Midweek Bible Study | Hebrews 1 | Gary Hamrick

it's always good to start a new book study with you tonight so let's go to Hebrews chapter one Wednesday nights we go verse by verse through the Bible and we are starting a new book study together the book of Hebrews so obviously God loves coffee because Hebrews all right that's the joke for the night if you need a Bible you can raise your hand and one of these fine Usher's will be glad to hand you a Bible if they have one in their hands they'll hand it to you it's page 846 in the church Bibles Hebrews chapter 1 let's just go to prayer again before we jump into our study tonight and then we'll we'll give a little bit of a background of the book and then study through chapter 1 tonight Lord thank you for the privilege of gathering freely in your house to worship you and we pray that you would continue to be glorified now as we open up our Bibles and study Hebrews chapter one tonight give us understanding Lord and we just thank you that you have chosen to reveal yourself through the pages of your word and I thank you for each person here tonight and those who are watching online we commit our Bible study to you now in Jesus name and everybody said amen so a little background on the book of Hebrews before we actually jump into chapter 1 together this evening the date of the book is probably sometime before 70 AD because there are references to the sacrifices which implies that the temple is still standing the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by emperor Titus Vespasian in the year 70 AD it has never been rebuilt and so the the temple ground there in Jerusalem still is without a Jewish temple and the fact that the writer of Hebrews refers often to sacrifices it is an indication that the temple is still standing so the date of this letter has to be before 70 AD at some point the writer is unknown we don't have any introduction any salutation by any particular writer and so we don't know who wrote the boogie Hebrews now a lot of Bible scholars believe Paul did but we just have no way of knowing that there are some there's some speculation that maybe Apollo's wrote it maybe Barnabas wrote it we really don't know and to be honest with you it doesn't really matter because if you really believe that all of the Bible is inspired by God then whatever human vessel he chose to inspire through is is secondary to to the fact that God is really the ultimate author of his word but we really don't know just traditionally a lot of people think Paul but there's great debate about it so forgive me if I might by accident in the course of teaching through Hebrews say you know in verse so and so Paul says you know I'll try to catch myself because we don't really know who wrote the book of Hebrews the recipients of this letter are as the title implies Hebrews but these are Christians these are Hebrew Christians in other words these are Jewish believers today we would call them Messianic Jews and and so that's the audience that's the target audience here these are Hebrew Christians or Jewish believers but this this is good for all of us but that happens to be the target audience and the purpose of this letter as you see there on the screen is to exhort and encourage believers in general but in particular the recipients of this letter to remain diligent in their faith and to not become spiritually lazy or legalistic and so that kind of the theme verses related to this purpose are found in chapter 6 verses 11 and 12 this is what it says we want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end in order to make your hope sure we do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised so so that's the general theme here you know don't get spiritually lazy which is you know the tendency for all of us kind of get in a rut you kind of just get used to things he and you're going through the motions and it's easy to become sometimes spiritually lazy or in particular to fall into legalism now the reason why that's an important thing to notice because the audience the main recipients being Hebrew Christians or Jewish believers they had a tendency to fall back into legalism because they grew up with tradition they grew up with history and they grew up with a certain way of doing things you know it completely rocked their world when when Jesus dies on a cross and and then for the first time the Jews have to begin to realize and and transition from law to grace sacrifices to the sacrifice multiple lambs to V lamb and all of this is very foreign to to Jewish people so you have to bear in mind that you know they're now being told hey all of these things pointed to Christ but these things are no longer the basis for your religious activities because Jesus now is about relationship and so it was very easy for them to just kind of fall back into religious tradition instead of a relationship with Jesus and Jesus has fulfilled all these things and and for them to transition out of that is very difficult some of you have come out of you know various traditions yourself perhaps if you if those of you who were you know the church is foreign to you and so you're here and you have no kind of Church background then you have you're approaching this from one perspective but for those of you who have Church backgrounds maybe your tradition you know taught you differently and you're having to kind of relearn things and that's that's why this letter is addressed to these Hebrew Christians because they're having to relearn things you know they they thought it was