The Plowman

The Demands of Perseverance [ 41:10 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (67)

Hebrews #23: an exposition of Hebrews 10:19-25. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 21, 2014.

Intro:
It is a cardinal doctrine for us.  It is central to our understanding of salvation.  We Baptist are known for our doctrine of eternal security or as it is popularly known, “Once saved, always saved.”  That once you come to saving faith you are forever saved.  You cannot lose your salvation.  It cannot be taken from you.  You are in Christ, Christ is in God the Father and no one can take you out of the Father’s hand – including you!  Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  In John 10 he said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who had given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”  That is secure.  Yet we all know people who were once committed to the church, seemed to have genuine faith, who have left the faith.  These folks seem to have no interest in the things of God.  Some have gone so far as to denounce the faith.  How is that possible?  On the one hand our doctrine, our theology says that once God begins a work in us He completes it.  Having redeemed us and justified us, His spirit is placed within us and begins a sanctification process that will carry us to glory – yet some seem to fall out along the way.

This is not an easy question.  I will admit my struggle to understand.  However I do know that I must not allow my experience or my perceptions interpret the Word of God.  The Word of God must always interpret my experience.  I begin with the understand that the Word of God is true and from there make sense of my experience.  I also must allow the whole counsel of God inform my understanding.  Scripture admonishes us to test the fruit of a person’s life in discerning their convictions.  Scripture also warns against placing new believers in leadership roles.  There is much to be said for the test of time.  The apostle John when speaking of some who had abandoned the faith says in 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” I am thoroughly convinced that the grace that saves us is the grace that keeps us.  Our salvation is of grace from beginning to end.  That does not mean it is easy.  That does not mean that there are no difficult days.  It does not mean there will not be times of backsliding and failing.  It does mean that ultimately we make it home to glory by God’s grace!

They were discouraged and struggling to believe.  Rejected by family and targeted by the government it was all they could do to just hang on.  The biblical writer pleads with them to continue in belief.  He speaks of the glory of Christ as God’s ultimate revelation of himself.  He is the effulgence, the shining forth of God’s glory.  The exact imprint of his divine nature.  He is our glorious, eternal high priest – seated at the right hand of God pleading our cause night and day without end.  Having laid the doctrinal foundation the writer now turns to application.  Our text this morning is found in Hebrews chapter 10 beginning with verse 19.

Text: Hebrews 10:19-25

I’m convinced this text helps us understand perseverance.
How do we stay faithful?
What can we do to ensure we continue in belief?

As we work our way through these few verses we discover that…

Thesis: Perseverance demands focus, determination and community.

I want to point to three demands of perseverance from this text.

1. Perseverance demands a single-hearted devotion.  (10:22)
2. Perseverance demands that we cling tenaciously to our blessed hope.  (10:23)
3. Perseverance demands that we commit passionately to our life together.  (10:24-25)

Our Glorious Salvation [ 42:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (70)

Hebrews #22: an exposition of Hebrews 10:1-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 14, 2014.

Intro:
It wasn’t that long ago belonging to the church was a great benefit.  Being a churchman gave you standing in the community.  It was good business to be a member of the “right” church.  Publicly professing your faith commended your character.  The church was respected.  Faith in Christ was an honorable thing.  Church schedules were given priority even in the community.  No ball games on church nights.  School functions respected church activities.  Prayer at ball games was expected.  Church doctrine was respected.  Not so much anymore.  Oh we know not everyone believed.  Not everyone was committed to the truth and authority of Scripture but biblical faith was treated with respect.  What happens when that is no longer the case?  What happens when the church no longer holds that honored position?  More than that what happens when the church and its doctrine are called into question?  When its cherished truths are considered foolish or even dangerous?  We are beginning to see.  Church attendance has rapidly declined.  Church closings are increasing.  Look in our own community.  Three churches have closed their doors others are fighting for their existence.  Along with falling numbers comes a loss of political and social clout.  Society’s moral compass has been calibrated to a new standard.  So that what once was considered evil is now declared good and what was good is now evil.  The result is a “falling away.”  Many are walking away from the faith of their youth.

