The Supremacy Of Jesus Christ (part 2) - [Hebrews 1:1ff]

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The Speaking God (part 3) - [Hebrews 1:1-2]

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Warren Wiersbe relates a story several years ago, there was a man and he went in for his hearing to be checked, he was living in Leeds, England, and the doctor checked him, removed his hearing aid, and his hearing dramatically increased.
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It improved immediately, he had been wearing the hearing aid in the wrong ear for 20 years.
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I thought to myself, you know when it comes to the book of Hebrews, for so long it seems, by so many people,
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Hebrews is portrayed as a book that you can't understand it, that it's too difficult, that maybe you studied in seminary or in graduate school.
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So if you take your Bible this morning and turn to the book of Hebrews, you're going to see that, yes indeed, especially because the
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Spirit of God illuminates the eyes and hearts of a Christian, to understand this book, to see the superiority of Jesus, even a child could grasp that fact.
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Oh, there might be some difficult things here or there, but this is a book that you will love if you don't already, you'll probably decide to read it, memorize it, study it.
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A man named R .C. Sproul said, if I were cast into prison and allowed but one book, it would be the
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Bible. And if I were allowed only one book of the Bible, it would be the
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Epistle to the Hebrews because it contains our most comprehensive discussion of the redemption wrought for us in the sacrifice of Jesus.
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And you know, when you study the Bible, every book becomes your favorite, Romans is my favorite when I'm studying Romans, and the list goes on.
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But I think, as we saw even last week, the book of Hebrews proclaims
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Jesus Christ in such a way that you say, I want to get to know it better, because as you get to know the book of Hebrews better, you're going to be getting to know the
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Lord Jesus all the better, and that will spur you on to have a revival in your soul,
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I think. Well, what are we going to do this morning? We're going to pick up where we left off last time. I'm trying to give you a different kind of introduction.
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Sometimes the introductions could be, the book was written at such and such a date, and this is the man who wrote it, and these are the people who didn't write it.
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I'm trying to make it a little more enthusiastic as I come to this book, because I'm excited to preach it, and so I started last week giving you some reasons why you should be excited to study
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Hebrews. And we're going to continue that theme this morning, and then we're going to look at Hebrews 1, 1 next week.
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So we're going to look at a lot of different passages in Hebrews, all designed to give you this spiritual elixir, this tonic, so that you would say, this is refreshing for the soul, this is revitalizing, this is rejuvenating.
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These are good words for a parched soul. Number one in review,
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Hebrews was meant to encourage. Why should you be excited to study Hebrews? Because it's meant to encourage and to exhort, not to confound and to confuse.
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We looked last week at Hebrews 13, 22, I appeal to you brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
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That word is translated in the New Testament, encourage, exhort, console.
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The writer of Hebrews wants his readers, his listeners to be encouraged, and I need encouragement,
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I know you do as well. Secondly, we saw last week that Hebrews is an exciting book to study, because you can understand the outline and overall flow easily.
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It's easy to get your mind wrapped around the flow and outline of Hebrews, and even Harry today, did you notice as he prayed, he was even praying through the first part of Hebrews.
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And so, here is the outline of Hebrews, one more time as we review what we did last week.
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Hebrews has how many chapters? Thirteen. Hebrews chapters one through ten and a half are the doctrinal basis for Jesus' superiority.
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And then the last part of chapter 10, 11, 12, and 13 is the practical outworking of Christ's superiority.
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Jesus is shown in those first nine and a half chapters, he's better than prophets, he's better than angels, he's better than Moses, better than Aaron, better than the
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Old Testament covenant, he's better than everyone. He's not just a...
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for so long, it seems, by so many people, Hebrews is portrayed as a book that you can't understand it, that is too difficult, that maybe you studied in seminary or in graduate school.
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So if you take your Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Hebrews, you're going to see that, yes indeed, especially because the
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Spirit of God illuminates the eyes and hearts of a Christian, to understand this book, to see the superiority of Jesus, even a child could grasp that fact.
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Oh, there might be some difficult things here or there, but this is a book that you will love if you don't already, you'll probably decide to read it, memorize it, study it.
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A man named R .C. Sproul said, if I were cast into prison and allowed but one book, it would be the
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Bible. And if I were allowed only one book of the Bible, it would be the epistle to the
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Hebrews because it contains our most comprehensive discussion of the redemption wrought for us in the sacrifice of Jesus.
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And you know, when you study the Bible, every book becomes your favorite, Romans is my favorite when I'm studying Romans, and the list goes on.
