1 00:00:02,925 --> 00:00:05,825 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our heavenly Father and the 2 00:00:05,825 --> 00:00:07,225 Lord Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:09,125 --> 00:00:11,925 Our text is taken from the passage, just read. 4 00:00:14,325 --> 00:00:17,725 As has just been said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your 5 00:00:17,725 --> 00:00:19,425 hearts as you did in the rebellion. 6 00:00:23,225 --> 00:00:26,425 In the parish, many of you will be required to produce a sermon every 7 00:00:26,425 --> 00:00:26,825 week. 8 00:00:27,325 --> 00:00:28,825 Sometimes a couple per week. 9 00:00:30,025 --> 00:00:32,825 Some of you may not be permitted to do so, but you might also be 10 00:00:32,825 --> 00:00:35,525 challenged by a Bible study along the same lines. 11 00:00:38,125 --> 00:00:40,725 The point is you're going to look at three or four texts, if you count 12 00:00:40,725 --> 00:00:41,525 the Psalms. 13 00:00:43,225 --> 00:00:45,725 And you're going to think about what to do for that week 14 00:00:46,725 --> 00:00:48,025 or perhaps next week 15 00:00:49,425 --> 00:00:50,525 if you're ahead of things. 16 00:00:52,625 --> 00:00:55,025 You would look at the texts and may say to yourself. 17 00:00:55,425 --> 00:00:57,325 That one's too hard 18 00:00:58,325 --> 00:00:59,825 so I won't preach on it. 19 00:01:00,325 --> 00:01:04,325 Or maybe that one doesn't really fit the church's situation right now 20 00:01:04,925 --> 00:01:06,825 and skip it or something like that. 21 00:01:07,925 --> 00:01:09,725 The point is, you will have a modicum of free 22 00:01:09,725 --> 00:01:12,225 will that Chapel preachers 23 00:01:12,225 --> 00:01:13,125 do not enjoy. 24 00:01:17,025 --> 00:01:19,425 We get the text, we're assigned and that's pretty much it. 25 00:01:20,525 --> 00:01:22,425 And that's how I feel about this text. 26 00:01:23,525 --> 00:01:24,125 Sorry. 27 00:01:25,825 --> 00:01:29,225 As I looked at it, there was not any discernible gospel in any obvious 28 00:01:29,225 --> 00:01:29,625 way. 29 00:01:33,025 --> 00:01:33,925 In addition 30 00:01:35,325 --> 00:01:37,325 it didn't seem connected to the other texts, all that 31 00:01:37,325 --> 00:01:37,825 well. 32 00:01:39,325 --> 00:01:41,625 It would have been one that I would have probably skipped. 33 00:01:43,325 --> 00:01:45,025 But I would have been wrong. 34 00:01:47,225 --> 00:01:47,825 You see 35 00:01:49,925 --> 00:01:53,025 Tt text is perfect for that sin about the Pericopal system 36 00:01:53,025 --> 00:01:54,325 I just mentioned 37 00:01:55,425 --> 00:01:57,525 and that leads to some at least he preaching. 38 00:01:59,425 --> 00:02:03,725 Sen a sin that only a few of us in any given week have but it's nonetheless 39 00:02:03,725 --> 00:02:04,425 present. 40 00:02:05,825 --> 00:02:09,625 And as this text could encourages, the confession of sin 41 00:02:09,625 --> 00:02:12,325 I will freely confess that briefly 42 00:02:12,325 --> 00:02:14,725 I wanted to find the people who chose this text 43 00:02:16,525 --> 00:02:19,225 and ask them deeply and existentially. 44 00:02:19,825 --> 00:02:20,725 Why? 45 00:02:26,125 --> 00:02:27,425 This text is important 46 00:02:27,425 --> 00:02:27,925 however 47 00:02:29,925 --> 00:02:32,125 because there is sin in our community. 48 00:02:33,325 --> 00:02:34,925 That Remains unconfessed. 49 00:02:36,225 --> 00:02:38,425 And there is a lack of brother and sisterhood 50 00:02:39,725 --> 00:02:40,725 that needs addressing. 51 00:02:42,225 --> 00:02:45,225 And there is a kind of lack of warmth that has fostered by too much 52 00:02:45,225 --> 00:02:45,925 busyness 53 00:02:47,125 --> 00:02:49,025 and too little real fellowship. 