It is pretty astonishing these days to just recognize the obstacles and the dangers all around us to our spiritual health and thus our mental and relational health. I know there's probably been a time within church history when there's been so much counterfeit Christianity in the land. I don't know that it's ever been as widely broadcast, of course, because of television, radio, social media, and so on. So while it's always been true, that there has been an apostate form of Christianity masking itself as the source, masking itself as the exclusive dispenser of grace into people's lives, when it was everything but that, anything but that. Today, it's the prevalence of it, and the The acceptance of it is what alarms me. And of course, I know that Islam is a concern to many people these days, and all the other Eastern false religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on. Those things are just part of the worldly give and take that we live with on a daily basis. But nothing is more dangerous than false Christianity. Nothing is more dangerous than a superficial understanding of the Gospel. Let me just say it clearly. A superficial understanding of the Gospel is not a saving understanding of the Gospel. And this is very sobering. So let me say it again. A superficial understanding of the Gospel is not a saving understanding of the Gospel. And so it's very important then today to begin to call time out, to just pause and consider whether or not we are in the faith. Consider how it is. What is my view of the Gospel? What is it doing in my life? Has it been a transformative view? That's really what's important. Has my view of the Gospel offered me not only the assurance that I'm in fellowship with the Father and with the Son through the Spirit, but that that fellowship is literally transforming my character in thought, word, and deed? After the model and image of Jesus, by the way. So it's not just about you becoming a better person. People can subscribe to religion all day long and modify their behavior and consider that they're a Christian when they're not. No, the change that God produces in the life of a believer by the Spirit through the scriptures is a transformation into the very image of his son. That is God's paramount purpose in the life of every believer. And the Holy Spirit is the change agent. And the scriptures are the means by which He uses, the Spirit uses, to bring about that change. Let me say that again. The Holy Spirit, who dwells within every believer, is the change agent. not moralism, not philosophy, not psychology. The Holy Spirit is the one at work in you and he uses the scriptures as the means to bring about that change. So you might want to just write that down someplace. The Holy Spirit is the change agent in my life and he uses the scriptures as the means to change me. That's a really good spiritual affirmation. And to let that sink way down deep. Now, so we've just stated clearly a couple of times that the Holy Spirit is the change agent. And we also just stated that the scripture is the means by which the Spirit uses to bring about that change. Now, I want to just comment and share with you something that has been such a blessing in my life regarding the scriptures. And that is, is that there's a way to approach them and there's a way not to approach them. I would dare say that most Christians I've talked to over the years have taken, again, a very superficial view of reading scripture. Either they read a passage here and a passage there, largely ripped out of context, or they read a daily devotional where there's usually a single passage followed by a commentary. Those have their place, they're fine, but they simply can't be your steady diet. You can't live spiritually off of snacking any more than you can nourish your body by snacking. You have to have a full meal. You have to have all the nutrition that's available to you in a complete meal two, three times a day in order to be healthy. And it's the same thing with the scriptures. As we come to the scriptures, we must be prepared to do what Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellam refer to as reading the scriptures thickly. In fact, let me just read you that quote. It's from their book, God's Kingdom Through God's Covenants. And on page 27, Wellam and Gentry say this, quote, it is not enough to read scripture in a thin manner, quote, unquote, i.e. as isolated text apart from the light of the entire canon of scripture. We discover God's intent through the writing of the biblical authors, But given the diversity of authors through our time, we must interpret biblical authors in light of the entire canon. It is only by reading Scripture thickly that we discover the true meaning of Scripture, that is to say, what God's intent is and how Scripture applies to us today." So, it is not enough to read scripture in a thin manner, that is to say, as isolated text apart from the whole. Instead, we must read text in a thick way, text read in the light of the entire canon of scripture. Now, he says here that it's only by reading Scripture thickly, that is, within the context of the entire canon of Scripture, that we discover the true meaning of Scripture. Now, here's another phrase that I encourage you to write down. The meaning of Scripture is the Scripture. The Scripture is just not words written on a page. The scripture is not just an abstract thing that we can simply hold in our hand. The scripture to you and I is the meaning of the scripture and how it applies to you and I today. I can't begin to stress how important this is because we live in a world that is shamelessly trying to inform your belief system. day in and day out. Not only are people lying to you, they're lying to you knowing they're lying to you, which is just heinous. And that includes on every level of society, politically, socially, religiously. And so, if you are not a lover of the truth, if you're not pursuing the truth, your belief system, your worldview, your self-understanding, even your understanding of God, is being informed. You are being educated. and your belief system affects your conduct, your daily conduct. It affects your ability to form and maintain healthy, loving relationships. It affects your ability to live a life that has meaning and fulfillment as you do the will of God. And so these are not just trivial things. I wouldn't be talking to you about trivial things. Life is too short, life is too important, and the stakes are too grave to take things