Hebrews 9 - Pastor Kyle Weeks - September 2nd, 2026

All right, let's go ahead and get started for the evening.

Good to see all of you here.

Sorry last week for the um mix-up of not continuing in the book of Hebrews.

Uh thank you, Tim, for filling in for me.

Uh, I went over across the street and um taught the students because Pastor John was out and and with funerals going on, we just had some different people out, not able to fill in, and so um went and did that uh last week.

But again, um excited to be back with you and and continuing back into the book of Hebrews.

We're gonna finish chapter nine tonight.

That takes us into chapter 10 next week.

There are 13 chapters in the book of Hebrews, and Lord willing, we will get to the 13th chapter and through the 13th chapter by the end of the of the semester.

Um, my desire, unlike with Sunday mornings, is to go as slow as I want um through the book of Hebrews.

And if that means that we go into next semester with it for a little bit and then uh continue something else or move on to something else, then we'll do that.

But um, this book is so rich, uh, so much biblical theology and just understanding of uh the person and work of Jesus within the book of Hebrews that I just want to make sure that we understand all of these things as we uh continue to walk through this book.

And so let me pray, and then uh we'll um we'll look into our chapter this evening.

Father, we love you, and God, we are grateful um for the opportunity to come into your house and to read your word and to study your word and to meditate upon your word and to respond to your word.

And so, Father, I pray this evening that we would look at your word and that we would marvel at you and marvel at your work that you have done, um the work that Christ Jesus has done on our behalf, um, so that God we can have not only a relationship with you, but a hope that is found in you and in you alone.

And so, God, from your word tonight, not only would you reveal to us and uh open our eyes and our hearts and our ears to see and to hear uh who you are, but God, would that lead us to not only a deeper worship and and knowledge of you, but God, would that lead us to a greater burden uh to share the good news of your gospel with others?

And so, God, um be with us.

Um, give us uh ears to hear and eyes to see from your word.

May your spirit work mightily in our hearts.

Father, would you give me the words to say?

And God, would you receive all honor and glory?

We pray this all in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're gonna look at a passage tonight that's gonna deal with a double benefit of the work that Jesus has done on our behalf.

Something that you might not notice, um uh uh, especially with songs on Sunday mornings, that I want you to pay close attention to from now on is the fact that um we oftentimes sing about this dual benefit of being children of God and following after Jesus that is woven into even the worship songs that we sing.

Um, just a few seconds or moments ago, you were hearing uh the song In Christ Alone.

Um, and in Christ alone tells us that that is where our hope is found.

He is my light, my strength, my song.

Um, at the end of that song, um, no guilt in life, no fear in death.

This is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry to final breath.

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home.

Here in the hope of Christ, I think it's the hope, um power of Christ.

There we go.

Uh I stand.

If you uh remember back a few months ago, we sang that song, I set my hope on Jesus.

Um, and when uh the last the last uh verse talks about um when when the law when life starts to end, um you know, give me grace enough to finish till I worship on that final day.

I set my hope on Jesus.

Um, all of the songs that we've seen should remind us of two realities, um, and and really two benefits of knowing Christ.

And that is the benefit of salvation that we have received here and the promise of eternal salvation that we will um that will become reality when we pass from this life to the next and we stand before the Lord.

Um the the the benefits of of the salvation that we received in Jesus is that Christ has not only uh purchased our salvation here in his first advent, but we look with anticipation to his second advent or or or to the day when he calls us to be with him that we get to go and and truly be in his presence for all of eternity.

Um we're gonna look at um this inheritance that we've received because of the work of Jesus and this inheritance that he's purchased for us and its benefits here and now um while we live on this earth, but also its benefits as we pass from this life to the next.

And so um Hebrews chapter 9, we're gonna start in verse 15, and we'll read to the end of the chapter.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 9, starting in verse 15.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

Therefore, since he is mediator of a new covenant, we looked at that last week, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

So I want you to uh circle that, highlight it, underline it wherever in your Bible, but the the mediator of this new covenant um he is the mediator of the new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised inheritance, since as since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.

For a will that takes effective only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood, for when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

And it is the same way he sprinkled with blood both the tent and the vessels used in worship.

Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has entered into the holy place made with um made with not in Christ's, I'm sorry, for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood, not his own, for then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The first thing that I want us to see in this passage, we go back to verse 15, is the gospel is good news not only for our lives now, but the internal inheritance we will receive.

