Scripture referenced 3 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
Hebrews 1:1-4 the Exordium, read in full from both the New American Standard and New Living Translation, forming the entire basis of the sermon
1 God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
2 has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
3 His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4 having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Hebrews 13:22
quoted at the close as the author of Hebrews calling his long letter a brief exhortation
22 But I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation; for I have written to you in few words.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
1 John 4:10-11
read as the benediction, on God sending his son as an atoning sacrifice and our obligation to love one another
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was the opening sermon in First B Jackson's study of Hebrews, covering the book's first four verses, what scholars call the Exordium. Pastor A walked through a single, densely packed Greek sentence that introduces the entire argument of the letter: that Jesus is better than everything else. The sermon set the stage for a series that will work through one of the most rhetorically ambitious books in the New Testament.
What was said
Before opening the text, Pastor A laid out a few things the congregation needs to know going in. The author of Hebrews is genuinely unknown, despite thirteen names having been proposed over the centuries. That used to bother people more than it should, but the book is in the Bible and nobody seriously disputes that. The audience, on the other hand, is obvious from the text itself: people thoroughly at home in the Old Testament, who already know the sacrificial system, the priesthood, Moses, and the wilderness wanderings without needing it explained. They are also, almost certainly, people facing persecution and feeling the pull to walk away from Jesus.
The Exordium is a single Greek sentence, rendered as three in English. Pastor A noted that in the Greco-Roman world, a formal treatise or spoken discourse would open with a brief, carefully constructed introduction that tells the listener what is coming. This sentence does exactly that, but it also carries an enormous amount of theological freight on its own.
To get at the structure, Pastor A pointed to the way the sentence is arranged as a chiasm, moving A-B-C-D-C-B-A, with the most important statement sitting at the center. On the outer edges, the son is compared first with the prophets and last with the angels. Working inward, he is named as heir of all things, then as agent of creation, and then at the very center: "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power."
Pastor A spent time on two words at that center. Radiance points outward, the way the sun makes itself known by what shines from it. Exact representation, or imprint, points inward, the way a signet ring pressed into wax leaves a perfect impression of itself. Together they say the same thing from two directions: the Son is God. That claim is made in the very first sentence of the letter, without qualification or buildup.
The verbs matter too. God "having spoken" in the past did so in many ways and through many people. But now he "has spoken" through the Son, a completed and authoritative act. The Son "being" the radiance is a present progressive verb, still ongoing even after the crucifixion, which makes the resurrection load-bearing in the argument. He "made purification" as a finished work, and then "sat down," because there was nothing left to do.
From there, Pastor A sketched the road ahead. Chapters one and two will argue that Jesus is better than angels and the law. Chapters three and four will say he is better than Moses and better than the promised land. Chapters five through seven will take up his priesthood and the order of Melchizedek, answering the objection that Jesus had no priestly lineage. Chapters eight through ten will argue he is better than the old covenant sacrifices. Each section carries a warning passage addressed to people who are thinking about dropping Jesus, and the letter closes with the hall of faith in chapter eleven and a push to keep going.
The challenge Pastor A left the congregation with was to sit with that center of the chiasm before next week. The Son radiates God's glory and bears God's imprint, and the question is how that imprint is showing up in the people who have been around that radiance.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor A described Hebrews as written to people who were facing persecution and being tempted to walk away from Jesus. Have you ever been in a season where staying with Jesus felt costly? What helped you keep going?
- The sermon pointed out that God spoke in many portions and many ways throughout the Old Testament, and then spoke definitively through His Son. What does it mean to you personally that God's final word to us is a person rather than a set of instructions?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,833 words
0:01
Good morning. Good morning, church family. Will you please stand up? Let's worship God. Amen?
0:05
Amen. We gather here in Jesus' name to worship his name and to receive something from him today. It it it is possible if in humility and in humbleness we say, Lord, speak to me this morning. He will speak to your heart. Amen?
0:19
Let's worship through music. Amen.
0:25
Your love is like radiant diamonds bursting inside us we can surely can find us like blazing while singing your God
3:36
Oh, thank you Jesus. Amen. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning and I've got somebody else that's going to make an announcement too.
3:46
Monday nights at First B is happening tomorrow night. Now, Carl and a little prayer situation right here. Y'all can keep on praying for Aiden who is recovering from a surgery he had on Friday. Aiden is Carl's 14 year old son. He had a surgery Friday in Salt Lake.
4:02
So, the whole family is down there with them this morning. We're filling in for the band but they're having a great great experience so far so good. No problem. Just keep on praying. It's a three to five day recovery.
