Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.gracespringfield.com/sermons/43441/hebrews/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] I appreciate your presence. And by the way, I want to mention, if you're thinking about inviting somebody to join us, this would be a good time. The theodicy thing, I'm confident, would be very enlightening to anybody.

[0:15] And then, as soon as we conclude that, we'll be starting the book of Daniel. And of course, Daniel has been referred to as the book of the Revelation for the Old Testament.

[0:25] And you'll see that when we get into it. And yet, Daniel also has a great deal of practical content, too, that we would do well to imitate. So, that will be upcoming. Now, if you'll take your scripture sheet, we are in 13F, 13 as in Frank, and verse 18, where the writer of Hebrews, that has not been completely determined, has requested prayer.

[0:52] Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience. And that is a valuable, valuable commodity.

[1:02] A good conscience. Paul wrote to Timothy and said that we have a conscience that is clear before man and God.

[1:16] That is void of offense before man and God. The conscience is an emotional apparatus that God has built into human beings that is designed to be triggered with emotional discomfort when we have violated a known standard.

[1:43] It gets to our conscience. It bothers us. It's supposed to. I had someone tell me one time in a counseling session, he said, Pastor Wiseman, I don't, my problem is I have such a delicate conscience, I can't get away with anything.

[2:05] And I said, hey, be thankful. Be thankful that you have a delicate conscience that you can't get away with anything. That is God's gracious provision for you.

[2:17] The apostle also wrote to Timothy and lamented the fact that there were those with whom he had to do, Paul, who suffered from a seared conscience.

[2:32] And that's a bad way to be. A seared conscience and the word that is used there in the Greek, in the original language, talks about a conscience that is cauterized.

[2:48] And that's the word that is used in the original. And you know if you have a wound and you're losing blood, if heat can be applied or a hot iron is going to burn like fire, but it can cauterize the wound and stop the flow of blood.

[3:07] But when you do that, where the wound was cauterized, there will come into existence scar tissue.

[3:19] And the scar tissue doesn't have any nerve endings. And that means where the scar tissue is, you can't feel pain. Because the pain comes from the nerve endings.

[3:32] And our whole body is just covered with nerve endings. And if you think not, just deal with a hangnail. How painful that can be. And that's nerve endings at work.

[3:44] So they're all over. And if you have nerve endings that are cauterized so you can't feel pain, that's a bad way to be. And when you have a conscience that is cauterized, as it were, that means you are not affected by your actions.

[4:05] And I remember reading a report one time that was drawn up by an official working with the FBI in the uniform crime statistics thing. And he lamented the fact that this was probably 25 years ago.

[4:19] And I think we're seeing the fruit of it now. But he said, he said, my fear is for America is that we are rearing a group of children.

[4:29] They are children now. But they are going to grow into teenage and adulthood without any feeling or compassion. and I wonder if that isn't where we're at right now.

[4:44] People who have no sympathy and no compassion for others, they can they can wound someone or even murder someone. And when they're interviewed in jail as to why they did it, they seem to have no no regret, no remorse, no apology.

[5:02] They're just completely without feeling. And it's a sad, sad way to be. But that's what's going on in our culture today in many respects. So, the writer here is talking about having a good conscience.

[5:16] And that means that nothing to hide. Everything is above board and and out front. And and there is no secrets between you and those who are significant.

[5:32] And this is a very important thing, by the way, in the area of marriage. because if marriage is what it's supposed to be and it's more than anything else, marriage is about togetherness.

[5:43] It's about two people becoming one. And there is to be no secrets. No secrets between husband and wife.

[5:55] Nothing to hide. Everything is open and up front. and there is an element of trust that is established that is priceless.

[6:07] And if it is lost, it can be regained, but it's very difficult and it takes time to do it. So, yeah. That third translation up from the bottom there kind of is a little different there.

[6:20] But we are certain that our hearts are free from the sense of sin. Yeah. Free from the sense of sin. Yeah. And Moffat right below that translates that I am confident that my conscience is clean.

