Sunday Morning Service 10:30 AM - "Confidence in Christ" Pt 2 - Hebrews 10:26-39 - Pastor Ryan Nicho

Good morning, church family. Really glad you're here. It's good to see you guys. I'm glad to be back. I want to invite you to stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Lord, we come before you this morning. We thank you for allowing us to be here. Lord, let's ask your blessing upon this time. Lord, if there's anything going on in our lives, I just pray that we would set those things aside and just completely and wholly focus on you this morning, Lord, and praise you and worship you. Lord, God, I just ask your blessing upon the word as it goes out.

We love you and we praise you in your name. Amen. Let's worship the Lord.

You call me out of the grave. You call me into the light. You call my name and then my heart is shaking.

We shout it out. One more time.

You guys can go and have a seat if you like.

And all I see is the battle. You see my victory.

And all I see is the mountain. You see the mountain move.

And as I walk through the shadow, your love surrounds me. There's nothing to fear now for I am saved with you. Sing it out. So when I fight,

I'll sing through the night. Most to you I fall.

For Jesus, there's nothing impossible.

Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadows.

Nothing can stand against the power of our God. Nothing can stand against you shining. Christ is my firm foundation.

It's I stand when everything around me is shaken.

So I won't be gone so my firm is shaken.

It's that makes no sense. So I won't change.

So I was built on say. Yes, I'm going. Everything around me. Say again. Well, God, I just thank you for how good and faithful you are. I just thank you for that. Thank you for when you are faithful, or God, you are faithful, even when we're not looking at. Just thank you and praise you been. So, so I will see of the goodness of God. I love you. I've been here until I see the goodness of God.

You guys sing it out of the good. And God, I love your darkest night. You are close like no other known. You as a father, as a friend, have lived in the goodness of God of the goodness. And God, this is running and this is running out. And so, so I will see of the goodness of God. One more time, guys. Yes. Sing it out. I will sing of your goodness, oh God. I will sing of your goodness, oh God.

Can you guys stand with me for the last one? This darkness you give. This darkness you give. Be still. We'll shout. We'll sing. We'll shout. Hearts will. We'll sing. Hearts will cry. We'll shout. We'll cry. God, we just come before you this morning, God. With so many reasons to praise you and thank you this morning. God, you're so good. You're so faithful. You're so kind and gracious.

Merciful, Lord God. Oh God, you are so great and so amazing this morning, God. And we just want to return praise to you. It's your breath. It's your breath. It's your breath. God, it's just such a pleasure to be in your house this morning. To hear your people sing. To pour out their praise to you. out their praise to you, God, to sing of how great you are. Oh, God, an amazing and wonderful

and gracious and merciful you are, God. Lord, we just thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you for who you are and for how much you love us. And Lord, I thank you for your word. And as Pastor Ryan comes this morning, I just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, with your gift of teaching. May your word go out with power, with such power, Lord God, that lives would be changed this morning. Change our lives. Change mine.

Father, we ask it in Jesus' name. All God's people said, amen. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another. Good morning. If you could locate your seat, grab a bowl of coffee. If you could locate your seat, grab a bowl of coffee. If you could locate your seat, grab a bowl we'll go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined

us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week, so find yourself a spot to get plugged into. Middle section of your bulletin, just a reminder that we are in the midst of a remodel down at the other end of the building, so the kitchen is closed down for right now. We are making headway.

Most of the cabinets are in. There's a couple on back order. All the countertops are in, so we're moving in the right direction there. Exciting stuff. That being said, there's no men's breakfast this month because there's no place to make men's breakfast this month, so don't show up next Saturday. No, it'll be here. Also, there is a Reclaiming Masculinity Conference hosted by

Family Life Services out at Prairie View Christian Camp on September the 12th. Fellas, if you're interested in getting registered for that, there's a QR code below that little section in your bulletin. You can get registered for that. All men are welcome. And then last, but certainly not least, our Guatemala team returned Monday evening, and they would like to bless us with a little something going on up here.

Buenos dias. Good morning. While we were in Guatemala, we got the opportunity to go to three different villages and do this play several times. While the medical mission was going on, that was the primary focus of our trip, was the medical mission, where there was a pharmacy and, uh, a nurse, and they gave medical care to adults and children who didn't have any medical care, couldn't afford it, don't have any money at all for medicine. So, uh, Calvary Chapel is helping

support that mission through God Said Go, and you cannot believe the blessing it is to the number of people that, first of all, get to see the love of God and get to see, uh, this, this care that they don't normally get. But while the, uh, medical mission is seeing their clients, the pharmacy and the people, we go take care of the children, which there's a lot. We had like 80 the first day, uh, like 70 the second, maybe 80 the third, somewhere those numbers are close. A lot of children. And, uh, we play games with them, but before we play games with them, which, um, uh,

kind of keep, they get prizes and gifts that some of them never have gotten a gift. And we, we heard people there who had never heard the gospel before. We were told there was people we touched who had never heard the gospel. Uh, but, um, that's, um, we'll talk more about that after church. And, uh, we can explain that, uh, when we're going to have a meeting after church.

