A Warning from the Letter to the Hebrews

Well let's take our Bible, let's turn back to the book of Hebrews. I said earlier in our scripture reading that we'll start off in Hebrews chapter 2. Now when we go different places throughout the sermon sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with the pastor, the one preaching, I know that, but I think you'll be able to follow me fairly easy. We're going to look at several verses. I believe this is really relevant for where we are today. Now I will ask us to turn to a couple other verses. Now if you're not comfortable turning there, mark those verses. Go back and read them a little later.

There's just a a body of scripture that I want us to read and get in our minds for the message this morning. Now as we get started in our message this morning, I want to point out something and I want us to see that we are at a very important time in the life of our church. Now immediately when I say something like that some people think we're having problems. No, there are no problems. There are no divisions. There are no struggles. There's no crisis in the life of the church. I promise you that and I'm very thankful.

But as pastor I want you to see that here and now we're at a crucial time in the life of our church and there are several reasons why I say this. Now some of these things have been on my mind for the past two, three weeks. Really even the past week, especially being in quarantine. I've had some additional time to study and to pray in a unique way. You know I can't study to come preach. It puts you in a good position and I'm thankful for that. But let me explain what I mean. We have several new studies coming up upon us.

Now if the quarantine and shutting down for COVID and even this hurricane will let us meet, we've got several new studies that are right in front of us. We're supposed to be starting this morning, verse by verse through the the book of Ephesians. We'll get there. We're going to start next week the Lord willing. And then we're supposed to have already been started in the parables of Jesus on Wednesday nights. And what I'm showing you is this. Those are two wonderful studies that we need in the life of this church. The book of Ephesians is rich and there's so much that the Lord is going to do in the life of us as a church.

And the parables of Jesus starting in Matthew 13 are going to answer a lot of questions for you and for us about what true kingdom living and true kingdom work looks like. I think about our adult small groups. We should be starting our first chapter in the book of Mark for our adults tonight. But we're not going to be able to meet tonight. I think about the new small groups that we've been excited about for our teenagers. Jared and his wife Megan are leading our teenagers through a very good study called the Fundamentals of the Faith. This is John MacArthur study.

I think about our Sunday night children study with Brother Keith and his wife Teresa. A study focusing on God's promises. And then Brother Keith is taking what he has taught you all summer adults in First John and he's teaching our teenagers on Wednesday nights if we can just get there. I think you all know what I mean by that. Those are good things and I'm excited about that. We have several families and individuals that have inquired about church membership. A while back Brother Keith and I counseled a particular person that's seeking church membership. That'll come up very soon.

We have some other families that have inquired and there just comes a time when people, individuals and families seek to join a church, officially join. And that's a wonderful time in the life of the church. As a matter of fact for quite a few months Brother Keith and I have been working on some new church membership information. It's very needed in the life of our church. And then also we're bringing before the life of the church very soon the church confession that we have been dealing with for several months. Many of you know what we have been doing. We've taken a revised version of the original 1833 New Hampshire Confession of Faith.

A very historic and respected Confession of Faith. We've made a few additions. Made a few alterations just to bring it up to date. We've worked hard on that and we will adopt that very soon and that's very useful for us in many ways. It helps us declare to the world who we are and it helps us understanding more about what we believe and what we seek to teach. Now I'll bring all of that to your attention to show you that we have some very good things on the horizon.

And these things are very good that are before us and your participation is very important for your spiritual growth and your participation is very important for the spiritual growth of those who are around you even those who are not here this morning. And this also pertains all that I've shared pertains to spiritual growth and the health of the church. The church is a whole. But there is another obvious reason why I say that this is a critical time a crucial time in the life of our church. That's the obvious that's COVID. You know life with COVID relates to all of us no matter where we are spiritually.

This pandemic is affecting all of us in almost every area of our lives. I told someone this week that to escape COVID we would have to live off in the woods in a cabin like the unibomber. And I thought about that you know he was a criminal I don't know if I should have said that but you get the idea there's really no escaping it we would have to just live off the grid and I don't think any of us can do that in our day. But I want you to think about this this is obvious but sometimes we just need to be told to think about a few things. COVID is affecting our family lives.

