Hebrews - Talk 9

The family likeness -- endure instruction, discipline and hardship so you may produce the fruit of holiness and reached the heavenly goal.

Introduction
Quite a few years ago I was in a soccer team, or a football to if you like, with a coach who was quite frankly obsessive. This coach had played in very high level teams in his day, and his expectations were a little higher than what we were used to. In fact preseason training started in January, in the sweltering heat of summer, and we didn't touch a football for the first eight weeks of training.

In fact we ran for two hours every training session, and we didn't drop below half speed at any stage during the two hours. And we had three of these sessions per week. So I have to admit, at the time I didn't like the bloke very much, spending six hours a week running around an oval didn't seem like a very productive use the time to me. And while previously a number of the guys stood up for him, but even they lost the last shred of goodwill towards this guy, when he turned up to training one day, with a trailer on the back of his car.

And the trailer contained a full load of bricks. So we all got two bricks, one for each hand, and then as usual we ran to two hours nonstop, with a brick in each hand!

By the time the first game of the season came around, some three months later, everybody wanted to kill him. But then our attitudes changed as we started the season, and we could quite clearly run faster and for longer than any other team in the competition.

So there was method in his madness, even though it was very unpleasant at the time. In fact one of my lasting memories of that time, was a mate of mine turning up to training straight after work, and stepping out of his car, while finishing a bowl of cereal. Now to say that training was extreme - really was an understatement, it was physically exhausting. So what possessed my mate to try and eat cereal just before we started running is beyond me. And as you may have guessed the cereal decided to leave his body a little sooner than he had anticipated and not by the means that the good Lord had originally intended.

Nothing about this experience was enjoyable at the time, but it had to be said there were great benefits from the hardship much later in the year.

Hardship is never pleasant at the time, but we often see fruit from hardship.

Now as I find myself approaching Christmas, I also find myself having to prepare to answer the question, from well intended people, ‘so Andrew, how was your first year of Ministry?’

‘How do you answer that?’

How do you assess a year, where obviously plenty of things have gone wrong really?

How do you try to piece it together as a Christian person?

There is no question it has been a hard year, so how do I rightly understand, assess and process, all that has come my way this year?

Well this passage of Hebrews is instruction about what we are to do when it feels like the wheels have fallen off life!

Introduction to the passage;
This passage is all action, so if you can't find something to do after the sermon, you clearly weren't paying attention, because the preachers to the Hebrews gives us lots of commands;

- In V3 he commands us to consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart
- V5 he tells us do not make light of the Lord's discipline and he tells us to not lose heart when the Lord rebukes us
- V7 he commands is to endure hardship as discipline because God is treating us as Son's
- Verse 12 he commands you to strengthen your feeble arms and week knees and make level the path for your feet
- V14 he commands us to make every effort to live at peace with all men and to be holy
- In v15 he commands us to see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up
- V25 he commands us to see to it that you do not refuse him who speaks

And at the conclusion of the chapter he gives this exhortation, and encouragement;
- V28; he exhorts us let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe

This passage is jammed full of action and calls for a response from people who find themselves in hardship, trial and persecution.



So in our first section today which goes from versus 1-13, we get our first point;

1.strengthen yourselves and endure the Lords discipline (verse 1-13)

12 Therefore,
Strengthen** your feeble arms and weak knees.
13 "Make** level paths for your feet,"
so that the lame may not be disabled,
but rather healed

5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

"My son, do not make light** of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart** when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines
those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

7 Endure** hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as sons.
For what son is not disciplined by his father?

The Hebrew believers who are the recipient of this letter, a suffering persecution from both family and the government for following and proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

And you can imagine them thinking to themselves, ‘we are doing the right thing in following God, why are we suffering for it?’

You can imagine their friends and family saying to them, ‘Does your God, Jesus Christ really care, if he did how could you suffer like this?’

‘If your God is really is the God of all creation, why are you suffering, unless you have done something to displease him? Surely God only blesses and never curses those whom he loves, and those who love him?’

And I suspect many of us today can feel the weight of the accusation, why does it seem so difficult at times to live the Christian life, how can persecution or sickness or hardship or trial be part of God's plan?

And The image which the preacher uses in versus 12 and 13, of weak arms and weak knees, betrays his picture of a group of people who are profoundly discouraged from the cause of Christ, you can imagine them thinking, is this really worth all the hassle, maybe I'll just let it slide a little.

But the preacher commands them to strengthen themselves and to endure it.

Which is easy to say but, ‘how do you strengthen your selves so you can endure it?’ Well there are two ways, firstly they are to consider Christ, and secondly they are to consider God their father.

So firstly they are to consider Christ, and there are two reasons to consider Christ. Firstly Christ is the means of their salvation, and secondly, Christ is the example to follow.

Again we look to those famous verses of chapter 12 and that summarise the intent of the preacher throughout the book of Hebrews,

Versus 1-3
Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him
endured the cross,
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider** him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

So Christ is the means of our salvation, he died the death on the cross that we could not. Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith, from start to finish, from Alpha to Omega, he has done everything to ensure our salvation by faith.

But not only is he the means of that faith, he is the example par excellence of that faith. He took the path that was laid out from him, the difficult and dreadful path to the cross, he endured the cross and scorned its shame, and he did it to save you and me, by faith.

So we are to be strengthened by focusing on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith, who is both the means of our salvation and our example.

And secondly, we are to be strengthened by considering God our father.

And there are three things to consider about God our father;

Firstly our God is holy. Throughout the passage we are reminded that God his first and foremost HOLY. God who we call father, is a consuming fire who spoke to his people in such a way that his words alone terrified them. God is a holy God, to which no un-holiness can approach, without being destroyed.

The family we have joined by faith in Christ, has a family likeness, which is Holiness. God is holy and his children must be HOLY.

Secondly God is sovereign. The God who created the heaven and the earth, and Mankind himself, is the sovereign God who will recreate these things by his sovereign will, and his effective word, all at his good time.

God is a sovereign God, and as we see from V3 that even the efforts and desires of sinful men cannot thwart the sovereignty of God in his good purposes. Sinful men put the Christ to death, and yet God would triumph in his plans to save men and bring glory to Chris as the Lord of the universe, despite the best efforts of sinful men and the devil himself.

So God is sovereign.

And the third point to consider about our father which is an encouragement to us, to strengthen us, is really a logical outworking of the first two points, (so God is holy, and his sovereign), leads to our third point about God our father, that he desires holy children.

The preacher encourages to hearers to endure the hardship, because ultimately God is using this hardship to train them, and to instruct them, so that they may be holy, that we may share in Christ's Holiness V10 and that it would produce a harvest of righteousness and peace, by those who have been trained by it.

The preacher makes an appeal, and says by analogy, that all fathers discipline their children, this is obvious to everyone, and mostly they do it for their children's good, or at least they try to even if they get it wrong. So how much more should God who is holy, discipline his own children, for their own good. The preacher appeals to us that only God the father can discipline his children truly fairly, so if we submitted to our own earthly fathers and it was far our own good, how much more should we submit ourselves to the discipline of quite a father who loves us and does it for our good, in this he treats us as real sons and daughters.

And then he goes on to state the bleeding obvious -- that no discipline is pleasant at the time! Like he needed someone to explain that to you!

So be strengthened, by considering Christ, and by considering God our father.

Now In the midst of a hardship, people often ask the question why?
Why is this happening?
Where is God, when this is going on?

I think the Bible, does offer us genuine comfort in situations when we find ourselves asking the question why? But it seems to me the Bible gives us confidence about a situation in a general sense, in that we can trust in God's goodness and sovereignty even though we may not understand the particular incidents we find in front of us. In the particulars of the situation it is often hard to answer the question why in any detail.

But the passage before us today, challenges us, that the mature Christian response in times of difficulty and hardship, trial and persecution, is to push beyond question ‘why’ (as legitimate and important as that question his) and to ask the question - what?

To ask the question what is God teaching me about discipleship through this hardship, how is God disciplining me as his child in this hardship, irrespective of how it comes to us, whether from our own hands, the fallen-ness of the creation, or the evil schemes of sinful men, the mature Christian asks the question, ‘what is God teaching me about discipleship, and holiness and through what I am facing’. ‘How does God want me to change, to be more holy, to produce the fruit of holiness, because of the hardship of the situation.’

Romans reminds us that God works for the good in all situations of those who love him, and our good, is our Holiness, not something as paltry as our material comfort.

Strengthen yourselves and endure the Lords discipline.


2.see to it no one misses the grace of God that must be shown in peace and holiness in the Fellowship (v14 17).

14 Make every effort** to live in peace with all men
and to be holy;
without holiness no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it** that no one misses the grace of God
and that no bitter root grows up
to cause trouble
and defile many.
16 See that no one is sexually immoral,
or is godless like Esau,
who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.
17 Afterward, as you know,
when he wanted to inherit this blessing,
he was rejected.
He could bring about no change of mind,
though he sought the blessing with tears.

So the preacher says see to it that no one misses the grace of God, that we may live lives of peace and holiness. The characteristics of peace and holiness, characteristics of the son and the father aren't they? God is calling us, to live like we have been made, we are to bear the family likeness.

Peace and holiness are required, because without Holiness no one will see the Lord. Holiness is a pre-requisite of meeting the Lord in his kingdom after this the life. To reach our goal, the goal for which Christ died, we must hold fast to the Holiness we have received by the grace of God.

