he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God.
And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after.
But Christ, as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
in the rejoicing of the hope, Burma to the end?
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, wherefore I was
grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have
not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any view an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called a day, lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
unto the end.
While it is said, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke.
Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he agreed forty years?
Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
And to whom sware he, that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe
not, so that we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you this time together to hear the preaching word.
Pray you bless past Australia right now, through your spirit and strength, help them to preach
clearly and boldly, so that we are going to be edified.
And I pray you keep all distractions to a minimum, and we pray these things in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
He's so much more the Son of God himself coming down from heaven and instructing us.
And it kind of ends on this thought about how Jesus became like us to succor us in our
temptation.
Look at this last verse.
Verse 18 in chapter two, for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted.
He is able to succor them that are tempted.
So notice Jesus Christ came to this earth.
We experience the same things that we experience
so that he could know how to help us when we're tempted.
Now, tempted, sometimes we don't always think
about this the right way.
The word tempted could mean the context
of you're enticed by sin, okay?
You're tempted to commit some kind of a sin.
But many times when the Bible is using the word tempt,
it means to try or to test.
So it's God trying or testing you in some way.
God's not gonna tempt you with sin though.
God's not dangling sin before your eyes and saying,
hey, you wanna try this forbidden fruit?
No, that was the devil that did that.
That devil's known as the tempter.
Why?
Because he tempts you with sin, God tries your heart, okay?
God tries you and sees if you're steadfast,
gonna follow his commandments.
God puts the commandments out in front of you
and wants you to try and do those.
He tempts you with the word of God.
The devil tempts you with sin.
The devil tempts you with breaking the commandments, okay?
So that's how we have to understand the difference.
And when the Bible's teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ
knows how to help us,
that's what it means to succor someone, to help them.
Help us that are tempted, meaning what?
When we're combated with the difficulty
of following God's commandments,
Jesus Christ knows how to help us.
When we fall into temptations of trials,
persecutions, afflictions,
Jesus Christ went through those
and he knows how to help us endure through those.
So what does it say in verse number one?
Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus, who is faithful to him that appointed him,
as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Now I wanna point out a few things.
And again, my goal in this sermon series
is to get the main context.
And then we're gonna dive into some deeper things.
So the first part of this sermon,
we're gonna go through the text quickly,
understand what this chapter's saying,
and then we're gonna dig in
and understand even deeper meanings for each one of these.
But who is he talking to?
Holy brethren, what does it say in verse one?
Holy brethren, who do you think that is?
Is that the saved or the unsaved?
Well, let's get some more in the descriptions.
Partakers of the heavenly calling.
What is that calling for you to get saved?
So if you're a partaker, you're saved,
notice what it says later,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus.
So what are these people professing?
They're professing the Lord Jesus Christ.
Outside of saying they're sealed with the Holy Spirit,
I don't know that you get much stronger
of an indication of who we're talking to.
We're talking to the saved, we're talking to brethren,
we're talking to Christians.
And this is gonna make a lot of sense
that we understand this concept.
Now notice we're, what is the word wherefore, okay?
It means why or because of what?
Because of the fact that Jesus Christ
was able to endure that temptation, we need to consider,
notice the word consider.
Consider is a very important word in this.
What are we doing in this whole chapter?
We're considering what Jesus did.
What did Jesus do?
He was faithful in all his house, okay?
Moses was faithful in all his house,
but also Jesus Christ is faithful.
Look what it says in verse three.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses.
And as much as he who hath builded the house
have more honor than the house,
for every house is builded by some man,
but he that built all things is God.
So the Bible's telling us that Jesus Christ
is more faithful than Moses himself,
and Moses is considered very faithful.
Moses was considered faithful in all his house.
So we need to consider how Jesus was faithful
all the way to the end,
just like Moses was a very faithful servant.
And he's saying, what's more impressive?
What gets more honor or glory,
a building or the person who built the building?
Obviously the creator should be the one
who gets more honor, more glory,
and we're pointing out the fact that Jesus Christ
was not only faithful, he's the builder.
He's the one that even created the house to begin with.
So therefore we ought to give more earnest heed to him.
We ought to consider his ways even more.
It says in verse number five,
that Moses was very faithful in all his house as a servant
for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after.
Verse six, but Christ as a son over his own house,
whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm under the end.
So notice Jesus Christ,
he's faithful in all of his own house.
It's his house and we are that house.
We understand in the New Testament,
the Bible teaches that we're the temple of God.
For sake of time, we're not gonna go there yet.
We're gonna go there in a minute,
but we are the house of God and we're God's creation.
And he's been faithful in all of his house,
just as Moses was also faithful.
Notice it also says in the end of verse six,
if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm under the end.
Now, does that sound like we're talking
to the saved or the unsaved?
It's the saved again, isn't it?
I mean, the Bible is very clear here in this chapter
that we're talking to the saved.
Holding fast is not something you have to do to be saved,
is it?
And works-based false teachers will love the book of Hebrews
because they can try and teach a works-based salvation
a lot of these chapters.
But what do they do?
They like narrow into some of these verses
and they just take verses out of context
and they don't understand that we're already talking
to the saved.
He already addressed the fact
that they were professors in Christ.
He already addressed that they were the holy brethren.
And these false teachers obviously ignore
all the clear scriptures teaching
you could never lose your salvation.
So what does it mean to hold fast?
Well, obviously Jesus Christ does not want us
to believe on his son or believe on him for salvation
and then just live a wicked life,
just to do whatever we want.
Faith that works is dead, okay?
We are called unto holiness,
we are called unto righteousness,
and we're supposed to hold fast that profession.
We're supposed to hold fast our confidence
unto the hope and to the end, okay?
Says in verse seven, wherefore?
So now again, what does wherefore mean?
It means because of that, because of what?
Because of the fact that we're supposed
to hold fast to the end.
It says, as the Holy Ghost saith,
today if you'll hear his voice,
heart and not your heart, says in the provocation,
in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years,
wherefore I was grieved with that generation
and said, they do all weigh air in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter in my rest.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God.
Now we have to notice about verses seven through 12
is it's one sentence.
It is one sentence with a very huge parenthesis, okay?
And that parenthesis encapsulate verse seven
all the way to verse 11.
You can take that out and still make sense
of that whole sentence, okay?
So let's take that out for a moment and read that again.
Wherefore, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God.
What is that sentence coming back off of?
