Yeah, so there's a lot of factors that come in and God's word is pretty clear for us to trust and believe. and He teaches us that the earth is only about six, 7,000 years old according to the word and that when God made the world, He made it fully functional for man on the earth. So it was a fully functional world, meaning the trees didn't grow into what they are. They were full grown. Everything was fully functional for man. Yeah, there was a chicken before there was an egg, like there was a man before there was a baby. Everything was fully operational and functional when God created the world. Everything in it. And it was created to be inhabited. That's the thing. So in the beginning when it says the Word was without form, void and without form, He said that it wasn't inhabitable. So what did He do? He created on each day He tells us He created something and then what He created, He then filled what He created like the heavens and then the seas, the atmosphere, the ground. He put man in it, put beast in it and when it was fully functional for man He says, everything was good. And then He rested on the seventh day. And that's one of the reasons why the Sabbath rest in Jesus is so important, because He is our rest. The Hebrews is gonna teach us that. He's our full rest. What did the Sabbath, why was God so animate to the people about the Sabbath? that they were to keep the Sabbath holy. Why was that so fundamentally important? One, it set them apart from everybody else. Number one. And then that separation of having a day of rest pointing them back to this God that they serve. Well, who is this God? This God is the creator of heavens and earth. He's the one made this in six days, and on the seventh day, He rested. Well, tell us who He is, because everybody around the world had their idea of how all this happened, but the Jew was the only one God told to take a Sabbath day of rest and always keep it holy, because it always pointed back to Him. And you can point people back to a Creator. Well, if He's the Creator of it all, then everybody on the earth is accountable to Him. Are you accountable to this God that created it all? He's God, He created you, He made you, now He holds you accountable. Well, no, I'm not accountable to Him. I don't seek Him. Why not? Because in the beginning, man went their own way. And that mentality, that spirit was inherited to every creature born thereafter. And we've done our own thing. And the reason you don't know about him because the culture you was brought up in didn't know anything about him. And they went their own way. So every time you think about gathering like, and the reason we gather on Sundays is because the Lord was resurrected on Sunday. And that's the first day of the week that we gather together as the brethren. And it still points people back to that God is, he's done the work. He finished the work. We put our trust in him And as a result, we get to tell the world that he's the one who made everything. He's the one who came to this earth to rescue us. He's the one shed his blood that we could be forgiven of our sins. And you don't know him because You haven't been taught about him and therefore you need to know that you're going to be held accountable and that he's got a pretty tight standard of what he expects from man and he expects all men to look like his son. And if you don't look like his son, you are going to be held accountable for what you do look like. And what do you look like? You look like the rest of the world and you look like the enemy that rebelled against God. And therefore you have to be born again and made a new creature in Christ Jesus that you could be a disciple of his. And as a disciple of his, you want to know everything there is to know about him. The one who created it all, the one who sustains it all, the one who will finish it all. And he's promised he's coming back and he's coming back for those that are his. Well, who are those that are his? those that are living with the anticipation of Him coming for them. And if you're not living with that anticipation, you can tell me a whole lot about the world and what the people think about the world, but what do you tell me that He said about the world? That's what we want to know. That's where Hebrews said, look, God's spoken days gone by in various ways. But if He speaks to you today, He's gonna speak to you through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you don't have His Son, you don't have Him. It doesn't matter what He said in the past. It's all null and void for you. You got to come through His Son and then God will shepherd you through His Son. He'll speak to you in various ways, but it's only gonna be through Jesus, only through Jesus. So that's why The Word is so important for us because we don't have a standard to go by if we don't have a standard message. And a Savior who is the Savior of the entire world, meaning not that He's gonna save the whole world, but the whole world, if they ever save, gotta go through Him. There's no other option for that. Anytime you ever see that Word where it says that God is not willing that any should perish, or that He's the propitiation for all the world or God so loved the world. That is not speaking of an all-inclusive salvation. It's speaking of something exclusive that the only way a person can be saved is through Jesus. No matter what part of the world they're from. No matter what age they lived in, they