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the Lord's blessing upon us. Father, in the name of Christ, bless us. In the name of Christ, bless your word. Bless it to our hearts and to our minds. Lord, we pray that your word would not fall upon hard soil, but tender hearts. And Lord, that we would grow in our desire for it. We would grow in our love for it. We would grow in our appreciation and hunger and thirst for your precious word, your eternal word. Only your spirit and word can give us the life, Lord, we so need in Christ Jesus. So we pray your blessing upon us this evening for Christ's sake, amen. Hebrews chapter three and verse one is our sort of text tonight. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. Thus ends the reading of God's Word. You may be seated. Beloved, many commentators and scholars believe that that one verse basically is the emphasis of the book of Hebrews, that the whole book is written for the purpose of bringing to a apathetic, largely lethargic people who are on the verge of apostatizing from the faith, the message of Christ. that Christ is the subject of the book and throughout the whole book there are these serious warnings given to these believers who are on the verge of apostasy to come back to Jesus Christ. By and large, the book of Hebrews, for many people, remains to be a very difficult book to understand. It's similar to the book of Hebrews, I mean, the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is very difficult, not only because of its signs, its metaphors and similes and figures of speech, but because it uses so much Old Testament. And honestly, beloved, we are very deficient in our Old Testament scriptures. Most of us, by and large, spend the majority of our reading time in the New Testament, or at least in the study of the New Testament. We read through Chronicles, and we read through the genealogies, and we read through some of those Old Testament texts, but we read through them to sort of get through them. And there's no way you can benefit from a book like Revelation or a book like Hebrews without really being grounded in the Old Testament. Sinclair Ferguson wrote this about the book of Hebrews in Table Talk Magazine. He said, of all the New Testament letters, Hebrews seems to be the one many Christians find strange and alien. Here we enter into the world of Melchizedek and Aaron, angels and Moses, sacrifices and priests. It all seems so Old Testament, so intricate. and even confusing. And by and large, I believe he is right. Most of what we read in the book of Hebrews is some explanation of the Old Testament brought to bear upon this first century Jewish group in order to stir them up to greater and more serious walk with the Lord. In the book of Hebrews, we will learn one fascinating thing. You know, there's a lot of talk today about relevance. What is relevant? And we wanna be relevant. And that's kinda can be thin ice for a pastor. What is relevant compared to what? You know, when we start talking about being relevant as a church, you have to really, really define what you mean. How are we going to be relevant in our culture? Does that mean we're going to try to become like the culture in some way in order to reach the culture? What does it mean? Well, I think the book of Revelation helps us. I mean the book of Hebrews helps us because what we find in the book of Hebrews is Old Testament scripture brought to bear by the writer of the book. We don't know who wrote the book. He brings to bear Old Testament scripture into a contemporary situation and guess what? It's relevant. That's one of the things we need to learn about, at least take away from the book of Hebrews, is that we are learning, as one commentator says, this is truly the glory of scripture. That we can take scripture that's hundreds and thousands of years old, and guess what? Apply it today. bring to bear that truth written thousands of years ago we can take that truth and apply it today in the 21st century and it makes sense and it challenges and it encourages and it convicts us What kind of book is the book of Hebrews? Well, I wanna encourage you over the next six weeks as we spend some time in the book of Hebrews on Sunday evening, and it's gonna dovetail nicely with the book of Revelation. I mean, it's gonna dovetail real nicely with some of those themes and concepts that we have already expounded on the book, in the book of Revelation. But the book of Hebrews reads like a sermon. It reads like a sermon, very sermonic in its layout, in its use of scripture. It does seem like if you read the book, and here's what I want to encourage you to do, it's going to take about 45 minutes. Now I know some of you are going to have to work hard to get 45 free minutes. But read through the book in one sitting. Don't read a chapter today, and a chapter next week, and a chapter the week after that, and a chapter before Sunday night service. Read the book through from beginning to end. Read the book straight through. And don't read it again until you can sit back down and read it again. And in fact, I encourage you to do that to the books we're preaching. You know, I tell you one of my greatest, you know, just giving you a little bit of sort of the mindset of this pastor is Saturdays are, Saturdays can tend to be some of my joyful reading because I'll sit down and read through whole books. If I read through the book of Revelation, read through the book of Matthew, read through the book of Luke, read through all of John's epistles. read through most of all of Paul's shorter epistles. You know, you can read almost all of Paul's shorter epistles in a