The Thread - Jesus is THE Answer

Despite human sinfulness, people trusted in the LORD, and the LORD remained faithful to those who trusted Him. Our faith is an objective faith. We put our faith in Jesus: There are many things we could trust in life. Jesus is the only One worthy of complete trust. The LORD is a communicating God: We can know for certain the object of our faith, Jesus, because God has communicated with us. He has spoken our language. And we don’t need any new revelation. Jesus is the final and complete revelation of God to humanity. Angels are not worthy of being trusted with eternal things: Angels are created beings, and as such don’t have a permanent place in our salvation history. They are below Jesus in every way. Jesus is superior to angels and therefore the proper object of our faith: The message Jesus brought is an eternal, enduring message. Because it is eternal, the need to obey it is much greater than the messages brought by angels.

http://hospchap.sermon.net/main/main/20694846

Around to Stay

Hebrews 1:8-12

There are several things about Jesus that demonstrate that He is God. One of those things is that He is eternal. The writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament begins his presentation of Jesus as superior to all previous revelations from God by comparing Jesus to angels. This is a very rich passage that needs more than one BLOG to cover, but I want to focus on one part of this comparison.

After writing that angels worship Jesus and are therefore of lesser importance than Jesus, he compares the fleetingness of angels existence to the unending existence of Jesus. In verse eight the writer states that the Psalmist addressed Jesus as God. Jesus’ throne is an eternal throne. It will never end.

He continues to contrast the angels’ fleeting existence with Jesus eternal one by stating that Jesus was there already when creation itself was made. The image of laying a foundation is used.

I am getting ready to build an addition to my house. The first thing that gets done is the foundation. I am here before the foundation is to be built. I am planning it already. I will get an architect, a concrete contractor and get the proper permits from the county. Then I will lay the foundation. I exist before my new foundation.

When the first parts of creation were being put into place, Jesus was there already. He is the One who made them. And He won’t wear out like a garment. He will always be around. Creation itself is talked about as the temporary garment that will fall apart with use and get rolled up, but Jesus stays the same. His years never come to an end.

Someone might well say that this is poetry and therefore we can’t draw truths like this from the text. But I would argue that the writer was trying to convey an actual meaningful argument using these words. The flow and meaning of the text clearly support Jesus’ eternity. Poetry has meaning, and in this case, as in many cases, a clear meaning. The writer doubles back repeatedly to emphasize this point, so even though it is poetry, his point comes through.

There are many passages of Old Testament Scripture that the writer could have chosen to further his argument that Jesus is greater than the angels because He is eternal, but he chose these passages.

And these are not the only passages of Scripture that state that Jesus is eternal. Here are several more that can be examined. They each show in various ways the extent of Jesus’ existence. John 1:15, 8:58, 17:5, 24, Col 1:15, John 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Micah 5:2, Isa 9:6, Rev 1:11, John 5:26. These are just a few.

Day 180

Duties of the Christian

Hebrews 13

Key Verses: 2, 8, 13,

We are to be Christ-like to strangers and those who can’t fend for themselves. Remember, this was written in the day before LaQuinta and Motel 6. If you were traveling, you had to rely on the kindness of strangers, or you slept out in the open, vulnerable to the elements and attack. Prisoners in that day didn’t get three squares, a bed, internet, medical care and a college education. They often didn’t get any food unless someone from the outside brought it to them. We are to continue the example of compassion laid out in Scripture. The least are in need of our lives.

I think the next two admonitions are connected to caring for the least. If marriage is not honored, and we don’t take care of vulnerable women, they might end up as prostitutes out of desperation. Our tight grip on money can prevent us from helping as God calls us to help. But the Lord promises to take care of us, so we don’t need to be worried about our finances.

It is important for us to be able to have godly examples in our lives. We need to see “Jesus with flesh on” in those who lead us in our spiritual journey. I want someone who doesn’t just know the Scriptures. I want someone who lives them. I want and need consistency. We don’t need to chase the latest fad in spiritual teaching. “If it’s new, it isn’t true.” I wonder how many people have lost their life’s savings on Facebook stock? Or made it on Apple stock?

