Book of Hebrews, Part 3

Nice to have our whole congregation back here. Be able to get the kids out of the snow banks. That's right. We always are glad to have our little kids back. And so I wanted to continue, actually continue and complete what I intend to cover in the book of Hebrews today. I know that we've reviewed two different aspects of the book of Hebrews. First of all, that the primary focus of the book is on the fact that Jesus Christ is our merciful high priest, and that we are honoring Him. We look to Him for help, and we appreciate the fact that He's at the right hand of God, and that is, in a sense, our intercessor with the Father. And secondly, as we've gone over, that we are all embracing the better covenant, the new covenant. There are many different implications of that, as we've had covered even in other of our services here recently, as far as the benefits of the new covenant, the aspects of that that we have entered into as we were baptized and became a part of the Church of God, and then ultimately with that begettle, with that beginning, we will ultimately be born as sons and daughters of God in His family. And I want, in concluding here what I hope to say about the book of Hebrews, I want to cover some of the warnings. You actually have a lot of illustration there in the book of Hebrews, and as I've said, it seems to be directed to those who would be familiar with the law, which all of us are. We're familiar with it. We've been aware of it. We've been brought into the Church even aware of it. And yet also there are warnings. Actually, almost every chapter has some warnings, but I'm only going to go over a few of those warnings today, because it really is wonderful to see if we start in the first chapter or two here of the book of Hebrews, where we'll primarily be focused entirely here this morning.

We see that our future. This is the whole purpose that God is working out on this earth at this time. His concern is with us. Now, He's concerned, and He loves the rest of the world, yes, but He's specially concerned with us because, you read here at the end of chapter 1, He's talking about how much greater Jesus is than any angel, how much more powerful and awesome. And of course, He's eternal as opposed to the angelic realm having been created. And yet it says in verse 14 about the angels, not all angels, spirits in the divine service, sent to serve or to minister for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. Here He points out, and if Paul was the author, which I think is fairly likely, but I don't know that definitively, He points out that ministers are, or angels are to minister to, they are to serve those who are the heirs of salvation. And that's us. That's people who embrace the truth of God, who embrace the new covenant, who are growing toward that divine family that's described in chapter 2. It says in chapter 2, let's see, in verse 9 it says, Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, but now is crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. So by grace of God, He might taste death for everyone. It was fitting in verse 10 that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, it was fitting that God, in bringing many sons and daughters, many children to glory, He should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. You hear, this is again a description of what God's great purpose is. What His plan is, is to bring sons and daughters to glory, to be glorified, even as Jesus is glorified today. We read in John 17 how Jesus asked the Father, glorify me again as I was with you before the world began. And so He says, I want to extend that glory. And you find that also in Romans chapter 8, that the whole world, the whole creation is awaiting the time when the children of God are going to be glorified. And so I think it's good for us to look at the warnings, the warnings that are here in the book of Hebrews that are written to us for our benefit and to examine the pitfalls that we could have on our spiritual journey. We're in the process, if we've begun that process of eternal life, seeking eternal life, seeking the kingdom of God, then we're on a journey that will eventually cause us to be a part of God's divine family. But what are the pitfalls? What are the things that we should avoid? Well, He enumerates these quite clearly here throughout this book, and so I want to cover several of these, starting in chapter 2. Starting in chapter 2, verse 1, He says, Therefore, because the angels are ministering spirits to those who are the heirs of salvation, He says, Therefore, we should pay greater attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. For if the message declared the angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect the great salvation that God holds out before us? This is what Paul was stating to those Jewish Christians. He was saying, how important is it to you that God has set you on a path to salvation? Is that of the primary focus in your life? That's what he was telling them. He said, this is significant. This is important. We don't want to be allowed to drift away. We don't want you to be neglectful. He goes on in verse 3 to say it was declared at first. This salvation that we seek, it was declared at first through the Lord. It was attested to us by those who heard Him.

And while God added His testimony by signs and wonders and miracles, various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

He points out here the very first thing is that we don't want to become neglectful. We don't want to become lethargic or indifferent. We don't want to allow ourselves to just kind of drift away, to drift aside to where the focus of our lives is apart from seeking eternal life.

See, now, if we slack off in our contact with God in prayer or in studying God's Word, well, then we're kind of drifting a little. And, of course, this warning is I don't want you to drift away. I don't want you to neglect the salvation and the communion with God that He enables us to have.

And so, certainly, you know, this first warning, you know, this is very similar to what we read back in Deuteronomy 6.

