Bible Study: March 10, 2021

Before we get started, I know we didn't spend much time last week going over any of the review questions or anything like that. I didn't want to rush anyone. Does anyone have any questions or comments or anything on any of that they'd like to talk to? Or we can get right into the book, whatever you want to do.

Okay, well then...

Okay, hold on. Okay, let's go over to Hebrews 12 then.

And again, just a reminder, if you have any questions or comments or thoughts that come to mind, anything you want to discuss, feel free to just interrupt me anywhere along the line. I keep my ears open. I might not keep my eyes right on all of your pictures there, but I have you all in front of me here. So if you begin talking, that'll be great. You're not interrupting anything, so as that happens. Okay, so last week, we finished with reading through the last part of Hebrews 12. And I want to go over that again just because I think it's such an inspiring section. And as we move toward the conclusion of Hebrews, it just to me just brings everything into just this perfect conclusion of what we've talked about in the book of Hebrews. Again, looking back over what we've done, the book of Hebrews has opened our eyes, I think, even more to Jesus Christ and developed an appreciation for Him. As we talked about Jesus Christ being superior to flesh, superior to the earthly ministry, superior to the earthly high priests, the new covenant being superior to the old covenant. And that God has allowed us to live in a time where we can look back over the panorama of mankind's history and see what His plan is. It really should give us a deeper appreciation of what we are doing. He wrote this book to all Christians of all New Testament ages, including those of us here in the 21st century. He's reminding us of how serious our calling is and how we need to be just mindful of it. He reminds us not to drift away. It's so tempting to be able to drift away in a world that seems to have plenty of food, plenty of things, and everything seems to be going a little bit okay, even though we're aware of all the dangers and all the pitfalls that are out there. It's easy to drift away, easy to neglect our calling, easy to coast, if you will. And He reminds us don't do that. There's a danger to that. As I often say, one of the more difficult trials we have is remaining close to God and looking to Him and developing our faith, even when times are good. We certainly live in times that look good physically, even though we have this pandemic raging around us, no matter where we live, even though there's this economic burgeoning crisis that's out there that everyone talks about, but no one seems to believe it's really going to happen. And all the world of the upset that it is. So as we come to the conclusion of chapter 12, which wraps up, you know, it's a nice conclusion to the first 12 chapters of Hebrews. I want to read through that again and just highlight a few things, because it's so encouraging. You know, as God inspires those, as we look in verse 18, I'll just read through it. I'm not going to add a whole lot of comments until we get down to verse 25 here.

He reminds us of where we are in New Covenant times and what we know that the benefits of having God's Holy Spirit, that the Old Testament congregation of Israel didn't, that no matter what walk of life we come from, when God calls us and we repent and we're baptized, we have that insight and that knowledge that He gives us.

He says, you haven't come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire and the blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of the... and the voice of words.

And the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

And of course, He's reminding us of Exodus 20, where the Israelites were gathered. You know, they're together at the Mount Sinai and they felt the power of God.

And it touched them and they feared God in the right sense of the word.

Verse 20, they couldn't endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.

So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.

You know, you and I, we see the power of God as He works in our lives and as He heals diseases and as events come about that we know can only come about as a result of God's intervention in our lives. And as He directs prophecy and as we see the world moving in the direction that we have read about in Christ's Olivet prophecy and the prophecies of the Old Testament, the New Testament, Revelation.

As we see those come about, we see God's hands. You know, at the conclusion here, He's going to say He's going to shake the earth once again. Once again, you know, as the people, the physical people of Israel back in Old Testament time, people will see His power and they will tremble and shake and we will see that power in a way that we haven't seen it. We haven't seen it yet, but that is the time that's coming.

But He reminds us in verse 22, you know, you weren't part of that physical thing, but you have come to Mount Zion into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.

God is watching over us and we understand things that the people before this age just haven't had the privilege to understand. As we have had God's Holy Spirit and access to His throne, as it reminds us in the book of Hebrews, God is there. He's there to teach us, to guide us, to help us understand. We just need to be very appreciative and use the opportunities and the access that God has given us.

We've come directly to Him and we have access to His throne. We are there. We are there, verse 23. We're part of the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn.

Just like those men in Hebrews 11, women that we read in Hebrews 11, that yielded to God and were led by Him, that they gave their lives to Him, never receiving the promises, we're part of that group.

We're in the Church of the Firstborn. And of course, that plays off of verses 17 and 18 that were above in Hebrews 12, where Esau didn't have any respect for the birthright.

And he's reminding us we should have respect for the calling that God has given us and that He's made us a part of the Church of the Firstborn, the Firstfruits.

You have come to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, who are registered in heaven.

He sees us as His children. He has our names written in the Book of Life. He will never leave us or forsake us. He reminds us, as we'll get into chapter 13, it's us who leaves Him and He reminds us, just stay close. Although I know I love you for a minute, this is someone who thank you for trying. Okay, I'm back. Okay, so, yeah, we, you know, God sees us as children. We don't want to reject. We don't want to reject the birthright He's given us, as Esau did. We want to stay close to Him and always count it important that that nothing, nothing in this life would separate us from God and from the calling He's given us. To the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, who are registered in heaven. To God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men, made perfect. And in those two words made perfect, He reminds us of what our calling is, is that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, ever growing toward perfection, ever becoming more and more like Jesus Christ as we progress through each, well, each day of our lives, each year of our lives, certainly.

To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. So He concludes that sentence with better than those things that were spoken of by Abel.

