9-28-25 - We Are Convinced Of Better Things Concerning You

So this morning, I'm gonna take one more week away from the book of Deuteronomy. Eric's gonna be preaching next Sunday. And so I wanted to take one more week before we get back into it. And that's because as I've thought about our congregation and our needs, it seemed like a number of us are struggling in one way or another. Tired, grumpy, worried, sick, fearful, angry.

You know that, we live in a time when everything happens very fast, very quickly. You ever feel like life is, like, pulling you along, like, to the next thing? Hurry. You can't you gotta come to the next. And it's just it's just day after day after week after week after and all of a sudden you look up and you're like, wait, that was five years ago.

What you often find is when you when you have the perspective to actually realize that that's what's going on is you just start feeling drugged through life. Mind, but that your body doesn't move that quickly. It often stores the tiredness and the anxiety or the fears, and then they just kind of seep out in other areas of life. Life. You kind of overreact and you start, why am I so upset or worried?

My response seems to be disproportionate. Oftentimes that's because of this, this, the speed of which we go through. Time and slow down and talk about some of the stuff that's going on that I'm aware of in our in our congregation, but also, just to make some room and and to give us a different perspective on what God's doing and what he's at work accomplishing if you've not been here a while, some of these things may not seem as familiar to you, but having been the pastor here for a number of years, I know what many of you have borne with and carried, over years. Just a little bit of the last couple of You know, it wasn't it was, you know, two weeks ago we were dealing with Charlie Kirk, right. There was the memorial service, and there was a big response to that.

And then earlier this week, Votie Bawr. Went home to be with the Lord, having had years of heart complications. I don't actually know the exact cause of death this time, but I know that he's had heart issues. And so he's gone home. And it's like, do we even have time to to think about it?

Other than to put a little blurb up on social media about what we appreciated. And then it's like, well, then you have to be on to the next thing. Babies just recently and are feeling the pressure to get back up to speed. Some of us are about to have babies and have no idea what how that's going to affect our lives. There's tension in our extended families.

Multiple of you are dealing with

conflict in your extended families. Serious, deep, and your extended family.

Serious, deep, and your extended family. Serious, deep, and your conflict in your extended family. Serious, deep and you are buying and selling homes and renovating homes. Others of us, cars aren't working.

So you're considering career choices

in the future. So you're considering career

choices in the future.

Some of you are considering career choices in the future. And all of these things are just on top of the normal ordinary day to day responsibilities that you have. It's a lot. It's a lot. Not every culture functions like ours does.

If you've I've never been too far. I've been to Mexico and Canada, but I've never been too far. I've never been to Europe. My wife's been there and life is very different over there. Things are slower, and more relaxed, she tells me.

If you've been there, maybe you can confirm or or not and say say whether that's the case. But it seems to me that in America and especially among young people, things go very quickly and there's never time to slow down to process to, reflect. It's just on to the next thing. And so this morning, I want to take all of that and say, we all see it and acknowledge it. I want to take some time to look at something outside of stressful, it's very easy and common for us to lose sight of everything else, particularly the Lord is doing what he sees and what he thinks about us.

And so my hope this morning is that I would be able to encourage you and strengthen you to continue to serve God each day as busy as you are. The goal is not to tell you the busy is wrong or bad, but to give you, Hebrews six nine to 12 says, but beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you. And things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. Name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the states. And we desire until the end.

So that you will not be of those who through faith and pain inherited and But we're gonna be, going through Philippians in Sunday school and adult Sunday school starting next week, so I decided I would preach from Hebrews instead of Philippians. So if you think of Hebrews if you if you know what goes on in Hebrews six, especially what's gone on just before these verses, it's a it's it's one of the most fearful warnings in

It's a it's a it's one of the most fearful warnings in It's

a it's a it talks about draw the ones we've read. It says, for in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to draw and then have It is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame. And so there's this Right. In those verses that there are those who are unredeemable. Who have who have come and been exposed to the gospel and have in in some way manifested faith and belief and and obedience to it.

In the future, they've the the the true care their true character and nature has come to rise. And we say and this passage says, there's there's no hope of reclaiming them. And that's a scary thing. A fearful thing. The book of Hebrews.

