Hebrews (Session 15) Chapter 13

well we are in the last chapter of our review of the epistle of the hebrews and it's not the last meeting because i'm going to suggest an addenda that i think you'll find interesting to the book that we'll talk about when we get to the end but the epistle of the hebrews one of one of the most important epistles uh in the new testament often skipped by many for two reasons one it sounds like it's to the hebrews and most of us are gentiles so why why why do we care the other reason is it does have a number of passages that are widely misunderstood because people don't understand the situation the context and so forth and we've really dealt into that and i i'm very very pleased the way the lord has brought together a lot of insights from a lot of places to make the to really open the book so i hope this has been fruitful for you but we are in chapter 13 the last chapter now new testament of course consists of 21 correction 28 epistles but seven of them are usually overlooked because they're written by jesus christ you find them in chapters two and three of the book of revelation there's 21 epistles in the new testament 13 are called the pauline epistles because he signed them and then there's a group of eight that are sometimes called the hebrew epistles or hebrew christian epistles because they were written to the hebrews first ii peter first second third john were written to jewish readers and jude and also yakov jacob that we call james but the book of hebrews because it wasn't signed is usually clustered with the with that group because they're all written to the hebrews but from our point of view as you probably know by now uh well first of all romans and hebrews are probably the two pivotal doctrinal epistles in the list there are three uh three different pastors that received letters from paul and they called they're called the pastoral epistles they're also three so-called prison epistles because they were written while he was in prison and actually four i believe because i think he was also one of those for reasons that we'll review here in a little bit the other thing we discover as we study these epistles that the romans galatians and hebrews all three of them turn out to be a well-designed trilogy on a pivotal verse of the old testament habakkuk 2 4 the just shall live by faith this is uh turns out to be a very key concept that who are the just what's that the book of romans deals with in depth in fact even quotes habakkuk 2 4 and making its arguments how shall they live that's what galatians is all about galatians 3 11 quotes it just that way and finally of course how they shall live by what by faith and that verse is quoted just before we get into the hall of faith is sometimes called hebrews 11. so it's what's interesting about this that most people miss is this implies paul wrote all three they were designed as a unit as a trilogy now if you somehow could prove paul didn't rate him it's even a bigger miracle because it's designed of course by the holy spirit in any case but each of these epistles use habakkuk 2 4 as a cornerstone and that verse habakkuk 2 4 became the battle cry of the reformation epistle of the hebrews the first seven chapters build up a case of christology jesus the new and better deliverer better than angels moses joshua aaron and on a ghost then the next couple of chapters focus on a new and better covenant better promises better sanctuary better sacrifice and of course gets us thus gets better results again building a case to to that jesus has replaced something that is now uh set aside the levitical system moses the law all of that tough stuff for a jewish believer especially at this time because the temple hadn't fallen yet this is written about a.d 64. and so the jewish believer had a real problem because he had divinely appointed priests doing divinely appointed rituals in a divinely [Music] designated place that they now were being persecuted for having abandoned so there are entertaining thoughts of going back to that and the letter here saying don't do that you don't understand what you're doing it'll your fact your lives will be forfeit so okay that finally brings you to chapters 10 and 10 11 and 12 which deals with the implications of all of this a true and better response now we inserted after chapter 12 before because there's so much both implicit and explicit allusions to the kingdom the fulfillment of the davidic covenant that we took a session last time to review all that in broad terms but now we're going to focus on the closing chapter of the epistle the parting words by paul we believe uh and we're going to have an addendum to this that we'll talk about next time and you'll understand why i'm doing that when we get a little further into my study we're going to focus on what jesus said what he predicted astonishingly predicted about the fall of jerusalem in 70 a.d drawing primarily on luke 21 which is not part of the olivet discourse contrary to most common presumptions but we're focusing on chapter 13 the parting words of the author to his readers or one other thing and just in looking at the outline very important to not let go unmentioned the five warnings the danger of drifting in chapter two the danger of disobedience at the end of chapter three beginning of chapter four and the troublesome one for many the progress towards maturity option uh uh choices in in in especially chapter six verse six then in chapter 10 we encourage incurred the fourth of these five warnings the danger of willful sin and then in chapter 12 time before last the warning against indifference it's really interesting and all these by the way are a designed build-up that's that so many people treat these five warnings as little parentheses stuck in the outline knows the other way around they are the primary milestones of the epistle and the main thrust of the author to his readers is to not drift be careful that you're not in effect being disobedient but what you need to do is progress to toward maturity all the readers i mean it was addressed to readers who were saved they were justified by christ again and again again throughout the epistle the writer says let us let us he puts himself in that same category this is not written to unbelievers to to make any presumptions that will get get you really confused no it's it's it's to people who accepted christ but are wavering in their commitment and they're failing to progress and just being indifferent to where they're going so because they are beneficiaries of better blood and a better sacrifice than the whole levitical mosaic system that's the main