Trinity Presbyterian Church North Bay — Sermons & Sunday School

Sermon preached on Hebrews 5:11-14 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 6/10/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 5:11-14

6/10/18

“Those Who Are of Full Age”

Today we will be dealing with the topic of spiritual maturity, focusing on chapter 5, verses 11-14. However, I read the larger passage because these verses are only part of a larger point Hebrews is making here. After Hebrews described Jesus as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek, verse 11 begins a side exhortation. Basically, Hebrews says that he wants to teach them more about this meaty doctrine of Jesus being a high priest in the order of Melchizedek but he’s not sure they are able to handle such an advanced teaching. In fact, he will in chapter 7 proceed to give them this more advanced teaching. But first he goes on an aside to express his concern about their spiritual maturity. In today’s passage he’ll compare spiritual maturity with spiritual immaturity and how they seem to be going backwards in their growth. Next chapter he’ll express the concern that he doesn’t want them to ultimately slide into apostasy, into a falling away from the faith. But then at the end of this larger passage, we’ll be seeing that he is confident of better things for them. In other words, he’s hopeful that they truly are saved and thus will being growing and persevering. So, today we’ll look at the first part today in verses 11-14 and I anticipate two more sermons to work through the rest of this section. And I think the point should be well taken here, that though Hebrews is hopeful that these hearers were ultimately true believers, he nonetheless believed they needed to hear this warning against apostasy, and here today, against regressing in our spiritual growth. God wants his people to be growing. We will talk about this growth today.

So then, let’s begin today by considering what it looks like to be spiritually immature. Verses 11-14 speak of this with an analogy of physical growth. Verse 13 speaks of people who are babes, literally infants. It says that such babies need milk, not solid food. This is illustrating our spiritual growth as a Christian. And I think this is so important to remember. When you first become a Christian you don’t start out spiritually mature. You start out spiritually immature. None of us will reach full maturity in this life, but we all have to start out as babes in Christ. Like newborn babies, Christians will need to grow. Peter uses this imagery in a complementary way in 1 Peter 2:2 saying that we should desire God’s Word like a newborn babe desires milk, so that we can be growing. Peter’s point and the point here, is that there is growth that will be needed for the Christian. If when you first become a Christian you feel overwhelmed at how much you don’t yet know about God, then know that is normal. If on the other hand, when you first become a Christian you think you’ll just automatically start out mature, you are mistaken!

This passage specifically tells us that when we first become a Christian, we’ll need to have a diet of milk. Verses 12 and 13 both acknowledge this fact. Newborn Christians will need milk. What is this milk? Verse 12 gives a definition: the first principles of the oracles of God . In other words, the basics from God’s Word. The foundational teachings of our faith. Chapter 6 further defines those foundational teachings in verses 1 and 2; things like faith and repentance, things like the ordinances of the church, and the teaching about the resurrection and the final day of judgment. In other words, the milk of the faith are those core teachings of Scripture that are indispensable to the Christian faith. They are those hills to die upon that if you compromise on them you no longer have a faith that can be called Christian. For example, the reformers knew that justification by faith alone was o[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 6/10/2018 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 sacraments.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 4:15-5:10 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/27/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 4:15-5:10

5/27/18

“To Become High Priest”

In last week’s passage, we read the end of chapter 4 and were presented with Jesus the merciful high priest that brings us aid from God. Today, as we dig into chapter 5, we see this theme of Jesus being such a priest begin to be expanded upon. As Hebrews teaches us about Christ as a priest, the book will do so with a lot of comparisons with the Aaronic priesthood that they had under the old covenant. This old covenant priesthood was a type and shadow of the priesthood that would come in the Christ. That means there are certainly similarities with the Aaronic priesthood that help us understand what Christ came to do. But that means there are also differences that shows us how Christ’s priestly ministry was superior to anything available under the old covenant. So then, in today’s passage we’ll see these similarities and differences associated with two aspects of Christ’s priesthood: his divine appointment, and his compassionate ministry.

