Don't Give Up Now

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:11–16).

How many know life can be rough sometimes? How many can testify you had struggles, painful moments in life?

There is a song by Mary Mary I often play especially during tough times.

There will be mountains that I will have to climb And there will be battles that I will have to fight But victory or defeat, it's up to me to decide But how can I expect to win If I never try.

I just can't give up now I've come too far from where I started from Nobody told me the road would be easy And I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me

Never said there wouldn't be trials Never said I wouldn't fall Never said that everything would go the way I want it to go But when my back is against the wall And i feel all hope is gone, I'll just lift my head up to the sky And say help me to be strong

I just can't give up now I've come too far from where I started from Nobody told me the road would be easy And I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me.

See I’m living to live again. I living to see Jesus in that place of rest! I don’t want anything to prevent me from getting there either.

We must continue to strive for that place of rest . The Message Bible says it this way: The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience. (Heb 4:9–11).

The Hebrew writer helps us focus on a goal of rest but we cant get there without fully understanding a few things.

First we must not let anything trip us up

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 let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Heb 12:1).

Ecclesiastes said it this way: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.”

Even though Solomon was speaking about outcomes being unpredictable. We can testify stuff happens. Things don’t always work out like we would want them to. Yet we have assurance that God recognizes our efforts, our faith and trust in him. He being Sovereign we must lean on him. Its here in Hebrews the writer shifts our focus so we don miss our point of rest. The only way not to miss the point of rest is to trust God each and every step of the way. Not allow stuff (People, Places and things) to trip us all. Not all invitations are good invitations. We must be care about allowing sin to creep in.

The one thing to recognize is we must allow HIS Word to do the work! For the word of God is living and active. How many of you recognize the value of God word? The word of truth. God’s guiding principles. Love God with your whole heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. Forgive one another. Do Justice, Love Mercy and walk humbly with your God. Be ye holy for God is holy! No only is the word living and active it sharper than a two edge sword. It cuts both ways! God word can dissect the evil heart and easily show you your wickedness.

Its interesting that its clear we cant hid anything from God. The word said we are all naked before him. He knows all of our secret sins.

Secondly we have to see Jesus as he is

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. . (Heb 4:14–15).

We have a great high priest! His priestly order is greater than any other priest. Hebrews 10:21 reminds us and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:21–22). The more I know about Jesus the better my witnessing is. The more I know about Jesus the greater my commitment. The more I know about Jesus my confidence increases. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works! (Heb 10:23–24).

Jesus is a high priest who sympathizes with our every weakness. And so, we spend most of our lives wearing masks, pretending to be people we’re not, because we’re afraid if we let others see what we really are, they would reject us. It’s one of our deepest fears.

But because God is always good and never bad, God will never reject you, even when you sin against him and disobey and hurt him. You can come back! He will receive you, not reject you, when you humbly confess to him.

The Bible says, “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close . . . My enemies are waiting for me . . . Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:10-11, 13 NLT). You may have messed up and made a huge mistake. God is the God of second chances. Why? Because he is a good and gracious Father.

Now, because God is always good and gracious, when we pray, we can be always bold and confident. We don’t have to come slinking in to God with our tail between our legs. We can just come and say, “God, you know I blew it—that’s who I am. But you are a good Father—that’s who you are. And it’s who you are that matters.”

“[Jesus] understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:15-16 NLT).

That leads me to my last point

Time to get closer to Jesus.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16).

We must never forget In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Jesus invites us to draw near. Come close get connected. No embarrassment. No shame. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).

Jehovah Elohim – The eternal creator ( Genesis 2:4-5)

Jehovah Adonai – The Lord our sovereign; Master Jehovah ( Genesis 15:2, 8)

Jehovah Jireh – The Lord will see or provide ( Genesis 22:8-14)

Jehovah Nissi – The Lord our banner ( Exodus 17:15)

Jehovah Rapha – The Lord our healer ( Exodus 15:26)

Jehovah-shalom – The Lord our peace ( Judges 6:24)