Again, reminding us what God has called us to and what He has admitted us to is something that we should never, ever, ever let shrink from our minds or memories. Verse 25 is just an interesting verse. It's one of those things that He reminds us again in a wrap-up of this book. He says, See that you don't refuse Him who speaks. And I hope we all will remember that when we hear things that we might not want to hear and, you know, and might find ourselves kind of rejecting things. We all have that nature. Still part of all of us that talks about in Romans 8-7 that, you know, we have a resistant nature. There's some things we just don't want to hear about ourselves and some things we don't want to give up. But don't ever refuse God. And He reminds us, I think, here in verse 25 of something we did talk about earlier in the book, in those spies, you know, back at the time that God brought Israel out of Egypt and He sent the spies into the Promised Land. And they rejected Him. They, you know, came back and they said, No, no, we don't want to enter that land. It's too difficult. The giants are too big. The walls are too fortified. And they simply didn't trust God, even though He said He would promise them that land and He showed them all these fantastic miracles that they lived through when they were faced with going to where God said they rejected Him. They refused Him and said, It's too hard. It's too hard. We'd rather go back to Egypt. And we know, we know what happened to that group of people who said it was too hard. God said, Fine, you know what? You will all die in the wilderness. You won't see that Promised Land. Everyone who came out of Egypt will die in the wilderness. And the same message would be for us today. You know, as we look at, as we look at between now and the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Millennium, we could look at the fortified walls. We could look at the giants in the time ahead of us and say, It's just too hard. And I want to go back to the world where things are easy and I don't have to think about these things. And we could be guilty of the same things that Israel is if we don't focus our minds on God, if we don't train our minds with the help of His Holy Spirit, really with the only way through His Holy Spirit, to focus on keeping our eyes on Him and using our time now to really hone in and developing our faith and putting our eyes on God because it will only be Him and only through Him that we will ever live through this time and over into the kingdom. None of us want to die as part of this world. None of us want to cast our lot with the world like those spies and the nation of Israel did when they said, It's just too hard. It's just too hard. We don't have enough faith in God.

Let's all determine in our minds, personally and collectively, that we will have faith in God and not refuse Him who speaks, but listen to Him. Listen to Him and keep in mind that we have to change and we have to become who He wants us to become. And that's going to be some more difficult things that we have to sacrifice and give up about ourselves if we're going to become who God wants us to become.

You know, those men and women in Hebrews 11, they were willing to give up everything. Even Abraham, who's the father of the faithful, who was even willing to give up Isaac when God asked him to. If someone, his son, that he loved more than anything in the world and he was willing to give it up, is there anything that we wouldn't be willing to give up for God? Any aspect of our personality, anything that we hold dear, or whatever it is, might be. But we have to be willing to give it up to Him, trusting in Him, you know, explicitly. So that verse, as He takes us to where we are now, see that you don't refuse Him who speaks. If they, and we can harken back to all the people of Israel, but those spies, I guess especially maybe we can look at it. If they didn't escape who refused Him, who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. You know, He gave them His words, and God speaks to us today through all the elements that we've talked about, through Jesus Christ, whose words we have in writing, and as we've been talking in Sabbath services using His words to show us the Christian way of life, and using those words to examine ourselves as to where we are as we approach Passover. Don't refuse Him who speaks us through the Bible, through the Bible studies, through the reading that we do, through the things that we hear, and even through each other as we are led and we're combined together through His Spirit. His voice, He says in verse 26, His voice then shook the earth.

And it did, back at the base of Mount Sinai. But He has promised once more, saying, yet once more, I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. And He's talking about the time yet ahead of us. When we look at the pages of Revelation, you know, we were back in the book of Revelation, and we see how Jesus Christ and the time of God's wrath, the heavenly signs will be there. It will shake heaven and earth.

And we will look for some kind of reason that these things happen. The only reason will be God is getting everyone's attention, that He does exist, that He does have power over heaven and earth. There will be those unexplainable things that happen to the earth, that happen in the heavens. God will make mankind aware of His presence, and there will be no other explanation of Him. He will shake. He will shake heaven and earth, and they will have no explanation other than God.

Even then, though, we see that they won't repent and their hearts are just that hardened against God. Verse 27, now this, yet once more, indicates that the removal of those things that are being shaken, as the things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken, may remain. Well, one of the things that cannot be shaken, you know, we can talk about, one of the things that should not be shaken is our character and our faith in God. I think we will be in awe.

We will understand the fear of God when we see those things, but we should not be shaken by those things. If we are walking with God now, if we are building our faith in Him, if we are not blinding our minds to what lies ahead, but embracing it and asking God to give us the faith and develop in us the faith and the character and the foresight and the reliance on Him and trust in Him, we'll be in awe.

But our faith won't be shaken. In fact, you know, our fear of God will be just that much more, and that will prompt us to even more respect of Him. Because indeed, the world we know is going to disappear, this physical world, when the purpose of God's plan is complete in it.

Verse 28, we'll go to 1 Peter 3 here in a bit, but verse 28, you know, in this section of Hebrews, He concludes, There's only one thing that leads us into the future, and that's Jesus Christ, God's Spirit in us. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom, notice in the process of receiving a kingdom, always growing, always in the process of it, since we're receiving a kingdom which can't be shaken, let's have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.

And that's a good place to...let's go over to 2 Peter 3, because as He talks about the end of the physical world there, and our God is a consuming fire, we know from other places in the Bible that when the purpose for physical earth is done, when God's plan for mankind is complete, and the purpose for this physical world and earth is done, it's going to be burned up.

God is a consuming fire. What will remain is the character that we, you and I, have developed, and the people, the rest of humanity, who have the opportunity to know God in the second resurrection, and develop that same faith and reliance and complete submission to Him, that they will live through eternity, but the rest who reject God, who refuses Him who speaks, who refuse to give up self and yield to Him, they'll be consumed with fire.

In 2 Peter 3, He references the same thing here in verse 10. It says, But the day of the Lord will come, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

And we can't misunderstand what that verse is telling us, what the end of this physical earth will be like. And when the day of the Lord comes, as mentioned in Revelation, and then the white throne judgment, and then the physical earth is the purpose for it is done. And the spirit mankind that will live for eternity, and the first fruits who will serve with Jesus Christ, and the rest who will serve God, you know, in what He is working with us today, that physical earth will be replaced, as we read in Revelation, with the heavenly Jerusalem, the new city that will come down where God will dwell with Him.

