God‘s Rest is Available to You - Part 2

1 (3m 26s): We worship you. Jesus. We thank you that we will praise your name forever and we praise your name today. 2 (11m 33s): Gotcha. Thank you. That's your name is powerful Lord and yeah, we invite your powerful name to move in our midst, Lord, God, you've already begun and we just pray that that would continue. God. I pray that there were where, where there is a disconnect between us and you corporately or individually, Lord God that there would be in Jesus name. I pray God that we would connect to you in a fresh and powerful way where we need to repent of our sins. I pray that we would repent of our sins, God, where we need to acknowledge that we have separated God, that we would acknowledge that and draw close to you. God, that we would allow your spirit to dwell in us on hindered God that we would be convicted of sin and of righteousness, God of your presence, Lord God, that we would honor you all the days of our lives. 2 (12m 25s): God, that we would dwell in you and that you would dwell in us. God, thank you that you do inhabit the praises of your people. I pray that we would always be a people who worship you in spirit and in truth, God, that we would be available to you 24 7, God, that we would be humbled before you grateful for you. God, that we would always understand who you are and who we are in light of your grace in our lives. Lord DOD. So God keep us humble. Keep us filled with the love of God, the grace of God, the compassion of God, or give us, give us the desire to love people in our community. 2 (13m 5s): To love you wholeheartedly, Lord, God, God, we just invite your presence all over this campus Lord. And for whoever's watching online, God, we pray God that you would download grace and truth and supernatural power to us. God that we would be different as a result of this gathering, this corporate gathering of worship today, God, that we would be impossible for us to leave the same, but that there would be change and transformation in our lives because we've gathered, we've prayed together. We've worshiped together. We've looked at the word and studied the word together. We declared that we will submit ourselves to your spirit and your word, Lord God. 2 (13m 47s): So God to change me, change us, transform us where we need to be transformed. Lord God, be glorified in this process. We pray. Thank you for what you're doing. We love you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. You may be seated. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter five today. Hebrews chapter five. We'll be looking at the last part of Hebrews chapter four as well. Thank you, Amanda. And so we'll be in a couple of different chapters looking again at the last few verses of chapter four, but then unpacking all of Hebrews chapter five. So if you have a Bible and you would like to turn in your Bible to those chapters, that would be great if you don't and they're going to be up on the screen. 2 (14m 29s): So, so that's going to be really good. I'm excited about what God wants to do today. I was up around my property, walking and praying this morning. And as I was praying and walking, I came upon this, all of this debris up on the highway. We live on highway one up on, on the Mason and our house is down about 150, 200 yards off of highway one. And I, as I walked up to the highway, she's me not how be one, but Willow. As I walked up to Willow, I noticed all of this debris everywhere and I was up there to pray, but I see all of this debris. So it's like somebody took a newspaper and just chucked it out the window. And it just went everywhere as well as a bunch of other trash and I'm OCD. 2 (15m 11s): So anytime I see trash, I got to stop and pick it up. I don't like trash. And so I stopped to pick it up and I was reflecting on the trash. I was like, why, who would do this? Why, why throw your trash out on the road on somebody else's property? Who does that? You know? So I was just kind of, kind of frustrated in my soul. And I thought, you know, if I just spend a moment and clean it up, it will all be good. You know? So I took about five, 10 minutes or so, and just gathered up all the trash. I'm having to crawl under the trees on my hands and knees to get the trash from underneath the trees. And, but once I got it all cleaned up, I was able to look at it and I just, I found myself resting again. There was something, something about that trash that was interrupting my ability to pray and my ability to rest in the Lord. 2 (15m 57s): I thought there's a parallel here. I think we allow trash into our lives. Either people put trash into our lives or we bring trash into our lives, but somehow we get trashed in our lives and it interrupts our rest in the Lord. It interrupts our ability to press in as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that trash hinders us. And I got this clarity, this kind of revelation that if we'll just take the time, whether it's trash, somebody else has trashed our life with or trash that we have trashed our own lives with. If we will just deal with it. I think we have a disconnect in our walk with Jesus because of trash residue that we've allowed presence in our lives. 