Hebrews – Part 9 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. Today, we’re gonna be talking from Hebrews 12, and we’re gonna be sharing about how God is speaking to us from heaven. He’s speaking to us through Jesus. He’s speaking to us through the grace of God, and you want to be able to hear his voice, so you can move into his plans and purposes for your life. Thank you, stay tuned, blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. We’ve been sharing from the book of Hebrews, and today we’re in Hebrews 12. And there’s some amazing things when we look at Hebrews 12, really, that tie back into Hebrews 1, and you just see kind of the complete picture of what this book is talking about. So let’s jump in. Aaron, why don’t you read verse 1 and verse 2 from Hebrews 12, and, and then we’ll go.

 

  “Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before 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, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

  Amen, so you know what? We’re surrounded with this great cloud of witnesses. He’s talking about all these Old Testament saints, Old Testament believers that went on before us, and they have handed off the baton to us. And he says, “Because of that, we should lay aside every weight, anything that’s holding us down, any sin, the sin that so easily besets us.” It might not be the big things. You know, the Bible says the little foxes spoil the vines. And a lot of times it’s not big things. You know, we talk about adultery, we talk about drunkenness, but we don’t talk a lot about gossip and slander, and strife and envy, and you know what? Those can be major problems. And he says, “The things that so easily beset us, and run with patience the race that is set before us.” It said it a little bit different in the New King James. But you know, this is not a sprint. This is not a 10-second 100-yard dash. This is a marathon, and we gotta stay at it. Praise God, if you’re gonna run in a marathon, and compete well, you gotta train and train and train. It takes a lot of work and a lot of discipline. And he says, “We look to Jesus, who is the author.” He’s the one that start us out in this faith race, and he’s the one who will complete it. He’s the one who’ll finish it. You know, you gotta believe Jesus to get involved in this race, and you gotta trust him if you’re gonna finish it. And that’s what it’s really talking about. He says, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Do you know, the cross wasn’t pleasant. You know, I’m teaching a message right now in Sunday morning church on living the dream. And I’m gonna teach a message on Sunday about, you know, the vision or the dream. It takes work, and it takes discipline, and it’s not always easy, and people don’t really, Paul was one of the most disciplined people. He was one of the most persistent people. He faced lots of problems. And just because you’re facing problems doesn’t mean that you’re not in the will of God. And I think sometimes when we preach the promises, people get a kinda twisted picture, and they think, “Well, every, you know, we’re never gonna have any,” there’s gonna be challenges, and you know what? But we look to Jesus, and it says, “He looked beyond where he was, and he saw us.” I believe he saw us, “for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and sat down on the right hand of God.” He completed the deal. And now, praise God, we are to run with patience that race that’s set before us. Go ahead, Aaron, keep reading.

 

  Here in verse 3: For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls, yet you have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as the sons, for what son is there with whom a father does not chasten?

 

  Yeah, so chastening, man, God chastens those who he loves. Now what is the primary way that God chastens us?

 

  He will speak to you.

 

  He chastens you with this Word. The Bible says in Psalm 94:12, “Blessed is the man you love, Lord, who you chasten out of your law, or out of your Word.” The primary way that God chastens believers is with the Word of God. He does not chasten believers with sickness, with disease, with poverty, with anything, with death, with anything that is not positive. Do you know the Bible says that every good and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variable. It’s neither shadow of turning. And God is not putting bad things on those who are born again. I don’t believe he puts bad things on anybody, in the time in which we live. And I think in the Old Testament, a lot of things that were accounted to God really came from the Devil. And, but they just didn’t understand who the Devil is because they didn’t have authority over the Devil, like we have authority over the Devil. So they just accounted everything to God. But a lot of New Testament people don’t realize things changed between Malachi and Matthew, and between the death and the resurrection of Jesus. It changed everything, and so-

 

  And we have authority over the Devil through the Word, you know.

 

  Amen.

 

  In Scripture, the Devil, I think, confronted head on three people. He confronted Eve as a serpent. He confronted Job, and he confronted Jesus head on. And Jesus, when he was confronted by the Devil, he spoke the Word.

