The Book of Hebrews: Week 1

Good morning, Welcome to Church at the Crossing. My name

is Andrew. If you're new, if this is your first

time here, I'm so glad that you decided to be

here today. Summer is upon us, and that means school

is letting out, the days are longer, the days are warmer, graduations, trips,

those kind of things. And every year during the summer,

I like to get outside. I like to explore, get outdoors.

I like to have adventure in the summer. And today

I brought along something that I want to show you.

It's something that reminds me of adventure. This is my

canoe paddle. And years and years ago, when I was

a teenager, my dad and I traveled with a group

of fathers and sons up north northern Minnesota to the

boundary waters between the US and Canada, and we took

these paddles to go on this canoeing fishing adventure for

that summer. And this paddle, this canoe paddle is unique

because it is one of one. It is the only

one like it because I built and made this paddle

with mown hands. Now I'm not a woodworker. I went

to a class. I went to a workshop where we

learned how to build the paddle, to glue the wood,

to shape it, to sand it, all of that, and

it was a tool that we used on this adventure.

And so we would paddle in our canoes. And I've

got this in my home office as a reminder of

those adventures. Memories of fishing and seeing wildlife like moose

and bald eagles, and memories of camping and cooking over

the campfire, all those things, and this paddle is a

reminder of that for me. I tell you that because

today we're starting our own adventure together as a church.

Today we are starting our summer study series. Every summer,

Pastor James and I prayerfully consider what are we going

to study as a church for the summer months. And

you'll remember, if you've been here, that we've had some adventures.

We've gone down the adventure of the Book of Job.

One summer, we did the Book of Revelation, and this

summer we are going to be looking at the Book

of Hebrews in the New Testament. That is our summer

adventure this year. Hebrews is a complicated book. It's complex.

Theologian John Piper once said that Hebrews is one of

the most doctrinally sophisticated books of the Bible, and Pastor

Chuck Swindahl said, Hebrews is a mysterious, intimidating, and awe

inspiring book. Now, just as this paddle was a tool

for my summer adventure, we've got some tools for our

adventure through the Book of Hebrews. One of those is

you can pick up a copy of this on your

way out. But this is a free Hebrews Scripture journal.

And so when you open this, on one side, you're

gonna have the scripture and on the other you're gonna

have lined note pages. And it's the whole scripture of

the Book of Hebrews with space to take notes, to

write prayers, to journal, to write your notes during Sunday messages.

But as we journey through Hebrews, this is gonna be

a tool for you. As we prepare today to launch

into Hebrews, let's start by praying to prepare our hearts. Father, God,

thank you for your grace and your presence here. And God,

thank you for your word that we have, your word

that's been preserved for hundreds and hundreds of years. Your word,

it spans time. Your word spans space and place. There

is no place, no situation, no circumstance that your word

cannot enter to bring truth. And so God, here we

are in our situations, in our circumstances, in our problems

and challenges, and we've come today to receive from your word.

So wud you give us ears to hear, in hearts

to understand which you have to say to us? And

I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen On

that canoeing adventure that summer with our group, we needed

a map to help us navigate these waters. The Boundary

Waters or it's also called Quetico National Park in Canada,

is about a million square acres and there's over six

hundred lakes in this wilderness. And when I say wilderness,

I mean wilderness like there is no Wi Fi. There

is no electricity, no running water, no shelters, like it

is wilderness. Our only access to the outside world was

we had an emergency like satellite radio if we needed

to call in a helicopter, if somebody was hurt, like

we were on our own. So we had a map

that would help guide us where we could see where

the lakes were that we were canoeing, and sometimes we'd

have to get out at the end of one lake

and walk through a trail to get to the next lake,

carrying all of our gear. But we had this map

that helped us from getting lost and stay on the journey.

I say that because today's message as we begin Hebrews,

this message today for the next few moments, is like

a map, a map of the Book of Hebrews. Here,

and there's three things that I'm gonna talk about today

on this map, three themes, three categories on our map.

Three things I want to share with you. I want

to give you the background of Hebrews, the main message

of Hebrews, and why Hebrews matters for us today. This

is our map for these next few moments. So it's begin.

Let's talk about the background of Hebrews. Hebrews is really

unique because it is unlike any other book in the

New Testament. You see, Hebrews is a sermon, not a

traditional letter. The style of Hebrews is written as oratory.

