Clean Transcript

Hardened Hearts - Part 3

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• Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1.

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• I want to finish that little brief series on hardened hearts.

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• This is actually the third message.

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• I will take a few minutes to review, especially since the last one has been several weeks past.

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• So, Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1.

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• The Bible says, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."

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• So this is the third message in this brief series, and I will certainly want to encourage you not only just in keeping your hearts, but to make sure that your hearts do not become hardened.

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• Astoundingly, we discovered in Mark chapter 6 and Mark chapter 8 that it was not just unbelievers that can have hardened hearts, but Christians can have hardened hearts as well.

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• Undoubtedly, most of us have never, ever really considered the implications of hardened hearts.

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• Our Lord said in Mark chapter 6 and verse 52, "For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened."

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• And He's talking there about His disciples.

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• Then in Mark 8 and verse 17, "When Jesus knew it, He saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread?"

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• "Perceive ye not, neither do ye understand."

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• "Have ye your heart yet hardened?"

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• Remember I told you that the word "hardened" is from the Greek word poroō, which is actually from the word pōros, which is a kind of stone.

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• It is also translated "blind" twice in our Bibles.

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• But the word actually means to cover with a callous, or to cover with a thick skin.

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• It means to make the heart grow dull, to grow hard, to become dull, and to lose the power of understanding.

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• So the word actually refers to an obtuseness of mental discernment, a dull perception, a lack of consideration, and a lack of understanding.

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• You remember in the first message I pointed out that there were three things that led to a hardened heart.

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• The first one was imperfect consideration, the second one was improper reasoning, and the third one then was an incomplete perception.

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• So in the second message, I actually dealt with 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 13 through 16, where Paul told Timothy that he was to meditate upon reading, exhortation, and doctrine.

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• These were the things he was to give his attention to.

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• And the word "meditate" actually means to care for, to carefully attend to, to be diligent in, to practice, and to apply.

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• And so Timothy was basically to give himself to those things.

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• So I pointed out the fact that to prevent hardened hearts, the one thing that we must do is to consider the Word of God predominantly.

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• In other words, the Word of God is to be foremost in our thinking.

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• It is to be foremost in our lives.

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• While we are not able to give absolutely perfect consideration of things, at least we can give a persistent, practical, and perpetual consideration of things.

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• You remember that passage in 2 Peter, chapter 1, where the Bible tells us that according to His divine power, He had given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.

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• So God then has given us in His Word everything that we need to live a holy life and a godly life.

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• Now, I then took the illustration of sickness and I showed you the sources of sickness based upon the Word of God.

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• And I ended up showing that Christians should always be willing to submit to their Heavenly Father.

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• So, we may not be able to witness our Lord's miracles the way the apostles and the early disciples did, since obviously we were not there, and they were.

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• And we certainly can read about them in His Word, and we consider the implications of them.

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• So, we must consider the Word of God predominantly.

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• I'm going to take up from there where I left off.

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• The second thing is, we must consider the Son of God preeminently.

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• That's why we look at Hebrews 3 and verse 1.

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• He says, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."

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• Now the word "consider" is an imperative, which means it is a command.

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• It means to consider, to behold, to perceive, to discover, to understand.

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• It means that we are to fix our hearts and our minds upon Him, and we are attentively to focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• Now, let me show you the implication of this word "consider."

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• I want you to hold Hebrews 3, but look back in your Bibles, first of all, to Matthew chapter 7.

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• Matthew 7 and verse 3, then we'll go to the book of Luke.

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• But let me show you the same exact Greek word.

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• Notice Matthew 7 and verse 3.

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• In this particular verse, our Lord says this, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

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• Now the mote is something extremely small, and of course the beam is something extremely large.

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• So He said, why in the world are you beholding,

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• focusing upon the mote, the little tiny splinter that is in your brother's eye, but you're not even considering, you're not even thinking about, you're not even paying attention to the beam that is in your own eye.

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• Well, if you'll look in Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12, and I want us to look at verse 24.

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• Luke 12, verse 24.

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• Here's the word again.

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• Luke 12, verse 24.

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• Our Lord says, "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them."

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• "How much more are ye better than the fowls?"

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• So He tells us, "Consider the ravens."

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• Pay attention to them.

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• Look how God supplies their needs and how God takes care of them.

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• Then if you'll skip down to verse 27, He says it again, "Consider the lilies how they grow, they toil not, they spin not, yet I say unto you that Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

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• When you read these passages you can understand the implication of the word "consider."

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• We may really truly consider our own thoughts, our own sins.

