The Epistle to the Hebrews part CX

I Corinthians 15:3-4
"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (absolutely, the Old Testament foretold it remember we said that the Old Testament is revealed by or in the New) And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures;"

Now that’s the Gospel we must receive and then believe in order to again receive Eternal Life. We can’t pick and choose bites and pieces or blind things together its not in parts. We can’t say, "Well I believe that He died. I believe that He was resurrected one way or another. But I can’t believe He was dead for three days." See that? We take it all in or we’ve got nothing. But when we believe that Christ died for our sin, He was dead, He was buried, He was in the tomb three days and three nights, and God raised Him from the dead and He became then the only begotten Son of God. But not the only or last begotten son for all who receive the illumination of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verses 23 through 32 and chapter 15 verse 1 through 4 and Romans chapter 10 and verse 9 through 11 are they which receive this Gospel of Salvation. This is the whole story of the, what we call the first estate into which God places us for our good and training which leads to the crisis.

And when we believe that, God moves in and transforms us and make us a new person a New Creature. And without it, they can be "church-memberized" until they’re blue in the face and they’re as lost as lost as can be. But it is on this Gospel that all is based, on the fact that He was raised from the dead.

Alright now, on that same premise we want to bring you back to Romans chapter 1, which falls right in line with Acts 13. Remember what Acts said. Now concerning ‘that.’ That God declared Him the only begotten Son of God, that concerning that, it was when God raised Him from the dead that He became then the only begotten Son of God. We’ll start with verse 1 to pick up the flow.


Romans chapter 1:1-2
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures.)." See what that says. It fits perfectly with I Corinthians that He died for our sins according to what? The Old Testament Scriptures, the afore. That He rose from the dead. According to what? The Old Testament Scriptures. And here he repeats it, see? "Which he promised before by the prophets in the holy scriptures." Now verse 3,

Romans 1:3
"Concerning his son (the same Son that Hebrews is dealing with) Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David (that is in the flesh) according to the flesh." Now here it comes in verse 4.

Romans 1:4
"And declared (by the Psalmist. By God Himself. And here through the Apostle Paul’s writing) to be the Son of God with (what?) power, according to the spirit of holiness, (that is the very power of the holy Godhead. by the what?) the resurrection from the dead."

Do you see that? That’s when the power of the Son was confirmed, was consummated, was established or whatever word you can put on it. When He was raised from the dead. And without it there is no Salvation in fact our redemption would not have been a done deal without His resurrection either. And so if you doubt us, you just read I Corinthians 15 all over again and all through that chapter, how that, the very basis of our salvation is that Christ arose from the dead. Another good one is I Thessalonians 4:14. In that passage, believing that Christ died for us and rose again is the qualification we must meet before we can go in the departure.


Alright now then, back to Hebrews chapter 5 and we’ll go into verse 6.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CIX

Acts 13:34
"Now as concerning that, he raised him from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David."

So when did Christ become the only begotten Son? At His resurrection! See, and this is why we're stressing, at least we hope we are, that salvation can be through no other way but through Christ’s death, burial and resurrection coupled with the revelation of the Lord's Covenant meal His Last Supper. Now turn to I Corinthians 15 again. For most of us this is over and over and over, but this is still the plainest portion of Scripture to reveal this Gospel of the Grace of God. This is where every lost and unbelieving person has to come. There is no redemption or salvation outside of the revelation of this death, burial and resurrection and our ascension in Him spiritually.

Now you know that raises a lot of eyebrows. We had someone just the other morning say that their pastor (boy, I’d hate to be in his shoes) had said that after all, Christianity isn’t the only approach to God, there are many. Well, we’ve got news for him. He’s going to suddenly be shocked when he gets into eternity unless he has a change in the meantime because there IS ONLY ONE WAY. And another person said and had the same kind of a situation and the pastor had more or less said the same thing. And so he says on his way out, "Well, what do you do with John 14 verse 6? "I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes unto the Father but by me." And you know what that preacher said, "Well, that doesn’t mean what it says." Well, that’s a cop out, see? A blatant lie and just plain ignorance or a blind guide leading the blind. That is exactly what Matthew chapter 22 and verse 5 calls "making light of Christ's Gospel". Lets take a look at it:

Matthew 22:1-4, 5 "And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king (God the Father), which made a marriage for his son (Christ Jesus), and sent forth his servants to call them (Israel) that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come (they refused His offers). Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage (this is seen in Acts no less then six times).
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise (this speaks of both Israel and the Gentiles who ignore His Gospel which He gave to Paul His chosen Apostle, or messenger.)."


It DOES mean what it says. There IS only one way and there is no other religion on earth that can make that claim, because Christianity is the only one that teaches resurrection from the dead and Eternal Life. The others don’t mention it. Christianity alone teaches a resurrection from the dead. Not just a matter of dying and going to heaven but there is coming a resurrection day. Christianity alone stands on that premise. And that’s why Paul writes in the 11th chapter the Lord's last supper and then in the 15th chapter of Corinthians, in which there is more teaching on resurrection than all the rest of this Book put together and probably more than all the other religious books in the world.

And what’s the whole vortex of it? That if Christ be not raised from the dead then you are yet in your sin. And we’ve had some examples. Scientists especially and we’ve got one man in particular and he’s going to recognize it as soon as we share it. He said, "You know for the longest time I went to church and I had no problem with Christ’s crucifixion, that He died and that He shed His blood and that He was buried. But as a scientist I couldn’t accept the resurrection. But by that I saw that I was nothing more than a church member. But when I suddenly saw how that you constantly emphasized the resurrection, the Lord opened my heart and I could believe it. That yes, Christ was raised from the dead. And that’s where our Salvation lies."

We’ve probably got multitudes of church members who believe like this man did, that Christ died the horrible death of the crucifixion but would not accept the resurrection. Without it, they’re lost. Alright, now look at I Corinthians and this is why the resurrection is at the core of our belief system. Remember now, this is all coming from "this day have I begotten thee." What day? The day He was raised from the dead.

I Corinthians 15:1-2
"Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel (not a gospel – but rather This Gospel of salvation) which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; (as a believer, positionally we have to first receive before we can ever truly believe. Now the next verse and plainer English could never be written.) By which (that is this Gospel) you are saved (or redeemed), if you keep in memory what I preached to you unless you have believed in vain." Now here is Paul’s Gospel!

1Corinthians 11:23-32
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread (the New Testament symbol of the Lambs body): And when he had given thanks, he brake it (for our spiritual reunion in Him), and said, Take, eat: this is my body (as the pascha Lamb), which is broken (through which we are healed or conjoined to Him) for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament (the promised New an Eternal Covenant) in my blood (the power of an Endless Life, for life is in the blood): this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come (He be re-birthed in us). Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup (the garden cup to which He said never the less not My will but They Will be done) of the Lord, unworthily (by making light of Christ and His witness and His witnesses), shall be guilty (remain in their sin as a lawless or wicked one) of the body and blood of the Lord (an enemy of the cross and blood of Christ as they trample them under foot). But let a man examine himself (this is the purpose of being placed by God in the first estate under the tutorship of the Holy Spirit), and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily (in a wicked manor), eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged (self examination), we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”
and then he says.

I Corinthians 15:3a
"For I delivered to you first of all (because he was the one to whom this whole concept was revealed) that which I also received,…"
In other words, as we just said he even had to first receive it then he could say, the God of Glory appeared to this raging persecutor of those followers of Jesus of Nazareth - and converted him there outside Jerusalem and Damascus - took him into the desert and unloaded on him all of these new concepts (Grace working within us) of salvation by trusting, in His faith alone in the death, burial and resurrection. You see Jesus had to go before us all as our fore runner or as our chief leader. This was unknown before. Alright, now look what he said.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CVIII

Hebrews 5:6a
"As he said also in another place, you are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
Now look, who’s speaking it? God the Father. To whom? God the Son. And yet we know that the Son is a part of the Godhead the same as the Father. But here we’re separating them just like in His earthly ministry. In His earthly ministry, we pointed out, why does Jesus, especially in John 17, pray to the Father? Well, He’s praying from His humanity and our humility as the son of man and then He can pray to the Father.

On another instance, He can make the same statement as the Father and so here’s where we have to separate these things by a study of the Scripture and just simply take it by trusting faith. But nevertheless, here we find that God the Father designates to God the Son that He is to be the High Priest, not patterned after Aaron in the material or external priesthood, but after Melchizedek (a spiritual Priesthood). A gentile who was designated as high priest of the Most High God, who's temple was in Salem located on Mount Zion in Canaan.


Go back to Psalms chapter 2 where Paul is quoting. Where we have it word for word as Paul is using it here in the book of Hebrews. As written by king David as a conversation between God the Father and Yhovah God the Son.

Psalms 2:7 "I (God says,) will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, you are my Son; (so who is speaking to whom? Well, God the Father is speaking to God the Son) this day have I begotten you."
Now we have to be careful, when did David write the Psalms? Well, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 BC. Was that when Christ was begotten, the only begotten Son of the Father? No, this is prophecy. This is something that is going to take place years and years out into the future. But, here’s the setting God the Father has spoken to the Son and He says, "this day I have begotten you." This took place not at His birth or baptism but rather after His ascension, when He entered the Holiest place with His Blood.