Uh, this is a picture here on the, uh, monitor of a group of the kids. Well, here we are doing the play. So we're going to do the play. Now the play is the lost sheep who knew everything. One of the things that was key was our team did it in Spanish and they, and the missionaries told us that's the first time they'd seen a foreign missionary group come in and do the play, do anything, talk to the

kids in Spanish. And the kids, even though I'm not very good at Spanish, I learned mine in Duolingo. They learned theirs in school. Uh, but anyways, uh, they, they, they don't get people doing anything in Spanish. So the children understood us and they were really appreciative of the fact that we were speaking their language. So we're going to do this for you in Spanish and

in English and do it as quick as we can. Uh, it starts out, uh, there was once a shepherd who loved all his sheep. Okay. Sheep number three. It is the seer. What does that mean? Vamos a acordarnos todos juntos. Today we're staying together. Por qué? Why? Por qué es lo más seguro? Because it's safe. Sí, es cierto. Yes, I do. Sabes, do you know where food is? Sí, yes.

Sabes dónde hay agua? Do you know where water is? Sí, yes. Sabes dónde está el peligro? Do you know where danger is? Claro que sí, of course. Entonces, ¿qué tienes detrás de ti? Oh, no. Okay, the scene two, la gran escapada, the great escape. Todos las ovejas seguran el pastor, excepto una. The sheep all followed the shepherd, except one. No necesito un pastor. Yo puedo encontrar mi propia comida. Yo puedo encontrar mi propia agua. Yo puedo

encontrar mi propia comida. I don't need a shepherd. I can find my own food. I can find my own water. I can find my own way. I'll be back. Regreso antes del almuerzo. I'll be back before lunch. Scene three, todo está mal. Everything goes wrong. Primero, necesita comida. First, I need food. Guacala no es comida. Yuck, not food. La oveja no era muy bueno para encontrar comida. The sheep was not very good at finding food. Bueno, ahora necesita

agua. Okay, now I need water. Agua. Guacala no es agua. Es café. Tampoco era muy bueno para encontrar agua. The sheep was not very good at finding water either. No importa. Todavía sé a dónde voy. That's okay. I still know where I'm going. Exactly. El piso me atacó. The ground attacked me. Okay. Scene four, buscando amigos. Making friends. Hola, silla. Me llamo oveja. Hello, chair. My name is sheep. Es mi mejor

amigo. This is my best friend. Pero una silla no es un muy bueno amigo. But a chair is not a very good friend. Creo que estoy perdida. I'm starting to think I may be lost. Bueno, no complemento perdida. Solo. Un poquito perdida. Not completely lost. Just a little lost. Just a little lost. Scene five, el pastor sale a buscarla. The shepherd searches. Mientras tanto, con el reabano. Back at the flock.

I've seen three sheep. Número tres. Wait, where is sheep three? Le creé que lo sabe todo. The one who knows everything. Tengo que encontrarla. I have to find him. Heo visto a mi oveja. Have you seen my sheep? There he is. Have you seen my sheep? He's gone. He is gone. He's gone. He's gone. I think I've found him. He is going to try to find ¿Quién es esta oveja?

Scene 6, El Rescate, The Rescue.

Ya está escureciendo. It's getting dark. Tengo hambre. I'm hungry. Tengo sed. I'm thirsty. Y mi mejor amigo es una silla. And my best friend is a chair. Ayúdame. Help me. Chief! Pastor! Shepherd! Aquí estás. There you are. ¿Viniste por mí? You came for me? Claro que sí. Of course. ¿Aún que me escape? Even after I ran away? Sí. Yes. ¿Aún que pensé que lo sabía todo? Even after I thought I knew everything?

Sí. Yes. ¿Aún que mi mejor amigo es una silla? Even after that my best friend is a chair? Especialmente después de oso. Especially after that. Jesús aparece. Jesus appears. El pastor amaba tanto a su oveja que salió a buscarla. I come looking for them. ¿Aún que cómo estamos? ¿Aún que no hacemos errores? Even when we make mistakes? Sí. Yes. ¿Aún que seamos tercos? Even when we are stubborn?

Sí. Yes. Sí. Yes. Every child here is important to me. I know your name. I love you. You are never forgotten or lost. I am always with you and I love you. Jesús nos ama. Jesus loves us. Gracias. That's why I came. The Bible says in Luke 15, just like the shepherd, Just like the shepherd loved the lost sheep, Jesus loves every one of you. You are never forgotten by him.

Fine. The end. The children loved it. They were able to follow it. They laughed and they giggled, you know, when they, when they were looking for the sheep, it was a, it was a very good time. And we want to say thanks to everyone here who helped, you know, push this, push the Guatemala trip and helped us go. And you were all a part of that. And we got to go visit all these children and lives were touched.

Seeds were planted. There will be a, Jesus is working in all those children's life and they won't forget it. So thank you all very much. That last part was that Jesus even loves bald people because he lost his hair is Ross and I appreciate it. Well, there's one last thing that we need to do before we get going here this morning. So, uh, if I could invite Tyler and grace to come up, if I can also invite Jared to

come up here. So since, uh, since January, we have been praying about who, yeah, that seems like a trip hazard, uh, about who could take over the junior high youth ministry for us. And so, uh, back in late December, early January, uh, grace and Tyler moved back course. Grace has been around for a real long time. And, uh, she, uh, she brought Tyler to us. Good job, grace.