It's written with some rhetorical techniques common in the first

century Greek culture. It's also longer than some of the

other letters in the New Testament. A lot of those

letters are shorter just a few chapters, but Hebrews is

thirteen chapters, more than five thousand words. It's written as

a spoken word, as a sermon. It takes about forty

five minutes to an hour to read Hebrews out loud.

That's about the length of a first century Christian sermon.

And also the content is more like a sermon an exposition,

because a good sermon starts with a scripture text in

the Bible, and then it teaches and reveals what that

original author intended when they wrote that scripture. And that's

what Hebrews does. Hebrews looks at the Old Testament scripture

and reveals Jesus in the Old Testament. There's more than

forty direct quotations from the Old Testament in Hebrews, and

an additional eighty or so references or inferences to Old

Testament content. Sermon. As we start today, I want us

to read the beginning of this sermon, this ancient sermon,

starting in Hebrews one verse one. We read in the past,

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many

times and in various ways. But in these last days

He has spoken to us by his son, whom he

has appointed heir of all things, and through whom also

he made the universe. The sun is the radiance of

God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining

all things by his powerful word. After he had provided

purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand

of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much

superior to the angels as the name he has inherited

is superior to theirs. You'll see here at the beginning

that this sermon starts, it's all about Jesus. It talks

about the Son of God, who is Jesus. It glorifies

the Sun, it exhausts the Son. This message is all

about Jesus. I look closely at these opening lines. Did

you notice something unusual in these opening lines? There is

something unique in these first few verses that is different

from many other books in the New Testament. In almost

every New Testament book, the author is mentioned in the

opening lines Paul, an apostle of Jesus, James, a servant

of Christ. But not so in the Book of Hebrews.

When I was in school writing my thesis, I had

to collect a bibliography. I had to organize a bibliography,

and it was about four pages long, more than fifty sources,

and I had to cite every source that I used,

every quotation, footnotes, references, even if it wasn't a direct quotation,

but if it was an idea from another author, I

had to give credit to that person all in the bibliography.

If we were gonna put Hebrews in a bibliography, if

we were going to record Hebrews as a source, we

want to know what author to put in the bibliography.

It'd be an anonymous author because the author's unknown. For centuries,

historians and scholars have speculated they've had difficulty identifying the

author of Hebrews. There are some good theories. One theory

is that it was Paul. It's a good theory because

Paul wrote much of the New Testament. However, although Hebrew's

theology is like Paul, the writing style in Greek is

not like Paul. It's not his style. Also, Paul always

introduces himself, so why would he leave himself out in

this one? And if you read Hebrews chapter two, verse three,

it seems like the author there implies that he did

not meet Jesus personally. And we know that Paul repeatedly

emphatically states how he had met Jesus and interacted with Jesus,

so it could be called Paul could not the other thing.

It might be Apollos. A Paulos was a friend of Paul's.

He will find in the Book of Acts. He's a

gifted preacher, he's well educated, he knows the Old Testament.

Some say it might be Barnabas, a companion of Paul's,

had Paul's theology. This is interesting because Barnabas was a Levite,

and the Levites were the Jewish priests, and much of

Hebrews expounds on the priesthood and the religious Jewish system,

so Barnabas, being a Leevite, was familiar with that. The theory

that I find really interesting is some believe that it

could be Clement, that Clement might have been the author.

Clement was an associate of Paul's. He was the early

church leader in Rome in the first century. And here's

what I find so interesting is that Clement, at the

end of his life he wrote another theological document, and

in that document he extensively quotes from Hebrews, but he

doesn't give credit to the author, And so some scholars say,

that's a humble way of quoting himself. So who wrote it?

Which one? Which author is it? Well, in the words

of the third century origin who said, only God knows.