4:14
We're hoping he'll be back and everything just fine but tomorrow night, since Carl is still in Salt Lake City, we have Mike Condee, our youth pastor is going to be preaching in Carlstead and the Owings family, very capable cooks that they are are going to be making the meal. So, meal, music, and a message tomorrow night. Monday nights down here down the hall. I'm not sure what we're going to hear from Mike this this time but it's always good. So, meal music and message tomorrow night.
4:43
Immigrant Hope is still collecting shoes. I've been getting lots of Emails and texts that say, hey, they still collecting shoes. Yes, we're still collecting shoes. 25, zero pairs of shoes is a lot of shoes. We're well on our way to the goal but we're not there yet.
4:56
So, please keep on bringing in shoes. Volunteers, we have been calling for volunteers for the last month and this is Jackson. This is the week of. So we have lots of volunteers. I'm gonna ask Gary if he'll come forward.
5:07
Gary Geek is leading the team. So Gary, would you come up and tell us what's happening nowadays in the forming of this trip? It sounds like a ground swell is happening.
5:20
We really did have a large number of people that have volunteered to be a part of helping the ICON start this new church. But we do have a need. Because of the larger number, we need resources so that we can impact that church as much as we can. And if you, you feel led led to give to this, we would surely appreciate that.
5:50
Thank you. That's good. Simple. Simple appeal. We had last week, it was, I think Gary and Diane and I were going.
6:00
No, not quite. There were but there there have been a few a lot more actually this week that have said, hey, yeah, I'd love to do that and there there has been some given specific in the offering plates. There's been some given specifics. So, it looks like God wants to do a bigger job there than we had anticipated. So, that's the way that that's going.
6:16
Thank you very much for that. That's happening Wednesday through Saturday. Please be praying for us. We'll be driving up Wednesday, driving back Saturday but Thursday, Friday will be the heavy work days. Thursday, speaking of Thursday, July 11, Melissa Oden will be speaking at the Turning Point Annual Fundraising Gala.
6:32
That's on the Gill Ranch. If you need to know more about that, Diane, would you stand up right now? Let you know Monday or Monday or Tuesday, somebody will be here or call Turning Point. Let them know. Fantastic.
6:59
Yeah. Alright. Thank you. So, meeting for the folks who are going to Gillette on that I've now seen church camp out on that mission trip. Right there, church camp out is happening at Coulter Bay, August the twenty third and twenty fourth.
7:24
There's more info to come but if you want to go on that, be thinking that direction. Get in touch with us. We have a lot of different spaces, camping spaces reserved. So, we can go up and tent camping. Some people be bringing RVs and stuff.
7:37
We have several guys with boats that are willing to take people out for fishing and tubing and stuff. So the church camp out at Culture Bay is happening on August twenty third and twenty fourth. More information to come on that. If you missed a message, you can find it on the internet. Is that a surprise to any of y'all?
7:52
Okay. Alright. Good. Connect hour. Connect hours happen in between services.
7:57
So if you're looking for a place to connect, either just connect in this group where you usually sit on the left, now you're on the right or vice versa, and you want to meet more people, head down afterwards. There's coffee and donuts and fresh healthy stuff too down at the other end of the hall and you can meet one another down there and connect or between this service and the second service, that service, we'd like for all of us to still stay connected and know that we are still one church. We have more announcements that will be in your bulletin, a little paper bulletin you're handed on the way in. So, for any other announcements, you can see that or prayer request there and there too. Imma invite Norm if he would come forward.
8:35
Norm is the spokesperson for this group. It's the Disciples. The Disciples.
8:40
Alright? Disciples.
8:42
They're Disciples.
8:42
Play off with Disciples. Alright. That's quite a guitar you got there. You you ever play
8:47
it like that? Not often.
8:49
Not often. Little heavy, Yep. Aren't you... Don't you wish you would have taken up flute in your life? It's a lot lighter.
8:57
How about everybody at 13 years old? Go back to when you're 13, 15, 17. Think about it. Would you have signed up for a bicycle trip from Mexico to Canada? Would you?
9:10
Somebody would have said, yeah. That was all what I'm all about, or there ain't no way I'm gonna do that. But your friends all wanna go, and so there's some peer pressures and type things like that. Well, the orange crush that you see back there, it's our color this year, is this the cycles. We're based out of Bloomington in Indiana.
9:31
That's where Indiana University is, and this is our twenty sixth trip. And every year, we take a different route. And we need churches along the way to help us out and sponsors. We are sponsored by many churches in our area and businesses and personal people. But your minister and you as a congregation opened up your hearts and opened up your doors to us, and that saved us.
9:54
Because yesterday, we didn't do our usual 90 or a 100 mile day. You ever ride a 100 miles on a bicycle? We have this little gadget that measures body fat. There's a few... Well, there's several of them.
