Participants: James Rafferty, Ty Gibson
Series Code: BOTB
Program Code: BOTB00004B
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00:01 Welcome back friends to our continuing study
00:03 Books of the Book. 00:04 We are in Hebrews Chapter 3, we had just focusing on 00:07 the relational theme that God has developing here for 00:11 us through the Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews. 00:13 We are looking at Christ as the Master builder, who 00:15 has promised to finish the building project that He 00:18 has begun in us. 00:19 You know James we left off in Chapter 3, 00:21 verse 6, where it just forthrightly says that 00:25 Jesus is engaged in a building project, 00:28 He has a house. 00:29 He is building it and then Paul just said straight 00:33 out, "whose house we are". 00:34 We are His house. 00:38 As we have noticed, in the other scriptures, 00:40 that we have compared, this is again 00:42 relational language. 00:43 This is again a language of intimacy. 00:46 Jesus is desiring, the Father is desiring, to be with us 00:51 for all eternity, in fellowship with Himself. 00:55 I asked a group of young people one time, 00:56 where I was doing in a week of prayer, I asked them 00:59 if I were extremely wealthy, and I hypothetically just 01:03 put this question to you. 01:05 I own the Hawaiian island, of Kauai, and I have evacuated 01:11 the island, I have evicted everybody. 01:12 I owned the whole thing. 01:13 I purchased all the property, and it is just the most 01:17 beautiful place in the whole world. 01:18 It's a paradise, it got mansions, it's got vehicles. 01:21 It's got houses, it's got roads and I am going to give 01:24 it to you as a gift, do you want it? 01:25 And all the young people said, Yeah! We want it! 01:27 Of course we do. 01:28 And then I said, but there's one condition, and that 01:31 is that you have to live there in those mansions, on 01:34 that island, in that paradise. 01:36 You have to live there all eternity, by yourself 01:40 alone, never leave, with no outside contact, 01:43 with no e-mail, no phone calls, and no visitors. 01:45 Do you still want this paradise, this mansion? 01:49 And all of them, without exception, while there were 01:52 just a few very materialistic boys, no girls, 01:55 who said no way we don't want it. 01:57 The illustration was simply to point out that if we 02:01 stop and think about it, we value relationships, 02:05 even our human relationships above material things. 02:07 God is not merely interested in building a house in 02:10 order to give us a place to exist for all eternity. 02:13 He is providing a place for us to have 02:15 fellowship with Himself. 02:16 He values relationship more than anything else and the 02:20 more that we come to know Jesus and His great love for 02:22 us, the more we will value the relationship dimension 02:26 of the plan of salvation. 02:27 Absolutely, and this house is a metaphor, 02:29 this is not literal. 02:30 We are not an inanimate objects here, you know, it 02:33 is very clear when you get to verse 7, here in Hebrews 3, 02:36 "wherefore the Holy Ghost says today is you will hear 02:38 His voice," verse 8, "harden not your hearts". 02:41 In other words, God is seeking a response. 02:44 He is soliciting us to respond to His love. 02:46 He is not forcing Himself upon us, He is asking us to 02:50 respond to what He has accomplished for us. 02:51 In fact, Hebrews 1, Hebrews 2, God takes personal 02:54 responsibility for our sins. 02:56 He becomes a man, divest Himself of His divinity, 02:59 so that He could pay the penalty, the just penalty 03:01 that we deserve, so that He can reveal fully His love 03:04 His mercy and His justice. 03:06 Now He is soliciting our response. 03:09 He is asking us to receive the gift that He has 03:12 bestowed upon us. 03:13 That He has purchased for us through, 03:15 His Son Jesus Christ. 03:16 Everything that we see in the previous chapters so far, 03:19 is Paul bringing home the point of what Jesus has done 03:24 for us, without us. 03:25 He has accomplished, according to Chapter 1, and verse 3. 03:28 He has purged our sins by Himself. 03:32 Without our contributions, without us in anyway giving 03:36 to that salvation, He achieved it by Himself. 03:40 But now, now, the Apostle Paul is saying okay, 03:43 all of this has been achieved for you this great 03:45 salvation, and He is giving, 03:47 He is issuing a warning. 03:48 He said this is serious business. 03:50 God has done all of this while all heaven poured out, 03:53 in this one gift of Jesus Christ. 03:55 Now take this very seriously. 03:58 Paul says and participate, become partakers 04:01 of the heavenly calling. 04:02 Cooperate with God. 04:04 Warning denotes respect. 04:06 Warning denotes honor. 04:07 Because God is not a God of force. 04:09 He recognizes our freedom and He is honoring us. 04:12 He is recognizing that we are beings that have 04:15 freedom and choice and He is honoring that choice. 04:17 He is not going to force us to comply. 