had to come through Jesus. They said, well, what about those that lived before Jesus? Well, they trusted God and took him at his word. And the work that Jesus would do is what saves them because there is no salvation apart from God saving you. And the only way God saves you is through the sacrifice of the cross for which his son laid his life down. And why could he lay his life down in that kind of way? because He lived a life we couldn't live, that He may die a death that we couldn't die. Because our death, apart from Him, is insufficient, because our life was insufficient. But see, He lived a life we couldn't live, to die a death we couldn't die. And the death He died, when we trust Him, now can be applied to our life, so that the life that He lived, He can now live it in us. And that's why Hebrews is gonna start out with that and it's gonna close with that. Look in chapter 12. Look in chapter 12 of Hebrews. You'll see what I'm referring to. He started out with chapter one and two. You need to listen to what Jesus says. If you're not listening to what Jesus said, but you're listening to everything else that everybody else is saying, you're not gonna fare out well. It's not gonna be good for you. Verse 25 says, see that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right now. Look over in verse number 28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have what? Grace. Grace. By which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. It ain't no way to serve God acceptably apart from grace. And grace is Jesus, who tasted death on our behalf. Look in chapter two. Look in chapter two, he tells us that. Jesus lived by grace. So to have grace, you have to have his grace. Not a fabricated grace of your own, but it's his grace. Look in chapter two in verse number nine. Hebrews 2, 9 says, but what do we see? We see Jesus, who was made as a man, a little lower than the angels, that is His humanity. What was He made for? For the suffering of death to be crowned with glory and honor that He, by the grace of God, might taste death. for everyone that is everyone that's going to believe everyone that's going to be saved because he didn't taste death for those that are not going to be saved because if he tasted their death and provided their salvation they're saved that's the idea there's not a universal atonement Meaning Jesus' blood doesn't cover everybody, it only covers the believer. It propitiates for those that trust Him. And that's very, very important because His atonement is a complete atonement. It's completely satisfying to God. Therefore, if His blood covered everybody in the world, everybody in the world would be saved. And there's people that teach that. That is a teaching that people teach, a universal atonement. That is, you don't have to trust God. Your life would be better if you did. But God doesn't have a hell, God doesn't have a separation because Jesus paid the price for everybody and they use places like that to teach it. That they say if He tasted death for everybody then everybody's covered. But if you really want to live a good life, a better life, the best life, the best thing you can do is follow His teaching. But you don't have to worry about hell because He's covered you. But your life would be miserable down here until you trust Him. Well, we know that's a lie. It doesn't work that way. He propitiated and that word propitiate means to entirely completely satisfy the mercy of God. Jesus did that for the world. What world? Those that are going to believe Him. That's the ones, that's why Hebrews keeps saying don't have a wicked heart of unbelief. That's a sinful, destructive thing. Remember what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness? They all died because of sin. What sin? They didn't believe God. They didn't trust Him. So they died because of sin. Now they eternally separate. So His blood didn't cover them. His blood only covers the believer's life. That's what He calls, look, verse 10. For it was fitting, it was proper, it was right for Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to bring many sons to what? Okay, so the ones he tasted death for are the sons of glory to make the captain of their salvation. Who is that? Jesus, perfect through suffering. So he started out with suffering in this life and then death And now he's bringing up it again, that it had to be this a way. Why? Because Jesus, remember, lived the life that we couldn't live and that life qualified him to death, that he died. Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. That's the ones he died for. All of one. Who are they of? For which reason he, Jesus, is not ashamed to call them his brethren. Why? Because Jesus and those he redeems are of the father. They're all of one. And remember his propituating, reconciling work was completed while he lived. We are now just brought the message of what He did for us and the believer believes that message and then His work is applied to their life but the complete work of reconciliation has already taken place. He was reconciling the world in Christ meaning every believer, not all the world but the believers. That is the exclusive, meaning this ain't a salvation just for the Jew. This is a salvation for the entire world, that the world can have access to the Father, but you won't ever have it unless you go through who? You gotta go through the Son. You gotta go through Jesus. So if you were brought up in