Hello, and this is Hackberry House. Welcome to God's Word. Father, thank you for this wonderful book of Hebrews. We're going to need extra special grace, Lord, to get through it. I pray for that grace upon us in Jesus' name. Amen. Hackberry House is a website. You can access it by typing into your computer myheartcry.net. When you do, You'll find the website and you will look for, I hope, the library page. And on the library page of that website, you'll find all of these lessons that we're doing. And this is number, I lost track of that, 119. This is lesson number 119 on the audio form of it. It's Lesson 48, if you're looking on the internet at the library page of my website. Lesson 48. You download that, print it out, and you can work right along with us, unless you just prefer to listen. In which case, just sit back and enjoy. Because this is God's Word, and we've been going through this whole Bible for many months now. Within, the Lord willing, about ten more lessons, we should be finished with the Bible. This is a Bible survey, though. When I say finished with the Bible, I don't mean that we have learned every piece of it. I'm taking people for a surface excursion. It's just over the top. We're skimming. We're picking up little bits and pieces of it, hoping that it will whet people's appetite to want more of the Word of God. There's no end to our growth in this book. There's other things on the website that you're welcome to take and enjoy, and I trust that you will. But for now, let's go to the epistle to the Hebrews. We did the introduction to that epistle last lesson. We're going right into the text now. The text begins with the word God. There's no greeting in this letter. And that has left wide open the speculation as to who wrote it and to whom. Well, it's called Hebrews, so the to whom is not too hard. We're going to say that this book was written to the Jews, the Jewish church of that day, but the Gentiles have profited from it quite a bit too. I think you'll find yourself in this book quite easily as we begin to get into it. The book could be renamed, Jesus is Better. That's what this thing is all about. Jesus is better. Better than angels, better than the old covenant better than the old priesthood, better than anything, Jesus is better. He starts out with the revelation of Jesus. You know, in the Old Testament times, according to this writer, God spoke differently than he does now. He spoke to our fathers, that is Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all of the men of the the children of Israel and their nation, He spoke to them through the prophets. When He wanted to say something to them, He would raise up a Moses, or a David was a prophet, or an Isaiah, and so on. These men spoke the Word of God to Israel. That's the method that He used. But the method now is Jesus. Jesus the man. Jesus Himself is the Word of God, the last Word, the final Word. No one has any right to becoming after Jesus and saying, I have a word for the church, because the word has been spoken. And his life overflowed into his disciples. And the disciples actually wrote this word through the power of the Holy Spirit, the final word, about who Jesus is and what he did. Jesus himself being the final message. We have the written form of it here. And then he starts talking about who Jesus is. That he has appointed Jesus heir of everything. that He made the world through Jesus. And then in verse 3, who He is. He's the express image of His person. Jesus said, He that has seen Me has seen the Father. It says He upholds all things by the word of His power. God does that. By just speaking the word, let there be, everything is in place. When God wants to change that, He'll speak another word. But the very powerful Word of God cannot be broken. The devil, with all of his tricks, has never undone anything that God did when He spoke this world into existence. And then it says, He purged our sins. And after He purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There's an outline of the great events of Jesus as far as we are concerned, as far as it touches our lives. He has created us, purged us, and now intercedes for us as He sits down at the right hand of the Father. And He's so much better than the angels. It says He became better. That doesn't mean that Jesus started somewhere and He's getting better and better. It means just what you have known all of your life about Jesus, that He did become man. And as a man, he started out lower than the angels. He emptied himself. But he became a man which is lower than the angels. And now, he's been made better than the angels, of course. Not only that, he's a totally different species altogether. He's got a more excellent name than they do. And then he compares Jesus to the angels and goes back into the Old Testament and quotes verses about who Jesus is. It says, you are my Son. Today I have begotten you. Where is that found? Well, that's in Psalm 2, verse 7. It was referring to Jesus Christ. Did he ever speak that to the angels? No, he didn't. According to this writer, that was spoken about Jesus. Another verse in 2 Samuel 7, 14, I will be to him a father, he shall be to me a son. The writer here takes that verse to be speaking about God the Father and Jesus the Son. And God never spoke a word like that to any angel. That's the point. And then when he brings Jesus into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship Him. The angels are never to receive worship. And here are the angels worshiping Him. Meaning, hey, God is a jealous God. If the Father and the Son were not the same person in one sense. How could he let Jesus receive all of that worship? Of the angels, verse 7, he says he makes the angels spirits. He makes his ministers a flame of fire. The angels are in the spirit world. And