Tackling Ten Timeless Truths, Part 11

Take your Bible and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Tackling 10 timeless truths tonight, or today, is number 10. Number 10. We're almost done with the book of Hebrews. Seven years and four months later, we will finally conclude this book next Sunday, Lord willing, and that's the plan. And we'll wrap everything up for you. In fact, we're going to do something we've never done before, and that is we're going to finish two books in the same week. We're going to finish Hebrews next Sunday and Job the following Wednesday, all in the same week. And in doing so, what we will do is show you how it is that as we conclude each book, they point you back to the summation of the entire book to show you all the things that you would have learned had you been with us all this time. It's a great conclusion, but we'll finish both of them in the same week—both Hebrews and the book of Job—as we anticipate all that God has for us. But today we're tackling 10 timeless truths. Today is number 10.

All 10 of them are on the screen behind me to let you understand where we have been. We began 11 weeks ago looking at principle number 1 and verses 1 to 3, that tells us that we need to respond with love to the needs of others. And then we went to verse number 4 to talk about how you reaffirm your loyalty to marriage. These are truths that you need to tackle. They're timeless truths. Once tackled, they will be treasured by you for the rest of your life. But it's a continual tackling of these truths every single day. Reaffirming your loyalty to marriage. Then in verses 5 to 6, it was about resisting the love of money, learning to be content with the things that you have. That's something you're going to have to tackle every day—the urge for the love of money. And then remember your leaders and follow their example. That's verse number 7. Relish the unchangeable character of God. That was verse number 8. Refuse to listen to wrong teaching, verse number 9. Verses 10 to 14, realize the importance of separation from the world. Verses 15 and 16, return all glory and praise to the Lord. Verse 17, recognize the authority and accountability of spiritual wisdom—or spirit, that should be spiritual leaders. I don't know how we made that mistake, but wisdom is good too. And then verses 18 and following, rely upon the Lord to do His will. That's number 10: rely upon the Lord to do His will.

The question is, what is His will? So he gives us an exhortation, that he gives us a benediction. With the exhortation, it's an admonishment to pray. "Pray for us," he says. With the benediction comes to understand not only do we need to pray, but we need to see and understand the peace of God, the power of God, the provision of God, for the praise of God, so that we will learn to please God. Let me read it for you. First, number 18. Hebrews 13: "Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you the sooner." That's the exhortation. "Pray for us." He makes us request. "We want you to pray for us." Why? Why? So that we can be restored to you even sooner, so we can come to you and minister to you and serve you. He says that the motive behind this is not a selfish motive. He says simply that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.

You know, prayer is an amazing thing. I had the opportunity to be at our church's prayer meeting last Saturday—not yesterday, but the week before. And you know, to listen to people pray is a great thing. You know, prayer is more caught than it is taught, right? You catch prayer. You learn to pray by listening to others pray and how they pray and why they pray. And to sit there and listen to people pray in our church for you guys, for the ministry of our church, it's quite an astounding thing as a pastor to listen to the people of the church pray for the people of the church and to hear their heart's passion and desire for each of you to grow when you walk with the Lord, to serve the Lord, to honor the Lord. It's truly one of the most rewarding experiences I ever have as a pastor—to listen to people pray and to hear how they pray and to know that they are driven to the throne of grace on behalf of you for the glory of God.

So the writer of Hebrews says, "I want you to pray for us." And yet, how does God's sovereignty work in conjunction with our prayers? Isn't that so baffling? God's going to do what God's going to do, no matter what we do, right? God has decreed all things from the very beginning. God's in charge, and God is able to do exactly what He pleases. But yet He's commanded us to pray. And how prayer works in conjunction with that, we'll never understand. We know that Hannah prayed and God gave her a son, Samuel. We know that Hezekiah prayed and God slew 185,000 Assyrians. We know Job prayed and God stood him up on dry land. I'm sorry, that's Jonah. Sorry, thank you, Roger. Jonah prayed and God stood him up on dry land. Job prayed and God took him to captivity of Job. We understand that when the believers prayed, Peter was released from prison. So we know that prayer works. We just don't know how it works in conjunction with God's sovereignty, but that's okay. You don't have to, because God has commanded us to pray, and so we do, because God works in and through each and every one of our prayers. He wants us to rely upon Him. He wants us to depend upon Him.

