Hebrews

[0:00] We've got just a little bit of content remaining on the page that some of you probably do not have, and we're going to be starting a new page shortly, but I just wanted to throw this out for your consideration in case there are any questions.

[0:17] In our last session together, we were dealing with Esau, and we talked a little bit about his repentance and his, I guess we should say, his tardy repentance.

[0:30] And we elaborated on the fact that in accordance with what the text says, or actually in disagreement with what the text says, as in most of the translations here, it indicated, it seemed to indicate at least on the surface, that Esau really wanted to repent.

[0:49] He really wanted to change his mind about his actions, but he was unable to do so, and he sought for repentance, but could not find it and was unable to repent. And we pointed out to you that that is a terribly unfortunate expression of the text.

[1:07] It was not repentance that he was seeking for and was unable to find it at all. Because listen guys, and this is really, really important, super important. Repentance is the gold standard for a right relationship to God.

[1:26] Repentance doesn't have anything to do with penance. That is, suffering or paying for your sin.

[1:38] That, in all respects, is a Roman Catholic concept. And it is certainly not biblical. We are not called upon to do penance for our sin.

[1:51] In other words, and I don't want you to think I'm picking on the Catholics, because I'm not. And the old saying goes, some of my best friends are Roman Catholic. But they have a system whereby, when one acknowledges one's sin, particularly in the confessional of the priest, they may be assigned a certain amount of penance.

[2:14] And it may be, well, you are assigned 50 Hail Marys. So you have to say, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed art thou and blessed is... You have to do that 50 times.

[2:25] That's your penance. Or you have to do the Our Fathers and repeat the Lord's Prayer. And this is strictly traditional Roman Catholic theology. And it does not, in any way, shape, or form, atone for your sins.

[2:41] Or you cannot do penance for your sins. The point is this. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, He paid the penalty for all our sin, past, present, and future. There's nothing left for you to pay.

[2:53] While there is a fellowship that needs to be maintained, and on that basis, even as a believer in Jesus Christ, when we know we have displeased God, and when we know we have sinned, we are assured that if we confess or acknowledge our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[3:14] That, too, has nothing to do with your salvation. It has everything to do with your fellowship, with your being in right terms with your Heavenly Father. And the illustration that I've given regarding that, and I don't know of a better one, is that a son and a father may be on the outs.

[3:35] Their relationship may not be what it ought to be. There is difficulty between them, or hard feelings between them, or maybe they're not even on speaking terms. That does not affect the relationship between father and son.

[3:50] But it has everything to do with the fellowship, the connection, the togetherness that is supposed to be there. And that is a distinction that is made, I think, throughout Scripture.

[4:05] So, our relationship to God is fixed, because Jesus Christ is the one who fixed it. We are complete in Him. But even though we are in Him, as a true believer in Christ, forgiveness is realized, heaven is our eternal destiny, that does not mean we are on good terms with our Heavenly Father.

[4:28] That means a believer in Christ may be walking out of fellowship with the Lord. And this is what Paul addresses in Galatians, when he says, if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

[4:44] And the desires of the flesh are those things that would drive us, and captivate our life, and enslave us, if you will, to sin, where it need not be the case.

[4:56] So, is that clear enough? Elaboration? Joe? So, Abraham and Lot, when Lot was down in Sodom, he still had a, he was a believer.

[5:08] Yeah. That's why he was spared. But yet, he was leading that sinful, terrible life down there, you know, as part of them. He joined that group, and he was just living a terrible life. But yet, he still was a believer, so he saved his life out of Sodom.

[5:21] Right. And thank you. That's a good illustration. Lot was not where he ought to have been. But he was still in a relationship to God. And that was, by the way, the basis for his being delivered, along with his daughters and his wife, and so on.

[5:36] So, there's a huge difference between relationship and fellowship. Everyone who is in Christ, is in Christ, and complete in Christ.

