Jesus Is The Man! - Plentitude
Plentitude Baptist Supply • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsDo not give up! Jesus is the man.
Notes
Transcript
I’m going to be preaching from the book of Hebrews, chapter 4 so you can go ahead and go there in your Bibles.
But I want to start in a little different place.
Jesus told this parable: Luke 8:5-8
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.
And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
I suspect most of you are familiar with the story.
Each place the seed fell represents a different kind of person.
The seed that fell on the path - that’s the person that’s hardened their heart and refuses to believe the truth about Jesus.
Their heart is as hard as a brick path- they will never change.
We all know a few of those.
The seed on the rock is the person who has a little depth, but not much.
Jesus is the next shiny object.
They run to him for a while - they go to every concert and event they can.
Raise their cellphone flashlights in the air and cry real tears.
Until the next shiny object comes along, and off they go.
We know a few of those too.
But Hebrews is written to the folks living in the thorns.
Notice the wording, “the thorns grew up with it…”
Think back - We all couldn’t wait to graduate from High School.
Senior year - I’ve met very few seniors who were not just done with High School drama.
Walk the stage and think, “Man, I’m glad that’s over.”
And those thorns die, but man, don’t the new thorns grow up to take their place.
Now you have dating drama.
Marriage drama.
Kid drama.
Work drama.
Family drama.
Life in general drama.
Thorns.
They grow up with us and around us
The older we get, the more they try to choke the faith right out of us.
The writer of Hebrews saw that happening to people that he loved, and he said, “Do not give up! Jesus is the man! Don’t lose sight of that.”
Our text is Hebrews 4:11-16, with your Bibles open, please read along with me.
Hear now the Word of the Lord from Hebrews 4:11-16
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray…..
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Let Us Strive…
Let Us Strive…
Look at verse 11, Hebrews 4:11 “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
The word strive has as it’s root word, be zealous or be eager.
Do you know a rabid University of Georgia or University of Alabama fan that, that’s about all they think of?
They wear their college gear.
They have college bumper stickers and all kinds of college junk.
And much of the time, they never attended either school.
But they are zealous for their team.
They are eager for their team
They strive to follow their team
Do you know why?
Mostly because those teams are winners.
That’s the kind of energy we need to put into entering God’s rest.
The root word for rest is stop, cease.
Listen, that’s music to my ears.
School drama - may it stop.
Family drama - may it stop.
Church drama - may it stop.
Let us do everything within our power to enter God’s rest where all of the drama stops.
And be so zealous to chase that rest that we never, listen, we never take our eyes off the winner.
What makes the Lord the winner?
He does what He said He is going to do.
God told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in Egypt, but God would rescue them.
What did God do? He rescued the Hebrews out of slavery.
He’s rescued many of us out of slavery.
He’s showed us how to have a Godly and honorable life.
Don’t take your eyes off of him.
Jesus is the man.
Jesus is the winner.
Be zealous, do everything you can to keep your eyes on Him,
Because bad things happen when we don’t.
Because bad things happen when we don’t.
Verse 12 is very familiar.
I’ve heard many sermons preached from this verse talking about the power of the Bible.
In fact, my study Bible heads this section, “The Bible Claims Special Power,” and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But what does this verse say in context?
Hebrews 4:12 “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.”
Let’s take it apart - The writer equates the living God with His Word.
God is alive and He’s a talking God - so His Word is alive.
It is alive and active
Anyone remember hearing this quoted?
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
What God says happens .
God speaks with a purpose so His Word accomplishes His purpose.
It - did you hear it? - It “shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
That means the Lord has a purpose for His words, right?
If He says something, He says it to have an intended result.
So how do we know it will have that result?
Well, who is the winner?
Who speaks and His Word ALWAYS does what He means for it to do?
You hear the writer, right?
Who is the man?
Jesus is the man.
Hebrews 4:12 “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.”
See the word soul?
In some other places in the New Testament (like Mark 8), that same word is translated life.
I kind of like that translation here - “piercing to the division of [life] and of spirit.
So think about this, if the Word of God is so sharp it will separate your life from your spirit,
Your life from you spirit, what would happen to you right here, this minute, today, if that was to happen?
You’d die.
Listen, of joints and marrow - joints and marrow never meet.
Marrow is in the bone
Joints hold bones together to they can move.
What happens if a sword separates your joints from your bones?
You’d die.
The Word of God is Truth - with a capital T.
The Word of God is so sharp, it’s so intense, that it always separates fact from fiction.
Are you getting the picture?
The Word of God - the successful, never failing Word of God can discern the thoughts - what’s in our minds
And the intentions - what we mean to do with those thoughts
The thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
What’s our real motivations and goals are.
And if they are disobedient, what is the expected outcome?
Well, death.
Now, think with me here.
This writer isn’t referring to the entire Bible, although his words apply to the entire Bible.
