Jesus: Our Motivation

[0:00] Well, good morning. Good to see you this morning. That's a great, great, great, great song. Love that song. Just that last chorus. Some super things to be able to sing from the heart, I hope.

[0:17] It's just such great truth. One of the great things about visiting other churches, you get some really innovative ways of doing your announcements. So I'm going to take some thoughts back with me to the Corubbers this morning and see if I can change my clothes and make all the intimations the way you guys did here this morning.

[0:36] Okay, great. Hebrews chapter 5. If you turn to Hebrews chapter 5, you're in a series here in Hebrews. I want to thank John for giving me what could be perhaps one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to preach through and for being so generous and giving me 30 minutes to do it.

[0:58] Okay, so we need to move. Okay. We need to really move. I think John popped onto the Corubbers website at some point and found out that it took me, I think, three 45-minute messages to get through probably just a bit of this section.

[1:13] So we are going to have to work through here. It's a great book, isn't it? You guys have been in Hebrews now. I assume for a while it is a great epistle of the New Testament.

[1:27] One of, I think, one of the most incredible, what is Hebrews? In its essence, what is Hebrews? I think it has to be one of the most incredible expositions of the greatness of Jesus anywhere in the Bible, isn't it?

[1:47] You probably have gotten some background on this. You'll know by now, I'm sure, that there are different ideas and different approaches to the book of Hebrews. I think it's important to study hard before you even get into Hebrews because I think that depending on your view of the audience, we're not quite sure who wrote the letter, but depending on who you think the audience of the letter is, helps you, I think, to understand something of what the writer is saying here and to interpret some of the really difficult passages like this one here this morning in the book of Hebrews.

[2:23] But regardless of what you think about the specifics of the difficult warnings and those kind of things that come in the book of Hebrews, it is one of the most incredible expositions of how great Jesus is, isn't it?

[2:38] I mean, again and again and again and again, the author just comes back to the greatness of Jesus. So keep that in mind as you wrangle about some of the specifics. Keep in mind that overarching in this whole thing is how great Jesus really is.

[2:55] The letter is written, it seems to me, to a group of people who are somehow gathering around this great gospel message of the greatness of who Jesus is and what he's done.

[3:10] They're gathering around this great message in some horrendously difficult circumstances. Things are hard for these people. That's obvious. If you just sense and feel the background radiation in the book of Hebrews, you'll recognize that things are really hard for these guys and they need to be hugely encouraged to continue to trust in Christ no matter what.

[3:38] So it's a really good epistle for us, isn't it? Because times get hard no matter where we're at or who we are. Life is just a varied mix of highs and lows and good and bad, right?

[3:50] Ins and outs. I mean, we're going to get it. We're studying Job just now at Grubbers. So, you know, we're in the thick of it. But life is just like that. That is what life is like in a fallen world, in a sinful world, in a broken world.

[4:05] Life is just hard. Life is hard. This isn't all that there is. This isn't the end of the story, but this is the here and now. And we can't avoid the fact that even as followers of Christ, there are difficult times that come.

[4:19] And so this is a great epistle for them. It's a great epistle for us. It is an exhortational masterpiece. It is an exhortational masterpiece, both to believers who need to hang on and who need to move on in Christ.

[4:39] But it's also an exhortational masterpiece to those, I think, who aren't quite there yet. They're not quite there yet. Many years ago, I went to Israel on a short-term missions trip.

[4:55] And one of the books that we used again and again and again with Jewish people, we went down to the kind of holiday resort of Eilat, down at the very bottom of Israel, by the border of Egypt.

[5:07] And we shared the gospel with Jewish people. And one of the books that we used again and again and again was the book of Hebrews. This is an epistle written as well, I think, to those who aren't quite there yet.

[5:22] They need to fully trust Christ as the fulfillment. Listen. The fulfillment of what the writer says are all of those shadowy insufficiencies of the Old Covenant.

