Sermon
Ep 471 | Hebrews 12, Part 2 - Wade Branch 8/4/22
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Well, good morning. Everyone is a wonderful day to
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be here. It's good to see you all today.
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We're thankful to have the chance to come together to as we
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said no multiple times to magnify God together and we'll
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Circle back around to that idea today.
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But that should be our goal. Whenever we come to worship that
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everything else will get smaller in relation to An Almighty God,
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that deserves the praise and focus that we make our goal to
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do today to bring our Focus to him and we're going to do that
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partially today by studying and Hebrews.
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It's chapter 12. We should finish the chapter
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today. So, this is kind of second half
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of about last time I spoke was on the first half of Hebrews,
Hebrews 12 chapter mention
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chapter 12, and we're gonna continue on their roughly in
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verse 18. So, I had to stop in the middle
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of a whole flow of thought because of the next section was
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going to take a little bit. So we're right in the middle of
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Hebrews chapter, 12 this morning and just to get a little
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momentum back from where we left off.
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He had been talking about the importance of them,
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understanding, how God could Chasin, correct, and guide them
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in their faith. Now, they might have
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difficulties, they might have pains.
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It seemed until this in verse 11, it tells me that they were
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going to be trained and training.
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Involves difficult hard things where you are corrected in
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their, in their faith and Hebrew specifically, they were
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drifting, they were forgetting the things he said.
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Tells them they were starting to slip away and part of their
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correction was that they needed to be very focused and centered
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on the god that they serve. And what is plan now says and
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that's going to be kind of a theme as we run into these next
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verses but after telling them the importance of handling God's
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correction in the right way, he says, therefore because you need
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to handle God's correction like a true son.
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A true. Son is discipline by Father,
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therefore strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble
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knees, the people who are weak around you, the Brethren their
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week around you, strengthen them down there, strengthen them up
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and help make straight paths for your feet.
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So that what is lame, may not be dislocated.
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We don't need any members of the body dislocated, but we want
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everyone to be healed, pursue peace with all people and
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Holiness without, which no one will see the Lord.
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Verse 15 looking carefully, lest anyone falls short of the grace
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of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause
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trouble? And by this many become defiled
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lest there, be any fornicator or profane person remember profane
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was something that is common East Side was a common man.
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Why? Because he saw the promises of
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God. And he for one morsel of food,
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for one little bit of fleshly satisfaction sold his Birthright
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for, you know, that afterward when he To inherit the blessing,
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the blessing from his father Isaac.
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He was rejected for, he found no place for repentance though.
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He sought it diligently with tears.
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And the point we made last week was that Esau gave up his
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Birthright, and we need to be careful.
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Not to give up our spiritual birth, right?
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Our Hope Of Heaven. So leading into Hebrews chapter
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12, verse 18, so we need to be careful of this for you have Not
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come to the mountain. That may be touched and that
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burned with fire and to Blackness and darkness and a
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tempest. So everything we've led up to
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the fact that they need to leave, but they need to not
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leave behind their faith in their hope.
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And Jesus, the fact that they need to not leave behind
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everything they've learned is because they want to serve the
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god, that they have come to know and they want to go back to the
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Old Testament. The Old Testament was worried
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about this situation. When Moses went up, Mount Sinai
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and word god, met them on the mountain.
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It was a scary sight but he's telling them, it's not like it
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used to be, that's not the god that you're coming too right
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now, it's the same God but it's not the situation that we are
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meeting him out for you have not come to this mountain that
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burned with fire in a Blackness and darkness and a tempest and
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the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those
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who heard it begged, that the word should not be spoken to
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them anymore. He says this isn't This isn't
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the situation you're coming to for, they could not endure.
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What was commanded these people in the Old Testament and it was
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told them was if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it
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shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.
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Okay. If you're jumping into this and
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you've never read this then like this might sound a little weird
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but stay with it. And so terrifying was the site.
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This presence of God were God met the mountain and he just he
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set a boundary says don't come here as his serious.
