May 15, 2005
Scripture:
Can we take a moment to turn to Hebrews 10; our brother read some precious verses from Psalm 40. It’s very interesting to note where the Holy Spirit will take Old Testament verses and put them in the New Testament. We have some from Psalm 40 here in Hebrews. Hebrews 10:4-9, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. In this chapter of Hebrews, we have 3 points; that was the first; the will of God. Now vv.10-14, By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. This part shows the work of Christ. Vv. 15-17, Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. This is the witness of the Spirit. Isn’t it precious, it involves the holy trinity, and it contains our present position before God. The will of God; the work of Christ; the witness of the Holy Ghost.
EG Hymn 311- “Children, can you tell me why” Prayer Numbers 22:27-35 • Balaam’s main motive was money. • Balaam spoke 4 parables showing what God thinks of Israel:
Hebrews 3:1-12 • The second part of Hebrews 3 is a warning against doubting. This takes us back to the book of Numbers. • Hebrews is a book that takes the Christian into the Holy of Holies and makes him a priest, but really it is a book from the wilderness. It doesn’t bring the church before us, or our heavenly portion, it isn’t Ephesians, but it does give us some very important truths. • There are many references to the book of Numbers in Hebrews 3. It seems that Numbers 9 takes up where Exodus left off. After Exodus is Leviticus, the handbook for the priests; Numbers 1-8 numbers the people. Now the tabernacle is set up, the law is here and they can start their wilderness trip. It wasn’t supposed to be long, but because of their unbelief, it turned out to be 40 years. • When you think of the Israel in Egypt, they were an industrious people, making bricks every day. Then in Exodus, they built the tabernacle. Now in Numbers, the only things they built, besides the brazen serpent, were the two silver trumpets. These could signify the Old and New Testaments, and they were one of the three things that led the children of Israel. The other two things were the cloud and the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, leading the parade as it followed the cloud. • We read in Numbers that God wanted to send in the spies. But in Deuteronomy we read that it was the people’s idea, and that Moses agreed, and God let them do it. They didn’t trust God. Then because of the bad report, they didn’t want to go in; God didn’t let them go in, and they started to murmur. Are these the people who Balaam saw? But are we any better? If we’re seen through Christ, yes; through the flesh, no. • The problem with the Israelites is that they had unbelief, they doubted. Joshua & Caleb said, “God said it, I believe it, let’s go!” The rest of them, using all their human reasoning, said,” It would be a total mistake to do what God said.” All through the wilderness, we read of them murmuring about the lack of food, the type of food, about Moses, about Aaron, and on and on. Then Korah rebelled against God’s priesthood. In Jude 11, we read that because of unbelief, people went in the ways of Cain (a religion without blood), Balaam (a religion for money), and Korah (a religion his own way). Hebrews gives us a serious warning against unbelief, because it cuts us out of God’s blessings. • Would Caleb and Joshua have lost out of any blessings because the others were unbelieving? They had a “remnant” characteristic, being faithful when others were not. They went through the 40 years of grumbling, but when they got to Canaan, they got rewards that they might not have gotten if they hadn’t gone through that time where others were unfaithful; if all had been faithful, they wouldn’t have gotten any special recognition. EG Hymn 169 – “Blest be the ties that bind”