[6:33] And Philip says our conscience is clear before God and in all things willing to live honestly or honorably in all things.

[6:44] Wishing to deport ourselves well. Someone has said the difference between character and reputation is reputation is what people think you are.

[6:57] But character is what you really are. Character is what is reflected in your behavior when you're a thousand miles from home and nobody knows you.

[7:10] And what you are there, that tends to be your character. And we hear about things like even sometimes in advertisements. What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.

[7:24] And you can put that together. You know, they don't call Las Vegas Sin City for nothing. Some call it lost wages. Sometimes it's that too.

[7:35] But we all know that there are people who go off to places like that who feel that they can live it up and do whatever they want to do with impunity because nobody knows them there.

[7:49] And whatever happens there stays there. But I'll tell you what, if you've got a conscience, you're going to bring it back with you because you can't feed your conscience in Las Vegas.

[8:00] Was there a comment or question? Larry? Yeah. There's a lot of times I go off track but I always tell you about wounds that we inflict.

[8:12] Yeah. And that time heals all wounds. Somebody said that time heals all wounds, I don't know.

[8:23] Yeah. Yeah. Well, time does help. But, you know. Okay. And in all things willing to live honestly.

[8:34] But I beseech you, verse 19, but I beseech you to rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. And he wants them to pray for him because he is hoping to be able to reestablish contact and he wants to be with him again.

[8:53] And he begins concluding the letter saying, now the God of peace, and this is a wonderful kind of a doxology or a conclusion, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect.

[9:19] And this word perfect means complete, mature. And Paul wrote to the Colossians and reminded them that you are complete in him.

[9:30] if you are in Christ, God has nothing more to give you to add to that, to make you all that he wants you to be, and to provide for your final and eternal destiny.

[9:46] In Christ you have everything. He is the Alpha and Omega, that's our equivalent of the A to Z, and he's everything in between.

[9:58] So, if you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have absolutely everything that God has to give that is of any consequence at all. And we are reminded that we are enriched in him in all things.

[10:14] So, he is going to make us complete, and in every good work, to do his will, working in you, that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

[10:36] Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, that's, I beg of you, I exhort you, I appeal to you, and here again, this is a recognition of the volition that is involved here, and we find that all throughout scripture.

[10:52] it is a solemn thing to realize and to recall that we all have a will, a volition that makes us a free moral agent, and that will, and our exercise of it, becomes the basis for our ultimate evaluation before the Lord.

[11:15] So, here he is appealing to the will, when he says, I beseech you, I beg of you, I'm asking you to do this, to exercise your will, to suffer this word of exhortation, for I have written a letter unto you in few words.

[11:31] Well, I suppose that's open to debate as to whether these thirteen chapters could be considered a few words or not, but I'm sure the writer had a whole lot that he could have added to it.

[11:44] It is a characteristic of the apostle Paul, however, to write some of his letters like a lot of preachers preach their sermons. And I think it's in 1 Corinthians where Paul says, and finally brethren, finally, and the reader might think, well, he's going to wrap it up now, but no, he isn't.

[12:07] He's got a few more chapters to write. So, when the preacher says, finally, he may be wrapping it up, on the other hand, he may not. It reminds me of a story.

[12:20] This little boy, about 8 years old, is attending church for the first time with his grandfather. And the pastor was up there, and he was making the announcements, and the little boy leaned over his grandfather, and he says, what's he doing?

[12:40] He says, well, he's making the announcements now. He's telling people the things that are going to happen. And then they had communion service, and he says, what's he doing now? And he says, well, he's passing out the juice, and the cup, and the wafer, and we're going to have communion.

[12:59] And then after a while, the preacher looked at his watch, and he says, what's he looking at his watch? What does that mean? And he said, that doesn't mean a thing. So, I'm sure there's some of that going on, too.

[13:14] Finally, salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. And here again, it is an appeal to respect those who have authority.

[13:28] And, oh, I'm sorry, I skipped over verse 23. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty. Now, that once again, is at least a possible indication that Paul may very well have been the writer of this.