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• We may consider the ravens and we may consider the lilies.

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• But according to Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1, we are to consider the Lord Jesus Christ preeminently.

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• That is, He is to be first and foremost in our thinking as well.

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• Now the Apostle Paul said basically the same thing in the book of Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 and 2.

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• He said, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is on the right hand of God."

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• "For your life is hid with Christ in God, and ye are dead."

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• And so Christ is our life.

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• So he said, if we're dead, we're to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

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• When you look at Hebrews 3 and verse 1, he says, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."

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• So this command then is basically to consider the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as His person.

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• Because Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King.

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• And as we consider these offices, we have to remember that He is the one and only Mediator between God and men.

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• You remember the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 5 and 6, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due times."

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• So when you consider the Lord Jesus Christ, when you consider His office of Prophet, Priest, and King, when you consider who He is, He is the perfect and absolute mediator.

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• Now, a mediator is nothing more than a go-between.

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• So, if, for instance, Francis and David were having a big argument, I would come to mediate.

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• I would be a go-between.

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• I would keep them away from each other's throat.

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• I would divide them.

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• And I would represent Francis to David, and I would represent David to Francis.

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• Okay?

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• That's the mediator.

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• Jesus Christ is the perfect mediator because He is the God-man.

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• He is God in the flesh.

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• So, on the one hand, He can certainly represent His Father, who is God, who is holy and just and righteous.

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• And on the other hand, since He is perfect man, He can also represent us.

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• In fact, our Lord was even classed with us, so to speak.

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• So, if you look in Hebrews chapter 2, beginning there with verse 16, I'll show you what I mean.

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• Hebrews 2 verse 16.

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• The Bible says, "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham."

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• "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."

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• "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted."

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• So in light then of our Lord's person, His position, His power, including His offices as Prophet, Priest, and King, we are commanded to consider Him.

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• Now the book of Hebrews further exalts our Lord and demonstrates His uniqueness and His capacity and His qualifications to fulfill His offices.

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• For instance, look in Hebrews chapter 4, beginning there with verse 14.

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• Hebrews 4, verse 14.

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• He says, "Seeing that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

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• "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

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• "Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace, that we may attain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need."

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• So he says Jesus Christ has suffered in every way that we have suffered, yet without sin.

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• So He hungered, He thirsted, I mean, He was betrayed, He was forsaken, He was ridiculed, He was mocked, and so therefore we are told in Hebrews 3:1 that we are to consider Him preeminently, not just as our great high priest, but for the fact that as that great high priest, He understands everything about us, and He is the one that undertakes for us.

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• about us, and He is the one that undertakes for us.

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• Moreover, let me point something out in considering Jesus Christ.

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• When we think about sin, especially when we're tempted to sin, and each one of us are tempted in various ways.

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• One of my favorite stories actually revolves around the scripture when it says, "Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof," but I remember the reading about the little boy whose father told him not to go swimming in the canal.

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• The father happened to come home early, and he caught the little boy coming out of the canal with his swimming trunks on.

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• And so he confronted him.

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• He said, "Son, I thought I told you not to go swimming."

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• He said, "Yes, Dad, you did, but I was tempted."

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• He said, "Well, son, why did you bring your swimming trunks?"

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• He said, "In case I got tempted."

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• Well, that's the way we usually are.

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• We are not to make any provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof, but when we are tempted to violate His law and transgress His commandments and act disobediently, the one thing that would really stop us and hinder us is if we really consider His sufferings.

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• Let me explain it like this.

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• I've heard people say, "Well, I tried to resist, but I just grew so tired of resisting, you know, I just figured I might as well give in and get it over with."

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• You know?

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• Well, look in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12.

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• None of us have ever endured and none of us have ever suffered the way our Lord has suffered.

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• Watch, if you would, please.

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• Hebrews chapter 12, beginning with verse 1.

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• The Scripture says, "Wherefore, seeing we are also 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, 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 hand of the throne of God."

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• faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

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• Now watch verse 3.

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• "For consider him," there's that word again, "consider."

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• "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

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• "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."

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• Now if you remember correctly, when our Lord was praying in the garden, He sweat great drops of blood. And He prayed, "Not my will but thine be done."

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• And so here's what our Lord is telling us.

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• And by the way, the word "resisted" here actually means to resist, to stand against, to dispose troops and set them in battle array.

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• And the word "striving," watch what he said, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."

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• The word "striving" here is very unique.

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• It's antagōnizomai.

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• The Greek word agōnizomai is where we get our English word "agonize."