[5:37] They had a purpose. They were there. They told a story. They prepared the world for what was to come. But they were shadows, the writer says.

[5:48] You'll get there more as you go on in the book of Hebrews. They were shadows. And not only that, they were shadowy insufficiencies. They weren't sufficient.

[5:59] The Old Covenant, the Old Testament sacrificial system wasn't sufficient to deal fully and finally with our sins. Right? So one of the things that is being exhorted here is to trust fully in Christ as the fulfillment of all those shadowy insufficiencies of the past.

[6:20] There's a massive contrast here between those shadowy insufficiencies of the Old Covenant and the glorious fulfillment of all those shadows in Christ in the New Covenant.

[6:30] And as we get to this passage now in Hebrews 5, the end of Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 6, I think we come again to one of those exhortations. And it's kind of, it's a double-edged sword.

[6:45] The exhortation can be for those of us trusting in Christ to hang on and to move on and to not get stuck and to take all that God has for us, but it could be an exhortation as well for those who are not quite there yet.

[6:59] They know something of who Jesus is. They've been informed in some way as to what Jesus has done to fulfill all those shadowy insufficiencies of the past, but they've not yet jumped on board.

[7:13] And so I'm approaching it in that way. One of these exhortations is maybe one of the most difficult in the book. Okay? Folks are being encouraged to move on beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and to grow up.

[7:27] I think you got a growth passage here. Okay? And that's the way I'm going to hit it this morning. To grow up into all the fullness of Christ. To steal some of Paul's terminology from Colossians.

[7:38] To grow up into all the fullness of Christ. What a huge theme of growth there is right through this passage. So number one here this morning, admonishing those who are slow to grow.

[7:54] All right? I think at the end of chapter 5, there's an admonishment here to those who are following Christ, but they're slow to grow. All right? Hebrews 5, verses 11 to 14.

[8:07] And it seems to me that there's a bit of a whooping coming in here. You know what I mean? There's a bit of a whooping coming to the people who are here who are following Christ, but they're not quite moving on as they should.

[8:21] There's a bit of a spanking that they're going to get here, and every now and again, it's good to get one of those. Okay? Verse 12. For though by this time, he says, you guys have had enough time to become teachers, he says, to have moved on to a place from having been taught things about Christ and what the Bible has to say about the Old Testament and Old Covenant insufficiencies and the fulfillment of Christ.

[8:49] You have had enough time now, he says. And this is a good pastoral thing. This is a good kind of pastoral place in the epistle. And I guess it's good for me to kind of swanee in and swanee out here today and give you a good whooping because I don't have to come back next Sunday.

[9:06] Right? Okay? So I can do this for John this morning. Every now and again, I think as congregations and followers of Christ, we need a good whooping. Don't we? We need to just get whooped into shape and to be admonished to grow up, to move on, to take advantage of everything the church is offering, the Spirit is offering, and to just make the most of the time God has given us.

[9:30] You ought to be teachers, he says. By now. God plans for his people to grow, doesn't he? He plans for his people to grow.

[9:41] What is spiritually alive, listen. What is spiritually alive grows. Doesn't it? Makes sense. Everything that's alive, by definition, grows.

[9:53] So what's spiritually alive grows. If nothing is growing in your body right now, if nothing is growing in your body right now, you're not alive.

[10:05] Okay? And by the looks of some of you this morning, okay? I am told that by the time that I finish this sentence, over 50 million new cells will have grown in our bodies.

[10:19] Because that's what happens when you're alive. Okay? That's a lot. That's pretty staggering, isn't it? But what's true physically is also true spiritually, according to God. So that even as your outer man is decaying, it's growing, but it's dying.

[10:34] It's a bit of a contradiction, but it's true. Even as your outer man is decaying, 2 Corinthians 4.16, your inner man is what? It's being renewed day by day.

