The Lord Jesus in Hebrews

I'd like you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse number 1. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom hath appointed heir of all things and by whom also he made the world who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they now chapter 2 verse 10 for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory or unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctified and they that are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren now look down well chapter 3 and verse 1 says wherefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus for sake of time chapter 4 verse 12 for the Word of God is quick or living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight for all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need now chapter 7 and verse 25 wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them for such an high priest became us who was holy harmless undefiled separated from sinners and made higher than the heavens now chapter 9 for another verse verse 28 so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation now chapter 13 please verse number 10 we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat would serve the tabernacle for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp where for Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach verse 20 says now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen now we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word I'm sure we all realize that the book of Hebrews it's a wonderful book when I was first saved my father said you know well if you could get a grasp of the book of Romans and the book of Ephesians and the book of Hebrews he said you'd have a lot under your belt well I'm not saying that I have done that as I should but this is a wonderful book and what helps me to understand it just a few points I will give you just to start off this book can be divided into five parts like many other places in the Bible and the five parts they correspond to the Pentateuch that is the first five books of the Bible and you would notice that in chapter 1 to chapter 2 and verse 4 we have what corresponds to Genesis Genesis is a seed plot of the Bible and we have so much here in this first chapter it goes way back into the past and brings us into the future and transports us away into the present and then transports us away out into the future now chapter 2 and verse 5 to chapter 4 and verse number 10 would be the Exodus part and you have the Lord Jesus especially there greater than Moses and greater than than Aaron and then the large part of the book from the end from chapter 4 and 12 to go right right to the end of chapter 10 you have the Leviticus part of the book and what most of it is based on the on the day of atonement and then of course in 11th chapter we have all those men and women of faith and when we think of them we think of those that were going through the wilderness and we think of the book of Numbers and then Deuteronomy at the end another thing that helps me is that when the first part of the book after the introduction in chapter 1 and 2 we have the priesthood of Christ from God coming down to man and we have the Lord drawing near to us as we travel through this wilderness world then that we come the change around chapter 7 and 8 and it goes the other way and it's a priesthood that takes us right into heaven so it's going up I got now the first two chapters I would take it the introduction and it would remind us of two of the two great pillars in Solomon's temple if you remember them one was called Jason and the other was called Boaz and in chapter 1 we have Jason Jason means he shall establish so we have God establishing everything in the person of his well-beloved son when we come to the second chapter you know the other great pillar was Boaz the kinsman Redeemer so we have the Lord Jesus drawing near to us as a great man now what I want to do is bring the Lord before us in many different ways from what we have read in the book of Hebrews you will know that it was written to Hebrews those were Jews some of them had gotten saved and there were some coming among them and they were listening to the gospel and they were had to make a big decision were they going to be saved or were they going to go back into Judaism so the book was written to woo them away from Judaism and bring them near to the Lord Jesus Christ so if we understand that that way then I think it would really help us to see that they're being wooed away from Judaism now for us of course I don't think any of us are Jews to hear this morning but the same Savior the same wonderful person will woo us away from the world or anything that we are engaged in in this world we can see the Lord is brought before us and right at the beginning what we have read he's the Son of God that's a marvelous thing to think of the Son of God would come into this world and that you and I would come to know him as our own and personal Savior and it's telling us of his greatness the Jews could not imagine how the Lord Jesus could be greater than an angel but they were told here right in this first chapter greater than not only angelic beings greater than the law and greater than the prophets and when I read this book I think this first chapter I think of the amount of transfiguration and an amount of transfiguration you remember Peter said let us build here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah and a bright cloud overshadowed them and they saw no one saved Jesus only and what God was teaching him and what he's teaching us is this that the law Moses represented the law and the law was coming to an end as far as God's dealings were with mankind and the prophets had prophesied and it all prophesied about the Lord coming and now the Lord is here so they didn't need the prophets and they didn't need the law but they have the Lord Jesus himself and I think that's why the voice from the cloud said this is my beloved son hear ye him when the heavens were opened earlier it was this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased but he's saying hear ye him because they had heard the law and they had heard the prophets