Encouragement in Hebrews

We started the conference last night with a message from Murray on Titus that comforted the Apostle Paul in a difficult time. So we're thinking of comfort. It's what I have upon my mind this morning.

And there's a lovely study when it comes to the Word of God. Maybe this is what happens as you get older. My wife doesn't like me saying that word, but anyway, it is a fact of life.

When you start to study the Bible, maybe this is what I did anyway, you know, you were right down at the, looking at each little word and the grammar. And then as you start to grow a little bit, you sort of come out and you notice a paragraph. Oh, and there's a chapter.

Oh, there's a book. Oh. You ever sometimes wonder phrases? Why does that particular phrase appear where it appears? Just pay attention to that.

The Spirit of God has carefully placed every single word, every phrase. And it's nice sometimes to see the greater setting and that helps. So I think Bible study is kind of a combination of the wide angle and the close.

And I think that will help us. So this is a very common verse. That we are very, very familiar with.

Hebrews 9 and 27. Why does it appear in the book of Hebrews? Why does it appear right where it does? When you're reading through the book of Hebrews, you're going to notice that chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are sort of like a, like a buildup to something. When you get to chapters 9 and 10 of the book of Hebrews, you're at the core of the doctrinal section of the book of Hebrews.

It's like this is what he's been building to. And then from chapter, after chapter 10, 11 and 12, that's where it goes off into the practical. So you'll see that theme throughout the Word of God, the New Testament.

There's always a doctrinal section that builds for the practical. And that's what will help us build. That's the only thing that will help you and I live practically holy lives is a foundation of doctrinal things.

It's not all about exhortation. There has to be something that you can put your feet on. Because we know, we realize, everything is shifting in this world.

And that's the wonder of the Word of God. So I'll just read the verse, a few different comments. Look at verse number 20, Hebrews 9, verse number 25.

Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. That's looking at a particular day. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.

But now once in the end of the world and of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And see, it's connected. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Probably in our minds we would read this and almost jump from 26 and go right into verse 28.

You'd almost wonder why is verse 27 there? It seems to throw the whole thought off. But dear child of God, it doesn't. Discouragement is a very real thing.

As you get older, you visit and you talk to people, people that have plowed ground for years. There are some people that leave assemblies over doctrinal things. They just don't agree with what is being taught.

That's very, very sad. But what I notice is there's a lot of people that are just plain discouraged. The heart is just broken.

And the pressures of maybe expectations for the kids. That really seems to take a lot out of us as parents. You had great hopes for them and you find yourself today the only two left in the meeting, you and your husband and wife.

How do you deal with that? Then there's all the different things that can come from just life itself. You know, that to me is the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews, as you know, has a very Jewish flavor to it.

The backdrop is the temple. There it is, still functioning. We're probably in about the year AD 68.

Unbeknown to the Jewish people, those saved and those still linked with that whole law represented in that Jewish system, there's an awful thing coming in two years, AD 70. Roman by the name of Titus will roll into Jerusalem and that ornamental building with all of its glittering stones and everything and the priesthood and all the national pride that's linked with it is just going to be leveled. Just leveled.

Now there was a lot of people back then and that's what they had their eye on. The disciples had their eye on it. Remember in the Gospels? And the Lord had to say, don't pay attention to the stones.

No, no, no, no. There's someone greater here than Solomon's temple. You know, dear child of God, we have someone greater.

It's the Lord Jesus. That's the purpose of the whole book of Hebrews. You've got these individuals, we're going to pick on just one little group.

You've got these individuals that have listened to the Gospel and they've come out. And here they are. And they're enduring tremendous pressure from their relatives, their communities.

They've been cut off socially, politically. They're made to feel ostracized. They're made to feel strange.

And meanwhile, you can't see the Lord Jesus with your eyes. But my land, I can see that temple. Look at it.

They're still functioning. Our Savior, He's up in heaven. The book of Hebrews is going to show Him by the eye of faith.

And you're going to get such a view of Him that the tendency to want to go back, give in to discouragement and go back. But if you do that, you're only going to have that for two years. They didn't know that.

You're going to have your Savior forever. Now, if you have an understanding of the tabernacle system in the Old Testament, Hebrews will literally just come so much alive to you. And the offering.

So I would encourage you, take time to learn and understand all the different pictures. It's going to take a while to study, but it is a very fulfilling because it's all about the Lord Jesus. And what the writer, by the Spirit of God, is going to do in the book of Hebrews is, he's going to start in chapter one and he's going to go through all different sections, people and things that are associated with the tabernacle structure.

