Category Archives: Sermon Notes & Announcements

Oct 22, 2023. Hebrews 7:11-19

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A NEW PRIEST NEEDED. Hebrews 7:11-19. 10/22/2023. #21

11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 For He testifies: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

1. Failure on Mt. Moriah

                a. Aaronic priesthood couldn’t bring deliverance

                                a1. Intercession is supposed to resolve issues

                                a2. Offerings = not remove guilt of sin

                b. God set up the priesthood as a stopgap measure

                                a1. It was unable to complete the task of redeeming the sinner and paying for sin

                                a2. The Law was not designed to remove sin

                                a3. Animal sacrifices = not worthy to pay for sins (creatures of a fallen world)

                c. An inadequate system must yield to a better one

                d. If the Law and the system to minister the Law failed to remedy sin, a new Law and system was needed

                                a1. Required removing old system (annulling)

                                a2. Replaced with a new system and priesthood

                e. Once the old system is annulled, it no longer is in effect and all appeals to it fail

2. Enter the new priest

                a. The old priest was from Levi and Aaron

                b. The new priest is from Judah (royal tribe) of the line of David (a signal of a different kind of priest)

                                a1. Judah never served as an OT priest

                                a2. King Uzziah struck with leprosy for attempting to sacrifice in the temple

                c. The new priest was superior to the old high priest

                                a1. His type, Melchizedek, predated Aaron

                                a2. He was holy, being the Son of God

                                a3. He was priest, king, and offering all in one

                                a4. His priesthood is eternal

                                a5. His ministry is effective to the removal of sin and the granting of eternal life

                d. Ps. 110:4 the prediction of a greater priesthood indicated that the old priesthood would be replaced

              Abraham             Moses        David         Exile        Christ

              —1800 BC——-1400 BC—-1000 BC—600BC—-33 AD

3. The arrival of perfection

                a. The word perfect (telos) means complete

                                a1. The old priesthood was incomplete since it  could not resolve sin (Galatians 3:1-14)

                                a2. A new priest of a different tribe was needed

                b. Christ was superior in all ways to the High Priests

                                a1. The HP were sinful and mortal

                                a2. Christ is sinless and immortal

                                a3. The HP were unworthy to remove sin

                                a4. Christ in all ways was worthy to deliver

                                a5. The HP arrived without prophecy

                                a6. The priest after Melchizedek was prophesied

                c. Aaron served by “fleshly command” (physical)

                d. Christ served by divine grace (John 3:16)

                e. The old covenant system was completely annulled

                                a1. Cancelled = a limited duration

                                a2. Just as John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ, the old covenant did as well (had to be an effective offering OT could not do)

                f. The obsolete must give way to the effective

                                a1. Hebrews demonstrates that Jewish believers must discard the Law in order to embrace Christ (cannot follow both)

                                a2. The flawed must give way to the perfect

                g. All things that do not serve us well must go

                                a1. Unbiblical beliefs and practices

                                a2. Fleshly habits and worldly pursuits

Key Verse: Galatians 3:1-14

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Oct 15, 2023. Hebrews 7:1-10

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MELCHIZEDEK. Hebrews 7:1-10. 10/15/2023. #20.

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. 4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. 5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; 6 but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8 Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9 Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

1. A priest before priests

                a. Heb. emphasizes that there were priests of God before the Levitical priesthood

                b. Melchizedek pops into the story in Genesis 14

                                a1. Abraham had conquered the 5 kings who had raided Sodom

                                a2. Mel met Abraham with bread and wine

                c. Heb. demonstrated that Mel was superior to Abraham

                                a1. Abraham was revered as greatest ancestor

                                a2. Abraham paid a tithe of the plunder to Melchizedek (plunder = “off the top”)

                                a3. Mel blessed Abraham

                d. Since Levi was descended from Abraham, Melchizedek was also greater than the High Priests

                                a1. In a sense, Aaron paid tithes to Melchizedek

                                a2. Melchizedek foreshadowed Christ

2. Greater than Melchizedek

                a. Mel was a great man

                                a1. King of Righteousness, King of Salem (peace) – most believe that Salem was at Jerusalem (some say Shechem)

