Transcript

Good morning, church. We're continuing our series through the Book of Hebrews. We're in part 18. Can you believe that? Part 18 we began last fall.

We did the first five chapters last fall, and then we took a break. And then this fall we went back to it. And we are just about finishing up the next five chapters. We'll finish up chapter 10 today, and then we're going to take a break again for the Christmas season and other planned sermons that are coming. And then we'll come back next fall and we'll finish those last three chapters.

So if you've just gotten on the journey, you can watch all those sermons on YouTube, you can watch them on the website. But it's a great study that we've enjoyed together going through the Book of Hebrews. Now, you don't have to go far in the book before you discover its theme. The theme of this book is Jesus is greater. Look at verse one, chapter one, verse four, it says, this shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

Jesus is greater. And that's been the theme that we followed throughout the Book of Hebrews. And now in this 18th sermon, we've entitled it A Greater Possession. Because in Christ all things are ours. If you have Jesus, you have all things.

And so to have Jesus is the greatest possession that we can have, because in him we have Christ, we have heaven, we have promise of eternal reward, we have all in all in Jesus, he's the greatest possession that we can have. And that's the theme of our text today. I wonder if you have a valued possession that you care deeply about in your life. Do you have a possession and perhaps what makes it most valuable? It's often that someone you care about gave it to you.

That's often what attaches that value to it. Perhaps it was your mom or your dad or, or your. One of your grandparents, aunt, uncle, maybe it was your spouse. But the fact that they gave it to you is what makes it a prized possession. You know, I'm talking about.

Are you thinking about something like that right now? So I was thinking about this and I was thinking about my, my father's Korean War uniform. I remember when I was a little boy, my. My mom had this cedar chest at the foot of her bed. Young women, when they would get married in those days, they would a chest that they'd been saving since they were little girls, items for their wedding day.

And my wife, in fact, has one as well. A little cedar chest and so she would been putting things in there. But then after she started. After she got married, started having kids, it became like a museum or something. Like, okay, baby's first shoes.

There's little Gary's first shoes. They're in there. There's the first cut of his hair in a little envelope. And then all these things from me and my brother and sister, from my dad. So my dad died when I was 8 years old.

So there was, like, this whole section in the cedar chest of my dad's things. And among those, I would. I said, mom, can I look in the cedar chest again? Because, you know, you're a little kid, it's like you get to hear the stories again. And I would say, what's this?

This is your dad's Korean War uniform. And so after she died, we got to go through all this stuff, right? We got to get through all this stuff. And so I got the uniform. I wanted the uniform.

Well, then I got it home, and I didn't know what to do with it. Like, it sat in a box forever. And in fact, I hung some of it in the closet, and some of it was in a box in the closet. Do you have stuff like that? It's prized possession.

You don't want. You don't want it to lose it. You just don't know what to do with it. And finally, we're getting ready to have a family reunion at my house. And I'd had this plan for some time, but I knew it was going to take a lot of creativity and work.

But I finally did it. I made a shadow box. It's huge. It's. It's probably this deep, and it's, like, really tall and wide.

And he had several hats. One that you fold and put in your belt. One that was, like a real formal one with a leather brim on it. He had all these different kinds of hats that. They're all World War II era, Korean era, all these medals.

And so I actually looked all this stuff up. I didn't have my dad to ask. And I printed out what all the medals meant. I found black and white photos in the cedar chest of him in Korea in front of these, like, Quonset huts, these metal huts, like Gomer Pyle. And I put those in there.

So I put all this in this shadow box. And then when we had the family reunion, I marched all of my family members up there. Hey, look what. Look what we did. And they were all like, wow, you know, cool.

And then, let's go eat. And. Except maybe my brother and sister, who it meant more to them and. And then one of my nephews who is in the military. It meant a lot to him.

