Rightly Dividing, Pt. 12: Paul vs. Hebrews

[0:00] Do something just real briefly. Find Hebrews chapter 10, and I'll catch you back up with where we left off the last time.! We've been doing a study in rightly dividing the word of truth and took you through several concepts that are helpful in understanding this.

[0:19] It's not a difficult teaching really in its simplicity, but yet at the same time it has a very very fine points and things that are hard to really nail down. Nevertheless, we come up to the book of Hebrews and notice that what I was calling some red flag verses, saying that when you run through the book of Hebrews, you come up against some statements that seem to conflict and contrast some teachings that have been already established by the Apostle Paul in his epistles to the church. And it's not that complicated to realize that, well, this book is addressed to Hebrews. It is not being addressed to saints, to born-again Christians in the same way that Paul writes his previous epistles. There's something different already about that. But going through that, I pointed out one, two, three, four, at least four things. I want to say there's probably another two solid ones that really jump out, but I'll not get into all that. I just want to take you to the last one that we read together.

[1:29] And I'll back it up a little bit. Chapter 10 and find verse number 35. And some of the wording, this is really asking a lot of you to remember, back in chapter 3 there was these certain phrases. I'll read these to you. It says in chapter 3, verse 6, But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. So if we do something unto the end, and that something, he recalls, holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm.

[2:08] holding those things firm. The other verse was verse 14 of chapter 3, for it says, We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.

[2:21] And that word confidence shows up twice, and so that's why I point that out, because it comes up again in verse 35, where the verse says, It says, So, there's a lot to say here. I'll just try to stay on topic with, There's somebody here that cannot cast something away, and cannot draw back from a position, but has to remain in that position, and believe to the saving of the soul, and have patience waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:28] Now, if that's the church age today, if that's a teaching for you and I, then what happens if we don't wait for his coming? What happens if we cast some things aside, and if we draw back?

[3:41] Some of your brethren would have you believe that you can lose your salvation today, and that you do not have eternal security, and they say that's a doctrine of devils. And what they believe is that you can lose your salvation if you walk away from Jesus Christ.

[3:55] If you stop believing in him, or if you, as the verse might say here, draw back unto perdition. And it does seem that it has to do with your faith, because verse 38 talks about the just living by faith, as well as verse 39, believe to the saving of the soul, contrasting somebody drawing back.

[4:14] Now, I'm calling this a red flag verse. Somebody can draw back unto perdition, to a point of no return. And yet, we studied last time that the Apostle Paul teaches believers in Jesus Christ, that when they believe on Christ, they're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

[4:31] God made a promise to them that he would change their vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his glorious body. And that we are at that moment of salvation, that we are now predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son.

[4:45] And something has been fixed in us when we're placed in the body of Jesus Christ. That language and that teaching does not show up here in Hebrews. Instead, it's a, the labor or the work falls upon the individual to continue, and to stay steadfast, and to hold on, and to not depart, and to not draw back.

[5:08] And so, something's different in Hebrews. And so, I was calling these red flag verses. This is where we ended last week. And I put on the screen some of these statements from chapter 3, chapter 6, chapter 10.

[5:20] Just a few of them. But these are statements that seem to conflict in its teaching and doctrine for the individual that's, you might say, seeking salvation, or to be a partaker of Christ, or of the household of God.

[5:34] Or, in chapter 6, somebody could fall away, and then they could not be renewed again unto repentance. And so, somebody's in this state of, what should seem, peril or damnation, because they have drawn away, or fallen away.

[5:51] Okay. Now, what I want to do today is contrast these teachings in Hebrew with something that we should be very familiar with, with the Apostle Paul.

[6:01] So, I'm going to leave that on the board now, and let's take a little run. I'm just going to take you through a real simple outline that you'll all understand. It'll be very, very easy. So, let's go to Acts, chapter 16.

[6:14] And I want to establish something that the Apostle Paul teaches before we would ever even read the book of Hebrews, we would come through these passages of Acts, and Romans, and 1 Corinthians.

[6:28] And that'll be the first three books we look at. And we would have some things settled in our hearts, and some things established before we ever even get to Hebrews and get confused.