Now, let’s look at this another way.  Yes, numbers don’t lie.  The church is not what it was.  However a closer look reveals the percentage of people who are deeply committed to the church.  Those who are convinced of the truth and authority of Scripture and are passionately committed to the church have not changed!  What has been lost are what we would consider “nominal” believers.  Believers in name but not in conviction.  Okay, but as the church declines and culture shifts, what happens when it is not just that the church has lost respect but the church is persecuted?  What happens when the church is considered the enemy?  Well, if God is there.  If the Bible is true…my question to you would be, “Where can you go?”  Do you remember when the crowds walked away from the Lord Jesus?  Jesus looked at his disciples and asked, “Will you go away as well?”  Peter said, “Where would we go?  You alone have the words of life” (John 6:68).  Salvation is found in Christ and in Christ alone!  That was the message to the Hebrew believers as they considered abandoning the faith and it is the message to us.  Our text this morning is found in Hebrews chapter 10.

Text: Hebrews 10:1-18

There world was crashing down around them.
Rejected by their families and targeted by the government – they struggled to believe.
Their was costly – 10:32-34.

The writer says to these frightened believers, “Hold on.  Christ is better than the best Rome or Judaism have to offer.”  He sets for the Lord Jesus as superior to angels, to Abraham, to the high priest and the whole sacrificial system.  As God’s final word he is unsurpassed in revealing God and in guaranteeing our acceptance before a holy God.

In this text the writer leaves no doubt…

Thesis: The sacrifice of Christ alone enables cleansing and forgiveness.

This is our greatest need.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of our sin is death.  Separation from God now and forever.  Left to ourselves, to our own devices, we are without hope.  But, the Gospel is that God has not left it to us.  He has redeemed us.  He has saved us.  There are three things about this salvation I want to point out from this text.

1. The biblical writer makes clear the weakness and ineffectiveness of the Old Covenant. (10:1-4)
2. The biblical writer declares the power of Christ to save. (10:5-10)
3. The biblical writer glories in what Christ has accomplished for us. (10:11-18)

Conclusion:
Christ died and rose again to make you and me perfect, forgiving us completely and renewing our hearts.  Heaven has been laid at our sinful feet.  There is no greater folly than to turn away from such a glorious salvation.

The Blood of Jesus [ 33:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (69)

Hebrews #21: an exposition of Hebrews 9:15-28. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 7, 2014.

Intro:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Some are horrified by these images.  Some say Christianity is a “slaughterhouse” religion.  All this talk of blood and sacrifice.  That’s just so primitive, so ancient!  We are too sophisticated for such nonsense.  Thus some are determined to “protect” God’s image by declaring such notions as the rantings of wild-eyed fundamentalists.  They prefer a religion that is less nauseating and more in tune with the finer things of life.  God’s role is to lovingly serve humanity.  They want no part of a God who is full of wrath and demands an accounting for sin.  But the fact is, our faith is a bloody faith.  The Old Testament system rests on a sea of blood.  The New Testament is clear, Christ came to die.  His death was no tragic consequence of mistaken identity or runaway religious fervor, it was the eternal plan and purpose of God.  The shedding of His blood, His dying is our only hope.  Our text this morning is found in the 9th chapter of Hebrews.

Text: Hebrews 9:15-28

In our text Christ is identified as mediator and testator.

Mediator = one who mediates between two parties.
He is the bridge that brings together God in His holiness and man in his sin.
One of the glorious things about his mediation is that it is both proactive and retroactive.
Proactive in that he paid for our sins.
Retroactive – (9:15) He paid for Israel’s sins!  It reaches all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

Testator = one who makes out a will.
Now a will is no good unless someone dies!