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It was so terrifying that Moses said I'm exceedingly afraid and
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trembling Moses was was, the was the go-between, he was the one
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who was a, he was a faithful follower of God and even him,
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even he said I'm terrified. So if you're not familiar with
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this, let's take a little step back, just to show you Exodus
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chapter 18 verse 10. It says, then the Lord said to
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Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and
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tomorrow basically make them ready.
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Prepare them set them apart. Part and let them wash their
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clothes, the cleansing and let them be ready for the third day
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for on the third day. The Lord will come down upon
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Mount Sinai in the sight of all people, you shall set bounds for
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the people. All around saying, take heed to
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yourselves and watch out that. You do not go up to the mountain
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or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain
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shall be surely, put to death. Not a hand.
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Shall touch him, so don't even go out there and get him.
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Don't even go out there yourself and retrieve him.
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Him. But he shall surely be stoned or
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shot with an arrow, whether man or beast.
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He shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long,
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they shall come near the mountain.
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So no just went down for the mountain, to the people, and
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sanctify, the people, and they wash their clothes.
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And he said to the people be ready for the third day, do not
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come near your wives, then it came to pass on the third day in
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the morning that there were Thunders and Lightnings and a
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thick Cloud on the mountain and the sound of the trumpet was
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very loud. So that all the people who are
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in the camp trembled and Moses brought the people out of the
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camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the
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mountain. Put yourself in the shoes of
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people seeing this happen right now.
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Seeing it on Mighty God in the in the way that he chose to meet
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them in this instance God has chosen many different ways to
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express himself and in this situation it's with power and
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with fear Now Mount Sinai was completely in Smoke because the
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Lord descended upon it in fire, it's smoke ascended like the
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smoke of a furnace and the whole Mountain quaked greatly.
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I've never been on a, I've really never even felt an
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earthquake, it's kind of crazy living in the state's been
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through so many never felt them. I can't imagine being on a
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mountain that is shaking and when the blast of the trumpet,
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sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke and God
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answered him by voice, then the Lord came down.
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On upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain and the Lord
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Called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.
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Now it goes on the same the next chapter.
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In all the people witness this, they saw the thunderings, the
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Lightning's the flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the
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mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they
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trembled. And they stood afar off, they
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respected. The danger of it, then they said
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to Moses you speak with us and we will hear, but let not God.
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Speak with us less, we die and Hebrews.
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The Hebrew writer is saying, these people could not handle
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it. They were terrified.
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They were, they were overwhelmed and Jesus said to the people do
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not fear for God, has come to test you and that his fear maybe
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before you so that you may not sin. so the people stood afar
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off, but Moses Drew near the thick Darkness where God was The
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point of what he's saying here. He says, you haven't come to
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this. You didn't come to this kind of
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mountain. The whole point of Hebrews is
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we're taking a step forward. Don't take a step backward to
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this mountain, the place that we are coming to is a verse 22, the
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grand reveal but you have come to Mount Zion.
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Not Mount Sinai did was burning and terrifying.
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You've come to Mount, Zion Mount Zion is a symbol of God's
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Victory and the place where his people will have.
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A meeting with him nouns Island into the city of the Living.
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God, the heavenly Jerusalem. They saw Jerusalem as their holy
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place. They wanted to go back to
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Jerusalem to Judaism. This is all a part is
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contrasting, it with what? They want to go back to.
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Don't go to Mount Sinai. Don't go to Jerusalem, go to the
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Heavenly Mountain, Zion go to the Heavenly Jerusalem, to an
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innumerable company of angels, we think were weird, I think.
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Supposed to think about what he's already talked about.
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In Hebrews right here, we've talked about the powder of
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angels. And how one Angel here, and
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there did a great thing. He says, you haven't come to one
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Angel, who delivered the word or maybe two, who brought a
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message, you've come to an innumerable and innumerable
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company of angels to the general assembly and the Church of the
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firstborn who are registered and Heaven.
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To God, the judge of all to the spirits of just men made
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perfect. He said the angels that you guys
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revered because of their power and even the just men made
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perfect who were revered in your past, and your history of
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Judaism. All of these people.