[6:39] Now, Acts, chapter 16. And notice the question in verse 30. Now, I don't need to really say this every single time, but I'll do it to start.

[7:04] There's no, if this, this, this, and this, and if you hold that, and if you don't that, then you can believe to the saving of the soul. But rather, he says, Thou shalt be a state of being.

[7:19] Thou shalt be saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So, keep that in mind. Flip over to Romans, chapter 10. Something that you can possess is salvation by believing on Jesus Christ.

[7:36] Romans, chapter 10. Here's what would be the close of our Romans road in leading somebody to Christ. We would want them to come to this point to where they would believe with their heart, where they would confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, and call upon Him for salvation.

[7:54] And this comes in verses 9 through 13. You're probably very familiar with this. Verse 9 says, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

[8:07] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Verse 13 says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[8:21] And then he backtracks how this kind of comes to pass. You call on somebody after you believe. You believe on them after you hear. And you hear what's preached, which is backing it all the way up to verse 15.

[8:34] The gospel message. The glad tidings of good things. So hearing, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. In verse 17. So the gospel's preached.

[8:45] You believe on Jesus Christ. You call on Him. And you're saved. That's what the Bible says. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1, a little bit to your right again.

[9:00] And verse number 18. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.

[9:14] But unto us which are saved, a state of being, it is the power of God. So Paul and his audience are saved.

[9:26] They are saved. Unto us which are saved, it is the power, the preaching of the cross, the power of God. So the first thing I want you to consider here is that, I got that back.

[9:36] There it is. is that the believer is saved. According to Paul, the believer is saved. According to Hebrews, they are being saved or to the salvation of the soul. They're believing to an end.

[9:48] But Paul's doctrine says the believer is and possesses salvation. I want you to notice also in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. Your King James Bible says, unto us which are saved.

[10:01] The new versions, most of the new versions do not like, they do not care for that that possession of salvation that you are saved.

[10:12] Instead, they make it say, unto us which are being saved. And most of your new versions would say being saved there, which can, which immediately allows you to connect it to Hebrews chapter 10 and say, ah, we believe to the saving of the soul.

[10:27] We believe, so we are being saved and it becomes a Catholic doctrine and a workspace thing of getting into some state of grace. But no, your King James Bible says that you are saved.

[10:38] Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. Call upon the name of the Lord, thou shalt be saved. And we believe and we are saved. So Paul teaches this. This is something you're grounded in. You're established in this fact that because I have taken Jesus Christ as my Savior, I am saved.

[10:54] I have it. I am right now born again. I have the life in me that God promised he would give me and now let's determine some other easy things, but can we lose that life?

[11:07] Look at Ephesians again, chapter number one. Ephesians chapter one. We've looked at these verses a few times already in this study, but the repetition will help you to get settled on all of this.

[11:24] And here is the order of events like we looked at in just briefly here in Romans 10, how it kind of backtracked from hearing the gospel to being saved.

[11:36] Here it is again in verse 13. In whom ye also trusted, that would be in Christ from verse 12, who trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that, ye heard the word of truth.

[11:50] Faith cometh by hearing. The gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.

[12:05] That is the first portion, the smallest, the down payment of our future inheritance being changed until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory.

[12:15] The Bible says that when you receive the gospel message, when you believe in Christ, in whom also ye also trusted, you're not only saved from Romans, but you're also sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.

[12:33] God makes a promise to you. Ephesians chapter 4, and this is just as important. You've got to put this verse with it. These go together. Verse 30, That promise of God is not until you fall away.

[12:48] The promise doesn't last until you draw back unto perdition. That wording is not in this book. But the promise is until a future day, a day that he has established.

[12:59] Verse 30 says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. I put my faith on that text right there, that I cannot lose God's Spirit or my salvation, but that I am sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, that God made a promise to me when I took his son.

[13:22] I believe that scripture right there, that I can't lose it because it's good until a future day that he has determined called the day of redemption. Putting that back with Romans, or Ephesians 1.14, it's the redemption of the purchased possession.

[13:38] And when we go to Romans 8, that's the redemption of our body when we're changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Just scripture with scripture and it all makes sense. But this is different.