Only God knows, But we know it is God's word,

we know it's inspired, we know it's applicable, and it's

true for our lives. And so for the sake of

this series, over the summer, you'll hear us up here

referring to the author of Hebrews. The next question is

who was it written to? Who's the audience? Hebrews was

written to Jewish Christians in Rome. Hebrews was written somewhere

between sixty and seventy eight D and it was addressed

to Jewish Christians struggling with their faith in the city

of Rome. They were struggling, they were under pressure because

there were some really traumatic things happening in the first

century and sixty four AD, nearly seventy percent of Rome

burned a great fire across the whole city, and it

burned for six days, and some historians agree that Nero

was to blame for the destruction. Maybe he didn't start

the fire, but he did nothing to stop it. He

let it burn because he wanted to make space in

room for his new palace that he was building. And

in the aftermath, Nero needed someone to blame, and so

he pointed the finger at this little weird group, this

religious group of people who worshiped a crucified man, and

he said the Christians. They did it. So this resulted

in Christians being harassed, marginalized, persecuted. Christians had no legal

protection from the government. Many of them were arrested, and

the author of Hebrews addresses this in chapter ten, noticed

verse thirty two. Remember those earlier days after you had

received the light, when you endured in a great confract

full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult

and persecution. Other times you stood side by side with

those who were so treated. You suffered along with those

in prison, and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property.

In the United States, Christianity enjoys a lot of freedom.

I mean, we're gathered here right now freely. We own

our own property and buildings. We have Christian schools, Christian universities,

we have Christian publishing companies, Christian TV, radio, YouTube channels,

all dedicated to Christians. And in our culture right Now,

Christianity is somewhat normalized. It's familiar and even popular in

some places, but not so. For the first century Christians

in Rome, not popular, not normalized. These first century Christians

in Rome were on the origins, They were outcasted, They

were on the edge of society. Sometimes Christians were abused, harassed,

some of them were imprisoned. Some Christians were executed. Historian

Tacitus tells us that many Christians were fed to wild

dogs for entertainment, some were crucified, and others were burned alive.

Christians were targeted. This next picture is a picture of

the Colosseum in Rome. Last fall, I got to visit

the Colisseum and take a tour and go with a guide.

And the Colosseum is a venue that held more than

sixty thousand spectators, and it was famous for the gladiator

fights and the bloody battles and contests, and some executions

happened here in the Colosseum. And the Colosseum is constructed

entirely out of stone stone block, more than one hundred

thousand stone blocks assembled the coliseum, them all built by hand.

Where did they find such stone, well, outside of the

city of Rome out in the hills there were quarries,

stone quarries and caves and tunnels where they excavated or

mined these stone blocks and brought them to build the colosseum.

And it left these tunnels and caves out in the hills.

And it was often that in the colosseum is where

Christians were executed. History tells us that sometimes the crowds

would chant to the lions with the Christians, to the lions,

with the Christians, to the lions with the Christians, many

of them at their end. You'll see in these pictures

underneath the arena floor there are some cells and cages

where they would keep sometimes prisoners and wild animals. This

other picture is a replica, a rebuild of what a

trap door might have been like to let the lions

or the dogs up to attack the helpless victims. And

the author of Hebrews talks about the suffering that could

have happened in the see them. In Hebrews chapter eleven,

we read there were others who were tortured, refusing to

be released so that they might gain a better resurrection.

Some faced jeers to the lions with the Christians to

the lions with the Christians. To the lions with the Christians.

Some faced jeers and flogging, even chains and imprisonment. They

were put to death by stoning. They were sawed in two,

they were killed by the sword. They went about in

sheepskin and goat skin, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. This world

was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains,

living in caves and holes in the ground. I want

you to look closely here at this last line in

verse thirty eight. These Christians wandered in deserts and mountains,

living in caves and holes in the ground. It wasn't

safe inside the city for the Christians, so that they

left the city to look for safety. And where did

they go? To? The hills outside the city. And what

did they find in the hills outside the city. The quarries,

the tunnels, the mines that have been excavated to build

the stone for the Colosseum, the same arena of death

that was killing Christians. The caves that produced those stones

became the place of safety for those Christians. And it

was in those caves and tunnels where they prayed, where

they met together and shared communion. In the Lord's Supper,

where they had baptism. It's where many of the martyrs

who died in the Colosseum were buried. These tunnels are

known as catacombs today, a Greek word for cave. This

is where the underground church grew in the hills outside

of the city of Rome. And it's to these people,

these Christians, fearful, hunted, hiding underground, hiding in tunnels. It's

to these people that the author is writing Hebrews, and

he has one message. There's one message, and this whole sermon,

this whole book, and the main message of Hebrews is

hold on to Christ. That's the message of the book.

Hold on to Christ, hold on to Jesus, hold on

to the Gospel. And you see this theme repeated throughout

the whole book. In chapter three, we have come to

share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction

firmly to the very end Hebrews four. Let us hold

firmly to the faith we profess. Chapter six, we who

have fled take hold of the hope set before us,

may be greatly encouraged. Chapter ten, let us hold unswervingly

to the hope we profess. For he who promised is faithful.