they're very powerful and they're very wonderful. But to the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Where is that found? Verses 6 and 7. The Psalm 45 is a psalm about the Messiah. It's all about Jesus. And when it's referring to the Messiah, who is to come, and all the Jews believed He would come, they looked over this verse. They didn't quite understand it. It says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. It's God speaking to God. It's the Father speaking to the Son. It's a psalm about the Messiah, but it calls the Messiah God. In verses 8 and 9 we have that quotation. And then in verse 10, another psalm. Here's another psalm dealing with messianic times. It's not all about the Messiah, but there are portions of this psalm, which is Psalm 102, that deals with messianic times. And God again says in verse 10, You, Lord, this is God speaking to God, in the beginning lay the foundation of the earth. He talks about how Jesus was the agent that God used to create the earth. Now the earth is going to perish, but this God is going to live forever. Did God ever say that to an angel? No. He said all of these things to His Son. The writer of Hebrews is very, very clear in saying that Jesus is God, greater than the angels by far. Did he ever say to the angels, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool? Never did. The angels are just ministering spirits. I say just compared to Jesus, just. Sent forth to minister. They're sent for us. God is using angels to bless us and to take care of what we need. Matthew 22, 43. Jesus had the Pharisees, you remember, in knots one day when he said, if David calls the Messiah Lord, then whose son is he really? They thought he was the son of David, but in fact, David himself calls him Lord. Matthew 22, 43. Hebrews 1 is saying Jesus is God. He's better than the angels. Let's go to chapter 2. Because Jesus is so great, we better hang on to this salvation that we have. You can look this up. I had to look it up again myself. In Deuteronomy 33.2, write it down. Acts 7.53 and Galatians 3.19, the Bible tells us in those places that the law of God came to us. I'm talking about the Mosaic law. came to us through the ministration of angels. Moses was the man who received it. Above Moses were the angels. The angels were the administrators of this law. And he says, if the word that was spoken through angels was so important, how are we going to escape if we neglect the salvation that's been given to us through Christ Himself? with God working miracles on the right and on the left, giving out the Holy Ghost to so many people. The first four verses tell us we better take this salvation of ours very seriously because God Himself has given it to us. Even our Gospel is greater than the old law. And he says in verse 5, he has not put the world to come in subjection to angels, No. The world to come. Here's another thing that's greater. The administration of the world that's coming is in greater hands than the administration of things now. Because the administration of that future world is Jesus. It says in the Psalms, verse 6, Job 7.17, what is man... Psalm 8, by the way, also. Psalm 8, verses 4-6. What is man that you are mindful of him? or the Son of Man. The Son of Man. That's a reference often to Jesus. You made Him, mankind, a little lower than the angels. You crowned Him, mankind, with glory and honor. And you set Him, mankind, but the Son of Man is the focus here, over the works of your hands. You've put all things in subjection under His feet. Who's going to rule in the future? Man is, with the Son of Man being number one. In that God put all things in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. Everything is under Him. And yet, we don't see that yet. We don't see Christ ruling over His creation directly yet. We don't see mankind doing that yet. But we do see Jesus. We do see Him. We see the One who was made a little lower than the angels. We don't see the One that's coming back yet. The one that we are familiar with now is this Jesus who came and who suffered and who died and tasted death for everyone. Remember this Jesus right now. This is the one that God has put over all people. And he's become the author, verse 10, of our salvation. And God made him perfect through suffering. Now, that was his pathway of growth. Again, he laid down everything. It wasn't that God was imperfect, that he was a sinner of some sort. But as a boy, he still had to grow. As a young man, he still had to grow into an older man. And he was being told things all along, revealed just like we are. He became like us. That's what it means that God made him perfect through suffering. He brought him along the way of mankind like He's going to bring you and me. He's our Savior. And Jesus is being sanctified and also sanctifying us. Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, Jesus and His people. He's not ashamed of us. We are His and He is ours. And he talks in verses here, verses 12 and 13 about how Jesus is our brother and he claims us as his own. And he had to partake of flesh and blood if he is one of us, verse 14. And through death, when he came, he destroyed the one that had the power of death. And those of us who are afraid of death all of our life, we don't have to be afraid of death anymore. All of our life we're subject to the bondage of this thing, verse 15. We're always scared. Are we going to die? Yes, we're going to die. What's it going to be like? We don't have to be afraid. God has released you from that, verse 15. He's released you from it by showing us the way as a man. He's shown us the way and gone on before us. Jesus is not giving this aid to angels, all these things. He doesn't need to because angels don't die, but to the seed of Abraham. And so, he was made like his