[13:49] This is different than the book of Hebrews. Come back to 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

[14:05] And verse number 18, keeping in mind what we're talking about, this Holy Spirit of promise that God gave us his spirit and earnest or a down payment as a pledge, as a promise, a verification that he will one day change us.

[14:26] We are in fact predestinated right now to be conformed to the image of his son. And it's not based on our performance. It's a settled thing. It's fixed. How do I know?

[14:36] Verse 18, But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. It wasn't two different things. But for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Demotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

[14:53] For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God, who also, or who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

[15:17] So the second thing I want to add to our list here is that the believer is sealed. Saved from sin and from hell, from the penalty of your sins that you've earned because of the sacrifice of Christ.

[15:31] but on top of that, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit as a pledge or an earnest or a promise that God will transform you and make you like unto his Son of a future inheritance.

[15:44] So those two things are true. Now you're in 2 Corinthians, go back to the left and look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. and let's just continue building this list of some things that we are grounded and settled in.

[16:00] This is Bible doctrine for you and I to receive and believe in this age. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and look at verse number 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

[16:30] We are in Christ, we are sanctified which is the third thing I'll put on that list. The believer is sanctified. He has been set apart from his sin and from this world and he's been made holy in Christ unto God.

[16:47] He's been placed into Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. A couple pages to your right, chapter 6. And notice this list of unrighteous In verses 9 and 10.

[17:05] Fornicators, idolaters, thieves, covetous, drunkards, 9 and 10. But now notice what the Bible says in verse 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified.

[17:26] Present tense, current condition in Christ. Remember verse 1 said of chapter 1. In Christ ye are sanctified. Ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

[17:39] Can anything take away that sanctification that you have in Christ? Now I know if we studied this out there's kind of three aspects to sanctification. One of them being that you yourself have a daily progressive by the Word of God by walking in the Spirit sanctification where you clean up your life.

[17:59] Things that are ungodly in your life have to go. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about your position in Jesus Christ. When you get placed into the body of Christ when your soul is separated and cut apart and circumcised from the body of the sins of the flesh you no longer bear those sins on your soul and now you've been placed into the body of Jesus Christ and by that you are sanctified and you are justified declared righteous.

[18:25] You're not righteous but God declares you to be righteous on the merit of His Son. So 1 Corinthians 6 you're sanctified. This is what the Bible establishes about the believer today.

[18:39] Does that match some of that stuff over there in Hebrews that somebody can fall away and it's impossible to renew them again under repentance? These are two different teachings and it's not that the book of Hebrews is something we throw away it's that there are certain things in that book that we have to exercise caution with and understand how to rightly divide where those verses apply.

[19:02] I'm using the timeline to show you I believe they apply to the tribulation saint that's trying to endure unto the end. Alright, let's go to Galatians chapter 4.

[19:14] Galatians chapter 4 let's look at another point here that Paul says about the believer. Galatians chapter 3 I'm actually going to start in chapter 3 so that you can see that this has to do with faith and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:32] So Galatians 3 verse 26 and then this carries through chapter 4 and verse 7. So verse 26 of Galatians chapter 3 says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

[19:50] So faith in Christ you become a child of God. Skip ahead to the next chapter verses 6 and 7. Galatians 4 6 and 7 And because ye are sons children of God sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ.

[20:20] And you can't take away that last two words through Christ. That's the only reason you're an heir of God. We are joint heirs according to Romans. Let's go back there quickly. Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 and verses 16 and 17 these go hand in hand with what we read in Galatians 4.

[20:47] Romans 8 verse 16 You can back it up even and see this Abba Father talk from verse 15 We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

[21:14] Now here comes the word if. Is Paul going to say if we hold fast our confidence firm or if we do this to the end is he going to add that?