10:09
They don't even measure any body fat. So they're the fittest they'll ever be. But yesterday, we took off from Logan.
10:16
Utah.
10:16
Utah. You know how far that is. It's a 186 miles to here. That was the big day. This was the day to brag about.
10:24
This was the day that they were all scared about. This is the day I was scared about. And why do we do this? We do it because this is a youth development program to build us mentally, physically, and spiritually, and we are tested every inch of the way. It's really a pilgrimage.
10:42
A pilgrimage is a trip. It's an adventure. It's a journey into the unknown, meeting different people, living primitively, which is hard for so many of us to do because we are living in the most advanced society that has ever been known. And we're gonna pull our way... Ourselves out of that and grow in spirit, grow in body, grow in mind.
11:08
We wanna thank you, and we wanna thank all of you. And you're welcome to ask any questions of the group after the after the service and connect. Yeah. For sure. Connect is everything.
11:19
Yep. Thank you so much for having us.
11:20
Absolutely. Alright. Yep. Glad you're here. Alright.
11:25
Y'all can get up, stand up, and greet one another, and we'll bring you back together with a peppy little song. Holy, holy, holy.
12:22
Holy, holy, holy. Let's worship God. Amen? On the weekend paper this weekend.
15:04
Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank you for giving us the privilege to be here this morning. It's it's it's awesome that we have this freedom and opportunity to be here together as a big church worshiping your holy name. I pray with all my heart that you would touch our hearts in such a way that we understand more of your will, more of who you are. Speak to us, God.
15:24
You know us. We look great in clothes. We look good shaved. Smells good and beautiful, but inside of our hearts, God, you know that these thoughts. Please speak to us in such a way that through the Holy Spirit, you do the work in our lives.
15:40
In Jesus' holy name I prayed, amen. Amen. Kinda like that. When you are from another culture and English is not your first language, you can pray however you want. That's that's grace.
15:57
Okay. And I also have the grace to do this in this church. And like like the gentleman just said, this church is open to everyone, and I'm I'm thankful for our pastor hearts. Oh, man. We we have the best pastor...
16:10
Pastors here in this church, and I'm thankful for... You know what? Listen to that.
16:16
Yes.
16:19
Yes. Everyone is welcome in this building. Amen?
18:03
Have been set free my God my savior has
18:37
You guys sing so beautiful. Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask for. Amen. Amen. It's another song.
21:02
When I choose songs, I have to be, this is a confession also. I don't choose songs to match the sermon. I choose the song that God speak to me, and then I pray that the songs would bless your hearts. That's the way. So this one is my favorite.
21:17
Honestly. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Without Jesus, I wouldn't be here. But because of the promise that I have in him, because he paid for our sins, be... Because through him we have salvation, the righteousness, and we have the assurance that our names are written in the book of life.
21:37
Isn't that good good stuff honestly? Our names are written in the book of in the book of... Not because I'm good, I'm nice, I'm tall. It wouldn't be the case. It wouldn't be the case.
21:48
But because Jesus blood cleansed me from all iniquities. Praise God. Now the time as this song is quite difficult, but I still like it. So give us grace. Amen.
22:13
My hope is filled on nothing less than Jesus' love and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest friend, but holy trust is Jesus' my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust when he shall come with trumpets on I may I then in him be found resting his
25:12
Isn't that a good song? Amen to that. Yes.
25:15
Alright, y'all can have a seat. I'm going to invite the frontline team to come forward though and would y'all pray with me? God, we thank you for the opportunities given. I I think of this this group of orange wearing shirts, orange shirt wearers back there that have been going for so long and I I they've been asked to do something that's difficult and hard and keep going forward and looking to you as their cornerstone. Lord, I appreciate what is happening in and amongst that group and lord, I see that.
25:48
We have been asked to carry forward in a society that dismisses you. And Jesus specifically. So, God, I pray that we would live out our lives and surrender to you the cornerstone that we would align our lives like living stones that are placed specifically in in accordance with that cornerstone and that firm foundation that you provided beneath us. Jesus, your word, the foundation of the prophets and the word of the apostles about Jesus. So, God, I pray that you would continue to build this house and lord that you'd use us to do it.
26:35
May your gospel advance through our lives, lord, through our steady witness of how we live our life but lord, also through the words that we choose to use and not use. God, would you do your will and your way in our life and I pray right now at this time where we take up an offering that you would, lord, direct this where you would have it go so that the most people would be impacted for their good and your glory. In Jesus name, we ask you to do it lord to multiply the gifts given and extend them to do your kingdom's work here in this state and region, country, and to the uttermost parts, the ends of the earth. In Jesus name, would you do what it is that only you can do through your obedient servants. Amen.