As the Israelites were going into the Promised Land, as they were going in to receive all the blessings, Deuteronomy 6, verse 10 through 12, I won't read that fully.

But what it tells us, as you go in and receive blessings, and as things maybe become even a little bit comfortable, as you receive blessings from God, take care that you don't forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

See, that's the same warning, the same warning that we read here to all of us as Christians today.

I'd like to go on to chapter 3, because in chapter 3 you have another warning, another warning.

Again, this is about the Israelites. It was about the ancestors of those He was writing to, because they knew they were Jewish. They knew they were familiar with the law. They knew they were Israelite.

But here in chapter 3, starting in verse 7, it says, It says, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear my voice or His voice, what does it say in verse 8?

Do not harden your heart, as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness when your ancestors put me to the test.

Though they had seen my works for forty years, here He's reminding them of, well, the children of Israel were brought out of the land of Egypt.

They were brought out miraculously. And we've got this new TV series, the Bible.

I don't know if any of you have seen any of that. I watched part of it the other night. It kind of irritated me, the way they sometimes represent stuff.

And actually, even the attitude or the look of some of the people just kind of get under my skin. I didn't see the first part, which I understood to be even more scrambled than the second part.

But they're not, I guess, really trying to be technically correct. They're trying to be theatrical.

And so, certainly, something about the Bible is better than no thing about the Bible, which is what many people might watch a movie.

They may not read the book. It would be better to read the book. But as we look at this, you know, this morning in chapter 3, verse 8, is to not harden your heart, because this is what happened to the Israelites.

And I again refer back to Deuteronomy in chapter 10. And again, I'm not going to read through all of these verses.

But in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12 through 16, you actually see a summary of what it is that God required of the Israelites.

And of course, Deuteronomy was written in kind of after the 40 years and before they went into the promised land.

And the summary that Moses was making was, what does God require of you?

And actually, maybe I should look back at that, because here in Deuteronomy 10, and I think verse 16 is what I want to focus on.

Deuteronomy 10, yeah, this says what they're supposed to do in verse 12. What does God require? Fear the Lord, walk in His ways, love Him, serve the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, keep the commandments of God.

This is a directive, not only that they had, but that we have today. This is the way of life that we live.

But He said in verse 16, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.

Now that's again quite revealing.

Whenever you see the description in Hebrews, well, don't harden your heart.

And even directly back here in Deuteronomy 10, 16, don't be stubborn any longer.

I wonder if any Israelite has a proclivity to be stubborn.

Do any of us have that proclivity? Let's go back to Hebrews 3 again.

Hebrews 3 and verse 12, see, talking about this same thing, about not hardening your hearts.

It says, take care, brethren, that none of you have an evil and unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

To hear this warning is about our heart. It's about not having a hard heart.

It goes on in verse 13, exhort one another every day, as long as it is today, so that none of you may be hardened.

Having a hard heart be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.

You hear this warning is about hard-heartedness. This is about stubbornness.

It's about examining this pitfall, knowing that that pitfall is there.

And actually, I think you see a description back in Ezekiel in talking about the transition of the Old and the New Covenant, and actually being given a different heart.

Not a heart of what? Stone. That's the type of heart that he essentially was saying the Israelites and human beings in general have.

But I want you to have a heart of flesh or a soft, malleable, teachable, moldable, not stubborn heart.

And I know as I was talking with my wife about this particular sermon, and about this point in the sermon, she had told me about an illustration she had seen that I think is applicable here.

And it involves realizing, well, I don't want to be stubborn. I don't want to be hard-hearted. I want to be moldable by God. I want to have a soft heart.

And what she pointed out to me is that we need to guard our hearts.

Because as we go through trials, which we go through, and we know of others who go through trials, and in a sense we go through those trials together with them, we can allow trials to soften us and to help us see how much we need God and how much we need help.

Or, if we're not guarding our heart, we can allow a trial to harden us where we fail, why did God let me have to go through that? Almost to the point of blaming God for whatever trial I might have experienced.

There's a need, I think, to guard our heart. And that's what he's saying here in chapter 3. That's a warning. Don't harden your heart, but have a desire to have a heart of flesh, a heart that is soft and tender.

And of course you see the examples of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. That is what we want to see.

The third warning that I will point out here in the book of Hebrews is in chapter 4.

Chapter 4, verse 1, it says, Therefore, while the promise of entering is rest is open, it's still open. Let us take care that none of us should seem to have failed to reach it.