[5:48] And that is predicated upon the finished work of Christ, and your relationship to him. That is solid, and fixed, and permanent, and settled. However, in that relationship, God has not removed from you the ability to displease him.

[6:06] We still have a volition, a will, and we may will to go our own way. And if we do, and the example we looked at in Hebrews, in just this preceding passage, if we do, God disciplines.

[6:21] He child trains us, and he does so because he loves us. This is not punishment. This is not punishment. This is love, love's correction.

[6:32] Call it tough love, if you will. And what we're saying is, God has a woodshed. And I don't know about you, but I've been to that woodshed more than once.

[6:43] And God administers spankings. And the writer of Hebrews says, What son is he whom the Father does not chasten? And if you endure not chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.

[6:57] In other words, God only disciplines, and takes to the woodshed, those who belong to him. God does not spank the devil's kids. He spanks his kids. And we can be glad that he does.

[7:09] So, that illustration behind us, we'll move on. If, John, what happened? It looked to me like Esau was a child of God when God told his daughter that she was, it looked like he was going to die of his child, by his water.

[7:32] And I'm wondering if he, he didn't lose God, but he lost the blessing of his life. Do you think Esau was a child of God and his sin, and his heart, and his heart, and his heart, and his heart, and his heart, and his heart, and his heart, and his heart.

[7:54] And so, I'm wondering if he, I mean, he would be up to win, and God could be up there, you know, younger, or older, or older, or older, or older.

[8:06] Yeah. I really can't answer that for sure.

[8:24] My suspicion is probably, probably, just, just by being born of Isaac did not make Esau a child of God.

[8:39] Just being born of Isaac did not make Jacob a child of God either. They both had a personal, if we may say that of Esau, had a personal relationship to God. But the distinction is made between these two boys that it was Jacob, not Esau, that was the child of promise.

[8:59] That was the son of promise. And Esau is going to father an entirely different race. But it will be ancestored again in Abraham.

[9:11] And Esau will become the father of the Edomites. And these people, or at least their descendants, dwell to this very day in southern Transjordan. And they are going to play a rather prominent role in the, in the final showdown according to the revelation.

[9:29] So, Esau has become a father of the Edomite people. These are Arab. And they are in contrast, of course, to, to Jacob and the Jewish people.

[9:45] And by the way, and I don't want to get too far afield here, but you remember when the children of Israel came out of Israel they came into the land of Edom and they requested passage through the land of Edom.

[9:58] And they assured them that we will certainly not, we will not destroy the land or anything and we will recompense anything that is ruined and what not.

[10:08] And all we're asking for is permission to come through your country because it had been an enormous shortcut to the promised land. And the Edomites, descendants of Esau, said, nothing doing.

[10:21] And actually, God is going to discipline them in the future for that. This is, this is the area. So they had to skirt around further east and come up and over and down and that's going to be, that's going to be an issue later on too.

[10:42] There is an age-old rivalry that has always existed between Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and Esau.

[10:55] And that's a fascinating history and I'm tempted to go into it but we cannot because we do want to finish this text. And by the way, when we get through with Hebrews, which I think will be just a few weeks, we plan to undertake our exposition of the book of Daniel and that of course has heavy prophetic content in it and ties in with the revelation a lot.

[11:15] So we'll get there eventually. And then this text talks about Esau having sought it carefully with tears and what he was seeking was that for which he had repented.

[11:28] Later in life, Esau came to terms with what he had done. This stupid thing of actually being willing to forfeit his birthright.

[11:39] We talked about that and the cultural aspects of it. Being willing to forfeit his birthright for this mess of pottage. And we pointed out to you how that Esau was a very impetuous individual.

[11:52] Esau was the kind of guy that lived only for the day. Tomorrow can go hang, take care of itself. And he later regretted that. And when he realized the enormity of what he had done, he tried to regain it but there was no regaining it because the blessing had already gone to Jacob.

