Mon, Aug 26th - 5:00PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 13 VS 10-11

Brothers and sisters, love, joy in the Holy Ghost, peace, and blessings to you as we draw near our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is in us and with us everywhere we go. The loving eyes of our great Shepherd never close in sleep but are always upon us. We are ever on the mind of Lord Jesus, and in His heart to protect guide and keep us in His pathway of life for our good and to the glory of God our Father.

Therefore, dearly beloveds, let us rest confidently in full assurance of faith always, for our Lord Jesus is faithful and shall fulfill all the will of God our Father to deliver all of believers His family safely home, without spot, blemish, nor wrinkle.

Paul, our brother in his apostolic ministry never ceases as a servant to show great love and care over the saints (G40 hagios). He is tender, and tough as their need might be, yet without condemning them. We know all God wants us to know about Paul, his personal life such as he was unmarried, had certain relatives, work-tent making, and prior to his receiving Christ had a high status of training/education in the Jewish religion and was a violent wrecking ball, dedicated to the destruction of the Christian faith, even indirectly was involved in the murder of a believer.

After his conversion upon meeting Christ on a certain road we still don’t know his favorite foods, colors he liked best, what he did for fun, places he liked to hang out, and nothing of his physical appearance.

Brothers and sisters, raise your hand if you agree, that nevertheless, we do know Paul, and know him well. We know him by his converted repentant godly mind and heart of passionate love for Christ and love for the church- in his meticulous care to ceaselessly feed them the word of God abundantly to build them up so that his brethren might know the unchanging love/truth of God for themselves too.

He also met their physical needs for help, taught the believers to love God, one another spiritually, practically, and to witness in the world.

I had to raise both my hands. Although Paul is now in heaven with the Lord, I know him; for his love, zeal, humility, and faithfulness to magnificently, relentlessly, thoroughly present the Christ and His everlasting blood Covenant in an awesome unforgettable exposition remains freely/powerfully in the good news of the writings he left behind to teach/encourage the church even today, whereby we may also do the same for one another by his example.

I pray and know with God’s help, dearly beloveds, that we also shall be humbly about the exaltation of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, seeking His glory not puffed up, without prideful boasting, not seeking to exalt ourselves knowing Jesus has taught us: Mat 23:12 - And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. 1Co 4:6; 1Co 13:4; 1Jo 2:16;  Jas 4:6 - But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

God through Paul, relentlessly hammers, drills the truth of God‘s word to prove absolutely that the only Covenant through which men can be saved and come to God or please Him is through the atonement provided by Christ alone, by grace alone in His eternal unchanging New Covenant.

We note that Paul does not present the whole love and truth of the word of God as to those who are too fragile or delicate to bear it. He does not worry that some might be offended, damaged, or turned away by it.

 No, as a master builder upon the foundation of Christ, Paul knows that the metal must be tempered to prove its quality and make it stronger and fit for use, or not.

He thoroughly demolishes all doctrines of error promoting the lie of extra brownie points from God for being a Jew, or points deducted by God for being a gentile-for the truth is in Christ there is no difference. Nor is it any of our business as to how much or the nature of the rewards that Jesus will give to the saints at the end. It's His stuff, and He can do whatever He wants with it: Mat 20:15 - Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

Brothers and sisters, continuing with our study we find that Paul is a spiritual marksman. With deadly accuracy, he shoots down forever/absolutely all ideologies/doctrines of error that seeks to tether any Christian whether Jew or gentile to the bondage of the Mosaic Law, from which Christ has freed us from forever: Rom 13:8. 

Heb 13:10 - We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

We know why Paul would declare that God has eternally barred, banned, and forbidden the Levitical priesthood and all under it to eat of the altar of Christ: Heb 10:4 - For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Heb 10:11.

The bodies and blood of the sacrificed animals could not cleanse the Levites nor all under the Law in their inner man nor take away their sin nature the eternal offence to a Most holy God, and the source and will of sin. They were merely natural sinful men who received as it were a limited temporary yearly atonement which expired upon completion because again the bodies and blood of the sacrificed animals corrupted losing the efficacy of the atonement made through them. 