Let’s begin then with Jesus’ divine appointment to the priesthood. We’ll start by looking at verse 4 regarding the old covenant Aaronic priesthood. There we find an important principle: no one makes himself priest. That would be presumptuous and an illegitimate priesthood. To be a priest is to be a mediator between God and man. Though we can think of how in one sense, the priest is especially representing humans before God, in verse 4 we see that it is God who picks the priest. God authorizes someone to be a priest. As verse 4 says, “no man takes this honor to himself” and it points to Aaron as an example. Aaron did not promote himself to be a priest of God. Rather, we find in Exodus 28 that God set apart Aaron and his descendants to serve as the priestly order for the nation of Israel under the old covenant. The fact that God is the one to select his priests, reminds us what we see in verse 1. A priest’s ministry is unto God. That means, like what we see at the end of chapter 4, a priest seeks mercy and grace from God for the people he represents. His ministry is one unto God, and so it makes sense why God would be the one to establish a priesthood and to define its terms.

Hebrews then applies this to Christ’s priesthood in verse 5. “So also Christ did not glorify himself to become High Priest.” Jesus did not proclaim himself priest. God declared him to be his priest. We could think of many examples of this as recorded in the history found in the gospels. For example, we could think of the words of commendation that the Father spoke when Jesus got baptized by John at the Jordan. Or, we could think of the similar words of commendation that the Father spoke at Jesus’ transfiguration. We could remember all the mighty signs and wonders that Jesus performed and how Jesus said those were acts by which God testified to Jesus’ identity, calling, and mission. We could even remember how God tore the temple curtain when Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice on the cross – surely that also affirmed that Jesus was a priest called by God. I am certain the book of Hebrews has not forgotten such amazing testimony to Jesus’ divine calling. Yet, Hebrews yet again offers its argument not from the New Testament scriptures, but from the Old Testament. In verse 5, it quotes from Psalm 2:7. In verse 6, it quotes from Psalm 110:4. Both of these psalms were by this time widely understood in the church as being Scripture about the Messiah. Hebrews then helps us to see their significance with regard to Jesus’ calling as a priest.

Regarding Psalm 2, various allusions and quotes of it can be found in the New Testament and applied to Jesus. Here in Hebrews 1, the author already quoted this same line from Psalm 2 with God saying to[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/27/2018 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 sacraments.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 4:12-16 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/20/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 4:12-16

5/20/18

“In Time of Need”

The last two weeks in Hebrews we have been dealing with the warning its given from Psalm 95. That psalm remembers how the generation that God brought out of Egypt largely fell away when the time of testing came in the wilderness before they got into the Promised Land. God did not let those who fell away in unbelief enter his rest. But Psalm 95 also talked about those God did bring into the Promised Land. Hebrews showed from Psalm 95 that even they were still waiting for a greater rest to come. They then needed to keep their faith and trust in God so they too didn’t miss out from entering into God’s promised rest. The application was again to us, that we too are waiting for that final rest. Yes, we’ve been redeemed from sin by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We’ve been born again as new creations by his Spirit. But we are still waiting for glory. In the mean time we are pilgrims on this earth. That means in the mean time we will have tests and temptations to our faith. And so, though we touched on some of these verses last week, I wanted to spend one more week here to see more about the help that is available to us during our time of earthly pilgrimage. And so today, we’ll consider first the exposing Word, then our sympathetic High Priest, and this gracious throne that we have access to.