2 (16m 46s): Why don't we just clean it up? Why don't we just clean it up? How do we clean it up? If it's like trash baggage in our lives? Well, I find cleaning up means for me, extending grace to somebody who's trash, my life, choosing to love, choosing to extend compassion. And as soon as I begin to actually do what Jesus would do, as soon as I begin to act like Jesus would act and do what Jesus would do and speak like Jesus would speak all of a sudden, there's just the rest of God. 2 (17m 26s): The peace of God, the joy of God, it just, it just settles in me. And all of a sudden I've got clarity, any kind of anger or disappointment or disillusion. It just begins to dissipate and wonderful and profound things happen, but we have to be pro we have to be proactive. And so we have to identify, we have to be OCD about it. So it got, I don't, I'm not allowing this trash in my life. I'm getting rid of it. I'm going to clean it up. I'm going to confess it. I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to get it out in the open. I'm going to throw it away. I'm going to eliminate it from my life. We're talking about rest again this week, last week we said, God's rest is available to us. 2 (18m 9s): But even as I say that again, this week, it's just, it's such good news for us, especially in light of just this crazy holiday season that we find ourselves in it's December, it's almost Christmas again. And here we are, our trees are up. We did the live nativity. We did the, you know, Christmas tree lighting out front. It's been crazy. Lots of things happening every weekend and all throughout the weeks as we get ready to celebrate December 25th, the birth of Christ. And to remember that in the midst of all the chaos, the rest of God, the peace of God is available to us. 2 (18m 50s): How did you do this week? How did we do this week? Reflecting on the message last week, trying to apply it to our lives. How do we do? I did okay. There were moments where I forgot all about the rest. I forgot that it was even available. I forgot that I even needed it. I was just, I found myself uptight at different points. And, and then when I would return to the truth about who God is, that rest would just settle back on me and settle back in me. And it's, it's, it's, it's this supernatural work of the spirit that God wants to accomplish within us. It's really pretty profound. 2 (19m 31s): We've been waiting for six months, you know, kind of doing a ton of work over at 1 0 2 and trying to get a permit. And as I mentioned, I think I mentioned last week that we got the permit and that was like a huge load off, you know, and all through that process. I just had to keep going back to Lord and say, Lord, okay, you know the timing we're just going to trust you. And then when it happens, we're like, okay, thank you, Lord. We trust your timing. And then we had, we were able to call for an inspection. So when you get your permits, you gotta get to start getting a project inspected. So we had done plumbing and electrical and HVAC and Firespring all this different stuff. And so we needed to call for an inspection so that we could continue with the project can continue with the project until you get the sign off. 2 (20m 15s): So we had the inspection this week and Tuesday, we got the building signed off and they said, Hey, you can start insulating. And then you can start dry walling. And then you can start wrapping this thing up. And so there was such a joy. Yeah. There were such joy, such, such gratitude at, at God's goodness. You know, we get uptight about his timing, but as soon as he shows up and does in his timing, what he intended to do all along, well, we just were reminded God's he's not done here. 2 (20m 56s): He's not forgotten about us. He's not left us alone. He's got a plan that is unfolding. And so we need as Christians to stay in that place of rest when we don't understand his timing. And now we've got a few months ahead of us still, and I'm sure we're going to be back in this place where like Lord, what's going on and we're going to have to be reminded that God is still on the throne. And when it's right, we'll open the doors over at 1 0 2 and we'll begin to have church services. But in the meantime, we've had a couple of prayer meetings there. Oh goodness. And that place just got covered with black ink verses of scripture all over the walls. 2 (21m 37s): They're all covered up now, mostly. But man promises from the word promises from God that we're holding onto and recording on the walls of that building. We, we wrote names of people. I bet you there's hundreds of names of people that we've recorded in their names, that people, that people, that we're praying for, that God would touch them. They would experience the salvation of God, the rest of God, the peace of God, he, the healing of God. And so there's literally hundreds and hundreds of names that we've recorded there. And there's going to be another opportunity. We're going to open things up again. Soon. We we've had two prayer meetings and a lot of you have been there. We're going to do it again. 