So we are commanded, see to it that no one misses the grace of God, the grace that must express itself in peace and holiness. Holiness is the pre-requisite, but holiness is the gift of God by faith. The book of Hebrews reminds us through its warnings particularly in chapters six and 10, that the grace of God by faith is a gift that can be rejected and despised by people. So he warned us to not rejected the gift of God, the grace of God.

So how could we reject the grace of God?

Well throughout the book, the primary sin that has been the temptation to the Hebrew readers, is the temptation to sin by apostasy.
Apostasy is the conscious and public denial of Christ as Lord, and to deny Christ as Lord, is to deny Christ and all his benefits towards you. It is to be without a mediator, and the High-priest, before holy God. Holy God, who condemns or on righteousness. It is to fall into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire.

And our preacher pointed out to us two symptoms, that present themselves, when people are on the path to apostasy. And those two symptoms are both forms of godlessness, one is sexual immorality, and the second is the root of bitterness.

So firstly sexual immorality, throughout the old Testament, sexual immorality is very closely linked to Idolatry – or godlessness. Now this is particularly because of the expression of religious practice that was undertaken in the worship of many idols, but Israel herself was portrayed as an unfaithful wife. The link was that to engage in unfaithful behaviour physically, was a concrete expression of an unwillingness to submit to Yahweh's Lordship spiritually – to be godless.

And the preacher to the Hebrews want us to consider the warning of godlessness through the example of Esau. Esau treated the holy things of God, like they were common. He did not honour the birthright he had been given. Esau traded upon the grace of God, and the problem with that approach is that in our sinful craftiness, mankind doesn't perceive the train of God's grace leaving the station. Esau finally twigged that there was a problem, but long after he had the opportunity had gone to put things right through true repentance.

Esau’s Godlessness, is a warning to us all about the dangers of idolatry, and particularly a call to sexual purity. Do not treat the holy things of God, like they are Common, and do not presume and trade upon God's grace. These things lead down the path of apostasy, or godlessness.

Instead considered the heroes of the faith we talked about last week, and consider their outcome, "the world was not worthy of them", and by faith they received the promised inheritance. We are called to holiness.

Secondly, the root of bitterness.

It seems within the context of the letter, the stronger brothers and sisters who kept meeting together, we struggling to deal and relate with the weaker brothers and sisters who were in real danger of (or even the process of) falling way. It seems likely the ‘root of bitterness’ that rises up to cause trouble and defile many within Fellowship is the bitterness of pride and un-forgiveness.

All people will stand before God, by the grace of God, and that is why the preacher implores us and commands us to make sure no-one misses or forgets the grace of God. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and not by works so none of you can boast.

And let us not give up leading together as sum are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as we see the day approaching.
Brothers and sisters do not let the root of bitterness start to grow within your heart and so within this congregation, but remember the grace of God that we all share, and the grace of God demands from us a response of peace and holiness.

Christian maturity endures the discipline of the Lord, and by the grace of God, that results in us resisting sexual immorality, and resisting bitterness.

Christian maturity seeks to ensure that other believers do likewise, that the fellowship resists sexual immorality and the root of bitterness.

See to it no one misses the grace of God that must be shone in peace and holiness in the Fellowship.

3.make sure you remember who is speaking to you!

Verse 25

25 See to it** that you do not refuse him who speaks.
If they did not escape when they refused him
who warned them on earth,
how much less will we,
if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

This section of the letter uses a very common rhetorical technique that is employed throughout the new Testament and in particular by Paul, it is this expression of the light and heavy.

If the lighter thing was true, the revelation of God to Moses upon Sinai, for which the Israelite people were judged when they failed to obey it. How much more, the heavier thing, will the Hebrew hearers be judged because they have heard the final and full and complete revelation of God in his son Jesus Christ, if they are found to disobey it?

We are to hear the encouraging warning, of the immensity of God's judgement upon a person who would dare taste and see that the Lord is good, to see all the Christ has done and bared on their behalf, and turn their back and walk or away.

So we need to remember who is speaking to us.

4.let us be thankful and worship God with reverence and awe!

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire."

This passage reminds us, that God is a holy God, God is a faithful god, God is worthy of our worship.

The NIV translates to words as worship, the first word really means to honour, to praise, to give thanks, to declare his goodness, to give due reverence, to the one (the only one) who is worthy of worship. In its most literal sense, it means to bend at the waist. It's the reference you show a great King when you went to the throne room.

But the second word the NIV translates as worship, is the word that is used here and, and it means ‘to serve’. It means to serve in all of our life, every corner and action, the one true and living God.
let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire."

And so it seems the preacher has told us, that the holy God has spoken and most purposefully in his son, who endured the path set before him, to bring us the uncomfortable comfort of the cross. And he did it so that we who have received his grace can endure, (being disciplined and instructed) by hardship, so as to produce the fruit of holiness and worship and serve God as we head towards our heavenly goal.

Now - Like I said that in the beginning this is a passage full of action, there is direct and clear application, so let me ask you, what will you do now that you have heard the holy God speak today?

What will you do now?
Well if it helps, let me tell you what I'm going to do now!
You know what I am going to do when hardship comes my way?
Well with the Lord's help -- endure!

And let me tell you five practical steps to help achieve that;

1.pray. In times of difficulty, trial, anxiety or doubt, I am going to challenge myself to pray. To pray to the holy and sovereign God, who desires my good which is my Holiness. When difficulty and hardship comes, the challenge is to pray, and to say to God, "Lord you have my attention, what is it you are trying to teach me.

2.focus on Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith.
Jesus is the means by which we are saved, but he is also our example, through how he bared up under hardship, but also how God's purposes were achieved through his unjust suffering. Jesus is the means and the example that ‘by faith’ our hardship may end in his glory.

To focus on Jesus, is to hear the story told of the Christ who died for us, most purposefully in the Bible itself, but also in talks, books, and song.

3.turn my back on worldly pleasures. The heroes of faith did not consider the world worthy of them. This means they did not give in to the temptation of temporary pleasure, because of their eternal goal.

Practically what this means from this passage? it means sexual purity -- plain and simple, a profound challenge to any Christian in this modern world. And it also means no root of bitterness -- do not be proud, and do not judge a Christian brother, remember the grace of God you have received and a share in common.

4.remember the goal -- the best is yet to come, and it has not been revealed yet, Heaven may be beyond our site, but it is not beyond our means by faith.

The declaration of independence of the United States o f America, stated
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’

The preacher to the Hebrews hold these truths to be revealed by their creator, that Christian people are endowed with certain benefits in Christ by faith, and among these are Grace, endurance and the pursuit of holiness.

Hebrews - Talk 8

The life of faith; faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, and expressed through perseverance in the face of death.

Introduction
In around the middle of February 2007, Kath and I found ourselves having a very odd conversation. We were standing in a beach house a Callala Beach on the South Coast, and were as I said having a very odd conversation. Now to set the context, we were having this conversation while holding a stick, and not a tree type stick, but a plastic stick, one of those ones that comes in the little packet from the chemist type stick, and not one of the ones that take you temperature either.

Now was an odd conversation, because both of us stood there in disbelief, because the stick said - negative! both of us were absolutely convinced the answer was positive. Which is a total reversal from most of the scenes of this ilk you see in the movies, but somehow which is knew the answer was positive.
Now it wasn't just some sort of blind faith on our behalf, that we just believed despite the evidence that was put before us, but it was because of other evidence we found more convincing than the stick itself.

Now my wife Kath is a fairly together kind of person, but in that last week she was exhibiting the clear and unmistakable signs, that I had seen previously in friends and family members, the unmistakable signs of - baby brain. I'm sure many of you know of this condition, where a perfectly sane woman adds a foetus, and mysteriously seems to temporarily lose 60 IQ points in the process.

Now many of you, will think that's not the most politically correct thing you've heard all week, and the rest of you (even previous sufferers of this condition) will be smiling and nodding your head in agreement.

And just a highlight this, Kath who is in fact a GP by training, stood in the chemist for a good five minutes trying to find the pregnancy kit in the first place.
When the pharmacist came over to offer a hand, she asked as she picked the test kit off-the-shelf from directly in front of Kath’s eyes, "do you think you really need it, dear?".

So on top of the categorical baby brain evidence, there were all sorts of hormonal indicators also -- but given this is a family show – we will just quietly move on!

So while we were convinced of things unseen, this stick seemed to say no! But confident in our perception of reality, Kath went and got another test kit. And after a second incidence of it staring her in the face on the shelf, and a pharmacist having to find it for her, Well this one (which will be no surprise to those of you doing the maths on Emma's age at this point) was positive.

Our reasoned belief about our unborn child prove to be true despite the appearance of contradictory evidence. Things seen do not always equally indicate the truth and reality of the situation, and sometimes your conviction about the truth, helps you to rightly assess all the physical evidence in front of you.
Today's passage in Hebrew, is about rightly assessing things seen, so we would understand the truth about things unseen. The passage today is about faith, faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, which is expressed through perseverance in the face of death. Faith is a conviction that leads to perseverance in the face of hardship.

In modern society, (and I mean that in a technical sense of the word), there is a pre-supposition that faith is a mystical leap into the dark, that faith is the direct opposite of reason. It is The belief that reasonable people are able to view the physical ‘seen world’ and not only interpret it correctly, but also to extrapolate from the seen to apparently explain the unseen perfectly.