Beginning then with this exposing Word, we start in verses 12-13. This is a verse that often gets taught out of context. But I remind you of the context that I highlighted last week. The main point in mentioning the Word of God here is not immediately about the help we have in it. Rather, it’s part of the warning that Hebrews has been giving. Remember, that when Hebrews referenced that wilderness generation, it was referencing Scripture from Numbers 14. That passage in Numbers ended with God condemning the lack of faith the people had. God then swore that they would not enter his rest, which typologically meant for them that they would not enter the Promised Land. So, what did they do? They acted in some sense like they were repentant. When Moses told them God’s response to their grumbling that he wouldn’t give them the land now, they mourned greatly. Then they say that they will bravely go and attack the Canaanites. I mentioned the analogy last week, that it’s like a child who won’t obey their parents until the punishment is at hand. Then suddenly they change their tone and try to get out of their punishment by suddenly trying to comply. But a good parent will know that they need to still discipline the child to teach them for the future that they need to obey the first time, not only when they see the hand of punishment about to fall. And so, that wilderness generation tried to change their tune and start obeying God once the punishment was being given by God. But God said it was too late then. Yet, Israel presumptuously tried anyways. They tried to attack and take the Promised Land from the Canaanites and the Amalekites. Moses pleaded with them and tried to warn them not to try that; that God wasn’t with them. Moses told them they would fall by the sword if they tried. And that is exactly what happen. And so, it’s that imagery that is in mind here when Hebrews says the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It’s still dealing with what happened to that wilderness generation and applying it to us. For us, the warning of Psalm 95 to not fall into their same mistake, that’s the sword held out against us. If we don’t heed that warning, if we harden our heart against God, if we don’t continue to trust him in faith, God’s Word will stand against us. God’s judgment will come upon us in a far greater way than any Canaanite or Amalekite sword. One comm[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/20/2018 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 sacraments.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 4:1-14 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/13/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 4:1-14

5/13/18

“Entering His Rest”

How often do you feel tired; not simply sleepy, but exhausted and worn out? Life in this pilgrim journey involves lots and lots of work! We need rest! We need it daily, yes. But we also know as Christians there is a final rest at the end of our lives on this earth. Not to sound morbid, but that’s even the common hope we see when we go to a cemetery – that common slogan written on tombstones, R.I.P, “rest in peace”. Of course, sadly death will not be rest for many. We’re reminded of that again in today’s sermon. For some, death will mean the beginning of God’s eternal judgment. For the Christian, on the other hand, we will enter into a wonderful and glorious rest, either when we die and go to be with the Lord, or when Christ returns and ushers us into paradise. The Christian will indeed rest in peace, for eternity, in the most amazing way. And so, we all need rest, but we need to make sure we don’t miss entering into that rest at the end. Today’s passage brings us this concern by continuing its exposition on Psalm 95. Last week’s passage essentially gave us a little sermon on Psalm 95. But as we keep reading in today’s passage, we see the sermon is not done yet. Hebrews will continue to teach on Psalm 95, developing this idea of rest.

Our first point then for today will be to see that the gospel we hold today – a gospel that includes an offer of rest – that was preached in the Old Testament too. That’s the explicit statement of verse 2. We have received gospel preaching in these last days with the coming of Christ. But the old testament people also received gospel preaching. Now, to be fair, surely the gospel wasn’t preached to them in the same clarity as we now have it. But at a minimum we see the text describe how they received the gospel at least in terms of entering God’s rest. And so, with that nuance in mind, it says that this gospel of rest was preached in the Old Testament too. Verse 2 has in mind especially the exodus and wilderness wandering generation that we studied about last week from Psalm 95. We saw Psalm 95 quoting Numbers 14 about how after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites made it through the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land of Canaan. There they sent twelve spies who spied out Canaan and reported back to that generation about how the enemy was too strong to conquer. They grumbled against God. Think of this in light of how it says here that they too were preached the gospel. God had preached to that exodus generation that he would give them the land, if only they would trust the Lord. For example, Numbers 13, God spoke to Moses to send out the 12 spies into Canaan because he would be giving the land to Israel. And then after the spies came back, two of the spies give their minority report – Joshua and Caleb. They say that the land was good and that God could give them the land, if they would but trust God, Numbers 14:6-9! We could even remember the original land promise God have given Abraham. All these words and more from God should have been received as gospel to them – good news! But as it says in verse 2, they didn’t believe God. This gospel promise of rest to them came, but it fell on deaf ears and hard hearts.