but he said they're all fulfilled in this wonderful person and who is he is the eternal son of God and we learned that from chapter 1 because before he ever made the world he was appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds so before he brought in the great creation think of his greatness think of his might and think of his majesty because we're not going to appreciate his lowliness unless we first see the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ that all is brought in now in him is spoken unto us in son not as a channel through the prophets but God manifest in flesh speaking among men the brightness of his glory express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high so we have the greatness of the the Lord brought before us he's a son of God but then when we come into chapter 2 I think you could agree with me he's a son of man as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he and like manner took part of the same the thing of his greatness and we always want to keep that in mind because they will appreciate his loneliness he became a man but he was not just any man and the writer here in chapter 2 tells he's the greatest man that ever lived imagine coming from the groves of heaven being born as a little babe in Bethlehem that should touch our hearts the psalmist had said Oh Lord my God the art very great our clothes with honor and majesty and he talks about him walking on the wings of the wind making the clouds his chariot and we see him as a little babe wrapped in swaddling pants and lying in a manger but the writer now tells us that of course he was greater than Moses some have put it this way in chapter 2 we see a man and a mountain and the man in the mountain would be Moses and Mount Sinai man that gave the law but it says that how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him so he comes in and he brings salvation the law couldn't do that Moses couldn't do that and then I go on down the chapter and it tells us about a man in a garden and that man is Adam and the garden of course is the garden of Eden and he told him he tells us about the greatness of the Lord far greater than an Adam and then he goes on down to tell us that the Lord is the one that abolished death triumphed over Satan there in the cross and when I think of him how he defeated the one who had the power of death I think of a man in a valley and the man of course would be King David and the valley would be the Valley of Elah and he's greater than David went down David defeated the giant and delivered them that were all the Lord delivered those that were all their lifetime subject of bondage it was a greater victory we heard about it yesterday very well put then we have a man in a tent and a man at the end would be Aaron and a tent would be the great tabernacle so we see the Lord Jesus as a son of man then we see him as the sufferer who had by himself purged our sins son of God purged our sins and then we have him we didn't read the verse but but as a singer it's wonderful to think that the Lord could sing on both sides of victory couldn't he he leads the praise in the midst of the great congregation here and Hebrews and they sang before he went out there toward Calvary great singer good thing to be able to sing we may not all be able to sing in tune but sometimes I I think it'd be great if we could maybe sing like we believe it when we're singing our hymns sometimes you know to Calvary Lord and for it now our weary souls repair you almost feel like yawning I think that'd be good if we could really sing there's a great victory has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus and how we love to sing about him and then we've some beautiful hymns in our book let's when we sing it doesn't matter I know one man and my father used to say if he sang with a Salvation Army band he'd put them out of tune but at least he sang sometimes he sang in between the lines too and the verses but at least he sung we need to be able it's tremendous to think what this person has done and how he came into this world so in such a humble way he came to suffer and he came to sucker that's what we have at the end of chapter 2 he came to sucker those that are tempted and in his priesthood toward man he came to sucker he's a great sucker we're tempted the Lord draws near to us to help us and and he's not only the great sucker he's a great sympathizer that's what we read off in chapter 4 the Lord draws near to sympathize with us and as well as a priest he draws near to us to save us oh you see but we are all saved well we're still being saved and he's able to save to the uttermost then the command of God by him what a wonderful person the Lord is that's what we need to get a grip off and keep remembering sometimes even we hear ministry without his name being mentioned well we have nothing apart from the Lord Jesus and imagine that he would draw near to you or draw near to me to help us as we travel through this world in this world it's work on the cross is finished but his work and on high it's an unfinished work it's still going on and the Lord is maintaining us in the presence of God what a wonderful thing to know that the Lord draws near to each one of us you wonder how he would ever consider us at all if we understand what we are and it's good to remember what we once were but we've been made new in Christ and we want to live for him and he's able to sympathize with us as well now that's what we read in chapter 4 it's a very interesting part of our Bible I believe when you come to the Word of God is quick and powerful it's living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword and it divides things that we can't divide but I think the idea is sometimes we get involved in little details when if we got the big picture it would help us I think it's telling us that it pierces right into our innermost being you know the Word of God we read it and it's a great encouragement to us but you know I didn't know how big a sinner I was till after God saved me then I started reading the Word of God and I just realized a good to realize what we are you still have the old flesh with us and we're still capable of doing the worst things and I think that