WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.640 Now, I'd like us to return this morning to the chapter that we read together in Hebrews. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:13.519 We're going to look at one or two of the verses in Hebrews this morning. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:19.760 Now, routine can be a good thing, and routine is a good thing in many ways, but it can also 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.679 be a killer. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:26.839 It can lead to complacency, and it can lead to us being very thoughtless sometimes in our 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:27.839 lives. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:34.920 But it's kind of good, and it can also, if we're not careful, it can be bad. 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:41.840 You know, often I'm walking back from the office here in the church back home, and I 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:46.480 realise that I can completely disengage at that time. 00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:53.200 I can be turning into Wanderpart Road, and I realise that I have no recollection of the 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.280 previous ten minutes, that my brain has just been completely dead. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:03.280 And I've been absolutely thoughtless, almost like these minutes haven't existed. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:08.200 I can't even remember having walked home. 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:13.079 And sometimes it can lead to presumption so that I can expect when I get home that my 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:17.799 dinner will be on the table like it is every night when I get home. 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:22.960 And it's easy then to take that for granted, or not to think about the cost, the time of 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:30.239 preparation, who has made it, and who has taken love and grace to do so. 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.439 Even the value of the food and everything that's involved in cleaning up. 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:39.199 You know, we can become very presumptuous sometimes because of routine. 00:01:39.199 --> 00:01:44.039 I mentioned earlier to the kids about getting up in the morning, and what a great gift it 00:01:44.039 --> 00:01:45.839 is to be able to do that. 00:01:45.839 --> 00:01:52.479 Yet sometimes when we get up, we don't think like that, and we can just absolutely expect 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.000 it as our right. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:59.040 We can become complacent, sometimes even resentful about getting up in the morning. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:01.120 We expect to be healthy. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:05.079 We expect another day, and we take it all for granted. 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:14.480 And we can be mindless in the routine of living that we enjoy every day. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:22.959 And in some ways I think that the book of Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who 00:02:22.959 --> 00:02:31.479 had got themselves into a bad routine, and they were in danger of reverting back to old 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:35.359 pre-Christian days, pre-Jesus days. 00:02:35.359 --> 00:02:41.560 They were in danger of grumbling and taking Jesus for granted, not just taking Him for 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:48.280 granted, but even giving up on Him because it was, in their day and generation, it was 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:54.800 very difficult and tough to follow Jesus, especially when they either took Him for granted 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:57.280 or took their eyes off Jesus. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:03.879 And this letter to them was to shake them out of their bad thinking, to warn them with 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:12.719 grace and with love, and to turn them with a fresh vision to look at Jesus and the wonder 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:20.400 and the marvel of Jesus, that He was incomparable and that it would be crazy for them to give 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:22.199 up on Jesus. 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:27.000 Now, this for us all has been a tough year. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.199 This is the last Sunday of 2020. 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:37.560 And I guess most of us will not be unhappy to see the end of the year. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:43.079 But it's easy for us at a time when life is difficult, and we've been reminded today that 00:03:43.079 --> 00:03:49.759 our lives are a lot more blessed in many ways and a lot easier than many peoples in the world 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:51.599 in which we live today. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:04:00.159 But even in our own lives, in times of difficulty, the temptation is to disengage, to give up 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:06.719 on Jesus or on our spiritual lives because, well, you know, we've got other more important 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:08.400 things to do. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:18.399 And sometimes to drift from Him and go back to old ways, unspiritual thinking. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:24.659 And so I want to challenge us all this morning to refocus on Jesus. 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:31.000 And if you've gone to over 2020, if you've gone to bad routines, if you've become complacent 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:39.760 in your faith in Jesus Christ, or even you've, for all intensive purpose, given up on Him 00:04:39.760 --> 00:04:43.879 and given up on His people as well, then I would love it. 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:47.720 And I would love if you're watching this morning, if that's the case, and that Jesus 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:54.120 has, for whatever reason, he has convicted you to just turn on the Internet and watch 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:55.120 this morning. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:02.079 Then just encourage you to refocus on Jesus Christ because He is the King of kings. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:05.879 There is in Him unsurpassed beauty. 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:10.160 He's unparalleled as God and Savior. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.600 And He is what will make for you. 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:17.319 He will make 2021 worth living. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:25.399 And He alone will enable you to shine through these difficult days of challenge and of suffering 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:28.319 to a greater or lesser degree. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:35.279 So I'm just going to encourage you this morning to take away two phrases with you, two challenges 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:36.199 to take away. 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.560 The first is to be focused on Jesus. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:45.219 And the second is to be vigilant about Jesus. 00:05:45.220 --> 00:05:47.880 So the first is to be focused on Jesus. 00:05:47.880 --> 00:05:51.760 And that's really what the author to Hebrews is saying at the beginning of this chapter. 00:05:51.760 --> 00:05:56.520 Remember, there's not chapter divisions, of course, in the original, and he is following 00:05:56.520 --> 00:05:58.120 on from what he's already said. 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:02.440 There's that link word, therefore, he's been talking about Jesus beforehand. 00:06:02.440 --> 00:06:08.440 Therefore, he says, holy brothers and sisters, you who share in the heavenly calling, consider 00:06:08.440 --> 00:06:15.200 Jesus the apostle and high priest of your confession. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.079 Think about Jesus. 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:19.360 Fix your thoughts on Jesus. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.399 Be focused on Jesus. 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:24.360 That is really the whole point of, that's the whole point of the Bible, but it's the whole 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:26.519 point of Hebrews especially. 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:35.719 And what we find here is a call towards focusing on someone and something other than yourself. 00:06:35.719 --> 00:06:42.079 You know, sometimes people will say, maybe in sport or in your job or when you're trying 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:43.079 to concentrate on something. 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:46.039 People will say, come on, come on, you've got to be focused. 00:06:46.039 --> 00:06:47.039 Get focused. 00:06:47.039 --> 00:06:49.319 And that's very much an internal thing. 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:53.879 It's a call to yourself. 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:56.360 Come on, come on, get focused. 00:06:56.360 --> 00:07:01.319 And it's something that's about our internal self-discipline. 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:09.719 And in a sense, there's an element of truth in that for this, but this is not a do-it-yourself 00:07:09.719 --> 00:07:10.719 call. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.400 It's a call to just, come on, buckle up and be focused yourself. 00:07:15.400 --> 00:07:19.600 It's a call to be focused on someone other than yourself. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:25.080 It's a call to an intentional spiritual relationship with Jesus. 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:27.840 In other words, it's looking away from yourself. 00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:36.120 And this is the primary and basic and fundamental focus of our faith. 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:42.639 Jesus Christ remains and always will remain the focus of your faith and mine. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:50.840 And the previous two chapters of Hebrews, by way of introduction, the writer is expressing 00:07:50.840 --> 00:07:57.319 the supremacy of Jesus to anything that the Jewish people had in the Old Testament and 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.959 were potentially tempted to go back to. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.319 He is so superior to Moses. 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:08.159 He's superior to the angelic beings because he is the living God. 00:08:08.159 --> 00:08:09.560 He is glorious. 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:11.060 He is infinite. 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:15.040 And he is full of grace and glories. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:16.920 He's not an Old Testament character. 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.560 He's not just a better Moses. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:29.079 And we are not to focus on any person or even any vague spiritual reality, but we're to focus 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.199 on Jesus Christ. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:36.799 That is what is being the Holy Spirit is saying to us here. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:39.200 He's the builder of our spiritual lives. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:44.679 He's the builder of the kingdom of God. 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:47.600 We're the house. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.000 He is the God who is the builder. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:58.519 He is, as we're told there, He is the one who is the apostle of our faith and the high 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.240 priest of our confession. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:03.759 So it's an unusual description of Jesus to call him the apostle. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:05.200 Just really means the sent one. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.200 And that is exactly what he is. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:09.519 He has been sent to us. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:13.799 And as we put our trust and faith in Him, He is in our hearts and in our lives. 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:14.960 He's our high priest. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.879 That is, He's the one who has represented us before the Father. 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:21.039 Great thing, isn't it? 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:27.080 That Jesus represents us before the God of the universe, before whom we will stand on 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:34.120 that great day, and He stands in our place because He has offered Himself as our substitute. 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:40.160 He has taken, He has paid the price for everything that separates us from God, and He has made 00:09:40.160 --> 00:09:43.200 that way open, and He intercedes for us. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:44.200 He prays for us, you know. 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:45.200 It's a great thing, isn't it? 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:46.720 I've said it again and again here. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:48.280 It's great to be prayed for. 00:09:48.280 --> 00:09:50.600 It's great to know that someone's praying for you. 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:52.440 Well, here's Jesus Christ. 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:55.400 He's the King of kings, and He prays for us. 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:58.879 He intercedes for us every day before the Father. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:04.399 And you know, you can't take, you can't take, and I can't take my attention, and you can't 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.360 take your attention of Jesus Christ. 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:09.360 You never graduate beyond Him. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:21.480 He is infinitely rich, and even the best, the most spiritually powerful sermons you 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:28.200 will ever hear over a lifetime will only ever be just skimming the very barest surface 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:31.960 of the character of Jesus Christ. 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:34.560 And He is the one that we are to focus on. 00:10:34.560 --> 00:10:37.480 And so if you don't remember anything else today, just remember that. 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:38.480 Be focused. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:41.759 You focus your life on Jesus Christ. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:49.080 May you be one who considers Him, who fixes your whole being on your relationship with 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:50.920 Jesus Christ, which is beyond yourself. 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:54.399 Now, how exactly do we do that? 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:56.120 How exactly do we do that? 00:10:56.120 --> 00:11:00.319 Well, we use our minds. 00:11:00.319 --> 00:11:03.000 It says, consider Jesus. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:13.240 Now, considers kind of, it seems to me to be, my great Greek expertise, quite a weak 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:18.839 word to use here, because it's an, in the original, it's an intensive verb. 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:24.360 It's to think about, it literally means to think about from up to down. 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:32.280 It just means to really be concentrated, to be attentive, to seek to understand and 00:11:32.280 --> 00:11:34.080 consider closely. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:43.400 It's not just a passing thought every so often, but it's an intentionally real thinking through 00:11:43.400 --> 00:11:46.160 who Jesus Christ is. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:52.799 You know, I'm sorry, but we have to grow in our relationship with Jesus, and that will 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:55.600 take time, and it takes effort. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:02.679 It takes us to change, so that we are focused on Him and use our minds to do so. 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:07.759 You know, you get married in a day, and we've had some lovely weddings, even under lockdown 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.079 here in St. Columbus this last year. 00:12:10.079 --> 00:12:12.360 It takes one day to get married. 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:18.320 It takes only a moment really to get married, but it takes a lifetime being married. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:23.320 And the same is true, we come to Jesus Christ in an instant when we put our faith and trust 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:29.800 in Him, but it takes a lifetime of using our minds to consider Him and to listen to the 00:12:29.800 --> 00:12:30.800 Holy Spirit. 00:12:30.800 --> 00:12:37.680 Verse 7 tells us there, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, God speaks to us through His 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:43.079 Holy Spirit and encourages us to consider Jesus, and that is going to take time and effort 00:12:43.079 --> 00:12:48.079 and a sacrifice of love as does marriage. 00:12:48.079 --> 00:12:55.679 So we use our minds, but we also use our words to consider Jesus. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:01.519 That He's the, we're told, verse 1, that apostle and high priest of our confession. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:05.439 And we know that as believers, we don't only believe in our hearts, we confess with our 00:13:05.439 --> 00:13:07.439 lips that Jesus is Lord. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:13.760 And the more we confess Him, the more we are challenged to, the more other people know 00:13:13.760 --> 00:13:19.600 that we follow Jesus, the more we are challenged ourselves to live up to our calling and to 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.480 follow Him. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:27.480 He becomes more real, the more we talk about Him, the more, I think, especially the more 00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:29.440 we talk about Him together as Christians. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.200 I'll say a little bit more about that later. 