Psalms 2:8
"Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession."
So then you come all the way down through this chapter - it’s a delegation of the authority that God imparts to the Son. And as we've stated else where this is God's timetable of prophetic events which where to have taken place after the Lord's execution and ascension but with in difference a pause between verses 8 and 9. Which has an unseen parenthetical clause inserted which we call the Age of Grace, just as Romans has a similar parenthetical between chapters 8 and 12 which is the mystery of Israel's nature revealed, chapter 9, past, 10, present and 11, future.

Now let’s turn all the way up to Acts chapter 13 and find out what that meant when God said "this day I have begotten thee." We pointed out, that David wrote the Psalms around 1000 BC but that’s not when Christ became the only begotten Son of God - but prophecy-wise, that was when it was spoken. But in Acts chapter 13, we have the Scriptural definition of what it meant to be the only begotten Son of God. Now remember to that John also uses this term in chapter 3 verse 16 upon which most place there redemption upon.

We imagine most would be shocked that probably most people think that He became the only begotten Son of God in Bethlehem when He was born of the woman. But that is not the cast. Rather Acts tells us exactly when He became the only begotten Son. Here in Acts 13 we find Paul rehearsing how Christ was crucified, and how He was buried.


Acts 13:33-34a
"God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, (that is the promise which was made to the forefathers) in that he hath raised up Jesus again; (that is from the dead) as it is also written in the second psalm, (that’s why I took you back there before I came into Acts) Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." (now verse 34 defines it) And as concerning that…"

Acts 13:34
"Now as concerning that, he raised him from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David."

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CVII

Numbers 16:20-25
"And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be wroth (angry) with all the congregation? And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the congregation? And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, speak to the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him."

Now come on down and now verse 28. Moses is going to give an example and he said:

Numbers 16:28-30
"And Moses said, hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, (in other words, if they continue on living and die from whatever other reason) or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD has not sent me. But (Moses says, now take notice) if the LORD makes a new thing, and the earth opens her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down into the pit; then you shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD."

Alright, now we come down to the confrontation.

Numbers 16:31-33
"And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave (or separated) asunder that was under them (that is under Korah and his followers) And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. (In other words, those who had connected themselves with him in his rebellion) They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit, (that is into Sheol) and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation."

That’s how seriously God dealt with false priests. So always remember that when God stipulated certain things it was not to be taken lightly. We saw in the book of Hebrews in one of our earlier chapters, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. [And this is repeated again in Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 through 14. Dealing with God's invite to the marriage feast and Israel's saying No to His offer. And His then turning to the nations with this Gospel and the destruction of the city and the scattering of Israel throughout world. Which we know took place in 70 AD. Look closely at verse 5.] Well, Korah and his family found out.


Now come back to Hebrews again, so that Aaron was designated by God Himself, as the high priest and those that followed him. No man dared assume the role of a priest without God’s commission and that’s why we wanted you to see for yourself the account of Korah. Alright now then we’ll move on into the next verse and we move on into the priesthood again of Christ Himself. Now remember, that this Gospel is the revelation of Christ manifested in His Gospel of Grace and the Everlasting Covenant and the priesthood of Aaron was among men (Israel, and as such they now have NO right to partake of this table). They were human, they had the same failures, the same sinfulness as anyone else but God had commissioned them. But this priest, Christ, is not a mere man but the priesthood is a follow-up of what Aaron began. So, the functions of the priesthood are relatively alike but here they had a human priest and here we have the Son of God our High Priest over His Body, His Church a spiritual priest. Who is head and shoulders above the mere human priesthood under Aaron's family line. Not of this worlds order of things but rather of the Divine order of things, spiritual.


Hebrews 5:5a
"So also Christ glorified not himself…" In other words, now here’s where it gets ticklish doesn’t it? When we start dealing with the Trinity, the Triune God, it is so hard for us to reckon the fact that on the one hand Jesus was totally human. On the other hand He was totally God, Christ. We have to take this by trusting, faith. Here to is a mystery Jesus by being baptized by John the baptist was a conveyance of the priesthood of Aaron as John was the son of what? a high priest Zechariah for this is the meaning of “to fulfill all righteousness.” This can be seen in John 6:26-30, 7:18, 8:54, 11:4, 13:31-32; Matthew 6:9. So now here we see Christ from His humanity, not demanding that He be made a priest, but rather what? God declaring that He’s the High Priest. Just like He did with Aaron. But with this one difference Christ is now Spirit and Aaron and his priesthood was anything but spiritual. Okay, now look at this very carefully.

Hebrews 5:5
"So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but He that said to him, you are my Son, today have I begotten you."

Now go on and read verse 6 and look at verse 5. This is found in Psalm 2:7 this being here a repeat of chapter 1 verse 5.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CVI

Leviticus 16:14-15
"And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; (that is in behind the veil) and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:"

Here we find that he makes the atonement for himself first, and then for Israel. Well, now maybe we should back up a little further to verse 6 to make it a little more plain.


Leviticus 16:6
"And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house."
Do you see that? That tells us then that Aaron was just as much in need of a sinner’s approach to God as the ordinary Hebrew. Then down in verse 14, he was to take the second bullock and sprinkle that blood then for the sins of the people. Alright, we hope we've made our point, that the priesthood of Aaron was a human priesthood and they were just as much in need of forgiveness and the atonement of their sins as the ordinary Hebrew on the street. In all of this we can see the material or externality of the required bull, and goats blood to cover the sin of the people and the priesthood.

Come back then again to Hebrews chapter 5. And so not only was the high priest human so that he could identify with the everyday experiences of the people but also that he recognized that he was a sinner and was just as much in need of forgiveness as the ordinary Hebrew. Now then verse 4 of Hebrews chapter 5.


Hebrews 5:4 "And no man (not even Aaron) takes this honor (that is to be the high priest) unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron."

Get the picture? Who commissioned Aaron to be the first high priest? God did! Let’s go back again and look at the Scriptures. Let’s go back to Exodus 28 where we see the beginning of this whole system of religion. (Remember to that religion means: to bind; bondage to a system of or for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver, and without reference to His Will or Commands.) The building of the tabernacle, and the establishing of the priesthood, and the clothing that he would wear. This is all back here in Exodus. But let’s just look for now at how God commissioned Aaron to be the high priest. Moses didn’t appoint him nor anyone else. Only God could do that, and here is His instruction to Moses.


Exodus 28:1
"Take to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons."

Then the rest of the chapter covers with instructions for their clothing. On the other side of the coin, turn with us to Numbers 16 and the strange fire of Korah. Now Korah was a member of the tribes of Israel and he got a little arrogant and puffed up and he just didn’t feel that Moses and Aaron were the only fish in the pond. So he took it upon himself to play the role of a priest. And so here in Numbers 16 we find the account.


Numbers 16:1-3a
"Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: and rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, you take too much upon you."

See their arrogance? They’re telling Moses and Aaron, hey, you’re trying to be the big wheel. We’re going to have just as much a part of this as you. And so they say:

Numbers 16:3b-5
"…You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, everyone of them and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? And when Moses heard it he fell upon his face: (and the thought how can anyone be so brazen) And he spake to Korah and all his company, saying, even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near to him: even him who he has chosen will he cause to come near."

Now this is Moses’ instruction to Korah and those that were following him.

Numbers 16:6-9
"This do; Take you censers (that is the fire), Korah and all his company; and put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow; and it shall be that the man whom the LORD does choose, he shall be holy; you take too much upon you, you sons of Levi. And Moses said to Korah, hear, I pray you, you sons of Levi: seems it but a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?"

Well, anyway, you know what happened, as the next day comes around and here comes Korah and these 250 and they’re going to play the role of the high priests. Now come on down to verse 20.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CV

Philippians 4:6a
"Be careful (or in our present day language we’d say worry) about nothing; (be careful or worry about nothing) but in every thing…"

Now what does the word everything mean? Everything! God doesn’t limit. Now there are some people that say God doesn’t listen to anything unless it’s spiritual. We don’t buy into that. God listens to our every legitimate need when we are His, the key is this that we are His. Now we’re not going to be frivolous, or silly when we come into God’s presence. But there isn’t anything that is of any note that God isn’t willing to hear about, and wants to hear about it. So we’re not to worry about anything, but in every thing:


Philippians 4:6b
"…by prayer and supplication (but the secret is the next two words) with (what?) thanksgiving (in other words we thank the Lord before we even tell Him what we’re asking for and we thank Him for what He’s going to do and so with thanksgiving you) let your requests be made known to God."

Does God not know what we need? Of course He does. But what does the heart of God long for between Himself and the believer? His God-child. Communication. God wants us to talk to Him, God wants us to commune with Him. And that’s what prayer is all about. It’s a two way street. He speaks to us through His Word, Christ Jesus; we speak to Him through prayer, our Mediator Christ Jesus. We usually tell people, "Now that doesn’t say that He’s going to give a direct answer to everything we ask for. He may say yes. You may have an immediate answer. He may say no. He may not answer the way we think He should. Or He may tell us to wait a while.Or to stop asking altogether."

But the next verse is our immediate answer. The next verse is what we get every time we come to the Throne room boldly and what is it?

Philippians 4:7
"And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through (in) Christ Jesus."

