Day 31: 40 Days Through The New Testament

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to 40 Days Through the New Testament. This podcast is led by Pastor Rusty Small at Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, Virginia. Listen as he guides you through all 27 books of the New Testament in preparation for Easter. Get your Bible ready. Here's today's message. Well, today we tackle the letter to the Hebrews. And just to be honest, I kept this reading together. This is certainly a longer reading if you try to read the entirety of the Letter to the Hebrews in one sitting. I want to paint some contours for you because I would propose that Hebrews is a very important New Testament book, but on the other hand, I think you might find greater difficulty reading this because of the granular and technical reading. that the writer of the Hebrews utilizes when examining Old Testament text. And so what it would require of me is to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to show you how the writer to the Hebrews is utilizing Old Testament text to make the point of Christ in light of Old Testament text. Before I... even venture at that, let's try to paint the context of the book of Hebrews. It seems we ought to notice the title to the Hebrews. By the way, let me make another comment. Hebrews is sometimes listed with the general epistles and the general epistles are James, first, second Peter, first, second, third John. Those are classically called the general. and sometimes called the Catholic epistles. And Hebrews is sometimes lumped in with them. And other times Hebrews is kind of on its own. And in other times, Hebrews is actually declared to be with Paul's letters. Now we ought to notice that every one of Paul's letters starts the same way, Paul. But Hebrews doesn't start that way. And so there's a great deal of debate. Did Paul write it? Did he not write it? Probably the best solution is Paul did not write it, but he is likely the source and maybe someone close to Paul wrote it. If I had to call it, that would be where I land. But let me give you the context just to try to understand where this book is going. It appears that there are Jewish Christians in Rome who appear to be under the threat of persecution. That's very important. Jewish Christians in Rome who appear to be under the threat of persecution. Judaism was more of a protective umbrella. Judaism was received by the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had kind of accepted Judaism. The Roman Empire persecuted the Christians. Okay, that's very important. And so what is likely the case is Jewish Christians in Rome. are beginning to shrink under persecution and they are retreating back under the protective umbrella of Judaism, disaffiliating with the Christian community. One of the key texts in Hebrews that's often quoted, do not forsake the assembling as the manner of some is, that's stated in Hebrews 10. And what appears to be the case is Jewish Christians say, look, I don't want to be affiliated with this Christian church anymore. I'm going to slink back under the protective umbrella of Judaism to miss persecution. And the writer of the Hebrews picks up the pen and says, not so fast. The writer of the Hebrews, and this is where I want to give you enough of an overview, is the writer of the Hebrews points out with granular detail, citing Old Testament texts, listen to this, that the Old Testament, here's a big point, is a shadow. It points forward to the fulfillment that is in Christ. And the writer of the Hebrews, for example, let's just read the opening. It says, long ago, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, which shows God's revealed Himself in different times, in different ways. But now the ultimate revelation is the revelation found in Christ. And then throughout the first 10 chapters, this is where I don't want to lose you. So in this reading, just hear it, note it, and this will be one of those books you'll probably have to circle back to if you want to really understand Hebrews 1 through 10. But here's the big idea of what's happening. Christ is superior to the angels. Christ is superior to Moses. Christ is greater than the Sabbath. Christ... is greater than the priesthood from Aaron. And Jesus is a different type of priest. He is not a Levitical priest. He is uniquely, listen to this, the priest of a different order. He is not in the line of Aaron. He is not a Levitical priest. Jesus strangely is in the line of a priesthood that's only mentioned one time in Genesis. The priest after the order of a man by the name of Melchizedek. Okay? And Jesus as this new priest is one who oversees a new covenant. The old covenant that Moses had said, you do this, God does this. And the problem is God always upheld His end of the deal, but people didn't, even in the Old Testament. So we need a new covenant, a new agreement. And this new agreement is called the New Covenant. And basically it is a one-sided covenant where God in Christ does it all, pays it all. And thus, Jesus is not just the priest. He not only ushers in a new covenant, He Himself is the new and greater sacrifice and fulfills in himself all that the shadows and shapes that the temple, the sacrificial system, the priest, all of those were pointing in a certain direction. And now Christ is a substance of that. Now, why don't get lost in the granular details? Why is that important for the particular situation that Paul is writing to? Jewish Christians who face persecution, who are retreating from the Christian community to try to embed themselves back in Judaism and do all the rituals of Judaism. Paul says, you can't go back. You can't do that. He says, don't forsake the assembling. And he says, to go back to that is to not in your worship and life, affirm that which Christ has done. If he has fulfilled all of these things and the Christians are the one who proclaim Christ's victory over that to go and identify with another community that doesn't even believe in the fulfillment that Christ has done is not right. Now, we want to note that the writer of Hebrews focuses on faith, but listen carefully. Hebrews 11, which is a key text on faith, is not about initial faith as much, but Hebrews 11 is about faithfulness because we read Hebrews 11. So if I'm reading Hebrews, I'm going to read as close as I can through Hebrews 1 through 10. I'm going to skim when I get bogged down and I'm going to get to Hebrews 11. And now what is the writer of the Hebrews going to do? He's going to point out the lives of the faithful. That's what he's going to do. But we notice a few things. that happened, there's a lot of things in Hebrews 11, by faith, these people did these great things, and by faith, which means by faithfulness, like faith expressed. And then we get to verse 32, and it's talking about these great acts of faith, but then, but then, it says in verse 35, and actually into verse 36, it says, faith, Others experienced mocking, scourging, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, died by the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskin, destitute, afflicted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and hole in the ground. Listen carefully, verse 39. All of these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised since God had provided something better for us so that They would not be made perfect without us. Here's the bottom line here. Faithfulness can be seen in great acts that well people and great faith can be seen in through difficulty. And listen, I want you to focus here, chapter 12. The ultimate example of faithfulness who endured the cross, despising the shame is Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate one who is faithful. And his faithfulness endures suffering. And so guess what the writer of the Hebrews is going to try to say? He's going to say, follow that example of faithfulness. He's saying Jewish Christians in Rome, even if your identification with Jesus requires you to suffer. By the way, where did Jesus die? He died, he was crucified outside the walls, outside the camp, a place of shame. And the writer of Hebrews near the end, tells these Jewish Christians, then you go outside the wall with Jesus. You bear his shame. You stand to be counted in your day. And they say, well, why? Can't we just go under the protective umbrella of Judaism? And the writer of says, no. He says, because to retreat back to a former life, to engage in rituals of which you now know the fulfillment is an affront. to what you believe and you need to endure in faithfulness even when that faithfulness requires suffering because you believe that Jesus is better, that He is superior and that you are willing to suffer to be faithful because you believe Jesus is who He says He is. This is really at the heart of the letter to the Hebrews. Thank you for listening to this podcast, a ministry of Liberty Baptist Church. We pray that this is an encouragement to study God's Word and that you will join us for the next episode.