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If they really walked in faith and they were just men, you're
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all coming to the same place. You're not leaving.
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The girls of the people before you to move on to the New
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Testament, they are coming to melt xylem.
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They just came through a physical Jerusalem, you are as
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Christians, you're not necessarily going through
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Jerusalem anymore. It's not Judaism, but you are
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going to the same Mountain, the same place to meet God because
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you like them are trying to be just men who God makes perfect
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and whole and Jesus Is What Makes Us whole and he is what
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saves the people. Evil from the past, as well.
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He emphasizes life, he emphasizes that it is a city of
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the Living. God, we've talked a lot about
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sacrificing death in this letter, but this is a city of
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the Living God who brings life to the people.
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All of this is part of the same plan, verse 24, you have come to
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Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, and the blood of
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sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
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Okay? So there's a couple of things to
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point out here. This, this is an interesting
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phrase that I had to study quite a bit and we'll we'll dive into
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this phrase. What is the blood of Abel speak?
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And I think there's two different things we could take
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out of this. Some people emphasize one aspect
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of this statement and other people emphasize another.
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I'm going to share them both with you because I think they
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both fit. I think they're both true.
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And so which one is emphasizing right here?
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You decide they're both true points.
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So, when he says that the blood of Jesus speaks better than
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things than that of Abel. I think the first thing Thing,
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he could be referring to is the blood of Abel's sacrifice.
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So we learn from the Old Testament, you have Adam, who is
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the first man than he had two sons Cain and Abel.
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Cain offered a sacrifice of the field, but Abel offered a
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sacrifice in faith of an animal, he sacrificed that animals life.
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And so that animal was by, in some ways, one of the first, or
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maybe the first sacrifice made, So he was the first man Abel was
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born. Into a fallen world where he had
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to kill an animal to sacrifice to God.
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He was born into this Fallen World, where Adam, his father
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had made a mistake that got them kicked out of the garden, but
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Abel was in a fallen world. He didn't necessarily have a
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response. He wasn't responsible for it.
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And it was his responsibility to respond by killing something
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that they had previously in the garden.
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Had a peaceful relationship with, they didn't have to kill
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animals in the garden for sacrifice.
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And so this was not the ideal system.
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God did not want a place where animals had to die for people's
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sins to connect with God. So it was not the ideal system
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and it was also an insufficient sacrifice, even the animals that
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were brought before God and killed with, with this
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sprinkling of blood, they were not sufficient sacrifices.
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So where the blood of Abel wasn't so many different ways.
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Not the intention of God from the beginning.
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Jesus is sacrifice and the blood of Jesus speaks so much greater
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things because as Abel. Sacrificed to a world that was
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Fallen full of death. Jesus speaks life into a fallen
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world where death and sin, had its way.
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Jesus brings the life Jesus is sacrificed is to repair a world
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that was broken. In the very beginning when man
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sinned and was kicked out of the garden, Jesus brought life.
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He also fixed an imperfect system.
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Jesus ended the need of sacrifice.
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That was continuing every year. The fact that Jesus put a stop
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to this continual death, is such a blessing and it's brings no,
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it speaks to the life that Jesus brought.
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And Jesus provided the perfect sacrifice that all those Lambs.
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All those Bulls were not perfect.
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Jesus brought a perfect sacrifice to fix an imperfect
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system. And brought life to a world that
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was fallen. So I think in this sense Abel's
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sacrifice or Jesus acts of sacrifice is so much greater
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than Abel's literal sacrifice that he offered.
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Okay, so I think that's one way that this Blood of Abel could
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have factored in. So, that fact is true.
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Jesus sacrifice is so much greater, but many people
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emphasize how Abel's blood himself.
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The blood of Abel in, in the fact that his brother killed
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him. It's speaks something Jesus
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speaks greater than the blood of Abel.
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So let's let's dive into that for a minute in Genesis chapter
Genesis 4 chapter mention
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4. When, when Cain kills Abel, God
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says to Cain, what have you done the voice of your brother?