 

  Amen.

 

  That’s how he overcame the Devil. And that’s how we, as believers, overcome the Devil is through the Word.

 

  You know, when Jesus walked on the Earth, he didn’t walk on the Earth as God. He walked as a man, anointed by the Holy Ghost. When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God came on him, and God said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased.” And you know what, God was saying essentially, he was pleased with Jesus, because Jesus, I believe, read in the Scriptures, saw what God wanted to do, and said, “I’m willing to follow the Father’s plan.” And so Jesus operated as a man anointed by the Holy Ghost, and he did not heal the sick or work miracles as God. He healed the sick and worked miracles as a man anointed by the Holy Ghost. Praise God, and we need to realize that. Man, and you know what? In the Old Testament, the Devil has only mentioned about a dozen times, and that’s again, I believe, and most of ’em are in Job, and then one in Isaiah, and one in Ezekiel. But I believe that’s because they didn’t have, man didn’t have authority over the Devil. But Jesus, once Jesus showed up, man, you see the Devil everywhere. And Jesus conquered the Devil with his Word. And we’re to take authority over the works of the Devil in the name of Jesus. And we can do just like Jesus, speak the Word of God, and overcome the works of the Devil. And so many people don’t understand their power and their authority, and they’re just laying around being a whipped dog, and letting the Devil run over ’em. And you don’t need to let the Devil run over you. Praise God, you can take authority in the name of Jesus, take authority with the Word of God, and begin to win in life. And so, but the way the Lord chastens us, I wanna be very clear on this, is not through sickness, disease, poverty, negative things, as believers, period. Absolute no way. Because if you believe that, you just don’t believe John 10:10, and James 1:17, so on and so forth. And so God chastens us with his Word. And if you’ll harken into the Word, you don’t have to go into bad places, where you receive bad things from the Devil, who’s the author of destruction. So he says this, he went on to say, “If you endure chastening,” in verse 7, “God deals with you as sons, for what son is a Father chastens not, but if you’re without chastisement, you are all partakers, then you’re bastards and not son, you’re illegitimate.” You know what, if you never chastened, you’re just not connected up with God. And if you have a relationship with God, we’ve been talking about this all week, that faith is really having a relationship with God. God will deal with you in the spirit. And if you’re outta order, he will get you back in order. And he said, “Furthermore, we have had fathers after our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much more be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” We respected our earthly father, we ought to respect our heavenly Father. “For they, our earthly fathers, chastened us for a few days after their own pleasure. But he for our own prophet, that we might be partakers of his holiness.” Listen, if you’re gonna partake of his holiness, you’re gonna have to realize that you don’t do everything right. Some people act like they never make a mistake. And we all make mistakes. We’re a spirit, we possess a soul, and we live in a body. And the best of us make mistakes.

 

  If you can’t be corrected, if you can’t-

 

  You’re in dangerous territory.

 

  Yeah, and there’s a lot of people with that attitude.

 