But it probably wouldn't mean anything to you because it wasn't your dad. I'm not sure what it'll mean to my kids after I'm gone. I don't know what they'll do with that shadow box, what we're going to do with Dad's shadow box. Now, you know that struggle. But I wouldn't take anything for it.

You probably don't prize it. Probably wouldn't prize it. But I do because belong to my dad. That makes sense. Got something like that.

That's what we have in Jesus.

This is what the author of Hebrews is telling us. It's what he was telling the readers in that first century. Do you realize your most prized possession is Jesus because He gave himself for you? He's your greatest possession, if you'll have him, because he surely wants you. Perhaps you once felt that way about Jesus.

Maybe you're here today and you're trying to make a comeback spiritually. You're trying to get it back together again because you remember when he was your most valued possession. But you've taken your eyes off of him. And you're here today hoping and praying that you'll hear from God. And I hope and pray that you will.

I've prayed for you. That you would prize him as you once did, or maybe prize him as you never have as your most prized possession. Perhaps someone hurt you in the church and that's why you haven't been here for a while. Or maybe that's why you're watching online. You know, you need the word, but you don't like those people.

I'm sure that's how the disciples felt. You know, Peter, he's always mouthing off, right? You got Simon the Zealot, always talking about the next presidential election. You know, he's a political guy. You got, you got, you know, you got Judas, he's over there talking about money all the time.

And I'm sure that the only thing that kept them together was Jesus. They probably had to learn to like each other. But that's what the church is. It's a mess of people coming from all kind of brokenness. You know, there's no accident that we're across the street from the hospital because this is the hospital church.

So maybe you got hurt at church, but you realize I need to come back because my most prized possession is the head of the church. His name is Jesus. And I'm sure that's what the early readers of Hebrews were facing. They had the same kind of doubts we do, same kind of struggles, taking their eyes off Jesus. They struggle with disappointment, suffering, the busyness of life that can distract us, what the world promises with kind of instant gratification and possessions and things that, well, they make you happy for a moment, but they all pale in comparison to the abiding, everlasting, better possession that we have in Jesus, the surpassing worth.

Do you know this? This is what our text is about today. Indeed, it's a warning from the author of Hebrews, where he's warning the believers not to shrink back from recognizing the great, great possession we have in Jesus and forced to remember it. And I believe today, as we look at the text, we'll see three ways that we can be encouraged. We can be warned, but we can be encouraged to remember this greatest possession of all that we have in Christ.

So let's dig in. We're going to Finish up chapter 10 today, starting at verse 26. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy, on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands the living God. But recall the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised for yet a little while. And the coming day, the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back, and are destroyed. But of those who have faith and preserve their souls, this is God's word.

Amen. So that's what we're looking for today. Three ways on how to remember our greater possession in Christ Jesus. Here's the first. Recognize the cost of not drawing near.

Recognize the cost of not drawing near. Look at verse 39, that final verse. He's kind of summarizing what he said all throughout chapter 10 in this final verse. He says, we are not those, but we are not those who shrink back. Shrink back.

I think this is in contrast to something we learned last week in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. Let me remind you of those three let us statements that we heard last week. Those three let us commands, verse 22 of chapter 10. Let us draw near. Verse 23.

Let us hold fast. Verse 24. Let us stir up one another. Remember those from last week. It seems to be in the context here that he's offering this as that which we could do in the opposite, rather than drawing near, which is commanded.

Since Christ has opened the way, since we have this wonderful confidence in Christ, he's given his body and his blood for us, that gives us the ability to draw near to God, that we can come into the very presence of the Father and talk to Him. Don't shrink back from that.

Don't draw away. Don't do the opposite, because that would be the sin of a believer. For a believer, that would be sin. Because you've been given this access and now you're treating it as nothing. Even worse than that, you're treating it as if you're trampling on the Son of God, as if you're profaning his very blood.

That's some strong language. This is the fourth warning of five in the book of Hebrews. There are five stern warnings in the book of Hebrews. This is the fourth one. And I believe it's directed at believers.