That peace of God. Not the peace with God. We got that when we were redeemed but rather the Peace of God. But now as a believer we come into the Throne room boldly and we share all your needs and your desires of your heart and whether God says yes, no, maybe or later - but whatever the answer, we have that Peace of God that passes all understanding.



Hebrews 5:1a
"For every high priest taken from among men (from the Nation of Israel) is ordained for men in things pertaining to God."
Do you see the relationship there? The whole role of the priest was to present the needs of mankind to the Holy God. Alright, but now we’ve got another point to make in another verse or two, so we’re going to put that on hold. But this human high priest, starting with Aaron of course, came to God with:

Hebrews 5:1b
"…things that pertained to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:"
They had to take care of the sin problem that man constantly was bugged with, and the high priest brought this before God. Now verse 2. This high priest of Israel, following in the line of Aaron then, was a man:

Hebrews 5:2a
"Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way;…"
In other words, there was no one too low on the totem pole for the high priest to be aware of and to present him before God. So this high priest:

Hebrews 5:2
"Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity."

The high priest was human, and he was plagued with the same sins and temptations and passions as anybody else. So just because he was the high priest, that did not mean that he was above reproach. Or above sin.

Hebrews 5:3
"So by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer (that is a sacrifice) for sins."

Come back to Leviticus chapter 16, we have the Day of Atonement when the high priest would go in behind the veil and sprinkle the blood on the Holy of Holiest, or the Ark of the Covenant. Let’s drop in at verse 14 and we’ll just pick out the ones that pertain to establishing the fact that the high priest was just as much a sinner as the average Hebrew.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CIV

Hebrews 4:16b
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Alright, so we come into the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy. But what do we deserve? Judgment. On the other hand, what do we get? Mercy. Let’s go back to Exodus chapter 33, and it’s the first place that this is really explained in perfect order. This goes clear back into the Levitical Law of Israel. Even under Law, what made it possible for a Hebrew to get right standing with God? His Grace! My goodness, you all know it as well we do. Time after time, what did God have every right and reason to do with Israel? Wipe them off the face of the map. They didn’t deserve His Grace. But it isn’t just Israel. We’re no different. My as much as we love our beloved America, do we deserve another day of our liberty? No, we don’t deserve it, any more than any other group of people. But, oh, we’ve been enjoying it now for several hundred years because of God’s mercy and Grace.


Genesis 33:19
"And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; (and now here it comes) and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."

What’s that telling us? God in His Sovereignty can show mercy to whomever He will. Now He doesn’t have to, but He does, because in His Sovereignty that’s just His character, His nature. He is the God of all Grace, and He is the God of Mercy and Love. And so in order for us to come into this Throne room of Grace, vile sinners couldn’t get there, no one polluted with the sin of this world could possibly come in to the Holy presence of God, so what did He have to do? He had to make a provision because we couldn’t do it. Here we come right back full circle to that work of the Lord's Last Supper and the cross. When Christ made provision for the exchanging of the old Adam-Satan nature for the re-birthing of the God-child nature through death, His blood shed and paid the price of our full redemption and proclaimed it as what? Finished. Now what can we do? We can come right in to the Throne room without having joined anything, without having done anything, without having given anything. By faith in this Gospel and nothing more.

You know, somebody was telling me how his pastor was so hung up on tithing. And we said, "Next time you see him, you ask him if tithing is so all important to you people, why is it that 90% of church members don’t tithe?" Have you ever thought of that? Now, we're pulling that number out of the air, we admit. But we get that number from years and years ago - a group of us were just having coffee after an evening church service and we got to talking about church finances and so forth. And it just so happened that our church treasurer was in our midst and we were not the kind of people that ever found out who was giving what.

But as we were talking about our church finances and so forth, our treasurer made this statement. He says, "Fellows do you realize that about 90% of our giving comes from 5 % of our people?" Now you take that into your own church and we’ll bet it’s not very far off in most congregations. Well if tithing is so almighty important so far as eternal destiny is concerned, what are they doing with these 90% that aren’t tithing? That would scare me if I were a preacher and I was depending on that. You know what we’d have to say? We're doing something very wrong. We'd have to examine ourselves and then ask the Holy Spirit to change us, so that we'd preach in the spirit and not in the letter, as the letter kills but the Spirit gives Life and that Life more abundantly.

But see it isn’t on that. We are not boldly coming into the Throne room of Grace because we gave 20% of our income. We don’t come boldly into the Throne room because I’m such a good guy. Every one of us comes in there on the same premise and what is it? The mercy and the Grace of God, through the Blood of Christ. That’s all. And oh, God is so good. My goodness, we have to tell Him every morning, "Lord I don’t deserve all these blessings." And neither do you. We’re all alike, we’re all human. Not one of us can go into the Throne room and say Lord I’m here because I deserve it. No, I’m here because of what You have done and what Your doing in me. So we come boldly that we may obtain mercy and find that benefit especially when? When we need it. When’s that? All the time. That’s all the time. There isn’t a moment that we don’t need the Grace and the mercy of God especially in the world in which we’re living today. We’re bombarded from every direction with everything imaginable and it’s only through the Grace of God we make it through each day.

That reminds us of a verse in Philippians chapter 4. What a basis for prayer.

Philippians 4:6a
"Be careful (or in our present day language we’d say worry) about nothing; (be careful or worry about nothing) but in every thing…"

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CIII

Hebrews 4:16a
"Let us therefore…"

We love the way Paul uses therefore over and over and over throughout his letters. We guess the first one that comes to mind is Romans 8:1


Romans 8:1
"There is therefore (that’s right, Therefore, because of all that Paul had written in those first 7 chapters of Romans, there is therefore) no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,…"

In other words to those who have come by faith + nothing into salvation. Oh, the world thinks it’s trusting plus some works, you know, do this and do that. Fulfill this little prescribed rituals, and fulfill this little operation and then you can have eternal life. No, no. It’s FAITH + NOTHING! But be sure it’s trusting in the right place. It’s faith in that finished work of the cross, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose from again, + nothing else. You are to believe that in your heart for salvation. Even James tells us to be a doer of the Word and NOT a hearer only. Alright, now then, verse 16 of Hebrews chapter 4 again.


Hebrews 4:16
"Let us therefore (because of the High Priest that we have, because He has passed into the heavens, He’s not someplace on earth. We don’t have to go to some headquarters, nor even to any denominational headquarters. We don’t have to go someplace in order to get into the right mood and mode for prayer, but rather we can:

Hebrews 4:16b
"…come boldly to the throne of grace,…"

Now we just went back and had to look up some of the Greek and some of the commentaries. Do you know what that word boldly means? Just exactly like you get it on the first impression. We go into the throne room without any apology. We don’t have to say, "Well now Lord here I am. You know I really don’t have any right to ask you this." No. We are instructed; we are commanded to go, to come boldly into His presence. Now why? Because again it just affirms what a great salvation we have. Now if we didn’t have this great a salvation, we couldn’t go boldly into God’s presence, but we can with anything that we want to approach Him with.

We can go into the throne room of heaven boldly, without any excuse, without begging, without any doubt, knowing that He knows, He knows everyone of us by name. And we don’t have to introduce yourselves when we get there, because He knows who we are. He knows what you’re going to ask before we do. Alright, Oh what a precious verse we have here. We can just feed on it. As we abide in His name or have taken on His name as a wife takes on her husbands name in marriage so we have taken on the Name of Christ. When we rightly divide the Lord's Last Supper meal for in it we have the exchange from a Satan-child to that of a God-child and heir of God and joint-heir in Christ. Therefore we come boldly into the Father's presences as a son of His Love because we're identified in Christ Jesus. We're welcomed as an heir.

So, let us therefore remember all that has been coming out of these first four chapters. Don’t be like those Hebrews at Kadesh-barnea and in unbelief say "No God you can’t do it." But come with trusting faith, believing Who He is. He’s God the Son, He’s the Creator, He’s the Sustainer, He’s the One Who finished the work of redemption unto our salvation, and nobody can add anything to it. It’s done. And listen, all of Christendom is trying to add something to it, just as the Hebrews and their priests do. They’re patching on something here, and they’re sticking on something there, but remember you come into that pure unadulterated Gospel of the Grace of God, and you just believe it! When we've received it by way of inspiration of revelation it becomes ours to hold unto and the mysteries or secrets open up to us. They then become ours and our childrens as Deuteronomy 29:29 says.

Why is it the more we proclaim this Grace of God the less people want to hear it?" It’s so true, because people don’t want to hear it. They’d rather go and hear a big booming instrumental group entertain them than to hear what you’re hearing today, and you know it’s true, because that’s where the masses are and all they want is to be entertained. They want some feel-good, ear-itching stuff that they can go home and then go through the week and coast until they get another little high. But listen, we are resting on that finished work of the cross. The Christ Who has passed into the heavens. The One Who has faced every temptation that we face and consequently then, therefore, we can come boldly without any qualifications on our part to the throne of Grace.


What’s Grace? Unmerited favor! No. It's the benefit of our benefactor, its the divine blessings of Christ Jesus. Do you and I have any reason to expect something like this? No. There’s no reason God should say, "Well come on in boldly and share your needs, share your joys, share your sorrows, I’ve got an open ear." No there’s no reason for Him to do that. Except Grace. Oh how God loves to be gracious, how He loves to just give out all of His goodness. He loves to fill us with Himself, we are His temple of intercourse, of communion and praise. We're the house of prayer for all nations.