The coronavirus is affecting our jobs and it is affecting our school and our education no matter where we educate our children. It affects business and businesses. It affects travel. It affects vacations. I saw where a friend in another state was trying to sell a vacation that he had planned because he has coronavirus. I couldn't help but chuckle a little. It's really not funny but this is just what we deal with. And you know I could go on because it is affecting every area of our lives. But COVID is affecting the life of the church. And because COVID is affecting the life of our church it is affecting our spiritual lives.

Now listen folks anything that interrupts our church life affects us all spiritually. Anything that interrupts our regular worship, our small group Bible studies, in other activities it affects our spiritual growth. It affects all of us whether we know it or not. But we do know what the scriptures say. Christ Jesus is growing his church. The Lord said in Matthew 16 18 that he will build his church and no man or no storm or no virus can hinder the work of the church. We know that but we must see something here.

If we as a church and as individual Christians if we are obedient to Christ during any interruption, during any threat, during any fear, well the effect of that interruption that threat or that fear will be positive. Now I need to say that again because you need to get that. If we are obedient as individuals and as a church and as families, if we are obedient to Christ during any interruption, during any threat or during any fear, well the effect of that interruption, that threat, that fear, it will be positive.

Now it may be difficult, it may be difficult, it may require sacrifice, it may even require great sacrifices, but if we are obedient to Christ, well Christ will build his church here and we'll be a part of that work and will grow spiritually as individuals and families and as a church. Now what is my point with all that I've said? We must see the gathering for Sunday worship is vitally important. We must see that gathering as a church is vitally important. We must see that our small groups are important. Wednesday nights, our midweek services and all that we do, everything we do is important. It is vital.

Now I like words and I like that word vital. I want to share with you what Webster says about this word vital. The definition, two definitions. Webster defines vital as, and I'm quoting, "of the utmost importance." Webster goes on to say that if something is vital it is, and I'm quoting, "concern with or necessary to the maintenance of life." So we must see that COVID is affecting that which is of most importance, you see, and COVID is affecting and hindering things that are necessary to the maintenance of spiritual life, our spiritual life, our spiritual health. So this morning I want to share with you a list of concerns.

Concerns is a softer word. These are warnings. I want to give you a list of concerns, warnings from the letter to the Hebrews, and this will speak to our circumstances. This relates to us and it relates to us all in different ways. Now before we get into the passages, before we really get into the message, I want us to see the overall big picture here with the book of Hebrews. Just a few questions here. This won't be very long. First of all, who wrote the letter? Well, we don't know.

Many of these letters, we know who wrote them, but we really don't know, and we could get off into the high weeds here about debating who wrote this letter, and we're not going to get that. It really doesn't matter. Whoever wrote it, the Lord Jesus inspired it. Now the second thing is who received the letter. Now based on the content of the letter, it is obvious that these were Jews. This was really not a Gentile congregation. There are no Gentile problems mentioned, and there's all types of references in the Old Testament.

The writer of the book here assumes that the hearers understood all of these Old Testament references, but also these were Jewish Christians, and I believe they were primarily Jewish Christians who were struggling. They were under persecution, and they were facing the possibility of more persecution. Some have speculated that these Jews were in or near Jerusalem, while others have suggested that they were outside of Jerusalem. Now we really can't be sure here. But third is the date of the writing of the book. Most scholars believe this letter was written between 60 AD and the time of Jerusalem's destruction. That would have been 70 AD.

The material in the book suggests that the Levitical priesthood, the sacrificial system, was still in place there at the temple in Jerusalem. This of course would mean that this was before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. So what I want you to see is this is a very Jewish letter. It's going to Jewish Christians, but they were struggling Christians. They were persecution. It was trial, and there was difficulty. Now there's something else I'm going to say about the timing of this letter. It's very important. So hold on to that in your mind. We'll get there. So I want us to get into these concerns.

These would be easy for you to follow. First of all, I want you to see that they had become a drifting church. They had become a drifting church. I want us to look at chapter 2 verse 1. Notice what the verse says. "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard." Notice. "Least we drift away from it." Now there's a key phrase here that helps us see what's happening. This phrase, "drift away." You see that in your scriptures. Now this word, this phrase means to let something carelessly pass by. Now this word was used to speak of a boat or a ship that was not tied up properly. So that boat could drift off.

