The epistle to the Hebrews reveals Jesus Christ as superior to all Old Testament figures and institutions, demonstrating that the new covenant in Him is better than the old. The sermon highlights Christ's superiority over angels and prophets, His role as a Savior better than Moses and Joshua, and His perfect priesthood and sacrifice which fulfill the Old Testament shadows. It emphasizes that through Christ, believers have access to God's presence via a better sanctuary and a new, living way. The message concludes by urging believers to embrace this superior reality through fidelity, faith, and trust in Christ, leading to a more fruitful Christian life.
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I want to add my thanks to the thanks of those who stood here before me for the lovely flowers. They gave the choir such a lift when they looked into the chapel and saw the spread of beautiful blooms. And they are that much more attractive because they all came from our own flowers and plants and were so beautifully arranged. I also wanted to say thank you for the support that we got last night. The chapel was so full and we are deeply grateful for the support.
And then I want to say for the first time I've had the opportunity of saying it, a big thank you to the choir. Now they worked hard on that cantata. They had a very short time to prepare it. though we did have a lift from a couple of years ago when we tried a piece or two from that cantata. But, you know, if you'd been standing where I was standing, you would have known why their presentation moved you. I could see the tears glistening on some of their cheeks. Thank you, choir.
Let's pray, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee that we have the old, old story to tell. And we thank thee that we have thy word in our hands and the freedom to read it. We pray that the Lord Jesus might become the more real to us through the few moments that we spend together in this morning's service. We ask in His name. Amen. Would you turn with me please to Hebrews chapter ten. Now during this week I want to speak on the epistle to the Hebrews.
I was encouraged to do this because when Dr. Stover was here he said his favorite epistle was the epistle to the Hebrews. Do you remember him saying that? Well I had been thinking about and pondering the epistle for with this week in view. And so that's what we're going to do if the Lord will. I was thinking, as I was preparing, about something of my own boyhood. You know, I was a disadvantaged boy. What's the word that they use these days?
If you live in the center of the city, they have a word for it. but however maybe it'll come to me I lived in the center of the second largest city in Britain a big industrial city and I lived on a street where the only thing that separated us from the the clanging streetcars trams if you please that went up and down constantly until ten thirty at night was the sidewalk upon which we walked.
We had no garden. There were no gardens in that part of the city. I must have been disadvantaged. I never had a bicycle as a boy. I can remember having some different sized blocks, different shaped, homemade blocks that I shared with my twin sister. And I remember having a metal wind-up truck, a lorry, if you please. And, but since that all that I can remember from my early days, I'm sure I must have had a little more than that, but I must have been disadvantaged.
Why ours was one of four homes on that part of the street. behind which there were twelve others and we shared four common toilets I must have been disadvantaged but I'm glad that nobody ever told me because I remember my boyhood as being a very happy time I didn't know what I was going without Basically, I don't think I really went without anything that mattered. My mother was not a Christian, but she used to love to sing.
Maybe that's where I got my love of music from. I know I used to wind up the old phonograph, gramophone, if you please, and listen to those seventy-eight records turning till I wore them out. Lovely music. I found a joy in that as quite a little boy. I used to lie in bed after I was put to bed and listen to my mother downstairs sing. That was part of what made my boyhood happy. But we did have a park not very far away to which I used to repair quite often. And one of my favorite pastimes was to stand at the edge of the lake and find some flat stones and then very carefully skim them over the surface of the lake and watch them bounce and see how many times they'd touch the water before they finally sunk.
You know, we have done that with Hebrews in the ten years that I've lived here with you in the park. We have skimmed the surface and touched down here and touched down there and We've had some happy times in the epistle to the Hebrews, but I'd like to think that we were going to deal with it in a little more depth. I asked myself, as I was thinking about the letter, because there are some things about it, you know, that are very puzzling. Nobody but Dr. Stover seems to know for certain who wrote this epistle.