The message is hold on to Christ. And that's the

same message for us today. This is the message that

Hebrews preaches to you and me today. Hold on to

Christ in the trouble, in the pain, hold on to

Christ in the difficulty, in the heartbreak and the discipl appointment.

Hold on to Christ when you're suffering, when you're troubled,

when you're alone. Hold on to Christ when the pressure

is too great, when the temptation is too strong. Hold

on to Christ. Those Christians in Rome faced danger. They

were unprotected, they were hiding in tunnels. Life was risky. However,

there was one way that a Christian in Rome could

escape the danger. Remember these were Jewish Christians, so at

one time they had been practicing Judaism, and they left

Judaism to follow the way of Jesus. That Jesus is

the Messiah. They could go back to Judaism and escape

the danger. Because Judaism was a protected religion under the

Roman state. In AD three three AD, Caesar Augustus issued

a statement protecting the rights of Judaism, rights like Sabbath

worship and burial privileges, and so Judaism was protected it

had freedom under Roman rule. As long as the Jews

did not rebel, and as long as they did not

convert Romans, they were free to practice their religion. Well, see,

the Christians they were outcasts because they left Judaism. So

the Jewish leaders did not like the Christians. And then

they were converting Romans to their little new faith. So

the Romans didn't like them. But if they went back

to Judaism, they'd be protected. And so I'm sure many

of them thought about, you know, Jesus is not this

is not worth it. We were fine in the old way.

Or maybe some thought, well, we'll just go back to

the synagogue. We'll believe in Jesus privately, but we don't

want to stand out. We don't want to stick out.

Listen to me. For those early Christians, the temptation to

go back to the old life was tempting. It's attractive

to go back to the old life. They could return

to Judaism and they would be protected. Although we do

not face the Colosseum today, although we are not hiding

in tunnels today, our faith is at risk. There is

a risk of us drifting from our faith, a risk

of it getting too tough, the risk of not wanting

to stand out, not wanting to be criticized, not wanting

to be understood, the risk of too difficult, too challenging.

Today we risk drifting from the faith that summer that

I was traveling in the wilderness with the canoe and

using this paddle out on those lakes, strong winds could

come up, and those winds would push our little canoes

and little boats, and we'd have to paddle hard. We'd

have to pull hard in the open water. And if

I wasn't careful, if I got lazy, that boat would

drift and the wind would push it. If I got

tired and pulled my paddle out of the water and

just rest of their the boat would keep moving wherever

the wind wanted it to go. I had to grip

my paddle, I had to use my paddle, hold on

to my paddle to keep paddling. It reminds me of

something that we read in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter two,

Verse one says we must pay the most careful attention

therefore to what we have heard, so that we do

not what drift, so that we do not drift away.

When we launched out into that canoe trip. I think

on our second day at our campsite, we got a

visit from a ranger. We've had a seaplane and landed

on the lake and paddled over to say hello to

our group on the campsite. And this ranger told us

that there were four rangers for a million square miles

of square acres of wilderness, and he came to visit us,

and he had a warning for us. He told us

that out in the wilderness there had been reports of

wildfire and that there was smoke, and where there's smoke,

there's fire. So we had a warning. Hebrews gives us

a warning when our faith is drifting. One of those

warnings is if we're attending weekly worship only when it's

convenient instead of a priority. Hebrews ten says, let us

not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but

encourage one another. Another warning is returning to old sinful habits.

Chapter three says see two at brothers and sisters, that

none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns

away from the living God. A third warning from Hebrews

is going through the motions. Going through the religious motions

simply says, we do not want you to become lazy.

So that's why the author the main messages, hold on

to Christ, hold on to the faith, hold on to

the Gospel. And the message is that Jesus is better.

As you read Hebrews in these coming weeks, as you

look at these verses, you're gonna see words like better

or greater or superior. Because Jesus is better. We read

in chapter six a better hope is introduced by which

we draw near to God. Jesus has become the guarantor

of a better covenant. The new covenant is established on

better promises. Hold on to Jesus because he is better.

And so at the beginning, I said that today is

like a map of Hebrews for our journey this summer.