It's written to those who are of Jewish descent. It's not exactly clear where they were, whether they were in Jerusalem or somewhere else, but they were they were Jewish converts. They were those who knew the Old Testament law, who understood the stories and and the heritage and the lineage of the of, of the Old Testament. And and and Hebrews is is a long, debate argument, reasoning back and forth from the Old Testament and the Old Covenant into the new as these people were suffering and being persecuted for their faith, primarily for their conversion. They weren't being persecuted because they were Jews.

They were being persecuted because they had come to faith in Jesus. And so they were facing serious temptations, serious and so then in that context you get this warning that there are those who have who have demonstrated their their love and their trust and their faithfulness to obedience and you're like, I think he's talking about them. And then he says, but if those then fall away, there is no hope for them. Scary. Not the sort of thing you think would be said to to to Christians, and yet there we have it.

And so right on the heels of that, we have this encouragement. He says, but beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you. You realize that there was a lot of if they were responding appropriately to the warning that's just been given, they're going to be fearful. They're going to be stirred up. They're going to be paying attention because they're like, you mean if we fail at this point, assuaging these fears that have arisen in response to what is just been said.

Warnings of scripture, or when we're warned by those who love us, whether those or our spouses and elders, we ought not to brush aside those warnings saying, we don't know what you're talking about. We ought to but we're convinced the better things concerning. It would be a dangerous thing to always be saying that about ourselves to ourselves. But I'm convinced of better things concerning. Better than someone else.

And how if And if that's generally how you you come away from that sort of discussion, we need to figure out why. It could be because I'm bad at my job and that's actually just what's coming through. And sometimes that's probably the reason. It may also be because of your disposition. You're just you just you know, I'm looking at Timothy.

Timothy's like, well, it's always my fault. I could have something bad happen in my life that Timothy had nothing to do about. And when I tell him about it, if I was like, and I think Timothy you could have prevented this. He'd he'd he'd go along with me. He'd like, you're right.

I could have I could have kept that from happening. And some of you were that way. Right? So we do have to figure out normal way it's talked about. Typically, we're finding messages of comfort, messages of like, we're just going to tuck you back into bed and tell you everything's going to be okay.

Or we're going to give you an emotional cathartic experience when we come to worship. And so when you come to church and you're regularly fed a diet of, mirror held up and having things pointed out in the mirror regarding your own sins, that's kind it's there is actually a danger that you would come to believe that that's all you are and that your, your, to and to evoke humility and repentance in us and Those are good things. But really the point of us seeing our sins. Discern the Lord's will for us going forward. If we just bumble through our lives, in the busyness and in the pressures that that are always coming at us.

And so the role of seeing our sins, the goal of, of, of having that picture come into focus is so that we know what to what our weaknesses are. And we can go,

the

that he shows there. Innocence? Or is it better for us to just kind of be kept comfortable? I think a lot of modern Christianity is really just like hospice. Message of the gospel.

The message of the gospel is not there's death and nothing can be done about it. It's that there's life through Jesus Christ repentance and faith and rest and comfort through his victory over the grave. And so we ought to be amongst our our nation. We ought to be the most lively. The most alive.

Purpose in all of it is, is just to make us miserable. It's

not

So how does God view you? That how you think he is? Is he like that that that cruel that cruel taskmaster who's got the carrot on a stick and it's just like

always, you know, you're just reaching for it and reaching.

You never can get just reaching for it and reaching never can get it. But just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just Are you inclined to think to wake up and I that stuff you're saying is true.

And I

agree with you. It's not true. I didn't ask if it was true. I asked, do you think it I've been known to believe lies before, have you? So these are questions you have to actually ask.

What do you think God sees in you? Or maybe another way of asking the question is, if God has saved, What do you do when people encourage you? Do you brush it off? Are you a yeah, but kind of guy? Yeah.

I'm watching all of you go, uh-huh. You all looked around, you'd realize by half of you are going That's not Christian. Right. And the reason is because it doesn't give any glory to God and it testifies to your belief that God doesn't work and change and do any good stuff in you or a. And that's not biblical.

It's just not true. It's just not true. If someone came to you and said There's these warnings that you need to be aware of, but they love we are convinced I'm convinced of better things concerning you. And you just go, go, and so in Hebrews he says, but beloved we are convinced of better things concerning you and you just go, and so in Hebrews he says, but beloved we are convinced of better things concerning you and you just go, and so in Hebrews he says, but beloved we are convinced of better things concerning you. And so in Hebrews he says, but beloved we are convinced of better things concerning you.

And so in Hebrews he says, but beloved we are convinced of better things concerning you. And so that accompany trick. It's meant to be encouraging. It's meant to, to comfort you. It's meant to, to, to bind you up where you're broken.