54 00:02:52,125 --> 00:02:55,425 Here is a passage that reminds us that as Christians one of the 55 00:02:55,425 --> 00:02:58,425 deepest and tough tightest, things we can do with one another 56 00:03:00,025 --> 00:03:02,425 is the confession of sins to one another. 57 00:03:04,325 --> 00:03:07,625 The admission that we are strong, but rather not strong but rather 58 00:03:07,625 --> 00:03:08,125 weak. 59 00:03:09,825 --> 00:03:13,025 I don't think this author is really referring to the kind of group 60 00:03:13,025 --> 00:03:17,125 speak corporate confession that we typically engage in that is 61 00:03:17,125 --> 00:03:19,025 significant and useful as well. 62 00:03:20,625 --> 00:03:23,725 But sometimes I think it's sort of like table Grace. 63 00:03:24,725 --> 00:03:26,625 I don't know about you, but I'm imperfect 64 00:03:26,625 --> 00:03:29,425 and sometimes when I'm done with Grace, I wonder if I've actually said 65 00:03:29,425 --> 00:03:29,725 it. 66 00:03:30,925 --> 00:03:33,025 And my wife, and I'll turn to each other and we say it again. 67 00:03:34,625 --> 00:03:35,925 It is so routine 68 00:03:37,525 --> 00:03:38,425 that it's ungrateful. 69 00:03:42,025 --> 00:03:45,725 Important as corporate confession may be, it does not always rise to 70 00:03:45,725 --> 00:03:49,225 the level of working out the boulders that form in our hearts. 71 00:03:51,125 --> 00:03:52,225 Hearts that are hardened 72 00:03:52,225 --> 00:03:53,225 yes by sin. 73 00:03:54,425 --> 00:03:55,725 And it's pro forma nature 74 00:03:55,725 --> 00:03:59,925 it can rise to the level of a false reassurance, and some people that 75 00:03:59,925 --> 00:04:01,725 never addresses the real problems. 76 00:04:05,825 --> 00:04:09,325 And yet there is some urgency to the situation because we never know 77 00:04:09,325 --> 00:04:13,125 when our life will be over and we will have to face the judgement. 78 00:04:16,025 --> 00:04:19,325 This is why the author speaks of today. 79 00:04:20,825 --> 00:04:25,725 And the author of Hebrews talks about today quite a bit 80 00:04:26,025 --> 00:04:29,725 not just in chapter 3, but also in chapter 4, 81 00:04:33,425 --> 00:04:35,225 And here, we have to carefully 82 00:04:35,225 --> 00:04:40,825 follow the pronouns, in the passages to discern his real meaning. 83 00:04:42,525 --> 00:04:44,725 It is not completely clear here 84 00:04:45,425 --> 00:04:47,625 so we must also see what is said 85 00:04:47,625 --> 00:04:53,425 further on in Hebrews chapter 4, which unpacks today as the Sabbath. 86 00:04:55,725 --> 00:05:02,725 We need to follow the wees the use and the theys carefully and also 87 00:05:02,725 --> 00:05:07,425 ignore apposition in English, which makes us think that they text is 88 00:05:07,425 --> 00:05:08,325 about us 89 00:05:09,925 --> 00:05:11,025 Bbcause it's not. 90 00:05:13,925 --> 00:05:17,725 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands. 91 00:05:17,725 --> 00:05:18,625 Let us be careful 92 00:05:18,625 --> 00:05:21,725 that none of you, be found to have fallen short of it. For 93 00:05:21,725 --> 00:05:27,425 we also have had the good news proclaimed to us just as they did. 94 00:05:28,625 --> 00:05:32,725 But the message they heard was of no value to them. 95 00:05:34,625 --> 00:05:38,125 Because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 96 00:05:40,125 --> 00:05:43,425 And now we who have believed entered that rest 97 00:05:43,525 --> 00:05:45,725 just as God has said. 98 00:05:46,325 --> 00:05:48,225 So I declared on oath in my anger. 