Hebrews (Session 13) Chapter 12

well we are exploring reviewing the epistle to the hebrews we're in the 13th session that's addressing chapter 12 of this epistle now just by way of quick summary the first seven chapters present jesus christ as the new and better deliverer the entire epistle is being addressed to jewish christians and it the writer does not assert any authority they knew who he was but he's building the entire case and his proposition on the scriptures that they held dear namely the old testament but from that background it presents jesus as the new and better deliverer better than the angels better than moses better than joshua better than and primarily a priest after the order of melchizedek not live not uh levi and and that's the first seven chapters and he does this by having a better covenant a better sanctuary and better sacrifice than that which they were used to and that's chapters seven through ten if you will that's considered the theological section of the epistle and the last few chapters are what might be called practical applications littered through this are five warnings and those five warnings are crucial to understand they build on each other and the thing that's essential to understand this entire study is to understand that these are people that are saved the writer which we can convince beyond a reasonable doubt is paul always says let us let us let us whatever they are they're in the same category he is they're clearly saved their justification before the throne of god is not an issue that has been taken care of 100 by jesus christ and is taken for granted all through here what is the issue is sanctification progressing from that gee you're saved you accept jesus christ that gets you on first base how are you doing say sanctification is a work in progress last time we were in chapter 11 a a pinnacle of sorts in terms of the hall of faith is sometimes called we'll review that quickly as we go forward now into the chapter 12 which includes the fifth of these five warnings so a couple of summary things just to get us warmed up here charles spurgeon said it is not thy hold on christ that saves thee it is christ it is not thy joy in christ that saves me it is christ it is not even thy faith in christ that saves thee though that be the instrument it's christ blood and merit that's crucial understand there's a lot of misunderstanding oh you've got to have faith what does that mean faith in what no it's christ's blood is the issue now your faith in that blood is what saves you faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as the president and the invisible is seen i love that by dr sanders and hebrews 11 opened up with a couple of verses that are pivotal to the christian walk now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen the word substance is hopeostasis it's just the opposite hypothesis just it's a it's one that's proof it's an exact reproduction it's equivalent to assurance and the meaning of substance that gives real existence and it was used on ancient documents as evidence of title deeds and so forth it made them authentic and it's the real essence of something as a scientific term that same word is the opposite of hypothesis which is a tentative suggestion okay just the opposite it's the evidence of things not seen elekos that it's a legal term meaning evidence that is accepted for conviction it's a very strong legal term it's a commitment to certainty as a noun it's only used twice here in paul's second letter to timothy and uh the person of faith lives out that belief the entire business world by the way relies on faith your use of a credit card or writing a check causes people to trust that document that they have faith that that will be made good so faith is not unique to the religious world but faith is is is something that is it's a function of trusting something as being true and by it the elders obtained a good report and the elders here are the old testament saints that are going to be listed in the rest of that chapter chapter 11. they exercise faith and to depart from faith is to depart from the old testament saints that argument's being made because you're writing you're writing here to people who were jewish believers they had trust in the old testament and and so the it's it's the faith of those old testaments that uh saints that they're dealing with here so the old testament saints won their battle through of patient endurance and these believers the listeners the readers to this epistle had to win the same battle the same way that's the point that writers going to make here and he's echoing an admission back in chapter 6 in hebrews that you be not sluggish but be imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises the issue here is not entering heaven they're taking for granted it's inheriting heaven big difference big difference and that's going to be hammered all the way through here and then we get to one of my favorite verses in last time through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of god the word their spoken word the spoken word rhema spoken word so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear god said in genesis chapter one it says god said ten times and it's interesting so the things which i've seen were not made of things which do appear so we talked a little bit about nachmanides who from his st back in the 13th century from his study of genesis chapter 1 he concluded that the universe has 10 dimensions only four are knowable and that's really commendable today because our advanced frontier of science of the particle physics the quantum physicists in the 20th century they've concluded that our universe has ten dimensions only four are directly measurable three spatial dimensions length with height and time and six are currentless and ten and minus thirty three centimeters and therefore they're inferable only by indirect means now what's interesting about that the frontier of such has caught up to nakhmanides what he learned by simply doing his homework in the text of genesis 1. but four dimensions we live in four dimensions right that's what paul tells in ephesians three breath length depth and height and we talked about that last time three spatial dimensions and time paul says so lists them there in ephesians 3 verse 18. and through faith we understand that the world's refrained by the word of god so the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear and from this we talked a little bit last time about the nature of reality we took a a a simple atom hydrogen atom nucleus electron not to scale of course if we take the nucleus the scale and we take the atom to scale we discovered that the atom is 100 000 times as big as the the neutron the nucleus i mean and uh that's just linearly to get it volumetrically you got to take length with height you got to cube that so it's 10 to the 15th so what's interesting about that as we try to grasp what does that mean what is 10 to the 15th the ratio of solid stuff to volume here is the same ratio that's 10 1 part and 10 to the 15 that's same ratio as one second would have to 30 million years so if i say there's nothing here i'm more correct than somebody says that this is solid by a factor of that ratio one part and 10 to the 15th or one second to 30 million years i mentioned that though because we begin to part of the great discovery in modern science is that this is all a digital simulation it's digital and it's a simulation we discover it's it's everything's made up of indivisible quan units if i take a line and break it in half great i take that half that's left i can cut it in half and you would think i would keep able to do that forever at least conceptually turns out not to be true it turns out if you get down to 10 to the minus 33 centimeters it no longer can be divided attempts to divide it will cause it to lose locality it'll be everywhere in the universe at the same time that's impossible that that's what that's why boltzmann committed suicide and trying to because he appreciate what that really meant at the limit these things lose locality so we discover we discover then there's it's called the plank length in length the planck time there's no period of time small in 10 to the minus 43 seconds all these things are made up of indivisible units it's like a piano keyboard you can't get tones between the keys you pick your key but you you can't get between well the black keys are an exception but when you put them together they see a piano technically by in this sense is digital in that sense and uh so anyway every even time is a physical dimension therefore even time is made up of units that cannot be divided that's interesting so if we take sim take the reach of man as a center here and talk about size getting into bigness leads you to astronomy and astrophysics and the great discovery of 20th century science is the universe is finite in the macrocosm the large side if you go the other way in smallness that drives you into quantum physics and subatomic particles and they also are made they are also finite they're not infinitely small you can't get information so we discover that we're bounded in a digital simulation and that that its solidity is a function of electrical interaction between the molecules that make up our hand the molecules of this platform or whatever else it's interesting that we take the total package we now know that our physical reality is but a shadow of a larger reality that's a phrase i drew out of scientific american june of 2005 in an article that came to that conclusion that our universe is but a shadow of a larger rail well that's what the bible's been saying all along and hebrews 11 3 examples of that then we go through a bunch of examples in there gideon barack sampson those are judges and king and prophets of examples of men of faith and we want to touch on david's kingdom because we're going to talk more about that in the next couple of sessions we need to understand the kingdom of david because god gave him an unconditional covenant that's in second samuel 7. we need to really understand that and that covenant that his kingdom would be forever is confirmed by gabriel to mary in the new testament at christmas we always celebrate that that her child is going to sit on the throne of david james when he officiates at the primary council in acts 15 at the council of jerusalem he quotes amos 9 11 that very same thing that god once he gets his the gentile group pulled out he's going to reestablish the tabernacle of david and then there's the keys of the kingdom that are defined for us not at caesarea philippi but in isaiah 22 22. and they're linked to the church at philadelphia the unique promises to the church of the seven churches philadelphia has a solution to whatever that is so we're going to talk more about that subsequent sessions but the sum of the matter just to wrap up a warm up till we get to tonight's material is the uh admonition that's in hebrews 6 where the writer says that ye be not slothful lazy remember my definition of tomorrow remember what tomorrow is tomorrow is when the sloth will work and the fools repent right when you go down to newport beach there's a great place called the crab cooker they always say we have free crab tomorrow of course tomorrow never comes see because it's always it's only free tomorrow okay well tomorrow is when the lazy work and tomorrow's when the fools repent tomorrow is when you're going to get on that diet satan loves tomorrow he doesn't like the word today but he loves tomorrow whatever you promise you tomorrow he's securing because tomorrow never comes be ye not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience do what gets saved right no what does it say inherit the promises inherit the promises if i sign when i travel if i sign in at a hotel that gives me entrance and privilege to use a room it doesn't give me the right to rearrange the furniture same thing if i invite you to my home if i invite you in allowing you to enter allows you to come into my home doesn't allow you to repaint or rearrange the furniture no there's a difference between entering and inheriting and the passion all through this epistle is there is an inheritance for you that's been set aside for you but you gain it by being faithful if you're not faithful you don't lose your don't lose your inheritance you don't lose your salvation but you can lose your inheritance inheritance can be forfeited and that's really the background here so now okay that's the review we are in hebrews chapter 12. and here's the conclusion you have this interesting word wherefore in other words what he's about to say hangs on what we've just said that's why i took the trouble to review what we just said wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses who's he talking about that whole list of saints that were