WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:01.280 Amen. 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:03.279 Well, good morning, Sacred Mission. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:09.679 My name is Justin, and it's my joy to be able to bring God's word to you this morning. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.560 I want to start by posing a question to us. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:21.359 And I want you to genuinely and sincerely think about the answer to this question. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:25.760 What are you most afraid of losing? 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:30.079 What are you most afraid of losing? 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:35.600 I want to submit that all of us are afraid of losing something, right? 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:43.119 And it's typically something that we treasure deeply that we're most afraid of losing in this life. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:46.159 Maybe it's losing a loved one. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:53.439 Maybe it's losing your financial security, or maybe marital intimacy with your spouse. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:57.039 Maybe it's your physical or your mental health. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:06.879 Maybe it's your reputation or societal standing, or maybe it's the trust that you've worked so hard to build in your relationships. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:15.439 You see, when we fear losing something, we tend to respond by striving to secure it. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.000 Right? 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:24.560 There's kind of a correlation between these two realities, that we treasure something, and so we fear losing it. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:29.120 And when we fear losing it, we tend to strive to secure it. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:35.120 Maybe we're more sacrificial of our design and energy so that we can be with a loved one. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:42.560 Maybe we work harder and place more into savings, take on a second job to secure a financial future for ourselves. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:49.680 Maybe we're more selfless and serving toward our spouse that we might foster and keep that intimacy alive. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:57.519 Or maybe you work out, you eat right, go to the doctor more so that you can secure your health. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:06.799 You see, these fears, coupled with our strivings for security, show us something about ourselves. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:12.719 It shows us what our hearts prize and treasure. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:22.879 We only deeply fear losing what our hearts deeply treasure, and so we strive to secure it. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.719 And let me pose this before us this morning. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:38.479 Maybe what our fears and our strivings for security actually show us is that we're treasuring the wrong things. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:45.280 Or at least we're treasuring them in greater ways than they ought to be. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:04.240 And they deserve to be treasured in some fashion. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:11.759 But often what we do is we make them greater treasures than they were ever intended to be. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:22.479 They've wrongfully taken the place, the time, the energy, and the resources away from what should be treasured most. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:34.400 You see, what we need to do is we need to work to discover a greater treasure in the preservation of something eternal. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:37.520 Our souls. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.080 Our souls demand preserving. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.319 Our souls demand striving to secure them. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:54.080 They are a far greater treasure than anything within our possession that this earth can hand to us. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.280 And we need to strive to keep and secure them by faith in the gospel of Jesus. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:13.599 You see, there's no greater ambition in life than to have our soul secured through faith in Jesus. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:31.439 No career, no marriage, none of your children, nothing is a greater ambition in this life than to have our soul secured through faith in Jesus. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:39.680 I think Paul actually talked in this way, and I think he was admonishing and encouraging the church over and over again about this reality. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:45.519 And I think one of the clearest times that we actually see it within the scriptures is in his letter to the Philippians. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:52.079 In Philippians 3, 7 through 11, he says this listen to the emphasis of what Paul is communicating. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:57.600 But whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:04.800 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:36.879 It is for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, as dung, as manure, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, and having a righteousness, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:38.000 And here, listen to this. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:38.720 Why? 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:44.959 That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:48.879 Paul was striving to secure something. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:06:04.800 His very soul, that he might attain by any cost to himself the glorious resurrection from the dead, to be in perfect and eternal union with Christ his Lord. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:18.160 And in that striving to secure that, through faith in Christ alone, he counted everything of this world as worthy to be lost. 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:32.319 You see, our hearts are prone to be enticed by the distraction of lesser, more tangible, more immediate yet temporal things. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:44.399 And what I want us to try to understand and focus on this morning is that the cultural moment that we find ourselves in works to do two things. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:53.680 It simultaneously provokes our fears and it coerces us to strive to secure lesser treasures. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.079 How many of you in this cultural moment you found yourself in are afraid? 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:16.160 Afraid of the economic future, afraid of the changes within the educational system, afraid of what we see happening in government, afraid of whatever it is, right? 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:18.560 And what's that doing to us? 