[12:10] And that's the one to whom it belonged in the first place. And we won't go into the deception thing between Rebecca and Jacob because I think we've covered that sufficiently.

[12:21] So let's go now to our new sheet. And that's on Hebrews chapter 12. And at the top of the page we're dealing with verse 18.

[12:33] But let me just point out this once again because this is really important. All through the book of Hebrews beginning even with the chapter, the opening chapter, what the writer of Hebrews is establishing all the way through and he uses every illustration historically and logically and philosophically that he can find to make this point.

[12:57] And that is the superiority of Jesus Christ and the priesthood of which he was the head, that is, the priesthood of Melchizedek, and how it was superior and surpassed everything that the Aaronic priesthood in the Old Testament had to offer.

[13:17] And Christ is the better sacrifice, he's the maker of a better covenant, he's an eternal son. All of these contrasts are found throughout Hebrews and we find another here, another contrast beginning with verse 18 when he says, for you, and remember, he's addressing, he's addressing Jewish constituents.

[13:40] If you do not understand that, much of Hebrews will not make a lot of sense to you. You had to have a Jewish background and understanding of the sacrificial system and everything else to really make sense of Hebrews.

[13:56] That's why it is so confusing to so many Christians because they try to Christianize the book of Hebrews. You can't do that. Fellas, there are all kinds of applications and principles to be drawn from Hebrews that are interdispensational, that are applicable in any time wherever man has lived, but there are certain specifics that apply to Israel only and if you try to make them apply to the Christian church, it won't work.

[14:26] The thing breaks down. And it's not supposed to work because it is addressed to those to whom it is addressed. The Hebrews. That should not come as a great surprise.

[14:36] And when you open the Epistle of James, part of the key to understanding the Epistle of James is look to whom it is written.

[14:47] It is established, or James says, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. What tribe are you from? We're not from any tribe.

[14:58] We're not Jews, unless some of us have a Jewish heritage. We're Gentiles and we are Christians. So there are applications to be drawn from these, but interpretation is an entirely different thing.

[15:10] So verse 18. And for the benefit of you who are new with us, we just want to point out that the bold type that you see here in verse 18, the bold type is the King James Version.

[15:24] And other translations that are offered below that are those that represent just a little bit different expression. And there is an abbreviation there.

[15:37] The first one, ALF, is from Alfred's translation. The ASV is American Standard Version. MOF is Moffat's translation. BER is Berkeley's translation.

[15:48] So where there's just a little bit of difference, they give you that shade of meaning because where one won't grab you, maybe the next one will. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire.

[16:02] What mount's he talking about? Mount Sinai. He's looking back now in Jewish history and he's saying, that mount, Mount Sinai, where Moses went up and received the law, that's not the mount for you because something has happened to change it that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words.

[16:29] All of these things were part and parcel of Sinai when Moses went up and received the law. And of course, that was approximately fifteen to sixteen hundred years prior to the time Hebrews was written.

[16:43] So he's looking way back into the Old Testament and he says, which voice, which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

[16:57] Remember, they feared the word of God and they literally asked Moses to shut it off. Verse twenty says, for they could not endure that which was commanded.

[17:12] And, if so, this is because of their humanity, clashing with deity. Remember, when God spoke with Moses face to face, Moses wanted to see his glory, God said, you cannot see my glory and survive.

[17:26] Moses, you couldn't handle it. So I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will pass by and you can see my hundred parts but my glory, no human can handle that.

[17:38] And, that's exactly what they're talking about here. And so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with the dark. This is extreme penalty, extreme isolation that is provided here.

[17:55] A way of closure, a way of finality, a way that no other nation or people on earth have ever experienced and all of this was setting forth the majesty and the glory and the seriousness of dealing with the God of the universe.

[18:14] And, verse twenty one, and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. One says, I am terrified and trembling.

[18:28] I am terrified and do tremble. Terror stricken, aghast and appalled. I am full of fear and trembling. I shudder with fear.