the Word of God in that way it's like the law it pierces right in they were occupied with the law but the law told their failure and that's what God wants us to know our weakness so as we read the Word of God we can see not only his greatness but our weakness and then to think that he will draw near to us to sympathize with us in that weakness what do we do how can we get through this world well the song of Solomon you know has a little verses in it to say who is this that cometh out of the wilderness leaning upon her beloved who is this that cometh out of the when it like pillars of smoke and you read those lovely verses and you think of the one that sometimes is he's the only one we can lean on and he's always there for us and we're traveling through a wilderness world and all our weakness how are we going to get through it we're going to lean on him my it's wonderful that the Lord will allow us to do that to lean on him we need we need help and we need to go forth in his strength when it says like pillars of smoke I think it would it would remind us of the sacrifice of Christ and and especially maybe on the Day of Atonement when there was a pillar of smoke outside the camp fierce wrath of God against sin the Lord Jesus bearing our sin his own body on the tree I was brought me into the dust of death says in Psalm 22 I think it could be the ashes of this the sin offering but all the while there's another pillar of smoke going up from inside the camp God hath made him to be sin for us that's outside the camp who knew no sin that's inside the camp where there's a sweet-smelling savor ascending to God and this is the one that's bringing us through this wilderness world and as we lean on him where does he take us to the throne of grace right to the mercy seat and it wonderful we have a throne of grace why would he take us to a place like that that's the presence of God to strengthen us I hope we spend time in his presence that's maybe the most difficult thing before us we're so busy we're living in an age where they called the rat race and I think they have it right just to take time to be in the presence of the Lord strength doesn't come from great activity running all over the place like a we say like a chicken with its head cut off but but spending time in his presence that's what all help us so he's a sucker he's a sympathizer and he is well I missed chapter three and one he's a sent one the Apostle and high priest of our calling he's the one that brought the word like Aaron was a high priest but Moses was a apostle the one was in God's presence and brought God's Word to others that's what the Lord did he came to reveal the father and he did so in his life and also in his death now he's able to save to the uttermost used to hear that preached a lot in the gospel saved from the uttermost of the gutter most and that's true he does but that's not what it's saying here he's going to bring us safely through you ever wonder about what's going to happen tomorrow and then you find when tomorrow comes whatever it was is disappeared we're so anxious be anxious for nothing prayerful for everything and be thankful for anything but we know this we're going to be brought safely through doesn't matter who's going to be voted in whatever it is I know it's next week or the week after but whatever it doesn't matter sometimes we get involved in these things we forget that God is still on the throne our brother brought before us Isaiah lived during the reign of four kings earthly earthly kingdom ceased another one's raised up but he saw a king far above them all and we need to get our eye on him all is in his control and it's all going to be worked out the way God wants it to be worked out and it doesn't matter what we think or what we hope will happen there hopefully we're not voting for anybody but we pray for them they need our prayers but God is going to work out all things and you and I are going to be brought safely through there are great difficulties and there's some that have just heard recently that these are awful diseases and we heard of that family bereaved and Terry son not too old 14 I believe and with an awful disease how are we going to turn to thank God we can turn to the Lord if we can't turn to anyone else so he's the Savior he's a sovereign we read about him in chapter 9 and we read that he's coming to reign those are those are wonderful verses I remember being in Bible readings where they were discussed and there were differences of opinion and and you know when I was with some of these giants and the scriptures you're just wondering now how do I fit into this what which who's right and that's what Bible readings are for and ministry to not just to sit there and swallow everything you want to check up on stuff and well chapter 9 is a little picture I think of the the priest Christ is a priest and he's a he's in the coming out of the sanctuary he's gone in the day of atonement and that's a wonderful thing to to look at remember Aaron on the day of atonement he offered a sacrifice for himself and the priestly family and then for the people left his tent we'd go to the labor first of all before you go to the sacrifices and then back and so on and eventually into the sanctuary and then come back out off the burnt offering and go back in this tent but you know where the Lord came from the fulfillment of the day of atonement he came from the heavenly sanctuary think of the Lord in the spotless purity and his might and his majesty didn't need to go near a labor didn't need to be cleansed from any sin but went directly to the altar and offered himself there as a sacrifice for sin well here we have pointed on the man wants to die but after this the judgment so Christ has once offered was once offered to bear the sins of many and I don't believe in any limited atonement and it's better just many just means more than one very often in the scriptures so those that says there he then that look for him he's a coming one he's a sovereign he's coming to reign and you know on that day of atonement one brother in the Bible reading that I was in I won't tell you his name he's gone now and they're all gone but anyhow he he suggested that this was the the high priest coming