Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] So we've been in the Book of Hebrews for some time and it's really been a joy. It's been a joy for me to study. I hope it's been encouraging to you what I want to do before we jump into verse 18 and we're going to go all the way through verse 29. There's a whole lot in this passage. It's kind of like what if you're familiar with the Bible, familiar with church, what Romans 8 is in the Bible, it's like a Mount Everest of a passage. There's so much. There's so many different directions we could go. There's so many different theological questions that maybe we have about these various things that the author mentions. And so the hope today is simplicity and clarity in a way by which, because of what this text says, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we would come out trusting Jesus more profoundly, loving him more deeply. But before we get into the passage, I want to do just a very quick 30,000 foot flyover. So we're gonna pretend like we're boarding a plane together. Okay? We're getting in the plane, the plane is lifting off and we're flying over the landscape and we're looking down across the Book of Hebrews. That's what we're doing for just a few moments by means of introduction. So here's what the Book of Hebrews is about. It's really about two things. Okay? The first thing that the Book of Hebrews is about is the supremacy of Jesus Christ.
[00:01:27] Okay? That word supremacy is a big word that essentially just means that Jesus is above and he's far above and beyond all created things, that he himself is creator God.
[00:01:41] So in chapter one, he says that Jesus is better than angels.
[00:01:45] In chapter three, he says Jesus is better than Moses.
[00:01:50] Chapter four, Jesus is the better high priest, meaning you and I do not, should not, try to relate to God through some sort of merely human priest. Jesus is the better high priest. He is the means by which you and I know and relate to God. He's the better high priest. Jesus is the better Melchizedek. If you missed that sermon, it's a confusing passage, okay? But Jesus is the better Melchizedek.
[00:02:19] Chapter 8, he says that Jesus is the better tabernacle, that God actually came to us in the person of Jesus Christ and tabernacled among us. So we do not.
[00:02:30] It's not necessary for a Christian to travel to a particular place to worship God, though we do that here and we praise God for that. This is absolutely Necessary Jesus tabernacled among us. He is. He is our way to God the Father.
[00:02:45] Chapter 10 it says that Jesus is the better sacrifice. No longer do we offer up animal sacrifices as the people in the the Old Testament did, because Jesus offered up himself as the perfect and final sacrifice for our sins. He is the better and final sacrifice.
[00:03:02] Jesus is the embodiment of faithfulness. So we read about all of these faithful men and women from many, many thousands of years ago in the Old Testament who were faithful to God unto the end. Jesus is the better than them.
[00:03:16] And then in chapter 12, we're told that Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith. So I don't know what you make of Jesus Christ this morning as you're here, but Jesus Christ is not merely a teacher. He's not merely an example. Jesus Christ is Lord.
[00:03:32] Jesus is God.
[00:03:34] Jesus is the one by whom all of our life, if you're a follower of him, ought to center around, because he is supreme above all things. This is who Jesus Christ is. And so this is our author, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is belaboring to remind this house church, which many people think this is a house church, that he's writing to, belaboring to communicate this reality that far above and beyond all things in life, the best thing in your life, Jesus is better.
[00:04:02] And the second thing is because Jesus is better and because he's taken hold of you by grace, if you belong to him by faith, you're to endure to the end because he's taken hold of you, you're to take hold of him over and over and over again until the end of your life. And so we've been kind of posing this question to us is what if we reframe the scorecard and the way we think about success in our life, and rather than you and I living for as many followers as we can get, or as much platform as we can get, or as much success or money as we can get, what if the aim of our life was by the grace of God to finish well, whenever that race ends for you and for me, we don't know when it's going to happen.
[00:04:48] But whenever you and I pass from this life into eternity, into glory, that by the grace of God, it would be said of us that by his grace we finished well, that they love Jesus to the end. Like, what if that was the scorecard of our life? Well, that would begin to shift around and change lots of things in your daily life, wouldn't it?
[00:05:10] So that's what the book of Hebrews is about the supremacy of Jesus and the call to endure over and over and over again, the supremacy of Jesus and the call to endure.
[00:05:22] So while last week we talked about, and I've been trying to give you guys, give us a theme for the week to think about, like one thing to think about so that when you leave by Wednesday, you can remember this one thing, okay, last week was that we finish well by the grace of God, together.