profiled for you in the previous chapter i didn't go through all those obviously again but you get the idea wherefore seeing we are also compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses let us notice the writer putting himself in that category let us lay aside every weight all our excess baggage lay aside every weight and the sin which death so easily beset us what sin is he talking about the most critical sin of all unbelief and let us there he is he said let us run with patience the race that is set before us this obviously this chapter follows chapter 11 where all those believers were summarized abraham and david and so on were seen as they were he see he profiles him as if they're striving to win a prize and he's putting us that same category we are in a competition not against each other against the expectation that god would have us earn the prize with that run with patience the race that is set with us the word there is again in the in the greek and that's uh what it really refers to is an assembly met to see the games it refers to us to a contest for a prize at their games it thus generically any contest or struggle is called aegon in the greek that's where we get the word agonize and and and so on how long is the race he's talking about when did that race start it started when you accepted christ you became justified terrific and it goes until death from the day of salvation until the day of death that's the period of time we're focusing on and i i personally hold the view that most christians that get to heaven are going to be disappointed because they're going to realize it's going to come home to roost the opportunities that they blew that their eternity is going to be determined by how they perform during this brief little period we call life and that they'll look back if they had just if they shoulda woulda coulda right and that's there won't be there won't be tears because of sickness and those guys no that that's not that those problems the problems will be as we look back and realize wow what it might have been okay now there are three participles in here seeing that is the witnesses and laying aside the baggage of judaism there he's talking about jewish believers they're laying aside the bag they're threatened they're the the thing that they were fighting was they were thinking of going back to judaism because they're tired of being persecuted as christians so i think they were entertaining the idea of going back because uh they were getting encountering a lot of problems they're gonna he says seeing that we're encompassed by the witnesses laying aside two things the baggage of judaism that they were still trying to thinking of carrying and the sin of apostasy and that was back in chapter 10 where that focus on and looking then we're going to see in the next verse picks up the third of the three participles looking unto jesus keeping an eye on him looking unto jesus uh pharaoh they look to to look away from all distractions the word looking here in the greek is versus greek is very specific not just looking but looking in the sense that you're ignoring distractions you're focusing you could almost focusing on uh jesus would be another way to translate it to whom jesus the author and finisher of of our faith and why because he is the perfect example of obedience and patient endurance anytime you have some need some perspectives you get it by focusing on jesus christ the author and finisher tell yourself is the one who carries it through completion what he starts he finishes you know what's exciting about that word when god god has started a good work in you right the very fact that you're here right now listening to all this means that god has started something in your life you know what the good news about that is what god starts he finishes he finishes that's exciting that's exciting for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against system for consider here the word consider analogous on my which is the word from which analog comes from analogy if you will means to think over consider ponder consider him think it over every once in a while we need to stand back and think through what christ went through for you and me and i don't mean just the cross that's the obvious capstone read psalm 69 and look through there and hear the sobs of a small boy raised in nazareth in which the drunkards make up songs about him down at the tavern because he's considered illegitimate his mother he's made an alien to his mother's children what's all that talking about in psalm 69 section in there you begin to realize those were not happy days he and his mother but he endured the stigma being illegitimate for 30 years why so that you and i would have clear title to be called the son of god wow when you think of his suffering it's 30 years not three and a half it's not just the overnight in gethsemane and the cross and i'm not demeaning that don't misunderstand me in fact i would make the case that what he really suffered far beyond the physical things that it communicated to us anyway as you think about that the word of god will keep you from being weary do you ever get tired we all will be there there's a point going to be when studying the bible and all this stuff gets to be kind of a drag i hate to admit it but there will be times that you just you'll be down what's the remedy get in the word the if you really get into the word that will keep you from being worried as you begin to realize what has gone on before and what is going on right now on your behalf and what's coming on your behalf ye have not yet resisted unto blood now it's referring primarily to these guys because within two years his listeners are gonna the jews are gonna be killed he's trying to tell them don't go back to judaism that's over leviticus is over the law is over don't go back to that and you're going to get a surprise when we get to chapter 13 and i'll give you the post script antagonization it's a to struggle fight the english word agony and antagonism comes out of that same greek root and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speak of unto you as unto children my son despise not the chastening of the lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the lord loveth he chasteneth and and scourges every son he receiveth the writer here is quoting that sounds familiar to you because that's proverbs chapter 3 verse 11 and 12. and he quotes that