Trinity Presbyterian Church North Bay — Sermons & Sunday School

Sermon preached on Hebrews 7:11-19 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 8/5/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 7:11-19

8/5/18

“Through Which We Draw Near to God”

True religion has long been about having fellowship with the one true God. Before man’s fall into sin, Adam had fellowship with God in the garden. Yet, at the fall into sin, mankind fractured that fellowship with God. Remember, Adam and Eve’s first reaction after that sin: they tried to hide from the all holy God. Surely, they feared punishment from the all holy God; they dared not approach him! And it’s been that way ever since. True religion has always needed to deal with our problem of sin, so we could have fellowship with God. That’s why, for example, the Old Testament worship among God’s people involved so many kinds of sacrifices for sin. The job of the Levitical priests under that old covenant was to intercede to God on behalf of sinful people with various sacrifices that attempted to atone for their sin. This arrangement was a gracious provision by God so that under the old covenant the people could be granted a measure of access to God. Yet, as we learn in the book of Hebrews, that Levitical priesthood and sacrificial system under the old covenant was always provisional. It was never meant to be a permanent solution. That permanent solution came in Jesus Christ and his better priesthood. That’s what this passage helps us to learn more about today. Last week’s passage showed us how the priesthood of Melchizedek was better than the Levitical priesthood. That idea is then advanced today when we see that Melchizedek was only a type of Jesus Christ. And so, if Melchizedek’s priesthood was better than the Levite’s, then we see how much more is Jesus’ priesthood better! That is what we look at today.

Today’s passage has a chiastic structure, meaning that the ideas are grouped and repeated in reverse order, making a sort of sandwich with different symmetrical layers. So, the first point will be the outermost idea presented here. This is about the idea of attaining perfection which we find addressed in the opening and closing verse of our passage, verses 11 and 19. Beginning then with verse 11, Hebrews asserts that the Levitical priesthood couldn’t bring perfection. The Greek word for perfection can carry the sense of completion or fulfillment. The idea seems to basically be this: God came up with a plan of redemption, but the Levitical priesthood on its own would never be able to realize that. Yes, God’s plan included the Levitical priesthood for a time, but that priesthood could never bring his plan across the finish line. God’s plan had as its goal to redeem a special people unto himself. Hebrews says here that the Levitical priesthood, on its own, could never get the people to that final goal. I love how Hebrews make that point. In putting this Old Testament institution in its place, it does so with Old Testament scripture. Verse 11 points us again to Psalm 110:4 where King David received the prophecy from God that the Messiah would also be a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Psalm 110 was a prophecy that God gave long after he gave the command to Moses under the law to establish the Levitical priesthood. Hebrews states what is implied. If the Levitical priesthood could accomplish everything God intended for his plan of salvation, there wouldn’t be need for another priest to rise up of a different order. When this later prophecy of Psalm 110:4 was delivered, God was letting his people know that the Levitical priesthood wasn’t sufficient. It couldn’t perfect, it couldn’t complete, the salvation of God’s people. There would need to be another priesthood who would complete the work.

Verse 19 then gives us two additional thoughts in this regard. Look with me there. First, in returning to the notion of perfection, Hebrews co[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 8/5/2018 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series on public worship, studying chapter II of the OPC Directory for the Public Worship of God, specifically on the topic of congregational prayer.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 7:1-10 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/29/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 7:1-10

7/29/18

“Tithes Through Abraham”

We made it to some more “meat” of Scripture today. If you remember back in chapter 5, Hebrews started to talk about Melchizedek. The book then interrupted itself to say that it had more to say about Melchizedek but wasn’t sure the people were ready for such solid food; that they seemed to have regressed to spiritual infancy and be in need of the “milk” of God’s Word instead. Yet, after that exhortation toward spiritual maturity, he nonetheless proceeds to give them more of this substantive teaching about Melchizedek. That is what we get to begin studying today and will continue to study as we work through chapter 7.

Specifically then today, we’ll be comparing priesthoods. So, far, Hebrews has been showing us how Jesus is better than so many things that have come before to God’s people. We’ve seen Jesus as the bringer of better revelation. We’ve seen Jesus greater than angels. We’ve seen Jesus as greater than Moses. We’ve seen Jesus as bringing a greater rest than Joshua brought God’s people. We’ve been told that Jesus brings greater access to God for us, as the Great High Priest. And that’s where we took that pause to talk about spiritual maturity. But now he revisits that to continue to develop how great of high priest Jesus is. Yet, we could imagine that some might think it strange to talk about Jesus being a priest when under the old covenant, the priests came through the tribe of Levi, not Jesus’ tribe which was the tribe of Judah. Hebrews begins to address that here with another one of these comparisons. But today’s passage doesn’t explicitly make the point that Jesus’s priesthood is better than the Levitical priesthood, though that’s true. This passage first makes the point that Melchizedek’s priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood. Of course, as Hebrews does begin to state today, Melchizedek was typological of Jesus Christ. And so, Jesus’s priesthood is ultimately better than the Levitical Priesthood. But today we start with the comparison of Melchizedek with the Levites; and to do that we’ll also need to talk about Father Abraham, as our passage does.

