Hebrews for 500 (Part 2)

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 at NoCoRadio. For those who are out there in the Twitter world, I don�t know how you get to Facebook. Type in No Compromise Radio Facebook and you will go right there.

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The Great White Throne Judgment and the Book of Life

I try to talk about biblical things just directly, hopefully Christ-centeredly, and not from the message. That�s pretty much my M .O. The Bible says this in Revelation 20,. �Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it.

From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. I�ve been asked on occasion, and I know people at least think it regularly, �How long can you go on in the book of Hebrews to talk about Jesus the Great High Priest

We have practical things in life we need to work on. We have methodological things we need to work on. We have relationships we need to invest in. We have stress at work. We have a Monday, a manic Monday to get through.

I don�t like Mondays to work through. We need relevant preaching. We need things that apply to us now. And when I read the Great White Throne Judgment, I say to myself, �Could there be anything more relevant than having your sins forgiven

I mean, you could pretty much ask yourself, �How relevant are things in light of death? How relevant are things in light of judgment When I received the cancer news, of course, it was not outside of the prostate.

So I was going to make it, but early on, you�re just trying to figure out if it is outside the prostate, what happens, slow painful death, hormones, radiation, chemo, surgery, etc. It does make you think.

I mean, I�m almost 59 years old. Most days, at least mentally, I don�t feel like 59, but physically, I do. I think to myself, �There�s a day coming. There�s an end day coming. And when I�m around people and I�m on the edge of their bed and we�re talking about a death and it�s a deathbed scenario, I think standing before God for judgment is the most relevant thing in all the world.

How will I stand before God? And did you notice in Revelation 20, there are two kinds of books. There are books for the unbeliever and everything is written in those books, everything that they�ve done.

So if you�re an unbeliever, God has books on you and he, with his omniscience, knows everything you�ve done and everything that you were supposed to do but didn�t. So everything for commission and omission, those kind of deeds, sins, transgressions, iniquities, and he knows it all.

And he�s holy and therefore he�s going to judge you. And it says right here, �And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. That is really frightening to me. And that is relevant to you if you�re listening today and you�re not a Christian.

I mean, how much more relevant could you get? Now there�s another, there are more books. So these books are everything that have, they contain everything that you�ve done. And then it�s interesting, there�s another book that was opened, which is the book of life.

Huh, that�s interesting. It says in verse 15,. �And if anyone�s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The names are written in the book of life. The deeds are written in the book of judgment, if you will.

And I find that fascinating because Christians are not going to be judged based on their deeds. The Christians are no longer accursed. Christians are forgiven. And for the great white throne of judgment, people, unbelievers, will be judged based on their deeds.

Christian, you will not be judged on your deeds. Aren�t you glad knowing that it just takes one sin to damn you? How many times do you have to spit in the king�s face? How many sins prove that you�re guilty of breaking all the law, James chapter 2 verse 10.

And therefore, there�s another set of books. And the only thing written there is your name. Because all the deeds have been paid for by your high priest, who�s also the sacrifice. And his name is Jesus Christ.

How relevant is that? Wouldn�t you like to know more about that Jesus? Don�t you think that�s the most relevant? All these churches hankering for relevancy forget the most relevant. And they also forget that all the Bible is relevant, and it is the pastor�s responsibility to remind people and to show people the relevancy of this unchanging, transcultural, transchronological, living, abiding, active Word that always does its work.

Therefore, if you are an unbeliever today, and you know that you�re going to be judged for what you�ve done, because not only does God�s Word say it, but your conscience convicts you and accuses you, then you say, �Well, how do I get my name written in that book

And you�ll know your name was written in that book if you will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, to be your sin bearer, to trust in Him, to agree that you�re a sinner and that He is the only Savior.

You could ask God, �Please forgive me. God, please grant me faith. That�s the way you know your name is written in the book, and therefore your deeds won�t be judged, because why would God, the Father, judge the Son for deeds that you have done, and then judge you?

That�d be double jeopardy. So there are books, and the books are recording everything that people do. But for the book that�s just got names in it, that�s for the Christian. That is so great when you stop and think about these books, and of course, thrown into the lake of fire for �judged according to your deeds.

And just your name written in the book, chapter 21 and 22, describe great words of just otherworldliness, the new heaven and the new earth. So today, if you�re not a believer, you ought to be wanting to study the Lord Jesus Christ and His high priestly work.

How relevant is forgiveness? Well, everyone needs forgiveness. Well, everyone except the Lord Jesus, of course, because He didn�t sin. But short of that last atom, we all need forgiveness, and we have it because Jesus is a great high priest.

And the book of Hebrews wants to make sure you understand that. And He, the writer, wants to make sure you realize that Jesus is superior to angels, to prophets, to Moses even, to Aaron. And here this great high priest, He doesn�t become less than an angel because He adds humanity, the eternal Son adding human nature.

