1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,910 Run. 2 00:00:01,751 --> 00:00:05,694 As a Christian, run. 3 00:00:05,794 --> 00:00:07,035 Now please don't physically. 4 00:00:07,035 --> 00:00:09,817 We all just had lunch and we don't want a bunch of cramps. 5 00:00:10,277 --> 00:00:13,219 But as a Christian, run. 6 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,842 First Corinthians 9, 24 and 25. 7 00:00:16,842 --> 00:00:23,606 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receive with a prize? 8 00:00:23,767 --> 00:00:25,728 So run that ye may obtain. 9 00:00:26,209 --> 00:00:27,069 Now. 10 00:00:27,245 --> 00:00:30,365 Every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. 11 00:00:30,365 --> 00:00:34,845 They do it for a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 12 00:00:35,005 --> 00:00:38,705 Run as a Christian and run for a crown. 13 00:00:38,885 --> 00:00:40,965 Now this is a spiritual crown. 14 00:00:41,085 --> 00:00:51,325 Those that are in races today, whatever kind of race it is, are going for a temporary crown or a temporary trophy, whether it be NASCAR, whether it be the Olympics. 15 00:00:51,325 --> 00:00:53,461 Races today... 16 00:00:53,461 --> 00:00:55,462 are for a physical prize. 17 00:00:55,462 --> 00:00:59,565 In that day they would get a crown that was like a tiara made of leaves. 18 00:00:59,565 --> 00:01:02,066 It was a crown that wouldn't even last a week. 19 00:01:02,527 --> 00:01:07,290 But we go for something that lasts beyond time. 20 00:01:07,590 --> 00:01:11,713 Run for a crown, but also run from the enemy. 21 00:01:11,790 --> 00:01:16,853 1 Peter 5, 8 through 10, be sober, be vigilant. 22 00:01:16,853 --> 00:01:29,040 For your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,641 your brethren that are in the world. 24 00:01:32,062 --> 00:01:33,216 We not only run. 25 00:01:33,216 --> 00:01:35,287 for crown we run from an enemy. 26 00:01:35,287 --> 00:01:39,929 It is interesting in this verse it doesn't say to run, it says to stand. 27 00:01:39,929 --> 00:01:45,191 So when we run this race we are also to stand our ground against this enemy. 28 00:01:45,191 --> 00:01:48,292 There is a devil who wants our lives. 29 00:01:48,453 --> 00:01:51,044 We are to flee the things that can hurt us. 30 00:01:51,044 --> 00:01:54,035 The Bible says flee fornication. 31 00:01:54,035 --> 00:01:56,946 Go away from these things that are going to hurt you. 32 00:01:56,946 --> 00:02:02,119 Go away from these things that will result in you being separated from God for eternity. 33 00:02:02,119 --> 00:02:03,072 We are to run 34 00:02:03,072 --> 00:02:09,572 for a prize run from sin, but also we run to a finish line. 35 00:02:09,572 --> 00:02:17,152 First Timothy 4, 7 through 8, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. 36 00:02:17,152 --> 00:02:24,192 Now it is henceforth laid up to me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day. 37 00:02:24,332 --> 00:02:27,912 Paul had lived a life serving his Lord. 38 00:02:28,112 --> 00:02:32,152 He had gone through being beaten, he had gone through shipwreck. 39 00:02:32,735 --> 00:02:40,710 Trial after trial, trouble after trouble, but at the very end he could say, I've done my part. 40 00:02:40,710 --> 00:02:48,494 Now he did not earn his salvation, but he did live his life to the best of his ability paying an unpayable debt. 41 00:02:49,595 --> 00:02:51,156 Let's live like Paul. 42 00:02:51,416 --> 00:02:53,457 Let's run to the finish line. 43 00:02:53,618 --> 00:02:59,561 Now we are to run, and that's why we can run, but how do we know we can run? 44 00:02:59,849 --> 00:03:02,912 Hebrews chapter 12 answers that. 45 00:03:03,453 --> 00:03:17,086 Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset 46 00:03:17,086 --> 00:03:21,910 us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. 