[13:44] And as was suggested earlier, the reason he did not attach his name to it was because he knew many in the Jewish constituency would refuse to even read it if it had the name Paul on it.

[13:58] Because in the Jewish community, he was considered a real turncoat. And let me just add something here because it is something that has continued on for 2,000 years and it is rife today throughout the world.

[14:13] And that is the common, most unfortunate misunderstanding, I mean complete misunderstanding that exists in the vast majority of the Jewish people throughout the world regarding Christianity and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:40] I know Paul talks about that blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles is realized in Romans chapter 11.

[14:51] And boy, that is really something that has taken hold big time. You would be amazed if you, does anybody here besides me get the magazine Israel My Glory?

[15:04] Oh yeah, a number of you do. Well, you remember the articles in there by Zvi Kalischer. He's with the Lord now. But Zvi was a young man who was born in Russia and eventually came to Germany and was subjected to the Nazi treatment and he was able to escape it and eventually ended up in Israel and fought in Israel's war for independence in 1948 and then again in the Yom Kippur war.

[15:45] And he came to faith in Christ as a young man. And his burden of course was for his own people, the Jewish people. And he frequently has opportunity to interact with them and witness to them.

[15:57] And if you remember reading any of his articles in Israel, my glory, most of them are just a page or two pages long. And he recounts his encounters with his Jewish countrymen trying to present the Messiah to them.

[16:11] And it is just absolutely amazing the misunderstanding that exists in the Jewish mind regarding Christianity. And all they can think of and understandably is the persecution that has come often from those who profess the Christian faith.

[16:35] And it goes all the way back to the 9th and 10th and 11th centuries began under Pope Urban. And this was considered to be the will of God.

[16:49] And there were forced conversions and Jews were persecuted. They were accused of everything that you can imagine that were held responsible in many areas for the plague, for the Black Death in the 13th century.

[17:03] And they accused the Jews of poisoning the water. And they were just ostracized and persecuted, particularly all throughout Europe.

[17:15] And many of you are familiar with the phrase in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue from Spain under Queen Isabella.

[17:28] But many are completely ignorant of the year. In 1492, the Jewish people in Spain were forced to convert to Christianity, to Catholic Christianity, and be baptized into the Catholic Church, or leave the country.

[17:51] And they were able to take no money and no possessions with it. And of course, many of them signed on just to go along with it.

[18:02] And they didn't believe it at all. And they weren't converted at all. But they did it in order to be able to stay there. And of course, then there were some who left. But this has gone on, these forced conversions. Christians, and they look at this as the vaccinations of Christians do this to Jews.

[18:20] And it is a terrible, terrible witness that has been inflicted upon them. And I remember, I think I shared this with you some time ago. Many Christians beginning as early as, as, well, actually beginning, beginning as early as the fourth century.

[18:45] And one of the greatest intellects who ever lived, and that was Augustine, believed that the Jewish people were under the curse of God for having crucified the Messiah, and that it was the responsibility of Christians to make the Jews feel the heat, and to persecute them, and that that was to be part of their punishment.

[19:16] And Augustine got into that, and this is where replacement theology came from, the idea that the church has taken the place of Israel, and Israel is completely finished. And this went on for centuries, and then eventually there came into publication the, trying to think of the name of the article now, well, perhaps it will come to me, but anyway, it had to do with the accusation, it was complete fabrication, it wasn't an element of truth to it, it was complete fabrication that the Jewish people, the Jewish people would kidnap a Christian child, and murder them, and use their blood bread, to make their matzah balls, to mix into their matzah balls to serve in the Jewish Passover, and this was called, I recall it now, it was called the blood libel, the blood libel,