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But I think, as we saw even last week, the book of Hebrews proclaims
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Jesus Christ in such a way that you say, I want to get to know it better, because as you get to know the book of Hebrews better, you're going to be getting to know the
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Lord Jesus all the better, and that will spur you on to have a revival in your soul,
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I think. Well, what are we going to do this morning? We're going to pick up where we left off last time. I'm trying to give you a different kind of introduction.
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Sometimes the introductions could be, the book was written at such and such a date, and this is the man who wrote it, and these are the people who didn't write it.
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I'm trying to make it a little more enthusiastic as I come to this book, because I'm excited to preach it, and so I started last week giving you some reasons why you should be excited to study
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Hebrews. And we're going to continue that theme this morning, and then we're going to look at Hebrews 1, 1 next week.
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So we're going to look at a lot of different passages in Hebrews, all designed to give you this spiritual elixir, this tonic, so that you would say, this is refreshing for the soul, this is revitalizing, this is rejuvenating.
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These are good words for a parched soul. Number one in review,
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Hebrews was meant to encourage. Why should you be excited to study Hebrews? Because it's meant to encourage and to exhort, not to confound and to confuse.
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We looked last week at Hebrews 13 .22, I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation for I have written to you briefly.
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That word is translated in the New Testament, encourage, exhort, console.
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The writer of Hebrews wants his readers, his listeners to be encouraged, and I need encouragement,
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I know you do as well. Secondly, we saw last week that Hebrews is an exciting book to study because you can understand the outline and overall flow easily.
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It's easy to get your mind wrapped around the flow and outline of Hebrews, and even Harry today, did you notice as he prayed, he was even praying through the first part of Hebrews.
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And so, here is the outline of Hebrews, one more time as we review what we did last week.
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Hebrews has how many chapters? Thirteen. Hebrews chapters one through ten and a half are the doctrinal basis for Jesus' superiority.
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And then the last part of chapter 10, 11, 12, and 13 is the practical outworking of Christ's superiority.
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Jesus is shown in those first nine and a half chapters, he's better than prophets, he's better than angels, he's better than Moses, better than Aaron, better than the
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Old Testament covenant, he's better than everyone. He's not just a servant, he's a son, he's not just an angel, but he is the high priest.
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And so it's pretty easy when you look at Hebrews, one through thirteen splits up not right in the middle like Ephesians or Colossians, but the first nine and a half chapters, that is through chapter 10a, here's
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Jesus' superiority demonstrated doctrinally and then the practical ramifications.
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Number three, we saw last week that Hebrews is an exciting book to study because it's easy to summarize.
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Turn your Bibles to Hebrews 8, please. We didn't look at this last week, but I want to show you this, and this is one of my favorite preaching portions of Hebrews, Hebrews 8, 1.
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Sometimes if there's a lot of doctrinal discussion and then the pastor says, now by the way, this is my main point, don't you like it if you're hearing a sermon and the pastor says, by the way,
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I've said a lot of things, but this is what I've been trying to say, this is my main point so far, don't you like that?
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I hope you do because that's exactly what Hebrews 8, 1 is. What's Hebrews 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 all about?
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What's your main point? Now the point in what we are saying is this, isn't that good?
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Here's the main point. We have currently, right now, such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.
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What a great name for God, by the way, majesty. We've got a priest who did all his work, he sat down at the great right hand of God, the father.
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Turn with me, if you would, keeping a finger at Hebrews, go to Job chapter 9. Job chapter 9, as you know,
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Job is the first book written in the Bible. It's the oldest book. Of course, Genesis deals with the most ancient of days, but the first book written is the book of Job.
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What Job does is he asks questions so that you might look for those answers later in the
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Bible. It sets us up as the intro, the oldest book, to answer this question, what should we be looking for in the rest of the
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Bible? Now Job suffers and suffering is a theme in the book of Job, but it's not the only theme.
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God, why am I suffering? God, I know you're sovereign. That's a good theme, but the theme points to a bigger theme, and that is, how can
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God and man have a right relationship? And suffering will make you ask the right question.
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And here, Job 9 has the question that Hebrews answers.
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So I love studying Hebrews because it helps me even understand the entire flow of the
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Bible. There is a high priest, Hebrews 8, 1 says, seated at the right hand.
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And Job was waiting for that. If only I could give Job Hebrews.
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Can you imagine giving Job the book of Hebrews? All his questions would be answered.
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Job 9 .32, for he is not a man as I am that I might answer him that we should come to trial together.
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Job can give an answer to his friends, quote -unquote friends. He has that power, but when it comes to standing before God, contending with God, arguing with God, debating with God, he could win a debate match with his friends at an
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Ivy League school. But standing before God, how could you contend with God? Verse 33, there is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both.
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How can anyone argue with God? How can they contend with God? How can they stand before God?