thrust all the way through here let's remind ourselves that this is divinely authorized all scripture all scripture is given by inspiration of god the actual word is god breathed god breathed in the greek and it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction those sound like good fancy words what do they mean for doctrine tells you what's right for reproof tells you what's not right for correction how to get it right and instruction how to stay right so i don't that helps it puts maybe a little more tangibility on those those uh academic words they should rattle when you shake them they should be real to you okay let's just jump in then chapter 13 verse 1 let brotherly love continue be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares that's interesting brotherly love angels the four words of the the first sentence there are four words in english love of the brethren there actually it's one word in the greek the word philadelphia entertaining angels unawares um there's one example we can think of and that's genesis 18 19 where abraham entertained these three strangers one was the lord himself and the other were two angels that had a appointment a mission down in sodom and gomorrah the next day and uh that's just an example there probably probably many others but the main point here there are cases where the people didn't realize their angels and i've seen some people like that on the freeway people that were put there driving too slow just to keep me from killing myself you know the difference between an idiot and a maniac don't you the idiot's the guy in front of you not driving fast enough the maniac is the guy that's passing you see but often i've been in a situation where i've been frustrated because i had a slur that i realized you know be careful that was probably put there by the lord to keep me from doing something stupid so and i'm i'm have my tongue in my cheek but not a hundred percent i mean that seriously okay verse three remember them that are in bonds is bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body boy we need to do that you know this whole ministry voice of the martyrs that really focuses on the christians today that are in bondage literally that are being uh slaughtered in all all over the world there are situations like that we're so comfortable so secure so distant from that so far that uh we tend to treat that academically no we should hold them up in prayer when the lord puts that on your heart find a place get on your knees god may have for if for reasons of his own he he chooses to respond to prayer to do things through your prayers and so if you feel led because of an announcement or something comes to your consciousness of the of the christians that are in bondage in adversity take the time to pray you have no idea what may be going on and how essential that prayer may be for what god is trying to do prayer is god's way of enlisting you and what he wants to do many people don't realize that you know it sounds like we go to him with my little want list you know no no no no no it's supposed to be a dialogue supposed to be a fellowship thing and furthermore it's god's motive to have you involved in what he's doing and there's examples of this second timothy one luciferist all believers are in the same the point here are all we're all in the same body the body of christ and we're all members and uh paul deals with that extensively in the 12th chapter first californians yeah okay marriage is an is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers god will judge this is just straightforward you know we could spend an hour and sermonizing each one of these if we wanted to here but the word bed here by the way is quite a which literally referring to the marriage bed that reef it's a term referring to sexual intercourse marriage is honorable and the the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers god will judge heavy stuff hebrews 13 let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he hath said i will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the lord is my helper and i will not fear what man shall do unto me the word conversation it says we use that word in contemporary english it's taken quite a different meaning the way we use it we think conversation is chit chat the word originally really meant a person's character his life is behavior let your conversation you might want to substitute the word behavior let your behavior be without covetousness and uh be free from materialism and the basis of of all of this of course is god promises to provide your every need and should be looking to him not madison avenue to to shape up your desires and he said i will never leave thee nor forsake me that's simply a quote from deuteronomy 31 6 and also josh 1 5. same basic concept is there so that we you and i may boldly say the lord is my helper and i will not fear what man shall do unto me and boy is that a precious precious portion of scripture if you're going off to iraq or in the military service i can remember when i left california to go back to the naval academy that was one of the things that that i was very serious about and and and very conscious absolutely thinking of the more distant future no fear because the lord is my helper and that's actually two quotes the first is an old testament quotation uh deuteronomy 31 6 and josh 5 and the second one that we're reading here is uh psalm 118 verse 6. hell elsa okay remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of god so about p in other words your elders that are teaching you it's it's it's a it's a spiritual connection here remember them which rule over who have spoken unto you the word of god whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation in other words their behavior and the word remember actually means to observe carefully let's not just recall it no no remember in the sense of pondering it observe carefully the people that are ruling over you and in chapter we went through the whole chapter 11 a couple of chapters ago and in that chapter was it was put there primarily to encourage us to imitate them and each one of those they weren't it wasn't just all the people that were faithful it specifically focused on those that were faithful in the sense of patient endurance uh in the all through the old testament now here he's again saying to imitate the faith of more recent saints see the chapter 11 was the historical ones all through the old testament but now he's saying think about the people that are your leaders now and imitate the faith of more recent saints in effect you people have been your previous