Podcasts about jesus christ hebrews

"You are . . . a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9This verse is both a comfort and a challenge. It reminds every genuine Christian of their identity in Christ and the purpose for which they were redeemed.First, Peter declares that believers are a chosen people. Our election is not based on our merit, works, or foreseen faith--but solely on God's sovereign grace! (Ephesians 1:4–5). This humbles us, for we were not chosen because of anything in us--but in spite of our unworthiness. God's love is set upon His people from eternity past, and this should fill us with deep assurance and joy. If God has chosen us, He will surely keep us (John 10:28–29).Next, Peter states that Christians are a royal priesthood. Under the Old Covenant, priests were set apart to intercede before God. Now, in Christ, all believers are priests--we have direct access to God through our Mediator, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:16). But with this privilege comes responsibility. As priests, we are called to offer up spiritual sacrifices--our lives, our praise, and our obedience (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15). We do not live for ourselves, but for the glory of our King.We are also a holy nation.Holiness is not optional for God's people. To be holy means to be set apart from sin, and set apart unto God. In justification, He has made us holy in Christ. In sanctification, He is making us holy in our daily lives. This verse challenges us--do we live as citizens of heaven, or are we entangled in the world's ways? (Philippians 3:20; 1 John 2:15-17)

In this sermon in the series "Superior", Dr. Malcolm B. Yarnell, III shares a sermon entitled, “Exalting the Humanity of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:1-18).”Link to Sermon notes and Wednesday Bible Study page: ⁠⁠https://waialaebaptist.org/worshipservices/⁠Join us on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. for a Bible study led by the preaching pastor on the upcoming sermon passage. Attend either in person or via Zoom. Please ⁠contact us⁠ if you would like to receive the Zoom link.Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://waialaebaptist.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/WaialaeBaptistChurch⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/waialaebaptistchurch/⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠https://youtube.com/c/WaialaeBaptistChurch

In this sermon in the series "Superior", Dr. Malcolm B. Yarnell, III shares a sermon entitled, “Exalting deity of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-14).”Link to Sermon notes and Wednesday Bible Study page: ⁠https://waialaebaptist.org/worshipservices/Join us on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. for a Bible study led by the preaching pastor on the upcoming sermon passage. Attend either in person or via Zoom. Please ⁠contact us⁠ if you would like to receive the Zoom link.Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://waialaebaptist.org/⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/WaialaeBaptistChurch⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/waialaebaptistchurch/⁠YouTube: ⁠https://youtube.com/c/WaialaeBaptistChurch

Tony Coulombe (Warrenton Location)Series: Hebrews          Topic: Gratitude is how we respond to all God has given us through Jesus Christ.  Core Text: Hebrews 12:18-29Recorded: 8/25/2024For more resources check out cconline.cc or our YouTube page

Tony Coulombe (Warrenton Location)Series: Hebrews          Topic: Faith keeps us moving toward our heavenly reward secured by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.Core Text: Hebrews 11:1-16Recorded: 8/4/2024For more resources check out cconline.cc or our YouTube page

"King Saul Is Troubled" • 1st Samuel 16:14-15 - Brother Jonah Lowrance Brother Jonah opens the preaching service with a short but powerful message that, when we are not following the will of God, our own spirit convicts us. The only way to have peace in our walk with God is to continually seek God's will and not assume because He has blessed us in the past that He will bless us all the time. "The ABC's of Jesus Christ” • Hebrews 6:1-3 – Elder Bryce Lowrance. The Apostle Paul reminds the Hebrew Christians and us that there are basic principles that we must remember and apply in our discipleship or we will not be properly growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Paul lists six things that roughly group into three categories – 1. The First Steps of a Child of God, 2. The Basics of Church, 3. The Doctrine of Grace.

Live your life for Jesus Christ because He is our sanctified Lawgiver, justified Vindicator, and gratified Mediator! I cycled across America in 30 days and wrote a book about it! Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Coast-Spiritual-Lessons-Bicycle-Seat/dp/1683147766 Questions: pastorbryanratliff@yahoo.com Tiktok: @thebryanratliff Instagram: @thebryanratliff Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pastorbryanratliff/

Insufficiency of the Old Covenant, Sufficiency of Jesus Christ Hebrews 10:1-10 Wednesday (12-13-23) Bible Study

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:13-13:29)

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:1-13)

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 11:1-40)

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:19-39)

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:1-18)

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:1-28)

Book of Hebrews - The Supremacy of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:1-13)

In this message, Pastor Mawuli Tsikata examines 7 descriptions of the person of Jesus Christ 1. Jesus is heir of all things 2. Jesus made the worlds 3. Jesus is the brightness of His glory 4. Jesus is the express image of His person 5. Jesus upholds all things 6. Jesus purged our sins 7. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Majesty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gracecentregh/message

3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. 3:4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

The Man Jesus Christ Hebrews 2:5-18 Introduction 1. Jesus Became Fully Man To Be Our Pioneer 2. Jesus Became Fully Man To Be Our Champion

[00:30] Outvoting the Cheaters (33 minutes) Kari Lake charged ahead early this morning in the Arizona gubernatorial Republican primary. She ran on the platform of exposing 2020 election fraud and solving problems in America's voting systems. Trump-endorsed Republican candidates won across the board in primaries in probably the biggest overall MAGA win to date. It is interesting that this red wave and renewed focus on exposing election fraud is happening as the new version of America Under Attack is being printed. [33:10] Focus on Daily Growth (19 minutes) The Matthew 6 prayer outline says we should ask God for our daily bread. Every day, we have responsibilities and duties to fulfill, by which we develop positive habits and grow in God's character. Our part in the tremendous undertaking of reproducing God's character starts with what we do today! We must focus on consistent, daily growth—reflecting the consistency of our perfect standard, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:8). [52:00] E-Mail Feedback (3 minutes)

Exposition of Hebrews

Conspicuously missing from so many Christian Bible Studies, conversations, and overall theology is the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. Long discourses about behavior (erroneously termed "holiness"), obedience, and human striving, accompanied by God's anger and disappointment, His judgment, and blotting out our names (loss of salvation), are prevalent. These Christians are perpetually striving under guilt, failure, and hopelessness, and begging for forgiveness, or else they are declaring their own righteousness (which is filthy rags in God's sight).  The book of Hebrews unequivocally shows that our sins are forgiven, Christ's righteousness is now ours, and we are eternally saved.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. – Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ, Hebrews 13:8

The High-Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 7:25, John 17 13 March 2022 - Sunday Evening Dr. Brad Weniger, Pastor