all about getting righteous through sacrifice it was he was getting righteous through works it was you know trying to get on God's good good side and and then the reality is Jesus Christ dies on the cross it's not about how to having to perform having to do good things I mean we want to do good things in response to but it's all about Jesus dying on a cross free gift of salvation it and we're saved through faith not of work so you know all of that is difficult for for people who have up to this point approached God through a religious system and now they're being told it's no longer the system it's the Savior and so to transition out of that is difficult and so in particular the exhortation here is you stay diligent don't get spiritually lazy and don't fall into legalism now just to show you how many different times throughout the book of Hebrews that the writer exhorts the the recipients I'm gonna put a list up here on the screen for you of all these many different exhortations just a sampling found throughout the book of Hebrews okay so in Chapter two one pay more careful attention also do not drift away chapter three six hold on to courage and hope 3:12 do not turn away from the Living God 4:14 hold firmly to the faith we profess 6:1 go on to maturity 10:35 do not throw away your confidence 10:39 do not shrink back 12:1 run with perseverance the race marked out for us you get the idea that all through the book of Hebrews there's just one exhortation after another to address this tendency we have to just get spiritually lazy so strong language strong exhortation here to just continue to encourage us in our faith and in our walk with the Lord now some key words I didn't expect you to write all that down so if we're you know takers you're furious I don't go on the neck it's okay you can go back look on the teaching archived on our website and pause me but I'm gonna move on key words to understanding Hebrews and this is important words like better that word used eleven times in the he brews superior that word is used four times in the book of Hebrews greater that word is used seven times in the book of Hebrews and the writer here is establishing the fact that all these things point to Jesus that Jesus is better Jesus is superior Jesus is greater than the the writer here of Hebrews is going to constantly be comparing Jesus to people and things that are inferior to warn us that we should never settle for anything less or to go back to what we thought was good you know good is the enemy of best good is the enemy of best and Jesus is best and sometimes we settle for less than best because we think well it's good yep but it's not best and Jesus is infinitely better infinitely superior infinitely greater than anyone or anything and so the takeaway from the book of Hebrews should be don't settle for anything less always pursue that which is best and the one that is best is Jesus again you have to understand for Jewish believers there was always this pull from the past there was this emotional his historical and traditional pull to fall back into a religious system rather than a relationship with Jesus and so the writer of Hebrews here is gonna say throughout this letter Jesus is better than Jesus is better than and and I'll just highlight the list in advance so you can see where we're going spoiler alert but I just want to make sure everybody understands these are the things that the right of Hebrews is going to be addressing throughout the letter he's going to be saying Jesus is better than the prophets we'll talk about that one in Chapter one tonight he's gonna say Jesus is better than the Angels he mentions that we're gonna mention that also in Chapter one and into chapter two he says Jesus is better than Moses which is that's that's startling to the Jews but he is that's Chapter three is better than Joshua that's chapter 4 Jesus is better than the high priest the function of the high priest in the temple Jesus is better than any earthly high priest that's chapters 5 through 9 also in chapter 9 he talks about how Jesus is better than the tabernacle you know they put a lot of pride in these things the Jewish people did they put they would put pride in Moses and and they would put pride in the fact that there's a high priest interceding between them and God they would put pride in the Temple of the tabernacle okay all these things that they took pride in the right of Hebrews is going to dismantle and say what Jesus is better than all this including in chapter 10 he's better than the law and the sacrifices and then in the last few chapters that remain 11 through 13 the writer of Hebrews is going to just make some final exhortations and some encouragement sin the last couple of chapters but but this is where he's going now when the write of Hebrews says that Jesus is better than all these things he doesn't mean that these things are bad he's not saying the prophets are bad he's not saying Angels are bad Moses is bad Joshua's bad you know so don't think better than in the sense that you know these other things that he's comparing Jesus to or somehow bad these things are good he's just saying Jesus is much better than these good things you know it's kind of like you know vanilla vanilla ice cream is good but chunky monkey is better have you ever had Ben and Jerry's chunky monkey you know what I'm talking about it slays me every time but anyway but that's the kind of thing he's saying he's like it's it's not that it's not that these other things are bad these things are good but Jesus is better