few hours. I haven't made it through Ezekiel in one sitting. Close. I have made it through Daniel. I have made it through various of the Old Testament books, but I have not made it through Ezekiel in one sitting, nor Isaiah in one sitting. But if you read large sections, you will start seeing concepts and themes unfold. And that's what's important about the book of Hebrews. You will start seeing its sermonic form. You'll find that it's a book of exhortation. Turn to Hebrews 13. In the Semitic style, at the end of the letter, is sort of what we would sort of put at the first of the letter, but in here, it's toward the end of the letter. Notice, Verse 22, but I urge you brethren, more than likely the author of the book of Hebrews knew the audience. They knew who he was. This is a term of endearment. I urge you brethren, bear with this word of exhortation for I have written to you briefly. 13 chapters, it's a brief sermonic letter. It's something that he wrote, it seems quickly, maybe due to something he had heard, he needed to respond quickly to it. So he pens the book of Hebrews and sends it out. to these Jewish struggling Christians who are considering leaving their Christian profession. And so it's an exhortation by and large. It's an exhortation. It's designed in order to give the people a new vision of the Lord Jesus Christ because of their lethargy. They had spent some time now digressing in the faith and they're on the verge of apostatizing. This isn't something that's new, it's something that has been going on. And one thing you need to really understand when you read the New Testament, you are reading it in a first century context of great revival in the very beginning. Christ ascends into heaven, sends the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is poured out, The apostles are doing great miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. There's thousands being converted at their messages and the church is being sort of flooded with membership. And of course, what happens when the church is just flooded with members? You got all kinds of problems. You got all kinds of problems. I mean, that's a blessing of a growing church, isn't it? Part of the blessing of a growing church is having numbers and hearing many, many voices sing praises to God, but also more lives come with sin with them and in them. And what happens is over time, as the Jewish persecution heated up, as the Roman persecution heated up, Um, people decided that this Christianity isn't worth it. So what you have is toward the, from Jesus's ascension to, um, about 64, 66 AD, which is the time we believe Hebrews was written right there with the book of revelation. There was this great apostasy, um, uh, The church was waning in many ways, and the writer of Hebrews is addressing these Jews who are considering going back to Judaism. It's just too hard. Christianity's too hard. It costs too much. Remember what I said this morning. These men were losing their jobs. They were being fired by their employers because they were Christians. They were being excommunicated out of the synagogue, excommunicated out of their communities, excommunicated out of families. To become a Christian in this Jewish setting would be to completely cut yourself off from your family, by and large. I'm sure some families, like many today, weren't that Jewish and would violate those laws, but those strictly Jewish families, guess what? They cut you off because you were a professing Christian. You were a heretic. And so we have to remember the cost of discipleship in the first century. And isn't that what Jesus told them to do? They can't blame Jesus because Jesus told them, count the cost. It's costly to follow me. It's costly and it's gonna cost me, it costs you. So we need to understand this is the setting that you have the New Testament written in. And beloved, the book of Hebrews is a thoroughly, Whoever wrote the book of Hebrews and I've all I just attribute it to Paul because I got tired of saying the author of the book of Hebrews It's just easy to say Paul But did Paul actually write the book I don't know Nobody knows However, I do know who divinely wrote the book the Holy Spirit and that's all that matters and that's all we need to care about so The book of Hebrews is a book that is thoroughly grounded in the Old Testament. The writer knew his Old Testament. Depending on how you count the Old Testament references or the inferences to the Old Testament, you are going to have at least 36 citations in 13 chapters to The Old Testament. It's thoroughly Old Testament. It's Old Testament in every chapter. And what does that tell us about our Christianity? Our Christianity is grounded in the Old Testament. That if you're going to understand the faith, your faith in Christ, you need to understand the Old Testament. Again, Hebrews chapter three verse one is sort of that pivotal verse. It's the verse that calls our attention to Jesus Christ. Notice what it calls Jesus Christ, our apostle. Apostle. You know the thing about church officers? whether it be the office of apostle, whether it be the office of pastor, or elder, or evangelist, or deacon, all offices of the church have their origin in Jesus. All officers of the church of Jesus Christ have their origin in Jesus Christ. He is the apostle. He is the one sent by God. That's what the word apostle meant, the ones that were sent. He is the one that was sent. He is the great shepherd of the sheep. He's the true pastor. And all pastors, those offices, come and derive from him. He is the chief of servants. That's what deacon is, servant. We are all deacons in one sense. We