Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
First of all, when you come up short, it means that you didn’t have enough to finish what you started. Some people go off to college for a few years, but then lose interest and they quit midstream. Certain athletes will train for a marathon, only to give up halfway through the competition. Others might try to climb a mountain, but realize that they just don’t have what it takes to get to the top. Coming up short is not having enough stamina to complete the task that you first began. Some people will start the Christian Life, but will come short of paradise, as evidenced in the parable of the sower.
Luke 8:11-15 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
We are given the promise of eternal life through the gift of God’s grace in Christ, but some will come short of paradise because they neglected that gift. They never really transformed and became a new creature. They never repented from dead works and moved on unto perfection. They never truly converted from darkness to the light. They might claim to be a Christian, but won’t follow what He taught, because of which they will come short of the finish line.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
1 Timothy 4:14-16 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Hebrews 2:1-3 – Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
As the Apostle teaches……”Let us therefore fear…..”
In order to cross the finish line and someday enter into eternal life, we must possess Godly fear. Without any fear and reverence for God, people will be unconcerned about the eternal consequences for how they choose to live their life. The Lord Jesus taught that unless people repent they will perish. A fool arrogantly resists the will of God, and will reap the reward of disobedience. It is by the fear of the Lord that sinners depart from evil. This is because we understand that punishments will happen because of rebellious behavior.
Proverbs 14:16 A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Proverbs 28:14 – Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
The Apostles preached that men should fear God.
2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Hebrews 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
Romans 11:20 – …….Be not highminded, but fear:
It is the fear of God that leads us to submit to His will. Submission is the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force, or to the will or authority of another person. For example, a woman who submits to her husband shows that she fears Christ and His commandments. Submitting to those who are over you in the Lord shows that you possess Godly fear. The fear of God will result in obedience and yielding to the control of a higher power.
Ephesians 5:21-24 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
God is not mocked, and what you sow you will reap.
Galatians 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Once again He says,………Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
We are offered a promise by God that He will save us, but we must act according to His purpose in order to eventually reap the promise that He has given. We must not receive His grace in vain, but repent, transform and convert to His will.
2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
If I was to hire you, and promised you that someday I would give you a store of your own, would you trust me enough to go through the training course? Would you do what was required of you by learning how to do the books, hire employees and ship and receive inventory? In order to eventually reap the promise that I gave you, certain duties were required of you. You must show up each day, learning how to become a manager. In a way, you would be transforming from a regular employee, into a leader and successful businessman in society. This is essentially what the Apostles did, they were saints in training, being transformed from catching fish, to catching men. Timothy was also going through the same training, being discipled by the Apostle Paul. Christianity is a process of converting from a sinner into a saint. By the grace of God we are given a promise that He will save us, but it is mandatory to transform from the old sinner that we used to be, and conform to the way of Christ. In order to enter a kingdom of saints, you are going to have to become one too. That process needs to begin today, if you will hear His voice, and harden not your heart.
Sadly, there will be some people who come short of eternity, because they wouldn’t submit themselves to biblical truth. They didn’t go through that process of conversion, because they loved the world and their sins more than God. The standard of the Christian Life and the high calling of God becomes unattainable for them, because of which they give up the fight against sin, and……
……Throw in the Towel.
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by Google searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms, such as Amazon, Spotify or Google podcasts. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or if you really want to locate us, I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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