Just five times that it shows up there. So that'd be an interesting thing to see if there's any connection to those five looks in the book of Hebrews. And that's what we're going to be looking at this evening. A little bit of backstory to that, though. I said, okay, well, let's see. There's five looks, that's all it says. Five looks in Hebrews. So I go to my concordance, I pull it up, I look, and I say, okay, here's five looks of Hebrews. And I read those five verses, and I said, I don't want to study that. To give you the background of that, in the book of Hebrews, there are some passages. I think Peter, when he wrote about Paul saying things hard to be understood, he was talking about the book of Hebrews. There's like five or six passages in the book of Hebrews that if you read ten commentators, you'll get ten opinions on what those verses mean, because they're very, very hard to be understood, and it takes some study, it takes some work, and it turns out two of those passages have the word look in them. So I said, you know what, I'm going to set it aside. This would be a great future study. And I started looking at some other things. I have a sermon that I wrote back in September that I've been wanting to preach here, and I said, let me look at that. And I would look at that, and like, that would be really fun. I really do enjoy that topic and preaching that sermon. And I didn't have peace about that, and I had a sermon I wrote at the beginning of this year that I haven't preached yet. So you know what? I would love to preach that message. I actually had a text worded to pastor, ready to go, to say, you know what? Can I switch the preaching schedule coming up over the next couple of months? Because I want to preach this message now and do something else later. And at that point, I said, you know what? I'm trying to avoid this passage that the Lord laid on my heart. So we're going to get into it, and we're going to study this passage together. So tonight we're looking at the five looks in the book of Hebrews. Over the whole Bible, the word look shows up in some form or some fashion 369 times. Only five of these, as I said already, are in the book of Hebrews. Once the word shows up as look, once it shows up as looked, E-D as in the past, and three times it shows up as looking. So three variations of the word look that show up in the book of Hebrews. What was really interesting as I got into this and got me a lot more excited about this study is that all five times the word look shows up in the book of Hebrews, it has a different underlying Greek word. There are five different Greek words that were translated as look, looked, and looking in the book of Hebrews each time they showed up. So I was really excited to get in and see some more definitions behind those and see what they mean. As we study this evening, we're going to look at these five passages, and we're going to look at them one at a time. So a little bit different, we're not going to start with the text passages. Five passages we're going to look at, and we'll go through them one at a time. When we study them, we're going to look first of all at the interpretation. Now when you're studying the Bible, you want to find out the interpretation. That's what is the Bible saying? And this is where context comes in. and you need to know what is it saying in context. What are the verses around it talking about? What is the chapter talking about? What is the whole book talking about? Get the context behind it and that gives you the interpretation of what the passage is actually saying. And so as we look at the book of Hebrews, the overall context of the book of Hebrews, it was a book that was written to Jews and the theme or the reason for writing the book was to prove to them that Christ was better than Judaism. That's the theme of the book is that Christ is better. So coming that understanding that this is written to Jews and has the theme that Christ is better is going to help us get the interpretation as we come into some of these more problem passages that people have struggled with over time. So we look at the interpretation. That's what the verse and the passage is saying. Secondly, we're gonna look at the definition. Each of those Greek words that are there, we're gonna look and see what they mean. Now, anytime I approach Greek, I used to deal with the Greek a lot before I went to college and studied Greek. It's kind of funny that once I got a minor in Greek that I stopped studying Greek because when Greek is presented in church, people get like, oh man, he's too deep. I don't understand what he's talking about. The Greek study that I did for this passage, if I had a book and 20 minutes or a computer and five minutes, I could show any of you how to do this. This doesn't take a degree. It's just basically looking up words in a dictionary is what it is. We're looking at a Greek dictionary. And it's going to be helpful to us that these are different words because I looked up the word look in an English dictionary. And there are 24 definitions for the word look. So how do we know which one goes in which passage? Well, the Greek, there's only one definition for that Greek word that's translated as look. So that's gonna tell us what the definition is. And so we'll define, we'll interpret these passages, see what the passage is saying. We'll define the passage and see what these words mean. And lastly, we're gonna get into application. What does this mean for me? What do I need to do based on these truths? So we're gonna be looking at these passages in these three different ways. I'm not sure what the Lord plans to do with these, because they all carry a general theme. They all have personal application. I would love to preach this sometime as five different messages all together, maybe a revival somewhere down the road at some point. They would all fit together really well, but we're just gonna take a quick shot and look at each of them real briefly, and hopefully the Lord can challenge or remind or broaden our understanding on one of these topics. So the first we're going to look at is the book of Hebrews chapter 12. I'll let you get there. Hebrews chapter 12. This will be probably the most familiar out of the book of Hebrews. As I say chapter 12, many of you probably are thinking of it already. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 2. Does anybody know what that starts out with? Looking unto Jesus, all right? So we're gonna look at this verse that talks about looking unto Jesus. I'm gonna try to avoid saying look at my other, we're gonna see what this verse says about looking unto Jesus so we don't get confused in our study. So Hebrews chapter 12, we're gonna read verse number one and two. Before we get into these five passages, let's open with a word of prayer and ask God to bless the message this evening. Lord God, we love you. Lord, we thank you for your word, what it teaches us. We thank you how complete your word is and how it can teach us in so many different ways and define itself as you study things in context, Lord. And Lord, you want to reveal your truth to us. You don't want things to be, you haven't given us the Bible to hide truth from us, but to reveal truth. I pray we will be challenged in these areas tonight and that we would come out of the service this evening with new vision, with an understanding of things that we need to look at, the things that we need to look for. in our lives. Pray you bless this study. We ask this in Christ's name, amen. So Hebrews chapter 12, the word look shows up in verse two, but we're going to read, because these verses go together, we are going to read verses one and verse number two. You follow along as I read. endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. So that's our verses. Let's go ahead and look at the interpretation a little bit. We're going to start in verse number one, but before we get there, we're going to back up a little bit. So we said already, the book of Hebrews, the author has made a case for the fact that Christ is better. That's what he's proving throughout the whole book. He's shown that Christ is better than the sacrificial system. He's shown that Christ is better than the law. He's shown that Christ is better than the priesthood. He has shown that Christ was better than Moses. All along through the book of Hebrews he has shown that Christ is better. Now we get to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the hall of faith in the Bible. All the great patriarchs of old who showed us what faith means to live out in real life. And we see by faith so-and-so, by faith so-and-so. Let me look back real quick. I made a note on this last time we read through the Bible. 23 times the chapter 11 mentions faith. And we see these men and these women who live their lives by faith serving God. Many historic, primarily Jewish examples of faith in God. Now we get to chapter number 12 and it starts out with a very important word when you're doing Bible study. What's the first word of chapter 12? Wherefore, I've told, I've said it dozens of times, at least to our young people, they should know this, and it's not original with me, but whenever you see a wherefore or a therefore in the Bible, you have to stop and find out what is therefore. That's a key word. If you're reading your Bible and you see wherefore or you see therefore, just stop and say, hold on, this has something important that it's gonna convey. Because the word wherefore or therefore means I just gave you a bunch of information. Now, take that information and here's what you need to do. So as we're reading, we come to this word and we say, wherefore, wherefore what? What's that there for? What's that telling me? What is he basing this next command, this next admonition on? And we go back and look at it. So that's why we started the book of Hebrews. We saw Christ is superior and we get to the hall of faith there. And he says, wherefore, seeing we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. What is our wherefore therefore? It's based on chapter number 11. It tells us in this verse that we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. What's the cloud of witnesses? the guys and ladies in Hebrews chapter 11. We're encompassed about, we're surrounded, we have all these examples before us of Hebrews chapter 11. We're encompassed about with so great gladness, let us lay aside every weight. We get into that. Now as we look at this idea of witnesses, it's often misunderstood in this passage. When we see witnesses, it's not talking about people in heaven that are watching us. They're not witnessing what we're doing. They're witnesses as in the idea of a courtroom or a testimony. They're there as a record. They're there as a record of what it means to live by faith. They're there as a record or a testimony of what it means to live for God. The word witness actually is the Greek word martis, where we get our English word martyr. These people who died in service for God, they're there standing as a witness and a testimony of what it means to live for God. And we've got so many witnesses, so many testimonies of what it means to live for God, let us lay aside all our weights, let us lay aside all our sin, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, because we have an example of what it means to live this life. The interpretation of verse one is, because we have this huge list of martyrs who have left us an example of what it means to follow God in faith, let us run our race like they did. But go back to the context of the book of Hebrews, what's the overall theme? Christ is better. We've