what the scripture
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is telling us here how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has
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trampled underfoot the son of god many churches today are filled with
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people who trample underfoot the son of god they have no regard for for jesus and his sacrifice they have no regard
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for the spirit of grace they do what they want and you have people that create their own religion i heard about
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stevie harvey creating a religion called chrislam you have they have absolutely zero
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regard for jesus because the worth of the blood of christ we've been talking about that
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that jesus christ died once and god accepted his sacrifice and that that completely obliterated the
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old system in his ritual thousands of years of animal blood sacrifice were completely
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became obsolete after jesus died on the cross you see the infinite worth of the blood of christ and you have the
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audacity to trample underfoot the son of god i don't even want to know how god will
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treat such people it's fearful for me so this is the warning in verses 28 to
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29 and let's jump on to 30 to 31. listen to what he says for we know him
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who said vengeance is mine i will repay again the lord will judge his people it
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is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god see
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he issued a strong warning and he's going to finish this section with some encouraging words because
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listen he's going he's talking to people that are being persecuted and they don't know who's going to come to their rescue
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they are struggling they are being persecuted they are being they are under severe trials
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so to interpret this correctly we need to look at the context of the passage and i just told you that like they are
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under golden persecution and they're on the verge of like giving up because they
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can't fight against their persecutors they're on the side of the victims so they are not strong enough to fight them
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so the writer reminds them that god is the one who does what who avenges his people he quotes on
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deuteronomy 32 verse 35 to 36 the scripture says vengeance is mine and recompense for the
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time when their foot shall sleep for the day of their calamity is at hand and their doom comes swiftly for the lord
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will do what will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants when
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he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining bond or free so
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the scriptures say again the lord will judge people the judging there is vindicating these people he will vindicate those that are going through
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persecution he will be our strength scripture tells us that he wiped away every tear from our eyes
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when we know when we go through persecution so we look to jesus we look to god because we know that he is the
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judge that judges righteously and he will avenge the blood of his saint so he's saying to them don't worry
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be strong and courageous keep pushing forward don't give up because the lord says vengeance is mine and he will
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vindicate his people and those that are persecuting oh my goodness verse 31 is for you it is
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a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god
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let's go into next verses verses 32-45 he tells them again we'll
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recall the former days when after you were enlightened you endured a hard struggle with sufferings sometimes being
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publicly exposed to reproach and affliction and sometimes in being partners with those who are so treated
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for you had compassion excuse me and those in prison
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and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourself had a
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better possession and than abiding one therefore do not throw away your confidence
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which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of god
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you may receive what is promised see he's reassuring his readers after
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issuing like some strong warning he's telling them i'm i'm convinced that many of those
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like he was addressing were german believers i am convinced because he knew so maybe when they heard this word they
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were kind of like oh my gosh are we really saved and he knows that they're going to be probably questioning their
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salvation so he didn't want them to wallow into despair so he reminds them of the
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steadfastness they are displayed when they initially were converted many of them
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according to scripture had experienced what persecution in their earlier days and even those who didn't experience
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persecution gladly identified with those who were going and we were being
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afflicted to show solidarity and to show compassion to show unity right so some
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of them lost their property as a result of their faith some were thrown in jail and they all gladly accepted their fate
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since they were confident that their true possession was secure in christ and scripture tells us in matthew 6 19
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to 20 do not layer for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust
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are destroy and we're thieves breaking in still but layer for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust
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destroys and where thieves do not break in and still so he's reminding his readers not to throw away their
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confidence he said please don't give up okay because he has great reward and he'll be
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mentioning the reward like shortly he's telling them why they are struggling like he's saying you have need of
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endurance which james says in james chapter 1 consider pure joy whenever you face trials of mankind for the testing
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of your faith produces perseverance okay so they have need for endurance in order to
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to to uh for the will of god to be fulfilled and that they may receive what is
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promised the reward eternal life so they were very wary and even though they had displayed like great endurance
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in the beginning after years of constant struggle they were on the verge of giving up so he wanted to remind him of
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the long suffering of the christian is one of the fruits of the spirit in galatians chapter five he's saying i
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know how long you've been going through this and it's i told you in the beginning i've been going through something for 16 years
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it's easy to say man i don't i'm giving up i've i've gotten there where i've just felt like
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what's the point of doing this man i'm done but god always reminds me