I said there were three things that we're looking at

on this map. The background of the book, the main

message of Hebrews for the rest of our time. I

just want to address why Hebrews matters for you today.

If we're gonna hold on to Jesus today in our

lives today, how do we do that? First? I want

to say, Hebrews teaches us to get a grip, get

a grip on your faith. Get a grip on Jesus,

Get a grip on what you believe. Chapter three, verse

fourteen in the Message translation, says, if we could only

keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with,

We're in this with Christ for the long haul. Don't

you want to be with Christ for the long haul.

Don't you want to make it to the end. Don't

you want to cross that finished line. Don't you want

to hear him say well done, good and faithful servant.

Don't you want to be in the long haul. Get

a grip on your faith, Hold on to your faith.

Theologian C. S. Lewis wrote a brilliant book called The

screw Tape Letters and Now it's a fictional world, but

it's strongly theological because in this fictional book, it imagines

a master demon who is coaching and mentoring a student

demon in how to tempt and mislead a human. And

I love this one line from the book. It says,

the safest road to Hell is the gradual one, the

gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

His point is that we can drift away from the

faith straight to Hell. We can drift be distracted away

from Christ. Across the United States, the trend and statistics

in church engagement has shifted in the last five to

ten years. According to a report from the Barna Research Group,

young people in their twenties and thirty are leading the

trend in attending weekly worship. This age group, these young

adults are attending worship more frequently and more often than

any other age group because these young adults are making

a decision to grip their faith, to not drift, to

hold on to Christ. And I want to say something

to you, especially if you're in that age range twenties

and thirties. Man, you're at a stage in your life

where there is so much pressure where you're trying to

build a career, trying to finish school, maybe trying to

get married or start a family. And you've got this

pressure and things and goals and things you want to

achieve and accomplish, and there are things competing for your

attention and time. There are things that want you to

grip onto this or grab onto that, or hold onto this.

And I want to tell you, listen to me. The

decisions you're making now will determine your future. Your future's

not out there. Your future's here and you're building into it.

The habits now are creating your value system. It's on

encourage you hold on to Christ, get a grip on

your faith, because you've got an enemy. The devil wants

to destroy you. He wants to distract you. He wants

to get into your life. He wants to get into

your choices and your decisions, and he wants to influence you.

Just like a boat being being drifted by the wind.

He wants to drift you off your course because he

knows that if he can get into your life and

influence your life, it's not just your life. He's gonna

influence your marriage. He's gonna influence your children. So if

he can get into your life, he's got generational impact.

But I also want to tell you that the devil's

terrify to you because you're holding on to Christ. The

devil is scared of young people who choose to hold

on to Jesus no matter what the culture says. The

devil is afraid of young people who go the way

of Christ, even if it's the opposite way, even if

it's difficult. The devil is scared of young parents who

are raised your children to know Jesus. So get a

grip on your faith. Hold on to your faith. When

I was traveling on that adventure on those lakes in Canada,

we were warned about the wildfires, and sure enough, at

the end of one day, we were looking for a

camp site and we came upon a wildfire on the shoreline,

and we kept our distance. We stayed in our boats,

and even though we were maybe twenty or thirty yards away,

we could feel the heat from these wildfires, and sometimes

we'd see the seaplanes and the water coming overhead. But

we stayed back. We shrunk back from the heat. Following

Jesus will bring the heat, and Hebrews tells us to

stay the course. Stay the course when the heat comes,

when you're the only Christian in your class or at

work in the office. Stay the course when you've got

a parent who doesn't understand your faith, or a sibling

that criticizes the needles your faith. Stay the course when

there's temptation, when there's pressure to go this way to

fit in with the popular crowd. If you do this,

or to compromise, stay the course when you're alone, and

that that temptation to cut a corner, or nobody will

know about this. Stay the course. We read in Hebrews

chapter ten. You need to persevere so that when you

have done the will of God, you will receive what

he has promised. My righteous one will live by faith.

I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back,

But we do not belong to those who shrink back.

You do not belong to those who shrink back. We

do not belong to those who shrink back when or destroy,

but to those who have faith in are saved. Stay

the course. I have several friends from our Arabic congregation,

and many of them are originally from Egypt. And even

though publicly and on the outside, Egypt says it is

a tolerant nation of religious freedom, that's not really the

case behind the scenes. When you get into it, behind

the scenes, it's not the case. For example, can you

believe that in Egypt, when you get a driver's license,

your religion is printed on your driver's license. If you're

a Christian, says Christian. If you're a Muslim, it says Muslim.