But for the intern, the gospel is good news not only for our lives now, but the internal eternal inheritance we will receive.

Um as we look at this, and this is where the book of Hebrews can kind of get confusing, especially when you go back and you talk about the Old Testament law and the different rituals that come through, and then um it goes into um Jesus being um the one that has been um given over, and the death of one who made it uh must be established for a will to kind of be taken place.

Um the the writer is gonna talk about uh this promise that Jesus gave, um, this inheritance that he offers uh doesn't apply to anybody unless there is a death that occurs and that inheritance can be bestowed.

Um if you remember, as Jesus is giving uh the um the first Lord's Supper with his disciples in Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

Um in verse 26, or I'm sorry, verse 28, Jesus has them take the bread and he said, Uh take, eat, this is my body.

But then he um says in verse uh 28 or 27, and he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

And he says, I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you and my father's kingdom.

In order for this inheritance to be given, there has to be a death.

There has to be a sacrifice.

And the beauty of the gospel again is not only that the death of Jesus and the salvation he has provided brings us communion with God here, but the beauty of the gospel is it promises us an eternity with God when this life is over.

It is what we put our hope in, it is what we hope in when we go to funerals, it is what uh makes Paul tell us in 1 Thessalonians that we do not grieve as those who have no hope because of this inheritance that we have received.

Back in 2010, um John MacArthur was preaching his sermon on 1 Corinthians chapter 15, talking about the death or sting uh having a lack, or I'm sorry, death having a lack of sting for the believer.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

And he made this um very powerful um observation.

He said, I was talking to a friend, Daniel Henderson, the other day, and he said, his friend said, Isn't it odd in our prayers that we spend most of the time praying to keep people out of heaven who are headed there, than we do praying lost people into heaven who aren't headed there?

And he said, MacArthur continued, he said, I think we sometimes lose sight of the glories of heaven, even as we pray for other saints, resisting in some ways the best that God has for them, which is entrance into his presence.

The hope for the believer is not just new life here on this earth, but eternal life when we pass from this earth to go be with the Lord for all of eternity.

God is not merely concerned with our life here, but he is constantly bringing our attention back to eternal life.

He is constantly reminding us of this hope that we have, that when this life is over, uh, that true reward is getting to be with him for all of eternity.

That this first fruit, as Paul would say, of the Holy Spirit that we've received in this life doesn't compare to the eternal realities that we will benefit from when we pass from this life to the next.

Um, Shelby and I were talking the other day, and um we were talking about what happens um when uh there's a point where we gotta uh make some hard decisions for the other, or we our kids have to make those hard decisions.

And I was sitting there and then and I said to Shelby, um, you know, we we had a lot of this talk last summer when I went into surgery for um my tumor, and I said, babe, uh what I hope in that moment is that my children have heard from me enough how badly I just want to go be with the Lord that the decision is not very hard for them to make.

To just let me go to where I want to go, and trying to, instead of trying to keep me here where I haven't really wanted to be in the first place.

Um, that there's there is good things that happen here, uh, marriage and and kids and getting experience, all of those things.

But for the believer, the hope that we have is not in our IRA, it is not in our retirement, and is not on our children, it's not in our parents.

It is in uh that one day when I draw my last breath here, that is not the end of my life, but it is only the beginning of my life as I step into eternity with the Lord.

When we talked about Jesus being the perfect sacrifice to cover sin, it does not stop at what Jesus has done for us here, but it continues on what he has provided for us and what we have received as an inheritance from him for eternity.

Jesus says in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Nobody comes to the Father except through me.

And that that is a twofold reality.

Nobody comes into saving faith in Christ and made righteous before the Lord outside of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It is only through Jesus that we see salvation, and it is only through Jesus that you will get to see the Lord, that you will get to be with the Lord and stand uh in front of him and worship him for all of eternity.

For those that desire to see the Lord, they come to Jesus.

Those desire to spend all eternity with the Lord, they come to Jesus.

And so, how can anyone enter into the presence of God only through the blood of Jesus?

Because he is the mediator of this new covenant.

The good news of the gospel is that he came and died, he rose, he ascended, where he is mediator at the right hand of God on your behalf, and there is coming a day where he will come again to bring you fully into the presence of the Lord.