That's almost got a tone of warning to it, even in the very first verse. In verse 2 he says, In the good news, the gospel came to us just as it came to them.

And so the good news, the message of the kingdom of God comes to us, even as God extended good news to the Israelites, as far as extending a promised land to them.

He says, Indeed, the gospel came to us just as to them, but the message they heard didn't benefit them because it was not united by faith with those who listened.

And so here it says, What became defective, what was wrong, was not only the fact the Israelites were affected with human nature, but they didn't have and didn't see the value and the need to live by faith, to unite what they understood or what they had occurring in their lives to unite that with faith.

And if we drop down a few verses, it says in verse 6, Since therefore the promise that is before us, the rest remains open for us to enter, those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of their disobedience.

See, because they didn't have faith, because they didn't look to God to help them and to lift them up and encourage them and to strengthen them by His power, well, then they became disobedient. And of course, they didn't receive the promised land. At least many of them died in the wilderness because they didn't have faith and they fell to disobedience.

And down in verse 11, it says, Let us therefore make every effort to enter the rest so that no one fails through such disobedience as theirs.

There's another direct warning or statement about, well, it's not only about our heart, it's not only about neglect, it's about just disobeying.

We want to be sure that we are on guard against that pitfall.

The next warning that I want to focus on is in chapter 6. And I guess in a sense, we could say, actually, it starts here even in chapter 5. Between chapter 5 and 6, you've got several warnings.

But in verse 11, it says about this, we have much to say that it's hard to explain since you Christians, you Jewish Christians, you Christians aware of the law, you are dull in understanding.

Now, are we dull in understanding? This is what Paul was saying to those Christians. Are you dull in understanding?

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic elements of the oracles of God, you need milk instead of solid food.

See, what was he telling them? He says you're dull in understanding. You ought to be able to deal with more spiritual topics, but you're stuck back here in first grade.

You're stuck on the basics, and of course he starts enumerating the basics in chapter 6. He says let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teachings about Christ and not laying the foundation of repentance and then baptism and eternal judgment.

In verse 3, God will, we will do so if God permits, but in verse 4 he says, for it's impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God, the powers of the age to come, and then if they fall away, it's impossible.

Since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. See here he's describing what? He's describing a lack of spiritual maturity.

See now we can clearly see the basics that we all began with, repentance and baptism and an understanding of laying on of hands and of the fact the resurrection is a reality and that eternal judgment is what we wish to avoid as far as certainly the judgment of death.

We want to accept the offer and the gift of life, but he warns us, he says, I want you to evaluate your spiritual growth. I want you to think about how am I growing in the fruit of the Spirit of God?

See this is what they were being told. He warns them, tells them, I don't want you to fall away. You know, falling away or turning aside from the path that God has put you on, you know, that is certainly neglecting everything that God has given you and clearly not growing as he's encouraging them to do.

But of course, in verse 9, he actually gives them very encouraging words because he says, even though we speak in this way, and he knew he was saying this in somewhat of a stern way, says, don't neglect the sacrifice that is given for you. If you understand the way in which God extended his love to us through sending Jesus to the earth and allowing him to go through the death that he did, don't neglect that. Don't fall or turn aside from that.

But he says in verse 9, even though we're speaking in this way, beloved, we are confident. We are confident of better things, confident of better things, in your case, things that belong to salvation. He said, I know you don't want to do that, but I'm putting this warning in here just so you know, just so you're reminded, and just so you perhaps are encouraged to evaluate, well, how am I growing spiritually?

How am I avoiding the pitfalls that the Bible points out that I should be avoiding? And of course, you know, he says he's confident that they will do much better. And he goes on in verse 10, for God is not unjust. He'll not overlook your work and the love that you've shown for his sake in serving others, in serving the saints, as you still do. And we want each of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those whose faith and patience inherit the promise.

I think the tone, even though at times it seems stern, but it also seems filled with love and encouragement, and wanting them to respond by accepting the warning, appreciating the fact that they've been given such a wonderful calling, and that they truly are going to rely on Jesus Christ to enable them to enter the Promised Land, the Promised Rest that is described here more so in chapter 4. Let's turn on over to chapter 10. We go through several verses or chapters there that deal with the tabernacle and the spiritual connection that we have with the New Covenant.

In chapter 10, you've got another warning. It's actually, in a sense, a call that can only be applicable to someone who's already on the way. They're already on the way to eternal life.

They're already pursuing the life that God holds out before us in the future, and yet you find here in chapter 10, he actually gives a call to persevere.