Let’s begin then with Abraham. To make the point that Melchizedek as priest was a priesthood greater than the Levitical priesthood, he starts by showing how Melchizedek as priest ranked over Abraham. We rightly think so highly of Abraham and his relationship with God. But when this Gentile believer of the one true God interacts with Abraham, it is Melchizedek who stands as a priest between God and Abraham, and not the other way around. This is what it says in verse 4, “Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.” Even the patriarch Abraham! Later, in verse 6, this high view of Abraham is again noted when it says that this Melchizedek blessed him who had the promises, referring to Abraham. And so here it reminds us of the greatness of Abraham. As patriarch of the promises, he is the one God entered into a special covenant with back in Genesis 12. God promised several things in that Abrahamic covenant. He promised that Abraham’s offspring would be blessed and made into a great nation and given a great land of rest. Abraham believed God’s promises and the bible says that his faith was the kind of faith all God’s people have; a faith that justifies because it’s a faith that looks in trust to all God’s gracious promises. Abraham is such a central figure of the Christian faith, that we are told in the New Testament that if those physically descended from Abraham don’t share his faith, then they don’t share in the promises given to Abraham. Likewise, we are told that as Christians, even if we don’t physically descend from Abra[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/29/2018 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series on public worship, studying chapter II of the OPC Directory for the Public Worship of God, specifically on the topic of the congregational prayer.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 6:13-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/15/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 6:13-20

7/15/18

“Impossible for God to Lie”

Our beloved former pastor here, Pastor Miller, liked to talk about having a “biblical” hope. If you said something about hope, he might ask you if you were talking about a biblical hope or not. The idea is that the kind of hope that is a biblical hope is a certain and sure hope. You can truly hope on that hope because it will prove trustworthy. A biblical hope is one you can believe in, you can trust in, and one you can and should base your life upon. We are reminded of that truth today, and this passage helps us to see why we can be so sure of our hope and what that means for our life here and now.

So then, we begin by considering Abraham’s patient endurance as seen in verses 13-15. Or to put it in other terms, we can see how Abraham had a sure hope as well. Verse 13 describes a promise that God made to Abraham and how he strengthened that promise with an oath, swearing by himself. The oath is quoted in verse 14, “Surely, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” That’s quoting Genesis 22:17. However, that was not the first time God gave that promise to Abraham. It came in an initial form in Genesis 12, that God would make Abraham the father of a great nation. Then, in Genesis 15 when Abraham still didn’t have a child, God reiterated the promise in details such as that his descendants would be like the stars of the heavens. Yet, neither of those two initial promises record God swearing by his own name. It’s then in Genesis 22, that God finally reaffirms this promise and it specifically records that God swore by Himself. Interestingly, that was the chapter after Isaac was already born to Abraham, and God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham was willing to obey God, and when he showed that, God stopped him from sacrificing Isaac and gave him this divine oath.

In speaking of Abraham’s patient endurance, verse 15 says that Abraham obtained the promise. It’s hard to be certain what it has in mind when it says that he obtained the promise. Of course, we know in the grand scheme of things, Jesus spoke of how Abraham got to see the day of Christ, and rejoiced, 1 John 8:56. Ultimately, Abraham, died and went to be with the Lord and was able to receive God’s promises more fully. Yet, it’s hard to imagine from context that this is what Hebrews has in mind here. Interestingly, later in chapter 11, it says that Abraham was one of many Old Testament saints that had faith and hope in God’s promises even though they themselves in their lifetime didn’t receive what was promised. The point in Hebrews 11 is that the promise wouldn’t be received until Christ came. Yet, it’s also in Hebrews 11 where it does comment further on this history with Abraham sacrificing Isaac. It says in 11:19 that it was like Abraham received Isaac back from the dead when he didn’t have to sacrifice him. It is also clear in Hebrews 11 there that Isaac was the initial installment of the promise given to Abraham. So, I believe that’s what this has in mind here in chapter 6, verse 15. After all his patient endurance, even being willing to sacrifice Isaac, God established and confirmed Isaac as the child of promise, and that with a divine oath. With the divine oath in the very name of God, God ratified the earlier promises and affirmed that they would come to pass through Isaac. In that sense, Abraham can be said to have obtained that promise.