And we, as receive those things. And here those what it says. The text says, you know, we're convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking this way. That's the warning that just came before. Though we are being this and we both believe you should hear these things and consider these things, and you should also hear that we are convinced the better things are He says, for God is not unjust.

So it's to forget your work and your love, which you have shown towards his name. What is your aim in life? Is it not to love and to and to honor and to obey Jesus Christ? If you're a Christian, is that not what you want to do? So then I come back and ask you, have you done any of it?

And if you're like, it's my heart's desire. It's what it's what it's what makes me feel the most alive is when we talk in these ways. How then can we come back and say, but I've done none of it. Both of those things can't be true. They both can't be true.

They both can't be true.

They both can't be true. They both can't be true. They both can't be true. They both can't be true. They both can't be true.

They both can't be true. They both can't be true. They both can't be true. They've got his saved. And given

you his spirit and made you alive. It's impossible for you not to do. It as often or as well or as willingly as I should have. Granted. But would you have done it at all if God hadn't been merciful to you?

Where would you be? Can you point to a point in your life? So I know you guys are young. But there will be times in your life, and maybe you can already point to a time where you go, you know what? There was a fork in the road.

There was a choice to be made. And I chose this way, and that's what got me here. But if I had chose the other way, I would not be here. And no, I wouldn't. I don't know where I'd be, but I know that road didn't lead to where I'm at.

I realized that in reading this passage from Hebrews, and we're talking about people who are being who are supposed to, be girding up their loins for to join that cloud of witnesses that gone before them, some of whom had been sawn and and I realized none of you were facing that level of danger, bodily danger for your this passage teaches us. It teaches us that God doesn't forget our our obedience. God doesn't forget our obedience. Even if it's imperfect, God doesn't forget it. In fact, this passage tells us it would be unjust of God to forget the things that we've done in an effort to love him.

Do you think that the ones who who are who are the original recipients of this letter loved their neighbors perfectly? Do you think every one of them did it? Inevitably, there was some, some imperfection in their love. And yet, we're told that God remembers their love. And so you have to think for a minute.

The humble way to think in this moment is to go, what love have I offered in God's name to his saints? And you should be able to And it's not proud for you to answer it. Because when you did it, you were doing it. It's an honor, Christ. Otherwise, you wouldn't have done it.

Few things that, about my life that are remarkable to them. One of them is all our kids, right? Everyone's like, pick their jaw up off the floor. You know? Other things that's remarkable, is they go you know, when they they think, well, you're there's something weird behind that because you don't just fumble into 11 kids, right?

And once they get past asking if we're a blended family, and these sort of like they're just trying to make some sense of it. Then they'll say, oftentimes, were you Catholic? No. They're like, are you Mormon? No.

No one's really asked if I'm a Muslim. Right? But I'm an Arabic so and I say, no. I'm a pastor. Just just of a Christian church.

Just just just boringly normal Christianity over the centuries that I'm a pastor of that kind of church. You know? And and then they ask about my church. And they say, well, what's church like? And I say, oh, it's like, you know, 130, 140 people, you know, tons and tons and tons of little kids.

I said, actually, I'm one of the old people in my church. I'm 43. I'm way past the middle in terms of age. I said, my church is full of young people. It's like, if you're if you're 35 in our church or if you've got a child in kindergarten or above, you're in the older half of our church.

I don't know if you realize that. If you have a kindergartner, you're in the older half of our church. Your old and you don't feel old and you don't feel experienced and I'll grant that you're you're not. But something. One of the things that people will know when when I start telling them that, I'm like, our church is full of people and they got married in their early to mid twenties.

They've have they have these they have kids. It's it's loud. It's they're all there's there's lots of job security for me because they don't have any idea what they're doing. Because you guys don't know what you're doing with your kids yet. You're all you got ideas and they're not working and they're disruptive and all these other things.

And we're gonna we need to mature and we need to grow. That the things you've endeavored to do and have done are really sweet and pleasing to God. Why is it that you decided to get married instead of fornicate? Why is it that you decided to have children instead of Wait. Why is it that you decided to have one to have another child instead of?

Wait. Is it because it's easy? Don't come tell me having kids is easy. It's not easy. And they didn't have to have 11 kids to figure that out.

It's a lot of work. It changes your life, and how can you prepare for it? How do you prepare for having your first baby? You just have it. You just you Hey, you think.