Why do I believe that? Verse 26. For if we, the author is including himself, and surely he's a believer, if we go on sinning deliberately. What kind of sinning? I think contextually he's speaking about the kind of sinning that a believer might fall into, of not recognizing the body and blood of Jesus, of handling that knowledge that they have flippantly without priority in their life.

So they don't pray, they don't talk to the Father, they don't make room for church in their schedule and being with other saints. Remember those three commands. Let us draw near. That's going to the Father in prayer. That's talking to the Father.

Let us hold fast our confession. Nobody knows they're a Christian because they don't tell anybody. They're like double oh, seven Christians. They're like secret agent Christians because they want to be cool in school, you know, they want to be cool with their friends. They want to be cool with their co workers.

They don't want. They don't want anybody making fun of them. They keep quiet. They don't hold fast their confession. And then they don't stir one another up because they don't gather together.

They don't get in a community group, they don't get in a small group, they don't attend church. They pull away. This is a unique kind of sin for believers, I think, and you will be punished in this life for it. It's almost like it's not necessarily active punishment. It might just be that God withdraws his protection of blessing and lets you experience life without him, since you're not drawing near.

Well, let's get more detailed about what it says. This is deliberate sinning. If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth. I think he's talking to believers because he says. He doesn't say after hearing the truth.

He says after receiving it. And then the word knowledge in the Greek, if you like being exposed to the Greek language, it's the language of the New Testament is epigeneosis. Epigeneosis. Gnosis is where we get the word gnostic or gnosticism. But if you add the prefix EPI like epicenter.

You ever heard that word? It means at the center of a thing. It intensifies the meaning. So this knowledge is certain knowledge. It's concrete knowledge.

And so this person has received the gospel. If you, if you've. If you recognize who Jesus really is and what he's done for you, and you've received it, you haven't just heard it, but you've received it. And then you go on deliberately sinning. What's left for you?

Well, here's what's left. It's judgment. It's a fury of fire in this life. It's God looking at you like an adversary looking at verse 27. And then, because the book of Hebrews, the author here, he preaches the gospel from the Old Testament.

Here he goes to Deuteronomy. So he starts talking about Moses, and on the evidence of two or three witnesses, and here he's quoting from Deuteronomy, and he begins to preach on that. Now, as I think about this, and we Just see this passage. I want to be honest with you and explain to you that there are several views on this passage. And one view is that yes, it is believers, as I've said, I think it is speaking, it is a warning to believers.

One view, they believe this is believers, but they believe it's about salvation. And so that view is it's believers, they've received the gospel, but then they've backslidden and they've gone against their faith. They've become, they've apostatized us, they've committed apostasy, they've gone back and they've lost their salvation and they're destined for hell. And what we're reading about is that reality. And so that's called the Arminian view.

So that's a view that many hold. Another view is that these are not true believers. They just made a confession of faith and the church heard their confession and they got baptized, but they didn't mean it on the inside. There was no life change, there was no heart change. And so they're destined for eternity apart from God in a place called hell.

But they never were really believers. If they were really believers, they wouldn't continue deliberately in their sin. That's called the reformed or the Calvinist view.

I'm not leaning towards either of those right now. I agree. I do believe it's believers, but I don't necessarily think that this is about eternal judgment. The book of Hebrews has never been afraid to use the word eternal. It's used it many times, but it does not use it here.

And then it gives an example from Deuteronomy where if someone broke the Mosaic law and two or three people saw them, let's say you were gathering firewood on the Sabbath and two or three people saw you. They would either put you out of the of the camp or they might stone you to death. Depending on how deliberate and often and continual you did it. It might cost your life. But it wasn't about salvation.

It was about discipline or punishment in this world. That's the example he gives. And then he goes on when he's given these examples and he goes on and he talks about how he wants that potential person. Remember, he's saying we. But then he goes, how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the One?