Therefore, by the command of God the Almighty Father, the natural man rejecting the true cleansing of the sinless blood of Jesus Christ can never, never eat at the altar of Christ, will never enter His kingdom. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ all who have been forgiven, cleansed, made forever holy and new though the sinless blood of Christ may freely eat of His altar forever.  

Heb 13:11 - For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

Upon completion of the yearly atonement, God commanded that the bodies and blood of the sacrificed animals must be burned outside of the camp for It would be an offense to Him for sinful men to eat of the completed atonement to pollute it and for it afterwards to pass out into the drought like a common meal.

Some try to romanticize the Levitical yearly atonement as a beautiful ceremony/celebration that cleansed the nation of Israel and made them at peace and holy again to God. However, we know from the Bible, it did no such thing, instead it was a day of great horror, fear, anguish of soul and pleadings of the nation to God not to destroy them but let them live.  

There was no guarantee that God would accept the atonement made by the Levitical High Priest. The High Priest was just a sinful man who first had to offer for his own sins and that of the Levites, before he could make atonement for the sins of the people. If the High Priest made so much as one error during the atonement God would kill him and destroy the nation of Israel.

God allowed no do overs for the yearly atonement. It was do it perfectly or die, God was not playing with Israel under the Law. We can trust that the nation didn’t have a lasting sense of peace, but instead a deep dread at the next upcoming yearly day of atonement. God left us the history of the Levitical priesthood, by the time of Nehemiah, they were missing in action-doing their own thing, and the people did not even know that there was a book of the Law. The Bible is clear, no Christian should ever allow anyone to trick them into thinking they can please God or receive salvation from the Law of Moses. 

Love and truth forever, serola     

Fri, Aug 23rd - 11:36PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 13 VS 9

Brothers and sisters, Let us give thanks to God our Father who has given us Jesus Christ, God the Son of God with power and has established Him forever as our Saviour, Lord, High Priest, Mediator, Head of the church, and Author of the Everlasting New Covenant, wherein we stand by faith in Him, who has given a measure of faith to every man:  Rom 12:3.

Jesus humbled Himself, went to the cross and paid the ultimate price to save us-His own life. Out of His love and mercy He alone has given us salvation as an absolutely entirely free gift, un -buyable, un-repayable, un-earnable, un-returnable, and imperishable.

Therefore, holy brethren, we owe Jesus everything, that we should live lives filled with love and trust in Him with eternal gratitude; for He loved us when we were His enemies, dead in sins and the children of wrath even as the whole world; but now we- all believers, have been purchased out of this present evil world by His sinless blood.

Whether Jew or gentile we are made one in Jesus in God- members of His body the church in whom He forever dwells with God our Father and God our Holy Ghost.

Much love, blessings, and peace to you dearly beloveds, as we go forward to the Lord’s table to dine abundantly on the Word, our spiritual food with open hearts and minds to receive the ministry of the Holy Ghost, in the presence of God our Father.

Let this concluding chapter of the book of Hebrews, dearly beloveds, continue to serve as our post-test that finds us well able to patiently expand on the fuller meanings of the short commands left us by Paul the apostle as to mature Christians established in the Word of God.

Heb 13:9 - Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

The New Covenant is set in Christ final and finished forever. God forbids anyone to add or take away from it. God forbids us from entertaining any of the endless strange and different doctrines then and now that totally contradict and are clearly out of line with grace. We are to reject all false teachings out of hand.  

Some seek to justify adding various false doctrines to scriptures on the basis that everything Jesus and/or God said is not in the Bible.

However, holy brethren, while we do not know everything that Jesus did in His earthly ministry: Jhn 21:25.  

We do know that scriptures teach scriptures, interprets, proves, backs up and authenticates scriptures within the whole context of all scriptures without error this is why we know the truth from the mouth of Lord Jesus Himself: Jhn 15:14 - Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

We know that Jesus is not referring to any casual acquaintances as His friends, but to those who trust and obey Him.