And he's going to contrast and he's going to compare it to the Lord Jesus. And what's happening as you're going through those different chapters, leading up to chapters nine and 10 is the light of Christ is getting brighter. Then there's something interesting that happens.

You know, in the book of Hebrews, you have five warning chapters. Beware, beware. And what's happening, if you sit on it, put them on a piece of paper, those five warning chapters, you're going to find that the consequences gets greater.

You know why? Because the glory of Christ is getting greater. And therefore the consequences in turning is getting greater. It's a warning to them.

If you want to understand the book of Hebrews, this is where chapter three near the end and into the early part of chapter four comes in. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. What's that all about? You go back into the Old Testament and God has brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, a great redemption.

He's brought them down to the Mount where he gave them law. He leaves them there for nine months and he builds the tabernacle system. He has them build it.

And then he circles them up to the promised land, to the border, Kedesh Barnea. And we all know the Sunday school story. Twelve spies went to spy on Canaan, ten were bad, twelve, whatever, on and on it goes.

And they come back with the report. They heard the word of God, but they didn't respond to it. They didn't believe it.

And they turned back from the word of God. Man, they got occupied with the giants, didn't they? Our children are going to be prey to these giants in the land. And here is the God of eternity giving them the whole land.

No, no, no, we can't believe it. So the importance of the word of God becomes so significant. And the gospel preached unto them.

There's chapter four. It didn't profit them. Why? Not being mixed with faith.

There's the importance of chapter 11. Faith. It's almost like he's going to follow it immediately.

The doctrinal section is going to be followed immediately with all these individuals that exercise faith. That's how we're going to appreciate these things, dear child of God. It's not an emotional response.

It's faith. The mind just anchoring itself upon the word of God. Discouragement just strikes directly at the emotional side.

But the mind settled on the word of God. And those people turned and they affected so many people. That's the story that just is written right over the book of Hebrews.

And then for 38 years, they just did a big circle. Do you know what God said? Every one of those military men will die. Do you realize that when the tabernacle was built, you probably know this, you go through the word of God at least 42 times that thing is taken down, put up.

Do you know what they left behind every time they took down the tabernacle? They left behind a cemetery. Casualties. That's sad.

That's sad, dear child of God. So if you bring all of that stuff into the book of Hebrews, you'll get a good understanding, this warning that seems to get greater as the spirit of God is directing the writer. So, Hebrews.

Where does he start? He starts in Hebrews 1. 1, go figure. No, but what's the content of chapter 1? Angels. That's where he starts.

He starts in another realm than earth. And we get all these angels moving. Contrast it to the Lord Jesus.

How does Hebrews chapter 1 end? This man, Christ, is seated and angels are still moving. They're ministers of flame. Flames of fire sent to do God's bidding.

Now you have to understand to a Jewish mind that was tremendous. This man? Oh, he's more than a man. Oh, the Hebrews 1 is going to prove that.

Oh, more than a man. Angels? My, you look at the significance of angels through the Old Testament and through that whole law, Levitical thing. Like if an angel appeared to you, you talk about having a texting group and a WhatsApp group and everything else.

Man, you told everybody about it. An angel appeared to me. Oh no, we find out that the Lord Jesus, he's just seated.

Our work is complete. And there's those angelic beings just constantly moving. What do we come to then in chapter 2? Our brother, Murray, next weekend Lord willing in our Waterloo Cedar Falls conference is going to develop a little bit about the priesthood.

The Lord Jesus. That's going to be a tremendous little study. I would encourage you to have a look at that.

Angels, then he moves into the priest a little tiny bit. Then he comes into chapter 3 and who's the figure that pops up just at the start of chapter 3? Moses. Wow.

Go to a Jewish person. Who's the greatest figure in the nation? That man, Moses. Wow.

Look how he took us, used of God and took us out of Egypt. What a tremendous thing. What do we find in chapter 3? Moses was a servant in the house.

Oh, a servant in the house of Israel. Just what God was doing at that point. Just a servant.

What's said about Christ? He's a son over the house. See how the thing is starting to move up the scale in glory. Can you imagine a Jew hearing that? Jesus of Nazareth? A carpenter's son? Oh no, no, no.

He's much more than just a carpenter. See what's happening? The mind is now being directed to these lofty truths that can only be grasped by faith. A son over the house.

Wow. So, now you come down into chapter 4 and right in that middle where I told you about the people not wanting to go into the land, who he introduced to next? Joshua. Jesus is our inner Greek, but it's really Joshua.

He brought them into the land. He gave them rest. And we're told there that there's a greater rest coming.

This was only a little tiny picture in the Old Testament. So if you spoke to a Jewish person, who's next? Joshua. Moses brought us out.

