HEBREWS
Class • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
Hebrews - Who, Whom, Why
Hebrews - Who, Whom, Why
3 different categories
1) reflective - reflect back on one man Jesus Christ (Gospels) Acts reflect back on a group of people the church of Jesus Christ
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
2) prescriptive - how members of Christ church are to live - do, think, what they shouldn’t do prescribe lifestyle (Epistles Rom. - Jude) written to groups and individual members
3) predictive - last book - predicts the future of the church - victory of the church over the geopolitical empire and the ultimate victory
“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.
Hebrews is prescribing a particular way of life
Who, Whom, Why
Who wrote the book of Hebrews? We don’t know.
We know it probably wasn’t Paul
I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write.
TO WHOM
Jewish Audience
because the O.T. is quoted in every chapter of the book (CH. 1 Psalms, 2 Samuel, Deuteronomy)
references O.T history - wilderness wanderings Ch. 3, day of atonement CH. 9, Mt. Sinai Ch. 12
constant reference to O.T. heroes - Moses, Abraham, Joshua, Melchizedek
Jews who converted to jesus but were struggling to remain true to Jesus. - stay with jesus don’t go back to Judism .
Drifting
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
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.
departing
disopbeying
For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Disengaging
Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
DISRESPECTFUL
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?
WHY
But I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
word - thoughts communicated thru a vehicle
words spoken or written
exhortation - parakleo - call alongside - comfort
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
a word of comfort - encouragement - positive message - word designed to encourage.
describing a particular lifestyle
remain true to jesus because of who he is and what he does
Not design to specifically correct. Do you know someone who is struggling to remain true as a Christian. Maybe you yourself are struggling with your christuian
He wrote about Jesus to encourage us to remain faithful
Key Verse - thesis statement or theme verse
Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
Jesus is at God’s side but he is on our side - He understands what it is like to be me and what its like to be God and he is sitting at the right hand of God ministering to me.
Key Word - Hold on to Jesus
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.
CONFIDENCE - assurance
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
CONVERSION - some versions have original - to the feelings you had at your conversion
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.
CONFESSION - to speak the same, the same thing that God says regarding Jesus in the Bible
so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
compensation - hope
CHAPTER 3
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Why did he have to come in the flesh? to suffer and taste death for everyone v.9. He became like us (in the flesh) so that he can render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil v. 14 and that he might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Note: he made to be made like his brethren/children
he suffered in his temptations. Jesus not only makes atonement but he helps us in our temptation. No one better than one who has walked in our shoes. He became just like us (brethren/children)
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
v. 1 calling - christianity
consider - think about Jesus
Apostle - God sent him on a mission
High Priest 2:17; 3:1; 1:3
confession - we owned Jesus as our Lord, King, Savior, only priest that can make atonement for our sins. you have to continue to hold on to that confession
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.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
Christianity is better, more excellent don’t give it up keep holding on to our confession. More like a promise or oath. oath to allegiance to follow from now on.
what are we considering
v. 2 faithful - while he was lower than the angels he was faithful to God.
Gk. Pistos - faith/believe
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
We need to hold on to Jesus to the bitter end. Hold on, don’t let go of Jesus.
God appointed Jesus as High Priest just as God appointed Moses as the leader of the people.
The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
v. 3 He is going to compare Moses & Jesus
glory - 1:3; 2:7,9
honor - still working on that passage back in Chapter 2
Jesus doesn’t work or serve like Moses, He is the builder
v. 6 Christ was faithful as Son
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.
For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”?
But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
A son is faithful to the father. Jesus is trying to bring many sons to glory
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
How are we like jesus? hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm to the end
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.
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
its on thing to start like the Hebrews did when they left Egypt, it whole other thing to stay faithful to the promise-land.
For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
“When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.
“For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.
“Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
v. 7 Hear His Voice -
But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?
Highlight - Today/Hardened/Hearts/Rest
God is speaking to us in the last days through the Son. Hebrew writer says what are going to with this passage that come much later than the law of Moses.
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,
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,
Num. 10 - 12 rebelled against God over and over again - provocation
don’t harden you hearts, don’t go astray in your hearts
Application starting in v. 12
unfaithful heart - is one that hardens, and one that goes astray
falling away from - opposite of being faithful and hold on.
v.13 Today v.7 encourage each other everyday
hardened - goes back to v. 8
v. 14 partakers
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
hold fast = be faithful
falling away = unfaithful
v. 16
provoked v. 8 rebelled they heard God and they rebelled what baout you you are hearing God thru jesus will you rebel.
v. 17
angry = v.10
v. 18 not enter my rest
disobedient = unfaithful = sinned = hardened = rebelled/provoked
CHAPTER 4
Let us - we today who God has spoken through his son to
entering his rest 3:11,18 we can enter his rest if we remainfaithful
we shall rest in that fair happy land by and by
3 different rest
God’s rest from his labors on the Seventh Day
rest that was promised to Israel in the land of Canaan
rest that remains “today” for the people of God
today
today we hear God’s voice as they did
today we decide whether to harden our hearts or to obey
today we have another opportunity to enter God’s rest
today we live under threat of God’s wrath
v. 2 we - those who have had good news preached thru Christ
heard - 3:7
faith = faithfulness - not that they didn’t believe they were unfaithful to what they heard, they didn’t hold fast to it, they fell away from it
v. 3
entering - present tense - we are in that process
v. 4
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
v. 5 those disobedient rebeleed those who hardened their heart shall not enter into my rest
v. 6-7
Moses
David - 500 years later - that implies there still is a rest that is waiting for those who are faithful, who hold on, who don’t fall away
v. 9 so therefore there remains a rest out that we are heading for.
v. 10 if we have gotten there then we could quit, chill and rest
v. 11 be diligent = making every effort - opposite of heart that goes astray, heart that hardened, falling away from God
my mind is focused on that rest - we are marching towards Canaans land - I’m marching to Zion - I’m still going
disobedience = unfaithfulness
rest = heaven??? land, country, city
for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
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 a city for them.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
v. 12-13 warning
the living word of God is watching us so don’t be unfaithful he know everything in our hearts.
hold fast - be faithful 3:6,14; 4:11
v. 14 high priest
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;
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.
we confess (pledge allegiance to God) he is our High priest - hes going to intercede for us be fore God take his own blood before God on our behalf he obtains salvation for us and intercedes for so we don’t need to give up on Him
4 Characteristics for Jesus Being Our High Priest Today
He passed through the heavens v. 14
He is named Jesus, the Son of God v. 14
He was tempted as we, yet without sin v. 15
He is at the throne of grace to give us grace and mercy to help in time of need
still man 1 Tim. 2:5; Acts 17:31
he gets it, he understands he sympathizes because he partook of the same flesh.
v. 16
draw near - come into the presence of God - difficult for a Jew, barriers and conditions that keep you away from God. to draw near we need a priest and a sacrifice. Jesus is our priest and sacrifice so we can come boldly ( with confidence in Jesus)
throne of grace???