                                a2. Priest of God

                b. Without beginning or end

                                a1. 2 different interpretations:

                                                b1. Literally, no ancestry and eternal (pre-Incarnate manifestation of Christ)

                                                b2. A person of unknown (unrecorded) ancestry, birth, and death (a great man without recorded history)

                                a2. Unlikely candidates: Shem (we know his lineage), an angel (described as a man), anyone of known lineage

                c. In favor of a Christophany (form of Christ):

                                a1. Without beginning or end (Rev. 1)

                                a2. King of Peace (Is. 9:6…Prince of Peace)

                                a3. King of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2)

                d. Mel was so great that Abraham paid a tithe to him

                                a1. Jesus Christ is a (the) priest after the order of Melchizedek

                                a2. He is both priest and king, without beginning or end (Psalm 110:1-7)

3. Aaron superseded

                a. Heb. demonstrates Christ’s preeminence:

                                a1. Levi paid tithes to Mel while in Abraham’s loins

                                a2. Psalm 110:4 indicates that the Levitical priesthood would be surpassed by a new one

                                a3. Once the Levitical priesthood was replaced by Christ, it fell into disuse and obsolescence

                b. To continue to hold onto archaic religious rites is to hinder one’s walk with the Lord

                                a1. OT priesthood was merely a place holder

                                a2. Law demonstrated that man could not be righteous and animal sacrifices could not remove sin or make one righteous

                c. Heb. uses divine logic to persuade readers of the futility of keeping the trappings of the Law

                d. The new High Priest, Christ, conquered sin and death

                e. Mel is a type of Christ and His ministry

                                a1. Purposeful insertion to point to Christ

                                a2. Once completed, all temporary things cease

Key Verse: Psalm 110: 1-7

1 The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your Enemies Your footstool.”

2 The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.

Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

3 Your people shall be volunteers

In the day of Your power;

In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,

You have the dew of Your youth.

4 The Lord has sworn

And will not relent,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

5 The Lord is at Your right hand;

He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.

6 He shall judge among the nations,

He shall fill the places with dead bodies,

He shall execute the heads of many countries.

7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; Therefore, He shall lift up the head.

Sep 24, 2023. Hebrews 6:7-12

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A BETTER HOPE. Hebrews 6:7-12. 09/24/2023. #19.

7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. 9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. 10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

1. Wheat and tares

                a. Hebrews uses farming as an illustration (common in NT)

                                a1. The field does not bear life without rain

                                a2. Rain enlivens the seeds in the field

                                a3. Both good grain and weeds grow in field

                b. The herbs (botané – English word botany) means any crop which is beneficial to the farmer and men

                                a1. The field and rain are the same

                                a2. The seeds yield according to its own kind

                c. 2 approaches have been taken to this passage:

                                a1. I Corinthians 3:11-15 the tares that are burned up are the useless works done by immature believers (burned up like wood, hay, stubble)

                                a2. The tares are false believers growing among the grain (as the seed that fell on thorny or stony ground or the false branches on the vine mentioned in John 15)

                d. Since true believers are never called thorns or briers, the warning is probably to false believers

                                a1. Both Paul (Philippians 2:12) and Peter (2 Peter 1:10) urged readers to make sure they were saved by growing in Christ

                                a2. Without growth = no evidence of salvation

                                a3. II Corinthians 13:5 like the Corinthians, the author is concerned with the salvation of the Hebrews

2. A note of optimism

                a. Just as Paul expressed confidence in the faith of the Corinthians believers, Heb. expresses confidence in the faith and direction of the Jewish believers

                b. The author sees some positive signs in readers:

                                a1. Works of labor and love for the Lord

                                a2. They minister to fellow believers

                                a3. They continue serving the Lord

                c. Heb. encourages them to continue to serve in the hope of the Lord to the end

                                a1. Their service was in contrast to their holding onto the vestiges of the Law

                                a2. By completely focusing on their relationship with the Lord, they show evidence of a dynamic growing faith (Mark 4:1-9)

                d. Full assurance of salvation is seen in a relationship with the Lord that leads to godly service

