Participants: Ty Gibson, James Rafferty
Series Code: BOTB
Program Code: BOTB00006B
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00:01 So welcome back friends, We are continuing our study
00:03 in the book of Hebrews we are in Hebrews Chapter 5. 00:06 And James it is very interesting that as the Apostle Paul 00:10 is developing the priesthood of Jesus as a better priesthood 00:14 as a superior priesthood that we need to tap into and 00:18 understand what's being, what's taking place in 00:21 the priesthood of Jesus. 00:23 Chapter 4, I don't want to leave there until we make this 00:27 point and just nail it down. 00:29 It, we are told that because of the fact that Jesus is our 00:34 priest that He took our humanity upon Himself, 00:37 He sympathizes with us, He's tempted in all points like as 00:42 are yet without sin, it's on that premise that Paul then 00:47 says let us therefore, in the light of this priesthood, 00:51 in the light of this compassion in the light of the fact that 00:54 Jesus is our sympathetic high priest, let us therefore come 00:58 boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain two things, 01:03 James here, mercy and grace to help in time of need. 01:07 There are two things at the priesthood of Jesus. 01:10 Is, is giving to us, providing for us, and they are mercy 01:15 which of course pertains to our failures, we sin, we fail, 01:19 we fall, and mercy is there. 01:22 At the same time, mercy has a higher objective in mind. 01:27 Mercy has a higher end in view. 01:31 So mercy for your failures, for your sins, but help 01:35 grace to help in your time of need and clearly, 01:38 in the context here, the time of need is temptation. 01:41 Grace is power! 01:42 Grace is differently power! 01:44 In other words, if you look at this in a broader context 01:47 of what Paul says in Titus, He says, "The grace of God," 01:51 and this is Titus Chapter 2 verse 11, 01:53 "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to 01:57 all men teaching us," verse 12, "that denying ungodliness, 02:00 and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, we should live 02:03 righteously, and godly, in this present world; 02:07 so grace is power, we have mercy, and we have power. 02:10 Yeah, you could even simply say that the mercy, that He gives, 02:16 is the power, because we perceived His love for us, 02:22 His mercy, His love manifested in mercy, that forgiveness just 02:27 overcomes our sense of God's love for us 02:31 and then in the light of His love for us, we are empowered 02:35 to then, by that same mercy, by that same grace, 02:39 to be strengthened so that we can deal effectively with 02:44 temptation in our lives. 02:45 Absolutely, and you look at this in the context of 02:48 Hebrews Chapter 5, because what he is going to do now is 02:51 transition out, from this emphasis on the priesthood and 02:54 and he is going to go, now, in verse 12, He's going to go, 02:57 or verse 11, to the condition of God's people. 03:00 He has just emphasized that Jesus can have compassion 03:03 on us, that Jesus is as merciful that we can find grace, 03:06 and the reason that he's putting so much emphases on this is 03:09 because of the condition of God's people beginning here 03:13 in verse 11, "Of whom, talking about Christ, 03:15 we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, 03:18 it's hard for us to be tell you these things, 03:19 Why? because you are dull of hearing. 03:21 Or, verse 12, For when you ought to be teachers, 03:24 you have need that one teaches you again what be 03:28 the first principles of the oracles of God; 03:30 and are need or become such need of milk, 03:33 and not of strong meat. 03:34 Not that strong for the word of God. 03:36 for you, it says in verse 13, For every one that uses milk 03:38 is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 03:41 But strong meat, STRONG MEAT, belongs 03:45 to them that are full of age, even those who by reason 03:49 of use have their senses exercised to discern 03:53 both good and evil. 03:54 The believers here have slipped they have backslidden, 03:57 their struggling, and so he emphasizes the mercy, the grace, 04:01 the power, the compassion, in order for them to have 04:04 hope, in order for them to be encouraged, because of 04:06 their spiritual condition. 04:07 And this is a very, this is a very practical problem 04:11 with a practical solution. 04:12 The problem is practical, he's saying spiritually you are weak. 04:16 You are like babes who are drinking milk when you should 04:19 be eating solid food, in fact, he says you should be teachers. 04:22 You should be witnessing, you should be testifying to the 04:26 things of God, but you are not able to give a powerful witness 04:30 you are not able to rightly represent your faith, 04:33 you are not even motivated to do so 04:34 because you are like babes in the word of God 04:38 and the practical solution James, is very very clear here 04:41 he says you need to have your senses, your mind, your heart, 04:46 your eyes, your hearing, you need to have those senses 04:50 exercised, you need to use them. 04:53 Just like in the physical realm. 