All of life is temporary, passing away. As believers we sometimes have to face rejection by those around us. Remember that Jesus was rejected and abandoned by those closest to Him. He suffered alone. He was branded a criminal and punished as the vilest of them. We might have to follow Him in being rejected. We might find ourselves on the outside of what is accepted, politically correct. We may get branded with our society’s mark of the vilest: intolerant. But if we do, we join with other faithful men and women down through history and proclaim that we are strangers in this world, traveling without a home, dependent on another for our spiritual lifeblood.

Day 179

Obedience helped by discipline

Hebrews 12

Key Verses: 1-2, 7, 11, 17, 22, 28

As chapter eleven outlined, there are many who have walked the life of faith, even through persecution and death. They stand as witnesses to the truth of the Gospel, the truth of God’s working in the world. They stand and encourage us not to lose focus or get distracted. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, the object of our faith, and give up in discouragement.

It is so easy to get discouraged in our spiritual walk. Most of us know what it takes to stay on track: the Word, prayer, fellowship, sharing our faith. And yet, we sometimes neglect one or more of these. These are like air, food and liquid for our spirit. Without them, we die. So if you are discouraged, get back to the basics of the Christian walk.

This is especially true if you are undergoing God’s discipline. It happens to all believers because God loves us too much to leave us the way we are. He wants us to be like Him in character. And we have a long way to go, so He uses discipline to get our attention and refocus us on what is important. When we have allowed discipline to correct our glidepath, righteousness and peace are the byproducts.

Repentance does not always restore what was lost during rebellion. Our relationship with Christ can be restored, but we might have to live with the natural consequences of our sin. If we murdered someone and we repent, that person does not automatically come back to life. If we had an affair, the baby conceived does not automatically get unconceived. If we gamble away our grocery money, the money is gone, even if we repent. Esau had to live with a rash, impulsive decision. We might have to live with the results of ours.

The contrast between the Old Testament manifestations of God’s presence and what we have promised in the Gospel is a stark one. We have hope and rejoicing, restoration and forgiveness. We don’t need to be afraid of God’s presence. Our relationship with our Holy God has been restored in Jesus. So we need to listen to His message.

His message is unshakable. We need to grasp it and live it. Thankful. Worshipful. Dedicated.

Day 178

Obedience of God's faithful

Hebrews 11

Key Verses: 1, 3, 6, 13, 39-40

This is the “Famous Faith” chapter of the Scriptures. Faith is a substance. It might not show up on the Periodic Table, but it is the part of hope that we can grasp with our hands and hearts. It is something solid. It started with creation itself. We can see the vastness of the universe and the intricacies of the human body and know that there is Someone who created this with a purpose. And that part of that purpose is for us to get to know Him, the Creator.

Each of the people discussed in this chapter knew that substance. They each took God at His word. They believed what God said and acted on it. They were able to grasp the reality of God’s promise and to act accordingly.

Noah built an ark. Abraham left home. Sarah believed her husband. Abraham tied up Isaac. Isaac went against his cultural tradition and blessed the second son, rather than the firstborn. Jacob blessed the next generation from his deathbed. Moses’ parents disobeyed the government decree and didn’t kill him. Moses didn’t sleep with Pharaoh’s wife. The list could go on and on.

Each one was able to look into the future and see how their current acts of obedience would carry out God’s will beyond the scope of their lives. They heard what God wanted, and they did it. It is really pretty simple.

They all lived by faith, even when their faith didn’t rescue them from death. They all had faith. You can die from cancer and have faith. You can be killed by a drunk driver and have faith. You can go through divorce and have faith. Faith does not rescue us from difficulties. Faith sustains us in those difficulties, because faith connects us to something beyond our present moment. Faith pulls us into the future, were we are with Christ in the heavenly realms.

Day 177

Holiness through one sacrifice

Hebrews 10

Key Verses: 1, 4, 14, 22, 25, 34

Shadows have no substance of their own. They are left when light is blocked by something of substance. If you want to manipulate a shadow, it makes no sense to try and grasp it. You must either grasp the object casting the shadow, or the light source itself and manipulate them, if you want the shadow to change.

The sacrifices of the Old Testament were shadows cast by Jesus on the Cross. They had so substance of their own. They couldn’t pay the penalty of sin. They just reminded the one offering, that they had to deal with the consequences of their sinful acts. They were never designed to actually pay for sin. They were a place-card, a temporary stand-in until the Reality arrived. They were the cardboard computer monitor from the Sears store furniture display. Jesus is the real thing.