are all here to deacon one another. Even though we have an office of deacon, we are all little deacons. And we should serve one another. He was the evangelist. He was sent from heaven to earth, what? To establish the church and to start the church. The Lord Jesus is that true missionary. Well, how do we know about this officer? or not only is he this apostle, but notice he is the high priest. He is the apostle and high priest of our confession. We don't no longer need human priests. I'm not a priest to you. You don't come necessarily to confess your sins to me. You have a priest, he's Jesus Christ. You can go to this priest any time of the day, no matter what. You don't have to make an appointment to flee to Christ. All you have to do is call upon him. He is not only the apostle, he is the high priest that is over all the Old Testament high priests, and he is the only high priest today. This is part of the doctrine that truly revolutionized the church or reformed the church in large part in the Reformation coming out of Catholicism was we don't need priests any longer to mediate for us. We have Christ as our priest. And that was not just enlightening, beloved, it stirred life back into the church. Who was the author? of the book of Hebrews? Well, here's what we do know about him. And this list is from other commentators who have written on the book. What do we know about the book of Hebrews? Whoever it was, and they were very skilled in the Greek language, it is of superb Greek. What does that mean to you other than he was highly educated? And this is where many people don't think it was the Apostle Paul because it doesn't match Paul's style in Greek. Maybe the book of Ephesians, but the book of Ephesians is written in a rather upper degree style in the Pauline epistles. But whoever it was, some believe it was Luke, because Luke was a very classic Greek and he wrote well, and it does match some of the style. But again, no one knows. It's immersed in the Old Testament. He is knowledgeable of not only of the Old Testament, but he's knowledgeable of the theology of the Old Testament and how those Old Testament prophecies pointed to Jesus Christ. So he's not just somebody quoting the Old Testament, he is somebody skilled in depth of those passages used in the Old Testament. He knows what those passages were for. Somebody highly skilled in Old Testament theology. Someone who may have been a pastor, because they show pastoral concern for these readers throughout the book. The readers knew him personally. He knows their background. He knows their struggles. He knows their frailties. Again, maybe a pastor that they were well acquainted with. He may have been a second generation believer. Look with me at chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. Notice how he puts himself in this, verse one through four, for this reason we, we must play much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through the angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty? How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation after it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us? by those who heard. God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. It could be that the writer of the book of Hebrews had someone, a parent that was saved in those original days of the apostles and now he has grown up as that second generation Christian. At least some speculate that may be a possibility. From chapter 13, verse 23, he was acquainted with Timothy. He knew Timothy. Look at chapter three and verse seven. Well, notice, the author's emphasis in chapter three and verse seven, notice how he places the emphasis not on human authorship, but on its divine authorship. Verse seven, therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, he makes a contemporary application to his readers, this is the voice of the Holy Spirit. I think that's bold. I think that is very bold. He is ascribing divine attributes to this letter. Don't, listen, as the word of God is clearly expounded rightly, obey it. And if you don't obey the clear teaching of God's word, what are you doing? Who are you disobeying? You are disobeying the voice of the Holy Spirit. He understood the implications. Again, we believe the book was written prior to AD 70, the destruction of Jerusalem, why? Well, because we do believe that there were temple sacrifices still being offered. Turn with me to chapter nine. Yeah, chapter nine, but look at verse 13, the last verse in chapter eight. As he completes this chapter, look at verse 13, when he said a new covenant, we'll talk about all that later, he has made the first covenant obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and is growing old is ready to disappear. It is clear in the exposition of this that what he's referring to in verse 13 is the disappearing and the doing away of the temple sacrifices. He said it's been made obsolete, and guess what's happening? It's being prepared to disappear. It's being prepared to be taken away. And there's no longer gonna be a stumbling block for many of those Jewish Christians. When the Lord destroyed Jerusalem, those Jewish Christians would no longer have to contend with those temple sacrifices any longer. Look at chapter seven in verse eight. chapter seven, verse seven, but without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater. In this case, now notice the present tense there where he's talking. In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case, one receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. And so to speak through Abraham, even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. There