Mon, Jan 22nd - 5:19PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 12

Brothers and sisters let us, the holy family of God, give our sweet sacrifices of praises, blessings, and love offerings to our Triune God of power, love, truth and mercy for His everlasting salvation, who has made us priests under our High Priest and Lord, God the Son of God Jesus Christ.

Holy brothers and sisters, much love and peace to you always, I give our God thanks for you, and for your fellowship in this study. May our God of everlasting power and eternal life bless you mightily in body and spirit in resting confidently in Him in rightly dividing His word:

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

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Therefore, do not allow anyone to teach you anything about God exclusively from books written by mere men. Some books can be helpful but never, never as the sole source of understanding the Bible.

We know brethren, there can be no unity in the church apart from the absolute truth of the Bible- finished in the New Covenant of God the Son of God Jesus  Christ. Every Christian is commanded by God to Study and know the Bible for themselves after we are taught it by pastors, elders, teachers. Let us also attend many Bible studies, hold Bible studies, interactive Bible studies promote more rapid spiritual growth.

With the exceptions of the apostles that Christ opened up the Bible to ensure their ministry in establishing the church:Luk 24:45, God commands that it be taught to believers who must habitually keep studying it also on their own to live by it as well as to aid other believers and to share it with the lost. Therefore, we should not assume that Christians know it automatically.

Sadly, amongst the many mature Christians, we will find those who are ignorant of scripture, not just new believers, but some in the pulpit many years.

There is no need to hunt for the ignorant for they are obvious in their speaking, writings, and teachings. There are many examples of ignorance. Most certainly, when anyone tells the Christians welcome to the church, instead of church welcome to the building- then we know the person has no knowledge that the church is the people of God not the building they gather in to worship.  Other indicators are usage of special lingo and terms about Christ's atonement as "substitutionary". They may also teach that salvation can be lost permanently or temporarily i.e. "backsliding", having no understanding of Christ's absolute promise of eternal salvation, eternal life, His indwelling, and promise of never leaving nor abandoning the believer.  

We also know that someone is ignorant when we hear them preach that only certain books of the Bible were written to/for Christians and the rest only to/for the Jews when the Bible makes it abundantly clear: Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, 

that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Again, and again, dearly beloveds, we know that the Bible makes it clear that the Word of God is the spiritual food for the whole of the church and is absolutely necessary for every believer to grow to maturity and live lives pleasing to God. We are the Lamb's sheep with swords, coming in peace, however, well able to defend the gospel and protect the flock.  

We know, dearly beloveds, that the Bible is not a read once and forget it book. Neither has God appointed nor commanded any so-called spiritual elites, gurus, pundits, experts or scholars that the body general must depend upon alone to know the Bible. The Bible is for all Christians to be taught and come to know God for themselves, no special training is necessary nor commanded by God. Without the Holy Spirit given through faith in Lord Jesus no one can understand nor obey the scriptures: 1Co 2:14. 

We recall, again, holy people, that Paul had previously taught these Hebrew believers the scriptures and afterwards they had in ignorance laid it aside and went on with their lives-spiraling into spiritual decline, having no teachers, no guidance under trials, and having grown impatient, tired of trials, not wanting to wait any longer for God to reward them. 

We note how gracious Paul is, not rebuking them, but reteaching them and finding them highly receptive to go forward retaining and living the word.   Let us be gracious too should we find any ignorant amongst us.

The Holy Spirit speaks out to all flashing spiritual neon signs from the beginning, middle and end of this book and the whole of scripture that all of our knowledge and works are worthless to God without faith that works by love: Heb 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Brethren, find laid out chapter 12 of Hebrews to study personally on our own that the Word of God would minister to our personal needs. Let us take time to carefully dine upon, feast upon, meditate, reflect, looking to apply the word in living daily out of trust in our Lord, to please Him above all.

We know that God our Father, God our Saviour, and God our Holy Spirit is always right there in and with us working together to help us understand the word, to comfort and to guide us into all righteousness, for His glory and our good.

 Heb 12:1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 12:3For consider him that

endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, 

lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holines.

Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Love and truth forever, serola

Sat, Jan 13th - 8:24PM

Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: dearly beloveds, God is not silent about godly women. Here we find women who did not lead an army to battle as Deborah did- see judges 4. However, we see the power of faith revealed that dwells in the heart and spirit of the believer who takes God at His word without wavering or doubting resulting in the receiving of loved ones from the dead to life.

AND OTHERS

And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 

Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 

Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;  

Heb 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Dearly beloveds, we have an abundance of sermons about mighty men in battle fighting victoriously in faith for the Lord, and rightly so. However, God commands, that these others not be left out, who were not delivered, some lost everything, were killed, tortured, devalued/brutalized as human beings, some had to run for their lives, were tempted in it-this too is normative in the lives of believers as God allows, however not to all.

What does God have to say about these saints (G40 hagios)?

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:  

Dearly beloveds, we see that our God concluded them too in His record of the faithful. This message is for us too, not just the saints (G40 hagios) of old. There are times, dearly beloveds, when we have to fight and there are times God gives us the wisdom to know when we have to flee or even to die. Nevertheless, all of these remained faithful, although the promise of the New Messianic Covenant was to be manifested in the future, not to the faithful of the past, nor those under the Mosaic Law.

Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us 

should not be made perfect.

We know that Christ delivered the saints of old that had died and were kept waiting for Him in the bosom of Abraham. Christ died bodily, but His spirit did not die. In fact immediately after Christ's bodily death/atoning work on the cross He descended into the lower parts of earth with all power and authority having the keys of death and hell taken back from the devil, and released/freed these faithful believers, along with the faithful thief on the cross, wherein they had been held captive in death:  Psa 49:15;  Hos 13:14; Jhn 11:25; Mat 27:50-53; 2Co 5:8; 2Ti 1:10.

Brothers and sisters, we know that God from the beginning made His promise of permanent salvation and eternal forgiveness of ALL sins through the eternal power of the future Messiah to come to all the seed not just the Jews:

 Jhn3:15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Jhn 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life..

Gen 26:4; Hos 2:23; Isa 56:7; Mar 11:17; Rom 3:29; Rom 9:25; Gal 3:8.

 Rev 7:9

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Why do some say in error that the New Covenant is not for the whole world but saves only those whom God has predetermined to be elected, and everybody else will be lost?

We know, brethren, that this is a gross misinterpretation of:1Pe 1:2

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Those who believe in error that Christ’s atonement is limited do not know God, neither His unlimited eternal power, nor that His New Covenant is absolute, cannot be changed, abolished, or annulled-not even by God Himself as this is what God intended and is for all who will believe in Him for all time.

Scripture without error validates, proves, and interprets scripture within the whole context of scripture completely within the whole context of both the O.T and also within the whole of the final, finished and complete New Covenant of Jesus Christ.

Through the inerrant scriptures we can easily answer the question of who are the elect?-Whomsoever believes in Jesus Christ. Christ is not bound by time, distance, nor space. He created it and controls it, for we know one day He will cause it to cease.

At the moment one believes in Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of His atonement in which He paid for all of our sins forever-He blots out, removes, demolishes, purges, destroys absolutely/completely away All sins of the believer past, present, and future for all time as though they never happened, this is clearly declared absolutely in His New Covenant as well as the O.T. Therefore, this means absolutely that all who come to God through faith in Him are the elect- so say His inerrant New Covenant, in full agreement with the many O.T verses:  Isa 1:18

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. See Jer 31: 34.: 

The New Covenant of Jesus Christ can never be nullified, abolished or changed in any way or manner for all eternity-not even by God Himself, for that is His intent that it is a forever covenant. Jesus is His eternally living High Priest forever and unchanging: Heb 7:21;

Gal 3:17.

Brothers and sisters, we know that this does not mean that Christians are free to live lives of sinfulness as we did before being saved, for the scriptures gives an overabundance on how believers are to live after salvation according to the Spirit not the flesh. This takes time, our ongoing study, and practice/living which is aided by the church as a whole not just the pastors, elders and teachers.

God’s Word is our spiritual food. Let us keep in remembrance, dearly beloveds, that man cannot live on bread only, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.