Similarly, we come to verses 6-8 and see that this gospel message came again later, in David’s time. This was long after God had given the people the Promised Land. After that wilderness wandering generation, God used Joshua to lead the next generation in a glorious conquest of the land. They entered the place of rest known as the Promised Land. In Joshua 23:1, it even says that God then gave the people “rest” from all their enemies. But notice what Hebrews says here about that. In David’s d[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/13/2018 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 sacraments.

Sermon preached on Hebrews 3:7-19 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/6/2018 in Novato, CA.

Sermon manuscript

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.

Hebrews 3:7-19

5/6/18

“While It Is Called Today”

Pilgrims. That’s what we are right now. Ever since becoming a part of Christ’s church, we have been on a journey to our final home; to a place of rest and blessing. The destination has many names in Scripture; recently Hebrews described it as the “world to come.” That’s where we are headed. Our journey is one where Christ leads us by his grace as we trust him in faith. But we are not there yet. What will life be like on the way? I could point you to a classic book like Pilgrim’s Progress which colorfully pulls together different truths from Scripture in an allegorical story about the Christian pilgrim life. Or, even better, I could do what Hebrews does here. It points us to the sacred history to see how also under the old covenant, God’s people were called to a pilgrim life. That’s what we’ll explore today. The pilgrim life under the old covenant has lessons for our similar pilgrim life under the new covenant.

Let’s begin then by considering what Hebrews quotes in verses 7-11 and then again in verse 15. This is an excerpt from Psalm 95. Our first point today will be to consider the background of this quote from Psalm 95. What’s being referenced when Hebrews quotes Psalm 95? Well, Psalm 95 has a clear two-part structure. The first part is a very classic call for God’s people to worship him in his holy presence. It was something regularly used in the Tabernacle and Temple under the old covenant worship. But then the second part of Psalm 95 takes a dramatic turn in tone. Whereas the first part was a call to worship, the second part is a stern warning for God’s people to not fall away like their forefathers did during the wilderness wandering generation. It is this second part of the psalm, which Hebrews quotes here in its entirety. And so, Psalm 95 and our text from Hebrews gets us to remember that time in Israel’s history after God brought them out of their slavery of Egypt, but before he brought them into the Promised Land of Canaan. God had Israel wander through the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan for forty years.

And so, this warning from Psalm 95 recalls two specific events as it considers that wilderness generation. The first one is what is recorded in Exodus 17 about the people grumbling about not having water. Here in verse 8, it quotes the psalm referring to how that generation hardened their hearts in the rebellion, in the day of trial. Well, it’s clear in the original Hebrew that this was a reference back to Exodus 17, as the words for rebellion and trial are Meribah and Massah. Moses named the place Meribah and Massah where Israel grumbled against God because they didn’t have water. The people implied in their complaining that they would have been better off staying in Egypt than coming out into the wilderness to thirst to death. Moses rebuked them there and said they were testing the LORD. Well, God used Moses to provide water for them there by having Moses strike a rock and water flowed out. But then Moses officially named that spot, Meribah and Massah, i.e. rebellion and testing. The point of course is that Israel was rebelling against God and testing him by complaining like that in the wilderness. They should have trusted God to provide for them during their time in the wilderness. If they had needs they should have simply asked for help via prayer.

The other wilderness generation event referenced in Psalm 95 is recorded in Numbers 13-14, and referenced in veses 10-11 here. That’s when Israel sent twelve spies to spy out the Promised Land and they come back and report that while the land is truly a good land of milk and honey, it’s inhabitants are too strong, too big, and too well fortified for Israel to conquer. This re[...]

Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/6/2018 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 preaching of God’s Word.