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:39.080 Why He matters to us as we verbalize and as we work out and think through and argue 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:45.320 why He matters to us, then He becomes more of a focus for our lives. 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:51.840 So we use our minds to consider Him, we use our words to focus our attention on Him, and 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.040 we use our life. 00:13:54.040 --> 00:14:00.879 The introduction of this chapter says, therefore, holy brothers and sisters, that is, those 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:07.639 who are set apart, whose lives are set apart, not just for the hour of worship on a Sunday, 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:14.039 not just with Christian people, but in our workplace, in our decisions, in our ambitions, 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:19.399 in our careers, and all that we are and all that we do, that we are set apart to be Jesus 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:25.960 followers in our love, in our ethics, as He goes on to say in different places, say in 00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:33.400 verse 6, for example, that we're faithful, because Christ is faithful, we are to recognize 00:14:33.400 --> 00:14:38.879 that we're to hold faster confidence in our, and our boasting in our hope. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:44.960 So we're to have courage, we're to have grace, we have humility, we're to have focus on 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:49.519 the hope that is ours by the way we live. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:59.319 So therefore, our lives, our words, and our minds are to help us to be focused on Jesus 00:14:59.319 --> 00:15:01.600 Christ. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:08.879 In other words, our Christian relationship with Him is not to be thoughtless. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:16.960 We're not to simply drift through life and be careless and indifferent and complacent. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:23.240 And we have God's Spirit in us to enable us to be focused. 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:27.400 We have to do that. 00:15:27.400 --> 00:15:32.600 That's the challenge that we have, and He is worthy of that. 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:34.639 He is worthy of being followed. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:41.320 He's worthy of us considering Him thoughtfully and carefully, and fixing our eyes on Jesus, 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:54.720 whatever else we aim for and look for in 2020-21, may we be people who are focused that we are 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.720 focused on Jesus. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.879 A great word, isn't it, that we focus our lives on Jesus. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:10.320 So be focused is my first challenge to myself and to us all in 2021, because we know that 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:12.640 the temptation is otherwise. 00:16:12.640 --> 00:16:16.280 If we're honest, the temptation is otherwise. 00:16:16.280 --> 00:16:19.960 And the second thing is to be vigilant. 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:22.680 It's not unrelated. 00:16:22.680 --> 00:16:24.400 It's quite similar in many ways. 00:16:24.400 --> 00:16:32.600 But in verse 12, we have this beginning of this section, take care, brothers and sisters, 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:39.160 lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:41.399 God. 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:51.240 So be vigilant, take care is what is being spoken of here. 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:58.319 Because the example from the Old Testament, particularly from the Israelites in the desert, 00:16:58.319 --> 00:17:02.360 was that they fell away. 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:07.879 Take care lest any of you have an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living 00:17:07.879 --> 00:17:08.879 God. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:13.600 Falling away is the same word for apostasy. 00:17:13.600 --> 00:17:18.080 And that's the lesson, the solemn lesson that is taught from the Old Testament Israelites 00:17:18.080 --> 00:17:20.240 in the desert. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.880 All they had was religion. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:26.360 They didn't have trust. 00:17:26.360 --> 00:17:28.600 They didn't trust in the living God. 00:17:28.600 --> 00:17:31.560 They had unbelieving hearts. 00:17:31.560 --> 00:17:38.000 They looked like they believed sometimes, but their hearts were indifferent to the living 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.000 God. 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.079 They didn't love Him and they didn't serve Him. 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:44.799 They very quickly grumbled against Him. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:52.920 And what the writer and for the Holy Spirit particularly is warning against here is allowing 00:17:52.920 --> 00:18:01.240 unbelief to, allowing our hearts to remain hardened by sin. 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:09.640 Because we misunderstand grace and we deny our responsibility before the living God. 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:18.599 It's a very solemn and it's a very challenging word that we have here. 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:22.319 But it's a warning, a warning that's given in love. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:32.159 Not only to be focused on Jesus, which is so great, but also to be vigilant and to be 00:18:32.159 --> 00:18:34.720 very careful. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:36.399 And there's a couple of things I want to say about this. 00:18:36.399 --> 00:18:47.079 The first is that the Bible makes clear that that as believers it's our personal responsibility. 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:49.879 No one else can do it for you at that level. 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:55.000 There's a really personal element towards this. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:01.520 Take care, be watchful is what we could translate that as. 00:19:01.520 --> 00:19:08.880 And he says, take care lest there be any of you an unbelieving heart, leading you to fall 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.800 away from the living God. 00:19:11.800 --> 00:19:15.560 And the earlier on it speaks about the Israelites in the desert. 