04:18 He believes I am sure, a God of love, knows beyond a 04:22 shadow of a doubt, what would be best for us. 04:24 Just like I know what is best for my children. 04:25 I want them to do what I think is best, 04:28 what I know is best, as a mature adult and 04:30 parent who loves them. 04:31 But I can't force that upon them. 04:33 I need to honor and respect their freedom and their 04:36 choice, especially when they get to a certain age, 04:37 which my children are getting to. 04:38 By the way, your children's are long past my children age. 04:42 I mean, earlier you mentioned that we've known each 04:44 other since you were 10 or 11 years old. 04:46 I don't think so, Ty, don't try that. 04:48 You, you are a grandpa. 04:50 That's right, that's right. 04:52 With two lovely grandchildren. 04:53 That's wonderful. 04:54 Praise God. Praise God. 04:55 And so we look at this, we look at this analogy 04:57 and we see here that Paul leads right into an 05:00 Old Testament illustration. 05:01 He is talking about the wandering in the wilderness. 05:04 He's talking about how God had to prove something. 05:06 He had to prove the way that He is, He promised them that 05:10 they could have the promised land, the heavenly Canaan. 05:13 And they refuse to go in. 05:15 They bought the majority report of the 12 spies, ten 05:19 of them said it's a land that is impossible for us to conquer. 05:22 We can't go in there and they said we can't go in. 05:25 So God said okay. 05:26 You don't believe My word that I can deliver that 05:28 land to you, you're going to wander in the wilderness 05:30 for 40 years. 05:31 They changed their mind, then. 05:32 Then they decided, we can go in, but you know God didn't 05:35 not allow them, why? 05:36 Because God had to prove, not that He is right and 05:41 they are wrong. 05:42 Not that well I punished you and I got to carry 05:45 through with that punishment. 05:46 But that His word trustworthy. 05:47 When God says you are going to wonder for 40 years, 05:49 He followed through with that, so they could at least 05:53 come out of this trusting His word. 05:54 Not only is His word trustworthy, but also 05:58 His word is powerful. 06:00 His word is the source of power for the fulfilling of 06:04 the promises that He makes. 06:06 So these Israelites in the wilderness, when the two 06:10 spies that were faithful came back, Joshua and Caleb 06:13 and said, yes there are giants there. 06:14 but in God's power and God's grace we are more than 06:18 able to enter into this Canaan, this promised land. 06:22 The unfaithful spies said No Way! 06:24 I mean those giants are huge. 06:26 We can not enter into this land, we will be defeated. 06:29 They were blind to the power of God. 06:32 They were blind to the grace of God, with Joshua and 06:34 Caleb were discerning. 06:36 And so they give this bad report, no way, we can't enter. 06:39 God said, that's right you are not going to enter. 06:42 And then they changed their minds and said 06:44 wait a minute, wait a minute, now we want to enter. 06:47 And God said, no. 06:49 You can't enter because you need a mental 06:52 and heart adjustment. 06:54 You need to understand that the only way that you can 06:57 conquer these giants, the only way that you can enter 07:00 this promised land, is by the enabling power of My 07:04 grace pouring through you, and until you understand 07:07 that, you are destined for defeat. 07:10 They needed to learn how to trust God's Word. 07:12 Therefore God could not just simply turn around 07:14 because when God says you are going to wander through 07:16 the wilderness for 40 years, those were the words and 07:18 there was power in those words, and for Him to follow through 07:21 and allow them to wander for 40 years, would at 07:24 least bring them through that experience with a 07:26 confidence and a trust. 07:28 That's right. 07:29 Future generations confidence and trust. 07:30 It's like my wife and I, 07:32 we are dealing with our children. 07:33 And sometimes we have to discipline them. 07:35 And the worst thing we can do is tell them that they're 07:38 going to have a certain discipline, then fail to follow 07:41 through with that discipline because, what do they do 07:43 next time they hear us say no, this is not going to happen. 07:46 But they think if they keep on asking, asking, asking, 07:49 asking, they can finally wear us down, that our word is 07:52 not good, that we cannot be trusted to follow through. 07:54 If we can't trust God for what He says, there is no 07:59 way that we will ever be able to have enough confidence 08:01 enough faith to going to the promised land. 08:02 James, I think it is incredible that 08:05 God is inviting trust. 08:07 That God wants us to trust Him as the basis of this 08:11 relationship, because let's face it, God is omnipotent, 08:14 He is all-powerful. 08:15 And if He wanted to, He could just force our actions, 08:18 force our behavior. 08:20 But God is aiming for something more, and that's why 08:22 the issue here, or the central point that Paul is making 08:26 in these initial verses, is that God is focused 08:28 on the heart. 