Hebrews 4:16b
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CII

Genesis 3:6a
"And when the woman (Eve) saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the (what?) eyes,…"

So what have we got? Here was a fruit that was an object of the lust of her eyes. It was a beautiful fruit. We don’t think it was an apple, but whatever it was it must have been beautiful. It was alluring, it must have just looked delicious and of course with Satan’s prodding it just looked all the better. Then the next part was that this same beautiful fruit was something that would make her wise.

Genesis 3:6b
"…and a tree to be desired to make one wise, …"
Now what does that appeal to? The pride. Pride and desire that it would make her wise, and remember that Satan’s temptation was that she could be as God. Then the third step was:

Genesis 3:c
"… she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat."
Now listen, have any of you ever been so full of a good large dinner that you couldn’t eat another bite? Of course you have. Just the thought of another bite just almost becomes repulsive. So really, in order to enjoy something, you have to be a little bit what? Hungry. My wife knows that better than anybody. When you are hungry just about anything can taste delicious. So, even though the Scripture itself does not definitively say it, Eve must have had enough of an appetite to really want to satisfy the desire to eat. And then what does she do? She plucked the fruit, she looked at it again, and she suddenly desire of the flesh of that fruit to satisfy her hunger. But also her old mind was just spinning like everything. What’s it going to do to her? It’s going to make her wise. So here she is pummeled with all three categories of temptation at one time. We guess it’s no wonder she succumbed is it?

But you see, the Lord went through those same three categories in Matthew chapter 4, but remember, apart from sin. He never had any inkling to give in like Eve did. Nevertheless, in Matthew chapter 4 at the temptations, this was the whole purpose. This was the purpose so that when He became our great High Priest, He knew exactly what we go through. He too was tempted with making those stones bread when He was hungry. He too was tempted to fulfill a desire of the eyes. He too was given the temptation, we guess the one that’s the easiest to understand, is chapter 4 and like we've said, don’t ever get the idea that He even thought about succumbing but this is simply given to us to understand that He knows what we’re going through. Because you see you can’t really understand unless you’ve been there.

Unless you have been faced with a certain dilemma that’s unique to your own situation, you don’t know what it’s like. But see the Lord did. The Lord faced these three categories so that He would know exactly what the human race is going through. He knew what it was like when He was hungry to have Satan mention bread. He knew what it was like when Satan said, "Fall down and worship me and all the kingdoms of this world, I’ll give them to you."

Well now it never affected Him because they were already His. But what we have to learn from it is, Satan was tempting Him with something that would make a human being proud. That’s why men attain to be emperors. That’s why they attain world power, to satisfy their pride. So the Lord could honestly say without any doubt whatsoever, I’ve been there. I know what you are going though. I know exactly what its like. That's why it says He will succor (aid or help) us. That’s why we can go to Him with full assurance that since He has tasted temptations, He has been confronted, He'll give us aid or help in time of need.

Let’s even go a little further with this thought. As He was going through the suffering leading up to the cross, and He cried out at one time "Father if it be Your will, let this cup pass from me." Do you realize what He was really saying? If there was any way that God could perform salvation without His having to go through that which was coming, do it the other way. What was that? Well it was really a temptation that He could have somehow avoided the sufferings of the cross. But He didn’t. He never did. So always take these things into consideration when you read a verse like this. That He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities because He’s been there. He’s walked in our shoes and we're required to walk in His. And Yes even through His passion week experience. Now back to the Epistle of Hebrews, and let’s go on down to verse 16. And again one of Paul’s favorite words:


Hebrews 4:16a
"Let us therefore…"

The Epistle to the Hebrews part CI

Hebrews 4:15
"For we (now back to Hebrews 4) have not (or do not have) a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;"

Now we like to put it into the positive. We have a High Priest who can be touched with our infirmities. Doesn’t that make it easier to understand? Yes. We have a High Priest who knows all about us. He hears our every thought as we just saw from the Psalms. There’s nothing that we can hide from Him. There’s not a heartache that He doesn’t feel. There’s not a joy and an exuberance that He doesn’t know. Why? Because the two have become one as in a marriage union. That is the meaning or purpose for the metaphor or parable.

Now since we know that we have such a High Priest, we can also rest on the fact that not only does He know all about us, but He knows where we are, because He too was touched with our temptations. Now we have to be careful and qualify it. He never was tempted to succumb, He was tempted only so that He could understand from virtual experience what we have to face. He never had the possibility of succumbing. Of course, the best ones, we suppose, that we are aware of, are the temptations in the wilderness when Satan said, turn these stones into bread. Now don’t think even for a split second that the Lord considered it. No way. But He went through those temptations so that the scripture could tell us that nothing, nothing that enters the life of a believer as temptation or testings is something that He hadn’t already experienced. So that’s what it means. Now we have a High Priest who knows exactly what we’re putting up with. He knows what its like to be tempted. The only difference is that He did it apart from sin and we are so prone to sin. But He knows all about us.


Hebrews 4:14a
"Seeing then that (therefore) we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens,…"

And remember, going back to chapter 1, that when He passed into the heavens having purged our sins, He what? He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Now how did He purge our sins with His Blood, the Blood pushed or erased the cloud of our sin that veiled us from God's presence, the smoke or stain of sin was completely removed. As the veil which hung at the entrance to the Holiest place in the Temple was slit from top to bottom so our sins were removed by God's Grace.


Hebrews 1:3b
"…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"

Remember we made the point that when He sat down, what did it indicate? That it was finished, done. Right. Oh, that the finished work of cross took care of everything. There wasn’t another iota that could be added to it. Consequently, He could rest and be aware that it was totally finished. He made mans peace with God and God accepted it and we now have peace with the God of Peace. So here again:


Hebrews 4:14-15b
"…we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

On the other hand He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities because He was in all points tempted or tested like as we are, yet without, or apart from sin. In other words, even the thought of yielding to temptation never entered His mind, why? Only the tempter Satan can tempt us, for God tests us for He tempts no one. God does what in our being tested, He perfects His Love and nature in us, He changes our old nature to His nature; as this is the meaning of the word "Father".

Now the three categories of temptations that cover every possible scenario of the human experience can be found in the little book of 1st John chapter 2. Now we did this way back when poor old Eve was caught in temptations in Genesis chapter 3. We probably used it when we covered the temptations in our study of Matthew, but it never hurts to repeat some of these things. But first let’s look in 1st John chapter 2 beginning in verse 15.


I John 2:15-16
"Love not the world, (in other words this evil worlds system) neither the things that are in the world.(the earthy or materialism). If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (now here’s the world) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Now we’ve already mentioned Eve, so let’s jump all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 and see how that she was pummeled with all three of them at one time. Most of us are dealt with these one at a time. We may suddenly find ourselves confronted with something that is desirable to an appetite of the flesh, still another thing may just appeal to our pride, but sometimes it may appeal to our eye. But see, Eve was confronted with all three at one time.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part C

Colossians 1:12-13
"Giving thanks to the Father, which has made us meet (fit or prepared us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who (speaking of the Father, remember) Has delivered us from the power of darkness, (where’s that? On the earth. He’s delivered us from that power of darkness, or evil) and has (past tense) translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:" Well, where’s the Son? In heaven. Alright, now let’s back up a page to Philippians chapter 3 verse 20. Here we have concrete evidence of where our seat of worship is now located.


Philippians 3:20a
"For our conversation (or citizenship is a better word, for our citizenship is where) is in heaven; from whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:"

So our citizenship is already in heaven, and not here on this earth. We’re just strangers passing through. We’re foreigners, and we’re looking for our Savior. We’re much closer to our Lord’s coming than Paul was. You remember we refer to a cartoon we saw, this old boy was sitting in front of his cave door, bearded and everything else, and over the cave door he said "The end is near" but he had added "er." Remember that? And that’s what made me think of it. Paul wrote in about 63 or 64 AD that he was looking for the Savior from Heaven. But here we are 2012 years later, the end is what? Nearer. So we should be even more expectant than the Apostle Paul was. So remember "our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Christ Jesus:"

When he comes, now you see, Paul is speaking as though we’re going to be alive when this happens. "Who shall change our vile body, (this one) that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." That’s why if the Lord decides to come now, that ceiling isn’t going to stop us. No way, because we’re suddenly going to have a body like He had. Did He have to walk around and find the door? No, He went right through the wall. He could have come in through the ceiling and we’re going to leave the same way. Never lose sight of that. That the scripture’s so plain that we’re going to have instantly a body like His resurrected body. It’s going to work even as His did. Well anyway, let’s get back to Hebrews chapter 4.