[20:19] L-I-B-E-L, and you can today go into any Muslim bookstore, anywhere in the world, and you will find copies of that article on the shelf that they are selling there, that is still propagated to this day, that lie, that surface in, I think it was in the 13 or 1400s, and there's never been an element of truth to it, and yet it is still believed in the world of Islam, that this is what the Jews do, you know, and they were accused of poisoning the wells, and accused of the black plague, and all kinds of things, and Martin Luther, who happens to be one of my heroes, because I think he was a man of just enormous intellect, and incredible courage, but he had a real blind spot when it came to the Jew, and he bought into that replacement theology thing, and he wrote some tracts and pamphlets that were just absolutely, well, they, they were tragic, the way they castigated and what he said about the

[21:32] Jew, and the Lutheran, Lutherans worldwide, Lutherans worldwide have been embarrassed about what their founder, Martin Luther, had written about the Jewish people, and just called them some very terrible things, and, and, in fact, it was in the, it was in the 1990s, you can, you can look this up on the internet, but it was in the 1990s, that the Lutheran World Federation crafted an apology on behalf of the Lutheran church worldwide to the Jewish people for the terrible things that their founder, Martin Luther, said about them, and, and I'm sure that Luther thought he was on solid ground, and here is another case of a faulty assumption, and that is that one of the responsibilities of a Christian is to convert the Jew by hook or by crook.

[22:35] You either force them into Christianity or you persecute them and make them pay for not coming into Christianity, and that's a terrible thing, but that's, that was the standard fare of that day, so keep in mind that the Jewish people today have a real impediment to overcome because the history, and, and it is, it is common knowledge among the Orthodox Jews, and of course the Jews are, are very much divided about this, but, uh, the two basic groups referred to as the Orthodox and the Reform, and, and there's one group that is even more strict than the Orthodox, and they are referred to as the Hasidim, and they're the ones that wear the black garb and have the curls in the front, etc., but, uh, they, they, they take the position, the Orthodox, at least, uh, takes the position that if someone converts, leaves Judaism, and converts to Christianity, the family is under obligation to disown them, legally, emotionally, in every way, and they actually, they actually go to the extent of conducting a funeral, where that individual who left the

[23:58] Jewish faith is considered to be, no more, that was my son, he is dead, he is dead, they have no further contact with him, if there's any inheritance, of course, they're cut off from that, now, not all Jews are like that, the Reformed Jews are much more open to that, in fact, one of the biggest problems I think any rabbi will tell you today, whether they're Reformed or Orthodox or whatever, is assimilation, they have, this is one of the great laments of the Jewish people today, is that there are too many Jewish boys marrying non-Jewish girls, and too many non-Jewish girls marrying Gentile boys, and that is depleting their ranks, and that's one of the things that they're struggling with today, trying to maintain their identity, so, with the Reformed, that's not so much a barrier as it is with the Orthodox, but it's a real difference thing, and it's a real painful thing for these families, yes?

[25:01] That seemed to be a Christianity thing all the way through, every time they moved into another country, they tried to convert the native, here, South America, wherever it was, and cruelly, we'll be a one of the main Jews, Jews.

[25:13] Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, we are under divine obligation to preach the gospel, to share the gospel, and to call men and women to faith in Jesus Christ, but we are in no manner of means justified in forcing or threatening or intimidating or anything like that, we are to appeal to people on the basis of the truth that is in the gospel, but we should never ever consider threatening or forcing anyone into a conversion or into faith in Christ, because that is completely contrary to the scriptures.

[26:00] And here's another case where there is a misunderstood, and I call these faulty assumptions that where Jesus gave this, gave an illustration, gave a parable about a banquet where he invited everyone to come, and they refused to come, and that was directed to Israel, because Israel as the nation was invited to the banquet, and they refused to come, and this is the story that he gave in the banquet, and he says, what is the one who is providing the banquet going to do then?

[26:38] He's going to throw it open to everyone else, to what you would call the riffraff, the down and outers, you know, the disenfranchised, and he said, go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in.

[26:53] Well, what does that mean? And the faulty assumption translates that as meaning, you make them come in, you force them to come in, and that's not what the text means at all.

[27:05] It just means you extend the invitation, and you make it appealing and attractive to them, so that they will want to come. And that's what we are supposed to do with the gospel.