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How can you stand before God without a mediator, without an umpire, without a referee?
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Sometimes this word arbitrator or arbiter is used for two men that would be locked in like a death match, a wrestling match, and they are so tied together as they are fighting and clenched in their attack stance that you need the umpire to get in there.
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The bell has rung for the round. It is time to stop fighting. So the referee has to do what?
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He goes in there to separate them. That is the idea of the word in some cases, but here it is something different.
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There are two people and they are arguing. They are debating. They are contending. You can almost imagine it when one man steps in the middle and he puts his hand on the one and he puts his hand on the other and he said,
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Okay, let's figure this out. I will be a mediator. I will be an arbiter. I will stand between you.
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What does he say here? That there is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both.
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Let him take away his rod from me and let not the dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him for I am not so in myself.
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Oh, Job said, I am suffering. I get that. I get it that you are sovereign God, but I just need somebody to come in between you and me.
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I would know you care. I would know you are good. I need to be in a right relationship with God and there is no one there to help me.
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And if Hebrews was given to Job, it would say something like this. Job, can you imagine in eternity past in the eternal covenant of God, the counsels of God, God would have
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Jesus cloak himself with humanity so he could be a representative of humans, sinful humans.
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He was in the likeness of sinful flesh, but never sinned. And then he could also be touching God because Jesus is also divine.
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Hebrews answers the question that Job, the first book of the Bible, asks. I need help and the only way
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I can be helped is through the divine human mediator. Now let's go back to Hebrews.
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The book is easy to understand when you understand the superiority of Jesus Christ, the high priest, and it answers all kinds of questions.
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Number four, why do I love Hebrews? It's devotional. It's devotional. Why? Because it focused on the person and work of Christ.
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If that doesn't make you worship, I don't know what would. Looking to Jesus, Hebrews 12, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
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Number five, in our final review from last week, I love to study the book of Hebrews because it's exhilarating.
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The substance is awesome. It's about Christ Jesus. And the way it's written is incredible.
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The prose, the style, the language, the syntax, the way he deals with the original text, the way it flows, the way it deals with the
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Old Testament. How do I interpret the Old Testament? How do I see Christ in the Old Testament, in the
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Psalms? How do I read Leviticus pointing to the cross? Hebrews helps you in all those ways.
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You see the unified story of Scripture as you study the book of Hebrews. Number six, why do
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I love the book of Hebrews? Number six, we're now treading on new ground.
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Number six, the book of Hebrews gives suffering Christians hope.
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And Bethlehem Bible Church, suffering is around the corner for us. As the society begins to persecute
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Christians, maybe at the beginning with just name calling, insults, persecution that doesn't really cost much, then it moves to the tax realm, then it moves to the closing the building realm, then it moves to the prison realm.
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How do we act? How do we stand firm for the faith? And the book of Hebrews addresses that for us, so it helps us ahead of time.
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How do we suffer? If you turn to Hebrews chapter 10, you'll see in 10, 12, 13 that we'll look at this morning, here's how a
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Christian suffers. Now, it's fascinating to me that there are people on TBN and YouTube and other places and they'll say, come to Jesus and all your problems go away, and you get rich and you get healthy, and I just think these people are deceived, they're naive and they're young.
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I always think word faith theology is an ignorant, poor man's, young man's delusion.
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As you get older and the years go by and you realize your body's breaking down and you aren't rich, what do you do?
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I hate it when people say, come to Christ and you get all these benefits that are physical, that are all temporal, and many times
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God does bless us with some of those things. But the benefits found in Christ Jesus, the superior high priest, have nothing to do with the tangible, they have to do with the eternal.
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And what happens to these people here? Can you imagine? Many of these people are
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Christians, and some aren't, and so some are really close. And here's what they're saying. These people that are close, they might want to believe, they know the claims of Christ, and then what happens?
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Do you know what? If I follow that group, I'm going to be persecuted. Everything's good in my life now.
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I'm not really getting, you know, the Romans aren't really persecuting the Jews that much, and if I move all the way over, if I take the plunge, they're going to persecute me.
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That's right. Maybe I should just go back to Judaism. That was a pretty safe thing. And so the writer is trying to help us.
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Jesus is worth it all. If you've got Jesus, you've got everything. If you have Jesus, you have nothing, even though you think you might have something.
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And look at chapter 10, verse 32. He's spurring the readers on to endurance and perseverance when persecution is there.
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Hebrews 10, 32. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
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You had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.
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Since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one, therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
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For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.
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There's something better. When you're getting persecuted, there's the promise of God. By the way, sometimes, just look at the word promise.
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Our promises are promised in the book of Hebrews. God has promised, and He's faithful. And while you're suffering, there's something better.