Nov 14 2021 AM Thankful for Jesus Christ Hebrews

The Importance of Jesus Christ - Hebrews 1

The Importance of Jesus Christ - Hebrews 1

Leaves for Healing of the Nations (3) (Audio) David Eells - 10-3-21   CHAPTER ONE: Authority Over the Curse   We have been given authority over the curse and we must be careful what we do with it. “Authority” is “the right to use power.” Adam was given this authority and he lost it. (Rom.6:16) Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves [as] servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?    The Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus was the “last Adam” Who came to restore that authority and we can tell by the awesome promises that He has given unto us. (1Co.15:45) So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. In fact, to most people, these promises are too good to be true and they say things like, “they had to be talking about someone else”; “we don't experience them”; or “they were made toward the apostles in the past.” But, the truth is, He's talking to you and me.    The reason I know is because as I believed the promises, I started entering into them, as have many others. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. There is a saying that goes, “The guy with an experience is never at the mercy of the guy with an argument.” Folks, there are multitudes of Christians who are experiencing the authority and power of God and they are rejoicing. There are still people out there denying it, but it's “to him that believeth” (Mar.9:23). (Heb.2:5) For not unto angels did he subject the world (Greek: oikoumene, “the inhabited earth”) to come, whereof we speak. Notice our dominion in this verse is not about the “world to come” but the “inhabited earth” here and now. In other words, God gave Adam and his seed authority. According to Psalm 8:6-8, he was given authority over all the works of God's hands, over all of creation.    So Jesus is not called the “last Adam” for nothing. He is the Father of the born-again creation and came to give us authority. What I want to go on to show is why we have to be so careful about this authority. (Heb.2:5) But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Don't be deceived here. “Son of man” is spoken not only toward Jesus; we also are “sons of man.” Jesus merely pointed out that He was the Son of God dwelling in the son of man and we are, too. The Bible says that He was made like unto us in all things. (Heb.2:17) Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren…. Jesus came as the Son of God in the son of man.    When you accept the Word of God into your heart, that Word of God is Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14). He is manifesting more in you the more you accept and believe the Word. Why would God pay attention to us, the little ants that we are? Well, it's because we are important to God. We are His sons, who represent Him on this earth and He has delegated His authority unto us. (Heb.2:7) Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, And didst set him over the works of thy hands. This authority has been delegated not only to man but also to the Son of man; however, we know that this authority is only for those who are sons of the Son of man, Jesus Christ. Both the first Adam and the last Adam were given this authority. Yes, Adam received authority over the works of God's Hands, but also Adam's seed would have received this authority if Adam had not fallen into sin. Since our Lord Jesus didn't fall into sin, He was able to pass on this authority to those who believe.    It is very important to believe that you have this authority, but also that you renew your mind with the Word of God so that you know how to use this authority properly. Of course, it is the Word of God that gives you faith to exercise this authority. We are ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), so we are here to exercise this authority, not for us, but for Him, according to His purposes. Many people want to take faith and the power of the Word to indulge their flesh because that's what they're interested in, but God is not. We are here to lose our lives in this world and God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Php.4:19). But this is not for the satisfying of our lusts, since God wants our lusts to die.    (Heb.2:8) Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him. We don't yet see this, but we are coming to the time when God's people will stand as sons of God and manifest His power. The Word of God will be living in their hearts and that Word is Jesus Christ. He will be doing the works through them. As you put the Word of God in your heart and come into agreement with the Word, it is “Christ in you” that does the works (Colossians 1:27). It is “Christ in you” that lives the Christian life, and so on and so forth. We know this is true, based on what Jesus told us in the Scriptures. (Mat.18:18) Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind (forbid) on earth shall be bound (forbidden) in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose (permit) on earth shall be loosed (permitted) in heaven. That's real authority.    You probably won't have faith to do something really strange; most people don't. So it's the faith that causes you to be able to exercise the authority. However, quite often, unless you believe that it is something that is God's will, you won't have any faith for it. As you see, it's not really dangerous for God to make statements like these, even though it may appear that way. Most people are not going to exercise faith in the Word, but the people who do will do it because the Word lives in them. If the Word lives in them, then it's Jesus doing it, and if Jesus is doing it, then He's doing it according to the will of God. That's the way it works. God has given us His authority.    I know that people say, “Well, that was only for the original apostles.” That doesn't make any sense. (Mar.11:23) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. “Whosoever” shows that He wasn't only talking to His disciples and apostles at that time, but that He was talking to all disciples because disciples are the only ones who will take Him seriously and recognize this authority as a gift of faith. Again, Jesus was not only speaking to the apostles and disciples back in His time, but to anyone, from them to us, who believes he can have this authority.    Is this just a silly statement that no one will ever really take Him up on? No! There have been many people who have commanded their personal mountains and giants out of the way. Multitudes of people have exercised this authority over Satan, over the flesh, over their circumstances and over the curse. God is faithful to stand by His Word, not because we deserve it, but due to His mercy and grace. He has said, According to your faith be it done unto you (Mat.9:29) and Go thy way; as thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee (Mat.8:13). “Whosoever” includes you and me and any other believer, so this authority has been put in our hands as sons of the last Adam, and not only given to those disciples in Jesus' day, as some say. (Mar.16:14) And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen. (15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. Jesus is referring to the disciples of the disciples. “Disciples” (Greek: mathetes, meaning “learner and follower”) are learners and followers of the Lord. He is our Master, our Lord, our Example, and He is the One Who does the works through us. (Mar.16:17) And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.    Now we see that these signs will accompany those who simply believe and not only great apostles. That is authority! Jesus is giving authority to the people who believe these first disciples, or forefathers of Christianity, who wrote these pages to us. He has given us this authority to do good in the name of the Lord. Do you suppose we have this authority also to do evil? Is Satan taking advantage of those who are exercising faith that is not according to the Word? Yes, he is, and he receives his authority from us. All principalities and powers have been put under Jesus (Matthew 28:18), even “his feet” and we are “his body” (Ephesians 1:20-23). We have this authority but it can be negative or positive. For example, when the Lord brought His people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, they continued to speak negatively and exercise their faith in a negative way. Faith is just what you believe. You can believe what God has spoken to you or you can believe the things which you see in the world, but Jesus said, According to your faith be it done unto you (Mat.9:29). Faith is both negative and positive. Even fear is faith; however, it's faith in the curse, or faith in reverse – having faith in adverse circumstances and in the devil.    The absolute proof in the world is that what people believe happens to them. Doctors say that approximately 90% and higher of sicknesses are psychosomatic (Greek: psuche, meaning “soul” and soma, meaning “body”). This implies “soul over body” and your soul is your mind, will and emotions. Therefore, your mind, will and emotions are making your body sick. Can I say the doctors are wrong in stating that 90% and higher of sicknesses are psychosomatic? Yes, I can because that number is 100%. What makes people sick is what they believe. In fact, what you believe can kill you. As we saw in Matthew 18:18, you are the one who binds and who looses, and you are the one who creates your own future. You are the one who gives authority to the devil or gives authority unto God.    Jesus needed authority but when He went to His hometown, he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Mat.13:58). They had authority to say no to God and they did; they did not believe in Jesus and His Gospel. They believed in the sickness and the curse and they spoke it. We can believe in the blessings of God and speak the blessings or we can believe in the curse and speak the curse. We will have what we believe because that's the Word of God. (Num.14:28) Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: (29) your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, that have murmured against me. They complained to the Lord that they were brought out into the wilderness to die and the Lord heard this too many times. The Lord basically gave them what they said. The Lord still does this today and the Bible declares that He does.    One of the fruits of a believer is that they believe in their heart and confess with their mouth (Romans 10:10). There are many people who profess to be believers, yet don't confess their benefits in Christ, so God says what you say is what you will receive. (Num.21:5) And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. What is “against God”? It's when God has spoken these awesome promises and we think we know better and continue to agree with the curse. For example, the 10 spies who spoke and agreed with the curse and brought the bad report led to the threats made by God to those who believed those spies. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who brought the good report, in agreement with God's promises. So, speaking against God can be more subtle than what people might think. When God says you're healed and you say you're not, then you will remain sick. When God says He's taken away your sins but you confess what you see and feel in the world, you are speaking against God. (Num.21:6) And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.    Once again, what they spoke is what they got. I believe the fiery serpents represent the curse. The cure for this was that God commanded Moses to make a “fiery serpent” out of brass and put it on a pole, and as people got their eyes on the serpent on the pole, they were healed (verse 8). As we know, the cure was Jesus Christ, since He was the One made sin and was crucified on a cross. So we have a cure from the curse but we must confess God to receive this cure. Those who profess Christianity but do not confess the benefits of the Kingdom, so that the curse, which was put upon Jesus, doesn't come on them, cannot gain the promises in Scripture without faith in those promises. Or, in other words, what we profess must be mixed with faith. (Num.21:7) And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.    When people pray, God is merciful, especially if they believe their prayers. But do you have to continue to live under the curse? Is it necessary, when you can agree with God, to have the “fiery serpents” bite you? These serpents are the curse manifested in so many ways. The serpent is, obviously, also the devil, who is a vessel of dishonor that administers the curse on God's people, especially when they don't believe the benefits of God. Jesus told us, According to your faith be it done unto you (Mat.9:29) and Go thy way; as thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee (Mat.8:13). You can speak things into coming to pass. If you speak life, you receive life; if you speak death, you receive death. It depends on what you have your faith in. If your faith is in agreement with God's benefits, then you receive those benefits. If you agree with what is in the world, then you don't receive God's benefits and have loosed the devil; you have loosed emissaries to continue to administer the curse on you. Many people are learning this and experiencing what I'm saying. This is nothing new but is the same Gospel which is from the beginning.    We have to have a renewed mind so that we understand what to believe and what we should speak. Faith can be both positive and negative. (Pro.18:20) A man's belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; With the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied. Would you like your needs to be met because of what you say? We would like our lips to come into agreement with the Word of God and learn more and more to walk in His benefits by confessing Him before men. Jesus is the “High Priest of our confession” (Heb.3:1) and He offers that confession before the Father. As we confess Him before men, He confesses us before the Father (Matthew 10:32). The word “confess” (Greek: homologeo) means “to speak the same as.” There should be an increase in our lips; that is, we should learn more and more to agree with His benefits so we don't have to continue to live under the curses of this world and give the devil authority over us.    The devil is motivating many people to turn to God because he doesn't understand this verse: (Mat.12:25) Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: (26) and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? The thing that he does is just what we need, which is chastening, so we can repent, turn to God and agree with His Word and speak those things that are beneficial. If we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth the curse, then that's just what we'll have. But if we believe in our heart and confess the Gospel, the Good News, then that's what we'll receive. (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.    I remember back in Louisiana, where I came from, there was a church which had a minister who was preaching about death and how it was not to be feared. I know the church and its circumstances; the minister was actually going to show them how simple it was to die. He pulled up a chair, sat down and said it was as simple as going to sleep. He nodded his head and stayed like that for a while, until the pastor got nervous and went up to touch him on his shoulder, and then shook him. He was gone. He talked himself right off of this earth. There are some people who talk themselves right into the grave. Many people die before their time because their faith is to die; their faith is to be cursed and to receive the things that are around them. Their faith is not in what the Lord Jesus has given to them freely. Truly, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” This is God's Word and nothing is being taken away or being added to it. We need to agree with God's benefits to have them and God will supply your every need to do His will, if you learn to agree with Him.    The tongue doesn't speak on its own. It gets its direction from your thoughts and the words that are in your mind. We need to watch our tongue so we can correct our mind. That's one reason the Lord is telling us to be careful with what we say because when we are careful, we are correcting our thoughts. (Mat.12:34) Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. If we want to speak good things, we need to put good things in our hearts and reject the other things that are there. I am sure that your mouth has spoken things that have slipped out, that you wish you hadn't said. It's an automatic thing with some people, but we need to slow down and give the Lord time to correct our thinking. Good people speak good things and bad people speak bad things. In some ways, we are both since we are both son of man and son of God, but we also have authority over that part of us which is still man. The Son of God in us has authority over that man. As the outer man decays, the inner man is renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). That spiritual man is taking over as we walk by faith and believe more and more of the Word of God and, as we do, more and more of Jesus Himself is being manifested in us and He is taking more and more ground from the enemy.    (Mat.12:35) The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Those who get this revelation about the tongue spend much time talking about the tongue, but we must really begin with the heart. We have to repent – change our mind – and believe what the Bible says. Changing your mind and repenting is renewing your mind with what the Word says and agreeing with what it says, but we must do it enough so that it overcomes our natural thinking. Our natural thinking is killing us and all those whose tongues are connected to their natural man. (Mat.12:36) And I say unto you, that every idle (Greek: argos, meaning “unfruitful, barren”) word that men shall speak, they shall give account of in the day of judgment.    The Lord obviously wants His Word to bear fruit in us, but there are many words that are unfruitful and don't bear the fruit of Christ in us. Every idle word will bring judgment upon you. The day of judgment is not that day down the road, the corporate judgment, but it is the day of judgment that you come into. Your idle words, unfruitful or vain, will bring you into judgment. Many people have spoken the curse upon themselves, like the Israelites did. They confessed continuously that they would die in the wilderness and it happened. (Mat.12:37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. The words that justify are those words spoken in agreement with God. They are words confessing Jesus before God and men, saying what He said and agreeing with what He has taught us in the Word and also by what He put in the disciples to teach us in the Word. We are accounted righteous, or justified, if we agree with God. But if we don't agree, we fall under judgment, for “by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” If you disagree with God's Word, it's like calling Him a liar.   