is this indication as he writes about the tithes of Abraham and Melchizedek, how the Levites are continuing to receive tithes. As he writes this letter, there is something very contemporary about the temple ritual. It's continuing as he writes. The recipients of the letter are Hebrew Christians. Let me read to you, I think, some important comments that the book makes about these Christians, and we can compare this to our own lives, and I think they're very, it's fundamental. and I think telling how the book speaks to our contemporary culture as well and to us in the 21st century. These readers were second-generation Christians who had been won to Christ by those who had been won to Christ during Christ's ministry. They were considered to be believers. Chapter 3, verse 1. Not just mere professors. They were members of the church. They were active in the church. They had shown life in the church. Notice chapter 5. Chapter five, they were not novices. They had grown in the word of God. Notice what he says in. chapter 11 and 12. Concerning him, we have much to say. Now he's talking about Melchizedek. It is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. They weren't always dull of hearing. The writer of Hebrew says, I want to tell you more about Melchizedek, but I'm unable to. And the reason I'm unable to address this deep theology with you is because you're not able to understand it. You have become dull. Verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food." He said, there was a time when you knew this. There was a time that you were able to receive deep theological preaching and teaching, but now I have to talk to you like children. Now I have to preach to you like babies. because over time you have neglected the serious and deep things of your faith and because you have neglected the means of grace and because of your fear, your fear of persecution, you have gravitated, you have degenerated and become dull of hearing. And beloved, we need to think about that when we become dull of hearing. I don't attribute People's, the lack of growth always on the people. I mean, it's up to the pastors to try to teach well. It's up to us to do our best to explain the truth, explain the deep things of God. It's up to us to pray about it. It's up to us to labor hard about it in order to take God's word and to feed the congregation, the sheep. You don't just throw it out there and tell them to have at it. However, however, just as a shepherd feeds the sheep, the sheep have to eat. And beloved, maybe the reason you're not able to make use of the word is because you've become dull. Congregations can become dull of hearing. And I am convinced one of the thing that plagues homiletic books, Christopher, is How much time a preacher needs to preach? We are debating today whether preachers need to preach 20 minutes, 15 minutes. 30 is a long sermon. 30 minutes is a long sermon because people can't tolerate lengthy theological sermons. But is that the preacher's fault? Maybe. Don't want to discount that. But when are we gonna start asking questions like Hebrews chapter five, where the pastor says, I wish I could explain these things to you, but I can't because you have become dull in hearing and I'm not able to explain to you the depth that is needed because it's your fault. Congregation has a responsibility to rise up, put away their sins in their hearts, their fears and everything that's keeping them from Christ and feast upon the word of God. They were considered true believers. Notice with me chapter six, verse nine. But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. And what he means is by though we're speaking in this way, he just got through giving them a serious warning. We're gonna look at that warning in a minute, don't go at it now. He just got through giving them a major serious warning about falling away from the faith. And he says, but I'm convinced you're a Christian. I'm convinced that your faith is real. And so we can see from this letter that true Christians can degenerate. True Christians can get to the place where they look like they are fixing to apostatize fully. And here's this letter being written to them so that they would be encouraged to rise up and consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at chapter 10, verse 25. Chapter 10 verse 25, notice what he's encouraging them to do. Let's read 23 and 24 and 25. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near." Now, the writer's acknowledging that it's been difficult. He's acknowledging that time has grown increasingly harsher for Christians and that it may even increase. that he's not promising them a bed of flowers. He's not saying, oh, come back to Jesus and all of this is gonna go away. He says, no, in fact, it may, as this day draws nearer, the destruction of Jerusalem, I believe is what he's referring to, as this day draws nearer, what should you do? Well, notice what he says. Don't forsake the gathering of yourselves, as is the habit of some. He says, as this day draws near and as persecution increases, gather more, gather. Why? Because it's in the gathering, in the worship of the Lord's people that we are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, that we can encourage one another all the more as we all look around and see that day approaching. And most people, most Christians, one of the reasons this book is so important today, It just addresses human nature. Most Christians fall away from worship when they fall into difficulty. It can be economic difficulty. It can be any kind of personal difficulty. It could be any type of physical difficulty. Oftentimes, when