Now even the most atheistic postmodernist is able to see through the arrogant facade of the modernists confidence in mankind's reason. How mankind can try and explain the unseen by the seen;
is like two guys sitting in a darkened air-conditioned room in the middle of a large building, confidently proclaiming what the weather is like outside the building, based upon their experience of the light and temperature inside this room.

Modernism and its slavish worship of its idol of rationality, exposes its own frailties, or what the Bible call its sinfulness, it is a slavish or even mystical trust in the physical and its apparent capacity to convey the truth about the immaterial. And in the end it fails its own test and prove to be illogical and irrational, because of the brokenness of sinful human minds to understand reality as God has made it.

Christians on the other hand, are rational in their belief that in order to understand the weather outside the building, you would need someone to come from the outside of the building into the room with the two men in tell them what the weather is like. To believe the witness of the man from outside the building, is not only reasonable, but it is rational;
irrespective of how passionately one of the people from inside the room defends their beliefs (they're arrogant and irrational beliefs and in the end,) their beliefs are untrue and based on uncertain grounds of human perception of reality.

Christ has come from the unseen into the seen to reveal the truth about the unseen to all who would hear his reasonable, rational, truthful witness to all that God has done.

Faith is not a mystical leap into the dark, but a reasonable, even rational, convicted belief in Christ -- the revealer of the unseen -- a convicted belief in Christ and his promise driven home by the power of the holy spirit. Faith is a convicted belief based upon what is reasonable, in a similar way to how we know anything in life, we trust the person who told us. Very little of what we know in life, we actually know because we thought of it first hand. Most of what we now we learnt from someone else.

Faith is reasonable, because the one who has witnessed to us is trustworthy. Faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promises. Christ is the faithful revealer of the unseen to the seen.

Faith is the God-given, and God pleasing, response of reasonable people in the face of death. Death is the sharp edge that will divide the faith, from unbelief. Faith is the response that our preacher is exhorting from his Hebrew hearer's in this chapter as they shore themselves to face the hardship, trial, persecution and even death that is to come for following Christ.

1.Faith is a convicted belief (verse 1-3)

read verse 1-3
11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command,
so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.


The ideas of being sure of what with hopeful and certain of what we do not see, pick up the ideas of us standing upon solid foundation, and of having received the title deeds -- the proof of ownership -- of our inheritance which is to come, even though we have not physically sighted it yet. We are sure certain and confident, because we have the sure pledge of a trustworthy person, we hold the title deeds, as owners of our gift even though we have not physically taken possession of it.

To have faith is to trust, it is a convicted belief in the true word and action of a trustworthy person. Our faith is founded upon the person who is the object of our faith Jesus Christ the righteous.

And to our Hebrew hearers, the preacher pointed out there is nothing new about this, the ancients -- which is to say that patriarchs of their faith -- were commended for the same faith or trust, they are not only commended for it but they are witnesses to us of the life of faith.

In V3 we see that we are to take God at his word that he has made what is seen, from the invisible. God from nothing, the invisible if you like, has made the visible created world, and just as surely as he has made the scene from nothing, he will reveal the currently unseen to the seen. What was nothing has become something, and what is something will be turned into everything at his good time.

Faith is a convicted belief, a convicted belief on which we take our stand, our sure hope and certainty about the unseen future, based upon the Trustworthy witness who has come from the unseen and the future -- Jesus Christ Righteous.

Following on from these opening three verses where the author has sought To explain Faith, the author has three sections where he gives examples of faith and then uses them to explain Faith's benefits. So we are to gain encouragement from the witness of the faith of the patriarch's and we are to learn from their example of benefits that come to a believer from God and his promise by faith.
But also he also uses these examples and the benefits they receive from faith, to paint a deeper and richer picture of what faith looks like, of what faith means and what it brings and how it works itself out in the lives of the faithful.

The first of the sections goes from v4 to 11.

2.the examples of faith and faiths benefits -- part I (11; 4-11)

For the sake of time we are not going to re-Read versus 4-11 but just summarize it.

In this section the writer gives us four examples of patriarchs and their faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, and through each we learn something of the life of faith and the benefit that comes to the faithful by faith.

Abel we learnt was a righteous man, a man with a right standing before God with regards to his sin, by faith. And his example of faith speaks to us today, even though he is dead. Able had faith in his God.

Enoch had faith, and shows us in v6 without faith it is impossible to please God.
Noah had faith in his God, and this was both a blessing and a curse; for he was blessed by his faith as he inherited the gift of righteousness, but he was cursed by the Unrighteous world, which he condemned in their own unrighteousness, because of his righteousness that came by faith. Since the days of Noah men have scoffed at people of faith, of people who trust in the promise of God, for the gift of a righteousness that becomes there is by faith.

And finally our preacher makes an appeal to the epitome of faith in the old Testament, the patriarch Abraham. Abraham expressed his faith in obedience, by faith he lived like a stranger an alien in a foreign country, because he knew that the seen he perceived was not the true reality promised. Abraham believed the promise of God, he lived as a renter amongst a nation of homeowners, because he knew that God had promised better.

How could Abraham trust God?

Abraham trusted in God's faithful character. In particular he trusted in God's faithful character through his word of promise which we read about in the book of Genesis. Abraham was able to trust in God because his character and his word were found to be true in God's action, when he saved Isaac. Faith is a convicted belief in the character of God which he has demonstrated in his word of promise and his consistent action.

The preacher wants us to consider these examples of faith and follow them, and in the process he highlights the benefits that we receive as our inheritance from God by faith.

At this point the author, stops his main argument, to break out into a short summary that calls us to action in verses 13-16.

3.Faith is a convicted belief in action (11: v13 to 16)

Read versus 13-16
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised;
they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left,
they would have had opportunity to return.
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

What is noticeable in the description of these people who lived the life of faith, is that they all died without receiving what was promised.
The problem with life is death.
Every life is lived with this dark spectre of a storm cloud called death that comes over the horizon and it lingers over us all. There are only two responses in the light of this dark spectre called death, denial or faith. Death is the test of faith, will we trust God or will we deny him when we face death?

You see although we've received that title deeds at our inheritance, we still have to pass through that storm cloud called death to reach out promised land.
FAITH trusts that God will be faithful to his word even in the face of death, unbelief expresses itself in denial of God and the rejection of faith to something more concrete in the face of the spectre of death.

The ancients in verses 13-16 again held up the for us as an example faith, to elicit faith from us. These people like us had only the promise and the character of God to trust. And They lived as aliens and strangers on this earth, they lived as renters in a nation of home owners, they saw what was to come from a distance, on the promissory note they accepted the gift but they were to receive in the future. Like Moses standing on the edge of the promised land, they saw the good thing that God had promised in shadow, and knew it was the promise of the real city, the heavenly city, the new creation that was to come.

Faith is a convicted belief in action, by faith they trusted God and acted upon their faith by living as aliens and strangers in this world, by not conforming to the norm but living a life of notable Obedience to God and his call upon them.

The challenge that the word here about faith about the ancient brings to us is, "do we live more for this life, or the life to come?".

All of us one day will have to face death, faith is not a spectator sport. The preacher to the Hebrews is calling us to follow in the footsteps of our examples, our hero's, who competed before us and won the prize, not of the things of this world, but they looked to a better country to come.

Faith is a convicted belief in action

4.example of faith and faiths benefits II (verse 17-31)
Reference only verses 17-31

It seems after his brief summary of faith in action in verses 13-16 the writer moves back to the example of faith which help to paint the picture of what faith looks like and Faith's benefits, through his examples of the patriarch's, and he continues with Abraham.

In fact he gives us an plethora of witnesses from Abraham Isaac to Jacob to Joseph to Moses to the Israelite people in exodus to the Israelite people in the conquest and even Rahab and we see the benefits of faith, including the resurrection from the dead in verse 19

And Moses, just like Noah before him and, in a chose to see past the temporal persecution, to see the ultimate and eternal true reality, he chose to be miss-treated for God's name, than to indulge in the sinful pleasures of this world, because by faith he did not fear the King (Caesar of the day) but he feared Yahweh the Lord, the creator and sustainer of all things, the judge of all men, instead of fearing the seen, Moses trusted the unseen, he trusted in the character of his God, because of the word of promise from his God, because of the word of promise of his God in action through the deliverance of his people.


In trusting in the character, the word of promise, and the action of God, Moses was trusting in the ultimate revelation of these things in Christ himself. Much like a pregnant woman has an unborn child which is ultimately be revealed to be a particular person, the promise of God that was trust worthy was revealed to have a particular fulfilment in Jesus Christ the righteous.

5.example of faith and Faith's benefits I II (double speed verse 32-40)

Like all preachers, getting late in the sermon he realises he is running out of time and speeds up. But it is a great section so we will read it with a brief passing comment on it.
Read versus 30-40
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets,
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—
38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith,
yet none of them received what had been promised.
40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

You really can't understand the truth about life, unless you understand the truth about death. And you can't understand the truth about death unless you understand the truth about God and what happens after death. And you can't truly understand God unless you know Christ. Christ is the man, the god man, who has come from the other side of the curtain, from outside the building if you like, to tell us truly and Trustworthily what the unseen God is like. To know Christ is to know God, to know God is to understand death, to understand death is to understand life and to understand how to live it.