God told the Israelites that He was going to bring them to the Promised Land and they basically claimed that God was a liar and that He brought them to the wilderness to die. They spoke it from their mouth and He finally said, “as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you.” There are a lot of people who don't make it through the wilderness – what we call the “world” today. (Hos.4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…. They agree with the curse and they receive the curse. It's what they believe; it is their faith. There are people who feel very self-righteous in believing the curse. They believe they are too humble to be presuming upon God's goodness to believe what God says is true of them. That's not humility; that's foolishness. Those people will receive exactly what they believe. We want to be justified, or accounted righteous, before God. (Pro.23:7) For as he thinketh within himself, so is he…. (Luk.6:45) The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil [man] out of the evil [treasure] bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. There is a spring welling up out of every individual and some of those waters are good. The Bible speaks of water as the Word (Ephesians 5:26).    The dragon also sent forth a stream of water to take away the woman (Revelation 12:15). So, the dragon also has words that he uses to deceive God's people and the people of the world with. (Joh.7:37) Now on the last day, the great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. We are to drink waters, or words. (Joh.6:63) It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. The Lord has given us supernatural words that are the promises or benefits that have been given in the Scripture. They are spirit and life. He tells us to drink of these words, which are spirit and life; it's His water that He gives unto us. (Joh.7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified.    The Scriptures are the words of life, from which the spring comes, and they who believe have them down in their heart and in their thoughts. The Spirit of God brings to our remembrance all things that He has said unto us (John 14:26). Many people have received this anointing whereby the Word of God, these words of life, come gushing forth out of their innermost being. They come forth out of us to meet the situations around us, so that we may share the Gospel with the lost and those speaking against their own life and to exercise authority. So out of you is flowing this river of living water. It's God's plan; He wants us to put the Word inside of us. He wants us to not deny any of the Word. He wants us to be justified, or accounted righteous, because of the words that are coming out of us, which will deliver us from destruction.    When God is seated upon the throne of your heart, where all of your thoughts and words come from, then you have this river of living water. (Rev.22:1) And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, (2) in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve [manner] of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. In the previous chapter, John speaks about the throne of God in the Temple of God. Where is the Temple of God? We are the Temple of God. God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands anymore (2 Corinthians 6:16; Acts 17:24). His Throne is in our heart. This “river of water” is coming up across the “tree of life” and coming forth to heal the nations. This is what Jesus did and that's what He called us to do: Let that river of living water, the words of Almighty God, come forth out of us and bring life to everything around us.    The “tree of life” is the tongue: (Pro.15:1) A soft answer turneth away wrath; But a grievous word stirreth up anger. (2) The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright; But the mouth of fools poureth out folly. We know that there is negative knowledge, called worldly wisdom, that the world passes on to everyone. Of course, if we don't have this worldly wisdom, we're on the outside looking in and the people around us may think we're crazy. And when we confess God's blessings before they are seen, the odds are good that people will look at us like we're crazy. But God will not let us make fools out of ourselves because when we step out by faith in Him, He manifests His goodness. (Pro.15:3) The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch upon the evil and the good. What doesn't come out of your mouth and is not in your actions, He still sees. Not one hair on your head, or one sparrow, falls to the ground without Him knowing (Matthew 10:29,30). Nothing gets by Him and when we proclaim that we are now disciples of Christ, we are walking that crucified life. We're giving up who we were and taking on what He is, and He expects us to do this.    However, it is He Who does it in us and we can trust in Him, since it is by grace. (Pro.15:4) A gentle (Hebrew: marpe, meaning “healing”) tongue is a tree of life; But perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit. Devastation and destruction come from a perverse tongue speaking against God. I would assume an overwhelming majority of what we call Christianity speaks against God every day and thinks nothing of it. They are speaking against His benefits, which we must receive by faith. So we do what God does: we calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17) and we agree with God, even though we don't see it. This is God's method of bringing the promises off of the page and into God's physical creation. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] (Eph.1:3); but when we confess, it becomes ours in these physical places around us. And so, this river of living water should be coming over our tongue to give healing to the nations, just like it did with Jesus.    It's sad to say that sometimes it's the old man talking and the river is a polluted river. Of course, we don't want what the curse brings upon us; we want the benefits of the Kingdom. There is only one way to get these benefits and that is to believe in your heart, where that spring comes from, and to confess with your mouth as that river of living water passes over your tongue to your situations, to the world, to your body, to your children and so on and so forth. This is how it comes to pass. We see that the opposite can also come to pass. (Jas.3:10) Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? (12) can a fig tree, my brethren yield olives, or a vine figs? neither [can] salt water yield sweet.    Many times the problem with our mouth is that a mixture of blessings and curses are coming forth. But with the increase of the lips, we should be growing with the knowledge of God in our heart, speaking and agreeing with this knowledge and denying those things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God by casting them down (2 Corinthians 10:5). We grow into confessing God's Word and into righteousness because He imputes righteousness when we agree with His Word. We should be growing into the sweet water, the river of living water coming up from us, and not a mixture of blessing and cursing. (Jas.3:5) So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! People think that the things that they say are insignificant and that they don't count. Not so before God and, I might say, not so before the devil because he gets his authority from you.    Remember, the devil doesn't have authority, except what we give him. Jesus said that all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth (Mat.28:18). And He put that authority under His feet and gave Himself to be the head of the body, the Church. (Eph.1:20) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly [places], (21) far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (22) and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, (23) which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Who has the authority? Every principality and power has been put under the feet of Jesus, which is the lowest member of His “body,” so we have the authority. The devil has to get us to give him authority and, of course, he works constantly to sow the seed of the world into our hearts.    That is what a harlot is – a person who receives the seed of the world in their heart, rather than the seed of the Kingdom. (Jas.5:6) And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell. The tongue defiles the body when our faith is in what we are told by the world and by the devil; therefore, it is what we believe and what comes out of our mouth that defiles the body. The “wheel of nature” or, as otherwise interpreted, “cycle of life,” is sowing and reaping. You speak things that are a curse and cursing comes upon you. You speak things that are a blessing and a blessing comes upon you. There is a cycle that tends to be upward and a cycle that tends to be downward. (Jas.5:7) For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind: (8) but the tongue can no man tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of deadly poison.    When one disagrees with the Word of God, it is a “deadly poison” and no man can tame the tongue, but the Lord can. The Lord has tamed the tongue and will tame the tongue. (Mat.15:11) Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man. It is what we say that defiles us and not what we eat; therefore, the curse comes because you agree with it and believe in it. However, when we believe the Word of God and the benefits of the Kingdom, we are accounted righteous and we are no longer under the curse because Jesus became a curse for us. Therefore, it's what you believe and what you say that keeps you, as a Christian, under the curse or in God's blessings. (Mat.15:18) But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. (19) For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings. The spring comes forth from us. For instance, the germs around us do not defile us because we have to give the devil, or the curse, authority; however, the Scriptures say that they have no authority over us because Jesus has already overcome the world and He has borne the curse. (Gal.3:13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (14) that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.    Everything that you consider detrimental to your life in this world, both physically and mentally, as well as emotionally, are all considered the curse, but Jesus bore the curse upon Himself so we could be free. But to walk in this freedom, we need to confess Him before men and agree with His Word. He asked, Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luk.6:46). He was our example and, if we are a disciple, we are a learner and a follower of Him. We study Him in order to know what we should say, do and so on. People are defiled by what comes out of their heart, out of their thoughts, in words and over their tongue. They are made unclean and are cursed but God has a cure.    We discussed the serpent on the pole, which represents Jesus Christ, Who gave His life for us, so we can see that Jesus is the cure. (Exo.15:22) And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. (23) And when they came to Marah (Hebrew: “bitterness”), they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. (24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (25) And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. Remember what water is; God likes to hide parables in His Word and there is one in here. We read about the bitter and sweet waters, which represent thoughts and words coming out of your heart and over your tongue to the world around you. In this Scripture, the people murmured, or spoke, against Moses, who was led by God. So, in essence, they spoke against God.    We have this miserable problem. We say things because of our old nature and they're out before we can bring them back. We need a sacrifice because we need some way to conquer this tongue, since man cannot conquer it. The tree represents the Cross. What Jesus did was to make reconciliation. He gave us deliverance from this tongue, from this curse and from this old life. So now we reckon the old man to be dead and the new man to be alive, on account of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. He gave us death, burial and resurrection. Now we understand that the first thing that we need to do to turn our tongues around is to repent – change our mind – and agree with what the Word is saying about our circumstances, our families and those we have authority over, and to speak accordingly. The Bible tells us in Romans 12:1 that we present our bodies as living sacrifices, so we take part in the Cross, as well.   End of Part:1   CHAPTER TWO: Agreeing With God   We have discovered that coming out of the heart of man is a spring and its waters can be bitter or sweet. We also discovered that the sweet waters are the words we speak in agreement with the Word of God and are a blessing to the people around us. They are a healing to the nations and they spring forth out of our thoughts and hearts, and over our tongues to become words of life. Lastly, we learned that if we want to bring our tongue into submission, we must first repent – change our mind – and agree with the Word of God. In other words, we must ‘reprogram our computer.' (Mat.12:36) And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. In this Scripture, the Greek word for “idle” means “barren or unfruitful.” It is also used in James 2:20, which states that faith apart from works is barren.    What is the fruitful work of one who believes? The most important work of one who believes is what they say. (Jas.2:18) … I by my works will show thee [my] faith. There are people who say they have faith, but their works don't agree with this. That is not impressive to God, it doesn't save and it won't deliver. Remember, we give account in a day of judgment because of those idle, or unfruitful, words that don't bear the fruit of Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col.1:27). (Mat.12:37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified (“accounted righteous”), and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. This should make us fear the Lord because God is telling us that what we say is very important and He will hold us accountable for our words.    In some cases, if we are paying attention to what we are saying, as we read the Scriptures, we become aware that we are speaking contrary to what God is saying. We must understand that this contrariness is coming out of our heart and that we need to repent. Watching your tongue is watching your heart because your heart is where it's coming from. (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. It is words that bring us into judgment, but it's righteous words that are in agreement with God that cause us to prevail when we come into judgment because they justify us. These things should make us fear the Lord, depart from evil and train our lips. (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. This can be just your death and life or the death and life of the people around you, as we saw in the last chapter.    The tongue can bear either fruit unto death or fruit unto life. We are all going to prove whether we love death or whether we love life. We are going to eat the fruit of the one that we love. If you love life, you will obviously pay very close attention to what you say and you will begin to train your tongue to come into agreement with the Word of God. Our minds are like computers; they need to be programmed so that what we see on the monitor reflects something that is beneficial and a blessing. A computer by itself is worthless without a monitor. Basically, God is saying that the monitor is the tongue. It reflects what is inside the programming. If you say that you're a believer and everything you say is contrary to what God says, then that's a lie. We need to reprogram this computer so what comes out of our mouth is the Word of the Lord and is effectual in changing us and the world around us.    The Bible says the tongue is like a rudder that is able to turn the whole body (James 3:4-8). It's a very powerful tool that God has given us. (Rom.12:1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service. Obviously, we came here to die, just as our Lord Jesus did. It's not necessarily physical, but it is spiritual, the death of the old man. It's the death of the old tongue, too. That old tongue is a very destructive, powerful force that burns down great forests, according to James 3:5. (Rom.12:2) And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We must spend time in the Word of God so we can program it into our hearts and we have to put it in there often enough so that it begins to overcome what is already there. Some people touch the Word of God once or twice a week, but they don't really put it in their hearts and minds enough to empower them to overcome and to bring it back to their remembrance. Wouldn't you like to show forth what the perfect will of God is in your life? It's not going to happen without renewing your mind. You will never walk in perfection without the renewing of your mind.    According to James, it's not just the mind, but what comes out of the mind that matters. In other words, it's not just the computer but the monitor as well. (Jas.3:2) For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. We have just discovered in Romans 12 that if we transform our mind, we will prove what the perfect will of God is in our life. We walk in the perfect will of God because we reprogram our computer, but James is telling us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17,26). Many people worry how they're going to bridle this body or how they'll bring it under submission to the Lord. If you're worrying about that, then you don't really have the Gospel down in your heart because the Lord has already taken care of it for you. All we need to do is exercise faith in what He has already done.    (Jas.3:3) Now if we put the horses' bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. If you have ever ridden horses, it's amazing what that bit will do to make that horse turn. This great big horse is under the control of a little man. God is saying the tongue will do the same thing with your life. (Jas.3:4) Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. (5) So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! How do we steer this vessel with the tongue? First, we need the will to do this. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36). The Lord sets us free by giving us His will. Nothing can restrain God's will. He does what He wants to in the armies of Heaven and upon the earth (Daniel 4:35).   We are frustrated because we have a schizophrenic will. His will is fighting in us against our will, but as we walk by faith, He works in us both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Php.2:13). Then, when in this way His will has overcome ours, we are free to do what we like to do. Then His will in us will steer the body with the tongue. When we hear ourselves speaking words that do not line up with the Scriptures, we can back up and say, “No, I don't like what I said there. I don't accept that, Lord. Forgive me. I'm going to agree with your Word.” (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. Now, folks, we are about to come into judgment and some of you are in it and don't even know it. And God is saying that the most important tool is a renewed mind speaking out of your mouth the Word of God. That's the powerful tool that you have.    Jesus and His disciples turned the world upside down with the things that they said (Acts 17:6). The things that they said, they commanded; and the things that they said agreed with the Word of God and brought repentance and deliverance. We have to change our mind and we must be careful about what we put in our computer. We must be anxious for nothing and let our prayers and requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Paul tells us something about being at peace with what we put in our mind and what we program our computer with. (Php.4:8) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Everything we put in our mind is still there but recall is the problem. We don't want to be polluted by the things of the world. We want to put things in our mind that will cause us to think and speak properly in agreement with the Word of God.    