Endure Well

Take your Bibles, if you would, please, and turn to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 31. Hebrews 10:31–36 is our text, and the title is "Endure Well." You'll see the word endure several times in the text today, and the concept even more. And so "Endure Well" is the title.

And as you turn there, I'd just like to simply say I'm so thankful for our worship leader, Jimmy, who does such a great job in leading us in sound doctrine and hymns. And a special thank you to my Alyssa Bear for doing the offertory and songs today. I love you, sweetie pie; you did a great job. And you guys weren't guinea pigs today with what she played. She played those at a revival at which I was preaching up in North Carolina, and she did such a great job. And I'm so pleased to be able to do ministry with my daughter there.

And as we continue in the Word, and so prove that we are disciples of the Lord, I'd like to preach to you today out of Hebrews chapter 10 and encourage us to continue, no matter what, really. The things of this world are temporary, and the hardships that we have are sifted through God's hands. We believe in His providence, and that He providentially aligns circumstances. He providentially aligns events. He's in complete control of His story, history. And then as well, we believe in His sovereignty, and that He works all things for His glory and our good. And so these are some bedrock truths that we hang on to.

And the Hebrews, in context here in Hebrews chapter 10, were really, truly not enduring well, and they're being encouraged and spurred on to endure well. And so some of the things that they needed to do were to repent of the direction that they were going, away from Christ, and run back to Him. And so this is going to be a very encouraging message today. And so if you're taking notes, point number one is: repent when God convicts. Repent when God convicts.

Let's read verse 31 together, and following, and get a grip on the text, and then we'll dive into it. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 31, says, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised."

Let's pray together.

Lord, thank You for this encouraging text, and I pray that we're never on the corrective end of this text, but that we could utilize this information today to encourage us to continue on and to have faith and trust in You, no matter what. I pray Your special blessings upon all the souls here in this congregation and whoever will ever hear this message. In Christ's name, amen.

So the Bible says it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the angry God, or the living God. This is actually something that I believe is an allusion to the Old Testament text where David said this phrase, "fall into the hands of the Lord." And so if you would, turn to 2 Samuel 24:14, where this very well could be what was in the mind of the preacher of Hebrews when he said this.

And so the context in Hebrews, remember, is that they are drifting away. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1, says, Don't do that. Don't drift away. And he is building a case for the supremacy of Christ, the deity of Christ, and who Christ is, so that they will remain close to Him. And they were falling back into trying, perhaps, to obey the Law, or the Ten Commandments, or the old sacrificial system, as a means to, I don't know, a new religion and whatnot, or to earn grace, or whatever may have been in their minds, a default system. And this applies to us, because we too are guilty of falling back into old, bad habits when hardships come. And we have to be very careful not to do that, but to cling to Christ.

And so in this text, the reminder is: remember that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So don't fall away from Him. He will punish you if you do that. And we're going to get into that in Hebrews chapter 12, because the discipline of the Father actually proves that you're a son of God. But here in the sermon of Hebrews, this phrase really stuck out in my mind.

And I'd like to read 2 Samuel 24, verse 10, all the way to verse 14. That'll end up on this phrase. So 2 Samuel 24, verse 10. And you'll be reminded of the context of this passage, because we all know that David had many failures, and this was a big blunder. Here in verse 10 it says, "Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people." At this point, we should just pause and say, Yes, God can strike our conscience. When we sin against Him, He is fully able to strike us with a debilitating conviction that will stop us in our tracks. Now, the flip-side truth to that is that you continue with confidence if you're not under conviction. And so walk confidently with the Lord if your heart is not being troubled.

Here in verse 10: "Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done.'" And this coincides with our point number one, to repent. Okay? "'But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.' When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad."

Now let's just hold on right here, because this prophet, Gad, G-A-D, is rather interesting. His name ironically coincides with what he is doing. This is almost like a double irony. So Gad's name here means good luck, in one sense. And so David has sinned against the Lord. It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So good luck, perhaps, the prophet is saying to David. On the other side, Gad's name can also mean troop, like military troops. Okay? And so David's sin was relying on the strength of the troops, and God sent a prophet whose name was troop to correct him for relying on the troops. How ironic.

Now, if you think that all of those are coincidences, you and I aren't on the same scriptural page. God truly does line things like these up to get our attention. He knows how to strike our conscience. He knows how to wake us up out of stupidity. He knows how to correct our course. And right here, David not only has a convicted soul, his heart is troubled, but God sends Gad, the prophet Gad, of all the prophets, to correct him. And so now this is doubly ironic, to see that Gad's name means these things.