99 00:05:48,525 --> 00:05:50,925 They shall never enter my rest. 100 00:05:53,725 --> 00:05:57,525 If we take that, they as us, the passage doesn't work. 101 00:05:59,325 --> 00:06:03,625 It is very we and they that's not popular today, by the way, but the 102 00:06:03,625 --> 00:06:06,925 author of Hebrews was not thinking of 20th century political 103 00:06:06,925 --> 00:06:10,725 correctness or 21st century political correctness. 104 00:06:12,925 --> 00:06:17,525 Here, the we refers to those who have the good news, that they shall 105 00:06:17,525 --> 00:06:23,425 enter God's rest. The they however, refers to those who have no faith 106 00:06:25,025 --> 00:06:28,325 as the good news was of no value to them. 107 00:06:29,225 --> 00:06:31,825 Now we who have believed enter that rest 108 00:06:31,825 --> 00:06:33,125 just as God has said. 109 00:06:33,225 --> 00:06:34,925 So I declared on oath in my anger. 110 00:06:35,125 --> 00:06:37,725 They shall never enter my rest. 111 00:06:39,025 --> 00:06:42,025 And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 112 00:06:43,025 --> 00:06:46,325 For somewhere, he has spoken about the seventh day in these words. On 113 00:06:46,325 --> 00:06:47,225 the seventh day 114 00:06:47,225 --> 00:06:51,925 God rested from all his works and again in the passage above he says, 115 00:06:52,125 --> 00:06:53,825 they shall never enter my rest. 116 00:06:55,725 --> 00:06:59,325 So it's very confusing if we don't follow the Wees and the theys. 117 00:07:00,725 --> 00:07:02,425 We shall enter the rest. 118 00:07:03,225 --> 00:07:05,325 They shall never enter the rest. 119 00:07:08,125 --> 00:07:09,725 Going on with Hebrews 4. 120 00:07:11,125 --> 00:07:14,325 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest 121 00:07:14,625 --> 00:07:18,025 and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed them did not 122 00:07:18,025 --> 00:07:23,325 go in because of their disobedience God again set a certain day, 123 00:07:23,925 --> 00:07:25,225 calling it today. 124 00:07:27,225 --> 00:07:29,025 This he did when a long time later 125 00:07:29,025 --> 00:07:33,525 he spoke through David as in the passage already quoted. Today 126 00:07:33,525 --> 00:07:36,425 if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. 127 00:07:37,225 --> 00:07:39,925 For if Joshua had given them rest 128 00:07:40,325 --> 00:07:44,825 God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then a 129 00:07:44,825 --> 00:07:46,825 Sabbath rest for the people of God. 130 00:07:47,625 --> 00:07:51,525 For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works 131 00:07:51,725 --> 00:07:53,225 just as God did from his. 132 00:07:55,025 --> 00:07:58,625 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one 133 00:07:58,625 --> 00:08:02,825 will perish by following their example of disobedience. 134 00:08:06,725 --> 00:08:09,525 I once was having a conversation with a Seventh-Day Adventist. 135 00:08:11,025 --> 00:08:14,325 She was making all this noise about how the Sabbath day was Saturday 136 00:08:14,325 --> 00:08:15,425 and I said, of course it is. 137 00:08:16,125 --> 00:08:17,325 And she was shocked. 138 00:08:18,325 --> 00:08:18,925 A Lutheran 139 00:08:18,925 --> 00:08:20,525 saying the Sabbath day is Saturday. 140 00:08:22,125 --> 00:08:23,325 Heavens to Murgatroyd. 141 00:08:26,725 --> 00:08:28,225 She was a little bit appalled though 142 00:08:28,225 --> 00:08:31,225 when I told her that every day is a Sabbath day that you're in Christ 143 00:08:31,225 --> 00:08:34,025 and every day you're outside of Christ is not a Sabbath day, but a day 144 00:08:34,025 --> 00:08:38,625 of Wrath. Then she was looking for a way out because to have every day 145 00:08:38,625 --> 00:08:40,625 of Sabbath day means no cooking ever. 146 00:08:46,225 --> 00:08:50,525 There was no way to say that we don't have a Sabbath day every day. 147 00:08:50,725 --> 00:08:51,525 Today 148 00:08:51,725 --> 00:08:54,425 if you hear the word of God, it's a Sabbath day. Today 149 00:08:54,425 --> 00:08:55,925 if you ignore the word of God 150 00:08:56,425 --> 00:08:57,425 it's a day of Wrath. 