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Abel's, blood cries out to me from the ground.
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So there's this concept of Abel's blood speaking, something
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and crying out, something from the day, and we learn, That
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that, that cries, a terrible cry.
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And this this idea of people who have died for their faith,
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people who have died in faith is carried on Revelation chapter 10
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verse 19. It says, when he opened the
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fifth seal, this is a lot of symbolic imagery.
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We're not going to unpack all this.
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But here's what happened. I saw under the altar, The Souls
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of those who had been slain for the word of God.
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And for the testimony, which they held and they cried aloud
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with the loud voice saying, how long O Lord, holy and true until
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you judge and avenge Enjoy our blood on those who dwell on the
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earth. There's this picture of people
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who have died crying out to God, their blood, and their loss
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crying out to God, even in heaven, in a white world was
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given to each of them. And it was said to them that
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they should rest a little while longer until both the number of
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their fellow servants and their Brethren who would be killed as
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they were was completed. There's going to be a day where
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this tragic stuff stops happening.
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Okay, but there's this picture of crying out and death.
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So the question is okay, if we're talking about Abel's
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blood, the Martyr Abel who died because of his brother.
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If that's the blood that's crying out, what might that
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blood be safe? Number one, I think it cries out
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Vengeance and justice for the innocent.
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As we talked about in Revelation, how long before this
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Justice gets brought all these terrible things that are
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happening. How long?
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and Abel's blood and Genesis for was crying out from the ground,
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and speaks to the wrong that was done and Vengeance needing to be
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taken because Of the terrible actor.
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So cried out for vengeance and Justice, I believe.
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But I also believe it cries out something else, and Hebrews
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chapter 4, verse 11 verse 4. We've talked about this already
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by faith Abel brought to God, brought got a better offering
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than Cain by faith. He was commended as
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righteousness when God still, when God spoke well of his
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offerings and by faith Abel still speaks.
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Even those he's dead. So there it is again.
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Now, phrase of Abel's blood, Abel's death him.
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Still speaking, I think the second thing Abel's blood Cries
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Out is righteousness and faithfulness to God despite the
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evil of Cain, okay? So if Abel's, blood cries out
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for vengeance and cries out for justice against against the
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people who have done wrong for the innocent and it cries out
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even speaks of righteousness in faithfulness.
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Against evil. How does what Jesus did speak
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better things than all of this terrible mess.
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I believe number one that Jesus blood, Cries Out, mercy and
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forgiveness. Where Vengeance would normally
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take place? Because really, we all deserve
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Vengeance and we all deserve justice against us.
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Now, would not work well for us of Justice were to happen
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because Justice would convict us of wrong.
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It would find us guilty. We learned that all have sinned
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and fallen short of the glory of God.
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Whether we realize it this morning, we're there.
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We care that much about it. Whether you're sitting in your
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seat today and you care about that fact or not.
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It's true. You are guilty.
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I am guilty. So we don't want Justice even
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though it might take care of her things wrongs, we've seen done,
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it would take care of us, just as bad.
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So Jesus is blood speaks so much greater things because it cries
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out, mercy and forgiveness. Even in the situation of Abel, I
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was talking to somebody this week, you know, can you be
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forgiven for murder? while yes Vengeance know the
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legal system needs to do, what it does, God can forgive that,
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God can forgive And we should be so thankful for that Jesus blood
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speaks so much greater things than even the Vengeance though.
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It might be sweet as necessary. So Jesus blood is Chris speaks,
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Greek speaks better things, concerning righteousness and
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faithfulness, because even though able was good, even
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though he was faithful to God, That alone is not going to save
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him. Jesus blood speaks greater
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things because that cries out, salvation and righteousness.
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In a way that enables goodness. Abel's.
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Faithfulness, never could have brought for himself.
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So this verse to Jesus, the mediator of a New Covenant and
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to the blood of sprinkling, Jesus is blood of sprinkling
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that speaks so much better things than that of Abel, no
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matter at what angle you want to.
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Look at this app. Jesus blood speaks so much
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greater things than the sacrifices that have been made
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or even the blood that cries out from the ground.