[00:05:36] We need the church.
[00:05:38] It is not true that you can do the Christian life on your own.
[00:05:42] I listened to a podcast earlier this week with the host was a brand new Christian.
[00:05:47] So he's still real rough around the edges, cusses all the time. And I was like, I kinda. Not that he cusses, I don't like that, but like I kind of like the rawness of that a little bit. He's interviewing a Christian and the Christian hands him a Bible and he tells him, hey, this is all you need.
[00:06:00] And I remember feeling angry about that, like that's not true.
[00:06:05] It's not all he needs.
[00:06:07] He needs the church.
[00:06:09] You need the church, I need the church.
[00:06:12] And so one of the means by which he tells us that we're to finish is to finish well together. We talked about that last week.
[00:06:18] And then today this is what we're going to talk about, the theme.
[00:06:21] We're going to talk about this reality that finishing well by the grace of God requires right worship.
[00:06:28] Finishing well by the grace of God requires right worship. Okay, here's the reality, friends. Every single one of us in the room worships.
[00:06:39] It's not a matter of if you worship, it's what or whom you worship.
[00:06:45] Because you were created and I was created to worship.
[00:06:50] And so a helpful indicator for us, I think, is to think about that one thing in your life, or maybe multiple things in our life. Theologian John Calvin and I agree with him that our hearts are like idle factories, okay? So they're filled with all sorts of things that we worship.
[00:07:10] So it's not a matter of if you worship.
[00:07:13] What or whom do you worship? What or whom, if taken away from you, friends, would leave you devastated and wanting to leave Jesus Christ.
[00:07:24] What's that thing?
[00:07:26] Who's that person?
[00:07:28] Because that thing or that person is what has your heart.
[00:07:33] And out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Jesus says, so what or whom do you worship?
[00:07:43] Jesus came to rescue us, that you and I would worship rightly.
[00:07:49] And so what is right worship? This passage, here's what he's going to do.
[00:07:54] He's going to give us two scenes, one from the past and one from the future.
[00:08:00] Okay. Two mountains, Mount Sinai, which we're going to talk about in just a moment, and Mount Zion, one mountain from the past. Mount Sinai, which is where the Israelites would gather around. God would descend and his presence would rest upon the mountain, represents what life under the law looks like.
[00:08:22] Mount Zion, which is future promise for the Christian, represents what life in the gospel looks like. Does this make sense?
[00:08:32] Two ways of worship. And so he's going to start off by reminding us of the past. Verses 18 through 21. Let me read the text to us, and then we'll talk about a few things from it. Verse 18. For you have not come to what may be touched.
[00:08:49] A blazing fire and darkness and gloom, and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them, for they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Verse 21. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.
[00:09:21] So this is a scene from the past.
[00:09:24] The people of Israel called by God out of Egypt, out of slavery. God's leading them into the promised land. And then at Mount Sinai, particular place. That's why he says, you have not come to what can be touched. So he's going to stimulate our senses a little bit through a lot of physicality.
[00:09:44] Okay. He's telling these Christians in this house, church, who were by all accounts, being persecuted and tempted to leave Christ and go back to the law.
[00:09:55] Jewish Christians. He's telling them, you didn't experience this. This thing. And here's what happened on that day. Here's what the people of Israel were in the Old Testament around Mount Sinai did experience.
[00:10:10] He gives seven kind of physical descriptors to talk about what this particular event was like. Here's what they are. He says it was a mountain that may be touched. It was a physical place.
[00:10:24] He describes it as a blazing fire.
[00:10:28] So I want you to kind of work with me a little bit by imagining these things, because this is what it's intended to do, not for us to read past it, but to slow down and really consider the scene.
[00:10:39] A mountain, a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and a voice, or another way to translate that is a voice uttering words.
[00:11:01] So this is taken directly from Deuteronomy, chapter 4 and Exodus, chapter 19.
[00:11:07] Here's what those passages say in describing this scene.
[00:11:11] Deuteronomy 4:11 12 says, and you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain burned with fire to the hearers of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire, and you heard the sound of words, but saw no form. There was only a voice.