And as the earth will be burned up, and all the works of this earth will be done going forward, it will be God's way and only God's way. You know, the way of peace, the way of harmony, you know, the way of God, the things that you and I, you know, individually in our families and collectively as a church, are developing today.

And then the spirit goes on. As He makes this statement, verse 9, He says, it is, you know, it's happening. You and I have had the opportunity to repent. We need to come to repentance today. That doesn't mean just before baptism, but all through our lives, as we see, you know, those elements of our personalities or attitudes that need to be, and the faults that we have that need to be eliminated. And that time is coming. And He poses the question in verse 11. That's a very good introduction into the final chapter of Hebrews, and it's 13.

He says, Therefore, since all these things will, notice the word will that is throughout those verses there in 10 and 11. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, it's not a matter of if it'll be when and it'll happen when when God's plan is complete. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? And that reminds us, we know, we know, and our attention needs to be on that process of blamelessness, spiritual maturity, perfection, as is translated in the New King James, that God has us in today, you and I, all of us.

So with that in mind, let's go back to Hebrews 13, because as we go into chapter 13, we see that's exactly what the author here is reminding us of who we need to become as we believe these things and as we've been reminded of God's calling, the tremendous example, the tremendous example of Jesus Christ, the tremendous advantages that we have in God's Holy Spirit, that you and I can come before God, the Father in His throne, day and night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we can bring any problem, we can bring any question to Him. He is extremely and so devoted to us, loving us more as much as Jesus Christ we're told, as we've talked about a few times here, we're told in the Gospels, that He wants us to succeed, He wants us to be part of that, that He will be, and He will give us whatever we ask when we ask in faith, and He sees that our hearts are really dedicated to becoming who He wants us to be.

So as we move from, you know, chapter 12 into chapter 13 of Hebrews, it's a fitting conclusion to the book. He reminds us of the Old Testament, the New Testament times we live in, what's going to happen that the earth is going to resolve, and then he says, Paul, you know, would say, what manner of people should we be? Chapter 13, he gives us a treatise in Christian living and what we need to be paying attention to in our lives.

Chapter 13, verse 1, let brotherly love continue. You know, that's, that's, you know, Jesus Christ has always been consistent. What He's looking for in you and me is that we develop this agape love between us. And He says, continue. That means that from the time that we receive God's Holy Spirit, recognizing that the agape is a very first listed fruit to that spirit, we should be developing in our lives. We know from the studies that we've done, the conversations we've had, the sermons you've heard, agape is a choice.

We have to make ourselves choose to be aware of each other. We have to make ourselves become aware of what each other's needs are. We have to choose to not be like the, you know, the priest of the Levi's who would walk by someone and just say, well, someone else can take care of that. And that when we see an opportunity to serve our brother, we take that opportunity.

And that service can come in so many ways. You know, 1 John 3, it says, if anyone sees a brother who has a need of worldly things, and we have the opportunity to provide those worldly worldly things, we should do it. You know, we should do it. We shouldn't wait for someone else to do it.

But there's so many other ways that we can serve each other as well. Very simple things.

You know, simply a phone call to someone if we haven't seen them for a while, or an email to someone that we haven't seen for a while. You know, we live in a time of pandemic right now where some don't consider it safe to come back to church and for various reasons.

You know, there's people with those underlying health conditions that we hear about that are being judicious with their health. But it would be an act of service to not forget them, to realize they are still a part of the church and wouldn't hurt for us to pick up the phone or just send an email and say, hey so-and-so, we know you're out there.

You know, I mean, you have a list like I do of everyone who's on this Bible study and on the evening Bible studies. You don't see who's joining us on the webcast on YouTube, but we have a number of people. So if you see a name that you haven't seen for a while, send an email specifically. Just pick up the phone.

Even if you have a 30-second conversation, it's so good for people to just know that they're remembered and that they care. That's a very small thing that we can all do, you know, to bind together. God would look at that, and that's a part of developing that brotherly love.

Other things that we can do like that, you know, as well. We hear someone is sick, send an email. Send an email. We have congregational cards that are out each week that we sign those things, and people, it helps bind us together. Certainly the prayers that we offer for each other are an indication and help us develop that bind. So there's not just, it's not just in physically visiting someone and having to get in the car and doing that, but other ways that we can do that with all the opportunities and ways of communication that we have today. So I think it's very interesting, you know, that the very first thing listed here in chapters 13, as we go on from Hebrews and remember the perfection that God wants us to be developing, the very first thing He says is, let that brotherly love continue.

Don't let circumstances separate you. Don't let circumstances separate you. Don't let yourselves fall apart from each other. Stay there and develop that love. Verse 2, he reminds us of this. Someone on the Bible study last Wednesday night actually mentioned this as one of her favorite verses, is something that she remembers and says, don't forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels.

You know, we can read back in Old Testament times, especially when, you know, angels would just visit these people and just show up at Abraham's camp or Joshua's camp or in the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah, and you look at the hospitality of people that were there, and if they saw strangers, it would be, well, come on, spend the night with us. Have dinner with us.

Let me prepare a meal for you. Let me entertain you. Let me have that outgoing concern, you know, for you that we can demonstrate for one another. And I think in this day and age, you know, it's a good thing for us to remember. God will give us those opportunities for us to develop that brotherly love, and that it extends beyond just the people that we know, and our own little groups and our own little, you know, the word I used to hear a lot in church was cliques, and we may, you know, we may extend that to our own little cliques, our own little congregations, but, you know, we have people who we know beyond, you know, that are in the church beyond these borders, and God is looking to see how we live, you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not just how we are with each other, but what are we developing?

Are we developing that love, you know, that Jesus Christ had that enabled him to sacrifice his life for all of mankind, and not just those who would follow him? So he says, you know, remember that. Keep in mind of what you're supposed to be developing here, and you know, who knows, we may have had the opportunity somewhere in our past that to offer hospitality or just an encouraging word to someone, and God is looking to see what we can do, you know, always be practicing and remembering what he's called us to do, that we build that into our everyday lives.