brothers, verse 17, that he might be a perfect and merciful high priest. He's just like us. He understands what we go through. And when he prays for us, it's a meaningful prayer. He knows the pain that we're going through. because he was suffering himself. He was tempted himself. He never sinned, but he was tempted. He understands temptation. He understands the pull of the flesh because he was in a body that is flesh and blood. So he's able to help me. He's able to help you when we get in trouble. And so, let's consider who this is. I'm trying to make these arguments, these statements of the writer, flow, but I have to confess some of it doesn't seem to flow exactly into the next subject, but I'm trying to make that happen. I want you to go back in your own time and study deeper and see the logic that just keeps unfolding and unfolding in this book. Right now, he said how wonderful Jesus is, how great he is, don't neglect his salvation. Let's talk about who he is and what he did and how low he became. He's one of us And He suffered for us and He is our High Priest. And that leads right into chapter 3. Consider Him. How faithful He was. Let's talk about Him. He's better than Moses, verse 3. Okay, that's the next better. He's so much better than Moses because Moses was like the house, you know, the law. And Jesus built the house. The one that builds the house is greater than the house. Moses was faithful in the house of God. He was a great man of God. He was a servant of God. But Jesus was a son in that house. That's another image he brings in as he's not just the builder of the house, he's the son who owns the house. The house is going to be his. And so, as the Holy Spirit says in verse 7, don't harden your hearts. Jesus is all over this house. Jesus is wanting to bring you on to glory. His own glory. Greater than Moses. And so today, just don't be like the children of Israel. You need to be better than they were as Jesus is better than their Moses. Be better than them. Don't harden your hearts like they did. I was so angry with those people. They always go astray, he said. They're not coming into my rest. And the writer here stops and says, you better be careful, verse 12. Be careful that there's not some evil heart in you, some unbelief in you. Notice he equates unbelief with evil. Unbelief is evil. But in fact, you need to be telling each other every day, go on in the Lord, brother. Be strong in the Lord today. Brother, how you doing? And the Lord, let me pray for you. That's what verse 13's about. While it's still called today. And in God's eyes, this whole thing is just today. Everything is just today. Yesterday's past. It's forgiven if you've asked for forgiveness. Tomorrow's not here yet. You don't even worry about it. You don't think about it. But today. Today. While it's called today. Keep bringing other people along in the faith. so that you won't be hardened. See, while you're encouraging somebody else, God's encouraging you through the Word that's on your tongue. That Word of God that's in your mouth. Just like how you got saved. The Word was in your heart and the Word came out your mouth that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That saved you. That's the kind of thing that will keep you going and will encourage other people too. Your tongue will guide you, you know, according to James. Verse 14, if we've become partakers of Christ, that is, we have, if we hold the beginning. You see, this is the proof of who you are. It's the proof of who you are in Christ. When we see you continuing on and continuing on, we know you're a partaker of Christ. If you fall away, we wonder, were you ever a partaker of Christ? Oh, don't harden your heart like they did. Don't harden your heart. And he wants to know, in verse 16, who were the people that rebelled? It was all the people that came out of Egypt, just about. Who was he angry with 40 years? The ones who sinned. Everybody, almost. The ones who originally came out. Who did he swear to, you'll never come into my rest? Well, it was the ones who didn't obey. Why couldn't they get in then? Because of their unbelief. Here's another equation here. First, unbelief is evil. And unbelief and disobedience are the same thing. Why was it that the people didn't get to go into the promised land? Because they didn't what? Believe or obey? The answer? Yes! Because they didn't believe. They couldn't obey. You're not going to do something that your heart's not into. If you don't really believe the gospel, you're not going to obey it. That's how faith is the thing that actually saves you. It's your faith in Christ that comes alive and causes you to do the works that He has prepared for you to do. God creates, through His grace, the ability and the power to believe Him. And when you believe Him, of course, you do what He wants you to do. I think we'd better stop and do some questions here. Number one, compare God's past communications with his present one. Well, in old time it was various ways, prophets. Now, it's the son Jesus. Two, compare the status of angels to the status of Jesus. Well, more excellent name, inheritance, sonship, worship, the throne, creation. Number three, how does the writer of Hebrews prove his case through the scripture? Number four, what are angels? Ministering spirits. 