27:28
We're gonna sing a song that comes from Romania. So Violetta and I, we translated this song. We're gonna... I'm I'm gonna sing one verse in chorus in Romanian, and then we can sing together. It's a very simple and, it might sound like a child song, but sing it with all your heart.
27:45
Amen? It's that type of song when we learn it when we are saved. Know You when you're... Remember the time when you said Jesus, I believe in you with all my heart. You are so happy and thankful.
27:54
Okay. That's the song we learned when we were very young and we we were playing this every Sunday at the church. Sing it with all your heart. Okay? Even if you don't know the melody, just sing.
29:03
Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord Jesus is lord hallelujah he died for me he died Amen. Praise God.
31:24
I never thought pastor A will sing bass in the gypsy style. That's... Usually,
31:33
I play bass to keep from having to think about the sermon. I couldn't think about anything but playing the bass on that one. Peak Children's Church is not happening this morning. It is happening this morning. Oh, good.
31:47
Head for it. Go for it. There's lots of bike stuff downstairs. Have you all in the library? Okay, fantastic.
31:55
Because I told the whole group of bikers, just leave your stuff wherever. It's fine. In all the Sunday school rooms, fill it up. All right, good. In the library it is.
32:05
It's a beautiful day outside too. Alright, Hebrews. Finally, we're here. Hebrews one. We've been going forward in a chronological study of the New Testament for six and a half years.
32:18
Yeah. It's been pretty steady. For six and a half years. We actually started with the book of John which was written in later around '95 or so but it's about the life of Jesus. So, we started in the book of John and then we went to Acts, the book of Acts and we studied the life of the early church in Acts and since then, we've been going forward rather systematically, strategically, schematically, whatever.
32:43
Just going forward in age order, how newer and newer and newer the books and so we're up to Hebrews. Hebrews is notoriously hard to tell exactly where it fits into the scheme. I think that it should fit after second Peter. It seems to have that look about it but we're starting. We're only doing the first four verses today.
33:03
It's called the Exordium. If you are ever reading about Hebrews, almost every commentary will mention. This is the Exordium and Exordium is just an introduction to either a treaties or a discourse. It's specifically so in the Reco Roman world. You know, it's a start of an actual treaties usually or if it's out loud, it's a discord spoken discourse and people basically tell you what they're going to tell you but they do it in a very brief, very brief introductory sentence if you will and so, that's it.
33:41
I'm going back up for a second. We've got some introductory matters since this is the beginning of this book but I'm going to do em really quickly and then go forward, okay? So, Hebrews, I will refer to the author of Hebrews from time to time as the author of Hebrews. I have been saying Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul for two thirds of the New Testament and for the last book that we've studied, I've said, Peter, Peter, this, and Peter that. Remember Peter, he's the one this and remember Paul, he's the one that.
34:12
I've been saying that but in this one, There are 13 different people that people stand behind and say, I think so and so did it. It used to be a test of orthodoxy even in the earliest part of this century that you believe Paul wrote this book. Why would anybody say Paul didn't write this book? Well, because it doesn't say in the book that Paul wrote this book and he usually says that. It's very very eloquent.
34:35
Not that Paul wasn't eloquent but there are people that say, it's Apollos because Apollos was such a great speaker and it says so in Corinthians and that's probably Apollos maybe. Barnabas, Barnabas possibly and then they've got a long list from there. I'll tell you who I think it is after we finish, alright? I it's notoriously hard but it's still in the Bible and there's nobody that disputes whether it should be in the Bible. It's in there.
35:04
There's no doubt about it. There's a little heading. The heading may have been appended to it but the text goes through starting with the Exortium and it doesn't list who it is. So, if that bothers you, too bad. Bothers everybody, okay?
35:19
That's the way it is. So, author, mark that off my list. Audience, sometimes we can tell who the audience is because it says, to the Christians who are at this place, this place, this place, or this place, or to those who are in Rome, disciples, whatever. To those who left from Tucson, had it no. It'll say specifically who it's to.
35:40
This one says, which means to the Hebrews but that is everybody agrees. That's just the title but it's obvious from the text that it's to people who understand and know the Old Testament intimately. They understand and he doesn't go into explaining stuff that they ought to already know. So, this is people who are thoroughly grounded in the Old Testament. They know the story of creation, Abraham, they know the story of the nation of Israel.
36:08
They know the story of Moses at Sinai, the law, the Torah, the priest and sacrifices. They know that system. They know it where he doesn't have to explain it. Now, he will say, from what you already know, this is what you need to know or this is what this was pointing to. He talks about the wilderness wanderings.