The fact that we need to hold fast
the confidence under the end, okay?
How would you not hold fast the confidence under the end?
You have an evil heart of unbelief
and you end up departing from the living God, okay?
Now what is the whole parenthesis about?
It's about the children of Israel in the wilderness,
what they were like.
They were drugged through the wilderness,
constantly murmuring against the Lord,
constantly complaining against the Lord,
constantly committing different kinds of sins,
being caught up worshiping false gods,
committing fornication, committing all kinds of wicked sins,
constantly throughout the wilderness.
And they ended up grieving the Lord so much
that he would not even allow them to enter
the Promised Land because of how many times they sinned.
Now this is gonna be an important picture
that we understand for this chapter,
but we have to realize is there is
a recompense to our actions.
Even though our works have nothing to do
with us being saved, that does not mean
there is not a recompense to our actions.
There is a recompense to our actions,
and we will be rewarded according to our works,
whether they be good or bad.
And the children of Israel as a whole
rejected the Lord's teachings,
they rejected the commandments,
they didn't believe in him,
and as a whole they were rejected, saving whom?
Caleb and Joshua, only Caleb and Joshua
of that generation are able to enter
into that Promised Land.
Now what we have to understand is we could get an,
again, who are we even talking about?
Aren't we talking about the Savior?
So a saved person could have an evil heart
and depart from the living God.
Now look at verse 13, this is important.
How do I combat that?
Verse 13, but exhort one another daily,
while it is called the day, lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
So in the same way, the way the children of Israel
were hardened their hearts every single moment
through the temptations of the wilderness,
we too could have that same temptation,
we could harden our hearts, we could be caught away
with sin and end up not doing what?
Being steadfast under the end,
not holding that confidence under the end.
So all these verses are going on top of one another.
They're fitting together like a glove.
It's the same context.
What is the context of chapter number three?
Well, we need to consider how faithful Jesus was
so that we'll do what?
Also be faithful under the end.
Who was a bad example of that?
The children of Israel are a bad example of that.
We don't wanna be like them.
We don't wanna have an evil heart of unbelief.
And how do we combat that?
We need to exhort one another.
Doesn't it say exhort one another daily?
Now again, I've heard people take this chapter
and make it all about salvation.
That's weird.
Because how am I supposed to constantly nag you
about getting saved?
Like hey, you need to get saved
and you don't wanna depart from the living God
and you'll lose your salvation.
Like if you make this about salvation,
you're just gonna ruin all of your doctrine real quick.
It's clearly about the saved.
It's clearly about the importance of us being faithful
all the way to the end.
What does verse number 14 say?
For we are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our competence steadfast
unto the end.
Again, what is he trying to bring up and make mention of?
Being a partaker of Christ.
How am I a partaker of Christ?
Well, what did Christ do?
He suffered.
Christ endured affliction and persecution.
How am I gonna be like that?
I have to endure unto the end.
If I'm not living godly, if I'm living wickedly,
I'm not a partaker of Christ.
I'm being buffeted for my faults.
But if I live godly and I suffer
through lots of persecution and affliction,
that's gonna make me a partaker with Christ, okay?
Now keep your finger here
and go to Ephesians chapter number four.
I'm not gonna go to a lot of places just yet,
but the Bible warned about being your heart hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
If you flip backwards just to Ephesians chapter number four,
I wanna make mention of a few verses here.
Look what the Bible says in Ephesians four verse 22.
That he put off concerning the former conversation
of the old man.
Notice this, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
and that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
So we as God's people are commanded
to constantly try to put on the new man.
And we're also supposed to exhort our brethren
daily to put on the new man.
Hey, you need to put on the new man.
Hey, you need to go to church.
Hey, you need to read the Bible.
Hey, you need to go out and preach the gospel.
Hey, you need to give up that sin.
Hey, you need to stop looking at that, doing that,
being that, saying that, whatever the situation is,
we need to constantly exhort one another to serve the Lord.
What if we don't?
Well, there's a problem.
The more that you sin,
the more your heart will become hardened
and the less likely you're gonna decide
to keep putting on that new man.
The less likely you're gonna decide to keep going to church.
That's why it's important
when you see your brethren stumbling,
when you see your brethren falling away,
when you see your brethren departing,
you need to encourage them and exhort them.
Hey, you used to be coming to church three times a week.
Where you been?
What's going on?
Hey, I noticed you used to go sowing with me.
You wanna go sowing with me again?
Exhorting the brethren, encouraging the brethren.
Hey, you wanna go sowing the next time?
Hey, do you need to ride to church?
Hey, I can't wait to see you there.
Hey, have you seen the Bible reading charts?
Just whatever you can do to encourage your brethren
to keep serving the Lord
and being faithful like the Lord Jesus Christ.
We individually need to be warned
about the deceitful lusts that are in our old man.
Our old man still exists
and all those deceitful lusts still exist.
What's a lust desire?
You say, man, I still desire to smoke a cigarette.
I still desire to drink alcohol.
I still desire to watch worldly ungodly filth on TV.
I still desire to wear the wrong type of clothing.
I still desire to go and hang out
with all my worldly friends.
Look, that's because your old man didn't change.
Your old man's still there.
It still has those deceitful lusts.
Notice it's deceitful.
It's tricking you.
It's lying to you.
It wants to ruin you.
And many people will be deceived by it.
The children of Israel in the wilderness
were constantly deceived by their lusts.
Oh, we want the cucumbers and the garlic and the onions.
That's deceitful, okay?
Who wants, I mean, I love cucumbers.
Okay, I'll admit it.
But I mean, why am I gonna sit here
and complain against the heavenly bread
that God has delivered unto me?
He led me out of slavery,
and now I'm gonna complain about the cucumbers?
People will be in bondage, and they'll get a reprieve,
and yet their reprieve isn't exactly what they wanted.
Oh, I can't have 30 minutes of fellowship
before or after church, so I'm gonna complain about it,
even though you get to now come back to church, right?
Why don't you just be excited
that you get to come back to church?
Why don't you just be excited
about having a King James Bible
and all the things that you have?
It's easy to complain, it's easy to murmur,
it's easy to just get down in the gutter,
and I don't wanna confuse you to say
that you can't ever point out bad things, okay?
I'm gonna point out the fact
that the government's wicked all day long,
but I don't think it's right for us
to just get so down and so complaining all the time.