[10:45] It's growing. There is spiritual growth that God designs for you the moment you enter into fellowship with him. When you're born again, from that moment on, God's design for you is to grow.

[10:58] To live is to grow. It's what God wants. Ephesians 4.14-15, being built up to a mature manhood, no longer children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and craftiness of deceitful schemes.

[11:12] Rather, God wants us to be speaking the truth in love and to grow up. He wants us to grow up in every way into him who is the head, even Christ.

[11:24] It's what God expects. And he provides everything that his people need to grow. Verse 13, look at it. He provides everything that we need. He doesn't just say grow, go find some food somewhere and grow.

[11:37] No, he provides spiritually everything we need. He gives us the food that we need and the spirit by which that food is incorporated into our hearts and our lives and brings about spiritual growth.

[11:50] I don't know the dynamics necessarily of how all that happens, but I know that he gives us all that we need. Verse 13, there's milk for the infants, right? There's milk for the infants and there is solid food for the mature, he says.

[12:05] God doesn't ram a steak down your throat if you're still teething. Okay? If you're a baby, you get it poured, the sense is here. If you're a toddler, you get it mashed.

[12:19] If you're a teenager, you get it from the chippy. If you're an adult, you get it medium rare with peppercorn sauce, right? I mean, it's just, that is what God gives us.

[12:30] The nature of it is here. There's milk. If you're immature, you get milk first. That's God wants you to have. But you don't stay with milk. You just, you don't. Nobody just stays.

[12:41] If you stay with milk, you're not gonna grow and become strong as God wants you to become strong. And so God gives us spiritually what we need in his word.

[12:53] And I've said this many times as I've gone through this passage and thought it many times as I've gone through this passage. There are many things about the Christian life. There's so much about the Christian life that I just so enjoy doing.

[13:04] I love to share fellowship with God's people. On a Sunday, it's one of my favorite days of the week. It's one of my busiest work days, but I love it. But that's not my spiritual food. I love to sing, right?

[13:17] Some great songs, good band. I love to sing, but that's not my spiritual food. I love to pray. Communion with God through the veil that is torn, that is Christ, that God has made a way for me to do.

[13:30] That's not my spiritual food. Specifically in the Bible. I mean, my spiritual food might be incorporated in some way there, but my spiritual food that God has given me is specifically his word.

[13:42] And the writer says here that you need to be trained by it, trained by it. You have to use it. You have to exercise with it. You have to be trained by it so that you can grow. And that is exactly what he provides for us in his word.

[13:56] So that, look at this, we can grow so that we can help others to grow, right? Listen, he says, pleading with him, you ought to be what by now?

[14:09] Teachers, teachers, I want you to grow so that you can pass this on. You got to teach somebody else. God is going to take his word. He's going to pour it into your heart. That happens in Sunday services. That happens in your Bible studies.

[14:20] That happens when you open the word of God in your private devotions. It happens in loads of places. The word is the source. The spirit is the power, the interpreter. of that. And by it, God causes us to grow. But it doesn't stop there.

[14:30] You don't just become big and fat. You exercise that in how you serve and teach others. But he says, you need now someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again.

[14:45] Can you hear his breaking heart? I want you to be somewhere you're not there. It's a very pastoral epistle here. I want you to be somewhere, and I think every pastor probably feels this about their flock.

[14:55] The elders feel this way about their flock. You just want people to be, listen, I want to be beyond where I know that I am. I want to be beyond where I know that I am, and we want our churches to be beyond where we know that they are.

[15:10] It's breaking his heart. And that's why we have training and equipping ministries in the church, isn't it? Why we encourage people to read their Bibles, because after we're taught, God wants us to teach.

[15:21] 2 Timothy 2.2, the things that you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, Paul says to Timothy, I want you to entrust the faithful men who will then be able to teach others. Also, there are four generations there.

[15:32] I've got a photograph at home of my brother's family with my grandfather, my father, my brother, and my nephew. Four generations. And there's four generations here. It's great. It's great.