passage for to make two points that god disciplines those whom he loves if your father really loves you he'll take you to the woodshed when he should if he doesn't do that it's tragically something where he's shortchanging you god disciplines those whom he loves he won't bother if he doesn't love you god proves that excuse me the writer here i meant to say proves that discipline disciplinary action is a sign of sonship if you're not his son he won't bother he's what he's trying to say is that passage implies that god is acting as a dutiful parent loving you and seeing to it that you grow he won't do that if you're not his son that's really the point he's trying to make here then the word my son there is huyos in the greek which means also of an adult son it's a sonship thing not a child kind of thing we think of a son being a child and that's the only one no it goes a little further than that but the progression that he's going to make here is from a lesser degree to a greater degree even death because he's going to compare to a father and a son but our father is even if that's true of our heavenly earthly father it's even more true of our heavenly father that's the point he's going to make here god's children do suffer has anyone noticed that anyone have any doubts on that particular point right okay well the scripture all through and i just picked a few here many are the afflictions of the righteous but the lord delivereth him out of them all many are the afflictions of the righteous lord deliver them out of all job yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward john 16 33 in the world ye shall have tribulation don't confuse that with the great tribulation that's a specific period of time with some specific issues no in general in the world you'll have tribulation why who's the god of this world and satan promised it to christ and christ promised it to those that follow christ in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer christ says this is john's quoting christ of course i have overcome the world praise god for that never lose sight of that never lose sight of that paul writes his final letter to timothy and he says yea and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer prosecution isn't that exciting well it's reality now why why do christians suffer j v mcgee lists seven reasons because of our own stupidity and our own sin all right all right i'll subscribe to that my hand is up for taking a stand for truth and righteousness i don't get persecuted enough for that i don't do it enough of that i suppose if i did it more i would have more persecution but that's a legitimate ring we suffer for sin in our lives is there some continuing sin in life that will bring down some some trouble for our past sins is another way of saying the same thing in some cases we will have persecution for some lofty purpose that god knows that hasn't revealed to us at least not yet now there's examples of that but you can look at the book of job as one example job never had the benefit of the conversation that opens the book combination of satan god we as readers have that benefit job didn't tough stuff some get suffered for their faith and some for discipline these happen to be the seven that j vernon mcgee lists from my perspective they're sort of they sort of overlap on the one hand and yet the others in the other hand they're not as uh a definitive distinctive as they might be there's another list that i tend to lean to by that's in hal lindsey's book combat faith why do christians have a child well for one reason to glorify god think of daniel chapter 3 fiery furnace and all of that another one is to discipline for known sin most of what we heard in j vernon mcgee's list is pretty much comes under that kind of a category third one is to prevent us from falling into sin sometimes we have a trial to keep us from something more serious follow me and there's examples of that peter talks about it in his first letter chapter 4. another one that i think is a terrific one to keep us from pride pride where there's contention there's pride the book of proverbs tells us that's interesting that's one reason i don't participate in debates because i tend to see most of them as pride driven i'm not disparaging them but i don't spend my time on that because people aren't going to change their mind even if you win the debate now to keep us from pride paul was kept by pride by what he called a thorn in the flesh back in second corinthians 12. and most of us presume that it might have something to do with his eyes that's a speculation that comes to focus in galatians chapter four and there's some hints that that was a problem he had another reason is to build our faith one reason of trials is that we come out of that trials with strength and faith and first peter 1 talks about that you can look at genesis 22 in the offering of isaac as something like that in other words another way of saying a similar thing is to cause growth in us that's what romans 5 deals with another was to teach us obedience and discipline that's like a athlete or a team member of a competitive sport there's a discipline aspect of that an obedience part of that a res a predictable response aspect of that but another reason we can have trials is that we might comfort others that we might comfort others is there some particular trial you're going through that might be god training you to be useful to somebody else that would be going through the same thing a year or two from now are you going through a bankruptcy maybe so that you can minister to someone that's going through bankruptcy next year or someone's lost a child or someone's had unusual form of medical problem you can fill in the blank one reason you might be experiencing that is to equip you and to tune you and to call you to ministering to others that have that that could benefit from your experience another reason christians have trials is to prove the reality of christ in us i like this one because i think it fits the writer to hebrews because we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses and the witnesses there were historical ones our witnesses are contemporary ones and of course the other one that's a little spooky but interesting for testimony to the angels it's interesting in several places not only in job but in ephesians and first peter there's the the inference we draw from the passage is that the angels seem