Jesus death in our place has already made us perfect, if we are allowing Him to make us perfect moment by moment. There are these two sides to Jesus substitutionary death. His death has secured a place for us in God’s presence forever. And His death provides the power to overcome sin’s continued pull on our lives today. We are in the process of being cleaned up by Him. We are already perfect in His sight, and not yet perfect, needing more sanctification.

There is nothing that should hinder us from entering into His presence. Our sin used to hinder us, but He dealt with that already. Let nothing stop you from running into the presence of God and relying on His mercy.

The writer reminds his readers about the trials they have already endured. They had the right attitude as they faced those trials in the past. He wants them to continue to have that same confidence in Christ that they had before. In essence he is saying that we need to continue to reach forward. Don’t stop pursuing. We are going the right direction, continue on God’s path.

Day 176

Testimony of Christ's blood

Hebrews 9

Key Verses: 4, 9, 14, 22, 24, 26, 27-28

Over the years so many people have said to me that they wish the author had discussed the details of the Tabernacle at length. They want to understand the shadows of the reality we have in Christ. Those old sacrifices could not really accomplish forgiveness and cleansing. And even if they did, they were part of a system that has now been replaced.

So why is clearing the conscience so important? Jesus healed a crippled man and made the argument that words are cheap. Anyone could tell the man his sins were forgiven, but to prove that he had the power to forgive he brought physical healing, something people could see.

Having the Lord say that He forgives us is one thing, but to give us a clear conscience is a proof that the work of forgiveness is complete. We can experience the clear conscience, just like the crippled man could experience his restored ability to walk. So if you are struggling with a conscience not cleared, perhaps you have not really repented. Or perhaps you are listening to the lies of Satan.

Jesus sacrifice does what all the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices could never do. His actually brings forgiveness for those who accept its efficacy. His sacrifice is a testimony before creation itself, ever in God’s presence.

Jesus’ sacrifice is the sacrifice for sin that never needs to be repeated. Death pays the price for sin, and since Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, when we die, our death has nothing owed against it. We get life instead of death.

Think of it this way. When I take out a loan on my car and then wreck it before I have paid the bank, I still owe money. The bank is going to collect their money. But if a third person, say my parents, had paid the bank note, the bank would have nothing to collect. I would have a wrecked car, but not owe the bank any money. The bank’s need to collect had already been satisfied.

The penalty of sin is death. And since Jesus already paid the penalty, when I die, there is no penalty to be paid. Jesus is coming again to bring a reward for those who have trusted in Him, trusted that this transaction counts for them.

Day 175

Second covenant supersedes first

Hebrews 8

Key Verses: 6, 7, 10

Jesus serves as priest in the original dwelling place of God. All the earthly Jewish priests had served in a copy of that heavenly dwelling. Moses was given a glimpse of that heavenly one and was told to make the earthly on just like the heavenly pattern shown to him. And he did.

Do women want cubic zirconia or diamonds? Of course they want diamonds. No one wants a cheap imitation of the real thing. We want the genuine. Jesus serves at the genuine dwelling place and offered a sacrifice that never needs to be repeated because it fulfilled all the requirements demanded of it.

The old agreement between God and humankind could not accomplish what was needed because humankind is weak and spiritually dead. It could only serve to point out that fact and drive people to rely on the mercy and grace of God. It was merely a copy of the reality found in Jesus.

All the sacrifices that were prescribed in the Old Testament were shadows of Jesus life, death and resurrection. They all pointed forward to His ultimate, perfect sacrifice. Without His death, all the blood of bulls and goats offered over those centuries were nothing but spilled blood. They only had value when Jesus came and became the solid object that cast the shadow.

Day 174

Eternal priesthood of Melchizedek

Hebrews 7

Key Verses: 3, 16, 18, 22, 25

The nature of Jesus’ work is a forever nature. It is a permanent work and a permanent office. The king Melchizedek (pronounced “Mel, kiss a deck”) was a mysterious character in the Old Testament. Not much known about him, but he was held in very high esteem. Abraham, the greatest of them all, gave him the king’s share of the spoils of war.

Jesus is greater because his priesthood is even more permanent. He didn’t come from the correct family to be a priest, so He had no right under the Old Testament rules to be a priest. A different set of rules apply to Jesus work.