36:29
Can I calm down just a second? Y'all probably thinking the same thing. They were facing persecution and imprisonment. This is one of the reasons for placing this at this time after second Peter because the persecution was heating up and getting worse and so, people were tempted to walk away from Jesus. This is the nation church, right?
36:56
It's only been thirty years since the crucifixion, thirty to thirty five years in there. Since he has or whatever. Since the author of Hebrews, I'm have to keep on doing this the whole time. Since the author of Hebrews has no doubt about it, knows that the audience knows the Old Testament and knows the sacrificial system and knows Jerusalem and the temple. Since the temple was destroyed in seventy AD and that's not mentioned in Hebrews, we put it before that, okay?
37:27
It had to happen before that. Some people argue for a later date. I don't know why they would. Persecution and facing imprisonment and when persecution happens, it purifies the church, right? If it's not convenient to pretend you're a Christian, you don't pretend that you're a Christian.
37:48
And under persecution, the church is purified. Hebrews is written to people who have begun the journey with Jesus and they're considering not staying in that path and so he is giving them a word of warning and even a challenge there. The goal of Hebrews is to elevate Jesus above all else. Absolutely all else and to challenge you to keep on keeping on with it, okay? We'll get to the exordium here now.
38:24
Let And me say, this is different from any other book that I have presented to y'all. So, I'm struggling with how to present it. I think I understand the point. I think I understand it but presenting it in a paragraph by paragraph the way that we have been doing is kind of hard for Hebrews because if you take one paragraph out of context, it is very very difficult to preach that and say and thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord over the space of about two chapters.
38:54
So, you got that to look forward to. Today, we're just doing four verses and I think I can say this with some confidence. So, this is just the beginning. This is the New American Standard Version of the Bible. Imma read it and then, I'll go back and talk about it.
39:10
God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets and in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world, and he, that's the son, and he is the radiance of his glory and exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Having become as much better or so much better than the angels as he inherited, has inherited. A more excellent name than they. That is a mouthful.
40:03
Now, in English, that's three sentences, three long sentences, and some people would consider them grammatically incorrect, run on sentences. Three sentences there but in the Greek, it's just one sentence. It's one well constructed sentence and there it is. Anybody want to read that? It's beautifully written.
40:26
It's beautifully written. So, with so much information and I've read everything I can get my hands on about Hebrews. With so much information out there, I thought, well, I'm going go back, just do what you do. Go back to the grammar and divide it out and so I started looking through and I thought, remember last week when I pointed out the Abba? Y'all know you remember Abba.
40:47
So many people have talked to me about Abba this week. There's one guy texted right after church. He said, I got into the car and Waterloo was on. Abba, the the Swedish super group, Abba, let me see if I can find that. So, ABBA, the rhyme scheme for Psalm two was ABBA.
41:05
Actually, Psalm one was ABCBA But I wanted to do that layering this foundation to get you to this. We are doing an ABCD, and D being the most important thing. It's bracketed by this other stuff. And so the sentence is a little weird, but it is one sentence. It's got all this information in it.
41:24
Then in the middle of that sentence is the absolute center of what he's trying to say. Although everything in the sentence is extremely important. This is... I would not want to do public speaking in this day and age because it was an amazing time to have to formulate all your ideas. They still say, what's the big idea?
41:43
Say it in one sentence. They said it in one sentence but that's the sentence. That's a paragraph, right? There's a lot of information there. So, what we're going to go through is ABC, d, c, b, a, but we're going to concentrate on that center section there.
41:59
And then I'll talk about the rest of Hebrews and how this fits into it. So first thing you do whenever you translate something, go for the verbs. Figure out what they are. Verbs are notoriously difficult. Those are the same root but they are different time tenses that makes a huge difference.
42:19
We've got a we've got we've We got all of these and I'm going to concentrate on the tenses. So those are the verbs. Circle the verbs first. Fight the verbs first. If you can't fight the bouncer, don't pick a fight with anybody else.
42:38
That makes sense? Fight the bouncer first. The verbs are always the hardest part. So there you go. So this is the verbs in English.
42:46
God, it's participle. Having spoken. God, having spoken. In the past and in many ways, in many portions and in many ways. Can you think of different ways that God spoke in the Old Testament?
42:58
Through prophets, yes. We know that. He says that specifically. God, having spoken, he spoke through a burning bush. Yeah, we talked about Balam's donkey a while back, right?
43:10
He's spoken through lots of different portions. That's ages, times, and in many ways, he showed himself to be a pillar of fire and a cloud of smoke. He spoke to the people through Moses. He spoke through judges. He spoke through prophets.
43:28
He spoke throughout this and this starts off knowing that you know who God is. This is to the Hebrews. These are the people who are supposed to know already who God is. They went to Saturday school, right? They know who God is.