Now, as one rot commentator writes about this passage, he said, This passage is probably where a lot of people that are not Christians would say that Christians are really, really obsessed with blood.

And they would be right, especially not knowing um what old testament rituals would be happening during this time.

And and what I would say to that is that Christians are and God Himself is not obsessed with blood, but God is offended by sin, and because he is offended by sin, blood is required.

So let's keep looking.

Verse 18.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, this is in Exodus chapter 24, by the way.

Exodus 24 · chapter mention

Um, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, similarly to covering uh the doorpost of the house and those in it be saved.

He is sprinkling the people with blood.

This is a sign of atonement.

This is what would be uh kind of the beginning of this sacrificial system in the Old Testament.

And so um, verse 20, and saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God made with you.

And in the same way, he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.

Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.

If you remember back in Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve have sinned, they are um laid bare before the Lord, um, and and the Lord pronounces the judgment on both the man and the woman.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

But what does he do next?

He covers them, right?

The Bible says that he grabs the skin of an animal and can't grab the skin of an animal if the animal's still alive.

That's just weird.

And so the Lord took an animal, he he slaughtered it, he then puts that skin on them, and this is the first sign of atonement that we see in the Old Testament.

And the same way that the Lord told Adam and Eve, if you would eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die, is the same understanding that we have in Genesis chapter six that says, for the wages of sin is what?

Death.

The payment for sin is death.

Uh, and so death is a natural part of life because sin has come into our world.

Uh something has always had to die in order for there to be an atonement per sin, and that is because of the severity of sin and um the severity of sin and blood being or death being the only payment for it.

Now this is hard for us to wrap our heads around and and sometimes hard for us to understand the severity of sin.

Now we know we talked about this last year and um uh last semester, and I talked about actually with the students last week that we know that God is holy, and because God is holy and he is so set apart and he is so righteous, God um is sin is an ultimate offense to God and his holiness.

And so, because it is an offense to God in his holiness, it requires a punishment to fit the crime of offense against him, which, as we've seen, it is death.

And so um the death all throughout the Old Testament is the requirement for sin because why?

Because God is holy, and sin is such an offense it demands or its only payment is death.

In Romans chapter 1, verse 19, Paul talks through this effect of sin, and this is where we start to get a little uncomfortable.

Romans 1:19

Uh, a lot of times we get uncomfortable, but because I think this is the question that we have, and I have it down as our second point, and that is what's the big deal with sin?

What's the big deal?

Most people, whenever you would tell them um that they're a sinner in need of a savior, they would they would ask you, especially um even people that are not believers in Christ Jesus, or even uh it's a big movement now in the progressive Christian movement, and that is, well then why is it such a big deal?

Why can't God just forgive everybody and and just not worry about sin?

Why is he so worried with what's happened to him?

Uh why can't he just for forgive anyone?

And that is that God is so holy that he is he is so holy that he is obsessed with uh keeping righteous things righteous, and he is obsessed.

That's not the word I want to use.

He is so holy that it it demands punishment for sin for the justice, for the injustice that has occurred towards his holiness.

God is God God is zealous for his holiness, zealous for righteousness, for it to be.

And when there is injustice, when there is unrighteousness, then his justice demands retribution for that injustice.

And so when we look at sin, we we see sin as things that just come natural to us, but God sees sin as an ultimate offense to him.

So when Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, starting in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.

For his individual attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, so they are without excuse.

For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinkings, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became few fools.

And exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Paul's argument in this passage is that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, because their unrighteousness suppresses the truth about who God is.

He will go on to say that, and those people that suppress that truth have no excuse in their suppression, because even creation points them to this creator God who has created all things and have has created this order.

Charles Spurgeon would say this way: creation points to God, his eternal power and divine nature are seen in creation.

Their unrighteousness is not excused because of this.

They open their eyes.

People who have never heard the gospel can see God in his works.

There is a gospel in the sea, in the heavens, in the stars, and in the sun.

And if people will not read it, they are guilty, for they are willfully ignorant of what they might know and ought to know.

So when we read passages like this, we sit back and we go, so what about that innocent person in Indonesia that's never heard the gospel?

Well, well, Paul just kind of set it up right there.

There is no innocent person because all of us are sinful, all of us are guilty at sin against God.

And God is passionate about his holiness because his holiness demands it, because it is so pure, it is so set apart.

Now, then people would say, well, that just doesn't seem fair.