But you remember he was very positive about it. That helped me because now I don't have to wonder anymore. But I was reading a little bit of church history and there was a man by the name of Tertullian. That's an awful name, isn't it? But his earlier names were Quintus Septimius. And he lived in the middle of the second century. He was born just about the middle of the second century. he was a great scholar when he disagreed with some of the tenets and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church he left that church he was converted when he was about forty and he became one of the leading scholars in church history he said that Barnabas wrote this epistle a man named Clement who may well be the one that Paul mentions in one of his letters.
He lived in the first century and died toward its close, and he said the Apostle Paul wrote this letter. There was another leading scholar from the early third century, and his name was Origen. Actually, it was Origines Adamantius. Aren't you glad you don't have names like that to say? But Origin, he said with some reservations that Paul was the writer. So in those early days they had a problem.
Calvin said that this letter was written by Apollos. Or rather Luther said Apollos, Calvin said, it was definitely not Pauline. Let me quote something here. One of my favorite commentaries by Jamison Fawcett and Brown, a commentary of a past generation, reads, internal evidence favors Pauline authority. The new commentary... written by scholars are close to our own time, reads like this, the internal evidence of the official itself, its language, style, and content are regarded as conclusive against Pauline authorship.
No wonder Christians down through the ages have been confused. In fact, the title didn't appear on this epistle until the second century when these words to the Hebrews were added. But more about that in a few moments. Not only do we not know who the author was, or shall I say who the writer was, we don't really know the date. But as we read the apostle, we find that these believers... they had obviously been Christians for a long time some of their Christian leaders it seems had passed away but Timothy was still alive and because there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem the date is usually put between AD sixty and AD seventy now as if this were not sufficiently puzzling there's a question as to whom it was written now it
obviously was written to jews we know that because there is no reference to paganism i think it's eighty six there are eighty six direct quotations from the old testament and there are a hundred passages including those eighty six which are drawn from the old testament and of course the levitical priesthood and order is what the whole epistle is about. So it obviously was written to the Hebrews, although the title didn't arrive there until the second century. But the puzzling thing is, was it written to Hebrews as opposed to Gentiles, or was it written to Palestinian Jews as opposed to foreign Jews?
We don't know. But we do know that it was intended, the message was intended for Christian Jews. And it has an object. Although these things are puzzling about the epistle, there are some things that are crystal clear. Whoever wrote it, God was the author of this epistle. That's the reason why we are not worried about who the human writer might have been. We know so much blessing has come into so many lives through this epistle that God must have been its author.
And it wasn't put into our Bible until all of the laws that... that covered canonicity were complied with and undoubtedly it proves to be the Word of God. That's why it's here. So who was the author? But we don't know who was the writer. Is crystal clear? The object, too, of this epistle is crystal clear. It's threefold. First of all, to demonstrate the evidence of shadow and substance now the word shadow is used in this epistle of the things that have passed away the substance now exists this is what the writer is saying there there has been in the past shadow but now there is the substance of which that was pictured by the shadow and then secondly it is meant to emphasize the replacement of the old with the new there cannot be an admixture
the one must be turned from and the other must be embraced now that message is very clear in the epistle to the Hebrews the old must be laid aside and replaced with the new and then thirdly The object is to show how much better the new is than the old and the Christian than the Jewish. Now I hope nobody is going to take exception to that statement because in Christ there is neither Gentile nor Jew nor Bund nor Free.
We're all one in Christ Jesus. and I hope it will not give the impression that these past things were unimportant. God forbid that we should think that. I don't want to seem at all derogatory in speaking of these past things the wonders of the law and the old economy. They were all of God. God provided them, God instructed these people of old, and their sacrifices were all God-ordained with one view in mind, and that was to point to the future when, as John the Baptist said, we should behold the Lamb of God, which beareth away the sin of the world.
