Uh, I am uh excited to start this study and preaching series through the book of Hebrews. We're gonna read our text at the end of the message. This is not an expositional sermon today, it's an introduction to the book. It's just kind of introduce you to what this book is, what it's about, kind of where we're gonna be going. No, that this is a what I would call this book is a meaty book. Meat as in meat, raw meat. It is a hefty book. It deals with hefty subjects, and it has some beautiful verses. Some would say that Hebrews, now listen to me, because this is a little preach. Some would say that Hebrews is a hard book to understand. I wouldn't say that at all. I think after I have read this book now over and over again for the last few weeks, and besides that, in my lifetime, I've read this book so many times, and I would, and I am a simple guy. I'm not smart. A lot of you folks say, Brother Yaron, you're so smart when it comes. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I have to work hard at this, uh, harder than most of you do. Uh, but I want to tell you this book, I don't believe that it's hard to understand. A lot of times when people say it's hard to understand, what they mean is it's hard to accept. Hello. It's hard to believe. It's hard to accept. I mean, there's doctrines that we keep discussing and bringing up, and we keep bringing them up, and they're easy to understand. They're as plain as the nose on your face in this book. The thing about it is you don't want to know. You understand what the truth is. You don't want it to be the truth. And in Hebrews, there are some verses, I'm telling you, it's something else, and it's not hard to understand what Hebrews is saying. It's hard to accept it and to believe it and to love it. But most of the book is easy to love if you love Jesus and love the gospel, okay? The letter was uh paraphrased uh by the end of the first century. In other words, by the end of the first century, there were people who were writing about the book of Hebrews and kind of making their kind of commentary. And what that means is a lot of times a paraphrase is we do it to kind of help understand, and that's okay, and it's wonderful. This book is one of the very first books of the Bible that was paraphrased, and it was done before the end of the first century, and it was well known throughout the church. The book of Hebrews was well known throughout the church as the letter to the Hebrews by the late second century. It was known and called Hebrews or the letter to the Hebrews. The particulars, like author, date, intended audience, will be discussed in the body of this message today. But in general, the writer was directing his defense of Christianity to the Jewish community. How many of y'all are enjoying our study in Sunday school on the book of Galatians? Amen. Isn't it good? That's a man, that's an awesome book. I want to tell you something. I believe Hebrews is the counterpart to Galatians. Galatians is to the Gentiles what Hebrews is to the Jews, except whoever wrote Hebrews wasn't getting on to them about it. He was just warning them don't fall into Judaism and false gospel. And don't go back to the old ways. Don't show yourself to be a false Christian by going back into trying to keep the law for your salvation, that type of stuff. As the writer of Hebrews might say, while the Old Testament was good, now listen, the new that Christ brings fulfills its promise and is far better. This book is going to show you that Jesus is far better than anything you'll know of and learn in the Old Testament, because Jesus is the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament. Yeah, say amen. That's good stuff. Hebrews compares Jesus to several different things from the Old Testament law and comes up with the conclusion that Jesus is better than all of them. Somebody smile. That's good. I like just saying that. The Old Testament just illustrates what Jesus actually is. If you don't like to talk about Jesus, you're going to hate the next few months on Sunday morning at Antioch East Baptist Church. And also, you need to be saved if you don't like to talk about Jesus. In this epistle, the problem was not just a question of leaving an old system for a new one or equal value. Rather, it was a matter of leaving Judaism for Christ. You left that old system for Christ. And as the writer shows, this involved leaving shadows for the substance. That's a great statement. It is leaving rituals for reality. It is leaving the prior for the ultimate. It is leaving the temporary for the permanent. In short, it is leaving the good for the best. That's what Hebrews is showing us how we have left a good, good thing. The tabernacle was good, the temple was good, the sacrifices were good and what they showed and what they meant, but I want to tell you something. They didn't do what was needed, and that was to forgive sins. And Jesus comes along, and John introduces him already. Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Already showing that Jesus has come to fulfill everything that the Old Testament was hiding, or not necessarily hiding, but illustrating. Well, I better get into it. We're now going to look at three groups of details in Hebrews. Very simple this morning. Number one, the general details of the book of Hebrews. Now, this might get a little boring for you, but uh take notes. It's good to know a little bit of background. Who wrote the book of Hebrews? That's rhetorical. Don't holler out. That's rhetorical. Okay? The book of Hebrews claims no author in and of itself, which is unusual for all other books in the New Testament. Do y'all know that? Now, most people say that the author, or I say most people, a lot of people, it's actually getting less and less people because I don't know. I think people just don't like to. I don't know why people want to change so much about things that really don't matter. But most people and some people lean toward Paul as the author. When I was growing up in the churches I came in, if you said anybody other than Paul was the author, you kind of were looked down on. That's terrible too, because you don't know. You don't know who wrote the book. But in all of his other epistles and letters, Paul introduces himself. 1 Corinthians 1.1, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. And then Galatians 1-1, Paul an apostle. Even James in his book, in his letter, James, a bondservant of God. Even Peter, 1 Peter 1-1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Even the small book of Jude, he claims, Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother to James, to those who are called sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ. Even Revelation claims who its author is. Verse 1 says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. So we even know who wrote Revelation. The only book that really is disputed, really, in the New Testament, of who wrote these books is Hebrews. Because Hebrews does not claim anybody. Now, I would have to say this that a lot and most of the early church fathers believed it to be Paul, but not all of them. The fact of the matter is no one knows who the author of this book is. There is a lot of speculation. Some speak confidently about who they think wrote the book, but there is just no solid evidence. Some early church fathers believe it to be written by Paul, but others differ in opinion. Some of the language of this book of Hebrews, if you read it enough, you'll see it. You'll uh immediately see it. You go read Galatians, for instance. We're reading Galatians. And I'll tell you what, Paul is writing that letter with his hand grabbing onto his head like this and his teeth gritted, isn't he? You foolish people! How dare you wasted my time on you Galatians? I mean, that's the way he talks to them. He says not one good thing to them. And he just is flying. It's not like it's it's bad Greek or that it's bad language or bad vocabulary. It's just it's not, he's not trying to be pretty in Galatians, right? Even Romans, as complicated as Romans gets and stuff, it is not what you would call a book of poetry, would you? This book of Hebrews is different, though. The language of the book, that is its vocabulary, is far different than what Paul used in his other writings, but not completely different. Some of it seems very Pauline. The style is different in some ways. This book is beautiful. It's almost poetic, and it is precise in language and even in grammar. You can see that whoever wrote this was careful about verb tenses and things like that. I don't know why people don't think Paul could do that. He was one of the most educated men we've ever heard of and known in history, even. The book does end like one of Paul's writings, though. You look in Hebrews 13 24, he says, Greet all those who rule over you and all the saints, those who and those from Italy, excuse me, I'll get it out in a minute. Those from Italy greet you. Grace be with you all. Amen. Italy. Anyway, Paul makes intimate mention, though, in this book. This is one reason that I kind of lean towards Apauline authorship, but I'm digressed. He makes intimate mention of Timothy, who was Paul's son in the ministry. Paul calls him his son in the ministry. Hebrews 13, 22, he says, and I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to uh let me get in my Bible machine here. I blacked that out for some reason, I think accidentally. What does that next word say? To what? To you in a few words. I don't know why I blacked it out. Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. In other words, he said, I see you next time, and Timothy's going to be with me. Now, this does not have to mean that that's Paul, but we do not know anyone else among the apostles and their close friends who could have the command of the Old Testament like Paul did, and the friendship with Timothy that he did as the author does, other than Paul. So these few things make me think because of his intimacy there with Timothy, just shortly, and because of uh his great knowledge of the Old Testament, which Paul had, but there were others, Apollos, Barnabas, others, who kind of did too. I personally lean towards Apauline authorship, but I realize that that is just speculation. Well, brother on, uh don't shouldn't we know, shouldn't we know who the author of the book is? Isn't that important to know? No, not