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• He said you haven't yet agonized against sin until you have bled, or until you've bled out.

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• So actually what the author of Hebrews 12 is saying here, don't go complaining and don't go offering excuse that your temptation was so great because you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

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• You haven't let out.

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• You have not really, genuinely fought against it.

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• So, he's telling us that we cannot quit, we cannot give in, we cannot give up, we cannot yield to temptation because we have not resisted unto blood.

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• If we wish to be victorious over sin, if we wish to be overcomers, then according to the book of Hebrews, we must consider the Son of God preeminently.

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• We must not only consider His person, His power, His position, His offices, we're also to consider His service and His suffering.

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• Now, so we must consider the Word of God predominantly, we must consider the Son of God preeminently, and thirdly, to prevent our hearts from becoming hardened, we must consider the work of God providentially.

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• Now, I would imagine that everyone in this room can quote Romans 8 and verse 28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."

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• Now let me repeat just some of that.

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• "And we," what?

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• No.

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• "We know."

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• Do you really, truly, genuinely, sincerely know?

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• Do you know that God works everything out for our good?

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• Now the word "know" is the Greek word oida which means to see.

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• It means to perceive with the eyes, to perceive with the senses, to observe and to attend as an absolute and certain fact or reality.

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• So the question is, do you really truly know?

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• Do you know that God works everything out for our good and His glory?

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• Once you understand that there is no such thing as luck, chance, fate, or fortune in a world that is ruled by God, it is God in His sovereign providence that allows things to come to pass in our lives.

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• And the truth is, that absolutely nothing can happen apart from God.

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• Now, it is true that God uses means.

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• If I were to ask you, why did God allow Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be thrown into the fiery furnace?

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• Probably most people would respond, and correctly so, He did so for His own honor and glory and to demonstrate His mighty power that He can preserve His people.

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• That's a good answer.

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• So here's another question.

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• Why did God allow Samson to lose his power, to be afflicted by his adversaries, and to finally die with them?

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• Well, now you could respond inaccurately so, for God's own honor and God's own glory.

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• That is true.

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• But you have to remember this, that God also allows us to reap what we sow, and we could answer that Samson was reaping the consequences of his sins of fornication and rebellion to his parents.

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• So, the truth is, we do have trials, we do have temptations, we do have troubles of our own making. Moreover, we have certain trials brought upon us by God's absolute sovereignty.

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• Job, for instance, did not make his specific trial.

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• God just sovereignly brought it upon him for His own honor and His own glory.

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• Many times we find ourselves under chastisement.

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• Many times we find ourselves under judgment.

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• And the question would be, do we take the position that Eli took in 1 Samuel 3, verse 18, when little Samuel told Eli what God was going to do to him and to his house, Eli responded, "It is the Lord. Let him do to him what seemeth him good."

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• "Let him do to him what seemeth him good."

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• "Let him do what seemeth him good."

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• Just let him do it.

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• He's God.

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• I submit.

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• I surrender.

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• So do we rebel against God or do we submit to God?

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• I will tell you this, the easiest and the quickest way out of a trial is just by submission to God.

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• Because the more we fight, the more we rebel, the worse it gets.

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• Okay?

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• Andrew Murray has been dead for a long time.

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• He was going through a specific trial, he was really being persecuted, and he had preached, and he was viciously attacked by another preacher.

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• And so he retired to his room and spent the night basically praying, was going to stay in and rest the next morning.

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• And before he could even get any rest, there was a knock on his door.

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• And his hostess handed him a note from another individual who was going through a great trial.

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• And so instead of him speaking, he just handed a piece of paper to her through the door and he said, "Please give her this."

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• "It's what I have just come to in the realization of my own trial."

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• And here is what the paper said.

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• I want you to listen.

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• Andrew Murray wrote, "First, He brought me here.

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• It is by His will that I am in this great place.

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• And in that fact I will rest.

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• Next, He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.

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• Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn and working in me the grace He means to bestow.

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• Last, in His good time He will bring me out again, how and when He knows.

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• Let me say that I am here by God's appointment, in His keeping, under His training, for His time."

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• Isn't that amazing?

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• And that is certainly true.

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• That which is true of us individually is also true of us nationally.

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• I don't care where you go in this country, Christians are concerned over the state of our nation, and rightly so.

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• Let me give you an illustration.

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• For instance, if you harm the egg of an eagle, you may be subjected to a $250,000 fine and face two years in prison.