You think, read, and then and then you have your baby, and it's like all bets are off. Why'd you do that? You do realize most of our society that your age is not living your life. Like I'm weird because I have 11 kids, but you're weird because of how you're a mirror. What is the average marriage age in America today?

For men, for women. 30 You do realize you're already off the the normal beaten path of the people you're around. And Was it because you love Jesus Christ and you wanted to honor him? Did you decide to have another child? Because you were just it's just we just need the tax credit.

Is that why you did it? I mean, you do have to learn to think another way and say, actually, we did this because So does God see that and remember that or does he just go, Yeah, you're supposed to do that. You were supposed to do it better. It is true that we can do it better. And we ought to strive to do it better.

And as we come through our passage, you're going to see that's actually the end result is that encouragement should lead to perseverance in pursuing the good things. And not encouragement and it doesn't go unnoticed. By God. The desires of your heart to serve him, to love him, to raise up a godly seed for him, he doesn't forget. He smiles on it and is glorified by it.

And I think in the midst of all of the difficulty and all of the pressures and all of the the the the the the the the tiredness you should be told that God is pleased by your efforts toward love and, service to him and to a point to him and to one And to

one And to one And to one And and and and and

and and and and and and and Do you ever think about your job and you think, I bet there's a better place? Like with better hours or better pay or better something, you know. And do you know pastors do that too? We think about it, just like everyone else. We're like, what if my life was different?

What if my life was different? Number of pastors and interact with others, you know, online or whatever. And you hear what goes on in their churches, and you see the kind of things they deal with, and the sort of constraints that they are under. And I'm not saying that's because of the churches. I still know that I would I don't know that I've got the maturity and the grace to deal with some of the stuff these other guys I've read to have to deal with.

And this. And for your willingness to be led, your willingness to be taught, your willingness to be rebuked. And you don't always handle it well. Right? Mad at me or one of the elders or at some point you've been like, damn, I don't understand.

How could you say that to me? Because we love you. That's how we can say it to you. We may be wrong sometimes. Inevitably, we

are wrong sometimes. But the fact that we love you, that's not that's

not in question. Because I've seen over the years, the encouragement to me. And we live in a society where where because everything is so fast paced and there's no collective memory. We don't remember last week or last month or last year. And we live in a society where where because everything is so fast paced and there's no collective memory.

Year. It's a really strange thing to make an argument and say, but that, that person, ten years ago,

did this and it's settled my opinion about them. And it's settled my opinion about them. And it's settled my opinion about them. And it's settled my opinion about them. And it's

settled my opinion about them. And it's settled my opinion about them. And And it's settled my opinion about I trust them. And and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and

and and and and and and They inevitably they have. But I remember I remember them. That ability to remember. To be comforted by it, to be helped by it, is a is a Christian virtue. And something that is set up in this passage, God does.

It would be unjust for him to forget. And therefore, it would be unjust for us to forget. We ought to be the kind of people who us. As they were serving the Lord by loving us. We really have to do away with this what have you done for me lately kind of mental.

Well, we've done these things, we did these things, and it's always like the scales always just kind of teetering, you know, in our

and so

If God If God remembers, we should remember. And that's what the passage goes on and says. He says, and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence. What diligence are we talking about? The diligence of God to remember the past.

What is it that you want to do when you get overwhelmed and tired and and, you know, it's just it's things there's too much going on. After it's all said and done, what do you want to do? We just want to quit. Right? You start thinking, what can I just lop off out of my life?

Never the things that it's often not the things we should lop off. If we were going to take a machete to our life, tiredness doesn't help us cut off the right things. We often go to cut off the wrong things. To give more room to the things that would do well to be trimmed. But when you're overwhelmed, when you're when you're forgetful, what you tend to do is want to quit.

Same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. What is it that fuels you to keep going? Is it not hope? Is it not hope that the things you've given your life to and in their context, four, that God will bless it and that it will be And all of the day to day decisions and busyness, not going the way we wanted them to. And other people and things up.

Like, isn't at the end of the day, when, when you're all done, you say, I hope that, that the life I've led, in pursuit of serving God, will give them And then when I'm dead, people will say, of me, him. He loved Jesus Christ, and he endeavored to serve you. And so the point of this, that each of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of What that means is that if you're struggling and you're wanting to quit, if you're kind of like all tied up in a knot, and I don't know what exactly you're tied up in a knot about, but it's my sense that there are a lot of knots going around right now. Me too. Not just you.