teachers and uh okay and again the word conversation here is is the old english word there are about really only six or seven words in the king james translation that you need to be sensitive to and this is one of them because obviously the word conversation has changed its meaning since uh it was translated by in the days of king james there have a couple others and now some bibles that's one reason i like the scofield so well they reverse that when you get to that word in the school for there'll be two vertical lines and it'll put behavior then in the margin it'll say conversation it takes the in just a half a dozen cases or so it takes the old word and puts it in the margin puts the new word in there but marks it so that you can tell it's it's an editorial the thing they did when they printed it but no no but again either way it's no big deal some people see do you if it really if the king james bothers you you can go to the new king james but it somehow to me it still loses the majesty of it all so uh it is what and and by the way the the uh the tradi the old english communicates a lot more than modern english does the these and vowels are a form of intimacy that we lose in our in our language let's talk about teachers he's talking about teachers here there are three there are three characteristics of good teachers we're going to find three characters as bad teachers later but in verse 7 there are three characteristics of good teachers they proclaim biblical truth it's astonishing how many churches you can go to at the pulpit on sunday morning they don't open their bible they got a wonderful sermon but they don't proclaim biblical truth and the other character the good teacher is that they are men of faith they are really men of faith not just articulate bright communicators they live a spiritual lifestyle worthy of im imitation and that's that's that's those are three characteristics of good teachers then we get to verse 8 which is widely misquoted jesus christ the same yesterday and today and forever in the context of the letter it makes a lot of sense but it makes no sense to take it out of context a text apart from its context they often point out is a pretext the context that it's in simply teaches that jesus can give believers victory in their trials in other words the one that protected them in the past is the one that can protect you today and will protect you in the future that's the thought that's in the quote here and uh because he brought victory for the distant saints of chapter 11. all the all those saints in chapter 11 were old testament saints and it's also jesus christ that has given victory to their more recent teachers to the listeners he's not jesus has not always been the same the critic could say that's not always true that he's right because until the incarnation that all eternity past jesus only exists in the form of god that's the very phrase that is used in philippians 2 in the kenosis 5-11 in chapter 2. when he when jesus when the babe was born in bethlehem jesus became man and not just for three and a half years or for 30 years or whatever forever there's a man sitting on the throne of god today now he became mortal man and that's when he became subject to hunger and to thirst and to fatigue weakness and even death inconceivable that the creator of the universe would put himself in a position where he could die wow you know we don't it's that's part of the gospel paul defines it such the first four verses of first corinthians 15. and after his resurrection he changes again he's no longer limited to four dimensions as we are but at least 11 maybe more as he changed to immortal man so from not being a man at all to being a mortal man to being an immortal man but he he wasn't in that sense in in a in a uh physiological sense he's not the same and so let's not don't misapply that verse he's he changed in some very profound ways anyway moving on to verse nine be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines for it's a good thing that the heart be established with grace not with meats which were not which have not profited them that have been occupied therein so divers and strange doctrines divers means diverse in other words in other words in contrast to the unity of sound doctrine and that's been the emphasis of the writer from chapter 1 through chapter 10 that we have unity that this whole program of the priesthood the political priest the mosaic law even though it's now behind us it's part of a unified strategy of god's plan of redemption and when he says strange here means doctrines that are not found in scripture boy you know you you see the strangest stuff come through the christian community gold dust and all kinds of these things come and go well how do you know what's real and what isn't very simple is it in the scripture if it's not in the scripture i'll pass i'll pass it doesn't mean it's not true i'm not going that far but i'm not interested if it's not if you can't show me in the scripture be my guest see you later is it in the scripture don't be carried about with divers and strange doctrines be established with grace and not with meats which have not profited them that have occupied therein any teaching that is not based on scripture no matter how spiritual a movement may appear to be it's my mind suspect and i suggest to you in paul's mind is suspect not saying it's evil but it's certainly suspect okay we said there are three characters of good teachers proclaim biblical truth they're men of faith and they live spiritual lifestyle terrific here are three characteristics of false teachers and you can see them every day on television promote false and diverse doctrines it's astonishing what is being promoted and i guess it's not astonishing when you realize that it's big money involved big money involved and most of them emphasize the external rather than the earned internal for example like eating certain meats or or what have you their teaching fails to produce effective spiritual results and it's interesting how you it it occupies the news in this location or that location i won't mention specifics i'm not here to point to any particular fingers but it isn't long before it evaporates and it's now a new buzz somewhere else left and right and we continue verse 10 we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle now what he's alluding to here you see is it was the the privilege of the priests to partake in what was going on we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle now here the word altar here is a word that means the whole burnt offerings which stood in the court of the priest the