[15:43] That is what God wants us to do. It's called discipleship. Verse 14, to be spiritually discerning, to distinguish good and evil, literally to discern what is good and what is not.

[15:54] So to know God, to know self, to know truth, to know good, to know evil, and not just to know it, but to have our senses trained to discern it. That's what the word of God does for us.

[16:06] Spurgeon once said of Bunyan that Bunyan's blood, he thought, was bibline. The guy's blood, he said, was bibline.

[16:17] That means you could cut him anywhere and he would just bleed Bible verses. He would just bleed Bible verses. And I think that is the definition of Christian maturity.

[16:27] It is when your involuntary responses, when your involuntary responses are biblical. That's Christian maturity. So you don't have to think, well, I got to go run, find my Bible to figure out how I respond to this situation.

[16:41] No, your involuntary responses are biblical. You just do it. It's in your blood. It's okay. That's kind of the idea here. Okay, so he's exhorting them not to be slow to grow because, and here's the second point, believe it or not, there are those, there are some who say no to grow.

[17:04] There are some who say no to grow. And I think that's the first eight verses here of chapter six. It's a very tricky passage. There's loads of different ideas about what the writer may be saying here.

[17:16] It's not an easy passage to interpret, but he's following on in whatever you think. He is following on directly from what he's just said here at the end of chapter five because he starts chapter six with the word therefore.

[17:26] So he's following on directly in some way from what he's just said. Therefore, because it's so crucial that we grow as those born again in Christ, because that's true, because God so wants that for us as his children, the writer says, let's move beyond.

[17:48] Let's not just stay with those elementary teachings. Let's not just stay with the ABCs of the Christian life. Let's move beyond that.

[18:00] Let's not get stuck in infancy. Let's move forward to maturity, he says, verse three. And this we will do. As followers of Christ, as believers in Christ, he says, this we will do.

[18:14] God's entire intention for us is through the gospel to be born again. And then as we're born again as infants, to feed upon his word and to grow. That's what God wants.

[18:24] And this we will do. We will move on from those elementary principles. And then he says this, if God permits. Now, that's a strange thing to say, I think.

[18:40] And could be a hinge here, or it could be a hint here in understanding the passage. I think it is. It's a strange thing to say, why on earth would God not permit growth in Christ?

[18:54] Why would God not permit growth in Christ? Well, here's what I think he's saying. I think he's saying that growth in Christ requires life in Christ.

[19:07] Okay? Growth in Christ requires life in Christ. Does that make sense? Growth in Christ requires life in Christ. Could it be that there are people here among this crowd that he's writing to who are trying to grow in Christ, but who don't yet have him?

[19:23] They're trying to grow in Christ. They hear the exhortations that are coming down from the writer here, and they're trying to grow in Christ, but there's a problem with them being able to grow in Christ because they don't yet have Christ.

[19:35] I remember a young girl at Corubbers years ago sharing her story that for years she had come along to church and she tried to live the Christian life without Christ. That was her words.

[19:47] And she said, for years I've been trying to live the Christian life without Christ. I've been a part of this kind of Christian community, and I've been going through all emotions, but I had never responded to Christ personally.

[20:00] And I was just, she was killing herself. She was killing herself. Can you imagine trying to produce spiritual life when there's no spiritual life in you?

[20:12] Can you imagine trying to evidence the fruit of the Spirit? You know, trying to love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, to do all that without the Spirit? And you know what?

[20:22] I think a lot of people do. I think a lot of people do. And sometimes the fruit even looks like fruit, but if you were to grab it and be like one of those pieces is a Christmas plastic fruit that you see.

[20:34] You'd bite into it. It wouldn't be real. It just looks good, but it's plastic. Trying to live the Christian life without Christ. Folks, I think a lot of people do this. And why would it be any different in the first century?

[20:45] Especially when many of these folks, it seems like, had a very good working knowledge of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament. But something that I learned, especially when I went to Israel and talked to these Jews, is you can't stop there.

[20:57] That is not the end of the story. That's only the beginning of the story and is the preparation for something that is the fulfillment of all the shadowy insufficiencies. You can't stop with the shadowy insufficiencies and expect to grow in Christ when you haven't embraced Christ.

[21:13] Okay? And I think that's what seems to be going on here. Could it be that some of these Hebrews are still hanging on to the shadowy insufficiencies of the Old Covenant, and the reason why God won't permit further growth and development spiritually for them is because some of them don't even have a life to grow in the first place.

[21:32] Verse 4. It's impossible for those who have not watched this, because here's a tough bit. It's impossible for those who have been, once been enlightened. I want you to think through how, particularly Paul teaches, some people think Paul is the author here, I'm not quite sure.

[21:48] But I want you to think specifically of a book like Romans and how crystal clear Paul is in the terminology that he uses when he addresses salvation. Think about the New Testament and how crystal clear the epistle writers are when they use terminology to refer to salvation.

[22:05] And then listen to what he says here. Who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who've shared in the Holy Spirit.

[22:16] Now watch that one. Who've shared in the Holy Spirit. I didn't say become temples of the Holy Spirit or indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Just shared in the Holy Spirit. Who've tasted all this, this is kind of funny terminology.

[22:28] It's different. It's different. Regardless of what you think of it here, it's different. Very different. Tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age. There's a lot of tasting going on here.

[22:38] Have you guys ever gone to like a taste kind of deal with food? And you're not really eating it, you're just kind of sampling it? Okay, you right? You with me? Just kind of, it's a taste session or whatever. I don't like going to those because if I really like it, I want to just kind of gouge myself.

[22:52] You can't do that. Taste of the powers of the age has come. It's impossible for them who've had that experience and who have fallen away, gone back. It is impossible, he says, for them to be brought back to repentance because to their loss, they're crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace.

[23:13] So they're being given all that they need to have to move on from those shadowy insufficiencies, but something's not moving on.

[23:28] They're being given, these guys I think have been exposed to, and they've been given all that they need to move on from the shadowy insufficiency, but I don't think they yet have. They've somehow gone back to the shadowy insufficiency.

[23:39] So yes, they've been exposed to gospel truth. They've been enlightened. I think a lot of people are exposed to gospel truth and are enlightened, right? Every time we share the gospel with an unbeliever, they've been enlightened to gospel truth.

[23:51] They now have heard gospel truth and we believe that the Holy Spirit can take that gospel truth, Romans 1.16, and that is the power of God for salvation, the gospel. But it doesn't mean that just when they hear the gospel truth, they're automatically saved.

[24:02] We know that. We know we share the gospel with a lot of people who aren't automatically saved. So they've been enlightened. They now know what they didn't know before, and wow, that's a great thing that we can do for them. They've been exposed to gospel truth.

[24:13] Yes, these people here have tasted the heavenly gift, just tasted. Yes, they've shared in the Holy Spirit, and I suggest they've shared in the Holy Spirit in the sense that they've partaken of his convicting and illuminating work in their lives.

[24:27] But that is not the end of the story. The Bible says that we have to then believe. It's not just when the Spirit of God convicts us that we're saved. We have to respond to that, don't we? As many as received him, John 1.12, he gave the right to become children of God.

[24:42] Not just giving them the truth. We have to respond to the truth. And I could give you a whole story about my own life there, but I don't have time. Okay? They've partaken of the convicting, illuminating work of the Spirit in their lives.

[24:56] If you have a problem with somebody sharing in the Holy Spirit and not being a believer, be a believer, then think of Judas Iscariot. Because as far as I know, Judas Iscariot, along with the other 12, went out when the 12 were sent out and he had the power of the Spirit in his life to do the, you know, to cast out the demons and heal people just like the rest of them did.