So we have this great High Priest, not in Jerusalem, not waiting in the sanctuary of the temple there, that’s long gone, but He has passed into the heavens. Jesus the Son of God. Now you remember when we were back there in the early chapters of Hebrews? We were emphasizing the Son. How that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son in Whom everything had been placed. Alright, we’re reminded again that He is the One Who is the core of our confidence and confession or profession. And that is what? That Christ, the Son of God, the creator of the universe, the One Who was born in Bethlehem, Who grew up in Nazareth, the one who left us with His New Covenant Last Supper meal and then His garden prayer, Who went the way of the cross, rose from the dead and ascended back to glory, that’s our confession. You know, that you’re going to be in heaven, either after the departure or after you die or fall to sleep? How do you know? I only want to hear one answer. And what is it? I believe with all my heart, wholeheartedly that Christ died for my sins and I know that He arose from the dead. Now when we hear that, then we can say, yes, we have to agree, you’re going to be in glory. Because that is the only reason. You can work from now till doomsday and you’re never going to work your way into God's heaven. But our confession is this Jesus the Christ Who has passed into the heavens, Who is the Son of God, I am one with Him. Now then in verse 15.

Hebrews 4:15
"For we (now back to Hebrews 4) have not (or do not have) a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;"

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCIX

Psalms 139:17
"How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!"

Now we want to remember, David, according to Scripture "was a man after God’s own heart." But David wasn’t in a class all by himself, he was a king and a prophet. We’re just as much prone to be in that kind of a mindset, when we have or receive the mind of Christ. When we've become regenerated or born from above, born again.


Psalms 139:18
"If I should count them,(that is all these precious thoughts, if I should count them) they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with you. Surely you will slay the wicked, O God: (now of course remember this is in the Old Testament economy) depart from me therefore, bloody men." Now verse 20.


Psalms 139:20
"For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain." They refuse to believe the revelation and walk upon the blood and cross of Jesus Christ in their unbelief, covetousness and lawlessness.


And so on, and on it goes, but what a gorgeous, gorgeous explanation of the Omnipotence of the God. Never lose sight of it. Even if you have to go back and read this Psalm once or twice a week and just get encouraged as well as convicted that the God of heaven, with whom we have to do, knows all about us and now dwells in us.

Alright, lets come back to Hebrews again. And so everything, not only of the human race, but of all God’s creation are manifested in His sight. Nothing happens that God isn’t aware of it. Now as we go into verse 14, we shift gears. Paul is great on that. Now all of a sudden, we go from the Omnipotent, Almighty, living God and this Epistle is that powerful, can even divide asunder soul and spirit, now all of a sudden we slip into the High Priestly role of Christ.


Hebrews 4:14a
"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is (now watch these next few words, that is what?) passed into the heavens,…"

Now remember in Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created heaven and earth, and way back then we already pointed out that through all of Scripture God deals in two realms. The earthly and the heavenly. Israel was God’s earthly people, and we are to be His heavenly, spiritual people. Alright, now when Christ finished the work of the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended or passed as this Epistle of Hebrews puts it, He passed into the Heavenlies. Do you realize what that means? Up until that time, all worship, all concerns of the Word of God were primarily centered in Jerusalem, in the earthy and the material or external priesthood weren’t they? In the Temple worship and Israel. But once Jesus Christ passed into the heavens, where is now the seat and the core of all spiritual activity? Heaven. So Paul is constantly reminding us, now then as Grace Age believers that we’re not an earthly people, we’re a heavenly people, that is a spiritual people because He has passed into the heavens. He ascended gloriously into the heavens. We are ambassadors of the heavenly realm, though still on earth, we're God's witnesses here.

Alright now let’s just look at a few verses to go along with that. Come back to Ephesians, the little Book of Ephesians, in chapter 1, verse 3.


Ephesians 1:3
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings ( what blessings? where?) in heavenly places…"

Or better is the heavenlies, rather than in heavenly places. That’s the seed of everything. The heavenlies. We’re not tied to a temple worship; we’re not tied to a set of rituals here on earth, because we are heavenly or now spiritual. As we saw in just the previous verses, we are involved with God that we can come into His presence and He knows us as an individual. We’re going to see, like we said a moment ago, a little later in one of the verses where He says, "come boldly into the Throne of Grace." Now let’s look at another one over in Colossians chapter 1,

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCVIII

Psalms 139:4
"For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, that you know it altogether." There is not a word that God isn’t aware of. That’s quite something isn’t it?

Psalms 139:5
"You have beset me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me."

Now verse 6, and this is almost a repetition of what we said earlier. That we cannot humanly begin to comprehend some of these tremendous truths. Now look what David said.


Psalms 139:6-7
"Such knowledge (what knowledge? That he is an individual in God’s sight and that God knows everything about him, the individual, such knowledge) is too wonderful for me; (it’s beyond our natural understanding, it is too wonderful for me) it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Wherever shall I go from your spirit? (or where) shall I flee from your presence?"

What does that tell a believer? You’d better be careful where you go. Because you see, no matter where we go, God is there within us. We can’t check Him at the door, because He’s with us every place we go. Alright now verse 8.


Psalms 139-8
"If (now that’s a conditional word, doesn’t say that he does, but if it were possible) I could ascend up into heaven, you are there: (well that’s not too hard to comprehend) if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there."

Now we want to remember, David is writing from the Old Testament perspective and Hell was that place of the departed and was separated into two sides, Paradise and Torment, as we see in Luke 16, with the story of the rich man and Lazarus. We're quite sure that David isn’t putting himself in Torment. So when he went down into the Paradise of Hell of the Old Testament economy, God was there. Now verse 9.


Psalms 139:9-10
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me."

What does that tell us? There’s not a place on this earth where we could go beyond the Spirit of God in you. Not a place. Now verse 11.

Psalms 139:11
"If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me." In other words, darkness doesn’t stop God. The thickest, darkest night doesn’t keep God from seeing. He knows everything, and sees everything. Now verse 12


Psalms 139:12
"Yes, the darkness hides not from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." So darkness doesn’t make any difference to God. Now verse 13.

Psalms 139:13
"For you have possessed my reins; (in other words, the desires of his life) you have covered me (where?) in my mother’s womb."
What does that tell the abortionists? When does God pick up interest in us as an individual? In our mother’s womb! No, in the eons of the past before the foundation of the world was laid. Paul says that God saved me by His Grace, from where? From his mother’s womb, no before then. Alright reading on.

Psalms 139:14a
"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;…"
Well now, in our age of technology and information the average person probably knows more about the physiology of our bodies than MD’s did a century ago. And the more we learn, and the more we understand, the more we realize how complex this body really is. Just beyond human comprehension of how complex it is and yet God is aware of every little detail. Now verse 15.


Psalms 139:15-16
"My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." In other words, God knew the end from the beginning before the beginning ever started. Now verse 17.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCVII

Hebrews 4:13b
"…but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Now, never forget that Paul is constantly referring in this Epistle to the Hebrews to the living God. We aren’t worshiping some idol of the heavens, man, or creeping thing, of wood or stone. We’re not worshiping some man-concocted idea, that we are literally aware of, but we're worshiping, and are redeemed by, a living creator God.


Alright, now we're going to let the Scripture speak for itself, and periodically, in my own time, we just love to go back and read Psalms 119 and 139. Let’s go back and look at it in this light. How that God sees everything, the unimportant, the mundane, as well as the headline grabbing events of mankind. Nothing escapes His manifestations. Here in Psalms 139, David just puts it so beautifully and like we've said, we're going to let the Word of God speak for itself. We read and let the Word speak for itself. We begin with verse 1 of Psalms 139 we’ll just let the Spirit lead to see how far He wants us to go.


Psalm 139:1
"O Lord, you have searched me, and (what’s the next word?) known me."


There’s not a part of us that God doesn’t know. Again, as we go into the throne room in prayer, and we’ll be looking at that a little later, where he says, "Come boldly before the throne of Grace." Do you realize, do you believe with your wholeheart, that when we pray, we come into that throne room, it’s as if we are the only one. God isn’t dealing with millions and millions of people. Oh, He is, but as an individual. We have that confidence that when we pray, it’s the Lord and us alone in the throne room, and you can have that same knowing. All right, and this is what David is saying. The Lord not only searched him but what? Knew him. Personally, as an individual man.


Psalms 139:2
"You know my sitting down and mine uprising, you understand my thoughts afar off."

The what? Our thoughts! We don’t even have to say it and the Lord knows what we are thinking. Now we've got ready to say it a little bit ago. That doesn’t mean that God holds us responsible for every rotten thought that scoots through our mind. If you don’t have rotten thoughts, then you’re not part of the human race. We’ll never forget years ago when it bothered us that once in a while at just the most revered time, our old mind could shoot these filthy thoughts through and then we read an article by a dear old pastor of a large church in Philadelphia years back. And this was his testimony. He said "It amazed me that there I could stand behind the communion table and as my deacons were out there passing the elements of the Lord’s supper, I would have the most awful thoughts." That is why Paul tells us to take into captivity every thought or strong hold that would raise itself above or against the knowledge of God.


You know what we said? Praise the Lord! Because that tells us he was no different than we are and we're no different that you are. We do have thoughts like that, but as long as we don’t stop and dwell on them, we don’t think God holds us responsible. Our subconscious can shoot them on through and if we let them go, He’s not going to hold us responsible. But if we’re going to stop it and say now wait a minute, I’m going to think about this a little longer. Then it becomes something that we’re going to have to give an account for, that is why we're told to crucified put to death the thoughts and our flesh with its passions and lusts. But never lose sight of the fact that God is a discerner of the very thoughts of our thinking. Now verse 3.

Psalms 139:3
"You compassed my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways."