  Arrogance.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And so he says, “No chastening for the present time seems to be joyous, but grievous never.” You know, Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, “Not thy will, but my will be done.” And if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, needed to pray that while he was on the Earth, you might need to pray that, I might need to pray that. God, what’s your will? Many times I get up in the morning, I say, “God, I want your will today. I wanna do what you want me to do. And I want you to, you know, open doors, close doors.” You know, I told God, “I don’t wanna disobey you. I want what’s best for, you know, what you know what’s best for my life, for our church, so on and so forth.” So he says, “Nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercising.” When God deals with you and convicts you of something, and you go the right way, there’s just a peace. There’s just a peace. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It’s not a bunch of religious rules, but it’s righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. There’s a peace, there’s a joy that fills you when you know that you’ve obeyed God. And I’m just looking to please God. He says, “Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame may be turned outta the way.” But he says, “Rather let it be healed.” Man, if you’re gone the wrong direction, turn around, repent. You know, Paul said this, or Acts says this, that God commands all men everywhere to repent. Jesus said, “Except you repent, you’ll perish.” And we need to preach a message sometime on repentance. I had a man ask for it, Aaron, I might have you do it on a Wednesday night, just a one off or something. But the Bible actually says here, he says, “Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” You know, we have peace with God. I actually believe that when you’re walking with God, and walking in a intimate personal relationship with Jesus, when you follow peace, you’re following the Lord. And if you’re taking a major misstep, that you’ll have a check on the inside. You won’t have a peace about that. I tell people if they’re born again, and they’re married, and both spouses are born again, if they both really have peace about a decision, over 90% of the time, I believe that’s the will of God. You can know the will of God by the peace of God. The Bible says, actually, “Let the peace of God rule in your heart to which you’re called,” in Colossians 3:15, let the peace of God call the shots, act as an umpire in your heart to which you’re called. And so he says, “Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Well, your spirit was made holy the moment that you believed. But you know what? Not only your spirit needs to be made holy, you need to walk in that holiness. And your spirit was sanctified, made righteous, justified, made holy the moment you believed on Jesus. But when you realize that, on the inside and who God made you to be, the natural result of that is is you walk with God, those things that are on the inside are manifest to the outside. So we’re gonna come back right after this break, and you don’t wanna miss the last half of this broadcast. We have some great things to say about hearing the voice of God, so stay tuned, blessings. Hi friends, I’m so glad that you’re watching today. I have my son, Aaron, with me, and we are teaching on the book of Hebrews. This is one of my favorite books of the Bible. And we have some great teaching available on our website, charischristiancenter.com. It’s free of charge, downloadable, “Hebrews The Better Covenant,” “Hebrews: Jesus Makes Everything Better,” and my book also, “Hebrews The Better Covenant.”

 

  “Remember Lot’s wife.” Now is the time to stay focused, keep looking ahead, keep looking unto Jesus. Really, it’s all about Jesus. You need to stay focused on what really matters. I think that’s like a lot of us, we get distracted by things that don’t matter, and it really slows us down from where God is trying to get us, that causes us to lose focus. And what we really need to do is put your head down, and go, go, go, amen?

 

  Praise the Lord, friends, I’m glad you stayed with us. We’re talking about, “Following peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” But in verse 15, the Scripture says, “We need to look diligently.” We need to keep our eyes on Jesus. We need to be diligent about our faith. He says, “Lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. And many be defiled.” Man, if you get bitter, if you get offended, you know what? You’ll hurt a lot of people. Aaron, share something here.

 

  Well, it’s kind of interesting, ’cause it’s talking about this root of bitterness by which many have become defiled. So a lot of people deal with bitterness. And bitterness is really linked to pride. You know, God gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. When you just take on this, kinda like, “I have a right to be a victim, I have a right to be offended, I have a right,” you’re gonna cut the grace of God, you’re gonna cut the power of God in your life.

 

  No limit the grace of God in your own life.

 

  So God gives grace to the humble. And you know, actually pride is the bait of Satan. Offense is the bait of Satan. Bitterness is the bait of Satan. But really pride, you know, the Devil tries to devour people with pride.

 

  You know, the Bible says, “Only by pride comes contention,” in the book of Chronicles.

 

  And I’ve seen a lot of people who God has given them a lot of grace, he has a great call in their life, and they just get kinda wrapped up in pride, wrapped up in themselves, and it-

 

  It will limit what grace can do any life. And so he says, “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” You know, it says in Romans, I think it’s chapter 9, or chapter 11, but it says, “God loved Jacob and hated Esau.” What that really means is God loves faith and hates unbelief. Esau had unbelief, and you know, and Isaac and Ishmael the same way. Isaac was a type of grace, and Ishmael was a type of a law. And so God loves grace. You know, he doesn’t care for legalism. You know, God loves faith, he hates unbelief. And so Esau, the problem with Esau was in his own heart, he despised the birthright. And because he despised the birthright, he lost the blessing. And if you despise your birthright as a believer, you will miss out on some major blessings of God, and do not blame God. So many people blame God, but we shouldn’t be blaming God. God is not the problem, he is the answer every time. And so he says this, “Esau,” because he didn’t think about what his birthright meant to him, “for a bowl of stew, he sold his birthright, morsel of meat,” just stupid, belly people. Dr. Sumrall talked about that. He says, “For you know how afterwards when he would’ve inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” I believe he regretted what he did, but you know what? Sometimes there’s certain things you do, you’re just not, you’re gonna miss out on some good things. He says, “For your not come to the Mount,” he’s talking about now grace in the law, he’s talking about the old covenant and the new covenant, in verse 18, “That might be touched, that burned with fire, nor blackness, and darkness, and tempest,” and this is what happened when the law came.