We don't want a leaven that leavens the whole lump. (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9). We don't want to fill up our minds with the television, the things of the world and the love of the world. We want to fill up our minds with the Word of God, fulfilling His will and walking as a disciple. He tells us to think on the good things, not the bad news, not the conspiracies, not studying the false doctrines. The Gospel is the Good News and the power of God unto salvation (Rom.1:16). Paul tells us that I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple unto that which is evil (Rom.16:19). In other words, stop studying the evil in the world and start studying the good because when you sow the Word into your heart, it brings forth Jesus Christ. That's why we are told to “think on these things.” These things have the power to bring forth Christ in you and Christ in you can take care of evil so it will no longer be a problem or temptation for us.    Christ within you cannot be tempted with evil. It's the old man that can be tempted by evil; that's the part that needs to die. So think on the good things, the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and the things of good report. (Php.4:9) The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you. We have been given awesome examples, not only in Jesus, but in the apostle Paul and many others. They've gone out before us, filled with the Word of God, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. It's a death experience of self, but it's a resurrection experience of Jesus Christ living in us. He wants to use our tongue to do the same thing that the tongue of His first body did, which brought deliverance and blessing to the world. It turned not only the body but everything around them. In order to do that, we have to fight this warfare that we're called to fight. He tells us that this warfare is not of the flesh. (2 Co.10:3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (4) (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds).    One of those weapons, the most important one, is the tongue. When you agree with the Word of God, you are accounted righteous. Then you are entitled to the benefits of the Kingdom. One of the benefits is the reconciliation, which is the exchange between you and the Cross. God has taken away your sins, your sinful life and your sinful tongue and has nailed them on the Cross. He has taken the righteousness of Jesus Christ and has given it to you. Now He's given this to you as a benefit but, in order for you to receive this benefit, you must be accounted righteous. That's why you speak what the Bible says about you. For instance, you were crucified with Christ and it's no longer you who lives, but Christ Who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). Can you confess that? You might think that people may think you are proud but it makes no difference. This is what the apostle Paul taught us to believe, think and speak. We don't live anymore; Christ lives in us. That's the Good News, which is “the power of God unto salvation,” but if it doesn't come out of our mouth, it's not going to work.    We have to agree with the Word and refuse to say anything that is contrary to the Word. There is no fruit in speaking contrary to the Scriptures; they are “idle” words. (2 Co.10:5) Casting down imaginations (Greek: logismos, meaning “reasoning”), and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The more we are able to do this, the more we'll be able to speak good things. The more we speak good things, the more our heart is going to change. Remember, the tongue has the power to turn the whole body (James 3:2,3). If we agree with the Gospel, we're entitled to the benefits. If we're entitled to the benefits, Christ's life is our life. His life in us can discern and judge correctly. (2 Co.10:6) And being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full. Don't worry about this. Leave that until Christ is manifested in you. He'll take care of it. He can judge and we can't. So we need to rest and trust in Him. We need to renew our mind so that our mouth will say good things.    At the same time, we need to study the Word and begin to say these things because our tongue is the pen of a ready writer (Psa.45:1). We can write the Word of God upon our hearts. We can speak these things down into our hearts so that they come out of us naturally and they will turn our vessels like a rudder turns a ship (James 3:4). (Pro.4:20) My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Obviously, we have to pull away from the world, if the Word of God is going to be important to us. If the world is more important, God knows it and it will be proven by what we say. (Pro.4:21) Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. Think on them, meditate on them. We know that we love the Word when we wake up in the morning and the first thing we think about is God. (Pro.4:22) For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. If we want life, we must devote ourselves to the Word of God. Put aside everything else that is a distraction.    The Bible says that He sent His Word and it healed them (Psalm 107:20). The Word of God is health; it will deliver us from the curse of this world. (Pro.4:23) Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. There it is again. Out of your heart are the issues of your own life. In other words, be careful what you put into your heart because what you're putting in is what's coming out. (Pro.4:24) Put away from thee a wayward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. Put away a mouth that is “out of the way” or not in “the Way.” The Book of Acts called it ‘the Way' (Act.9:2). We are to follow Christ in the Way that He has said to follow Him. His very life is our example, for He said, I am the way (Joh.14:6). (Pro.4:25) Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. (26) Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. In many ways, we go somewhere with our eyes before we go with our feet. If we have wayward eyes, we will have wayward feet. Eyes are windows to the heart, which rules our feet. (Pro.4:27) Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil. (Pro.5:1) My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: (2) That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge. We need to be careful to agree with God.    The High Priest of our confession is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1). “Confession” comes from the Greek word homologeo, meaning “speaking the same as.” He offers our confession before the Father (Matthew 10:32). It is very important that you are confessed before the Father. If you “speak the same as” Jesus, He's going to speak that to the Father and the Father will deliver the benefits that are needed. We may say things that are acceptable to the world but rejected by the Kingdom. (Pro.5:3) For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil. In this verse, He is talking about the Harlot. Some of you know about the Harlot because you have come out of harlot churches. “The lips of a strange woman” are sweet to the flesh but not to the spirit. When we find God's words, they're sweet in our mouth but bitter in our belly (Revelation 10:9). The flesh doesn't like God's Word. Let not God speak with us, lest we die (Exo.20:19), was what the Israelites said when they were at the foot of the mountain. When we receive His Word into us, the old life dies and that old harlot will die in us, too. (Pro.5:4) But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. (5) Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol.    Apostate religion doesn't lead us to anywhere but death; it's a deception, a strong delusion. We want to come out from among her (Revelation 18:4) and come into agreement with the Word of God, where God says we're righteous. We need to be justified in our words and prepared to go into judgment because we are ready to conquer, not be conquered. We need to keep the lips of life, the words of life. Now we can go to God. You may lament, as Isaiah did, that you are a person with unclean lips and dwell in the midst of others with unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). Well, the Lord will help you. If this is important to you and you want to live a holy life, He's listening, so pray. (Psa.141:3) Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. “Lord, don't let unclean things come out of my mouth.” You pray that and believe it. It's all by grace and not by your works.    We learned that the tongue can no man tame (Jas.3:8). It's the Lord Who tames the tongue. First, you need to repent. You need to know that you need to agree with Him and in agreeing with Him, you can walk together with Him. (Amo.3:3) Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? The Lord is going to be with you in this; just agree with Him. It's your faith; it's not your works. King David understood that it's by grace. He knew that he must trust in God to tame his heart because He's the only one Who can. (Psa.141:4) Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness With men that work iniquity: And let me not eat of their dainties. David wanted a heart that was in agreement with the Word of God, so that what he said was in agreement with Him and, thus, he was doing His work. Your heart teaches your mouth and your mouth gives grace to your heart. We are commanded to teach our mouth. (Pro.16:20) He that giveth heed unto the word shall find good; And whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. (21) The wise in heart shall be called prudent; And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.    We see in Exodus 15 that when Moses and the children of Israel were going into the wilderness, they went to Marah (Hebrew: “bitterness”). They couldn't drink the bitter water there because it was death to them; it was killing them. Think about that. The words coming out of their mouth are killing God's people. (Mat.15:11) Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out the mouth, this defileth the man. It's the spring that comes from out of man that is both blessing and cursing. (Jas.3:10) Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? Out of the same mouth should not come forth sweet water and bitter. So “the sweetness of the lips” here is referring to the words transformed from a renewed mind and in obedience to the Word of God.    If you speak the Word of God, it will increase your life. (Pro.16:22) Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it…. How is that? It's because what we understand comes out of our innermost being and flows right over our tongue. Jesus said, It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life (Joh.6:63). (Joh.7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive … How is it that the Spirit gives us these living waters? Well, as Jesus said, “the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.” These words go into us and, as they do, the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance all things He said unto us (John 14:26) and brings them out of us. Many of you have felt that anointing to speak to people and it is really sweet when you are able to give them a good word, something that they need. It comes flowing out of you; it touches their heart and you are overjoyed by that. That's that wellspring of life coming out of you and God has a lot more of that for us.    We need to instruct our mouth. (Pro.16:23) The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth, And addeth learning to his lips. It's very important that we come into agreement with God. We need to train our mouth and we can get our friends, our mate or our children to help us do it. We need to help each other to say things that are in agreement with the Word of God.    In Numbers 30, the Lord explains that a husband in authority can disallow, or not accept, rash utterances spoken out of a wife, so don't be offended if someone helps you. Sometimes we make mistakes and we need to back up and say, “Lord, forgive me. I don't want to talk that way. I want to agree with Your Word. I want to speak the blessing and not the curse.” (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue…. It's supernatural. When we speak the Word and calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17), we may be speaking something that we can't see with our eyes, but our tongue has the power to bring it to pass. God hears our tongue and He hears that we are agreeing with Him and so He imparts grace. (Pro.16:24) Pleasant words are [as] a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Your life proceeds from your bones, from the bone marrow where your blood is made. Speak and agree that you are blessed, healed and delivered from the curse of the world, so God can bring it to pass. Your faith goes up to God through the “High Priest of our confession,” the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1). When we speak in faith, He offers this before the Father (Matthew 10:32). It's our sacrifice. We are sacrificing the old life when we say these things because they are contrary to our old life and our human nature. Then the Lord Jesus will offer these words of faith before the Father and we will receive His grace for it to manifest.    (Pro.15:28) The heart of the righteous studieth to answer; But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. Study the Word to know how to answer people and how to agree with God in faith. People wonder how they can answer others when believing with God in faith that they're healed and others can see that they are not. Remember what Jesus said: (Mat.10:32) Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. “Confession” means to “speak the same as.” The Word says by whose stripes ye were healed (1 Pe. 2:24). Are you going to confess that? Are you going to confess that you believe God and that you trust His Word? Will you confess before men, “I'm not walking by sight; I'm going to accept His healing”? When people do that, they see miracles and power. And if you will do the same thing with your soul, if you will reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God (Rom.6:11) and begin to speak it out of your mouth, God will give you grace. It's not because you're trusting in your power, but in His power. You're coming into agreement with Him and you're walking together with Him.    Many Christians are wicked. They do not agree with God and are contrary to His Word. They are calling God a liar every time they open their mouth. God is our Savior and He has already taken care of these things. He has delivered us, healed us and He has blessed us. He is our Savior in all things and He will protect us under the shadow of His Wings (Psalm 17:8). Who are the righteous? The word “righteous” in the Hebrew is equivalent to the same word in the Greek for “justification.” (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.    The person who is righteous (justified) is determined to agree with God. We need the justification of the Lord to prevail in judgment. The person who is walking in the light, as He is in the light (1Jn.1:7), receives understanding from God. He wants to agree with the Word and speak it as much as God wants to hear it. The Lord doesn't hold anything against us; rather, it is the words that we are speaking that are bringing us under the curse. Therefore, as we add understanding to our soul and learning to our lips, and as we begin to speak in agreement with what the Bible says, then we will come out from under the curse. That's God's plan. We need to learn to be quiet in many instances until we can speak the Word of God.    We're far too impulsive. People who are ruled by their emotions are impulsive and often say things that they wish they hadn't. Whenever this happens, we need to repent quickly before God teaches us a lesson. This takes practice. (Ecc.5:1) Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools (to speak impulsively): for they know not that they do evil. We know that we are the house of God and everywhere we go we need to keep our walk and our mouth humble. This is especially so in the midst of the brethren. It's better to hear than speak “the sacrifice of fools,” which is speaking rashly out of your mouth. This also includes speaking of things that we don't know about. Even Job, who was a perfect and upright man (Job 1:1,8) in the eyes of the Lord because he was justified by faith, spoke things he didn't know about and repented “in dust and ashes” for the self-righteousness that was coming out his mouth (Job 42:1-6). It would be better if we would learn to be quiet and speak when spoken to by the Lord. (Ecc.5:2) Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.    God is an awesome Ruler and He doesn't get the respect that He should get from us. (Pro.9:10) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…. I like to speak and teach the Word of God a lot because you can't really improve on what the Lord has already said. Anybody who tries is probably getting into some bad areas. Let your words be few. Since God is on the Throne, He is sovereign and a man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven (Joh.3:27); and He worketh all things after the counsel of His will (Eph.1:11). We need to be careful of what we say in front of Him. We need to honor Him, humble ourselves and just keep the old flesh silent. You let the flesh talk and soon he thinks he has a right to, but he doesn't have a right to talk since dead men can't speak. Your flesh doesn't have any rights in this world anymore. (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin….   I remember what a brother told me years ago: “You take a dead man and slap him on the cheek, he turns the other way.” With the tongue, it should be the same thing: shut up and let the Word of the Lord come forth out of your spiritual man. (Mat.12:37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Now, some people think that this is referring only to speaking “ugly” or speaking curses. Well, anytime we disagree with the Word of God, it's a curse. Jesus said, if we aren't for Him, then we are against Him (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23). We are either in agreement with Him or we are not. There is no gray area.    I'm not saying that we necessarily have to quote the Word of God but we should be in agreement with it. This is pleasing to our Father. Power is coming forth out of us when we are in agreement with the Word. This power is healing the sick, delivering, turning our heart and so on, but our words should be few. (Pro.17:27) He that spareth his words hath knowledge; And he that is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Learn to be quiet. You can't hear anything when you're talking. You want to listen to the Holy Spirit. He knows what's going on around you and knows what's there before you get there. We need to listen to Him. (Pro.17:28) Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; When he shutteth his lips, he is [esteemed as] prudent. This gives hope to each of us. God at least imputes some righteousness for being quiet! (Pro.10:19) In the multitude of words there wanteth not (no lack of) transgression; But he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely. In other words, if you talk a lot, there is a likelihood that you are doing a lot of sinning.    A person who talks a