we fall into some trial, Our tendency is not to draw near to Christ with his church. Our tendency is to withdraw. And that's exactly the habit that some of them have fallen into. And the writer of Hebrews is saying, don't do that. Don't fall into this habit. As the time gets harsher, as the time becomes more critical, you know what? You may need to gather more. Now, beloved, as the day increases here in America, we already, what have we done in many of our churches? We've minimized how many times that even saints gather. We've already minimized how many times the saints gather to encourage one another, to stimulate one another, to prop one another up, to love on one another, to hear people pray for one another. And as times and intensity and persecution increases, we should be even gathering more because we need that. We need that constant encouragement and that encouragement, why? Because that encouragement produces perseverance. Perseverance. Perseverance. Lotus chapter 13, verse seven. It seemed like their leaders, their pastors had encouraged them, but they weren't listening. Chapter 13, verse 7, remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Maybe their pastors had been persecuted. Maybe their pastors had stayed the course and they were being examples to the congregation. Here, the writer says, follow and imitate their examples. Look at verse 17. of that chapter. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Interestingly enough, the context here, when you're having a contemporary situation of persecution, the church is being buffeted, The church is being hit on all sides. People are losing their jobs. There's all kind of economic distress upon the church. Remember what Paul was doing when he went to Jerusalem and he was arrested. He was taking offering to the church of Jerusalem in order to alleviate the misery that had been, that was going on there among the Jewish Christians. what he is saying here, listen, submit to the leaders because they have so much on their plate already. Why would you not submit to their teaching? And now not only do they have to address all of the various cultural issues that are taking place in the church, now they have to address your rebellion. Now they have to deal with you. You're adding that is when you don't submit to the Lord's under shepherds with joy and thanksgiving and to help them in the ministry, you are becoming another work for those men who not only have the shepherd the congregation in the midst of difficult circumstances, but now you have to address these who won't even listen, won't even pay attention in their rebellion. And beloved, I want to give you just some insight. Some of you may find out this one day as you, in the future, become elders or something. When you handle discipline cases and you handle people that are being ornery, it takes a lot of time. It saps. It can sap the church a lot of energy. It can sap the church in the session of a lot of just, it can be very hurtful, frustrating, draining when you're addressing people you love, people you care about, because you see where they're going. You see where this is heading. Just like parents, just like a parent. I guess, you know, some of you parents, you know, when you're addressing your children, sometimes the stubbornness of your child can get the best of you, can't it? And you get tired. And you wonder, what could I do? Session, in many ways, feel that emotion. And that's what he's saying here to the congregation. He says, obey your leader, submit to them for they keep watch over your souls. They are going to give an account for you. All these shepherds are going to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief. And this would be unprofitable for you. So he's encouraging them. I'm beloved. to be joyful church members. That is, you know, not coming to worship begrudgingly, but coming knowing that I am gathering in the name of the Lord Jesus with the body of the Lord Jesus to encourage people with the Lord Jesus. Let me say this, every one of you are significant to the life of this church. There is not one family in this church that is not important, and significant to the future of this church. You are all needed, and everybody needs everybody at all times. And it's encouraging to see your neighbor sitting next to you. It's encouraging to have the people here loving what you love, is it not? It's satisfying in many, many, many ways and on many levels, and that's what he is addressing here in the book. These Hebrew Christians were probably, under the persecution of Nero, are becoming more, at least more familiar with Nero. And we all know about Nero, we've been learning about him in the book of Revelation. But beloved, let's talk about the danger that the book addresses. There is a danger that comes along in the book, all throughout the book. It's expositing the danger of those who are going to leave the Christian faith. We're going to look at an outline in a minute. And in fact, I handed out some outlines here. And what I wanted to do by giving you this outline, and I hope you can start practicing some of these things, is I gave you three different sources for outlines. because I want to encourage you to purchase study Bibles or good ones. I want to encourage you to purchase study Bibles. I want to encourage you as you, when you sit down to study a book, look at the outline. These outlines are all different. They're not equal. They're not all the same, but they all have their strengths. They all have their points. And I want to teach you that when you begin to read a book, Copy these outlines or look in your various study