So the point of it's displeasing to the Lord.
You know, the Lord gives us the freedoms that we have.
There's way worse places that we could be in,
way worse situations.
We need to just accept the reality of where we're at
and what the situation we're in
and just do the best to serve the Lord that we can.
We don't wanna be caught away with those deceitful lusts.
Go to Romans chapter six for one more quick point here,
and then we're gonna go back.
But I really wanna get solidified in your mind,
what is Hebrews 3 about?
Because I think when you understand
what the chapter's about, then when you go deep on verses,
you're not gonna get confused.
If you just immediately start going deep on verses
and you have no idea what the chapter's about,
you're gonna start making weird theology,
weird doctrines come up.
You're gonna start teaching things that aren't true.
We need to understand what the chapter's about
and then we can go deep into each and every single verse.
Romans chapter six, verse six says this,
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with them,
that the body of sin might be destroyed.
Notice this, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Now here's the thing,
who did the children of Israel wanna worship and serve
when they were in the wilderness?
The golden calf, didn't they?
They were serving sin, they were worshiping sin.
And we don't realize it,
but when we get caught away with the deceitful lusts,
we end up serving sin, we become slaves of sin.
I don't wanna go back to Egypt.
I don't wanna live in that type of bondage anymore.
I've been delivered,
so why not just continually allow the Lord to lead me
into the promised land, not just keep looking back
and wanting to go back to the deceitful lusts
and serving sin and being a servant of sin.
Because we're saved,
we have the ability to no longer be a slave to sin,
to no longer allow sin to rule over us.
We can actually rule over him.
And that's the beauty of the gospel and sanctification.
So we need to make sure
that we're not gonna let our hearts get hardened
with the deceitfulness of sin and become his servant again.
Go back to Hebrews chapter number three,
Hebrews chapter number three.
Look at verse number 14.
As we read this partly,
but I wanna go through it again.
We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast in the end.
Now, what would be our competence?
Be another word for competence.
How about trust?
What is our trust in?
The death, burial and resurrection.
He's obviously talking about the saved, okay?
And we need to have that same confidence
all the way into the end.
We wanna know that we're saved,
we're always saved.
We wanna have all the same competences.
We wanna put all of our faith and trust in the Lord.
He says in verse 15,
he's gonna repeat something again.
While it is said today,
if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as in the provocation.
For some when they had heard did provoke,
how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
But with whom was he grieved 40 years?
Was it not with them that had sinned?
Whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
And to whom swear he
that they should not enter into his rest,
but to them that believe not.
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Now, if God brings up the same verse
twice in the exact same chapter,
that tells me there's something really important here, okay?
What is the thought that he brings up twice exactly?
Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
He brings that up in verse number seven.
He brings that up also in verse number 15, okay?
What does this look like?
He's warning you.
He's saying, right now, you're in church
and you're able to hear the word of God.
You're able to hear what the Bible's saying.
So now you need to make sure to hearken right now.
Today is the day.
Now is the day.
Now is the accepted time.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now you need to get right with God.
Because if you don't,
your heart could become hardened to the point
that we will no longer respond to the word of God.
Now, obviously, when we hear about this,
we kind of think of a reprobate, okay?
And obviously, this is true for a reprobate.
This can also be true in a saved person's life.
Keep your finger here and go to
1 Timothy chapter number four,
1 Timothy chapter number four.
Saved people can become hardened to the word of God
and unwilling to change.
I've met a lot of saved people.
It's not that they're ignorant
of what the Bible teaches on a particular doctrine.
They're unwilling to change.
They were born pre-trib,
and they were taught pre-trib,
and they're gonna die pre-trib unless the Lord comes back,
and then they'll probably change their tune.
But there's some people, I mean,
it doesn't matter what you show.
You can show them things in the Bible.
You can warn them about drugs.
You can warn them about alcohol.
You can warn them, hey,
the King James Bible's the word of God.
They just won't get it.
They just won't get certain truths of the Bible,
and it's frustrating.
Why?
Because their heart has been hardened towards that.
Their heart has been deceived by lust.
They love alcohol so much,
so they're unwilling to admit that it's a sin.
They're unwilling to admit that smoking's a sin.
They're unwilling to admit whatever sin they have
in their life is a sin.
Why?
Because they've gotten hardened by it.
Look what it says in 1 Timothy chapter four, verse one.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
Now I know a lot of people will take this verse
and they'll apply it to a reprobate,
and I think that the application could be made
because that's what happens to them,
but I personally do not believe
that's what this is teaching.
I think the primary context is a saved person.
Let me explain why.
First of all, it's not a shock
that a reprobate believes false doctrine, okay?
So what a redundant portion of scripture to just say,
hey, I just wanna warn you that reprobates
are gonna believe false doctrine.
Oh wow, that's a shock.
Wouldn't that just be obvious?
What is it warning?
It's warning and saying,
hey, there's gonna be some people that,
notice this, depart from the faith.
How can a reprobate depart from the faith?
You cannot depart from something,
hey, I departed from my house.
You know what that tells me?
I was at my house.
I can't depart from my house if I've never been there.
A reprobate can't depart from the faith.
He never had the faith.
He was never saved.
So what's someone departing from the faith?
It's a saved person who's believing the Lord,
but then he departs from the faith.
Now here's the thing.
Faith is a big word.
Faith is a broad word, okay?
What does it take to get saved?
Faith.
Faith alone, Lord Jesus Christ.
But after I'm saved, you know what?
Faith is still a big part of my life.
I need to have faith in all of his promises,
in all of his word,
and the Bible warns about the sin of unbelief.
Can a saved person commit the sin of unbelief?
You better believe they can.
But does that mean they lost their salvation?
No, we're not talking about belief in Jesus to save them.
We're talking about trusting in God's promises.
Look at the kings.
The kings constantly lose faith in the Lord.
One moment, they're begging God to save them from the enemy.
The next moment, they're worshiping the false God
that they got defeated by the Lord.
And the Lord's like, why didn't you trust in me?
Why didn't you have faith in me?
You know, at one moment,
they're trusting the Lord for healing.
The next moment, they're not trusting the Lord for healing.
You constantly see people having a wavering faith,
going back and forth, departing from the faith.
You see King Solomon starting on a good track, what happens?
Departs from the faith.
What do you see with King Saul?
Starting, he's humble, he's little in his own sight,
he ends up departing from the faith, okay?