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There is a heaven. Sometimes on earth we have things so good on earth that we think, who needs heaven?
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This is pretty great now. Well, back in these days, it wasn't so great on the earth. And He's saying, you have to walk by faith, and not by sight.
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If you look back at verse 32 of this passage, notice what He says. Recall.
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Remember. And we want to spur in your hearts this commitment to follow
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Christ no matter what. And I love what it says there in verse 32.
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After you enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.
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You endured. You stood your ground. That's what the Greek is. Greek is there's a battle coming.
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The Nazis aren't going through the Maginot Line. They're coming up and around, and they're going to try to have a pincer movement against you.
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And you go, you know what? It's time to run. It's time to go AWOL. No. This is a time to stand your ground.
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That's exactly what it means here with endurance. Stand your ground. Remain. Instead of running, and you can hear what
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He's saying, instead of running back to Judaism, back to the temple, back to so -called safety, hold on.
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Why? Because there's reinforcements coming. And God has promised that the
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Lord Jesus will return. It doesn't matter if you look at verses 33 and 34.
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There could be ridicule, public shame, abuse, insults. I think the exact same thing happened to Jesus, didn't it?
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Did He receive some of those things? Matthew 27, the robbers who were crucified with Him also reviled
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Him in the same way. Don't sling back. Just because you're going to be persecuted, don't go back.
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There's no way to go back. There's no time to go back. You might lose your possessions, but you'll get an eternal, better, and lasting possession.
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Have confidence. I don't want persecution to come here, but if it does come here, and I think it will come here, these are going to be good words for us as a
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New Testament believing church. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 along these same lines.
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So far we have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed in our struggle against sin, Hebrews 12, but for people who have been persecuted and they're in prison, you know what?
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Maybe if we go visit them, they'll think we're with them, and maybe they'll get our tax
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ID number, our social security number, and maybe we don't want to have the shame of being identified with Christians in the gulag.
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So the writer of Hebrews corrects that thinking. Remember, and of course remember means do something about it.
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When God remembered Noah, God remembered Abraham, actively respond to those who are in prison.
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And look at how wonderful this is. As though in prison with them. How would you like to be treated if you were in prison?
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And those who are mistreated since you are in the body. Remember these things.
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Remember the prisoners like you were there with them. You're all part of one body.
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If you go down to verse 12, you'll see the key here when it comes to persecuted
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Christians. You think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Did he suffer?
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Was he maligned? Was he reviled? Was he persecuted?
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Verse 12 of Hebrews 13, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate. That's where the shameful things happen.
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You put carcasses outside the gate. If you go back to verse 11, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
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You put that stuff there. You put the leftovers, the hide and the insides of the animal.
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You put that outside. That's a place of reproach. He suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
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Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
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For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that's to come. Through him then let us continually offer up.
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Now, in your suffering, you're running. They're persecuting you. They're taking away your money, your homes.
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They might kill you. What do you do in response? You say, I'm glad to suffer with Jesus and I will offer up a sacrifice of what?
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Don't run back and offer sacrifices in the Old Testament covenant system. Here, offer a sacrifice of praise to God.
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That is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. I'm not going to say nothing about Jesus.
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I'm going to say everything about Jesus even if I lose it all. I'm going to acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are what?
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Pleasing to God. How amazing is it that you can honor
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God and please God and delight God if you offer praises in the midst of your troubles and persecutions and sufferings.
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Go out and bear the disgrace he bore. So, Hebrews is an excellent book to prepare us for the persecution that's soon to come.
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Number seven. Why am I looking forward to this 15 -year series in the book of Hebrews?
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Hey, by the way, there was a pastor in New England and he was a Puritan pastor and I think he preached for 40 years and he preached his first sermon in Isaiah 1 -1 and he finished in Isaiah 8 then died.
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If you think I'm slow, I actually said to myself, self, I'm resolved to go a little faster than I normally go.
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It took me 70 weeks to preach through Daniel. I don't know if that was just mystical or what it was, but it's going to take our time.
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If I have to die preaching a book, it might as well be Hebrews. Number seven.
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Hebrews will protect us from a multitude of errors regarding going back to the old covenant.
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It will protect us from a multitude of errors as we might be tempted to go back to the old covenant.
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And whether those errors are Messianic Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Greek Orthodoxy, or high liturgy, this book will help us remember that the
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Old Testament is a shadow and why run to the shadow when you've got the substance
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Christ Jesus? Luke flew back from Israel. He flew to Philadelphia.
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Kim picked Luke up at Philadelphia. I don't know who would want to live in Philadelphia for any reason at all.
