Hebrews 1
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What is the book of Hebrews?
One of my favourite “time wasters” is watching behind the scenes of my favourite movies.
the movie is the WHAT
Behind the scenes is the HOW
Hebrews is a behind the scenes of the life of Jesus.
The Gospels are WHAT HE DID
Hebrews is HOW he did it.
What is its purpose?
We don't have to guess: God Himself tells us why He inspired it:
22 But I urge you, brothers and sisters, listen patiently to this word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
The whole book of Hebrews is an exhortation to every christian.
An exhortation simply means “Encouragement ”.
This is the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit in John 14.
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever;
Here its translated as helper, other translations use comforter - But they all mean the same thing:
To encourage, comfort and help us live victoriously in Jesus Christ.
But of course we find 2 kinds of encouragement from God.
One kind is the entreating to good, and the other kind is the threat of the bad.
Basically some encouragements come in the form of “Do...” and other encouragements come in the form of “do not...”.
Hebrews takes the latter approach by encouraging us through warnings.
The Book of Hebrews is divided by 5 warnings, all to do with the Word of God.
Faith is a key word in Hebrews being used over 40 times in this book alone.
And when you consider that:
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
You understand why each warning centers around the Word of God.
If we are going to be men and woman of victory, then we need to be men and woman of faith - then we need to be men and woman of the Word.
The Bible is just a book without Faith.
And Faith is only as good as its object.
But take the Bible and Add faith and you get power.
For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also did; but the word they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who listened with faith.
What are these 5 sections, these 5 warnings?
1: If you neglect the Word, you will drift from the Word.
1: If you neglect the Word, you will drift from the Word.
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment,
3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
My friends listen closely: Neglect always leads to drifting.
A marriage that is neglected leads to them drifting apart.
A family that is neglected leads to them drifting apart.
Even a ship whose course is neglected will lead to the ship drifting off course.
The world we live in is NOT neutral. The world is opposed to God.
We are in this world, in it but not of it.
Have you ever tried to stay in one spot in the sea? You always end up drifting down the beach - the tide pulls you. You have to keep looking at the shore for your towel or umbrella so that you can re orientate yourself.
you go in the sea at sun coast and the next minute you’re in the harbour ship channel!!!!
In the same way, the tide of the world constantly tries to pull us away from Christ.
And if you just keep playing and splashing you will end up far from where you started.
We need to keep looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, through the WORD so that we can keep ourselves “in the light”.
2: If you harden your heart, you will doubt the Word.
2: If you harden your heart, you will doubt the Word.
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As on the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers put Me to the test, And saw My works for forty years.
10 “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’;
11 as I swore in My anger, ‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Our hearts naturally move towards hardening.
Like soil, which Jesus compares our hearts to in his parable of the sower, if not continuously worked by the word, our hearts will become hard.
Hard Hearts are doubting hearts because they have become cynical.
Cynicism is when you stop trusting, stop believing.
Listen:
A cynic starts out as a critic.
The moment you becomes critical towards the bible, you are on the path to doubt.
A critic is just the professional title of a Fault-Finder.
My first job ever was a Gastronomical Hygiene Technician - i was a Dishwasher at Steers.
There are people who only ever read the bible to find fault with it.
Here is what i will say: The moment you allow Satan to convince you of “Did God really say” like he did to Adam and Eve, and you stop believing that the bible is the perfect, inerrant, inspired Word of God - You will turn from Christ to Critic.
3: If you are lazy with the Word, You will become Dull to the Word.
3: If you are lazy with the Word, You will become Dull to the Word.
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become poor listeners.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.
Listen:
Here at UFGC I have made absolutely sure that not a single one of you have any excuse to become spiritually sluggish towards the Bible.
From our Sunday services to our midweek bible studies to all the biblical resources i pay a small fortune to every month, from Rightnow Media to The Bible Engagement Project.
Every single one of you have at your fingertips enough biblical resources to grow and mature.
Listen:
Reading 5 or so verses a day is not going to grow you.
Look, there are difficult passages in the bible, that even the greatest human minds find difficult, but you will always be dull in understanding if all you do is read 5 verses a day.
4: Willful Sinning will cause you to despise the Word.
4: Willful Sinning will cause you to despise the Word.
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.
The great expositor DL Moody famously said “Sin will keep you from your bible or your bible will keep you from sin”.
Absolutely!
Let me show you why:
The Word of God is our ultimate authority. That means we are subject to what it says.
Law and Order is another kind of authority. Criminals hate Law and Order because it speaks against them - it accuses them.
In the same way the bible tells us that those who want to sin will despise the authority of the Word.
10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority. Reckless, self-centered, they speak abusively of angelic majesties without trembling,
Let me spell it out plainly:
The bible is the light of God’s truth Revelation to us:
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
And the bible tells us plainly:
20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.
5: Refusing to hear the Word, will cause you to defy the Word.
5: Refusing to hear the Word, will cause you to defy the Word.
25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns us from heaven.
The worth of words are determined by whom they are spoken.
You say I'm proud of you vs my father.
You say I love you vs Kim.
We judge the value of the words by the value of the speaker.
For example, I just gave you a quote from DL Moody, and his quote has weight because of who he is.
But if i were to say:
“Satan conquered Jesus on the Cross and took His spirit to the dark regions of hell" - Kennith Copeland.
Kenny’s words have about as much weight to them as a canary's fast in a hurricane.
So when you read the bible, who is doing the speaking?
25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns us from heaven.
If you do not believe that this is the very word of God you will not have the sufficient weight of confident faith to submit to it in obedience.
Conclusion: