Sermon 3/21/04 am

Jim Huskey, Some Hebrew Helps

We're going to be winding down our study of the book of Hebrews today.

Basically, what we're going to do today is go back and pull out some

sundry lessons there that we did not really spend much time on during

the course of getting the overall picture of the book. The book of

Hebrews was written for the purpose of trying to stem the tide of

those Jews who had become christians and now were turning back to

Judaism. It was written to show how much better off the christian was

than the Jew. The author gave us numerous examples of what faith

involves, he points out that the just are to live by faith, we walk by

faith and not by sight. In the course of the tenth chapter, I want

us to pull out three lessons this morning.

In the 23rd verse of chapter 10, the author begins, "Let us hold fast

the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that

promised;)" "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith..." Now

that was the purpose of the writing of the book, to get them to hold

on to the system of faith, to get them to hold on to salvation which

is by faith, to prevent them from turning back. The author, therefore,

said, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.."

That admonition was needed then; it's needed today in the church as

well. Far too many have bartered away their faith for any number of

things. Many of them have bartered it away for false doctrine and false

teaching, in order to be among the "in crowd", religiously speaking.

Many have bartered it away for popularity; many have bartered it away

for pleasure; many have bartered it away for first one thing, then

another. But I want you to notice the reasoning he used. "Let us hold

fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful

that promised;)" It's hard to get people to do what they say they will

do anymore. We've been going through a mess over at the house, having

to have a bunch of work done. It looks like it's not much better than

it was; it's sort of in shambles right now. Sharon started trying to

call people to come an give us estimates as to what it was going to

cost to have the work done. "Well, I'll be there tomorrow at 4:00."

Tomorrow at 4:00 we didn't hear from them, they didn't call. "I'll be

there in the morning about 10:00 and I'll call you before I get there

to make sure you're home." Tomorrow at 10:00 we didn't get a phone

call, and nobody came. It's hard to get people to do what they say

they will do. I'm afraid that sometimes our being so accustomed to

dealing with people who do not do what they promise has almost given

some folks the concept that God's probably like that, too. NO !! "..he

is faithful that promised." When he says it, you might as well get

prepared because that's the way it's going to be. You remember us

looking in our study of Hebrews chapter 11 the study of the flood. God

told Noah there was going to be a flood. Now there had never been

anything like that on earth before and never has since, not of those

proportions. But just assuredly, it happened. And you know the

amazing thing is, it doesn't matter where you go in the world, there's

evidence of it. Go down so far into the surface of the earth and you'll

find about an 8-foot layer of water-laid clay. The only explanation

the scientists can find for that is, there must have been some sort of

catastrophic flood to have put that clay there. It doesn't matter

whether you go over into Asia, around the cradle of civilization, or

in other parts of the world. Go up into the antarctic region and you

will find there that evidently at one time there was a plush, green,

vegetation. Then suddenly something catastrophic must have happened.

Scientists agree that something of the nature of the flood could have

caused everything to change. In some of those regions they have found

those giant wooly mammoths, just sort of flash-frozen. When you dig

down so far into the ice, there they are, flash-frozen up in a tree.

The only explanation the scientists can come up with is that some

catastrophic event occurred. Well, God said it was going to happen!!!!

It did!!!!!! The evidence of it is there.

You remember upon one occasion God had become fed up with Ahab, because

Ahab was wicked. And as he wasn't wicked enough by himself, he took

Jezebel to wife and what one of them couldn't think of, the other one

could. In the course of events, there was a fellow by the name of

Naboth who had a vineyard that Ahab wanted. Well, I guess there was

nothing wrong with him wanting that vineyard. He went to Naboth and

offered him a fair price for it, or offered to trade him another

vineyard; but Naboth said, 'No, it's an inheritance; God forbid I

should barter it away.' Well, Ahab got mad, went home and told his

wife, pouted and acted like a lot of us do when we don't get our way.

She told him to get up, go about his business, he'd have his vineyard.

The raised up false witnesses against Naboth, saying he blasphemed

God. They took him out and stoned him to death. God sent the prophet,

Elijah, by to see Ahab. He said, 'In the place the dogs licked the

blood of Naboth, they'll lick your blood, Oh King.' Well, for about

a year or so you don't hear much about Aham. He got a little scared.

However, a little later he decided he wanted to go and re-take

Ramoth-Gilead. He propositioned the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to see

if he could get him to go up with him to Ramoth-Gilead and take it.

Well, Jehoshaphat decided 'Let's inquire of God before we get into

something like this.' Ahab said 'Fine.' He had 450 prophets of Baal

and they said 'Go up, you'll prevail.' But Jehoshaphat was a little

suspicious of that. He asked, 'Is here not a prophet of God here?'