[00:11:35] Then Exodus 19:16 says, on the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
[00:11:50] So if you were to take one word and describe this scene, this would be the word friends. It would be terror.
[00:11:57] Terror just means intense fear.
[00:12:02] Now, all of us have experienced that in one way or another throughout our life, right?
[00:12:07] A moment of intense fear, a moment of terror.
[00:12:15] He's communicating this this way for a reason. One, because this is what they felt.
[00:12:21] So God had led his people out of slavery, was leading them into the promised land.
[00:12:27] He descends upon Mount Sinai.
[00:12:29] Only Moses can go up the mountain. And it was at the top of the mountain that God was going to give the ten Commandments to Moses to then give to the people of God.
[00:12:39] But the reality is, when sinful people come into the presence of the holy God of the universe, as we sang about a few moments ago, this is the result. It's terror.
[00:12:53] Not because God's bad, but because God is unequivocally good.
[00:13:00] God is so good, he's better than what you think he is.
[00:13:04] God's so perfect in all of who he is that for a sinful person to stand in his presence, we can't stand it. It says that they couldn't stand the sight. They couldn't stand the sound of the voices, words. I mean, it was a scene of chaos. It was a scene of terror because God is holy. And that is the appropriate response when a sinful person comes into the presence of a holy God.
[00:13:33] A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado, which I love. It's one of my favorite places in the world. It's like a Hallmark card if you go to Breckenridge. And one particular day, we were up on the top of a mountain, and I was getting ready to ski down, and I'm not an excellent skier at all.
[00:13:50] And so as I had gotten off the lift and I was preparing to make the descent, a little storm. It didn't feel little at the time.
[00:13:57] So a storm hit below us. Okay, so we're at the top of the mountain. I'M getting ready to descend. And as I prepared to kind of go down the mountain, a storm actually hits below us. And it gets so bad, so windy, so dark, so discombobulating that I had to sit down.
[00:14:15] Like, I can't make my way down. And though I was outside and just full of open sky, I felt claustrophobic in that moment.
[00:14:23] Like, I can't move.
[00:14:25] The elements are too big for me.
[00:14:29] This is kind of the picture that we're talking about here.
[00:14:32] Okay, the author says that our God is a consuming fire.
[00:14:39] Okay, The.
[00:14:40] The man who shot the children at the Catholic school several weeks ago wrote these words on the magazine of his semiautomatic rifle. Where is your God?
[00:14:54] And he knows now.
[00:14:59] He knows now.
[00:15:02] Our God is a consuming fire.
[00:15:08] We can't fathom it.
[00:15:10] And the appropriate response for you, friend, and for me is fear.
[00:15:17] That is the appropriate response.
[00:15:20] In the presence of a holy God.
[00:15:25] The Seraphim in Isaiah 6 can't even behold him with their six wings. Two of those wings have to be used to cover their eyes because they can't behold in all of his fullness, the holiness of our God, who is Himself a consuming fire.
[00:15:47] This is who God is.
[00:15:51] And to try to make yourself right with him through your efforts of obeying his law is foolishness.
[00:16:00] And that's the point that he's trying to belabor.
[00:16:03] You can't make yourself right with that God.
[00:16:07] You can't earn his favor.
[00:16:09] You can't earn his love and affection.
[00:16:12] You can't be righteous on your own in his sight because he's too holy.
[00:16:19] You're too sinful.
[00:16:21] You're too broken. You're too far gone.
[00:16:24] And so am I.
[00:16:27] And so it's a fool's game for you to live your life as if you can.
[00:16:34] A redoubled effort to be a better person.
[00:16:36] I'm gonna white knuckle my way to the finish line. I'm gonna be better. I'm gonna read, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna tithe, I'm gonna serve. I'm gonna do all these things, and then when I do these things, God will love and accept. And are you trying to approach God on the basis of your own attempts at righteousness?
[00:16:59] Have you grown up in a religion or maybe even a church that teaches such things that. Yeah, it's about what Jesus did, but it's also kind of about what you do, too.
[00:17:13] Is this the way that we try to.
[00:17:17] This image is intended to build into us a more beautiful reality for those of us who belong to Jesus.
[00:17:30] So he wants to cultivate fear and reverence and all of these appropriate things. When we think about this reality of approaching a holy God, we just can't do it. But ultimately intended to stay there. He wants to swing us up to a joy that's so deep and so profound that it's beyond circumstantial joy.