come past with so great a cloud of witnesses, but we need to look to who? Jesus. Because even though we have all these witnesses, even though we have all these testimonies, all these great men of faith, that's a great example. But we need to run looking to Christ, because Christ is better. Christ is better is what the verse number two is telling us. We do well to have these examples, but I'll do you one better. Let's look to Jesus. You want an example of what it means to live as a Christian, of how you should run your race? There's some great biblical and historical examples, but if you're looking to Jesus for your example, you'll run a good race. So that's the interpretation of what this verse is saying. We need to be looking to Jesus because he's a better example of what it means to live for God and to serve God with your life. Now let's get into the definition. We have this word looking unto Jesus. This is the Greek word aphorao. Afarao, this is the only time this word shows up in the Bible. Maybe this means that we should be looking at Jesus differently than we look at anything else. The only time this word shows up in the Bible, but it comes from two different words. It comes from, it's a compound word, like dog houses, two English words that are put together to mean one thing. These are two Greek words that are put together to mean something, and it means we're looking at Jesus. And the two words, the first word means to, means to stare at something, and the second word means away from. So when you put it together, it means to look away from everything else and stare at Jesus. Look away from everything else and stare for Jesus. When it says looking unto Jesus, it's saying there's weights, there's sins, there's things compassed about us. Let's look to Jesus. Let's turn our eyes away from everything else. Let's look to Jesus. When it says look to Jesus in this passage, it means to consider Him attentively. Pay attention. Watch Jesus. It's as if the hymn writer took this word and wrote the song. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And what? The things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Turn away from everything else and look to Jesus. The application, that's the definition of what that word looking means. We stare at Jesus and ignore everything else. Now some application. This is one that we're gonna draw our application directly from the interpretation. We have a great group of saints to look back on and pattern our lives after. In fact, the book of 1 Corinthians tells us these are written for our example. The Bible is recorded. These men's lives and these ladies' lives are recorded. So we look back and say, here's an example of what to do, of what not to do. This is an example of how we should live for God. But since we have their example, their testimony, we need to lay aside the weights and the sin that keep us from following Christ. The word beset here carries the idea of distractions that are all around us that want to trip us up. And get those out of the way. Lay aside those things that are going to trip you up, that are going to get in your way and turn your eyes upon Jesus. Stare at Him and let everything else grow dim. Set those things aside and run the race that God has given us to run, and we need to run it with patience. But how should we run? We should run looking unto Jesus. Turn away from everything else and stare at Jesus. He's the author. He's where our faith started. He's the finisher. He's where our faith is going to end. The author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him as Christians, Do we have a joy set before us in our race? I think an eternity in heaven is a joy that is set before us. I think the presence of God is a joy that is set before us. We should run our race with patience. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. There's some things we're going to have to endure as Christians. That's why the verse says we need to run patiently. There's some things we have to endure in this life. We have to endure putting up with our sinful flesh. We have to endure the reproach of this world. We have to endure facing in temptation and spiritual battle and onslaughts of Satan. There's things we must endure, but when we endure with patience, the race is set forth. The verse says he also despised the shame. There's some things about living in this world that we don't like. We have to despise the shame, but it says at the end that he sat down at the right hand of God. And if we run with patience, looking to Jesus, one day we're going to sit down in God's presence as our race is run. The first look in the book of Hebrews is a look to the face of the Savior. I forgot to announce the title of our point. Look to the face of the Savior. Turn away from everything else. and stare at Jesus. That's what it means when it says looking unto Jesus. Our second one we're gonna look at is in chapter number 10. So you turn back just a page or two, Hebrews chapter 10, we'll be looking down at verse number 27. And this one is entitled, a look to the fate of the sinner, a look to the fate of the sinner. Again, this is one of the passages that many people have different interpretations on. The good news for us is the debate's not on the part about looking, but on the part that comes before that. So we're going to look at that briefly, but we're going to focus tonight on what it means to look or what we're supposed to be looking at. If you're there in Hebrews chapter 10, we're going to read verses 26 and 27. The Bible says, For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful, looking for, of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour our adversaries." So as we're looking at this, I'm gonna do my best, to the best of my ability, I'm gonna give you the interpretation that I found. We're