47 00:03:23,373 --> 00:03:24,233 Now, 48 00:03:24,299 --> 00:03:27,551 Chapter 12 verse 1 starts with the word wherefore. 49 00:03:27,551 --> 00:03:32,573 Whenever you see wherefore or therefore, it is there for a reason. 50 00:03:32,913 --> 00:03:41,977 We are told to run with patience the race that is set before us, but that's because of this cloud of witnesses that is around, this cloud of witnesses. 51 00:03:42,258 --> 00:03:46,760 Now Hebrews chapter 11 shows this cloud of witnesses. 52 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,201 These are not a crowd in the bleachers. 53 00:03:49,473 --> 00:03:51,254 These are not people in a stadium. 54 00:03:51,254 --> 00:03:53,755 These are witnesses, not in the fact that they're looking at us. 55 00:03:53,755 --> 00:03:57,156 Those that are in heaven have no part in what's happening on this earth. 56 00:03:57,236 --> 00:04:03,599 The point here is that they can attest to the fact that living in this life, we can run for the Lord. 57 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:05,099 We can live by faith. 58 00:04:05,099 --> 00:04:08,641 Hebrews 11 is the hall of faith. 59 00:04:09,209 --> 00:04:17,296 Our names will not be written in scripture like this, but they can be written in the book of life at the very end after we run our race. 60 00:04:17,296 --> 00:04:28,236 Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the 61 00:04:28,236 --> 00:04:29,767 race that is set before us. 62 00:04:29,767 --> 00:04:31,908 Keep that word patience in mind. 63 00:04:32,343 --> 00:04:36,494 But also, we talked about the fact that there is this cloud of witnesses. 64 00:04:36,494 --> 00:04:39,015 There are those who ran before us. 65 00:04:39,015 --> 00:04:53,059 But also remember the one who ran for us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame 66 00:04:53,059 --> 00:04:57,120 and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 67 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,021 Not only were there those that lived on this world, 68 00:05:01,224 --> 00:05:02,707 and serve God. 69 00:05:03,053 --> 00:05:07,913 God came down to this world and served man in that he died for us. 70 00:05:07,913 --> 00:05:11,233 Christ finished his race so that we could be with him. 71 00:05:11,233 --> 00:05:14,873 He is the author and finisher of our faith. 72 00:05:15,073 --> 00:05:16,413 Now there are two words here. 73 00:05:16,413 --> 00:05:18,893 We have patience and we have endurance. 74 00:05:18,893 --> 00:05:23,033 And both of them are very similar words in the Greek. 75 00:05:23,033 --> 00:05:25,713 We have huppomenno and we have huppomane. 76 00:05:25,713 --> 00:05:28,073 One's a noun, one's a verb. 77 00:05:28,113 --> 00:05:30,173 One's a thing or an idea. 78 00:05:30,173 --> 00:05:32,373 One's an action word, something you do. 79 00:05:33,007 --> 00:05:34,988 The huppamane is this patience. 80 00:05:34,988 --> 00:05:39,132 It is the character, it is the personality trait of enduring. 81 00:05:39,273 --> 00:05:42,676 And that's what these people had in this cloud of witnesses. 82 00:05:42,676 --> 00:05:43,957 And that is what we are to have. 83 00:05:43,957 --> 00:05:48,840 Let us run with patience, huppamane, the race that is set before us. 84 00:05:48,901 --> 00:05:54,986 Then we have this next word, huppomeno, which describes how Christ ran. 85 00:05:54,986 --> 00:05:58,349 He endured the cross, despising the shame. 86 00:05:59,105 --> 00:06:09,173 When we choose to walk the Christian life, we must start it with a personality trait, with the character of patience, but we must also continue that patience. 87 00:06:10,034 --> 00:06:14,357 Patience is no good if it doesn't keep going on. 88 00:06:14,498 --> 00:06:18,601 Endurance only lasts as long as it endures. 