Death is a certainty, and by faith resurrection is our sure hope, just as it was for the ancients.

Brothers and sisters we have reached the last part of the sermon, a section that is possibly the centrepiece of all the preacher to the Hebrews has to say, which is to say this section is essentially the heartbeat and the description of the Christian life in four versus, which is a pretty big claim, but true to none the less.
Read 12:1-4
NIV Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin,
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.


5.Faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, expressed through perseverance in the face of death.

Christ is the author and perfect about faith, which is to say he is the beginning and he is the end of all has to do with our faith. He thought of it, he suffered it on our behalf, he endure it, and then reach his goal, which was to sit at the right hand of the throne of God, dispensing salvation for all who would believe the gospel message -- the promise of God -- by Faith.

Christ he is the means of our faith from first to last.

But in this context, he is also the example of faith par excellence, amongst all the men of faith of the Bible, there is no greater in Christ. Christ travailed the journey set out before him, not taking the easy path fitting for a king, but enduring the cross and scorning its shame. His suffering ensured his glory, his glory becomes ours, by Faith if we endure like he did, as we run the journey marked out for us with perseverance.

The preacher here exhorts us to live out two clear applications, firstly, to throw off Sin, and secondly, do not lose heart.

The first instruction, is to throw off Sin, this sin itself easily and cleverly entangles the person trying to run the race. The image the writer users is akin to seeing Usain Bolt trying to run the hundred metres Olympic final with suspect elastic in the waistband of his shorts, Sin impedes the Christian trying to run the race with perseverance. Throw off the Sin brothers and sisters that so easily entangles.

The second instruction is to not lose heart, we are to look at our forefathers who ran the good race by faith, and even more poignantly we are to look at Christ, to fix our eyes on Jesus, and draw courage that he ran the race before him, and will enable us to run ours. Not the same path a parallel and related, heading to the same destination. Christ's life tells us that hardship and eventually death is normal, but by faith we face death with confidence, not in ourselves but in our God who has acted so faithfully in Christ.

I watched the movie once, where a guy on death Row said, "nothing focuses the mind about what is important in life quite like the hangman's noose".

Now I reckon he was on to something there, but what he really meant to say was, "nothing focuses the mind about what is important in life, quite like Christ and his cross".

Christ the author and perfect of our faith has started and completed his victory by the cross, and by faith he has given us Righteousness, hope, and resurrection from the dead. We need no longer fear death, nor look longingly at the things of this world, but we are able to live at strangers and aliens, in this world, who rightly persevere as we await the real world, the unseen world, that is to come.

So consider the old Testament saints and the life of faith and perseverance, from Abraham Isaac Jacob to joseph to Moses, 18 examples in all I counted, who took God at his word and persevered.

Faith binds the believer to the reality that they do not yet see, but what they rightfully and confidently hope for.

faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, and expressed through perseverance in the face of death.

12:2-3
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews - Talk 7 - 10:19-39

‘Let Us – Persevere’
Introduction
Kath and I, as you may be aware, have just got back from a 10 day trip to visit friends in New Zealand, and the great thing about travelling is noticing all the differences about another country, the weather, the food, the people, even the livestock. But also noticing all the things that are common to people wherever you go, like voting in a new centre-left government, and them having no idea what to do with the new economic crisis they inherited.

And one of the little cultural windows into the people you find in Western countries is of course the television, I love watching television in other countries, you learn all sorts of good stuff. Like who knew that Magnum PI was still prime-time television? Not me for sure!

But one of the things that is common both in their nation and ours is, that they also love television shows about relationships. In particular practical shows that help them to understand how to live out their relationships, like Dr Phil.
and on one particular night super nanny. I'm not entirely sure what possesses people to watch the show, but I suspect it is some sort of macabre vouyerism, that at least my children aren't that bad!

And this one night, we set down to watch it with our friends, (who also have small children), there was a couple who had six children. (Now I have one child, so quite clearly I am no expert on children), but these people had six children and quite clearly no idea!

And it's because between them, they didn't have an ounce of clue how to discipline their children -- for the want of a better description, there children were feral. Even the casual the Observer could see that this couple needed some real perseverance if they were going to make this parenting thing work. You need perseverance to constantly battle with little enquiring minds. Young minds make bad choices, and you need perseverance to train them to make good decisions.

But then you need perseverance to make any relationship work don't you?

And as we continue with the book of Hebrews, we see the preacher is persevering with his Immature hearers. He persevered with them, in order to encourage them, so that they may like their teacher - persevere to the end.

Today we are looking at Hebrews chapter 10 versus 19-39, which is a simple section of text, in that what it says is clear, but then in being clear what it says - it isn't easy to do. So it's a simple passage - but not easy!

In fact you could describe it as a salad passage.

"Why would you call it a salad passage, is it because it is good for you?"
"Well yes, it is because it is good for you, but more than that -- it's because it has three types of lettuce!"

"Three types of lettuce you say?"

‘Yes three types!’
The first of these using verse 22, where it says:
‘let us’ draw near to God

The second of these is inverse 23, where it says;
‘let us’ hold fast to Christ

The third of these is in verse 25, where it says;
‘let us’ encourage one another -- by not giving up meeting together

There are three types of lettuce in the salad passage, simple to understand, but not easy to do, so let's pray for God's help that we would hear and apply his word rightly.

Prayer


1. let us draw near to God -- verse 22
In verse 22 we read
‘let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’

The preacher here called his hearers to draw near to God. He calls his hearers to have faith, to trust God, to have confidence in their God.
Now It's all well and good to say to ‘have confidence’, but how can anyone have the confidence to draw near to a holy God, a consuming fire?

Well it's because of what he is already told us, starting with what he said in verses 17 and 18, that our sins have been dealt with.

V17
‘..their sins and lawless is acts will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice the sin.’
So We have confidence to draw near, because Sin has been dealt with.

But how has Sin been dealt with?
Well, Sin has been dealt with by Jesus Supreme High-priest, as we have focused upon over the last couple of weeks in the book of Hebrews.
Jesus our supreme High-priest, offered the supreme sacrifice of himself, and offered it in the supreme temple, the true house of God.

Verse 19
‘Therefore Brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great High-priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith..’

We draw near to God with confidence, because Jesus is our great High-priest


But still how can we draw near, we are still sinful people aren't we?

Well verse 22 tell us the results, the benefits we receive in our person, because Jesus is our supreme High-priest.

Verse 22
‘let us drawn into God with the sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’

Christ our supreme High-priest, has cleansed our hearts, and our minds, and our bodies.

Now Our sin was our doing, it was harmful against God, and harmful against our own bodies. But Christ bought it at the Cross and made it his. Our sin is our doing, but it is no longer our possession, it belongs to Christ he bought it.
And the forgiveness he purchased has become our possession by faith, and it has brought about an act of new creation by God the creator in our hearts, our minds and our bodies through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus and Supreme High-priest, has cleansed us, and we are now a new creation in Christ. We now part of the new creation - the kingdom of God.

We are able to draw near to God, because we have been cleansed by Jesus our supreme High-priest.

Which leads us on to our second let us;

2. let us hold fast to Christ
Verse 23
‘let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised his faithful.’

Now as you remember in the context of the letter to the Hebrews, the ones receiving the letter were under a real threat of persecution and violence, even death, for following Christ. To be a believer in Jesus in these first century times was a precarious exercise under the occupying Roman rule.

But instead if you were a Jew, you actually enjoyed protection under Roman rule, and no persecution from your own family and friends. To be Jewish was a lot more socially acceptable, and a whole lot safer.

The temptation to turn your back on Christ, was very real that these first hearers. Which is why the preacher implores them to not turn their backs on Christ, to hold fast to Christ, because Christ is faithful to his promise to deliver the hope he has promised. The preacher wants us to be faithful, as Christ is faithful. Let us hold fast to Christ, despite hardship, temptation, trial and suffering, and even persecution. Let us hold fast to Christ because he is faithful.


Verse 35
‘so do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.’

Let us hold fast to Christ

Now if you've been paying attention as the passage was read earlier, you may have some questions about verse 26 and 27. What is going on there?

Verse 26
‘If we deliberately keep on sending after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice is left for sins, but only the fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.’

What is going on there?
I mean there isn't a Christian here, who hasn't at some point deliberately sinned is there?

Well, as always, the Bible is pretty good at explaining Bible, and reading the context always helps to inform our understanding of the passage. In this section of the text, the temptation to sin for the believers who are hearing the sermon, is the temptation to turn away from Christ. The temptation to publicly deny any part with Christ, the temptation of apostasy. These believers under threat of persecution and even the edge of the sword, are being tempted to escape the hardship by denying that they know Christ, and to deny it publicly.

Apostasy, to deny Christ publicly and to mean it, is to sin with a ‘big S’

The deliberate sin spoken of here, is not your day to day, garden variety (if you can use such language) type of sin, but the profound and conscious denial of Christ's lordship, his sacrifice, and his priesthood on your behalf. To deny Christ is to deny his benefits for you, to deny those benefits is to be without hope before God.
Now before you get too comfortable, in thinking while I haven't done that! Remember that the path to the big ‘S’ Sin, is paved with a whole lot of little ‘s’ sin (garden variety) Sin. So knock it off!!

Faithful with little things, means faithful with big things when they come.