He says, you've begun on the right path. I don't want anything to sidetrack you. I want you to know that perseverance and patience is going to be required.

Here in chapter 10, verse 26, it says, if we willingly persist in sin, after having received the knowledge of the truth, then there no longer remains a sacrifice. He actually has this kind of a tone in several of the warnings that are given.

He says, if we willingly persist in sin after we've received the knowledge of the truth, then there no longer remains the sacrifice for sin, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversary. Here he describes clearly something I think we've probably read.

I've certainly read in the past, and I think I've misunderstood the statement in verse 26, because I think it should be understood if we willingly persist in sin.

Now, that's not saying that we are sinless or without sin, because then none of us would be able to fit that category.

But it's saying, we want to be struggling against sin. We want to be recognizing, acknowledging, and turning from sin.

You know, willingly persisting in sin is just not caring. Not really caring. And yet, even as we sin, we probably care. We are concerned.

We maybe even hate that we're as weak as we are, and we wish.

And I know there have been times when I have prayed earlier in the day that I would not want to do whatever it is that I know is wrong and end up doing it anyway.

And yet, you know, I need to maintain a consistency and closeness to God. I know that's wrong, and I don't want that.

But willingly persisting in sin is not without sin, but actually struggling. Struggling against sin.

And of course, this whole example that he's going to use here is, in a sense, asking us what kind of a runner are we?

Are we a sprinter, or are we a marathoner? Because the calling that we have been given is not a sprint.

You know, we're not the 100 or 200 meter runners. Some of you are or were. I think Brian was. Maybe he still is a sprinter.

I certainly never wanted to get in the short race, and I didn't really want to get in the long race either, because I didn't know that I could last to the end.

But we used to do the mile or the two-mile, and I think we used to have to do a mile within a certain range, at least in college.

And, you know, there were short races, then were longer races. And there, of course, a marathon was 26 miles. 26.3 miles.

And that's, in a sense, kind of the race that we have been placed in. It's a race till the end, and it's a race, you know, that we want to persist in.

And as it goes ahead to say, then, in verse 32, recall the earlier days when, after you were enlightened, you endured hard struggle with suffering, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those who are treated.

For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possession, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.

Here, he's trying to get them to think back to when you began, to the zeal that you had, to the encouragement that you had, even though things were not so good. There were troubles and problems that you had to overcome. But he says, think back about that. And he says in verse 35, Do not abandon that confidence of yours, because it brings a great reward, for you need persistence. You need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what's been promised. For it says in verse 38 or in verse 39, We are not among those who shrink back and are lost, but among those who have faith and are saved.

So this warning is really just a warning to persevere, a warning that we've been set on a race that's a race for now until the end of our lives. And yet we want to run that race with patience.

We want to run that race with faith in God, because clearly he has all power. And our closeness to Jesus Christ and to the power that he extends, now that's limitless. There is no limit to that power that's available to us. And so he wants us, even as he mentions here, to bring your race with faith. We are among those who have faith and are so saved. And then he goes through the entirety of chapter 11, talking about faith. Talking about the faith that so many others had where they were looking to the future.

They were looking. We could look at that one verse in verse 13 of chapter 11. He says, All of these died in faith without having received the promise. But from a distance they saw and greeted the promise. They confessed they were strangers and foreigners in the land. And it says in verse 16, they desired a better country, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. Indeed, he has prepared his city for them.

That's a race that we are a part of today and that we are pursuing and that we observe as we respect the Holy Days, as we keep the Sabbath weekly, but as we respect the Holy Days throughout the year, as we look forward to the spring Holy Days, we want to persevere in doing that. The final warning that I'll mention is just here in chapter 12. Because in chapter 12, you find the author wrapping up this book. He actually gives a number of exhortations in chapter 12 and in chapter 13.

Some of them are kind of disjointed. They're just kind of one after the next. But he gives a big section here, again to Jewish Christians, again to those who were familiar with the Bible. Those who, to a degree, could take for granted that they had the Bible available. Who could take for granted that they were a part of something that was really, really important. And he makes a contrast starting in verse 18. Between the Israelites, chapter 12 verse 18 starts a section describing what the Israelites faced when they were looking at the mountain.

And they were fearful of God, and they were apprehensive about what might happen. And he says, you know, you were really, really terrified. Your ancestors were terrified back there. But he says those of you who are alive today, those of you who are hearing my words, who are reading what I have to say, it says in verse 22, you have come not to a mountain where God was causing the mountain to quake, not to a mountain where, you know, He told you to guard and don't walk up on it and don't even let any animals walk up on it.