[00:17:53] It's a serious joy. It's a weighty joy. It's the kind of joy that by the grace of God will get you and I through our worst day.
[00:18:03] But it has to start here with the fear of God in light of his holiness. But look what he goes on to say, starting in verse 22. So that's the first scene.
[00:18:16] Mount Sinai, life under the law, separation from God because of his holiness and our sinfulness. Look at verse 22.
[00:18:26] Verse 22, he says, but you so notice the contrast.
[00:18:31] You have not come to this mountain, Mount Sinai. But then he's going to contrast it and say, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels and festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. And to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. So we'll stop there.
[00:18:59] Notice the contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.
[00:19:05] He says, you have not come to Mount Sinai, a place that can be touched, surrounded by darkness and a tempest and gloom and terror, life under the law.
[00:19:15] But you have come to Mount Zion. And just like he gave us seven descriptors to describe Mount Sinai, he's going to give seven descriptors to describe Mount Zion, which I just think is a cool thing that the Bible does often.
[00:19:26] Okay? And so here what those descriptors are.
[00:19:30] Number one, the city that Mount Zion is, the city of the living God. It's the heavenly Jerusalem.
[00:19:37] The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Number two, he says that there are innumerable angels in festal gathering.
[00:19:49] So if the first scene of Mount Sinai could be described as terror and separation, and the second scene and Mount Zion could be described as joy and acceptance, terror under the Old Covenant party, under the New Covenant, innumerable angels gathered around the throne of Jesus in festal gathering. They're not moaning, they're not crying, they're not weeping, they're not in despair. They're living in festal gathering.
[00:20:21] Says number three. The assembly of the firstborn is there. That's the church.
[00:20:28] The word assembly just means ekklesia, which is where we get the Word, Church. The church is there, we're there.
[00:20:36] Number four. He says that there's a judge who is God of all.
[00:20:42] This is the God of Mount Sinai, who's here, Present heavenly Jerusalem.
[00:20:51] Number five. He says that the spirits of just men made perfect are there. The spirits of just men made perfect. This again is an illusion, a statement regarding the church. The people of God who by grace have put their trust and faith in Jesus. They have been. We have been declared righteous. And so it's only the righteous who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. And we're declared righteous through the finished work of Jesus Christ. And so it's the righteous who are there. This is the intermediate heaven, as theologians say. So in other words, when you and I die, we don't just go into the ground. Our spirits, this is what I think. At least our spirits go into the presence of Jesus right away. Jesus says to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise.
[00:21:31] Paul says that it's better to depart and to be with Christ.
[00:21:35] These are instantaneous things as we await in heaven with Jesus. The intermediate heaven, the return of Jesus, where he resurrects our bodies and resurrects the earth.
[00:21:45] So this is the scene. I mean, it's almost like we're getting the curtain pulled back from our eyes and we're able to see the reality of what is right now.
[00:21:55] Okay, you guys know the story. There's a story of in the Old Testament. I believe it's Elisha. It's an on the fly illustration. So I don't know if I'm gonna get the names right, but I believe it's Elisha and one of the prophets who is surrounded by an army and he cries out to God and God opens his eyes to be able to see that there's an even greater army behind that earthly army.
[00:22:15] Okay, that's the reality that you and I live in now. Like, we just can't see it.
[00:22:21] But this is a present reality. And he's juxtaposing this. He's contrasting this with Mount Zion.
[00:22:30] What it looks like to live under the law, what it looks like to be a redeemed person in the gospel.
[00:22:37] How do you and I know, though, that this future reality that we're talking about, this amazing festal gathering that's consisting of innumerable angels and joy and happiness and righteousness. How do you and I know? How can we know that that future is our future?
[00:22:55] It's because of what he goes on to say.
[00:22:58] Jesus, the mediator of a new Covenant is also there.
[00:23:07] Under the old covenant came cursed. Under the new covenant comes blessing.
[00:23:13] And it's a really significant thing that the author inspired by the Holy Spirit mentions the name of Jesus. He wants to drive home this point to you and to me that there is a person who has gone before you and purchased your way there.