So we ought not get this weird idea
to think that departing from the faith
is just a definite reprobate,
or that only reprobates could even have their hearts
seared in some way.
What is this searing doing?
It's meaning that the cure,
the word of God's not gonna end up fixing them
because they've already seared it.
They've already decided that they don't want to.
That's why God's warning,
and Hebrews chapter number three,
he's saying, hey, if you can hear right now,
don't let your heart getting hardened
to the point where you wouldn't.
And let me warn you, Christian,
when you sin, you know when the right time
is to get right with God?
Immediately.
You immediately get on your knees,
you immediately confess your sin to the Lord,
you immediately get back in your Bible,
you immediately get back into church,
you immediately pray to the Lord.
You don't want to let that sin just fester in your life
because it'll slowly harden you.
There's a lot of Christians, they started out hot,
now they're ice cold.
You could talk to them, hey, is soul winning important?
Yeah, it's in the Bible.
Why do they not do it?
They let their heart get hardened.
They let their heart change
through the deceitfulness of sin.
They're more interested in what?
The things of this life.
Let me give you a clear example.
Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter number four.
Let's flip just a page.
Let's see somebody that actually did this.
Let's see somebody that's described as doing this.
2 Timothy chapter number four.
Look at verse number nine.
Do thy dividends come shortly unto me?
Verse 10, for Demas hath forsaken me,
having loved this present world,
and notice this, and is departed unto Thessalonica.
Notice, Demas departed.
And he just didn't depart from a city.
It's significant of what?
Him departing from the faith.
He forsook the apostle Paul.
He loved this present world, which is what?
The deceitfulness of this world.
The deceitful lust caused Demas to get carried away.
He hardened his heart,
and now he's no longer with the apostle Paul.
And I'm not saying that the word of God isn't powerful.
It is powerful, and it could still change people's hearts,
but at the end of the day,
a lot of people will allow it to get so hardened
that it's gonna take a miracle of God to change them.
And so we oughta be careful as God's people
and be warned that we ought not just take the preaching
as like, oh, maybe I'll change in a week.
Yeah, maybe next year I'll fix that problem.
Maybe next year I'll start going to church
three times a week.
Maybe next year I'll try soul winning.
Yeah, next year I'll read the Bible, cover to cover.
Next year I'll start going to church more faithfully.
Next year I'll do the right thing.
No, now, today, if you'll hear his voice,
you know when you need to get right?
Now.
You know when you start serving God?
Now.
You're not promised tomorrow.
And if this coronavirus can teach you anything,
it's that you have no idea what's on the morrow.
We have no idea how your life could be turned upside down.
You know what, you're never gonna be disappointed
for all the times you served God in the past.
You're only gonna think,
I wish I had done more already at this point.
And so if you can hear today,
today is the right day to serve the Lord.
It's not tomorrow, and in fact,
the Bible even takes it further, not just today, now.
Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.
Let's finish this chapter in Hebrews chapter number three,
and then we're gonna go back on a few verses here.
Verse number 15 says,
while it is said today, if you'll hear his voice,
harden out your hearts as a provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke,
howbeit not all that came out of Jejeb by Moses.
So we have a contrast between Joshua and Caleb
and those that did not enter in.
Verse 18, and to whom swear ye
that they should not enter his rest,
but to them that believe not.
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Now, I think this can be understood in two ways.
First of all, we understand anybody that's not saved
is not gonna go into heaven, okay?
And they're not gonna enter
in the promised land, spiritually speaking.
Another way we can look at this, though,
is not every single person of the children of Israel
was unsaved except for Caleb and Joshua, okay?
Don't get a weird idea.
There was plenty of saved people in the congregation.
How about Miriam?
How about Aaron?
How about a lot of the other children?
Obviously, there was lots of saved people.
Why did they not get to enter in, though?
Because they didn't trust in the Lord.
They got fearful.
They were looking at the size of the giants.
They were more concerned with their own lust.
The Bible says they provoked him 10 times.
And because they had done that, the Lord says,
you know what, you don't get to have this, okay?
Now, let me draw you a picture and help you understand.
The Old Testament gives you pictures.
All these things that happen in the children of Israel,
they signify things in our lives.
I remember very early in my life,
I understood this concept in a primitive way
because I would constantly read the Old Testament,
just over and over, just the first five books of the Bible,
and then I'd lose track, lose pace,
and then I'd be discouraged.
I couldn't remember where I stopped.
So I'd just start all over again.
And I just kind of went through this weird cycle.
And I kept reading all these stories,
and I think, why would they do that stuff?
Why do they keep rebelling against the Lord?
And then I finally realized it's like,
that's just a picture of our lives.
We're in constant rebellion of the Lord.
We're constantly tempted and tried,
and we're constantly failing.
Even though I may not worship a golden calf,
how about the Stanley Cup?
How about all the trophies that there are
for all the sports athletes?
How about just worshiping money in general
and just being full of covetousness?
There's lots of ways that we could spiritualize
the things that they've done and understand.
We sin in a lot of similar ways as the children of Israel.
But I believe that the picture of the children of Israel
is a picture of the Christian life.
You first have the Passover, okay?
Now, what does the Passover signify?
It signifies salvation.
That is the first step in the Christian life.
We're saved by the blood.
We're passed over.
We're deemed righteous.
I can't use the red, I guess.
This is salvation.
That's the first step.
What's the next step?
Passing the Red Sea, isn't it?
What does the Red Sea signify?
It signifies baptism.
Now, here's the thing.
What does the Bible say in Romans chapter number six
about baptism?
It says that we should walk in newness of life, okay?
How do I walk in newness of life as a child of Israel?
I have to leave Egypt, I have to go through the Red Sea,
and then now I'm in newness of life.
But notice, if I don't get baptized,
I'm still stuck in Egypt, aren't I?
The importance of baptism.
And you know who serves God?
People that get baptized.
That's why we're Baptists and we emphasize baptism
because it's a public profession of your faith
that you now wanna serve God.
What were they leaving Egypt to do?
To worship God, to make sacrifices unto him
and to serve him.
The first step's baptism.
If you haven't been baptized,
you need to get baptized so you can leave Egypt.
So you can get out of Egypt and start serving the Lord.
What's the next step?
You got the wilderness.
What is the wilderness?
This is your life.
This is the Christian life.
Yea, and all that will of Godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
The wilderness is a picture of the Christian life.