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Okay, verse 25, see that you do not refuse him who speaks for if
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they did not Escape, who spoke, if they did not reach me,
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starting it. If they did not Escape, who
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refused him, who spoke on Earth. Much more, shall we not Escape
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if we turn away from him, who speaks from Heaven, and the Old
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Testament? They were spoken through
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prophets, we learned in the earlier, in this book.
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How God spoke to them in many ways from Earth, and from
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profits. So with, they did not Escape.
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Ape. Who refused him.
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Who spoke on Earth? Thank Moses in the wilderness.
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The people who rebelled against Moses, the ground opened up and
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swallowed them. They did not escape the sons of
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Korah. So if they did not Escape, how
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shall we escape Us in the New Testament age?
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If we turn away from him, who speaks from Heaven, Jesus came
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down to earth and spoke to us on Earth.
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And now, his call continues from Heaven, if you and I do.
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Do not accept that and follow that today.
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Do we really think we're going to have a chance to get away in
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the judgment? Now this is a dark picture but
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it's only dark. If you stay here, the other side
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is beautiful, but this is truth. This is love to tell everyone to
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tell ourselves we will not Escape judgment if we do not
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cling to Jesus, and if we do not cling to the new law that saves
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us, Because he's speaking from Heaven, whose voice, then shook
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the Earth. But now he has promised saying,
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yet once more, I shake not only the Earth, but also heaven So
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this is referring to again from chapter 19 at tallest the
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mountain quaked greatly. So, if the mountain quaked, he
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says His voice then shook the Earth.
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But now he has promised saying, yet once more, I shake not only
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the Earth, but Heaven also. Now this yet once more indicates
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the removal of things that are being shaken, as of things that
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are made that the things which cannot be shaken May remain.
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So, what is this? This is a question I had.
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What does it mean? Heaven is going to be shaken.
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Does that mean the place where God dwells is going to be
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affected by this great shake-up of everything?
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If you look in haggai, Chapter 2, Verse 6, this is kind of the
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connection. This, this quote here is being
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connected to haggai, chapter 2, verse 6, where it says for thus,
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says, the Lord of hosts. Once more is a little while, I
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will shake heaven and earth the Sea, and the dry land.
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And I will shake All Nations, and they shall come to the
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desire of all Nations, and I will fill this temple with Glory
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says, the Lord of hosts. So this passage for context are
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for understanding. What the, what Hebrews is
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talking about, this passage is saying Heaven and Earth, the Sea
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and the dry land. There's different words for
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heaven. This Heaven is talking about the
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sky. It's basically saying all
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creation is going to be shaken up.
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Heaven year of the sea and all dry land.
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So, If everything is going to be shaking the ground that you
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stand on the ground that you walk on today in the sky, that
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you look up to, if all that's going to be shaken, we should
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hold on to things that cannot be shaken.
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Hold on to Hope. Hold on to faith and promises
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because verse 28, therefore, since we are receiving a
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kingdom, which cannot be shaken. We are receiving a kingdom.
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That cannot be shaken. And these people probably were
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shaken in a lot of ways at this point.
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Let us have Grace by which we may serve God acceptably with
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reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire at this
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point, these people who are hearing this letter are either
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so dull that they're not hearing God's command in there.
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Just inattentive, you know, hearing this letter, maybe there
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was being read from the audience and they're sleeping in their
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seats. Or if they were taking it to
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heart, they were shaken. Their faith was shaken.
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By hearing these this wake-up call, maybe they were shaking
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because of this great warning and realizing where they were
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out, or maybe their faith was shaken before the letter,
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whatever the cases, these people were shaken up.
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And they need to understand and refocus this whole part of this
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section of the letter is refocusing them on a, on a great
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God. And this is where I was wanting
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to reference that verse in Psalm 34, Verse 3, where the psalmist
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said, o magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name
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together. So that we're magnifying, I
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always read over it. And then in the songs I read
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over it. But magnifying something, if you
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take a magnifying glass to it is to make that one thing bigger
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than everything else by choice. Relative to the things that are
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rounded. So, if I take a magnifying glass
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to a bug, I'm choosing to see the details to focus and make
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this thing bigger. So I can zoom in on that and
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make my field of view more consumed by that thing, as
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Christians as humans. Who are living this Human
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Experience. We have the choice.
