Author Archives: John Sanzone

Jul 30, 2023. Hebrews 3:16-19

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REJECTED BLESSING. Hebrews 3:16-19. 7/30/2023. #12.

16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

1. Sowing & Reaping

                a. Spiritual concepts are not that difficult to grasp

                                a1. Those who believe in Christ are saved & those who do not believe are lost

                                a2. Those who receive the message of God are blessed & those who reject are judged

                b. Hebrews asks 3 questions

                                a1. Who rebelled, even after they heard?

                                a2. Was it not those who sinned who died in the desert?

                                a3. To whom did God swear that they could not enter His rest in the Promised Land?

                c. The answers to the 3 questions are obvious

                                a1. All those (except a small few) who came out of Egypt rebelled

                                a2. It was the people who sinned against God who died in the wilderness

                                a3. God would not allow any of the rebellious generation (except Joshua & Caleb) to enter into His rest

                d. God cannot bless rebellion

                                a1. The people who stubbornly held onto sin & who refused to yield to God were punished

                                a2. God gave every opportunity for the Jews to understand His ways & will, & to obey

                                a3. God was careful to explain both the blessing of what He offered & consequence of rejecting the offer

2. Clearly seen, heard, & felt

                a. Jews clearly heard God’s direction & commands

                                a1. Provided the Law & detailed instructions

                                a2. Taught what they must & must not do

                                a3. Every aspect of life was covered in detail (worship, diet, Tabernacle, rank & order, prohibitions, civil law, leadership…)

                b. Jews saw the verifying miracles

                                a1. The plagues on Egypt, Moses’s rod turning into the serpent, death of the Egyptian

                                       firstborn sons…

                                a2. The Red Sea opened, Pharaoh’s army drowned, manna from heaven, water from rocks, defeat of Amalekites, manifestation of God on Mt. Sinai

                c. Jews clearly saw God’s anger

                                a1. Thousands were destroyed after the Golden Calf fiasco, rebellion against Moses & Aaron, complaining in the wilderness, the Baal Peor orgy…

                                a2. Yet, they still refused to repent

3. The anatomy of unbelief

                a. 2 kinds of unbelief

                                a1. Unbelief due to lack of evidence or desire

                                a2. Refusal to belief despite strong evidence

                b. The Jews had an abundance of strong evidence

                                a1. Saw the miracles & God leading them via a pillar of fire & cloud

                                a2. Heard His commands & saw His wrath

                c. To choose not to believe in the face of overwhelming evidence is not unbelief, but rebellion against God

                                a1. 1 SAM. 15:17-26 rebellion is as the sin of idolatry & stubbornness is as witchcraft

                                a2. Heb. warns that stubbornly holding onto OT Law was just like rebellion of Exodus Jews

                d. Rebellion in any form (holding onto false belief, sin, disobedience, bad habits…) is like idolatry

                e. God is gracious but still angry at sin (Eph. 4:30)

                f. Unbelief & disobedience are both rebellion

Key verse:  1 Samuel 15:17-26

17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

22 So Samuel said:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

And to heed than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,

And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

He also has rejected you from being king.”

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Jul 23, 2023. Hebrews 3:12-15

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THE HARD HEART. Hebrews 3:12-15. 7/25/2023. #11.

Hebrews 3:12-15

New King James Version

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

1. Take heed

                a. “Beware” literally is “look out” or “watch”

                                a1. There are many spiritual pitfalls in life

                                a2. Paul told the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear… (Philippians 2:12)

                                a3. 2 Pet. 1:10 make certain of election

                b. Important to be aware of spiritual estate

                c. A constant guard and on watch

                d. Heb. is concerned that since converted Jews were holding onto their Law & traditions, forsaking the grace of Christ, that they were not truly saved at all

                e. 1 Jn. 2:19 cannot lose salvation, but must truly be saved to begins with

2. Many false conversions

                a. Unfortunately many come to Christ as a whim or to fit in, but were never truly converted

                b. Several examples in Scripture of false saints

                                a1. Seed falling on thorny & stony soil

                                a2. MT. 25:1-13 ten virgins & the bride groom

                                a3. Man with wrong clothes at the wedding

                                a4. Mt 7 men who did many works in Jesus’ name, but Jesus never knew them

                                a5. Jn. 15 false branches on the vine

                c. Heb. 6:1-8 there are those who “taste of the Holy Spirit” but do not partake of the Holy Spirit

                d. Many have a comfortable familiarity with the church & Christians, but are not truly saved