temple of jerusalem and the food that was upon the altar you see when they when you when you did an offering the priest would offer it on the altar but they had a participation in that we have a participation he's pointed out that they can't participate in see the food that was there was part of the support of the levitical priests okay now that altar has been replaced believers have an altar to which those who are still trusting the tabernacle have no right see bear in my keep in mind the the the reader here is a jewish person who is flirting with the idea of going back to judah they've left judaism baptized in christ they are christians but they're getting abused they're losing their property they're being persecuted and they're thinking about going back and at least pretending they're back in the getting back in that system to get the pressure off and then the writer here is emphasized you don't have that option and that's what we dealt with and especially in chapter 6 and chapter 10 and so on okay but by virtue of their service in the tabernacle they're still bringing blood sacrifices which shows that they have not trusted in jesus as the final sacrifice okay this also tells you by the way it's still going on which means this was written prior to 80 70. there is now only one sacrifice as far as the christians concerned jesus christ on the cross to participate in these other rituals is to deny that therefore it is blasphemous there's only one food not the stuff that comes from the elder jesus himself so the writer reminds the readers that while normally priests could partake and eat of sin sacrifice there was one sin sacrifice the high priest could not eat he's going to zero in here even within the levitical system many people don't realize this and that's the sacrifice on yom kippur the once a year program that even the high priest could not partake of that he was the one that did it all that what part of his uh preparation to actually be able to enter the holy of holies yes once a year on the day of atonement on yom kippur okay the high priest could not eat the sacrifice but the believer can partake of the spiritual food jesus jesus is the final yom kippur sacrifice he's going to he's going to build this a little bit here the believer has a greater privilege than most the most privileged the most privileged person in the old testament was a high priest you as a believer have even a greater privilege than he has these jewish believers have everything judaism has and more why because jesus superior that's what we went through that first seven chapters of this epistle building brick by brick that foundation jesus appeared to the three pillars of jesus judaism going on about these offerings the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought in the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp many people don't realize that they're burned outside the camp and by the way something that many rabbis don't realize what they were outside the camp what side of the camp you read carefully in the book of leviticus it's on the north side of the camp where is the garden tomb against houston on the north side there are many bible-believing christian messianic jews rabbis that sell the idea they believe the cross was on mount of olives and they have their reasons and i won't go into all that here but they overlooked the fact that the whole program was to be north of the outside the camp to the north anyway the high priest was burned without outside without that is outside the camp it was not burned on the altar like other sacrifices the body and the remains were taken outside the camp and burned in their entirety it's leviticus 16 27 and other places the sacrifice could not be consumed for food burning the om kippur offering outside the camp of israel portrayed the removal of sin was the idea okay neither the high priest nor the people could partake of that wherefore jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered where outside the gate okay wherefore jesus also in other words this is based on the previous statement so the author is going to play with two words here camp meaning the camp of judaism and gate meaning the city gate of jerusalem in both cases it fits the place where jesus suffered was located outside the gate jesus suffered outside he died outside the city walls of jerusalem the yom kippur sacrifice was burned outside the camp of judaism those who stayed inside the camp of judaism could not eat it so paul what paul is essentially saying to the the jewish believer is don't stand you know you're entitled go outside so to speak see the writer's point is that the adherents of the temple are excluded from the privileges of the heavenly altar astonishingly enough jesus suffered outside the gate he suffered and died outside jerusalem for the purpose that he what might sanctify the people the means was through his own blood not animal blood jesus is outside the camp he's there to receive his people and they should go outside the camp to receive him don't stay in the camp come out of that that's really the thrust of what the writer's saying here and by the way this also gives you some feeling for why the early jewish establishment hated paul hated paul he was a terrorist remember he killed all the christians but then when jesus converts him to christianity he then is the the worst nightmare for the non-christian jewish community the leadership community and those traditions carried today there are many messianic fellowships that love the lord jesus christ but they don't really want anything to do with paul's writings i can understand why and they're rather indicting for now this entails going outside the camp of judaism later it will also entail going outside the city gate of jerusalem let's go to verse 13 14. let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp outside the can bearing his reproach throw man at jesus they're gonna be mad at you too okay bear that reproach because it's his reproach for here we have no continuing city but we seek one to come in other words we're not committed to this jerusalem we're committed to a city that's yet to be established right let us go forth therefore unto him and by the way it's in present tense let us keep going outside to him it's not once and for all it's a continual thing it's present tense it's containing it's not past answer it's continuous jesus outside the camp of jerusalem even now the reader should be on their way outside the city out of the camp abandoning the city and they should go forth unto christ he's what it's all about and by the way the author has a sense of urgency