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What we're going to focus on. We can exalt God, we can focus
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our attention on God and make him bigger, and zoom in to
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examine his Lowering in the lift him up or we can choose to let
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him slip into the mundane slip into the things that don't
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matter in our life. Perspective is such a
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fascinating thing. There's a song with the with the
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lyrics. It's a o meno, earthborn Cloud
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arise to hide thee from thy servants eyes.
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The song is saying, I don't want anything from Earth to get in
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the way of me seeing you. God to me focusing on you,
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because I don't want those things, those Earthly clouds,
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those Earthly, whatever can get in our way to hide God from our
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own site. We don't want anything to get in
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the way of being able to see him because as this picture shows
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really, you can put your thumb up to the sun and the Sun goes
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away. You cannot see the sun behind
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your thumb if you put it at the right angle.
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Does that mean the sun is not big?
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Does that mean the sun is not powerful?
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Does that mean my thumb is bigger than the Sun or that I
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can really stop the sun. No it's perspective.
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I can let things in my perspective, get in the way of
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the greatness. That is there?
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It is our job to magnify God and our week coming to church once a
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week is not enough to magnify the Lord in our hearts.
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He will slip into the details into the mundane if we let it
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myself included and this is something I want to work on this
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week. Magnifying the Lord however I
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can And this is what they needed to be reminded of to focus on
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The God Who had this master plan from the beginning because they
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were slipping into their view of what God was God was Old
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Testament, God was this, God was sacrifices, but God wants to
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point them. Back to him and to what he tells
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them, their face should be grounded on.
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He says let us have Grace because of this, let us have
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Grace. Now some people say this means
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let us be grateful. Let us show Grace in our hearts
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and that's true. We should be grateful because of
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that and that will help us serve God acceptably acceptably with
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reverence and godly fear. But others emphasize that this.
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Let us have Grace means more to let us have and hold on to
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Grace, let us clean closely to it.
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That we can serve God acceptably with reverence and fear and I
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think those are both true. Sometimes it feels like we
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cannot serve God acceptably sometimes, you know, our own
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insecurities, our own perspective, makes it feel like
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we cannot serve God in an acceptable way.
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But God tells us that we can serve him acceptably with
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reverence and godly fear. So may we may we fight that
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desire or that thing that stirs up in our hearts too.
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To demean what we can do in the sight of God, we can serve God
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acceptably in this life, part of that includes receiving the
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kingdom, accepting it, accepting the grace of God, and with
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reverence and godly fear serving him.
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However, he asks We can serve God acceptably, and it's
-
important because he is a consuming fire.
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He is still the great God of the Old Testament, but he's
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revealing himself in this Grand way with Jesus and the Heavenly
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Jerusalem and a better Covenant. I'll make one more point on
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this. I want to caution us against a
-
mistake, I have made and that I think sometimes we can fall into
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easily in this. I've underlined let us have
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Grace Let us hold on to Grace. It is true that we need to
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always maintain a balance, understanding Grace's role in
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our lives, and our responsibility.
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As followers of God, we must both wholeheartedly serve God,
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the whole heartedly understand that we cannot earn this.
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We cannot deserve this, we cannot able SAG, we cannot do a
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righteous Abel, Works enough to save ourselves and I've said in
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the past, I've talked about over emphasizing Grace as a problem.
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And that comes from a desire to counteract people who D
-
emphasize the importance of our own efforts in our life, our own
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works, you know, because we cannot, we've only been learning
-
from this letter. We cannot see God without
-
Holiness, Holiness is following God and living out the fruits of
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the spirit. So we cannot leave behind either
-
Grace or our own role in Walking in the spirit.
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And I think sometimes we can say, you know, they focus too
-
much on Grace or they maybe I should say different.