And you know what? Now you know how much you depend upon the Lord. How much? How often? How long? How frequently you pray? Because prayer is all about reliance—your need for God. You spend very little time in prayer? You're spending very little time dependent upon God for anything, because you think you can do it yourself. But you can't. And so God wants us on our knees. God wants us before the throne of grace. God wants us calling out to Him, calling out to Him in truth, calling out to His name to do what only He can do. God wants us to do that. He's commanded us to pray. He's told us, "Pray without ceasing" in First Thessalonians chapter 5. He told us in Luke chapter 18, "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Because those are your only two options: pray or faint. If you're fainting, you're probably not praying. But if you're praying, you're certainly not going to be fainting. So men ought always to pray and not to faint. The writer of Hebrews says, "Pray for us." Why? Because your prayers show your dependence upon God, your reliance upon God, that we might be able to do His will because you are fulfilling His will by praying for us.

So he moves from the exhortation to the benediction, and then he says this: "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord." It's so good. Why? Because the Lord is called the Great Shepherd. He's the Good Shepherd in John 10, because the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He's called the Great Shepherd in Hebrews chapter 13, because the Great Shepherd was raised for the sheep. And then He's called the Chief Shepherd in First Peter chapter 5, because He's coming again for His sheep. So He's the Good Shepherd, He's the Great Shepherd, He's the Chief Shepherd. And he says you need to go and realize that the God of peace, the God of peace, and the power of God raised Him from the dead. Why? Why do you need to know that? Because Philippians 2 says that God is at work in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Why? Because God's at work in you. How is He at work in you? Well, number one, you're at peace with Him. You're no longer His enemy. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God, right? Romans 5 verse number 1 tells us so. Now that we're on God's side, now we're at peace with God. Paul says in Colossians chapter 3, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." In other words, let it be the umpire in your hearts. In other words, let the fact that you're on Christ's side be the governing factor in every decision that you make. In other words, He is the decision maker because He is the umpire. So let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

So now he comes to the fact that this is the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, "equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." In other words, he says, "Look, this God of peace, okay, is the God of power, because He raised the Great Shepherd from the dead. He's the God of provision, because He provided for you the new covenant. He's the God of praise, because all glory goes to Him. This God you depend on, because it's this God who is going to equip you, who's going to mend you." The word is "katartizo," which means if you're a fisherman, it deals with the mending of nets, and fishermen would understand that. If you're a doctor, it deals with the mending of broken bones. If you're a sailor, it deals with preparing a ship for a voyage. If you're a soldier, it's outfitting your troops for battle. It's a word that deals with putting everything together, putting everything in order so that you are able to accomplish the objective before you. So he's saying, "Look, you need to rely upon the God of peace, the God of power, the God of provision, to equip you, to mend you, to put you together so that you're able to accomplish that which is pleasing to the Lord."

Now, how does God do that? How does God put the pieces together? Well, the Bible tells us it's not hard. He's just written this whole epistle, right, explaining the sufficiency and the supremacy of Jesus Christ our Lord. It's what the Bible says in Second Timothy 3:16 and 17, you know well. For the Word of God is inspired, right? And the inspired Word of God is profitable for all things—not some things, but all things, right? It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God will be thoroughly equipped—"katartizo," same word—thoroughly mended, thoroughly set in order, thoroughly put together, right? So he'll be absolutely complete. In other words, God's Word does this. The only thing that mends your fractured life is the Word of God. The way that helps your wounded soul is the Word of God. The life that's broken needs the truth of the Word of God from the God of peace, from the God of power, from the God of provision, for the glory and praise of His name, because that's how God puts you back together. It's His word.

How did God put Job back together? He spoke to Job. Revealed Himself to Job. It caused Job to repent in dust and ashes, to abhor himself, to realize the greatness of his God. But while God—what? Job sat there filled with boils, sat there in an ash heap, sat there having lost everything. God was putting him back together by speaking the revelation of Himself to him. And Job was a changed man—not because he prayed and God gave him twice as much as what he had before. No, he was a changed man way before that. He was a changed man because he repented of his sin. He was a changed man because he realized the error of his way. But it's only because of the speaking forth of the Word of God.