2 (22m 17s): And you're going to have an opportunity and you can stop by anytime during the week and just write names on wood. Don't write it on the dry wall, write it on the word, right? Write it on the wood. And it'll be there forever and ever. And, and just we'll, we'll just watch what God does. There's there's rest for the people of God. When we trust his timing, his plan, his purposes, and his provision. Last week, we talked about God's rest this week. We're talking about God's rest is again, what is the rest that we're talking about? 2 (23m 0s): Well, there's a temporal rest. Then there's the eternal rest. The temporal rest is for the here and now, like right in this moment. So if you're stressed out, anxious, angry, frustrated, resentful, God's rest is available to just scrub all of that stuff from your lives. I shared this story a couple months ago about the letter that I wrote to my dad forgiving him of a lifetime of disappointment. And I shared that when I wrote that letter and forgave, my dad, my soul was scrubbed. 2 (23m 43s): This is, this is the work of God that he wants do in our lives on a regular basis. But we've got to, we got to get rid of the rubbish. We gotta get rid of the trash. We have to address it, deal with it. Extend grace, ask for forgiveness and move forward in the grace and the goodness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So that we can experience the temporal rest. That leads to the eternal rest of the living. God temporal rest means peace in the midst of the storm. It means faith instead of fear, trust instead of anxiety, joy, instead of worry, I shared these last week. 2 (24m 26s): And as I was getting ready to prepare the message for this week, I re-read this. And I thought we got to say it again. We forget. We got to remind, we got to say it again because I need to reminding, we need reminding about this temporal rest in what that means to us, temporal rest trust. God's his faithfulness, his provision, his love, his goodness, temporal Rast, trust the living God eternal rest, man, what is waiting for us? We get a taste of it here in the here and now. And we're meant to get a taste of it in the here and now we're meant to live in that rest in the here and now, but it takes us to this eternal rest, which means no more pain or sorrow sin or temptation sickness or death darkness. 2 (25m 12s): There will no longer be a curse on anything, but the grace of God rests on everything. Eternal rest means we will see Jesus face to face and we'll be in his presence forever more. So last week we said, this is how you get there. This is how you experience the rest of God. God's rest is available to you by faith. God's rest is available to you through obedience and God's rest is available to the tender hearted faith, obedience. And tenderheartedness that kind of leads us into the law. We're going to kind of relook at Hebrews chapter four, the last few verses verses 14 through 16. 2 (25m 55s): Then we're going to get into Hebrews chapter five and unpack the rest of that. And we're going to look at five points today that help us to understand how the rest of God is available to us. So let's reread Hebrews four 14 through 16. It says. So then since we have a great high priest who has entered heaven, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. Number one, God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is victorious. The scripture says that we have this great high priest who entered having, how did he enter heaven? Why was he able to reenter heaven? 2 (26m 35s): Why? Because he had finished victoriously the work that God sent him to the earth to accomplish. He secured salvation for mankind. He entered heaven. Victoriously Jesus entered heaven. After completing the work he was sent to do securing salvation, he won the victory over sin and death for his people. So because of the victory of our great high priest, Jesus, the Lord, the rest of God is available to us. The Bible says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus. Why? Because our sins are forgiven. And so the condemnation that goes to the, that settles on the unrepentant. 2 (27m 17s): Isn't for the believer, for those of us who have confessed our need for Jesus who have repented of our sins and who have drawn close to the Lord. So we have this incredible rest. Even when we mess up, we say, Lord, forgive me for that misstep for whatever it was and washed a fresh over me with your grace. And then as we allow, God's grace to wash over us. And at times when we need to forgive ourselves, sometimes it's harder for us to forgive ourselves and forgotten to forgive us. And so when we forgive ourselves and we allow God to forgive us, the rest of God, the peace of God, just settles on us. Jesus won the victory over sin and death for his people. 