really. Not really. It was accepted by the early church as the word of God. But you do know who the author is. We do know the author is. The human author we do not know, but I guarantee you this every letter in this book ought to be printed and read. Jesus, these are the words of Jesus Christ. All of it is. I hear these idiots, excuse me, I'm sorry. I hear the uh forgive me. I hear these uh foolish people all the time talk about, well, Jesus never condemned something like homosexuality, that he never spoke of it. Yes, he did. All through the Bible he spoke of it. See, they don't understand, and they don't believe, they would never understand anyway, that Jesus is not just some good prophet, he's God. And by the way, that's one big teaching of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is divine. And so all of it is his words. He wrote all of it. From cover to cover, he wrote it. Then let's look at the audience. Who's the audience? The author had three primary audiences in mind, and you have to read the book to see it all. But we know he's talking to Jews because of how he he talks about all kinds. This book quotes the Old Testament more than any other New Testament book. Number one, the unconverted Jew. Paul always was trying to get people to be saved. Amen. And so, first of all, no doubt he was talking, and and we will see unconverted Jews. Number two, the unsure apostasizing Jews. This book has a lot to say about uh apostatizing, going back, leaving the faith. We'll talk about that. And number three, the unbelieving, unconverted Jew. I won't say I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That is that is not right. Uh yes, the unconverted Jew, but actually what I should have said is the converted Jew. He he's c he is writing to encourage the Jews that were saved, and then he was writing to those who were unsure about apost and and uh they were apostatizing, and then the unbelieving, unconverted Jew. Now, the age of the book. Now, this is interesting to me. When did he write this book? When was it written? Now, again, these are not things that we have to know, but it's good things to know. There's no mention of the Jewish wars or anything like that, or the fall of Jerusalem, and uh these wars that we think might be mentioned in a book to Jews would be in 66 A.D. is when those wars happened. He doesn't mention those at all. The temple sacrifices were clearly in this book still being practiced, which means that it was before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. We know that for sure. Therefore, a date perhaps before 66 and certainly before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. is called for. Persecutions are mentioned in chapter 12, verse 4, but that the believers had, he talks about them persecution, but he said, Yet not yet you have not yet resisted to bloodshed. Now that's interesting. That's interesting that he says this to these people, these Jews, because we know that when Nero came on the scene, and even before Nero, there was still some bloodshed of Christians that happened, but but mainly Nero's. And his bloody persecution started in 64 A.D., which would move the writing of this letter to before 64 or later, or earlier A.D. So a date of 63 to 65 A.D. is presumed, but maybe earlier, we don't know. We just know that this was an early book. There's another reason why some people say, well, would Paul be able, would he know? Yes. When Paul got saved, he immediately began to defend the gospel by preaching the Old Testament. That's how he did it. How do you think they witnessed to people back then? They didn't have the New Testament. They had to use the Old Testament. And they used it. We just saw it Wednesday night. We're going through the book of Acts that the uh Ethiopian eunuch, the Philip went to the Ethiopian eunuch and he preached to him about Jesus out of Isaiah 53. You say, can you find a lot about Jesus in the Old Testament? All of it. All of it. My friend, you take the Bible before Matthew or after Matthew, you cut it anywhere, and it bleeds the blood that stained the old rugged cross. It's all about him. Number two, the goal details of the book of Hebrews. The goal. What is the goal? Well, number one, to strengthen the faith of the believing Jews. By showing how is he going to strengthen the faith of the believing Jews? I tell you how he was going to do it like we all do it. Let's talk about Jesus. The King of kings is he, the Lord of Lords Supreme throughout eternity. The great I am, the way, the truth, the life, the door. Let's talk about Jesus more and more. And I tell you how he strengthened their faith is he preached to them Jesus as being God, being creator, being the one who holds all things together, the superiority of Christ. He's better than angels, better than prophets, better than uh better than the priests. He's better than the tabernacle. He's better than all of it. And that's how he encourages them. Number two, or B in your outline, to warn the potential apostate. Man, those are getting small letters up there. I hope you can see them. To warn the potential apostate, to warn those who were at the door who came in, were just looking around, observing to