Hebrews- " Encouragement For A Life Of Faith" Part 1 -- " The Real Deal" Series

Hebrews

“Encouragement for a life of faith”

Part 1

“The Real deal”

Today we are beginning a new sermon series on the book of Hebrews

I chose Hebrews because it complements Exodus nicely

Over the next several weeks we are going to look at this great book

With a discerning eye

My intent is to dissect this writing

And apply it to our lives

As has been the case in our last several sermon series

We will dig

But once again this will not be a verse by verse exposition on the book of Hebrews

If you want to go deeper

I encourage you to attend our Sunday Morning Round pen Bible studies

And further encourage you to take time from your own life to study these writings

It never fails

It seems that in this world

Anytime anyone comes up with a great idea

The first thing that often happens is someone else tries to improve on it

And others simply copy it

Often making only cheep worthless imitations

You see when something is good

Or even more so when something is great

There are always counterfeits

Patti’s dad was an expert on antique Winchester rifles

Like this one

I believe he knew more about Winchesters than any person alive

He could spot a fake gun or even a modified gun almost in the dark

Do you know how experts

Tell between a fake and the real deal?

They don’t study the fakes

They study the real deal

And when they know the real deal well enough

A fake is very easy to spot

It will be shown for what it is

Let me give you just a little background on the book of Hebrews

No one knows for sure who the writer is

Some say Paul

Some say Apollos

Others Luke or Barnabas

Or even Priscillia

But I can say that no one truly knows for sure

I can also say for sure that it does not matter who wrote it

It only matters who inspired it

And that is none other than God himself

Working in the heart of the author through the power of the Holy Spirit

Let me back track to a verse we use often

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

All scripture

Even scripture that we are not sure who the author is

Is God Breathed the NKJ says

Inspired by God

The infallible

Inerrant word of God

Every letter

Every comma

Every paragraph

Every chapter

Of Every Book

And it

God words

Has value and purpose in our lives

The writer of Hebrews was struggling with a problem

A problem that is so much like problems of today

He was struggling with a problem that so many bible teachers and preaches still struggle with

You see

The people he was called by God to minister to

Were trying to go back to their old ways

Their old style of worship

Their old traditions

And they were even falling for the lies of false prophets who were trying desperately to lead them astray

Many of the earliest Christians came out of Judaism

They had been born Jews

Raised as Jews

Taught as Jews

Thought as Jews

But

These Jews

The ones the writer is writing too

Had made a change

They had experienced salvation through the promised Messiah

Jesus Christ

They understood that Jesus fulfilled the hundreds of prophesies

They understood that he fulfilled hundreds of promises

They were Christians

But

They were having a hard time

They were now being persecuted

And as a result of the increasing persecution

Many of them were being tempted to put Christianity aside

And return to their old Belief system

So , our writer begins a letter to them

To show them

The real deal

To remind them of their faith in Jesus

The writer shows them Jesus from the Old Testament

And he shows them the fakes

And in the process

He shows us the real deal as well

Reading from Hebrews chapter 1

Verses 1-2a

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.

In the Old Testament as we have been studying over the last year

We know that God talked to the people in many ways

And He often spoke to the people through the Prophets

And he spoke to the prophets in many ways

He spoke to Isaiah in visions