In verse 12 it says, "'Go and speak to David, "Thus the Lord says, 'I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.'"'" Parents, have you ever done that with your children? Okay, you have sinned, a great sin, and you're going to choose your punishment: one, two, or three. Well, this is what God is doing through Gad to David, and here they are. In verse 13: "So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, 'Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me,'" that being God. "Then David said to Gad, 'I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord.'" There is the allusion. "'Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.'"

And so he preferred to fall into the hands of the Lord, says this Scripture here, and David's conscience would forever be struck, because the result of this pestilence caused the death of 70,000 Israelite men. And everybody knew it. And so David's reputation was reduced in the eyes of his military and the people. His trust was diminished. And then as well, his strength was greatly weakened, because this would weaken anyone who truly loved Israel, like David loved Israel, and who truly loved God, whom he had disappointed.

And so God's punishment for David's sin included being afflicted deeply with agony and regret and shame, and being fully and publicly to blame for 70,000 deaths. And that's what it goes on to say in the text. So God's punishment for David's sin included being afflicted internally and then also externally. This punishment was severe. Numbers 32:23 says this: "Be sure your sin will find you out." And so we live with a just God, who will punish us or reward us justly. "'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord… 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Hebrews 10:30–31.

And so, by way of application, I say to us the same as the Hebrews should hear this encouragement: that they should repent when God convicts. Point number one: repent when God convicts. The application, then, is that we had better remember who our God is, and that shrinking back into sin has consequences. And so we want to discipline ourselves to remain in Christ, to continue with Christ. This is not salvific. This is just simply talking about your personal relationship with God, as it pertains to being close or troubled, or as it pertains to your life being blessed, or perhaps even the removal of blessings, as being punished or not being punished. And so I encourage us all to repent and run to Jesus whenever God convicts us. This is important for us to be able to endure faithfully.

Point number two would be this: remember prior sufferings. And back in Hebrews chapter 10, I want to show you how remembering prior sufferings is one of the things the preacher encourages the Hebrews to do so that they will endure well. This is a way that you can endure well. If you're enduring, if you're suffering, if you're going through a trial, if you're just simply having to put it in first gear and continue in Christ by way of discipline, and by way of telling yourself, "I am a Christian. I'm going to do what's right, no matter how I feel or what I think. My feelings are not God. My thoughts are not God. God is God. I'm going to continue in the Word."

And so sometimes we go through these valleys. And remember, Psalm 23 instructs us to go through the valley. Don't get stuck in the valley. Don't sit down in the valley. Don't park and get into depression in the valley. Continue through the valley. Walk through the valley. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." So remembering prior sufferings is a solution.

And let's see that in the text. Read verses 32 to 34 together. Hebrews 10:32: "But remember," circle that word remember, "remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings." So he's saying, Remember when you got through those troublesome times successfully in the past? Remember that. In 33 it says, "partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations." And so they've gone through some pretty serious sufferings already. They have had some victories through battles which perhaps would make the battles that they're enduring right now look doable, and they'd say, "I can do this."

"And partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated." This word sharers is interesting, because no doubt there was public persecution, maybe even execution, of Christians. And they would have seen this, and perhaps after a beating or a public scourging, they would have run out to help, just because you're a Christian. You can't not help someone who is in need, especially a fellow brother who has been tortured because he's a fellow Christian. And so to run out and to help someone who has been suffering persecution is to share, to identify yourself with them. And so everyone would have seen that you're also a Christian, because you're showing sympathy to the one who is being punished. And so they too would share in the sufferings, because they identified themselves with that persecuted Christian, which would then bring persecution upon their family.

In verse 34 it says, "For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property." This is interesting. You know, back in Roman days, the prisons didn't take good care of their prisoners. And in fact, the prisoners were dependent upon their family and friends for food and the basic necessities of life. And so for a Christian to be incarcerated, the Christians or their family would have to show up and take care of them with food and water. And to do that, to show sympathy or to take care of these prisoners, would be to identify yourself with them. This is remembering the prior persecutions that you've gone through, so that it makes today's sufferings look pretty light, so that you can get through it.