You could be listed in a will to inherit $100,000,000, your own Island and a glorious mansion but until the person who has so named you dies – you got nothing!

The writer of Hebrews informs us that Christ died putting the will into effect yet he lives enabling Him to mediate the covenant.  He is both the testator and the mediator.  The same word is used throughout.  In verse 15 it is used in a religious sense thus “covenant.”  In verses 16-17 in a legal sense thus “will.”

The biblical writer has been talking about Christ as our great high priest.  In the first half of chapter 9 we discovered the glory of the New Covenant is found in the substance of Christ’s death and what that death actually accomplished.  This morning’s text follows that same theme.  As we work our way through the text we are reminded that…

Thesis: Our blessed hope, as the people of God, is that the blood of Jesus Christ atones for our sin.

There are two (2) things I want to point out in relation to this text.

1. The necessity of blood is clearly revealed by the Old Testament system.  (9:18-22)
   The Law was initiated with blood
   The tabernacle was initiated with blood
   This underscoring two important truths:
   1. The seriousness of sin
   2. The cost of forgiveness
2. The efficacy of blood is gloriously demonstrated by what Christ has done.  (9:23-28)

Just what has the death of Christ accomplished?
The short answer is found in verse 26:
“…But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

This is made possible because of…

A better sacrifice – 9:23
A better representative – 9:24
A greater power – 9:25-28
And gives us…A greater hope – 9:28b

The Glory of the New Covenant [ 42:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (88)

Hebrews #20: an exposition of Hebrews 9:1-15. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 31, 2014.

Intro:
We love spectacle.  We want to be thrilled.  We desire to “feel” something.  It’s not enough to know the truth or to be assured of reality, we need some sensation to confirm our conviction.  “God was really present, I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”  “It must be true something just came over me and I can’t explain it.”  Add to that our love of ceremony and the fact we want to “do” something to gain the favor of God it’s understandable why it can be difficult to simply believe.  Can saving faith be as simple as acknowledging I’m a sinner and then trust in what Christ has done on the cross?  Understand that I am helpless and throw myself on the mercy of God in Christ?  No ceremony?  No ritual?  No service to perform to prove I mean it?  How can that be?  It sounds too simple.  It sounds too simple because you’ve not yet come to understand just how desperate you really are.

You’ve not yet come to understand that our problem is that we are radically sinful.  Sinful to the core, the radius of our being.  Everything about us is marred or tainted by sin.  Our mind, our will, our emotions, everything.  Thus anything we do is touched by sin.  We cannot save ourselves.  Salvation is wholly the work of God.  We are saved by the mercy and grace of God.  We are dead in trespass and sins.  Dead people don’t do anything for themselves!  Dead people are wholly dependent upon others.  We are saved because of what Christ has done.  His perfect life lived in full obedience to the Father.  His death on the cross as our substitute.  He is our propitiation.  We’ve been reconciled to God by His blood.  Our part?  To trust in Christ and Him alone.  When the winds of doubt begin to blow – look to Christ.  When feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness begin to swirl about you – look to Christ.  When fears threaten to overwhelm – look to Christ.  Your security, your certainty of salvation is not dependent upon your ability to believe but the power of Christ to save.  Our text this morning is found in the 9th chapter of Hebrews.

Text: Hebrews 9:1-15

They were struggling to believe.
Life had become increasingly difficult.
Hardship and sufferings abound.
Their minds said, “Just give up.  Walk away.  It’s just not worth it.”
The biblical writer responds, “It is the only thing worthy of your trust.”
“If you walk away – there is nothing that can save you.”

He has been pointing to Christ as our Great High Priest.  He is better than the angels, He is greater than Abraham, He is God’s ultimate revelation.  He is better than anything Judaism or Rome has to offer.  The old order, the Old Covenant is inadequate.  It is weak and worthless.  We have a New Covenant based upon superior promises.  The New does what the Old could never do.  In our text this morning the comparison between the Old and New continues.

