0:00:05.925,0:00:09.087 Brethren, a lot of times when we begin to soften up, 0:00:09.087,0:00:10.855 it's not a good thing. 0:00:10.855,0:00:12.694 You don't want to soften up on what's 0:00:12.694,0:00:15.825 really right, really good. 0:00:15.825,0:00:19.161 Brethren, we need to be 0:00:19.161,0:00:21.176 abandoned for Christ. 0:00:21.176,0:00:24.024 We need to be Jesus freaks - all our life. 0:00:24.024,0:00:25.649 Not just when we're first converted. 0:00:25.649,0:00:26.789 We need to be radicals. 0:00:26.789,0:00:28.457 We need to do radical things. 0:00:28.457,0:00:30.452 We need to apply the Word of God 0:00:30.452,0:00:32.076 in a radical way. 0:00:32.076,0:00:33.860 Not just when we were first born again, 0:00:33.860,0:00:35.360 but all the way through. 0:00:35.360,0:00:37.574 We need to mature. We need to grow. 0:00:37.574,0:00:39.659 You can just understand what happened 0:00:39.659,0:00:41.248 to these Hebrews, right? 0:00:41.248,0:00:43.741 They suffered. They were weary. 0:00:43.741,0:00:47.564 They were worn out. They were tired. 0:00:47.564,0:00:49.078 They had been through the trials, 0:00:49.078,0:00:50.844 they had been through the snares, 0:00:50.844,0:00:56.020 they had been through the dangers. 0:00:56.020,0:00:58.455 And in their weariness they weren't ready 0:00:58.455,0:00:59.845 to be as exact as they were. 0:00:59.845,0:01:01.529 Isn't that where it happens? 0:01:01.529,0:01:02.808 We go through the trials, 0:01:02.808,0:01:06.263 we get beat up by the trials we're made to go through. 0:01:06.263,0:01:08.939 They came through much tribulation. 0:01:08.939,0:01:10.577 That's what we saw in Revelation. 0:01:10.577,0:01:12.072 These are the ones that came 0:01:12.072,0:01:13.395 through the tribulation. 0:01:13.395,0:01:15.889 Well, I don't know what your eschatology 0:01:15.889,0:01:16.633 is all about, 0:01:16.633,0:01:18.040 but brethren, we're told 0:01:18.040,0:01:19.823 through much tribulation, we all come. 0:01:19.823,0:01:21.966 That is the tribulation I believe that's speaking to, 0:01:21.966,0:01:24.922 not some concocted thing of 0:01:24.922,0:01:27.602 premillenial dispensationalism. 0:01:27.602,0:01:31.380 This is the tribulation that God has called 0:01:31.380,0:01:34.000 all of His people to come through. 0:01:34.000,0:01:35.050 And you know what? 0:01:35.050,0:01:36.620 We go through that tribulation. 0:01:36.620,0:01:39.256 We come through all the dangers, toils and snares. 0:01:39.256,0:01:40.487 We come through the trials, 0:01:40.487,0:01:42.847 and the fact is, we can get worn out. 0:01:42.847,0:01:44.559 And we're ready to lay down, 0:01:44.559,0:01:47.505 not be so exact, not be so precise. 0:01:47.505,0:01:49.373 But the writer of Hebrews is saying, 0:01:49.373,0:01:50.603 Onward, Hebrews! 0:01:50.603,0:01:53.105 And onward, Grace Community Church brethren. 0:01:53.105,0:01:54.956 Onward, we need to press in, 0:01:54.956,0:01:56.274 we need to press through, 0:01:56.274,0:01:57.577 we need to go on. 0:01:57.577,0:02:00.428 Brethren, be exact. 0:02:00.428,0:02:02.579 Be precise. 0:02:02.579,0:02:04.204 So what if you seem strange to your family 0:02:04.204,0:02:05.695 or to others or even to other Christians. 0:02:05.695,0:02:07.662 A lot of times it's other professing Christians 0:02:07.662,0:02:09.922 that are the greatest ridiculers 0:02:09.922,0:02:12.480 and the biggest wet blanket when there's 0:02:12.480,0:02:14.729 somebody who really wants to give their life 0:02:14.729,0:02:16.969 for serving Christ. 0:02:16.969,0:02:18.373 Brethren, do you see what the writer of Hebrews 0:02:18.373,0:02:19.589 is calling us on to? 0:02:19.589,0:02:20.754 Maturity. 0:02:20.754,0:02:22.870 Pressing onward, pressing upward. 