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I mean, people leave here to move to Philadelphia. And I'm sure
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Kim did not run over to Luke's shadow and embrace it. That would have been an odd scene.
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The book of Hebrews is going to say this. Of course, the old covenant prepared us for the coming of Christ.
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And there were types, and there were pointers, and there's a trajectory, and there's one divine author.
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I know. And then once we get Jesus, what do we do with the old covenant?
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Hebrews 8, verse 13. Turn there if you would, please. Let's make sure we understand that when we have the new covenant, the first one is obsolete.
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You say, well, you've got an agenda. Yes, I do have an agenda. I want to be faithful to the text. The first one is obsolete because there are many people who don't want it to be obsolete, some people even in our circles running back to the
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Old Testament. Can we learn from the Old Testament? Is there instruction in the Old Testament? Of course there is.
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But to be put under the Old Testament laws as a code, it's obsolete.
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Why go back? Hebrews 8, verse 13. And speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete.
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He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old...
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By the way, that word old there is where we get the word geriatric. When I was growing up, the wrestlers would always drink this drink called
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Geritol. Same root word. You guys know Geritol? You do? Okay, I didn't know they had it here in sophisticated
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New England. In Omaha, hay seed, we drink Geritol.
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And growing old, and it's ready to vanish away. It's ready to disappear.
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It's provisional. And God acts. He has the right, by the way, since He made the covenant, to change it.
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If you have a will that you make for your children, you have the right to change it any time you'd like. And God has changed it because it's built into the system that the first covenant was provisional.
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It wasn't meant to last. It had a job to do and it did it great. It did it greatly. But when you buy food and it's kind of got a due date on it, right?
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Eat by October 14th. Sometimes if food lasts longer, it might say, best if eaten by.
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And then I know I've got a few extra months. Kim said the other day, she said, do we have any
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Pepto -Bismol? And I said, yes. And here it is. And she said, what's the date? The expiration date. And it said,
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I'm trying to remember the exact, I think it said August 2014. She gave me the look.
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I said, I'd drink it. The expiration date was built into the old covenant.
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It's obsolete. It's past its use -by date.
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Go to Hebrews 10. I was glad Harry mentioned this in the pastoral prayer. As you're turning there, just think of what's going on with these
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Jews. Some are Christians. Some are close. And you could feel yourself drawn back to the old system.
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The temple. The priests. The singing. The trumpets. The incense.
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The sacrifices. The lavers. The court. It was beautiful.
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There's nothing like it. I've just been back from Rome. And you think Rome has the glamour and the glitz and the senses are driven by an overload.
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But St. Peter's Basilica had nothing on Solomon's temple. Redone by Herod.
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And you can just, it's like the beckoning, come back to this pomp and circumstance.
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Come back to the trumpeters. Come back to the banners. And the writer of Hebrews says, why?
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You've got Jesus. If you've got Jesus, you've got it all. Chapter 10, verse 1. Since the law has but a shadow of the things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
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Otherwise, they would have not ceased to be offered. Or would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins.
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But see, this whole system, it's built by God to not do this so we could see and appreciate and behold the
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One who could cancel sin. In these sacrifices, verse 3, there is a reminder of sins every year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
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The Old Testament covenant, the Levitical system, is not put together by God to remove those sins.
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So Jesus had to be born. And it says right here using
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Psalm 40, verse 5 and 6 and 7, it's like we over here, we eavesdrop on the
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Trinitarian conversation between the Father and the Son as the Son comes into the world at Christmas.
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Consequently, when Christ came into the world, remember He existed before He came into the world,
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He said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired but a body have you prepared for Me.
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In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said,
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Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book.
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What does it require to go to heaven? Perfect obedience by a man.
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And so now Jesus has to cloak Himself with humanity to fully obey as a man.
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Listen, do these words sound familiar? Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the
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Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice. And to heed is better than the fact of God prepares a body for Jesus so that He can fully obey because that's what
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God requires. Sacrifices are shadows, are flickers of what
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Jesus came to do. Verse 8, When He said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings.
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This is the totality of all Levitical sacrifice. And sin offerings, these are offered according to the law.
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Then He said, mark this, if you want to run back to the Old Testament, run back farther than Moses, run to Abraham, but that's another chapter.
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Behold, I have come to do your will. Verse 9, He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
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Jesus terminates Old Covenant. He terminates it. And the first one is done away with by the way, that means to remove, to take away, abolish, or some translations, to get rid of by execution, to murder, to kill, or to assassinate.
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He gets rid of the first to establish the second. And here's what you're going to see with Messianic Judaism, with Roman Catholicism, with all kinds of people, they're still trying to merge the two together.
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They want to keep some from the old and merge it with the new. And it cannot be done. It ought not to be done.