[18:38] These are all different translations of what Moses was experiencing. And, fellas, this is something that not only have we completely lost sight of, we never have had sight of it.

[18:53] There isn't any of us who can even begin to contemplate a confrontation with the deity. I mean, you talk about being out of our class.

[19:07] This is so far out of our class. The distinction and the difference that separates humanity from deity is infinite. How are you going to measure that?

[19:19] Or let me put it this way. The distinction that separates a human being from an ant crawling around on an ant hill, the difference is greater than that.

[19:37] And all of this is wrapped up in what Hebrews is presenting as God having come in the flesh and having taken upon himself our sin.

[19:54] This is an utterly incomprehensible thing. this is this is the pivotal point of the universe is the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

[20:14] John says and we behold his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. I know I have little or no idea of whereof I speak right now.

[20:27] But the majesty and the glory of God is so far above and beyond our ability to comprehend that it's just totally out of our league.

[20:39] And this is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is trying to express. And he's saying all of this fearful stuff, all of this awesomeness, all of this dread and scariness and frightfulness and everything connected with this manifestation of the deity in the mount is going to undergo an incredible change.

[21:07] And here it comes. But, verse 22, a conjunction of contrast. In the Greek, this but is called an adversity and it is designed to indicate a huge difference between what has gone before and what is coming now.

[21:28] And it's all rendered in one little word, but. This is the way it was, but this is the way it is now and it is radically different.

[21:41] But you, that is the present audience receiving this epistle, but you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn.

[22:06] This is a curious expression of the word church, and it's a little bit fresher in my mind now because I'm dealing with this issue and Christianity clarified. And this is the only time you find the word church used in the Old Testament.

[22:20] Or that is referred to in the Old Testament, the church of the firstborn. And the word, the word in the Greek is the word, the word ekklesia, and it means a called out or a summoned out group or assembly.

[22:38] Sometimes it's translated congregation, sometimes it's translated church, sometimes it's translated assembly, and other terms like that. And that's exactly what the nation of Israel was, although we don't think of two million Jews coming out of Egypt as a church.

[22:57] But what it was, was a called out assembly, a called out group of people unto a specific purpose. And the purpose to which they were called was their deliverance, their rescue.

[23:08] Out of the land of Egypt. So we're going to see later on how this word church is used. And it is quite fascinating because there is a distinction between churches that are mentioned and sometimes when you take the word church and make it to always mean the same thing for everybody, I can promise you the confusion never ends.

[23:32] but there has to be, as Paul wrote to Timothy, there has to be a right division of the churches. Like a whole lot of other things, they need to be rightly divided.

[23:44] And if you don't do that, then you wrongly mix them and then you wonder why they don't make any sense. They can't make any sense when they are conglomerated like that. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, that is, just men made complete or finished.

[24:16] You realize that we are now, we are now individuals who are all under construction. None of us is a finished product. And we are all growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[24:31] We will not be a finished product until the return of Christ, when this corruptible puts on incorruption, this mortal puts on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, death is swallowed up in victory.

[24:50] That's when we will be a finished product. And according to Philippians 3, our bodies, our physical bodies that are referred to as our body of weakness, sure is, isn't it?

[25:04] Our body of weakness will be turned into a body fashioned like that of Jesus Christ when he came forth from the tomb. This is called a glorified body. So we're going to trade these in.

[25:17] And that's going to be a, that's, these just men made perfect, he's talking about those who have been completed in Christ. Berkeley says of the righteous who have reached perfection, just men now made perfect.

[25:33] And Taylor renders it, of the redeemed in heaven, already made perfect. And Goodspeed says, of upright men now at last enjoying the fulfillment of their hopes.

[25:46] And that is when we are what God intends us to be, we are fashioned like unto the body of Christ. And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.

[25:59] Verse 24. And I need to spend a little time here because this is really, really important. I want you to think in terms of the covenant that exists starting back in the Old Testament with which these people were very familiar.