You thought Joel Osteen's picture was different,
but you know, it was just all promised land, right?
The promised land is what?
I'm gonna have to abbreviate here, promised land, all right?
What is this?
This is heaven.
It's also pictured as rest, okay?
When do I get to rest?
Heaven.
Entering into his rest.
Entering into, what do I get in the promised land?
Reward.
I get reward, I get inheritance, I get rest.
What are all those things?
Heaven, okay?
And obviously heaven is symbolizing also the fact
that we get to inherit the earth, okay?
The new heavens and the new earth, but it's glory, okay?
So this is a picture of the Christian life,
and as we travel through each one of these stages, okay,
in the Bible, that's traveling through your Christian walk.
Why is that important?
Well, after you get saved and you get baptized,
there's no guarantee, okay,
how you're gonna handle this situation.
This is really dependent upon what?
Your daily actions, your works.
Now, what are your daily actions gonna do?
They're gonna affect this.
They're gonna determine what this looks like for you.
Now, you're headed here no matter what.
If you're saved, you're going to heaven, okay?
You can't change your destination.
God's gonna kick you dragging and screaming,
but not everybody gets to enjoy the rewards
of the promised land.
Think about the children of Manasseh.
They didn't even wanna inherit
in the promised land, did they?
They basically do all the work,
and they don't even get to inherit.
They inherit on the other side of the river, okay?
So we have to understand that your Christian life,
you're gonna be rewarded according to how you serve God.
There's a reward to being faithful under the end.
There was a reward to Caleb and Joshua
who actually got to inherit the promised land,
who actually got to experience it,
who actually got the reward,
whereas many of his brethren
didn't get those type of rewards.
And you can only speak for yourself
if you want those rewards.
Now, I wanna go through this chapter again,
but with a few, let's highlight a few verses, okay?
What is the context of this chapter?
Here's a reward to being faithful under the end.
What did verse one say?
Consider.
Consider what?
What does it say?
Consider the apostle and high priest
of our profession, Christ Jesus.
Notice, who is faithful to him that appointed him.
So what was the example that Jesus gave us
of being faithful?
So what should we do?
We should be faithful.
Now, keep your finger here
and go to 1 Corinthians chapter number three.
The Bible says, if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope from under the end,
that makes us a part of his house, okay?
Now, this is interesting
because in 1 Corinthians chapter number three,
the Bible tells us, look at verse number 16.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God
and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?
So the Bible teaches that we are that house, okay?
He lives in us, but notice what it says in verse 17.
If any man defile the temple of God,
him shall God destroy,
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
That's a pretty strong warning.
God says he's gonna destroy you.
Now, does that mean I'm gonna go to hell?
Of course not.
But didn't a lot of people in the wilderness get destroyed?
What was that a warning of?
You living ungodly.
You defiling God's temple.
How do you defile your temple?
How about fornication?
How about lying?
How about stealing?
How about adultery?
How about foolish thoughts?
How about drinking alcohol?
How about the world?
Letting the world just come and affect your life,
that's defiling the temple of God.
And God warns, if you defile that temple,
I'll just destroy you.
He doesn't like his temple being defiled.
How about Leviticus chapter 20?
If you read in verses one through three,
or Bible memory chapter,
the Bible warns about the guy giving a seed in a molech
that is defiling his sanctuary.
He's profaning his holy name
and he's defiling his sanctuary,
and he says he's gonna cut that man off.
He's gonna set his face against him.
That's another example of what?
Be holy, for I am holy.
We have to sanctify ourselves,
otherwise God will destroy us.
Don't think, oh, I'm saved.
It's a license to sin.
Well, it's a license to get destroyed then.
God is going to destroy his people
when they harden their hearts
and are no longer wanting to listen to him,
he is gonna wipe them out.
We have to be careful about how we live our lives.
You gotta take heed to the words
which have been spoken unto you.
Go back and look at verse number 12.
Look at verse number 12.
The Bible warns, take heed brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
and departing from the living God.
Now, again, the people,
the children of Israel in the wilderness,
most of them that died were just unsaved too, okay?
I understand that point,
but even the unsaved people can still picture
a saved person in the New Testament,
how they depart from unbelief,
and even I'm sure a lot of saved people
got carried away with the heir of the wicked.
The unbeliever, Korah,
caused other people to have to stumble in his sin
or get caught away in his sin and end up perishing.
You know, they follow the law of liberty,
Baptist church off a cliff, okay?
If you don't get that joke, don't worry about it, all right?
But look at the warning.
It says in verse 12, departing from the living God.
How do you do that?
By hardening your heart.
Go if you would to 2 Samuel 22, 2 Samuel 22.
The Bible says in Proverbs 28 verse 18,
I'm sorry, Proverbs 28 verse 14,
happy is the man that feareth all way,
but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
So the Bible says, as God's people,
we need to constantly fear the Lord.
We need to fear all way.
If you don't, you're gonna let your heart get hardened.
Now, if you know the book of Hebrews very well,
the Bible warns, okay, about fearing the Lord
and how we need to fear him.
And in fact, we need to fear him even more
in the New Testament.
It's a fearful thing to fall in the hands
of the living God is what the Bible warns.
So just because you're saved,
some people think that if you're saved,
God's not mad at you.
Joyce Meyer's book or whatever.
God's not mad at you, no matter what you've done.
I don't care who you are and what you've done,
God's not mad at you.
Almost the exact opposite is true, almost.
I mean, for God to be pleased with you,
you have to be saved and following his commandments.
It's crystal clear.
If you're saved and not following his commandments,
not pleased.
If you're not saved, not pleased.
That's the majority of people.
He's just not pleased with most people.
And it's a sad reality.
You know, the Bible talks about God looking
in the whole earth, trying to find one person
at periods of time, and he can't find one.
He tries to find 10 people in Sodom and Gomorrah.
He can't find, he finds one, okay.
Just lie.
I don't even know if he was pleased with lie.
He was at least saved, okay.
But there's plenty of times.
How about at the flood?
How many people were righteous?
Noah.
I mean, just think, how many disciples were there?
12.
It's usually a remnant.
You say, oh, it doesn't seem like there's all
these people serving God.
Well, when was there?
There's Moses, and pretty much all the children
of Israel are stabbing him in the back.
Aaron and Miriam are stabbing him in the back, okay.
So if you say, man, I feel like I'm on a solo journey.
