Hebrews
“Encouragement for a life of faith”
Part 1
“The Real deal”
Today we are beginning a new sermon series on the book of Hebrews
I chose Hebrews because it complements Exodus nicely
Over the next several weeks we are going to look at this great book
With a discerning eye
My intent is to dissect this writing
And apply it to our lives
As has been the case in our last several sermon series
We will dig
But once again this will not be a verse by verse exposition on the book of Hebrews
If you want to go deeper
I encourage you to attend our Sunday Morning Round pen Bible studies
And further encourage you to take time from your own life to study these writings
It never fails
It seems that in this world
Anytime anyone comes up with a great idea
The first thing that often happens is someone else tries to improve on it
And others simply copy it
Often making only cheep worthless imitations
You see when something is good
Or even more so when something is great
There are always counterfeits
Patti’s dad was an expert on antique Winchester rifles
Like this one
I believe he knew more about Winchesters than any person alive
He could spot a fake gun or even a modified gun almost in the dark
Do you know how experts
Tell between a fake and the real deal?
They don’t study the fakes
They study the real deal
And when they know the real deal well enough
A fake is very easy to spot
It will be shown for what it is
Let me give you just a little background on the book of Hebrews
No one knows for sure who the writer is
Some say Paul
Some say Apollos
Others Luke or Barnabas
Or even Priscillia
But I can say that no one truly knows for sure
I can also say for sure that it does not matter who wrote it
It only matters who inspired it
And that is none other than God himself
Working in the heart of the author through the power of the Holy Spirit
Let me back track to a verse we use often
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
All scripture
Even scripture that we are not sure who the author is
Is God Breathed the NKJ says
Inspired by God
The infallible
Inerrant word of God
Every letter
Every comma
Every paragraph
Every chapter
Of Every Book
And it
God words
Has value and purpose in our lives
The writer of Hebrews was struggling with a problem
A problem that is so much like problems of today
He was struggling with a problem that so many bible teachers and preaches still struggle with
You see
The people he was called by God to minister to
Were trying to go back to their old ways
Their old style of worship
Their old traditions
And they were even falling for the lies of false prophets who were trying desperately to lead them astray
Many of the earliest Christians came out of Judaism
They had been born Jews
Raised as Jews
Taught as Jews
Thought as Jews
But
These Jews
The ones the writer is writing too
Had made a change
They had experienced salvation through the promised Messiah
Jesus Christ
They understood that Jesus fulfilled the hundreds of prophesies
They understood that he fulfilled hundreds of promises
They were Christians
But
They were having a hard time
They were now being persecuted
And as a result of the increasing persecution
Many of them were being tempted to put Christianity aside
And return to their old Belief system
So , our writer begins a letter to them
To show them
The real deal
To remind them of their faith in Jesus
The writer shows them Jesus from the Old Testament
And he shows them the fakes
And in the process
He shows us the real deal as well
Reading from Hebrews chapter 1
Verses 1-2a
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
In the Old Testament as we have been studying over the last year
We know that God talked to the people in many ways
And He often spoke to the people through the Prophets
And he spoke to the prophets in many ways
He spoke to Isaiah in visions
He spoke to Jacob in a dream
He spoke directly to Abraham and Moses
And now the writer says
He
God
Speaks to us though his Son
Jesus Christ
He says
Jesus is greater than the prophets
Why is he greater?
Verse 2b tells us why
“God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.”
You see Jesus is greater than all of the prophets because he is the Son
He is the creator
Verse 3a goes on
3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.
You see in order to see the counterfeits
We must look at the real deal
Jesus is that real deal
When we look at Jesus we see God
We see God’s character
His Glory
His mercy
His grace
When we look at Jesus we are looking at God
He is the same God who parted the Red Sea
He is the same God who created the heavens and the earth’
He is the same God who spoke to the prophets long ago
He
Jesus Christ
Is the Alpha and Omega
The beginning and the end
He as Colossians says is the visible image of the invisible God
And we
We must not accept a cheap substitute
It will never serve the purpose
Verse 3b
“When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.”