[25:14] And yet we know that he was a son of perdition. So the Spirit was there. You can be a sharer, I would say, in the work of the Spirit in your life, but not be a believer. And yes, the writer says here, they've tasted again of the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age.

[25:27] In fact, some of these, some theologians would think, some of these folks that are being written to here, some of them may have even seen the Lord Jesus Christ in person. Some of them may have even seen the Lord Jesus Christ in person.

[25:39] And if not, then they've certainly heard the apostles. We know that from earlier chapters of Hebrews. They've certainly heard the apostles and may have even seen the miraculous works that the apostles have done as a taste of the power of the age to come.

[25:52] They've seen it, they've tasted it. And I think it's what he's referring to. However, what it seems that some of them haven't done, and this is why they can't move on to maturity. What they haven't done is they haven't broken away from the shadows of the Old Covenant.

[26:06] They haven't broken away from the shadows of the Old Covenant. And they haven't placed their faith and trust fully and completely in the New Covenant work of Christ. That's what he's exhorting them to do. You have to do this.

[26:18] They're fully aware of the Old Covenant. He writes to them. He makes mention constantly back to the writings of the Old Testament. So they're very familiar. If they're not Jews, they're at least familiar with the Old Covenant.

[26:31] But that's where they have stopped. They've not fully embraced Christ. And if that's right, then all these descriptions about tasting and sharing are all demonstrations of something of the work of the Spirit of God and the grace of God in these people's lives.

[26:46] Enlightened, tasted, shared. But he never says they've believed. He never says they believed. And that has always bothered me about this section. He never says they've believed. He never says that they've been transformed.

[26:58] He never says that they've been saved, delivered. That's terminology that the New Testament uses again and again and again with respect to salvation. On the contrary, they can't grow in Christ because they don't have life in Christ.

[27:10] Even though they've been exposed to everything they need to get it. Think about that. I think that's exactly why then he gives this illustration about the land that comes next that John read.

[27:23] That's why I think he gives the illustration. Think about it. The illustration of the land. First, about the land that drinks in the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop. I think those are the ones who have received the gospel and now the job is to drink in the rain and grow.

[27:41] Don't be slow to grow. There are some that drink in the rain that falls upon it and produce a crop. Useful for whom it's farmed. They receive the blessing of God. But second, the land that drinks the same rain.

[27:53] The land that drinks the same rain but produces thorns and thistles. No life. No evidence of life. It's worthless and it is in danger of being cursed.

[28:04] Two kinds of ground there, right? Regardless of how you interpret it. Two kinds of ground. One that drinks and produces. One that drinks and doesn't produce. And I think we know that there are two kinds of people in the world.

[28:21] Sometimes even in the church. Those who do move on to maturity because they have life and those who are exposed to the same grace, same gospel, same convicting and convincing Holy Spirit but don't produce a crop because they don't have the life that it takes to move on to maturity.

[28:37] Having never gotten beyond the shadowy insufficiencies of the past. Even though they've been exposed to the reality, the power, the sufficiency, the eternal adequacy of Christ, they've turned back to the shadows and they have forfeited the grace of God.

[28:51] I think this happens in our churches. I think people come in. Listen, everybody that just comes in through the doors of the church isn't automatically saved, right? You guys don't have some special doors. Do you?

[29:03] You don't have wool. If you do, I want to get a set. Right? Your doors aren't special and as soon as somebody comes through your door, they're nice doors, they're glass doors. We like the whole deal that you've done out there but they're not the doors that save.

[29:16] Right? So people don't come through the doors and they say, people come into this church and they've got all kinds of questions and it's not just sitting here like you guys are sitting here that makes you born again, transformed by the great power of God.

[29:29] You may hear it week after week after week but you got to do something about it. Right? You got to do something about it and that might be you this morning. I don't know all you guys. That might be you this morning.

