Speaker Sermon/Lesson Title Audio   Video  Text     MS Word Category Bobby Stafford Better Things         Christian Living

Better Things

Introduction:

Most parents have a great desire that their children have better things than they had – a better education, better health, a better house, better job. . . overall a better life.  They would never want them to have worse things than they had.

The book of Hebrews is often called the “Epistle of better things.”  The entire letter, all thirteen chapters, points readers to the fact that Christ and Christianity are vastly “better” than Judaism, the Law of Moses.  Let us look at these “better things.”

Body:

I.            Chapter One  Hebrews 1:1-4 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 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 at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” NKJV

·       Christ is a better “messenger” of God’s Word to mankind, making us  able to “see” God.  (Deuteronomy 18:15) “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, Him you shall hear.” NKJV

II.          Chapter Two  Hebrews 2:1-3 “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  For if the word spoken through 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 the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,” NKJV

·       Christ is better than the angels who were involved in giving the message of the Old Testament.

·       We must pay close attention to the words spoken by the Son.  Every word! 

III.        Chapter Three  Hebrews 3:1, 5-6 “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,  5-6 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” NKJV

·       Christ is superior to Moses because Christ is God’s Son.  Moses was faithful sometimes; Christ was faithful all the time.  Moses sinned; Jesus never sinned.  Moses may have prophesied about the church; Jesus built the church.  We must remain firm!

IV.        Chapter Four  Hebrews 4:1, 8-11 “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 8-11 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.  There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” NKJV

·       The rest provided by God through Christ is far “better” than the rest provided by God through Joshua in the land of Canaan.  The rest belongs to the faithful.  (Revelation 14:13) “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write:  Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’  ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.’ ” NKJV

V.          Chapter Five  Hebrews 5:5-6 “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’  As He also says in another place: ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’;” NKJV

·       High priests in Judaism only served for a limited number of years, but Christ is a priest forever.  There would be no successor.  (Hebrews 7:25) “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” NKJV

VI.        Chapter Six  Hebrews 6:17-20 “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to be, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enter the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” NKJV

·        Christianity offers a “better” hope than the Law of Moses.  What God says He will do, He will do.  God is always faithful.  (Deuteronomy 7:9) “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;” NKJV

VII.      Chapter Seven  Hebrews 7:11, 26-28 “Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 26-28 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.  For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.” NKJV  

·       Christ is a far “better” high priest than those in Judaism.  His onetime offering for sin was sufficient for all people for all time.

VIII.    Chapter Eight  Hebrews 8:6-8 “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.  Because finding fault with them, He says:  ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.’ ” NKJV

·       Christ’s Covenant [the New] is “better” than the Mosaical.  The New Covenant is for all people.  It will last until the end of time.  The Old Covenant could not rid one of the guilt of sin.  (Hebrews 7:19) “for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” NKJV

IX.        Chapter Nine  Hebrews 9:11 “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” NKJV  Hebrews 9:23-28 “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another – He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now,  once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.  To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” NKJV

·       The Lord’s heavenly sanctuary is far “better” than the earthly tabernacle of Judaism.

·       Christ’s sacrifice was “superior” to those of the high priests in the Old Covenant.  All are superior:  What Christ has done; what He is doing now; and what He will do.

X.          Chapter Ten  Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” NKJV

·       Animal sacrifices could not satisfy God.  (Hebrews 10:8) “Previously saying, ‘Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in then’ (which are offered according to the law),” NKJV  Christ’s sacrifice did.  (Hebrews 10:12) “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,” NKJV

·       Christ’s sacrifice opened access to the Father that animal sacrifices could not. 

·        Christianity offers a “better” possession in heaven.  Hebrews 10:34-36 “for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.  Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:” NKJV

XI.        Chapter Eleven  Hebrews 11:13, 39-40 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 39-40 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” NKJV

·       The promises given to these mentioned were inferior to those of Christianity, yet their faithfulness and perseverance are great examples to us.

XII.      Chapter Twelve  Hebrews 12:22-24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” NKJV

·       Mt. Zion is “better” than Mt. Sinai.  Sinai represented the inaccessibility of God through Judaism.  Zion is a symbol of Christianity, the access to God through Christ.

XIII.    Chapter Thirteen  Hebrews 13:10 “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.” NKJV

·       The Christian faith offers an altar superior to the one in the tabernacle.  The sacrifice of Christ on Calvary’s cross and the blood He shed continue to wash away my sins.

Invitation:

·       We do possess “better things” than those who lived before the time of Christ.  We are very blessed!

·       Truly  “Jesus paid it all!  All to Him I owe!”  Won’t you come?

To enjoy the “better things,” we must heed God’s Word.  Several passages in this book warn us to not:

1.   Drift from the Word  Neglect  (Hebrews 2:1-4)

2.   Doubt the Word  Hard Heart  (Hebrews 3:7 – 4:13)

3.   Dullness toward the Word  Sluggishness  (Hebrews 5:11 – 6:20)

4.   Despising the Word  Willfulness  (Hebrews 10:26-39)

5.   Defying the Word  Refusing to hear  (Hebrews 12:14-29)  W. Wiersbe

Bobby Stafford 

June 10, 2018