Now we know what that means? There’s not a moment in our time of living that God isn’t completely around us, as a believer He dwells in us. Now we're talking to believers. David was a believer. So this is the assurance that we have, that God is that aware of us as an individual. Not just as one of masses, but we’re an individual in His sight. Lets go on. This is interesting isn’t it? Now verse 4.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCVI

Oh, we were living, yes, but spiritually we were dead, and that’s the vast majority of the world out there. They are spiritually dead, as said before separated from God. A world full of dead people. They cannot function in its entirety until they get back into fellowship with their Creator. Until their spirit has been energized and that energized spirit coupled with the Holy Spirit in turn can work on that personality. The personality and the spirit in turn influence the body, by taking back the strong hold of darkness and wrath that controls the lost and the unbelieving man.


That’s the whole idea of the Christ oneness experience. See, that’s why we’re different. Now, when we say different, we’re not a bunch of oddballs. We don’t expect saints to be oddballs. We are just somebody different, and we have different values. We have different hopes, and different desires. Why? Because the spirit has been energized and it now is influencing all of that which makes us up and our individuality because the Holy Spirit is preparing us for the Spirit of Christ to take His place in us. Now coming back to Hebrews let’s look at that verse again.



Hebrews 4:12a
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edge sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,…"

We just had a thought! Do you suppose that’s why the unbelieving world doesn’t want to open this Book? They’re afraid of what it’s going to do to them. We know they are! They’re scared to death of what it’s going to do to them. They're afraid of the unknown, the true supernatural.


And we know what always thrills us, its when some one says, "Now that I’ve got a grip on what the Word of God is all about, I don’t have any trouble witnessing." We were always scared to open our mouth because we knew if they asked us something we wouldn’t be able to answer it. And we didn’t want to be embarrassed, but now we can give them an answer. Now we can turn to the Scriptures and show them what it says." See! And this is where we have to be, but for the average lost person, no, they’re scared of this Book, because it is that sharp two-edged sword that divides asunder soul and spirit, the joint and marrow. Now then, the last part of the verse.

Hebrews 4:12b
"…and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

The heart, the very most inner-being, the central part of everyone of us. The Word of God (who is called the word of God? Jesus Christ so it is the Spirit of Christ in us doing the work) is able to tell us what we’re thinking. Now that’s hard to comprehend isn’t it? But you see, as you feed on the Word of God and you meditate on it (you eat His flesh and do what drink His blood), on those verses that we trust you learned as a kid, and you meditate on those verses, what does it do? He convicts. He convicts us of every evil thought. He convicts of everything that we do contrary to the Word of God because that’s His purpose. He is to reveal to us where we are missing the mark. He’s to reveal to us how far we are falling short and it’s only by God’s Grace, that He lets us get away with it.


We don’t deserve to continue on day after day being less than what God would have us to be, but see God doesn’t give up on us. God doesn’t say I’ve had it with you. Never! But the Grace of God continues to work and speak through the powerful Word! As Paul said else where Christ in me the hope of glory, He brings us to the place of His glory being revealed in us.

Hebrews 4:13a
"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight:"

In other words it’s just tied to this same concept that the Word of God is able to just simply penetrate into those areas that nothing else can do and so there is nothing, no creature that is not manifest in his sight. We like to define that word manifest as a light under a microscope. That, until you turn that little powerful light on to beam up through the object that you are looking at, you don’t see anything. But once that light manifests everything that’s on that little glass slide, it’s made available for you to see. Alright, now that’s the way the Word of God is. He just simply puts God’s powerful spotlight on everything, and so he says:

Hebrews 4:13b
"…but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCV

Now, the only thing we want to point out here then is that the soul and spirit are discernible so far as God is concerned. The spirit is inoperative until God comes in with the power of Redemption to begin the work of our Salvation and regenerates it. This we can see in Peters second letter as he shows the step in the process of this action, verse 10 through 13. This especially clear in the Amplified Bible. And then when His Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in us our spirit becomes one with Him, they in turn have control over the new divine nature (as we’ve explained this so often.) And then these two now as a composite (united) will have an effect on the body. The life that we live and the things that we enjoy and so on and so forth. We begin to have a change of minds, we take on the mind of Christ then was in Adam in the first, that inner being.

Alright now, we want to move on to the next part of the verse because here’s where we feel that the Word of God is so intrinsic. It is so past man’s ordinary comprehension. In other words, men couldn’t have written something like this. Who would have ever thought to compare? Now look what we're talking about. That the soul and spirit is compared to the joints and marrow.


Hebrews 4:12a
"…and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,…"

Unless you really stop and close your eyes and contemplate, what connection do the joints have with the marrow? See this shows us how far ahead of medical science the Word of God was. We’ve lost you haven’t we? Alright, stop and think. What happens in the marrow of especially our large bones? The red blood cells are manufactured! We all know that now, especially with leukemia and bone marrow transplants and so forth. The marrow is the manufacturing plant for the red blood cells, which are basically the very root of our whole being, our life. Our blood system as it carries oxygen, antioxidants and nutrients throughout our body and carries the oxidants that are harmful to the kidneys to be excreted through the bowls.

But, it doesn’t do us any good to have a blood system if we don’t have the joints. So as we were mulling this over, we just sort of put it into two categories. Now, this may not make sense to a lot of people but it did to us. We know, bone framework or skeletal frame with the joints, our fingers and all of that, how much could be accomplished if we didn’t have joints? Or if they were all stiff? How much could we do if we couldn’t bend our fingers? Nothing! How could we walk if our knees didn’t bend? How could our athletes perform if it weren’t for their joints? That’s why knee injuries just take a football player right out of the picture.

Okay, so we're going to put it this way. The joints are that which make us functional, and this is what makes us operate, but the marrow is what produces the energy to make the joints function. Does that make sense? We hope so.

So the Scripture then is saying that the soul and spirit is likened unto the joints and the marrow. The soul (the mind, the will and the emotion), that’s what makes us operative. This is what makes us function as a human being, but, just like our joints would be useless without the blood supply that is coming from the marrow, so also, our soul (our personality) is dysfunctional until the spirit is energized, it requires the working of God, the Light of Truth. Until then man serves the evil one that holds him in bondage to sin and death in fear. As a Satan-child and not, no NOT a God-child.

This is why then a lost person is just like we saw, we didn’t probably make the point, but when Israel was out of the land, and was spiritually dysfunctional, the Scripture called them what? Dead people! Or your people and NOT His people. They had been out there for so long, that it was like bones that had turned white in a Texas sun. See? Well it’s the same way with a lost or unbelieving person. The lost person, until their spirit is energized, is like someone who is functioning without any real energy. They are spiritually dead, separated from God. Now, we didn’t intend to do this but here’s a verse that comes to mind. Come back to Ephesians chapter 2, and we guess it will all fit. We sure hope it does! We think most of you know this verse or you’re at least aware of it.


Ephesians 2:1
"And you (I always have to remind people, who does Paul always write to? Believers! Paul doesn’t write to the unbelieving world. So to the believer look what Paul says: And you) has He quickened, (or made alive, active) who were (before we were redeemed, what?) dead in trespasses and sins:"

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCIV

Why would a God with such power and such authority, go to such depths of suffering and death for the sake of His created beings? But Christ did, see? Alright and so the Word of God is alive, and it’s powerful; it is beyond natural human comprehension.



Hebrews 4:12a
"…and sharper than any two edged sword,…"

Now of course, Paul, we're sure, wrote Hebrews. We’ve stressed that often enough, and we think Paul was only too well aware of Roman soldiers. Oh, he was aware of them! And the Romans soldiers not only carried their large swords but they carried that hand to hand weapon which was the short ten-inch blade. We’ve been looking it up in the encyclopedia, usually made of brass and intensely razor sharp. And so Paul, by inspiration, of course, but also from his physical appreciation of the thing, refers to the Bible as that intensely sharpened two-edged sword. Sharp as a surgeons scalpel.


Again, beyond our natural comprehension, because you see back in Genesis. When God created man, He created us a three-part being. He created us (and we're going to come from the inside out). He created us a spirit being (a receptive being, Genesis 1:26-27) with whom God Himself could communicate. He put within the physical body (the house we dwell in (Genesis 2:6-7, spirit and) the five senses, the personality, the mind, the will and the emotion, the soul or heart of man. And all three of these are part and parcel. One being.


Now let’s prove this from Scripture so that we don’t say well that’s just one man’s idea. Come back to I Thessalonians chapter 5, where the Scripture itself, gives us the whole three-part being of the human make-up. As Paul now winds down this letter to the Thessalonians he says:

I Thessalonians 5:23
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; (or completely. And here it comes, and he says) and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body (all three as one unit) be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Did we hear and understand what Paul just said? God sanctified our body in order to be able to come into it, the spirit of Christ in now developing in us, maturing us into the perfect man, as we were in the beginning united to Him.


Now back to Hebrews chapter 4 again. We’ve also stressed, that humanly speaking, it is impossible for us to separate the soul and the spirit. They sort of blend into one and we guess that’s the way most of us comprehend it, they are known as the heart or central being. Because they are both the invisible part of us, they can be called as in the blood of man. Why? Because we are told that life is in the what? Blood! The body of course, we can see, but the soul and spirit are both invisible and they were both placed within man at creation but God alone can separate them or occupy them. We are His temple.