So this is this potential person who has offended the Triune God, the Trinitarian God. Gary, where you see that? Let me show you. Watch closely. He's this person who's heard the gospel and received the gospel and then Instead of drawing near to God, shrinks back.

And by the word shrink implies fear. So instead of approaching confidently and boldly, they shrink away and go back to their former life. Okay, and what's that like? How does God perceive that treatment after you've understood it? How does God feel?

You interested in how God feels about you believers? When you don't draw near? You interested? Here's what he says. Here's what it feels like to him.

I want you to think about it. He says, how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who's trampled underfoot, the Son of God? That's offensive to the Father. You've trampled on the body and blood of Jesus. You've come down here and you've handled this flippantly, just in some rope fashion you haven't really thought about.

And the Father's offended. It's like you've trampled underfoot.

This is how he feels. And then it says, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified. And so that offends Jesus, who poured out his blood for you. And you've profaned it. And that word profane comes to the Greek from the Greek word koine.

Actually, the Greek language is called koine Greek, not classical Greek, but koine Greek, which means common. You've treated the blood of Christ as it's common, as if it were common, as if it were just anything like that, like nothing special. You've made it unclean, common.

And then he says, and has outraged the spirit of grace. Now we're on the Holy Spirit. And you've offended the Spirit of God who offered the free gift. And so you've offended the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit by shrinking back instead of drawing near after he opened up the new and living way to you and you got busy and you got distracted, you got your feelings hurt, whatever your reasons are, and you have pulled away from God. And it's a different kind of sin.

It's not the kind of sin we normally think about, is it? It's not the kind where you like broke one of the ten Commandments or something, or you used bad language or you stole something. Those are all sins. This is a unique believer kind of sin where you've mishandled the Gospel and haven't fully embraced it into your life. And he's saying, warning, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

He will discipline you. He will remove his protection of blessing from you. He will allow you to experience life without him. And he'll do anything to get you back, because he's sent Jesus to get you, and you know it. You've received the knowledge, yet you've not.

You've shrunk back instead of drawing near. And then he quotes more from Deuteronomy. He goes for we know him who said, we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. That's the Lord who said that. And again, the Lord will judge his people.

That's also from the Book of Deuteronomy. So this whole first section, he's preaching out of Deuteronomy. And he's preaching a warning to believers who don't rightly, even though they fully understand it, don't rightly respond to what Christ has done.

Chuck Swindoll writes something about this. He said the author is addressing a potential category of people who are genuine believers, but whose lives are so contrary to the life of faith and obedience to Christ that they are visibly indistinguishable from unbelievers. They are believers who backed away from him rather than drawing near. They've withdrawn from the community of spiritual growth and encouragement and have become isolated from accountability. As such, they have betrayed the confession of faith and the person and work of Christ, the only one whose work can pay for their sins.

They've been born again, but they go on sinning willingly, knowingly and continually. It's a warning, a warning to believers who don't rightly understand the prized, surpassing possession that we have in Jesus.

I believe this person will suffer in this life, the discipline and the heavy hand of God, because he is sanctifying and trying to bring them back into his fold. And perhaps it will put at risk their very life. We see it in the Book of Acts with Ananias and Sapphira and others who died prematurely because they were unfaithful. And I've seen it in 34 years of ministry. I've seen people come to faith.

I believe it was genuine faith. And then I've seen them pull away. Maybe they got their feelings hurt. Maybe they. They got distracted by all the things that can distract us in this world.

Without me naming them, you probably know what I'm talking about. And they just pulled away. They just got out of the habit.

And then they lost their family, they lost their kids.

And not only that, I believe they put at risk their reward, not their salvation, but I think they put at risk their reward in heaven. So that they arrive in heaven but as one who passed through the flames to get there. Gary, where do you get this? Well, Paul talks about it First Corinthians, chapter 3. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day, which is the day of Christ's return, will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. This is a stern warning to the believer who has received the knowledge of the truth of Jesus.