here anyway jerusalem is destined to be destroyed and that's what we're going to read about in the next session now there to go outside the camp judas and bearing his approach and later they will need to go outside the city of jerusalem to save their lives because within two years the war with rome will start from 66 through 70 a.d in those four years a million and a half men women shall be slaughtered by the romans not one christian i'll show you why near the end here the readers must identify with his rejection since jesus outside the camp he's still out there ready and waiting to receive his people the jewish believers need to keep from going back into the camp of judaism they need to go outside the camp to identify with jesus and for now jewish believers need to abandon the religion that rejected the messiah as long as they stay inside the camp they cannot partake of the privileges of the heavenly altar you see he's he's hammering this okay by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to god continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name but to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices god is well pleased in other words the sacrifice of praise and actions rather than the facade that's going on see believers are fellow priests did you realize that we're fellow priests and the job of priests is to offer the sacrifice of praise to god to worship god for who he is and for what he does you know we should not let it get day go by or we don't pause to praise him for who he is i i find that uh an essential prayer thanking god for who he is that we have a god that is that loving there are other people that have are worshiping gods that are not like that allah the god of the muslims is he can do anything read that capricious untrustworthy islam points out that you can never be sure of your salvation in islam never we have a god that delights in making keeping us promised a very different kind of guy what a what a great god we have the living god is real but he also has attributes that are precious should worship him for who he is and what he does do good and communicate forget not called perform kindly services and sharing those are sacrifices you're doing the equivalent of sacrificing god by doing those things verse 17 obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you all of the privileges believers have do not release them from being obligated to spiritual oversight whereas they ought to remember their past rulers they also obey the present ones submit to them because submission shows obedience submission shows obedience call to submission what do you mean by that see the leaders that are respond are responsible to watch over the moral and doctrinal health of the congregation as their shepherds in effect the leaders will someday have to give an account for their stewardship of that leadership at the judgment seat of the messiah boy are there going to be some shook pastors when they fully appreciate that they weren't diligent what they were teaching they weren't diligent in their responsibilities scary stuff the leaders would like to exercise their ministry with joy not with grief and the lack of submission is unprofitable for the rebels because they too will be judged at the judgment seat of christ it escalates well let's get to verse 13 of 18 it has a little surprise in it pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly but i beseech you the rather to do this that i may be restored to you the sooner pray for us he says doesn't sound like a big deal does it but you know what that tells you that's another indication is written by paul do you know that no other epistle writer has to be prayed for not that they don't welcome it but that's not paul's the one that's distinctive that way pray for us only paul solicits personal prayer in first thessalonians 5 2nd thessalonians 3 and of course here subtle point i wouldn't build a big court case on it but it's interesting again it makes it feel pauline but incidentally the language in the greek is very emphatic the exhortation is a specific prayer request for a specific thing to get the release of the writer the writer is in prison pray for us where we trust that we have good conscience in all things willing to live honestly but i beseech you but rather to do this that i may be restored to you the sooner he's praying that you would pray so i can come sooner to see you i'm in prison right now right that's why i believe this is one of the prison epistles i'm quite sure you know there's just a view i have okay may not be right then we get to the benediction probably thought we'd never get here didn't you the benediction two verses now the god of peace that brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through jesus christ to whom be glory for ever and ever amen nine statements there in this benediction he reaffirms his own confidence that the god of peace can meet near present trials and present needs on the basis of what the new covenant which gives them a sure standing he makes nine statements in this benediction now the god of peace in other words he's a god he'll answer the need for peace in the midst of whatever trials or inner turmoil you're experiencing that brought again from the dead our lord jesus that's the second of the nine point of this phrase is that it shows god's if he can do that he can do whatever you need he brought back jesus from the dead that makes whatever need you have very very modest in comparison and the phrase brought up signifies the restoration as being made more emphatic by stressing the depths from which jesus brought up it shows the victory was attained after the defeat of death was suffered it wasn't a mock there was a real death that he was brought from the dead the fact that he could raise jesus from the dead itself shows that he can meet anything you might have not just the listener of hebrews then the reader of hebrews today our lord jesus emphasizes the deity emphasizes humanity he's the god man he's our lord and he's jesus you see there's both that great shepherd what does that mean okay that's the relationship of the messiah to the flock and there are three psalms that amplify this for you together psalm 22 23 24 are the shepherd psalms the job of the shepherd is what to meet the needs of the sheep and he can meet every need that is created by their trials the suffering saver the savior is what psalm 22 is all about and that correlates with a good shepherd in john 10 first 18 verses the living shepherd in psalm 23 the lord is my shepherd and so on and that correlates with the great shepherd here in these verses and