43:43
So, God having spoken in the past has spoken. He has spoken authoritatively. Through the son. This is where we're introduced to this concept of the son. Now, Jesus did not explicitly mentioned till the ninth verse of the second chapter but through the son, God has spoken and it is authoritative and this is what we should be paying attention to.
44:12
God, having spoken in many ways in the past to our forefathers and the prophets having spoken, he has spoken through the son and he got appointed him to be the heir of all things and he made the world through him. So, Christ is the agent of creation. Eternal. He was there when there was nothing else there, okay? So, he is God.
44:41
Already in the first part of the first sentence, we've hinted at or pointed to Jesus' eternal nature. Here we are. God, having spoken, has spoken through the son. He appointed him heir of all things and made him through him, he made the world. That's through the son.
44:57
He made the world. Who? And then we have a change of subject. So, it's been God as a subject pronoun. He and then, it changes to be the son through whom he made the he made the son through, sorry, he made everything, not just the son.
45:15
He didn't make the SOM. He made the S U N. This matters. It really matters in Hebrews actually. Who and that's talking about Jesus, the son being the radiance of God's glory.
45:33
So, we know that the sun shines, right? But how do we know the sun shines? Because it radiates its light and we can see that from the sun, the radiance going out from it and that's what touches, tans us, maybe burns us at times, right? We can feel the sun because of the radiance of the sun. Christ or the sun here, S O N, is called the radiance of God.
46:01
And that's a present tense verb. Being the radiance. He is and he is being the radiance. Oh, that's good. That's really good.
46:11
It's a progressive action that is still happening and this is talking about a guy who was crucified and it's still happening. The resurrection, very very important. Who being the radiance of God and upholding what? All things, all things by the might of his power. Up, upholding all things.
46:33
This is still talking about the son. Once having made purification. So, he did a finished work. He made purification of sins. Having made purification, he did this.
46:47
He sat down because it was finished. The work was done. He's seated at the right hand of the father and he's interceding for us. We'll see that later on although we have seen it in Peter and we've seen it in Paul. We've seen this idea of his session after his ascension but after he did, what he needed to do on the cross and was resurrected and taught and was ascended into heaven.
47:15
He sat down. Why having become all that he was to be? Having become, he has inherited. So, that's the verbs. Are you with me?
47:25
Okay. Here we are again. This is our little color coded group. ABCD, CBA. A, on both ends is this, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets, in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, he's spoken to us and his son and then the last part of that is having become as much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they.
48:00
The son is right here compared with the prophets first and he's compared with the angels at the last. Are you seeing the significance of that? And it is. You know, people argue about these things all the time. Chiasms is what they're called or chiasms depending on who you are.
48:16
In seminary, people are looking for em all the time. Oh, I think I see a chiasm right here. It might not matter to you but in the Hebrew way of thinking and in the Greek world too, this framing made a huge difference and you can tell what's the most important thing in an American giving a speech, right? You know the typical pattern in the crescendo and where they're going to put the emphasis by the way that the speech constructed. Well, the way this one was constructed, the most important is in the middle but this brackets it.
48:44
If you're looking back and saying, well, the prophet spoke to us too and we can pay attention to that. Then, yeah, they were there and they had the word from the Lord and we know this is from the Lord and there's no doubt about it. So, we're just going to stick with that. God will certainly bless that. Then, you turn away from Jesus.
49:00
Who also knew the prophet saying was the fulfillment and culmination of everything that they had said and therefore, is better. He gets it but he's able to explain it even further and even better with greater and much more clarity and if you're saying, well, me, I just love the feeling. There are angels all around us, all the time and I'm just going to trust that my guardian angel is the one that God has set for me and I'm putting it all of my faith in that angel to be able to keep up with me as a bike. 2,000 miles. Or as I bike down this mountain, I just like the idea of a guardian angel.
49:40
I've got a story about a guardian angel. There's a gal I bought a car from. She left one thing in the car. It was a guardian angel. Somebody that I really like and respect.
49:48
I thought I want to remember her. I'm going leave this up there. It's a little pewter guardian angel sits on your clips on your thing. It has a little prayer. It's kind of sweet.
49:55
Two wings, you know, sticking up and I got into the car and I'd loaned the car to someone who was about Florine's height. So, I got in the car and I could barely get in there and I thought, what's weird about this? And so, as I leaned forward to grab the thing under the seat to lean back, that angel poked me with her rings, right? Wing, right there. Stabbed me and I had, it looked like a little snake bit on the forehead.
50:22
I took the guardian angel's wings and I rolled them backwards to make em safer and I left it there. So, it's in Tanya's car right now. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the sermon but it came to me. I haven't become as much better than the angels. Listen, the angels, what do they do?
