Hebrews Part 6
Notes
Transcript
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1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
Ok, so everything we have read in the first 4 chapters
is the foundation for these next two topics.
Which, I think are the main parts of the argument.
And that is: Jesus is a better High Priest
and Jesus has a Better Covenant.
Chapter 5 is going to lay the ground work for this argument
and then it will be interrupted by a short interlude about not falling away.
Only to return to the topic of a better priesthood
and then use that as the basis for arguing that we now have a better covenant.
1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
In these first 4 verses of the chapter
We find the details of the levitical priesthood.
First, we see that a High Priest is chosen to act on behalf of men.
Remember Jesus is both Apostle and Priest
So, he is acting on behalf of God as the Apostle
and he is acting on behalf of men as the Priest
And that is why the MAN Christ Jesus is the ONE mediator
between God and the rest of mankind.
We need a mediator to offer gifts and sacrifices to God for our sins.
We couldn’t offer them oursleves
because we are all sinners and unclean
We can’t be our own mediator
But the OT had a flaw in it
A normal sinful man had to be the High Priest
And that is why He was not sufficient
As we will see,
Aaron and his sons had to first make a sacrifice for themselves
and then for the people.
Jesus was able to make one sacrifice, once and for all.
2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
So, because the High Priest is also a sinner
He is able to deal gently with sinners.
Jesus was able to do this because he was tempted in every way
but Jesus did not sin.
3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
Like I said, Jesus didn’t have to die twice.
He died once and for all
The OT High Priest had to make two sacrifices
One for his own sins
and one for the sins of the people
and then he had to do it again the next year
It was never fully redeeming their sins
not until Jesus died once and for all.
So, the author is pointing out the insufficiency of the OT Priests
And he will punch even more holes in that old system
as we continue on into chapter 7.
4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
So, here he makes the point
that even the OT Priest had to be called of God.
You didn’t get elected
you didn’t run for High Priest
You didn’t take it by force
It was God who chose the High Priest then
and it was God who chose Jesus as the High Priest now
However, as we will see,
God chose a different method for Jesus
one that is not based in an earthly birthright
but one that is based on something eternal.
5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;
Again, Christ didn’t make himself the Levitical High Priest
Christ wasn’t even a Levite
He was from the tribe of Judah
This is a point that will be made in chapter 7.
So, why did God call Christ to be High Priest if he wasn’t a Levite?
First, He establishes that Christ was called by God
When he called him his Son.
Hold that thought, because we will come back to it.
The author quotes Ps 2 again to prove that Christ is a Son of God.
But then he quotes Psalm 110 to prove that Christ is a Priest.
6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
This comes from Ps 110.4 and that whole Psalm is about the Messiah AKA Christ.
So, the Messiah or Christ is said to be a Priest
and not temporarily
to be replaced by another son
but FOREVER
and not after the order of Levi
But after Melchizedek.
Who is Melchizedek?
Melchizedek is a very mysterious figure in the Bible.
There is very little said about him.
In chapter 7 of this book
We will read more details about him.
However, for now, suffice it to say
He was the King of Salem
Which is what JeruSALEM was called before Jews lived there.
Salem means Peace
So, he was the King of Peace.
Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9.6
When Abraham gained anything
He took 10% of what he made and paid tithes to Melchizedek
So, for now, the main points are these:
Melchizedek came before Levi
he even came before Abraham
He apparently never died
and he didn’t have an earthly mother or father
Making his own Father God.
So, Melchizedek was the Son of God in that sense
The author is trying to prove that we should follow Jesus
Who is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek
and not the High Priest from the Tribe of Levi
Aaron had a mother and father
Aaron had sins himself
he made a golden calf for example
Aaron died and passed his priesthood to a son
On the Contrary
Jesus is a High Priest forever
Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus had no sins
Jesus died, but was resurrected from the dead.
