- Ezra Institute - https://www.ezrainstitute.com -

Obedience and Faith

If you are plagued by fear, anxiety, and depression because of dwelling on your sin, stop it and fix your eyes on Jesus.

Scripture:  Hebrews 4:6-16

Sermon Notes:

  1. All definitions of who we are as human beings are being shaken: marriage, sexuality, justice, life, parenthood, and faith.
  2. Religious freedom has been redefined as a ‘freedom from religion’, which is actually licentiousness.
  3. Universities have long denied any connection between morality and knowledge – they were morality-free zones.
  4. This became evident when first universities, and then the public education system as a whole, cut all ties from their Christian foundations.
  5. The position of neutrality on God's centrality in education is merely passive hostility to God.
  6. Christians have given ground and now, having been neutered, we're bearing the consequences of the new morality: publicly-endorsed, publicly-funded, legally-sanctioned licentiousness.
  7. Students are indoctrinated in public elementary schools, and according to TDSB policy documents, parents will not be allowed to remove their children from these classes because to do so would be a ‘violation of human rights’.
  8. If the church of God does not speak out, no one will.
  9. What we are experiencing in our day is God's judgment on our country as a consequence of generational unfaithfulness in our churches.   Pastors have not trusted the authority of God's Word and thus we have been neutered.
  10. In seeking common ground and neutrality, we've lost the truth.
  11. However, God’s power and victory over evil is as real today as in the past.
  12. In that Sabbath rest we find our peace, our hope, our strength.
  13. The point of the Sabbath rest is to celebrate the effectual presence of the finished work of Christ. 
  14. We need to strive to live out the consequences of God's rest in all areas of life. You may feel like Elijah, but God is our strength (1 Cor. 15:25). 
  15. We are not to do works that make a name for ourselves, but works that redirect people to the God whom we serve and His rest.
  16. Allowing your children to be taught by those who are opposed to the Christian faith is to be disobedient because we've been called to bring our children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6; cf. Deut. 6, Matt. 28:18-20).
  17. Those who are guilty of leading little ones astray are cursed by Jesus (Matt. 18:6).
  18. Christians in the classical world started schools. They did not trust the moral standing of pagan teachers. 
  19. Non-Christians cannot teach children to know Christ rightly in all areas of knowledge. Education is then divorced from the faith.
  20. While making disciples is more than teaching, it necessarily does include teaching as an integral aspect of knowing God.
  21. The peculiar power of the Word stands out to us, having power to open and close the gates of hell when preached.
  22. There is no neutral response possible to the Word (John 16:8).
  23. The same power of the Holy Spirit that worked in the early church is at work in our world today.  There will be conviction.
  24. The word of God creates moral objection and hostility in unbelievers, while for the believer the Word of God brings conviction and repentance. 
  25. Unbelievers know the goodness of God in the fact that they hear the call to repentance preached.  But they refuse it.
  26. If you are plagued by fear, anxiety, and depression because of dwelling on your sin, stop it and fix your eyes on Jesus.
  27. It is God's plan of salvation.  Don't try to save yourself.
  28. Holding fast your confession is to stand on the truth in the face of opposition, challenge, and contradiction.
  29. The blood atonement involves Christ reconciling His brothers to God by His prayers.  This High Priest prays for us

Application Questions:

  1. Are we going to perish in the wilderness?  Or will we strive to enter God's rest?
  2. How is the new morality of our culture a judgment of God?
  3. Have we allowed unbelievers to take control of our children?
  4. How do Deut. 6 and Matt. 28 require discipling of our children?
  5. How is Psalm 95:7-11 a warning to us?
  6. What opportunities do we have to bring glory to God by exercising servant-leadership this week?