Wow. Joshua brought us in. What a wonderful thing.

And then we're introduced to a greater rest. That's going to be brought by the Lord Jesus. That hasn't happened yet.

That's the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus. The whole kingdom program that God has. So you're moving through.

You know, dear child of God, pay attention to all of these little tiny details. Do you find it interesting? Can you name me three significant people that died in the 40th year? The children of Israel in the desert, just before they entered into the promised land. In the last year in the desert, Moses died, Aaron died, and Miriam died.

A whole family, so instrumental in being used of God, linked with law, all died outside the land. Where's that picture? And then we discover that God picks up a man by the name of Joshua. Greek is Jesus.

And he brings the people into the land. You know what's happening there? Law could never bring them into the land. Contrasted to grace, all summed up in one figure.

Jesus, Joshua. Like these things are not just incidental stories kind of thrown in there. No, no, no.

It's all part of this massive program that God is just moving through. This is what's happening in the book of Hebrews. So to a Jewish mind that is very familiar with the Old Testament, these things are just like, they're just popping.

They're coming to life like, wow, look what's happening. And then he just keeps moving. Then he starts getting into the sacrifices.

All those different, the blood of animals versus the blood of Christ. This is where he's building up to. Now here's something I want you to notice when we come to chapter 9. This is where this comes into play.

When we're in the other, the rest of Hebrews, it's all Moses is contrasted, angels are contrasted, Joshua's contrasted, that we're going to get Aaron. There's so much more than I could mention, but I want to move quick here. What happens when you get here? As it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.

You're right now in the core of the sacrificial section. What did God in his kindness do to every animal that came in contact with the altar? You make sure you take their life first. That animal will never feel the fire.

Never. Even though it has no sin, differently affected by the sin of Adam. When Adam sinned as the federal head, he became a sinner.

Then we learned from Romans 8 that there is the whole creation, animals included. God now takes them and puts them under sin. But there's those, and there's those animals, and God said their life will be taken.

Do you know what we find when we come here? There's no other man that you can compare them to. Because as I look over this audience, it wouldn't matter what generation I'm in, it wouldn't matter where I was in the world, every single one of us have sinned. And you know what the result is? Judgment will follow our death, if we're not saved.

What's unique about the Savior? He had no sin. Therefore he could, and the only one that could take the judgment before he died. It's almost like you're at such a peak, and here are these Jewish people, those not saved, those saved, just mulling that over in their brain.

Like we've come now to a point where there's nothing inside of the Levitical system that I could pick up and say, okay, let's put it beside this sinless person. Dear child of God, isn't it beautiful to have a Savior that is absolutely perfect? Sinless. It's beautiful.

And that's why now, once in the end of the age, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And then all of a sudden you get this reference, he'll appear again the second time without salvation. What's going on there? There was a day in the whole Jewish economy, the Levitical economy, see not only did God give them a tabernacle structure, which eventually led to the Solomon's Temple, but we're sticking back here, that's the book of Hebrews is the tabernacle structure.

Do you know what God did way back here? He gave them seven distinct feasts. They had like seven national holidays, unlike us where Thanksgiving is a big day and Christmas is a big day and all those different things, Easter that we just came out of. Well God says, I'm not gonna let you people have a secular holiday schedule, I'm gonna give you a divine holiday segment.

Seven. Seven, God's number of completion. And if you looked at those seven, you know what's beautiful about it? This is where I'm encouraging my young people, don't, don't, when someone gives a word of ministry on the Feast of Jehovah, time to turn off, tune out.

No, you pay attention because there's so much. Put the seven Feasts of Jehovah, just put them on a piece of paper. Do you know what you can do with them? You put three over here, you can put three over here, and you can put one in the middle.

Seven. There's a middle number, middle one. Pentecost, church age.

Start to look at your Bible. You and I are living in the dispensation, which is the crown, the peak of all God's dealings. That, this is when God is getting a bride for His Son.

It's tremendous. You can take those seven Feasts of Jehovah, three over here, three over here, you can write over these three. First Advent.

Then you can write over these last three. Second Advent. This is affected with the earth.

The last three are affected with the earth. The one in the middle, it's all up in the heavens. It's beautiful.

Oh dear child of God, like, like I said, what is the answer to discouragement? You keep reading your Bible. You keep exercising faith in the Word of God. You get into a habit of reading your scripture so that when a bad day comes, you're still in that habit.

Habits are something that they're hard to break. Do you have a healthy reading habit? Let's just break here for a minute on a practical note. I said this recently.