[26:19] And the word, the word covenant well, let me just put it this way. Maybe I should preface it with this.

[26:31] Anytime you see the word testament in the Bible, it's a mistranslation. Without exception, it should be rendered covenant, not testament.

[26:45] And I don't know why the translators rendered it testament, because the word in the Greek is diatheke, and it literally means to cut through. And if you look at the word dia, D-I-A, in the Greek it's a preposition and it means through, through.

[27:05] It's the same word from which we get the word diameter, and it means the distance through the circle. And the theke part of the word means to cut, to cut, C-U-T, to cut.

[27:20] And what this literally means and refers to is the cutting of a covenant. What does that mean?

[27:31] Why would they call it the cutting of a covenant? It's because when the covenant was first established between God and Abraham, you'll recall, and this is back in Genesis 15, 16, 17, in that area, when God told Abraham that he was going to make him a father of nations and make his sand to the seashore and the stars of the sky and his offspring.

[28:00] And remember what Abraham said? He said, how shall I know this? And actually, it was kind of insulting.

[28:10] It was kind of insulting to the deity because God said, this is what I'm going to do. And Abraham says, yeah, well, can I have that in writing? That's exactly what he was saying.

[28:22] And do you know what God did? God graciously condescended, rather than getting ticked and saying, Abraham, isn't it enough that I told you that I'm the creator of the universe and you can't believe me?

[28:37] Forget it, Abraham, I'm going to get another boy. Get lost. He didn't do that. I wonder if God didn't pause and take a long sigh and say, okay, Abraham, we'll do it your way.

[28:51] What was Abraham's way? What was it that would give Abraham confidence that what God had told him, he would fulfill? And that was what they were doing in the culture.

[29:03] And what they did in the culture, when they were going to enter into a contract, make a covenant that was inviolable, they would take animals and cut the animals in two lengthwise.

[29:17] So you've got, if it's a steer, you've got two sides of beef cut lengthwise and you put one here and you put one here, one half here, and they took other animals, cut them in half, put half there, put half there, and then the two people who were making the covenant joined arm in arm and walk between those severed animals.

[29:45] And we say, what in the world was that all about? That was their equivalent of signing on the dotted line, signing a contract. And what each of them were saying, as primitive and as crazy as this sounds, this was the solemnity, the seriousness with which they entered into that contract, contract, and what each of those two parties was saying was, you see these animal parts here severed in half?

[30:14] They are vivid reminders. This is to be the lot, the end of either one of these who violate the terms of this covenant.

[30:26] That was pretty serious. That was pretty serious. it's kind of like saying, you signed a contract, you signed it in blood. And we don't cut animals in two today, but that's the meaning of the word covenant originally.

[30:39] It means to cut a covenant. The Atheke, to cut a covenant. That's the history of it, and that's what they associated with it. Now, we simplify it, we draw it up on paper, and we sign it.

[30:53] We sign our name, and that's considered a legal binding contract. Now, there was a time, of course, when a handshake would do, but we know those days are gone, aren't they?

[31:06] You've got to get it in writing. So, actually, what Abraham was asking God was, would you solidify this covenant so that I can really, really have confidence in it?

[31:19] And God said, okay, we'll do it your way. And he condescended to accommodate Abraham. And when the time came for the two to walk through those animal parts, this is, by the way, in Genesis 16 or 17, I think, or maybe 15.

[31:37] The older I get, the more these references move around by locating them sometimes. But it's there in that ballpark. And when the time came for the two parties to walk between the animals, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham.

[31:55] he was out of it. He was, I guess you'd say, like unconscious. He was anesthetized. He was asleep, sound asleep. And the text says that a burning pot or a smoking furnace by itself representing the deity passed through those parts.

[32:21] and Abraham didn't even walk through that. What does that say? That the covenant is one way.