  Sermon - The Humanity of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:5-18) To discover what more is said, please do download the audio to hear this sermon... Thank you! Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file Hebrews 2:5-18 (NIV) 5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? 7 You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honour 8 and put everything under their feet.’ In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.’ 13 And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again he says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’ 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. 1. Jesus made fully human Be focussed only upon Him 2. Humanity of Jesus Christ Jesus the man Major Errors Concerning Jesus’ Humanity Why would Jesus become a man? Conclusion As Christians, because of God the Son becoming a human, in the man we know as Jesus Christ: we were bought at a price we have a new position before God we were bought out of slavery to sin, into being servants to, of and for God the Son, Jesus Christ alone we are Jesus’ personal possession and family we are in an amazingly intimate and dynamic relationship with God. Oh how easy it is to forget these things. Is it just me that forgets such things easily? I know that when I am disobedient towards God, have sinned against Him and others, that I have indeed forgotten these things – at least subconsciously. Because of Jesus: you are his brother or sister, he loves you and because of his death and resurrection, you are in His family, if you have made that decision to be so. Because he loves you, you are being transformed into His image. You still have, and will continue to have your own identifiable personality and traits, but you are being changed and transformed into the likeness of Jesus. One day you will be normal just like me. Remember, because Jesus Christ died, rose again and ascended back to the Father, so will all those who claim Him as their saviour – we as Christians will live, die and rise again to ascend into glory. The Apostle Paul tells us that in Colossians 3. God is wanting all people to be in relationship with Him. But it is our responsibility to choose that way! God does not force – He leaves it as a choice for humans to make as individuals. God’s love does not force, because if it did, it would not be love but tyranny. However, God’s love is compelling, magnetic and attractive, calling people into relationship with Himself. God’s love for humanity is exemplified in the Cross of Jesus Christ as we saw in part tonight. Let’s go from here to tell somebody this week about this God of love! We can at least ask, can we not? Just as God loves each of us, as individuals, we are also to love others in our Christian family and those outside it. Jesus said that those outside the Church will know who we Christians are, by the love that we have for each other. Loving others within the Church is evangelism, a witness to those outside the Church, of and for the God of love we proclaim and live for. For example, if you know somebody has a need, and you can fill that need, why not be the answer to their prayers? That is love in action. You and I are loved by God, as exemplified and exhibited in the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ – fully God and fully human. Let each one of us go love other people with this love to the glory of God the Father, through the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, seals you as God’s child and unites the Church as family. Let’s go tell and show others about this Jesus and how he can help people – just as he has helped you and I and countless others today and down through history. Will there be one other person in heaven because of you and what you have said or done? If you are not a Christian yet, and you want to hear more about becoming a follower of this Jesus, do ask somebody here to help you. Jesus is calling you by name to be in a loving, dynamic and intimate relationship with God. Jesus died so that you could be.  Jesus, the ideal man, the God-man says: “Come and follow me.” Will you start following him, even from right now?" To discover what more is said, please do download the audio to hear this sermon... Thank you! Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