 

  To Mount Sinai.

 

  Yeah, he says, “And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which they who heard and treated that the word would not be spoken to them anymore.” They were afraid, the law caused fear. And he says, “For they could not endure that which was commanded.” When the law was given, 3000 people died. When the Spirit of God was given, and the church was born, when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, 3000 people got saved, God never wins. he always, or never loses, excuse me, he always wins. It might take some time, but he says, “The sound of a trumpet, lest they that heard and treated that the word would not be spoken them anymore, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And so much of as a beast touched that mountain.” You know, the fire was on that mountain. It would be stoned, or thrust through at the dark. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” He’s talking about this was the Old Testament. But then he goes on, and begins to talk about this new covenant. And this is what he’s been talking about all through the book of Hebrews is we have a better covenant, established on better promises, and Jesus made it better. It’s not about your performance, it’s not about keeping the law, it’s about the grace of God, it’s about Jesus. And he said this, “For you are come to Mount Zion.” Mount Zion is where the Holy Spirit was poured out, where the church was born. “You’ve come to the city of the living God, you’ve come to the heavenly Jerusalem. You’ve come to an innumerable company of angels.” You know, we read in Hebrews 1:14 that angels are sent to be ministers, servants of those who are heirs of salvation. We’ve come to an innumerable company of angels. If 1/3 of the angels fell when Adam transgressed, or when Satan, you know, led this revolt against God, it’s kinda all connected together. If 1/3 of the angels fell, then there’s still 2/3 that are there, and they are sent that are good angels, that are there to be servants to those who are heirs of salvation. It says, “We have an innumerable company of angels.” Psalm says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around about those that fear him.” It says, “He gives his angels charge over us to keep us in all of our ways.” I thank God for this ministry of angels. But he says, “You’re come to an innumerable company of angels. You’re come to the general assembly, the church of the firstborn.” Praise God, Jesus is the first begotten from the dead. Amen, and he says this, “Which are written in heaven, our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Hallelujah, “To God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.” There it is again, your spirit is perfect. You could say, “I am perfect in Christ Jesus.” “The spirits of just men, we’ve been justified by faith made perfect.” He says, “And to Jesus,” look at this in verse 24, “the mediator of the new covenant.” Moses was the mediator of the old covenant, a covenant of performance, a covenant that brought death. Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, a covenant of grace, a covenant that brings life. He says this, “And the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel.” Abel’s blood cried from the ground for judgment. Jesus’ blood, I believe, cries from the throne of God for mercy. Jesus’ blood cries from the throne of God, forgiven, righteous, justified, blessed. The blood of Jesus, and now look at what he says in verse 25, “See that you refuse him, not him who speaks.” Jesus’ blood is speaking, and God is speaking from heaven. That’s what he says in Hebrews 1. God spoke at different times, in different manners, by the prophets. And God is speaking to us in these last days by Jesus. God is speaking good things. He says, “Listen, don’t move away from Jesus. Don’t move away from the Holy Spirit.” Praise God, “Don’t move away from this new covenant of grace. Don’t move away from faith in God.” He says, “For if they escape to refused him that spoke on Earth,” he says, “much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven.” Moses spoke on Earth, but Jesus is speaking from heaven, and he’s calling us into fellowship. He’s calling us into relationship, “Whose voice then shook the Earth when the old covenant was given. But now he’s promised saying, ‘Yet once more, I shake not the Earth only, but also in heaven.'” You know what, he’s talking about everything’s gonna be shaken in the last days that can be shaken. I believe what can be shaken are those things that are not established in the grace of God. They’re not established in Jesus. You know what, I want what I do to be established in the grace of God. I don’t wanna be just doing my own thing. I don’t wanna just be, I wanna be doing what God called me to do. Man, it’s dangerous to be successful at something that God didn’t call you to do and be. And we need to realize it’s God. And so he says this, he says, “Once more he signifies the removing of those things that are shaking, as the things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken will remain.” Only the things I believe that are established in the grace of God are gonna remain. Man, I don’t wanna be, you know, the Bible talks about this in 1 Corinthians 3, that there is no other foundation that can be laid than that which is of Jesus Christ. And when we build on a foundation, we need to build on that foundation things that are gold, and silver, and precious stones. Because he says things that are wood, and earth, and straw will not remain. Everything is gonna be tried by the fire. I believe if you’re building on the foundation, things that are wood, and earth, and straw, you’re building just, you’re accomplishing your own ideas, through your own vision, through your own plan, through your own purposes, and you’re not really connected with the plan and the purpose of God. And I believe those things in eternity are gonna be burned up. You know, there are people who are visionary people, who can accomplish amazing things that aren’t even born again. But man, I don’t wanna just be doing my thing. I wanna do what God called me to do. I wanna go where God wants me to go. I wanna be what God wants me to be. I wanna be focused on the things of God, and things that he says are established in grace. I believe those things are gold, silver, precious stone. I believe when the fire tries ’em, those things will remain. He says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,” it’s a kingdom of grace, “the kingdom of God, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.” You know, preaching the love of God, you know, creates, when you understand how much God loves you, you respect him. When we talk about godly fear, we’re talking about respecting your relationship with God. We need to respect God. He says, “For our God is a consuming fire.” You know, there’s four things the Bible says that God is, it says he’s love, he’s light, he’s life, and he is a consuming fire. And I actually had a vision of Jesus, October 2nd, 2014. I saw the glory of God, and when I saw him, his eyes were just flames of love. Yellow and orange and red flames, a piercing love. And praise God, you know what? There’s amazing things that God’s gonna do on this Earth in the last days. And the Lord spoke to me and said, “Don’t worry about the money.” He said, “I got plenty of money, I’m gonna take care of things.” And he also spoke to me and said, “There’s gonna be amazing miracles, and amazing things that God has in store.” So praise God, I believe that we are moving into those things that God has reserved for those of us who walk by faith.