So the Bible says in the book of Ephesians, the fourth chapter, that God has given gifted men to the church—some prophets, some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Why? So that they will equip the saints for the work of ministry. Same word we used, "katartizo." So they're going to equip the saints. How are they going to equip the saints? How are they going to mend the saints? How are they going to put the saints back together? With a barbecue? No. With a breakfast? No. With a beach party? No. With music? No. With the authority of God's Holy Word. That's it. You're equipped, you're mended, you're put back together with the truth of God's Holy Word. It's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, that the man of God will be thoroughly furnished, put together, fit for the Master's use.

So in this benediction, as the writer of Hebrews is closing out this beautiful epistle about the sufficiency and the supremacy of Christ, he said, "Look, I've told you what you need to know about who Christ is. I've told you what you need to understand about who Christ is and what He's done. I've spelled it out for you in great detail. And now you need to understand that this God of peace, this God who through His power raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, the one who provided for you eternal life, is going to mend your soul. He's going to put you together so that you will do that which is pleasing to Him. You need to rely upon the Lord to do that which is pleasing to Him."

I wonder if that's your desire today. Now, Paul said in First Corinthians 5 verse number 9, he said, "I make it my ambition—ambition—to be well pleasing in His sight." Paul says, "This is my ambition. This is my drive. This is my passion." When you have ambition, you have tenacity behind your life. There's something about pleasing God that moved the Apostle Paul. He was so ecstatic about putting a smile on the face of the living God that his whole life was wrapped up in pleasing God. "I make it my ambition, whether absent or present, to be well pleasing in His sight." I wonder if that's your ambition. What are you ambitious about? We get ambitious about vacation. We get ambitious about making more money. We get ambitious about a job. We get ambitious about a new house. We get ambitious about all kinds of things. But are you ambitious about pleasing the Lord? That should drive you. And the reason the writer of Hebrews wants them to be mended, put together, straightened, is so that when it's all said and done, having written everything he's written about Jesus Christ, "I want you to be well pleasing in His sight. I want you to please the Lord." That's what he wants.

You should want your children to please the Lord, right? Paul would say in Galatians chapter 1 verse number 10, "If I seek the pleasure of man, I forfeit the pleasure of God." Do you think about that? If I make it my ambition to please man, I'm going to lose the pleasure of God. Why? Because my life would be man-centered instead of God-centered. My life would be set on making people happy with me and like me and all those kind of things, instead of pleasing God no matter how others might respond. But if I make it my ambition to please others, I forfeit the honor and pleasure of God. Paul knew that. So he made it his ambition to please the one who is invisible. Do you do that? Is that your ambition?

Well, let's see if it is, because if you please God, number one, you're going to proclaim the message of the cross. If you learn what it means to please God, you got to search the scriptures to see what the Bible says about pleasing God. And the very first thing you're going to notice is that pleasing God requires you to proclaim the message of the cross. First Corinthians chapter 1, listen to what Paul says. Verse 18: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

God is well pleased with the preaching of the cross. Why? Because it ends all discussion. That's why Paul said in verse 2 of chapter 2, "I know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Why? Because that brought pleasure to the Lord. If you want to please the Lord, it begins by proclaiming the message of the cross. That's what pleases the Lord. He wants you to help people understand who He is, why He came, and why He rose again. So when you proclaim the message of the cross, you please Him. So proclaiming the message of the cross pleases the Lord.

Number two, living a life of faith pleases the Lord. You should know this. Hebrews 11:6. We spent 18 weeks in chapter 11—18 weeks, right?—because we wanted you to understand faith. "Without faith it is impossible to"—what? You go. "Without faith, it is impossible to please the Lord." What is faith? Faith is trusting obedience. Faith is believing absolutely in what God says and then behaving accordingly to what God says. That is what faith is. And all throughout the book of Hebrews chapter 11, it's all about these individuals who sought to please the Lord by believing absolutely in what He said. Although they could not see it, they believed it and then behaved according to all that God said. That's why God was well pleased with them. Living a life of faith pleases the Lord. Trusting obedience—is that what brings glory and honor to the name of God?

Now we know that Second Peter 1:1 tells us that faith is a gift from God. So to believe absolutely in what God says, it's because God has granted you the opportunity to believe in those things, because He's granted you the gift of faith. That's why it pleases Himself. And that's why when you read the book of Hebrews, you see those who understand what it means to please God, because Hebrews 11:6 would want to say that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Diligently seeking. Living a life of faith. Do you live that kind of life? Trusting and obeying, even though you might not see or understand what God is doing? You just believe in what He has said. You trust Him for the outcome. That's why we pray, right? We pray believing that what God has already said, even though we might not see the answer or understand the answer, we trust the outcome to Him and live accordingly. That's why we walk by faith and not by sight. That's what marks the true Christian. He lives for the glory of God. He wants to please his God. So if you're going to please Him, you please Him because of the proclaiming of the message of the cross and the living a life of faith.