Jhn15:15 - Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called 

you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, resting confidently in the word of God we can absolutely conclude that we have heard through Jesus Christ everything from God that He wants us to know, and that He needs us to know.

Christians are commanded by God to resist any and all false teachings including those that comingle the Law with grace such as: Mal 3:8 - Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Mal 3:9 - Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

These curses were for those under the Law. How the Christian should give is clearly laid out in the New Covenant. No one can curse any Christian whom God has blessed and are all permanently under grace, never Law:

Gal 3:13 - Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Gal 3:14 - That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Christians are not half sibs, or step- children. Through Jesus Christ there is now no difference between the Jew and the gentile all have the same Abrahamic blessings through the atonement of God the Son Jesus Christ.  God forbids divisions in His body: Rom 16:17; 1Co 1:10; 1Co 3:3.  

All the yearly sacrifices of the blood and bodies of unblemished animals made by the Levitical priesthood did not do them any good; never took away any of their sins permanently, never gave them permanent right standing with God and never removed any curse. The Law did exactly what God intended it to do, to show that mankind is totally sinful and totally incapable of achieving any righteousness by any kind of works or human efforts alone. The body and blood of the unblemished sacrificed animals lost their efficacy because their blood and bodies rotted away losing their effectiveness. This is why the atonement had to be repeated yearly. The High Priest would be killed by God if he did not carry out the atonement ritual perfectly.

The point here, brothers and sisters, is that we should firmly resist all false teachings We are clearly forbidden by God to distort grace by adding the Law to it.  

God commands that believers are to be without doubt, steadfast in believing, unwavering and established in the grace of Christ out of love and trust in Him.

The one-time perfect offering of the sinless body and blood of Lord Jesus Christ has given eternal grace and achieved permanent forgiveness for all sins forever for all that believe in Him, which the many sacrifices under the Law could never do. The perfect sinless blood of Christ is incorruptible and forever retains its effectiveness, therefore the blood of Christ will never lose its power, the atonement obtained through it shall stand forever.

Under grace believing Jews remain Jews upon salvation and gentiles remain gentiles upon salvation, there is no longer any difference for all are circumcised spiritually and made holy and one in God, in Christ.

Tue, Aug 13th - 10:13PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 13 VS 7-8

Brothers and sisters, much love, blessings and peace to you in Jesus Christ our Saviour, Mediator, High Priest, and Lord. Let us as the family/priests of God always give Him our highest praise, love, and thank offerings, who has made us fit to be ministers of the gospel of peace in this present evil world, and to live with Him forever in His kingdom to come.

Paul, the apostle, our beloved brother, has given us God’s testimony in an all-out blazing tour de force exposition into the very Christ-God the Son of God and the Son of man with power. We behold with our spiritual eyes, minds, and hearts His glory, His power, love, truth, faithfulness, strength, heart, mind spirit, His eternal finished work, His Word, His New Covenant.

Therefore, we know that you, me, us, are a church at rest for He has forever finished our work too that we should be in peace in Him in God our Father, blessed and forever delivered from the wrath of God to come: 1Th 1:10; Col 1:13. Jesus has made us righteous, no ritual, no manner of outer garb such as wearing of certain clothing or jewelry, no works of any kind is to to added to what Christ has done for us- we stand complete and entirely righteous in Him, before God for all eternity.

CALLED TO LOVE

Jhn 13:34 - A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Brothers and sisters, we know that Jesus our Lord has set love rooted in truth as the highest absolute standard, for God is love. Thanks be to God who has made us His people who rejoice to love Him and one another even as we are commanded.

God’s love is the eternal dividing line between good and evil.

CHILDREN OF GOD VS CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL

1Jo 3:10 - In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Heb 13:7 - Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

Heb 13:8 - Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Paul encourages these Hebrew believers to honor, to actively retain in remembrance those who ministered Christ to them, to follow their examples/training/instructions, that they should be built up, rooted in Christ and steadfast in the faith, without wavering or doubting.