The post The Doctrine of Jesus Christ – Hebrews 1:1-4 appeared first on Living Hope Church.

Sajeeva Vahini

Sajeeva Vahini

Sajeeva Vahini

Sajeeva Vahini

The post “The New Adam, Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 2:5-9) appeared first on Harvest Community Church | Omaha, NE.

Study Notes Ed Underwood The Bible, The New Testament, and the Gospels “And so he [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive their eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant” (Hebrew 9:15). We’re all born with questions in our heart that the two most basic sources of human knowledge—reason and experience—cannot answer: Who am I? Why am I here? Does anyone care about me, I mean really? History seems out of control, where is this world headed? God in His grace has provided another source of knowledge—revelation—to answer the questions of humanity concerning meaning and significance in life. The Bible claims to be God’s special revelation to the beloved centerpiece of His creation—men and women, boys and girls. Though God demonstrates that He’s there through the general revelation of His creation (Psalm 19:1-6) and has given every human heart the knowledge that He exists (Romans 1:18), His special revelation is His more direct communication to humanity. This may involve dreams, angels, and visions, but we receive special revelation primarily and most clearly through His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2) and in the written words, paragraphs, and stories in the 66 Books of the Bible. Many people, even sincere Christians, struggle as we read through the Bible. We may be familiar with a few of the stories and we may have heard sermons about a number of passages. But we find it difficult to put the pieces of the Bible together and feel lost when we’re trying to read through an entire Book of the Bible. What we need is the big picture of the Bible—a broader understanding of how the Bible is put together and how the events, people, and places connect. This is what Bible students call a synthetic study of the Scriptures. We’re dedicating two years to a synthetic study of the Word of God—all 66 Books. And it begins today with this overarching sentence on the Bible: The Bible is God’s masterpiece written to rescue us by revealing God’s Son—Jesus Christ. The Bible contains 66 Books, 27 of those comprise the New Testament, which begins with the 4 Gospels— historical books that provide an accurate and variegated picture of the person and work of Jesus Christ. I. The New Testament is the Good News that completes the awesome story begun in the Old Testament of God’s majestic and merciful plan to rescue people and Creation from consequences of human sin (Romans 1:16-17). A. The Bible is divided between the 39 Books of the Old Testament and the 27 Books of the New Testament. The God of the Bible is the Creator and Redeemer of His creation. He is personally and intimately involved in the lives of people and is moving history according to His plan. The Cross of Jesus Christ—the Son of God’s substitutionary death for the sin of humanity that defiled creation— is the central event of history from God’s perspective. There is a progressive revelation in the Scriptures, meaning that the story and the message unfolds over time. The Old Testament anticipates the work of Israel’s coming King—Messiah—by telling the story of God’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The New Testament announces the birth of Messiah and reveals Him as the Son of God who came to take away the sin of humanity. It puts Jesus’ death in perspective and records the beginnings, teachings, and future of the church—those who have received God’s resurrection life, eternal life, by believing in His Son. Jesus Christ claimed to be the Key that unlocks the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-46). The Bible ends by claiming that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelations 22:13) and His announcement that He is coming again (Revelation 22:20). B. The title, “The New Testament,” transliterates the Greek words, He Kaine Diatheke, which literally means, “The New Covenant.” The term “Diatheke,” or Covenant, characterizes a last will and testament that is ratified when the testator dies. It is a binding covenant or legal contract that blesses the recipients when the benefactor dies. The New Covenant was ratified by the blood of Christ (Luke 22:20) and a person enters into that covenant relationship when he or she comes to God on His terms—belief in His Son (John 6:47). This covenant, or testament, is the unifying theme of the books of the New Testament (1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 8:7-13; 9:15-17). 1. The New Testament is a collection of books that tell one story — the story ofJ esus Christ and His church. They were written from about AD 40-96 in Koine (“common”) Greek. They were separately distributed among the churches of the early church and gradually collected together. 2. The Structure of the New Testament helps us understand the Big Picture! II. The Bible was not written merely to be understood. It was written to change our life by persuading us to believe in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and trusting Him and His Word in ways that will instruct us and give us enduring and encouraging hope. A. Enduring Hope: The New Testament presents the Gospel of Christ, the Good News that when Jesus came the first time it was to deliver us from sin (Romans 1:16-17). B. Encouraging Hope: The New Testament presents the Hope of the Church, the Promise that when Jesus comes again He will rule and reign in His Kingdom (Revelation 22:20).