Verse 3, remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. Well, there he's talking about, you know, something that we may not see as much today. He's talking, I think, as we look at that, people who may be imprisoned as Paul was in many of the disciples in the early New Testament Church just because of what they believed. You know, Paul, Paul never broke any law, but he was imprisoned simply because of what he believed. And we'll find a time ahead of us where we might find ourselves, you know, some of us, you know, we may say something and as we look at the direction of the world, you know, they may not like what we have to say about this or anything else, even though it's the Word of God, or we may be accused of, you know, whatever the world may have accused us of, and who knows when we'll be censured or even sent to prison just because we don't back off of the Word of God.

And we may see days ahead of us where there will be people, you know, maybe even some of us who are online who are in prison because of that. I hope we won't forget each other during that time. But we have some, you know, who are in prison now, not because I don't know of anyone who's in prison because of what they believe, but we may have some who are in prison who are learning the way of God and who are repentant.

And as we hear of those things and have opportunity to know that, you know, we should pray for them, and we should, you know, ask God to bring them along. But what he's talking about here is, again, the same thing is don't forget your brethren. You know, some may be hospitalized, some may be in nursing homes, some may be in care facilities where we can't see them often, some may be in prison for some reason, but don't forget them.

Take the opportunity to make them part of the body and to remember that they're part of their body. And as he says in verse 3, he says, Since you yourselves are in the body also. So he's specifically talking here about people who are part of the body and the responsibility that we have, you know, that we have to each other. Again, God is always interested is where our hearts are with him, but never forgetting those two great commandments.

You know, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and how we do that. And that's, you know, by, you know, as Jesus Christ said, do those 10 commandments spiritually and there's a lot. There's a lot of those commandments as we contemplate them and as we see them in our lives.

But the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself and what we need to be treating others the way we would want to be treated. And understanding we are part of a body that Christ continually reminds us that I, you know, that he wants us to become one with each other as we are with him.

Okay, verse four, you know, he touches on one thing that, you know, marriage is a tremendous blessing for God's people, all of us who have been in marriages. You know, it's been a tremendous blessing to be part of a marriage and have someone that we love and that we can be with, you know, throughout through life. And there's also been a testing and approving ground, you know, as everyone realizes that marriage is something you have to work at. It just doesn't happen naturally. It's not a happily ever after and everything. It's something that you have to work at and we learn a lot from marriage that studs us well in even our relationships with each other.

But he says in verse four, marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled. And you know, in that sentence he says a lot. You know, we look at the world and we have the notable Catholic Church and the notable Catholic Church, which is, I guess, the biggest of the false churches that are out there that claim to believe in Jesus Christ, yet they do so many things that are apart from Jesus Christ.

It's almost, well, it's laughable almost how many things they don't do the way Jesus Christ says, but one of them is that the priesthood should not marry and that the highest standard in life is celibacy. And so that's what the Catholic Church would say.

There are some other, you know, that say that as well. But here God says, no, marriage is honorable among all. It is an institution that he created back at Genesis 1. He created male and female, that they would become one flesh. We learn from one another. And we could, you know, we could give a whole Bible study and then some on what we learn and everything.

But, you know, it's what mankind has done with marriage over the years. And, you know, the attitudes of men toward women, women towards men, all the things that we see going on today. It's an honorable institution. God created it. Through it, he says, Godly offspring are produced for him. He tells us in Malachi 3 or 4. So it is an honorable thing. And there's also things, and of course he's dealing with sex here when he says the bed of the file, then in marriage, you know, Satan has led the world on these assumptions and sometimes it's like sex is evil, everyone should reject it, and only use it for appropriation and any other use of it outside appropriation is horrible.

And then we sweep the other pendulum where today it's like anything goes among anyone of any gender, of any sexual depravity, everything is right. So we have mankind over the course of history who has been told sex is evil and others who are told take it in any way that you want, no matter what you do is okay and whatever. So we live in awful times, but Satan has been a master and mankind has fallen prey to that. But God says sex is for the marriage institution and use it in that respect. And even among God's people, that has been, you know, a problem. There are, you know, there's no secret to anyone that some marriages in the church have been a trial for some and a test for some.

And it's a struggle. But as I say, and as Mr. Kellars, back when we lived in Nashville, I remember well a sermon he gave where he went through some marriage counseling right in the sermon and he made the comment that as long as both people are led by God's Holy Spirit to caveat there, as long as both people are led by God's Holy Spirit, as long as both people are committed to God's will and going forward, the marriage, the marriages, the marriage can be healed and people can get back on the right track.

You know, the caveat on that is both have to be willing to do it and not, you know, not have one that says I'm not changing for anything and whatever. And I don't mean to get into all that. But what he's saying there is, you know, marriage, marriage is there. It's a good opportunity for us to learn the reconciliation that we have to have with all of each other.

And just like, you know, I gave a sermon in a mirror on reconciliation a few weeks ago, and I've had, you know, some emails and calls about that about, well, the other party doesn't want to. They don't want to talk to me and they, you know, they haven't talked to me. And that's okay. You can't make people reconcile with you. You can't make them do it no more than God makes mankind reconcile with him. The door is open. And we have to keep the door open for reconciliation.

But if the other party is saying, no, I don't want to, we can't make them do it anymore that God is going to force mankind into reconciliation with him. But Jesus Christ died that mankind can be reconciled with him. And so we need to have the attitude that we are willing to reconcile that the other party says, no, I'm not changing. No, I'm not going to do it. Be at peace with that. Continue to pray about it, but let, you know, we can't make it.

And that sometimes happens as the marriage is too, that there is not reconciliation because both parties aren't willing to do what it takes to put it back together. Okay. I didn't mean to take that long on that. But in verse four, you know, he's talking about that because he's making a statement. It is of God.