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don't you fall back don't you shrink
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okay so we all need to hear these words today sometimes in the middle of our afflictions
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we might be tempted to do what to completely turn away from god seeds of doubt can begin to germinate
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and it's important that we fully rely on the holy spirit and other believers to stay the course
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that's why he said look to christ the author and perfecter of our faith so that in your struggling against sins you
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do not give up okay when he's it's good to rely on the holy spirit because we cannot do it on
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our own peter tried and he said to jesus i will not deny you but three times he denied him the same night
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so we cannot do this on our own jesus tells us remain in me and i remain in you if you remain in me and my words
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remain in you you will bear much more fruit for apart from me you can do nothing so we have to fully rely on the
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holy spirit and it's also good to have other believers on our side to strengthen us in the process
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okay so he's telling he's giving them like some encouraging work and he finishes
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with verses 35-39 for he says for yet a little while and the coming one will
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come and will not delay but my righteous one shall live by faith and if it shrinks back my soul has no
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pleasure in him but we are not of those who shrink back and not destroy but of those who have faith and preserve their
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souls see james the brother of christ shares the same sentiment the writer of the hebrews
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is sharing these verses in in james 5 verse 7 to 11. um i want to read that to
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you let me see what james says james 5
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verse 7 to 11. i want to read that to you listen to what james says be patient there for our brothers
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brothers until the coming of the lord see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth being
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patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains you also be
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patient establish your heart for the coming of the lord is at hand do not grumble against one another brother so
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that you may not be judged behold the judge is standing at the door as an example of suffering and patience
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brothers take the prophet who spoke in the name of the lord behold we consider those blessed who remained steadfast you
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have heard of the steadfastness of job and you have seen the purpose of the lord how the lord is compassionate and
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merciful it is good to be reminded of those words that the lord is compassionate and merciful when you read
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the story of job which i've avoided many times you see how much he went
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through see i don't know for certain if both authors were referring to the second coming of christ i'm not sure if that's
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what they're referring to or the comfort of god in the midst of trials okay because
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if you look at uh what james says about job he said you have heard of the steadfastness of job and you have seen
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the purpose of the lord how the lord is compassionate and merciful see god eventually showed up and strengthened
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job after his long suffering so it wasn't without a purpose when we
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go through something is not that god is just doing it for the sake of just making us miserable now job grew strong
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in the process and god showed up so i don't know if the coming that he's referring to here is not just a second
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coming he might be saying hey god will show up eventually or
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when god comes when jesus comes back you will be rescued now some will die and
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they've they've died they've died probably in hope but remember in chapter 11 he's going to talk about faith
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because he's going to say all these people abraham and isaac and jacob they didn't receive um on earth what they
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were expecting what they were promised but they were looking forward to the city of god so he may be saying the same
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thing to the writers to his readers here so and in this portion he introduces the
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concept of living by faith okay and he will talk deeply about living by
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faith in chapter 11 which we will talk about next week so he says that to avoid shrinking back and turning away from the
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lord the righteous one must live by faith so and he reminds his readers that they
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are the called ones those who persevere unto salvation i don't know who you are i mean are you going through some type
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of persecution right now are you being uh have you been um
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stretched are you being stretched by the lord i don't know i don't know what you're going through but know this
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for certain it is christ like i say on the board or judgment okay if you don't have christ
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and you don't have peace with god so in this life on this side of eternity we
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will go through hard times it's going to be extremely difficult but jesus tells us take heart i have
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overcome the world okay so i will my only examination to
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you is i don't know what you're going through i don't know how much you've suffered
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and i can't identify with your suffering because i may not know you but what i'll say jesus christ the
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scripture tells us that he was tempted in every way so he understands so we do not have a high priest who is unable to
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sympathize with our weakness the scripture tells us but one who has tempted in every way yet without sin so
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we are told to come to the throne of grace so whatever you're going through in hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 to 16 god
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calls us to come to him don't give up and those who who will live in sin and
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and think that your saved jesus can be your savior and we're not your lord you are deceiving yourself you are not a
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christian don't call yourself a christian you are a fraud you are deceived and you are deceiving
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other people because the scripture tells us in in the book of
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jeremiah that he said that he would cause his spirit to live in us so that we can live righteously before him
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so i don't know where and what how people have gotten into their head that they can just live or however they want
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and still claim the blood of christ now you are trampling the son of god underfoot
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so this is a reminder for us to examine ourselves to see are you truly saved
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so i'll encourage you to do that and i look forward to seeing you next uh week have a wonderful day thank you