He doesn�t become less. He actually can now identify with humanity and become a faithful and merciful and sympathetic high priest. This is a sermon epistle, the book of Hebrews. And it punctuates regularly with warnings, of course.

But it basically says this, there�s a better way than Judaism. Jesus is better than the Jewish old covenant, than the old Mosaic, Sinaitic covenant. And if you want to make it very practical, Jesus is better than any other religion, any other system.

Whatever the system might be, He�s better. If He�s better than a God-ordained old covenant system, then He�s better than a man-ordained system of whatever religion that is, of trying to be good and trying to get into heaven.

Hebrews 2 .17,. �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, assuaging God�s wrath, for the sins of His people.

And this writer, the writer of Hebrews, he goes right after the apple of the eye for a Jewish person, and that is the Levitical Aaronic priesthood. They loved that sacred institution. They loved that system.

And he says Jesus Christ, the great high priest, mediates a better covenant and then gives you benefits of that better covenant. He says in chapter 8, verse 6,. �But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as the covenant He mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

The short chapter, chapter 8 of the book of Hebrews, has a long quote from Jeremiah 31 and the New Covenant. And this writer wants you to know that the New Covenant is a more excellent ministry because of the Lord Jesus.

It's a better covenant because of the mediator, better promises, and that Christ�s sacrifice does exactly what God desires. And Christ�s sacrifice is what our sin required, but He took our place instead.

And therefore, you don't have to be judged, Christian, for what you've done. Think about all the things you've done or haven't done. I would hate to be judged for those things, but in fact, the Lord Jesus has taken our place.

And that's what we sing about, don't we? Lots of songs about substitutionary atonement. Lots of songs about Jesus taking the penalty that I earned, that I deserved. I was praying this morning and I thought, �Lord, I don't deserve anything except your displeasure, but I have all these wonderful things at the top of the list, peace with you, through the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit has applied the death of Christ and His obedience to my account for no reason, just because you love and you care.

Thank you for that. Jesus is the great mediator of the covenant. And that harkens back to chapter 7, verse 22, and then is pushed forward as well into chapter 9 and in chapter 12. Jesus is the intermediary.

And if there's a dispute between people, you need an arbiter. And there is a dispute between God and His holy law that we have broken purposely, intentionally, and we need reconciliation. What happens in this section?

He just makes sure that there's no way out of you thinking it's worth to go back. We know there's difficulties. We know there's trials as a Christian, but you can't go back. I mean, there's nowhere to go back to.

If you go back, it's damnation. So keep moving forward and keep trusting in this Savior. Now Jeremiah 31 is quoted, verses 31 through 34, with really no comments. Sometimes in the book of Hebrews, chapter 2 of the Psalms or chapter 110 of the Psalms will be quoted, Psalm 8, and then they'll have some commentary that this preacher will comment on.

He doesn't make any comment here. And that's not really that odd to me because sometimes when I'm preaching, I'll preach a cross-reference or I'll list a cross-reference and I might make a couple comments on it.

And other times, I'll just read the cross-reference because that is simply enough. And that's, I think, what's happening here in this epistolatory sermon. Jews can't keep the covenant promises. You're going to need God to make sure these are fulfilled.

If the promises of the covenant depend on humans keeping them, it's never going to happen. So God is going to have to, I will, I will, I will. God in fact is the one who can change people and institute the covenant and actually change them on the inside.

And that's why it's a better covenant. You don't have any hope if you're left to yourself. So my name is Mike Ebenroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I'm looking outside right now and there, you can probably hear a little hum in the background.

There's a septic company evacuating the septic sludge out of the church septic tank. I think that I've used that illustration before, that sex outside of marriage is like taking a big, super big family gulp, you know, 44 ounce drink of the septic sludge and guzzling it down.

That is how God thinks of all sex outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. And yet you look at Proverbs chapter 5, and what do you see in Proverbs 5? The language of sex cloaked and couched in drinking metaphors and drinking pure water and fresh water.

And so whatever the freshest water you can have is sex in marriage between a man and a woman. Blessed by God, the marriage bed is what, Hebrews 13, undefiled. So there's my little, there's my little comment there, especially if you hear some buzzing in the background.

I'm not going to stop the show for the evacuation of septic sludge now, am I? Oh well, now you can tell that we're out in the boonies because we have no public city sewer. You have to, yeah, just have tanks and leach fields and things like that.

I actually studied septic sludge once and how those tanks work, but I've forgotten about some of those things. I think the Lord knew exactly what he was doing, obviously, when I was placed out here in the town of 6 ,000 people in West Boylston, out in the middle of Massachusetts, Central Mass.

That's where we are, and I think there's lots of reasons that I'm out here. Maybe one of them is I don't like big cities to live in. I love big cities to go visit, but maybe not to live in. And also this is nice because then the church isn't thousands of people or anything like that.

It's just the dear folks here at Bethlehem Bible Church. Well, what else are we doing? We are looking at to whom this is written. When you look at Hebrews 8, this new covenant is listed. There's lots of different ways that you can go about thinking of it, and I think the extreme dispensational ways are off track.

