We are beginning a new sermon series this morning. We are going to be studying the book of Hebrews. So please take your copy of God's word and turn to Hebrews chapter one. And let's begin by reading from the text, which is the Word of God. Let's start with the first four verses of chapter one. So follow along as I read Hebrews 1, verses one through four. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things. through whom he also created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Now flip over to chapter two, and I'm going to read the first four verses there as well. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received is a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders, and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will. Now, Hebrews is a challenging book. It's certainly not light reading. I'm not sure that any part of the Bible could be reasonably described as light reading, but there are certainly books of the Bible that are easier going than Hebrews. The letter that James wrote, or maybe the gospel according to Mark, are worth digging into, and there's plenty of depth there. But I think that most people find them more accessible than Hebrews, easier to understand. And that makes sense, given the content of Hebrews. For instance, Hebrews has a rich Christology, perhaps more than any other book of the Bible. Christology is the doctrine of Christ, teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. It deals with who Christ is, with what he accomplished, It deals with what he's doing right now in heaven for us. That's all heady stuff. It's challenging for us to wrap our minds around. In addition to that, the writer makes extensive use of the Old Testament. He quotes the Old Testament more often, by far, than any other New Testament book does. And he uses concepts and people and things from the Old Testament in his teaching. The priesthoods of Melchizedek and of Aaron. The holy place in the tabernacle and the items that it contained. The sacrificial system from the Old Testament. And he uses these things in large part to teach us about Christ. And now we're not used to that. We're used to getting our Christology from the New Testament. So this is challenging for us when he uses the Old Testament in this way. And then woven throughout all of this is a deep pastoral concern. The man who writes this is concerned with the spiritual well-being of his readers, and he digs deep with his exhortations. In the verses that we read from chapter one, we saw the beginning of the Christology, the teaching about Christ. In chapter two, we saw the pastoral concern. And in between, the writer quoted seven different Old Testament passages, and then he alluded to a few more. And the whole book goes like that. On top of all that, Hebrews uses a loftier language, perhaps more than any other New Testament book. Now there's value in that, but coupled with the challenging content of the book, it can be difficult at times. So my goal for this introduction this morning and next week is that we should gain a broad understanding of the book of Hebrews that will help us to understand the smaller elements of the book within the context of the whole. Now this will be important as we move forward because our approach in our sermons is to take the smaller elements of a book one at a time as we tackle a study like Hebrews. That's how we approach scripture, verse by verse, piece by piece. Think about it like a jigsaw puzzle. When you first start a jigsaw puzzle, you have all of these strangely shaped pieces, each with different colors and patterns, all spread out on the table in front of you. How do you even begin to put it all together? So you pick up a piece of the puzzle. How do you make any sense of it? Well, maybe if you study it long enough, you might be able to figure out what it is. And if you compare it to enough other pieces, you may eventually start to piece it all together. But what you really need is the picture on the box top. The picture on the top of the box that the puzzle came in, that shows you what the puzzle looks like. Then, when you pick up an individual piece, you can compare it to the picture. And then you can much more quickly and often more accurately determine what that piece is and how it fits into the whole. This morning and next week, we're looking for the box top for Hebrews. and not just an outline or a collection of interesting facts about the book, but as complete a picture of what Hebrews is and what it's about and what the writer was hoping to accomplish as we can put together in the time that we have. My hope is that when we're through with this introduction, we will have a broad understanding of the book of Hebrews, and that this will prepare us to read, study, interpret, and apply the things that are written in this book. and that we'll understand what to expect from Hebrews and how it's all going to fit together. In order to do that, there are four things that I believe we need to consider. Four things that when taken together will give us the box top that will help us put together the Hebrews puzzle. The first of these four things is the situation. What was going on with the people the book was originally written to? What were the concerns that the writer had for these people? Now, that's not an easy question to answer. We're at a bit of a disadvantage here. Because we're not completely sure who Hebrews was written to. And we're even less certain who wrote it. Now typically, in an epistle, you start with a greeting, and that tells you who it's from and who it's to. Look at Ephesians as an example of that. In the first verse of chapter one, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus, Christ Jesus, by the will of God. So that's who it's from. And it's to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful to Christ Jesus. So then when we read Ephesians, we can consider everything that we know about the situation in Ephesus. There's a lot about the Ephesians in the book of Acts. And there are other mentions of it elsewhere in the New Testament as well. We know something of what their strengths were, what their challenges were, and we can consider what we know of Paul and his relationship with the Ephesians, and that's helpful. It provides context for understanding Ephesians. But we don't have any of that for Hebrews. Instead, the writer launches right into his message. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. That's a great opening. It's strong and it draws you in, but it doesn't tell us who's writing or who it's written to. Now, there is a major clue in Hebrews as to where the people it's written to were located. Now, this is far from definitive, but it does give us a likelihood of where the church was that received this letter. And it comes near the end of the book, the second to the last verse in Hebrews 13, 24. It says, greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy send you greetings. So the writer of Hebrews was with a group of people who were from Italy, which almost certainly means from Rome, and these people collectively had some connection to the recipients of the letter that compelled this greeting, a connection that the writer's other companions apparently didn't have. It's possible that the writer was in Rome and he was writing to a church somewhere else that included a lot of former residents of Rome. Now, if that's the case, then he was essentially writing, your friends here in Rome send you greetings. As I said, that's possible. But when he says they're from Italy, that implies that they originated in Italy, but are no longer there. So it's more likely, and quite a bit more likely, really, that he was writing to a church in Rome, and that some of those who were with him, wherever he was writing from, were from Rome. And they were sending their greetings back home to their friends in Rome. Now, again, that's not certain. but it's likely. It's the most plausible explanation for the wording in this greeting. What's even more likely, and in fact virtually certain, is that wherever their location was, the people this letter was sent to were predominantly Jewish Christians. Now we know they're Christians because he calls them brothers throughout the book. He also couples his warnings with expressions of confidence in their salvation. And he consistently uses language that is inclusive of them when he writes about their faith. And we'll see that even in some of the passages that I quote this morning. So we know that Hebrews was written to Christians. We say it was written to predominantly Jewish Christians because it's clear that the writer expected his readers to have an extensive knowledge of the Old Testament. That's evident by the way that he uses the Old Testament. And it's unlikely that a group of predominantly Gentile Christians would have had this level of familiarity with the Old Testament. And we do know, by the way, that there was a significant Jewish population in Rome in the first century. And it seems that the first Christian converts in Rome were Jews, as they were in most places. So that's who the letter was written to, Jewish Christians, probably in Rome, and that certainly relates to their situation. But there's a lot more to it than just who they were and where they lived. By carefully reading the text, the things that the writer says about his readers, we can reconstruct more about their situation. The first thing we can discern about the recipients of this letter from reading the text is that they had not heard or seen Jesus in person during his earthly ministry. In chapter two, verses three and four, it says, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard. Well, God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. second generation of believers who heard the message from the apostles and from others who had heard it directly from Jesus during those days when God was still authenticating the message with signs and wonders. Incidentally, this verse is the biggest single reason that we're confident that Paul, the Apostle Paul, did not write the letter to the Hebrews. Paul would not have included himself in the group that heard the message from others like the writer here does when he says, it was attested to us by those who heard. In fact, Paul said quite emphatically in Galatians 1 verse 12, that he did not receive it. That is, he did not receive the gospel from any man, nor was taught it, but that he received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. The second thing that we can say about these people is that they had remained steadfast under persecution following their conversion. Hebrews 10 verse 32 and 33 remind them of that. It says, but recall the former days when you were enlightened. You endured a hard struggle and sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. There was a time following their enlightenment, that is following when they first came to Christ, when they experienced what the writer calls a hard struggle with sufferings, reproach, and affliction. It's likely that these Jews who believed in Christ when he was preached to them were persecuted by other Jews who had rejected the gospel. We see that scenario in acts often, where unconverted Jews persecute Jewish Christians. It's also probable that they were persecuted by the pagans around them, and by the secular governments, and they endured it, and were faithful through it. And in fact, they didn't just endure this mistreatment, they thrived spiritually when they were persecuted. The evidence for that is in the next verse, in Hebrews 10, 34. You see it in their actions, their attitudes, and what they held onto during this time. It says, for you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Even during their affliction, they were also concerned about the affliction of others. When their property was plundered, when they were robbed for the sake of Christ, they accepted it with joy. And they could do so because they knew that they had something in Christ that was far greater than anything that they could lose in this life. So far, this is what we've seen. We know that these Jewish Christians weren't among those who had seen Jesus in person. But after they came to Christ, they endured persecution and remained steadfast. And in fact, they thrived spiritually when under that persecution. But it's not all good news. They hadn't continued in the way that they began. Over time, their spiritual growth had stagnated. The writer tells them this in chapter 5, beginning in verse 11. About this we have much to say, he writes, and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness. since he is a child, but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. If they had continued as they began, they would have been teachers, but not only had they stopped making progress, They had regressed. They needed to be retaught basic truths. They'd become dull of hearing when it came to the truth of God. And they were compromising the constant practice of distinguishing good from evil. This is how the writer characterizes his readers. But I don't want you to think that these were people who had left the church or were only marginally involved. I'm not sure that we would look at this church and think that there was any problem at all. Just a chapter later, in Hebrews 6 verse 10, the writer says this about them. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do. We might look at the church and think they're strong and mature and faithful. The writer could honestly say that they worked in a way that God approved and they loved God's name and they served the saints. But at the same time, all of the things that he said about them in the verses that we just read in chapter five were also true. And so as we'll see, he has serious warnings for them throughout the book. And that is the situation of the people that Hebrews was written to. And that's the first part of the box top that's going to help us put together the pieces of the Hebrews puzzle. The second element of the box top is the writer's approach. And what I mean by that is how does the writer go about addressing the situation? What means does he use? Perhaps more to the point, what is Hebrews? Is it a letter? What we'd usually call an epistle? That's how we usually think about it. We group it with the other epistles in our Bible. We put it right after Paul's epistles and right before the epistle that James wrote. Some of your Bibles may even have the epistle to the Hebrews as the title, although Hebrews doesn't call itself that and that's not the historic title. Toward the end of the second century, it was given the name to the Hebrews, and that's been the official name of the book ever since. So what is Hebrews? It doesn't look like a letter. As we've already seen, it doesn't have a greeting. It doesn't tell us who it's from or who it's to, like every other letter we have in the Bible. And it doesn't read like a letter. It's not structured like a letter. It's put together very differently from the other letters that we have. There's nothing personal in it like we find in other letters, at least not till you get to the last few verses. But if it's not a letter, what is it? There's a big hint to that right near the end. In chapter 13, in verse 22, the writer says, I appeal to you brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. The writer calls it a word of exhortation. What does that mean? What is a word of exhortation? Well, in Acts chapter 13, here, Paul and Barnabas were in a synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. They were there on a Sabbath day. And in verse 15 of Acts 13, it says, after reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, that is to Paul and Barnabas, saying, brothers, If you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it. But the word translated encouragement here in Acts 13.15 is the same word as exhortation in Hebrews 13.22. Word of encouragement and word of exhortation are just different translations of the same phrase. And they mean, sermon. What the rulers of the synagogue said in their note to Paul and Barnabas was essentially, if you have a sermon, preach it now. And that's exactly what Paul did. He got up in Acts 13 and he preached a sermon. And the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 13, is saying, I appeal to you brothers, pay attention to my sermon. And when you look at Hebrews with this in mind, it makes so much sense. It reads like a sermon, like it was meant to be preached, not read. It sounds oratory, the language, the way he builds his message, the way he exposits the Old Testament. Hebrews is a sermon. The writer of Hebrews wanted to send this church a sermon to address their situation. But how was he going to do that? He couldn't record it on video or audio. He couldn't send them a link to it like we might do. He had to write it out and then send the written version to them and have someone in the church preach it for him. And that is exactly what he did. So the sermon starts out in verse one of chapter one, and it runs all the way through chapter 13, verses 20 and 21, which are the benediction for the sermon. And when he says, amen, At the end of verse 21, that is the end of the sermon. And the next few verses, the last few verses of the text are just a few personal notes that then he adds on the end. That is the writer's approach to the situation with his readers. He writes a sermon and he sends it to them with the intent that it would be read to the church. So now we know what the situation was for the people that Hebrews was written to. They were Jewish Christians, probably living in Rome. They had started strong. endured persecution, remained steadfast, and had shown their faithfulness through their actions. But somewhere along the way, they had become spiritually stagnant. There was still a lot going on in the church that was positive, but they had regressed spiritually, and that concerned the writer. He was almost certainly formerly a part of that body, probably had been an elder there, but for some reason he'd had to leave them. And he was aware of what was going on in the church, and he felt compelled to address it. And we saw what his approach was. He wrote a sermon, a word of exhortation, and he sent it to them. And he certainly expected that it would be read aloud to them. And that's as far as we're going to get this morning, except that I want to give you a preview of what's coming next week. The third part of the box top is the direction that the writer takes. And that direction always starts with Christ, with Jesus. Hebrews exalts Christ. It shows us the superiority of Christ. It tells us what Jesus has done. and what he is doing. And it does this through the word of God, by expositing Old Testament passages to teach us the truth about Christ. And then from that teaching about Christ, and based on those Old Testament scriptures, the warnings and the encouragements come. And that's the constant direction of Hebrews. Christ and scripture leading to warning and encouragement. And the writer cycles through that over and over. The last part of the box top is an overview of the entire book. We'll be taking the 30,000 foot view of Hebrews. We won't get any detail during that overview, but we'll get a sense broadly of what the writer puts into the sermon. And that will give us our box top of the book of Hebrews. I'm looking forward to completing this introduction next week and after that to studying Hebrews with you in more depth. In the meantime, I encourage you to read it and to read it with the things that we've covered this morning in mind. With regard to the situation of the readers, remember that after starting strong, they were spiritually stagnating. And with regard to the writer's approach, Remember that this is a sermon. So when you are reading, hear it in your mind like a sermon. Imagine it's being preached because that's how it was intended. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this word, Father, this word of exhortation. Father, thank you for the truth that is contained in it about your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, thank you for the scripture that is illuminated for us through it. And Father, for the warnings, may we heed those. Father, thank you too for the encouragement. Father, I pray that you would use this in our lives as we embark on this study. In Jesus' name, amen.