5. Why more attention to this new message than the old one? Because it was spoken by the Lord, confirmed with signs and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Compare what we see of Jesus now to what we shall see. Well, now it's the Jesus of suffering. Later, all things will be under Him. Number seven, how is it fitting or appropriate that Jesus should suffer? It makes us one with Him. He enters our death and He destroys it. Number eight, what two things did Jesus' death accomplish? Well, it destroyed Satan's power over death and it released those who were afraid of death. Number nine, compare the work and person of Jesus to that of Moses. Well, Moses is like the house, but Jesus built the house. Moses is like a servant. Jesus is a son who owns that servant. Number ten, can there be another one beside Jesus called the Apostle or the High Priest or Pontifex Maximus in the Latin? No, there cannot be. There cannot be. Number 11, as the words following the comparison of Jesus to angels, what follows the comparison of Jesus to Moses? Well, in 2.1 you've got a warning, and in 3.7-15 you've got a warning. These are warnings. The book of Hebrews is a book of warnings. You're going to see it all the way through. Number 12, what should we be doing every day to keep from hardness of heart? Exhorting one another. Number 13, How are faith and works connected by this writer? Well, they did not obey because they did not believe. And let's go on to chapter 4 now. Let's talk about the rest. There's a rest available to the people of God. There's a promise that was given about rest. And the Gospel was preached to those people in the Old Covenant, but they didn't hear, they didn't understand about rest. The word that they heard didn't profit them because they didn't believe. Their hearts were hardened and they just couldn't see what God was up to. But God says in verse 3, I swore in my wrath they will not enter my rest. Now, He's not talking about the Sabbath here because the works were finished from the foundation of the world. He worked six days. All of that was finished in six days. But he still says, you're not going to enter my rest, my Sabbath rest. So he's not talking about the seventh day here. Now, the seventh day is throughout the New Testament and the Old Testament. I'm not saying there is no Sabbath, but I'm saying he's not talking about it here. It talks in verse 4 about the Sabbath, but he says he's not talking about that. And then again in verse 5, they shall not enter my rest. Verse 6, Therefore it remains that some are going to enter it. But those that he preached to first didn't enter it because of disobedience. So there's this rest there. But somehow it's not fulfilled yet. Verse 7. He talks in David. He calls the book of Psalms David. He says in David, and that's by the way, let me see. Psalm 95, 7 and 8. By the way, Psalm 95, if you go back there and look at it, you'll find that there is no title given to show you who wrote Psalm 95, but we know from the book of Hebrews that it was David now. He says, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Well, he says today, after a long time, it says in verse 7. What's that mean? Well, from the wilderness, all the way to David, that was 400 years. From the wilderness to David, 400 years. 400 years after the people had come into the Promised Land, he's still saying, today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. And the writer says there's a little dilemma here. Joshua evidently didn't give them rest either. It's not the Sabbath day, no, not that rest. And when they came into the promised land, the ones who finally came in, that wasn't the rest he's talking about either. He says if Joshua had brought them into the promised land and that was the rest, well, then he wouldn't be speaking about another day in the book of Psalms. But he is. Verse 9, Therefore there must still be a rest. What's the rest? It's found in verse 10. He who has entered God's rest has himself stopped from His works, like God stopped from His. Do you get the point? When we come to Christ, Jesus says to us, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. When people come to Christ, they can be forgiven of their sins. That's the rest. And we're to stop from our works. You cannot go to heaven on your own works. Just lay it down. Forget it. come to Christ and let Christ work His work inside of you and tell you what your works are to be from that day on. That's the work of God in verse 10. That's the rest of God. So God says to us in verse 11, be diligent to enter that rest. For the Word of God is living and it's powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It's like a sword that cuts two ways, but it is so sharp that it will divide your spirit from your soul, just like the joints from the marrow. You don't want the joints and the marrow in your body to ever be divided. Great painful thing, but it is possible. We see them as one, but God can take the joints and marrow, that is the spirit and the soul, He can divide those two. Normally, they work as one. But God sees what the Spirit is doing in your life, and He sees what the soul is doing in your life. And be careful not to be a soulish Christian who's led by your soul, but not by your spirit. Your soul is more your mind and your human thinking, the carnal nature. God wants to save that and bring it under the spirit, the relationship that you have with God in the spirit, because your spirit's been brought back to life. That part of you that can communicate with God, the spirit man, is alive. That's why you see things and you know things that other people don't know. There's nothing hidden from his sight. Everything is open to God. Why is he saying that? He's saying, don't harden your heart. God knows your heart. God knows everything about you and He knows how to divide you all up and He knows every little piece of both sides. So don't try to hide from Him. Follow Him. Don't harden your heart. And we have, verse 14, a great high priest. This great high priest has passed through the heavens. He's going back to chapter 3, verse 1. This looks a lot like Paul, doesn't it? Paul will start on something in one chapter and then lose it for a long time, but not really lose it. and then come back to it. Well, he's come back to it