see. A lot of you may be this today. Am I going to, matter of fact, you go to a church for years and years, maybe and still be one of these. And you just taste, you don't consume, you just nibble, you dabble, but you don't give in. And one day you turn your back, and we've had people come and join this church, and they leave and they don't go anywhere else, they don't do anything for Jesus, they just leave the faith. What about those people? Lost, apostate, and doomed for hell. As this book of Hebrews tells us. My friend, if you get close and you see and you understand the gospel, and then ultimately you say, No, I don't believe it. It's not for me. You are not saved. And are on very, very dangerous ground. And we'll see that. He talks about that uh two or three times through this book. We always want to go to chapter six, and that's the big one, but my friend, that's not the only place where he talks about apostates in the book of Hebrews. John Phillips rightly points out that there are five warning passages in Hebrews. Hebrews 2, 1, it says, Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through the angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to the will uh his own will. And then Hebrews 3 7 through chapter 4, verse 13, which is uh which it is in a nutshell found in verse 12 of chapter 3, it says, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Some of the people we see in even in the church, and we look at them, we think, Boy, I tell you what, they're just they just don't seem to get a hold, and they go back so much. It may be that they've never really gotten true salvation. Hebrews 5, uh 511 through 6.8. And the most famous of those verses are in chapter 6, verse 4. Everybody wants to talk about these verses, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have Tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. None of those are words of salvation. It's like they're standing at the door looking in. They even enjoy it, but it's not like they jump in with all four and accept it. If they fall away to renew them again to repentance, it is impossible, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame. One of the scariest verses in all of the Bible, right there, and we'll get to them and explain them. Also, you'll find in Hebrews 10 and also in Hebrews 12, you will find warnings about apostasy and going back and turning back. But then lastly, see, not only does do we see he writes to strengthen the faith of believers and to warn the potential apostates, but he also writes to call the non-believing Jew to faith in Jesus. And that brings me to my last point, and that is the gospel details of the book of Hebrews. Now get with me here. Listen, I'm almost finished. Stay with me. Now, Riley, I know that I have got a hundred verses there. We're not going to go through all of them for time's sake. I've got a bunch of verses to go through, but we're not going to go through them all. But I'm going to go through a few of them. Hebrews 1, I'm going to skip one, three. We'll get to that at the very end. Let's go, Riley, to chapter 2, verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. My friend, that's the gospel. That's the gospel. Look at verse 14 of the same chapter. Insomuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through the death, that death he might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil, and release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He came to deliver us from bondage. Look at verse 17. Therefore, in all things we had to be made like his brethren. He excuse me, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. That word propitiation is a very important word. It's a good word. If your Bible does not include it in its translation, throw that translation away and get you one that uses it. And it means atonement, it means replacement. Jesus died and took your place. He took your sin upon himself. He was my propitiation. I could go, Riley will tell you, I have four pages of verses. I don't know why I thought to put all these in this. There's no way in the world we could have gotten through all of them. Hebrews 10 14. Bless her heart. She don't know what in the world I'm going to do now. Hebrews 10.14, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hallelujah. That's good. Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That's what happens. We see Jesus and we believe it's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Look at verse 6. But without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, that he is the orders of them that diligently seek him. Look at verse 12. Oh, these are good verse. Can't wait to get to them. Hebrews 12, 22. But you have come, now look down in verse 24, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Chapter 13, 12 and 13, one more. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. This is a gospel-centered book. First of all, he declares the gospel, and then we will see that he demonstrates the gospel. And I'm just going to go quickly. I'm going to go quickly. This is all in chapter 11. One of the greatest chapters in all of God's word is Hebrews chapter 11. I can't hardly read it. I can't hardly make through chapter 11 without tears coming into my eyes. When it gets down to that and it talks about all those who died for the faith, and it says, of whom the world was not worthy. The phrase by faith, through faith, and in faith, is repeated in chapter 11, 22 times. By faith. Brother Ron, how in the world we overcome this world? By faith. How do we make it to heaven? By faith. How do we escape hell? By faith. How do we live the Christian life? By faith. The answer's always. By faith. Believing in Jesus. The greatest song, one of the greatest songs in the hymn book. And sadly, I never liked it when I was a kid. It's the tune to it. I don't know. I didn't like the tune. But it's one of the greatest songs in all the hymn book is the song Trust and Obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to have faith and obey. That's what it means. What does faith mean? Faith means simply believing Him. It's hard to do sometimes when things get rough and rowdy and life seems bad, you can't see the end from the beginning, and it's not going the way you want it to. And you lack faith, you just keep holding on, keep pushing through faith and obedience. How do you prove your faith? Obedience. Trust and obey. You holler all day, I'm finished with this, I'm finished with that, I'm finished with church, I'm finished Christian, I'm finished with all of it. And then you just keep on going to church. You keep on believing, you keep on serving, you keep on loving, you keep on giving. Why? Because your faith is really stronger than you thought it was. Faith. And we'll get to it. Now, in conclusion, and I mean it, words that describe this book, I've already used one, weighty, detailed, scary. But beautiful, Christ-centered, faith emphasizing Judas warning. Are y'all still with me? I always get to the gospel nearly in every message that I preach. But nearly every message that I will preach in this series of Hebrews will be evangelistic. So listen, I'm giving you a direct order, if you would, direct advice if you don't like people telling you what to do. Don't read the Bible if you don't like people telling you what to do. But it behooves you to compel your lost family, your lost friends, and your lost neighbors to come with you every Sunday while we preach through this blessed gospel-riddled book. Of course, you know that's going to happen anytime you come to Antioch East. I want to tell you something. Jesus is better. That's what it says. That's what the book says. This book will cause everyone here that claims to be a Christian to examine yourself to see whether you be in the faith. Just like 2 Corinthians 13, 5 says, it'll cause you to make your calling and election sure by reading this book. Excuse me, to get a sense of the book, we need look no further than the first three verses of the book itself. Everybody turn, get your Bibles again. Hebrews chapter 1. And verse 1. Hebrews 1 and verse 1. And you listen. Let's stand together as we read these awesome verses. You ready? Listen. God. Yahweh. Who at various times and in various ways. I like the King James Version where it says in uh in uh what's the first word? Who in uh at uh sundry times and divers manners spoken times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son. Now listen, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, through whom also he made this universe, who being Jesus, being the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person, and he upholding all things by the word of his power, which tells us what he is God, he's upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins. Wait a minute. And holding all the universe together, he has time to come down here and worry about sinful, rebellious men. Well, his creation can tell you about the works of his hand, but Calvary alone tells you and reveals the works of his heart. Amen. He purged our sins, and then you know what he did? He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Bible says he stood up a couple of times that we know of. One in particular I remember is when Stephen was martyred. Being martyred, Jesus stood up beside God at his throne. Does he do that every time someone is martyred? We don't know. The Bible doesn't say that. But I guess every once in a while he stands up. But here's the thing: he's not leaving that throne until one day God looks over and says, son, it's time, and he's gonna get up and he's gonna step off and he's gonna come down and he's gonna lift us up. He's coming again. This book talks about the awesomeness of Jesus. Well, we need a clear vision, a better vision of Jesus a lot of times, don't we? And here today, if you don't know Christ as your Savior, he is not just a better sacrifice for your sin, he is the only sacrifice for your sin. He's not just a good way to make it to heaven, he is the only way to make it to heaven. And the Bible says if you will place your faith in him, totally trusting in him, his death, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his sacrificial death, and his sure resurrection for your sin, he will forgive you and make you his child. The Bible says simply call upon the name of the Lord, and you shall be saved. You shall be saved.