0:02:22.870,0:02:25.124 And it's down that path, brethren, 0:02:25.124,0:02:28.129 that when we get to Melchizedek, 0:02:28.129,0:02:31.793 that kind of resolved, resolute life 0:02:31.793,0:02:33.646 where I am going to do what is right; 0:02:33.646,0:02:36.783 I am going to conform my life, 0:02:36.783,0:02:38.772 not to the world, 0:02:38.772,0:02:40.280 but to the Word of Righteousness, 0:02:40.280,0:02:41.806 to the standard found in here. 0:02:41.806,0:02:43.479 I'm going to strive to figure out what 0:02:43.479,0:02:44.752 is pleasing to the Lord, 0:02:44.752,0:02:46.474 and I'm going to be exact. 0:02:46.474,0:02:47.711 And I'm going to back to it. 0:02:47.711,0:02:49.843 And if I got dull and sloppy 0:02:49.843,0:02:51.504 and thick-skulled in my life, 0:02:51.504,0:02:53.562 if I began to stray, I'm coming back. 0:02:53.562,0:02:56.484 Repentence is not a one-time thing, brethren. 0:02:56.484,0:02:57.852 We need to come back. 0:02:57.852,0:02:59.443 You need to be on that track 0:02:59.443,0:03:00.825 of preciseness. 0:03:00.825,0:03:02.018 Precise to this Word. 0:03:02.018,0:03:05.455 You need to read it and hear. 0:03:05.455,0:03:07.616 Don't be like I was with the stewardesses. 0:03:07.616,0:03:09.559 You need to come back where this is the Word of God. 0:03:09.559,0:03:11.887 This is not some paltry word of a stewardess 0:03:11.887,0:03:14.029 that doesn't matter. 0:03:14.029,0:03:15.492 You are in an airplane that is 0:03:15.492,0:03:16.632 going to go down. 0:03:16.632,0:03:19.216 There is a wrath of God coming, brethren, 0:03:19.216,0:03:21.428 and the seatbelt of this Word is 0:03:21.428,0:03:22.720 all imperative. 0:03:22.720,0:03:24.588 And you need to stay fresh 0:03:24.588,0:03:25.972 on how to keep it buckled, 0:03:25.972,0:03:29.546 and how to not let it get unbuckled. 0:03:29.546,0:03:32.935 Folks, this is life and death. 0:03:32.935,0:03:35.222 And if you just write yourself off right in the beginning 0:03:35.222,0:03:38.100 as well, you know, apostacy is for these other people 0:03:38.100,0:03:39.419 and it could never happen to me. 0:03:39.419,0:03:40.541 Brethren, it's happened to people 0:03:40.541,0:03:42.740 right out of our own midst. 0:03:42.740,0:03:44.864 And it's a reality. 0:03:44.864,0:03:46.258 And if you want to stay good and true 0:03:46.258,0:03:48.742 to the end, this is something, it is your soul. 0:03:48.742,0:03:51.542 Matt Haney's brother just passed off into eternity. 0:03:51.542,0:03:52.969 What? About 30 years old. 0:03:52.969,0:03:55.122 A life wasted. 0:03:55.122,0:03:59.206 Brethren, that is a shame. 0:03:59.206,0:04:00.521 But you know what would be 0:04:00.521,0:04:02.063 an even greater shame? 0:04:02.063,0:04:04.549 Is if he sat in this church every week 0:04:04.549,0:04:07.592 and he actually owned a Bible and read it. 0:04:07.592,0:04:09.199 And he became so dull of hearing 0:04:09.199,0:04:11.634 that in the end, he lost his soul. 0:04:11.634,0:04:13.768 That's even more tragic, brethren. 0:04:13.768,0:04:15.498 Coming so close. 0:04:15.498,0:04:16.828 Jesus said to one man, 0:04:16.828,0:04:18.913 "you are close to the kingdom." 0:04:18.913,0:04:22.426 Coming so close and missing it. 0:04:22.426,0:04:24.634 You don't want to do that. 0:04:24.634,0:04:26.482 This needs to be your food. 0:04:26.482,0:04:28.411 We live not by bread alone. 0:04:28.411,0:04:29.746 Brethren, be in this Word. 0:04:29.746,0:04:32.017 Pray to God for help to see it, 0:04:32.017,0:04:34.076 to understand it, to apply it, 0:04:34.076,0:04:35.277 to live it. 0:04:35.277,0:04:36.378 Be exact. 0:04:36.378,0:04:37.326 Be a fanatic. 0:04:37.326,0:04:38.584 Be a radical. 0:04:38.584,0:04:41.358 To God's Word. 0:04:41.358,0:04:43.113 This is not something that you want to 0:04:43.113,0:04:45.134 slow the pace in. 0:04:45.134,0:04:47.041 You've got to persevere to the end 0:04:47.041,0:04:49.070 if you wwould be saved, brethren. 0:04:49.070,0:04:52.116 Press on. 0:04:52.116,0:04:54.755 Renew your commitment to this Word. 0:04:54.755,0:04:57.270 God help us, brethren.