Let us hold fast to Christ

Let us hold fast to Christ, because trial and temptation and persecution is coming.

Versus 32-34 we read;
‘Remember those early days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insults and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.’

The preacher reminds his hearers, they have in the past been faithful with little things, and now it is time to be faithful with the big things that are coming their way, to be faithful under persecution and trial and even the edge of the sword. In the second let us, they are to hold fast to Christ no matter the cost.

So finally we can move on to our third ‘let us’ in this passage, where our preacher to calls us, and says;

3. let us encourage one another -- and in particular, by not giving up meeting together
Verse 25
‘let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the day approaching.’

The positive expression of his point here, is let us encourage one other.

Christians have always met together, the mutual testimony to encourage one another. This profound act of worship of speaking truly to each other about the living God in his presence. This act of worship to speak truly through song and speech, and to hear the living God speak from his word, and to call upon him as our father in prayer. All these things exist to strengthen the Christian, so that they may draw near to God, that they may hold fast to Christ, and that they may persevere in Christ until the end.

The negative expression of his point is that to withdraw from the Fellowship that meets together, is a concrete expression of a person withdrawing themselves from Christ himself. To withdraw from the believers in the first century, was to not make the good confession of Christ in the sight of opposition.

It was to wear your Australian Rugby league jersey to work on the Friday, but then turn up to work on the Monday wearing the New Zealand Rugby league jersey after they won the World Cup on the Sunday night!

Under threat at the edge of the sword, people withdrew from the Fellowship, to avoid suspicion, persecution, and hardship. To be part of the group was prima face evidence that you belonged to Christ. Withdrawing from the fellowship, was a concrete expression of withdrawing from Christ. And you know what, despite 2000 years, I suspect not much has changed in this regard? To withdraw from the fellowship is really an expression of withdrawing from Christ.

The preacher has called to the believers, let us encourage one another. But in contrast, what better way would there be to discourage the brothers and sisters than to withdraw from the fellowship?

Well what do you reckon?? Can you think of a better way of discouraging other believers?

I reckon that there are at least 10 things you need to make sure you do if you want to discourage your brothers and sisters
(by which I am being slightly ironic, and am of course encouraging you to do the opposite, and I am in the same breath not necessarily saying people are doing things, I'm just saying these would be dumb things to do!)

So here we go, 10 ways to discourage your brothers and sisters;

10. make sure everyone knows that church is just not a priority for you

Make Church just like dinner at home on Saturday night, it's what you do when you don't have a better option. And a better option can be a small as kids sport, or school holidays, or just plain tired.

So make sure everyone knows that church is just not a priority for you.

9.make sure things you never miss a chance to complain about church

The services are too long, there are too many creeds, there is too few confessions, there is too much new music, there is not enough old music, we always do the same thing, we never do the same thing!

And especially make sure you never miss a chance to complain about church, to the leadership whether it is the Minister or the CLT, or just in the Bible study.

And especially make sure you never miss a chance to major on a minor and take your theological hobby horse and ride it home like it was entered in the Melbourne cup, because nothing produces unity and encouragement like proud theological elitism

so make sure you never miss a chance to complain about church

8. make sure you bear grudges against people, and if possible to publicly, or at least with a small faction of your friends from the congregation

whatever you do, do not forgive as you have been forgiven

7.make sure you never serve, but always be served!

Be a consumer Christian, from teaching the kids, to doing evangelism, make sure everyone knows - it's someone else's job -- certainly not yours!

6. make sure you compartmentalise your Christian faith

Make sure you are one thing with Christians, and another with non-Christians. And especially never let your Christian faith into your workplace or allow it to bear upon your significant relationships.

5. make sure you never encourage other Christians with the good things the Lord has done in your life

Make sure everyone thinks you have a dead Christianity. At morning tea, or any church gathering, never get past talking about the sport or the kids schoolling. Never (ever!) tell anyone how you became a Christian.

4. make sure you never commit to anything related to church

Always keep your options open, whether it's a dinner RSVP, or a midweek Bible study, whether it's going on the roster during school holidays, or actually financially committing to the Fellowship rather than just giving the bits that are left over after you pay for what you want.

Never put yourself in the position of being committed

3. make sure you never read your bible personally

Privately, in the family, with other Christians or even in Church, do not read your Bible. And especially never ever share anything you've learnt from your Bible reading with another Christian.


2. make sure you never pray personally

Never pray to God, especially for the spread of the gospel, for Christian leaders, missionaries or for your Christian Brothers and sisters at church

Never pay personally, and especially never pray publicly when you have a chance during the service

1. make sure you never let Jesus and the cross set the agenda of your life

Your goal is to be happy not Holy!

discipleship, mission, even persecution are just not your bag baby! Leave that to the keen ones, the ones who seem to think that perseverance is an issue.

Make sure you never let Jesus and the Cross set the agenda for your life!


The Instruction
Verse 23
‘let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised his faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not to give up meeting together, and some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.’

The Comfort
Verse 39
‘but we are not of those who shrink back and have destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.’

Hebrews - Talk 6

The full Assurance of faith
Jesus is the supreme High-priest, he is eternal, perfect, an appointed by God. And because of this he is able to save completely.
Application: BE Assured; stop worrying about sin -- its penalty, or it is guilt -- look to Jesus our eternal and perfect High-priest who has saved us completely.

Introduction;
A few years ago when I was working in an engineering firm, we used to break each morning around 10 o'clock for morning tea. And usually I would spend a whole 10 minutes trying to find just one to one engineer at work that had something interesting to say. This was no mean feat some days let me tell you.

Now I'll never forget this particular day when we got on to the topic of overseas holidays, and there was one draughtsman, who was usually particularly quite, and so I thought I'd get him involved and asked if he’d been overseas. And as I asked this question, there was a slight chuckle of laughter around the room, and he shifted a little uneasily in his seat, and mumbled something bit inaudible.
So this was like a red rag to a bull from me, and I decided that this was a story that was probably worth getting to the end of. So after a little encouragement, and a little cajoling, he decided to let down his guard down a bit and reveal the story, that everyone else there seemed to know.

So it turned out this fella, had been overseas on holiday, to Thailand to be exact. And he'd been having a great time there in the summer weather, hanging out at the beach and enjoying the cultural delights that you find in Thailand.

But his trip decidedly took a turn for the worse one night, when he was walking home from the pub. You see to cross the street from the pub in the direction he was going, he had to get across an open drain, (or what he saw was an open drain anyway). So to get across this open drain all the locals walked across this small timber plank, which is fair enough. Now the average Thai person weighs about 60 kg dripping wet, you this guy wasn't a massive guy, but he was a good 95 kg. Now you can see where this story is going can't you?

So he wandered across this plank, just as confidently as all the locals had trying to not look conspicuous by hesitating, but when he got to the middle – the plank dutifully snapped - and he fell straight through. Now fortunately he didn't have a long way to fall, and this open drain was earthen not concrete. And he found himself, in the middle of this balmy Thai evening, sitting on his backside in 2 foot of water. Which would be unpleasant at the best of times, but even worse when you discover that this open drain, is not so much drain, as an open sewer. And you in fact are sitting on your backside in 2 foot of raw sewage, trying to not look conspicuous.

And all of a sudden I could understand what he didn't like overseas too much. The irony that he was a civil draughtsman who often spent his time designing new sewage systems wasn't lost on me either. Every day at work, his work was essentially a perpetual reminder of this moment on this holiday.

So when you think about it, (which you don't want to do to hard let me assure you), you can understand what a traumatic experience this must have been for him. And for at least three reasons;

Firstly, well, just a physical impact of the stuff would have been terrible. And in case you are wondering, he response was to get as quickly as possible back to his hotel, and then proceed to have about four consecutive bath's in dettol. But that could only deal with the external impact.

Secondly, he had to get himself a trip to a Thai hospital pretty quickly, in order to check the internal medical implications of his midnight swim. And for any of you who have been through this sort of experience, (well maybe not this experience, but an experience of needing to undergo medical tests), you know the result is invariably clear (with that great disclaimer) -- for now. They always seem to have a provisional nature, and you need a follow-up tests in months to come.

And thirdly, there is the emotional impact of this kind of event. And let me tell you it was significant, not only because he never wanted to go overseas again (and the fact that he copped so much stick at work wouldn't have helped either!), but because the event itself would call you to feel embarrassed, to feel shame, and in some senses to feel guilt from what had happened. You couldn't even have a hint of a reminder of that event and not feel a little bit sick in your stomach could you?

Just the slightest recollection, and you'd be heading towards the anti bacterial soap aisle at this local supermarket.

But for this particular guy, thankfully, the worst impact to him was the emotional impact of the shame of the event.

Now As Christian people, I suspect this is how we often find ourselves relating to our own experiences, the filth of his world, called Sin. We feel guilt and shame when we recall them.
And this passage today in Hebrews, was to assure us, it's about the full assurance of faith, that God in Jesus Christ our great High-priest, has dealt with the external impact of sin -- which is the judgement of God, he has dealt with the internal impact of sin -- which is that we have been regenerated by the holy spirit to be part of the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of this world any more, but he has also purposefully and poignantly dealt with the emotional impact of sin -- our great high priest intercedes for us and has cleansed us of the guilt and shame that rightly should be ours, but became his at the Cross.