Remember. If we wake up in the morning with no memory of God's faithfulness, then we have no, no foundation to And it's a really fearful place to be, and you'll want to quit all the more So when we consider our lives, when you wake up in the morning and are looking for reasons to do the right thing, And it's biblical to reason this way. Because God did this for me, will provide for me. It may not be the way or the time or however I can conceive a bit. But I trust that he will provide for me, and I'm not going down the road of whether he will or not.

That's a settled question in my heart and in my mind. And so now I'm free today as opposed to constrains today. We desire that you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. So that you will not be what?

Sluggish.

The Christian life is not supposed to be sluggish. It's not supposed to be this like, oh, I gotta go do that thing. I gotta go have that conversation. I gotta go do I gotta go cook dinner. Oh, I gotta go do laundry.

I gotta go spank the kids. I got like, that's not how you're supposed to go through life. If you feel that way, hey, spiritual doctor here. Something's wrong. Ways that you've failed.

That's one thing you do look for. Right? You do look for areas where you've fallen short, but you also look for places where God has been faithful to you. Places where he's been gracious, where he's been kind, where he's filled up what was then. But it's better to give and so you and and so you and I are never without things to praise God for.

And to so long as we remember but if we don't remember, Namaste. So what good things has God given to you? And he's given those things to you. Do you believe that he will supply you with the things that you need today? That's the I think the Christian life in America has been I think we all have an appetite for it to be incredible, for it to be noteworthy, something you'd you'd want to put on social media, or have a story, a book written about.

That's not The Driven. Work that God called him to and enabled him to do is extraordinary. He's not the only person that goes on to college campuses and talks about the gospel. Provenance and his wisdom. He raised up Charley Kirk's ministry and gave him a voice that was And then And then and then and then and then and then and then and then and sort of sorting all of that out is

to say, oh, well, I should be like Charlie. I should be like Charlie. I should I need to do a

I should be like Charlie. I should I need to do a Do you think that's normal, Christian? Do you think that's, that's like the benchmark for faith Yeah. For your faith be shot for your faith. Like that's when we can say, hey, look, you actually love Well, that just sets you up for a lifetime of failure.

Are you doing that? No. Are you actually even pursuing that? And one and a. It's probably just in your house most days.

Is spent. It is spent in trying to figure out how to get your kid to sit quietly through the dinner. Or at church. It is trying to figure out how to not slip into the the same old ruts of discontentment and frustration when you and your spouse are taught. That's where you're going to express your love for Jesus Christ as with the people who are closest.

If it is, then we could use the same logic to say, well, actually the widow's mite really was just and jesus was lying when he said that she gave more than So do you think he's lying? No, we can say that. Do you think that he's displeased then by the efforts you make each day to serve one another and to love each other in your home? And in this If you do, then you have to ask the question, why do you do it then? Just have an appetite for wasting time?

Is that just what you love to do is things that you don't believe are of any value? No, I think there is value to it. And I go, well, good. Then do it. Pursu it.

With vigor and not with sluggishness. And trust that God sees it, even if no one else sees it. The vast majority of Christians who are have entered their rest and are sitting with with their Lord now.

That's what

they spent their life. And time. There's so much more I could tell you. And there would be the extraordinary cases. But there have been countless, help to strengthen their weaknesses.

And he was pleased by it and he remembers it because of Glorified. It's not less valuable to draw. Boss and your company and you're faithful and you don't steal time and you care to do a good job, why do you do that? Don't you despise the people who don't do that that you work with? So why You should do it to honor Jesus Christ.

The look up in a week and go, what did I build? And it may take longer than a week for you to even be able to see it. And that's a

not

to live as though everything we're doing is not enough, not good enough. It's not something perfect before God will even see or like smile at me a little bit, then we have a really, a really deficient view of father. Because you who are fathers or who have had a father at some point looked at you and did you didn't do it perfectly and he went, Son, I love you and you did a good job. I'm pleased with you. And it's not because you did it perfectly.

It's because he's your father. He's your dad. He's your mom. Like, they love you. They're inclined

to And

so when life's swirling around you, and you're not sure where to invest or what to care about, you do need to step back. We need to step back and find the things that God has specifically tasked. And then when they're sitting here going, God's not giving me any And then when it's specifically tasked And that's where you should focus your time and your

and

your And it's a really nice place to be if we can get to it and stay there.