[21:25] If children then heirs heirs of God join heirs of Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together. We're not made children of God only because we suffer but the teaching is that if we suffer it's going to add to us a more eternal weight of glory and that's another teaching there but our inheritance or our glorification is going to exceed what it would have been had we not endured some things for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[21:57] So Romans chapter 8 and Galatians chapter 4 the believer is a child of God or a son a son show me in any of Pauline epistles specifically where the son someone who God makes a son and a joint heir joined to Jesus Christ show me where that son then becomes a servant where he would lose that standing or that status with the father you won't find it but in Hebrews you can find somebody who can fall away and draw back and lose their standing so these are these is a case in point to rightly divide and specifically just showing you to be cautious with the book of Hebrews let's go to Ephesians chapter 2 here's one more Ephesians chapter 2 and you may guess where we're going here if you know this text in Ephesians 2 or if you're familiar with this outline with the letter

[23:03] S it says something incredible to me it's something that's hard to comprehend but the best way I can understand it is by believing the words of Christ when he was on earth and he said that he was in heaven at the same time even the son of man which is in heaven and so in chapter 2 of Ephesians in verse number 4 but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ in his death I am crucified with Christ Paul said if we be dead we shall also live and we have been crucified but then he says we've been quickened together with Christ and raised up together with Christ and then made to sit in heavenly places together in Christ Jesus the word I'm looking for is seated there it is that we are seated in Jesus Christ at the right hand of God that doesn't make sense to me to say that I'm seated in heavenly places that I'm up there already but in Christ this is what the Bible teaches and I'm just going to believe it and it's said already the best way

[24:31] I can understand it is that the Lord Jesus Christ was in more than one place at one time and I'm in him placed in his body and this is a work of God so I'll believe it he hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and so the believers destiny is fixed because he's in Christ and whatever applies to Christ is then defaulted to his position therefore I'm crucified and I'm dead to sin and to the old man and to all of it because I'm in Christ it's been paid for because I'm in Christ I've been resurrected and I've been quickened and made alive and now I can walk in newness of life because I have Christ's life in me and I've also been X, Y, and Z as we're going down the list now let's take a look at one more that really throws people off look at you're in Ephesians find chapter 5 and then hold on to that and get 2nd Timothy chapter 2

[25:36] I know this is a lot of turning but we're just establishing a simple outline of doctrine for us today and as you can see there's a contrast in the book of Hebrews in certain things alright I want you to see Ephesians 5 first of all notice in verse number 30 I'll back up a little bit just to grab that he's talking about the church in verse 23 the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body therefore as the church is subject unto Christ let the wives be to their own husbands and everything husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish verse 30 the doctrine here is not about a man or a woman but it's about Christ and the church we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined unto his wife they too shall be one flesh this is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones now lock that away we the church are members of his body are you born again

[27:23] Christian you've been placed into the body of Christ the church which is his body he's the savior of the body so if you're in the body of Christ now turn to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 in verse 13 this is the biggest scariest verse for pretty much everybody that thinks they can walk away from their salvation this is the answer to the biggest scariest thing I should say what if we believe not what if we walk away what if we fall away what if we draw back what if we stop believing in Christ the Bible has an answer Paul does if we believe not yet he abideth faithful it doesn't say he cannot deny you it says he cannot deny himself and so when you understand that you're a member of the body of Christ let's turn back one more place and this is probably the last place look at 1 Corinthians 12 if you're not familiar with this get familiar with this 1 Corinthians 12 the Bible teaches

[28:30] Pauline doctrine teaches us that we become members of a body a spiritual body one that is made up of many members and that body is the Lord Jesus Christ it's not an easy concept to talk about unless you're exercising faith in Ephesians chapter in Ephesians chapter 2 it talks about Jews and Gentiles and it says that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross in one body now here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 there's a body and in this body the Bible says there's neither Jew nor Greek it's a new thing a brand new entity that never existed until the New Testament until after Calvary and the illustration is that there's a physical body that has many members eyes, ears, hands, toes and all of those members verse 12 are one body 12, 12 for as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ if I cut off a finger and cast it aside does that finger become a body is it a body that's not the body at all it's just a member of this body and so it is with you and I we are members of a body the body is Jesus Christ verse 27 says now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular individual members of the body of Christ bone of his bone flesh of his flesh when you become baptized is the scriptural term placed into the body of Christ when you become baptized in the body of Christ

