Morals and Faithfulness Part 2
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I want to clear up something I said last week concerning Hebrews. If you recall, I said this letter does not have the typical opening of a 1st century letter stating clearly who the intended recipients were. Like Paul’s letters “To the saints who are in Ephesus.”
Some of you may have gotten the impression as you read this and I hope some of you did read it that the letter was clearly written to people with a Hebrew background. We don’t know the specific group of Jewish Christians the letter was written but they were as the letter states Hebrews
› › Pray
ESV
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 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. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
If you recall last week we talked about three basic categories for MORALS in the chapter:
1) How we act toward others.
2) How we act toward ourselves
3) How we act toward God.
› (1) Brotherly Love and how we act toward others
Remember Jesus is our example of Philadelphia; He had compassion for the Apostles, for people who were just curious and even those who came to arrest Him and kill Him, “Father forgive them for they no not what they do.”
› (2) Hospitality and how we act toward others
We never know how far-reaching the kindness and hospitality we give will go in spreading the gospel and glorifying God.
Jesus said “I was a stranger and you invited me in … I was in prison and you came to visit me.” , :
› (3) Sympathy and how we act toward others
Just as the Apostle Paul received aid from the Philippians there are those persecuted brothers and sisters today around the world in need of our prayers and support. They are worthy of our help for their faith in the Lord.
Even the vile and cruel sinners in prison for crimes beyond our imagination deserve to hear the Gospel for the first, second, third or infinite number of times. Paul plants, Apollos waters but God gives the growth.
› (4) Purity and how we act toward ourselves
Our impurity and love of riches will break down our lives internally and it does more damage to us than to others, it condemns us to eternal suffering. Once we let, impurity or desire for money in, our heart hardens toward God and His commands. Then our brotherly love, hospitality, sympathy and contentment go out the window.
› (5) Contentment and how we act toward ourselves
The true follower of Jesus has contentment because we are centered on the Lord in our hearts and our faith in Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and an always-firm foundation, never rocked or washed away by trials, persecutions or the shifting sand. Because while we were sinners He came and died for us so that, we are covered in His righteousness.
Christ and the salvation he has given us will make us put aside our worldly possession, cares and the fleshly desires to see the Glory that surrounds Him in eternity and to glorify Him. This peace will lead us to brotherly love, sympathy, Purity and Contentment.
› (6) Faithfulness and how we act toward God
If you recall we briefly touched on verse 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
The author of Hebrews was encouraging the readers to imitate their leaders from the past. We should do the same today, look to the leaders in scripture; the Apostles Barnabas, Timothy, or take the women Lydia as an example from .
So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
I encouraged you also last week to look and watch and imitate leaders in the local church.
1. Are they reverent to the Lord and do they respect His place and time of worship?
2. How do they conduct themselves, how do their families conduct themselves?
3. Are they good stewards of what God has given?
4. Are they faithful to God and do they display love, hospitality, sympathy, purity and contentment.
8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” This verse recounts the words spoken about Jesus already in Hebrews and reminds us of His faithfulness to us.
1. He is the same 1:12 “like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
2. Yesterday 1:1 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by prophets”
3. Today 3:7,8 “Therefore as the Holy Spirit says;” ‘Today, if you hear his voice’ do not harden you hearts as a rebel-lion on the day of testing in the wilderness”
and verse 4:7 “again he appoints a certain day, “Today”, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”
4. Forever, turn to chapter 7, stay with me I want to go through a few verses here.
7:17, 21, 24 and 28, 6:19
He is our High Priest, constantly interceding on our behalf.
Laws and Sacrifice
Laws and Sacrifices were very very important to the New Testament Jews. They were the products of generations that had grown up over centuries to be a society called to follow the laws given by Moses in the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Old Testament). After the exile and the period between the testaments, the religious leaders began to develop laws to surround the laws give to the Jews. The idea was to design man-made laws to protect the law give to Moses.
This resulted in the six parts of the Jewish Talmud, If you have ever seen one it is truly fascinating to see the detail they have put into these volumes of books. The six parts are; a section on agriculture, a section on feasts, a section on women, a section on civil and ceremonial law and legal matters, a section on sacrifices and a section on unclean things and their purification. All of these are focused on what you can do and what you can't do in relating to the topic of each section and law give in the Pentateuch. Now all of those sections are loaded with law after law after law for the conduct of the Jews.
