This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holliday. I want to welcome you to our
study of the Book of Hebrews. This is week one, day one, we're starting today.

This is a great book, the Book of Hebrews, for my life, for your life. Hebrews
is a book for all who need encouragement to keep on trusting, to keep on
growing. It gives us that encouragement, and who doesn't need encouragement?

The Book of Hebrews was originally written to those who were missing some of the
old ways of life, the old traditions, some people who felt that what they had
given up to follow Jesus might not be worth this new life that they'd found,
because this new life that they'd found, as new as it was, wasn't perfect, it
still had a lot of struggles. So they had, in one sense, somebody said they had
gotten home from the honeymoon. They were struggling with the realities of life,
even as believers.

And this book is written to say, again and again, this encouragement to not
drift back, to keep running with endurance. In many ways, the theme verse of
Hebrews, to me, is Hebrews 10, 14. By one offering, he perfected forever those
who have been sanctified, who have been made holy by who he is.

It's a verse that focuses on us, but it's a verse that focuses on what Jesus has
done for us. And as we start to look at this Book of Hebrews, what this book is
really all about is how we can be what we believe. When I say I believe
something, it means I should be what I believe.

I should live it out in my life. You can see from the very beginning that this
is a book that's all about trusting the truth of God in our lives. Hebrews
chapter one, one and two, we'll look at this again tomorrow, says, "In the past,
God spoke to our forefathers "through the prophets at many times and in various
ways.

"But in these last days, he had spoken to us by his son, "whom he appointed heir
of all things, "and through whom he made the universe. " It's very clear from
the very beginning, and you'll see this throughout the Book of Hebrews as we
walk through this book together, the focus in this book is on Jesus. If you
want to get to know who Jesus really is, you're curious about that, this is the
book for you.

If you already love Jesus for who he is, this is the book for you, because you
get to know more about the one that you love. And the truth of the matter is,
when you love Jesus for who he really is, you become more and more who he made
you to be. It's one of the great things about our love for Christ, as it
transforms us, it changes us.

So before we get into the meat of this book tomorrow, let's just take a couple
moments today to introduce who it was written to, where it came from, what it's
all about. First, who it was written to, it's called Hebrews, because it was
written to Hebrew Christians, to Jewish Christians. And we know just a few
things about these people as we read through the book, besides the fact that
they were struggling, some of them with doubt, or with drifting away, or with
the need for encouragement.

In a practical way, we know that they suffered persecution, in chapter 10 we
find that out. We know that the writer of the book of Hebrews knew them
personally, that he was hoping to visit them, so this is written out of a
personal relationship. We know also that they may have lived in Rome, at least
they knew something about the Roman Christians, because in chapter 13, there is
this greeting that's supposed to come to them from the Italian, from the Roman
Christians.

That's what we know about the readers of the book of Hebrews. Now that may be
more than we know about, than we know about the writer of the book of Hebrews.
As you look at the beginning of the book of Hebrews, we just wrote it, it
doesn't start like a lot of letters start from Paul to the Galatians, from Paul
to the Ephesians.

It doesn't tell us in the beginning who wrote it. And so it's a mystery to us
who wrote it. Now there's a lot of clues, over 2,000 years, there's been a lot
of suspects that have come up for who the writer of the book of Hebrews would
have been.

If you look at some of the clues, you see that the book of Hebrews, in this
book, Timothy, the person who walked alongside Paul in his ministry, is spoken
of as a brother in chapter 13, verse 33. So this is somebody who is in the same,
at least circle as Paul. Another clue is that this book is in the style of Luke,
or the style of Acts, the way that it was written.

Another clue is that, as people have talked about, Hebrews talks so much about
the Levitical, the priesthood system of the Jewish people, Barnabas happened to
have been a Levite. So that makes some people think, well, maybe there's a clue
there. Another clue that some people point to is that Apollos, the teaching
partner sometimes of Paul, knew Timothy well.

And he was also very well versed in scripture, he was a teacher. In chapter 13,
there's a clue that this person may have been in prison as one part of his
ministry. There's no doubt, as you read through this, more than a clue that this
person who wrote the book of Hebrews had a Hebrew background.

But he also wrote, or she also wrote, with an understanding of Greek thought.
Out of these clues, there are a number of suspects that have been suggested over
the years. The apostle Paul, even though his name is not on it, there are many
people who think he is the writer of the book of Hebrews.

Luke is sometimes suggested, Barnabas is suggested, Apollos, the teacher, is
suggested. Priscilla is sometimes suggested. Aquila and Priscilla, these two
teachers together, are sometimes suggested as maybe they wrote it together.

I have to admit, I don't know the answer of which of those people wrote Hebrews.
But I do know who wrote Hebrews. Because in the end, we know that God is the
author.

It's an inspired book. And he wrote it through a person, and we may have our
opinions about which person he wrote it through, but the good news is we all
know who the real author is. It's God.

And the fact that he's chosen not to let us know the person through whom he
wrote Hebrews, there's something about that that's important in some way that I
don't understand, but I can trust God with that. I trust him as the author of
the book of Hebrews. And in this book, as you start to dig into what it says and
what it's all about, one of the key words in the book of Hebrews, a word to keep
in the back of your mind, is the word better.