Number three, you please God by exalting Jesus Christ the Son. By exalting Jesus Christ the Son. Listen, you can't please the Lord if you want to exalt your own life. You just can't do it. You can't. It's impossible. But if you want to exalt the Son, you can please Him. So at the baptism of Christ in Matthew chapter 3, when the Lord's being baptized, the Spirit of the Lord would descend on Him like a dove. The Spirit of God is not a dove, okay? Get that. Erase that out of your mind. Take the dove off the back of your car, because the Holy Spirit's not a dove. It said it descended like a dove. It doesn't say it is a dove. And so you need to understand that the Spirit of God descends like a dove. It swoops down upon the Lord, and the Spirit of God infused Him, because everything that Christ did in His humanity was under the power of the Spirit of the Living God, right? That's why Christ said later in Matthew's gospel, Mark's gospel, about the sin of blasphemy against the Spirit of God: "Every other sin that a man commits will be forgiven him, but those who blaspheme the Spirit, it shall not be forgiven them." Why? Because when the Spirit of God came down upon the Lord, everything He did was under the influence of the Spirit of God. He walked in the Spirit. So every miracle that was performed was done in the power of the Spirit. But the Pharisees said that He did it under a demonic spirit. So they were calling the Spirit of God, which is God, demonic—Beelzebub. "He cast out spirits and demons by Beelzebub." But you see, the problem that is, is that they blasphemed the Spirit of God, and that sin is an unforgivable kind of sin. See? Because you have seen the work of God. You've witnessed the miracles of God, and your ultimate conclusion is that Jesus is influenced by Satan. Well, that's unforgivable, because He's not. It was the Spirit of God that moved in and among Him to perform the miracles that were performed. And that's why you exalt Jesus Christ the Son.

So when you come to the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 1, excuse me, Paul says these words, verse 15: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. He will have preeminence in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him." In other words, it pleased the Father that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him, because He is the one who receives the preeminence. So when you're exalting Jesus Christ the Son, you're agreeing with the Father who exalts His Son as preeminent, and therefore it was His good pleasure. Therefore you please Him. When you exalt Jesus Christ the Son of God, you bring pleasure to the Lord God of Israel. So proclaiming the message of the cross, living a life of faith, exalting Jesus Christ the Son, all brings pleasure to God.

Number four, asking God for wisdom pleases Him. What do you ask God for? You ask God for a new house? You ask God for a new car? Do you ask God for a new wife, new husband? What do you ask God for? Just go back and re-evaluate your prayer life. You're asking for wisdom there, because that's what pleases God. When God spoke to Solomon in the night, God told him, "Ask what you will, and I'll give it to you." But Solomon said, "I need wisdom." And the Bible says in First Kings, I think it is chapter 2 or somewhere in there, that this was well pleasing to the Lord. So Paul in Colossians chapter 1 would pray this prayer. "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects." When you ask the Lord for wisdom based on spiritual understanding, you will walk worthy of the Lord, and He will be pleased. Why? Because you need wisdom to walk in a worthy manner, and it pleases the Lord. You pray for your children? You pray for wisdom for your children? I've noticed that we pray for all kinds of things for our kids, but very few of us just pray for wisdom. That pleases the Lord. They need wisdom. The application of truth to life—that's what wisdom is, right? How do you apply truth to life? How do you do that? That's what wisdom is all about. And so you want to be pleasing to the Lord, and so you ask for wisdom. Proclaiming the message of the cross, living a life of faith, exalting Jesus Christ the Son, asking God for wisdom is pleasing to the Lord.

Next, number five, staying away from sexual sin is pleasing to the Lord. Staying away from sexual sin is pleasing to the Lord. How do we know that? Well, because the Bible tells us so in the book of First Thessalonians chapter 4. Paul says these words: "Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do, that you excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality." "We want you to walk and please God, and that's what you're doing, but we want you to excel all the more. To excel all the more, you need to understand the will of God is to abstain from sexual immorality." Abstain from sexual sin. It brings pleasure to the Lord. Every other sin that you commit is committed outside the body, First Corinthians 6. But the sin of sexual sin is committed on the inside of the body. In other words, sexual sin affects the body unlike any other sin affects the body, because it affects you from the inside out versus from the outside in. And so if you want to please the Lord, you abstain from sexual sin.