89 00:06:18,741 --> 00:06:21,063 Let's keep going in this run. 90 00:06:21,344 --> 00:06:23,365 Now we've looked at why we run. 91 00:06:23,489 --> 00:06:30,774 We've looked at why we know we can run, because there were those who ran before us, and there is the one who ran for us. 92 00:06:30,855 --> 00:06:32,776 Now there's a final question here. 93 00:06:32,776 --> 00:06:34,096 How do we run? 94 00:06:36,557 --> 00:06:40,118 Turning back, I turn to James, there we go. 95 00:06:40,238 --> 00:06:52,822 Hebrews 11, Hebrews 12, verse one, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily 96 00:06:52,822 --> 00:06:53,902 beset us. 97 00:06:53,902 --> 00:07:05,065 To run this race, to make it to where at the end we can say we have fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith, first lay aside what besets you. 98 00:07:05,153 --> 00:07:06,554 There are two things described here. 99 00:07:06,554 --> 00:07:09,636 We have the weight and we have the sin. 100 00:07:10,117 --> 00:07:11,658 Lay aside the weight. 101 00:07:11,658 --> 00:07:20,423 Now again, this is not a physical race, but there is something that is weighing down the people the Hebrew's writer is speaking to. 102 00:07:21,223 --> 00:07:28,269 There are things in our lives that can weigh us down, whether it be the time we spend on the phone, whether it be... 103 00:07:28,873 --> 00:07:30,314 working longer than we have to. 104 00:07:30,314 --> 00:07:33,515 Now there are times we have to work and that cannot be avoided. 105 00:07:33,515 --> 00:07:34,896 That's not what we're talking about. 106 00:07:34,896 --> 00:07:46,641 But when we allow things in this world that are not necessarily sin to weigh on the time we could spend for the Lord in other aspects, are we taking weight that we don't need? 107 00:07:46,641 --> 00:07:49,662 Can we run faster for the Lord without that weight? 108 00:07:50,483 --> 00:07:54,364 Now lay aside the weight, but also lay aside the sin. 109 00:07:54,444 --> 00:07:56,385 There are things in this world 110 00:07:56,609 --> 00:08:02,814 that are inherently wrong, inherently against God's nature. 111 00:08:02,895 --> 00:08:08,280 Sin is that which is against God's nature, against His law. 112 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:09,962 It is breaking one's conscience. 113 00:08:09,962 --> 00:08:13,024 It's things that are inherently evil. 114 00:08:13,105 --> 00:08:17,068 Those things have no place in the lives of a Christian. 115 00:08:17,483 --> 00:08:24,117 Just like you can't walk through a door holding a 10 foot 2 by 4, you can't get into heaven holding onto sin. 116 00:08:24,117 --> 00:08:28,158 And you cannot run this race with the weight of sin. 117 00:08:28,259 --> 00:08:31,980 We must lay aside what besets us. 118 00:08:33,061 --> 00:08:36,873 Think about John 8, 32. 119 00:08:37,804 --> 00:08:41,726 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 120 00:08:41,766 --> 00:08:45,348 So this truth is what what Christ says makes us free. 121 00:08:45,768 --> 00:08:47,443 Now, verse 34. 122 00:08:47,443 --> 00:08:54,636 Verily, I say unto you, whosoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin. 123 00:08:54,636 --> 00:08:56,657 So we have this contrast here. 124 00:08:56,917 --> 00:09:04,120 We have whoever does sin is the servant of sin, and we have the truth shall make you free. 125 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:16,045 There's two options here, and we can choose to have one of them, but if we choose sin, there is no way to run for God when we are chained to sin, and there is no way 126 00:09:16,353 --> 00:09:24,019 There's no way to run to God when chained to sin, and there is no way to run for God when we serve another master. 