50:39
They
50:39
worship Christ. They worship Christ. That's their job. He he does also say what else they're here for though and he's going to go into that. We'll get to that next week.
50:52
He's better than the angels. He's better than the prophets. He's better than and that's much of the argument of Hebrews whom he appointed heir of all things. So, God appointed Jesus heir of all things and it says, he sat down at the right hand of majesty on high. He appointed him king.
51:09
The son is declared to be what he is, heir of all and king over all. That's building towards something. Through whom he also made the world, he's the agent of creation and when he had made purification of sins, our priest. He made the atonement. You know, the word atonement didn't even exist in English until they were translating the Bible.
51:39
William Tyndale came up and said, there's no word for this in English. What did he do? He made the possibility for sinful man and holy God to be made at one, at onement, the atonement. When he had made purification of sins and it is a finished work. There's nothing that needs to be added to it.
52:02
Faith must be placed in it but there's nothing that has to be added to it. It's not all you can do and then Jesus will make up the difference. That's a heresy. It was a heresy then. It's a heresy man.
52:15
Through whom also he made the world when he had made purification of sins. Those two are talking about this. The son made the world. He's the agent of creation and he made purification. There's not anybody else that could have done it.
52:27
He did it. And it's either that or it's nothing else. It is exclusive and that's building towards something which is right here in the center. And he, that is the son Later, we'll see that it's Christ Jesus but so far, it's sonship, okay? Heir of all things, the one who made purification, the king of all, better than angels, better than prophets.
52:58
He is the radiance of his glory. So, I've already talked about the rays of the sun shining out from but he doesn't stop there. He says, not just that. He's also the exact representation of his nature. The word for that is imprint, the exact representation of his nature.
53:19
So, back in those days, they'd have like a signet ring and then some melted wax and they would implant or imprint upon this this wax, a seal that is the exact shape of whatever is pressed into, right? So, he is that. He is the seal. He's the imprint. He is the exact representation of and radiance of God.
53:43
So, he goes outward and then he goes pressing inward. He is God. That's what this is saying. In the first sentence, right away, off the bat with gusto. And not only that, as if that were not enough, he upholds all things by the word of his power.
54:03
Now, John, twenty something years later, would say, in the beginning was the word and that's the same idea that he's saying right here. That there's nothing that was made, that was made, that was made outside of him. He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of God's nature and he upholds all things by the word of his power. So, this is the central truth of the book of Hebrews. It overarches all else, everything else is Jesus is better than everything else.
54:42
Religiously, better than everything period but he's better. If you're considering wandering away or doing things differently, don't. The challenge is don't. Don't fall back. Don't fall away.
54:55
Don't step away because you're scared. Don't step away because of persecution. Don't step away because of people making arguments with you that what you believe is wrong. He say, stick with what you know to be true because this is true. He's the radiance.
55:14
He is the exact representation imprint of his nature and he upholds all things by the word of his power. Now, he transitions out of the author of Hebrews transitions out of exordium and he introduces this concept of angels and then goes on to start talking about that. So, the exordium is right here. We've just covered it. That's it.
55:38
We got three minutes left, okay? Four verses. Jesus is better than and it says that, and then in chapters one and two, it's going to say, Jesus is better than what? Jesus is better than angels and Torah. He's already introduced us to the concept of angels but he's also going to say, he's better than the law.
55:57
The law points to him. Angels worship him. So, that's what he's going to say in chapters one and two. And then in chapters three and four, we've got that. The Exortium covers it all.
56:08
Chapters one and two, chapters three and four, he is better than Moses but they love Moses. To the Hebrews, oh, Moses followed after God. Yeah, he got angry a couple times but then again, they were stiff necked people. Justifiable, right? He's better than Moses.
56:27
Moses said, hey, there's going to be one coming. Be looking for him and he's better than the promised land. To know Jesus is better than entering into good housing. For those of y'all not from Jackson, maybe it's happening everywhere but it's definitely happening here. There's a a crisis upon it.
56:50
Moses in the promised land. Chapters five through seven are going to be about this. Priests and Melchizedek. So, Jesus was not of the ironic line of priesthood. He was not of Aaron's line and so there were people that say, well, there's no way he could be a priest and he couldn't have made atonement because he's not a priest.
57:09
He's not. So, people are making that argument but he says, he's of the order of Melchizedek. You know, you remember the guy that was so confusing for so many years? They're going to, he's going to talk about Melchizedek. Not going to clear up every question, I'll admit.
57:21
Not going to clear up every question but he's saying, this is the reason that Jesus can be and is forever a priest. He is able throughout all ages. Anybody who is saved is going to be saved through the blood of Jesus. People looking forward to it before he came and people looking back to it after he came. Priest in Melchizedek, chapters five through seven.