I think you get the idea. But what were they drifting away from? What was slipping past them? In the verse it tells us. They were drifting away from what they had heard. Now what they heard was the Word of God. So they were drifting away from what they heard. They were drifting away from the Word of God. And there were some within the church they were drifting away from what they had been taught. And this would have been the Word of God. The writer of the book is warning these believers to stay tied to the Word of God. Remember the imagery?

This term, "pay much closer attention," carries the imagery of a boat which is tied up firmly to its moorings. And so Paul is saying to these Christians here, "stay tied up to what you heard. Stay tied up to what you've been taught. Stay tied up to the Word of God." So this letter is going to a church. And there were some in the church they were drifting away from the Word of God. They were not tied firmly to the Word of God, that which they had heard. And the writer is concerned here. And that is why he is giving them a warning. Now an application, I just want to ask you a couple of probing questions, rhetorical questions.

In your own personal life, are you staying tied to God's Word? Are you staying faithful to studying God's Word on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? When it's easy, when it's tough, when things are going well at home or difficult at work, are you staying faithful to study God's Word? Are you getting up early? Are you staying up late? Are you pushing away entertainments to stay faithful to the study of God's Word? But I think about how this applies to you and me and our church life. We feed you well here. We feed you the Word of God well here. We work hard to give you the Word.

Whether it's a series like we just finished dealing with marriage and God's design for the family, or whether it is a verse-by-verse series through the Sermon on the Mount, which we finished up, what I'm showing you is this. In small groups, in any Bible studies, and from this pulpit, and on Wednesday nights, we feed you well. And are you taking that, that which we give you, and are you studying it? Or are you listening and drifting away? And if we're not careful, we can allow this to ease into our lives. Now let me show you something, especially when you're in a church when you're taught well.

Because what can happen is you can come and you can sit down and you can feel like you're being fed. And if you're not careful, you can be a little lazy in your own personal time. Some of my best times in my life when I have worked hard to feed myself and study well personally is when I struggled in the life of a church. So what I want us to see is this. We can't drift away from the Word of God during these coronavirus difficult times. The second concern, I want us to see that they were a neglecting church. Some had become a neglecting church. We see this right here in verse 3.

Notice what the verse says, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Now there's a key word here also, and that is this word neglect. This word simply means to be careless. It means to be negligent. It means to act carelessly towards something. Now this word carries the same idea as chapter 2 verse 1, that which we just read, the idea of drifting away something. But what were they neglecting? We need to ask that question. Look at the verse, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" So we must see that they were neglecting this great salvation, this great gift of salvation.

So there were some who were neglecting. They were acting careless toward this salvation gift. They were somehow, going back to verse 1 language, drifting away from the one thing they should be most thankful for. That is salvation, Christ Jesus, and the fact that they've been redeemed from their sin. But you know, an application, I made a little list of the things that are important in our lives, things that we do not neglect, or we shouldn't neglect. You know, we're very thankful for our spouse if we're married. We're very thankful for our children if we have them. We're very thankful for our jobs. We're thankful for our possessions.

You know, with the storm coming, we start worrying about our possessions. Isn't that right? Some things that are not as important as others. We're thankful for our hobbies. We live in an affluent society. We can afford a hobby. And those are some good things that we can be thankful for, and we do not necessarily neglect. But think about our personal salvation. If we were converted at 10 or 20, or if we were converted 20 years ago or last week, we should be thankful for our salvation. We should be thankful for Christ Jesus. We should be thankful for our relationship to the Lord. We should never move away untie from what?

That precious gift of Christ Jesus dying in our place, dying for our sin, and us knowing that Lord who saved us. That's why I believe when you meet someone who is a genuine born-again Christian, they are always thankful. They are always tied to what? That which God did for them. And there were some here who were neglecting this. And I hope you're not neglecting this great salvation gift as some were here. So let's move on. I want us to see number three. The third concern, they had become a falling away church. We see that they had become a falling away church. Let's turn over to chapter three. Let's look at verse 12. Take care, brethren.

Least there be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart. Notice, in falling away from the living God. We see another key word or phrase here. We must see this phrase falling away. This simply means to desert. This simply means to depart, not desert that we eat. No, something that we leave, something that we desert, something that we depart. The image here is one who is in the military, a soldier, and what do they do? They desert. They run away from their duties. We understand that. But what are they deserting here? What are they departing from? They are deserting. They are departing from the faith. Go back and look at the verse. Verse 12.