The Word of God also is able to draw a distinction then between the spirit of man and his soul. We suppose the best way to explain soul and spirit is that, the soul is that which makes up our personality. The mind, the will, are the seat of our emotions. That’s our personality. That’s the real you. This is the real me. The real person. The spirit on the other hand, is that part of us that can have fellowship with the Creator Himself or be in bondage to who? Satan. Why? Because he replaced God's position within fallen man. But man was left with what a seed hidden within him. It is this seed that Jesus made allusion to in John chapter 12 verse 24, it is this seed that when the light of this Gospel hits causes His Life to be received again within our body and begins to grow unto the perfect man. Just as a seed planted in the soil first dies before it can sprout when the soil has both warmth and moisture working on it we know not how, then the sprout or stem, then the leaf then the full grain (flower) in the leaf.

As we remember from our Genesis study, when Adam fell, when Adam disobeyed God, his spirit became inoperative, he became blind and deft to the things of God. As God did to him, God does not look at or see those in darkness or sin. It (mans spirit) lost fellowship with God and consequently the lost person has no conception of God, and has no communication with God. His spirit is defunct, asleep and so the soul then became a sin-natured part of man (a Satan-child) until salvation through redemption would regenerate the spirit and give a new nature (a restored God-child) opposite the old nature.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCIII

Hebrews 4:12a
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful,…"

Now the word quick normally coming out of the Greek in our King James speaks of "alive," but now listen, this goes a lot further than that. The Word of God is alive. Christ Jesus is alive. The Holy Spirit is alive. They’re active, but you see the Word of God is not like that! The Word of God is not something that’s just asleep on the shelf, or something that is defunct. The Word of God is not only alive and living; it is active! The Word of God is still permeating hearts and lives of people. It/He is still convicting the lost and unbelieving people of their need, and He is still encouraging believers.

We don’t have to live in fear! We knew all these things were coming. So, do we run and hide? Do we go and build bunkers and live in some mountain someplace? No, because the Living Word tells us that God is in total control. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us and we have that hope of Glory out in front of us that is beyond human imagination. And so, the Word indeed is living, and it’s active. And so, as we move on, the Word of God is not only actively living, it is what? He is in Us!


Hebrews 4:12a
For the word of God is quick, and powerful,…"

Now, we had to go and look up the Greek word for powerful. We thought it was going to be dynamos from which we get dynamics and so forth, but it wasn’t! It was ‘energy’! The Greek word is ‘e-n-e-r-g-e-s.’ It’s energes, from which we get the word energy. What do you do with energy? Hey, you get things done!

In fact, way back in Genesis chapter 2, where it says that God rested from all the work which He had done. Again, you know what the original word was? "All the energy that He had compiled." Now just look at the sun, and at the energy that it puts out every moment of every day, and has for as long as it’s been up there and will into the future. Now that’s power! We think of power in terms of electricity or even in terms of nuclear power and so forth, but listen none of that can compare to the power of this Book. Then energy in the Light which God called into being that passed through the earth and solar system. The Light when it passed through the darkness and chaos brought the ability of life to be produced in the earths dust or dirt. This Light John says this about it:

John 1:1-4
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life; and the Life was the light of men." then

John 1:5
"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." then

John 1:9-10
"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not."


This Book is beyond, again, human comprehension. What little we understand and it’s only a particle, we take by trust His faith-full-ness. Yes, we believe it but there’s no way that we can comprehend it. As we've said, can you comprehend how that the Creator of the universe, the One Who spoke the Word and everything fell into place, that that same Person took on human flesh. Born as baby in Bethlehem. Lived a lowly life of a carpenter’s son in Nazareth. And then went the way of the Cross and purchased man’s redemption. We can’t comprehend that. We believe it. But, it is so far beyond human comprehension, that God would unit with us, again.

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCII

Hebrews 4:12a
"For…"

Is that word there just to fill space? No! It’s an important word because you see, for the last several verses all the way back up, in fact to chapter 3, we have been dealing with a subject that the Bible probably refers to more often than any other one thing that we can put our finger on. That was when Israel refused to go in and take the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea. That was just unbelievable wasn’t it? God had promised they wouldn’t have to lift a sword, there wouldn’t be a drop of Jewish blood lost, and that everything was ready for them. God had given the Canaanites 400 years to get the land ready and to come to the end of God’s patience with them.


That’s what He told Abraham, that when the cup of iniquity of the Canaanites was full then the children of Israel would be able to come in and enjoy the land. But, after God had told them to go in and take it, it’s waiting for you, then Israel with only a few exceptions (Moses and Aaron and Joshua and Caleb and maybe a few others), the vast majority of the nation wept and cried. And said, "We can’t do it, there’s no way we can beat those Canaanites." The spies came back and said "There’s giants in the land, and the cities are walled and so forth." Well, so what! But the fact of the matter was, they just couldn’t believe what God said.


And when we can’t believe what God says, what does the Book call it? Unbelief! That is the most horrible sin that a man commits. Unbelief is far worse than any act of immorality. Unbelief is worse than anything you can think of, because it is in so many words, simply put, calling the Holy, Righteous, Almighty God a liar. When you don’t believe somebody, you simply tell them ‘you’re a liar.’


Consequently this is something that God just cannot get off His mind. And the Scripture is reminding us they did not go in because of unbelief. The Word of God had told them, it’s there, so go in and take it. Alright, so what does the word ‘f-o-r’ refer to? The very same thing. This unbelief we’ve been looking at was a turning against the Word of God. And why is that such a disaster? Because. We suppose that’s another word for ‘for.’ ‘Because’ the Word of God.


Now don’t lose that! It doesn’t say, because God is quick, because that’s a given. But what most people don’t realize is that the Word of God, this Book, is alive! Now, we're going to digress for just a second here. There are two ways we could look at the Word of God. Number one, we could look at all the times that God spoke and something happened. For example, at Creation. Let’s just go ahead to Hebrews chapter 11. This is one aspect of the Word of God.


Hebrews 11:3a
"Through faith (in other words again, by taking God at His Word) we understand that the worlds (that is the universe and all that’s in it) were framed (brought together) by (what?) the Word of God,…."

See? God didn’t have to commission legions of angels to go out and mix mortar and light fuses and put together energy. No! God spoke the Word and the universe came into being! Now that’s one aspect of the Word of God and it is powerful.


Now let’s come back to Hebrews chapter 4 again. We think a simpler illustration would be when they were on the Sea of Galilee and the storm was raging and the disciples were about scared to death and what did the Lord do? He stepped out on the deck of that little boat and said "Peace be still." And the disciples were amazed, and they said, "What kind of a man is this that all He has to do is speak and the wind obeys His voice?" He didn’t have to do anything, but rather He just spoke it. He being the LORD of all, means that even the evil spirits in control of the storms and weather systems have to obey Him. This was also part of the authority which Adam lost.


Well, the same way back in the Garden. He didn’t have to bring out a pile of dirt and funnel it all up and pat it in place and do all this. No, He spoke the Word, and Adam appeared. Over and over throughout Scripture we have instances where God spoke and things happened, and, He’s not through speaking. The day is coming where once again He will speak and things are going to happen. That’s what we call the ‘other’ aspect of the Word of God. The one we think we should be looking at here in regard to our study of this Epistle of Hebrews is this Book. Always remember that this Book, from cover to cover, is the inspired Word of God, it is Spiritual. Every principle in the Old Testament which is Genesis through Acts chapter 11, is for our learning and the New Covenant is for us this day, Paul's letters primarily. Paul tells us by way of revelation that this Book is spiritually discerned and the the natural man does not understand or discern the things it reveals.

1Corinthians2:14
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”


He used men to write it, but every writer of Scripture, as Peter puts it in his little epistle, "Were holy men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit to write what they wrote." So, this part of the Word of God, which most people will cast aside, and let it collect dust, they’ll scorn it, and they’ll ridicule it, but we’ve got news for them. This Book is one day going to stand in total judgment of their unbelief. Why, you may ask is this true. Because it reveals that we are identified in Christ during His passion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, and then He becomes part of us when we receive this Gospel. Now reading on in verse 12.


Hebrews 4:12a
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful,…"

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XCI

Hebrews 4:8
"For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day."

In other words, Joshua couldn’t make the same kind of promises that Moses and Aaron could because the Canaanites were still there. The first thing they had to do was fight. They had no easy road. My goodness, you go back and read the Book of Joshua and go on into the Book of Judges - we thank God that we weren’t living in those days. It’s death and mayhem all the way through those Books of the historicals in the Bible. There wasn’t any rest associated with that. So Joshua, as he took the people in under a mode of warfare, all he could promise was that which was coming. He couldn’t offer them rest because after all, he had to lead them in by warfare. This is the scene as revealed by John in Revelation, the battle of the Kingdom for the hearts of lost, unbelieving humanity and the actions of those who by faith have put on the full armor of God through death.

We all know the account back there after they crossed Jordan. What was the first thing they had to do? They had to face Jericho and we all know the battle of Jericho. Even though God did that one without lifting a sword, yet that was just the beginning of having to gain the land of Canaan, or Palestine, city by city, tribe by tribe, and they never did get to the place where they had total rest, and so that’s what the verse meant. Had Joshua taken them in under the same circumstances that Moses could have, he wouldn’t have had to speak of a future day when their battles were won and so forth. But Joshua couldn’t.