And, um, uh, as, as we've had a chance to pray through it with the board, um, and we've watched, uh, Tyler get involved, he first of all survived young Christians weekend, which I think is a big thing. If you can spend a weekend with teenagers and water and, uh, water parks and things like that. They didn't seem to survive. They thrived. Uh, we knew that he might be a really good choice.

So we prayed about it, told them to pray about it and they said, yeah, let's do this thing. So this morning we want to introduce Tyler as the junior high youth leader, and we just wanted to pray over them. So. Today, a youth group will be splitting up. Uh, Jared will be taking the high school group and Tyler will be taking the junior high group and we're excited about what God's going to do here.

So if you would join us in prayer as we lay hands on them and, uh, pray God's blessing. So father, we come before you and I just thank you for, uh, for grace and Tyler Lord, I thank you for providing them for us. I thank you that you have given them a heart to serve. And so Lord, I lift up Tyler as a, as he now takes this responsibility to, uh, to be a leader as he takes this responsibility to lead this ministry that you would.

Father, fill him with your Holy spirit to, uh, to perform this, fill him with your Holy spirit to, to lead wisely and Lord, I pray for grace that she comes alongside him, that, that you would give her the wisdom to know how to support her husband and to encourage him and to, uh, uh, spur him on, uh, in the ministry that you've given both of them. And so Lord, uh, we just pray your blessing on them and just ask that you would continue to move as you see fit in Jesus name. Amen. We're looking forward to it.

You left without hugging me last time. Very good. Well, thank you guys. We're looking forward to what God does. So without further ado, if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, I'll only be doing this in English. Just so you know, it feels like the somebody, somebody booed, um, so Hebrews chapter 10. So we're picking up in part two of our series.

It's going to be back by the way, got to spend last weekend down in broken ball, Oklahoma, doing a very beautiful wedding. I'm going to put the link down there. Um, and so it's good to be, good to be back. I think I'm back for the rest of, for a long time now, so don't worry. It's not going to keep going back and forth like that, but we continue on in Hebrews chapter

10, as we've been looking at, uh, uh, a, uh, an exhortation and a warning underneath the title of confidence in Christ. Uh, the writer to the book of Hebrews has been spurring on this confidence in us throughout the entire book. He has taught us about, uh, the, the greatness of Jesus, how much better he has than all of the things of this world. all of the things that they could fall into.

And now he tells them it's time to find that confidence in Christ. And so he starts off with an exhortation as he says, Therefore, since we have this confidence in who we are in Christ, let us go boldly before the throne of grace. Let us go boldly into the holy place, because there's a new and a living way that's been made for us. But as he gives us this exhortation to come boldly into the most holy place because of our confidence, he now gives a warning.

And this warning that he gives, I'm just going to put a little caveat on this. The warning that he gives is a very harsh warning. And so you'll need to know this passage of Scripture that we go through is a sobering passage of Scripture, but it's an important passage of Scripture. And so allow the entire message to sink in before you get too discouraged and just know that this is a warning that comes from God that we have to pay attention to.

And so we pick up in verse 26 of chapter 10, and it says this, For if we go on sinning willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded, as unclean, the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay.

And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. But remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live, by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction,

but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. See what I mean? Sobering words in the warning that he gives to us. And so as we look at this passage of Scripture, there's two things I would like to point out to you. First of all is the warning that he gives, but second of all is the encouragement that he follows up with. Let's start with the warning.

It's been interesting as we have been talking about this, and we have worked our way through the book of Hebrews, which has taken us quite some time now, that after he makes strong theological points, he follows those up with a warning. As a matter of fact, this is the fourth warning that's given to us in the book of Hebrews. The first warning is given to us in chapter 2, verse 1, when he says, Let us therefore pay attention, lest we drift away from so great a salvation. In chapter 3, he gives us the second warning, where he says, Beware of an unbelieving heart that could fall away.

In chapter 6, he gives us an even harsher warning, where he warns us about the falling away. And now this one, which seems to culminate the three of them, as he says, You cannot go on sinning willfully and not face the judgment of God. And so, I would like to look at this from a couple of different perspectives. I want to look at just the plain reading of what it means by go on sinning willfully, and then I want to look at what he's not saying, and then I want to look at what he is saying.

So first of all, let's just look at the plain reading of it. It says, For if we go on sinning willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire, which will consume the adversaries. The plain reading of it is this. If you continue sinning, that word sin means to miss the mark.

In other words, to fall short of the mark that God has set. He said, if you continue sinning, but he puts a caveat on that in adverb there, where he says, if you continue sinning willfully, that means to miss the mark voluntarily and of your own accord. There's an aspect of this where you are now doing something in a willful situation. It's with knowledge, not something that you're doing accidentally.

And he says, if we go on sinning willfully, he says, after having received the knowledge of the truth, there is no more sacrifice for sins. There's nothing else that can be done for you. All you can do is wait for the judgment. A terrifying expectation of judgment. I hope for every soul that's in here this morning, that we take these words and we allow it to sober us.

Like clearly it has done on the faces of every single one of you sitting in here this morning, because I think it's important that we allow ourselves to be sobered by the knowledge of the holiness of God and his hatred for sin, because we have so softened God's hatred for sin in our culture. Today that we have begun accepting all of the sins of the culture that are around us. We have so softened God's stance on holiness that we have called holiness legalism. It's something that we should not be putting on someone else.