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• But, it is legal in this country for a woman to have an abortion and murder her own child, basically, for any reason she so chooses, and that abortion is now subsidized by tax dollars.

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• So, we see them that sin in wickedness are made legal by a perverted, ungodly, tyrannical government according to Psalm 94, verses 20 and 21.

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• So we've brought this judgment upon ourselves by our own disobedience to God and His law.

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• We've sown the wind and we're reaping the whirlwind.

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• Robert L.

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• Dabney was aide-de-camp to Stonewall Jackson.

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• He was also a Presbyterian pastor, theologian, author. Here is what he wrote in 1897.

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• It may have been said before then, but it was published in 1897.

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• Listen.

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• He wrote, "The history of human rights is that their intelligent ancestors usually learn the true grounds of them in the furnace of affliction, that the posterity who inherit these rights hold them for a while

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• in pride and an ignorant prescription that after a while, when the true logic of the rights have been forgotten, and when some plausible temptation presses them to do so, the next generation discards the precious rights bodily and goes back to the practice of the old tyranny.

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• You may deem it a strange prophecy, but I will predict that the time will come in this once free America when the battle for religious liberty will have to be fought over again and will probably be lost, because the people are already ignorant of its true basis and conditions."

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• 1897.

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• 1897.

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• There cannot be any civil liberty without spiritual liberty.

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• The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

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• And what is happening in this country is what is happening in individual lives.

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• Our politicians, our leaders, and our people in general are seeking morality, liberty, and freedom apart from God and apart from God's law.

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• And they're thinking that somehow in their humanistic mindset that they're going to attain some perfect state.

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• It is absolutely impossible.

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• Humanism cannot produce morality.

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• Humanism cannot produce freedom.

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• We must consider not only the Word of God predominantly, the Son of God preeminently, we must consider the work of God in providence as well, and we must consider it.

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• because God is the one who brings everything together and brings everything to pass.

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• Fourthly, we must consider the worship of God perpetually.

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• The unhappy truth in Christendom is this.

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• Most Christians only think about worshiping our Lord on Sunday.

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• Now, there are a few people who worship Him on Saturday.

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• That is public worship.

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• And there is a difference between private worship and public worship.

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• But the truth of the matter is, our Lord should be worshipped perpetually, both privately and publicly, when it is needed and necessary and deemed that we should.

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• You know the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

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• So if I'm eating my dinner or if I'm drinking a glass of water, it is to be to God's honor and God's glory.

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• It is to be a worshipful act, even the wife washing dishes is a worshipful act as long as she washes those dishes for God's honor and God's glory.

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• Plowing a field as long as you plow in faith is indeed for God's honor and God's glory and it is an act of worship.

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• The Apostle Paul said it as well, in Colossians 3, verses 23 and 24, listen to what he said, "...and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of your inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ."

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• Whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord.

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• So it doesn't matter whether you're eating, whether you're drinking, whatever you're doing, it is to be worship.

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• The glory of God and the worship of God is to be perpetual in our lives.

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• One of the best known catechetical questions is actually from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

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• Most people know it.

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• The question is, "What is the chief end of man?"

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• And the answer is, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."

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• Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

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• Do you realize you cannot worship God without glorifying Him?

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• And you cannot glorify Him without worshiping Him.

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• And moreover, whenever you praise the Lord, you are glorifying Him and you are worshiping Him.

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• Because the Bible says in Psalm 50 verse 23, "Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth Me."

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• So whenever we praise the Lord for life and health and sleep and rest, for all of His multitudinous benefits, when we thank Him, when we give Him the honor and the glory, we're actually worshipping Him.

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• It may not be in a formal setting, but we are still actually worshipping Him.

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• Stonewall Jackson was one of the godliest saints.

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• And he made it a habit to pray and to praise and worship God in everything that he did.

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• I want you to listen.

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• He said, and I'm quoting, "I have so fixed the habit in my own mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without a moment's asking of God's blessing.

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• I never seal a letter without putting a word of prayer under the seal.

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• I never take a letter from the post without a brief sending of my thoughts heavenward.

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• He taught at VMI.

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• He says, "I never change classes in the section room without a minute's petition on the cadets who go out and those who come in."

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• So everything he did, he bathed in prayer.

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• His great refuge lay in prayer.

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• He habitually prayed.

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• You have to remember that it was through death he lost his first wife, he lost a child.

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• In fact, he lost practically everyone that he loved.

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• But he came to adore the Lord with the intensity of a child.

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• And he understood the love of God could never be taken from him.