and these good things are not the source of your salvation because Jesus is far superior to all these good things and so he starts here in chapter 1 by saying that Jesus is better than the prophets so if you have your Bibles open now after that introduction to chapter 1 you can see with me in verse 1 he says in the past God spoke to our forefathers the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe so there's a lot packed into just those first two verses so let's pause there for a moment and again he begins here by comparing Jesus better than the prophets he said listen and and again he writes to Jewish people who understand their own history because the prophets their good God used the prophets clearly he spoke through the prophets at various times in various ways and in in in at different times and places in fact Peter the Apostle Peter would write in his second epistle 2nd Peter 1:22 21 he says you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so so you know Peter underscores the fact and the writer of Hebrews is not taking anything away from the fact that prophets heard from God and spoke the Word of God they heard message from God and delivered that message but what the writer of Hebrews is saying is while the prophets gave a message Jesus is the message and so that when he shows up on the world scene he speaks in a way that is more profound than the prophets because the prophets were speaking the Word of God but Jesus is the word of God I mean this is John 1:1 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God that Jesus is superior to the prophets because he is the personification of the Word of God and thus he's greater than the prophets and Jesus even said in John 12 49 he says for I did not speak of my own accord but the father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it and I marvel at that verse there in John 12 49 because it's it's such a clear indication how tuned into ooh the father Jesus always was he didn't say a single thing that the father didn't tell him to say and he didn't even he was careful to say it in the certain way that the father told him to say it he said I don't say except what the father tells me to say and how to say it so when you when you think about how the prophets were inspired by God well great they clearly were and they spoke forth the Word of God but Jesus comes onto the world scene and he hits the world of the Word of God and so thus he is superior to the prophets and and what then the writer of Hebrews begins to do is he begins to through this whole first chapter talking about how Jesus is greater and he defines the greatness and and the superiority of Jesus in 8 different ways and the first way that we see here right in verse 2 as we just already read it is is that Jesus is creator so he's gonna he's gonna now make the case for why Jesus is greater than the prophets and why Jesus is greater than the Angels in just in Chapter 1 and he starts with telling us of course that that he is the creator because again in verse 2 it says but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe okay now for those who don't understand there's one God but he reveals himself in three persons and we see it throughout Scripture so there's God the Father there's God the Son that's Jesus and there's God the Holy Spirit one God reveals himself in three different forms or persons and it's not you don't have a split personality every part of the Godhead every part of the Trinity is co-equal Co eternal and has coexisted eternally with with God and is God but what the Bible tells us is is that the second person of that Godhead Jesus was entrusted with and was the one responsible for creation of the universe that Jesus in fact is the one who made the universe as what the writer of Hebrews says there in in verse two and by the way this is what Paul says in Colossians 1 verses that you don't need to turn there I'll just read to you in Colossians 1:15 2:17 which says that he that as Jesus is the image of the invisible God and firstborn over all creation for by him that is by Jesus all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things were created by him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together by the way keep that phrasing in mind too because the writer of Hebrews is going to mention that as well but but Jesus is creator that part of the Godhead entrusted with the wonderful privilege of creating everything Jesus is creator so that's why he's a little bit more superior than the prophets because he's not just the Word of God revealed he is also creator and in verse 3 go on with me now Hebrews 1:3 the son that's Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word and so now what we read here is that Jesus is also divine because when it mentions that the son is the radiance of God's glory the though the New Testament is written in Greek the the Jewish equivalent of God's glory is Shekinah and Shekinah literally translates the divine presence and so the Rite of Hebrews is saying that Jesus is actually divine he's the divine presence of God he is the radiance of God's glory he shines forth the glory of God and he is the exact representation of his being now interesting word in the Greek here the exact representation is one word in the Greek and it's character and it is spelled the same way as our English word character except in the Greek uses a k' instead of AC before the ter character in in Greek our English version now is character tells us something doesn't because Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being