I was at a conference and I, a Christian, I would just keep it there, said to me, I just deleted some social media off my platform, off my phone. Wasting too much time on it. I went, hallelujah.

Take that time and put it into the book. You'll be a lot happier. I'll be a lot happier.

Better clarify that I don't have social media. I don't want it. The devil is a master at distraction.

We don't even know we're being distracted. You know what the Spirit of God is trying to do here? Just trying to direct them to Christ, just to the Word of God. So there, we're back now to those seven feasts.

You know, when you looked at those seven feasts, they were tremendous, but there was one feast that was just the ultimate to them. Let's read about it. That's what we think it is.

Go back to chapter 10. Go ahead a little tiny bit. I think there's a play on words here.

So Hebrews 9 and 27, there's nothing like it. That's sort of done with that piece now. Then in comes another little reference, and I think it's a play on words to show something greater.

This comes in. Look at chapter 10 and verse number 24. And we'll be down in six minutes before the hour.

So look at verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession, just interesting how that comes in, of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The day. Amazing. It's a very unique day.

Now, if you had a Jew that was reading that, with all of their knowledge of the Old Testament and the seventh piece of Jehovah, and if you said to them, what is the day? Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Do you know what they nicknamed it? The great day. The day.

It was like how many times greater than our Christmas experience and Thanksgiving all rolled together. Oh, the national holiday. It was like so significant.

There was one priest that was moving the high priest and all eyes were upon him. It was just tremendous. Remember that reference back in chapter nine, he will appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

On that particular day, only one day of the year, they watched the high priest place his hands upon that lied goat and they could hear all of their sins nationally being, as it were, pressed upon that goat, his head. And then they watched a fit man tie a rope onto that goat and they watched that goat be led away. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

You almost got that figure. And they're watching their sins move out into the distance and to the horizon and the man is gone. Wow, what a wonderful thing.

They didn't stop looking then. They were waiting for that man to return without the goat. Picture their sins were left in the wilderness and now the man comes back.

No sin offering beside him. That comes up in the book of Hebrews. Listen, dear child of God, our Savior came the first time to deal with sin.

Our Savior's coming the second time not to deal with our sin. Now here are these Jewish people and they're looking, they're saying the day is approaching. So what day is it? Some people, some writers will say it's the day of atonement.

Here they are outside the Levitical system and they're watching their relatives. The fall feast is coming. The great day, the day.

And there's just this national longing to be, oh, I want to be back with my family. I want to go to that temple and I want to enact the day. But I don't believe that's it at all.

Then there's some people, some commentators, they'll say, ah, this is the day two years in the future, AD 70, when Titus is going to destroy the whole thing. Oh my, no, I don't believe that's it either. You know where I think the answer is? Go to the end of the chapter.

Look at this. Why this comes in here. Look at verse 35.

Cast not, chapter 10, verse 35, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after you've done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Where's the next quotation? Have a cut.

Chapter two, verse 37. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe for the saving of the soul. Why is that? Why is that important? Dear child of God, pay attention to every Old Testament quote in the New Testament. Take time to go back and study it.

Have a cut. I hope I'm saying that right. I have a hard time with some English words.

What's happening back here? Days of revival are over. A lot of sin. And the prophet becomes aware that God is going to bring judgment in the nation of Babylon.

God shows him a vision, coming judgment, but he also shows him, I'll deal with Babylon later. And this dear prophet goes up into his little chamber and he's just so perplexed. How in the world can you, a righteous holy God, use a wicked nation of the Gentiles to chastise your own people? God says, listen, you don't have to understand all that.

You just leave that with me. The just shall live by faith. The interesting thing is this.

Go back into chapter two. Do you know what you'll get seven times? Let me get out my fingers here. There we go.

The word he is not used once, but what you get seven times is wait for it. It, it, it, it, it. Seven times.

It's a reference to the vision. What does the spirit of God do in chapter 10? He leaves all the it's and he just says he. No, no, no.

I'm not talking about a vision now. That's linked with the old Testament economy. I'm talking about a man.

He will come. I believe in chapter 10, as you see the day approaching, I believe it's the truth of the rapture. There is a day coming, dear child of God.

Law couldn't deliver it to you. Never was meant to. We are in the dispensation of grace, lots of discouragement, lots of pressure.

Listen, you keep your eyes on the man that's returning. Don't lose sight of him. He's a marvelous person.

May the Lord help us just like these Hebrews, the pressure, go back, give up, stay home. Ah, just forget it. No, there, there is a day reward coming.

There is recompensive reward. Stay faithful to your savior. He's faithful to us.

And may we just be simply encouraged by the word of God.