This came from just to help us understand why the Jewish nation was so faithful to the law we need to look at some of this so we’ll start in verse 5.
See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, Moses was telling them Look God gave you these laws and commands, He is giving you land to posses and took you out of bondage. Continuing in verse 6, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
Other nations had gods they worshiped and sacrificed to but none had laws and commandments that set them apart. Just think about the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. No other nation had this moral law. They worshiping numerous idols, man made of course, mistreating others and took what they wanted because they coveted.
Here was a nation different, living by a moral law.
Verse 9 in Deuteronomy continues “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
Remember last week? Impurity and love of riches make us calloused to God and we will not love and care for others.
Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
It is no wonder that by the time Jesus came on the scene we find in the New Testament that the Jews were meticulously concerned with obeying laws, weren't they? They got literally bent out of shape when they saw Jesus' disciples not doing the things that were prescribed by the law.
Ceremonial hand washing, picking grain on the Sabbath. Even more so when Jesus did something that was not allowed in the law they had a terrible time handling these issue. One pastor remarked “Jesus said your only problem is you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. What He (Jesus) meant was you are all worried about the minutiae of the law and you're blasting to pieces all of the principles that God really wanted to communicate through the law. You kept the letter of the law and lost the message of it.”
The sacrifices set up in Leviticus were a very elaborate system of offerings. These included voluntary and mandatory sacrifices.
- The voluntary offerings were usually grain and drink. The purpose of the grain offering was to express thanksgiving in recognition of God’s provision and unmerited goodwill toward the person making the sacrifice. The priests were to have a portion of this offering, but it had to be eaten within the court of the tabernacle.
- The mandatory sacrifices existed of two types. First the sin offering: this was to atone for sin and cleanse from defilement. These could be a young bull, a male goat, a female goat, a dove/pigeon, or small portion of fine flour. The type of sacrifice used was based on the identity and financial situation of the giver.
Each sacrifice had specific instructions for what to do with the blood of the animal. The fatty portions and lobe of the liver and kidneys were given to God (burnt); the rest of the animal was either totally burned on the altar and the ashes thrown outside the camp or eaten within the tabernacle court. Except for one.
In we read about the consecration of the Priest of the tabernacle. The first priests were Arron and his sons. The whole chapter of is a great read and if you haven’t read it I suggest you give it some time. This sacrifice had to be done every year so that the High Priest could enter the holy of holies the inner part of the tent where the Arch of the Covenant was placed.
Here is what the book says about consecrating the priest and the sacrifice of the atoning bull. Starting in verse 10
“Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
I thought we needed to cover the law and sacrifices a little before we go into the reast of this text. I want you to keep this in mind as we move along and remember how these first century Hebrews understood things.
9a Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings,
We must consistently guard against the teaching that is different than the gospel we have heard and the gospel that saved us.
You see the people who received this letter are firmly planted in this legalistic, Pharisaical, multi-layered law and they were burdened with it. Even so it was hard for them to give up the man made laws and sacrifices they were accustomed to.
I saw a story on TV sometime ago, I hardly watch TV anymore, even the news. The story was about a city in Europe somewhere, or maybe Norway or Sweden. Any way they had done away with all their stop signs and signal lights. Just the speed limit, directional and informational signs remained. At first the reporter said it was hard for the people to drive. They didn’t no what to do. But, very soon they began to drive more cautiously and courteously. Taking turns at intersections and cooperating to keep the traffic moving.
It’s not the same thing but these Hebrews having tradition passed down and the basic laws and commands of the Lord surrounded by these meniscal man made laws for maybe 2-300 hundred years now suddenly free from the burden and bondage of law, it had to be difficult right?
In Martin Luther’s last sermon….. preached before he departed Wittenberg for Eisleben in Feb 1646.
Called out his congregation because some of them had been going to another town to see relics.
They were paying to see junk items collected by Rome’s Pope that were supposed to have power.
These same people had listened to Luther preach against this stuff and here they were going right back to it.