Dearly beloveds, many of us too can warmly call to mind those devoted loving, patient pastors, elders, deacons of our pasts who nurtured us from spiritual babyhood to maturity in the gospel, and who led by example as well as by word. It was through their love and teachings that many of us were transformed from uncaring strangers knowing each other mainly from our back profiles as we sat behind one another in church to the body of Christ knowing, loving, and serving one another as our forever family that extended from the local church to the whole world firmly established in our unshakeable, immovable, unchanging Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, let us be wary of apostates who in vain promote race or ethnicity over grace, lying that the New Covenant of Jesus Christ was written only to the Jews never to the gentiles. Some go so far as to also lie and pervert scripture to say only certain portions of the Bible were written to the gentiles and the rest for the Jews. We know the truth that the whole of scripture is for our learning, and training in righteousness.

We know that there are some sincere Christians who err out of ignorance, or a faulty understanding of scriptures, However, the righteous will repent when taught the truth, but the wicked never will.

Holy people, we know the eternal truth from the Bible. God created the Jews out of the gentiles. The promise of the New Covenant was made to Abraham by God when he was still a gentile, and before he was circumcised:

 Rom 4:11 - And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

Rom 10:12 - For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Eph 2:12 -22 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Eph 2:13 - But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Eph 2:14 - For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Salvation is not through genetics, but through faith in Jesus Christ alone. At the appointed time all Israel will be saved who believe in Christ. However, whether Jew or gentile we are all one in Christ. Gentiles and Jews are equal and one in Christ and in the true Israel which is in heaven above.

We note that when the Jews left Egypt in freedom, God accepted those who were non-Jews that were mixed in with the Jewish multitude: Exo 12:38.

 Later, dearly beloveds, we find God allowing strangers i.e. gentiles who believed in Him to become members of nation. Exo 12:48 - And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

Therefore, holy brethren, we see God’s promise of the New Covenant from the very beginning was to all the seed=both Jew and gentile.

Therefore, let us, holy people, rest steadfast in the unchanging, eternal, final, finished and complete work of Jesus Christ, by faith alone by grace alone.

Thu, Aug 8th - 12:23PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 13 VS 5-6

Brothers, and sisters, let us continually give our Triune God, our fervent offerings of love, blessings, honor, glory, and praise. Knowing they are not three Gods, but ONE GOD bound in eternal love and truth in the three inseparable EQUAL individual holy all powerful eternal Persons of God the Father, God the Son of God Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit, who indwells all forever at the moment they believe in Lord Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much, holy brethren, and am thankful and confident in God as your preserver and mine forever. God continually strengthen you in resting in His power and faithfulness, knowing He carries you beneath His pinion feathers and shall fulfill your holiness by His power.

Always, dearly beloveds, be on guard against the false teachers who deny the power of God to keep His people saved forever but lies and perverts scriptures to claim the Christian can lose their salvation, and only maintain it by certain of their own acts. This is a direct satanic attack against Christ-in vain, for His love and truth endures forever.

Jhn 15:5 - I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Jhn 10:28 - And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Fruit(s): Rom 6:22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

2Co 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

Phl 1:6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Phl 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

 Gal 5:22-26; 2Co 9:10.

Recently I shared the New Covenant with a dear sister saved since 50+ years ago. After initially hearing her, I realized she believed salvation was through the law, could be lost but restored repeatedly and that Lord Jesus would marry all His people in heaven, cause the church is “the bride of Christ”.

She had never heard of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. I told her and showed her the passages in the New Covenant proving that Salvation was possible only by faith in Jesus Christ, never through the Law, cannot be lost and that there would be no big wedding in heaven where we would all actually marry Lord Jesus, but we would all be changed.

She seemed shocked, was utterly quiet and days passed without me hearing a word from her. Yes, brothers and sisters, I got worried that she might have rejected the truth and also might have decided to end our relationship as well, although the former act was the only one that truly mattered.

Days later I finally heard from her. Yes!! The good news had been a jolt to the faulty teachings she had embraced for 50+ years that she had to take time to process as such to turn away from them to the truth.  I thank our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that she returned rejoicing and believing the truth. How shall they hear if nobody tells them? How? How?