127 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:29,585 There is no way to hold on to those things and still walk in God's way. 128 00:09:29,585 --> 00:09:35,350 Repentance requires giving up all those things that are against how God would have us to live. 129 00:09:35,350 --> 00:09:42,936 Now, when one is baptized, when one becomes a Christian, there can be things they don't realize that are wrong. 130 00:09:44,385 --> 00:09:53,552 But as time moves forward and there's opportunity to learn those things, that repentance must say, okay, I see what I need to do and I'm going to give it up. 131 00:09:53,693 --> 00:10:02,901 We must constantly be willing to lay aside those things because if we are not willing to lay it aside, we are actually enslaved to it. 132 00:10:02,901 --> 00:10:12,068 If we are not strong enough to make the decision to stay away from it, it has ensnared us and there is no way to run for the Lord. 133 00:10:12,509 --> 00:10:15,093 lay aside what besets us. 134 00:10:15,093 --> 00:10:18,289 Now also, turn to Matthew 16. 135 00:10:19,238 --> 00:10:24,624 Christ shows an example of laying aside what was besetting him. 136 00:10:30,133 --> 00:10:41,080 Verse 22, after Christ had spoke about the fact that he would die, that he would suffer of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised again the third day, verse 22, then 137 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:47,984 Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. 138 00:10:48,304 --> 00:10:51,206 Peter is one of Christ's closest friends. 139 00:10:51,206 --> 00:10:56,069 He hears Christ say that he is going to die, and he doesn't want that. 140 00:10:56,139 --> 00:11:00,152 That doesn't make sense in his mind, but look at how Christ responds. 141 00:11:00,533 --> 00:11:04,717 But he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. 142 00:11:04,717 --> 00:11:11,563 Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savors not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 143 00:11:11,904 --> 00:11:15,728 Remember, Jesus is very close to Peter. 144 00:11:15,728 --> 00:11:19,551 Later on he would say, ye are my friends to the apostles. 145 00:11:19,551 --> 00:11:21,592 This relationship was special. 146 00:11:22,197 --> 00:11:29,665 But Jesus was willing to say something that would hurt Peter's feelings so that Christ could continue doing what the Lord sent him to do. 147 00:11:30,467 --> 00:11:38,296 In life today we have those who would rather us not do God's way, who would speak against us walking in God's path. 148 00:11:38,357 --> 00:11:39,778 Remember Christ's example. 149 00:11:39,778 --> 00:11:42,000 He suffered everything like we have. 150 00:11:42,761 --> 00:11:44,642 No, he didn't have social media. 151 00:11:44,642 --> 00:11:53,185 No, he didn't have some of the modern things, but he suffered every general temptation, and he suffered the temptation of the words of his friends trying to keep him from God's 152 00:11:53,185 --> 00:11:55,665 way, but he did not let that beset him. 153 00:11:55,665 --> 00:11:58,686 He did not let that keep him from his purpose. 154 00:11:58,686 --> 00:12:00,947 He said, get thee behind me, Satan. 155 00:12:00,947 --> 00:12:06,529 Our relationship with God, our race for God comes before everything else. 156 00:12:07,479 --> 00:12:13,591 Christ laid aside what besets him and we are to lay aside the weight and the sin. 157 00:12:13,791 --> 00:12:20,193 But not only are we to let go of those things that are not to be a part of our lives, we are to look to the Savior. 158 00:12:21,734 --> 00:12:29,377 Turning back to Hebrews 12, verse 1, we mention the fact that there is that great cloud of witnesses. 159 00:12:29,815 --> 00:12:40,750 but then looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right 160 00:12:40,750 --> 00:12:42,410 hand of the throne of God. 161 00:12:42,711 --> 00:12:45,972 Verse two starts with that word, looking. 162 00:12:46,893 --> 00:12:53,375 So not only are those things that we must put down, we look unto Jesus who made our race. 163 00:12:53,375 --> 00:12:56,817 He is the author and finisher of our faith. 