Hebrews 1-2

Hebrews  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  28:15
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Hebrews

Hebrews 1 “After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.” But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire,” but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scep…”
Exordium.
Check Engine Light
I want top introduce you to this car.
This Car was a gift. My wife and I had just moved from Colorado to Nebraska, and we had sold one of our cars. The other Car was a little on the small side, and wasn’t really big enough for two kids with carseats.
And my folks picked this car up dirt cheap.
I think they paid $800 for it. Just a set of wheels for us to have that would fit the kids and help us to get from point a to point b
It was about what you would expect from an $800 car.
Couple of things you might notice when you look at it.
It’s white. It’s a Van, seats 7 people.
Let me show you what I saw every time I drove this car.
That light was permanently on the dashboard.
We would go in, plug it in to the the little machine, it would tell us what was wrong, we’d get that part fixed. And not a day later, that light would be back on.
After a while,
Lindsay calls it the Jesus light.
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”
At a certain point, when you have a car with a Jesus light, that just shines no matter what, you ‘re always just expecting, every time you drive it “Today is going to be the day”
(Explain the anticipation of the car breaking down)
One day, it happened.
Driving down the road with both kids, when we lived in Kimbal. My little Jesus light is just shining away because at a certain point you just get used to it. At a certain point you’re like OK, the Jesus light has been on for 2 months now, every time I try to fix it it just comes on again,
And my little Jesus light starts flashing. This is new
It starts flashing and then the dashboard starts beeping.
And then all of a sudden another light comes on. And it starts flashing.
And then another.
And then my temperature guage starts climbing. And the temperature light starts flashing.
And the oil pressure light starts going down and the oil pressure light comes on and it starts flashing. Ding ding ding.
We sold that car. We found a company that promised 1,000 for any car under 2 conditions, and only two conditions.
All four tires had air in them
It would run just long enough to drive it up onto the ramp of the tow truck. about 10 seconds. I was honest with them, I was like it is capable of running for 10 seconds to get up onto the trailer. But that’s it.
They said that’s good enough, we’re probably going to scrap it for parts anyway. They wrote us a check, picked it up. And I have never been more happy to get rid of a car.
Narratio

Hebrews

Throughout history, God has been flashing his check engine light at his people. Again and again, and again.
He spent hundreds and hundreds of years building a relationship with a specific group of people, the israelites
And he had been warning them
He had sent them instructions he had sent them the law, he had sent them prophets he had sent them expectations of a Coming messiah.
One day, in the spring, it was around 1992 years ago, he sent the big one.
The big light that
Propositio/Partitio
We must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. If the message spoken through angels
Confirmatio.
Confirmatio
Classic “3 Point” Layout. Does not neccecarily need 3 points, but each point should directly back up the claim in the Partitio. The Sub level should directly back up the point, etc etc. Try to keep it within 3 layers deep, no more.
Hebrews 1:1 NET 2nd ed.
After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets,
This is the check engine light.
This is the author saying, “This is how God spoke to his people in the past. Through the prophets.
God has been speaking with his people from the moment he created them
From the moment he created humans he has been walking along side them and communicating with them
Adam and eve
Moses and the burning bush
Through the Law on mount sinai
Through the Judges who delivered the people when they went astray
Through the Kings, and through the prophets.
And all the while if you want to boil down the message that god has been speaking to his people again and again and again it’s this
Come to me, and let me save you from yourself.
Hebrews 1:2 NET 2nd ed.
in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.
This is no longer the little light on the dashboard.
In these last days—in other words, this is it. This is the final message you’re going to receive
This is the Last one. There’s not going to be another Malachi. There’s not going to be another elijiah.
In these last days, this final warning light that just went off is through a son.
You might have scraped by just barely and ignored the last 17 lights. But this one. you better pay attention to this one
Hebrews 1:3 NET 2nd ed.
The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
I can’t stress to you enough how important this verse is. And the words that Hebrews uses here.
The radiance of his glory
If God is the sun (S-U-N) Then Jesus is the warmth and the light that radiates out and actually touches us.
The representation of his essence.
Representation: It’s the word used to describe the mark that a signet ring makes on a wax seal.
In ancient times the king would wear a ring with a distinctive mark on it.
When he would make a decree he would “sign” it by pressing the ring into a wax seal.
So that mark carried the exact representation of the ring, and by extension it carried 100% of the authority of the one wearing the ring.
If the messenger came and his message had that “representation” that mark, he spoke for the king
If you disrespected him, you disrespected the king
if you killed the messenger it was treated just like you had killed the king
And here it says Jesus is the perfect representation of God’s essence
In the ancient world the way they pictured the world around them was that everything was made of unique “stuff”
At the core people were made out of people “stuff”
Animals were made out of animal “stuff”
Rocks were made out of rock “stuff”
You can take a piece of rock and carve it into a statue of a person, and it could look exactly like a person.
even if you were a skilled enough craftsman to carve out the veins and the hair and the eyes and every detail. at the core it didn’t matter how much it looked like a person because it wasn’t made of people “stuff”
Jesus is made of god “stuff”
And he sits at the right hand of the majesty on high.
And here is part of the argument that hebrews is about to make.
Everything that had ever come before, and everything that would ever come again, pails in comparison to Jesus.
It’s not made of the same ‘stuff’
Even the messages from God in the past
God spoke to moses through a burning bush. but at the end of the day, it was still just a bush.
Balaams donkey. God spoke to Balaam in numbers 22 through a donkey. And the message was from God, but at the end of the day, it was just a donkey.
The angels. The word angel literally just means “messsenger” The angels were messengers of God, they were servants of God, they were bringing the true message of God.
But they weren’t the perfect representation of his essence.
They weren’t made of God “stuff”
They didn’t bear the mark of God.
Hebrews 1:4 NET 2nd ed.
Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.