Our passage today it is about the Christian full assurance of faith;

But begins more like some sort of reality television programme, set in the combative arena of one-on-one competition what you see on Saturday night SBS, but rather than having a distinctly Asian feel, this has a distinctly Semitic feel, it's not so much iron Chef, as iron priest (which could also have been the name from an 80s metal band but I’m not positive on that!)

And in this first round of iron priest, we have the people's old Testament favourite of the Levitical priesthood -- descended from Aaron (Moses brother), up against a old Testament rank outsider, an almost unknown the challenger, Melchizedek.

The question our Preacher to the Hebrews answers for us is, who is the greater priest, Aaron's priesthood (aka the Levitical Priesthood) OR Melchizedek?

Excurses:
But in order to understand the writers point about priesthood, we need to understand some chronology about the old Testament, in order for his point to have its full effect.

Now when you think of the old Testament, you need to remember that the world was created back in Genesis chapters one and two and it was very good, it was very good for all of those two chapters, but then in chapter 3 things took a turn for the worse and sin entered into the world, and it has been impacting the world and mankind ever since.
Now in Ch4 and the following of Genesis, we have the stories of cane and able, followed by Noel and the Flood, then the Tower of Babel which is a decidedly downhill moment, and then God acts in chapter 12 of Genesis to put things right.

In chapter 12 God makes promises to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, through whom God would go on to blessed the entire world.

Now in chapter 14 of Genesis, Abraham rescues his nephew lot, and in recognition of his thankfulness to God he offers an offering to High-priest called Melchizedek.

Now this is about 2000 BC, so following on from this some 500 years later in 1500 BC, Abraham's descendants are many in number, down in Egypt and God rescues them from slavery in the events of the Exodus. God saves them and calls them his people and gives them the law, (including the 10 Commandments), to tell them how to live as his saved people.
And part of this big deal was the formation of a priesthood, Aaron Moses brother, became the father of this priesthood, and they were from the tribe of Levi.

Now going on about another 500 years to 1000 BC, King David and his son Solomon become a focal point of the promises to Abraham, and in particular they oversaw Israel inheriting their land, and building the temple of God. The place where God's name resided on earth, the place where you did business with God on earth in regard to sin. But in order to do business with God, you needed a priest to be your mediator, you couldn’t just march in yourself, you needed a priest to act on your behalf from the tribe of Levi, and more importantly from the family of Aaron.

And I’m sure a few of you are thinking so what, how is this a help?
Well since you asked, the rains of David and Solomon are something of a high point for all Israel, but especially for the Levitical priesthood. This was their moment in the sun, in the massive temple, in the centre the Israel, and with God’s anointed kings ruling, these priests live the life they were called to.

But this is the odd bit, in the midst of this, and this is central to the argument of Hebrews in this section we are looking at today, David penned these important words in Psalm 110:4

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Even in the height of their day, David new that a better priesthood, was needed and it had been promised to come. He foresaw the day when the Levitical priesthood would be superseded.

In this idea, in the greats of the old Testament, only being a shadow of things to come, is developed throughout the book of Hebrews. In chapter 8, our writer quotes from Jeremiah 31, and Jeremiah was around in 600 BC, and he wrote;


‘the time is coming declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant are made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.’

Jeremiah knew, the old covenant, the covenant given to Moses, the covenant embodied and enacted by the Levitical priesthood, was always going to be superseded.

So cut a long story short:
- in 2000 BC it was clear through Abraham there was a better priesthood, than the one that would come from his son Levi.
- In 1500 BC, David told that there was a better priesthood to come, at the point when Levi's children were the unchallenged uber priests.
- In 600 BC, Jeremiah prophesied about a new covenant, and the passing away of the old covenant, and when you change covenants, you change priesthood's.

Now at the least, these three authors are a fairly formidable witness, for the Hebrew recipients of this letter.
But it is overwhelming! when you understand that the shorthand way of referring to the Hebrew Bible, is the threefold designation of the law, the prophets, and the writings. Abraham is representative of the law, David of the writings, and Jeremiah of the prophets. It is possible that the writers of the Hebrews is telling his readers that the whole of the old Testament, is preparing people, and pointing to, the coming of the new High-priest, the one who would enact the new covenant.

He is almost saying to them, why are you surprised about Jesus, it is clear when you read the scriptures, he is the fulfilment of everything else that is just a shadow.

Mainline;
So with our backdrop filled in, we are ready for our first round of iron priest.

And the result is an upset as Melchizedek trounces the people's favourite Aaron’s (aka Levitical) priesthood. And that's made pretty clear from chapter 7 versus 1-10 which will read now and then make a few brief comments;
READ FROM BIBLE
1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and Priest of god most high. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him ……. Levi was still in the Body of his ancestor.



so the first main point why Melchizedek is a better priest than Aaron, is that in Abraham, Aaron who is also a Levi's descent, presents and offering to Melchizedek. The lesser man honours the great man, Abraham honours Melchizedek. And in this action, all of Abraham’s descendents including Aaron Honour the greater man, of the greater priesthood - Melchizedek.

Not only that, Melchizedek is greater than Aaron, because he remains a priest for ever. Aaron's title is hereditary, it is only for a lifetime, and then passed on, to his offspring. Melchizedek is without beginning or end, as is his priesthood, the passage tells us. He is an eternal priest and so better than Aaron who gave up his priesthood upon death.

Now what's intriguing about Melchizedek, is that he is not only a priest, but he is also a king, (now that is way better than Aaron!).
And it's quite intriguing really, that Melchizedek is a Hebrew name (which is a little odd!) But his name literally means, ‘King of righteousness’, and he is by title and office the King of Salem, which literally means ‘King of Shalom -- King of peace’. And not just the UN type of peace, but ‘Shalom -- God's peace, gods end time rest’. The time we all await, when everything has been put on back in order, the better rest than what Joshua offered, as we saw back in Ch4.

So our writer to the Hebrews, says our first round of playing Iron priest is a lay down misere, Melchizedek trumps Aaron in every single way.
But it seems that our hard of hearing Hebrew believers, are still not certain, they think it was a lucky win in the old Testament category, and they're willing to go double or nothing for the champion of the whole Bible in the contest of Aaron (aka Levitical) Priesthood versus Jesus Priesthood.

But how preacher goes on to point out four things they need to consider in regard to their contender;

Firstly, they are going up against God's promise. Because God promised that another priest would come and he would replace Levitical priesthood and we see that in verses 11 and 12.

And Jesus is the new priesthood, by the promise of God, and he will be a High-priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek, just as God spoke in promise through his servant King David some 1000 years before in Psalm 110.

Secondly, the law that they are championing through Aaron's priesthood was weak and useless we see in verse 18, because it did not have the power to make anything perfect. It could not achieve its goal, it was without power, and could only deal with the outward appearance of sin and its effects.

Jesus is the perfect high priest who is able to perfectly save we read in V25.

Thirdly, the priesthood of Aaron had to offer sacrifices for their own sin before they could do anything about mediating for their brothers. In verse 26 we learned Jesus is a better high priest, because he is holy, blameless, pure, and set apart from sinners. And in verse 16 we learn Jesus is a better High-priest, not just because he is appointed by God, (as opposed to Aaron's son who just mechanically inherit their priesthood), Jesus high priesthood is better because it is eternal, based on an indestructible life. Jesus is a High-priest who has conquered death in his resurrection, and so can be an eternal advocate on behalf of his people.

Fourthly, Aaron's priesthood entered an earthly temple, built by human hands. Jesus priesthood entered the heavenly temple, and dealt with God face-to-face on his brother's behalf.

The Levitical priesthood could make nothing perfect, in V28 it tells us that God appointed his son as the perfect priest who makes others perfect, because his priesthood is permanent in the heavens.

Well if the first round of iron priesthood, was a resounding victory to Melchizedek over Aaron, the second-round of iron priesthood was an exhibition of a man kicking a dog, as Jesus mopped the floor with Aaron and his descendants.

If Melchizedek was the shadow of the eternal priest, and he smashed Aaron, how much more so, Jesus who is it’s the fulfilment which Melchizedek promised


The one promised by God on oath; He is the king of righteousness -- who shared his righteousness with his brothers. He is the king of peace -- who would bring God's rest to all creation, He is the great High-priest, who would enter into the true temple in heaven through the sacrifice of his own perfect life upon a cross, He is the one who proved himself worthy through his indestructible life -- of resurrection from the dead, He is the one who was holy and blameless, He is the one who has now sat down at the right hand of the throne of Majesty and He is the one who serves in the sanctuary the true tabernacle, set up by the Lord not men, He is the one who is able to save us completely, the eternal and permanent priest, He is the one who lives to intercede for us

He is God's perfect priest, who has reached his perfect goal, and perfectly intercedes for us now, so that we too, may perfectly reach the goal of God's promised rest and not fall short because of the persecution and hardship of this life.

If last week was a warning about apostasy, this week we have heard a word of great affirmation about the assurance of our faith.

In chapter 8:1 we read these words;
‘the point of what we are saying is this; we do have such a high priest.’

Brothers and sisters we have High-priest such as this, a perfect High-priest, who is able to perfectly save you. Jesus is the supreme High-priest, he is eternal, perfect, appointed by God, and because of this he is able to save us completely.