And they instead of entering into this relationship and completely embracing it, maybe they did for a season, but they've drawn back, they've shrunk back.

Be warned that this life is a dangerous way for the believer to live. Instead, let us draw near with full confidence instead of shrinking back. Let's go to number two. Let's let. We got through the first 26 through 31.

Now we're at verse 32 and following, recall your confidence of a better and abiding possession. He's shifting now from the warning to some encouragement. We need it, don't we? After those verses, stern warning. You know, if you really love somebody, if you're going to be a good mom or dad, you're going to warn your kids, you're going to give them stern warnings, but then you're going to follow it with encouragement.

That's what's happening right here. That's how the Father loves us. He warns us, then he encourages us. Look at verse 35, and then we'll back up the bus to verse 32 and kind of work through that segment, verse 35. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence.

Do not throw away your confidence. So think back to those three lettuce commands. We already covered the Instead of drawing, instead of drawing near, he warns us, don't shrink back. So instead of shrinking back, draw near. But now he's in context.

We're still remembering. He said, hold fast the hope of your confession. And then he says, don't throw it away. Don't throw away your confidence.

Don't wad it up and throw it away. Instead, hang on to it. Hold it fast. What? Your confession, your confidence, your confession of hope.

And that's what he's saying. Instead of holding fast, I want to warn you, don't throw it away. He's putting it with a little more teeth in it to remind us of this. Remember back in verses 19 and 20, that confidence we have in chapter 10. Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us, that's what he did for us.

So don't throw that away. You've got this. So since you can talk to the Father, did you talk to him yet today?

Have you talked to the Father today? Did you get up this morning and say, father, thank you for another day? I'm planning on going to church here in a little bit to be with your people. Thank you that I have the privilege to do that. Oh, forgive me for my sins yesterday because I know I'm already forgiven through Jesus.

But I need a fresh cleansing today, a fresh awareness that I'm. I'm right with you. Did you take advantage of that because you're to confidently draw near because of what Jesus did? Don't. Don't put that on the back burner because that's a sin for the believer.

That hurts God's feelings that he loves you so much. He did this and you don't even talk to him. Don't throw that away. Don't wad that up and throw that away.

It hurts. It hurts the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and it moves him to discipline you because you're His. That's what I'm thinking as I'm reading this. He opens up verse 32. So I gave you 35 first to contrast it with.

Instead of holding fast, he's saying, be warned, don't throw it away. But go back to 32. Here's how you do it. Recall. See that?

But recall, remember, recall. Bring back to your mind. And then think about when you first were enlightened. Remember when you first got saved and you're on fire for Jesus. Remember that.

You know you should. That's when you used to tell people that you were a Christian before you got to where you weren't telling people anymore. You weren't holding fast your confession of faith. You weren't holding it up here like that, did you? More like slipped it in here somewhere.

So like I said earlier, you could be cool in school, you could be accepted by friends. You don't want to stick out, you know, because you know anybody, you know, anybody who sticks out, you know, you remember that whack em game, right? Anybody who puts their head up, they get whacked. So I'm just going to keep my confession of faith right here. It's not popular in the culture today.

Like that. He goes, no, I want you. I want you to hold that fast, like that. And so he says, recall when you did that in your former days, when you were enlightened. And sometimes it would cause struggle and sufferings, and sometimes you'd be publicly exposed to reproach and affliction.

The word publicly exposed is a Greek word that we get the word theater from. The origin for the Greek word or for the English word. Theater comes from that verb, and it means to be put on stage and to be laughed at. Like, to be put on stage and have people throw tomatoes at you, you know, like that. It's like.

It's like. You remember when you would tell people about Jesus and they would make fun of you for it? That's never happened to you. It's probably because you never told anybody about Jesus. It must not be your prized possession, because I guarantee you, whatever is most prized, by your heart, you talk about, you will if you really.