 

  Amen, and Jesus is still speaking today. He’s even speaking right now. Maybe you’ve just felt him speaking to your heart today. I actually, for people who’ve never really heard Jesus speak to them, haven’t really maybe had a general sense of it, but you really wanna hear Jesus speak to you, and have him give you specific direction in life, if you call today, we’ll pray with you, and we’ll believe that you’ll just be able to hear his voice clearly.

 

  Amen.

 

  Because he is speaking today.

 

  Amen, you know, I had a man who was a drug addict one time, he was married to one of the special women in my church in Kit Carson, and he said, “I don’t know if there is a God.” I said, “Would you pray with me, and you know, ask God to reveal himself?” And this man prayed with me, and you know what? He got caught doing hard drugs on his job, and he shoulda been fired. But rather than fire him, they sent him to drug rehab, and he got saved, and God changed his life and their marriage. God does miracles, give us a call today. We love you, God bless you.

 

  In the Hebrews package, which includes “Hebrews The Better Covenant,” and “Hebrews: Jesus Changes Everything,” you’ll learn how the new covenant is better than the old simply because of Jesus. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of each teaching, a $70 value, free of charge. You can also order the book, “Hebrews The Better Covenant,” for 9.99. Download your free teachings and purchase the book today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Friends, the Scripture says, “If you will continue in the Word of God, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” If you go to our website at charischristiancenter.com, you can get all of our materials there on the website, as you watch ’em, as you listen, absolutely free of charge. And we’ve done that just to be a blessing to you. And I believe that the word that has freed me will free you, blessings.

 

  Thanks for watching “Grace for Today.” This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000. Or to partner online, go to charischristiancenter.com/give. You can write us at P.O. Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on “Grace for Today.”