02282021 - God's Final Word...
Notes
Transcript
In These Last Days...
In These Last Days...
Over the past few weeks I’ve had a little time to think about where we have been and where we are going. It’s been my practice over the past 28 years as I prepare for preaching to alternate between the Old and New Testaments - attempting to feed God’s people a well-rounded diet of His Word.
Over the past seven years we’ve heard from
Malachi and 1 John…Joshua and 1 Corinthians…Ezekiel and Ephesians…it’s Old Testament Time, but as I was thinking it struck me that there is one book in the Bible that blends the two - Old Testament and New Testament....the book of Hebrews...
Hebrews contains thirty-five direct quotations from the Old Testament, along with many allusions and references. With the Old Testament background in mind, the author argues that God’s glory and redemptive plan are finally and most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ - God’s Final Word to the World.
Most sermons we are taught in our homiletics class at seminary are designed to be presented in a reasonable amount of time (say 30 – 45 minutes), have a homiletical idea, that is the theme of the sermon, is based on the Word of God and has a Christocentric focus and are presented expositorily with some sort of application directed to those who are listening.
Many of our English Bibles begin this section of God’s word with these words,
“The Epistle – The Letter – to the Hebrews,” but let me propose to you that what some consider a ‘letter’ is in fact a ‘sermon’ encouraging us to keep our eyes focused upon the one who is the author and perfecter of our faith...
Read Hebrews 1:1-2
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Prayer of Illumination
Different genres - different types of literature found in our English Bibles…narrative, history, poetry, wisdom literature, apocalyptic writing, letters (epistles), major and minor prophets delivering what we might call sermons to God’s people...
What is a sermon?
a long or tedious piece of admonition or reproof; a lecture given by a preacher (who is usually a member of clergy).
Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts.
Elements of the sermon often include exposition, exhortation, and practical application. The act of delivering a sermon is called preaching.
https://grammarist.com/usage/homily-vs-sermon/
A Sermon Not A Letter
A Sermon Not A Letter
Hebrews is a letter only in the sense that it was written down and sent from one place to another and has a few greetings stuck on the end. But in every other way Hebrews is essentially a sermon. The author even calls his letter a "word of exhortation" in 13:22.
In Acts 13:15 this same phrase is used to describe what is there without a doubt a "sermon."
Most of my sermons are right around 2500 - 3000 words – and take give our take – 30 to 40 minutes to deliver. If you sat down and read Hebrews aloud - all 4953 words in the Greek (a little > 7000 words in the NASB), you could do it in less than an hour.
In other words it is a sermon of no great length, such a sermon, in length, as might be preached in some churches today.
We’re going to notice as we move through tHebrews that over and again the author refers to his "speech" not his "writing." For example, in Hebrews 2:5 we read, "It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking."
In Hebrews 5:11 we read, "We have much to say about this…" and so on. The author thinks of himself as speaking to his audience, not writing to them.
But Hebrews is also a sermon because of the nature of it. Hebrews is an argument based on the exposition of the Bible. It combines Old and New Testament thought and words.
As we move through the book of Hebrews we are going to find what we find in any good sermon:
the references to Scripture, the exposition, and the application of the Word directed to the life of God’s people. That is what a sermon is.
The writer of Hebrews points us in one directions - with a single theme...
A Single Theme
A Single Theme
You don't have to figure out what this author is talking about because he talks about one thing and one thing only from the beginning of his sermon to the end.
Hebrews is a sermon on the absolute necessity of a persevering faith in the one who is the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ.
This preacher is telling this congregation that it is not enough to begin the Christian pilgrimage - the race set before us, one must continue it and persevere in it to the end as a faithful Christian.
Perseverance of the saints – God preserves those He calls, but those he calls must continue on in the faith to the end! Hebrews competes only with Galatians for being the most single-minded book in the New Testament. The author makes many arguments along the way, to be sure, but they are all made as he focuses on this single point: the absolute necessity of persevering in Christian faith.
Unless we hold fast firmly to the end, we will not receive what is promised to us in the gospel of Christ. That is his message and his exhortation and he makes it over and over again.
There is a tension between God’s saving grace and our working out our salvation with fear and trembling...
3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Heb 6:4-6, 9-12
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
9 But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
You will more easily find your bearings in any part of the argument of this sermon if you remember what point the author is making and why he wrote this sermon: viz. to persuade these Christians that they must not wander from the faith, but must remain faithful to the end.
In fact, as we read through the letter we are going to notice that, like any good preacher, this author never loses sight of his readers' pressing need or his own purpose.
He doesn't leave all his exhortation to the very end. These exhortations are scattered throughout his sermon.
In fact, what we will find in Hebrews is a repeated alternation between scriptural or doctrinal exposition on the one hand and its application to the great question of his readers' perseverance on the other.
Often when we think of doctrine we think that we are dealing with something that is directed to the mind - deep intellectual thinking, but the practice of our faith must be based on the truth of our faith - right doctrine leads to right practice and living (by God’s grace)....
Practical Not Hypothetical
Practical Not Hypothetical
Hebrews is preached with great intensity to a community of Jewish Christians who are in real danger of falling behind in their faith and, in particular, of apostasy - falling away from that faith.
These people had become Christians in the midst of a community that was hostile to Christianity. They had suffered persecution for their new faith but had stood firm.
Now as time had passed, they were finding it more and more difficult to stay the course - to persevere in their faith. The constant opposition from the Jewish community was wearing on them, and they were being tempted to return to the comfortable security of the old ways. Here is how one commentator describes their situation.