In fact, the book of Ephesians, Paul says this in chapter 5: "We're to be imitators of God" in verse number 1. Verse number 3: "Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints." In other words, there must be no greed, there must be no impurity, there must be no immorality even hinted at among you as saints. He says down at verse number 5, "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ." And then he says, verse number 10, "Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." "What is pleasing to the Lord?" Well, immorality is not. Impurity's not, right? Those things are not pleasing to the Lord. So to stay away from those things brings pleasure to the Lord. So when you look at your life and you ask yourself this question, "Is my life pleasing to the Lord?" Are you staying away from sexual sin? Are you doing that? Or are you flirting with those things, playing around with those things, dabbling in things that God says, "Don't do that, for the will of God is that you abstain from sexual immorality." That brings pleasure to the Lord. Why? Because the Lord is holy, holy, holy. He said, "I want you to be as holy as I am holy. I want you to be as pure as I am pure. I want you to be clean. You were made clean through the word I've spoken to you," John 15 verse number 3. "I want you to be cleansed from the inside out. I want you to please Me."

Proclaiming the message of the cross pleases the Lord. Living a life of faith pleases the Lord. Exalting Jesus Christ the Son pleases the Lord. Asking God for wisdom pleases the Lord. Staying away from sexual sin pleases the Lord. Imitating Christ pleases the Lord. Imitating Christ pleases the Lord. Jesus said in John's gospel, the 8th chapter, verse 29, "I do those things that please the Father." Well, if I imitate Christ and He does those things that please the Father, by imitating Christ, I please the Father. So Paul would say in Philippians 2, "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus." What mind is that? The mind of humble submission. The mind of willing to put yourself low that you might be used greatly for the kingdom of God. Paul says that we are to be imitators of Christ and walk in love, right? So when you imitate Christ, you please the Father. Imitating Christ pleases the Father.

Number seven, neglecting not to share with others pleases the Lord. Hebrews chapter 13: "Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Neglecting not to share with others. We're to love not in tongue and in word, but in deed and in truth, by seeing the needs of others and ministering to those needs, by not neglecting them. It's well pleasing to the Lord.

And lastly, giving praise to His name pleases the Lord. Psalm 69—Hebrews 13 verse 13 you could use, but Psalm 69 says, "I will praise the name of God with song," verse number 30, "and magnify Him with thanksgiving, and it will please the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs." It will please the Lord when I magnify His name.

So the writer of Hebrews says, "Look, I am asking you to pray for us. Pray for us that we might be restored to you even sooner than expected. In the meantime, it's the peace of God—the very fact that you're on God's side, you have peace with Him—it's the power of God that raised His Son from the dead, because of the provision of God, the new covenant in His blood, all for the praise of God. You need to please God. So He's going to equip you to do so. He's going to mend your life so that you can do this. And God will stop at nothing in surgically repairing your life so that you will please Him."

Have you ever been to the doctor? You know, I've never asked for a doctor with good bedside manner. I could care less whether or not he's a loving, kind guy. Can he operate? Is he a surgeon with precision? Does he know what he's doing? I could care less if he talks to me nice. I just want him to fix that which is broken, put it back together again perfectly. You know, God is the perfect surgeon. He's got the perfect tool—the Word of God—handled by the Spirit of God, to begin to put everything back together in your life so your life is well pleasing to Him.

Now, if you're astute, you're following along. We spelled the word for you: "pleasing," to help you understand what it means to live a life well pleasing to the Lord. I would trust that that's your desire, your ambition. That was Paul's ambition. I pray that would be ours as well. To do so, you got to rely completely upon the Lord to accomplish that.

That's pretty good. Father, we thank You for today. Thank You for the opportunity to be used by You. Thank You, Lord, for what You teach us. Our prayer is that each and every one of us would make it our sole ambition to be pleasing to our God, that we live a life that honors You above ourselves, seeking to manifest Your great and awesome name. Lord, we anticipate Your coming again. We would pray it be today. If not, may we live according to Your will until You do come again, as You have promised. In Jesus' name, amen.