your character my character is the real you and the character the character is revealed of God the real presence of who God is through Jesus the son that's the stamp or impress the exact representation meaning the the the stamp or the the impress of an image upon another object it is for example you know try to think of it like this if you're if you're walking barefoot on the beach the imprint that your feet make in the sand that impression is the exact representation of your foot and so in a similar way that's how that word is used to hear that Jesus is that exact representation of the Father he becomes the visible manifestation of the divine presence of God and so he's creator he is divine and also in verse and then it talks about that at the end of verse two there and he sustains all things by his powerful word now that's also what again what Paul wrote in Colossians 1 verse 17 where he is before all things and in him all things hold together you know that it's interesting scientists are a little stumped the the nucleus of an atom contains protons and neutrons and neutrons have no charge but protons have a positive charge and if you've ever done a little classroom experiment or a little thing at home with magnets you know that two positive charged magnets repel and why is it that an atom does not naturally you know fall apart why is it that it is held together because the nucleus of an atom has positively charged protons and neutral neutrons scientists can't explain why is it that the nucleus of an atom is held together so they come up with this term you've heard it atomic glue it's atomic glue we don't know what to call it so we're just gonna call it atomic glue hey I have a new name for it it's Jesus that's what it is Jesus is even holding the atomic matter of the earth together because he is the one who sustains all things and he is the one who holds all things together by his powerful word now one day it's all going to explode he's gonna say okay enough is enough you know scientists have it a little backwards the Big Bang is at the end not at the beginning and it's all gonna explode there's a new heaven and a new earth that's for another Bible study but after he provided purification for sins look at verse 3 the son is the radiance of God's glory the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word after he had provided purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven so that whole phrase there about he provided purification for sins means that he's already myrrh that's how he's superior he's our Redeemer he's the one that paid the ransom for us by his blood on the cross provided for us purification for our sins he redeemed us he's our Redeemer and then he sat down notice that at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven because if the work of Christ was complete in the sense of his redemption for mankind and so the posture of sitting down shows that his work is finished and it's complete and so he sits down at the right hand of the Father where he presently is seated and he's coming again but right now he's at the right hand of the Father the right hand of the Majesty in heaven and so verse 4 he became as much superior to the Angels now he moves on here to the angels as the name yes inherited is superior to their so number four on our list through chapter 1 Jesus is superior to angels this is an important point by the way because there have been historically many references even even biblical Corrections to people who get engaged in the worship of angels and angels are not to be worshipped he's gonna tell us later on in verse 14 of this first chapter that they are ministering spirits so angels are sent as ministering spirits they minister to God they minister to us okay we can't see them there in unless they perchance reveal themselves to people otherwise they are invisible and and and yet as much as the Bible speaks about angels more than 300 references in the Bible they are not to be worshiped and they are not equal at all with Jesus they are created beings but angels are inferior to Jesus and this is not important simply to understand historically but also biblically because there are two main religious groups that believe that Jesus is not only equal to angels but also could be one okay so case in point Mormonism the the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints Mormonism teaches that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer now Lucifer was a created angel and Lucifer then rebelled against God and when he rebelled against God and he was expelled from heaven the Bible says he he took as many as a third of the stars with him those are also a reference to angels so about a third however many that numbers we don't know he took a third in this rebellion against God of these angels with him when he was in heaven was expelled from heaven took a third of the Angels those fallen angels now known as demons Lucifer now known that are a Satan or the devil okay and and yet Mormonism teaches that Jesus is on par with Lucifer as a spirit brother of an angel okay and he's not now this taken right out of you can you can google this yourself you can go to lds.org stands for Latter day Saints org they have an article on their website then I just two hours ago pulled right off their website it's entitled how can Jesus and Lucifer be spirit brothers when their characters and purposes are so utterly opposed okay so the headline of the article is that their spirit brothers the the author of the article is Jess