Take care, brethren. Least there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart. Notice, in falling away from the living God. There's an interesting comparison, Old Testament comparison, later on in verses 16 to 19. Maybe you go back and read those verses, verses 16 to 19. And what do we see in verses 16 to 19? Some Jewish history. And there were Jews who left Egypt, but they were not permitted to enter the Promised Land. Some of you know that story. They were among God's people, but they were not of God's holy people.

Those who were not permitted to go to the Promised Land, they were among God's holy people, but they were not of God's holy people. They fell away because they were not true believers in the Old Testament sense. They were among God's true followers, true believers, but they were not of them. The writer here is warning those within the church in that day, but they were not converted. He was warning them. And there is this urging here at the beginning in verse 12 and 13 to try to minister to them among the church who were not in the church. They are not truly converted.

So to use some New Testament, and I'm going to some of my parable study to use some New Testament language. There were weeds among the wheat weeds as in false Christians among the wheat as in true Christians. There were some within this church who could and would desert. They would fall away. They would leave the faith and the writer is giving them this sober warning. I want to go back and read that because some of you needed to see this more than you know. Take care brethren, at least there should be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart and in falling away from the living God. Now an application I want to give you some homework.

Every now and then I do this. I want you to write down a verse that we almost know. 1 John 2 19. Now what does 1 John 2 19 say? Exactly what the writer of Hebrews says in verse 12. And 1 John 2 19 echoes what we see back in the history of the Hebrews. Those who left slavery but yet they were not of the true people of God. And what we must see is this the reality that there are people among us who are not truly converted of God and they fall away. They leave. They desert. They depart. They are not truly converted. And we must be able to handle these people properly in our day and in our time. Whether that is our children.

Whether that be our neighbor. Whether that be someone we've said in Bible study with year after year after year. We must handle these properly. But see we have come up in a day and in our time when many of our Baptist churches have adopted this false doctrine to try to deal with these people right. This false faulty heretical doctrine of rededication. You know I don't use that word. Now it can be used in a good way but boy people have gotten way out of line with that. And what they've done is they've created this approach to deal with these people who fall away. Well they try to get them to come on back. Try to get them to come on back.

And they just won't do it. Why? Because the scripture says they have an evil heart. They departed the faith. They've not been converted. I'll never forget a few years ago I had a friend of mine in another city they were visiting a church start. They were visiting a church plant. And this existing church a very historic church was trying to start a church to go reach all of those who had fallen away. And the whole approach was wrong because they failed to see that these people were unconverted. I was talking with a pastor friend of mine the other day and he was explaining to me that he has a church membership role problem.

He said he had over 600 people on his church role. He said but for years only about a hundred or a hundred and fifty show up for church. And what was he seeing? The problem that so many people were on the road but what they had done is they had fallen away. So we must see that in our day and time and I'm going to speak to this a little bit more later this can reveal a great falling away. Now fourth let's move on. I want us to see that they had become a hard-hearted church. The fourth concern they had become a hard-hearted church. We see this in verse 13. I want to read verse 12 again just go right into the verse.

"Take care brethren, brothers, at least there should be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart and falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still today. Least any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Again we have another key word here and that is this word hardened. This word hardened is simple. It means to take something and to make it hard. Real easy to understand but what is causing this hardening? We need to ask that. Actually there are two things. To see what they are we need to look at verse 12 and then to see what they are we need to look at verse 13.

First of all it is the rejection of the gospel. You see that's what he was dealing with in verse 12. It is the rejection of the gospel, the rejection of salvation in Jesus Christ and that hardens the heart. And then second it is the embracing of sin and embracing sin hardens the heart. Go back and read the verse or listen to the verse and you'll see what I mean. Take care brethren, at least there should be any one of you an evil unbelieving heart and in falling away from the living God. They're rejecting salvation in Christ that hardens the heart but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today.

In other words as long as you got time, at least any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So we see those two things harden the heart. Now what's the warning heart here? It's twofold. The sin of rejecting Christ and the sin of embracing and tolerating sin. That hardens the heart. So the writer here is warning certain individuals in this church not to let the deceitfulness of sin harden the heart. I like what MacArthur says here of sin and I'm quoting and as I usually do I'll kind of elaborate on the quotation but notice what John MacArthur says here. Sin lies and deceives.