now. All the way from 3.1 to 4.14, he goes back talking about the high priest again, Jesus. Because we have this great high priest, let's hold on. Let's hold on to Jesus. We don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with us. He understands us. He was tempted like we were tempted. So let's come boldly before his throne that we can obtain mercy. and find grace to help in the time of need. That's the boldness that we have. Now, there's a lot of Old Testament imagery here. A lot of Old Testament verses and a lot of what we would call side tracks. And if you take all of that out, you have a very short and strong message of warning to God's people all the way through. Don't harden your heart. Don't turn back now. Continue on in faith. and stay there to the end. That's what he's trying to say to the Jewish people here. But he's saying it to us, of course, also. Let me do chapter 3 questions real quick. Who gets to enter the rest that the Israelites... I'm sorry, these are chapter 4 questions. Who gets to enter the rest that the Israelites could not enter in the flesh, in the natural? We who believe. Number 15. What two Old Testament items are given as examples of our rest, but not our rest? First, the Sabbath. and then Joshua, bringing them into the promised land. Number 16, so what is our rest? Our rest is ceasing from our own works and our salvation, our forgiveness of sin. Number 17, to continue on in our own works is to be disobedient to what? To the living Word of God. It would be to harden our hearts. What advantage does our High Priest have over human High Priests? Well, in all points he was tempted just like us, but he did not enter into any sin. Let's go to chapter 5. What do you have to have to be a high priest? Well, here are the qualifications in the first few verses. The person that's a high priest offers gifts and sacrifices. He's supposed to have some compassion on those that are ignorant, verse 2. And he's supposed to, because he's one of the people and he understands the people. And also he has to offer the sacrifices. So you want a man that's a representative of the people, of course he has to come from a particular tribe too in those days. And he can't take this honor on himself. He can't just say, well I'm going to be the high priest. No, no, no, you can't do that. But God called Aaron and said, you are the high priest. But there's another priesthood. And it's a better priesthood, and that's the next better in this book. There's a better priesthood than the priesthood of error. Now, you've got to get your thinking caps on and your praying caps, perhaps, too, because we are entering into some difficult things here. And he lets you know that if you can't understand the things you're about to hear, that you've got a problem with maturity. Or maybe you don't want to hear, he said. People who don't understand the book of Hebrews are not ready to understand it yet. Eventually, God will make all of this known to you, the whole Bible. Now, I do not say I understand the whole Bible. I certainly don't. But I've learned so much more and I've gotten an appreciation of so many more things as I dug and dug and dug through this book. And now I do understand some of this. I'd like to say I understand it all perfectly, but some of the logic escapes me to this day. I'll give you what I can, and I'll let you take it from there and pray about it. Perhaps read some commentaries, but be careful about modern commentaries. Be sure you've got one that a good Bible pastor recommends to you. I recommend Matthew Henry's commentary on a lot of things, but not on everything. Let's talk about this other priesthood, verse 6. You are a priest forever. He quotes from Psalm 110 again, verse 4. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. A priest after the order of Melchizedek. You're not from Aaron. So we've got to have another priesthood here. And it's got to be better than the Aaronic one because Aaron was just a man after all. He was human. We need a perfect priesthood. We need a perfect sacrifice. And only Jesus can offer it, and only Jesus can be that sacrifice. Now, Melchizedek is talked about here. It looks like he's talking about Melchizedek. In verse 7, if you follow this carefully, according to the order of Melchizedek, who seems to refer back to Melchizedek. But just for the sake of the argument right now, let's refer it to Jesus, because I think it fits better. But later on, you may be convinced that Melchizedek and Jesus are really the same person. In the days of His flesh, let's talk about Jesus. That's when He was here. Now, He still has a body, but it's a glorified body. You can't enter into heaven with the body that you now have. It's going to have to be changed. It will be tremendously changed. You will hardly recognize yourself in that day. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, that's Jesus, with vehement cries and tears. Do you pray vehemently? Do you get through to God with tears? Ask God for it. Ask God for more vehemence in your prayer life so you can get through. Get the answers that you've been wanting from God. Don't let other people always be coming up telling you how they got an answer when you can get an answer too. And God heard him. Though he was a son, verse 8, he learned obedience. There's that same miracle again of a God becoming man. He learned obedience by what he suffered. That's how you're going to have to learn it too, isn't it? If Jesus learned it that way, why do we think we can learn it any other way? Then, perfected through suffering, he became the author of eternal salvation to those that obey him, called by God High Priest. according to the order of Melchizedek." Now, when he says in verse 11, of whom he is talking about Melchizedek, but look, verse 7, verse 11, who, of