So it says, even to the point of having seizure of your own property. Obviously there were repercussions for being a Christian, for showing sympathy, or for being public with your faith, which, by the way, we're commanded to be: salt and light. We can't just love the lovable, those inside of our own fold who are lovable. We have to love those who are unlovable. We have to love our enemies. We have to really be salt and light to those who need to see Jesus, the lost. And so we're commanded to do that. And what better way to do that than to publicly show sympathy, or to help a brother or sister in need, to walk out in the middle of a public atmosphere and to put your arm around one who has been tortured or been suffering for the cause of Christ? How encouraging would that be for the one who was potentially being martyred, and then as well for the one who is also helping? And so that would then have an association that would trickle back down to the person who was sympathizing, in that their property could be seized, their houses could be invaded, they could perhaps be tortured as well. Not just badgered, not just having threats, but this was actually happening to them.

And how did they get through this? Well, the tail end of verse 34 has another little nuance as to how to get through hardships, how to endure well. It is to focus on a greater possession. You have greater possessions than the possessions that have been seized, is what this text is saying. You have a greater item that you actually have that can't be taken away. So focus on the things that are truly of eternal value, and do not set your heart on these worldly things, especially when they get taken away from you. These people had been dislodged from their homes. They had had their possessions taken from them, and they were truly suffering for the cause of Christ. And this better possession in verse 34 is a true indication that they were looking forward to this heavenly city. The property that they had wasn't their real possession. The possessions that they had were probably just things to get by in life.

We have a plague in America, and it's called possessions, by the way. It's called clutter, right? We have too much stuff, and we set our hearts on these things. And when somebody touches our stuff, we cry. When stuff gets stolen, when it breaks, and all these different types of things, when our cars go down, whenever our stuff is affected, we get affected. We need to get better than that. We need to look at our possessions like the text is demonstrating here, and focus on a heavenly perspective on possessions.

And I want to prove that to you in Hebrews 11:16. Turn with me to Hebrews 11:16 and see this. Hebrews 11:16 says this: "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one." So their desires were set on heaven, on acquiring this eternal glory.

But it really goes a bit deeper than this possession, because this possession was not just a heavenly home; it was also Christ Himself. In chapter 8, verses 1 and 2, back up to 8:1–2, look with me at the possession of Christ, and that this possession of Jesus Christ was actually His presence, the comforting presence of Jesus Christ through the power and the person of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 8, verse 1, it says, "Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have…" Okay, we have. This is possess; you have this possession. "We have such a high priest," Jesus, "who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle." Jesus is the true tabernacle, not the tabernacle that was built in the wilderness. That was typologically pointing to Christ. We have Christ, the true tabernacle, which means to tabernacle: to dwell, to interact, to enjoy Christ.

And so one of the ways that you can get through suffering times, or be able to endure well, is not only to do what the text says in chapter 10, let's see, go back to 31, to remember how you have gone through it before. You've gone through worse. You'll go through stuff like this again. Remember these things. So focus on point number two, remember prior sufferings, but also point number three: remember our possession. This possession of a heavenly home, and Jesus Himself, is so crucial for you to focus on.

And I sympathize with the Hebrews who were falling away from Christ, because when we go through hardships, oftentimes the last thing that we want to do is pick up our Bible. The last thing that we want to do is go to church. The last thing we want to do is kneel and pray. In our flesh, in our nature, we're opposed to God. We've got to fight that. And we've got to get beyond our current possessions. We have to get beyond all of these earthly things and truly focus on the person and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ministering to your soul. And so to shield-block the ministry of Christ when you're going through a valley is sinful. And that is what's being addressed here in the text. The Hebrews are shrinking back from Jesus.

They know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. They know that He has already said... See, the Gospel of John was written before the book of Hebrews. And so they would have already known that Jesus said in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." They know this. They know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. They know that Jesus is supreme. They know all of this. And now they have to, in their own hearts and minds, reduce the things that are creeping in and crowding out Jesus in their lives: angels, Moses, the Law, the tabernacle, all the priesthood. All of these things that are creeping into their lives shove Christ aside, keep you from yielding to His lordship.

And so you need to think through these things. And I need to think through these things in my own life. What things crowd my life when I am going through some real hard times? What things displace my focus on the person and presence of Jesus Christ? What things do I allow to keep me busy and away from serving and loving and enjoying the local church, which is built, custom-designed, for you to have fellowship and the strength to overcome these types of trials, to be encouraged by the Word? What keeps you from that? What keeps you from your consistency in Christ and the church? That would be the same idea as the Hebrews being corrected for thinking too much of angels, and too much of the Law, and too much of the tabernacle, and too much of the priesthood. They needed to reduce in their own minds these things that had pointed to Christ, and embrace Christ. And the same do we. We need to identify the areas in our lives that crowd out Jesus, reduce them, and focus on Him.