'Well, there's one, Micaiah by name, but I hate him; he always

prophesies evil against me, never good.' So they call Micaiah, and he

was warned before he came in to them. 'All the other prophets have

prophesied good; now you better do the same thing.' So he went in and

they asked, 'Shall we go up or shall we forebear?' He said, 'Go up.'

Well Ahab worried about that. He said, 'How many times shall I

warn you to not lie to me in the name of Jehovah.' Micaiah said, 'Ok,

you want to know the truth, here it is. I saw a scene taking place in

heaven. They were trying to figure out how they were going to get

Ahab to go up to Ramoth-Gilead and die. There were several different

ideas offered; one finally said 'I'll go and be a lying spirit in

the mouth of all his propheets.' So you go, but you won't come back

alive.' Well, they were told to take him, put him in jail, put him

on bread of affliction and water of affliction until Ahab came again.

Micaiah said, 'You're not coming back. You go up, you will die.'

But Ahab was worried. The king of Syria is going to do everyting he

can to make sure Ahab does die. He told some of his captains to not

fight against anybody but the king of Israel (Ahab). Well, Ahab

told Jehoshaphat to go into battle arrayed as a king. That's what

they normally did. But Ahab said he would just go into battle dressed

like a common soldier, for there might be someone who had something

against him up there. They went into battle that way and those

captains say Jehoshaphat and thought at first it was Ahab. When they

saw it was not Ahab, they let him alone. But the record says a

bowman drew a bow at a venture. In other words, he was shooting like

I used to hunt birds, back years ago when I went. If a flock of them

flew up, I just fired at the flock, not aiming at any one in

particular. Of course, I never did kill any birds, either. I found

out I had to aim at what I was shooting. But that arrow that soldier

let fly at a venture pierced the joint of the armour of Ahab, and he

died. They carried his chariot and washed it out where his blood had

run down in the chariot, and the dogs came and licked the blood of

Ahab where they had licked the blood of Naboth. Why? Oh, because He

who said it is faithful. When He says something is going to happen,

IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN !!!!! All we have to do is look at the nation

of Israel and how God preserved them to provide a lineage for the

coming of Jesus into the world. He brought them out of Egypt, let them

cross the Red Sea on dry land. Yes, when God says it, it's going to

happen that way. He is faithful that promised. I remember years ago,

it was the most common thing, that when a man told you something,

he'd bust himself trying to make sure he did what he told you he would

do. I'm afraid that with too many people today that's not the case.

Let me tell you something. When God says it, it's going to happen.

So the Hebrew author said, "Let us hold fast the profession of our

faith without wavering... (here is why) (for he is faithful that

promised:)"

Then the next verse provides another interesting lesson. "And let us

consider one another to provide unto love and good works." vs. 24.

There are a couple lessons there. The first one is "...let us consider

one another...." I'm afraid about the only pronouns most people ever

learn are "I", "MY", "ME". But this author says here "...let us

consider one another..." God could have provided salvation in a

number of ways, but his Son established the church and there was a

reason for that. I was to provide us with those around us of like

faith to help us get through times that are difficult. Now you need

to understand that when the book of Hebrews was written, being a

christian could get you killed. You took your life into your own

hands when you sent to worship. Because of that risk, many had turned

aside. So he said, "And let us consider one another..." Remember upon

one occasion Jesus was asked, "Master, which is the greatest

commandment?" Well, he answered 'What's written in the law? How

readest thou?" Well, what was written in the law was this, 'Thou

shalt love the Lord God with all that heart, soul, mind, strength,

and thy neighbor as thyself.' Jesus said, 'On this hang all the law

and the prophets.' If you'll look at the breakdown of the Ten

Commandments God gave to the nation of Israel, you'll see that part of

them dealt with man's relationship to God and the rest of them dealt

with man's relationship to man.' "And let us consider one another.."

Now I'm afraid a lot of our consideration is like the story I heard

a long time ago of a lady who had a couple children and she made a

chocolate cake for them. Well, little Johnny came home, saw the cake

setting there, and he ate the whole thing. Little Suzy came home and

she saw a empty plate where the cake had been and asked her Mom,

"Where's my piece of cake?" Well, Mom found out what happened and she

called Johnny in and said, "Johnny, you should have thought about your

sister." He said, "I did, Mom, I was afraid she'd get here before I

got it all eaten." Well, that wasn't exactly what she had in mind

but that's the way we sometimes think of he other fellow. We're afraid

they beat us to it, afraid they'll get more than we do. But the

Hebrew author said "..let us consider one another.." That's a broad

field being considered.