                                a1. James 2 though no one can discern the salvation of another, it easier to detect in believers who show their love, joy, and eagerness to serve the Lord

                                a2. A labor of love points to what you love

                e. No one should leave their profession of faith in doubt (it should be obvious to all around you)

3. Removing tares

                a. Two categories destined for fire:

                                a1. Revelation 20 the unsaved, separated from Lord

                                a2. I Corinthians 3 worthless works of believers

                b. Should avoid both types of ruination

                                a1. To be a tare is to be a false believer who is destined for eternal condemnation

                                a2. To be an immature believer is to be useless in the service of the Lord and unrewarded

                c. Heb. encourages us to imitate (lit., mimic) spiritual believers, so we can be assured, useful, and rewarded

                                a1. I Corinthians 11:1 Paul urged Cor. to imitate him     

                            a2. Not to be motivated to grow fosters doubt

Sep 10, 2023. Hebrews 6:1-6

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TO MATURE OR WHITHER. Hebrews 6:1-6. 09/10/2203. #18.

1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

1. ABCs of Christianity

                a. Three basic approaches to passages:

                                a1. Those who are in Christ, but then back away lose their salvation (too many versus indicate that a believer can’t lose his or her salvation: Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8, John 6:47…)

                                a2. It is impossible for a believer to repent if he refuses to leave the elementary things of Christ in order to grow (remaining a carnal, immature Christian – I Corinthians 3)

                                a3. It is impossible for those who have initially entered into fellowship with the church, but who have not come to faith yet, to repent and be saved since they have rejected the Gospel

                b. The author of Hebrews chastises the Hebrew believers for remaining in the trappings of the Old Testament Law

                                a1. While professing Christ, they were still participating in rituals of washings and laying on of hands, praying for the dead, etc.

                                a2. OT ceremonies pointed to Christ

                c. Once Christ died and rose, the old rites were obsolete

                d. The ceremonial law was baby’s milk and as long as they were sucking on milk, they could not mature

2. Backing away

                a. Just as Paul was concerned for the carnal Corinthians, Hebrews was concerned for the immature Jews

                b. Just as it was hard to recognize if a carnal believer is saved by his actions, it is hard to know if an immature believer is saved by his lack of growth

                c. Those who back away had every advantage:

                                a1. Enlightened – heard and understood the Gospel and the Word of God

                                a2. Tasted the heavenly gift – they were around believers and experienced what salvation was

                                a3. Shared in Holy Spirit – benefitted from the fellowship and wisdom of Spirit filled believers

                                a4. Tasted the Word and its power – heard the teaching of the Word and felt its power

                d. The lack of growth and leaving Old Covenant, indicated that perhaps they had not truly come to faith

3. Impossible repentance

                a. The grave danger of participating with believers, but not coming to faith, is permanent rejection of Lord

                b. Several passages indicate that false believers exist

                                a1. 1 Jn. 2:19 those who leave us = never saved

                                a2. Mt. 13 there are tares among the wheat

                                a3. 2 Cr. 11:26 Paul dealt with false brethren

                                a4. 2 Th. 2:8-11 God will send a lie to deceive those who knew, but rejected the Gospel

                c. Those who reject the Gospel after having seemingly received it can’t come back since they rejected the only way of salvation (HEB. 10:26-31)

                                a1. This passage does not refer to those who are still seeking or believers struggling with sin

                                a2. Those who reject Christ after knowing fully who He is and what He did, are lost (Demus)

                d. Those who try to maintain OT sacrifices and rituals crucify Christ again by going back to vain offerings

                                a1. Puts Christ to open shame by trying to add futile offerings to His eternal offering

                                a2. Must depend on Christ alone to be saved

                e. I don’t know who is beyond repentance (a warning!)

Hebrews 10:26-31

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.