This word better is used 13 times in the book of Hebrews. It's a word that's
applied to Jesus. Jesus is the one who is better.

So as we walk through this book, we're going to find out that the writer tells us
angels are good, Jesus is better. Moses is good, Jesus is better. Those who were
struggling with their faith were trying to go back to what was good.

And in so doing, the writer of Hebrews is saying, the only way you can do that
is by letting go of what is better. It's sort of like a very strange
illustration. Somebody who has grown, has kids, has a wonderful life with their
family, somehow wanting to go back to high school and play basketball again.

You can't go back. If you try to go back, you're letting go of what's better in
your life. But what's better here is even better than a good marriage or a good
life.

It's Jesus who is perfect. In the last chapter of the book of Hebrews, it's
called a word of exhortation. That word means encouragement.

It's very interesting. As we walk through the book of Hebrews, we're going to find
out that we need different types of encouragement. This book has some stern
warnings in it.

It has some clear challenges in it. It has some clearly explained truth in it.
All of it meant, we're told at the very end, all of it is meant to encourage
you, to encourage you in your faith.

Not to discourage you, but to encourage you. As you look at this book of
Hebrews, another thing that's very clear in it, as you just glance through the
chapters, this is a book that proves maybe more than any other that you cannot
understand the New Testament without understanding the Old Testament. And you
can't understand the Old Testament without understanding the New Testament.

Everything in Hebrews looks back to the Old Testament and how God fulfilled what
was there. How God fulfilled through Jesus what was there, what was promised in
the Old Testament. Just before we get into the book tomorrow, I want to give you
an overall look at the book today.

What to look forward to. What to pray about in your own life and to think that
God might want to do in your life. As you think about the outline of the book of
Hebrews, think of it in two major sections.

I said it's a challenge, so let's use the word dare. Dare to compare and dare to
mature. Those are the two major sections.

Dare to compare the first 10 chapters and then dare to mature from chapter 11
on. Dare to compare, that's the Jesus is better than section. And it just goes
through a list of all the things that Jesus is better than.

Eight of them specifically. Jesus is better than the prophets, chapter one
verses one to three. He's better than the angels in chapter one, four through
chapter two.

He's better than Moses in chapter three. He's better than Joshua, chapter four.
He's better than the high priest, chapter four, the last half through chapter
seven.

Jesus is better than the Old Covenant. Jesus is better than the tabernacle.
Jesus is better than the sacrifices.

And this book just goes through and takes each of them one at a time and shows
us how Jesus is better. Shows us how Jesus is Lord. You will get to know Jesus
as we walk through this book together.

Dare to compare and then dare to mature. Dare to mature. He warns them about
immaturity throughout this book and then he also challenges them to maturity in
this book.

There are warnings and there are encouragements when it comes to maturity. He
talks about what mars are maturity in the warnings and he talks about what marks
our maturity in the encouragement. Mars, our maturity, our growth in Christ.

In chapter two, one to four, he talks about drifting. In chapter three, seven to
four, two, he talks about doubting. In chapter four, 11 to 13, he talks about
disobedience.

In chapter five, 11 to chapter six, 12, he talks about stagnation. In chapter
10, 19 to 39, he talks about rejection. And in chapter 12, 25 to 29, he talks
about refusal.

What hurts us when it comes to our growth in Christ? He says don't drift away.
Deal with your doubt.

Watch out for disobedience. Look out for stagnation. Don't reject, especially
don't reject by not listening and don't refuse to hear what he has to say.

That's what mars are maturity. Now what marks our maturity? In the last half of
chapter 10, all the way through the end in chapter 13, he goes through this
awesome list of the things that mark our maturity as followers of Christ.

What marks our maturity? Confidence in God's presence, number one, in chapter
10. What marks our maturity?

Faith. Chapter 11, the faith chapter. What marks our maturity?

Endurance, chapter 12, one through four. What marks our maturity? Discipline,
chapter 12, five to 13.

Holiness marks our maturity in chapter 12, 14 to 29. And love marks our maturity
in chapter 13. Very interesting that in this very doctrinal book, it ends up
right where everything ends up with love.

As you and I walk through this book together, we're going to find out, be reminded
that Jesus is better. So don't look back. Don't look back to old ways.

And we're going to be reminded that Jesus is Lord. So we keep looking ahead. We
keep looking ahead to what he wants to do in our lives.

Now as we pray, what I'd like to do today together is pray the closing prayer in
the book of Hebrews in chapter 13, verses 20 to 21. As we open our study of the
book of Hebrews, let's pray, let's ask God to do in our lives what the writer of
Hebrews' praise would have happened when he gets to the end of the book. So
let's pray the prayer together of chapter 13.

And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he who became the great
shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting agreement between God and you, signed
with his blood, produce in you through the power of Christ all that is pleasing
to him. To him be the glory forever and ever.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Tomorrow we're going to see together that this is a
book that starts very strong with God's truth.