Christensen Institute of religion director at Utah State University in Logan Utah and just I'll just read the first couple of sentences of his article it says on firk quote on first hearing the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord Jesus Christ our brothers may seem surprising to some especially to those unacquainted with latter-day revelations both Jesus and Lucifer were strong leaders with great knowledge and influence but as the first born of the father Jesus was Lucifer's older brother end quote yeah that's right off their website right off of the first few sentences of this article yeah and and and as I was reading it like you know for those that might be surprising yeah especially those unacquainted with latter-day revelations yeah because those things are not compatible with what scripture teaches the Bible tells us clearly and it's like okay we need to reread here Hebrews 1 4 Jesus became as much superior to the Angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs Jesus Yahshua the Lord is salvation he is not an angel he's not equal to angels he is superior to angels so that's a false doctrine of the Mormon Church along with many other false doctrines of the Mormon Church and then the other religious group that also teaches that Jesus is on par with angels is Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is none other than the Archangel Michael two hours ago I went to their home was witness's website you can go to JW org pulled up an article entitled is Jesus the Archangel Michael and people yes thank you the answer is No let me give the punchline alright but it was it was kind of this like right and people could write in and so somebody wrote in is Jesus the Archangel Michael and then the rest of the article just I'll just read the first couple of sentences quote put simply the answer is yes so Michael the Archangel is G and then the end of the article said quote so Michael the Archangel is Jesus in his pre human existence after his resurrection and returned to heaven Jesus resumed his service as Michael the chief angel and quote these are false doctrines these are not true the Bible paints a very different picture of who Jesus is with all due respect because you know at any given time there there can be someone who is Mormon or Jehovah's Witness visiting us and if you are I'm glad that you're here but with all kindness and respect you you need to know that what you believe in terms of Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible that if you think Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer or if you think that Jesus is the Archangel Michael you have believed a false doctrine the Bible teaches that Jesus is infinitely superior to any angel and it's clear right here in Hebrews 1 for among other passages of the Bible and so this is why Jesus is greater than more superior than because he is not a created being as an angel he is superior to angels just as his name that he has inherited is superior to theirs if you keep reading with me here in Hebrews 1 verse 5 for to which of the Angels did God ever say now you're gonna notice that the rest of this chapter is quoting God and the writer of Hebrews is going to quote Old Testament scripture seven different passages because the writer of Hebrews again is establishing the fact that Jesus greater superior than anything else and he's going to use the Old Testament Scriptures as to make his case and so particularly if you're a Jewish believer this is going to make more sense to you because you're relying on your own Jewish Scriptures to to come to the realization of what the writer is saying here so he's going to begin to quote here from various passages of the Old Testament a lot of your Bibles might have footnotes to show you all the different verses that he's quoting but he but but he starts here in verse 5 by saying for to which of the Angels did God ever say you are my son today I've become your father now that happens to be Psalm 2 verse 7 and and so what he's saying here is you know God never turned to an angel and said you're my son and no angel ever called god father because they are distinctly separate beings and now this is where sometimes Java's witnesses will push back and they'll say well now see Jesus was created because it says today I've become your father and and the Greek word there to become is is ganado and McKim James Bible just uses a single word begotten and begotten organelle in the original Greek means equality of substance or nature so it's not saying that God you know made him has a separate being because Jesus is God but what he's saying here is that he's the begotten son in the sense that he's completely equal in substance and nature but he is verse 5 God's only Son God's only son or again keep reading verse 5 or again I will be his father and he will be my son so God never said that to any angel because the son has a position of greater prominence and superiority than any other created being verse 6 and again when God brings his firstborn into the world he says now firstborn it means someone of highest position and honor again it doesn't mean he's a Jesus is a created being it's it's a title it's a title in fact the ancient rabbis called Yahweh called God himself the firstborn of the world so it is it's a Jewish title but it doesn't mean that Jesus was created he just means he's that he's someone of the highest position and honor and so again when God brings his firstborn into the world he says let all God's angels worship Him all right if you were the