04:56 Muscles of the body are strengthened by use and also 05:01 the spiritual muscles, if we can use that term, 05:04 Term of the mind, of the heart are exercised and strengthened 05:08 as we, in a repetitive sense, delve deeper and deeper 05:13 and deeper, into the truths of God's word. 05:16 We are strengthened spiritually. 05:18 I will never forget, Ty, we started working out, 05:20 we started lifting weights, when we started getting into 05:22 exercise, I was a weakling, I remember we went to the gym 05:24 and Ty was over there and he is pumping the bar, you know 05:27 it's got these 45er's on there, and I am over there pumping 05:29 the bar and there is nothing on there, 05:31 there's nothing on there! 05:32 Now that was several years ago and since that time I've 05:36 continued to exercise and built up strength. 05:37 But if I, if you, if anyone who is into physical exercise 05:40 jogging, lifting weights, whatever it is, 05:42 would take a year off, let's just say you don't exercise 05:45 for a year, and you are use to running 5 miles, you're use 05:47 to running 10 miles, you are use to pumping 200 pounds, 05:50 or 300 pounds, and you go back into that gym after a year off, 05:53 you haven't been exercising, you go back in 05:54 there, you are not going to do what you once did, 05:57 your not going to run as far as you once ran. 05:59 That's right! 06:00 You have to go back and that's what Paul is saying here, 06:03 don't pressure yourself to be where you think you ought 06:06 to be, you need to go back to the milk, you need to start 06:09 all over again, he's not chiding them, he's not, he's not 06:12 overwhelming them I should say, he is chiding them a little 06:15 bit but he is not overwhelming them. 06:16 He is understanding where they are and saying 06:18 you need milk, you need to go back to that, don't let 06:21 pride overwhelm you, thinking you can go in there pump 06:23 200 pounds when you haven't been working out for a year. 06:25 Right James, you go over there and just pump the bar and 06:28 just be humble and don't worry about it, you'll 06:29 get to that later. 06:30 Exactly, exactly and Paul wants us to understand that there is 06:35 development that should occur in the Christian life. 06:38 He's saying right now you need milk because you have become 06:41 negligent in the exercising use of your senses in the word 06:44 of God, you should be teachers but you are not. 06:46 But he is saying you need milk, but please, he's pleading, 06:51 He's saying, but come on, he's prodding us on, 06:53 He's admonishing us, saying get into the word 06:56 of God, exercise your senses, begin to drink that milk 06:59 of the word of God, but then, in Chapter 6 he says, 07:03 But, therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary 07:09 principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection. 07:11 He is definitely telling us that we need to move on 07:15 and to develop, to grow, in our Christian experience 07:19 to move on to the pondering of the deeper issues 07:23 of the word of God so that we can represent God 07:29 more fully in the world, not with arrogance, but definitely 07:33 with a clarity of what the gospel is about, clear sense, 07:38 of what the gospel is, and we actually grow, not only in 07:42 our understanding, but we grow in our ability to clearly 07:45 communicate to our friends, neighbors, and family members. 07:48 I love this about Paul because he always saturates admonition 07:51 with grace and with help, you know 1 Corinthians is a prime 07:54 example, he starts focusing on the cross and then goes 07:57 goes on and tells them all the things they need to change, 08:00 things they are doing wrong, whatever, but it's always 08:01 back to the cross, 1 Corinthians 13, the love Chapter. 08:04 You see the same thing here, in fact, in Chapter 4 we 08:07 touch on this but in verse 12, he talks about how the word 08:11 of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than 08:13 any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of 08:16 soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, 08:18 and is a discerner of the thoughts and 08:19 intents of the heart. 08:20 And I am going too fast here, but look at this. 08:22 That there is nothing, verse 13, that is not manifest in 08:26 God's sight, all things are naked and open unto the eyes 08:30 of Him with Whom we have to do. 08:31 God sees everything! 08:32 God knows everything about us and He still loves us. 08:35 Check this out, God understands our weaknesses 08:39 and He still loves us. 08:41 He is compassionate towards us, and yet at the same time 08:44 He encourages us to get to go further, 08:46 I mean even Eve, okay, she began to fail in discerning good 08:51 and evil, in her perfection, before she fell, 08:53 she went to the tree, she listened to the serpent, 08:56 and now she wasn't sure, 08:57 she wasn't able to discern between good and evil, 09:01 it could happen to anyone. 