  Sermon - The Humanity of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:5-18) To discover what more is said, please do download the audio to hear this sermon... Thank you! Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file Hebrews 2:5-18 (NIV) 5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:‘What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?7 You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honour8 and put everything under their feet.’ In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;in the assembly I will sing your praises.’13 And again,‘I will put my trust in him.’And again he says,‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.1. Jesus made fully human Be focussed only upon Him 2. Humanity of Jesus Christ Jesus the man Major Errors Concerning Jesus’ Humanity Why would Jesus become a man? ConclusionAs Christians, because of God the Son becoming a human, in the man we know as Jesus Christ: we were bought at a price we have a new position before God we were bought out of slavery to sin, into being servants to, of and for God the Son, Jesus Christ alone we are Jesus’ personal possession and family we are in an amazingly intimate and dynamic relationship with God. Oh how easy it is to forget these things. Is it just me that forgets such things easily? I know that when I am disobedient towards God, have sinned against Him and others, that I have indeed forgotten these things – at least subconsciously. Because of Jesus: you are his brother or sister, he loves you and because of his death and resurrection, you are in His family, if you have made that decision to be so. Because he loves you, you are being transformed into His image. You still have, and will continue to have your own identifiable personality and traits, but you are being changed and transformed into the likeness of Jesus. One day you will be normal just like me. Remember, because Jesus Christ died, rose again and ascended back to the Father, so will all those who claim Him as their saviour – we as Christians will live, die and rise again to ascend into glory. The Apostle Paul tells us that in Colossians 3.God is wanting all people to be in relationship with Him. But it is our responsibility to choose that way! God does not force – He leaves it as a choice for humans to make as individuals. God’s love does not force, because if it did, it would not be love but tyranny. However, God’s love is compelling, magnetic and attractive, calling people into relationship with Himself. God’s love for humanity is exemplified in the Cross of Jesus Christ as we saw in part tonight. Let’s go from here to tell somebody this week about this God of love! We can at least ask, can we not?Just as God loves each of us, as individuals, we are also to love others in our Christian family and those outside it. Jesus said that those outside the Church will know who we Christians are, by the love that we have for each other. Loving others within the Church is evangelism, a witness to those outside the Church, of and for the God of love we proclaim and live for. For example, if you know somebody has a need, and you can fill that need, why not be the answer to their prayers? That is love in action. You and I are loved by God, as exemplified and exhibited in the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ – fully God and fully human. Let each one of us go love other people with this love to the glory of God the Father, through the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, seals you as God’s child and unites the Church as family. Let’s go tell and show others about this Jesus and how he can help people – just as he has helped you and I and countless others today and down through history. Will there be one other person in heaven because of you and what you have said or done? If you are not a Christian yet, and you want to hear more about becoming a follower of this Jesus, do ask somebody here to help you. Jesus is calling you by name to be in a loving, dynamic and intimate relationship with God. Jesus died so that you could be.  Jesus, the ideal man, the God-man says: “Come and follow me.” Will you start following him, even from right now?" To discover what more is said, please do download the audio to hear this sermon... Thank you! Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

The most potent weapon we have as believers is the word of God. The word of God is alive and active. All situations answer to the word of God. The Word in the mouth of a believer carries creative powers that will help build us up into the full status of Jesus Christ Hebrews 4:12. Jesus Christ is our hope of glory and He has given us himself as the word of God.

Grace enables us to be exactly what we desire to be, and even exposes our truest cravings, hidden in the deepest corridors of our hearts! Meaning, if we really want to be conformed unto the image of Christ, we as Christians have the access to do so through grace! But if that is not our desire, we are left without excuse, other than...we just didn't want to be conformed unto Him! This is why we must not compare ourselves to the image of others, but to the perfect standard of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:1-2). For when we mirror ourselves unto others, we leave ourselves with a built-in out clause that allows complacency, compromise, and tolerance to fester and prove ourselves to be, "without understanding". So listen to this sermon and discover the possibilities made available through grace, to those in Christ, and uncork the hidden potential that God sees in you, just waiting to be lived out by "grace through faith"!

Gospel of John - John 1:1-5,14 Jobey McGinty The opening line of any written work (a book, email, opening arguments of a trial) sets the tone for everything that follows. Sunday, we began a journey into the Gospel of John, and John (an eyewitness and close friend of Jesus') begins with an explosion of declaration from all that he witnessed over three years, and what he maintained as a witness for the next 60+ years until his death: God came to the earth in the Person of Jesus, that you and I could know Him and have true life through Him. He is the Man who is God. God's very own Word became a human being. In other words, God's heart, desires, character became the exact imprint of God in the Person of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1.3). He did this because He is a God who desires that we would know Him, so that we could have forgiveness and be reconciled with Him forever. He is, indeed, a God that pursues.

Do you look to other people for spiritual guidance rather than Jesus Christ? Hebrews 08:01-13

We are Christ-centered in our faith because Jesus Christ is the Gospel.

2019 – What’s New?, What’s the Same? What’s New? It’s A New Day (Lamentations 3:22-23) It’s A New Year – Resolutions or Covenant? (Romans 7:18) It’s A New Outreach Strategy – Bless Every Home (Matthew 22:34-40) Prayer Care Share Disciple What’s the Same? The Gospel of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:8)

The Three Appearances of Jesus Christ | Hebrews 9:23-28 Sermon 44 in the Hebrews series Preached on February 23, 2003 by Rev. Mike Francis at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, DeLand, FL Join us in thanking God for his faithfulness through Mike's brain injury and in praying for his full recovery:  MikeMarathon.com.

FORERUNNER Week 1 | The Supreme Revelation: Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1) | Ps Matt @theLOGOS by HCFclackamas

This Good Friday, Urban Grace partnered with City Hill Church and The Exchange in a multi-church service. One of the biggest days in the Jewish calendar was the Day of Atonement. Of this day it is written, ‘For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.’ (Leviticus 16:30). One of the biggest calendar days for followers of Jesus is Good Friday, where we remember that we have been relieved of this burden through this, ‘once and for all’, sacrifice by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:12). This year, we wanted to make it a special day in the calendar of our local church bodies. Our three church families want to invite you to join with us (even online) in the celebration of the sacrifice of Jesus and the unity of the local church. Since the word atonement (literally, At. One. Ment.) implies unity, we want to publicly take the opportunity to confess our sin of disunity in the local church in Calgary. Our hope is that as followers of Jesus, we are kickstarting a tradition that will become an important calendar moment to the Church of Jesus in our city. Consider this your invitation

Hebrews Angelo Tolentino Angelo Tolentino https://historian.ministrycloud.com/r/eyJzaXRlX2lkIjoiMTYwOTIiLCJzZXJtb25faWQiOiIxMjI5MTQyIiwibWVkaWFfaWQiOiI0ODc4OTk4IiwibWVkaWFfZm9ybWF0IjoiMSJ9/http://5121de30354dbc97c4c5-b03259ad87d46303660159f723fb1e9d.r89.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/t/0e6096184_1491342926_the-supreme-revelation-from-god.mp3

If Jesus was born on the first Christmas, but the Son of God existed before all worlds, where was he before the first Christmas? Today we explore one of the most challenging and amazing aspects of the Christian faith - the implications of Jesus being fully God and fully human. We take a quick look into Einstein and relativity as way to look at the relationality of the triune God.