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Sometimes we say they overemphasize Grace but I don't
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think Grace can be over emphasized enough.
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We just have to make sure there's a good balance.
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We have to we can't D emphasize Grace in order to make the
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balance, right? We have to emphasize Grace and
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emphasize our responsibility as Christians may.
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We be careful not to undermine or ever.
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Downplay the grace of God because we need it so
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desperately and so completely and if we start doing that we
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may unintentionally undermine God's grace.
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In our own hearts, are in the hearts of others.
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This concludes this chapter and I want to just read a section
-
from Romans chapter 8. This is Drew my attention to
Romans 8 chapter mention
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Romans chapter 8 in the beauties that are conveyed about the
Romans 8 chapter mention
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gospel there in verse 8, it says there is therefore now no
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condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk
-
according to the flesh. But according to the spirit for
-
the law of the spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has made me free
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from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do in
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that. It was weak.
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The flesh God did by sending his own son in the likeness of
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sinful Flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh
-
that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in
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us, who do not walk, according to the flesh.
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But, according to the spirit, For those who live, according to
-
the flesh, set their minds on things of the flesh.
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But those who live, according to the spirit, the things of the
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spirit for to be carnally, minded is death but to be
-
spiritually. Minded is life and peace.
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I switched these slides on accident.
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So this is I want back these are out of order because the carnal
-
mind is enmity against God for. It is not subject to the law of
-
God nor indeed can be Go down to verse 23, we ourselves groan
-
within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the
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Redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope
-
but hope that is seen is not hope for.
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Why does one still hope for what he sees.
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But if we hope for what we do, not see, we eagerly wait for it
-
with perseverance. Who verse 35, who shall separate
-
us from the love of Christ. We've come to this Mount, Zion,
-
we've come to this, great city of the Living God and God is
-
here for us. All and all of his great power.
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Who shall separate us from this love, shall tribulation, shall
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distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or Peril or
-
sword at his rating as it is written for your sake.
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We are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for
-
the slaughter. That's kind of a, that's a
-
unique connection to the able there.
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Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through
-
him. Who loved us for?
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I am persuaded that neither death, nor life nor angels nor
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persevere principalities nor powers nor things present.
-
Aunt, nor things to come nor height nor depth, nor any other
-
created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of
-
God, which is in Christ Jesus, our lord, our God is a consuming
-
fire. But he is also a God who
-
welcomes us into his presence. He was Schurz us of our
-
Salvation in him and we should be persuaded that, no matter
-
what happens. We should put our trust in him
-
and focus on him and our focus on Jesus because nothing can
-
separate us from him except ourselves in our own decisions.
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May we serve God acceptably this week with reverence and fear
-
that we devote ourselves to him in the way that he asks and will
-
close. Chapter at the end of chapter
-
12. Next time to continue on in
-
chapter 13. If you have started this walk,
-
or if you've never started this walk as a Christian part of that
-
acceptable Services, taking seriously his commands, it's
-
taking seriously, what he asks of us and not D, emphasizing
-
their over emphasizing your where we might say anything.
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Against one another, we're told we got here, the word we're
-
told. We have to believe that we have
-
to repent and change our lives so that we can live in the
-
spirit as we read in Romans. So we can live an acceptable
-
life and ultimately Mately a life that's better for us as
-
well and we can be baptized for the remission of sin.
-
We can confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and be
-
baptized for the remission of our sins.
-
And once we've done that, if we mess up, if you're here today
-
and you've been added to the church but you want to make
-
things, right? Our God tells us we are welcome
-
to ask for forgiveness and you can take care of that in your
-
seat, but if you would like some help with that this morning, if
-
you would like to lift the burdens off of yourself and help
-
and give them to the congregation so that we can help
-
in any way, please. Please come forward this morning
-
while we standings. We thank you for listening to
-
our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
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Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional
-
information or you would like to receive a free Bible
-
correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at True
-
Church of Christ Bakersfield.com.
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Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and
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Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.
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We would love for you to be our honored guest.