That holiness is simply being judgmental and you can't require that of people. Meanwhile, that's the entire reason why you were created was for holiness. And so in this moment, I want you to allow it to sink into your soul that God hates sin. And he hates it so much that if you continue sinning willfully, that God has to deal with the sin. And he hates it so much that if you continue sinning willfully,

that God has to deal with the sin. And he hates it so much that if you continue sinning willfully, he deals with it through judgment. Because if we don't let that sink in, then the message of grace has no power in our lives. The message of grace has no strength in our lives because grace becomes a license to sin. Grace is no longer a freedom from it. He says, if we go on continuing to sin willfully.

Well, second of all, let's look at what he is not saying. Believer, he is not saying that this is any old sin or failure of the believer. We need to realize that as a believer in Jesus Christ, every sin that we commit is willful. It's all with knowledge. Can we appreciate that? Can we understand that? That once you've been enlightened by the Lord, you know the difference between sin and not sin.

You know the difference between God's righteous standard and what sin actually is in your life. And so all sin is willful. So he's not talking about just some average, ordinary sin that we commit in our life. He also is not talking about lifelong struggles of believers. Because I know as well as you do that we all have things that we struggle with in our lives.

We all have areas of the flesh that have a grip on us that if we give it an inch, it will take a mile in our lives. That if we give it the opportunity, that sin will take over and become the thing that we do. He's not talking about a lifelong struggle that we all deal with. As David Guzik said in his commentary, falling into sin is dangerous, but falling into sin is not hopeless.

So what is he saying? Well, I need to understand what he means when he says, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge, we must look down at verses 28 and 29. In verse 28, he says, anyone who has set aside, or some of your translations may say, anyone who rejects the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. We have to understand that the law of Moses had consequences that went along with it.

The law of Moses that they want to go back to had consequences that went with it. And so if you rejected the law of Moses, either by your attitudes or by your actions, and you didn't deal with that with a sin, sacrifice, instead it was a willful thing in your life, you were put to death after two or three people said, yep, he's guilty. Because that's how intense the law of Moses is. And as was pointed out to us back in chapter two, if the law of Moses carried that sort of weight with it, the law that was given to us by the intermediate agency of angels, how much greater if we ignore the salvation that was provided by Jesus.

He goes on to say, how much severer, verse 29, punishment do you think he will deserve? If he does three things. Number one, if he has trampled underfoot the son of God. Number two, he has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified. And number three, he has insulted the spirit of grace. What does he mean when he says those things?

Well, that phrase to trample underfoot carries with it the idea of treating with rudeness or insulting neglect. In other words, I don't need that. I'm just stamping all over it. I'll just walk all over it because that doesn't mean anything to me. It is an insulting rejection of the work of Jesus Christ. He has trampled underfoot the son of God. I don't care that you died for me.

I'm going to walk over your dead body to hell. The second thing he says is, not only has he trampled underfoot the son of God, but he regards the blood that sanctified him as unclean. That word unclean means common, unhallowed, or profane. In other words, you look at the blood of Jesus Christ no longer as something that sets you free from sin. You look at the blood of Jesus Christ

as just another sacrifice of an animal. The idea is not clean for religious use. In other words, you just look at the sacrifice of Jesus and you just give it the bird. This is nothing for me. I don't care that Jesus died for me. The third thing it says is this, and I think this culminates the first two. It says he insults the spirit of grace. He insults the spirit of grace.

Strong's Concordance defines it like this. This kind of insulting is the insulting disdain of one who considers himself superior. And this, I believe, carries the heart of this willful sin that is being spoken of. It is someone who thinks that they are superior to the need of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in their life, either because their righteousness is good enough on their own or they can find another way through a series of works and so I no longer need to do that.

I no longer need to do that. I no longer need to do that. I no longer need to do that. I no longer need Jesus. We need to understand every unbeliever living in the world already lives like this. They already live like my righteousness is good enough. After all, who are you to tell me that I'm not good enough? Who are you to judge me? Every unbeliever in the world is living like this right now.

They're living having established their own righteousness because they have rejected the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And it's one thing when the people of the world do it because they are lost. The problem is when someone who has received the knowledge of the truth, which is how they are defined in verse one, rejects the world. They reject the work of Jesus Christ and says, I will instead establish my own righteousness.

I will establish my own righteousness either through my own ability, my own, I'm a pretty good person, or I will do it through some religious work. And we need to know that those religious works are around us all the time. For instance, if you decide after having received Jesus and being in this church and hearing the word of God taught, you go, I need to be able to check the boxes. I'm gonna go to the Jehovah's Witness Church because after all, I can now prove that I'm saved by the works that I've done there.

I can now go to the Mormon church and I can prove the works that I've done because I can check all the boxes. After all, in the commentary of the Bible that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses, there's the commentary that salvation must be earned through vigorous achievement. I like that because I can check the boxes and say, look at what I have done. Can I go ahead and say, this is the danger of the Catholic church is that it is no longer by my believing in a finished work of Jesus Christ, it's Jesus Christ and the sacraments that I take part in.

There is a danger in this because once I have established my own righteousness by my own works, I have spit in the face of Jesus and said, I don't need the work that you've done on the cross. I can do it myself. Do you know the two places where God is the most harsh with people in the New Testament? One's in the book of Galatians, the other's in the book of Hebrews.