So then, the most immediate point with Abraham here is that he had to patiently endure in faith and hope before he received this initial installment of the promise. For so many years, Sarah and he had no child. God had them wait until Sarah was so many years passed being able to bear children before he gave them a s[...]

Sermon preached on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/8/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

7/8/18

“The Mystery of Lawlessness is Already at Work”

At our annual church open house and BBQ, I like to preach a more basic gospel message for the sermon. This is helpful for any who may be visiting today that is not a Christian, so they can learn about the basics of the Christian faith. And of course, every Christian can benefit from being refreshed in the gospel and the fundamentals of our faith. That being said, the passage I’ve selected for today might not seem to be the most typical passage for such a sermon. Some of the most difficult passages to understand are those that deal with prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled. Such prophetic passages tend to also be the most debated among fellow Christians. It’s always easier to see how a prophecy is specifically fulfilled after the fulfillment has happened. And yet today I have selected a passage full of prophecy about future events that have not yet taken place. Consequently, there have been some disagreements among Christians about how some of these future details will be worked out. We should certainly have great charity in such disagreements. And yet I chose this passage because there is part here that is not about the future but about a present reality. Verse 7 speaks of the mystery of lawlessness that is already at work. This is something we can so clearly see to be the case today. And I hope to show that recognizing this present lawlessness is important and helpful when considering the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to expose the enemy’s tactics that are deceiving people today from believing in Jesus Christ and the gospel.

So then, in my first point I will look briefly on the future aspects of this passage; on the prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled; but I will do my best to focus most on the clearest aspects and the least debated parts. And so, this passage speaks of how in the future there will come someone known as the lawless one (vs 8). A man of sin and lawlessness (vs 3). This one will come before Christ comes back to this world to gather up his saved people to glory; that’s verses 1-3. Part of why this is important to consider what will happen in the future, is because we’ll see a connection with what is going on right now in the present. The mystery of lawlessness that is already here according to verse 7 is essentially a foretaste to what will be experienced in an ever greater degree when this future lawless one is ultimately revealed. Seeing what it says here about this future man of lawlessness will help us to think in our second point about what ways we see such workings of lawlessness already taking place today.

So, let’s think through the description of this man of lawlessness. Start by reflecting for a moment on that word lawlessness. Digest what it means to be lawless. It means you disregard and oppose the law – God’s law. This characterization is the exact opposite of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the righteous one, 1 John 2:1. He’s the man of righteousness. Jesus is the one who loves God’s law in the full. Jesus can sing in the full the psalm that says, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day (119:97).” But this lawless one, he hates God’s law and spends his time in opposition to it. Seeing the contrast here with Jesus shows us what becomes more clear with further study: this man of lawlessness is literally the Antichrist. He is anti everything that Christ is and stands for.

Looking further at the passage, we see in verse 4 how this lawless one will oppose God and true religion. Notice that it says that he will even sit in the temple as God! In other words, he looks to displace true religion with his lawless lies. He will look to turn people away fr[...]

Sermon preached on Hebrews 6:9-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/1/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 6:9-12

7/1/18

“Confident of Better Things”

When someone compliments or encourages you, it is much more meaningful if they have something specific in mind instead of them essentially giving you some baseless platitude. The one encourages us because its based on a truth, the other is essentially false flattery. Well, in today’s passage, the book of Hebrews offers some encouragement after it had given some sterns words of warning. This section closes out the larger passage which had started in 5:11 dealing with how the people had become sluggish in their Christian growth. Last week’s passage brought the concern such sluggishness could be the precursor to apostasy. Yet, here Hebrews ends this concern by changing the tone to a positive note. Yes, the original recipients of this letter had appeared to have grown sluggish in their Christian faith. Yes, sometimes that could be the precursor to apostasy. However, the book of Hebrews is confident of better things for them. This book compliments and encourages them that the author believes they truly are saved and aren’t going to apostatize. And this is not some baseless compliment. The author has specific examples in mind of the fruit that accompanies those who are saved. He has seen that in them and he says that God has seen that in them. After a rather stern word of chastening for their sluggishness, Hebrews encourages them like this, so that they would take this chastening in a positive way. Hebrews wants them to heed the exhortation, by turning from their recent sluggishness, and pursuing renewed diligence in their Christian life. This will be our topic to consider then today.