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:37.360 It's provoking these fears that we have, and it's coercing us to try and focus on the immediate, to try and focus on what is now here in front of us to secure such lesser treasures. 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:42.800 And so we start to put our hope in the wrong things. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:49.120 And the fruit of that is faithlessness rather than faithfulness. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:57.519 Because if we're honest with ourselves, we have more faith in the outcome of the upcoming election. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:25.120 More tangible, more nurtured, more fostered faith, or where the market ends up this morning, or where this or that or whatever you want to put out there, there's a real and tangible effort of us to put our faith in those things, but it makes us faithless people. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:32.960 See, when we do that, we often fail to strive and secure a greater treasure. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:42.080 And in the process of that, we become disheartened people, which its fruit is faithlessness. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:43.759 And you're seeing that, right? 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:51.519 You're seeing that in the people around you, the disheartened nature that is taking over individuals. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:09:09.039 And it's making them faithless people who are trying to secure these lesser treasures that are finite and temporal, that won't go with us to the grave because we're being provoked by fear. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:19.120 This morning I want us to look to the letter of Hebrews to discover a remedy for keeping the faith in times like these. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:31.919 We see in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 32 through 35 that we are called to recall what God has brought you through. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.080 Recall what God has brought you through. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:42.080 We don't know the author of Hebrews, but we can get a sense from this letter that he's a pastor. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:51.759 And he's a pastor who loves his flock, and he knows his congregation, and he's working to build faith into them through this letter. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:04.480 That's almost what the entire letter of Hebrews is about: building faith in people who are being tempted by their cultural moment to toss aside their confidence in Jesus. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:14.720 And so what he's doing is giving us in this 10, 32 through 39, this kind of remedy against the cultural moment that they find themselves in. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:22.320 And one of the first things that he calls them to do is to recall what God has brought them through. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.519 This isn't something new from the writer of Hebrews. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:31.039 He's not coming with this new, like profound idea that he's putting before this congregation. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:37.440 He's actually presenting them with something that God has continually and always called his people to participate in. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:44.240 To remember, to recall the mighty hand of God and how he has delivered them out of their bondage. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:48.480 The Passover meal is actually set up for this very purpose. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:11:03.279 The Passover meal is so that Israel might remember and recall how the outstretched arm and the mighty hand of God delivered them out from under the oppression of Pharaoh and delivered him to the promised land. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:09.519 That's why they celebrate the Passover meal, that they might recall what God has brought them through. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:22.000 We also see throughout the scriptures where God would call his people to establish these monuments, these stone Ebenezers, where God did something miraculous in their life. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:41.279 And it would be something that they would erect wherever God had moved, so that not only they could remember and recall what God had done, but their children could recall, and their children's children's children could go back to that place, that Ebenezer, that monument, and recall what God had brought them through. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:47.120 You see, there's something that the author of Hebrews is putting before us. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:54.240 And it's the idea that the past is an indispensable resource to our present. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:02.080 The past is an indispensable resource to our present. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:05.600 And I love what he does here. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:15.279 He instructs them in such a way that it's not drawing their attention to just generic difficulties that they've experienced in their life, right? 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:21.120 He says he qualifies the difficulties and trials and sufferings they're faced. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:37.440 He says, after you had been enlightened, meaning after you had been exposed to the transformative power of the gospel, after the light of Christ shined into your darkened heart, and that the knowledge of the gospel flooded your soul. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:48.159 It was when you started to live a life of faith in and follow after Jesus alone that you started experiencing these trials and sufferings. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.039 Do you recall what God brought you through? 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:56.799 He says some of you were publicly exposed to reproach and affliction. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:09.919 You had society mocking you and casting disgraceful insults toward your very character and personhood because you chose to follow after Jesus. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:20.320 You faced distressing circumstances, imprisonment, sometimes even being put to death because you proclaimed the name of Jesus. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:32.000 One thing that we can't grasp in modern American Christianity is that it actually costs them something to have faith in and follow after Jesus. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:45.440 We still, even as post-Christian, as the train of culture is going in America, there still is a benefit to claim yourself as a Christian with inside of our context. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.960 There's a benefit to getting tattoos that say blessed life. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.639 Which they don't even understand what that means. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:02.960 But there's benefit to having some sense of faith in Jesus. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.639 But to them it cost them everything. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:11.759 And he's saying, Do you remember what God brought you through? 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.919 Can you recall what God did in your life? 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:23.120 He says, sometimes being partners even with those so treated, for you had compassion on those in prison. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:38.720 Man, being a brother in Christ, being a sister in Christ to those who were suffering, sharing that load and burden, making sure that their sufferings became your sufferings, so that your joy might become their joy also. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:46.960 And speaking of joy, he writes on, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:48.720 Man, think about that. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.840 Like, think about your stuff, right? 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:55.679 And somebody coming in and taking your stuff. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:57.919 Man, we would lose our mind. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:14:59.679 We would literally lose. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.679 And here's the early church. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:03.279 Go ahead and take it. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:04.159 You can take it. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:08.559 I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna be have, I'm gonna have joy in the midst of all of this, right? 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:10.720 That was a hallmark of the early church. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:22.000 It wasn't just that they endured, merely endured through sufferings and trials, but the hallmark of the early church was that they had joy in the midst of those sufferings and trials. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:30.399 That even if the Roman government would come and plunder their very possessions, that they would be standing there with joy. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:31.279 Why? 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:38.399 He says, Because since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:41.279 What are they saying? 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:50.159 You can take anything you want because the better possession, the fullness of Christ and all of his benefits can never be taken from me. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:51.360 Take my stuff. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:59.519 I'll still sit here with joy and sing and proclaim the glories of his name because you can't take that from me. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:00.559 Why? 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.600 Because it's an abiding one, he qualifies it. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:12.159 One that was not temporal and finite, not where rust or moth could deteriorate, but it was eternal and everlasting. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.759 No one can take that faith from you. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:18.399 No one can take Jesus from us. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:20.559 So take whatever you want. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:24.480 I'll still be here full of joy. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:28.639 But what happens to us? 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:33.440 We make lesser treasures greater than they ever should be. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:44.320 And we reach despair when they're threatened to be taken from us, rather than respond with joy because we have Christ. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:56.080 He goes on to say, therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.559 What is our confidence? 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:01.919 It's in recalling what God has brought us through. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:17.599 We can know with full assurance that God is working in and through us for a joyful disposition to the sufferings of this world in light of the eternal glory of knowing and being known by Jesus. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:28.880 But this language of confidence is more than just having this assurance or this guarantee. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:34.160 It's actually talking about proclaiming, speaking. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:38.400 He says, do not toss away your confidence. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:45.680 What he's really saying is this do not toss away your bold proclamation of the truth of the gospel. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.279 And you're going to see that in the context of this passage. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:18:01.759 You're going to see where he calls them to not shrink back, to not be quiet about the truth of God's word and the glory of the gospel of his son Jesus. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:09.200 You see, what he's encouraging them to do is to remain bold in their speech. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:17.839 What we're going to be tempted to do is come to this passage and interpret it through the lens of those who have abandoned the faith altogether. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:23.440 And we might know people like that, or we've observed people in Christian culture that's done that, right? 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:25.279 Who's abandoned the faith altogether. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:33.519 They reject the gospel of Jesus, they reject the truth and authority of the scripture, they reject the purpose and beauty of the church, right? 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:36.960 He's not necessarily talking about those types of people. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:54.720 They're incorporated into this, but what he's going after, what he's getting to the heart of, is those who would claim to have faith, but to be quiet and not speak. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:12.480 He says, for those of us who do not toss away, who do not throw away our boldness of speech, our confidence in the gospel of Jesus, we will have a great reward. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:20.240 To be found faithful through enduring in the faith itself at the promise of Jesus' coming. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:23.039 And we're going to see that here in the next passage. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.920 But before we move on, we need to hear this. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:37.200 It's in the recalling of the working of God in the past that we are able to sustain and nurture our confidence in God in the present. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:58.880 You see, what we're being called to do in such a way to recall what God has brought us through is it's in a way he's asking us to erect these spiritual Ebenezers within our hearts that our faith might be fortified as we stand in bold confidence awaiting what is to come through the promise of Jesus. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:02.319 Do you remember what God has brought you through? 