And so all of these things become just a great lesson for us that what Israel rejected by unbelief, they paid their dues when they went in later and had to work by the sweat of their brow, by the blood of their sons, and then never enjoyed a full occupation of the land of Canaan without the presence of the Canaanite people. Alright, then lets go on into verse 9.


Hebrews 4:9
"There remained therefore a rest to the people of God."

See, that’s the difference. For the unbeliever there is no rest, as it’s a constant turmoil. Even for those Hebrews, what can we call them? They’ve got one foot in Judaism; they’ve got one foot in Paul’s message of Grace, and neither one is profiting them anything. They’re not in any rest. And so this is the constant plea of the Apostle. "Make the break. Come out from that legalism and come into the rest that only God’s Grace can offer." Now then verse 11 may be a verse that throws a curve at a few people. They say, "Well, see, that shows we’ve got to work for your salvation." Absolutely not!


Hebrews 4:11
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall (not out of salvation, but never having attained it) after the same example of (what?) unbelief." Unbelief. It isn’t a matter of having been in and fallen out. They never came in. There were two seas that they needed to go through before entering the promised land, but many never got through the first as they continued in the Egypt mindset even after the lot of them died in the wilderness. They still clung to the old traditions, customs and ways of the forefathers, as if still in Egypt. Even when passing through the second sea, both were a form of baptism out of the old and in to the new but still they had no vision or revelation of the New. The Hebrews continued under the cloud of unbelief or the separation from God. Now let’s look at what Peter says about this. I think it’s chapter 1.


I Peter 1:10
"Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied (spoke forth) of the grace that should (what?) come to you:" At a future day. So the prophets knew that there was a time coming when even Israel could come in without all the demands of the law.

Well the other one we were looking for is where Peter says that "we were to work to make our calling and election sure." We're not seeing the verse that we wanted. But what did he mean when he said that? Well it didn’t mean that we do physical work for somehow appeasing a Holy God. But it means that we get down into the Book. Make work of searching the Scripture and don’t just sit in some easy pew and let somebody feed us pablum or worse watered down milk. The Scripture says labor to enter into that rest. Not by doing something for salvation but make work of studying the Scripture with earnest prayer. Because in them the Scripture tells us have what? "Eternal life." This is the whole idea. But, see, people just don’t want to get into the Book. they don't know or trust the Holy Spirit to convey Truth to them. Here’s where it’s at and once we get into it we can’t hardly close it. We mean it just consumes us. And so never lose sight of the fact that their whole example of not cashing in on the glory of the Promised Land was unbelief.


Hebrews 4:12a "For…"

The Epistle to the Hebrews part XC

The reason Paul is making this so explicit to these Hebrews was that this was their dilemma. They still had not entered into Paul’s saving Gospel, just as untold millions have not sense. They were still holding to Judaism, and they were still holding to their works and external religion. And that’s why we’ve got all these terms of conditions in this letter that scares people half to death. Listen, never do these verses that list conditions deal with the believer. That unless he does this, and unless he does that, he’s going to be back out there lost. No, that’s not what it’s talking about. It’s talking to those people who were and are on the fence. Unless you make a break with that religious system of their past and step into that finished work of the cross, we’re all in danger, and this is what we have to let people know. Listen, you cannot drag one foot in legalism. You cannot leave one foot in a religion based on self or self efforts, works, of whatever sort it is and have the other foot in the Grace of God and be accepted. It won’t work. Because what does it say? "Well God you didn’t really finish it." God won’t have it. No little puny mortal man is going to tell God that he didn’t quite finish the job.


And so, here is the purpose of this letter. It’s to bring those people out of that position of being on the fence. That’s exactly what he meant when he said in Hebrews chapter 6. Hey that doesn’t mean if you’ve been saved and you’re lost again. No way. All these verses in Hebrews are dealing with the same scenario. Steeped in religion and can’t make the break into Grace. But listen, God’s doing it. He’s breaking the shackles of more and more people who are coming out of that kind of a background and mentality into the Grace of God. Alright, let’s come back to chapter 4, and let’s come on down to verse 6.


Hebrews 4:6
"Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:"

Now you’re going to get sick and tired of us referring to it, but we can’t help it. What are we talking about? Those to whom it was first preached? Well, we’re talking about Israel at Kadesh. They were the first prime example of God giving such a glorious offer that all they had to do was take it by trusting, but rejected it. That’s what it means, unto whom it was first preached. It doesn’t mean that anybody before that never had an opportunity of salvation, but this is the first prime example of God offering something that was so perfect, so complete. Not an Israelite would have been killed by a Canaanite. Not a single Israelite would have gone to bed hungry. Not a single Israelite would have gone to bed cold and out in the elements. God had had those Canaanites working 400 years like bees getting everything ready. 400 years he told Abraham the Canaanites would be given every opportunity to come out of their iniquity and wickedness. But instead of coming out it, what did they do? They went deeper and deeper and deeper until they were so morally filthy, God said it’s time to move them out and let Israel have all the fruits of their labor. And so it just became a primary example of God’s offering them a rest, existence without having to fight and work. They could have had it. But why did they miss it? Unbelief.!

Look at the world around you. Look at our beloved America. We have Bibles in every home, in every hospital room, in every motel room, everywhere. How many people ever look at them? Almost nobody. We make it a practice - every motel room, we go and look and find that Bible. Has it been used? No. It’s just as new as in the day that the Gideons put it in there. Look at the multitudes around us, even here in the Bible belt. How many of them, we're not judging, we don’t’ know, but we’ve got a pretty good idea. How many of our run of the mill people going up and down the highways of life ever, for 30 seconds, think about eternity? Not many. Precious few. Why? Because we’re no better than Israel. We’re a nation tonight of total unbelief and in ignorance of what God has said. That’s our problem.


We’ve said, our problem isn’t Democrats or Republicans, the economy, our defense posture, the drug business or teenage pregnancy. Now those are all the result of our problem, but what’s our problem? Unbelief. America no longer believes this Book. America scoffs at everything this Book says anymore. And consequently, America is headed for the same kind of a downfall that other empires have experienced, that other nations have experienced. Because there comes a time when God says, "I’ve had it!" and so, here’s the text. Why did they not enter in? Because of their unbelief! Even our churches practice witchcraft and all manor of evil, they blatantly in the name of religion under the guise of Christ's name and the raising of Christ, use names that hide or mask over the true meanings of their feast-days and rituals of men. Now verse 7.

Hebrews 4:7a
"Again, he limited a certain day saying in David,…"

Now we made reference to Felix as Paul dealt with that political leader. But what did Felix do? Hardened his own heart. God didn’t harden it. He hardened it with his constant refusal until finally it gets to the place that that hardened heart never does respond. Now we also said God never gives up, of course not. But nevertheless, the warning here is, do not harden your hearts. Alright now then verse 8.


Hebrews 4:8a
"For if Jesus…"

We know your King James says Jesus in this verse, but we think most of our newer translations and our commentaries and our margins will call it Joshua as that is the Hebrew meaning for Jesus or Yeshua, who had taken Moses’ place of leadership. Joshua is going to lead them into the land of rest as Moses could have done at Kadesh. Joshua now is going to bring the Nation of Israel in from the East of Jordan. And as Joshua leads the nation into Canaan, what’s the scenario? War. They’re going to have to fight every inch of the way. Now God’s going to give them the victory, but they’re going to lose a lot of blood in the process. And so we do not like to use Joshua’s taking the children of Israel across Jordan into the Land of Canaan as a picture except when we enter into our Christian life in this world of sin under the curse and influence of Satan. Is it a life of ease and rest like Canaan would have been? No. It’s a warfare. And so there is an analogy that yes, we’ve entered into that complete rest because of the work that’s finished. Christ becomes to us the Canaan land of promise. But on the other hand, we can look at Joshua’s occupying, that in this life, hey, there’s no easy row to hoe. God requires us to gain knowledge of Him by His revealed word in order to grow into His perfection as a spiritual being. Able to rightly divide (delineate, drop a plumb line by it to check its straightness or to see if it is true) the word.


You know, we’ve so often used the illustration. The Christian life today is like paddling a canoe in a river with a pretty good current. Now we don’t think we could make a canoe go upstream. We suppose a good professional could, but we don’t think we could, but even if we could paddle that canoe up against stream, which is a good picture of the Christian life, what happens the minute we take the paddle out of the water? Down stream we go. So what is the Christian life? It’s a constant battle. It’s a constant working to maintain our Christian experience. So we’ve got these two aspects. We’ve got the land of Canaan pictured as a place of total rest, a finished work, and Christ sat down because it was finished. But on the other hand, we have to look at Joshua because that’s the real world. We’re not living in a world where we can just sit down and not worry about anything. But positionally, in our salvation experience, yes, we’re in the land of Canaan at rest. But experientially, maybe we can put it that way. Positionally, we’re in the place of rest, experientially, we’re in a constant battle. Many have twisted this Gospel into a feel good, God bless me I deserve it religion, or a works religion clinging to Israel's history or blinding the whole thing up because we've slide downward. Why? And How? No one seeks God or have a fear of God. Alright let’s go on with verse 8 repeating.


Hebrews 4:8
"For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day."