57:42
Chapters eight through 10 are going to be Jesus is better than old covenant sacrifices. Those things had to be made daily. They had to be made yearly and the priest who are making those sacrifices were sinful themselves. And so, what are they doing to cover their sin before they start covering yours? Jesus is better than.
58:02
He's eternally our prophet, priest, and king. Amen. Jesus is better than eight through 10 and then, there's a warning passage that comes with each of these sections because the people were considering dropping Jesus. He's saying, listen to me, people. You don't want to do that.
58:21
If you do that, you're giving up salvation. You're giving up the possibility of transformation. You're giving up before it's time. Jesus is God's word. Jesus is the hope of a new creation.
58:38
Jesus is our priest forever. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. So, those are the warning passages and then after that, we have chapters 11 through 13 and chapter 11 is the one probably most people quote most of the time from Hebrews, I would think because it's the chapter about faith, the hall of faith. So, the hall of faith and then there's the challenge to endure and keep on going forward and then there are personal greetings and so people argue over whether this is a treaties or whether this is a letter. The people who argue it's a treaties go to the exordium and say, nobody does this in a letter.
59:13
They say, who I am and who you are and why I'm writing you but it's a treaties at the beginning and then, at the end, it has personal greetings rather than just signing off. It says, oh, tell so and so. I love em. I miss So, here we are. I think that's the last.
59:31
No, this is one more slide. This is the New Living Translation and as you study Hebrews, I think it's probably because of the beauty of the original Greek beyond poetic. It's just beautiful oratory. The rhetorical skill is amazing. Everybody that writes about it writes about that and they don't usually do that about Paul.
59:53
If Paul ever waxes rhetorical, usually people say, oh that was previous material. He's borrowing from somebody else. They even say some of this might be previous material. This person was borrowing which is fine. If it's biblical, it's fine.
1:00:06
There are so many references to the Old Testament throughout. I'm going to try to catch everyone of em. Even if it's an illusion, I'm going to try to catch it and present it to y'all as an illusion to it. We're going to read this one more time. This is the New Living Translation which is a great translation.
1:00:23
This is what Carl uses most Monday night. Long ago, God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets and now, in these final days, he has spoken to us through his son. Amen. God promised everything to the son as an inheritance and through the son, he create the universe. The sun radiates God's own glory and he expresses the very character of God and he sustains everything by the mighty, mighty power of his command.
1:01:02
And when he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down. He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven and this shows that the sun is far greater than the angels just as the name God gave him is greater than their names, all So, that's the Exordium. This week, as you prepare for what is probably going be a bumpy ride, I'll go ahead and admit it right now. I don't know how to preach two chapters at one time. I already say a lot, right?
1:01:34
So, I'm working on how exactly to present this in a way where it's we take enough context for it not to be heretical or misused because I think Hebrews has been co opted a lot of times to do both of those things. So, we're going to work through it but would you pray on this this week? Would you look right at the center of that and consider your suntan, your S U N tan, right? The S O N tan. What are, how are you reflecting God's imprint and how is he being seen in your life?
1:02:06
If you're around the radiance of the sun, you're going to be able to tell. If he is bearing God's imprint, how has he imprinted that on you? And consider the awesomeness of him sustaining everything by the mighty word of his power or command. Are you are you okay? I'm trying not to say, are you with me?
1:02:32
Is it obvious? Would y'all stand up? I'm going invite the band back up and we're going to sing a song about Jesus. Did I leave any questions? It cracks me up at the end of Hebrews.
1:02:46
Hebrews thirteen twenty two, the author of Hebrews says, now I've given you this brief exhortation. Yeah. Alright. Come now found of every blessing. Let's look to God expectantly.
1:02:58
Amen. Amen. And when Florian said he doesn't talk, he didn't look at what the sermon is going be about. He didn't know what the sermon is going be about. I don't know what it's going to be about till the closing, amen.
1:05:50
I've done the study. No doubt. I've done the study but that song could not be any better for that passage that we just covered. Everything about it. It's looking to God expectantly and knowing what's going on.
1:06:01
It's asking him to take and seal his imprint on you. It's asking everything that this exordium has asked of us. Oh to grace how great a debtor. It's not about your works. It's about the grace of God through Jesus.
1:06:14
Amen. Prone to wander. Oh my goodness. Prone to wander. That's what the whole book of Hebrews.
1:06:20
Elevate Jesus and challenge them to keep going and persevere with him. So, I've got a blessing. The benediction is this for today. This is love. First John four ten and eleven.
1:06:33
This is love. Not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, loved us in this way. We also ought to love one another. In Jesus name, would you love one another this week?
1:06:50
Amen. Amen.
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