And even in New Testament times, you can begin to see as Jesus Christ, you know, changed the world through what, you know, through Christianity, you can begin to see all these other religions begin to spring up. And they had all little ideas, you know, marriage is bad, some would say. Eating and drinking and being married is bad. And you'll see all these things spur up as a result of the of the example and the tremendous influence that Jesus Christ left on mankind that you didn't see, that you didn't see before.

They're still there in the world, the world today. Marriage is one of them. And in verse four, he concludes that, you know, saying by fornication and adulterers, God will judge. Marriage is honorable. Sex inside marriage is okay. That's what God ordained. But the wrong use of sex outside of marriage, God does not condone. You know, he says that very clearly in 1 Corinthians 6, says it very clearly in Revelation 21 when he says, when he specifically cites those who will not be part of his kingdom.

And of course, today, I probably don't need to say any of that to anyone that's on online today. But it's not just the physical fornication Jesus Christ reminds us of, or just the physical adultery with another person. But it can be the pornography, the internet, the misuse of the internet, everything that can be used today. That's an inappropriate use of what God has done in us. And we all need to be aware of that because the world is, the world can be a very alluring place, you know, to those.

So we have to keep ourselves aware of that, you know, even more so, I think, in the 21st century than they did back at the time of Hebrews. Hebrews and... Although thinking back to the pagan society that we know that was extant and Corinth and how they had the temple prostitutes and everything, I guess it's very similar in a way. Okay, so again, as he continues, you know, in the Christian living principles that we need to be mindful of and be practicing and building in our lives, in verse 5 he says, let your conduct be without covetousness.

You know, money, money is an attractive thing to people. You know, we, I think we touched last week in the sermon, the sermon in Orlando. I've been given that in the Jacksonville yet, but we talked on Jesus Christ, I think it's in Luke 13 where someone came to Him and said, you know, Christ might make these people that I'm having this conversation about inheritance with me, make, kind of make them see, make, make them see it my way.

And he talks about, you know, don't be, don't become, you know, don't your life isn't consistent, doesn't consist of the things, the physical things of this world. Find to have them, find to enjoy them. We should, we should enjoy the blessings that God has given us. But don't make that that priority as Jesus Christ reminds us, you can't serve God and mammon. You know, enjoy, do the hard work, enjoy the blessings God has, but, but be content with such things that He gives us. And don't let it become something that we, you know, go over into that area where, wow, I want that and I deserve that and I need that.

And, you know, that level of money we have to be, we have to be, you know, cognizant of and not allow ourselves to violate, you know, that that 10th commandment of covetousness and it's one we can all become very easily pray to if we don't, if we don't watch out. And so, you know, here in the first five verses, He, you know, He's look how much He's instructed us already, and what to do and how to live our lives.

You know, I guess, I guess it's even I'm thinking here as we look at those verses and read through them. As we're here at the time before Passover, you know, where are we personally in these, do we find ourselves, are we working toward improving in these areas. You know, don't let your conduct or let your conduct be without covetousness.

And it says, be content, right there says this, be content with such things as you have, God will provide. You know, I think all of us would be able to say, God not only provides all of our needs today, He's given us so many comforts in life that people who have lived before us, you know, what would marvel at the at the things that you and I have, we just take for granted.

Most of humanity has no idea, no idea how pleasant and how, I guess, easy our lives are. You know, most of them, they spent their lives toiling in the fields and, you know, toiling really hard to put food on the table. You and I worked today, but we had the public, so we had the Costco, or we had the Walmart, and there's the food, and we pushed a couple buttons on a stove, and it could be heated up, and we don't have to bring wood in and kindle fires and do all these things that people had to do.

That took so much of their time. We live in a tremendous, tremendous time that we should never be, you know, we should never fail to thank God for.

Be content with such things as you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

You know, it's interesting that God reminds us of that in that very verse.

There will come a time, there will come a time, and it'll be a test on all of us when the convenience and the luxuries of life that we enjoy today simply aren't going to be there in the way that we enjoy today. I was talking to someone who was over in a foreign country, one of the, as I understand, only seven foreign countries that you can visit, you know, in today's pandemic age. And they were talking about some of the things and how nice it was, and that they had a lot of conveniences, but they were mentioning some of the things that was there. It was just like, wow, that was an eye-opener, that they just lived that way every day of their life. And you come back to America and you think, that is something that we do every single day, that it's never even entered my mind. And sometimes when we have the opportunity to see how other people live, even though it's still very good, what we have in America surpasses it.

And one day when those conveniences aren't there, we'll look back and be very thankful for what we have. But we'll also be looking to God. We'll also be looking to God. So I think when Jesus Christ, you know, and God inspired that to be there, I'll never leave you or forsake you. You know, we'll remember. We'll be remembering verses like, you know, what we read in Matthew 6. Don't worry about your food. Don't worry about your ramen.

Don't worry about all those things. Have faith in me and I will provide whatever you need. You may not be able to run to Walmart. You may not be able to go to wherever to pick up clothes. But just like he said, those seven did be sent out to Loop 10.

I'll provide. I'll provide everything you need. You don't need to worry about it. I know everything you're going through and I can do it. So he tells us, enjoy what you have. Don't sacrifice your, you know, your eternal life for the pursuit of physical things. He'll provide. Have the right attitude about it. And he will always provide what we need. And he's provided so much more than we need as well. One day we'll understand those verses even more. We'll understand those verses even more. As we develop, you know, our total commitment to God and trust in Him. Okay, remember any comments or anything?

Feel free to feel free to pause. Someone mentioned that, you know, maybe you should just pause every few minutes and just let people think. And I can certainly do that because we go through an awfully lot in these verses, but I'll continue here. But verse 6 is kind of a continuation of verse 5. Christ says, I'll never leave you or forsake you so that we may boldly say, the eternal is my helper.