He’s referring back to the Words of God that he’s quoted.
Like Psalm 95:7-8
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
What happens if we harden our hearts against God?
We die.
And if we harden our hearts against God today.
When should we expect the death to occur?
Today - the day you hear it and reject it.
He quotes Psalm 95:11 also
Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”
What is His rest?
Life everlasting with no more drama.
What is the result of rejecting God’s offer of life
Eternal drama that starts this very minute.
He quotes Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
The Lord rested when His work was complete.
If you reject God’s offer, there will be no rest for you.
Have you ever had a naked dream
Have you ever had a naked dream
Hebrews 4:13 “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.”
Have you ever dreamed that you showed up to work or school or to a football game with no clothes on at all?
Everybody else has clothes on
But you - oh no.
And it’s like no one notices that you’re walking around in your birthday suit
But you know it.
Ever done that?
Bet you have - it’s a common dream.
Do you remember in your dream the embarrassment you felt?
How “exposed you felt?”
Put that feeling here - nothing is hidden from God’s sight.
He knows you - He knows the “thoughts and intentions of your heart.”
And if you come before the throne of God alone - having hardened your heart towards Jesus - you’d be happy to feel only this level of embarrassment.
You chose to follow a loser
And that loser is you.
Since rejecting God’s offer of salvation is disobedience and it brings death.
Since rejecting God and being the captain of your own soul is following a loser.
Since you know what is going to make you a failure
Why not follow the winner instead
Why not follow the winner instead
Hebrews 4:14 “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.”
I love the word used for confession here.
It’s a compound word - homo - meaning one and logia - meaning word
It’s our one word confession.
Jesus.
Let us hold fast to our confession - let us hold fast to our one word
Because our one word is the winner - and the winner is Jesus.
He speaks no empty Words
And His Words will do what He purposes them to do.
I can’t help but hear Jesus’ Words at the Gates of Hades when He said,
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Your ball team might win a championship but Christ’s Church will conquer the World.
A Church that confesses Jesus cannot be stopped.
Satan can send his armies against it - but they will fail.
The Church of Jesus Christ will always stand
Because its leader is the winner.
Now let us hear the best news ever
Now let us hear the best news ever
“Hebrews 4:16
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.
This is our hope,
This is our potential
That we can draw near to the throne of the Father.
We are told to approach that throne - do you see it?
You’ve read Revelation - you know what the throne room of God looks like.
Can you imagine going there alone?
Knowing who you are, your own disobedience, your own sinfulness.
Can you imagine standing there before all of this knowing that you are guilty?
But the writer of Hebrews is telling us we can draw near with confidence right now, because we are not alone.
Jesus, the Son of God, escorts us into the Father’s presence.
The throne changes from a throne of judgment
To a throne of mercy
Our sins are washed away
The sins and desires that have tormented us
Removed from us as far as the east is from the west
Wiped from God’s mind
And eventually to be wiped from our minds as well.
The throne changes to a throne of grace
Where every day, every day you and I can come, every day, to receive the strength and power and wisdom and courage to face every drama that life throws at us.
Because we belong there
Because Jesus said so
And Jesus is the winner.
Brothers and sisters, Let us therefore strive to enter that rest
Do not harden your hearts
Do not fall away from the truth
Let us be zealous to follow Jesus, the Son of God
Who takes away our sins and gives us life.
Understanding, that when we follow Jesus, the gates of Hell cannot defeat us.
Which brings me to a place where I want to invite you to take on the powers of Hell with me.
I have a very practical thing I want to invite you to do that has the power to change our community and our world.
Most of you won’t remember this, but a few of us do.
In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory Bible-reading and school-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the First Amendment.
I could argue how that was wrong based on the founders intent for the First Amendment, but it would be a waste of my breath - no one would listen.
In 1966, I was in the 4th grade.
My best teacher of all time was Miss Janice Brill - I thought she was old, old.
But when I looked for her a few years ago, I found out she was about 24 when she taught my class.
My 3rd grade teacher had been weak and my class didn’t learn a lot of things we needed.
Miss Brill took us under her wings and caught us up.
She made each one of us feel like we were her favorite student.
Everyday before lunch she would lead us in a blessing.
Her prayers always ended with, “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
I didn’t realize then that Miss Brill was a renegade, breaking the law by leading my class in prayer.
By the 5th grade, that was gone - no more prayer - no more Bible reading.
For the last 60 years, from my 4th grade until now, I’ve heard the Church
The Church that Hell cannot defeat, bewail and bemoan the fact that “they took the Bible out of the schools.”
We sat around helpless, wringing our hands and watching our world turn into - well, the world we see now.
What we didn’t know, because Satan is crafty and he lied to us and we listened
But what we didn’t know was in 1952, that’s 11 years BEFORE the Abington School District v. Schempp case that removed mandatory Bible reading and prayer
In 1952, another landmark Supreme Court case ruling was made
And that case, Zorach v Clauson, allowed for released time religious instruction for public school students.
