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Hebrews is a great book. Listen!
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth here. Don�t forget Evangelical White Lies is available through Amazon. That�s a hard copy. It�s available through Amazon Kindle.
It�s also available through No Compromise Radio for a gift pack, a stocking stuffer, Evangelical White Lies, Sexual Fidelity, and things that go bump in the church. You can buy them all together at, I think, a pretty good discount.
Additionally, Reformation 2017, going to Germany and Switzerland, May 20th through 30th, 2017. If you live someplace else besides Massachusetts, you can still go. You just need to get a hold of our website, nocompromiseradio .com.
It will take you to living passages. You tell them you heard about it through NoCo Radio, and we are ready to go. Off and running. Today, we are talking about a very important subject, aren�t they all?
I�m not sure you want to listen to this show at 1 .5 speed, Jill or James. I know some people do that. I am starting the seventh year of Monday through Friday radio. We used to do it live. We don�t do it live now.
Josh is trying to convince me to have video cameras in here, and we do the video kind of live stream Facebook deal, I think, like Dividing Line. I don�t know if that will happen or not. You can let me know.
Anyway, there�s a book in the Bible that�s an exhortation. It�s called Exhortation in its thirteenth chapter, and it is, for all intents and purposes, a sermon, an oratorical message delivered, and we have it now in scripturated.
We have it in writing, and I today and next time on No Compromise Radio am going to read you this letter because it should be heard. It should be preached. It should be read. Maybe you have a Bible app.
Yesterday, I was picking up my wife from the airport, and I drove an hour to Logan, Boston, Logan, and I listened to Judges 1 through 10, ten chapters of Judges in the car, and it was good to hear the message, not the message Bible, the message Slave Phrase, but the message read aloud.
And lots of the narrative of the Old Testament, that�s a good way to do it. You can hear the catches, the hooks, the segues, and now today, the New Testament has written a book with thirteen chapters, and it is an exhortation.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say, �You are my son, today I have begotten you. Or again, �I will be a father to him, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, �Let all the angels of God worship him.
Of the angels, he says, �He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son, he says, �Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, �Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
It was first declared by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will.
Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, �What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.
At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, shall make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.
That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, �I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. And again, �I will put my trust in him.
And again, �Behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Therefore holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God�s house.
For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. As much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
Now Moses was faithful in all God�s house, as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God�s house as a son, and we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Therefore as the Holy Spirit says, �Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said, �They always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. Also I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
As it is said, �Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
For we who have believed entered that rest, as he has said, �As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Although his words, works, were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, as God rested on the seventh day from all his works.
And again in this passage he said, �They shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of the disobedience.
Again he appoints a certain day, �today saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, �Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weaknesses.
Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but he was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you.
As he also says in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.
And he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.
You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and love that you have shown for his name by serving the saints, as you still do.
For we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything. He is the first, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
He is without father or mother or genealogy, neither having beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils?
And those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.
But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case by one of whom it is testified that he lives.
One might even say that Levi himself who received tithes paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life, for it is witnessed of him.
You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For on one hand, the former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness. For the law made nothing perfect. But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced through which we draw nearer to God.
And it was not without an oath. For those who formally became priests were made such without an oath. But this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.
You are a priest forever. This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered him up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.
Now the point in what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.
But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
For he finds fault with them when he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God. And they shall not teach each other, each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. And as you know, I just got done reading from what book of the Bible? You're right, the book of Hebrews, chapter 1 through 8. Now, I don't have the reader Bible in front of me.
It's an ESV Bible that has only chapter divisions without the verse divisions, but I didn't even read the chapter divisions today in the first eight chapters because I just wanted you to listen in the refrains of covenant, the refrains of Jesus, and the refrains of Melchizedek.
I wanted you to hear things according to the order of Melchizedek and the Lord has sworn. I wanted you to hear Hebrews 1 to 8. And it took me, what, 20 minutes to read that? You get up in the morning, you read Hebrews chapters 1 through 8.
Now, if this show was longer, I would have finished it. So what I'm going to do is, the next show, I think it'll play tomorrow, the next show will be Hebrews 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and I'll make some other comments.
The book of Hebrews, I was reading from the ESV, and I was trying to enunciate. I think I said milk the first time and milk the second time, so I caught myself there in Hebrews chapter 5. Actually, this is harder to do because I'm trying to be so precise and read the Bible properly than me just talking.
I thought this was going to be like an easy show. It wasn't quite as easy. You can write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com. You can watch No Compromise television. It's now on a station up in Milwaukee.
I can't remember the name of the station, Brandon would know. You can watch the YouTubes at No Compromise Radio site. Don't forget Evangelical White Lies is on Amazon and there's a Kindle formation, formatted book there as well.
Thanks for listening. We'll see you in Hebrews chapter 1 through 8. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.