If he's really your greatest possession, you can't help but talk about him. You can't help but hold fast your confession. If you don't talk about him. He's not your most prized possession. And that's like trampling on the son of God.

That's like profaning his blood. That's like offending the spirit of grace. Not me talking. I'm just telling you what it says. And it hits me.

Oh, it hits me. Because most days, he is my prized possession. And I will tell the waiter, the waitress, the checkout clerk. I will tell the person standing next to me at the gas pump most days. But some days I don't because I'm in a hurry.

I got things to do. Plus, I just. I don't really care much about that person.

Some days I know you're not like that, but some days I am. And then I remember how important he is and how he's my greatest possession. And then I do better. I start talking about him again. I hold fast my confession, and he goes, remember what you went through?

Remember how you went through that? Remember how you were partners with those who got treated that way and it helped you that, hey, I wasn't the only one that we both got made fun of because we believe in Jesus, but that's okay, because we feel good because we suffered for Jesus. Remember that? Hey, you remember when people got put in prison for being persecuted? And you had.

You did. You didn't turn your back on them. You went and visited them and showed them compassion. You remember when you did that? Hold fast to that.

Go visit the people in prison.

You know, don't turn your back on them. Hey, you remember when the Romans came and the Jews turned their back on you because you started following Jesus and you couldn't find anybody that would protect you and they came and plundered your property? Verse 34. I'm still. Y'all still with me?

I'm just going through the scripture. Remember when they came and took your stuff? And you remember when you said to the Roman soldier, hey, hey, look under there. You missed something. Because I don't care.

I don't care. Because I have a better possession, an abiding possession in heaven that you can't take from me. You remember when you were like that? You don't. You don't remember when you were like that?

Get like that. Take hold of your confession of faith. Get your confidence way up. Take hold of what you have awaiting you in heaven, in Jesus. It's yours.

Don't put your stuff ahead of Jesus. Remember when you were like that? And then we see the key to the whole passage that you yourselves, the reason you. The reason you were joyful even when they took your stuff, is because you knew. You knew that you had a better possession and an abiding one.

You knew it. You knew it. Do you know it, man?

Blessed are you. The book of Luke says, when people hate you and they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on the account of the Son of Man, rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets. You're in a good club.

When we get to chapter 11 next week, we're going to talk about that club that you'll be in. You'll be in the Faith hall of Fame. Not the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. Not the Baseball hall of Fame.

I wanted to be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. I'm too old now. Those Beatles got me playing the guitar when I was 11 years old. I was like, I'm going to be a rock and roll. Never going to be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame.

Don't want to now. Bunch of crazy people.

But I want to be in the Faith hall of fame. That's chapter 11.

Hey, come on now. That's. That's the hall of Fame. I want to be in. Hey, look, you got a better possession.

Here's what. Here's what Peter says about it. Pop that up on the screen first, Peter, Chapter one. I'm just going to skip down to chapter four. You've got an inheritance in heaven that's imperishable, undefile, unfading, kept in heaven for you, it's better than anything on planet Earth.

It's yours. No one can touch it. It's ready for you. It's kept for you. Do you believe that?

Do you know that you've got a better possession? Where's your treasure today? Where's your enduring, abiding treasure that you value above all things? May I say to you, I love my wife, I love my kids, I love my children, I love my grandchildren. I love you.

And the more I know you, the better. I love you because of Jesus in me and Jesus in you, it's true. But I love him more. I love him more than you. I love him more than my kids.

I love him more than my wife. And, oh, I love her. She's the delight of my eyes.

But I love him more and she knows it. And I know she loves him more too. That's what makes us work together so good.

Where's your treasure? Whatever you treasure most, that's what you'll talk about most. That's what you'll focus on most. He says, take hold. Don't throw away your confidence.

Now we're at number three. Resolve to persevere by faith for your promised reward. We're in these final verses. We're going to go 35 through 39. Now I'm going to talk about it.