And his priesthood came from Melchizedek,
Which predates Levi
So, if we are going to go back to something
We should go all the way back to Melchizedek
and that would lead us to Jesus anyways
Who is the better High Priest
Now, verse 7-10 talks about the Gospel
and gives a bit of a summary of why Jesus is the High Priest.
But, more details will come in Chapter 7.
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
So, that last verse is the assertion or claim.
The evidence for the claim is found though out the book
but it will be expressed more in chapter 7 than it is here.
Before that happens though
The author takes a minute to preach again about not falling away
Which is the purpose of this whole message anyways
The whole reason for getting us to see that Jesus is better
is to persuade us to not fall away back to the OT examples
So, here in Verse 11, it should really start a new chapter
but I didn’t get to decide where the chapters and verses began.
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
So, his preaching kicks in again
He wants to talk more about this awesome subject
about how Jesus is a Priest after the order of Melchizedek
but the audience is “dull of hearing”
Meaning, they are lazy
That is what the word literally means
They are not taking the time to study and understand what is being taught
And for this reason, they are not maturing as Christians
They are stuck in toddler zone.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
They are having to be taught that Jesus is better
They should just know this by now
They lived under the OT law
Surely they know it was impossible to keep it
Surely they know the sacrifice of Jesus was better
Surely they know that the Holy Spirit was real
Surely…
But the preacher is having to preach the same things to them
over an over
That is the “milk” in this analogy
The basic doctrines of salvation
grace
being baptized
being filled with the Holy Spirit
the gospel message
faith
The preacher wants to move onto the “meat”
He wants to teach them more things
but he has to keep going back to the milk
The solution appears to be to fix their “dull hearing”
Which means their laziness
They are not taking the study the word
and learn the word
and hide it in their hearts
and this makes them unskilled in the word…
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
They are stuck on Sunday School lessons
when the Preacher wants to preach deeper things
He doesn’t want to have to keep telling them the same things over and over
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Meat is for the mature Christian
At this point, the Mature Christian is not asking:
Is this a heaven or hell issue?
Do i need to do this
do I need to stop doing that
Its okay for the child of God to ask these questions
the issue is when we’ve been told the answer
but we are “dull of hearing”
and so the answer has to be provided again and again.
Asher and closing the door
Ok, chapter 6…
We are changing chapters,
but the subject is the same.
We will see the word “Therefore”
and so we know it is tied to the last thing that was said.
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Here, is a powerful statment.
The audience is considering leaving Christ and returning to the OT Law
But The preacher says, instead of doing that,
Let’s hold fast to Jesus
and leave behind the dead works
Here “works” is a reference to things you “do”
and since it is preceded by the word “dead”, which means useless here.
So, He is saying that we need to repent of thing useless things we did.
So, in opposition to “dead works”,
useless things we DO
We have “faith toward God”.
When we get done with Hebrews
Your going to understand what real faith is like never before
Not the Modern English Dictionary definition of faith
but the Bible’s definition of fath.
We repent of the useless things we used to do
and then we replace that with “faith towards God”
That means we stop doing evil things
and we start doing good things
And that is the foundation of the Gospel message
He said, laying again a foundation.
So, the first two things listed here
as elementary doctrines of Christ, are:
Repentance
Faith toward God
The list continues in verse 2.
2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
So, we have
Repentance
Faith
Instruction about washings
Laying on of hands
The Resurrection of the dead
Eternal Judgement
Six things listed as “elementary doctrines of Christ”.
The things that brand new followers of Christ should know.
The “milk”.
We already talked about the first two,
but what is that 3rd one?
Instruction about washings?
The word “washings” is the Greek word Batismon
The genitive plural version of the masculine noun BaptiZo
That word means to be immersed in water.
It is the same word in Acts 2:38.
It is translated in the KJV as “doctrine of baptisms” here in Heb 6.2
and I do believe “baptisms” is the correct word here.