Russia or China or South America or United States, or before any of these continents was even named by man wherever you was brought up in you had to go through Jesus. It didn't matter and what I mean by that is you had to take God at His Word, you had to believe Him and then the atoning work that He would fulfill would apply to your life. That's why other places would say God reconciled everything in heaven and on earth And under the earth is the idea. He's saying that in Christ, He finished everything in Him. So if anybody's ever been saved, it's on the merit of what Jesus would do for them in the past, but now we look back to what He did and trust Him with our life, and therefore our sins are covered. And then He's coming back for those that trust Him. So anytime you ever see those truths where it uses the word everyone, the world, all, He's speaking of the exclusivity for everybody can only come through Jesus. He's God's answer. God's got one answer for the entire world. It's Jesus. That's why we bring that message to the entire world. And you take, for an example, go to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, he uses those phrases, closer to Jude and Revelation. Look in verse number two. There's a sense when we read things like this to automatically go to the inclusive side rather than the exclusive. What I mean by inclusive is that the entire world is included. but it's speaking more of an exclusive work that only Jesus can do for the world. Not what the world has as an offering, but only in Jesus. And let me read it to you like this. He says in verse two, and He Himself is the propitiation. Not He's one of the propitiations, not that He's part of the propitiation, He is what? The propitiation, what does that word? Propitiation means a satisfied covering. That is the blood, the life and the blood, death and resurrection of Jesus is the only thing that can satisfy God. It's impossible for us to satisfy Him in and of ourselves. That word propitiate means to cover up something in a way that God can be pleased with it. He satisfies. It's the mercy of God that does this in His blood. That's right. That's what that means. An atoning sacrifice is the covering of His blood is the only thing that can satisfy God. He Himself is the atoning, perpetuating sacrifice for our sins. Meaning John's saying for our sins, my sins are covered under Him, but not just mine only. but also for the whole world, meaning the Jew. Believe, that's the point. The belief is the key. Yeah, see Hebrews, when you read through Hebrews, you gotta look, you're looking for that. That's what the writer keeps saying. Men, don't forget, people were delivered out of Egypt, not delivered from their sin, but they were delivered out of Egypt and had the opportunity to trust God, but they wouldn't believe Him. What was the result? They perished. They perished. That's right. And people teach it that way. But that's a false teaching because we know, remember the word, what did he tell them in Hebrews three and four? He says, they didn't mix it with faith. They heard the gospel, but they didn't mix it with faith. the idea of mixing or mingle faith with it, faith was left out. All they had was a word and because they heard that they were Abraham's descendants, they were okay. No, God says, he don't save the group, he saves the person. Individually you have to come just because daddy trust him don't mean I'm trusting him just because my wife's trusting doesn't mean I'm trusting him Nobody could Yes, remember all those were pictures yeah, but see that's all been fulfilled in Christ and He's the fulfillment of that. But if a man took God at his word, he trusted him and did what God gave him to do. Yeah. What Jesus accomplished covered Abraham's life. He covered his life. Praise God. Amen. His life was covered. Not because Abraham had it all together, but because Jesus had it all together and Abraham simply trusted God. But did Abraham waiver at times? Yeah, Abraham stumbled at times. See, but he was covered because he did trust God with his life. And there were times he, he fumbled the ball, but Jesus never fumbled it. And that's why Jesus life is what covers us. So that propitiation atoning sacrifice is not just for the Jew. It's not just for us men in here that had believed Jesus. There's still people in this world that hadn't believed him that need to believe him. but they'll never be covered under his blood until they do believe him. That's why Psalm 110. Which is all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. And Jesus quoted this several times. Did. It's the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. And said that the Lord said unto my Lord. So if David called him Lord, then he, you know, He's gotta be superior to David. He's out of it. You can go to David's tomb and still find his bone there. But David called him Lord, Master. And they said, wait a minute. How can it be David's Lord and Master if he's David's son? Well, he was born different than the rest of us. And he was born different than David. He's God who took upon flesh and in His humanity, He prevailed against every temptation and sin, and overcame sin and death, and the resurrection proved that He is trustworthy. Validate it, you can take Him at His word. David was trying to understand this when he wrote 1 Timothy. So what we do with faith, through faith, We believe that not only Jesus saved us, but is living in us enough to go