There are three conditions
First, the instruction has to be off school property.
Second, parents must give consent for their child to attend
And third, it can receive no government or taxpayer funding.
Have you ever heard this?
I hadn’t - until very recently.
My only thought when I heard this was - why hasn’t the church been doing this all along?
If the gates of Hell cannot defeat us, well, why weren’t we on the field.
I mean really, can you think of anything more important that the next generation knowing Jesus?
Do you think the levels of depression and suicide and you name it
Don’t you think they would all go down if kids knew there was a God who loved them and sent His Son to save them?
This is where LifeWise comes in.
LifeWise is an organization committed to teaching the Bible to public school students during regular school hours.
Off campus, privately funded and with each participating child’s parent’s consent, run under the direction of LifeWise, but run totally by Jones Countians.
I am the Program Director for LifeWise of Jones County.
Our steering committee has talked to the school system and we have three elementary schools who have expressed interest in having a LifeWise program in their schools.
What will LifeWise teach?
We will teach the good news of Jesus Christ, beginning in the book of Genesis and completing in the book of Revelation.
We will avoid denominational differences, focusing instead on making the plain things the main things and keeping the main things the plain things.
The most important thing for any person to know is that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, was crucified on a cross, was buried in a tomb
Was raised on the third day, He ascended into heaven and one day will return and He did that so each of us could be saved from our sins.
The entire Bible will be taught with that foundation.
We did a fairly low key interest survey beginning last year - probably so low key that many of you haven’t heard of it yet.
164 Jones Countians replied saying they would like to see this in the Jones County School System.
Baldwin County started Lifewise a few years ago with 1 class.
This year the school system asked for 21 classes.
I was told their misbehavior rates have declined and they may be even seeing some grade improvement.
I suspect as we publicize this even more and get our plans in place, there will be a lot of interest from a lot of folks.
What we are looking for this year is to get our first class started in January of 2027.
Three elementary schools have expressed interest.
It is my job to talk to the school system and the school principals and see how we can serve them with LifeWise.
I am firmly convinced that once we start and the LifeWise program is executed with commitment and competence
I’d expect to see LifeWise in every school in Jones County from Elementary through High School
Now, here’s the hard part - what will it take to get there?
Logistically, there are a lot of moving pieces,
But nothing gets done without the right people.
We will need teachers - maybe you know a Godly retired teacher who has a fire in his or her belly to teach kids, I’d love to know them.
You’re getting a handout that has my email address on it - please - send me their names and contact numbers.
We will need bus drivers - they must have a CDL class B with passenger certification.
If they don’t have passenger cert, we might be able to help them get it so don’t let that stop you from giving me their name and contact info.
We will need volunteers.
Each time a bus runs it will need 3 people on it - a driver and two adult volunteers.
Each class can use those same volunteers plus a few extras.
The volunteers job will be crowd control and loving the kids.
We need an advisory board.
It’s a volunteer role and will take 2 - 3 hours per week.
This isn’t like some church committees you’ve been on where you talk about installing a sidewalk for 6 months so people don’t get their feet wet when it rains.
This is a board where each person will have an area of expertise.
Plans will be made and the board member will execute the plan.
Remember, we are doing this so that eventually every public school child whose parent will allow it, will hear the gospel
We are doing something the world told us in 1963 can’t be done
And yet here we are - and the gates of Hell will not stop us.
if this puts a fire in your soul, send me that email with that contact information.
We will need funds.
It costs about $40,000 a year to make a LifeWise program work.
We currently have just over $2000.
Here is what I am praying for and asking you for.
First, I’m praying for 500 Jones County Christians to donate $10 per month to LifeWise for at least 2 years.
You can give it monthly or quarterly or all at once.
Follow that QR code on the handout and scroll down to the give section.
Your funds will go to the Jones County LifeWise program.
Second, if you can give more than $10, please do.
And if you know someone who might be a donor, please email me so I can talk with them.
There was a time when I would have been very hesitant to ask for funds - honestly, it wouldn’t have been that long ago.
But in my mind, there is a big difference between building a playground and changing the community where we live.
That’s how I view this.
Here is where I am and I pray you’ll join me here.
The most important thing I can do for anyone is show them the Jesus that has changed my life.
Whatever this kids are going through, Jesus will not only make it better, Jesus will make them super-conquerers.
I want them to have that.
I want to see them in heaven with us one day.
You can do as little and as much with LifeWise as you want, but know that what you do has the potential to change a child’s life.
So make sure you pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send workers.
That the fields that are white with harvest will be harvested.
Pray for your participation, for the leadership, for workers, pray for me
But most of all, pray for the schools and the children.
Please, join us in this community changing opportunity to show Jesus to Jones County.
You have my information.
You know who to pray for and who to contact.
Please, please, do this today.
Will you pray with me?