[29:40] You might have been coming around for a long time now but you may have never responded. Hey, you know, now's as good a time as any. Today is a day of salvation, boy. Now's as good a time as ever.

[29:52] Okay? And I think that's why he says in the very next verse, verse 9, that even though we speak like this, he says, dear friends, this drastic language and terminology, we're actually convinced of better things in your case.

[30:03] And now I think he's speaking again to those who can grow. I think the guy, the writer here, realizes he's writing to a group of people gathered around the gospel in difficult times. Some of them have come to Christ.

[30:14] Some of them are really close. So now he's just saying, look, we're moving back to your case, those of you who are trusting in Christ, the things that do have to do with salvation. Isn't that interesting? I've just talked about, it seems to me, he's just saying, I've just talked about things that have to do with those who don't have salvation.

[30:31] Now I'm coming back to talk to you, those who do have salvation. Okay, if you are trusting in Christ, then in your case it does have to do with salvation and you can move on in Christ. And that's how he ends now in verses 9 to 12.

[30:44] There are those he starts off with here who are slow to grow. Listen, don't be there. Don't stay a baby. There are those, believe it or not, even in the church, certainly in our world, who say no to grow.

[30:57] No. I'm just going to stay with my old kind of works system. I like that system. I like the works system. I like trying to do my best. Most of my family is still there.

[31:09] They're stuck in a works system. I think most of the world, if you were able to get to nuts and bolts with people, really, as to whether or not they think when they die if there is a heaven they might go, I think predominantly they would say that if they are going to be with God in this heavenly place, it's because they think they've lived a good life.

[31:31] Most people in our world still think that. That's clearly not what the Bible teaches, but most people either think that's what the Bible teaches or that's their own philosophy of life. They just say no to grow.

[31:41] They'd rather stick with their works salvation. So those who are slow to grow, those who say no to grow, and then finally, in verses 9 through 12, I would say those who actually get up and go to grow.

[31:54] Sorry about that, but I had to keep the theme going, all right? But those who actually get up and go to grow, those who actually do it, boom! Come, get out there and do it. And I think that follows, this follows something of the theme of Hebrews to me.

[32:08] This little passage follows, I don't want to make too much of this, but it follows something of the big theme of Hebrews to me. Because what do you got in Hebrews? You've got 10 chapters. The first 10 chapters of Hebrews are this great exposition of the majesty and supremacy and the greatness of Christ, right?

[32:27] He's greater than the apostles, he's greater than the prophets, he's greater than Abraham, he's greater than the Moab, everything, boom. He's just greater, greater high priest, he's got a greater sacrifice, he's a greater tabernacle, he's just a greater covenant.

[32:39] No, it's a, chapters 1 to 10. There he is! He presents them with Jesus. Now, what does God want us to do with Jesus? Oh, chapter 11. It's all about faith.

[32:50] Believe it, believe it, believe it. Like these people did who believe, some of them conquered and went on and just great, other people had to suffer but they believed it and God called them to a life that demonstrated the greatness of who he was in their lives.

[33:02] So here's Christ, chapters 1 to 10. What does he want you to do? He wants you to believe it and then what happens in chapters 12 and 13? Run the race. Get out there and run that race. Not in your own strength but because now you've trusted in Christ, get out there and run the race and I think chapters 12 and 13 of Hebrews are those who then get up and go to grow.

[33:20] Get up and grow, go to grow. God rewarding them, look at this and we're just about finished. God rewarding them, verse 10, for their gospel invested life. God will not overlook if you have come to put your faith and trust in Christ and you are seeking to live for him.

[33:41] Listen, none of us will do it perfectly, will we? We all wish we did better but if you are seeking to invest your life for Christ, God will never overlook that.

[33:52] He will never overlook one small little cup of water that you give to somebody in his name. Right? He'll never overlook it. So every investment you make for the sake of the gospel in this world, God will reward you for that.