Squabbling Over a Vast Estate I love history, I love stories from history, I like to study key moments in history, and obscure moments in history. And I want to bring your mind this morning to one of the more obscure moments in history, but still fascinating, at least to me, hope it will be to you as well. On November 12th, 1877, the scene was Manhattan, New York City, and it was the trial of the decade and didn't even involve a crime. It was a dispute over a last will and testament, the last will and testament of the wealthiest man America had ever seen up to that point, Cornelius Vanderbilt. And so, they were assembled that day, the courtroom was absolutely packed, couldn't get another person in, fascinated to try to find out more things, more of the secrets of the Vanderbilt family and of the Vanderbilt fortune. And a little before noon, William H. Vanderbilt, who was his son and his central heir, came in, confident, taking a seat with his legal team, he was pitted against his sister, Mary, who thought that it was unjust that their father had left 95% of the estate to the son. And so she thought it was right, even though it was clearly the last will and testament of the Commodore, of Cornelius Vanderbilt, to contest this will and argue that the estate should be distributed equally among the 10 living descendants. Now, the sum that they were wrangling over was an astounding $100 million. And if you know anything about economics in the mith century you'd realize just what a fantastic sum that was. Basically, if the Commodore's full estate had been liquidated, everything sold at market value, which would have been impossible, but if everything could have been sold, he would have received, in effect, one out of every $20 in circulation in the United States of America. I mean, one twentieth of the wealth, of circulating money was the Commodore's. Incredible amount of money. Well, the trial went on for two years, two months and four days. In the end, the Commodore's last will and testament was upheld. William H. Vanderbilt inherited 95%. He did, however, double the amount given to each of his siblings, and hoped that they would be happy with that. The money did them very little good. As a matter of fact, one of Vanderbilt's other sons committed suicide five years after receiving this vast sum, and I think it's so often the case that money doesn't actually solve problems in that way; it can actually create many problems. The idea of the reading of a last will and testament, of an inheritance coming from a wealthy relative, maybe one you didn't even know you had, captures the imagination, but the facts show that about 8% of Americans receive any kind of money at all from an inheritance. It's really a very small number, and the amount given is actually very small. Most of the sums are far less than $25,000 dollars. The Incredibly Inheritance in Christ But yet it captures our imagination, though it ought not to, because I'd like to just by the preaching of the word lift your eyes up, off of the mundane, off of mansions like the Biltmore and all that, that the money eventually went for that, and to other things. And lift your eyes to how fabulously wealthy Christ's heirs are through faith in him. That if you are an heir of God and heir of Christ Jesus, you are infinitely wealthy right now. And I want to, it's my desire as I preach to give you a sense of that, a sense of the cost of giving you that inheritance, the death, the bloody death of Jesus and to, in some way, I guess, beguile you away from anxiety, selfishness, worldliness so that you are free to walk as truly forgiven sons and daughters of the living God and to serve him selflessly, and not show any concern whatsoever for your own material support, to know that you are completely provided for. That's what I want to talk to you about today, and I basically want to organize my comments into two main headings. Little by little, more and more insight has come to me in reference to this passage. It started in verse 22. For me, it's a rather famous statement, something that we understand, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." And that talks about this covenant, the blood of the covenant, a covenant that's been established through the blood of Jesus. But earlier in the text we're looking at, it talks about it a will or a testament. The confusing part for commentators is the same Greek word is used for both will, like last will and testament, and covenant and so commentators debate and are discussing all the time. Is it a will, is it a covenant? Friends, it's both, it's both. We're talking about an incredibly deep, an infinitely deep work of the Son of God on the cross. And no one analogy is going to exhaust all of the meaning, and so in this text we have both a last will and testament, and we have a new covenant established through the blood of Jesus. And so has as I look at verse 22, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Earlier, this teaching is given essentially without the death of the one bequeathing the goods, there is no inheritance. You've got to have the death of the one who makes the will, is what the author is telling us. So the two statements I want you to hang your hat on, so you can just understand Hebrews 9:15-22 is without the death of Christ, there is no inheritance, without the blood of Christ, there is no forgiveness. That's a summation of what this text is saying. It is unbelievably hot in here this morning, isn't it? Just acknowledge that. We are working, the AC is out, our offices are hot, and so you are not permitted to get drowsy. So I'm going to modulate my voice. I'm going to look right at some of you from time to time. You're not permitted to get drowsy this morning, alright? But counter to what I just said, you have the outline right now, that's it. Without the death of Christ, we have no inheritance, without the blood of Christ, we have no forgiveness. But that's putting the negative language of verse 22. Let's turn it around and make it positive. Because Jesus died for you, you are an heir of God, you have a vast inheritance, and because Jesus shed his blood for you, you are completely forgiven of all your sins. There it is. So that's the two-part outline that we're working on, but we're just going to go verse by verse as we usually do to try to understand this more fully. I. Christ the Mediator of a New Covenant (vs. 15) Look at verse 15. Christ is here presented, as we've already seen, the mediator of a new covenant. For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. So the author begins in this section for this reason. This is why Christ is the mediator of a new covenant. What is the reason? He answers the question why, what is the reason? So that we who are called may actually get our inheritance. That's the mentality, or the idea is without this new covenant, the covenant Jesus came to bring, we would not receive the inheritance, it would be intended for us, but it would never get to us. And God wants this inheritance to be absolutely guaranteed, so he puts all of the work in the hands of his son, so that the job gets done. That's the mentality here. And so God wants this inheritance absolutely guaranteed. We get the same idea here in Romans 4:16. There the Apostle Paul writes, "Therefore the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring." Same kind of idea, God entrusts these issues of promise, faith, grace equals guarantee. The bottom line here is if we are involved in any significant way here, we will fail, we will not receive the promised eternal inheritance. It must be of grace alone, it must be by faith alone, it must be by Christ alone, or else we won't get it. And so God really wanted this inheritance to be guaranteed, and so Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, this is why he is. Now, a covenant is a binding agreement between two or more parties. The mediator of the covenant is a go-between who takes care of the details of the covenant, communicates the stipulations, the blessings of that covenant, etcetera. The Old Covenant was mediated to us through angels by a mediator. It says in Galatians 3 that mediator was Moses, Moses was the human mediator of the Old Covenant. But we need a mediator between us and God. Job cried out for this in Job 9. He says, "God is not a man like me, that I might answer him, or that we might confront each other in court." We can't do that. "If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay a hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me so that his terror would frighten me no more." Job is yearning for Jesus, isn't he? He's yearning for what it says in 1 Timothy 2, "There is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." And so Jesus is the mediator, the go-between, who brings to us this new covenant. And this new covenant we've already described, we've looked at the aspects of it in Hebrews chapter 8, from the words of Jeremiah 31, this new covenant that Jeremiah, that God promised through Jeremiah. "The time is coming," said the Lord, when he would make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It would not be like the first covenant he made with their forefathers, because they didn't keep it. God's wrath had to break out against them. "But this is the covenant I'll make after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, for I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more." Those are the stipulations of the new covenant, that the Lord Jesus has come to bring, and the author makes it very plain at the end of Hebrews 8, in verse 13, "By calling this covenant new, he's made the first one obsolete and what is obsolete and aging will soon pass away." This is a new covenant. Now, I believe that when it comes to personal salvation, when it comes to individual salvation, there has only ever been one covenant. At the end of Hebrews in Hebrews 13 it talks about God who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep. The blood of the eternal covenant. Friends, we get saved the exact same way that Abraham got saved, by faith in Christ. There's only ever been this one covenant; therefore, the new covenant really equals the eternal covenant. The blood of the eternal covenant is the blood of the new covenant, they are one of the same, and that is the covenant that saves us. What's new is that through the work of Christ, it is clearer now who Jesus is, the fulfillment of the promise has happened. We can look back on history, not look ahead to prophecy, and we can see this has already been achieved, but it's the same covenant. God and eternity passed before the creation of the world will give to his elect total and complete salvation. He knew who they were, he knew them by name, and he made a covenant with his son, that if his son would shed his blood for them that he, God, would forgive them of all their sins, and that God would exhibit grace to them through the sovereign spirit. At the right time, he would call them into fellowship with himself, through repentance and faith in that gospel message, they would be saved. That's the covenant, that's the eternal covenant made in the council of the trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, now revealed in time by what we call the new covenant, the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. This is this covenant that Jesus has come to bring, complete and total salvation from all of our sins. And so for this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive this promised eternal inheritance, those who are called are the elect, the chosen ones, the ones we have discussed before, and they are sovereignly called by the grace of God. God is at work drawing the elect, he's at work, drawing them to himself. Throughout their lives, they're hearing scripture, they're bumping into aspects of the Gospel, but they're still in some mysterious way dead in their transgressions and sins. But they're hearing the message, they're hearing the message. And then at the right time when the day of salvation comes with the call, they hear the sound of a person's voice, or they might read it in scripture. But they hear the Gospel, they hear of Christ crucified, the Son of God sinless shed his blood on the cross. They hear this message, and suddenly it makes sense. Suddenly, they can see the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ, in the work of Christ, and they're saved, they're called by the sovereign spirit, they're called out of darkness, into his marvelous light. And God wanted those called people to get the eternal inheritance, and so he entrusted the mediating work to Jesus, so that they can most certainly get what he intends to give them. Now, what is this promised eternal inheritance? Well, God has willed to give us stuff. He's willed to give us valuables, he wants to give us immense valuables for all eternity. From the very beginning, God wanted to entrust the world to the human race, and so the world was their inheritance, Adam and Eve's inheritance. The problem is they sinned their way out of it. You remember how God had said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth," and they sinned, they violated God's laws and they were evicted from the garden of Eden and God put a flaming cherubim to guard the way back into the Garden of Eden back so that they could not eat from the tree of life and live forever. So they lost it, they lost their inheritance, and then in the right time then God called Abraham, and he made certain promises to him, Abraham, promises of the land, promises of fellowship with himself. In Genesis 13, after Lot separated from him and went down to Sodom and Gomorrah, God said, "Go through the land, look around. I'm going to give you this land to you and to your descendants as your possession forever." So there's the aspect of the land. And then after the War of the Kings in Genesis 14 and the Melchizedek chapter that we've looked at in the past, then, in Genesis 15, when Abraham said, "I'm not going to take anything of their loot lest they say, that they made Abraham wealthy," God appears to him and says, "I'm going to make you wealthy, I'm going to make you infinitely wealthy, I'm going to give you myself. Do not fear, Abraham, I am your shield, I am your very great reward, I am what you get." And so those are the two aspects of the inheritance: Goods, property in some sense and God himself. And so, it says it is the "promised eternal inheritance." Promised because God has pledged it to us, he has sworn his fealty to it, he will most certainly keep this promise. God in effect the covenant cutting ceremony with Abraham, said, "May I cease to exist as God, if I don't keep this promise." God cannot lie, and he's promised us this in Jesus, and it's a promised eternal inheritance. It means he's not going to give it and take it away later, it's going to be ours forever. You're going to be wealthy forever and ever, and this inheritance will come to you in good time, at the right time. So in Romans 4:13, it says, "It's not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world." Meditate on that phrase. Where did that come from? Heir of the world. I thought it was heir of Palestine. No, no, no, heir of the world. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth." We're going to get it all, friends. Why fight over it now? It's really wrecked right now, anyway, it's under a curse. It's going to be refurbished in a huge way, the new heavens and the new earth will be, it will be magnificent. And best of all, we get God. There is your eternal inheritance, the promised eternal inheritance. And so I think one verse kind of sums all of that up. It's Revelation 21:7, and there it says, "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son." Isn't that beautiful? So you get, you'll inherit all this. What's that? The New Jerusalem new heaven, new earth, all of it, you get it all and I will be your father, and you'll be my son. How beautiful is that? So, that's what Christ, that's the inheritance. Christ came to give. My question now is how is it Christ's to give? We're gonna be talking in a moment about the last will and testament of Jesus Christ. How did it come to him to even give it to us? Well, if you go way back to Hebrews chapter 1, "In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things." Christ is appointed as heir of all things, the universe is Christ's to give. God the father gave it to him to give. And so he says in Matthew 11:27, "All things have been committed to me by my father." How about that? "It's all mine to give." Isn't it pathetic when Satan tried to tempt him with the world and said, "Hey, I'll give it all to if you'll just bow down and worship." "It's already mine and there's no way I'm going to worship you." The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And so it's all Jesus, and I think this is really the whole point of Revelation chapter 5, as God the father sits on the throne with the scroll sealed with seven seals with writing on both sides and a mighty angel proclaiming, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" and no one was found who is worthy. Heaven, earth, or under the earth, all creation, unworthy. But then the lion of the tribe of Judah, the lamb who was slain for us, comes and takes that scroll from the one who's glad to give it to him, God the Father gives to God the Son the rights, the title deed, really, to the universe, it's all his. And so Christ has the right to give it. And so it says in Romans 8:17, "Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." II. Christ’s Death Required for Our Inheritance (vs. 15-17) But Christ's death is required for us to come into our inheritance. That's what the author is telling us here in verses 15-17, look at it. "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." Now, the first covenant was Sinai, the Old Covenant, the first covenant, the covenant of Moses. That covenant defined what sin was, exhorted the people under that first covenant not to sin, and then turned around and condemned them for the sins that were committed under that covenant, that's what that covenant did. Do you hear listed in that list there salvation at all? Any forgiveness in there? There is none. The first covenant did not have stipulations for forgiveness, it was not entrusted to the covenant of Moses to forgive sins, but merely to give a shadowy picture of the actual forgiveness of sins. And so there were sins committed under the first covenant. You think about the Ten Commandments, the people, the Israelites, they violated every one of them, continually violated them. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said you shall not murder, but I tell you that if you're even angry with your brother, you're in danger of the fire of hell." "You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but if you even look at a woman lustfully, you've committed adultery with her in your heart." The Ten Commandments commanded us not to covet anything that belonged to our neighbor. It's a heart issue. God looking at the heart, we violate that. The people under that covenant violated that covenant, they did not keep it, they committed sins. Jesus summed it all up in two great commandments, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind." The second commandment like it, "Love your neighbor as yourself." We don't keep that. We have sinned. And so the Jews back then in the Old Covenant era sinned and the blood of Jesus is availed to cleanse them, the Old Covenant sinners, of their sins, and we, who were never under the stipulation of that covenant, yet, when you read the Ten Commandments, you know this is the moral will of God. We know that we have sinned too and deserve to be condemned for the exact same sins. And so Jesus, it says, has died to release us from the sins committed under the first covenant so that we can receive the inheritance. Imagine a wealthy man, who has got kind of a ne'er-do-well son, gets into trouble all the time. This man's worth millions and millions of dollars, but the son gets into some huge legal trouble. He commits murder, is arrested, convicted, and condemned to death, but he is this man's heir. Will he receive the inheritance? Now, I don't know what happens while he's on death row, but I know this: After he's executed it's not going to do him any good. We cannot receive the promised eternal inheritance guilty of sins before Almighty God. We can't. The only way we can come into our inheritance is to have our guilt dealt with, and the only way it can be dealt with is through the death of Jesus, and so in order for us to come into our promised eternal inheritance, we must have Christ's death as a ransom to set us free. The word "ransom" could also be translated "redemption," there's a sense of the payment of a price, to buy us out of guilt, to buy us out of slavery, of bondage to sin. And so Jesus has died to set us free so that we can be heirs. And so, it says here in verses 16-17, the logic of the last will and testament. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died. It never takes effect while the one who made it is living. And so, we have here, I think, very much a last will and testament analogy. It's a picture, it's an illustration, and it's only analogy, there is no perfect analogy for the cross of Christ. There are many different kinds of pictures of the work of Christ on the cross, there's a battlefield analogy in which Christ is the victor over Satan and crushes him. There's the marketplace images where Christ pays a price to buy us out of slavery, there's the judicial image where Christ's blood is the propitiation for our sins and we're declared not guilty by the judge. All of these are true. None of them is perfect, they all have to be taken together, until we get the full picture. And so, in this text, we have both the last will and testament plus the blood of the covenant, both, don't pick and choose. I know it's confusing that it's the same Greek word that goes with both, but I think that the author's actually using that to his advantage. Both of these things are going on. So we have the last will and testament of Jesus. That's the analogy. And what the author is saying here is that somebody who makes a will, if they want to actually give the goods to the loved ones, that person has to die. And so, this analogy comes. Now, there are some similarities and some differences of the ordinary last will and testament. Let's talk about some of the similarities. First of all, the will is enacted only upon the death of the one who made it. Christ died, we get the stuff, that's the logic. Secondly, the will actually disperses goods to the heirs. Goods come to the heirs, good things come as a result of the will. Thirdly, the will legally disperses those to the heirs. They legally belong to the heirs, so you get the key to the mansion or the key to the antique Rolls Royce or whatever it is you're getting. It's yours. That heirloom jewelry was grandma's; now it's legally yours. You're not a thief, it has been transferred over to you legally. And then the will, fourth, chooses the time and circumstances when the heirs get it. If, for example, the heirs are children and can't really handle the full inheritance, then it's put in trust for them until they become adults. Meanwhile, provision is made in the will for money coming out of the estate to support them until they become adults. And so it says in Ephesians 1 that the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing our full inheritance, and so we get little down payments coming out of our heavenly inheritance through the Holy Spirit. Every time the Spirit whispers to you that you're a child of God, that's part of your down payment. That's part of your payment, your stipend to keep you going until you see Jesus face-to-face. Isn't that sweet? That's the power of the will. You're getting some of that heavenly inheritance coming early here on earth. So those are four points of comparison, but there are some significant differences, too. And the differences are glorious. I want to focus on two differences. First of all, in a normal human will, when the guy dies, he's done. You know what I'm saying? This stuff will never be his again, he's finished. That would be just flat out creepy. You finally get the house, and there she is, or there he is, that's called a haunting. And I don't think that really even happens; it's in plenty of stories, but the person's dead, and so they have relinquished the goods to the heirs. It's just, you can't take it with you, friends, I hope you know that. And so the one who makes the will, when he dies, he relinquishes it. However, Christ rose from the dead on the third day and he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. This stuff is all still his and he will have it forever. He hasn't relinquished enjoyment of any of it, it's all still his. What he's inviting you to do, in the language of Romans 8:17, is to be an heir of God, and a co-heir with Jesus Christ. Does that make sense? So, the goods are all still Jesus's. Second of all, as seen by my opening illustration, and it's a tragic thing when it happens, these wills come and divide loved ones, people squabble, they fight over it, and it's just a basic logic that two people can't share the same item. If there's a rare painting, you can't have two owners of it, you're not want to Solomon-style cut it down the middle and each of you have half. It has to be given to one or the other. And so, it's very tragic when families are divided by squabbling over money and over wills and things like that. It should never happen to a Christian. I already told you're going to get it all anyway, at the end, right? Well, that's my whole point here. Each heir gets the full inheritance. The amount you get isn't in any way diminished when 100 new people come to Christ. Isn't that awesome? We could have another 10,000 people come to Christ, and you get the same inheritance, you get God as your Father, you get to sit at table with Almighty God, you get to be in the new Jerusalem, and you get to walk on the new heaven, the new earth and look at its beauty and live there, and you're not in any way diminished at all by more and more and more heirs. Even a multitude greater than anyone could count, from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. I told you there's two differences, they're both glorious, but this is the last will and testament of Jesus Christ. Then the author just moves, amazingly, into covenant language. III. Christ’s Blood Required for Our Forgiveness (vs. 18-22) Look at verses 18-22. "This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood." You see in one verse, he's shifted over and now he's talking about covenant. This is why commentators tend to be forcing a choice between the two. I'm telling you, don't choose, it's both. The covenant was not put into effect without blood, the first covenant. "When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool, branches of hyssop, sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, 'This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you to keep.' In the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." So the focus here is on the first covenant as an analogy for the second, the final covenant, and the necessity of blood. You've got to have blood. Now, in this first covenant, the blood served as both purifier and pardoner. Sin defiles us, it makes us dirty and everything we touch becomes defiled. We are defiled, people, and the stuff we deal with becomes defiled, it must be cleansed. And the blood is given to purify that defilement. Also, there's the issue of pardon. The blood is given that we might have pardon or forgiveness. Now, this text has some difficulties. Basically, as you read this, it's like, when did this happen? You read about this, it says that after all of the law had been proclaimed Moses said the following things to the people, etcetera. "He took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool, branches of hyssop, sprinkled the scroll." The scroll is the law. He sprinkled the actual Bible with blood and he sprinkled all the people, and he spoke these words. "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you to keep." And he sprinkled the tabernacle with blood and sprinkled everything else. Well, friends, you'll read the Old Covenant, you will not find this, it's not there. Now, you read it and think, "Oh, it makes sense," but just focus on the scroll. Do you know of any time that a scroll, though, the writing was sprinkled with blood? I don't. So we have a bit of a difficulty here. You didn't know you had a difficulty. That's part of my job is to come in here and say, "There's difficulties here," but what I'm trying to do is to get you to think a little bit deeper and say, "Okay, what's going on?" First of all, we know the Book of Hebrews is not in some way flawed. The author of Hebrews didn't make a mistake here, these things happened, but I believe they were not recorded in the Pentateuch. See what I'm saying? The author is giving us new information. Wait a minute, is he allowed to do that? Yes, he's a New Testament writer of scripture. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he can do all kinds of things you and I can't do. And so sometimes the New Testament gives us information we did not have any other way. Let me give you... A plain example is in the Book of James, the very next book. In the Book of James, it talks about Elijah, saying he was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for three and a half years. Stop. When did that happen in the Old Testament? I know the drought, I'm talking about the prayer. It's not there. Was James wrong? No, Elijah actually did pray that it wouldn't rain, Elijah prayed for drought. Where is it recorded? It's not recorded in the Bible, it's recorded in the Old Testament, it's recorded in the New Testament. James has given us new information. That's what the author is doing here. Now, let's get to the main point. The issue is, yeah, there's all these difficulties, but we get it. The idea is blood was huge in the Old Covenant, we needed blood sprinkling everything used by the priests, the Levites, everything used in the Old Testament, the sacrificial system. And why is that? Because we as sinners defile everything we touch. And so even the scroll that was written with the Word of God was in some way needing to be purified because it had been touched by human hands. So that's what the author is giving us here. And so, this final principle is without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness. Why not? Why not? Why is it that without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness? A last will and testament doesn't require a bloody death on the part of the one who made the will, that's not required, just a death. But the covenant requires blood, that's why it's both last will and testament and covenant. The covenant required blood, there had to be a bloody death. Why? Well, because God linked together from the very beginning sin and death, and he told us in Leviticus, "The life of the creature is in the blood." And so he required the blood of the sinner to be poured out, the soul whose sins will die, the wages of sin is death. And so, the bloody death is a picture of God's wrath, his anger for us against our sin, we deserve to die, we deserve to be condemned forever in hell. That's what the picture is. So it's not just like the giving of blood like at a Red Cross blood drive, it's blood poured completely out to death. God required it, and that's the simple answer. You say why is it true that without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness? Because God says so, that's why. And God requires the shedding of blood so that there may be forgiveness, and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, but the glorious good news of the gospel is there has been a shedding of the blood. Though the verse is negative, yet the truth is positive. Jesus shed his blood for sinners like you and me, and because of the shedding of blood, because of the shedding of blood, we are completely forgiven of all of our sins, and because the one who made the will has died, we can receive our promised eternal inheritance. IV. Applications So what application can we take from this? Well, first and foremost, as I've said so many times before, come to Christ, trust in Christ, believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Earlier verses, we talked about the plague of a guilty conscience. Maybe a guilty conscience assaulted you, even as you walked in the sanctuary today. Maybe you're very well aware of your sins and you've never trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. There is no other savior, there's no other way to come into this eternal inheritance. Come to Jesus. Believe in him. All you do, you just look to him and you say, "Jesus, I'm a sinner, I've violated your laws. I've been a murderer in my heart, although I haven't done it with my hands, maybe. I've been an adulterer in my heart, though maybe I haven't actually committed the act, but I've done it. I've been a covetous man or woman. I've yearned for things that you've given to others. I've not loved you with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. I've not poured myself out for my neighbor. I'm a selfish person and I need Jesus, I need forgiveness, won't you please be my savior?" Anyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. Trust in him. And for you who have already trusted in Christ, just understand the text. Remember I gave you a two-part outline? Because Jesus died we have come into our inheritance. Because Jesus shed his blood, we are completely forgiven of all of our sins. There's your two-part outline. Understand it, and then praise God for it, give him thanks. Don't fail to do it, actually stop and in your hearts, say, "Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me, that was costly. You shed your blood so that I could come into my inheritance, that my sins will be forgiven. Praise you, O Lord." And then can you please live as wealthy people? Just live as rich heirs, as you are. Don't be anxious any more about your life, about your body, about your health, about your job, about your money. God has already given you the greatest, namely his own son dead on the cross, how would he not also along with him graciously give you everything you need for life and godliness, and then heaven at the end? So live like a wealthy person, your treasure is kept in heaven for you. Moth and rust can't destroy; thieves can't break in and steal. Free yourself up from yourself and start serving God and serving others, and don't complain anymore. Let's just make that a simple application. You're rich, so why are you complaining? A number of years ago, I heard a biography on John Newton by John Piper. He's talking about how Newton was an incredible preacher and he used beautiful illustrations and he talked about this one illustration, I'm going to close with it. And he says, "Suppose a man is going to New York City to receive a fabulous inheritance, but on the way, middle of a rainstorm, the man's carriage wheel breaks. He gets out and he trudges in the rain to receive his million pounds or whatever it is he's going to receive, and the whole time he's muttering, 'My carriage wheel is broken, the carriage, it's broken, my carriage is... ' And you're walking with this guy. What do you want to do, other than smack him? 'What's the matter with you? I was hoping to get some crumbs that fell from the master's table, and look at you and you're complaining over a carriage wheel breaking?'" That's a powerful illustration. And once I heard it I never forgot it. How many days do we spend muttering, "My carriage is broken, my carriage is broken." Stop doing it. You are an heir of God, and a co-heir of Christ. Jesus shed his blood for you, your sins are forgiven, he is giving you everything that has been entrusted to him so you can be a co-heir with him. Rejoice and be glad for ever more. Close with me in prayer.

Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on Hebrews 9:15-22. The main subject of the sermon is how we benefit from our purification in Christ and the blessings we receive from His atoning work.

Squabbling Over a Vast Estate I love history, I love stories from history, I like to study key moments in history, and obscure moments in history. And I want to bring your mind this morning to one of the more obscure moments in history, but still...