This text makes it clear that…

Thesis: The glory of the New Covenant rests securely in the substance of Christ’s death and what His death actually accomplished.

Remember we have been told that all those things connected to the Old Covenant (the sacrifices, the rituals, the ceremonies) were copies or shadows of heavenly realities (8:5).  That our hope and confidence rests in the fact that Christ entered the “true tent” not set up by man – He entered heaven itself, the presence of God, and offered not the blood of bulls and goats but himself for our sin.  Then the writer gave an extensive quote from Jeremiah 31 about the glory of the New Covenant.  That’s where our text picks up.  I want to point out two things.

1.  The Old Covenant, though awe-inspiring and a grand spectacle, proves to be wholly inadequate in meeting our greatest need.  (9:1-10)
2. The New Covenant, though horrifying in appearance and uninspiring on the surface, gloriously fulfills our greatest need.  (9:11-14)

Conclusion:
How do you have your sins forgiven and experience the cleansing of your conscience and enter into the joy of the New Covenant?  You look to Jesus and you say along with Horatius Bonar,

I lay my sins on Jesus
The spotless lamb of God;
He bears them all, and frees us
From the accursed load:
I bring my guilt to Jesus.
To wash my crimson stains
White in His blood most precious,
Till not a stain remains!

Looking to Christ: the Key to Perseverance [ 36:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (89)

Hebrews #19: an exposition of Hebrews 8:1-13. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 24, 2014.

Intro:
Do you ever get discouraged?  Do you sometimes find it hard to believe?  Ever have those times when so many things go wrong that you wonder if maybe, just maybe, it isn’t true?  God isn’t really there.  Or at least He’s not that interested or concerned about your struggle?  Never?  Do you lie about other things too?  Living for Christ in this sin-laden world is a struggle.  Ordering your life according to the Word of God is not easy – especially when it seems you’re the only one doing it!  Living out the truth of our faith is difficult because it holds us to a higher standard.  It makes demands that are difficult to fulfill.  Love your enemies?  Pray for those who persecute you?  Turn the other cheek?  Deny yourself?  In a world that is clamoring for personal rights and personal choice and freedom we are told, “Count others as more important than yourself.”  So what do you do when the world around you is perfectly happy with the idea of your dying?  How do you continue on in the faith when the culture is bent on stamping out your faith?  How do you remain faithful when your faith is labeled “dangerous,” “subversive,” or “criminal?”  This is nothing new for the people of God.  It began early in the life of the church and continues to this day.

A small group of Hebrew believers were struggling to hang on to their faith.  Abandoned by their families and declared enemies of the state they faltered.  The biblical writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote to encourage them.  To give them reasons to believe.  Reasons to remain faithful.  Consistently he called on them to look to Christ.  He pled with them to fix their eyes on the Lord Jesus.  Consider what He had done.  What He had accomplished.  What He continued to do on their behalf.  His first century advice is just as valid today.  Our text this morning is found in the 8th chapter of Hebrews.

Text: Hebrews 8:1-13

When you falter – how do you go on?
When tempted to away from the faith – how do you continue on?
When discouragement becomes your constant companion – what enables you to believe?

Hebrews chapter 8 beginning with verse 1…

Thesis: When overwhelmed by life’s heartache and struggles; when you are tempted to walk away from your faith; look to Christ and find reason to continue on in the faith.

As we look to Christ in our text I want to point out 3 important realities.

1. Look to Christ and consider the glory of His finished work. (8:1-2)
2. Look to Christ and be amazed by what He has done. (8:2-7)
3. Look to Christ and rest in the wonder of what His work has accomplished. (8:8-13)

Conclusion:

When overwhelmed by life’s heartache and struggles; when you are tempted to walk away from your faith; look to Christ and find reason to continue on in the faith.