"Once, at the outset of their Christian career, they had been exposed to mob-rioting (10:32f.), when they had suffered losses of property, for the sake of the gospel, and also the loud jeers and sneers which pagans and Jews alike heaped sometimes upon the disciples. This they had borne manfully, in the first glow of their enthusiasm. Now, the more violent forms of persecution had apparently passed; what was left was the dragging experience of contempt at the hand of outsiders, the social ostracism and shame, which were threatening to take the heart out of them." [Moffatt, xxii]
What made matters worse, apparently, was the fact that some of these Jewish Christians had already gone back, left the Christian faith and returned to Judaism.
In 6:4-6 and again in 10:26-31 [read]
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
We hear the hints of actual apostasy.
The point is made so seriously because this is a reality that these Christians are actually facing. The situation is very much like that addressed in 1 John, called forth by the actual apostasy of some of the members of that community.
John also speaks about the "sin unto death" by which he also means apostasy, the conscious, intentional forsaking of the faith, the rejection of the gospel of Christ, by one who had claimed to believe it and was taken to be a member of the Christian church and now has denied their faith.
In any case, it is clear that Hebrews was written to address a spiritual crisis in a Jewish Christian community.
It is not a doctrinal discourse, it is a desperate appeal to stay the course!
That is so relevant today.
However, that is all we can say about this community to which the letter was written. We don't know where they lived and we don't know exactly when the letter was written. We don’t who wrote this sermon....
We do know this was written to encourage believers of all ages to persevere in their salvation...
Persevering Salvation
Persevering Salvation
The last twelve months have involved a great deal of PERSEVERANCE! … BUT IT FEELS GOOD TO GET SOMETHING DONE AND OVER - TO GET IT BEHIND YOU AND TO MOVE ON...
It’s good to get something over and done with.
Don’t you feel great when you finally get those taxes off in the mail? But then in ten minutes you start thinking about being audited.
Isn’t it wonderful to come to Christ and know your sins are forgiven? But then too many things go wrong and you wonder why the Lord doesn’t notice....
You faithfully come to worship and submit yourself to listening to a sermon and wonder why the preacher says sounds flat.
You pray and pray and pray and begin to think God must be more bored with your prayers than you are.
Our lives lived out as Christians are difficult at times...
We can’t say the Lord didn’t warn us.
He tells us that we’re here to run a race with weary knees and drooping hands (Heb 12:12).
He doesn’t mean we are going to run fast 50-yard dash either, where it’s all over before we can think about it. Even a marathon is only three hours. But the strait and narrow path we’re on just keeps getting steeper and rougher.
After we stagger up Heartbreak Hill, straight up in front of us is Peril Peak. Just behind that us see Agony Alp filling up the sky.
The world smirks at you that truth is fuzzy, that nothing will ever change, and that you’re a fool if you don’t take what you can get.
Maybe you can remember when temptation wasn’t so blatant, but now it’s just a finger-touch away on your TV control. It’s getting worse too.
‘In the world you have tribulation… (John 16:33).
‘Those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive’ (Mark 13:19–20).
And what we can see is nothing compared to what’s actually there.
We are told our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12)...
We’re actually fighting with Satan, the liar, hungry for your soul. It doesn’t just happen that you’re hemmed in by groaning and complainers. It doesn’t just happen that you feel like quitting. When you’re already confused, then Satan spits lies at you. When you’re already in deep trouble because of old sinful habits, then he tells you Jesus doesn’t love you.
It isn’t easy to walk in faith when your life is hard. The Bible is full of people who said to the Lord, ‘Why am I hurting when the wrong people are doing just fine? Are you sure, Lord, that you mean what you say?’
If you start reacting like that, you’ll really be in trouble.
Malachi knew people who said,
‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape’ (Malachi 3:14–15).
Ideas have consequences....What they thought they acted upon. They thought sacrificing to the Lord was a burden, so they brought him just the leftovers of the herd and held back their tithes (1:6–14, 3:6–12).
When you don’t know how to handle trouble, you’re on the way to half-hearted worship. Then you’re about to tune the Lord out entirely. You’re over the chasm of unbelief.
We need to be realistic - we need to see more than the dangers ahead.
You need to see how the Lord is protecting you through those dangers....
In 2 Kings 6, Elisha’s servant was terrified by the enemy army all around them. But then the Lord answered Elisha’s prayer and opened his servant’s eyes. He saw who was really all around them—it was the Lord with his chariots of fire! He learned that ‘those who are with us are more than those who are with them’.
But you see much more than that.
You see the ‘one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’ (1 John 4:4).
You know how much you want to quit.
But you know too that on the cross Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ After finishing ‘he sat down’.
Now he’s done all that needs to be done for your salvation, right through to the end. After telling you that, the Lord encourages you to pray with confidence now, since Jesus has opened the way.
He asks you to find out how you can spur each other on to love and good deeds. He calls you to keep on encouraging each other (Heb. 10:1–25).
Jesus is the author and perfecter of your faith - He finished your complete salvation.
He laid down his life for his sheep, for you, for me, to give us eternal life. ‘They shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand’ (John 10:28–30).
And he prays for you: ‘Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me’ (John 17:11–12).
He prays that way for you today. He knows what you need. Once Satan came to him and said, ‘You’re hungry, so make some bread. You can have the world if you worship me.’ And at the end Jesus cried out, ‘Let this cup pass from me.’ Three times.
He knows how hard faithful persevering obedience is. He knows what to ask for you. The Father hears his prayers.
‘Be not weary in well-doing.’ That’s your calling from the Lord for the rest of your life.
It’s a hard calling.
You’ll be stretched to the limits of your strength and courage, and beyond. But you’ll never be beyond the reach of his eternal love because God has given us his Final Word summed up in one word - JESUS.
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.