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Verse 10, And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all.
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What's the effect of that will? We become saved. We become set apart. God did it.
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He's the one that initiated it all. Did you note there through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, not very often do we see the combination of Jesus and Christ, that double name.
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But He has humanity and He has deity so He can stand between God and man as that arbiter that Job had hoped for.
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If Jesus' sacrifice was once for all, what does that do to the Old Testament, old
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Levitical system of sacrifice? As Lewis Johnson said,
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Legalism wrenches the joy of the Lord from the Christian believer. And with the joy of the
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Lord goes His power for vital worship and vibrant service. Nothing is left but cramped, sober, dull and listless profession.
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The truth is betrayed and the glorious name of the Lord becomes a synonym for a gloomy killjoy.
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The Christian under law is a miserable parody of the real thing. Ignatius was right when he said to the
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Magnesians, It is absurd to talk of Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism.
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Paul said it to the Colossians. Let no one therefore pass judgment on you in meat and in drink or with regard to a feast day or a new moon or a
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Sabbath which are a shadow of things to come whereby the substance belongs to Christ.
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Judaism is a shadow of what we have now in person and His name is
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Jesus Christ. I'll tell you what's very popular these days is high liturgy, high priestly service.
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I think what's happened is so many seeker sensitive years have gone by and people realize it's shallow and so they want to move to a very high order of service and a high liturgy with ceremonies, robes, vestments, not just two sacraments but many more.
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Ceremonies. One man wrote, The distinction between high church and low church did not appear until after the
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Reformation of course. Then the question arose as the Protestant church rejected Roman Catholic doctrine how much
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Catholic procedure should be retained. And so whether it's Messianic Judaism, let's bring the
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Old Testament in and do some of those things or the skeleton of the Old Testament the
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Roman Catholic Church brings in with the robes and the incense and the ups and the downs.
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The Westminster Confession was right. The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by Himself.
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And so limited by His own revealed will that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the
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Holy Scripture. High church, all these things have a flicker of the
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Old Testament. Messianic Judaism has more than a flicker of the Old Testament jammed in. I think to myself, okay, here's a group of Christians that are being persecuted back in the days of the
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Hebrews when the book was written, the Epistle of the Hebrews. And you can tell there's a longing for some of that show and that substance and some of that pomp and the circumstance and the writers saying, you've got
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Jesus. It's a once and for all sacrifice. Why are you tempted to go back to the glitz and the glamour?
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I'm sorry to have to do this to you but I'm thinking in my mind of that third Indiana Jones movie.
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What was it? The last what? Crusade. You pagans know the answer to that. I knew. I knew what it was.
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I just wanted to see if you knew. And at the very end, you need the chalice to drink to save the day.
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And Elsa betrays Donovan to drink from the gold chalice. And he drinks it down and his face just becomes distorted and he dies and then the knight says what?
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He chose. And then
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Indiana Jones, the star, he picks the cup of a common what? Carpenter.
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And you can even see this, can't you? When you've got the beauty of the Old Testament system and then now what do we have?
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We have Christ and Jesus wants us just to be reminded. You take this piece of bread and you take this cup and I want you to remember me.
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The pomp and circumstance that was rightly found in the Old Testament and the Old Testament tabernacle even and the blue pomegranates.
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It's all pushed. Here's who Jesus is. That's dead. It's gone. It's like the murder of Jesus has murdered the
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Old Testament system. Why run back to rituals and practices like that and high liturgy?
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Messianic Judaism. Many, many congregations all across the world want to celebrate
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Jewish festivals and the feast days, Passover, Pentecost, Feast of the
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Trumpets, Yom Kippur, the Feast of Tabernacles. They'll say
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Jesus was a Jew. That's true. Rabbi Paul, one leader in the
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Messianic Judaism movement said, all who are currently learning to apply the Torah to their lives are experiencing deep -seated and profound spiritual growth and by teaching you to keep the
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Torah, they are ushering you into a new depth of intimacy with God. Friends, the book of Hebrews, if I can use the word, slaughters that thinking because the death of Jesus has changed everything.
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The first... Well, see, it was a good system, but it was in preparation for and then the sell -by date was done when
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Jesus on the cross said, it is finished. Why do people want to do some of these things?
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Because there's something they can do. Instead of offering a sacrifice of praise, just tell me something to do.
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I need to keep this Feast of Booths. I was, as a matter of fact, asked, by the way, one time, could you come over to our house?
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I'm a Messianic Jew and could you come over to our booth and spend some time in our booth?
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I don't know, but I like to think I'm a busy guy. I just don't have the booth ministry around and I said, thanks for asking, but no thanks.