So what does that mean? Well, if you're a Christian

and your driver's says Christian, and the police officer is

a Muslim and asks to look at your driver's license,

you might get treated a little bit differently. Or if

the judge is a Muslim and you're a Christian, you

might be treated a little bit differently. If your landlord,

if your boss is a Muslim and you're a Christian,

you might not get the same perks and privileges as others.

And the biggest challenge is for those Christians who convert

from Islam to following Jesus, because the decision is when

they changed their what their driver's licensees now it's public,

it's not private, And because they've converted to Jesus, they

are targets for harassment and violence. Pastor Isaac, who pastors

our Arabic congregation, when he was pastoring a church in Egypt,

told me a story that there was one time Muslims

in the city were rioting and protesting and they went

from church to church, setting fire or vandalizing Christian churches,

and so Pastor Isaac went to the local police and

asked for help and protection. You want to know what

they said, Sorry, we can't help, you can't get involved.

But Pastor Isaac stayed the course. The congregation continue to

meet they continue to pray, they continue to worship. They

stayed the course. And you want to know what happened

after things calmed down. There were churches burned, churches vandalized.

Pastor Isaac's church was the only church that was unharmed,

and all that because they stayed the course. Hebrews tells

us in chapter thirteen. So we stay with confidence. The

Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What

can mortals do to me? Yes, the troubles of life

are real. The difficulties are real. The doctor's report is real,

the bank statement is real. These are real problems. So

stay the course. The divorce papers are real, the legal

decision is real. But stay the course, do not shrink back.

During my canoe trip in Canada, we had an experienced

guide who was leading up. Knew the waters, knew the territory,

and our guide would show us where the good campsites were.

The guide knew where the trails were, because sometimes we'd

get to the end of one lake and we'd have

to get out on land and carry our boats and

gear through a trail to the next lake. These were

portage trails, and sometimes on those trails we would have obstacles,

big boulders that we'd have to work around, which is

hard with like a thirteen pound canoe on your shoulder,

or fallen trees. I remember walking on one trail carrying

all of our gear, and there was a large pile

of mud on the trail that we'd have to navigate.

And as we got closer, this pile of mud just

smelled so foul because it was not mud. A bear

had recently come down that trail, and although we did

not see the bear, we knew it was recent because

of what we smelled, and so we were a little

bit scared. Especially as young teenage boys, we're nervous. Our

heart rate was just pounding. But our guide just kept

moving forward, just kept going forward, just kept walking down

the trail and led us safely to the next lake,

and we were all safe. I want to encourage you

follow the leader when things get hard, when things get difficult,

follow Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. When you feel

like giving up, when the pressure is too great, follow Jesus.

Hebrews tells us it said, let us run with perseverance

the race mark before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

The pioneer and perfector of our faith. He's our leader,

he's our trailblazer, He's our pioneer for the joy set

before him. He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and

sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that

you will not grow weary and lose heart. Notice this

last line, verse three says, consider him who endured such

opposition from sinners. Consider Christ, who is crucified, tortured, killed,

Consider him so that you will not grow weary. What

does this mean. Here's what it means. Jesus will not

lead you somewhere he has not been already. It means

that whatever you suffer, whatever difficulty, whatever problem, whatever challenge

is in front of you, whatever pain you're going through,

it is no worse than what Jesus has experienced. He

will not lead you somewhere he has not already been.

Did he promise you that it would be easy? Did

he promise you that everyone would understand when you're following him?

Did he promise you that you would be applauded and

praised for following Jesus? No, he promised he'd be with you.

So follow the leader. Go where he goes, Go where

he leads. It's likely that someone listening right now you

have not yet put your faith and trust in Jesus

as the Lord and savior of your life. And today

you may be drifting. You may be lost broken. Someone

listening may be struggling with a sinful addiction. You may

be struggling with a sin issue that nobody knows about,

and you are far from God. You need a guide,

you need a savior. The message of Jesus is simple

and it's very powerful. All of us are separated from

God because of our sin. We're cut off from God

and we have no hope of saving ourselves. Our sin

condemns us to die, and we deserve to spend eternity

in hell. But God's love is so great that he

gave his one and only son, Jesus, who died as

a sacrifice. When he died on the cross, he paid

the price for our sins so that we could be forgiven.