Sin lies and deceives using every trickery and stratagem possible. Using every trickery and strategy possible. That is so true. That is so true. You need to get that folks. Now an application I want us to see two things here. First of all when people come and they hear the gospel and they reject Christ. When people hear the truth and they hear the gospel and they reject it. When they do that and they do that and they do that it hardens their heart. Many times what happens is young people grow up in the life of the church.

They hear the gospel and they hear the truth and they hear about Christ and then when they graduate from high school and graduate from home they go on and they seem to get harder and harder to the truths that they were raised under and if they've not been converted the fact that they've rejected the gospel all those years hardens that heart. And then an application I want us to see that for us as Christians we're not off the hook here. As Christians when we embrace sin when we tolerate sin it hardens our hearts. It can be a small sin. It can be one of these grievous sins.

It can be a secret sin but it hardens our heart and so we must see this warning that they had become this hard-hearted people and we can't allow that to happen to us in our day and I'll speak more about how this affects us in our day a little later on in the message. And then fifth this fifth concern is out of verse 12 of chapter 5 they had become an immature church. They had become an immature church. Chapter 5 verse 12.

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God and you have come to need milk and not solid food." Again you've probably guessed there's a key phrase here this phrase ought to be. This means they should be able to. The writer here is not saying that they should be teaching. No. He is saying that they should be able to teach but they can't because of their immaturity. And look at the results because of their immaturity they need elementary things. They need the first things. The things that they got back in the beginnings of their Christian walk.

The first elements of the Christian faith. And the writer uses an illustration of food here that we can all understand. He says you need milk like a baby instead of solid food like a more mature Christian. Now we understand food. We understand milk. We understand what it's like to give food to a baby and do a small job and then to an adult. We get that. But notice the warning here and this is one that we should all heed. The writer here is rebuking them for their immaturity and he is warning them that they must grow. They must get out of this immaturity and they must grow. They need milk when they should be taking meat.

So the writer is warning that there were some here they were terribly immature and they should be able to even teach but they need to be bottle-fed. Isn't that sad? And notice an important principle here. Listen to this folks. Stagnation. Spiritual stagnation always produces digression. There's no such thing as neutral. Stagnation does not call someone to stay neutral. They digress. An application I want to ask you a question here. Are you an immature Christian? Should you be stronger? Should you be more mature?

Should you be in a place where you can minister to others but yet because you embrace immaturity and you will not grow you have to be ministered to? I want to be personal here. There are people in the life of our church. They should be ministering to others out of their own needs, out of their own trials, and out of their own difficulties but because they wallow in their trials and wallow in their difficulties oh those of us who are more mature have to go over there and feed them a little more milk.

There's some of you here you might you might should be in a place where you could be a leader in the life of the church but because you've stayed in your immaturity, you've stayed in your stagnation, you've even digressed you're not where you should be. So we see this warning here about these immature Christians, these people in the church and we're going to speak to that here in a moment for our day. And then the sixth concern I want us to see that they had forsaken the assembly. There were some here they had forsaken the assembly. Let's turn over to chapter 10 verse 25 chapter 10 verse 25.

Many of you know this verse I'm gonna start with verse 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and a good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now there are two things in this verse that we need to see. This assembling together the English standard version it reads meet together. Now this is simple this refers to corporate worship. This is speaking about the gathering of God's people for what? For worship. And then the second thing is this there were some who were neglecting corporate worship.

That word habit is simple. It means custom. It means habit. It's easy to understand. It points to a manner of living, a custom that has been developed, a habit that is becoming green. Now the warning here is very straightforward. The writer of this letter is calling out the bad habit of some that they were forsaking the gathering of worship and he is rebuking them for this habit. He is rebuking them for this custom in their life. So the writer of Hebrews is warning them of this personal sin but notice it is a sin against the church. And in verse 24 and 25 he says that they should gather so as to actively minister to one another in many ways.

He says you need to gather to stimulate one another, to stimulate one another spiritually, to love in the good deeds among one another. And if you're not there what is he saying? You can't do that. And my question for you is this. Are there times when you could forsake the assembly? Are there times when you you should be here and you should be faithful on Wednesday nights and Sunday nights and Sunday mornings? You should be faithful and you're not. Now I want to pause here and I want to say I am not laying out any kind of a guilt trip. There's a family this morning. I text one of the families this morning, it's going on a vacation.