whom? Isn't Melchizedek the antecedent there? Isn't that the one we're talking about? But anyway, he says in verse 11, and this is clearly Melchizedek, of whom we want to say a whole lot of things, but they're very difficult for you to understand because you've become dull of hearing. This is a Jew speaking to his fellow Jews. You ought to be teachers, verse 12. It would be good if somebody would teach you again. However, the basics. You're not ready for the solid food that I want to give you. If you take only milk, it means your teeth aren't ready yet. Your whole digestive system isn't ready. You're unskilled in the Word. You don't know how to chew. you don't know how to digest, you're a baby. But solid food, now that's for mature people, that's for grown-ups. So, chapter six, so therefore, let's put the basics aside. If you can handle this with me, he says, come on with me on this. Stay with me on this a while. Let's talk about the basics. No more. Let's talk about perfection now. Let's talk about maturity. Let's talk about moving on. What does he call the basics? You may be surprised at some of these things. Everyone that's listening to me now who considers himself mature ought to have mastered the idea of repentance from dead works, your whole salvation experience, faith toward God. You ought to know about that stuff now. You ought to know about all the theories of baptism. Not theories, but the facts of water baptism, spirit baptism, and so on. You ought to know about that. You ought to be solid in that. You ought to know about the laying on of hands and what it's for. You ought to understand the resurrection from the dead. You ought to understand about the eternal judgment that's coming. It's all basics. Let's put it all aside now. Let's put it all aside. Verse 4. He has to go aside before he goes back to Melchizedek. Something else comes into his mind. You guys, you're kind of scary, he says. You haven't grown up all this time. He says, I wonder. You know, you were enlightened, weren't you? Verse 4. You tasted the heavenly gift. Isn't the Holy Ghost among you? It's impossible. It's an impossible thing. If you had all of that stuff and tasted God's Word and everything that was to come, it's impossible if you would fall away to renew you again to repentance. It's an impossible thing. I hope that none of you are falling away. That would tell me, he says, I'm thinking that he's saying this, that would tell me that you're not really in this at all. How could you be babies for so long? I mean, you've had the Holy Spirit, haven't you? Why aren't you growing up any? You're acting a whole lot to me like people who bear thorns and briars. So if you've got people among you who are like this, you need to warn them. You need to let them know they need to be born again. They weren't a part of this to begin with. But, verse 9, we are confident of better things about you, things that accompany salvation, even though we talk like this. So, no, you're not bearing the fruit that you ought to bear yet. And you just reminded me of the unsaved. But I'm believing God for you. I'm believing that you're going to grow with me here. And I'm also believing that you've already done some things for the Lord that show that you are believers. God will never forget the work that you did in verse 10. The work that you did. God's faithful like that. But you all need to grow up some. We want you to show the same diligence, verse 11, that you started with, you know, when you were so excited about the Lord. Show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end. I don't want you getting lazy. You see how he's really concerned about these people? I want you to imitate those that through faith and patience inherit the promises. You continue on. You continue on. Don't get lazy. And you're going to inherit some things here. Just hang in there. Grow up. Stay with me. Now, he goes back to the argument with Abraham a little bit. And he's going to move on into Melchizedek again. But he wanted to be sure that his audience was with him. I trust that mine is too. Verse 13. God made a promise to Abraham. This promise is for you. Wake up now, it's for you. He made a promise to Abraham. He made it so sure for you. If I've got you worried about your salvation, let me show you how sure your salvation is. He said, surely blessing I will bless you. But now, he doesn't quote the first part of that verse Well, I think you should have in Genesis 22, 16. That verse in Genesis starts out, By myself I have sworn. And then it says, Surely blessing I will bless you is talking to Abraham. God actually swore by God. Don't you ever do that. Only God can do that. God swore by himself because there was nobody greater to swear by. He wanted to give his people assurance down through the years. Verse 16. Men swear by the greater. But God couldn't think of anyone to swear by. And people swear to give people assurance. They shouldn't do this. We've been told not to. But that's why people swear. They promise with an oath. God, verse 17, was so wanting to show you how unchangeable His idea is, His promise is, that He made an oath. Now you've got two things. You've got His promise, and you've got His oath too, that His promise is true. A promise and an oath, all in one statement. That is how sure your salvation is. I'm going to bless you, Abraham. I'm going to multiply you, Abraham. In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed, Abraham. I swear to you. Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. We have that hope too. Because Jesus has come and He's blessed us and He's saved us. If we're a part of that covenant, we're going to be blessed. That's the anchor of our soul. It's something we can go to the banquet. It's something we can trust in. God said it. We can believe this with all of our heart. Jesus has gone beyond the veil. Jesus has led the way into the darkness that we can't see, but we can trust that He's bringing us there too. Oh, reach out with that kind of faith to Jesus Christ. He became High Priest forever. He is the High Priest forever, not in Aaron's priesthood, but in the priesthood of Melchizedek. Let's do five and six questions. Number 19, how did High Priests receive appointment. Well, it was through the call of God. They had to be in the priestly line. By the way, compare this back to the way in which the Pontifex Maximus of Rome fought and killed people to gain that papal office. Number 20. Name the founders of the two priesthoods. First priesthood founded by Aaron. Second priesthood founded by Melchizedek. We'll get into that in a minute. Number 21, why does the writer hesitate in telling them more about Melchizedek? Why do we have to spend a whole chapter of almost, forgive me, but interruption? Because they're dull of hearing. They need first principles first. Number 22, list some items that are considered elementary. Repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgment. Compare 6, 4 to 8, and Romans 8, 29 and 30. What is your conclusion? Romans 8, all things working together for God, whom He... Let me go over there. Romans 8, 29 and 30. Since we didn't cover this. Whom He foreknew, He predestinated to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers, whom He predestined, He called and He called and justified." But in Hebrews, it talks about possible to fall away. I think I explained it as I was going along. Is it possible that God did not see and know all who are among us, though? Yes, God saw all those who will be saved. He knew them and called them. But is it possible that there are among us people that God did not see? I know that's a scary thought. I know that gets the brain whirling in some difficult directions, but examine your heart. Don't become judgmental of those around you, but examine your heart and be aware that it is possible that there are among us those who are not the called of God. Watch their lives. Watch your own first, though. Number 24. What was the writer's clue that he was speaking to true believers? Well, these were guys that ministered to the saints. Yes, they were slow. They were not growing up in their understanding, but they did bless God's people. They did show fruit of salvation. 25. What two immutable things console us? Well, the oath and the promise. Things that cannot change. 26. How does a promise to Abraham affect us? And I put Galatians in there as a throwback to help us understand that. We are Abraham's seed, spiritually. And we are heirs. So all of these promises affect us. We should get excited every time we hear about something that was said to Abraham. Alright, are you ready? Chapter 7. Let's talk Melchizedek. This Melchizedek was the king of Salem or Jerusalem. in the days of Abraham. This was 4,000 years ago. 4,000 years from us. 2,000 years from Jesus. Backwards. He met Abraham, do you remember? When Abraham had just gone out and slaughtered the kings, he had won a wonderful victory for the Lord and with the Lord. And he's coming back. And here is this priest. Or is he a priest? He's also a king. He's a priest and a king. and Abraham gave him a tithe. Now, Melchizedek means in the Hebrew Melchi, King, Zedek, Righteousness. He's the King of Righteousness. Now, is it proper to call any man anywhere a King of Righteousness but Jesus? Stay with me now. He's also called King of Salem. Salem means peace. Is it proper to call any man the king of peace, the prince of peace, but Jesus? It says without father, and I've heard it explained that that means he was without father in the record, that you don't see his father listed there and suddenly he just appears. Well, he does suddenly just appear, but I wonder if he's not in the genealogy because he's not in the genealogy. because there was no one but the Father in heaven who gave him birth. No mother, no genealogy. It says, without genealogy. Does that mean in the text? Or really, without genealogy? Now watch this. Having neither beginning of days or end of life. What? Melchizedek, made like the Son of God, Who could be like the Son of God, but God Himself, the Son? Look at this. It says, Melchizedek remains a priest continually. He's still a priest today. Whoever he is, he's a priest today. I'm just reading it as I see it. Verse 4, consider how great this man was. There's a come down. He's called a man. Consider, he was in the form of a man. Even Abraham gave him a tithe. Who did he pay his tithes to? Why did he pay his tithes to this man? Now, Levi later on... Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. And Jacob had at least one son. He had twelve sons. One of his sons was called Levi. So, the writer here makes the argument that Levi was inside Abraham in seed form, if you please, when he, Levi, gave his tithes to this Melchizedek. In essence, all of Israel was paying tithe. All of Israel and all of us too, giving to this Melchizedek the tithe. Why? Because he was greater. than Israel, greater than Jacob, greater than Levi, greater than Abraham, greater than any man. Look at verse 6. He whose genealogy is not derived from them, that is, Melchizedek did not come from Levi, received tithes from Abraham. And verse 10, he was still in the loins of his father, his ancestor, when Melchizedek met him. Verse 8, here, today, mortal men receive tithes. We give our tithes to Moses. We give our tithes to the church people. But there, this person, Melchizedek, received tithes of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Where is it witnessed that Melchizedek lives? I just read it to you. Verse 13, he's still a priest today. He lives. Melchizedek lives. Verse 