the exalted sovereign in psalm 24 that's the chief separate so we've got the good shepherd the great shepherd and chief shepherd in psalm 22 23 24. encourage you to mark those use them for a devotional time as you're reviewing these notes now the god of peace that brought again from our debtor lord jesus the great shepherd of the sheep brought through through the blood of the everlasting covenant their needs are met how by the blood of the covenant that's the basis on which he now deals with each of us that's on the basis of that covenant a new covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through jesus christ making you complete perfect in the sense of being perfected or complete okay and supply supply whatever's lacking and to correct anything that's faulty he's able to do that you can equip for every good work make them complete the word perfect is really the concept of complete to do his will that's his purpose that's god's purpose in equipping you so that you can do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight so god is working out his own pleasure in the believers through jesus christ that's the means by which he does it and and he's and it's he he's the one that's doing it through this one two will be glory and then there's a praise obviously a final exo is all the praise okay now the god of peace that brought again from the dead our lord jesus the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of everlasting covenant make you perfect at every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in the sight through jesus christ to whom be glory forever and ever there are many churches that close their service for that benediction benediction okay five features of maturity summarized here the scope must be perfection in every good work the goal is to do the will of the father the source is god working in them which is well pleasing in his sight the means is through the messiah jesus and the end result of course is to do what glorify god anything in your life you're doing that isn't glorifying god is would hate trouble then you get to verse 22 you thought we threw it didn't you and i beseech you brethren suffer the word of excitation for i have written a letter unto you in few words you're probably saying it didn't seem like a few words to me well first of all notice i beseech you brethren realize again throughout this entire epistle you're reminded again again that the listener is they're already believers they're not unbelievers i've written to your letter a few words and he's not saying that they're few a number what he really means he could be he could continue there's much more to be said as another way to say the same thing it's not that this is short it's certainly not a short little note but it's just the tip of the iceberg he'd go on much more with many more words is the way we might express the same idea knowing that our brother timothy is set at liberty with whom if you come shortly i will see you so he's going to come if he can with timothy he's released okay together that's profound it stuns me to see the volume of commentators that choose to attack the idea that paul wrote this letter and i'm not saying there isn't a possibility with somebody else but all the evidence points in one direction from 20 different points of view there's another confirmation right here timothy he was one of the best-known apollo's companions and fellow laborers he was evidently one of paul's own converts as the apostle describes him as his beloved and faithful son in the lord that's paul's phrase all through three of his letters it's evident that his mother eunice was converted to christ on paul's first missionary journey to derby and lister and it was on the second one he picks timothy up and picks him up takes him along and apostle paul you know obviously was pretty impressed with this young guy and uh he took and circumcised him so that he might con conciliate the jews so his since his mother was jewish paul made sure he was circumcised so it wouldn't interfere with his ministry and timothy went with paul through phrygia galatia maisia and to troas and philippi and berea in acts 17. then he follows paul to athens and was sent by him with silas on a mission to thessalonica in acts 17 and we find him in at corinth with paul and again notice the apostles apostle with uh in ephesus then he sent on to macedonia he accompanied paul afterwards in asia where he was with him for some time all the way through who's had his elbow timothy apostle was a prisoner at rome timothy joined him and philemon and where it appears he also suffered imprisonment that is timothy also was in prison okay the last notice of timothy is is paul's request that he should quote do his diligence to come before winter and bring the cloak that he left at troas which in the winter would mean very much to paul in his dungeon about a.d 67. which is about a couple of years after this epistle was written by the way this one i mean the one we're reading according to tradition after the apostles death timothy settles in ephesus as a sphere of labor and it found an early martyr's grave eusebius makes him the bishop of ephesus and if that's true then john's residence in death must have been later okay cephalus reports that he was clubbed to death at diana's feast for having denounced the licentiousness that's just a church father tradition apparently it was paul's custom to associate with his own associate with his own name that of one or more of his companions in the opening salutations of his epistles okay timothy's name occurs in second corinthians philippians colossians and philemon as being associated with paul there and then also in first thessalonians and second thessalonians he's also associated with them even though they have a professional shorthand writer by the name of sylvanas continuing salute all them that have rule over you and all the saints they of italy salute you now the logical thing is he's probably writing it from rome okay but some people think well he probably wasn't but it doesn't matter he must have had some italians at his elbow anyway okay they are present with a writer either inside or outside the geographical border who knows and so but this does seem to suggest an origin during the first imprisonment from which after two years he was subsequently released in the spring of 63 a.d that's the first imprisonment and this would have been the the the writer of the hebrews is 63 or 64. okay same period when the prison epistles were also written philippians colossians ephesians also philemon was in that time grace be with you all amen last verse and