to be watching us to understand god's will god seems to communicate to the angels in small pieces and they put the pieces together by watching us you see interesting and that's the first peter 1 12 perhaps the key one there in any case james chapter one deals with all of this right right out the get-go okay let's get back to hebrews 12. if ye endure chastening god dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chaseth not she's drawing a parallel here okay and the very fact that they're chastening by god that means they are god's sons or he wouldn't bother but if he be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons in other words if you're just getting things that everybody else does then that does that there's no evidence of sonship there is there that's that's the writer here is pretty direct doesn't mince his words right pewter and chastening and the word there is padilla which is two different things the moral training and education of children it refers to but it also alludes to whatever in adults also cultivates the soul so this is even like the graduate school of childhood so to speak correcting mistakes curbing passions that's what bathsheba seems to do in proverbs 31 speaking with her intimate name of solomon lemuel she is trying to counsel him on behavior that she sees in him that she didn't she didn't uh she's sort of warning him that she's seeing in him some of the characteristics of his father david that needs to needed to be cautioned in any case though they all have become partakers of sonship as evidenced by this chastisement the key point of this this part of the passage is to to take joy in the chastisement because that as a minimum it confirms that you are his son that's exciting news to hang on to furthermore we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father's spirits and live he's contrasting two fathers see our human father he was temporary and he doesn't say this but it's implied here is that our own father probably made mistakes there may have been time that we were chastised in anger a good father doesn't allow that to happen he'll he'll punish but he he he doesn't lose his temper sometimes huma heavenly fa home humanly fathers make mistakes we all have our fathers have and we have so they're not perfect however the father's spirits our heavenly father is is uh never makes mistakes and it's always for our personal profit that doesn't make it fun but it gives us it is a form of comfort knowing that it's for our good for they verily for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure that's me that's speaking of the humanly father to do it as best they knew but he our prophet for our prophet that we might be partakers of his holiness that's why he's doing it that we might be partakers partakers of his holiness that's the ultimate goal spiritual maturity that's the goal of this epistle not salvation it takes for granted that you're saved you've accepted christ or none of this is meaningful no no they've accepted christ but they're not his writers were were stymied they're not moving forward due spiritual maturity j vernon mcgee makes the colorful example when you're in freezing weather you better keep moving if you stop you could be dead right perhaps a clumsy analogy but an interesting one now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous how many have noticed that okay nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby in other words that trial you're going through will bear fruit and you can take comfort by confidence in that truth a fruit then he has this interesting thing wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way and but let it rather be healed again wherefore connects this thought with what just went on beforehand what this is basically saying is the stronger members should assist the weaker ones lift up the hands which hang down do you remember moses as long as he held up his hands the battle went well his hands got tired they started losing so so aaron and her the two two buddies held his hands up so as long as his hands stood up what they won there's a lesson there very practical lesson and that's the illusion that the writer here is assuming comes to mind by the readers the famous event of holding up moses hands and the feeble knees same kind of thing not not to not to to to weak and then all that next to the 17 is on that make straight paths for your feet why straight pads so you won't keep going in circles okay a very simple explanation expositionally make straight paths for your feet why so you won't keep going in circles lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but rather that it rather be healed follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of god lest any root of bitterness springeth springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled looking diligently looking diligently the word there interestingly enough is a pescapel which the word itself means to look upon inspect or oversee and the overseeing thing has caused that greek word to be adopted in the idea of a episcopal in an english word episcopal to care for it look after and care for but here it really means to inspect looking diligently lest any man feel of grace lest any root of bitterness spring up now that's a root of bitterness that's a source of divisions the bitterness has roots murmuring and so forth the same word speaks of gaul and wormwood in deuteronomy 29 18. the root of bitterness my wife pointed out to me something in her in her earlier books that has always stuck with me as a profound insight and that is the most when you have hurts from someone the most dangerous ones are the justified ones that's a strange insight i got from her boy is she right on if you have a hurt that isn't really justified you can deal with that it bothers you but okay it's when the hurt is justified you can't let go of it and you become in bondage to it you see they're the ones that are the most crucial crucial to leave at the cross give it to the lord they're the toughest one to let go because because they're justified man do you know what he did to me don't care the more justified is the more urgent it is that you get freed from the bondage of that interesting that's one of the things that makes her book so so valuable so practical lest any root of bitterness i bet you every one of you could jot down a few people you've met in your life that are destroying themselves in their lives