Now I know that you know... that the theme of this epistle that's expressed in one word is expressed in the word better. It's talking about better things. The new is better, the Christian is better, the priesthood of Christ is better, the sacrifice of Christ is better, the sanctuary is better, and so it goes better, better, better, better all the way through this beautiful epistle. Now let's read from chapter ten, shall we? Verse sixteen. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Now that's the sentence that brings to an end the first section of this epistle, which is nine and a half, or thereabouts chapters long. And this is what begins the second part. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us, let us, let us.
That's what the second part is concerned about. You see, in the first section, we have the person of Christ nine and a half chapters in the second section we have the practice of Christianity the writer is telling us what Bible teachers and Bible writers always tell us it's no good having your head in the clouds unless you have your feet on the ground It's no good being so heavenly-minded that you are no earthly use.
This writer knew that there was one way that he could affect the lives of these believers, and that was holding up to them the person of the Lord Jesus. Because looking at him affects the way you live. And beholding him affects the way you behave. and gazing on him accentuates your Christian growth. So he says, look here and see the Lord Jesus. Chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, and so he goes on chapter nine and into chapter ten and he finishes with this thought because of what he has done.
There is no more sacrifice. Because there is no need. for any more sacrifice and then he begins the practical portion and says now that you've looked at the Lord Jesus now that you've beheld him and gazed upon him having therefore brethren boldness to enter in let's make sure that in a practical way our lives indicate and illustrate the power and wonderful things that we have been reading about. Now let me just give you an analysis or an outline of this epistle.
I hope it's a good one, but this is how it seems to me to open up. The first section dealing with the person of Christ runs from chapter one and verse one through chapter ten and verse eighteen the person of Christ now in those nine and a half chapters he's presented in a threefold way and in each instance it is to demonstrate to us how much better he is than all of this in the first place he's brought before us as a revelation of God God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us in his son.
And so the Lord Jesus is pictured for us in chapters one and two as a revelation of, not from, a revelation of God. and we don't get very far into this letter before we find the statement that Jesus Christ is God. And that's the basis. That's the foundation upon which all of these other things are built. Now in these two chapters in which the Lord Jesus is presented as a revelation of God, We see him better than the angels, after we see him better than the prophets.
Now the prophets were wonderful. I don't have time to go into some of the wonders about the prophets, but you've read your Bible often enough to know that they were wonderful men. prophets who they paid a tremendous price to get the message of God across even when it was resented even when they knew it was going to be rejected wonderful men but you read in our very first chapter and the first three verses we look at this in more detail Jesus is better than the prophets and then moving on from that verse four of chapter one all the way through to the end of chapter two we see the Lord Jesus as being better than the angels now again we could take time and talk about the angels in fact I've been doing a little bit of study on the angels maybe at some time we'll talk about them but you know the the instances when the angels in their in their own glory the angels in the wonder of their own being appeared to men, you know what happened, you know the
angels are wonderful beings. Why, we were singing about a song that humans couldn't hear last night through which the angels comforted the Lord Jesus. But he's better than the angels. When we come to the second section here, the Lord Jesus is presented as a savior from God. Why, his name means Savior. And it was God-given. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And again, in presenting the Lord Jesus as a Savior from God, He is shown to be better than Moses and you know what a wonderful man Moses was why Moses was the friend of God but Jesus was better than Moses and then he was better than Joshua and you remember the stories of Joshua he was such a wonderful man that there's a book in the Old Testament called by his name but Jesus is better than both better than Moses better than Joshua, and so the epistle continues to unfold.
Now by this time we've gotten to the end of chapter four, except three verses. And those introduce another theme. Jesus is presented as a revelation of God, the first two chapters. He's presented as a Savior from God, the next two chapters, except the last three verses of chapter four, and there he's introduced as a high priest before God. And that's the subject that goes on from the end of chapter four through five and six and seven and eight and nine and part of ten.