2 (28m 0s): What exactly does that mean? Let's take a look at first Corinthians 1554 through 58. The apostle Paul explains to us what this means since then, verse 54, first Corinthians 15. Then when our, our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies, that will never die in that sound good. This scripture will be fulfilled. And then there's a quote from Isaiah 25 verse eight. It says death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death. Where is your victory? Oh, death. Where is your sting for sin? 2 (28m 41s): Is the sting that results in death and the law gives sin its power. But thank God. He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. It means we get victory over sin. Doesn't mean we're not going to send any longer, but we'll send less and less and less as the sanctification process of the living. God at work in our lives takes place. As we trust to trust the Lord, as we yield to God, we sin less and less because we want to become more and more like the living God and we are becoming more in that sanctification process. We are becoming more and more like the living God. 2 (29m 22s): So my dear brothers and sisters verse 58, be strong and IM moveable. So we're studying Hebrews and the writer of Hebrews is speaking to a people who are not being strong, but they're being wishy-washy, they're second guessing their commitment to Christ. And maybe you're here today. And you've second guessed your commitment to Christ. You're not sure you're wishy-washy you're you're, you're, you're kind of, you're kind of in limbo a little bit. Maybe you're feeling a little lukewarm. You're not on fire for Jesus, but you're not obstinate toward him. You just don't know what to do. This truth in the scripture, in the Hebrews and in Corinthians is a reminder to us to stand firm, to be strong in the power of his might and be IM movable, always work enthusiastically for the Lord verse. 2 (30m 10s): The verse continues for you now that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. Jesus was victorious for us. He's given us new life, a brand new purpose. He's given us eternity to enjoy him. He has been victorious on our behalf. He has given us victory over sin and death. So we don't have to be slaves to sin. We don't have to be fearful about death because we just graduate from this broken down sick body that we encounter that we inhabit. And we graduate into a, a body, a, an eternal body that is no longer sick. 2 (30m 54s): I was talking with a gal last week after church and she said, I've got Ms. I had no idea she had Ms. But she been battling Ms for a long time. Now I talked to so many people or I got a text this morning from somebody who said, Hey, Mike, I woke up in my, I can't walk my hips out. I'm going to be watching church from home. I'm like, man, I can't wait until these bodies get swallowed up in victory. Right? Like I I'm so over him. Right. You know, even in our healthiest, I'm just, we're just over it. We're like, Hey, can we exchange, you know, trade up. Let's do that. But that would be good. Jesus' victory makes that great exchange possible that we, we trade up and we get glorious bodies moving forward in the new and the next life. 2 (31m 37s): And Hebrews four 14, the writer encourages his readers to hold firmly to what they believe. I think it's always so important for us to go back and be reminded. What is it that I believe what captured my attention when I first gave my life to Jesus, why did I give my life to Jesus in the first place? So that life can get hard, right? Challenging. We run into all kinds of problems, physically, relationally, spiritually, all kinds of problems. And sometimes we just need to revisit this where the writer is saying to the Hebrew people revisits. Remember what it is that you believe about Jesus. So what do they believe about Jesus? What is it that we in this 21st century world that we live in, what do we believe about Jesus? 2 (32m 21s): What we believe that Jesus died for our sins and praise God for that. And we can never get, we can never distance ourselves from that need, from that desperate need for the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Maybe we have a less of a need possibly than we did then, but we're still desperately in need because the Bible says, if we break one law, we're guilty of breaking all the law. So we're desperately in need of the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus, that he was the Messiah. They were willing to go against their, their, their Judaism, their Judaism, their beliefs. As Judy, as, as, as Jews, they, they, they were willing to go against their religious teachers and their families to decide and proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah. 2 (33m 9s): They took a big hit in their culture by believing and choosing and proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah. We've done the same thing we've said. I believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living, God, that he's the savior of the world that he was sent by God. They believe that. And we believe that we find rest in the Lord. When we continue to hold firmly to what we believe, we lose that rest in that peace and that joy. When we begin to waffle and doubt and question and move away from those foundational essential trues that brought us to Christ in the first place God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is victorious. 