They had a week's vacation and I encouraged them. I said go have a good time. Now they conveniently left when the storm was coming. That's not very fair is it? I mean vacation is good. We need that. We need the day off. We need to get out of town. We need to get away but I think you know the difference and we shouldn't come out of guilt. No. We should come out of a love for the work of the church and the Word and the Lord that we meet here every time we gather. We should love to meet with each other to stimulate one another and there are things that could intrude in our lives. Even things that are not necessary.

You know I have seen two things that can be the most difficult thing for people to get over when it comes to forsaking the assembly. I have seen people fall prey to family. One of the greatest instruments of the of the devil to impede people to come sometimes it is family and some of you had to work through that. I don't know who some of you are. Some of you counseled me and you just had to push back from family. Even family that you love and you're close to and you should serve but you've had to push them away and say no I can't do that on Sunday. I can do it for you tomorrow on Monday.

But the one thing that can impede us and hurt us here you know is our hobbies. Those entertainments and there's nothing wrong with those things. When I first came to faith in Christ Jesus I had to learn that Sunday was for worship not for deer hunting. Not for fishing. And I remember after I first got saved I still did some of those things on Sundays and the Lord convicted me. I looked around I said this is not where I'm supposed to be. And so I just came home from the deer woods on Saturday and got ready for church on Sunday.

And I want you to see that we could forsake the assembly and this speaks to our day and our time a little more than we know and we'll get there. So number seven let's progress on. I want us to see that they had become weak. We see this in verse 12 of chapter 12. Chapter 12 verse 12 there were some that had become weak. Therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. And I want to go ahead and read verse 13. And make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lain may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Now there are several words here that we need to look at but I want us to see something.

Actually Paul is or not Paul whoever is writing the book is using a running metaphor here. And that metaphor starts in verse 1 and 2 and 3. If you go back and read the verses you'll see that there's this metaphor teaching tool. But notice the word strengthen here in verse 12. This word means to strengthen so as to be used. This word means to exercise so as to make it useful. And so the writer is using the imagery of a runner who's become weak. And you know when one becomes weak it's not just the legs that become weak all of the body becomes weak. The hands are low because he is weak. The knees and the feet they are weak because he is weak.

Even the stride is weak because what? They are weak. Running is one of the things that I try to do. It's a way that I can try to relieve some stress and try to stay in some clothes that I want to wear and just stay healthy. And I know what it's like to become weak when you're running. And that's the imagery here. Now some of you might not know this but this is an allusion to Isaiah chapter of 35 verse 3. The prophet uses the exact imagery here to speak of spiritual weakness. And here we see a warning. He said this is a warning to strengthen parts of the body of Christ to strengthen certain Christian individuals.

So the writer here is using a teaching tool, a metaphor. He calls them to strengthen that which has become weak. Simply their trials, their personal struggles, even the persecutions that they face have weakened them. And they have allowed these trials and persecutions to somehow make inroads maybe even their own apathy and sin and this made them weak. So an application, I want to ask you a question here. Have you allowed circumstances to make you weak? You know when we have a injury or we have surgery or maybe we're involved in athletics, you know we go to the doctor, we go to physical therapy and what do they do?

They work on that injury, they work on that weakness to strengthen it. And there are some of you here you're spiritually weak and you need to you need to doubly pour your lives into the work of the church and to the study of what we're studying in God's Word. You need counsel. You need to go to the spiritual doctor of the Lord Jesus and also men and women around you to pour into you to strengthen you and to grow you. And this might speak to some of you more than you know and this does speak to our days and times and we'll get there when we close.

Now that finishes up our warnings and our concerns but now I want to mention and go back to the timing of the letter. This is not just history. This will help us a little more than we know. Now bear with me. Most scholars believe this letter was written close to 70 AD. Now the Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and most scholars believe this letter was written about 65 or 70 AD. Now I want to compare that with the life of Paul and this is purposeful. Many Bible scholars believe Paul was born around 3 or 5 AD and most scholars believe that Paul was saved around 37 AD.

Of course we know that after three years in training with the Lord Jesus we know that Paul began his ministry career right there in Antioch and he went off on his first missionary journey. Now Paul's first missionary journey was from 45 to 49 AD roughly. His second missionary journey was from roughly 50 to 54 AD. His third missionary journey was from 54 to 58 AD and we know that Paul was in prison two times. His first imprisonment was rather easy. He had it light. He could do a lot of ministry during his first imprisonment but his second imprisonment was tough.