I remember when I was a kid playing in the playground. Inevitably someone would change the rules of the game we were playing, usually to gain advantage. But when there are new rules, we were really starting a whole new game. Baseball is only baseball when the rules are kept. If different rules are kept, it is a different game. It might be ‘like’ baseball, but it isn’t baseball.

When Jesus became a priest, a new set of rules apply. The old sacrifices did nothing permanent, but Jesus’ work comes with power to change our lives. He makes us perfect, mature. His work on the Cross meets the need. We can now be reconciled to God.

Jesus is fully able to meet our needs. He doesn’t die. We don’t have to start a new relationship with a new priest. He isn’t weak like us and like every other priest. He is sinless and perfect. He gave His life and that sacrifice was acceptable to the Father. He did in once for all, never to be repeated, and sufficient to meet every human need.

We don’t need to repeatedly go to Jesus and ask multiple times for forgiveness for the same instance of sin. Once we confess our sin, it is gone and Jesus’ power is available to help us not do that sin again. There might be natural consequences to our disobedience, but even in that Jesus will be with us through whatever the consequence.

Day 173

Inheritance for persistent faith

Hebrews 6

Key Verses: 1, 7, 11, 18, 19

These first few verses lay out some of the most basic topics we need to understand if we want to conduct our lives the way Jesus wants us to live. Notice that we must understand who Christ is first and foremost. Then we need to understand repentance and faith, baptism, restoration, the resurrection and Judgment Day. Without an understanding of these things, it would be pretty hard to claim you are a mature Jesus-follower.

And yet, the sad thing is that so many American Christians don’t know the basics such as these. They would flunk the most basic theology test. I would recommend 30 Days To Understanding The Bible, and 10 Basic Steps if you want to get a quick overview. 30 Days focuses on the Bible and 10 Basic Steps focuses on beliefs. It is not a sin to be immature in the faith; it is one if you know it and choose to stay there. That is what the readers of Hebrews were in danger of doing. They were staying immature.

Remember, it is not enough to hear the Gospel message, it must be applied or it has no value to you. Just like land that produces thorns. The readers, like us, must continue to pursue Christ to the end of our lives. We can become lazy in our spiritual walk.

But it can be hard to stay faithful when answers don’t come quickly. Abraham waited over 20 years for the promise to be realized. Twenty years! And I get impatient after a few days. So how do we keep trusting a promise even when we have to wait a long time?

The writer tells us that we have hope as an anchor for our soul. When our soul could go adrift, our hope continues to tap into God’s presence. Then the storms of life and the struggle to trust don’t blow us off course.

The greatest struggle for me centers around suffering. When I see suffering, my own or in other people, my heart yearns for resolution. It would be easy in those moments to let the suffering block my view of God. I must choose to continue to trust even when I don’t see the answer coming. I can’t let my questions become the central focus of my life or I will go adrift into bitterness and resentment. And a life in bitterness and resentment is a miserable life.

Day 172

Remember Christ-like Melchizedek

Hebrews 5

Key Verses: 7, 9, 12, 14

Have you ever needed someone else to plead your case with a third person? I remember one time a nylon rope connected to our boat was severed. My dad thought I did it. He thought I was lying. Nothing I said could convince him otherwise. Even when I figured out what happened and told him, he didn’t believe me. I desperately wanted an outside set of eyes and a voice to which my dad would listen.

That was the role of the priest in the Old Testament. He was designated as the third party, offering prayers and sacrifices on another’s behalf to God. And God said He would listen and accept. One problem: who would be the third party for the priest? Even the priest needed someone to speak on their behalf.

Jesus didn’t need anyone to speak on His behalf because He is God. God the Father heard his prayers for deliverance from death. This seems rather funny since Jesus died on the Cross. He tasted death, swallowed its poison pill and pass through death back into life. The poison of death did not have any grip on Him. He rose from the grave three days later.

The act of obedience taught Jesus something. That’s right. Jesus had never had to face the temptation of running from taking on the full penalty of the world’s sin. So when He did this unique mission he became perfect. The concept of perfect here is like an apple that is fully ripe being perfect. Even when the apple was tiny and new, it was an apple. It just needed time on the tree in the right conditions and it would become perfect. It was an apple when it was small and green, but when it reached the end of the process of growing it took on the characteristic of being perfect in the sense used here.