2 (33m 52s): Number one, number two, God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is compassionate. Oh, that's good news for us. Isn't it? He is compassionate. How many need some compassion from the Lord? Like we need it. We always need it right back to Hebrews chapter four, verses 15 and 16. It says that this high priest of ours understands our weaknesses for he faced all of the same testings we do yet. He did not sin. He has compassion because he knows exactly what we're dealing with in this life. So let us come. Boldly verse 16 says, let us come boldly to the throne, to the throne of our gracious God in there, we will receive mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. 2 (34m 40s): So it's when we need it. Most that often we're pulling back from God. Like when we need his grace and mercy, the most were, we find it difficult to press into him. But when you're needing it, the very most, that's when you need to press in the very most pressing into the grace and the mercy of the Lord at Jesus Christ. The Lord is compassionate and merciful. Slow to get angry and fill with unfailing. Love. The Psalm says the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Slow to get angry and fill with unfailing love and his earthly life in ministry. Jesus was a man of compassion and we can look at our own lives and see where God has been. 2 (35m 25s): So compassionate, gracious, kind, loving patient with us. His compassion it's incredibly broad and effective in lives, but we see it in his whole earthly life ministry. He, he, he demonstrated compassion. He modeled compassion so that his followers then and now, so that we can see how he lived in reality with others. He had compassion on the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. While everybody around her wanted to see her pay for her sin. Casting stones at her Jesus had compassion for her. 2 (36m 8s): He showed compassion to the hungry, the sick, the needy, the sinful. This is what compassion is. Compassion is the deep awareness of the suffering of another accompanied by the wish to relieve it deep awareness and the desire to relieve it. Somehow I was talking with a guy this week, a guy from the community, and we were just right over here behind 1 0 2. And I was talking to him, I've gotten to know him a little bit. And I said, Hey, how are you doing? What's going on in your life? He said, you know, my, my life is getting worse by the day. 2 (36m 50s): It's like, it goes, it's going from bad to worse every single day. And he explained to me about his marriage and about his, his business and about his relationship with his kids and just how his whole world is falling apart. I said, man, God, God wants to and help you. And to restore you. And it wasn't like this preachy thing, but I was just like with such compassion. I was like, man, there's, there's hope. It's like somebody walking around in the darkness and you you're able to turn on a light for them and say, man, there's actually help. And, and a hope that's available to you. And I, I asked him, I said, what is, where are you at spiritually? What do you believe about God? He said, well, I used to go to church. And he mentioned a Christian Church in town. 2 (37m 32s): And he said, I used to go. But about six years ago, I stopped going. And I, I just have been kind of falling away. I said, man, if you, if you choose to just invite Jesus back into your life, I didn't know what it will look like, but he will begin to restore. He will reconcile. He will heal. He will we'll move powerfully and profoundly in your life. If you'll just avail yourself to him, just invite him back into your circumstance. Just watch, just watch what he will do. I say, Hey, I said, can I pray for you? He said, oh, sure, sure. You know, I've, I've found that if you will just ask, most people, let you pray for them. 2 (38m 12s): I was talking to a guy after service this morning and he was at a restaurant and he talked to me about all the people that he had just been praying for at the restaurant. He saw somebody who was taking, I pray for you and you pray for them. Everybody says, yes, everybody wants prayer. And so he prayed for them and they would just be encouraged and built up and, and whatever. And so I prayed for this guy out here and, and I just prayed. My hearts sometimes were maybe nervous with some praying, maybe for someone who doesn't know Jesus or his backslidden, or I just pray with them. Like, they're a believer like a brother. I just pray. Like they're all in, you know? 2 (38m 53s): And I just invite God to do whatever that is that he wants to do in their lives. And I just take my Liberty because they said yes, and, and God's got great stuff in store for him. So I just began to pray. And after we prayed, he said, oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate you. And so I just encouraged him afterwards. I said, man, God's got purpose and plan. He, the world needs the rest of God. The compassion of God. And we, as followers of Jesus were where Jesus was skin on. And we get to go out and reach people and love people, communicating grace and truth. And just, and when we get to watch what God will do, and we just humbly make ourselves available. 