Well, Jesus was on a solo journey a lot of his life too.
He knows what it's like.
Don't be discouraged by the low numbers.
You'd be encouraged by the Lord.
You'd be a partaker of Christ's sufferings, okay.
But I had you turn to Second Samuel 22.
Look at what the writer here, Dave, is gonna say to us.
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands,
had thee recompensed me,
for I have kept the ways of the Lord.
Notice this, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Some people are like, oh, if you depart from the Lord,
you're not saved.
Well, he's saying he didn't do it.
Why?
Because the saved person could.
What did Saul do?
He wickedly departed from the Lord.
He had an evil spirit come upon him.
He hated his brother.
He was in blindness.
He killed 85 holy prophets of God.
He sought the wicked witch of Endor, okay.
He departed from the Lord.
The Lord wasn't talking to him.
The Lord was not his friend.
The Bible literally tells us
that Saul was the enemy of the Lord.
If you're an enemy of God, he's not pleased with you.
I just want to warn you, okay.
But notice that David's saying, hey,
I haven't done wickedly in departing from my God.
He was always faithful.
He was always the man after God's own heart.
Yeah, he sinned.
Yeah, he committed iniquity.
But you know what he did as soon as he got caught?
He confessed it, and he got right with God.
Notice what he did.
If you want to have a heart like David,
when you sin, you know what you need to do?
Immediately confess it.
Don't let your heart keep getting hardened.
What did Pharaoh do?
He just kept letting his heart get hardened, hardened, hardened.
That's an example of a reprobate,
but even a saved person can harden their heart
to God's commandments and his word
and be turned to blindness like Saul,
like other men in the Bible, Solomon.
Verse 23, for all his judgments were before me,
and as for statutes, I did not depart from them.
I was also upright before him,
and I've kept myself from my iniquity.
Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me
according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of his eyesight.
With the merciful, that will show thyself merciful,
and with the upright man, that will show thyself upright.
With the pure, that will show thyself pure,
and with the froward, that will show thyself unsavory.
So notice, your works are still very important.
God is gonna recompense unto you how you treat others.
If you're not merciful,
God's not gonna be merciful to you.
If you're not upright,
God's not gonna be upright with you.
If you're a froward person,
God's gonna be unsavory unto you.
Notice that we ought not just depart from the living God.
He will recompense us according to our actions.
Go back to Hebrews chapter number three.
This is a theme constantly hammered in the Bible.
The book of James hammers
having a complete and perfect faith,
not having just faith without works.
We need to have our works.
We need to be careful about sin.
Sin can still be devastating to our lives,
not in the fact that it's gonna take me to hell.
I can't go to hell no matter what.
There's nothing I can do that can send me out.
But you know what?
I can get destroyed immediately from God.
God could decide if I just say, you know what?
Nuts the Bible.
Nuts the pastoring.
This sucks.
You know, I'm done.
I'm done doing all this junk.
I'm done dealing with people.
I'm just gonna go do my own thing.
You know, these people I get out say so winning.
They don't seem to care that much.
They're not thankful enough.
I just nuts to it.
You know, who wants to go to the Bahamas anyway?
Unless it's for vacation.
You know, I'm just gonna go sit and drink pina coladas
and hang out on the beach and just have fun.
God might just kill me on the plane ride over there.
I might get coronavirus times 10.
You know, I might get all the diseases.
You know, who knows what's gonna happen?
Okay, I might be like Jonah
and get tossed into the whale's belly.
You know, that sounds terrible.
Why?
Because he departed from the Lord.
And you ought to be aware, Christian.
Don't think that you can just live however you want
without consequences.
Nope, God's gonna deal with you as a son.
And if you're a son, you're gonna receive chastisement
and punishment in this life.
And you're gonna lose out on the rewards here.
You're gonna lose out on a lot of the great things
that God has planned for you in the Promised Land.
Don't ruin your Promised Land experience.
Some of us are gonna get mansions.
I don't know if all of us, I don't know.
Some people will get one, all right?
What does it say in verse number 13?
But exhort one another daily.
You need to love the brethren, exhort them to serve God.
Oh, you're so judgmental.
No, I just love you, okay?
Verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ.
Go to the first Peter chapter number four,
first Peter chapter number four.
I have a few more verses I wanna kinda go through,
but I wanna hammer this point in.
Why?
Because this is what the chapter's all about.
It's all about being faithful,
like Jesus was faithful in all of his house, okay?
First Peter chapter number four, look at verse 12.
Beloved, thinking not strange concerning the fiery trial,
which is to try you as though
some strange thing happened unto you,
but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers
of Christ's sufferings.
So he talked about us being a partaker of Christ.
In what way?
We need to be a partaker of his sufferings.
That when his glory shall be revealed,
he may be glad also with exceeding joy.
You know it's gonna make you glad
that you endured the sufferings that Christ did,
that you endured the affliction.
No one is excited, well, I'm just so glad
I quit on that marathon.
I only had five laps left,
or I only had five minutes left, I'm so glad I quit.
No, you're excited when you cross that finish line.
You're gonna be exceeding joy
when you finish that project you've been working on.
You're exceeding joyful after the person gets saved.
You know, the first 20 minutes
of grilling them with the Bible wasn't as much fun.
You know, it's a lot more joyful to finish.
It's when you preach the gospel to someone
for 10, 15 minutes,
and then all of a sudden they're like, oh, I gotta go.
That's just frustrating.
You're just like, ah, no.
Or their brother comes, and they're like,
hey, they're not interested, slam the door.
Or the parent comes, or someone runs it,
you're just like, ah.
You get that joy when they call upon
the name of the Lord in faith,
and they're like, thank you, and this is great.
Don't think that the Christian life's any different.
Going through the wilderness sucked, okay?
It had its hardships.
They still got the heavenly bread,
they still got the daily manna, though.
Hey, we still got the King James Bible in this life.
Hey, we still get to be in the congregation of the Lord.
Hey, we're still in it together.
Hey, there's still great things in the wilderness.
They still had battles that they fought
and won in the wilderness, but you know what?
It's not glory, okay?
It's not rest constantly.
We're not just with the Lord in a sense
to where you can see Him face to face.
We don't get to eat with Him at His presence at the table
like we will in glory.
We're not getting all the rewards
like we would have in glory.
We still have sorrow and pain and suffering
and all those things.
But I have to warn you again,
if you wanna be a partaker of Christ,
it's through His sufferings.
It says in verse 14,
if you be reproached for the name of Christ,
happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you, and on their part He is evil spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified,
but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief
or as an evildoer or as a busybody and other men's matters.
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed,
but let him glorify God on this behalf.
For the time is come that judgment must begin
at the house of God, and if it first begin at us,
what shall be the end of them
that obey not the gospel of God?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God
commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing,
as unto a faithful creator.
What does verse 18 mean?
Because you can't use the word saved
in every single verse in the Bible
and say it's always about going to heaven,
because it's not.
What does it mean that the righteous are scarcely saved?
It's not talking about going to heaven.
It's talking about being saved from what?
The destruction of sin in your life.
Being saved from the temptations that are in this world.
Being saved from the punishment
that comes from your faults, okay?
So we have to be careful and understanding
that your works are very important.
Hey, we don't emphasize them in preaching the gospel,
but we need to emphasize them in the house of God.
Notice that there's judgment in the house of God.
What are you being judged according to your works?
You're being judged about how faithful you are.
If you depart out of the house of God,
hey, you're gonna scarcely be saved.
The righteous are scarcely saved.
How much less those that are ungodly?
How much less is God merciful under the unjust today?
It's not that fortunate.
Even sometimes the unjust seem to be saved
out of bad situations and God has mercy on them,
but we need to still be righteous
and following his commandments
and just commit ourselves unto him as a faithful creator.
How could you think that God,
everything he's done for you and everything he's given you,
it would be bad for you to serve him?
Man, if I give up this sin, it's just gonna be a worse life.
No, it's gonna be a better life.
If I go to church more, it's just gonna be more suffering.
No, it's gonna be better for you.
Every time you serve God, every suffering,
every affliction, every persecution you go through,
God knows that.
He planned that for you.
He's a faithful creator.
He's not just trying to torture his children.
If you would never torture your children, God so much more.
God loves you way more than you love your children.
You would never just punish your children just for the,
I don't know, I don't know.
Most of us would probably never ever punish our children
just on the whim, just thinking like,
you just need to suffer right now.
Some of us could have an evil thought,
but the Lord would never do that.
He's not with a magnifying glass, just frying ants,
just saying like, ha, ha, ha, ha.
This guy's really gonna suffer.
Ha, ha, ha, this is fun.
No, he loves us.
He's a faithful creator.
And so anything that we endure is for our benefit.
It's for our blessing.
Now, go up you would to Revelation chapter three.
This is the last point I wanna make
because in Hebrews it talked about
how some could not enter into his rest, okay?
Now, what does that look like?
Again, how many people got into the promised land
of that first generation?
Two.
So a lot of them did not enter into that rest.
That pictures several different things.
One of the things that that pictures though
is you losing out on your awards in heaven,
not entering into his rest abundantly.
It's described in second Peter chapter number one,
but for a second time I'm not gonna get there just yet.
Revelation chapter number three
is gonna stress the importance of getting rewards.
It says in Revelation chapter three verse 10,
because thou has kept the word of my patience,
I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world
to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast
that no man take thy crown.
Now here's the thing, how do you get that crown?
By holding fast.
If you don't hold fast, what's gonna happen?
Someone's gonna come and take that crown away from you.
The devil wants to strip you of all your rewards.
Evil people wanna come along
and take away the promises that God has given to you.
Go to chapter 14, go to chapter number 14.
Now heaven itself is described as rest.
Says in Revelation chapter 14 verse 11,
and the smoke of the torment is sent up forever and ever,
and they have no rest day nor night,
who worship the beast in his image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Here is the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
write, blessed are the dead which die
and the Lord from henceforth.
Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors,
and their works do follow them.
So notice going to heaven is a picture of what?
Ceasing from your works and entering into rest.
And notice your works are gonna follow after,
meaning what?
You're gonna get rewarded
according to the works that you have.
If you go to 2 Peter chapter one now,
2 Peter chapter one, I'm gonna explain this.
If you're unsaved, you're never going to heaven, period.
Okay, that's crystal clear.
And most of the people that were probably in this category,
we can say a lot of them may have been unsaved, okay?
They didn't enter in.
It was a wicked generation.
A lot of them had faith in the Lord.
But there was also saved people.
Did those saved people enter into this rest?
No, they did not.
They died in the wilderness.
They died.
All those that were above the age of 20,
they died in the wilderness, okay?
So they didn't get to enter into that particular rest.
What was that rest signifying?
Their reward.
What was their reward for enduring through the temptation?
Inheritance in the promised land,
the land flowing with milk and honey,
the fact that they were gonna have to,
all these cities that didn't have to build.
So by not entering into this rest, what is that picture?
Them not receiving the rewards
that they were going to receive, okay?
So there's two different pictures here.
One is of salvation.
Another is the fact of you not earning rewards
that you could be working towards
or you would have received.
Look at 2 Peter 1 verse four.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, notice that's plural,
that by these ye might be your takers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lusts.
So I get to have these great and exceeding
precious promises and to be a partaker
of that heavenly calling or the divine nature
and if I escape the corruption
that is in the world through lusts.
Verse five, and beside this giving all diligence
at your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge
and knowledge temperance and temperance patience
and patience godliness and godliness building kindness
and to building kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound,
they make you that you shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind
and cannot see you far off and hath forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins.
Verse 10, wherefore the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure,
for if you do these things you shall never fall.
Notice how it's word in verse 11.
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly
and to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now in verse number nine, this person is still saved.
Notice he just forgot that he was purged
from his old sins.
This guy is so backslidden, he's so worldly,
he's so caught away at the lust of the flesh,
he doesn't even remember he was saved.
He's forgotten his calling.
He's forgotten his election.
He's forgotten these things.
But the person that doesn't forget these things,
the person that's gonna make their calling and election sure
they have an entrance into what?
Into the abundance of the everlasting kingdom, okay?
What is this entrance that's pictured here?
Into the abundance of that heavenly kingdom, okay?
Everyone that's saved is going to heaven.
You know what?
Not everybody's going there with spiritual treasures
in their hand.
Some people are making by the skin of their teeth.
Some are saved, yet so as by fire.
First Corinthians chapter number three warns
that some people, they're gonna watch all their works
burn up right before their eyes.