Resolve to persevere by faith for your promised reward. I like this. If you keep your confidence and you don't throw it away, you get a great reward. Verse 35. You see that there's a great reward waiting for you.

We've touched on that already. I like the Greek word for great. It really sounds great. It's megas. You get a mega reward.

Boy, I like that. Got a mega. If you don't throw away your confidence, you got a mega reward coming. And you're going to need endurance. He says in verse 36 that could be translated.

Hang in there. Persevere. Don't give up. You're going to need endurance because it's hard in this life. There's a lot of temptation.

There's a lot that vie for your attention so that you'll prize it above Jesus. So you're going to need to endure so that when you have done the will of God. Oh, don't you want to say, don't you want to hear from Jesus? Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into everlasting joy.

Come on in. Don't you want to hear that from Jesus? I do. When you've done the will of God so good, you may receive what is promised. What is promised?

Your eternal reward. Your mega reward. It's promised to you. It's kept for you. And then he quotes.

And I was like, man, this sounds familiar. I was studying this week and I was like, yet a little while. And the coming one, he's already come once. He's the coming one. That's Jesus.

He's already come once. We're going to celebrate that in a few weeks, right? Christmas, the coming one, the first Advent. He's already come, and he's coming again. Yet the the coming One will come and will not delay.

He's going to come again. And I went, that sounds familiar. And then I remembered, we just preached through Habakkuk back in the early part of this year. I'm like, this is Habakkuk. So now he's done moved.

See, he moved from Deuteronomy when he was warning us. That's a good place to get a warning. And now he's moved to Habakkuk to encourage us because he's a sweet father. He loves us. He'll discipline us, he'll warn us.

But now he's building us back up. And he goes, he's coming again. The coming one's coming again. And he's not going to delay. So hang in there.

I know some days you go, I wish he'd come today because I'm wore out. And I'm right here preaching to you right now. I wish he'd come right now and catch me doing this. I want him to catch me doing something good. Don't you?

And boy, what better than preaching and talking to you? Wouldn't it be great to get caught up right now and we all just go out of here? That'd be a great day. I don't know. I don't get to pick.

But I get to decide if I'm one, if I want to endure, if I want to persevere by the power of the Holy Spirit. So you need endurance. Hang in there. Don't doubt that he's coming again. He is coming.

And he's still quoting now, verse 38. He's still quoting Habakkuk. But my righteous one shall live by faith. So let faith give you strength to endure. You hang in there.

But if you shrink back, that doesn't please God, he'll take no pleasure in that. He takes no pleasure in you pulling away from him, even if you do wrong. Sometimes when you do wrong, you feel like you need to punish yourself. You ever done that? Like I've sinned in the same place.

I don't want to go back to God right now. I feel shame from it. No, he's already paid for it. Come on back in. See, the greater sin is shrinking away.

That's the devil lying to you again, and you're not worthy. If he was really a good Christian, you've asked him to forgive you for that same thing a dozen times. He don't want to hear hear from you again. That's a lie. Draw near, hold fast, and then stir one another up.

That's a reminder of that, right? We need one another. And then he summarizes again here in verse 39. But we are not. He's back to we again.

He. He started off with we. Then he started talking about you and that guy over there and that lady over there who might do the wrong thing. I'm not really talking to y'all, he says. I'm just warning y'all.

But look over there. What they did and how much trouble they got into. But we. He's back. See it?

Verse 39. I know. I know you won't do this. I know you won't shrink away. I know you won't let go and throw away your confidence.

I know. I know you'll stay firm and persevere. He goes for we. We're not of those who shrink back and are destroyed.

But we're of those who have kept the faith and preserved our souls. We're. We're the ones who stuck at it. We stayed in it. We endured.

We kept on keeping on. Sometimes we was hanging by our fingernails. Some of you just now got a picture in your head of that kitty cat poster. Hang in there, right? Some of you were like, I don't know what he's talking about.