2 (39m 36s): Compassion is the deep awareness. Maybe you're struggling with compassion. Maybe you got jaded hard or whatever. Just ask the Lord to change your mind about that. He will change your mind. He will soften you up and he will give you compassion for people who are perfect strangers for people in your family, God will just begin to change your hearts. Jesus had compassion on the woman with the issue of blood. She just reached in the crowds and, and, and touched the hem of his garment and healing power went out and who, who, who touched me? He said, and the woman identified herself. And he blessed her. 2 (40m 16s): The lay man at the pool of Bethesda was healed because Jesus had compassion. Jesus resurrected, a widow woman's son and Lazarus at the fed, the multitudes all because he was compassionate, loving, and gracious. What is Jesus done for you? Where is Jesus being compassionate in your life? Maybe we need to revisit that truth. Revisit that revelation, that those memories of things that God has done, because in remembering that we will, we will well up with compassion. We'll well up with gratitude. We'll say thank you, Lord, for the ways in which you've been compassionate to me, Lord, help me to be compassionate with others. He's been compassionate and that he has forgiven you and he's forgiven me and he continues to forgive you. 2 (41m 0s): And he continues to forgive me. He's been compassionate and that he's constantly kind, he's loving and patient he's been compassionate and that he speaks the truth to us in love. So we might be arrested with that truth. Confess our sins, turn away from iniquity, sin, whatever it is. That's, that's a polluting our lives. See he out of his great compassion. He will speak the truth in love. Somebody said after first service, as I teach through Hebrews, he said, he said, I think Hebrews is more of a sermon than a letter. It's like that writer is preaching to these people. As I preach a Sunday morning to you, I it's, it's, it's a message that redeems and rescues and salvage is and, and speaks life in grace. 2 (41m 50s): It's meant to be in Jesus' name. What is Jesus done for you? You need Jesus to do right now. And you're in this moment. And what do you need him to do? Where do you need the compassion of God? Just invite him. Like I invited my friend to invite Jesus in. I'm inviting you to invite Jesus in. Maybe you're feeling distant, disconnected from the Lord. Don't you don't have to. Maybe there's some rubbish, some trash. She just needs to be dealt with confess. Forgive, let go, and watch what the Lord will do to restore the rest of God, to you. 2 (42m 33s): God, God wants to do something and he wants to do it today. And this was the reason for my prayer. I believe that God wants to address some of the stuff in our lives today. I don't wait for a new year's resolution. Don't wait for another day to make your decision to settle some stuff. Let's allow God to do what he wants to do in our lives. Now let's be ready and humble and teachable today and now, and just watch what God will do. You will, you will be changed. 2 (43m 14s): You will have this rest that we've been talking about. You will experience the grace of the living. God, the compassion of God God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is compassionate. Let's jump into Hebrews chapter five. We've got a few minutes to get through the rest of this message. Every high priest, Hebrews five one says this. Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sin. So number three, God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is our mediator. 2 (43m 57s): Another word for mediator is interceptor. He mediates on our behalf. He he's the go-between between us and the father. He made that inner, that, that mediation possible by the shed blood that he offered on the cross because he died for us. We have become, we've had righteousness imputed to us. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And so we've had access granted to us, to the father of Jesus. And now Jesus continually makes intercession for us. He intercedes for us. 2 (44m 38s): He's still connected to us, committed to us and he understands intimately. What we need first Timothy two five says for there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity. The man Christ Jesus. We need that reconciliation work at salvation and all through the sanctification process. We need that reconciling work where by we come by faith through the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ into this relationship with God. And we stay there because of that reconciliation work, that ongoing work it's once and for all. 2 (45m 19s): And then continual it's it's it's you're saved once and for all. And then we're continually by God's grace reconciled by the, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has been big Torian. He's compassionate. And he continues to reconcile. He's reconciled to a reconciled us to the father. He he's involved in the, in the process. Ongoing is my point. He did it once and he continues to do it. He loved us then, and he continues to love us. Now he loved us then, and he will love us for all eternity. He is connected to us. He is our forever eternal mediator between us and the father. 