But notice the next thing he said, "...to provoke.." A lot of us are

good at that if we consider the normal meaning of that work. We can

stir them up real good, we can get them mad. But that's not what he

is talking about here. The word can always be translated "to

encourage" "....to love and good works." In other words a pat on

the back doesn't hurt; sometimes it helps. Sometimes it needs to be

high, sometimes it needs to be low. But he said "..provoke unto love

and good works." We all need help. I know sometimes I've heard

people say, "I don't need nobody." Oh, yes you do. Yes, you do. I've

not met a single person who was self-sufficient. We need other people.

The author said consider one another and then encourage them to love

and good works. Help them along the way. Make it easier for them to

love and to be loved.

Then in versse 36, after warning them about what happens when God

says it's going to happen, he said, "For ye have need of patience,

that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.'

I don't know if a generation has ever lived on the face of the earth

that has need of patience any more than the generation that's alive

now. "...ye have need of patience..." In the 12th chapter, we

touched on this last week as we looked at the first part of that

chapter. "....let us run with patience the race that is set before

us." Heb. 12:1. Patience !!!! Romans 12:12, reads, "Rejoicing in

hope; patient in tribulation..." Patience !!!! We have become a

generation that wants everything and we want it yesterday. We don't

want to wait for anything. We've got instant everything. They did

away with the old tubes in the TV's and radios and tansisterized them

so they'll come on instantly. We don't have to wait for them to warm

up anymore. I remember the old radios - you turned them on and you

had to wait until the tubes warmed up. Not anymore !!! It's right

there. You go to the market and you can buy instant everything -

instant potatoes, instant this and instant that. We want everything

that way. We don't want to wait. Well, learned a long time ago one

principle. Now I didn't say I applied it all the time, but I learned it.

It takes a long time to grow an oak tree. These old oaks standing

out here may be a hundred years old or more. It takes a long time to

grow an oak. However, they have these pines that will come up real

quickly. You see which one of them will stand through a storm. Those

pines snap off like toothpicks, but those old oaks have deep roots,

through they've grown and if anything is going to stand, they will.

You can grow a pine real quickly; but it takes a while to grow an oak

tree. It takes a while to grow a christian, to mature a christian.

Anything that is really worth having is worth waiting on. Notice what

he said, "For ye have need of patience, that, AFTER ye have done the

will of God, ye might receive the promise." Patience - the ability to

keep on keeping on, the ability to endure, looking forward to the goal

you have and the reward that's awaiting. Patience !!! We don't have

it with our children, we don't have it with each other, we don't have

it with our co-workers, we don't have it in the church. Patience !!!!

Remember the story of Job? He lost everything he had, his wife tried

to get him to just curse God, and die. He said, 'I came here naked;

guess I'll go the same way.' However, because of that patience, he

was rewarded. Everything was restored, and then some. Various

writers in the New Testament remind us of that. Why? because we need

that kind of patience, the ability to wait. Things worth while take

time. I remember as a child my father and I made furniture, he doing

most of the work and making certain I learned through practice. We

sold a lot of furniture, too; and word got out and some of the

furniture stores in the area didn't like us. When Dad made a piece of

furniture there was one thing you could be sure of and that was that

it was going to be around for a while. You didn't do a half-way job;

you did it right or you re-did it. That was the way he was brought

up and that's the way he made me do it and I'm glad he did. I don't

have any patience with things that are half-way done. If it's worth

doing, do it right. I'd get so frustrated because when it came to

finishing pieces whether a cedar chest or a wardrobe, Dad had a way he

wanted it done. He'd put a coat of finish on there and he'd hand me

the steel wool when the finish was dried, and he meant for me to rub

every spot of the surface until it was slick. He'd wipe it down and

put another of finish on there and hand me the steel wool. I used

steel wool so much when I was a child, the ends of my fingers would be

raw from rubbing those pieces of furniture, because we might have

ten or fifteen chests at one time in the process of being finished.

But that was my job, the steel wool thing. But the point is, it took

time to do it right and that's the way he wanted it done. Just about

anything that's worth anything is going to take some time. It's going

to take you some time to raise your children. That's one of the things

wrong with most kids now. We want them to be acting like they're

sixteen when they're two. Only problem is, when they get to be

sixteen, we wish they'd act like they're two. We don't give them

time to be children anymore. That's why so many of them have go be

given this and that. Let them be children. They ARE children !!!!

They'll be adult soon enough. I remember I just couldn't wait until

I got to be sixteen. I don't know what was going to happen then, but

I couldn't wait until I got to be sixteen. Then I couldn't wait

until I got to be twenty-one. Now I can't remember when I was !!!

It'll pass. You'll get there soon enough. "For ye have need of

patience...." Don't we all !!!

Those are three very simple and very practical lessons from the

book of Hebrews, that are just as appropriate today as they were when

they were penned in the first century. God's word hasn't changed. It

hasn't needed to, because man hasn't changed. Man is still the same,

and so is God's word.