not gonna take a lot of time on the interpretation of verse number 26. I've spent hours, I couldn't tell, probably five, six hours studying this passage over the course of my ministry, trying to determine what this text is pointing at. To the best of my ability, I'm gonna sum it up for you. Once someone comes to the knowledge and understanding of the truth of Christ, not to the point of salvation, but to the point where they know the gospel is true, They're presented with the truth of the gospel. They realize they're a sinner. They realize that Christ is the only way of salvation. They come to that point and they says, therefore, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth. They've received the knowledge of truth. They know the Bible is true. They know who Jesus is. They know about sin. They know about salvation. And they say, you know what? I don't want it. and they reject that truth. The Bible says there, there's no more sacrifice for sins. There's nothing else that they can turn to. We have people that refuse the gospel as we're out door knocking, hey, can we talk to you about Jesus? No, I'm not interested. They haven't come to the knowledge of the truth. We didn't have a chance to present them with the full gospel where they say, you know what, that's true. I know what you're telling me is right, but I don't want it. They didn't get to that point when they refused us the opportunity, but there are some who've gotten to that point where they say, you know what, I know that's true, but I don't want it. But it's not for me. And after they come to that point, they can't find a peace or satisfaction. We know that they can't find satisfaction or peace outside of Christ. But they can find some comfort in religion. They can find some comfort in their belief system. But once you've rejected truth, there's no more comfort. in any religion or any belief system. The immediate context is talking about a Jew who's come to the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He knows that Jesus is the Messiah, thinking back to first century Israel. He knows that Jesus finished the sacrificial system. He paid the price for sin, and then that Jew says, you know what, I don't want Christianity, I'm gonna go back to Judaism. But every time he offers a sacrifice, he knows this is doing me no good. because the price has already been paid. Every time he goes to the temple, he knows this is doing me no good. He can't have peace outside of Christ because he knows the truth and he rejected it. He knows that every sacrifice that he made was doing nothing for him, and he knew the fate that was in store for him because he knew the truth. I saw an illustration of this verse yesterday as I was out soul hunting with Matt Mills. We met a young man. He was a Catholic, and then a co-worker witnessed to him. He said he converted, but based on talking to him, he came to the knowledge of the truth. He knew Catholicism was wrong. He knew the truth of the Bible was right. He said that friend gave him a Bible. He began to read it, and as he read the Bible, he decided he wanted nothing to do with it. with God after getting it. So he received the knowledge of the truth. And even in his conversation, everything betrayed itself, that he knew the truth and he didn't want it. He even told me at one point, he said, if you'd used the brain that God gave you, you'd realize he didn't exist. He knows the truth. He knows the truth. And he rejected, he put it aside, and he can't find peace anywhere else. He even told us, he said, this is what I've decided, this is what I believe, but I'd love to find out what the truth is. So what you're saying to me is you know what you're believing is wrong. But what he had done is he had come to the truth and he said, I don't want it. He rejected the truth and he can't find peace in atheism. He can't find peace in science. He can't find peace in his unbelief because he took the truth and there's no more sacrifice for sins. He could still get saved, but he can't find that peace anywhere else that he was looking for, that comfort in his sin because he knows what the truth is. So that's what verse 26 is talking about. there. If you accept the truth, the truth will make you free. But if you reject the truth, that truth makes you a prisoner. Because you can't go anywhere else because you know what truth is at that point. So that's what's talked about here in verse number 26. When this person who has rejected the truth after receiving it, they look to the end of their life, they see what the truth there as well. That's what verse 27 is talking about. They know what the truth is. What is that truth? There is a certain fearful, looking for, of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries, those who have rejected God." They know what the truth is about the end of the knife. They know where they're heading because they've rejected the truth of God. That's the interpretation of the passage. Let's look now at the definition. The word here is ek-dok-ay. Ek-dok-ay. This is, again, the only time this word is used for in the Bible, and it means an expectation. They're expecting it. They know it's coming. There's no doubt in their mind. They know what truth is. They cannot find salvation in anything else, but what they do have is, when they look at this word, words in this verse, certain. It's certain. There's no avoiding it. fearful, has the idea of terror, being terrified, looking for, we saw that means expectation. It's certain, it's terrifying, and they're expecting it of judgment and fiery indignation. That's what they have to look forward to. That's what they're expecting. That's what sinners are expecting or have expectation of when they know what the truth is. You reject God, you can expect judgment. So let's look at some application. I hope