For his Hebrew hearers, our preacher is asking, ‘why would you go back to the shadow, which could never achieve the goal’. (like taking at dettol bath, when you’ve managed to get yourself hepatitis!), the old covenant and old priesthood were never going to be able to fix the problem, they were only God's down payment of his promised true solution. Only Jesus can fix the problem perfectly to ensure we reach the goal.

So what? - Well, what does it all mean?

Firstly, stop messing around in life like there are better options out there than Jesus!
If you haven't fully put your trust in Jesus as your saviour and your Lord, the Bible says clearly, you are without any hope or any assurance before God. Earlier in Hebrews it says ‘today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts’.
Well today is it, the day to take Jesus seriously -- because there are no better offers out there, and no one else who can fix your problem with Sin and God.

If that's you, then pray to God and ask him to forgive you because of Jesus and his death on the cross in your place, and then be assured that God forgives the those who truly turn to him with genuine heart, and if you do, well then you better come and speak to me, because we'd like to help you figure out what to do next in your new life with Jesus.

Secondly, what does it mean for us who have been Christians for a while?

It means, our sin has been fully deal with. If the blood of bulls and goats under the old covenant could not cleanse the conscience of men, nor deal properly with the wrath of God, we now know for certain that Jesus our great High-priest can. He offered the perfect sacrifice, of his own life, and he now lives and intercede for us.

If you're wondering about the penalty of your sin, you feel weighed down by your sin before God, look at Jesus. At the cross we see the sign paid in full. Jesus is not a medical practitioner who needs further tests in order to be conclusive in his pronouncement.

Carry the weight of your Sin no longer, but look at Jesus who took the penalty for us, as chapter 9 verse 27 tells us, ‘just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people and he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.’
Maybe the penalty doesn’t bother you, that’s not your issue, but you're worrying about the guilt of your sin, well, if you feel unclean because of your Sin before God, look at Jesus. His shed blood washes away our filth out dirt and our shame.

His one time penalty, is the sure grounds for us that he lives and intercedes for us now, so that we will be made perfect just as he is perfect, he is not ashamed to call us his brothers. Jesus is our great High-priest who has dealt with the penalty of sin, who has renewed us within so we are slaves to sin no more, and who has washed away guilt and our shame. Our sin was our doing, but it is no longer our possession, it was purchased from us at a great price.

Jesus our great High-priest, has taken away from us the penalty of sin, the power of sin (Christ is now our lord, not sin), and he has taken away the guilt and shame of sin.


Chapter 10:19 Therefore Brothers since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that is opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great High-priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having a hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope which we profess for he who promised his faithful

Jesus high priesthood, compels us, even commands us, and draws us near to commune and converse with God our father in all our life but especially in the face of persecution much and hardship, and to do that through the access his priesthood opens up in prayer.

Hebrews 5 - Talk

Christ or Caesar?
Christ went to such great lengths as our supreme High-priest to faithfully confess us, how can we now slide back from faithfully confessing him?
Action; (PRAY and obey)

Introduction;
"They have burned the church and killed the pastor," was the anxious report given to Nigeria's national director. "My wife and children... We are hiding.". Over the year, most of the project Philip Bible study leaders in one region were killed. Many churches were destroyed. Widows of church plants wept as they told how their husbands were slaughtered. A son told how the hands of his fathers were chopped off while taunted who will feed you now old man?

Recently Kath and I have been working our way through the Bible league's prayer diary, and this was the entry under Nigeria. The persecution these believers face, is something that many of us have never known. For them the opposition to Christ is clearly confronting, and the cost of following Christ is exceedingly high.

Well our Hebrew brothers who received a sermon that bears their name, just like the Nigerian believers, also faced the very real prospect of physically having to pick up their cross to follow Jesus, and to die to follow their saviour. And understanding this fact, brings to life the passage before us today. It is an extremely challenging passage, it really wants us to ask the question, what would we do? What would we do if that day came to us?

Will we unashamedly profess Christ as our Lord?
Or will we bend the knee to Caesar?
Do we profess Christ or do we deny him, when we are faced by opposition?

This passage before us today, challenges us that Christ went to such great lengths as our supreme High-priest to faithfully confess us, how can we now slide back from faithfully confessing him?

Intro to the passage;

Now as a reminder that context of this letter is that it is written to Christian people, Christian people of the Hebrew background, who are suffering persecution -- real physical danger from the Roman Empire for professing Christ.

In the context, our smaller passage today, fits in the wider section of the letter to the Hebrews that goes from 4:14 through to 7:28, which is all about Jesus the supreme High-priest.

Our section of text today breaks into five parts;

1.Jesus is the supreme High-priest (5:7-10)

During the days of Jesus' life on earth,
he offered up prayers and petitions
with loud cries and tears
to the one who could save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
8 Although he was a son,
he learned obedience from what
he suffered
9 and, once made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him
10 and was designated by God to be high priest
in the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus is the supreme High-priest, the perfect High-priest, and this is really the fountainhead of everything else the preacher says in this section, everything else flows from the fact that Jesus is the supreme High-priest.

Christ is the supreme mediator between God and man. The high priest who is really able to deal with God, because he is God. But he can do it on mankind's behalf, because he is really man. The perfectly obedient man, the son of God.

Christ is the supreme High-priest our preacher tells us, because he is the one source of all people salvation. He is the one who was both, able and willing to offer the sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, of himself. Our passage from last week's sermon reminded us that Christ is both faithful and merciful, to intercede for his people as the supreme High-priest.

And the summary of this idea comes in 4:14-16 which begins this whole section in the letter on the priesthood of Christ, in which we read;

14 therefore, since we have a great High-priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

So the main point of this section is clear, Jesus is the supreme High-priest on our behalf, Christ is for us, in our weakness.

But as we read those verses from 7-10, I'm sure you (like me) had a bunch of questions, maybe thinking, "what is going on here?".
For instance whose is Melchizedek?
And Jesus prayed to the one who could save him from death, how was he heard? (Because last time I checked in the end of each GOSPEL he dies doesn't he?)
And In what way did Christ learn obedience?
And How was Jesus made perfect? (Wasn't the son of God already perfect?)

Well what is going on here?

Well good questions, (thanks for asking) let’s try and offer a few suggestions to these conundrums as we briefly as we move through!

Firstly, who is Melchizedek?
Well that one can hang around to next week, because Melchizedek gets a big run then and we don't need to go over that ground now.

Secondly, what about Jesus prayer?
I mean it says that Jesus prayed to the one who could save him from death and then it goes on to say, that he was heard because of his reverent submission. How was he heard it he died?
Jesus the man of God, the son of God, the God man, offered up prayers and petitions, with loud cries and tears, in the darkness, hardness and the cruelty of this world. V7 tells us, With loud cries and tears he prayed to his father, the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

It couldn't be clearer in what it says; but how was he heard when he died?
And he didn’t just die in his sleep either, but a terrible and cruel death (a thief's death) upon a Roman cross. How was his prayer answered?

Well it seems in the context Jesus did pray to him who could save him from his death, but it seems more likely that what he prayed, was not to escape the death – (which is what he rebuked Peter for as you may remember in the Gospels). But it seems in the context he prayed for the strength to be obedient to even death.

To be obedient, and to reach his goal which was to be the source of salvation for all, and this would mean his death. He prayed for the strength to make the faithful confession in the face of a certain execution.
And Jesus prayer was heard and answered.


Thirdly, how did Christ learn Obedience?
Well in particular, Christ as the obedient son expressed his obedience to his father. Christ did it, within the context of hardship that is being humanity in this fallen world. Christ learnt the hardship of obedience, through being tempted like no man before or since has been tempted, and yet resisting and was without sin. He resisted even the shortcut to avoid his faithful death altogether, and that is what the writer to the Hebrews is challenging us to do also.

Christ learnt Obedience in a personal way. Christ learned Obedience in a deep and profound personal way, by taking on humanity to himself and living a sinless life in a fallen world, filled to the brim with temptation.

And finally, how was Jesus made perfect, wasn't he already perfect?
Well the word perfect here means achieved his goal. Christ came into the world and achieved his goal of being the obedient Son who died on the cross to win a salvation, an eternal salvation, to all who would have faith in him.
Christ had to reach his goal in this world, he couldn't win Salvation for his people from the sidelines. Mankind had to pay it’s debt to God for sin, and in the God Man Jesus Christ that debt was paid.

Jesus is the supreme High-priest! that is what this passage is all about, this passage sees him praying and petitioning with tears and loud cries, and so what does that mean for us? I mean what is the cash value here?
Well it encourages us to have confidence and to pray when we face hardship, trial, and persecution in this life.

But when you face persecution and hardship in this life, how do you respond?
When you get tempted in life, what do you do?
Are you a binger?
Someone who turns to food, drink, or even sex, from comfort?
Or do you withdraw? Do Separate yourself off from people, or more importantly separate yourself from God?

This passage about Jesus our supreme High-priest, is an example and the grounds for us to pray confidently in the face of hardship. And we see in this Trinitarian nature of Christian prayer, because we pray to the father, because of and through Jesus who intercede for us, and we do it in the power of his spirit.

Christ's piety or his reverent submission, is the grounds for us to be confident that the father will here our prayers also. Prayer is the essential response for Christians as it was for Christ, That we would live the obedient life in this world even in the face of temptation, trial, suffering, and even persecution that ends in death.

Our response to hardship is to be like the supreme High-priest and to pray to our father, because we have a supreme High-priest.