out to Israel on the day of atonement and mr. kundig was there and if you knew mr. kundig well just to give you an idea of what he was like at times he he just ignored the question or the statement that the brother said and then the brother said it again after a little interval and he just ignored him and then he said it again and mr. kundig brother I was gonna imitate him but I won't he said brother I think you really believe that the man didn't know what to do but mr. kundig wouldn't have it he said don't forget to bring in the rapture and he says then we shan't we shan't lose anything and I thought well is it the rapture or is it the Lord coming in glory they're both true and then I thought in my little way I don't know if I'm right or wrong but I enjoyed anyhow I thought well the first to see the priest coming out would be the priestly family likely so he's coming out and we're going to see him the Lord is coming sin question has been settled you know when we think about the eternity and we bring this up at at funerals there's no more weeping no more cause for tears no more death no more suffering and we think it's going to be wonderful for us I'm not going to need any needles with insulin won't need the old pacemaker and and we're thinking but you know what I thought and I've enjoyed it's no more suffering for the Lord no more death no more for him to be forsaken he knew what it was to shed tears but there's no tears for him we're so self-occupied at times we forget about others but he's coming out and that's what I want to emphasize just as we're drawing very close to a close he's coming out again are we waiting for him he's a sovereign he's going to reign what a tremendous day that will be when you and I will be with him in glory we'll be reigning with him will not be worried about Trump or Clinton or anybody else in those days they're all non-entities but we'll be with him and then the next thing I want to say is he's a he's a great separator separation was the strength of the assemblies in the past it's still our strength but we're weakening separate from the world some believers don't seem to know what the world is doesn't matter that go to the show go to the concert go to the ballgame oh that's just entertainment that's that's the world and and if we're occupied with Christ we wouldn't be occupied with those things and I know it's it's hard to to get away from it for some of us mr. John Abernethy a good friend of mine that knew me from I was born and I knew him from his little boy God saved him and he's going down to the shipyard in Belfast reading a sports page and you know what happened my father just came up behind him and tapped him on the arm he said you're not getting much for your soul out of that it's hard to wean away when you're interested in sports and things and but but that's what he separates him we want to separate these people from Judaism and he's a magnet and where is he he's outside the camp I would just say that's Judaism that's nothing to do with Christianity or Christendom as we call it indeed it has because you go to many places today what will you see you'll see a separate priesthood where'd they get that idea from from the Old Testament and maybe see a man with robes on I don't know how I would look up here with robes I'd feel kind of funny but when I was in the City Hall in Belfast on a tour one time a woman was leading the tour she said well I want you to do something for me and I said what so I said I want you to put on the counselor's robe and show the people what I had this red robe on I think it was fair on that I can't remember but you exaggerate a bit anyhow and you put your elbow on on a mantelpiece and you get your official picture taken so you maybe see it in my obituary if the Lord doesn't come I think it'll be a good one and you feel kind of proud even though you're not a counselor you're putting this on why am I how'd they ever get on that anyhow we need to be separated and there's only one who can separate her and that's the Lord Jesus would get our eye on him think of his sufferings to weaners away from this old world what is it really and then last of all verse 20 was it he's a shepherd you know the shepherd is very closely linked I believe with the with the priest I think it's maybe John's way of speaking of the priest and and why it's mostly John's way would be a priesthood toward man and a shepherd taking care of the sheep not wonderful and what does this verse say well they say the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant the eternal covenant when was that made well you'll have to tell me don't understand it but it was always me and here's the Lord Jesus brings peace these people were having conflicts and some of it was a spiritual conflict others were physical we're being persecuted but it says brought again from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep we could start talking about the shepherd but times gone but we'll just say this the book of Hebrews is a book of contrasts and comparisons and I believe if the writer speaks here about a great shepherd he must have another shepherd in mind that wasn't so great who do you think that was well I'll tell you who I think it was I think it was Moses Moses was a shepherd Psalm 77 isn't it the last verse tells us how God led them out children of Israel through the wilderness like a shepherd by the hand of Moses and Aaron but Moses could only bring them out of Egypt out of the slave market of sin but he couldn't bring him into the land took another man it took a Joshua this name really is Jesus but we have a great shepherd of the sheep he not only brought us and bought us out of the slave market of sin but he's going to bring us safely through praise the Lord for the great shepherd of the sheep so may the Lord touch our hearts and could be a lot more said I'm sure good to consider these things and you consider them and you'll find other ways that the Lord has brought before what a wonderful person he is and I think that he would suffer and bleed and die to save you and to save me and not only that but he's I'm going to bring you safely through a great shepherd of the sheep so may the Lord bless his word for his name's sake