11. So, if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood, why would we need another priest? If we could all be made perfect through the law of Moses, which prescribed all these sacrifices, and the priesthood that Moses prescribed through the law, If all of that could take away your sin, why would we need another priest? We wouldn't. But in fact, none of it worked. We need a better priesthood. We do. We need a better priesthood. And we have it in Jesus. We need a better law. We have it in Jesus. The priesthood's now changed in verse 12, and the law is now changed. Verse 14, it is evident that our Lord came from the tribe of Judah. Notice, earlier he was comparing Melchizedek to Levi. And he's saying, we don't need to go to Levi for our salvation. Now he's comparing the Lord Jesus to Levi. And he's saying, Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. He still doesn't tell us who Melchizedek came from. That tells me, if nothing else did, that Melchizedek and Jesus are the same, that this was a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son of God who just appeared. Did He rule over that city? I don't know. I really don't know. But I think He just appeared to do this thing and then left. He was the Priest of God Most High. He was the King of Righteousness, the King of Peace. He was all those things. That's Jesus, as far as I'm concerned. It is far more evident, if in the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest who has come not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, not according to the genealogy of men, but according to the power of an endless life. Jesus is a priest according to the power that was in Melchizedek. It's the same power. The same power. you are a priest after that order. That's quoted again in verse 17. Now, the law, verse 19, made nothing perfect. On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. So this is better too. When you have Christ, you have hope. When you're in the law, you have no hope. We have a better hope, a better law, a better priesthood, a better Savior, a better administrator, a better Jesus is just better, better than the angels. That's what Hebrews is trying to tell us. Let's get some questions before we take too much more time. Number 27, where do we first meet Melchizedek in Scripture? It's in Genesis 14, after Sodom is spared. Number 28, what does Melchizedek name mean? It means King of Peace, King of Righteousness. 29, how was Melchizedek like Jesus? Well, no human father, human mother. Well, he had a human mother. Genealogy not mentioned because he's from heaven. Continually a priest. Number 30. How is Melchizedek and thus his priesthood proved to be better than Levi? Abraham paid tithes to him and received a blessing from him. That was another factor there. You need to go back and read the incident back in Genesis of how this Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Greater people bless lesser people. 31. If the priesthood changes, what else must change? That must be the law. 32. Why did the law need replacing? Because it was weak, and it couldn't make anything perfect. Then we move on then. An oath had to be sworn here. When we have the high priest come in, he had to have an oath sworn that he was now the high priest, a kind of an induction into office. Verse 21, they have become priests without an oath. Oh, I'm sorry, there was no oath there. But he was an oath by him who said to him, and here's the oath again. I'm sorry. The oath is something that lets us know how much better the New Testament priesthood is. So the Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever. So you've got the statement and you've got the oath. You've got the promise and you've got the oath. God is really insistent about these things of history. And that's how Jesus has become the surety, the insurance, the assurance of a better covenant. That's how we know it's so much better. And he continues forever, verse 24, and has an unchangeable priesthood, just like it says about Melchizedek, verse 3. He remains a priest continually. So he can keep saving people and he can save you ultimately. the man that just dies halfway through your life, he's not going to have much help in your life, but here's the one who's going to bring you through the whole thing. He's going to bring you through the whole way. He's even going to be making intercession for you after he saved you in verse 25. He's going to stand there with you. He's holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled. He's separate from sinners. He's higher than the heavens. He doesn't have to give a priest a ring a bell and give an offering every day. Oh, come on. The people of Rome are following such a lie that Jesus himself appears on their altars every day. This has been proved over and over to be just a sham. It's false. Jesus Christ died once for all. How could it be any more clear than in Hebrews 7.27? He did it once for all. We'll see it again in chapter 9. The law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but ours, the word of the oath that came through Jesus, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. And the questions that cover that. What problem did the Levitical high priests have that Jesus does not? Death. Death. They just kept dying. Jesus is not going to die again. 34. How often does the sacrifice of Jesus need to be offered? Once, folks. It is finished. It's done. Just once. Once for all. That takes us through chapter 7 in the questions. Well, we've got over halfway through this book, and I'm thinking that's a little miracle in itself. Very difficult material, and yet very profitable when you dig into it. I trust that God will give you that appetite to dig a little deeper, even into this book. And may God bless you until we can talk together again. Amen.