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:24.559 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion when your fathers provoked the living God. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:28.200 And there's this element of personal responsibility. 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:31.119 Don't harden your own hearts. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:38.159 In other words, what I'm going to say is provocative and it's looking at it from our point of view. 00:19:38.159 --> 00:19:45.359 But unbelief, you can never blame God for your unbelief. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:50.919 You and I are culpable for not believing and letting our hearts become hardened. 00:19:50.919 --> 00:19:52.919 It's not neutral. 00:19:52.919 --> 00:19:55.359 It's not unimportant. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.559 And it's not God's fault. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:06.199 It's not God's, it's not good enough, in other words, to argue God's sovereignty because 00:20:06.199 --> 00:20:09.279 we have our personal responsibility. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:16.480 Now, whatever struggles you have with that and whatever struggles we have with God's 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:22.079 sovereignty which we utterly believe in and our responsibility which the Bible clearly 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:29.960 teaches, however that doesn't seem to match, the Bible argues both. 00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:35.240 No one else can fix your eyes on Jesus. 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:37.160 You have that responsibility. 00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:40.040 From our perspective, we have that responsibility. 00:20:40.040 --> 00:20:43.360 The Bible makes that abundantly clear. 00:20:43.360 --> 00:20:52.040 So we have a personal responsibility to be vigilant, to take care, to be watchful as 00:20:52.040 --> 00:20:53.600 we fix our eyes on Jesus. 00:20:53.600 --> 00:21:00.880 Now, the great thing about this is along with this personal responsibility to maintain our 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:07.560 relationship with Christ, to grow our faith, to be reliant on Him, which is the kind of 00:21:07.560 --> 00:21:12.640 paradox of all that I'm saying is that we have responsibility, but yes, to be reliant 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:17.880 and to be dependent on Jesus Christ who's the author and perfecter of our faith and 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:21.480 who is glorious and who makes all these promises. 00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:29.040 And we have that personal responsibility, but also we have that great responsibility 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:33.920 to do it together, to do it together. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:40.159 Verse 13 he says, but exhort one another every day as long as it's called today that 00:21:40.159 --> 00:21:43.200 none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.119 So that says lots of things. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:49.240 It says lots of things about our spiritual relationship with one another. 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:54.240 It says lots of things about our honesty, about our vulnerability, but above all it 00:21:54.240 --> 00:22:03.160 says lots of things about just being together as Christians, exhort one another, which is 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:10.720 a great word because it's the same word that's used of the gift of the Holy Spirit, or the 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.680 gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit Himself, the paraclete. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:16.759 It's the kind of verbal form of that word. 00:22:16.759 --> 00:22:22.559 So that we are to, it just means that we're to come alongside one another, you know, it's 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:28.279 often translated the Comforter in John's Gospel, particularly when Jesus speaks. 00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:35.359 So we play the role in many ways, or we mimic the role of the Holy Spirit. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.440 We come alongside one another. 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:41.519 We encourage one another. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:44.000 We come close up impersonal. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:45.700 We exhort one another. 00:22:45.700 --> 00:22:48.839 Even sometimes we warn one another. 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:52.159 And isn't that, there's a brilliant balance there, isn't there? 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:58.240 Between our personal individual relationship with Jesus, and the fact that we're not alone 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:03.720 in this walk, and we're not to be alone, not only are we never alone because, like I said 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:09.800 to the kids earlier on, that we wake up with the Holy Spirit in our, the life of God through 00:23:09.800 --> 00:23:16.920 the Holy Spirit in our hearts by faith every day, if we are Christians, if we trust in 00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:18.000 Jesus. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:23.680 Not only do we have that never-alone-ness, but we ought to have the never-alone-ness 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:28.720 of being, encouraging one another in the Christian family. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:33.000 We are to be like the Holy Spirit with one another. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:38.839 So our faith then is personal, but it's not private. 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:42.640 And it has this, we're not soul traders with heaven. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:45.799 We're not lone rangers in our Christian lives. 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:52.559 We are to help one another every day against unbelief. 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:56.960 See how spiritual that is? 