They both have to do with the same thing. In the book of Galatians, Paul says, oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, who has put you under a spell, having been made perfect through the spirit, are you now being, or having been saved through the spirit, are you now being perfected through the law? He says, if anybody comes to you and preaches any other gospel other than the gospel of grace that we have preached, he should be anathema. That is the strongest word for cursing in the entire Greek language.

That's how harsh Paul is with it. He doesn't even treat the Corinthians that harshly, who were living in the New Testament, who were living according to fleshly deeds. And then there's this one in the book of Hebrews, where he says, if you reject Jesus, there is no other sacrifice for your sins. And can I just tell you that this is true for a believer and an unbeliever?

For a believer in Jesus Christ, if you willfully walk away from what Jesus has done for you, there is no other sacrifice for your sin. And for the unbeliever, I need you to know something. I need you to pay really close attention to this. I need you to pay really close attention to this. I need you to pay really close attention to this. I need you to pay really close attention to me.

I say this because I love you so much. If you don't receive Jesus, there is no other hope. If you don't accept the work that Jesus has done for you on the cross, there is no other hope. You better enjoy this life because it's as good as it gets. You better have as much fun on this side of eternity as you can, because I'm here to tell you, once you hit the other side of eternity,

it is literally hell.

Because he says, if we go on continuing to sin willfully, there is no other sacrifice. For sins. He goes on to talk about judgment. He says in verse 30, for we know him who said, vengeance is mine. And again, the Lord will judge his people. And then verse 31, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. We need to understand something that's very true about Jesus.

Jesus will be one of two things for you. Jesus will be your savior, or Jesus will be your judge. The question is, what have you done with Jesus? Jesus will either be your savior or he will be your judge. It's interesting. There's a very famous sermon from either the first or second great awakening, although I'm pretty sure it was the first. Jonathan Edwards preached it.

It's called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And when you hear the title of that sermon, you think, dude, that dude must have been roasting, right? Like he must have been on fire and just yelling, hellfire and brimstone. You know, that's not what that sermon's like at all. That sermon is the brokenhearted pleading of a man who says there is no other way to salvation

except through Jesus, and we are all sinners in the hands of an angry God. Do you know when he wrote that sermon, he refused to use voice inflection when he preached it. He stood in front of a large group of people holding a piece of paper, and he read the entire sermon in a monotone voice. But the strength of the words that he spoke and the power of the word, the Holy Spirit made it to where before he was done preaching the sermon, people were making their way down to the front because they wanted to give their lives to Jesus because they realized that Jesus will be one of two things.

He will either be your savior or he will be your judge. And the decision that you make about that's literally the most important decision you will make for all of eternity because the consequences of that decision you will face for all of eternity. I remember the day I had to deal with that for myself back in April of 1998, where I had to decide Jesus is gonna be, one of two things for me. And right now he's my judge.

Right now he's condemning me and telling me all the things that I'm doing are wrong. No one will look at your life and say that that's one that we should follow. No one will look at your life and say, that's a great example because you are absolutely failing. And I absolutely wept. And so in a cab of a truck on an older road, I said, Lord, I don't want you to be my judge anymore.

I want you to be my savior. And I found that what at one time were the scary hands of a God that would judge me were actually the nail pierced hands of the savior who would give me brand new life. And he wants to do that for you because it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. But it's a life giving thing to fall into the hands of a loving God.

So he gives us this warning. I hope I gave it its fullness. But after the warning, he gives us encouragement. He says in verse 32, but remember the former days. When you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.

For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. I want to just take that first phrase in 32. But remember the former days when you were enlightened. Remember the former days, that word literally means to be illumined or illuminated. And for everyone here, I want you to think about something.

I want to remind you again of the day that you got saved and what your life was like right after you came to the knowledge of Jesus. And I want you to think about how different your life was. I received a message from a friend of mine that recently came to the Lord and they were sending me some stuff. They're like, okay, am I crazy? Because this, this, this, and this,

and I saw Jesus in all of it. I saw Jesus at work in this and I saw Jesus. And like, am I crazy? And I'm like, absolutely not. You 100% saw Jesus in all of that. That is Jesus. All the things that you just pointed out to me. And they were like, I didn't even realize this before. It's like Jesus shows up everywhere. I'm like, yeah, that's the most beautiful thing ever.

It reminded me of a message I got a year and a half ago from someone who had just gotten saved. And they said, it's like colors are brighter than they used to be. Because that's what it's like when you first come to know Jesus. When you first get saved, everything in your life changes. And do you remember what that was like? And I want to talk to you person here this morning

that doesn't know Jesus. You've never surrendered your life to him and you're going, bro, I got no idea what you're talking about. Quite frankly, I'm tired of listening to you. If you don't know what that's like, then today's the day for you. Today's the day for you to figure out what that's like. Because Jesus does not want you living in desperate. He doesn't want you living in the desperate sin any longer.

He doesn't want you to live with your life so empty that you need the next thing to fill it any longer. He wants you to live with the knowledge of the fact that you are loved so deeply by his savior that he was willing to give his life for you. It's an illuminating thing. Again, I remember when I first started walking with Jesus, I've shared it before. I showed up and I took notes for the very first time.