because they nurse a root of bitterness and it's not the person that caused the bitterness that's destroying them it's theirs to destroying themselves by not letting go of that boy and if you want to know the practical aspects of letting go of that take a look at dan's books the way of agape and be transformed they they lay it out skillfully practically in real terms the most dangerous hurts are the justified ones boy let me tell you what he did to me boy boy boy lest there be any fornicator or profane person as he saw who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright now we're shifting into getting right now thing lester be any fornicator or profane person the word is pornos which technically means a prostitute but esau wasn't neces that's not the thought here fornication here the illusion here is a spiritual fornication what is that turning from god to the things of the flesh rather than his birthright and things that he should have held dear he sold it for a mess of porridge mess of porridge the word profane by the way comes from two latin word in the english word profane comes with two latin words pro meaning either before it or against it and phantom which means the temple that's what the word profane that's where the word profane comes from and we get the same flavor and our use of it and below which means lawful to be trodden he demeaned spiritual things and that whole you know the story about esau and and how he uh sold his birthright permissive porridge the main point was that he demeaned it he didn't take it seriously that was the sin now the reason this is coming up in this epistle is his readers the writers readers are also likely to be victims of their own irreversible decision which will cut off blessings esau made a decision that was irreversible and that cut him off and he's drawing deliberately a parallel here that the readers will understand because they all know the story of esau who sold his birthright for a you know a cup of porridge now firstborn said let's understand firstborn status being the firstborn generally meant you were the head headship of the family and you're also the high priest of the family they're two separate ideas but they're together and it also meant you got a double portion of the inheritance so that was a big deal big deal in genesis 27 we have the whole story about how esau forfeited his birthright he didn't just get cheated out of it by jacob he was but that wasn't the point he had already sold it to him for a cup of soup so the firstborn that's not the only case where it's been bypassed cain was bypassed by seth he blew it didn't he japheth bashem ishmael by isaac esau by jacob reuben by two judah and joseph because he he messed up and his birthright was split up a little bit we'll talk about that aaron was not was the was the firstborn moses wasn't but moses gets picked and all of david's brothers he he was the youngest he bypassed the whole bunch so the firstborn which is a a title yes he's born first but it's a it's a title of stature and it can be bypassed by someone who isn't born first remember reuben he was the natural heir he was disavowed because of his illicit relationship with his father's concubine simeon and levi both of them blew it they would have been mixed but because of their crime at shechem they blew it judah was the next in line then joseph jovis got a double portion and he was favored his firstborn from rachel jacob's favorite and of course they get split up between ephraim and manasseh his two the two his two sons jacob's grandsons get adopted that's why you have 13 tribes to choose from when you need 12. okay we're down to verse 17. for ye know how that afterward speaking of esau when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears remember he desired to when it came to the doing he wanted it badly it was too late then wasn't it it was too late he found no place to repent now i want to highlight something else here that many people miss even so many of the commentators who is not repenting here good for you good for you exactly isaac was because isaac had already sworn he he couldn't change his mind there was no place of repentance he could esau had changed his mind he said repent i want to show you the use of the word see we always jump to the conclusions the word repentance refers that that it's a a verb of action rather than a the object in other words it's and earlier in chapter 6 we talked about there is no repentance meaning it's god that can't repent because he's sworn oath and that's the whole point of the references there that everybody misses and that use of the word there is the key to unlocking the understanding of chapter six and that same use by the writer is used here esau found no place of repentance you mean he wasn't repenting boy was he repenting but it's too late because it's a done deal just as in chapter six it's the analogy is being drawn with god there and the inheritance with the root passage at kadesh barnea where god swore an oath the people that didn't enter in the promised land were forgiven they repented and god forgave them but they still didn't inherit because he swore an oath so it wasn't their sin that's being judged there it's their um lack of inheritance because that's important go back and look at your notes for chapter six for that one metanoia a change of mind but it's isaac it couldn't change his mind not and what he saw it refers to reversibility of a purpose or something to be done see the term really means something a little different than we impute to it we want to be careful what we impute to some of these words so we're going to see a couple of contrasts here verses 18 to 21 if the jewish believers go back to the old system they're going to be returning to a place that was inaugurated by utter terror we're going to have a description they're going to be reminded of what it was like to not listen to what god is telling him to do and in in verses 18 19 20 and 21 those four verses are going to deal with a negative disaster that they're facing if they don't make the right decision the next few verses the next three verses after that is going to contract it's going to it's going to point out how they would leave a place of privilege and grace is exemplified by the heavenly city so on the one hand they'll be embracing terror on the one hand and they'll be abandoning the citizenship in something highly desirable well that's a two-edged