To remember our possession, point number three: remember Christ and His presence. It's a true, true presence. "Lo, I am with you always." Jesus gave that promise to those Great Commission Christians. And so the future possession of a new heavens and a new earth meant that they would desire something greater than focusing on something that was minor. And so you have to take a look at what is causing you anguish and causing you pain, and reduce the value of that, and focus on Jesus. And remember that this pain is custom-designed to bring you to Jesus, right? To point you to Christ, to better you, not burden you. These things are custom-designed, providentially designed, by a sovereign Savior who loves you and is guiding you.

It's important to have the right perspective on this, so that you can endure well. If you don't have a good theology in this area, you'll just simply suffer over and over and over and over and over, like repeat, repeat, repeat. It's a brutal cycle if you don't stop it, and get into the right theology, and discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness. And Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your mind on the things above." This is an actual action: to set your mind on things above. You've got to decide to think more of what Christ is doing in your life, and more of Christ. And you have to think more of Him, and more about what He's doing, than about what perhaps is troubling you or causing you suffering.

And so the Hebrews are encouraged to remember their prior victories, to remember Jesus Christ, and to remember that losing possessions is disappointing, but it's not crushing. We have to get that inside our resolve. Even if we lose everything... Okay, let's just make up a situation. Let's just say all of the Chinese restaurants turn into Chinese police stations, and communism now rules from China. Hypothetical. I made that up; probably dreamed it one night. But anyway, let's just say that that happens, and now we don't have possessions. We have some type of electronic currency that allows us to stand in line for, I don't know, processed food. Everything now is reduced in our lives. Do you still love Christ the same, at the same measure that you do when you're on top of a mountain? I'm telling you, we've got to get this right in our hearts and minds and have a resolve to be able to endure well, despite possessions, despite persecutions, and despite problems. We need to get this right in our minds so that we can endure well and stay on the top side of Hebrews chapter 10, verses 31 and following, and not be on the bottom side of being corrected in this area. I should say, encouraged in this area. The Hebrew preacher is preaching optimistically to a crowd that is drifting from Jesus, and just simply pointing them in the right direction: repent of the direction you're going, and run to Jesus.

And so these antidotes, you can say, are victories: look to the victories. They are relationships: look to your current relationships, and to those who have been truly persecuted, even in the past. Look to those. It's so motivating to read the biographies of those who have gone before us and have truly been persecuted. And remember the presence of Christ.

May I give you just a word of encouragement? It is to avoid tunnel vision, to avoid getting stuck in a rut. If you're thinking in the same lane and it's not working well for you, you've got to get out of that rut. You know, some of us were kind of talking about this last night. Some of us were standing around a campfire at a gathering, and we were talking about the crowd that claims sovereign citizenship. And we were talking about the key words and the phrases and the train of thought that they are in, and how they have been trained, and how, if you were to perhaps look on their phones, you would see their algorithms always pulling up these same types of videos, which are training their brains. Because most of these people who claim sovereign citizenship, which is a pathway to jail, say the same things. They're stuck in a rut that is really, really, really making them get the results over and over and over again that they're wishing for.

Now, if you are in a rut, perhaps the lane that you are thinking in is not the best way to approach things. You have some antidotes in this passage to retrain the brain, to retrain your habits, and these are things that need to be posted before you every day, to be reminders of how to get through hardships and endure well. Remember, you've done it before. You can do it again. Remember the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Focus on Him and not the problems. Move on. Keep it up. All right?

And so avoid these echo chambers. Avoid emotional responses, quick responses, quick decisions. You want to pray these things through. Talk with your built-in accountability system that God has given you: perhaps a spouse, perhaps the eldership or deacons here at the church, perhaps your Bible study group, whomever God has given you to be able to process things with. Do these things. This is encouragement to do what Paul told Timothy to do. He said, "You man of God… pursue righteousness, goodness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith." That's 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 11 and 12. And you know, Timothy was going through some hardships, and Paul encouraged him to keep on enduring well.

You know, sometimes, if you get in the right lane, even when a secular song comes on, something like "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," you're thinking in your biblical lane, and you're like, "Yeah, whatever, hit me with your best shot. I'm going to keep on going." Or perhaps a secular song: "I get knocked down, but I get up again." And you're like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to spiritualize that one all day long. I might get knocked down, but I'm going to get back up again and continue in the Lord." If you are thinking biblically, these types of things become extraordinarily fun, in my opinion. And so continue in the Word in these fashions, even to the point of someone seizing your property.