I remember being a little kid and I grew up with a worship leader, so lots of music at my house and he just really poured out his heart to the Lord. And I remember sitting next to him in church when I was a kid and my dad was a hand raiser, right? Like, I mean, he was a hallelujah hand raiser. That's just all there was to it. And I remember I'd get secondhand embarrassment.

I'd be like, oh God, stop raising your hands. I guess how my daughters look at me now. They're like, oh, stop raising your hands. Nora does a great imitation of me, by the way. This is so embarrassing. And I remember the first time that I was really walking with Jesus and I was just like, what am I doing? Right? At first it was just like, cause I was not willing to do the full on

like hallelujah wave just yet. But man, slowly but surely, I'm throwing my hands up in the air. They're praising Jesus with all of my heart. And I remember thinking, man, I remember being embarrassed of this. And now I do it all the time because I can't help it because the Holy Spirit's got a hold of my heart. And all I know is I got to praise him with everything that's in me.

Some of y'all still don't know what that's like, right? Some of y'all still, listen, I love you guys. Let it go sometimes. I'm not saying we got to get Pentecostal and dance in the aisles, but man, it wouldn't be bad if you got a little excited and threw those hands up and sang at the top of your lungs. I love that Jared again, gave us that opportunity and I love hearing the voices,

but man, they could be louder. I remember I was sitting there thinking, okay, you on the side, like turn it up a little bit. I want to hear a little more. But do you remember what that was like when you first started walking with the Lord? He says, remember the former days. For them, he said, remember the former days when you endured great sufferings. You didn't care that everybody was against you

because you were walking with Jesus. You just knew you had new life in Christ. You didn't care that your friends didn't want to hang out with you anymore. You just knew that you had new life in Christ. You didn't care that you were boring now because you had new life in Christ. The fun came later. He said, you endured great suffering. As a matter of fact, it was partly

because you were made a public spectacle, verse 33, through reproaches and tribulation. You even became a sharer with others. In other words, you almost welcomed the struggle that they were going through and bore the burden as if it was your own. And you even went so far, verse 34, as to show sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property.

It's interesting because the New King James doesn't say you showed sympathy to the prisoners. The New King James says you showed sympathy to me when I was in prison. That's what they did. Why? Because in those former days, before the pressure of the world, before the fear of the world grips them, they follow Jesus with all of their heart. And he says, remember the former days.

And he says, the entire reason you were able to do it, and I have this underlined in my Bible, it says at the end of verse 34, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. In other words, you understood the eternal perspective of your life, that this life is a fleeting vapor, 70, 80, 90, here's it best, right? Although I did have a great grandma who lived to 104, so who knows? Anyway, it's a fleeting vapor.

It's quick. And only the things that you do for the Lord are what's gonna last. And so you have that eternal perspective, and he tells them, you've got to regain that eternal perspective. This last week, Wednesday night, I was teaching the book of Nehemiah. I love Nehemiah. Nehemiah, that guy's my man, right? Like what a leader, a leader with a backbone. And so Nehemiah comes back

with a good portion of the children of Israel because he had heard that the walls in Jerusalem, this is post-Babylonian captivity, he'd heard that the walls of Jerusalem were torn down. They'd gone back to rebuild the temple, beautiful, but there were no walls to protect them. And so he said, I gotta do something about this. So he leads a contingency of people back to rebuild the walls.

And man, he gets there, he lays out the vision, he lays out the process, and they are building walls. They're like making up new songs about building walls. They're excited. There's a whole chorus of people cheering them on, but then something begins to happen. As they are so excited and the work is going so well, the enemy comes against them. The enemy comes against them in two ways.

He comes against them from without and from within. On the outside, they start receiving not only mocking letters, if you will, from these two guys named Sanballat and Tobiah who are just like, what do you even think you're doing? These walls are gonna fall down. You don't know what you're doing. You're losers. I don't know why you're trying to build these walls.

And then they start to give them death threats. Matter of fact, if you keep building the walls, we're going to kill you. Meanwhile, while they receive these outside threats, on the inside, the people are worn out because it's a hard job that they're doing. They're overwhelmed, they're worn out, and they're ready to quit. Quite frankly, they're starting to believe

the lies of the enemy. So what does Nehemiah do? Nehemiah looks at them and says, don't be afraid. He doesn't end with that. You ever been in a situation like that? You're like, man, I'm scared. And they're like, well, don't be scared. And you're like, oh, I hadn't thought about that. It's a great idea. It's like when you're worried about something and somebody wisely goes, you know,

I found the secret to not worrying. I just don't worry. And you're like, ooh, brilliant, genius, moron. Right, no, but he doesn't stop with that. He says, listen, I just, if you ever look at me and I'm worried and you say, just don't worry, I'm going to call you a moron. That's all that there is to it. I'm like, that doesn't work, okay? Let's come up with solutions.

And that's what Nehemiah does. Nehemiah looks at them and says, don't be afraid. Remember the Lord and fight for your families. He says, remember who God is. Why? Because if we put God back on his throne, if we put God back in his position, if we get God back where he belongs, nothing else is hard anymore because the one who created it all is back on the throne now.

And that's what he says. Remember the former days in your life when you endured all of the hardship because God was on the throne and he was bigger than all the things that you were facing. And then he goes on to say this. He says, therefore, in light of that, verse 35, do not throw away your confidence. Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

That word confidence means cheerful courage, boldness, and fearless confidence. He says, don't throw that away. You have confidence in Christ because of what Jesus has done for you because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. You can have confidence in God to move forward, but you have to build your confidence in God. He says, don't throw that away. You've got so much going for you.

