Morning, everyone. Thank you. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.
All right. This morning we’re going to continue in our study of Hebrews. I know it’s been a few weeks. Before I get started, just as a reminder, I believe we do have the TV downstairs set up and ready. If your kiddos get restless and need to walk around for a little bit, you’re free to take them down there. Or you could keep them at your seat, and I could play an away game. That’s fine, too. So it’s good practice either way.
But let’s start out with a word of prayer.
Father, Lord, what a joy for us to be back here together. Lord, what a joy to dig into your word this morning. May it refresh our souls. Father, I pray that your words would long be remembered by your people and that my words would quickly be forgotten. Father, I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Aslan. Aslan, dear. Aslan saw Lucy at last. The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell half sitting, half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all around her, and she gazed up into the large, wise face.
“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are. I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
For a time, she was so happy that she did not want to speak.
This beautiful exchange between Lucy and Aslan in Prince Caspian definitely portrays our Christian journey as we continue in our walk, quickening our conscience by the holiness of God, feeding our minds with the truth of God, purging our imaginations by the beauty of God, and opening our hearts to the love of God. As William Temple would say, God appears larger to us not because he has grown, but because we, in our imperfect, corruptible, sinful ways, see just a tiny bit clearer.
That is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is encouraging of his audience this morning as we continue our study in Hebrews. But since it’s been a few weeks, let’s remind ourselves of the context. The theme of Hebrews is the supremacy and the finality of Christ. No one knows who wrote the book. Some say Paul, Peter, Barnabas, Apollos. But what we do know is that Christian writers as early as 200 A.D. hold the author of Hebrews as unknown.
Hebrews was written by an author with immense vocabulary and vast knowledge of the Greek. Old Testament scholars agree that Hebrews was written somewhere between 60 and 69 A.D., very likely somewhere around 65. The book is written to a suffering, persecuted group of Jewish believers. And though debated, most scholars believe that it was somewhere outside of Israel, most likely in or around Rome.
New Testament scholar William Lane, who holds to a Roman audience, says the following: “Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians whose faith is falling apart.” Their Italian locus, Lane says, is most probable because in the closing paragraph of Hebrews, the author conveys the greeting of several Italian Christians who were with him, thus supporting the idea that the harried little church was on Italian soil, very likely in or around Rome.
The Roman audience also makes sense in historical context. The small group of Christians around Rome had experienced increased persecution, first from the Romans as Jews and second from the Jews as Christians. In A.D. 49, Roman Emperor Claudius had begun persecuting and expelling Jews and Jewish Christians alike. And now, under the new emperor Nero, the persecution only intensified.
We are at least 15 years into Claudian and now Neronian persecution, and the author of Hebrews is writing to encourage and admonish his beloved brothers and sisters.
“Keep going, keep going. You can do it. Christ is worth it. Christ is everything. Trust Him.”
These believers see their world crumbling all around them. Pressured to issue public denials, they’re asking tough questions. “Does God see us? Does he care? Why is he allowing this?”
Perhaps these are questions that you may have been asking over the last two weeks. Unlike early Christians in Jerusalem or Galilee, these believers had never met Jesus. Everything they knew they heard from early traveling apostles. They were some of the original second-generation Christians, and their belief in Jesus had not been to their worldly advantage.
Just as they had given up hope, thought they could stand no longer, a letter arrives. Kent Hughes paints the scene: “Word was sent out. The congregation gathered. Perhaps no more than 15 or 20 were seated around the house. Candlelight flickered. All were quiet. The reader began what is called the most sonorous piece of Greek in the whole New Testament. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son.”
Through these magnificent words, the beleaguered church was brought face to face with the God who speaks the eloquence of God. God spoke in the past, and he speaks in the present in His Son. And this eloquence, the ultimate eloquence of the final work in God’s Son, would bring them comfort in the midst of life’s troubles.
Hebrews is structured into four parts:
1. The supremacy of Christ.
2. Jesus’ superiority to Mosaic law.
3. A call to faith and endurance.
4. Concluding exhortations and remarks.
This morning we find ourselves amid the sweet call to faith and endurance. The writer has highlighted the full assurance of faith in Hebrews 10:19-39. And now he encourages his fellow believers with a roll call of the great heroes of faith and great acts of faithfulness.
Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews 11. And this morning we’re going to look at three verses: 29 to 31, starting in verse 29.
“By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
You know, it is said of Southern Baptist preachers that they will try and make three points out of any text, irregardless of what it is they’re looking at. But this morning I actually get a text that is a Southern Baptist preacher’s dream, because it’s three verses that are three stories that can be broken down into three parts.
So let’s look first at verse 29.
“By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”
So turn with me, if you would, to the second book of the law. That would be Exodus, chapter 14. And let’s read some of the context of this amazing story together. As we go through the context of these three verses, I’m going to summarize some parts in order to save time, but I’ll read others in the text for clarity. But I highly encourage you to read all of these texts completely this week.
So in Exodus 14, let’s start with verse 10.
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’
And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you