[34:10] He just loves that. He loves that. Rewarding them for their gospel invested life. Not forgetting your work and the love that you've shown God by doing that. the love you've shown God and his people to continue to help them.

[34:26] Investing your life in the things that count for eternity. And in verse 11, being diligent. So these are those who are moving. Get up there. Get up and go to grow.

[34:38] Being diligent to the very end, he says, so that what you hope for may be realized. What a fantastic thought. We sit around here, you know, as we become more and more aware of who God is and what God has for us and the hope of the return of Christ and all that he's going to bring us when he comes back and transforms us completely into his likeness.

[34:58] All that we hope for as we often feel the weight of the brokenness of our own life and all that we hope for to be realized.

[35:10] Oh man, what a thought that is here that he gives us. Hope that is seen, Paul says in Romans 8, is not hope. So there's going to be an element of this that you have to just trust God for.

[35:24] Hope that is seen is not hope. But if we hope for what we do not see, then with perseverance, watch this now, with perseverance, we diligently wait for it.

[35:36] How do you diligently wait with perseverance? How do you wait? Perseverance isn't waiting, is it? You want to get out there and do something, but no, there's a sense in which we have to be doing something while we wait.

[35:53] Okay, that's the idea. Investing your time in the waiting room. Investing your time in the waiting room. Jesus talks in Matthew 19, 29 about everyone who's given up houses, brothers, sisters.

[36:04] Remember that one? Fathers, mother, children, property for my sake. Jesus says, they will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life.

[36:18] Just for good measure, we'll throw eternal life in there as well. And will have eternal life. Listen, can you imagine a 100-fold return on your investment? Some of you guys making investments. You want to invest well, what God has given you.

[36:30] Right? You got banks, you got whatever, you're making investments. Can you imagine, I don't know, what's the rate, what's the interest rate now? Half a percent? That's pretty bad. Can you imagine getting, you know, there's a bank that's going to offer you a 100-fold return on your investment?

[36:47] That's pretty good, isn't it? I'd go for that. Right? You've never seen anything like that in a bank account. I've seen 7%, 5%, 3%. We're down to about a half a percent just now. But what if somebody offered you a 100% return on your investment?

[36:59] You'd take it. Would you jump all over that? You'd jump all over that. Just think about that. Wow, boy, let's do it. But that's not even what he's talking about here because 100% return on your investment is only two-fold.

[37:13] That's only two-fold. It's just double. And that's not what Jesus says here. He doesn't say he's going to give you 100% return on your gospel-invested life. He says he's going to give you a hundred-fold.

[37:26] A hundred-fold return on your gospel-invested life. Do you know what that is? That is 10,000%. That is 10,000%.

[37:37] Okay, I think Santander down the road there might be over. No, excuse me. 10,000%. Anybody want to make a gospel investment? Anybody want to make a gospel investment?

[37:48] Because that's what Jesus says he's going to give you on your gospel investment. 10,000%. So, verse 12, don't be lazy. Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

[38:01] Don't panic. Stand firm. stay close and seek his kingdom and his righteousness and continue to invest your life for the sake of his glorious name and inherit what has been promised.

[38:13] Is it worth it? Is it worth it? Listen, 10,000% worth it. Right? 10,000% worth it and more. And more.

[38:25] Eternal life. Wow. Well, anyway, that's for your submission. You have something to talk about over lunch now. Okay? Let's pray. Lord, tough book.

[38:41] Great book. Great letter. Some of these things that have been written in the scriptures for us are very, very quickly comprehensible. Some of these things you've written to us seems like, Lord, you're calling us to dig deep, dig deep, dig deep, dig deep.

[38:57] And as we dig deep, we hope and pray and trust that you would lead us to where you want us to be, understanding what your word has to say, but not just being big-headed followers of Christ, but being big-hearted followers of Christ and putting into practice what we learn.

[39:17] And I pray that we would do that today and in days to come. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.