So, in our first point, I want us to look at verses 9-10 and consider these “things that accompany salvation.” Hebrews wants to acknowledge fruit that has been observed in them. This should be seen in light of the verses right before this, verses 8-9 that gave the analogy of the earth sometimes bringing forth good things and sometimes bad things. Hebrews is saying that good things so far had been coming from them, and so Hebrews is hopeful that this means they truly are saved. The point that underlies this is that our assurance of salvation comes in part by analysis of the fruit or lack thereof in someone’s life. For example, in Matthew 7, Jesus spoke of how we can know a true prophet from a false one. He says that a good tree bears good fruit and that a bad tree bears bad fruit, and so we will know people by their fruits. Of course, we need to be careful in applying that because in the same passage Jesus says that the wolves will come in sheep’s clothing. So, sometimes at first glance a wolf might look like a sheep. Nonetheless, Jesus calls us to carefully examine fruit. This is something our session needs to do, for example, whenever we interview members to join the church. We can’t read someone’s heart to know if they truly believe in Jesus. Nor have we been given a copy of the Book of Life to look up someone’s name and see if they are truly one of the elect or not. So, when we receive new members into the church, we have to do so by looking for a credible profession of faith. We examine their words in conjunction with the fruit being shown in their life to seek to see if their profession of faith seems believable. That is what Hebrews is saying of the original audience here. That looking at the fruit of Christian living that has already come from them, Hebrews is confident that they have shown signs that would point to their election and salvation.

The author of Hebrews takes this one step further to say that not only does he acknowledge this fruit that has come from them, but God also sees it. This is verse 10, “For God is not unjust to forget your work and l[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/1/2018 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series on public worship, studying chapter II of the OPC Directory for the Public Worship of God, specifically on the topic of divine blessings.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 6:1-8 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 6/17/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 6:1-8

6/17/18

“Let Us Go on To Perfection”

In last week’s passage, we dealt with the theme of Christian maturity. The text brought to us the concern to be growing via the Word of God. It spoke to us of the importance not only of the milk of the Word but the solid food of the Word. In other words, as we grow as Christians we need more than just the basic doctrines of Christianity, but we also need a diet of the more substantive teachings of Scripture. In today’s passage, we see that concern is still in mind when verse 1 speaks of us going on to perfection, or in other words, to Christian maturity. It makes that call for perfection or maturity by referencing the elementary doctrines of Christianity in verses 1 and 2 and saying that we need to then move on to the more advanced teachings. But then in verse 4 Hebrews changes direction for a moment to explain why it has this concern for our growth and maturity. Basically, the concern is that if our faith is not growing, we could end up in the opposite state. We could end up falling away from the faith; in apostasy. Verses 4-8 speak of the great danger associated with that. He speaks of the impossibility of someone being renewed again to repentance who falls into such apostasy. That then is our topic for today. To consider the dire warning here given against apostasy.

To start this discussion, I’d like to begin with two qualifications to this passage. Scripture must always interpret Scripture, and the more clear passages must govern how we interpret a less clear passage. Certainly, that rule applies here. This is a passage that has sparked much discussion because of people failing to follow that rule. So then, the first clarification is that this passage is not contrary to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Some have wrongly said this passage teaches that a true believer can fall away from the faith and be lost eternally. That’s contrary the biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints which teaches that the elect of God, those God has predestined to salvation, will be saved, and nothing can stop that from happening. Those who are God’s elect, will in due time, be born again, repent of their sins, and believe in the gospel. They might struggle and stumble in their Christian faith at times, but ultimately God’s grace will persevere their faith and bring them to glory. God will not lose any of his elect, nor will he begin the work of salvation via regeneration in someone and not complete it. Yes, some might make an outward profession of faith that then fall away and never come back, but Scripture would teach us that such a person was never truly converted. As is described in 1 John 2:19, such people go out from Christ’s church because they never really, truly belonged to Christ’s church.

There are so many Scriptures that teach this. Romans 8:30 lays out the chain well. There it says that all who are predestinated, do become effectually called, and justified and ultimately glorified. Two verses before that it says that God works all things together to make this happen. Similarly, Philippians 1:6 says that God begins the work of salvation in someone but also is the one who brings it to completion. 2 Timothy 1:12 speaks of how God keeps Christians until the day of glory. The end of Jude speaks of God’s persevering of his saints. In John 10:29, Jesus speaks of how the father gives him the elect and that no one is able to snatch them out of the father’s hand. Ephesians 1 which speaks of God’s predestinating the elect from before the foundation of the world, describes the various stages of our salvation, including how he guarantees to us who are the elect a glorious, eternal inheritance by giving us his Holy Spirit. Similarly[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 6/17/2018 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series on public worship, studying chapter II of the OPC Directory for the Public Worship of God, specifically on the topic of divine blessings.