2 Tim 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work.

No Bible=no foundation to know or serve God.

We know, dearly beloveds, and it can’t be said often enough that the believer doesn’t automatically know the scriptures. In fact, there are long time believers, some even in the pulpit who are ignorant it, or have a faulty understanding of salvation: Ro 10:14 How shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent?...

We must share the gospel in the world and in the body, as it was shared with us, as God commands, we know that this is not optional, and there are no alternatives, nor plan b’s, nor multiple choices about this.

Made mature in the gospel we know we can confidently rightly divide the word of truth having been taught and faithfully retaining it by regular study/practice, as God commands:

 2Ti 2:15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We give our God through Jesus Christ all the glory, honor, and praise for He has well enabled us to carry out His work in partnership with Him on earth, out of love and trust in Him.

Let us go to the Lord’s table with hearty appetites to freely partake of His love, comfort, training, strength, encouragement and wisdom.

Paul the beloved apostle in this last chapter of Hebrews has in few words left brief commands, that those who are learned understand that they are further found greatly expanded upon in scripture.

In this last chapter of Hebrews, holy brethren, the sweet elixir of the eternal love of the Christ lingers heavily in the air. The perfume of the Holy Ghost adds the sweet aroma of truth, as God our Father is pleased to gather us in His presence.

Through Paul, the apostle, we hold in our minds and hearts the spectacular, blazing revelation of the Christ, our King whose love, truth, passion, power, and faithfulness has been fully revealed to us and forever sealed in our hearts with great joy and thankfulness.

Heb 13:5 - Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Covetousness: greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice; greedy for gain.

We know, brothers and sisters that the Bible does not teach that Christians are to be ascetics, to deny pleasures in life, to be poor or abstain from having any worldly goods, or that being rich is a sin.

FORBIDDEN LOVE(S)

Jesus declares: Mat 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

The Bible addresses godly love throughout that must mark every Christian. However, it also addresses loves that God forbids, not just for money but anyone/anything we exalt over God Himself- which is idolatry: 1Ti 6:10 - For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In the case of money, this is not about us having money. God commands that we must not allow ourselves to become obsessed by greed to obtain riches at any cost. Anyone who puts their trust, and invest their lives in pursuit of gain, and don’t care what they have to do or who they have to hurt to get it, has made money their god in whom they trust.

Col 3:5-7; 1Ti 6:9-11; 2Pe 2:3; Eph 5:3; Mar 7:20-23; Luke 12:15; Mat 16:26. 

The word of God teaches us to lead lives using our talents/skills to the best of our ability to get ahead; to make an honest living sufficient for ourselves/family and to help others with something set aside as a hedge to meet our needs in the case of difficulties. Whether one has inherited or earned wealth we must also be rich towards God and those who might be in need. In this way we are satisfied in life standing in the sufficiency of Lord Jesus Christ, our true eternal everlasting treasure.

We know, saints (G40 hagios), God has set a permanent termination date for this present evil world. We came into this world without anything and shall leave the same. Only what we do for Christ out of love and trust in Him will last.

How does the word of God teach us to guard against greed? We are commanded to trust God and follow Him out of Love that is how, and not pattern ourselves after the world:  

1Jo 2:15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 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. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

See: Col 3:1-7.

Heb 13:6 - So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

 Eph 6:10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Our Triune God is in us and with us everywhere, brothers and sisters. For this reason alone, and regardless of our circumstances good or bad, situations, or conditions, or attacks by the enemy, man or devil, we have absolutely no reason to ever fear, because we trust in our Indestructible, Invincible Almighty God, our Strength and our Keeper forever. 

Say it with me holy brethren: WE TRUST IN OUR INDESTRUCTIBLE, INVINCIBLE ALMIGHTY GOD, OUR STRENGTH AND KEEPER FOREVER. 

2Ti 1:7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 1Jo 4:4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Heb 4:16  Phl 1:28And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.