08:29 He says you are my house, I want to inhabit you. 08:32 I want to build you, I want to make you a habitation 08:36 for the Holy Spirit. 08:37 But don't harden your heart, become sensitive 08:40 and open to me. 08:41 Allow Me access, I want access, but you need 08:44 to open the door. 08:46 And then it goes on here, in this context and talks 08:49 about God's wrath. 08:50 Now friends, we need to understand that God's wrath is 08:53 different than man's wrath. 08:54 When I am dealing with my children, and they do 08:57 something that they need discipline for, and then 08:59 they are sorry, or they repent. 09:00 I want to, in every way, and I'm sure all of us do as 09:04 parents we want to be merciful. 09:06 We want to change our decisions, but then we realized 09:10 wait a minute. 09:11 If I change, if I compromise 09:13 my decision here, I may undermine the stability and 09:17 the trust that my children are going to have in my 09:19 word in the future. 09:20 So sometimes we have to follow through discipline, even 09:23 though our hearts desire is that we ought not to 09:27 allow this to happen. Sometimes we have to allow the 09:29 consequences to come and that is how God's Word 09:32 defines His wrath, God's wrath is not arbitrary. 09:36 It's not like man's wrath God's wrath releases. 09:39 God's wrath allows us to taste consequences and many times 09:45 man's wrath places, in other words, it's arbitrary wrath 09:49 that in a sense, kind of imposes, imposes, that's the 09:53 word I'm looking for, imposes. 09:54 Where God's wrath releases. 09:56 Man's wrath is vindictive. 09:58 God's wrath is consequential and will we look at that, 10:02 we parallel that we recognize that behind God's wrath, 10:04 is this struggle to let us go to the consequences we 10:11 chosen, but this principle of honoring our free choice. 10:15 Yeah, it's amazing! 10:17 In Hosea, God is contemplating what He is going through 10:22 with His hardhearted people. 10:24 He has this pleading, aching tone in His wrath. 10:29 He says I am angry, and then He expresses that anger in 10:32 words like these, He says, "how can I give you up, 10:35 My heart churns within me with sympathy, 10:38 I don't want you to be lost. 10:41 I don't want you to be injured. 10:43 I don't watch to be hurt, but you've really given Me 10:45 no choice in this matter. 10:47 I have no options left because of the choice that 10:50 that you're being completely set in is not 10:54 a choice that I can make for you." 10:55 Look at these verses Ty,in the context of what you 10:58 just talked about. 10:59 Hebrews 3 verses 9, 10, and 11, let's just read them. 11:02 "When your fathers tempted, me proved me, and saw my works 11:07 for 40 years; wherefore I was grieved with that generation 11:09 said that they always erred in their heart and they have 11:13 not known my ways, so I swore my wrath, they shall not 11:17 enter into my rest." 11:19 There's three key phrases here, they proved me, they 11:23 didn't know My ways, and there is My wrath. 11:25 What God is doing for 40 years, He is proving that His 11:30 ways are consistent. 11:32 They are trustworthy, He can be trusted. 11:34 His wrath is allowing us to reap the consequences of 11:37 our choices so that we can prove that His ways are 11:39 the best ways. 11:40 His work can be trusted and therefore through 11:43 confidence in His word His power can be released 11:46 and seen in our lives. 11:47 Now James perhaps the final point, we can make in the 11:49 time that we have left is that Paul clearly draws our 11:53 attention to the rebellion of Israel in the wilderness. 11:57 And there, according to the account of that rebellion 12:00 in the Old Testament. 12:02 In Exodus, there is clearly a key misunderstanding 12:06 that set them up for this failure, and this rebellion. 12:09 These people in the wilderness, they encountered God, 12:15 and then they turned to Moses and said Moses, 12:18 we are not in any way, prepared or interested in 12:24 God speaking directly to us and having a 12:27 relationship with God. 12:28 Moses you speak to us. 12:30 You tell us what God says, but 12:32 never let God talk to us again. 12:34 They wanted to obey God's law without entering 12:38 into a relationship with Him. 12:40 Yes, they wanted Moses to be the one to go between. 12:42 You know, what is really interesting and powerful Ty, is 12:45 when you look at their rebellion in the light of 12:47 Moses' experience, you find that 12:49 God's wrath even came upon Moses. 12:51 He died in the wilderness, and yet the heart of God 12:54 is revealed here, Moses had this relationship with God. 12:57 And Moses eventually was resurrected and is in heaven. 13:00 And that's the hope that we have friends, that in the 13:03 heart of God, in spite of our rebellion, and in spite of 13:06 our turning from Him. 13:07 In the heart of God, He wants us to be there with Him. 13:09 He will do everything He can to make sure that 13:12 He finishes the work He has begun in us. 13:14 We are not finishers, but Jesus Christ is the Finisher. |
Revised 2014-12-17