His first Roman imprisonment was from 61 to 63 and his second was from 65 to 67 and then Paul died. He was executed, church tradition tells us, in 67 or 68 and he was executed during the great persecution under Nero. Now if we compare the timing of this letter with Paul's life, it helps us understand something. It helps us see that this church was first-generation Christians, second-generation Christians, and their children. See some of you're nodding your head you're getting it.

It helps us see if we wrangle with these dates and times that this church that got this letter it was comprised of first-generation Christians and it was comprised of second-generation Christians and their children as well. Now what's the point? What is my point here? This was a young church. This was a very young church yet it had so many problems and they were young but yet they were weak. They were young and they should have been vibrant in the faith but yet in many ways they were defeated.

Now obviously their trials, obviously their difficult circumstances and look obviously these persecutions had affected their personal spiritual life and the life of the church and maybe for some of them it was just plain old sin and plain old apathy and loving the world and just not wanting to grow. Now for us it was a great lesson here that we need to take to heart for our day during our trials, during our difficulties. We can't make the same mistakes that we see here. Now listen folks we're not facing persecution like they did. We're not.

Even if we do face persecution we can't fall into these same temptations and these same sins that we have so quickly examined and listen yes even the difficulties during our time even the distractions with COVID even the interruptions and even a health crisis with a worldwide pandemic it can't enable us and lead us to these temptations and these sins these warnings these concerns are far more personal than you know. Now what's the title of the message? A warning from the letter to the Hebrews. It's a list of warnings. It's a list of concerns. Now this is how I want to finish this up and this will be really really brief.

We deal with coronavirus, health crisis, we're worried about our health. This affects our families. I just got off a quarantine we had the coronavirus in our home. It affects our business, our travel. Think about it. It's affecting every area of our life but we cannot allow that to lead us to drifting away from the word. In the midst of all this we can't drift away from the word. We can't neglect the salvation, the precious gift of Jesus Christ, the Lord who has saved us. We can't allow these times to to lead us to to mishandle those who fall away.

Listen folks one of the greatest blessings of COVID is all of those fluffy people who think they're Christian and they're really not Christian they're gone. We can't allow these times to cause us to have a hard heart and harden our heart for sin. There are some people that are gonna leave the work of the church and they're gonna harden their church, they're gonna harden their hearts towards the gospel and we can't allow that to happen to us nor can we allow sin to come into our life during this time and harden our hearts. And listen we cannot allow these times to foster immaturity. We can't. It can if we let it.

We have to grow in spite of these things and listen folks we can't allow this to prevent us from assembling together. Do we make sound choices? Yes. Do we use wisdom? Yes. Are we concerned about our health? Yes. But look folks these people were facing persecution during my quarantine. I spent quite a bit of time studying 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy just for me. As a matter of fact I thought I was going to teach out of 2nd Timothy this morning but you know what I noticed here in 1st and 2nd Timothy? Paul kept writing back to Timothy, writing back to Timothy, writing back to Timothy and you can sum up all that he said this way.

Number one you be faithful in the life of the church and he said Timothy you be faithful in your own life and what were they facing? Persecution under Nero. Do you know that they faced being arrested and executed? They didn't face a coronavirus. And we must be faithful to assemble together in the work of the church and listen we must not allow those in the life of the church during this time you me us to become weak. So what do we have? We've got a whole future ahead of us. Next Sunday morning we're gonna start the book of Ephesians. This Wednesday we're gonna start the the parables of Jesus.

Brother Keith's gonna take our teenagers and start with 1st John and as soon as we can we're gonna get back on Sunday nights. We're not gonna have Sunday night tonight because we've got a hurricane coming. We need to make some preparations but this is what I want us to see. I want us to take these warnings and I want us to take these concerns and I want to pray over them. I want us to pray over them. I want us to be faithful to the work that God has for us. If not they'll be warnings. They'll be concerns. They'll be sin. Otherwise it'll be glorious. So let's do this. Let's take what we've studied. I know it's been a lot.

Let's commit it to the Lord and let's look forward to how God's gonna work this out in our lives in the days the weeks to come. So let's pray together.