This is why in so many of the New Testament epistles; from Paul, Peter, John and all the writers warn us against drifting away to things that itch our ears.
Less than 30 years after Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the door they were wondering away from the true gospel.
The Hebrews were doing the same thing 30 some years after Christ was nailed to the cross.
It is possible that some of these Hebrews may have heard or seen Jesus.
How much more important is it for us to guard against this when we are 2000 or 500 years away from Jesus, the Apostles and the reformation?
9b for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
True strengthening of the heart occurs as God works in you. As we grow in His grace we act according to His will.
No man’s effort, no food can strengthen us against this drifting away.
No repetitive prayers, Hail Mary or temple baptism service as a substitute for the dead can strengthen us.
No empting ourselves by chanting, posing or meditating can strengthen us.
Sola fide—sola gratia “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
These Hebrews should not regard themselves as being deprived of the normal access to God, and feasting in his presence, which took place at the Temple. Priest and Temple worker had the privilege of eating the sacrifices that were to be consumed at the time of sacrifice.
But the Christian has an altar’ at which Temple worshipers cannot eat or even go to. This is at the foot of the Cross-. Our final sacrifice was made there and we can lay our burden down and rest in the fact that our sins are forgiven.
11 and 12 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. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
The repeated sacrifice of animals to atone for the sins of the high priest to enter the most holy place of the temple became corrupted with priest’s sin. This sacrifice had to be accomplished over and over again.
So foul were these sacrifices that they had to be burned way from the city.
Jesus was not killed in sight of the temple like the bull. He was taken away from the temple outside the city, our sin bearing down on Him.
His death was not like the bulls whose throat was cut to quickly collect the blood to be spread on the horns and pour out at the based of the alter.
No, He suffered slowly, in the sight of gentiles and Jews. He was mocked, scourged, spit on and cursed at. This was done to sanctify us for all sin, yours and mine, everyone’s sin.
This was the blood of God’s flesh the perfect and sinless, spotless and blameless Holy Son of God. He is the perfect High Priest that intercedes for us so we may approach the LORD God Almighty.
13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
These Hebrew believers were called to go outside their traditional and birth right religion. To give up family and friends, and brothers and sisters and lands and houses to follow the one true God who suffered and took all their sins.
7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
(ESV)
We must also give up the world, our family, friends, brothers, sisters, and comforts sometimes even careers and share in the reproach he receives as the world rejects him.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, as he is pure. .
Are your ready for this part?
14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
The New Testament Hebrew believed that at the coming of the Messiah, Jerusalem would be restored to glory. The author is telling these believers that the city of their tradition would not last. If this letter were written when we said last week between a.d. 67 to 69, this would have proven to be very true, when the Romans came and destroyed it and the temple.
But we epizēteō seek the city that is to come. The Greek word used here means to strive for.
This same word is used in
(ESV)
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
What was Israel Seeking?
(ESV) say:
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it LISTEN to this by faith, but as if it were based on works.
We seek the new city that will come through faith.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 11.
If you have an ESV there is a heading that says BY FAITH yours might say Triumphs in Faith, Faith in Action.
(ESV)
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
(ESV)
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
It is by faith that we honor God. If we are faithful as all these examples Able, Abraham, Sarah, Enoch and others, even though they did not know of Jesus and did not have a Holy Priest to intercede for them they are assured of this new city. As Jesus Christ revealed to the Apostle John a city with no temple, “Its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” . Where the “true worshipers will all worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”
He is seeking diligently searching for people to worship Him. If you are His and He is calling you surrender and you will be His possession and He will be yours.
I want to close us in prayer and but I think nothing praises God more than we return His word to him as an offering.
Please pray with me.
Father in heaven your name is holy and you are the Almighty. We are not worthy of the sacrifice you made for us on the cross.
Lord Jesus we come to you that we may through You, continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God “let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of Your deeds in songs of Joy!” Lord this is our voluntarily offering made of our freewill not out of obligation but in Faith. Please “Accept our freewill offering of praise, O Lord, - that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge Your name.
Jesus I ask that we do not neglect to do good and to share what we have, let us contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Our hope is that we may present ourselves as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God, we pray that this is our spiritual worship.” Amen.