164 00:12:57,437 --> 00:13:07,950 If you have a race and everybody starts at the starting line and then they just go all in general directions, one goes left, one goes right, one goes backward, that's not a race. 165 00:13:07,950 --> 00:13:09,711 A race requires direction. 166 00:13:09,711 --> 00:13:13,216 Christ authored and finished a race for us. 167 00:13:13,216 --> 00:13:17,941 John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 168 00:13:18,005 --> 00:13:24,291 No man cometh to the Father, but by me." Christ made a very specific way for us to walk. 169 00:13:24,291 --> 00:13:31,277 It is straight, it is narrow, and walking in that way is the only way to walk to Him. 170 00:13:32,039 --> 00:13:34,170 Christ made this one way. 171 00:13:34,170 --> 00:13:37,564 There are not many paths going to heaven. 172 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,421 There is one race. 173 00:13:39,421 --> 00:13:41,742 There is one faith. 174 00:13:41,742 --> 00:13:46,674 Just as there is one God and Father of all, there is one baptism. 175 00:13:46,674 --> 00:13:50,466 There is one way to start this race and one way to live it. 176 00:13:51,867 --> 00:13:54,848 Let's start at the proper starting line. 177 00:13:54,848 --> 00:13:57,009 The one that Christ set for us. 178 00:13:57,009 --> 00:14:00,791 He is the author and finisher of our faith. 179 00:14:00,931 --> 00:14:05,333 Let's follow him because he made the race, but also because 180 00:14:05,889 --> 00:14:07,529 He endured His. 181 00:14:08,110 --> 00:14:18,915 Verse 2 again, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the 182 00:14:18,915 --> 00:14:20,835 right hand of the throne of God. 183 00:14:20,835 --> 00:14:24,437 We mention that word endure, this huppomeno. 184 00:14:24,737 --> 00:14:31,300 This word also carries the idea of standing your ground when everyone else has departed. 185 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,041 Standing your ground 186 00:14:34,145 --> 00:14:35,696 when everyone else has departed. 187 00:14:35,696 --> 00:14:39,189 Remember what Jesus did in Gethsemane. 188 00:14:39,430 --> 00:14:45,195 All the apostles forsook him and fled, but he still stood there. 189 00:14:45,195 --> 00:14:50,819 He was still taken by the scribes, by the Pharisees, by this mob that came to him that night. 190 00:14:51,681 --> 00:14:54,143 And he went and suffered on that cross. 191 00:14:55,565 --> 00:15:00,088 At any period of time, he could have said, I'm done with this. 192 00:15:00,511 --> 00:15:04,573 and changed it all, but he endured it because there was something that he wanted. 193 00:15:04,573 --> 00:15:07,984 Now, he also finished his race. 194 00:15:07,984 --> 00:15:11,686 He is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 195 00:15:12,146 --> 00:15:14,307 But look at the reason that he did it. 196 00:15:14,407 --> 00:15:18,689 Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross? 197 00:15:19,149 --> 00:15:24,792 Not only did he endure, there was a very specific reason, this joy. 198 00:15:25,012 --> 00:15:27,673 What was Christ's joy? 199 00:15:28,621 --> 00:15:37,961 On John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 200 00:15:37,961 --> 00:15:43,261 The reason for Christ coming to this world was for our salvation. 201 00:15:43,381 --> 00:15:48,381 The joy that was set before Him was He would be back by God's throne. 202 00:15:48,381 --> 00:15:49,721 He would have that glory again. 203 00:15:49,721 --> 00:15:53,481 But also, He would have us with Him in eternity. 204 00:15:54,461 --> 00:15:56,801 Christ could see that the fact 205 00:15:56,801 --> 00:16:03,171 that the cross was coming, but he looked past the cross and realized that we could be with him in heaven. 