Some of us, this is not comfortable for us to talk about because we don't view sin as God sees it.

I'm going to quote John MacArthur John MacArthur one more time.

I'm going to paraphrase something that he said, but he he said a few years ago that today sin is called sickness.

So people think it requires whatever remedy they can find, not repentance.

We think that sin is just, you know, it's just a sickness, and some of us are more sick than others, and so we just try to find something to remedy or just lessen, lessen its effects or lessen its offense, and then God's gonna be okay with it.

But if God was okay with little sin and a suppression of sin, then Jesus would not have needed to come because then he would just kind of wink an eye at those things.

But the Bible says that that because of this sin is why Jesus came.

And there is no sugarcoating it.

There's no uh trying to sweep it under the rug.

And when we start to view sin as sickness, then our problem then becomes with God and how he could be so aggressive towards it, then us and how we could be so staunch in it.

This Lindsay Clancy trial so twisted.

Because what is the defense arguing in that trial?

She's sick.

Didn't know what she was doing.

And so what is ultimately trying to be avoided in that verdict?

The wages of her act.

Because in our law, the wages of murder in in America is prison for for an extended period of time or death penalty.

But this way of going about it is to say, no, no, no, she just needs to spend the rest of her life in a mental hospital because what she did while it was bad, she's just sick.

And so because she's sick, she doesn't need the the the harsh punishment that that is being called out for.

But if we're not careful, sometimes you and I can get into that way of thinking.

That what I've got done against God isn't that bad because I'm just born into sin and he should just be used to that by now.

Why is he so worried with it?

Why can't he just see that it's just a result of just life?

Again, we sit back and we wonder, what is the big deal with sin?

If I don't recognize my own sin, I will see judgment as cure cruel and I will see God as unloving.

This is what Paul is talking about here.

Unrighteousness leads to a suppression of the truth.

Suppression, numbing, avoiding, relabeling, whatever you want to put there.

That's what a uh unrighteousness leads to.

It is a avoiding of the truth to label it as something that that is less than actually what it is.

That's why you know when the worst days for an alcoholic is the worst day for an alcoholic is when they come to the realization that that phrase that they've been saying all throughout their time, I can quit whenever I want, actually isn't true when they try to quit in the camp.

And then at that moment, they realize they're in a much deeper situation than they thought they were.

It's the same way why we say that the gospel requires repentance first and then belief, because in the moment when someone recognizes their own sin and how depraved and wicked they actually are, it is in that moment when that heart is softened to belief because they recognize how how bad of a situation there is as a sinner without a savior.

It is only by the forbearance and patience of God that you and I were able to live in our sin for as long as we did before God effectually called us to himself, showed us how much of a sinner we actually were, and then led us to repentance and belief, as opposed to just allowing us, as the rest of Romans 1 would say, to just continue on in our sinful passions, uh, going about doing whatever we wanted as a form of his judgment that occurs here on earth.

Jonathan Jonathan Edwards would say, There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of God.

That the reason that that that God did not, at any moment that you were walking away from him as you were straying a wretch walking in on righteousness, the reason that at any moment God did not just judge you in your sin at that moment and and and give you what you deserve because of the wage of your sin is simply out of his good pleasure.

And the reason that God did not, as he did in Genesis chapter six, just keep wiping the earth out because of the wickedness and sin of that world, but instead sending his son to, while that world was still walking in sin, to die for them is merely based on his grace, mercy, and good pleasure.

But we know as we go and throughout life, as we continue to read in this passage, anybody that would stop there at that moment and and and stop reading and go, oh man, well, if someone's still not making sacrifice, if they I haven't been sprinkled with any kind of blood, then what happens?

Because uh I don't I don't have any of this uh atonement.

I I don't I I just I haven't had any of that, and I'm a sinner.

What do I do?

And the moment that a sinner recognizes what must I do to be saved, the good news is that in steps Jesus.

We go back to Hebrews chapter 9, verse 23.

Hebrews 9:23

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy place every year with the blood not his own.

For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

This is what Jesus has done.

Entered into that holy place as a greater high priest than the high priest of the day, to go and make that once and for all sacrifice with his own blood that is righteous, that is pure, to make purification that is not just once a year or however it is needed.

It is once and for all to pure give purification for every single person that would put their faith in Christ Jesus.

And he did that once and for all.