Hebrews 1:5-7

Hebrews 1:5–7 NET 2nd ed.
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.” But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him! And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire,”
The angels, the messengers of the past, and this includes earthly messengers as well as heavenly messngers
The messengers of the past, low-level employees of God.
They’re the middle management of heaven.

Hebrews 1:8-12

Hebrews 1:8–12 NET 2nd ed.
but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.” And, “You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you continue. And they will all grow old like a garment, and like a robe you will fold them up and like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will never run out.”
These are all quotes from the Old testament.
The word here is saying to the Hebrew people,
Remember all of that stuff that God said in the Bible all those years ago? yeah all that stuff was about Jesus.
Hebrews 1:13–14 NET 2nd ed.
But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Everything God had said in the past, was pointing to Christ.
All the warnings, all the messages, all the prophets everything leading up was just one check engine light after another pointing at the real deal.
The messengers of the past, they were just “ministering spirits” they were just petty messengers. But Jesus, he’s the final warning, the final light, the final message sent out for those who are going to inherit salvation.
So what. What are we supposed to take away from that knowledge?
Hebrews 2:1 NET 2nd ed.
Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
Have you been paying attention to Jesus in your life?
Hebrews 2:2–3 NET 2nd ed.
For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,
How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation.
Because here’s the rub. The “warning” the message that God has been trying to get his people to heed.
Let me save you from yourself.
And we neglect that great salvation
We think we don’t need God
We think we can defeat our enemies on our own
we think we can somehow make ourselves good enough
we think we can handle all of the problems that come our way
we think we can solve the problem of our life
And all this time God has been screaming at us, flashing lights at us and begging at us and saying
no you don’t understand
You can’t solve the problems of your life because the problem is you.
God’s not trying to save us from external forces.
He’s trying to save us from the destruction that we bring upon ourselves.
Hebrews 2:3 NET 2nd ed.
how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,
Hebrews 2:4 NET 2nd ed.
while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
You want proof? You want proof that this warning light is the real deal? you want proof that Jesus is the real deal, better than the angels, or the law, or the self help books, or literally anything else we’ve ever tried?
Look at the gifts of the Holy spirit.
Each and every christian, Peter says in Acts Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit
Each and every Christian carries within them proof that Jesus Christ is the only solution to your problem.
God saw the mess that we had made and he sent his son to clean it up. Why? To prepare a place for us.
We are both the problem, and the purpose of God’s entire plan for the world.
Hebrews 2:5 NET 2nd ed.
For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels.
It wasn’t for the purpose of making heaven better. Heaven’s already great
Hebrews 2:6–7 NET 2nd ed.
Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor.
This verse is interesting, because at first glance you might miss it.
What is man that you think of him, literally the word is “humanity”
In the hebrew the word for mankind, or humanity is “ADAM” that’s where adam’s name came from.
What is humanity that you think of us.
Hebrews 2:8 NET 2nd ed.
You put all things under his control.” For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control,
the “his” here, grammatically is referring back to “man” What is humanity that you think of it.
The whole point and purpose is for us to have inherited God’s creation.
We were supposed to be the ones who ruled over the earth, and had dominion over the birds in the air and the fish in the sea. Genesis 1:26 .
We were supposed to be a special people, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation Exodus 19:6 .
And we messed it up.
At present we don’t see all things under humanity’s control But
Hebrews 2:9 NET 2nd ed.
but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.
Hebrews 2:10 NET 2nd ed.
For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:11 NET 2nd ed.
For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
Jesus did what we never could. He was made perfect through suffering.
Jesus inherited what we never could
Jesus lived the life that we never could
Jesus Experienced death on behalf of everyone in a way that we never could.
That the angels never could.
That the prophets never could
Why would we neglect that?
So that we could be brothers and sisters, so that we could be adopted into the family of faith
so that we could be Children of God.
Hebrews 2:12–13 NET 2nd ed.
saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” Again he says, “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, with the children God has given me.”
Why would we neglect that?
God has been speaking through messengers in the past. But this time he spoke through a son
A son who was far greater than anything that had come before
A son who bore the perfect representation like a signet ring on a wax seal
A son who saved us from the destruction that we were bringing on oursleves
So that we could be called sons and daughters
How?
By stepping down from his throne and living among us

Hebrews 2:14-18

Hebrews 2:14 NET 2nd ed.
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),
Hebrews 2:15 NET 2nd ed.
and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.
Hebrews 2:16 NET 2nd ed.
For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants.
Hebrews 2:17 NET 2nd ed.
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2:18 NET 2nd ed.
For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Peroratio
Because Hebrews is a sermon, it’s really difficult to find stopping places.
because each thing it says flows beautifully into the next thing.
Next week we’ll dive into this idea that he became a faithful and merciful high priest
But for now I want to leave you with this.
God’s warnings, his messages, his check engine light.
God’s not trying to punish you.
He’s not trying to take away the fun in life
he’s not trying to exert his authority over you
He’s trying to give you a gift.
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