[00:23:30] The hope that you and I need and the hope that we have to get there isn't at all going to come by your effort.
[00:23:37] It came as the result of the effort of another Jesus. He's the mediator of a new covenant. Moses was the mediator of the old covenant. Jesus, the perfect God, man is the mediator of the new covenant.
[00:23:53] How did he do it?
[00:23:55] Says by his sprinkled blood, which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
[00:24:03] The shed blood of Abel spoke a word of justice, the need for justice and vengeance. He was killed by his brother unjustly.
[00:24:12] That's what the blood of Abel speaks.
[00:24:15] The shed blood of Jesus on the cross speaks a word of forgiveness and mercy.
[00:24:23] Jesus blood on the cross, following his perfect life in obedience to God the Father behalf, speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Jesus blood speaks a better word than the word of the law.
[00:24:40] Romans, chapter 3, verse 20 says, for no one will be made right in God's sight by works of the law.
[00:24:48] By works of law no one will be justified.
[00:24:51] Because through the law, he says, comes knowledge of sin.
[00:24:57] Mount Sinai is intended to teach you and I, as we look back at that scene, the simple but profound reality that really has the power and the potency to change our life because it changes the way that we approach God by reminding us that we cannot be made right with that God through our own efforts.
[00:25:18] And then when we look at Mount Zion in the future and we see this amazing reality of what is today and what will be in the future at the return of Jesus Christ. And we see, oh, I want that. I hope you do. I want that. I want to be there.
[00:25:32] I want to experience that. I want to know that we're just reminded that that future reality is made available to all because of Jesus, to all who will turn from sin and believe upon Jesus. Jesus blood speaks the final word to us regarding our forgiveness of sins.
[00:25:58] His blood on the cross speaks a better word.
[00:26:02] And so this is what he's done. As we seek to land the plane here, he's given us two scenes in order to cultivate right worship.
[00:26:12] Right worship is not attempting to worship the God of the universe on the basis of your own merit.
[00:26:18] Right worship only begins to happen in our lives. And. And it's only cultivated in our lives as we remember that we couldn't do it. We didn't do it. God did it on our behalf through the person of Jesus, the mediator of a better covenant, of a new covenant. And because of Christ, and because of what Christ has accomplished, all of these realities in heaven are now ours.
[00:26:41] They're yours.
[00:26:43] They're mine.
[00:26:46] And so he ends with a warning.
[00:26:49] Okay, so let's look at verses 25 to 29.
[00:26:53] And he's going to end with a warning and an invitation. We'll say a warning and an invitation. So verse 25, he says, see that you do not refuse him who is speaking.
[00:27:06] See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven?
[00:27:19] So this him who spoke from earth and speaks from heaven is God.
[00:27:26] God spoke to the Israelites from Mount Sinai.
[00:27:29] And now, friends, God has spoken one final word to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. As it says in Hebrews chapter one. This is the point that He's. He's going all the way back to the first chapter.
[00:27:41] At many times and in many ways, God spoke through the prophets and in visions and dreams and all these things. Now, preeminently, primarily, supremely, he's spoken to us through a person, through His Son.
[00:27:53] And so he's warning them.
[00:27:56] He's saying, don't refuse him who is speaking. It ended badly for the Israelites. It will be worse for us who refuse Him. Now it's just a bigger deal what we have. And so you see what he's doing. He's building within us a serious joy if you're a follower of Jesus, by which somehow there's this crazy tension in the Christian life by which we both fear God as the consuming fire that he is.
[00:28:30] And it makes us tremble.
[00:28:33] But as we tremble because of Jesus and the sufficiency of his blood that speaks a better word, we tremble toward him not as our judge primarily, but as our Father.
[00:28:45] He says, don't refuse him who's speaking from heaven. Friends, are you refusing the gift of God in the person of Jesus now?
[00:28:59] Like, do you come into this place with this kind of mindset about Christianity that it's really about being a good person?
[00:29:09] Like, if you think that Christianity is about being a good person, you've missed it entirely.
[00:29:15] And I can't make you.
[00:29:18] I can't force you to believe what I'm Communicating to you. The Holy Spirit has to apply these things in His Word to your heart, and I pray that he does. But it's a fool's game.