tonight, and I don't believe this would be the case, but I hope tonight there's nobody in here who's rejected truth. I don't want God. Most of you, I would say, have accepted truth, that you believe in God, that you've been saved, that you've accepted this truth. If you've accepted this truth, you have a much different expectation. You have an expectation of heaven. You have an expectation of eternity. You have an expectation of glorification. You've got an expectation of being free from sin and from pain forever. But if you have the truth of the Word of God, you also have an expectation for the lost. You're expecting that they're facing certain, terrifying, fiery judgment from God. That's the expectation that we have for them. That's why the look in Hebrews 10, verse 27 is a look at the fate of sinners. What do you see when you look at a co-worker or someone you meet at the store or a lost family member? If you're looking at them with a look of Hebrews chapter 10, you see them and the fact that they're expecting certain fearful fiery judgment. A look to the fate of sinners will change your participation in our church's door-to-door campaign. A look to the fate of sinners will change the way you have conversations with your lost relatives, friends, and co-workers. A look to the fate of sinners will change your prayer life. So that's the second look of the book of Hebrews. Number three, we have a look in faith as a stranger. Look in Hebrews chapter 11. Our chapter on faith, Hebrews chapter 11, the word shows up there in verse number 10. We're going to read a little bit longer of a passage than that. We'll be reading, this is a look that is in the life of one of the witnesses that we were talking about earlier. Look at verse number 8, we'll read down through verse number 16. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength, conceived seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful to promise. Therefore, sprang there even of one and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of the country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city." So the interpretation here is very simple. Abraham followed God to the land of promise by faith. Even in the land of promise, he continued to dwell in tents. Look at verse number nine. It says, dwelling in tabernacles. He came to the place that God promised him. And if I came to the land that God promised me, I'm going to build a house. I'm going to build a city. No, Abraham stayed in a tabernacle because his testimony was, yes, this is a land of promise, but I've got another land of promise that I'm looking for. I'm a stranger here. This is my land that I'm a stranger on. That was Abraham's testimony, that he was here just for a short time, that he was a stranger, that he was a pilgrim here on this earth, that just a temporary stop here on this earth with looking for that city. He looked for a heavenly country. The world had lost its appeal when he got a glimpse of glory. That was Abraham's testimony. So that's the interpretation of what this passage is talking about. Let's look at our definition of our word look here. This is the word ek, ek, sorry, ekdomai. Ekdomai, sorry. This is a compound word that's used eight other times in the Bible. The first part, ek, carries the idea of out of or from or that there is an origin. There's an origin for this. And the last part, dekomai, means to receive or to expect. So when you put it together, it means to expect, to receive something from a specific source. Abraham said, I'm looking to my source because I got something I'm expecting from him. That's when he said, I looked for a better country. Look real quickly at John chapter five. John chapter five, if you can get there with me, verse number nine, I'll show you another time this word shows up. John chapter five and verse number nine, this is the story of the man who was waiting by the pool where an angel would come and stir the waters. John 5 and verse number 9 says, nope, not 5, verse 9, 3. See, I told you, Marla, it happens. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind halt withered waiting for the moving of the water. Where you see that word waiting for, that's the same word as looked. They weren't waiting for the water to move when the breeze blew by. They weren't waiting for the water to move when somebody kicked a rock in. They were waiting for God to move the water. And they were looking for a specific source to do something for them. And that's when Abraham said, I'm looking for a better country. I'm looking for a source. I'm looking for God to do something for me. That's the definition of the word looked there. So what can we learn? What's our application from Abraham? We can learn from Abraham's example that our expectation should be on heavenly things from God. Too often, our focus is on things here on earth. I wonder sometimes what God thinks of our focus or even of our prayer life. Now, these things aren't sinful in and of themselves, but what about when we ask God, God, give me a big house, because you ever wonder, I'm building you a mansion up here. God, give me more money. You know what? I use that stuff to pave the road up here. God, give me a better job. You're a child of the king. Like, what do you need a better job for? Now, I'm not saying these things are wrong, but I'm saying that so often our focus is all here, and we forget of what God's preparing for us over there. God has made us a lot of eternal promises that He wants us to look to. Look at verse 11 in Hebrews, if you held your place there. Not verse 11. Verse number 13. Halfway through the verse, it says, they saw them afar off. That's promises. These are promises that God has made, that they've seen them afar off. They were persuaded of them, they embraced them, and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims. That's