Jesus mission was not complete until He died on the Cross. The miracles and teaching were not Jesus’ complete mission. His mission was not perfect until He died and rose again. So when He went through the full mission, then he was made perfect.

The original readers of this letter had skipped out on this process of maturing in their lives. They were not perfect in this sense. Like an apple they stopped taking the nourishment from the tree. They liked the simple truths about deliverance from sin, but didn’t like the process of obedience and maturation. They liked breast milk, but not solid food. They wanted someone else to do all the work of feeding them. They just wanted the benefits.

The writer says that as we mature we have the responsibility to pass along what we have learned, to become teachers of the Truth in the way they apply the Truth to their lives. Mature Jesus-followers know the process of spotting evil. Because they have fed so much on the Word, they know when someone is trying to feed them sawdust instead of food. Can you tell the difference between good and evil?

Day 171

Promises of believers' rest

Hebrews 4

Key Verses: 3, 11, 12, 15, 16

When we believe we start the Sabbath. So what is this Sabbath we start? Sabbath means rest from working, and came to mean seventh day. God made the world in six days and then rested on the seventh. In Egypt they worked every day, so when God instituted the Sabbath and told the Israelites not to do any regular work, they must have not known what to do with themselves.

Not working all the time required them to trust Him. They gave up one seventh of their productivity when they followed the Lord. How could they compete in a global marketplace if they didn’t maximize their earnings potential. Several stores, Hobby Lobby and Chick fil-A come quickly to mind, are open only six days a week. They could increase their market share if they opened that extra day, but they have other priorities.

But the writer isn’t really worried about market share. He is talking about the work of our spiritual walk. The Jews of his day were so focused on the ‘doing’ of their faith, the details of obeying what they thought God wanted them to do, that they missed the fact that Jesus had already secured their eternity. Their work was already done. Jesus had done it for them. They needed to rest in His completed work.

We can get caught up in this same cycle, thinking we must do one more thing in order to gain God’s approval. But we can also rest in God’s full acceptance and live our lives in that rest. Life is lived very differently when you know that someone accepts you totally and completely, knowing all your brokenness and fallibility. So many people don’t have that in any human relationship. We can have it in our relationship with God. We can breathe a bit sigh of relief: we are accepted.

What makes this an even more joyous experience is knowing that He knows it all and we are still accepted. And out of that acceptance we are free to live lives of surrender and productivity for Him. He invites us to live in His presence. We are loved. He offers mercy and grace.

And He knows what it is like to struggle with temptation. He was tempted and resisted. We can resist temptation and know that if we fall, we are still accepted and loved. This is not an excuse for sinning. He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, so He knows genuine repentance when He sees it. But we can rest in His acceptance of us. And when we rest we can freely obey.

Day 170

Worthy of man's obedience

Hebrews 3

Key Verses: 1, 3, 8, 12

It can be easy to get distracted during our walk of faith. There are so many “shiny objects” that vie for our attentions. Even spiritual things can distract us from our walk of faith. Good things and more often than not, bad things pull us away. We must purpose in our hearts to stay focused on Jesus. It doesn’t mean we have pictures of Jesus plastered all over our physical world, but that our minds are aware of His presence always.

And why should we accord Jesus this place of honor? The writer tells us that Jesus is greater than Moses, occupying a greater place. Jesus is over God’s house. He is the owner and the one in charge. If we were in England we might say that Jesus was lord of the estate. He owns everything His eyes can see, and His eyes see everything.

Now remember, for the Jews of the writer’s day Moses was their ‘numero uno’, their number one. Moses was the central figure in their redemptive history. He led the people out of the slavery of Egypt. He was their national hero. And yet, their ancestors had not even listened and obeyed Moses. They had been judged for their disobedience by wandering in the desert for forty years, enough time for all of them to die, except the two who obeyed. Even Moses did not enter the promised land due to disobedience.

Thus the warning: If those who followed Moses were judged, how much more those who rebel against Jesus. They hardened their hearts. We might say thy became more and more stubbornly stuck in their decisions despite evidence that should have convinced them to repent.

They were all delivered from Egypt’s bondage, and yet they rebelled. And as a result they lost their reward of the Promised Land. The warning is that these Jewish believers to whom this letter was written were also in danger of losing their place because of rebellious unbelief. We must keep our spiritual life focused and on track. It is easy to get distracted into rebellion and disbelief.