151 00:09:02,125 --> 00:09:03,525 It's all about the today. 152 00:09:10,825 --> 00:09:13,725 We are encouraged not to harden our hearts to the word of God, to the 153 00:09:13,725 --> 00:09:17,425 message of the Messiah to the good news of the coming kingdom of God, 154 00:09:17,425 --> 00:09:21,725 and to the Forgiveness of sins, and this life. And the effort to enter 155 00:09:21,725 --> 00:09:23,525 that rest is just another way of addressing 156 00:09:23,525 --> 00:09:26,425 Wwhat Luther called the second kind of righteousness. 157 00:09:27,225 --> 00:09:28,125 It is the daily 158 00:09:28,125 --> 00:09:31,925 today, the struggle with sin death, and the devil, and the virtuous 159 00:09:31,925 --> 00:09:34,825 struggle, using the word, and the spirit of our Lord and Savior. 160 00:09:34,825 --> 00:09:35,825 Jesus Christ. 161 00:09:36,025 --> 00:09:38,725 It is running the race set before us faithfully. 162 00:09:38,925 --> 00:09:39,625 It is training for 163 00:09:39,825 --> 00:09:40,525 the prize. 164 00:09:40,725 --> 00:09:43,025 It is living a Christian Life. 165 00:09:45,725 --> 00:09:46,925 It does not save us. 166 00:09:46,925 --> 00:09:49,025 It is because we are saved, 167 00:09:50,125 --> 00:09:50,825 already. 168 00:09:52,825 --> 00:09:55,725 These are the works of the believer and have nothing to do with 169 00:09:55,725 --> 00:09:57,225 getting saved rather 170 00:09:57,225 --> 00:09:59,925 they are the works the saved person produces. 171 00:10:02,025 --> 00:10:03,825 And then we get to hear more clearly 172 00:10:03,825 --> 00:10:08,225 what we should be listening to for the word of God is active, and 173 00:10:08,225 --> 00:10:10,325 alive sharper than any double-edged sword. 174 00:10:10,325 --> 00:10:13,925 It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and marrow. It 175 00:10:13,925 --> 00:10:16,025 judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 176 00:10:16,225 --> 00:10:19,625 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. 177 00:10:19,625 --> 00:10:22,825 Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom 178 00:10:22,825 --> 00:10:24,225 we must give account. 179 00:10:26,725 --> 00:10:30,525 So finally, there is the word of God that word that we need to hear 180 00:10:30,525 --> 00:10:31,725 and listen to daily 181 00:10:31,725 --> 00:10:36,925 and moment by moment that word that discerns, our issues and problems 182 00:10:37,025 --> 00:10:41,325 that provides us that Grace to live with our Lord and Savior 183 00:10:41,325 --> 00:10:45,925 Jesus Christ. To be people of the Holy Spirit. To be children of a 184 00:10:45,925 --> 00:10:46,925 Heavenly Father. 185 00:10:48,225 --> 00:10:51,325 God's word is our today, rest. 186 00:10:52,225 --> 00:10:53,525 It is our Sabbath. 187 00:10:56,325 --> 00:11:00,125 And so Chapel is important for our community for our fellowship, but 188 00:11:00,125 --> 00:11:03,425 confession to one another and study of God's word together and 189 00:11:03,425 --> 00:11:06,125 separately is just as important. 190 00:11:07,925 --> 00:11:11,825 And we'll follow you into your Parish ministry as you grow in the Lord 191 00:11:11,825 --> 00:11:13,025 Jesus Christ. 192 00:11:14,525 --> 00:11:17,425 In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 193 00:11:17,925 --> 00:11:18,525 Amen.