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:03.079 That that should be an element of our fellowship, of our community, of our life with other believers. 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:06.079 It's not simply friendship, because we get on well together. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:10.359 We go to the same church, or we've been together for a long time, or we do happen to worship 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:11.359 together. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:13.079 But it's more than that. 00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:17.119 It's more than simple friendship. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:23.319 There's this great spiritual dimension where we are in the trenches together. 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:26.799 We are battling unbelief together. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:28.799 None of us are so proud and independent. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:31.279 We say, I have moved beyond not believing. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.199 I'm a strong Christian now. 00:24:34.199 --> 00:24:37.480 Unbelief shows itself in many, many different ways. 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:43.039 And it can come in the form of pride or legalism or self-right, whatever it might be. 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:51.359 It's not sometimes the stripped back simple understanding of what we sometimes would take 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:53.480 unbelief to mean. 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:59.960 But we are to come together against unbelief, and we need that encouragement. 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:03.079 We are a called out people. 00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:06.279 We share, as we're told here, the heavenly calling. 00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:09.440 Verse 1, never used, share in this. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:12.759 We share in a heavenly calling. 00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:19.480 All of us in our lives, most of us are fulfilling that heavenly calling on our own because of 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:24.680 the nature of the world in which we live, because of our work, and because of isolation 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:26.440 just now particularly. 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:32.319 But nonetheless, we are to see and recognize the importance of what we share in Jesus Christ, 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:33.960 that we share that heavenly calling. 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:39.319 Indeed, verse 14 says, we share in Christ Himself, for we have come to share in Christ. 00:25:39.319 --> 00:25:45.079 There's no greater bond than that bond we have with believers. 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:52.439 And so we are to live out our battle against unbelief, and we're to encourage one another 00:25:52.439 --> 00:25:56.039 every day as a people. 00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:58.240 Now that starts in our families. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:03.279 It starts in your marriage if you're married with your husband and wife, that you're to 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:11.519 be spiritual encouragers, you're to battle against unbelief together. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:17.319 Also in the church community, as a praying family together, worshiping together, growing 00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:18.319 together. 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.119 It's been brilliant this last year to see how the pastoral teams and people within each 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:26.799 pastoral area, so often helping one another spiritually. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:28.960 So brilliant. 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.440 Keep that going. 00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:31.440 Develop it. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:32.440 Mature it. 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:35.039 Look pastorally over one another. 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:37.799 Speak to one another spiritually. 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:39.960 Help one another overcome unbelief. 00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:44.920 Don't be surprised if people need help to overcome unbelief. 00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:46.559 We all need that. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:49.620 And it's a great antidote to unbelief. 00:26:49.620 --> 00:26:53.720 Because usually what we find, isn't it, if we are spiritually cold, if we are far from 00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:59.000 God, how does it present itself? 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:05.359 We don't pray, we don't fix our eyes on Jesus, and we get as far from the church, from other 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:09.559 Christians, from the Bible as we can. 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:13.960 And so we need that time together. 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:19.079 And I think the prayer times we've had this year have been really vital in helping us 00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:22.519 through this difficult time of isolation and separation. 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:26.160 But take that initiative to pray together. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:30.960 When we're not praying formally at meetings, think of one or two people that you can join 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.920 together with in prayer. 00:27:32.920 --> 00:27:36.560 Join us when you can on a Wednesday, on a Friday morning. 00:27:36.560 --> 00:27:42.800 We'll try and be flexible to meet the needs of timing and everything else. 00:27:42.800 --> 00:27:48.960 Because there's always a danger of recoiling into yourself or into the world or becoming 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:57.240 complacent or having bad routines or falling into unbelief, because we fail to recognize 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:01.880 the remaining sin within us and the remaining unbelief. 