                                a1. They enjoy coming to church services & even helping in ministry

                                a2. There is no true permanent commitment to Christ (no vibrant relationship with Him, His Word, or His will)

                e. Hebrews was concerned that the Jewish believers’ unwillingness to change indicated lack of saving relationship with Christ

                                a1. A hard (dried up) heart is one not affected by the Gospel of Christ

                                a2. People can deceive themselves that they are truly saved when they are not

3. The big IF

                a. If we hear the Lord’s voice & heed Him, we are His

                                a1. Our hearts do not rebel against him

                                a2. We love to know & obey His Word

                                a3. Heb. 10:24-25 we love to assemble with God’s people

                                a4. Love to do God’s will

                b. If when endure to the end we will be saved

                                a1. Holding the beginning of our confidence to the end  (no leaving the faith)

                                a2. Lk. 9:57-62 no man having put their hand to the plow & looks back is fit for the kingdom

                                a3. Mt. 24:11-14 he who endures to the end will be saved

                c. Being a believer is not a passing fade, a phase, an experiment, or a cultural preference

                                a1. True belief endures doubts, hardships, challenges, attacks, threats, trials, temptations, & failures

                                a2. There are many who begin walking toward salvation, but get sidetracked or embrace a counterfeit belief system

                d. Not all church goers are believers (only a few are)

Key verse:  Matthew 25:1-131 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Jul 16, 2023. Hebrews 3:7-11

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HEAR GOD’S VOICE. Hebrews 3:7-11. 7/16/2023. #10.

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

1. The voice of God

                a. This is a quote from PS. 95:7-11

                                a1. Israel heard God but did not heed God

                                a2. To hear (akouo – to understand and respond) means to receive and act upon

                b. Do not harden (sklero – to dry out) one’s heart (to become austere or harsh)

                                a1. We have a choice to seek God and soften your heart or rebel and harden our hearts

                                a2. The evidence of God, His grace, and His will were very clear and obvious

                c. Repeatedly rebellious Israel was punished but they still continued to complain and rebel

                                a1. God was angry with Israel and finally made them walk the desert for 40 years until the Exodus gen. died off

                                a2. Through refusing to obey God, he could not bless them with the good land, but cursed them with a desert

                d. God will not bargain with us or go our way

                                a1. Job 38 God does not seek or receive our counsel or demands

                                a2. We are to submerge our will to God’s

                e. A stubborn heart is prideful and self-destructive

                f. Jewish believers were being stubborn

2. The warning repeated

                a. God was saying that the Jewish believers

                                a1. God used the illustration of His dealing with Israel in the wilderness as a warning not to be hard like their them

                                a2. To put God to the test is to invite judgment upon oneself

                b. A hard heart defies God

                                a1. Source of a hard heart is sinful pride

                                a2. One chooses to harden one’s own heart

                                                b1. Obeys the voice of willfulness

                                                b2. Follows the habits of rebellion

                                a3. Hardness tests God

                                a4. One cannot know the ways of God when seeking to go one’s own way (cannot serve

                                       two masters)

                c. Even though Jewish Christians were taught the way of God, they still held onto their traditions and Law

                                a1. God warned them that they will suffer loss if they tried to add onto the Gospel

                                a2. A hybrid of Law and grace would pollute and degrade what Christ had done

                d. When we hold onto traditions, rituals, rules, and misconceptions not found in Scripture, we cheapen the grace of Christ and replace faith with customs

3. To hear the voice of God

                a. God speaks to us today through His Word

                                a1. As we incorporate the Word into our lives, the Spirit can use the Word to lead us

                                a2. A predetermination to obey the Word and the leading of Spirit will lead to faithfulness

                b. Important to drop what we are holding onto that is neither biblical, not godly

                c. Must seek the voice of God and the ways of God

                                a1. Fallen state leads to a hard heart

                                a2. Be aware of own sinful nature and control it

                d. Most believers do not fully seek the voice of God

Jul 2, 2023. Hebrews 3:1-6

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FAITHFUL IN ALL THINGS. Hebrews 3:1-6. 7/02/2023. #9.