[32:31] God is the one that sets up a covenant. He's going to fulfill it. It doesn't matter what Abraham does and the people do later on. That's what you call an unconditional covenant.

[32:43] That means the fulfillment of the terms of the covenant were not dependent upon two parties, as is usually the case. It was dependent upon one party.

[32:58] And that one party is the deity. He made that covenant with Abraham and it doesn't make any difference what Abraham does or does not do.

[33:11] The covenant is duty bound to be fulfilled and the integrity of God is at stake. this is really significant stuff because it makes all the difference in the world regarding the nation of Israel historically and in the future.

[33:30] And many who ignore this or do not put any stock in it at all see Israel as having been replaced by the Christian church.

[33:44] And this is the traditional position of Roman Catholics and of the Episcopalians that came out of it under Henry VIII and of many of the mainline denominations particularly Presbyterian where they see covenant they call it covenant theology and they see the nation of Israel as having forfeited the blessings that God intended to them because of their disobedience and who can deny that they have been disobedient and the capstone of their disobedience was the rejection of their Messiah.

[34:25] And this has led many to conclude that because Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah God has also rejected them and the Jewish nation Israel is completely out of it permanently and God has replaced them with a new entity called the Christian church.

[34:53] That fellas that is the majority opinion among Christendom to this day and it still prevails. So a whole lot hinges upon whether that covenant was binding upon God only or whether it was binding upon God and Abraham.

[35:16] The implications of this are just tremendous not only for prophecy but for all future. And we take the position and we have taught that Israel does have a future and that God is not finished with the nation Israel but he has unfinished business with them and he is going to resume his role with Israel when he is finished with the church and when will he be finished with the church when the church is taken out of here and removed and God turns his attention to Israel and they become the focal point and they also have a big bullseye pointed on their back and it will be the Antichrist who is hurling his arrows at Israel so there is a time of future persecution for the Jew that is coming and only a remnant will survive I'm going to close with this sobering note that during World War II

[36:16] Adolf Hitler succeeded in destroying one third of the world's population of Jewish people in the Holocaust during the tribulation period the Antichrist is going to succeed in destroying two thirds of the Jewish population of the world and one third will constitute the remnant and they will be those of whom Jeremiah I'm sorry Zechariah speaks when Zechariah prophesies and says regarding the nation Israel they will look upon him whom they pierced this is Zechariah 12 10 they will look upon him whom they pierced that is whom their forefathers pierced nailed to the cross and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son that would be Israel the nation's repentance embracing their Messiah and when they do

[37:18] Yeshua Hamashiach is going to return according to Matthew 24 and 25 in the alphabet discourse we'll have to close with this question Roger when God himself walks through the two halves would that not be a type of anybody who takes God in his word in any age a concedious covenant in other words when the Bible says that ain't getting undone that's true you're right it is a perfect example and this is exactly why the apostle Paul makes a contrast when he does when he writes to the Corinthians and he says for we that is we in the body of Christ we as Christians we walk by faith not by sight and what was he contrasting here he was contrasting the church with Israel and did they walk by faith not most of the time they walk by sight they walk on the basis of what God showed them and did for them and all these miracles remember starting with the ten plagues in Egypt and the water and the crossing of the

[38:26] Red Sea all of these things was Israel walking by sight God was showing them he was physically manifesting himself through the quail that he provided through manna from heaven all of these things and this is why this is why later Paul says for the Jews require a sign why did they require signs because God started out with them with signs he revealed himself with signs that's miracles all the way through and they became accustomed to that and that's why when Jesus came on the scene what did they ask him what sign show us thou you are the Messiah all right let's see your stuff if you are from God you ought to be able to do something really unusual so what did he do he healed the sick he raised the dead gave sight to the blind still the storm all of these things were visible manifestations to the nation of Israel that

[39:27] Yeshua Hamashiach was who John the Baptist said he was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world hope this helped you connect a few dots but there are a whole lot more we need to connect and I appreciate your kind attention