09:02 And yet God still came to the garden, God was still looking 09:04 for them, God still made promises to them, God 09:06 was still there for them. 09:07 And that is the picture we see in Hebrews. 09:09 Yeah there is an incredible balance here, I mean 09:11 verse 12 and 13 of Chapter 4 actually are very startling. 09:15 The word of God cuts deep and everything about us is 09:19 open before the eyes of God He knows every thought, every 09:24 feeling, every action that is done in secret. 09:27 He knows everything, but what's the next two verses 09:30 Yes, exactly! 09:31 We have a high priest who is compassionate, He sympathizes, 09:34 He's going to give mercy for every sin, failure and He is 09:38 going to give grace to help you in your time of need, so 09:41 actually what we see here is God saying to us, I know 09:47 everything about you, and I still love you. 09:50 So don't run away from me, don't in your exposure before me 09:55 turn from Me in fear, I want you to come boldly into 10:01 the throne room of Universe, and partake of mercy 10:03 and in partaking of mercy, to move on to partake of grace 10:07 to help in every time of need, to develop spiritually, to grow 10:11 to mature, and to become powerful witnesses in this world 10:15 Yes, and you know as you look at Hebrews Chapter 6 as you 10:18 move through this you realize that there is nothing else God 10:21 can do for us after He reveals this truth, if we turn away 10:25 from this truth, if we turn away from this understanding 10:28 Look at these verses, Verse 4 of Hebrews Chapter 6:4 is 10:32 impossible for those who were once enlightened and have 10:35 tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the 10:37 Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God. 10:40 The Word of God. 10:42 And the powers of the world to come if they shall fall 10:45 away to renew them again and repentance seeing they crucify 10:47 themselves to the Son of God afresh and put Him to open shame 10:51 There is a natural consequence, the earth drinks down the water 10:54 produces something, whether it is good or bad, and Verse 8 10:58 it could produce thorns and briars and that is going 11:00 to be rejected, but we are persuaded better things of you. 11:02 In other words this will follow the Saints, summarize. 11:04 God is giving it everything He has got. 11:08 He has shown you everything. 11:10 He is showing you that you are naked before Him. 11:12 He knows where you are, He knows what you are about, 11:14 He knows what your thoughts are and He loves you. 11:15 He has compassion towards you, He has grace towards you, 11:17 He has mercy towards you. 11:18 He is there for you. 11:19 Now if you turn away from that revelation, if you turn away 11:23 from that understanding of what God, if you turn away 11:24 from tasting that goodness of God, what more can God give? 11:29 What more can He reveal to You? 11:30 Beyond that there is nothing else left. 11:32 I think there is some motivation here also. 11:34 At least it has been motivational for me. 11:36 As I see verse 6, of Chapter 6 of Hebrews, where we are told 11:42 that in sin, when we fail to continue in the Lord and we 11:49 turn from Him, we crucify the Son of God afresh 11:52 and put Him to open shame. 11:54 That pierces my heart James. 11:56 That motivates me, not with guilt, but it motivates me 11:59 because I love my Savior and the idea that I would put 12:04 Him to open shame, before the on looking Universe, 12:08 after all He has done for me, that just really ratchets up 12:12 my will power and causes me to say Lord please, enter my 12:15 life, strengthen me in every way You can, I don't want to 12:18 dishonor You, I don't want to put You to shame before the 12:22 Universe, So please Lord nurture me, grow me up in Yourself, 12:26 and let me develop and move forward in my Christian faith. 12:30 What a powerful revelation we are studying here Ty, 12:33 What a powerful revelation friends and listeners. 12:36 What a powerful revelation we have here in the book of Hebrews 12:39 of who God is and what He is like, His compassion, His 12:42 love, His grace, His mercy, and the encouragement that 12:45 He gives us to not only except and embrace that, 12:49 but to move on with Him. 12:51 To embrace, not only the grace, the mercy and the gift 12:55 of salvation, but also the power and the 12:57 change that he wants to make in our lives. 12:59 What a full revelation Paul is giving us here in the book 13:02 of Hebrews, of both the compassion and the mercy and 13:05 the grace of God as well as the power of God and the 13:08 influence that God can have to change us, and don't you 13:10 want that change in your life? 13:12 Don't you want to have the experience that 13:14 God longs for you to have? 13:16 I pray you do. 13:17 See you next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17