Don't pitch it to the side to go back and do all the old things. Instead, what we need to do is we need to build that confidence. What does confidence look like? Well, confidence looks different than the world says. The world says you should say your affirmations every day. I'm smart, I'm funny, and gosh darn it, people like me. Right? Listen, those are worthless

because that's just, that's worthless self-talk. No, what you need to do is you need to build godly confidence. How do you build godly confidence? You build godly confidence by believing what God has to say. I think every believer should have a list of verses that they go to all the time to build their confidence in the Lord. Yeah, I'm gonna give you two of mine.

The first one you've probably heard me share before, my life verse, my favorite verse in the Bible is 1 John 3 2. 1 John 3 2 says, beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet, been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when we see him, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. I'm gonna give you a bonus, verse three. And he who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.

When I went through some of my hardest times in life, I would say, Lord, but your word says, I right now am one of your children. And all I'm doing is proving I'm not yet who I'm supposed to be, but one day you will make me like you. I do have this, this future hope and I had to constantly remind myself of it. That's why I have it memorized, is because I had to every day give myself a godly affirmation.

I didn't say I'm smart, I'm funny, and gosh darn it, people like me because I'm not smart, I'm not funny and gosh darn it, some of you don't like me, right? But every day I could get up and I could say, but today I'm a child of God and nothing can change that. And God is not done with me yet. And that brings me to my second verse, Philippians chapter one, verse six.

Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. You see, saying those over and over again and believing what they have to say is where godly confidence is built. If you haven't started finding some verses for yourself, you can borrow mine. Those can be yours. And then you can start finding ones of your own

that will absolutely do the work in your life. One of the other ones for me is out of Psalms, I don't have the address memorized, but it says, he heals the brokenhearted and he binds up their wounds. As I've gone through grief, that's what I've held on to. That and Psalm 40 verses one through three, those are the things I hold on to. Because as I wait patiently on the Lord,

he listens to me and he hears my cry and he pulls me out of the pit and he puts my feet on a rock and he puts a new song in my mouth and everybody hears it and praises the Lord. That's godly confidence. He says, don't throw away your confidence. Why? For you have need of endurance. You have need of endurance. That word endurance can also be translated patience.

Now, I don't like when people say this, but I hear people say this all the time. Sometimes I hear preachers say this. They say, don't pray for patience because then God will give you opportunities to be patient. Like, have you lived a life of patience? Have you lived in the world lately? Every day is an opportunity to be patient. Listen, if there's anybody here

that works in a fast food restaurant in Arc City, I love you. Okay, don't take this personally, but fast food in our Kansas City, Kansas is a contradiction in terms, right? Listen, I love y'all. This is not judgment. If I was back there, I couldn't sling the Taco Bell either. But the other day, one of my daughters wants Taco Bell. So we go sit in the line and I'm like,

how can it take this long? It ain't like y'all are fresh frying that stuff, okay? How can it take this long? At Taco Bell, I'm like, how can it take this long? At Taco Bell, I'm like, oh, okay, Jesus, you're still good. Lord, I need endurance, and this is my endurance, right? Well, anyway, he says, he says, therefore, you have need of endurance, patience. That word patient means to remain under, to remain under.

Again, Strong says this, and I thought this was fantastic. It says, endurance is the New Testament characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his purpose and loyalty to faith by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Let me read that one more time. Endurance is the New Testament characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith by even the greatest trials and sufferings.

We need endurance. Now, you have to build endurance, right? Anybody been an athlete in here? You gotta build endurance. You don't have that right away, right? Especially after an injury. Told first services a few years ago, my oldest daughter, Tor, her ACP, told first services a few years ago, my oldest daughter, Tor, her ACP, told first services a few years ago, my oldest daughter, Tor, her ACP,

she blew her knee out incredibly well. It was fantastic. She did such a good job of it. So she had to have surgery, build her knee back together again. And I remember when she first started, she's a workout girl. She's my gym buddy. And so I remember when she first started getting back into the gym, she goes, Dad, why is this so hard? I'm like, bro, you can't be able to do anything for like six months.

It's okay. It's gonna take you a little while to build endurance. Well, now she's back killing it, right? I don't like to lift with her anymore because I'm like, well, that's not awesome. She's as strong as I am. And so it takes a while to build that endurance. But it's built through every day walking with Jesus. Just like for an athlete, it's built every day putting in the practice.

And as you walk with Jesus and trials come into your life and you're able to say, Lord, you gotta take this trial. I need to endure under it. So give me everything that I need for it. He gives you everything that you need for that trial. Gives you everything that you need to sustain and not go back to the world, not try to establish your own righteousness. You hold on to that endurance.

And he gives you what you need. So that you're ready for the next one that comes along. He says, you have need of endurance. Why? So that when you have done the will of God, you may have received what was promised. He then goes on in verses 37 and 38 to say this. For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. He says, for yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. What does he mean by that? He means that Jesus is coming soon. We need to hold on to that truth. We should have amen that way louder. I'm glad he did. Jesus is coming soon. Come on. I mean, this is what we're looking forward to.