2 (45m 59s): Speaking of earthly priests. Now see, we're seeing in comparison and in Hebrews five, a comparison between our great high priest, who is Jesus Christ, the Lord, and now in earthly priests, we're seeing the difference. Remember the writer's writing to Hebrews who understood Judaism. They understood the priesthood. And so he's making a connection between the earthly priesthood and the eternal priesthood of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And he is able to deal speaking of earthly priests, verse two, Hebrews five, and he's able to deal gently with ignorant and Weyburn people because he himself is subject to the same weakness. That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as theirs. 2 (46m 41s): So we see the difference between the earthly priests and the eternal king of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ. The great high priest is that he is sinless. Number four, God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is sinless. So he understands what we've been through and is endured the testing and temptations that we have. And yet he is been sinless. He is sinless. He's victorious over sin. And in Christ, we have the ability to be victorious over sin. And we'll get to a couple of verses that, speak to that here in just a moment. But Peter number, Peter, Jesus, I'll never leave. You. I'll never deny you a Peter. Actually tonight before the cockroach, you're going to die three times. 2 (47m 21s): As you know me, Peter said this about Jesus. Peter knew Jesus well, intimately. And this is what he said. Peter said, Jesus never said he never said nor ever deceived anyone. Jesus was pure through and through no matter what the world threw at him, he was pure. He was sinless through in, through Paul wrote in second Corinthians five for God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sins so that we could be made right with God through Christ. First John three, five and six says, and you know that Jesus came to take away our sins and there is no sin in him. 2 (48m 4s): And I love verse six. It says in anyone who continues to live in him will not sin or continue to sin. Not that we will be sinless, but we will send less and less. Why? Because we're in Christ. If we abide in him and he abides in us, we will bear much fruit. Our lives will be fruitful. We'll become more and more like Jesus, less and less. Like our old man will be sanctified more and more will become more like Jesus sitting less and less. But it says, but anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. So if we're in a lifestyle of sin, maybe we don't even know him or understand who he is, what he came to do for us. 2 (48m 50s): What he came to complish he came as the sinless lamb of God to take away the sins of the world to offer us salvation in Christ so that we might not just have fire insurance that we avoid hell, but that we enter into relationship for now. And for all eternity with him and where our lives are just being transformed, where we're like, man, I don't even want to do the stuff that I used to do. It's not immediate. I just, I don't want it. It's not in me to want it. That's that's transforming. I see that happen all the time in people's lives are like, I don't even want my, what I'd used to do. It's not appealing. There's nothing about it. That's appealing anymore. 2 (49m 30s): That's the transformational process that God wants to bring us through verse four and no one can become a high, a great, a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work just as Aaron was now, we're seeing a comparison between Jesus and the earthly priest, the Bruce sort of Aaron. That was why Christ did not honor himself. By assuming he could become high priest. No, he was chosen by God. Who said to him, you are my son today. I become your father. Or today I reveal you as my son. There was a work that God was accomplishing in the earth for us. And in another passage, God said to him, you are a priest forever. 2 (50m 9s): In the order of milk Hassidic deck, get some milk has a deck. And chapter seven will impact that. Man, we'll get to chapter seven. Number five God's rest is available because we have a high priest who is eternal. He's not going anywhere. He's the same yesterday and forever. He's alpha and omega the beginning and the end. He is eternal while Jesus was here on earth, verse seven, it says he offered prayers and pleadings with a loud cry and tears to the one who could rescue him from death number in the garden of . And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God, even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered when he went to the cross and this way God qualified him as a perfect high priest. 