[00:29:28] That's not what Christianity is about. It's not about being a good person.
[00:29:33] It's not about voting the right way.
[00:29:36] It's not about being a social conservative.
[00:29:39] Though we believe that the Bible teaches many of those things, that's not what being a Christian is about.
[00:29:48] Being a Christian for us personally hinges on what decision you'll make in regards to the gift of God and what he's done for you, for us, in the person of His Son, Jesus.
[00:30:02] Will you receive that gift? Will you reject that gift?
[00:30:09] Jesus alone is righteous.
[00:30:11] Jesus alone is perfect. Jesus alone fulfilled the law of God.
[00:30:16] Jesus died the death that you and I deserved. He rose from the grave. He ascended to heaven where he now rules and reigns.
[00:30:24] And the invitation for you is, what will you do with him?
[00:30:28] Will you receive him? Will you refuse him?
[00:30:33] Others are Christians, followers of Jesus. And the temptation still arises through various life circumstances to refuse him and to go back, just like this church. Remember, he's writing this to a church.
[00:30:48] And so he's warning these beloved brothers and sisters, don't refuse him.
[00:30:53] Don't go back to the old way of the law, trying to work for the love and approval of God.
[00:30:59] Rest in the love and approval of God as manifest in the person of Jesus and His final work alone.
[00:31:06] Don't leave Jesus behind for the sake of the law. Hold tight to Jesus as He holds tight to you.
[00:31:13] Are you tempted to refuse him now in this season of your life? It could be for a variety of things. Like my encouragement for you today before you leave would be to ask for prayer.
[00:31:25] Just open up to somebody. Open up to one person today and say, I feel tempted to leave Jesus because of this thing.
[00:31:34] You're not going to be condemned for that. You're not going to be shamed for that. That's you fighting.
[00:31:44] So he gives him a warning. Do not refuse or reject him. And then he finishes with this verse 28. Therefore let us be grateful.
[00:31:54] So he's talking to Christians.
[00:31:56] Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
[00:32:01] And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.
[00:32:12] Couple of notes. I would encourage you to circle, underline the word. Our God, who is a consuming fire, is your God friend.
[00:32:24] If by faith you've trusted in Jesus, he's your God, he's on your side, you're on His Side this is like having a father that loves you deeply, that when you're in his presence, you're like man. Nothing can touch me when I'm in the presence of my dad.
[00:32:48] He's your God. And what the author's saying in closing is, he's saying right worship, like if right worship is necessary for endurance, and it is right worship is manifest or expressed through gratitude and reverence.
[00:33:06] Through gratitude and reverence. Now, here's the thing. We don't cultivate gratitude or reverence as Christians by focusing on gratitude and reverence.
[00:33:16] That's not how it happens.
[00:33:18] We cultivate or gratitude and reverence is cultivated in our hearts as we turn our eyes to Christ.
[00:33:27] A recentering on Christ, on the person of Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant, the one who's given us admission into this amazing future.
[00:33:36] One commentator says that faith is taking hold of the future as if it's the present.
[00:33:41] That future described is your future and mine. That's what's ahead for you. You have reason to get up in the morning.
[00:33:49] You have reason to keep going. You have reason to stay in your marriage. You have reason to love your kids. You have reason to repent when you fail at all of those things, because that's your future and it's already been paid for in full for you.
[00:34:02] I was invited not long ago by a dear friend to go on this once in a lifetime trip. And he paid for my plane ticket. So I remember the feeling that when the plane ticket printed off and I saw it, I was like, oh my gosh, this is happening. Like, unless I die, this vacation's going to happen.
[00:34:19] This is even better assurance for you than that Jesus has paid for it. Vacation's awaiting, so let's keep going with him.
[00:34:29] Let's be grateful. Is your life marked by gratitude or ingratitude?
[00:34:35] Most of our sin derives from a heart that's ungrateful.
[00:34:40] What do we have to be grateful for? Everything.
[00:34:43] Every good thing in your life is a bonus to this deeper reality that Jesus has already paid your admission.
[00:34:48] He's already done it. This kingdom, this unshakable kingdom is yours.
[00:34:54] You have nothing to worry about.
[00:34:55] So let's go before the Lord in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to apply these truths to our heart.