2.stop acting like infants! (V:11-14)

11 We have much to say about this,
but it is hard to explain
because you are slow to learn. [sluggish/lazy]
12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you
the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
You need milk,
not solid food!
13 Anyone who lives on milk,
being still an infant,
is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
14 But solid food
is for the mature,
who by constant use have trained themselves
to distinguish [perceive] good from evil.

This section the letter is quite a stinging rebuke for the Hebrew recipients. It seems to be quite heavy on the sarcasm in quite a negative assessment of their current spiritual development.

He tells them in this first exhortation in no uncertain terms to stop acting like Infants!

Twice he says to them, ‘you apparently need breast milk not solid food’, it is quite a barbed piece of rhetoric. Because let's face Infants are cute, but adults who act like infants are not.

Like if you come to my place on a hot day and see my little one-year-old daughter walking around in her nappy with a little belly hanging over the top, that is cute. If you come around to my place on a hot day and see me doing the same thing, that is quite clearly not cute. In fact it is very undignified!!
Very, very undignified!!

Our preacher to the Hebrew's wants his hearers, to be embarrassed by their current state of spiritual undress.

And the particular issue, is their unwillingness to hear. They are people who are hard to teach, because they have made themselves hard of hearing. They are unwilling to hear the teacher speak to them, like some smart Alec teenage schoolboy, who replies, "what was that teacher, what was that?".
When both the teacher and him, knows that he has heard the instruction perfectly clearly, but chooses not to obey.

Like one of my mates, of immigrant parents, who used to pretend that he couldn't speak English, when he didn't like the English he had just heard!

The Hebrew recipients of this preaching, are showing too much of a family resemblance to do them any good. Because their ancestors were always slow to hear. Even though the great creed of the old Testament, was to, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is one’.

These Hebrews ought to be teachers by now, but they are not because they have not put their learning into action, into Obedience. And in v14 we see the results, they are not mature in their behaviour, because they are not listening and applying what they know.

It seems that the constant use of the Gospel, ‘the teaching of righteousness’, for a Believers life, is like exercise of their spiritual muscles, it builds up strength and more purposeful usage. The Gospel applied to life builds strength in the believer and through constant use enables them to distinguish good from evil, in their actions and in their life.

The challenge to those who hear this sermon is, that if they won't stand for Christ and obey Christ in the small things of this life, how will they cope when the big troubles come?
When suffering comes, when persecution comes, when even martyrdom comes -- who can say it won't happen?

Don't be hard of hearing!
But here the word, believe the word, and obey the word.
Don't be like the pagans, who say I'll get to it later. But today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, like they did in the wilderness.
Stop acting like infants!

3.Be mature! (6:1-3)

6:1 Therefore let us leave
the elementary teachings about Christ and
go on to maturity [completion],
not laying again the foundation of repentance
from acts that lead to death,
and of faith in God,
2 instruction about baptisms,
the laying on of hands,
the resurrection of the dead,
and eternal judgment.
3 And God permitting,
we will do so.

The second exhortation our preacher gives today, is to be mature!

His words compel his hearers, to move past the entry gate of faith and to go on and reach their goal of maturity, of obedience even to death, just like Christ their supreme High-priest did. He wants them to move on from then dipping a toe in the water like infants, of questioning the basics of the faith again, rather than going on into Obedience and maturity through putting their knowledge into action, like mature adults striding into the surf.

Christians are not to be armchair experts talking about the events of life from the safety of the stands, or the commentary box like a retired competitor, but we are to live out our knowledge of the gospel in the combative arena of the life that the Lord has given to us.

Now if you decided to go bungee jumping, there gets to a point where you just can't talk about it any longer, things have been checked and double checked, and to start time to put the talk into action. It's time to go after the goal, it's time to jump, because that's what you came here to do in the first place. Maturity is about commitment, it's about putting knowledge into action.

The mature, are not anxious or introspective about the foundations of our faith in Christ, they go on to maturity -- to reach our goal -- of obedience to God in the face of opposition, in the face of temptation, in the face of persecution, and even who can say, in the face of martyrdom.

In V3 reminds us that this is a profoundly spiritual exercise, we should pray that God's spirit would work on us, and God willing we would be mature.

Hear the word, believe the word, obey the word and Pray that we may;
Be mature!

4. Hear the warning, it is impossible to be restored from apostasy! (6:4-8)

V:4-6 only
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift,
who have shared [partake] in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
and the powers of the coming age,
6 if they fall away, [apostate]
to be brought back to repentance,
because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again
and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Hear the warning, it is impossible to be restored from apostasy!

Now there are two really important words in these verses we have just read. The first in v4 is the word ‘impossible’, the second in v6 comes from the phrase ‘fall away’, and the root word means ‘apostasy’.

Now all of us being good legalists, want to know does ‘impossible’, really mean impossible?
Well yes it does, because it uses the exact same word in 6:18, 10:4, and 11:6.
In 6:18 he says, ‘it is impossible for God to lie’
in 10:4 He says, ‘because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin’.
And in 11:6, he says, ‘And without faith it is impossible to please God’

So yes when he says ‘impossible’ he really does mean ‘impossible’.

And secondly, what does ‘apostasy’ mean?
Well apostasy is to deny the faith, and to do that publicly. It is where a person who has previously professed Christ, now publicly renounces any part with him.

Now while this passage is not the sum total of all Bibles teaching on this issue, we do need to hear the preacher clearly, this passage is a real warning telling real Christians, to not turn their backs on Christ.

If they turned their backs on Christ, all then they lose all the benefits that Christ brings -- and this includes most importantly Salvation. And in turning their backs on Christ it is worse than just losing their salvation, they become like the pagans who exposed the son of God to shame in public disgrace all over again.

Brothers and sisters, when hardship and trial and suffering and temptation, and even persecution -- the very threat of physical violence or even death -- come our way, do not the ashamed to confess Christ. Do not be ashamed to call him your Lord. Christ is the supreme High-priest, he is supreme in all things, better than Angels, better than Moses, better than Obama (would you believe it!)

Because he is the supreme son of God, but the supreme High-priest was not ashamed to make a faithful confession of you in the face of persecution, how can you now be ashamed to confess him?

The challenge of the book of Hebrews, is this; is Christ your Lord, or Caesar?

In this warning is consistent with the message Jesus brought in the Gospels, we read in Luke 12:8-9;
‘and I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the son of man will also acknowledge him before the Angels of God. But he whoever disowns me before men, will be disowned before the Angels of God.’

The Christian person, should hear this warning to them and not presume of a second chance to profess Christ. The apostasy that the Hebrews were in real danger of, was to fall under persecution, to renounce Christ.

To deny God is God, and Christ as your Saviour, is to sin with a big S. And the road to that big S, is paved with a whole lot of Little s sin, little denials of the lordship of Christ in respect to our lives along the way.

People who are faithful with little things, will be faithful with big things when they come.

The other question you may have is, ‘well what about my family or friends who once professed to be a Christian but have now turned away?’.

Well this passage isn't actually written to them, it's written to you; it’s a warning to not be like them!

But does ‘impossible’ mean no chance, well I'm not going to answer that today because that is not the question that texts sets out to answer, and really we don’t have time.

But when you get a chance to think about it, maybe later on today, maybe have a think about the apostle Peter and how his life sheds light on the God who delights in saving people, we maybe ardent legalists, but God is gracious.

The real application of this section is:
are you mature or immature?
Are you ashamed or unashamed?
who is the Lord you serve, Caesar or Christ?

And our preacher goes on to remind us that Obedience to Christ results in fruit, and disobedience results in judgment.
V7&8
7 Land that drinks in the rain
often falling on it and that
produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed
receives the blessing of God.
8 But land that produces thorns and thistles
is worthless and is in danger of being cursed.
In the end it will be burned.

Hear the word, believe the word, obey the word and you will produce fruit.
But hear the warning, it is impossible to be restored from apostasy.

5. We are confident of better things in your case, but do not be lazy! (6:9-12)

9 Even though we speak like this,
dear friends,
we are confident of better things in your case—
things that accompany salvation.
10 [for] God is not unjust;
he will not forget your work and the love
you have shown him as you have helped [served]his people [in his name]
and continue to help them.
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence
to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
12 We do not want you to become lazy,
but to imitate those who through faith and patience [long suffering]
inherit what has been promised

Jesus said in Matthew 7 that a good trees produced good fruit,
and it seems our preacher is confident for his hearers because of these sure things;
They have shown fruit from the work of God's salvation within them, that has expressed itself in their work and their love and the service of the saints of God in God's name. And God has seen their works and he is just.

But the preacher wants them to press on to the very end, to run all away to the finish line and not get lazy, not get lazy or walk the last few miles, or just give up altogether.

As he says in 12:1 ‘let us throw off everything that hinders and the end Sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the Joy set out before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’

We are to imitate those who exhibited patience in suffering and went on to inherit what has been promised.

Brothers and sisters the preacher is saying, we are confident for better things in your case, but don't be lazy!

Hear the word, believe the word, obey the word, and in the face of hardship and persecution be both; faithful in prayer, and be faithful in our profession of Christ.

Do not be ashamed to confess our faithful High-priest because he was not ashamed to confess you. Persevere in the face of difficulty and hardship, that we would learn obedience like the Son did, that we would produce fruit like the Son did, and that we would reach our goal like the Son did.

Let's pray.

Christian Martyrs