sword if you ever saw one so let's take a look at it for year not come unto the mount that might be touched that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore he's recounting here the the hor terrors at mount sinai and moses went up there how the place shook in this mount couldn't be touched even animals that touched it died and it burned with fire that you've seen pictures of the jebella laws even today it's the black top is black and so on nor unto the blackness or darkness of tempest and the sound of the trumpet the trumpet of god only mentioned two places in exodus 19 and also in the at the harpazzo and the voice of the words which voice that they heard and treated they wouldn't hear it anymore they couldn't stand it strange stuff isn't it for ye are not come to the mount that might be touched that burned with fire see these readers have not yet come to that place of terror he's warning him what it's going to be like in their case it's going to be the destruction of jerusalem it's only two years away it's coming they have not yet come to a mountain which cannot be touched as have the israelites in exodus 19. they have not come to the mountain burning with fire they've not come to a pace of darkness blackness tempest all this is out of exodus 19. the sound of the trumpet they have not yet heard the sound of the trumpet they have not heard the voice of the words of god which were such at the israel israelites begged not to hear the voice again this verse is going to be pivotal to an argument he's going to make it a few verses later so understand this they begged back there in exodus 19 we don't want to he they couldn't stand the voice of god it was too terrifying before they could not endure that which was commanded that if so much as a beast touched the mountain it should be stoned or thrust through with a dart and so terrible was the sight that moses said i exceedingly fear and quake moses felt the terror more than anybody else even moses was repelled by the scene on mount sinai and was not attracted to it he was terrified of it to decide see moses law was enacted in the context of terror to go back to the law the argument the guy's writing the writer's saying is to go back to that place of terror okay paul teaches that going back to the law is returning to a ministry of death and condemnation in second corinthians three the second letter occurrence from verse two to eighteen says the same essential message shot at your notes you can check it out on at your own leisure now that's the negative side let's look at the positive side verses 22 to 24. as believers they're not at mount sinai under a system of law they have come to a system of grace but you have come to mount zion and unto the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem he's going to talk about here what do you talk about heavenly he's talking about the city in heaven that it's destined to be the abode of the redeemed let's see all through this entire epistle what's in view and held in view is the kingdom the fulfillment of the davidic covenant so verse 22 but ye are come unto mine mount zion now that's not taught about the hill there it's an idiom of course for jerusalem and onto the city of the living god is that the jerusalem we know no that's idiomatic the heavenly jerusalem it's got three different titles here mount zion the city of living god heavenly jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels innumerable company of angels okay three different names for the city the angels of course mentioned deuteronomy 33 daniel 7 elsewhere jesus spoke of this city where he is now preparing a place for us in john 14. i go into my father's house so many mansions and so forth paul spoke of the jerusalem of god as being a city that is free and not in bondage he's making a contrast here that'll be amplified in galatians 4. this is the city that abraham saw it and we saw that in chapter 11 last time the city that david had his heart on the writer is going to mention this again in the next chapter that we're going to be into john describes the city as the boat of all the redeemed of all time who enter into it by resurrection or translation and that's revelation 21 the whole chapter 21 plus part of chapter 22. the city this the new jerusalem is our typical shorthand for this continuing to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven and to god the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect the general assembly the word here in the english doesn't capture it the word actually in the greek pentagoras means a festive gathering it's a celebration it's just a general assembly like you might have in school or something you know this is a the the greek term implies a a festive gathering and it's the church of the firstborn and the most competent scholars here recognize this is a term used of the jewish believers that's who he's writing to which are written in heaven and to the judge of all and to the spirits of men made perfect jewish believers are called first fruits in james chapter 1 verse 18 and the spirits of just men made cur perfect this is interesting because they don't have bodies yet even the ones that have died the author calls them spirits which points out that they're not yet united with their bodies because the resurrection of the old testament saints has not yet taken place interesting there's a couple places in the scripture that that distinction can be useful but it's interesting that the author also makes a clear distinction between old testament saints and church saints interesting observation and to jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of abel why abel because abel was the first blood that was you know jesus the media of a new covenant and by the way there's two two words for new in the greek the one that's been used in the past in these previous things is new in quality or new in nature when we talk about the new covenant back there in a few chapters it was that word canos in the greek here though he uses a different word interestingly enough niels which means recently born knew in point of time why because jesus had just died recently in in relatively recent terms okay so that's the one that's being used here and jesus is the only blood that can bring one into god's presence and that's why the contrast is made with abel abel was the first person to offer a blood sacrifice the first one to offer a blood sacrifice was able okay