what God wants us to do. He wants us to see his promises, be persuaded of his promises, embrace them, confess it, and look in faith as a stranger here on this world. First time that I was in Chicago, I went to college. I moved up there, 18 years old, moved to college, went on a trip to Chicago. I am a country boy. I grew up a country boy. I don't like the city. I hated the city. I have a phobia of certain parts of the city. And I was in the city. And if you saw me the first time I was in Chicago, I had a camouflage hat on. The bill was torn up. There was a fishhook on the side of it. T-shirt, jeans, boots. I was smiling at people. I was waving at cars. You wouldn't have to look at me too long to say, you know what? You're not from around here, are you? Because you could tell I was a stranger in them there parts. That I was southern accent and all those things. You could tell that I was not from around there. I wonder if anybody in the world could look at anybody in this room and say, y'all aren't from around here, are you? Speaking of life in this world. There's something different about you. You're a stranger in these parts, aren't you? Or have you made yourself so comfortable and at home that you've lost your heavenly accent? They will never be able to say that of us as long as our focus is on the things of this life. So let's get the look of faith as a stranger. All right, number four, fourth look tonight. Hebrews chapter 12 again, we'll go back there. We need to look in fear at the slipping, look in fear at the slipping. Hebrews 12 verse number 15, we'll be reading verses 15 and 16. It says, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. This is another one that's one of the harder passages that a lot of people have different interpretations on. But what I've come to understand this passage to mean is pointing to someone who's brought false doctrine into the church. When it says, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. It points to the one who is referred to in Jude chapter 4 when it says, For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this kind of nation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The verse says they have failed. The word failed means to come short. It's the same word used in Romans 3.23 when you have come short of the glory of God. They've come short of the grace of God. They may look the part of the Christian, but their doctrine betrays them. They're the source of the root of bitterness that will defile many, and their character is after that of Esau, who is described as a profane person. The church is warned to look diligently for these apostates and false teachers. So we need to be looking diligently beyond guard. This brings us to our definition, the word here for look, where it says, And verse number 15, looking diligently, is the word epica, epica, I'm messing myself up, episcapeo, episcapeo, in which sounds a lot like our word episcopal. It comes from the word that is used of the pastor taking the oversight of the church. It's the verb form of the word of a pastor taking an oversight of a church. It's the noun form of this word is when in Psalm, or Psalm, Acts chapter 20, verse 28, where it says there, the church of God over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers. So it's a word that refers to the pastor and the ministry the pastor has specifically in guarding the flock. Because the passage in Acts that says, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, he says, for after my departing shall grievous wolves come in. And the pastor has the job of watching out for and caring for and protecting the flock from those who would do them harm. This word, this look where it says looking is a word of warning and it means to beware. It means to be on guard. Look and be on guard. It actually carries the idea of aiming at something and pointing things out as dangerous. That's the word look, being on guard, a guard that would be watching to protect an enemy from coming into the camp. That's the word look here. And so as we get into some application here, We as Christians need to be looking out for our brothers and sisters. We need to look in fear at the Christians around us who are slipping. We're not going to point out specifically to false teachers, but there's people around us who are slipping in their Christian walk, who are missing in their church attendance, who haven't done their devotional yet this year, who haven't come to some of the events or things that we have going on in the church and might need somebody in the church to say, hey, I noticed. I saw, I heard, I'm concerned. And not to talk to each other about it, talk to them about it. And say, hey look, I'm looking, I'm watching, I'm being aware, I'm being on guard because I don't want the devil to get into our church. I don't want any casualties to happen in our Christian lives. Have you noticed anyone start to slide in their Christian lives? Did that set off any warning bells? Did you do anything to help? There's a sad verse in the Bible that's often used very effectively in preaching on soul winning. It's in the book of Psalms where David said, no man cared for my soul. I've heard many rousing messages on the lost crying out, no man cared for my soul before the throne of God. And I believe that's going to be a sad truth that many lost people have to stand up and say, no one cared. Nobody came and told me about the gospel. But when we look at the interpretation, when we go back to the context, that cry does not come from the mouth of a lost person facing God's judgment. That cry came from a Christian who was alone. That cry came from a Christian who was on his own. A cry came from a Christian who was struggling and he cried out, no one cares. Let that never be the testimony of someone