Other people are gonna walk in abundantly
with all kinds of riches and exceeding wealth.
And this is a picture of entering in the promised land.
Not everybody inherits the same.
Not everybody gets the same rewards.
That's why it's important to hold fast to the end.
And if you hold fast to the end, the very bitter end,
there's special rewards to those
that endure all the way to the end.
Go if you would to Hebrews chapter six now.
Hebrews chapter number six.
We're almost finished this evening,
but I wanna finish on this point.
There's special rewards to enduring to the very end.
So don't think, well, I'm just done with church.
Okay, well, you're just done.
Kiss your inheritance goodbye.
Kiss all those great promises that you wanted goodbye.
Oh, you're saying I'm gonna go to heaven?
You are going to heaven.
You know what, there's this special inheritance
that was waiting for you in heaven
and you just kissed it goodbye.
You just said, no thanks, I don't want it.
And I don't want you to say that.
I want everyone in here to get their full reward.
I want everyone to have as much inheritance
and blessings they possibly can.
And no one can be sure that they're gonna join at the end.
That's why if today, if you'll hear his voice,
harden out your hearts, okay?
Verse 10, Hebrews chapter number six, verse number 10.
I thought I had it in my house, let me turn there myself.
Verse number 10 says, for God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love
which you have showed toward his name,
in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
And we desire that every one of you do show
the same diligence to the full assurance
of hope unto the end, that you be not slothful,
but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
For when God made promise to Abraham
because he could swear by no greater,
he sware by himself saying surely blessing I will bless thee
and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And so after he had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise.
Now is that salvation?
No.
You don't have to patiently endure to get saved.
What do you have to patiently endure to get?
The special inheritance promises
that you get in the promised land.
How do you get in the promised land?
You have to patiently endure like Joshua and like Caleb.
And you know what, they did inherit.
They did get to go in the promised land.
Why?
Because they were steadfast unto the end.
Because they held that confidence steadfast
all the way into the end, all the way to the hope.
And if you want to get the great rewards
like Joshua and Caleb spiritually,
you need to stay steadfast all the way unto the end.
Go to chapter 11, go to chapter 11.
The Bible says in 2 Peter 3,
Nevertheless, we according to his promise,
look for new heavens and new earth,
wherein dwelt righteousness.
You know, one promise according to the Bible
is that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but everlast in life.
You know what, there's other promises.
There's great and exceeding and precious promises.
There's not just the promise of eternal life,
there's also promise of reward
to those that diligently seek him.
There's also promise of reward
to those that faithfully endure unto the end.
How do you inherit that promise?
By actually doing it, by actually doing the works.
James chapter one says,
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation,
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
You wanna get a crown of life,
it's not just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and love him.
Now, how do you love him?
If you love me, keep my commandments.
The one that endures when he's been tried,
he goes through the temptation, he loves the Lord,
he's faithful, he's gonna get a special crown in heaven.
The person that doesn't, he's still there.
It's not like we're not gonna see him.
But those that endure get the special crown.
Hebrews chapter number 11, look at verse 35.
Women receive their dead, raise the life again,
and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance
that they might obtain a better resurrection.
So hey, I wanna have the best possible resurrection
as you should, okay?
Look at verse 39.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not the promise.
Are you telling me they didn't get saved?
No, what is the promise?
It's not about salvation.
It's a different promise we're talking about.
What's that promise?
God having provided some better thing for us
that they without us should not be made perfect.
So that promise was of a heavenly country.
Go back to verse 13.
Verse 13, these all died in faith,
not having received the promises.
Notice it's plural again.
But having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them
and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth, for they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they've been mindful of that country
from whence they came out,
they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country, that is,
and heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God,
for he hath prepared for them a city.
So notice the strangers and pilgrims of the earth,
the fathers of our faith,
they died having not received the promises,
the spiritual promises.
They didn't receive that land that was promising them.
It wasn't this world, it's the next world.
This kingdom is not the Lord Jesus Christ, it's the devil.
The God of this world has blinded the minds of them
which believe not.
The next world is the Lord's.
He's gonna be the king and the ruler,
and we're gonna rule and reign with them
based on if we're steadfast on the end.
How did you do with the talent God gave you?
Did you bury it in the ground?
Or did you go out and make more talents with it?
How have you served the Lord in your life?
How are you gonna receive those promises?
Look at chapter 10, verse 32, chapter 10, verse 32.
But call remembrance the former days
in which after you were illuminated,
you endured a great fight of afflictions,
partly whilst you were made a gazing stock
both by reproaches and afflictions,
and partly whilst you became companions of them
that were so used.
For you had compassion of me on my bonds
and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,
knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven
a better and enduring substance.
Cast not away therefore your confidence.
Now what was the Bible telling?
We need to hold on to our confidence.
It's saying, hey, don't cast away your confidence,
notice which hath a great recompense of reward,
for you have need of patience
that after you've done the will of God,
notice this, you might receive the promise.
What is that promise?
Is it eternal life?
No.
It's that great reward that you get by serving the Lord,
the crowns of righteousness, the crowns of life.
Second Timothy four, the last place I'll return.
Now I'm hammering this point, but let me warn you, okay?
The book of Hebrews hammers this point.
If you wanna know what the book of Hebrews is all about,
it's about enduring to the end.
It's about the importance of still serving God,
the importance of being faithful unto Him and enduring.
It just constantly hammers this point, every single chapter,
constantly bringing up the need for you to serve the Lord,
follow His commandments, do the works,
not just be saved, okay?
Not just make it to heaven by the skin of your teeth,
but rather endure for those rewards.
We have whole books of the Bible dedicated to such a thing.
Well, the book of John seems to be dedicated to get me saved.
Do I need another book dedicated to get me saved?
Do I need to get saved again?
Do I need to get saved again and again
and again and again and again?
How about a book that's dedicated to the saved
about how they're supposed to live their lives
after they're saved?
That's a lot more of the New Testament.
Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John.
You know what all these books are hammering?
How you're supposed to serve God after being saved.
How we're supposed to love Him and do right
and follow His commandments.
So then where do false teachers love to go
to teach you how to get saved?
All the ones emphasizing how you need to serve Him
and love Him and do works, okay?
It's not a coincidence.
Let me tell you, there's a crown of righteousness
you can get.
I want that mountain, Pastor Shelley.
I want that inheritance.
I want that crown.
Well, here's the thing, you have to endure it.