206 00:16:03,171 --> 00:16:05,204 And he lived for that fact. 207 00:16:05,204 --> 00:16:09,600 He lived for that eternity in our lives. 208 00:16:10,665 --> 00:16:21,250 when we face trials and temptations, when those things come and they want to snare us, when there are times we always are supposed to die daily, we are supposed to always carry 209 00:16:21,250 --> 00:16:28,313 our cross, but when those moments come where we feel the fact that we are supposed to die daily, do we look past? 210 00:16:28,459 --> 00:16:35,073 the difficulty, past that situation and see the cross or see Christ on the other side. 211 00:16:35,154 --> 00:16:37,105 He was looking to the joy set before Him. 212 00:16:37,105 --> 00:16:44,179 Do we look to the same joy, being with our God and Father, being with the other Christians, other servants of God from before? 213 00:16:44,379 --> 00:16:48,663 Jesus endured His race and He finished His race because there was a goal. 214 00:16:48,663 --> 00:16:54,967 Any runner has a goal and we have a goal very similar to Christ's. 215 00:16:55,348 --> 00:16:57,529 Will you run to eternity with Him? 216 00:17:00,011 --> 00:17:03,484 We run this race laying aside what besets us. 217 00:17:03,726 --> 00:17:07,709 We run this race looking to who saves us. 218 00:17:08,111 --> 00:17:13,797 But finally, we run this race loving Him who chases us. 219 00:17:15,765 --> 00:17:22,407 Before going further into that, verse 4, ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 220 00:17:23,688 --> 00:17:29,289 All of us sitting in this room have not passed away yet. 221 00:17:29,390 --> 00:17:30,430 We are here. 222 00:17:30,430 --> 00:17:32,571 We have not resisted unto blood. 223 00:17:32,571 --> 00:17:37,392 Not only have we not passed away, we have not been killed in persecution. 224 00:17:38,093 --> 00:17:39,273 Therefore, 225 00:17:39,467 --> 00:17:44,999 We have every reason and every right to continue going and running this same race. 226 00:17:44,999 --> 00:17:48,159 We have not resisted unto blood striving against sin. 227 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:51,741 It's almost like Paul says, you get killed, walk it off. 228 00:17:51,782 --> 00:17:53,302 You are able to keep going. 229 00:17:53,302 --> 00:17:56,102 You are able to keep running. 230 00:17:56,423 --> 00:17:58,444 Now, verse five. 231 00:17:58,781 --> 00:18:06,426 loving him who chastens us, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. 232 00:18:06,426 --> 00:18:11,989 My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. 233 00:18:12,109 --> 00:18:24,297 For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Whenever someone prepares for a race, they are not able to just eat whatever they want. 234 00:18:24,413 --> 00:18:26,855 able to go and not exercise at all. 235 00:18:26,855 --> 00:18:31,699 Preparing for such a competition requires discipline. 236 00:18:31,699 --> 00:18:36,102 You have a coach who tells you, you need to be at practice at this time. 237 00:18:36,102 --> 00:18:38,504 You need to be eating this kind of food. 238 00:18:38,504 --> 00:18:44,949 You need to have this certain weight so that you can run to your optimal capacity. 239 00:18:45,897 --> 00:18:48,608 Now, God does not say, eat this and that. 240 00:18:48,608 --> 00:18:50,958 There are things that we are not supposed to put in our bodies. 241 00:18:50,958 --> 00:19:00,041 But God gave us a spiritual instruction, but also not only has He given us this word, He can chase in us in our lives today. 242 00:19:00,141 --> 00:19:02,521 The Hebrews writer makes a shift here. 243 00:19:02,602 --> 00:19:09,043 Earlier we were talking about the persecution and the things that we face because we are living God's way. 244 00:19:09,323 --> 00:19:15,285 But the Hebrews writer shifts and says that there are things we suffer so that we do live the right way. 245 00:19:15,615 --> 00:19:19,406 two sides of a very similar, two sides of the same coin. 246 00:19:19,907 --> 00:19:26,349 Now there are things in this life that we face that are not our fault, that are not persecution either. 