2 (50m 58s): Perfect. And that he was sinless. He was a Taurus. He was compassionate. God qualified him as a perfect high priest. And he became the source of eternal salvation for all, who would all those who obey him and God designated him to be a high priest in the order of milk has a deck. So the writer of Hebrews is re-introducing revelation and truth about this Jesus, this Jesus that they chose to believe, but then he challenges them. He challenges. And I think the challenge speaks to the reason that they're waffling, that they're struggling in what they are believing in. And they're lukewarm and, and undecided verse 11 says there's much more. 2 (51m 41s): We would like to say, to say about this, but it's difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually Dole and don't seem to listen. There's a connection there. Unbelief was connected to their lack of ability to press in and grow as sons and daughters of God growing in grace and truth. You've been believers so long. Verse 12 says, now that you so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again, the basic things about God's word. You're like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. So again, this is the reason, or at least part of the reason of their way, wordiness for their waywardness in the faith. 2 (52m 28s): They just refuse to grow up and understand truth and to press in and understand what God speaks to us in his word and the pages of scripture from Genesis to revelation, they just refuse to engage into, continue to learn and grow. And they just grew stale and their connection to God and their commitment to God. And they began to get way word and, and they're they're tossed to and fro, and they can't decide. Verse 13 says for someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right. So he's saying, Hey, grow up, learn to do what is right. 2 (53m 10s): Grow up. Verse 14, solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skills you're recognize the difference between right and wrong. Often we miss the rest of God. The peace of God. We miss the blessings of God because we don't know that truth well enough so that we easily buy into lies. We believe lies that the world will throw at us, that the enemy will throw at us. A Bible says that Satan is the father of lies. So that's what he does permanently, constantly full-time as he allies to us. And if we don't know the truth, while I forgot to buy into the lies, and then we're going to get wayward in our faith, we're going to begin to doubt with the scripture, say, and we're going to get Luke warm and we're going to begin to grow distant from the Lord. 2 (53m 57s): We will never experience the rest of God in that place. So maybe you're brand new in the faith. And God's grace is on. You always be growing, always be growing. When I was first in the ministry here, full-time vocationally 22 years ago, I showed it to a pastors meeting. I'm the, like the youngest guy there. You know, I'm the youngest guy by like 20 years of that meeting. And I remember somebody said, Hey, the only cure for youth is just time. But I had to that it's time plus a commitment to maturity so we can grow older, but not real mature. 2 (54m 38s): And so the challenge from the scripture is that we would grow old and the grace of God and grow mature and the truth of God. And then all the days of our lives, we experienced that rest, that deep contentment and satisfaction that comes from trusting God, knowing God and believing God, that's what I want for me. That's what I want for us. That's what I always want for us. Moving forward as God does the good stuff that he wants to do through us in this village and in this community and in this world. Amen. Amen. Let's go and stand up and pray. And we're going to sing some more Lord as we pray. We thank you for your word. We thank you that it is more than capable to speak to us. 2 (55m 23s): Challenge us, bring us to a new level of trust in you, Lord, a new level of rest and confidence in you. I, I just want us to rest in you and that's, that's what you want. Lord. You want us to just find our rest in you. And so in the midst of the storm, we just have this confidence, this trust Lord, when things are going sideways, physically or relationally or emotionally or spiritually Lord, we just find this place of rest. So I just speak grace over every person listening, gathered in attendance, grace, or God help us to get the rubbish out of our lives so that we can arrest in you in Jesus name. 2 (56m 6s): Amen. Let's worship 0 (56m 11s): we have 1 (1h 3m 51s): We thank you, father that we get to be in your house today. We thank you for the word that was shipped. That'd be take time today to prioritize you. That'd be thinking that you love us, that we think you, that you sent your son to die for us so that we could live forever with you. God, in that we could sing glory. I got to Europe to you every single day. And so God, we love you and praise you. Thank you for being in church today. If you'd like prayer, we have an amazing prayer teams. You can make your way forward. Otherwise have a wonderful day.