[30:36] Jesus Christ has absorbed you into himself you are a member of him of his bones of his flesh and it is so fixed that if we believe not he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself he cannot it's not possible for him to do that to himself and so we get this it's just a shame that people teach the Bible the way they do or that they handle it falsely or deceitfully it's a shame that they enter their own human logic into it or their own deceitful dirty heart and thinking the way they think God should think wrong let's establish what we believe based on the word of God only and when we do that then we can handle these trickier passages that come a little bit later in the book so we've established from Paul that we're members of his body and the last last S word up there is that we're secure we have been absorbed or fused into the body of Christ as a member and that member is not going to be cast aside

[31:51] God will not do that the Lord knoweth them that are his and so in Christ you're secure you're a member of his body of his bone and of his flesh so the apostle Paul teaches this if we're going through our Bible and we come beyond the crucifixion of Christ and we see the book of Acts and some things that go on there but when the dust clears and things settle and the apostle Paul receives revelation and he goes to the Gentiles and he preaches these truths and they by faith believe them these are people that he's teaching that have not seen Jesus Christ they have not been taught by him they have not walked in Galilee or in Nazareth they have not gone to Jerusalem and offered sacrifices at the temple they've grown up in the world in idolatry and pagan rituals and ceremonies and offering sacrifices to idols that's the life they know and then they hear this teaching that there's one Jesus Christ he is the son of God he came he lived a perfect life in him was no sin he knew no sin

[32:59] God made him to be a sacrifice for our sins when he teaches them that he became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and teaches by faith and belief you can have his forgiveness of sins his righteousness his eternal life you can be sanctified and justified and all of these things Paul teaches that we get established in that list of what we are and what we have in Christ and then we flip the page and we see a book calling it Hebrews a book to the Hebrews to teach them that Jesus Christ is better than Moses and better than the tabernacle this is not Gentile material this is not something those in Philippi were ever even worried about should we go to Jerusalem but the Hebrews needed to hear this stuff and so as I showed you we're going to wrap this up as I showed you how a book can have multiple applications there's certain things in the book of Hebrews that are aimed not at the Christian today not at the believer in Jesus Christ but those statements that kind of raise a red flag why do they do that?

[34:13] because they don't match what the Apostle Paul has already laid down and established for us if people don't get familiar with the Apostle Paul's teaching and grounded and established in the faith then they're opened up to some other wind of doctrine that comes a little bit later that's not for them remember me showing you why those books of the Bible get pushed to the back from the Apostles even though their ministry was before Paul's yet they get pushed back to the back because God has a future message and a future plan for his people and it's going to pick up after he takes his bride or the church out of here I think once you get that I think it all makes clear sense I don't know why anybody would want to fight against that today in this age I don't know why they would want to hold on to some verses in Hebrews and say no and why they would want to run back to Matthew and say no we need to endure we need to endure to the end or we're not going to be saved I don't know why anybody would want to do that

[35:14] I don't know why they would want to undermine this solid sound doctrine of the Apostle Paul I suppose it's because of pride I can only assume it's because they in their heart want to do their part and believe they have to be disciplined and they have to show God their worth and their value and that's a that's a deficiency of faith on their part because I have faith that that is settled that is stated to me and I'm just going to take it and roll with it it's not laziness on my part it's faith I believe the word of God I believe I'm a child of God I believe I'm part of his body I believe I'm sealed and that God has promised me a future predestination that he has fixed it's predestinated that means it's done it's settled ahead of time and that's a Bible word and yet people just take that and twist it to be some other thing that it's not so let that establish you in some doctrine this morning and I'm not going to take too much more time if any at all on Hebrews this is really the crux of what I wanted to get to with the book of Hebrews you don't throw the book away you can study it and read it and learn from it plenty to learn and it is going to exalt

[36:29] Jesus Christ highly but when you read certain phrases that start to scare you or start to sound like you better be careful you could lose or you could then understand this whole Bible is from the beginning to the end and you're just one little part of it and it's addressing people of the past and it's also addressing people in the future just because it's in the New Testament doesn't mean it's all for the church remember that they're not synonymous so let's take a break right there and I hope that helps you get settled on some things thank you