You don't have to keep crucifying Jesus in your own life thinking that you need more atonement for sin because you continue to struggle with sin.

The foot at the cross is level and the blood on the cross is sufficient to cover you in your sin.

Past, present, and future.

You cannot outsin the cross of Christ.

It is impossible.

Because a greater sacrifice went through a more perfect holy tent and stood in the presence of God as the sacrifice and atonement for sin for all who would put their faith in him, and through his sacrifice and by his blood, you have been pardoned for sin, you have been justified before the Lord, and you have been given the status as a child of God, with the benefits of being a child of God being that you get to dwell in the presence of the Lord for all of eternity.

The third thing that I want us to see tonight is because he has died once and for all, once for all, then we look to his second advent with anticipation.

This is why those worship songs call us back to that reality, and it's almost always at the end of the song, if you notice it.

I want you to think of those songs that you sing.

Think of Amazing Grace.

What's the last verse of Amazing Grace?

When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we have no less days to sing God's grace than when we first begun.

Do you know why it's at the end of the song?

Because that's the last thing the songwriter wants you to think about.

Think about what he has purchased for us and think about what we look towards.

Think about what God has provided for you in Christ Jesus.

Not only strength for today, but bright hope for tomorrow is what the hymn writer says, and great is thy faithfulness.

And that bright hope for tomorrow is not just the immediate tomorrow, it is the ultimate tomorrow.

Because you and I that tonight could put our heads on the pillow and not wake up.

And you know what?

Praise be to God.

I was mowing the yard the other day.

And you know, everybody finds ourselves in these seasons.

We we can talk, we're friends.

Um, everybody finds their help in the seasons, but you know, like Mr.

Mr.

Sid sitting there goes, Yep, amen.

I'm ready.

I'm ready.

I'm I'm just 33 and I'm ready.

I I want to see the Lord.

Like I want to stand in his presence.

I want to worship him for all of eternity.

I I just I want to be with the Lord.

That is where I want to be.

I the older I get, the more I understand how Paul could say what he said when he said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

For me to live, if as long as I'm here, I'm gonna keep working because that's what the Lord has me do.

But to be with him is far better than anything that I that I could experience here.

It's it's it's ultimately what my soul desires.

The moment that someone comes to faith in Christ Jesus, there is a dual reality.

The first one is that uh the Lord has satisfied my heart here, he has saved me, and my desire is to live for him.

But but the the other reality is my excitement and anticipation when my living for him is finally then transformed into my seeing him for eternity.

Paul, Paul says in Romans chapter 8, for this promise that we we wait with patience.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He he says, For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to fidelity, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in a hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only creation, we ourselves who have the first fruit of the Spirit grown inwardly as we eagerly wait for adoptions as adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved.

Now, hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes and what he sees, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We might be confused here and say, what do you mean this this adoption?

I thought when the Lord died for us and gave us salvation, uh that we had been adopted in his family.

You're right, we had been adoption, but but but but the as we know here, the culmination of adoption is actually getting to be with your parents.

I had a mentor of mine who adopted uh two boys from Haiti, and those boys, um, when they first were born were given to them in adoption, and it took four years um for them to work out through all of those papers.

And so while he would say, I have sons in Haiti, he would say, but but I can't wait for the day where where I get to actually um call them my sons as they're with me.

There's coming a day where the adoption that the that Christ Jesus has purchased for us will be complete, and the completion of that adoption is when all of his children get to be with him, and he comes and grabs all of his children to go and spend eternity with him in glory.

Christ's first advent was to come and bring a new way, or to come and bring a way of salvation to the world.

That's what he tells Nicodemus in John 3, 16 and 17.

For God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What's verse 17 say?

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

That is the theme of Jesus' first advent, to come and provide a way of salvation.

But the theme of his second advent is to come and claim his bride.

To come and bring his children to be with him.

One commentator put it this way: Christ came from heaven to earth to die for our sins once for all.

Then he went back to heaven to represent us before God.

But our third hope is that he is going to return again to bring us home.

My children for Christmas last year got a little ATV, uh, not an actual ATV, but a little remote control one.

And um when when Shelby lets them know that I'm on my way home, um, they they start frantically putting shoes on and getting ready.

And uh they'll go out and they'll jump in the ATV and they'll unhook it for me being charged, and they will drive from the house down to the driveway and they'll stop at the tree that's right before the driveway.