Our culture screams at us, trying to get us to switch to an alternate truth. But of course, by its very nature, truth excludes some things, declares some things lies. But in our day and age, our culture wants to remove any semblance of truth except the truth that there is no truth. It wants to unhook us from anything that is solid and dependable, and release us into the morass of self-satisfying, ego-feeding, narcissistic, ‘everything goes’ self-destruction.

Don’t be caught up in this rebellion. Keep focused on Jesus. That is the message of this chapter. Just as Moses gave the Israelites a focal point for their deliverance from Egypt, so Jesus gives us a focal point in our journey out of sin and into the fullness of our redemption.

Day 169

Exaltation after Christ's sacrifice

Hebrews 2

Key Verses: 3, 9, 11, 14, 18

This chapter begins with the first of six warning passages. They could be summed up like this: since Jesus is so much more superior to all the old revelations from God, we had better wise up and obey. Now I know my language is a bit modern, but the point is the same.

Here the writer uses the angels as the object lesson. They were judged for disobeying a lesser revelation. Now we have a salvation announced by Jesus and spread by the disciples and other believers. God put His stamp of approval on their activity and message by sending His power into the physical realm in ways that people could see His hand at work. Jesus accomplished what the angels never could. He went through death for us. He paid the price for our salvation. The angels were incapable of performing this task since they are just creatures like us.

Jesus added humanity to His eternity. He did not cease to be God, but became human as well. He added something to His being: humanity. Now we both possess humanity as part of our nature. He is forever bound to us through His physical body, the same body that died on the Cross.

In order to make up for what Adam and Eve did, the first humans, Jesus stepped in and took up where they left off. Where they disobeyed, He obeyed. He stepped back into their shoes as the representative of all of us and He gave His life. He died and was separated from the Father, bearing the full weight of sin’s punishment. He rose again demonstrating that the weight of sin had been lifted.

And he can relate to us, and we can relate to Him. He did not come and live the life of privilege and walk above life. He lived right where we live. He was tempted as we are. It was hard for Him to not give in to temptation’s pull. And yet He didn’t. Because of this, He can help us when we feel temptation’s pull. He wants to come to our aid in those moments.

Angels offer none of this kind of help. As we read Scripture we see angels coming to give messages from God. Sometimes they bring judgment. They rarely rescue. But Jesus rescues everyone who will call out to Him. Are you willing to call?

Day 168

Nature of God's Son

Hebrews 1

Key Verses: 2, 3, 13

In our age of new, it can be hard to accept something old as being the best. In our age of quick, it can be hard to accept something that takes time. In our age of temporary, it can be hard to accept something that is permanent.

God made a statement to the universe in Jesus that will never change. Jesus presence here on earth was God’s full expression to humanity in a single point of time. Eternity focused in a moment. The Infinite encapsulated in the finite. Everything we need to know, and can know about the person of God was made known in Jesus. We might say that Jesus is the full Wiki file on God. We don’t need any more data to believe and surrender.

Every phrase in these beginning verses tell us more about the person of Jesus and the character of God He possessed and shined forth. And we can know the Person intimately. We can grow in our knowledge of Him moment by moment.

One of the things that the book of Hebrews does to show that Jesus has superseded all previous revelations from God is to show that He is superior to all the previous limited revelations from God. The writer does this through a series of comparisons between Jesus and these other revelations. In each case Jesus turns out to be “better” or “superior” to the previous revelation.

The first comparison is to angels. Jesus is the object of the angel’s worship (v 8). He is eternal (v8) and unchangeable (v10-12). Angels minister of behalf of salvation while Jesus provided salvation (v14). In each of these statement the angels are less than Jesus.

I find this interesting with the rise of angels, zombies, aliens, spirits and powers in our day and age. People will believe in almost anything accept the Truth. They want an alien spaceship to land so that they don’t have to deal with their sin. If aliens land, then I don’t have to worry about the evil I see in myself. Somehow, they will make it all better. It will all make sense in an instant. They will bring the missing facts that will bring peace to our world and to our inner life. (At least that is the lie our culture has bought.)

But if aliens exist and they land here, a whole new set of questions get generated, like “Where did the aliens come from?” and “Who put them in the universe?”