that carries more meaning than most people are aware of grace be with you all why am i making a big thing of that because i think this is communicating more than is widely appreciated paul speaks in his other letters of a personal mark and you need to understand especially to his earliest epistles apparently were the thessalonian letters he wrote the first thessalonian letter then apparently a forgery of a letter by him was being circulated and second thessalonians i facetiously often call third thessalonians because it's there to refute this forgery floating around okay that's you won't understand second thessalonians unless you understand what the forgery apparently was promoting because it puts that all down okay now once you realize that there were forgeries several passages start to make more sense at the end of that letter the thessalonian letter paul includes a sho a private mark a personal token so that they will know it's from him in second thessalonians chapter 3 verse 17 the salvation of paul with mine own hand which is the token of every epistle so i write now he's emphasizing this probably because the rest of the letter was drafted by a professional stenographer emanuensis if you will but he would also include his private mark so they would know it was really from him okay what is this token well the sanitation of paul my own hand so i write the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you all amen why is that so significant that signature style is included on every letter paul writes in romans first and second corinthians galatians ephesians philippians colossians first thessalonians ii thessalonians first and second timothy titus and philemon the whole gang all have the grace of the lord jesus christ be with you we see that so much we don't realize the inverse how does he present of course that way doesn't it why is this so impressive because the word grace does not even appear in any of the other epistles there's one exception it does appear in peter but not as a salutation as it is here paul's the only guy that does that and he always did it so when i find it in hebrews i think that's not accidental okay not only that though getting back to this paulie and authorship i'm fascinated because in peter even talks about paul's letter to the hebrews on account the long-suffering of our lord salvation even this is in second peter second letter chapter 3 even as our beloved brother paul is also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you peter's writing hebrews he's alluding to the fact that paul has written to them the hebrews as also in all his epistles speaking of them and these things in which some things are hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they all do also the other scriptures to their own destruction here's peter make an allusion to a letter that paul wrote to the hebrews if the epistle the hebrews ain't that letter then we've lost one somehow because peter makes reference to a letter by paul to the hebrews and there's lots of reasons why paul wouldn't normally do that because he's the apostle to the gentiles not the hebrews but that also helps explain why he didn't sign it written unto you to the hebrews and peter's first and second letter were to hebrew readers but it's also interesting peter also puts paul's writing peter now putting paul's writing in a category of holy scripture they do also in the other scriptures in other words he's ascribing paul's letter as being scripture we take that for granted by pointing out there are people that quibble with that they have a problem with peter so what do we know about the author of hebrews he was a jew acquainted with the details of mosaic ritualism obviously he was acquainted with greek philosophy and paul was a brilliant very fabulous he had been in prison in a locality where the ones addressed resided he was at that time in prison in italy timothy was his companion and messenger paul was in rome in prison he used timothy to carry messages and sent him on a trip from the west to the east he hoped to be liberated obviously he almost was this is the same thought that's expressed in philippians and philemon obviously paul also uses the greek word julios as sons rather than a similar greek word the technon which the other writers use which means children other writers use children like the children of israel technon is the greek term paul uses julios they're almost synonyms not quite the doctrine discussed in romans 8 16 and hebrews 10 15 are in sync the doctrines discussed in first corinthians 3 and hebrews 5 are in think or collinear the writer says pray for us he's the only one that does here's a list of representations of that are found in hebrews and in paul's other epistles that are not found in the works of the other new testament writers compare hebrews 1 with second corinthians 4 and colossians 1. hebrews 1 4 2 9 with philippians 2 8-9 hebrews 2 14 with first corinthians 15. and we could go right on through all of these for the sake of the audio i'll point out hebrews 2 14 to the first corinthians 15. hebrews 7 with romans 2 and galatians 3. hebrews 7 26 with ephesians 4 10 and hebrews 8 5 and 10 1 with colossians 2 17. the point is these are comparisons where they're the illusions fit that are not found in the other new testament writers so that's kind of itching and then there's hebrews 10 verses 12 through 13 with first corinthians 15 25. okay there's another little more subtle but i think interesting one in back in hebrews chapter 10 there were two quotes from deuteronomy from deuteronomy 32 35 and 32 36 two adjacent verses each quoted verse 36 is quoted exactly from the hebrew however verse 35 is not quoted exactly from the hebrew but rather from the greek septuagint a slightly different summary way of expressing the same thing and the quotes in he in hebrews 10 31 happens to be from neither the author is using his own rendering of the text he is really not a big deal except that this there's only one other place that the same phrase occurs that's in romans 12. it's a legitimate way of summarizing but it happens in that way to be in two places in hebrews and in romans 12. like a subtle fingerprint but i think it never lets you fingerprint the author of romans quotes it the same as the writer in hebrews quotes it there's another suggestion that paul's fingerprints are on the epistle to hebrews okay in romans chapter eight lists a number of things that cannot separate you from the love of christ he lists seven things and adds 10 more right for a total of 17. in hebrews 12 we find a similar list there are seven things and then 10 more for a