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.039 Do you remember the ways in which his mighty hand delivered you? 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:17.359 Can you just look at the testimony of the new creation you have been made through the power and transformation of the gospel of Jesus and the working of his spirit? 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:27.759 That alone is sufficient enough for us to be unwavering in our faith. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:36.559 He goes on to say in verses 36 through 38, we would summarize it this way: receive what is promised through enduring. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:40.079 Receive what is promised through enduring. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:48.480 It's fascinating here that the writer exposes something that the church needs. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:53.440 And what he says they need is they need endurance. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:55.519 They need endurance. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:57.440 What is he talking about? 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:03.200 There's a reality of patience that they have to have within their heart. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:10.000 There's this virtue of steadfastness and perseverance. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:15.519 You see, the absence of endurance is going to do something. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:20.400 It's going to entice us to throw away our confidence. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:22.319 Here's why. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:36.880 When we allow our hearts to grow impatient, we fixate on present circumstances, and it causes us to be faithless people. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:42.160 Because we want something now, we want something right here. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:49.920 And there's things that are happening with our culture that they are putting forward promises of we can deliver right now. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:54.559 We can deliver in this moment, we can deliver in the present tense. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.400 You don't have to wait anymore. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:59.680 And what our hearts are tempted to do is to trust in them. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.640 Those things. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:01.200 Why? 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:04.799 Because we've allowed ourselves to become impatient people. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.680 We have not built endurance within our faith. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:15.440 And so we forfeit a greater promise for a lesser treasure of a promise that they can't even fulfill in the first place. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:21.039 Because we want something immediate, because our hearts have grown impatient. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.200 What is endurance? 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:24.319 I think it's this. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:27.119 Let me put this up for a functional definition. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:36.000 Endurance is the patient ascent along the strenuous path of the shared sufferings of Jesus. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:45.440 Endurance is the patient ascent along the strenuous path of the shared sufferings of Jesus. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:23:05.279 You see, to toss away our confidence, we're told we're relentlessly worked to be convinced that to toss away our confidence is an easier path in the temporal moment. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:10.000 And to some degree, we've all believed that lie. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:20.319 Hey, Christian, if you would just shut up and stop talking, your life would be a lot easier. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:23.920 And what do we do? 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:25.440 We bit the bait. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:26.960 Yeah, you're right. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:32.480 If I would just be quiet, my life would be a lot easier. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:37.759 Do we see where that's faithlessness? 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:41.839 Do we see where we've tossed aside our confidence? 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:50.160 You see, without patient endurance, our hearts will become impatient. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:56.319 And in our impatience, we'll strive to secure the immediate rather the than the eternal. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:05.119 Because if our eyes are not fixed on the promise, we become fixated on the present. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:06.880 Every single time. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:13.599 If our eyes are not fixed on the promise, we become fixated on the present. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:15.519 And what do we do? 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:25.920 We walk around as people with our heads down, looking at the very moment, rather than fixing our gaze upward, looking at what is to come in the promises of Jesus. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:29.519 And that's detrimental to us. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:32.559 It's devastating to our faith. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:37.200 When we're fixated on the present, our hearts become impatient. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:40.880 And impatience leads to faithless responses. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:49.440 And this can cause us to exchange the glorious greater promise of God for the infinitely lesser promises of this world. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.960 And in this we make shipwreck to our faith. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:58.160 What is the promise and reward that we are to patiently endure to receive? 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:00.400 The author of Hebrews tells us. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:05.279 He says, Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:29.680 He goes on to say, But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:34.400 Listen, listen with full sobriety this morning. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:41.359 Our future state is bleak if we are found as those who shrink back. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:47.680 If we're found as those who conceal, who suppress, who keep silent. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:56.319 You see, we're tempted to understand this again, like I said previously, through the presumption of those who altogether abandon the faith. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:11.039 But the context is more toward those who claim to have genuine living faith in the gospel of Jesus, but they live a life of it concealed and suppressed for their own personal and immediate benefit. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.599 That's who he's talking to. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:16.640 What do you want? 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:18.079 You want benefit now? 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:21.440 You want to gain things here in the present and the immediate? 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:22.720 Then be quiet. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:23.680 But what are we doing? 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:25.359 We're shrinking back. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:28.160 We're tossing away our confidence. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:37.119 And the scriptures are clear that God finds no pleasure in him. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:44.480 Patient endurance is something we desperately need as God's people. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:53.440 We have to contend against the temptation of earthly promises now, so that we might obtain the fullness of heavenly promises to come. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:27:02.400 And this is through a faith not only held onto, but expressed and proclaimed that others might grasp hold of it also. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:13.359 We see the way that Paul would qualify himself as guiltless before culture because he did not shrink back. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:17.279 Look at what he says in Acts chapter 20, 26 through 27. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.359 Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am what? 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:26.319 Innocent of the blood of all, that I am guiltless standing here. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:27.039 Why? 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:33.119 For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:35.440 Why could Paul stand with such confidence? 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:38.160 Why could Paul stand there and say, I'm guiltless? 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:43.599 It doesn't matter if you confessed faith in Jesus or you rejected faith in Jesus. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:48.079 I still stand here guiltless because the outcome wasn't dependent on me. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:55.119 It was my job to be faithful and not shrinking back and proclaiming to you the full counsel of God. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.880 That's the faith that we need to have as the church. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:05.359 That's the guiltlessness that we need to stand before the judgment throne with. 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:16.480 That we didn't go throughout our life and we didn't face culture head on, and we were silent and we concealed the gospel and we suppressed truth so that we could have immediate benefit now? 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:17.359 By who? 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:20.000 What do they have to offer you? 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.039 Nothing but empty promises. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.359 And we'll toss that aside. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:36.160 But what stands before us is the eternal, unfading, glorious promise of the gospel of Jesus. 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:44.000 And I know that at the end of time I want to stand as Paul was able to confidently testify, guiltless. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:46.720 Because I didn't shrink back. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:55.200 Verse 39 says this in summary: resolve to persevere. 00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:57.039 Resolve to persevere. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:06.079 So we have recall what God has brought you through, receive what is promised through enduring, resolve to persevere. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:15.680 He's going to encourage them. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:20.559 And to encourage someone literally means to build courage into their chest. 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:22.400 And he says what? 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:27.039 He says, but we, but we are not those who shrink back. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.119 And let that be us, sacred mission. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.279 Let us be found in company with these brothers and sisters who do not shrink back. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.200 Because the ones who shrink back are destroyed. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:47.200 That's what he says. 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:51.279 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed because of that. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:56.880 You see, the outcome of those who shrink back is that they are brought to destruction. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:06.000 Paul talks about this: those who desire to gain immediate benefit in earthly circumstances and shrunk back from the gospel. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:08.799 Here's what he says in 3, 18 through 19. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:16.720 For many of whom I have often told you, and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:19.519 Their end is destruction. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:24.079 Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame. 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:24.960 What? 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:29.440 With minds set on earthly things. 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:34.720 But that's not our story. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.920 I pray that that's not our story. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:44.799 But we are of those who have faith and preserve their souls, he says. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:52.240 And unwavering faith in Jesus is the means by which we will preserve and secure our very soul. 00:30:53.039 --> 00:31:03.119 You see, the cultural moment, the cultural moment we find ourselves in will relentlessly work to persuade our hearts. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:09.680 It will tempt us to fixate on the present rather than recall what God has done in our past. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:18.960 It will wear us down and cause our hearts to become impatient and forsake what is coming for what we can grasp hold of in this moment. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:23.920 If we give in to it, it will be for our destruction. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:34.640 And the world, the saddest part of it, is that the world will be unable to fulfill the empty promise of life that it falsely extends to us. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:42.880 There is a very famous Welsh preacher and pastor by the name of Dr. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:44.799 Martin Lloyd Jones. 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:52.880 And throughout his career, as he was also a pastor, he was an itinerant preacher, and he would travel from place to place preaching. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:56.400 And he was preaching during World War II. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:00.960 And at the place he was preaching at, there was literally an air raid happening. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:03.039 They could hear the sirens going off. 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:06.240 They got the news that an attack was coming. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:12.799 And before he got up to take the pulpit, there were bombs going off around them in the city that he was preaching in. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.000 And Dr. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:16.000 Jones gets up to the pulpit. 00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:22.240 He steps forward, he opens the text, and he preaches the gospel of Jesus. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:26.000 Closes his book, sits down. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:33.119 And someone came up to him and said, Doctor, don't you feel like what we're going through right now in this moment? 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:35.839 Do you not see the fear in their eyes? 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:37.759 Do you not see their bodies tremble? 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:42.720 Don't you think you should have spoken to what they're going through right now? 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:47.519 And he answered, I gave them exactly what they needed. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:53.119 Because their souls were at stake and they needed the gospel of Jesus. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:56.240 Think about the power of that. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:04.960 Where you can be in such a cultural moment that literally society is blowing up in your very midst. 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:17.920 But to be so steadfast in your faith, but to treasure at a greater value the soul of humanity that you actually get up and preach what they needed to hear. 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:21.519 Not that everything was going to be okay. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:24.000 Not that they should run down into the shelter. 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:33.119 Not that they should, you know, work to try and secure their life, but no, work to secure your soul, repent, and believe in the gospel. 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:38.160 You see, this is the fight that we are currently find ourselves in. 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:41.759 Culture is blowing up all around us. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:46.960 And we're tempted to speak to things that don't eternally matter. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:50.720 And we're forsaking our very souls in the process. 00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:53.359 Here's what we need to do, church. 00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:56.640 We need to keep the faith above all else. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:01.519 We need to keep the faith above all else. 00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:12.400 You see, this language of keep the faith was actually a very core theme and mantra throughout the New Testament writers. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:15.119 Because they understood something. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:22.159 They understood the cost of having faith in and following after Jesus. 00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:36.000 They knew that the people who had expressed faith in the gospel would be tempted by the society they found themselves on to abandon it and toss aside, to remain quiet and not be public about their faith. 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:42.000 Because it could cost them their very lives, it could cost them the plundering of all their possessions, it could cost them everything. 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:59.039 But the writers of the New Testament also understood the despairing effects of a faith that was tossed away, and that that was greater than anything that they could face within this world. 00:34:59.920 --> 00:35:05.360 So, because of this, there had to be an ongoing championing to keep the faith. 00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:20.239 There had to be boldness, encouragement built into their hearers, for they knew that their very souls and the souls of others who would come to faith in Jesus were at risk. 00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:25.360 You see, we need to have this same mindset and perspective, church. 00:35:26.079 --> 00:35:29.599 There are people all around us dying and going to hell. 00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:48.079 And the sad part is we're so quiet about the salvation of their souls through faith in Jesus, but we'll promote the salvation of their economic security through a presidential election. 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:50.239 What is wrong with us? 00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:54.880 Honestly. 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:02.480 You see, there's something of infinite value at risk here. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:10.239 It's not our financial security, it's not the relationships that we hold, it's not our social status, it is our very souls. 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:20.000 And what good would it be if we gained all the fleeting inferior promises of this world, but we lost our very souls in the process of it. 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:39.199 Because we tossed away our confidence in God, because we allowed our hearts to grow weary and impatient, because we convinced ourselves that suppressing and concealing our faith to have stuff now is more real and genuine than obtaining what has been promised by God. 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:52.480 You see, our whole selves, our mind, our heart, our very body must contend against the temptations of the cultural moment we find ourselves in. 00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:57.039 We must contend to keep the faith. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:03.440 For there is a greater and eternal promise waiting just beyond the horizon of our life. 00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:06.719 But what is faith? 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:11.599 Well, the author of Hebrews goes on to qualify and define what faith is. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:20.159 He says in Hebrews 11, verse 1, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:21.679 Here's what he means by this. 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:33.199 When he says assurance, what he means is that the very substance of our faith demands confidence from us as a response. 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:35.360 And what's he pointing to? 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:41.599 Well, he's pointing to the very same thing that every other apostle and New Testament writer pointed to. 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:44.639 It was the resurrection of Jesus. 