who leaves this church body. Well, I left the church. Didn't seem like anybody cared. I missed for a couple of weeks. Nobody cared. I was sick. Nobody cared. I asked for help. Nobody cared. That won't happen if we are looking to the, in fear at the slipping. We're looking in fear at the slipping. We're being on guard. Let no one that leaves this church have that testimony. Finally tonight, we're gonna end on a high note, all right? I know we got you down a little bit there, but that's conviction for you. A look to the future of the saints. Look at Hebrews chapter nine with me. Hebrews chapter nine, a look to the future for the saints. Hebrews chapter nine, verse number 28. This is, wait till we get the definition. I'm so excited about this one. So Christ. was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Very straightforward interpretation. Jesus came once to bear our sins. When He comes back, He's not coming as a sacrifice. He's not coming as a docile lamb. He's coming as the King of kings. He's coming as a sovereign to rule over this world when He comes back. I believe this verse primarily refers to the second coming, but there's definitely room for the rapture in the context of this verse as well. Both events could be tied to what we're looking for. We as Christians are looking for, during the tribulation, the Jews will be looking for Christ to come set up his kingdom. Right now, we're looking for Christ to come back and take us home, take us out of this world. We're looking to the future, to our future as saints. When Jesus comes again to save us from this sinful flesh in the world and by taking us home with him to be in heaven forever, hallelujah. All right, we're gonna get to a word, this is gonna sound a little bit familiar because this is apekdekomai. Apekdekomai is the word look, we look to Jesus. It has three parts to this word. We have dekomai, that was what we saw with Abraham. Dek, or sorry, ek is the word out of. Dekomai means to receive or to wait for, and ap, that prefix there, it means off, away from, a separation or a departure. We are waiting for a departure out of this world when we're looking for Jesus. We are waiting. It's exciting, isn't it? Amen. When we define this word, we see that we're waiting for a departure out of this world. We're waiting for a separation from this sinful flesh. We're waiting for God to take us off and to take us away from. That's a look to the future of the saints, waiting for God to take us off. So application, are you looking for that future? Are you looking for the return of Christ? Are you waiting for God to take you up? When you get to application, are you ready for Jesus to come back to you, for you? Somebody presented this to me, it was an interesting thought, and I'll share it with you now. If I could tell you for sure, and I'm not gonna set a date, I'm not saying this is true at all, but if I could, I could be, could be Jesus comes back. I don't know when Jesus is coming back, but if I could tell you for sure that Jesus was coming back on Wednesday of this week, what would your life look like on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? What would you need to do? What would you need to get done? If you knew for sure that Jesus was gonna come back, well, I'd definitely read my Bible. I'd have some sin I need to confess. I have some family I need to witness to. I have some people I need to tell that I love. If there's things that you would do if you knew Jesus was coming back, why haven't you done them yet? Because I know he's coming back. If you believe the Bible, you know he's coming back. We shouldn't have a list of things that we need to get done before He does. We should have a list of things that we're doing for Him. A look to Jesus, a look to the future of the saints. So tonight we looked at five looks from the book of Hebrews. I'll review them for you, and we'll have a moment of meditation. I don't know how the Lord may have spoken to your heart. I'm not going to go into any more application. We did it with each of these, but the first one is a look in the face of the Savior. Turn away from everything else. Look at Jesus. We saw, secondly, a look at the fate of the sinner. There's an expectation, if we believe the Bible, that we have for the unsaved. How is that expectation affecting your life? We have a look in faith as a stranger. I've got a source that I'm waiting for something from. And because of that, I'm only a stranger here on this earth. My life's not invested here. I want my life invested over there. We have a look in fear at the slipping. So you look, and are you on guard for Christians around you who slip in their Christian life? And finally, are you looking to the future of the saints that we're waiting for a departure out of? Let's have every head bowed and every eye closed. I'm going to pray the altar will be open as the musicians come. We'll go ahead and stand to your feet. I don't know how God may have spoken to your heart through this study, through His Word, through these five looks of the book of Hebrews. What look do you need changed? What vision do you need corrected? Lord God, we love you. God, we thank you for the Bible. We thank you for what it teaches us, how practical it can get in our lives. Lord, there's many of us that have a vision problem. Lord, we need you to do some surgery. We need you to do some correction. We need to get our vision altered so that we can see properly the looks that you want us to have. Looking unto Jesus, looking for that better country, looking on guard for the sake of our Christian brothers and sisters, looking at sinners and seeing what's in store for them, and looking for Jesus to come again. Lord, I pray you'd have your will and your way in this time of invitation. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.