bibles. Get a handle of these outlines so that as you read the book, you begin to read the book and its concepts and themes. And so I have provided for you three good outlines. You can pick them back. You can pick them up on the back table there. The writer is addressing what we would consider as a full-blown apostasy. They were being persecuted, and in our day and time, they would have justification for not going to church. You know, they would have justification for saying, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm an individual, it's just me and Jesus. Many churches wouldn't even address that today. The book of Hebrews addresses that. The book of Hebrews says if you make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you live up to it, you maintain it, you persevere in it. Even if, even if, listen to me, even if you're persecuted, you don't abandon your profession of faith, you don't abandon the church, because the church is the body of Jesus Christ on earth. Remember I told you, don't separate the Holy Spirit from the word. and don't separate Christ from his church. If you will just cling to those two concepts, you will go a long way in not making big mistakes. Don't separate Christ and his church. What is apostasy? Well, the book teaches us that apostasy is someone who is or claims to be a Christian and then abandons their Christian faith. They abandon their profession of faith. They walk away from their Christianity. They no longer desire to live or to act or to profess. Christianity. They had suffered and endured persecution and hardships because of their profession of faith. We'll look at those in a minute. They had faithfully ministered to the needs of others, but now they are suffering and considering falling away. They had ministered to others, but now they're under persecution and are tempted to fall away. And it's interesting there because in chapter six, here they are now being persecuted. Where they were an aid to others, now they're considering falling away. They were being tempted to fall away to go back to Judaism. It was easier due to the persecution, the suffering, and the pain. These Hebrew Christians, because of their persecution, were in danger of walking completely away from the Christian faith. Look with me in a couple of verses. I love, you'll like this description because I think it's important for us to see it. Chapter two, verse one. Notice how he describes their apostasy in verse one. so that we do not drift away from it. Drift. Nothing dramatic about drifting. It's the idea of you're sort of here. You don't even know you're moving. You don't even know you're moving. It's kind of like going to sleep in a boat in just a meandering stream. You wake up and you're 100 yards from where you were. You know, it's kind of like at the beach. If you ever fall asleep on a raft out in the tide, all of a sudden you wake up and you're 200 yards from shore. That's the idea, that's the concept here. And the point is, when we try, as we remain neutral, because there is no neutrality in the Christian faith, you are either serving or you're backsliding. You're either serving or you're backsliding. If you're not serving, if you're not active, If you're not being active, if you're not planning to be active, then you're in a backsliding position. And that's the point here because he says over time, over time, here's the truth. I want you to think of the truth as a dock. The dock. You start drifting. Start drifting. Over months, maybe a year, maybe two years, the truth is over here and look at where you are. That's the idea, it doesn't happen overnight. Its idea is that of drifting. Look at chapter three, verse 12. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. Again, notice You go from drifting from the faith, you see this falling away from the faith. There is this process. It just doesn't happen. You don't wake up one day and become an apostate. It happens over time. Look at chapter six, verse four. For in this case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age have come, and then have fallen away. So you have all these religious experiences, but over time, you fall away over time. Demonstrating that apostasy does not happen overnight, but happens over a long period of time. Let's look at some key concepts in the book itself. Let me give you three important words that are used in the book of Hebrews. Number one, better. The word better. The word better is a dominant word because it explains how Christ is better than everything in the Old Testament. The word better is used 13 times. We're not gonna go through all of those right now. Christ is better than the Old Testament. He's better than the angels. He's better than the Old Testament hope. He's better than the Old Testament priesthood. He's better than the Old Testament covenant. He's better than the Old Testament sacrifices. He's better in every way. Better is the dominant theme in the book of Hebrews. Number two, the word perfect. The word perfect is used 14 times and it has the idea of perfect standing with God through Christ. The Old Testament could not give you a perfect standing with God. Christ can. Christ gives individuals a perfect standing with God. The other word is eternal. Eternal is the third word that is important in the message to the Hebrews. Christ is the author of the eternal salvation, chapter five, verse nine. Through his death, he obtained eternal salvation, chapter 9, verse 12. He shares with believers the promises of an eternal heritance, chapter 9, verse 15. His throne is forever, chapter 1, verse 8. He is a priest forever, chapter 5, verse 6, chapter 6, verse 20, chapter 7, verse 17, and verse 21. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, chapter 13. In verse eight, when you combine these three concepts together, Jesus Christ and the Christian life are better because these blessings are eternal and they give us a perfect standing before God. And that's the power. Listen, that's the power of the book of Hebrews. He constantly uses the Old Testament to point to how Christ is better and he tells these new believers, these first generation or these first century Christians, he says, how can you dream of apostatizing when you have a better sacrifice, when you have a better priest, when you have a better prophet? How can you dream of apostatizing when you have all that is superior to the Old Testament saints? And that's why Hebrews chapter 11 is so important because we have the hall of faith and all of these, the roll call of all of these men of the Old Testament that what? That remain faithful in the shadows. like Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Enoch, David. These men, what? Remain faithful in the midst of the shadowy, imperfect Old Testament. How much more us? How much more Christians in the first century who have Christ? Well, let's look at some of these warnings. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it, but I think we ought to at least address some of these before we close tonight in the outline of the book. There are a handful of warnings, and it depends on how you address them. There'll be five or six. Some have six, some have five. It all depends on how you divide them up. Either way, we're gonna look at all of them in time. First of all, in chapter two, verses one through four, there's the first warning there. We've read it, and it addresses the peril of neglecting the message of a so great salvation. the peril of addressing or neglecting the message of so great a salvation. The second warning is chapter three, verse seven, through chapter four, verse 11, a very large warning. And it is the peril of copying the example of the Israelites in the wilderness. Be careful of your examples. He says, be careful, don't copy the examples of the unbelieving Israelites. Third warning, chapter four, verse 14 through 16 is the peril of forsaking your confession. The peril of forsaking your confession. Chapter five, verse 11 through six, chapter 20 is the peril of stagnation. The peril of stagnation and apostasy and denial of Christ. Chapter 10. Verse 19 through 39 is the peril of despising the gospel, the failure to continue to walk in your Christian profession. And chapter 12, verse 14 through 29 is the peril of refusing him who speaks from heaven. These warnings have to do with their response to God's word. Every one of these warnings, when we look at them, you're going to see that every single one of them have as their theme God's word and our neglect of it. Listen to one commentator as he addresses these warnings. He put it to you this way. The first warning addresses neglect, okay? The second warning addresses doubt in a hard heart. The third warning addresses dullness and sluggishness. The fourth warning addresses despising the word willfulness, a willfulness of despising the word of God. And the fifth warning addresses the defying of God's word, a refusing to hear it. Now, beloved, these are all very practical, aren't they? Every one of these we ought to be able to relate to in some way or another. Every one of these, we can understand what it means to neglect the Word of God. We can understand what it means to have a hard heart. We can understand sluggishness, can't we? We can think of a million excuses why we can't do something. We can address our lack of willfulness or our willfulness towards despising the Word of God. We know what it says, but we do something else in defying the Word. Now let's look at an outline. I think this will be I think this will be enough for tonight. I hope I've at least created an interest in the book. This outline, you don't have a copy of this outline, but you might wanna make notes if you have the handout, you might wanna just make notes on this. I'm gonna give you three categories, three categories. All right, chapter one, through chapter four, verse 13, addresses the superiority of Christ person. Chapter one, verse one through three, addresses the superiority of Christ over the prophets. Verse four of chapter one through chapter two, verse 18, addresses the superiority of Christ over the angels. The Jews were notorious for angel worship. Christ is superior to the angels. Chapter three, verse one, through chapter four, verse 13, is the superiority of Jesus Christ over Moses. So as we address the superiority of Christ's person, we have the superiority over the prophets, his superiority over the angels, and his superiority over Moses. Now, let's address the superiority of Christ's work, second category. Chapter 4 verse 14 all the way through chapter 7 verse 28 is the superiority of Christ's priesthood. His work is superior to the Old Testament priesthood. Chapter 8 verse 1 through 13 addresses the superiority of Christ's covenant. His covenant is better than the Old Covenant. Chapter 9 verse 1 through chapter 10 verse 18 is the superiority of Christ's sacrifice. So we have Christ's person, and we have Christ's work. He's superior in his person, and he is superior in all of his work. You can see the sermonic layout, can't you? Now, what does the last half of the book deal with, or the last section of the book, which is chapter 10, verse 19, all the way through chapter 13? This is important for us. The superiority of the Christian walk. Because Christ is superior in His person, because Christ is superior in His work, the Christian walk is superior to all other faiths. That's it. We have a doctrinal section, those 10 chapters dealing with theology, and then you have application in chapter 10 all the way through chapter 13. Listen to these categories. Now this is the superiority of the Christian faith. We have the full assurance of faith a call, an enduring faith, a call to brotherly love, and then we have, of course, a benediction and conclusion. So in the superiority of the Christian world, we are called to a full assurance of faith, a call to the endurance of faith, and a call to brotherly love. That is the application that the writer of Hebrews brings to the superiority of Christ's person and the superiority of Christ's work. Here's what he says, he says, if this is true about Christ, here's how you should live. Now you can see why verse one, I mean chapter three, verse one is so important. Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Notice his excellencies. Notice his superiority. Notice how you lack nothing in Christ. How does that affect the way you live? How does that affect the way you worship? How does that affect the way you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? If Christ is superior to the prophets, the angels, and to Moses, if Christ's work is superior to the priesthood, is superior to the sacrifice, if he is superior to the old covenant, beloved, you are to endure. in your persecution. You are to endure. And what is, wait a minute, what is, how does Revelation dovetail into this? Who endures and does not receive the crown of life? Who's going to endure these persecutions and suffer in the name of the Lord Jesus and not be rewarded with eternal life? No. When you endure in the name of Jesus, you will receive the reward, a glorious reward of eternal life in the name of Jesus. That's why Jesus said, deny me and I'll deny you. Profess me and my father will profess you. That's the whole point. That's what he was saying here. That's what Jesus said to his disciples and this is what the writer of Hebrews is saying. That's even what the book of Revelation implies. Hey, stay the course. Stay the course. Why do you think Why do you think we have to say so much about persecution and suffering? Because it's part of life, isn't it? You know, we're not suffering in the way many brothers and sisters are suffering in Africa, in India, in Asia. We're not suffering the way they're suffering. You know what we suffer from? We suffer from apathy. We suffer from materialism. We are our own worst enemies because we fill our lives with junk. Junk. With so much junk, thinking spiritually is burdensome for us. We are eaten up with so many blessings that we have decided to worship the material blessing rather than the giver of the blessing. And that's what has plagued the American church. Fat. Fat. fat and apathetic, full of so many things. And I mean what I said earlier, oftentimes the Lord must bring a purging to the church, and he does so by persecution. And that's what's happening here. Beloved, have we not received so many blessings? Shouldn't the goodness of God lead us to repentance, not to abandon him? Shouldn't the goodness of God lead us to worship Him more, desire Him more, love Him more? And to whom much is given, much is required? So, beloved, we have so much to be thankful for. How does that thankfulness translate into our lives? Now, there may be a day when we are going to come to the book of Hebrews, and we're going to apply it to Christopher losing his job, or James losing his job, or Steve being persecuted, or Mitch being persecuted. And we are suffering great, great persecution. And we're going to be able to relate directly. But we're not there yet. Our sins are of, again, no need to rehash it, right? But our sins are different. Our apathy is of a different nature than their apathy. They were wanting to protect themselves. We're just about ourselves. But maybe the book of Hebrews will be used by the Holy Spirit to stir us up and help train our faith to fix, focus our eyes and vision upon him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the book of Hebrews. We know the Holy Spirit wrote it in order to encourage the church, to stimulate the church to faithfulness. Lord, in many ways, even though we can't relate directly to the readers of the book, the recipients of the book, we can relate to the apathy. We can relate to lethargy. We can relate to becoming dull. And Lord, I pray that you would use this book to stir us up in our faith, make our faith hot for Christ, make it fervor, give us a fervor, give us a passion and a desire that leads, Lord, into the little things of life, that leads into our homes to make our homes more godly, to make our homes more Christ-like. It leads into all of our relationships. Lord, I pray for this church. I pray for this body. Lord, help us not become so self-centered and so self-focused, but Lord, help us to look into heaven, to see your glory, and Lord, would you give us the desire and the Lord, even the skill to go into the world and witness for Christ, to tell the world of this glorious Savior. Lord, bless these homes, these families, these men, these women. Lord, bless them with Christ. Bless them with His Word. Lord, bless them with His eternal covenant. Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Introduction to Hebrews
Series Hebrews
Sermon ID | 512131913237 |
Duration | 1:00:21 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - AM |
Bible Text | Hebrews 3:1 |
Language | English |
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