[27:17] We are to present the Lord Jesus Christ as the panacea for the world, and the hope of every human heart. And to make, Paul wrote to Titus and said that we are to adorn the doctrine of God.

[27:37] Think of that. When you adorn something, you dress it up. You dress it up. And the Christian is called upon to dress up and make look good the doctrine of God.

[27:53] Because it is. And we aren't coloring it, and we aren't papering over it. We're showing it to be what it is. And it is the most wonderful thing that anyone could ever hear or embrace.

[28:08] This good news, this gospel of Christ. Joe. Well, I think most of us all experience this when we were a kid being brought up. I had a negative view of Jews.

[28:19] And the only reason it was because my father, grandfather, adults would say, don't be Jewed. Now, don't be Jewed. Don't let somebody Jew you. Jew them down.

[28:32] And they would say, they'd tell me, see, I had a bad image of Jews. I did too. They were crooked. I mean, they'd cheat you. I did too. I did too. I could remember my grandfather.

[28:43] We were down just a few days ago. We were down in the town where I was born. I was going around some of the old places. I only lived there until I was about five or six years old, but I still remember some of it.

[28:55] And I can still remember my grandfather saying, I will do without before I go downtown to such and such a hardware store and buy anything from that Jew.

[29:09] And that's called anti-Semitism. Now, my grandfather, I'm convinced my grandfather was a believer. And I think he saw his attitude toward the Jewish people as something he was supposed to have and supposed to feel.

[29:25] And that was kind of common around that. And the Jew was kind of ostracized, looked down on, depreciated, discriminated against in any way, shape, or form.

[29:38] It's hard for us as Americans to imagine this in our society, but there was a time when you could walk downtown in almost any city in the United States where there would be a help wanted sign, and it would say no Jews need apply.

[29:57] And that was America. That was America. No Jews need to apply. And by the way, in some places it even said no Irish need apply.

[30:08] Can you imagine that? How's that for discrimination? And, well, we've gotten beyond that, I hope, at least in most respects. but that's part of our black history, you know, our dark history.

[30:22] Yeah. I think there's a connotation that said it's justified that many of the Jewish are very successful. It's true, you must say.

[30:34] Where did that come from? Well, I have a theory, and I think that it is ingrained in the Jewish people.

[30:45] Of course, many of them, I'm sure, would deny this, but I think that that history verifies it. I think that there is a peculiar, what shall I say, a peculiar kind of provision made, and I'm not suggesting that all Jews are wealthy and whatnot, you know.

[31:08] You know George Soros, one of the wealthiest men in America, and he's Jewish, by the way. He's a Jewish atheist.

[31:21] He is a multi-billionaire, and he made his billions on capitalism. And he's right now financing in as many ways as he can to tear down capitalism and replace it with socialism.

[31:36] capitalism. And that's just a bald fact. And the numbers are there. Now I forgot what I was going to say. What was I talking about?

[31:48] Oh, yeah. It was just a statistic that I shared with you before. To give you an idea of the ratio and the proportionality regarding Jews and Judaism, bear in mind that the Jewish people worldwide do not consist of even 1% of the world's population.

[32:10] Their number is two-tenths of 1% of the world's population is Jews. And yet, listen up, 20% of those who have won the Nobel Prize are Jewish.

[32:32] where does that come from? How do you account for that? 20% of the Nobel Prize winners are Jewish. And I'm talking about medicine, engineering, you name it.

[32:47] Yeah, science of all kinds. That's amazing. Where does that come from? That's quite interesting. Yeah, I think it does. I think it does.

[32:59] I really do. And when the Lord told Abraham, blessing I will bless you, and those who curse you I will curse, I think there's some truth in that. And you look at every nation that has persecuted the Jew and see where they are now.

[33:16] And you can go all the way back to ancient Babylon, and for that matter you can go back in our own generation to Nazi Germany and see what happened to them.

[33:26]  So, hey guys, thank you for being here. Enjoy your breakfast in the day ahead. Amen. Amen.