See Him seated at God’s right hand praying for you.  Understand that He bore your sin in His own body and has transferred His righteousness to your account.  He has become your God and you are His child.  You have been forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness and have been assured His continued mercy and grace.

Is your marriage in trouble?  Look to Christ.
Do you have a wayward child?  Look to Christ.
Are you burdened about your finances?  Look to Christ.
Worried about your future?  Look to Christ.

Standard Podcast [ 34:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (69)

Hebrews #17: An exposition of Hebrews 7:11-19. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 10, 2014.

Intro:
It was perfect.  That is the only word to describe it.  The beauty of the place was beyond description.  The Creator and His creature walked together in the cool of the day.  They lived in perfect harmony.  There was glorious unity.  There were no cemeteries.  No junk yards.  It was perfect.  Then it happened.  The beauty was destroyed.  Unity was broken.  That perfect world was shattered.  The creature had become the rebel.  Now chaos and confusion reigned.  Love and fellowship were replaced by fear and separation.  Distrust took the place of trust.  All because sin had entered the world.

Man was now less than human.  We say, “To err is human.”  Well not really.  To be human is what we were intended to be.  Man and woman were created in the image and likeness of God.  Both were without sin.  Both walked in fellowship with God.  But when Adam rebelled against God’s command he became less than what he was.  Ever since then we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.  Every man, woman, boy and girl is marred by sin.  We are “radically” sinful.  Meaning we are sinful to the core.  Sin has affected everything.  Our mind, our will, our emotions and our spirit.  So that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God.  While we are radically sinful God is radically holy.  Holiness is at the core of His being.  He is transcendent, other, distinct and different.  Because God is holy and we are sinful the only way we relate to one another is as Righteous Judge and condemned sinner.  Because I am radically sinful I can never “clean up” my act.  I can never overcome my sin by self-effort.  I need a deliverer.  I need someone from outside to rescue me.

Religion is an attempt to bridge that gap.  It is a means by which sinners can have access to God.  A means of fellowship or relationship.  The Gospel is the good news that God has bridged that gap.  That God has made it possible for sinners to enter the presence of God.  Our text this morning is found in the 7th chapter of Hebrews.

Text: Hebrews 7:11-19

This book was originally written to encourage struggling believers.
1st century Jewish Christians who were tempted to abandon the faith.
Due to rejection and persecution many walked away from the faith.
The writer urges them to continue in faith – there is no other way to God’s presence.
Christ is better than the best that Judaism has to offer.
Christ is God’s final/ultimate word.
He is the effulgence, the shinning forth of God’s glory, the exact representation of His nature.
Christ is better than the angels.
He is a superior high priest.

This again is the subject of our text this morning.  Look at verse 11 and then verse 19:
11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

“Perfected” in the context means presentable to God.  Given access to God’s presence.  Made fit for the presence of God.

From this text we discover that…

Thesis: Christ does for us what the law could never do, usher us into the presence of the Living God holy, accepted and dearly loved.

Verse 11 speaks of what the old system, the law, could not do – make perfect.
Verse 19 speaks of our better hope through which we draw near to God.

“Draw near” implies love, acceptance and intimacy.

I want to point out 2 things in our text.

1.  The inadequacy of the old system demonstrated by its limited access to the presence of God.  (7:11-14)
2.  The superiority of the our High Priest in guaranteeing our acceptance before God.  (7:15-19)

Conclusion:
The old order was incapable of making perfect (7:11).
What about the Lord Jesus?
He entered behind the veil – into heaven itself.
Do you remember from the cross he cried, “It is finished!”

In the temple – the curtain or veil that separated the holy of holies was torn in two – top to bottom.  Laid open.  Now all may come into God’s presence through the Lord Jesus who made the once and for all sacrifice.  Because of Christ we are accepted and beloved.

Through Christ a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

• Fellowship restored.
• The curse is broken.
• Sin has been removed.

That’s the gospel and it is glorious!