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

1. Holy family

                a. We are beyond being servants & disciples

                                a1. Writer calls us holy brethren (separated as part of the family of God)

                                a2. Partakers (metochoi, sharers, common partners, community) in the heavenly calling (appointed for a divine purpose)

                b. Jesus not only provided a means of salvation, but a means of adoption into the heavenly family

                c. Jesus is the means by which believers are adopted

                                a1. Apostle = one sent on a mission (apostolon)

                                                b1. Jesus was sent by God (the Father) on mission to pay for sins of mankind

                                                a2. Jesus then sent the Apostles to share the news of Jesus’s sacrifice that paid for man’s sins

                                a2. High Priest = one who makes intercession for believers (Rom. 8:34)

                d. Jesus was appointed (poiesanti, having been made) by God for this task (task was made for Jesus)

                                a1. God assigned His Son to pay for sins

                                a2. Jesus faithfully fulfilled His assignment

2. Just like Moses, but greater

                a. Moses was highly regarded as the Law giver

                b. Moses was faithful to his task

                                a1. He led the people out of Egypt

                                a2. Moses obeyed God (except for the rock incident where he did not glorify God)

                                a3. Moses received the Law from God

                c. Jesus was faithful to his task, but was worthy of far more glory than Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-22)

                                a1. Moses’s ministry prepared the people for the coming of Christ’s ministry

                                a2. Moses came as a servant of God, but Christ came as Lord of all

3. The home builder is greater than the home

                a. Though Moses established the system of the Law given to him by God, the giver of the Law was far greater than the Law

                b. The house has less honor than its builder

                                a1. God built the earth, universe, & all created things, so is greater than creation

                                a2. Jesus created all things, & therefore, is superior to all that is created

                c. Moses was created by the Lord, so is inferior to Him

                                a1. The Jews highly regarded Moses, but the Lord is greater than Moses & thus superseded both Moses & the Law

                                a2. Since Christ is both the home builder & the home owner, he is greater than the home

                d. Confidence in Moses is misplaced, for Moses can’t do anything for us

                                a1. The confidence of the Jews had to be transferred from Moses to Christ

                                a2. Since Christ fulfilled the Law, the Law has no binding impact on us

                e. “If we hold fast to this confidence”

                                a1. This does not mean that we can lose our salvation if we do not hold fast to Christ

                                a2. I John 2:19 those who drift away from the faith never were in Christ to begin with, for they would have remained in it to end

                f. Our hope, confidence, & joy are in Christ alone

Key verse: Deuteronomy 18:15-22

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ 17 “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Jun 25, 2023. Hebrews 2:14-18

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THE WAY OF BLOOD. Hebrews 2:14-18. 6/25/2023. #8.

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

1. The only way

                a. Man sinned in his flesh

                                a1. Even though Eve decided first to disobey God and then Adam did so, they sinned by actively eating the forbidden fruit

                                a2. Gen. 2:16-17 God’s prohibition was in the actual eating of the fruit, not in thinking of it

                b. Since man sinned in the flesh, only an acceptable sacrifice of the flesh could pay for sin

                c. At the fall, Satan gained the power of death

                                a1. Power = not dynamis (great strength) or exousia (authority), but kratos (might or strength to take by force; to overpower)

                                a2. Christ had to overcome death to overcome Satan (Rev. 20)

                d. Christ had to defeat death to defeat Satan and free His people

                e. Through His sacrifice and resurrection, Christ freed believers from the slavery of sin and death

2. Uniquely applied grace

                a. Christ did not seek to redeem angels

                                a1. Fallen angels knew God and stood before the Lord directly

                                a2. Rebellion against God was willful

                b. Christ became a man to rescue the “seed of Abraham”, God’s covenant people

                c. Christ had to become like man to save man

                                a1. He calls the Jews “His brethren” even though He created them and they rebelled against him

                                a2. Christ chose to identify with the Jews as “His people” and “His brethren”

3. From redeemer to priest

                a. Christ’s role as redeemer was by mercy and love

                                a1. Christ chose to love the rebellious Jews

                                a2. Hebrews is directed to the Jewish believers, so he does not use “the world” (Jn. 3:16)

                                a3. To the Jew first, then the Gentile

                b. He then became High Priest to make intercession for the sins of the people

                                a1. He made propitiation before God the Father for sins

                                a2. Propitiation = to completely satisfy a debt

                                a3. Nothing but the blood of Christ could pay in full the debt owed by sin (RM. 6:15-23)

                c. He had to be made (ophelo –placed himself under obligation; translated “wages” in Rm. 6:23) like His brethren

                                a1. He did not owe a debt to pay

                                a2. He chose to take the debt owed by others on himself in order to pay for man’s sins

                d. Jesus removed the fear of death, which could not be removed any other way

                e. In order to pay for sin, Christ had to become a man and suffer and be tempted

                                a1. Christ had to go through all that man goes through, but without sin, to pay for sin

                                a2. Christ endured the suffering and conquered all temptation for those who fall into sin

                f. The only way that Christ could aid His brethren was to become like them, to suffer for them, to resist all temptation, and then to sacrifice Himself in their place

                g. Christ’s sacrifice was beyond heroism; it is divine!

Key verse: Romans 6:15-23

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.