Ask somebody who knows. Hang in there. Have you ever felt like you wasted your life? Have you ever felt like I leaned my ladder against the wrong building? I should have leaned it over here.

I thought I was climbing the ladder of success, but I climbed the ladder to nothing. Ever felt like that, like you wish I could do that? You ever feel like I wish I could get a do over like that? I remember when we first planted the church. The early days especially.

Our church would grow a little bit, and then it would. Then we'd lose people. Then it would grow a Little bit. And then we'd lose people. And we were small and I had my identity all wrapped up in the church instead of having it wrapped up in Jesus.

And it's very confusing when you're a pastor because it's hard to separate Jesus and the church because you don't know how to do that yet because you're young. And that's where I was. And if the church felt successful, I felt successful. If the church didn't seem like it was growing, I would just be like, I'm worthless and I must not, I should probably not be called to this. And it was hard in my 30s.

I remember we first started and I found this verse from Isaiah. And I went, man, he feels just like me. He was preaching to Israel, and they were going up and down and up and down. And one king listened to him named Josiah. And then another one came along and didn't listen to him.

And here's what he said to the Lord. I've labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand. And my reward is with my God.

And I went, thank you, Isaiah. That's what I need to do. I need to take my eyes off of whether these seats are full or not. I'm not preaching for you. I love you, but I don't love you as much as him.

I'm preaching for him because he told me to. He called me, and if I don't preach, I'm disobedient. So I study and I preach. And if two of you come in here, I'm preaching. And during COVID none of you was in here.

And I preached to these empty chairs because he told me to. Now, one of your small groups came in here and heard how hard it was for me. And you made life size pictures of yourselves and filled up about three rows of cardboard figurines. And I was like, I don't know if that helped. That actually distracted me a little bit.

But it showed. You love me. You ever feel like you've wasted your life?

You haven't. Draw near. Hold fast. Keep on encouraging each other. Stay in the faith.

Endure. Don't throw away your confidence because your reward is in his hands. Because if you have Jesus, oh, he's the greatest. He's the greatest possession of all, because all in all is in him. And if you love him first, then you'll have your lovely spouse who loves him.

You'll have your kids who love him. You'll have your church family. And your friends, all in Christ are yours too. But if you don't have Christ, you don't have anything but you. I don't want to be stuck with me because I know me apart from Jesus.

But with Jesus, I have all things. He's the greatest. He's the greatest. He's the greatest possession.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for Jesus, and I pray for that person today that you've never given your life to him. You don't know what I'm talking about, but you sense something right now stirring in your soul, a knocking at your heart's door. That's the spirit of Christ. He's in our midst right now.

He's asking you to let him in. Let him in your life, to invite him in. You can do that right now through prayer. You can talk to the Lord. He's listening.

Would you pray with me? Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I've been going my own way, but I want to go your way. I want to follow you. Will you forgive me of my sins?

I believe you died for me on the cross, that you were raised from the grave, that you live today. Will you come in and live in me and forgive me of my sins and open up this new and living way for me to come to the Father? I want to be right with God through Jesus. I'm praying that right now, believing I want you to be Lord and Savior of my life. If you're praying that he'll save you right now, he'll make you a child of God.

And you can draw near with confidence to the Father. Others are here, and you're a believer. You've received the truth. You have knowledge of the gospel. You know who you are.

But you have to admit you've been shrinking back. You hadn't been holding fast.

You've lost your confidence, and you just confess it right now. See, it makes you feel like you're not worthy. But. But Jesus is the One who is worthy. And in him he's done all the work.

And so just say, jesus, thank you for forgiving me. And I draw near right now to the Father. I pray you would cleanse me afresh. I want to recommit my life to you right now, Father. I want to live in such a way that everyone knows that Jesus is my greatest possession.

In Jesus name, amen.