My last point, number four: remain steady through valleys. In verse 35, we can look at verse 35 together and see that we need to remain steady through valleys. Verse 35: "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward," a great reward.

So we've addressed the text from the standpoint of enduring. But what if the enduring of these circumstances is not from present threats? This is going to address something that is common in our lives. What's common in our own lives is that sometimes we'll experience a victory, and then right after that victory, you go right into a what? A valley. And so sometimes we experience some types of depressive times right after we've had some extreme victories.

But what if the sufferings are from prior tribulations here for the Hebrews, or even prior victories? The prior victories, then, would have been that they look back upon these victories, and they were filled with the Spirit, and they had a complete, strong presence of God. They experienced the closeness of God, and perhaps that has now dwindled, to where they're like, "Where's God? I don't feel Him. I can't see Him. And when I read, it's dry." Maybe they are spiritually deflated and dry after a recent victory.

This idea is supported in the text by the fact that they had been enlightened. In verse 32 it says, "But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened…" Their minds had been illuminated to the glories of Christ. Many of them had been saved. They look back on the day of their salvation. They look back on the glory days, and they look back at these victories, and they're like, "Yes, this was amazing. This is wonderful." And now what? You know, now it's a bit dry, and now it seems a bit dull. Perhaps the Hebrews are shrinking away from Christ partly for these reasons as well: because now it's hard and dry, and not alive and well in their minds.

Their former days had been enlightened, and these days and times passed, perhaps months and even years. The Hebrews were given light, and their hearts were enlightened, and their minds were illuminated, just like in Luke 11:36: "If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the Spirit illumines you with its rays." It's a glorious time, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be full of God.

But sometimes God gives us a glimpse of glory, as described in Revelation 21:23, "for the glory of God has illumined it." Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of His glory, like Moses had a glimpse of God and His glory, but we are not built to chase these types of glorious circumstances. If you find yourself depressed and chasing experiences, then experiences are your stability, and experiences cannot be your stability, because they're not dependable. They come and they go. But many Christians have found themselves chasing experiences in their Christian lives: chasing a spiritual high, chasing the next place where God is moving, or chasing all these different types of things.

Hebrews 6:4–5 says that they had once tasted the heavenly gift, and had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and had tasted the good word of God, and had fallen away. Perhaps they tasted the goodness of God, and now they've fallen away because they don't have the same taste or the same illumination.

You know, revivals do happen, and spiritual highs do happen. The strong presence of God does come upon us at times. But we need not be given to chasing that. Martyn Lloyd-Jones corrected a lot of those who were Welsh, because they were emotional people, and they had experienced a phenomenal revival in 1904 and 1905. Everyone whom he ran across who had experienced that dynamic revival, the Welsh Revival of 1904, always talked about the glory days, and they always talked about the past. And Martyn Lloyd-Jones corrected them and asked them, "What has God done since then?" Stop being spiritually depressed, or oppressing yourself by looking back instead of looking forward. We have a living God who is leading us forward. We need to walk with Him.

And so MLJ, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, writes, and I quote, "Experience is absolutely essential to the Christian, but we are dealing at this point with people who live on experiences and who base everything upon them. I have known many such Christian people, and they have always struck me as being very sad and pathetic. There are not many of them left now, but at one time I used to meet quite a number. When I was preaching in their district, they came to me after the service, telling me about things that had happened to them in the Welsh Revival, always looking backwards, as if nothing had happened to them since then. Amazing things had indeed happened during the revival, things of which we should speak, but we should not live on them." And so he's recognizing that amazing things happened in the Welsh Revival, but you can't live on them. And he goes on to say, "The devil has ruined many a Christian life through encouraging people to live on experiences, seeking them, looking for them, always talking about them, looking back upon them, relying on them." This is a quote from The Christian Warfare, pages 194 through 195.

And so I say to us that experiences are not dependable, nor are they our stability. Christ is our Rock. And so God gives us the glorious opportunity to have these wonderful experiences and these close encounters with the Lord, but "you have need of endurance." And sugary experiences aren't the kind that will give you the meat and the protein you need for endurance.

The solution in verse 36 says this: "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." You see, you've got to do God's will. It's God's will for you to worship Him. It's God's will for you to be dedicated to Him through the Word. It's God's will for you to learn and know Him through His Word. It's God's will for you to fellowship with the brethren, to be faithful to a local congregation. It's God's will for you to utilize your gifts and to minister. It's God's will for you to be a lamp on a hill. It's God's will for you to disciple, to make disciples. You've got to do God's will. You've got a lot to do as a Christian. You can't focus on these things that trouble you and take you out of God's will. You need to focus on God's will. You need to do these things. And so you have need of endurance.