total of 17. in galatians 5 19 21 there is a list of 17 things just structural things but the evidence a stylistic similarity well now i want to shift gears we finished the epistle let me tell you something that happened afterwards do you know that this epistle has a happy ending paul's passion was to get his jewish believers to leave their mosaic judaism behind and get out of town get out of jerusalem that's over fortunately there are three ancient writings which if by pooling them together you can find out what actually happened from 80 64 through a.d 70. josephus was a first century jewish historian and he's an unbeliever as far as jesus is concerned he was an eyewitness of the events of 80 70. that's why his records are so valuable to us the justice was a jewish believer who lived in the second century and eusebius was a gentile christian who lived in the 4th century and their their records are very valuable to us all three wrote concerning the events that occurred from a.d 64 through 70. you need to understand there's a region east of israel called the decapolis it's a name given to a region that occupied by a league a organized league of ten cities that's why you call it the decapolis they're mentioned in mark 4 and mark 5 and 7. matthew 4 and mark 5 and 7. now these combinations of greek cities arose as rome assumed dominion in the east and they rose that they got into a league to promote their common interests in trade and commerce and other things and also their mutual protection they're in enough rough neighborhood this region is a tug of war going on between rome and the parthian empire so these cities band together to give them some stability of their own here against all the surrounding peoples they were independent of the local tetrarchy and answerable directly to the governor of syria which is to the north they enjoyed rights of association and asylum they struck their own coins they paid the imperial taxes and were liable of course to military service and they're recorded all through the ancient writers okay these are the ten cities damascus by the way was one of them quite a ways up there further but the one we're interested in is listed number four on this list it's about eight miles east of bethchon beth shawn was called scathopolis and it's the only one in this group that is west of the jordan river by a wee bit a little south of the sea of galilee i'll show you a map here in a minute but this is probably the place to do that okay there the top lake is of course ganesha or we call the sea of galilee but down below is the northern tip of the dead sea jerusalem is spotted here for a frame of reference but there you see the cities of the decapolis damascus is off the scale in the upper right by the ways now what happened because of the hebrew the letter to these hebrew believers is they got out of town and they went to a place called pella which is of the decapolis they waited out during the from 64 to 6 to from 64 to 66 they split out there and they waited out the war impella the four years that rome was crushing the jerusalem okay eight miles southeast when alexander conquered the holy land some other veterans settled in this area and this reminded them of the birthplace of alexander so they and the capital of macedonia so they named it with the greek name pella it became part of the roman empire of course under pompei from 6480 on that's all in josephus when these jewish believers received the letter they read it and they obeyed they made their break with judaism once and for all made it complete within a two-year period of time after the letter was written the first jewish revolt broke out in 1866 not by them but by the jews that were foolhardy enough to attack the romans which were ready to jump on them and at that point the entire community of jewish believers numbering tens of thousands over 20 thousands just out of jerusalem by the way left the country crossed the jordan river to the east bank went up to the city of pella one of the cities of the capitalists four years later in 70 a.d the war ended in jerusalem with the destruction of jerusalem and the temple so judaism was over and as i say about them just as jesus predicted in luke 19 and on 21. we'll talk about that next time a total of about them from 1.1 to one point there's different estimates but call it a million and a half jews were killed in that roman conflict men women and children but apparently according to three of the early authors no christians they had all split in accordance with the instructions of this letter and the direct instructions of jesus that we'll look at next time so there's a happy ending here because of these three these three ancient writers that i mentioned indicate that not a single jewish believer lost his life in that conflict because of their response and their obedience to the epistle of the hebrews of course some of them can be attributed to the instructions of jesus issued in luke 21 and don't confuse luke 21 as most people do as part of the olive discourse i'll show you the differences next time now pella by the way what happened later pelham remained a strong christian city after receiving the refugees fleeing the roman persecution it also hosted many monasteries all during the uh byzantine period for 1400 years until finally correction in the seventh century when it's overrun uh by the persians and the muslims it gets rough okay so much for the study a final addendum that we'll include in the package on hebrews we'll devote a we'll put an appendix to all this an addendum if you will to review of luke 21 we do that for a couple of reasons it fits the situation because the same issues are involved there but secondly it also clear up a lot of confusion most people assume that matthew 24 and mark 13 and luke 21 are the olive discourse it turns out they're not the same same speaker different audience different occasion different message strangely enough and and if you understand that i think you'll find it very rewarding so we'll take a look at that next time not to be confused both i want you to read both accounts for next time matthew 24 primary mark 13 matthew 24 are virtually identical except one for one subtly in one verse read matthew 24 and luke 21 for next time and notice the differences between them are those differences significant if so why and more importantly how is that difference helpful to you and me today it has implications for each of us today so that's that's for next time as our final wrap-up of this study let's stand for closing word of prayer

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Published: Thu Oct 15 2020