247 00:19:26,650 --> 00:19:34,293 But when those things do occur, when there are those sufferings, are we willing to ask ourselves, okay, am I being chastened? 248 00:19:34,293 --> 00:19:37,514 Is this some kind of consequence for how I'm living? 249 00:19:38,715 --> 00:19:40,856 It is not always going to be that. 250 00:19:40,976 --> 00:19:43,297 More often than not, it might not be that. 251 00:19:43,297 --> 00:19:49,762 but are we willing to ask the question, looking and trying to see what God could be doing in our lives? 252 00:19:50,003 --> 00:19:58,409 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him. 253 00:19:58,970 --> 00:20:05,195 For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 254 00:20:05,896 --> 00:20:10,820 Correction, no matter what the modern world says, is good. 255 00:20:11,181 --> 00:20:12,061 Now, 256 00:20:12,237 --> 00:20:15,757 Exodus 34 shows the kind of God that we have. 257 00:20:15,757 --> 00:20:29,857 Exodus 34, 5 through 7, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. 258 00:20:30,517 --> 00:20:39,257 But we'll by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and to the fourth generation. 259 00:20:39,539 --> 00:20:41,351 Our Lord is one of mercy. 260 00:20:41,351 --> 00:20:47,016 When God described His personality to Moses, Moses asked the Lord, show me Your glory. 261 00:20:47,016 --> 00:20:50,159 And then it says that God declared His name. 262 00:20:50,159 --> 00:20:53,261 He declared His identity to Moses. 263 00:20:53,542 --> 00:21:00,067 This passage shows who God is, and God is first merciful, but He is then just. 264 00:21:00,688 --> 00:21:02,290 This is the kind of God we serve. 265 00:21:02,290 --> 00:21:05,092 This is the kind of God that will chase in us. 266 00:21:06,123 --> 00:21:11,117 But we must remember that this chasing is a part of who he has said he is. 267 00:21:11,758 --> 00:21:22,208 Today there are those who say any kind of correction, any kind of negative consequence is bad, is going to lead to trauma. 268 00:21:22,208 --> 00:21:28,212 There are things that are wrong that a child should never face, that no one should ever have to look back and have that memory. 269 00:21:28,983 --> 00:21:33,155 But the Lord has very clearly stated that a spanking has its place. 270 00:21:33,175 --> 00:21:43,461 That is the truth from God, the undeniable Word of the Lord, and He has wisdom above any psychologist today. 271 00:21:43,921 --> 00:21:45,582 Follow the Lord's way. 272 00:21:45,862 --> 00:21:47,884 It will do better than anything else. 273 00:21:47,884 --> 00:21:49,704 The Lord chastens us. 274 00:21:49,965 --> 00:21:54,447 As a child can be chastened by a father, the Lord can chasten us today. 275 00:21:54,827 --> 00:21:57,709 Love Him who chastens us. 276 00:21:58,177 --> 00:22:01,877 but also realize that the chastening is worth it. 277 00:22:02,483 --> 00:22:08,756 Verse 9, Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. 278 00:22:08,756 --> 00:22:13,718 Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? 279 00:22:13,718 --> 00:22:21,482 For they have verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 280 00:22:21,522 --> 00:22:25,784 This correction is not just because he is angry, not just because he is mad. 281 00:22:25,784 --> 00:22:28,845 That is not the purpose of correction. 282 00:22:28,845 --> 00:22:32,419 It is for a goal, that we might be 283 00:22:32,419 --> 00:22:35,121 partakers of His holiness. 284 00:22:35,321 --> 00:22:40,105 Verse 11, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. 285 00:22:40,105 --> 00:22:47,611 Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 286 00:22:47,892 --> 00:22:50,733 There is a goal with this correction. 