So, number 3 is actually “instruction about baptisms”
Repentance
Faith
Instruction about Baptisms
Laying on of hands
The Resurrection of the dead
Eternal Judgement
Laying of of Hands refers to healing the sick or casting out devils
The resurrection of the dead is about the rapture
Jews were split on this teaching
But Christians are not…
The Eternal Judgement is about the Judgement day
and the fact that it is coming
and that there is a real place call hell
and a real place call heaven
and we will go to one of those places for eternity.
So, again, we have these 6 things that every newborn Christian should know
And you wouldn’t believe how many Christians today
do not understand what repentance is
or what faith really is
or how to baptize properly,
or even that baptism is essential
or that we should lay hands on the sick to recover
and cast out devils
This is the MILK
and, yet, the author is saying we have to keep going back over them
because the audience is not getting it
and he says in verse 3 that they will keep covering these subjects as long as God will allow it...
3 And this we will do if God permits.
We will keep going over the elementary doctrines
until God stops us.
But the most incredible part is that they are filled with the Holy Spirit
and still questioning these foundational things.
These next 3 verses are the ones I get the most questions on
in almost every Home Bible study I’ve taught
I get asked about these next 3 verses
and if you read them alone
out of context
they are scary sounding.
Let me read them now, and then we will expound on them.
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
We need to define some terms here.
I’ll start by saying this first
falling away does not apply to anyone that simply sins
God is faithful and just to forgive all our sins
falling away is not talking about a backslider
or someone that stops coming to church for a while
We will talk about that if we have time
but this is not that
Falling away is the word “apostasy”.
This doesn’t mean - one who stops coming to church
It does not mean - one who slips up and sins.
apostasy is someone that denies the faith.
Now, there are man conditions to this warning in verse 6
it does not says that anyone who denies the Christian faith will be unable to repent.
We are talking about people who meet the following requirements according to verses 4 and 5.
They Have:
Once been enlightened
Tasted the heavenly gift
Shared in the Holy Spirit
Tasted the goodness of the word of God
Tasted the powers of the age to come
If they meet all 5 of those requirements
and then they deny the faith of Christ
They cannot repent
If you are in this room
this doesn’t apply to you
If you are asking the question, does this apply to me?
probably not.
because you asking that question almost proves that it doesn’t apply to you.
Because someone that is in a state of apostasy
does not care if they are an apostate
You are so far gone at this point
You won’t be going to a Bible study to begin with
#1 is talking about having the understanding
So, you have to actually understand what you are doing
You can’t accidentally become an apostate.
You know what the truth is
and you understand it
and you choose to deny it.
#2-5 are all really saying the same thing
You are filled with the Holy Spirit
and you know the truth of the Word of God.
So, in short
You understand what you are doing
You know the truth
You have the Holy Spirit
THEN you deny the faith (Fall Away)
If you check off those boxes, you can’t repent
And I don’t think it is because God wouldn’t forgive you
or that repentance is literally impossible
it is that you have chosen to turn away from the truth
and the greatest evidence that we have the truth is the Holy Spirit
The heavenly gift
You tasted the powers of the age to come
and said… nope, not real
Then what else could God do to bring you back?
Give you the Holy Ghost 2.0?
There is nothing else
Nothing greater
so, if you have the Holy Spirit
and you say, that isn’t real
I was just babbling
I was just emotional
God didn’t really fill me
There is nothing left for Got to do with you
We’re going to end here
but first I want to point out something
I always look for Acts 2:38 in every book of the New testament
and often times you will not find them as close to each other as you do here
but we have Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit all listed in this chapter.
Repentance is in verse 1
baptism is in verse 2
and the Gift of the Holy Spirit is in verse 4.
That’s Acts 2:38 in just 3 verses.
In summary:
Jesus is a better High Priest
He is from the order Melchizedec
We need to mature as Christains
and learn the foundational doctrines
and not question them once we learn them and know them
and whatever we do
we must never deny the faith
once we know it, understand it, and have been filled with the Holy Spirit.
You can backslide for 50 years
and come back
but you can’t deny the faith once and recover