He's there. He provides everything we need. We don't have to worry about it. We may have to ask Him and remind Him. Not that He needs reminding. He knows everything we need before we even ask, but He does want us to ask, and asking helps us remember it is a gift and a blessing of knowing God. So we may boldly say, the eternal is my helper.

I will not fear. What can man do to me? What can man do to me? You know, it's as we, as you know, you look at the world around us, and again, you know, we see how we become so computer dependent and internet and online dependent on so many things. It's not hard. It's not hard to look down the road and see how the beast power in Revelation 13 will be able to command everything.

That He will have the power to freeze our assets, and no matter how much money we have or how much money we don't have, you know, there'll come a time where if someone doesn't like what we say, or knows what we believe, and tries to scare us into believing what the state wants us to believe, or the powers that be want us to believe, they can freeze anything.

They can keep us from buying. They can keep us from selling. And we'll have no choice but to rely on God. And that will be a very powerful, powerful tool that they use, you know, to try to get us to succumb to what the state wants us to believe and the beast power wants us to believe.

If we don't take the time now to develop that faith in God and to ask Him, give me that faith that no matter what happens, I know. I know you can provide. I know you will provide. I'm not going to worry about what I wear today. I'm not going to worry about feeding. I see the examples in the Bible of how you took care of Egypt or Israel for 40 years when you brought them out of Egypt. I saw what you did when Elijah went there, and you fed him with a raven every day. I know you can feed us that you know what our needs are and you will provide.

We have to be building that faith today as we go on to perfection. You know, and see that God can do that. So when that time comes, we're not going to worry. We will simply put it in God's hands and watch Him provide. And that will be that should be a great comfort to us as we develop that faith, the knowing that whatever God leads us into, we can simply put it in His hands and He'll take care of it.

You know, Elijah developed that Israel came to be comfortable with God as they saw Him feed them man and get water out of a rock and these things that our minds can't even imagine. So too it will be with us. So too it will be with us. And when he says, what man, what can man do to me? We should think back to when Jesus Christ, you know, said, I think it's in Matthew 10, maybe Matthew 15, where he said, don't fear what man can do to you.

He might be able to take your physical life, but he can't take away your eternal life. He can only take away a physical life. And as we believe and have that trust in God that this first part of our lives, when it's over the very next instant of our consciousness, there will be eternal life.

If we have that in the front of us, and if we've allowed God to build that faith in us, of that belief in us during this lifetime, when we face death, whether it be through natural causes or because someone's got a gun in their hands or because of whatever it is that our life could be at stake, you know, we would believe and know as Jesus Christ went to His death, I know God will resurrect me. I know that spirit life awaits. And if man takes away this physical life, God will provide the eternal life, but I need to remain true to Him and do what He says and build that trust. And as He encourages us in verse 6, as we read those verses, that should be a real comfort to us, and it will be a comfort to us as we face the things that we face, not even as a result of the world, but when we face illnesses, when we face financial troubles, when we face, you know, relationship troubles or whatever it is that we may face in our lives, our lives, we can look to God. And as we've learned in Hebrews and in the book of James, when God allows these things to happen in our lives, remember we're in a training period. He's preparing us. He's preparing us for what is so that we can survive and we can endure through those times that He has ahead of us. And if we will stop and remember God's in control, He knows what we're going through. Let me turn my trust to Him. Let me ask Him to direct me through this process and put it in His hands and learn what He wants me to learn. There is tremendous comfort in that. And it's one thing that we would be well, you know, to learn even while times are relatively good as they are now. Okay, let me just pause for a second and let you contemplate that before we go into verse 7. Okay, verse 7 then, you know, I take the end of this verse personally, as does every minister and elder. I hope that you've ever been in contact with. You know, God says these things and I'll just read what He wrote here. He goes, Remember those who rule over you. Not that any minister sees that we rule over you, but we're here, as Paul says, to be helpers of your joy. To help you on our path to Jesus Christ. You know, that's what all of us are here for. And that's what our prayer for everyone is. And the things that we do is how, you know, we just pray that everyone will find and be led to Jesus Christ. You know, I pray for everyone. And as we go through, you know, everything that I do is God just let them open their minds that they want you, desire you, and would yield to you. So this is an unfortunate word. We're here to help you. And everyone, every minister, every elder, and I hope we all pray for each other that the God will just open our minds that we will learn to just yield to Him and that He can lead us. And that's what these Bible studies are for. That's what sermons you hear are for. That's what our prayers for each other are for, is that God will lead us and that we will all let Him lead us. And that by something that is said, something that we read, that His Holy Spirit will, you know, awake us. And that we can find, you know, that we'll just be inspired to follow Him.

Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you. Whose faith follow? And that, you know, that's something that is implicit on every minister, you know, and I take that and I remember Paul's word in 1st Corinthians 11-1.

And we should all do that because in a way we're all teachers of each other. You know, when Paul says, imitate me as I, or follow me as I follow Christ.

You know, woe to us and woe to me if I'm telling you things that I'm not doing myself. And woe to any minister who is teaching you things and he isn't willing to do those things himself.

And so, you know, as parents, with children and ours, or people even in church who may, people that God is bringing into church, who may look to up to us and who are looking and saying, well, how do these people live?

Because sometimes they'll look to the people in the congregation, not just the minister, and say, well, do these people believe what is being said? And they'll look at all our examples.

Well, are they the way that they say that? They're in church. Do they follow that? Or if I see them or I talk to them and they're not doing?

You know, we all have this incumbent on us. We all have to follow God. If we're here and not taking his name in vain, we need to be living.

Now, we need to be practicing what it is we say we believe. It's incumbent on all of us because in our own ways, we all teach. And we have a responsibility to be the examples to each other.

You know, considering, you know, whose faith follow. So watch, you know, watch. And if you see something that seems out of context, I always say, if there's something that you don't get, something that you see, something that you say, you know, something about you, Rick, that I'm not.

I don't get you. I don't think you're doing things. I'm not going to get mad at you. I understand that we learn from each other. There may be personality aspects that we have to kind of learn to overcome and do that. And I'm not exempt from those. So there's, you know, never hesitate that there's something that you question or think that we could be better in. Just let me know. And we should feel that way with each other. Whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct? What are their lives like?

Do you see the fruits of the Spirit in them? And as we, again, not that we are judging each other, but you know, as we have God's Holy Spirit, looking to see, you know, looking, we'll see those aspects, you know, in each other. Verse 8 reminds us, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we've learned that through Hebrews.

What God said in the Old Testament applies to us today. You know, we talked about Sabbath day. We talked about tithing. They were there before Israel. They were there before, you know, the Old Covenant priesthood. They were there since the beginning. And they're there today. God only required physical adherence to those commands in Old Testament times. Today, it's physical and spiritual. And so we look at that Jesus Christ, you know, as we read back in Hebrews 8, I think it was, it wasn't. The problem was never with the law in the Old Covenant. You know, a lot of people today in churches are going to say, oh, the law, the law was done away with because it was too hard to follow.

Absolutely not. It tells us in Hebrews, I believe it's Hebrews 8. Go back and look at that first. The problem was with the people. They didn't have God's Spirit. Even though they may have wanted to and meant it when they said, I'll follow him, it was not his purpose to give the Spirit en masse to the congregation of Israel then.

It is his purpose today. Today, we do have God's Holy Spirit. So we do follow those things, and we do have the ability to overcome self and to depose Satan, you know, from the place that he had previously had in our lives when we followed his influence. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The book of Hebrews has shown us that. The law is the same, the principles are the same, the way of God's life that he wants us to adhere to are the same.

None of that has changed. Verse 9, don't be carried about with various and strange doctrines. You know, let's go back to Ephesians 4 on that one. You know, as I mentioned earlier in this study, it is a feature of Jesus Christ's influence on earth and the Christian religion that sprung up, you know, as a result of his tremendous influence on earth. That there were all sorts of doctrines that came up.

In Old Testament times, you had the congregation of Israel, you had pagan people who were just apart from God and did things their way. But Jesus Christ had such an immense effect on earth that it affected Jews and every pagan religion and even as people who could not deny the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what he did and saw him as Savior.

You begin to see all these various doctrines that come about, you know, the Gnosticism, the Agnosticism, the Heathenism, the Epicurean way of life, all those things that spring up as people may have been called and they recognized Jesus Christ. And yet, Satan had a way of having people look at this doctrine and that doctrine and want to, you know, and follow this or follow that as they were deflected, if you will, from the truth and the simplicity that is Jesus Christ. Paul talks about it here in Ephesians 4.

And as you know, it's very, I think I read this in Sabbath in Orlando last week, but in Ephesians 4, verse 13, he reminds us, our goal, your and my goal is to become a perfect or a blameless for a spiritually mature man or woman to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

That's the goal. He was perfect. God says that's, you know, follow his example. That's where you are. None of us are at that level. Till, till we come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Nope, okay, that was beginning in verse 13. Verse 14 is where I wanted, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

That's a New Testament phenomenon. The early New Testament Christians fell prey to it. So you can see, you know, Paul talking about this person who departed from them and he was teaching one thing. And another one would do this as they would have their own little, own little theory, and as they departed from the truth. You know, today we see, today we see the same thing. You know, we have, you know, we know that Jesus Christ and the Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, they'll be caught up together, we'll be caught up together with the Lord in the air, and thus we shall ever be with the Lord.

And so we have this rapture theory that is different than what the Bible teaches. Yet, many, many people in the world believe it. And I know some in the church, some in the church, I've recently learned, not baptized members, but some of the new ones, that's an issue with them, you know, and I'll say it because I know he's not online with us. We had one recently who said, I will not let go of the rapture theory.

I will not, you know, I will, that's where I draw the line. I believe in the rapture. Now I pray and I believe it's just anger and a little bit of frustration, the fact that we don't believe in the rapture theory and that he'll come back. You know, I've seen over the years people who go to Torah classes, for instance, and it's kind of just struck me over the last few weeks, people go to Torah classes and I've gone back in my minds over the years and one by one of those people when they go to Torah classes, they become Orthodox Jews and they get carried away by this theory and that theory.

And all of a sudden, they're, you know, Jesus Christ and what he said in the New Testament thing, you know, we have to watch what we're doing. It's very good to study the Bible. It's very good to, you know, to prove all things in vivirians. But we live in a dangerous world and Satan has made it a very dangerous world. When we find the truth, so we know the truth, stick with the truth, you know, and talk to someone. If you, you know, if you're finding something like that and go don't go seeking every, every one of these winds of doctrine that Paul talks about, and that he talks about in Hebrews 2.

It is a danger in the end time that people can be lured away really by their own, you know, by their own senses, if you will. 2 Timothy 4, you know, God warns us that in the end times, 2 Timothy, going in the right direction here to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 4, you know, verse 3, it says, the time will come.

Those already happening at the time that Paul and Timothy were on earth, but the time will come. That means more and more as the time of the end draws near, the time will come when they won't endure some doctrine. Well, they won't endure it, they just simply don't want to hear it. I don't want to believe what the Bible has to say. I want to believe what I want to believe.

This is the one I, this is the one, this is the belief I cling to, even though it can't be proven in the Bible. The time will come when they don't endorse or will not endure some doctrine. That makes it their choice. They simply refuse him who speaks, as we read about in Hebrews 1225. The time will come when they will not endure some doctrine, but according to their own desires.

So many times when we get into that, it's like, ah, this is what I want to believe. This is how I want it to be. And people will pick up on something and they will allow it to take them right out of the church. And this is exactly what Hebrews is talking about, that Ephesians 4 is talking about, that God warns us about.

Don't let Satan deceive you and the cunning things that can happen and the trickery of men that was already beginning in the New Testament times. That will be even more extant today. Time will come when they will not endure some doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears. They will heap up for themselves, teachers.