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I think Ephesians 2 is true. How do you get Jews and Gentiles to worship together in one body, the church?
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By giving me Old Testament law again? Ephesians 2 says, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two, so making peace.
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I mean, what's easier to offer a sacrifice of praise or to say, well, if I just keep the Sabbath.
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There are people who have wanted me to give them Sabbath regulations here at Bethlehem Bible Church and people who have criticized me for not keeping the
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Sabbath. My criticism goes both ways because, that system is obsolete.
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If you say, I have the Lord's Day and I want to do X, Y, and Z, I get it all. Those of you that know me, you understand.
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But Paul meant something when he said, you're not under law. And I think he spoke clearly. Jesus is superior to Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, and I want all my friends,
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Messianic Jews, Roman Catholics, and others, not to go back to Moses, but go back farther to Abraham.
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What number are we on now? Eight? Okay. Number eight. Say, Mike, you don't have to get so fired up about it.
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Number eight. God helps saints persevere through warnings.
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I'm excited to study Hebrews because God keeps us going to the end through warning passages.
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Now here's the counterintuitive thought. We believe in this church, rightly so, in eternal security, perseverance of the saints, preservation by God, depending on what angle you want to look at it from.
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How does God help us persevere till the end? He gives us commands to do that.
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The end is eternal security. The means would be, he who endures till the end shall be saved.
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Many people come to the book of Hebrews and they're all freaked out about the warning passages because the warning passages, if read naively, will make you think, you know what,
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I guess I could lose my salvation. I guess I'm the one who's only responsible and I think you're going to see that God will spur people on through these warning passages.
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So let's just take a look at the five warning passages so you'll know what they are generally before we get into them specifically over the months and years to come.
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Chapter 2 please. Strategically placed warning passages to goad you along. It's almost like you're learning about Jesus is superior to the angels and then the writer says, so what are you going to do about it?
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He might say the warning passages are good for both the unbeliever and the believer. To the unbeliever he can spur them on and the same kind of exhortation is good to spur on the
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Christian. He gives warning passages in the middle of his exhortations that Jesus is superior.
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We're just going to look at five of these warning passages and this will help you. Remember the theme of the book.
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Jesus is the superior high priest. The first nine and a half chapters, this is the theological basis.
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The last three and a half chapters, this is what we should do about it. And then sprinkled in there are five warning passages and this is when everybody starts thinking, wow, this is a tough book.
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But there are excellent warning passages that help us finish well by the grace of God.
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It is true, no one can snatch you out of the Father's hand. It is true, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
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It is true, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. But it is also true that God uses warnings and sentences like endure to the end so that you're saved to prod you along to say my own responsibility is
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I must go forward. God help me. Chapter 2 verse 1, the first warning in light of what's going on with Jesus is better than the prophets and better than the angels.
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Therefore we must pay closer attention, much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it.
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For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable in every transgression and our disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
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It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the
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Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. If you disobeyed
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Moses back in the day, there was a consequence. Do you think the consequence has lightened up if you disobey
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Jesus now? No. So, there's a warning. Dangerous if you go back.
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Don't go back. Move forward. Go to chapter 3. You'll see the second warning. By the way, if I wanted to preach a little bit on warning number 1, if you're not a
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Christian here today, if God judged the people back in the
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Old Testament, do you think He's not going to judge you? If you see that God is this consuming fire in the
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Old Testament, the Sinai and the mountain and the flashing and the lightning and the trembling and the death penalties, do you think now because Jesus is here you're going to escape?
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See, that's the sense of this. And for the Christian, it's, yes, that's true.
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And even though I'm saved by the blood of the Lamb, even though I have a high priest, I want to keep moving forward in my walk with the
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Lord. Number 2, don't harden your heart. Chapter 3, verse 7 and following, we won't read all the verses, but I want you to see.
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Exodus generation, they didn't make it. So if they didn't make it, we want you to make it.
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And He uses the language if you pick it up even in chapter 3, verse 6, at the end there, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
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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 40 years.
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Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways.
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As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Can't you hear the pastor's heart?
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Verse 12, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart.
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And in the congregation there were some, 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.
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Don't forsake. Don't turn away. Fall away means to apostatize. Don't go back. Why? Verse 14, for we have come to share in Christ.
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And then here's the responsibility. If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion.
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Well, time is fleeting. I won't read the rest of that warning, but go to chapter 5 for warning number 3.
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We have one big book that talks about the superiority of Jesus. You don't need the old covenant systems and ceremonies.
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You just need Jesus. But in that great sermon, remember this is probably a sermon written down and you can just hear pastors when they preach.
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Once in a while, that long Nathan -like finger hits your sternum. That's what these warning passages are.