When he had cleansed us from our sins
When he had given his life for ours
When he had sacrificed himself to save us
In spite of ourselves
Taken the nails that should have been ours
Taken the beatings that should have been ours
Taken the insults that should have been ours
Taken the spit that should have been ours
Taken the pain and torment
That should have been mine and yours
He returned to heaven
And he sat down in the place of honor
The bible says at the right hand of God
You can take this literally if you want
But for me the right hand is a metaphor for the place of honor
And the people the writer was addressing in his letter would have been very familiar with this phrase
You see
We tend to want to place human qualities on our Father God
We want to see God as a White haired old man
Like a grandfather
Sitting on a throne looking down on his creation
And while Jesus did have a human body
There is no evidence the Our Father God does
We need to see him as so much more
He is Omnipresent which means he is everywhere at once
He is Omnipotent which means he is all powerful
And omniscient which means he knows everything
You see by knowing these things about God
And by seeing him in that manner
I feel very safe in saving that the right hand is symbolic of the place of honor
You see
God speaking to us through his word
With images we can understand
If it helps you to understand God there is no harm in taking this verse literally
But I pray that as you grow your vision will widen
Focus with me here
Here is what he wants to say to us
Here is what he is telling us
Verse 4
4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.
The writer is telling us
Jesus is not some super angel as some claim
He is greater than the Angels
Even his name is greater
He is not just a prophet
Not just a good teacher
Not just a good man
Jesus is supreme
He is the real deal
All other prophets
All other created beings
Cannot hold a candle to the real deal
The writer of Hebrews goes on to use God’s word
The Old Testament
To show proof
You hear me -------proof
Through God’s written word
That Jesus is who he says he is
That he came and did what he said he would ‘
And that he will return and do what he has promised
Let me read verses 5-14 for you
Listen to the words
These words speak truth
These words speak life
These words show Jesus
5 For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.[a]”
God also said,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son.”[b]
6 And when he brought his supreme[c] Son into the world, God said,[d]
“Let all of God’s angels worship him.”[e]
7 Regarding the angels, he says,
“He sends his angels like the winds,
his servants like flames of fire.”[f]
8 But to the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
9 You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”[g]
10 He also says to the Son,
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth
and made the heavens with your hands.
11 They will perish, but you remain forever.
They will wear out like old clothing.
12 You will fold them up like a cloak
and discard them like old clothing.
But you are always the same;
you will live forever.”[h]
13 And God never said to any of the angels,
“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
making them a footstool under your feet.”[i]
14 Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.
The writer of Hebrews quotes from the Psalms
From 2 Samuel
He quotes from Deuteronomy
He shows those who were trying to go back
The truth
That
Jesus is greater than the prophets
Jesus is greater than the Angels
He is greater than anything
He and he alone is supreme
He and he alone has the power to give us salvation
And he shows that anything else is just a cheap and worthless substitute
So you may be sitting there asking
What does all this have to do with me?
I’m not Jewish
I’m don’t believe Angels are all powerful
Preacher
How do I use this in my life?
We make some of the same mistakes that the audience of the letter made
They tried to bring in something other than Jesus
And we often do that as well
They wanted their traditions
Sometimes we do also
It is Ironic that often times a church only has to do something once in a certain way for that way to become a tradition
Listen to me
If we are not changing
We are not growing
If the Jewish believers had of refused to change
We would all be sitting here this morning making animal sacrifices
Wearing those little hats
Speaking in a language we don’t understand
And living and dying apart from Jesus
But
Thank God
They did change
They found Jesus
And they shifted their focus from tradition to true worship
We tend to want to bring the world into the church
We want things our own way
“I don’t like that kind of music” some say
“We used to do it this way or that way”------- others say
Let me ask you
What would you change in order for someone to be saved
Is tradition worth a soul?
The writer of Hebrews did not think so
And neither do I
You see he was teaching those who were in danger of falling away
To stop
To remember
To rethink
To focus on Christ
He was teaching them to stop listening to the false prophets
To pay attention
He was teaching them
As I am trying to teach you
That Jesus is God
That Jesus is enough
There is nothing more that is needed for salvation
Nothing more that is needed for forgiveness
He and he alone has provided the way to a relationship
The listeners to the letter of Hebrews made the same mistake we often make
See
They had head knowledge of Jesus
But had forgot heart knowledge
But they had not let Jesus into their lives
We do the same
We come to church and we pray and sing at church
Then go home and live our lives like we want
You see they and we often want Jesus in our church life
Our Church life but not in the rest of our life
We proclaim Jesus in theory
But deny him in truth
That is applying him to our lives
We want Jesus
But
We don’t want Jesus in our daily lives
We must
If we want to truly grow spiritually
Apply Jesus to our lives
Marinate ourselves with Jesus
Let him help in all areas of our lives
Our relationships
Our finances
Our families
Jobs
Hobbies
We Must
Must
Live Jesus
Instead of playing Church
Remember
Angels are just servants
Prophets just heralds
The law just a shadow of things to come
But
Jesus is the real deal
We will pick back up in Hebrews next week and see how much more we can apply God’s word to our lives
And how we can be changed by his word
Close from the heart
Pray