They no longer will want the teaching of the church's teachers. We'll put our own teachers and those who say what we want, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. So we'll see that increasingly and increasingly. And as you, as we might be enticed by some of those things, be aware of that.

And as you see others, you know, as you see others that you may see in the congregation that may make a comment that seems a little bit off. Sometimes that can be an indication. Not that we want to hop on people, but we might want to keep that in mind, you know, and not just sometimes people will make a comment that will show us a direction they're going, even though we might chalk it off.

We are, you know, we are a brother's keeper, and let's help each other to stay on, you know, on the straight and narrow path and committed to God and the truth that he gives us as we see it in the Bible, you know, and always go back to the Bible and, you know, seek counseling. And, you know, as he says in Isaiah 1, God says, let's reason from the Scriptures.

That's the basis of our truth. Not what I say or any other minister says, but what is in this Bible, the God's Word, and the way that it is given to each of us. So... Okay, go back to Hebrews 13. I'm going to wrap it up here, I think, you know, I'm going to wrap it up in verse 10. Wrap it up with verse 9. We'll conclude the book of Hebrews next week. We'll complete the book of Hebrews next week and talk about some other things as well.

Let's conclude here with verse 9. Don't be carried about with various and strange doctrines, okay? Not things that you can find in the Bible. For it is good that the heart be established by grace. Okay? We know, we've talked about what the full meaning of grace is.

The church has recently issued that booklet on grace that does an outstanding job of talking about what living in the grace of God is and how it's not only just unmerited pardon, but it is the whole life that God has called us into, that He's with us, that He's guiding us and directing us, and that His Holy Spirit is with us. It's good that the heart be established by grace. Okay? Jesus Christ, or, you know, God-inspired through 1 Peter 3, 18, that we grow into grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It's good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods, which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

And of course, He's talking to some back then when we had the various things that would happen. Some said it's only good to eat vegetables, and some would get mad at others who were eating meat, and then you had the whole system of judging each other based on the foods they ate that we see, you know, something in 1 Corinthians 8. You know, money can be something that can take us away from God and we can become too preoccupied in.

Food is another thing if we're judging each other in those foods, but it's the doctrines. And remember when sometimes when we read the word food and what we eat, it's the spiritual food we eat as well. And as we approach the days of unleavened bread, we should be reminded, you know, that there is a twofold purpose to the days of unleavened bread.

We're in the we're in the period now, as we prepare ourselves of putting sin out of our lives and as we examine ourselves in preparation for Passover, and God makes us aware we put the sin out of life. But when the days of unleavened bread, picture putting in the Word of God so that we are eating of that unleavened bread of sincerity of truth. Not forgetting putting sin out of our lives, but there's a twofold purpose to there. It's putting sin out, but not forgetting to put sin in and filling that void that comes from when we put sin out with the very good things of life and those things that God would have us be ingesting spiritually.

Well, let me let me pause there in verses 10 and on. He reminds us of some of the Old Testament things that I want to spend a little bit of time discussing next week on, you know, as he as he wraps up this chapter. So any comments or any discussion or or or anything at all? I feel like I throw an awfully loud out at you and these Bible studies and and I'm happy to do so.

I hope I don't overwhelm anyone. And I would again, anything that you want to go back and revisit on any time in the future, you know, feel free to call or email me. I'll answer any questions. If there's a section we need to go back over, you know, we can do that as well. Just want to see us hit everything.

And then I hope you take the time, you know, to maybe go back over those verses and remember, you know, maybe some of the things that we've talked about. Anything about any anything about anything? One thing that came to mind as you were talking about God's care for us, what I was thinking back to the the analogy of the potter and the clay and imagining being on one of those little spinning wheels.

His hands are cupped around us in that picture, sculpting us gently, very, very gently and lovingly. That's such a good analogy. That's such a good analogy. And he's always there with us, molding us into who he wants us to be. If we're that willing, soft material that we need to be. And it's his spirit that softened us up so that he can gently work with us. It was just, thank you. Okay, you know what? Just like he says in Ezekiel, I will give them us a tender heart. And that's what we can pray for, that God will give us a tender heart that we can be malleable.

Very good. Yeah. This is baby? Yes. Hi, I, I, Roberta. Hi, let me interject before her because my comment is about the pottery. I used to take pottery in college. So you've got that lovely clay that you're forming. And then you put in the drawing, nice damp drawing room and it dries.

And then you put it back on the wheel, turn it upside down, you take a tool and you perfect it. So, so we have a couple of different phases God, we go through in our development period. See, yeah. Yeah. Those of us who don't do those things, we know the analogy, but we don't understand the detail of it of what God is, is the picture he's painting for us there. Yeah, very good. And then we, and then we put that piece in a low fire kiln and we biscuit so that we can go back and put our glazes on and then we fire it to a very high temperature.

Trial by fire. And then it remains, remains the way you've perfected it. Yes. And then we become the beautiful piece of pottery that he has created. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Excellent. Okay, well let me, let me remind you, let me say what do we have, we have services in Orlando and Jacksonville at 1130 the Sabbath there won't be a webcast this Sabbath.

I'll be in Jacksonville, I do want to offer and I think what we're going to do in Orlando is we will zoom the Orlando services to to anyone who wants them to be zoomed to them so we're going to do that. We may do that in Jacksonville as well as we do those things, but we're not going to do a webcast. I'm going to be in Jacksonville this week, but not in Orlando. So, if you want to be part of that zoom and you're listening in from Orlando or Jacksonville just send me a note so we can kind of give you a zoom invite or anyone else that wants to zoom in but, but we won't have a YouTube webcast this week so, but in both places services are at 1130 in person.

Okay. Okay. Just so you all know what's happening. Okay, take care everyone have a very good rest of the week. We'll look forward to seeing you either later on this week and services or or next week. Next week here. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Bye, everyone. Bye.