and so he he's using that idiomatically of the blood sacrifice under the under the levitical system and interestingly enough he takes that it precedes the the giving of the law that's interesting well that leads us now to the portion of scripture here that's known as the fifth warning there's five warnings in the epistle this is the the fifth one verses through 29. the background for all of this is exodus 19 and 20. that's at cyanide the giving of the law and all that business terrifying stuff um with all the special effects and so with the ten commandments movement didn't capture the terror the awe of all of that the people did not want to talk to god directly they plead for somebody else to handle it and that was not what god wanted he wanted a nation of kings and priests so the final this final climactic warning compares the shortcomings of the exodus generation with the shortcomings of the jewish christians that are the readers okay now paul elsewhere referenced those things as written for the benefit first corinthians 10 deals with the same material and points out how that was all for our benefit the examples from the exodus generation are for our benefit so let's jump into this see that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven see the logic again it's the the the the calvomer uh uh hebrew logic the the lesser even the the greater even more than the lesser and uh so here he spoke on earth how much more are we indicted if he if he's speaking you know as he's speaking from him heaven see that's refused not him that speaketh and the word see here is the emphatic position in the greek so it's stronger than english more like beware lest you refuse him not just see that you it's a stronger structure it emphasizes an obligation that they have in light of what they he had previously said in other words the previous the verses as i mentioned from 18 to 24. the readers were in danger just like their forebears under moses they're quote they're stopping their ears not to listen they're going to go back to the levitical system they're not listening that they're free of all that you see and this voice shook the heavens as well as the earth back then whose voice then shook the earth but now he hath promised saying yet more once more i shake not the earth only but also heaven that's moving the decimal point over huh there was a shaking in history that was so bad that voice then back then shook the earth that's only exodus 19 it's in judges it's psalm 68 77 psalm 114 you find echoes of that throughout the psalms that voice back then shook the earth next time it's going to be more so yet once more i shake not the earth only but also heaven and that quote that the writer is using comes from haggai 2 6 and it refers to the shaking that's going to occur before the second coming of christ and the judgments of the great tribulation that precede the establishment of the messianic kingdom that's you know that's revelation 19 and all that's associated with it who and this word yet once more he's quoting from the haggai six yet what's more signifieth the removing of those things which are shaken as of things which are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain now it's going to be shaken so bad that only the things that he wants to remain will remain everything else is gone you see yet once more he's recording this phrase from a guy to draw the application those things which are unshakable are what eternal so only the eternal things will remain the writer implies that the shaking has already begun in the structure of the of the grammar here but the current shaking is merely the prelude to the shaking that will bring an end to the present system intense he anticipated a very imminent destruction of jerusalem it occurred within two years we'll give you the background when we get to chapter 13. and some interesting post scripts wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably with reverence and godly fear there's the wherefore again all these things lincoln a chain and it's a climactic chain and he's down to the finish wire here the millennial messianic kingdom will give way and usher in the eternal order even it is going to be superseded let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably of reverence and so forth and again he's just re-emphasizing the point he made more than once before the need to appropriate grace and that echo started in chapter four of this epistle and has continued all the way through five major warnings we've been through the danger of drifting in chapter two the danger of disobedience i thought we're saved yes we are saved but we still are our behavior matters failing to mature is part of the problem they were stagnated they were failing to go forward the the allowing willful sin big mistake and of course here we're talking just being indifferent itself is a disaster for them you can't stand there's a danger in not going forward what he's saying is great loss the loss of your inheritance awaits those who fail to persevere the loss of reward and honor in christ's coming millennial kingdom that's the issue all the way through here revelation 3 11 summarize it behold jesus says i come quickly and what do you do hold fast hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown does that mean someone can take your salvation no because that's been that's christ and the father's responsibility and commitment as exemplified many places but john 10 verse 28 29 nails it now hold fast that thou hast said no one take thy crown you can can't lose salvation you can lose your crown you can lose your rewards and the final the final line in this chapter is disturbing one little reminder gang for our god is a consuming fire that's a tough clothes isn't it he's quote in deuteronomy 4 24. and this phrase is intended to point out that god is a god of grace indeed but he also is a god of judgment for those who fail to appropriate the grace wow okay in our next session i want you to read chapter 13. i also want you to review your notes on the messianic or millennial kingdom and that's been all through this chapter this uh this epistle and the chapter 1 several times chapter 4 6 10 12. review your notes on that because we'll be dealing with that as we go forward let's stand for a closing word of prayer

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Length: 59min 35sec (3575 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020