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God's Supreme Spokesman
May 16, 2010
Hebrews 1
by Pastor Stan
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THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST: A SERMON SERIES IN HEBREWS
“GOD’S SUPREME SPOKESMAN” (HEBREWS 1:1-3 / P. 846)
MAY 16, 2010

INTRODUCTION
-- Lead-in song: “Lord, Most High”

-- Today, we’re starting a series in which we will go through the New Testament book known as Hebrews. I believe that Hebrews has something important to say to each one of us—whatever our spiritual state or level of biblical scholarship.
    If you’re not yet a believer but are just examining who Jesus is, then Hebrews has something important to say to you.
    If you’re a committed follower of Christ and student of the Bible, Hebrews will deepen your understanding of your faith and will turn the dial of your passion for Christ even higher.
    If you’ve ever had the experience shared by many who decided to read through the Bible and started off enjoying Genesis and Exodus and then came to Leviticus with its strange religious ceremonies presided over by robed priests and its gory descriptions of butchering cute little lambs for a sacrifice and couldn’t make it any further, then the book of Hebrews is for you. No other book in the Bible ties together the entire Bible—Old and New Testaments—as clearly as does the book of Hebrews.
    If you’re not sure what you’d say to a Muslim friend who says that he accepts Jesus as a great prophet or to a Mormon missionary who offers you the Book of Mormon, then Hebrews has something very important to say to you.

-- In short, my desire and prayer in doing this series is that it will move us further ahead in fulfilling our vision as a church: to glorify God by making disciples who know Christ, grow in Him ad show their love for Him. I believe that Hebrews can help us to make progress in all of this.
    So let’s get going. Turn, please in your Bibles to Hebrews (p. 846).

I. BACKGROUND
    -- Let me start by giving you some basic background information about this book.

    A. THE AUTHOR
        -- The author of Hebrews is a mystery—we don’t know who wrote it. He doesn’t identify himself in the book. He was well-known to the recipients but is unknown to us. No less than 13 possible authors have been proposed.
        -- One of the main candidates is Paul. While much of the content of Hebrews bears the marks of Paul the style of the Greek in which it is written is very different from the rest of Paul’s writings. I had a NT professor who said that every time he read Hebrews in the English he thought it was written by Paul and every time he read it in Greek he knew it wasn’t.
        -- It’s doubtful that Paul wrote Hebrews, but it’s almost for sure that whoever did write it was a close associate of Paul’s and greatly influenced by him.
        -- Among the other possible authors of Hebrews, some of the most likely candidates are Apollos, the educated and eloquent Jewish believer discipled by Aquila and Priscilla in Acts 18; Barnabas, Paul’s partner on his first missionary journey; and Luke, author of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts and Paul’s companion on much of his 2nd and 3rd missionary journeys.

    B. THE RECIPIENTS
        -- As with the author, the recipients are not clearly identified in the book. Most likely, however, they were Jewish believers who were living in Italy and possibly in Rome. Many of them had failed to grow in understanding of their faith and now that they were starting to face some persecution as Christians they were in danger of turning from Christ.

    C. THE DATE
        -- Hebrews was probably written in the mid 60’s, about thirty-five years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, when Nero’s persecution of Christians was just beginning.

    D. THE FORM & PURPOSE
        -- Hebrews is usually referred to as an “epistle,” meaning a letter, but Hebrews actually doesn’t resemble a letter


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