It's the fact that this place is in our home and our Savior's coming. And he's coming on a white horse. I'm not even making that part up. That's real. White horse. Hi, my name is Jesus, King of Kings, right? That's how he's coming. And we're going to be so excited for it. He says, why do you have this endurance? Because Jesus is on his way. Therefore, he who is coming is coming and will come without delay.

But my righteous one shall live by faith. Those two verses are direct quotations from the book of Habakkuk, chapter 2, verses 3 and 4. Matter of fact, that phrase, the just shall live by faith, is an incredibly important phrase in the New Testament. But let's build its context real quick. Habakkuk was what's called a minor prophet. It doesn't mean he wasn't as good as the other prophets.

It means the book he wrote was shorter. And he was a minor prophet when Israel was truly going into apostasy. And he saw all of the danger around them, how they were going into sin. And he was like, God, when are you going to deal with them? When are you going to judge this people? Because they keep sinning. And God's like, I have a plan. But if I tell you, it's going to freak you out.

And Habakkuk goes, try me. God says, I'm going to bring an enemy from the north, the Babylonians. And Habakkuk goes, dude, we're bad. They're really bad. That's the plan you're going to go with? I don't understand. And then he says, but my righteous one shall live by his faith. That verse is quoted three times in the New Testament. The first time it's quoted is in Romans.

Romans 1, verse 17. Romans, it starts in 1, 16, where Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And it is the righteousness that comes by faith, through faith. For as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The second time it's quoted is in Galatians 3, verse 11,

where Paul just directly quotes, The just shall live by faith. And then again here in Hebrews 10, he says, The just shall live by faith. It's interesting because in Romans 1, verse 17, it says, The just shall live by faith, indicating that righteousness is achieved through faith. In Galatians 3, verse 11, it indicates that righteousness is sustained through faith.

And in Hebrews 10, it says, The life that we now live is through faith. How do you continue to persevere? How do you continue to have endurance? Endurance by living according to faith. You know, it says in Romans 8, verse 28, it says, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

You see, if I believe that, then whatever comes into my life, it's not really that big of a deal because God's going to use it for good. That's the just living by faith. He wraps up by saying this. He says, But we are not those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. He says, We're not like those who shrink back to destruction.

We're not those who continue to give in to the destruction and go back to the world. No, we're the ones who live by faith to the preserving of the soul. So as we wrap up here this morning, I've got two questions. I've got the challenging questions to ask you. Number one, has your life ever really been illuminated by God? Or are you continuing to live according to your own righteousness?

Are you hoping that what you do is good enough and when you stand before God that your good will outweigh your bad and that maybe he'll accept you? Because there are some people here this morning that have never really put their faith in Jesus. There are some people here this morning that are still counting on the fact that they're going to be good enough. I've got bad news for you.

You're not. You're not ever going to be good enough. That's why you need Jesus. The second question I have for you is this. Those of you that are here this morning, are you in a place where life has gotten hard and you want to give up? The things of faith have gotten hard. Continuing to persevere has gotten hard and you just want to give up. You want to run off somewhere,

get away from all the hardship, get away from all the trouble, get away from all the difficulty, and then everything will be perfect. You have need of endurance. You have need to endure as you continue to live according to faith. And God wants to do that work in your heart today. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And I thank you that you've given us another morning together

here at Calvary Chapel. Another opportunity to hear your word. And God, I just pray that you would move in our hearts and lives as you see fit by the power of your Holy Spirit through the teaching of your word. Father, I lift up anyone in here this morning and I do feel like there's some who've been fighting a fight against you. You've been wanting them to surrender

for a very long time. And they've never really surrendered their life to you. And Lord, that time is now. Lord, that time is here. And so I pray that in the quietness of their heart, they will just cry out to you because your word says that all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, that in the quietness of their heart, they will just say, I need you to be my Savior

because I've never really surrendered. And we know because your word says that in that moment, they will become born again. Lord, there are some here this morning who are in need of endurance. Lord, they need to keep close to you because the world is difficult. They need to stay close to you because everything in them is being pulled away. And so Lord, I pray that you would draw them

with your cords of loving kindness. And Lord, there are some here this morning that just need to put their eyes back on you. Lord, they just need to see you again to remember the Lord. Remember what you did in their life in the beginning. And so Lord, I just pray that you would do that work in their hearts. So Father, I lift up my heart. So Father, I lift up each person here this morning.

And I just ask that your Holy Spirit individually would do the work that needs to be done in each person's heart. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. How deep the Father's love for us Lasts beyond all measure He should give his only Son To make your wretch his treasure How great the pain of searing love That turns his face away As wounds which bar the chosen one

Bring many suns to glow My sin upon his shoulder Ashamed I hear my mocking voice A scoffer Is my sin that is doubtful Most in anything No gifts, no praise No power, no wisdom Jesus Christ has death and resurrection And served our pain as you should give Lord, we come before you this morning. I thank you for your word this morning. Lord God, if there's anybody here that has never surrendered their lives to you, I just pray that that would happen today. Lord, I pray that we would not leave here without doing business with you first.

Father, let your word permeate our lives. Every part of it, every area. Every unsurrendered area of our lives. Lord, may we surrender to you. Bless us as we leave here today. Bless us as we go throughout this week. In Jesus' name, amen. I love you guys. Have a wonderful week.