Introductory Considerations
1. How many words does a person speak in a lifetime? Did a little calculation - if I speak 10 words a minute on average, I would speak over 500,000 per year. In life of 70 years - 35 million words.
2. Some important - vows when married, confession of faith. Some frivolous. Some I regret - words of anger.
3. Of all words I will have said - there are 10 words that are most important of all - "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord".
4. That is - if I say these words from my heart, if they are truly what I believe, if they are what determines how I live my life.
5. These words are like a dividing line. All who believe these words are on one side and the rest of world on the other.
6. Two weeks ago we began to look at he apostles creed. We said that what we believe comes from a renewed mind that transforms how we live.
7. If we live according to what we believe, we follow pattern of God and are not be conformed to the pattern of this world.
8. Again we look at what we believe and the pattern of living it presents us - and again I ask you - which pattern are you conforming to?
9. Creed with saying I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Most people on earth would have no trouble saying that - Muslims, Jews. But with the words we look at today, we separate ourselves from them - for what we are saying is bold, is difficult to accept unless heart touched by Holy Spirit.
10. Yet they are words we must say and believe and live - if we have any hope at all.
11. Although statement based on various Scriptures - focus will be on passage from Hebrews and in particular vs. 25.
Teaching
1. I BELIEVE IN. Remember what it means to believe - affirm, trust, obey, commit, worship.
2. We believe in JESUS. By saying this we say that we believe in the Saviour - for the name Jesus means "God is a Saviour" or Saviour.
3. Writer to Hebrews explains that in vs. 25.
4. Who does He save? - those who come to God thru Him. Those who believe (trust in Him) - John 3:16 - whoever believes in Him shall not perish.
a. Sounds simple - if you trust Jesus to be your Saviour, He will be your Saviour - as hymn says "Only Believe".
b. Means that we can only come to God thru Him. Many in world accept Jesus as prophet or great teacher or even as a way to God. But to say He is the only way to God - many cannot accept that. (Acts 4:12)(also Heidelberg Catechism no. 29)
5. He is able to SAVE COMPLETELY. Jesus does all that has to be done for our salvation. We can do nothing to add to it. He does not save me 95% of way and me 5%. (also Heidelberg Catechism no. 30)
a. "Completely" has idea of completeness and for all time
b. Meaning of Greek "sodzo" shows this completeness
i. Deliver - to get us out of a situation (out of bondage to sin)
ii. Protect - to keep us out of situation once we are out of it ( to loose our salvation - freedom)
iii. Heal - to make well or whole that which is sick or broken (to surgically remove power of sin)
iv. Preserve - to keep well (to not fall back into sin). - eg. doctors can often provide healing - but cannot
preserve forever.
c. Jesus saves us - from past, from bondage but continues to save us forever.
6. Writer to Heb - explains how Jesus can do this and why we must rely only on Him
7. Does this by referring to one of the most mysterious people in the Bible. Says that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek.
a. We have talked before about how Jesus was anointed to be prophet, priest and king. That’s what Christ means (anointed) - and so will not go into that in detail.
8. Focus in passage is that Jesus Christ was anointed a priest.
9. Role of priest to save or set free the people by offering sacrifices to God on their behalf - it was a system that was set up by God .
a. We could compare it to the ways by which God calls us to worship Him and to follow Him. God calls us to go to church, read word, pray etc.
b. These things will not save us - even though we might start treating them as necessities to complete Christ’s work.
10. The priesthood represents our efforts to be saved, to be right with God
11. But we needed a priesthood not representing man but representing God as well - and so the writer refers to Melchizedek - king of Salem and priest of God Most High.
a. Not descended from Aaron. Before Aaron’s time - Abe gave tithe to him in Gen 14. Neither was Jesus - not tribe of Levi but Judah.
b. Also, Jesus priesthood is forever. (Pss 110:4). The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
c. When a priest is anointed he should make an oath of office, as elders, as Clinton did last Monday. But in this case, God swears an oath. (vs. 3)
12. Only Jesus represents God and only He is able to save completely - only Jesus is blameless and only His sacrifice can be made for our sins.
13. Do you really believe that Jesus is your Saviour? and Him alone? The answer is really found in the way you live your life. By the pattern that you are conforming to. (world’s or God’s)
14. Lets look at a few examples.
15. The world looks to its salvation with itself. Cannot ignore the evil of the human condition and the reality of sin. But what can we do about it?. Their answer - we must educate people and teach them the right way to live, we must give them money so they will not need to steal, we must give them freedom to let them excel.
b. God says none of these things will help with real problem for man cannot save mankind from his situation any more than a priest from the line of Aaron could. Our striving is useless.
c. His pattern is that we daily acknowledge our need for salvation - admit we need Christ.
d. Why would God let you into heaven? If any answer includes what you have done, you are conforming to the pattern of this world. And I would ask - do you really believe what you said you believe in Jesus Christ.
16. How do try to appease God?
a. World gives lip service to God. Better acknowledge Him or else He might get angry with us.
b. God says to obey is better than to sacrifice - easy to go to church to make up for our sins, to balance the scales of the good and bad in our lives. "I know I’ve done wrong but I give to the poor, the church, I..."
c. That is conforming to the pattern of world.
d. We obey, we sacrifice - not to appease God but to please Him because we love him and are thankful for doing what we could not have done for ourselves.
17. How do we deal with our shortcomings?
a. Do we admit we need to be saved? Do we try to cover up our sins and pretend that we are OK? Like Aadam & Eve, do we try to cover up our nakedness and hide from God?
b. Or are we honest with God - confessing our sins and asking Him to forgive us? God’s pattern is for us to admit we need Jesus as Saviour. To confess that we have fallen short.
c. World pretends there are no problems - I’m OK. I am surprised at Christian books (eg. Joshua by Girzone), speakers that say man is basically good. That is a pride that separates us from God.
d. Dangers - as new Christians we acknowledge need for Christ but now we have arrived we should have it all together and if we don’t, we must hide it from church (from God?).
e. Just as we needed X to deliver us and heal us, we continue to need Him. To protect us and to heal us.
f. Concerned about a church being a holy club that becomes self-righteous- happens so easily.
g. If we cannot admit sins and struggles to each other (or to self) we are going by pattern of world.
18. Christ is our Saviour - completely. Is he yours? On whom do you place your trust?
19. Can you still say "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord"?