speak truth to others. That's right. We believe Him, not just believe about Him. Yeah. See, that's probably one of the most dangerous things we face, and many times with churches that, across the board, people, because they believe something about the Lord. They believe they believe the Lord. there's a difference between believing Him and believing about Him. Well that's right. Well the scriptures teaches that even the devil believes and trembles at that fact because he knows what's coming. Right. It's inevitable and he has no prospect of being redeemed. We have to die inside before we can live. Yeah, and that's where the circumcision of the heart and the flesh and the stony heart, that's the work that God does in us. But faith is just trusting and believing. You believe Him. So if Jesus said to deny yourself, you believe, that's the right thing to do. You see, but if you believe about Him, you'll hear that word and say, well, I believe that might have been okay for them in that time, but it doesn't apply to me today. You see, that's believing about Him, and that's something we all have to guard from on a regular basis. That's why we want the Word to speak to us. We get in it, let it speak. Speak to us, Lord. Think about it like this. What did God mean when He said what He said? And if I didn't exist, if I was never born, what did it mean apart from me? You got to ask that question because a lot of times this is how people do it. This is what it means to me. Well, I'm not concerned what it means to you. I'm not concerned what it means to me. What I'm concerned is what did God mean when he said what he said and how then if I understand its meaning, how then can I apply it in my life? But just because it means this to me doesn't mean that's what it meant. And I then, you have to ask the question, well, if we wasn't around, if we never existed, what would that passage mean? Not with my input into it, but what did it say? What does it say? Man told me yesterday, I may not believe like you, but that don't mean I'm a bad person. I said, man, he just went right over my head. What's up? That's what I'm saying. Just because I don't bleed like you don't mean I'm a bad person. Yeah, one of the guys that had a shirt on I seen last week, it said, I can help explain it to you, but I can't help you understand it. Come on. Amen. I can help explain it to you, but I can't help you understand it. That's right. Yeah. You know, Jesus said that too, didn't he? He says, you can't do nothing without me. Just like he's totally dependent on, we as we walk with the Lord are totally dependent on him. Anything you can do apart from him, you make a mess out of it. Really. And he says, and that's why it's so shocking. That's why that's so sad. You see it in the physical, he can't do for himself. And that's why he says, you can do nothing apart from me. It's supposed to be a shocking word. Like, what do you mean? I mean, I'm doing something right now. And he says, yeah, but you're doing nothing without me. Nothing of eternal value is the idea. A lot of people were born with that. I saw a guy on the phone the other day. This guy, he didn't have no arms. Right here, right here. I joked with him, wake him up in the morning. He took his feet, kicked the covers off. He rolled up there and scooted over there. Toothbrush. Borrowed water. Toothpaste. That's what they took his clothes and yeah. Yep. Things you learned how to do. I've seen people with no arms out there. Peeling potatoes. Yeah. Yeah. Look at our military people. They come back with no legs. You know, no hand, no arms. Yeah. You tell your uncle, Clay Dyer, you know, he's a, he's a kind of got a ministry, too. Fishes, don't he? Yeah. He don't have no legs. And he ain't got an arm. And he don't have, he's got, I can't remember if he's got two stubs. He's got one over here about that long. The things you learn to do when you can't do. And he pulled it out of there. He put a worm on that thing. And he sticks it on his end of the rod, on his chin. And he takes that nub, he holds it locked in and he takes that nub. Professional fishing. He does that one. He showed him at home doing stuff with his... A lot of times we're more handicapped than some of them, huh? Oh yeah. Really. We are. Your mind handicaps you from your mind's perspective. If they got it in their mindset, it's got to be done. So I better figure out how to do it. It's amazing. You got great testimony. Yeah, yeah. Praise the Lord. You see people do things like that, and you got some that's perfectly healthy, sit around and don't do nothing. Right, right. And a lot of times we limit ourselves in what can be done, because we don't think we can do it. And then we don't try to do it, because we think we can't do it. But they're in a position where they've got to do it, so they figure out a way, in a way we couldn't do, because we never had to do it that way. Well, let's pray. Thank you, Jesus, for this. Thank you for your blood. Thank you for your life. Thank you for your atoning sacrifice and satisfaction. Thank you that we can trust you, believe you, and the evidence would be that we love you and live obeying you. And apart from that, we don't have anything to validate our belief. So Lord, I thank you for your work in us. Thank you for doing it. Now we ask you to help us as we go celebrate with everybody else. In Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all. Tommy, good to see you, brother.