If you want to say these promises that were given to Israel are now fulfilled in the church, you can. If you want to say these promises are now given to the church, there's an already, not yet, soteriologically now, and then a future for Israel, you can do that as well.

Neither of those are my concerns at the moment because what these people needed to know is, yes, in fact, now they have these blessings. The new covenant was for these people then. This mediator was for them.

And when you think of the new covenant that Jesus Christ is the mediator of, it is now in force. It was in force then, right, because it's after the resurrection, and it's in force now. Luke 22, 20, likewise, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.

And then what does he do? He applies this new covenant to the church, Paul does, at Corinth. For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Did you notice what Jesus said? This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Jeremiah 31 in operation back in the days of the Corinthian epistle, and Jesus was the mediator back in those days as well. The time is now, Jesus dies on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent, torn from top to bottom, a mosaic covenant done.

New covenant here. Paul says, I'm a minister of the new covenant in 2 Corinthians 3. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant.

Not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Paul is telling first century Gentiles, Corinthian Christians, that they're ministers of the new covenant. What has to be said when you look at this is, Christian, this better covenant is for you.

Christian, this covenant is founded on better promises. Christian, this covenant has Jesus as mediator now. It's in force now. The new covenant finds its realization in who Jesus is and what he's done.

This Christian sermon, the book of Hebrews, is written for Christian encouragement. This is not something that's going to happen in the future, and you get nothing now. No, you don't want to deny the present reality of the new covenant, because I think you're going to then deny the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, Hebrews 8, 6, inasmuch as he is also, New was established on better promises. Therefore I ask you, Christian, how relevant is all this? How relevant is it to be a recipient of the new covenant and all the better promises and the better mediator and the better sacrifice, the Lord Jesus?

Even in Hebrews 10, verse 15, and the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. And then he quotes from Jeremiah 31. That is present tense language, applying this to believers in the first century. And he then explains why.

The first one was faultless, and there are issues with that Old Testament, that old covenant mosaic system. And then what does he do? He says there's going to be a new covenant, and he quotes from Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8, 8.

And he talks about the new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers. They didn't do anything rightly, those people. The law wasn't meant to save, it was not meant to shave either, not meant to save.

And of course the people rebelled and did not do that. So what does God have to do? He has to initiate, and he puts laws in their minds and writes them on their hearts. Instead of having the law inside the tabernacle, inside the Holy of Holies, inside the Ark of the Covenant, he keeps now the law in your heart.

Because that law that the Holy Spirit engraves on your heart is now that new regenerate heart. And that is right from Ezekiel 36, that new spirit that's put in you. And I ask you the question again, just how relevant is this?

And he's using prophetic language, and he's talking about the knowledge of God in this, and people are like, see, you don't need a teacher. Although Hebrews, the writer, he's teaching, listen. And they shall not teach 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.

What he's trying to say there is, he's not trying to say you don't need a teacher. He's saying this is a different covenant, and you have the saving knowledge because you have a new heart. Some people think this is, you know, you're really going to know him because the Lord Jesus comes.

That's probably true. But you have the indwelling Holy Spirit in every person, not just the one priest that walked in there once a year, and they're the ones that had access, no. And then the best one that we want to talk about a little bit more next time as well is the sins that are forgiven.

And I ask you at the very beginning, Book of Deeds or the Book of Life, and which one do you want to be in? And if you have trust in the Lord Jesus, it's just a book with your name in it, and that means you get to go to heaven because Jesus has paid for your sins.

The text says in Hebrews 8 .12, For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. That's just, that is amazing to think. No more sins to pay for, past, present, and future.

The Old Testament, Mosaic Covenant, how many sins did it really forgive? Total forgiveness in the Old Testament sacrifices. And I think you're going to find the answer, none, right? Because the way sins are forgiven is through the Lord Jesus, either looking ahead to his death or looking backwards to his death.

How was, how were David's sins forgiven? How were Abraham's sins forgiven? It's going to have to be looking forward to the Lord Jesus' death. There's no more sacrifice needed. That's one of the implications for this.

And I love the double Greek negative, no possible way, absolutely no, never, never, never, never am I going to ever remember your sins. And you'll see the Old Testament is full of these promises fulfilled in the New Covenant about as far as the East is from the West, so far does he remove our transgressions from us, blotting out transgressions, Isaiah 43, I will not remember your sins.

Great promises that we see fulfilled in the New Covenant. And so Christian, today, I want you to study the Lord Jesus Christ. Read one of the Gospels or a few chapters in the Gospels. Remember who this Jesus is and how relevant it is.

One day you're going to stand before God. And since Jesus, Christian, has paid for your sins, there's just a name in the book. No deeds to be judged. Is that good news? I think that is great news. My name is Mike Abendroth.

This is NoCompromiseRadio .com.

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 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.