And that is where they will sit until I come home.

And they'll be down there and they'll be working and/or the playing.

Everett, I say working, Everett will be pulling weeds or doing what throwing, throwing rocks or whatever, what little boys do, and Kennedy will just kind of be looking for flowers or whatever.

But every few moments, uh, they'll just peek down the driveway.

They don't see me coming.

Okay, so then they'll go back to work and they're doing whatever, and then they'll peek down the driveway.

And then the moment that my truck pulls around to where they can see it's frantic to get back in the ATV, and then I follow them to the house, which is filled with a lot of, you know, turning back and looking and waving, and then you know, going that way.

It's a cute picture.

The child of God does the same thing.

We eagerly wait for the second coming of the Lord, and we prepare ourselves and work to that end for the day that the Lord either splits the sky and calls us home, or or calls us home through death to come and be with him.

We look to his coming with eagerness, we look to his coming knowing that this world is not our home.

That is why this hope that we have of eternal glory with the Lord should then determine how we live our lives, to not be like the rich fool who has money and says, Well, I just need a bigger, bigger barn and build more things and do all these things, but but to to use our time wisely to be rich in godliness so that we we are constantly focusing on eternal things.

As Paul would say in um Colossians chapter 3, if you are in Christ, set your hope on the things that are above, things that are with Christ.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

So we don't look at this world around us like our home.

We don't recognize that the things here are gonna have any in any internal impact on us.

And I'll say this plainly: it doesn't matter who's mayor, it doesn't matter who's governor, and it doesn't matter who's president.

Because this earth is not our home.

Now, are we still supposed to call to be salt and light to the world?

Absolutely.

And so does that influence how we how we look at politics, how we look at different things?

Absolutely.

But does that also remind us that it is not the end-all-be-all to what our life is about?

Absolutely.

We look to his coming knowing that this world is not our home.

We look to his coming knowing that there is work to be done.

His bride is getting ready for her bridegroom to come.

And as a child of God, as a part of the bride, we are preparing ourselves for that coming.

And that whole process is sanctification.

We are going through a purification process of the Lord making us more like Jesus so that when I stand before the Lord, uh I can stand before Him saying, Lord, I have sought to honor you, to worship you, and allow you to make me as much like Jesus as possible.

To delay sanctification, or to say, I'll I'll I want to read my Bible more, but you know, when I get older in life, when I get to this age, then I then I'll, you know, I won't be as busy, and then I can really make time to grow in in the Lord.

That's a life that doesn't that does not understand that tomorrow is not promised, and a life that doesn't understand when Jesus says, You will neither know the day nor the hour.

But in the blink of an eye, He could return.

So we we have work to do.

Work to do for the Lord to do in your life to make you more like Jesus, and you have work to do, and that is to tell other people that He is coming again, and that there is judgment for sin that will come one day if you have not put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ.

The one of the biggest motivations of evangelism is knowing that the day of the Lord is coming.

It is knowing that when he comes again, judgment will happen in that moment.

So we have work to do.

If I can be a little cheeky, that work is not trying to determine when he's coming.

That work is just making sure that I'm ready for the day that it happens.

When we long for his coming, or I'm sorry, we long for his coming because we long to be with him.

We long to be with him.

There's an old hymn that that while I was on that mowing the yard that day, just longing to be with the Lord, wanting to be there.

I think of this song every time I have those moments.

Precious Lord, take my hand.

Lead me on, let me stand.

Why?

I'm tired, I'm weak, and I'm worn.

Through the storm and through the night, lead me on to the light.

Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.

The beauty of the gospel is that He has provided us hope for today and a hope for eternity.

And that hope is what strengthens us, gives us perseverance, and refocuses our heart and our lives to continue to live for him, knowing that his sacrifice is sufficient to pay for my sin, and his sacrifice is sufficient to bestow upon me an inheritance that I cannot wait to be the beneficiary of.

And that is to be with the Lord.

As the writer said, there the will isn't transferred, and there's no inheritance given if there wasn't death, but we know his death has given us that inheritance, and we just wait for the day where that inheritance now applies to us.

We can stand before the Lord, covered in the righteousness of Christ, ready to be with the Lord for all of eternity.

Because of what Jesus has done once for all, we anticipate with joy his second advent and we work eagerly and earnestly looking towards that day when he does come again.

Let's pray.