287 00:22:50,834 --> 00:22:54,397 It might hurt for now, but it's going to be worth it. 288 00:22:54,397 --> 00:22:57,879 Psalm 30 verse 5 talks about this idea as well. 289 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:02,723 Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. 290 00:23:03,023 --> 00:23:07,726 God has a plan and He loves you more than anyone else. 291 00:23:07,886 --> 00:23:15,750 And even if there is suffering, even if there is pain, God does not send all suffering our way. 292 00:23:15,770 --> 00:23:22,294 There are things that He allows in our lives, just as Job faced his suffering even though he did nothing wrong. 293 00:23:22,294 --> 00:23:24,855 But God can still use any suffering. 294 00:23:24,855 --> 00:23:28,657 He is so powerful that He can take what comes to us. 295 00:23:29,963 --> 00:23:33,334 for good, even if he is not the one that caused it. 296 00:23:33,414 --> 00:23:36,335 That is the wisdom of the Lord. 297 00:23:36,335 --> 00:23:41,197 Let us appreciate his chastening, not ask him, Lord, why in the world are you doing this? 298 00:23:41,197 --> 00:23:47,899 God will be patient and he understands that we are human and that we will have emotions regarding these things. 299 00:23:47,899 --> 00:23:49,519 But the Lord is there. 300 00:23:49,740 --> 00:23:52,220 He doesn't hate us when that suffering comes. 301 00:23:52,220 --> 00:23:53,441 It shows... 302 00:23:54,081 --> 00:23:59,044 If it is not correction, the Lord is going to comfort us and He is going to be with us in the end. 303 00:23:59,044 --> 00:24:02,546 But if it is correction, the Lord is doing it for our betterment. 304 00:24:02,606 --> 00:24:09,911 In this race, we have a coach, we have a father, and we might face chastisement, but it has a purpose and a goal. 305 00:24:09,911 --> 00:24:20,957 And it is so that we can run that race, finish the course, keep the faith as Paul did, and finally be with the Lord, partakers of His holiness for eternity. 306 00:24:21,613 --> 00:24:26,653 Lay aside what besets us, putting that wicked sin away. 307 00:24:26,813 --> 00:24:35,253 Look to who saves us, looking to the one who gave us a standard, gave us a word, gave us the church that we are a part of today. 308 00:24:35,873 --> 00:24:46,553 And finally, loving him who chastens us, realizing that the things that we can suffer, realizing that the punishments that can come, they are a part of God's love, not some kind 309 00:24:46,553 --> 00:24:48,633 of hatred that he has against us. 310 00:24:49,057 --> 00:24:54,081 This is the Lord that we serve and this is the race that we get to run. 311 00:24:54,522 --> 00:25:02,488 Now today, if you have not started that race, the Lord has given uh clearly how we are to run it. 312 00:25:02,901 --> 00:25:07,545 We are to hear His Word, we are to believe it, Romans 10, 17. 313 00:25:07,545 --> 00:25:12,024 We are to confess Christ as our Lord, Romans 10, verse 10. 314 00:25:12,024 --> 00:25:21,356 And if you don't believe that Christ is Lord, please give the opportunity for the evidence to be shown that He is, that God is real and that He really is the one God. 315 00:25:21,576 --> 00:25:26,260 But also we must repent and be baptized, Acts 2, 38. 316 00:25:26,260 --> 00:25:32,244 Baptism, literally an immersion, repentance being changed from the way we used to live, to walk. 317 00:25:32,581 --> 00:25:34,322 newness of life. 318 00:25:34,562 --> 00:25:37,503 This race requires a new way to live. 319 00:25:37,623 --> 00:25:47,127 First John 1, 7 through 9, if you already have obeyed this gospel, the one that confesses his sin will be forgiven. 320 00:25:47,467 --> 00:25:56,271 If you are in any need of what God can do when it comes to your sin today, would you please come forward as we stand and as we sing.