And three days later Jesus rose from the dead. The

grave could not hold him, death could not keep him.

He is victorious, so that anyone who repents of sin

and believes in Jesus will be saved. The message of

Jesus requires each of us to make a decision. Will

you choose to trust him as your lord and savior?

Will you decide to follow him wherever he leads. Those

Christians in Rome in the first century made that decision.

So we're holding on to Jesus wherever it takes us,

however it ends. We're holding on to Jesus because we've

got a better reward, we got a better future. They

were in danger, and they gathered together in those tunnels

and caves and mind shafts, and they worshiped an underground.

The church grew out in the hills. Want you to

notice one more scripture. The last chapter of the book

Hebrews thirteen, we read Jesus also suffered outside the city

gate to make the people holly through his own blood.

Let us then go to him outside the camp. This

is the gospel invitation. Let's go to where he is.

Let's go to him in the hills. Let's go to

him outside the city bearing the grace disgrace he bore.

For we do not have an enduring city, but we

are looking for a city that is to come. Let's

go to him Let's go to him in the tunnels

and in the caves. Let's go to him in the

holes in the ground. Let's go to him even though

it's hard and we're threatening, we're persicut. Let's go to

him in the pain, go to him in the difficulty.

Go to him when you feel like giving up. Go

to him when you are crying and weeping and heartbroken.

Go to him because where he is is where I

want to be. Let's go to him. Have you decided

to hold on to Jesus. I want to close with

one final story. I found this old story from the

mid eighteen hundreds, and it's a story from India and

that part of the world. There was a young man

living in a village that was called Garro, and this

young man heard the message of Jesus from Welsh missionaries

and he became a Christian. But his conversion angered many

in the village, especially the village leader. The chief of

the village was angry and he threatened this young man,

and the threats escalated to the point that the chief

told the young man turn away from Jesus or I

will kill your wife and children. And he did not turn.

He watched his family execute it and under the threat.

The story tells us that this young man responded by saying,

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, though

none go with me, Still I will follow. Ultimately, this

young man was executed, but that was not the end

of his story, because after his testimony, his witness it

converted many in his village to faith in Jesus, and

not long after that, even the village chief who executed

him and his family turned to Christ because of this

man's witness. You may recognize those words as that old

song that is so familiar. I have decided to follow Jesus,

no turning back, the world behind me, the cross before me.

Still I will follow, Though none go with me, Still

I will follow. That is the call of Hebrews to

us today. Have you decided to follow Jesus? To hold

on to Jesus. I've asked our team to lead us

in that old familiar song as we close. Would you

just stay where you are and sing with us?

Decide to folow Jeezus.

Side to foo.

Jesus, decide.

To fuge says no turning back, nows turning back a

cross befo me, the world behind the cross before me

the worldly, hide me the crossbf me the world behind.

No turning back, no turn go with me, still live

a frog.

Loom going me, still still live frog, no turning, no turn.

I have decided to Follogyeesus.

I have decided to fology Esus.

Have decided to followed jeez.

No turning back, no turn, no ton. Would you stand

with us? That's the decision. Have you decided to f

Did you bout your heads in prayer with me? And today?

If you want to make that decision to surrender your

life to Jesus, to trust him as your lord and savior,

you can simply pray this prayer after me, say, Dear God,

I admit that I'm a sinner. I need your forgiveness.

I believe Jesus died for my sin and rose from

the dead to save me. I confess Jesus's Lord of

my life. Father, fill my life with your spirits. Amen.

I'm gonna invite our prayer partner team to come forward

because we're gonna offer a time of prayer and anointing today.

And the Bible says if any of you are sick

or hurting or in need, have the leaders of the

church anoint you with oil and pray for you. And

that's what we're gonna do today. You know, today we

talked about that early church, the Christians hiding in the caves,

hiding in the tunnels. I gotta imagine on many of

those nights in those tunnels, there were some injured Christians

coming in with bloody noses, with teeth knocked out, with

black eyes. They needed prayer. I imagine there were some

who had been fired for their faith, that had been

kicked out of their house for their faith, and they

came to those caves and they were anointed and they

were prayed for. And we get to do the same thing.

So if you'd like to receive prayer, you're invited to

come forward and come down this middle aisle, and Genial

direct you to a prayer partner.