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Chapter 5, verse 11, move forward in your Christian growth. Move forward.
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Could be maybe thinking about Judas or something is so close yet so far away from who the
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Lord is. Chapter 5, verse 11, rebukes them for their immaturity.
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And if you just go to chapter 6, verse 4, you see the heart of this warning.
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It is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, they've come so close, who have tasted the heavenly gift, they've come so close and have shared in the
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Holy Spirit, tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come.
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Again, I think of Judas when I read this passage. And then they have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the
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Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt. Can you imagine?
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They are crucifying once again the Son of God. You've come so close to who
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Jesus is and you say, you know what, I won't believe. I've come this far,
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I see that He's a priest, that He's a prophet, He's a king, and I'm almost there but I'm not going to take the leap of faith, believing in Christ Jesus the object of my faith.
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And then the text says basically this, then it's as if you stood at the foot of the cross and said, crucify
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Him. That's what it says right there. Crucifying Him once again. I stand with the enemies of Jesus and let
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Him be crucified. That's why if you're not for Jesus, you're what? You're against Him. There's Jesus on the cross and you're all the way here.
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Do you either embrace Him by faith or do you say crucify Him? Those are the only two options. You can hear the heart of the writer.
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And then two more warnings, chapter 10 verse 26 please. Chapter 10 verse 26, in the middle of a sermon about the superiority of Jesus, we would expect that there are goads, that there are warnings and that's exactly what we find.
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So don't let them throw you for a loop unless you're not a believer. If you're not a believer, then the response is repentance of faith and Jesus, the risen
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Savior. Chapter 10 verse 26, similarly sounding to chapter 6.
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For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
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Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
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Premeditated sin needs to be abandoned. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the
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Son of God? The Old Testament laws were broken and there was trouble to pay.
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How much more here? Vengeance is mine, verse 30, I will repay. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living
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God. And finally, warning number 5. Warning number 5, chapter 12 please. Chapter 12 verse 25.
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Hebrews is about the high priest and to do nothing with the high priest is to do something with the high priest and it's not a good thing.
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So these warnings are strategically placed in the 13 chapters. The final one here in chapter 12, let's pick it up in verse 25 just so you get the idea.
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See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. Have some self -examination.
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Have some vigilance. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
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People that were warned on Sinai and disobeyed, they paid. You think now you're just going to go free?
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At that time his voice shook the earth and now he has promised, yet at once I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
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Read Exodus 19 and you read of Sinai and it is volcanic.
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And this time the earth isn't only going to shake but the heavens will shake. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are not shaken.
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That is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
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Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
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And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and you are going to see in this book the warnings that motivate you to keep believing if you're a
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Christian or believe if you're not. And maybe that is the way
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I close the sermon this morning. The danger of unbelief and the joys of belief are given in the book of Hebrews.
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It's almost like Proverbs Psalm chapter 1 rather. There are two ways. It's like Deuteronomy. There are two ways of life.
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God's way and your way. And we and I along with the writer of Hebrews say choose
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God's way and it's a way by faith. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Because if you don't you're saying crucify
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Him. So we want you to believe. And if you do believe the response is thank you
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Lord and I offer you a sacrifice of praise. Next Sunday Hebrews 1 .1
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and my pastoral suggestion is could you please find time this week to sit down and read
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Hebrews 1 through 13 in one sitting. One sitting.
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Not setting. One sitting? I can't remember. I've tried to get rid of my Nebraska -isms over the years but that one remains.
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And you will see the flow of Jesus who will occupy your mind and heart in heaven for all eternity.
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Father, thank you for the book of Hebrews. Thank you that Jesus Christ is the
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High Priest. We know that the Old Covenant, the
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First Covenant as the writer of Hebrews calls it had all kinds of wonderful things from curtains to lampstands to table, the bread of the presence, the holy place, the
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Ark of the Covenant, golden urns, manna, Aaron's staff, tablets of the
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Covenant, cherubim of glory over the mercy seat. How wonderful.
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How awesome it was. Only go in there once a year though if you're the High Priest. But now we have the ultimate
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High Priest. And he sat down. Work is finished. And I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church.
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Could you help us be content in Christ? Could you help us not to be attracted by showy religious services and ceremonies back to Messianic Judaism or anything else?
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We have Jesus and that's enough. Father, we want to be satisfied in you, content in you.
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And the way you use Hebrews to paint the picture using Leviticus and Psalms and so many other passages, that's what it creates.
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It creates contentment, joy, and it also creates a sacrifice of praise.
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Father, in the months and years to come, I pray that we would praise you even when things don't go rightly because we have been redeemed by another and we have a better promise and we have a better city that we're looking forward to.