Jesus answers the big questions of life in a way that satisfies the deep longings we have and the realities of the world. But we have to be willing to accept an old solution to our problem, be willing to wait and be ready to accept a permanent solution. Each of these requires us to trust Him. Are you willing to trust?

Day 168.00

Hebrews

Acrostic Theme: NEW PRIESTHOOD

Author: Unknown

Date Written: 63-65 A.D, definitely before 70AD with the destruction of the Temple.

Audience: Jewish believers

Key Verse: 1:4, 8:1-2, 6

Outline:

1. The superiority of Christ - He 1:1-8:6

   a. Better than the prophets, as a much better Spokesman - He 1:1-3

   b. Better than the angels, by virtue of His Deity and humanity - He 1:4-2:18

   c. Better than Moses, for He is the Son who provides a heavenly rest - He 3:1-4:13

   d. Better than Aaron, as His priesthood is a superior one – He 4:16-8:6

2. The superiority of the New Covenant - He 8:7-10:18

   a. For it is based upon better promises - He 8:7-13

   b. For it is based upon a better sanctuary - He 9:1-28

   c. For it is based upon a better sacrifice - He 10:1-18

3. Exhortations drawn from this superiority - He 10:19-13:25

   a. Draw near to God and hold fast - He 10:19-39

   b. Run the race of faith with endurance - He 11:1-12:29

   c. Miscellaneous exhortations - He 13:1-25

http://executableoutlines.com/he_sg/he_sg_00.htm

New Priesthood

01. Nature of God's Son

02. Exaltation after Christ's sacrifice

03. Worthy of man's obedience

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04. Promises of believers' rest

05. Remember Christ-like Melchizedek

06. Inheritance for persistent faith

07. Eternal priesthood of Melchizedek

08. Second covenant supersedes first

09. Testimony of Christ's blood

10. Holiness through one sacrifice

11. Obedience of God's faithful

12. Obedience helped by discipline

13. Duties of the Christian

30Sept 2011 Hebrews 10:25

²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

There is something that happens when we gather together as believers that changes everything in our lives. We are not alone. We are responsible to other people for our lives, our conduct and our witness. We are not islands. We cannot just do our own thing. But there is a trend, especially in the West, to disconnect from the organized, denominational churches. People are becoming consumers of church, accepting and rejecting the content, without ever really connecting. The come, sit, watch, talk, drink coffee, text, tune out and leave. They might never say a meaningful word to anyone, certainly are not connected to the body, and really don’t have any investment in what happens in the lives of those who attend. They are just as comfortable at the movies as they are at Church. If Church had popcorn, it would be perfect! Oh, wait, some do! Unfortunately, some churches have adopted this model of ministry. They say, “at least they might get something” out of the “service.” I am afraid that what people get is that Jesus is just something to be chosen off a shelf, used and discarded. He doesn’t have to be consumed, digested, and He certainly isn’t going to mess with my comfortable life. He is something I do for my kids, or career, or instead of sleeping in. But our text tells us that we must resist this kind of shallow life. We need to be vitally connected to each other. And our connection will become even more important in the future.

29Sept 2011 Hebrews 10:14

¹⁴because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Finished and not finished. Perfect and in the process of being made holy. Already and not yet. This verse highlights one of the paradoxes of the Christian faith. From God’s perspective when we become Jesus-followers, we are made perfect. Do you feel perfect? Are your actions reflecting that perfection? Do others see that perfection? I didn’t think so! Me either! But just because we don’t see it does not make it any less true. We are more likely to see the other half of this paradox. We are in the process, at least we are supposed to be, of being made holy. That process will take a lifetime. We become Jesus-followers and are instantaneously made a child of God, perfect and complete. And at the same time we begin a process of being made holy moment by moment. There is a lot of stuff that is unholy, not reflective of His character that must be worked out of our character. As we get to know Him, spend time in His Word, rub shoulders & butt heads with others in the Body of Christ, the more opportunities for us to yield to His Spirit arise. It is what we do with those opportunities that matter. We are already perfect because of the work of Jesus. Are we going to let that perfection manifest itself in our lives? A baby is perfect, but not an adult. A small green apple is a perfect apple, but not yet ready to be eaten. We are perfect, but just not yet holy.