00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:57.760 It is only in the resurrection of Jesus that there's enough weighty substance to our faith that we can have such bold confidence. 00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:01.119 Everything points to the resurrection. 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:14.800 Our faith, our hope, the promises of God, everything is contingent and hinges upon the resurrection of Jesus himself, because it is the guarantee of God's promises to come. 00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:19.199 Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 17a. 00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:28.719 He says, and if Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile, pointless, worthless. 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:39.920 If Jesus is still dry bones in an ossuary in Israel, then there's no point for us to gather here this morning. 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:46.079 There's no point for us to have any hope or confidence of what might come in the future. 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:49.039 It's all just lucky rabbit's foot wish making. 00:38:49.119 --> 00:38:50.639 Well, I just think it's all gonna work out. 00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:51.440 To what? 00:38:52.320 --> 00:38:53.360 What does it even mean? 00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:54.480 It's all gonna be okay? 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:55.840 To what end? 00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:56.800 What confidence? 00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:58.559 What's that even look like? 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:05.440 No, it's the resurrection that is the substance of the bold confidence that we can have. 00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:08.880 And what do we hope for? 00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:30.400 Well, we hope for all the things that the resurrection accomplishes for us: eternal union with Jesus, the resurrection of our own physical body, our holy dwelling with him in the new Jerusalem, the judgment of all that is wicked, the righteous, just punishment of evil, the restoration of all things to their glorious end, and so on and so on. 00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:38.320 We could go through the list, but it is the very resurrection that even enables us to hope for these things. 00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:43.199 And what is conviction of that which is not seen? 00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:49.440 Conviction actually speaks to a trial that works to prove something. 00:39:50.559 --> 00:40:01.119 A trial that works to prove something, to prove what God's promises in Jesus that are yet to be beheld by us. 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:04.800 And here's where we can see this work out. 00:40:05.519 --> 00:40:12.559 Do you remember when the plundering of your possessions happened, but you had joy? 00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:14.639 What is that? 00:40:14.800 --> 00:40:20.960 That's a trial that the church went through in order to prove something that was yet unseen. 00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:33.440 There's no reality of this world where you can face such suffering and trials and have joy on the other side of it without the power of the Spirit filling our lives. 00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:34.400 And what is that? 00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:38.800 That's evidence of what is yet not seen by our own eyes. 00:40:40.079 --> 00:41:02.239 And so faith is ultimately recalling what God has done through Jesus' resurrection, to have an unwavering confidence of what he will do through Jesus' coming again, that we are able to endure trials and sufferings, proving the very faith we claim to have, so that we might behold what is now unseen. 00:41:06.639 --> 00:41:18.960 Jesus shows John this as he peels back the cosmos to unveil to him what is happening in the spirit. 00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:23.199 And he talks about those who lost their very lives for the gospel. 00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:29.280 He says in Revelation 12, 11, these words, and they have conquered him who? 00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:40.800 The devil, the enemy, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:53.360 You see, many of us, though, we respond to the cultural moment that we find ourselves in without genuine and authentic faith. 00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.880 A faith that Jesus gives to us by grace. 00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:09.920 And rather than responding to the cultural moment in genuine faith given to us by grace in Jesus, some of us we advance in folly. 00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:12.400 We advance in folly. 00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:21.519 And here's what we do: we allow the cultural moment to both expose and entice our hearts. 00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:23.920 What's it doing? 00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:27.119 It's exposing our idolatry. 00:42:28.079 --> 00:42:33.679 It's exposing the lesser treasures that we've elevated to places they've never should have been. 00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:40.079 That's what's happening in the pressure cooker of culture we find ourselves in right now. 00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:54.880 But it doesn't just expose our idolatry, it entices us to strive to secure these idols, these lesser treasures, and to contend for temporal and fleeting things. 00:42:55.360 --> 00:42:59.599 You see, we get entrapped by the torrent of the moment. 00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:08.639 Because here's what happens what appears most pressing will demand our urgent response and action. 00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:13.760 What appears most pressing will demand our urgent response and action. 00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:17.360 I don't know if you're like me, but I have ADD. 00:43:17.920 --> 00:43:23.679 And uh everything is immediate, right? 00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:24.400 Urgent. 00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:28.880 Everything, everything to me is most pressing. 00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:35.280 Like I should be focusing on greater things, like maybe writing out my sermon. 00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:40.000 But no, I just realized my books were not in alphabetical order by author. 00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:42.000 And so, whoa gosh. 00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:43.440 All right, put down this. 00:43:43.599 --> 00:43:47.119 I'm gonna okay, now I can go back to my sermon. 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:49.039 The greater thing I should be working on, right? 00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:54.239 But then all of a sudden, out of this corner of my eye, I catch that sign, they used the wrong font in this place. 00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:56.800 Okay, we gotta redesign it, reorder it, make sure that it shifts. 00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:57.760