He says you've not come to that type of a physical manifestation from God, but he says in verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion. You have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels and festal gathering into the church, the assembly of the firstborn, who were enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all, and to the spirit of the righteous, made perfect.

And you have come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the word of Abel. And so he says you've not just kind of seen and been afraid of God as your ancestors were. You've been brought into an intimate, close relationship with the Father and the Son who can save you, who can give you eternal life. You've been brought into contact with the Church of God.

And of course, that's what this whole book is about, understanding the relationship that Jesus has to the church and to the individual's significance he has to each member of the church. And then to this warning, he says in verse 25, see that you do not refuse the one who is speaking.

And so he says pay attention. Pay attention to what I am telling you because I'm not just writing these words because I happen to want to. I'm writing these words at the direction of God. I'm writing these words as a participant in the Church of God. And so he says, see that you don't refuse the one who is speaking, for if you did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warned from heaven?

He goes on in verse 26 at that time. His voice shook the earth, but now he promises that, yet once more I will shake not only the earth but the entire heaven. And this phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of what is shaken, that is, created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks so that we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

He kind of concludes, you know, telling them, I want you to pay attention to what I'm saying, because you've been brought into a very special relationship with the Father, our Father God, and with our Mediator, Jesus Christ. And you are in embracing a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

You know, this is permanent that He is going to hold out before us eternal life in this kingdom. And so He says, because that's the case, you're receiving a kingdom that can't be shaken. Let's be thankful by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe. So He says, I want you not to refuse the one who is warning you from heaven. I want you to appreciate the fact that we understand something about the Passover, that we understand something about the days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost.

These are observances that we celebrate throughout the year. But we want to appreciate and, as it says, to receive these with thanksgiving and then to worship God with reverence and awe. This warning, kind of a concluding warning, it gives another expectation here in chapter 13 that I won't cover. See, this warning, numbers of warnings, are things that we can examine. Things that we can, from being neglectful, from having a hard part, from being disobedient, from being dull of understanding, of not persevering or not feeling like, or thinking, I don't know if I can make it to the end of the race.

He says you can't. You can make it to the end of the race because you've been given the tools to do that. And actually, what we find here in the first part of chapter 12 is what I'll conclude with, because he says these warnings are for your benefit, they're for your good. Yet he says what I really want you to do in verse 12, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses in verse 1. Since we're surrounded by all of these, and in writing this to Jewish Christians, I would assume they were all familiar with, and we are familiar with, the stories of Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and then all of the others that are mentioned, David and Samson and Rahab, and others who are said to have had faith.

Since we're surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so closely clings to us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. We've been drawn into the race. We've been given the tools. We've been given the blessing of knowing what's going on in this world. Otherwise, you look out at the world, and it would appear to be a haphazard, disjointed, unpredictable, unfriendly, hostile world. That's what people have to see if they don't see something beyond this world.

But he says, I want you to run that race that you have been set on, that race that is a marathon. I want you to run the race with perseverance. In verse 2, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, disregarding the shame and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

This, of course, is what he wanted them to fully realize when he, in chapter 8, explained that Jesus was our high priest. He says, you can look to him, you can appreciate him, you can be empowered by him. And he goes on to say, in chapter 12, verse 3, consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners. That's quite a summary statement of what you read in the chapters that describe the abuse that Jesus endured before he was then crucified and allowed his blood to be shed to die.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from the ones that he was here to save, the sinners. So that you may not grow weary or lose heart. This, again, was an encouragement. He had given warnings, and throughout this book he gives warnings to us. And if we read those today, then we can benefit from examining the pitfalls that are so clearly outlined here.

They're not pitfalls that we have to stay in. They're not like the sinkhole there in Florida, where the guy was just completely swallowed by this. That's a very unusual thing to happen, I would assume. And yet, more of that may be on the horizon as we look to the end of the age, not just sinkholes, but other catastrophic things that would happen. But not be swallowed up. We're not in any trug hole we might run into.

God can pull us back out of it. He can pull us back out of any. But He wants us to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ and then be grateful that we have a merciful high priest who is concerned about us, who is willing to die for us, who is willing to give his life, but then more so is willing to live in us.

And that's what He wants us to do as we keep our eyes on Him. So, I hope that in looking at these warnings, that these can be a part of a guide in examining ourselves. But He tells us here in verse 3 not to grow weary and not to lose heart, because we have a very faithful high priest who will always cause us to be successful.