And in that we are shown that the Lord Jesus was the means of a better covenant, He was the means of a better sanctuary. He was the means of a better sacrifice. And he was the means of a better priesthood. Go back again to chapter ten where we were reading, will you? And notice verse sixteen of chapter ten. This is the covenant. that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. There's the better covenant.
Go on a little further. It says, verse nineteen, Having therefore, brethren, to enter into the holiest, now there's the better sanctuary. And incidentally, the word here is the holy. There is no holy and holiest because the veil has been torn down, it has been split from the top to the bottom, God being responsible for its tearing, and the holiest of all has been united with the holy place. And so the reference here is to the holy place. Because when we go into the holy place, we go into the holiest of all.
We go into the very presence of God himself. That is the better sanctuary. And then it says, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus. Now there's the better sacrifice, by a new and living way, which ye have consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God. And there's the better priesthood. And that, it seems to me, is how this first section unfolds. presenting to us the Lord Jesus in a threefold way.
When we come to the last section, those three and a half chapters, we are dealing with practical things. I'm going to divide this into three too. And we'll talk about it if we find we have time during the week. We must get here. There is first of all a plea for fidelity. God wants his people to be true. And you know, so often our own hearts condemn us because we discover in them a little hypocrisy here, a little hypocrisy there, and we question our own fidelity.
It's absolutely vital in God's interests that we listen to this plea for fidelity and then secondly and you know it well there's a panorama of faith that's chapter eleven one after the other I hope we get to that chapter because there's a whole list that's a beautiful progression as you go through across that panorama of faith and then finally by the time we get to chapter thirteen there's a path laid out for us to follow.
And in every instance when the plea is made the reminder is that it cannot come about unless we have our total trust in the person of the Lord Jesus. No, I don't wonder that Dr. Stover said that this was his favorite epistle. I hope after this week It'll go a little bit higher on your list of favorites because there isn't one that is more Christological than this one. Well, maybe Colossians, but here is Christ on every page.
Now, I'm aware of the fact there may be somebody here who doesn't know the Lord Jesus. to whom the Lord Jesus has never become precious, because you've loved your own way, you've clung to your own sin, you've turned a deaf ear on the gospel that you know so well, and you've gone on year after year, turning your back on the Lord Jesus too. Here is a letter to remind us, to remind you that without Christ you don't have anything. Without the Lord Jesus in your heart, you have no peace, you have no power, you have no potential or possibility, because the Bible says you're dead.
And without the Lord Jesus being actively in control in your life, you have no production. You cannot produce without him. I can do all things, Paul said. But he went on to say through Christ, And you know that little verse in Galatians two twenty that we know so well is a little verse that reminds us unless we are prepared to bring ourselves by faith to an end of ourselves in Bible parlance to the cross except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die to bite us alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit unless we bring ourselves to that place and can say, I live yet, not I but Christ liveth in me.
We are still missing the mark in our Christian lives. There's so much of the Lord Jesus in this letter. I don't think we can study it together without getting a real blessing for our hearts. You know, I have a tough act to follow. We've had a lovely conference. Started with a good week. I have to say that because Hurley was here for that week along with our good brother, what's his name? Oh yeah, that's right, Eddie Swartz. They're coming back again next year by the way. But that was a wonderful week.
We listened to the cries of the Lord Jesus from the cross. That was a great start to a good conference. Do pray that God will see fit to continue to speak to our heart. Let's pray together, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, we want to thank thee for thy word. We want to thank thee for its order. We thank thee for the way that by thy spirit thou hast put it together. We pray that we might have eyes that are anointed by the Spirit of God to see this beautiful order.
and wonderful message and to gaze time and time again upon the person of thy dear Son. We thank thee that so many of us know him and we thank thee Lord and we say this sincerely that so many of us deep in our hearts truly love him but sometimes we question areas in our lives where we feel the Lord Jesus is not really ruling and raining. Bless us then, as we spend this week together, we pray, and above everything else, ground that the Lord Jesus shall be honored and magnified in his name.