object of worship it means you are superior than the ones worshiping you so again he's making the case here that Jesus is superior to angels because quoting from scripture quoting from Scripture this time he's quoting from Deuteronomy 32 that the angels worship Jesus so Jesus is superior because that's why he's being worshipped verse 7 and speaking of the Angels he says he makes his angels wins his servants flames of fire again his being possessive of Jesus these these angels are servants of Jesus Jesus isn't serving them Jesus isn't equal to them he's greater than they serve him verse verse 8 but about the son he says God says your throne Oh God underline that will last forever and ever and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom this is what you call classically in in Scripture interpretation a proof text because where it says there in verse verse 8 but about the son about Jesus he God says your throne O God notice the son is referred to as God right there right there in verse 8 and so that's next on our list that Jesus is God about the son he says your throne O God will last forever and ever and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom okay Jesus is God manifest Jesus is God in flash Jesus is God verse 9 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness therefore God your God has set you above York pans by anointing you underlined the word anointing you with the oil of joy number nine and our sorry number seven on our list is from verse nine and he uses the word anointing there because Jesus is the anointed one now that just simply means Messiah the word Christ is from the Greek Christos the word Messiah is from the Hebrew mashiac and both mean the same thing Anointed One so when you say Jesus Christ you're saying Jesus The Anointed One Christo's the Anointed One if you say Jesus the Messiah you say Jesus The Anointed One miss Chiaki this though both those words mean the same and he's saying to us he is the long-anticipated Messiah the one that the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied about he is the Anointed One he was anointed with the oil of joy in verse 10 he also says in the beginning Oh Lord you laid the foundation of the earth there uses creator again and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you remain they will all wear out like a garment okay again speaking about the the earth eventually this this whole earth will completely be burned up there's a new heaven and a new earth it's gonna eventually wear out like a garment in verse 12 you will roll them up like a robe like a garment they will be changed but you remain the same you remain the same he says and your years will never end it's the last one on our list here from verse verses 10 through 12 that Jesus is eternal your years will never end he says here in Hebrews 13 verse 8 it tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever in Luke 133 it says and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega he's the beginning of the end and his kingdom will never end because he is eternal and then he adds in verse to which of the Angels did God ever say sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet so he's still making the same case Jesus is greater than all these angels God never said that to any of the Angels and verse 14 he adds are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation by the way he he will mention the word angels 14 times throughout the book of Hebrews 12 of those times are here in the first two chapters so he speaks here about angels and the ends chapter 1 talking about how they are ministering spirits and and he's going to talk about entertaining angels unaware in Chapter 13 so eventually I will once again tell the only one angel story that I have that many of you have already heard but we'll all tell that again when we get to it but but this is the way he ends chapter 1 again on this note that Jesus is superior to the prophets Jesus is superior to the angels and he's going to go on making his case throughout the rest of the book of Hebrews but these these are the reasons why Jesus is superior he's creator he's divine he's Redeemer he's superior to angels he's God's only son he's God himself he's the anointed one and he is eternal so read ahead we'll pick it up there with chapter 2 next week but for tonight let's pray and given thanks Lord we just worship you and and thank you Jesus that you are great and greatly to be praised you are infinitely superior Lord to any person anything any being and we just exalt you we want you to have your rightful place in our lives as supreme and superior and I pray Lord in our study through the book of Hebrews that if we find ourselves growing spiritually lazy or in chapter 2 the warning is going to be about drifting that we will respond to this book by just being diligent in our faith and turning towards you Lord and to being lazy in our faith or legalistic interface but lord turning to you and growing in our faith and pressing into you Jesus and we just worship you an exalt you Lord and we just confess that you are superior to anyone and anything and you are worthy of our praise we exalt you in this place and we thank you and praise you as we leave here tonight Lord that you are a savior in our Lord and king and creator divine and God in flesh we love you and give you praise and glory and honor in Jesus name we pray and everybody said amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Length: 40min 49sec (2449 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019