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:10.079 And we fail to value Jesus and what it cost Him to enable us to live. 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:15.319 We can't underestimate the power and darkness of death and sin when we think of what it 00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:17.960 took to set us free. 00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:22.720 And therefore we need to be vigilant and we need to fix our eyes on Jesus. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:27.360 And that vigilance is something we're to do, and this is again, I said, again and again 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:33.480 in Scripture, something we do daily, but exhort one another every day as long as it's called 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:34.600 today. 00:28:34.600 --> 00:28:42.600 So let's live with that sense of daily being vigilant and daily fixing our eyes on Jesus. 00:28:42.599 --> 00:28:52.039 I know that's hard, but not even so much daily thinking away into some kind of future, but 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:58.919 one day at a time is really behind that thinking. 00:28:58.919 --> 00:29:04.719 One day at a time, we wake up in the morning, we're thankful that the Holy Spirit is with 00:29:04.719 --> 00:29:11.799 us as we wake up, and that God is with us, and that we have life and by His grace health, 00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:18.519 and even when we don't have health, we have the hope of perfect completeness in the future 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:22.279 and strength through our sufferings. 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:27.279 Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus so that we can say, well, the Holy Spirit was with 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:34.720 me as a believer every day I woke up in 2020, and He'll be with me in 2021. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:40.000 And Jesus finished working the cross for me yesterday is no more finished than it will 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:47.720 be tomorrow, and that I am redeemed by His grace and by His love. 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:51.319 And today I get up and I will battle unbelief. 00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:58.440 And I will battle against complacency and against sinful tendencies, so I need to live 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:04.799 in God, and I need to fix my eyes on Jesus, and I need to use my mind, and I used to use 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:12.519 my words and how I confess Him in my life with fellow Christians and also with unbelievers 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:24.159 that they know that I belong to Jesus, so that my words and my life come under His Lordship. 00:30:24.159 --> 00:30:30.079 And daily as I do that, may I see not only how I need others to help me in my walk of 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:35.480 faith, but how can I help someone else to battle unbelief? 00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:42.720 How can I help someone else who I know and love who is a Christian not to give up this 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:43.919 year? 00:30:43.919 --> 00:30:51.119 How can I encourage and be encouraged to have a good routine, to overcome bad routines? 00:30:51.119 --> 00:31:00.399 And how can I be encouraged and how can I encourage others to dig our roots deep, deep, deep into 00:31:00.399 --> 00:31:05.759 the living water of Jesus Christ, so that even in a time of drought, the I and we and 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.679 they can bear fruit? 00:31:07.679 --> 00:31:11.559 So isn't it great we fix our eyes on Jesus? 00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:20.279 In other words, we don't just intentionally, we're not intentionally selfish in our survival, 00:31:20.279 --> 00:31:24.399 but we also fix our eyes on each other. 00:31:24.399 --> 00:31:30.599 And we allow others to fix their eyes on us because we need the encouragement of each 00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:34.279 other this year. 00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:40.920 And a united church will be our, a united gospel community will be a community that fix their 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:48.200 eyes on Jesus and take care and exhort one another every day. 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:57.120 That exhortation, that spiritual conversations is so vital in our Christian church today, 00:31:57.120 --> 00:31:58.720 probably more vital than ever. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:07.680 And I don't think we're that great at it because we can have a deep private faith, but somehow 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:17.720 we feel the vulnerability or false piety of speaking about Jesus is maybe looked down 00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:19.880 on sometimes by others. 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:27.200 May that not be the case, but may be the case that we share and talk about Jesus who is 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:31.880 so precious to us and grow in grace. 00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:37.120 And if you don't know Jesus or if you've drifted from Jesus, if you've fallen away from Jesus 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:41.199 Christ, then please take heed of the warnings of scriptures and come back. 00:32:41.199 --> 00:32:43.599 His arms are open to receive you. 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:48.799 And if you've never come to him, this is the time, is it not? 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:52.439 Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. 00:32:52.439 --> 00:32:55.399 These are the words of the Holy Spirit. 00:32:55.399 --> 00:33:02.959 We all have a hard, unbelieving heart unless Jesus will come in his life giving power, 00:33:02.959 --> 00:33:04.399 forgive us and renew us. 00:33:04.399 --> 00:33:05.399 Amen. 00:33:05.399 --> 00:33:06.399 Let's pray. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:09.800 Mother God, help us to know you and to love you better. 00:33:09.800 --> 00:33:17.040 Help us to serve you, to follow you, to fix our eyes on you, to be focused and to be vigilant. 00:33:17.040 --> 00:33:18.680 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:36.960 Amen.