The Hebrew preacher is telling those who are drifting, You need the doctrine of perseverance. You need to endure. And this is encouraging them in how they can endure well. Even Jesus said, "Not My will, but Yours be done."

And so now, as we wrap up today, I have just a few take-home truths for you. Number one: experience is not authoritative. And that goes both ways, both in good experiences and in bad experiences. Experience is not authoritative. You cannot base theology or life decisions upon experiences. "An evil generation seeks after a sign," Jesus said. And oftentimes we're like, "God, give me a sign. If I only had a billboard to point me in the right direction. If only You would just drop it right in front of me." That's what an evil generation desires. You have the Spirit of the living God. You have the Word, right on the page. You have Him. And so do not diminish the person and the work of Jesus Christ in your life by looking for signs and experiences and running around like this. And so experience is not authoritative.

Again, in verse 32: "But remember the former days." We are to remember those things. But point number two in your take-home truths is that memories are for momentum. Memories are for momentum. If you would like to deduce a truth out of this text, and I confess to you there are oftentimes so many more that could be articulated than what I give to you, some of the take-home truths that I think are applicable for our congregation and for us would be this: memories are for momentum.

If you allow past experiences to make you become depressed, that is not what experiences are for, in view of Christ and His sovereignty in your life. If you look at past experiences and perhaps make a comparison between now and then, and it leaves you depressed, that's the wrong perspective. Christ is King. He's on the throne. He is ruling and reigning in our lives. No tear is wasted in the economy of God, and we need to believe and know that. And so when you look back at memories or at victories, utilize that as momentum. Think through these things in a way that causes you to be spurred on and encouraged to do more. Have an optimistic perspective on God and history and what He's doing. Don't allow yourself to drift downward into depression. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do your side of this doctrine of perseverance, which is twofold: God in you as the hope of glory, and you latching on and abiding in Him. And so perceive your past memories as a way that gives you momentum. I say it like this all the time: change your stinking thinking, right? Sometimes we have a way of being negative, and we need to self-correct in these areas.

Take-home truth number three: earthly possessions can't have you. Not that you can't have earthly things. I love things. I love it. It's pretty cool. But they don't have me, right? And you can have earthly possessions as long as they don't have you. And earthly possessions should not cause your character to diminish. And so if there's ever a point for perhaps our littlest ones over here: if you get your toy taken away, it should not cause you to lose your Christian character, to become mad at a friend, or to scream. That's good advice for adults too, right? We really, truly need to get possessions in the right order of priorities. Prioritize the presence and the person of Jesus in our lives, so that it makes the things of this world look strangely dim.

And so I hope that today's text has helped us to be able to endure well. This is an encouraging message from the text to keep us on top of things, and to help us go through things in life with a spiritual success skill set.

And let's pray together.

Lord, thank You so much for the opportunity to come and to be edified by Your Word. And I pray that You would continue to work in our hearts in a way that would be pleasing to You, that we would continue in Your Word and prove that we're disciples of Yours, no matter the persecution. You told Your disciples, "If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you." You prepared Your disciples for persecution to enable them to endure well. And Lord, though we sometimes wrongly ascribe Christian persecution here in America, I pray that we would nevertheless be able to endure well. The circumstances that we go through in life are not perfect. Oftentimes our marriages are not perfect. Oftentimes the lack of a marriage is not perfect. Oftentimes our children are not perfect. Our churches are not perfect. But yet we truly believe and are encouraged by the fact that You are ruling and reigning on the throne. And somehow, some way, we believe by faith, not only for salvation, but also that You are truly working all things for Your good and our glory for those who love You, according to Romans 8:28–29. God, we love You. Thank You so much for the salvation that You've given us. And I pray, if anyone here has not been saved, that they would recognize that it is by Your substitutionary work on the cross, by taking on our sin that we have committed, the punishment for our sin. You took it on on the cross and endured our punishment that was due us, and You gave us Your righteousness in return. What a wonderful gift, that dual work on the cross that You did for us. We say thank You for that. If someone here is just now, for the first time, truly comprehending that, if You are illuminating that in their mind, I pray, Lord, that You would do this: that You would convict their heart of the sin that they've committed, and allow them, dear God, to confess their sin to You, and to repent of their sin, and to place their faith and trust in You for salvation. Save them, I pray. In Christ's name, amen.