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• One of the men who knew Stonewall Jackson said this, a member of his own congregation, he said, "It would be difficult to find in the entire Presbyterian Church any other member who disciplined himself so strictly, obeyed what he believed to be the will of God so absolutely, prayed so fervently, and found so much happiness in his religion."

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• much happiness in his religion.

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• Why?

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• And the answer is because he worshipped God perpetually.

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• Everything that he did was an act of worship, whether you eat, whether you drink, do all to the honor and glory of God.

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• If everything that you're doing is for God's honor and glory, you're going to have a very difficult time letting your heart become hardened.

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• There's one other thought today, and that is this.

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• We must consider the worthlessness of self practically.

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• The worthlessness of self practically.

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Romans chapter 12.

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• And as you're turning to Romans chapter 12, I want to point out another problem that we have today in Christendom.

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• And that is we are anthropocentric instead of theocentric.

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• Anthrōpos is the Greek word for man.

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• Anthropocentric just simply means man-centered.

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• Theocentric means God-centered since theos is the Greek word for God.

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• So one of the problems we have is that we are man-centered instead of God-centered.

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• While there is indeed value to the human soul, there is very little value to self.

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• which includes pride, ambition, arrogance, self-will.

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• Look what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12 and verse 3.

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• Romans 12 verse 3.

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• Paul says, "For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,

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• but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

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• Note what he said, that we're not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but we are to think soberly.

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• One of the greatest problems we have is most people tend to think more highly of themselves than they should.

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• Do you realize that one of the sins that God hates, and He hates intensely, is that of pride?

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• I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs chapter 6.

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• I want to read this passage and let you see exactly what I'm about to proclaim.

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• Look in Proverbs chapter 6, and let's begin reading with verse 16, and we'll read through verse 19.

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• Proverbs 6, verse 16, "These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination to him."

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• What is it?

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• "A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren."

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• Hmm.

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• You know, each one of these things basically involve self and selfishness.

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• Doesn't matter if you're talking about a false witness or feet that be swift in running to mischief.

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• It's all self and it's all selfishness and it's all pride.

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• And these are the things that God hates.

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• If you will turn over in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 17.

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• Jeremiah 17.

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• In fact, the truth of the matter is, there is a curse placed by God upon those who actually trust in the flesh and lean upon the flesh.

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• In Jeremiah chapter 17, look at verses 5 through 8.

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• Jeremiah 17, beginning with verse 5, "Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

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• For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabit it.

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• Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

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• For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh.

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• But her leaves shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."

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• So here's a picture of two different individuals, one who trusts in man and trusts in the arm of the flesh, and the other who trusts in God.

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• The one who trusts in the arm of the flesh ultimately ends up perishing.

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• The one who trusts in the Lord is the one who's going to be fruitful regardless of the season.

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• So we're talking about considering self practically.

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• You remember our Lord said in John 15 in verse 5, talking about all of our abilities and all of our power, He said, "Without me ye can do what?"

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• Nothing.

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• You can do absolutely nothing.

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• So if I'm going to properly assess myself, I have to come to the realization that I am nothing and I can do nothing in and of myself.

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• So therefore I must actually depend upon the Lord.

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• Do you know what the middle verse of the Bible is?

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• The middle verse of the Bible is Psalm 118 and verse 8.

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• And it says this, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

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• The next verse is very clear as well.

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• Verse 9, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."

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• So he's telling you, you don't trust in yourself and you don't trust in government.

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• You trust in the Lord Himself.

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• So if we're not going to have our hearts hardened, then the truth of the matter is, we have to consider the Word of God predominantly, we have to consider the Son of God preeminently, we have to consider the work of God providentially, we have to consider the worship of God perpetually, and we have to consider the worthlessness of self practically.

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• have to consider the worthlessness of self practically.

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• Well, if we want to escape a hardened heart, we must follow the counsel that Paul gave to Timothy.

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• What did he tell him?

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• In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 7, he said, and here's this word again, "Consider what I say unto thee, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things."

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• So God must give us understanding, but He's only going to do it as we consider these things that He's given us.

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• We're not only to keep our hearts, we're to keep our hearts from becoming hardened.

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• And the only way we can do that is by proper consideration of the things that He's laid out for us in His Word.

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• Let's pray.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for Your grace, Your mercy, Your help.

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• We pray that You would teach us, that You would build us up in the most holy faith, and Lord, that You would indeed enable us to keep our hearts, and Lord, that You would enable us to keep them from being hardened.

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• May we trust in Thee and look to Thee.

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• In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray.

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• Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T14:07:39Z