lightly. On the other hand, what we can do is begin to rejoice in the fact that we do have the text of scripture and treat it like the treasure it is by learning to read it within its content, context, excuse me. It is only, Gentry and Wellham say, it is only by reading scripture thickly that we discover the true meaning of scripture, what God's intent is, and how scripture applies to us today. Now, let me just give you a quick example of that from my personal study. This is really quite profound. I have been choosing and recommend, in fact, to take a letter, say, just example, a letter from the epistles in the New Testament. and take that letter or take a gospel or the book of Acts. I don't recommend taking Leviticus or some other historic book like that. I mean, you can. There's nothing wrong with that. Better to do that than not to do anything. But I'm concerned that you get a real depth in your understanding of the Gospel. So, taking one of the Gospels, taking one of the epistles, Paul, Peter, John, Jude, and begin to master that letter. Take that one letter. make it the central focus of your study. And of course, you can study other parts of the Bible for various reasons and various times. But when it comes to the center focus of your study, take one letter and just devote yourself to mastering it. Now, what do I mean by mastering it? I mean, read it, read it as a whole, read it in one setting, You can get it on AudioBible quite easily these days. I think you can get it on YouTube free. You can simply type in any letter of the New Testament, and even the translation you prefer, and have it come up, and you can have it read to you, which is a wonderful way to do it, because 99% of the people who heard these letters, heard them, read to them. They weren't reading it. They weren't reading it on a page. The church would gather, and the elders would gather, and they would read these letters to the church. They belonged to the church. Paul didn't write letters exclusively to elders or to clergy, neither to any of the apostles. They wrote letters to the church. They belonged to the entire church. And so they would gather, and they would hear them. So, just as an example, In recent months, I have been working to master the letter to the Hebrews. And here's an example of reading thickly. And so I just want to give you some concrete example here. So what I've done is I've began to read this letter from several different translations, including my favorite, which has become lately the Legacy Standard Bible, the latest revision of the New American Standard. And then I've listened to it on Audible, my Audible Bible, first thing in the morning, last thing at night. I've listened to it repeatedly. I've read commentaries on it. I've really gone to a deep dive into the letter to the Hebrews. And I can't begin to tell you what a transformative, powerful experience that has been. I have seen the atonement of our Lord on our behalf, from a new depth, a new breath, a new awakening even, to the all-sufficient, exclusive, unique, permanent atonement that we have in Christ, so that we understand that we are redeemed fully and totally by that one sacrifice, once and for all time. Let me just read a few texts from the letter to the Hebrews as an example. The first thing I discovered is that Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 is a synopsis, and you'll find this in many epistles. Many of Paul's epistles, for example, represent the opening lines of that epistle, represent the synopsis. You can get a really good idea. It's almost as if Paul, being the master teacher that he was, is saying to us, this is what I'm going to tell you. Then he tells us, and then he summarizes, this is what I told you. And so, it's a very good teaching tool, and it's a very good learning tool for you and I as well. So let me give you an example of that. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. God, having spoken long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who is the radiance of his glory, and the exact representation of his nature. and upholds all things by the word of his power, who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they." So what we learn right away from the letter to the Hebrews is that this is about God not only speaking, but in the qualitative difference in how God is speaking, has spoken to us in his son as to how he has spoke in the past. And it's a contrast between the superior revelation of God in his son and all other previous revelations which were a shadow or foreshadow of the superior, the supreme revelation in his son, including and most particularly throughout this letter, the revelation of God in the law that was delivered through angels to Moses and delivered to the people. So, very quickly, right out of the gate, the letter to the Hebrews is telling us that this is going to be a letter about the superior revelation that we have in his son, as opposed to the revelation given to Moses. And we'll discover, of course, that that revelation is superior to Moses, Jesus is superior to Abraham, and that his high priesthood is superior in every way to the old Levitical priesthood, the temple sacrifices that could never take away sins, that could never cleanse the conscience, that could never make the worshiper perfect. Let me just read you a few texts real quickly here. Hebrews 7, 26. Hebrews 7 26 is this, For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this he did once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath which came after the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever. So there we go. We have that contrast then between the high priest under the old covenant and the new covenant priest, which is Jesus Christ himself, who is our high priest. Let's look at another here, chapter nine. verses 11 through 14. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, another rendering would be the good things that have come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Now, just above that, in verse 9 he says, he spoke of the sacrifices that were part of the first tabernacle, part of the tabernacle in Jerusalem, the temple in Jerusalem. And they offered gifts and sacrifices there which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience. So, the point is that the unique, exclusive, Once for all, all sufficient sacrifice of Christ at the cross, followed by his resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of the Father, where he has sat down, meaning his work is finished. The high priest could never sit down. This is the historical context you might want to be aware of. See, this is an example. So the historic high priest under the old covenant at the temple will go into the Holy of Holies, but his work was never done. He was continually offering sacrifices because those sacrifices were only a foreshadow. of the superior and supreme sacrifice that was yet to come of the Son. And so we discover that that sacrifice, the sacrifice of our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is a finished work. There's no more sacrifices, and there's therefore no more need for a Levitical priesthood. There's no more need for a temple. Okay, let me turn to Hebrews chapter 10 now. Just a few more to help you get a good biblical context for what I'm going to say next because this is very, very sobering where I'm going with this. So stick with me. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 10 through 18 read, by this will, that mean the will of God, Jesus had come to do the Father's will, by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, all time. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. but he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time," think of that, for all time, "...sat down at the right hand of God," there's that reference again, "...waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." So I think it's quite clear then, isn't it? that the one sacrifice offered by Christ, one offering offered by Christ as our High Priest, was an all-sufficient sacrifice for all time, and has perfected us before God. This means that there is no more sacrifices to be necessary, let alone to be exercised without being an abomination now. There's nothing about a sacrificing priesthood that we need today. unique, exclusive, all-sufficient, final sacrifice of Christ has cleared the decks, has dealt with sin once and for all time, meaning your sins, past, present, future, have been dealt with. The sacrifice of Christ is as applicable to you today as it was at the time of your conversion and was before the foundation of the world. There's no need, nor should there ever be, another mediating sacrifice on our behalf. Now what if there is? What if those would come along and try to interpose upon you that they are somehow a priest that can offer you absolution, that can intercede for you, that can stand in before God for you and mediate and even dispense the grace of absolution to you? What would we do with those? Well, in Hebrews 10.26-31 we read of the severity of God against such a priesthood. So, the fact that he sent his son to be the final high priest All sufficient offering and sacrifice represents a kindness on the part of God that is beyond our human reason to grasp. All we can do is accept it. The kindness of God is so deep and wide on that point, we can never fully comprehend it, but we can accept it. The revelation of God's kindness in his son. On the other hand, the severity of God and His judgment against anyone who would try to compromise or minimize or replace the singular, once for all, all-sufficient sacrifice of His Son by supplementing it, or by trying to convince you that it is necessary for you to have their sacrifice, God says this, verse 26, for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy by the mouth of two or three witnesses. How much more worse punishment do you think he will deserve, who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as defiled the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge his people. is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." So in the letter to the Hebrews, we have this incredible display of God's kindness in sending this all-sufficient, once and for all, permanent high priest and his sacrifice on our behalf. But we also have these embedded warnings in the letter to the Hebrews against rejecting that or seeking to add to it or to take away from it. You would think that would be enough, wouldn't you? You would think the letter to the Hebrews, which is clear on these points, would be enough throughout church history to stop that from happening. And in fact, the temple sacrifices and the temple Levitical priests continued for almost 30 years after the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord. So that by 70 AD, however, the Roman general Titus came into Jerusalem, leveled the city, leveled the temple, destroyed the temple thoroughly. So it was just as Jesus had predicted. Not one stone was left upon another. And in doing so, the Romans also destroyed all the genealogy records of those who stood in the priestly line of Levi. In other words, God used Titus, the Roman general Titus, to completely smash and destroy and annihilate forever that system that would dare to continue after the final, once for all, offering of his son. And it did continue. And people kept going to it. day after day, month after month, year after year, after our Lord had made his once for all offering, after he had been resurrected, after he had ascended and sat down at the right hand of the Father where he ever lives to make intercession for those who belong to him, that temple sacrifice in Jerusalem continued. until 70 AD when God used the Roman general Titus to smash it, annihilate it, annihilate it forever. So that the priestly lineage of the Levites disappeared. Now, put your seatbelt on because here's the benefit of understanding the historical context, part of which I just shared with you. but also the church history behind some of this. Because it was less than two centuries after the death of our Lord and the resurrection of our Lord and his ascension to the right hand of the Father, that after Pentecost, after the death of the apostles, that by the middle of the second century, that the institutional church was beginning to reinstate a Levitical-like, sacrificing, mediating priesthood in complete and utter defiance of what God had done using the Roman general Titus against Jerusalem and the temple sacrificial system of that city. By the 2nd century Let me just read you Jaroslav Palaikin, a very fine church historian, by the way. In his book, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, he says this, Already in Clement of Rome, which was one of the early church fathers, and in the Didache, which was a church manual, it was a teaching manual, full of error, full of heretical error regarding the Gospel, but it was nonetheless used. Already in Clement of Rome and in the Edirice, Pelican says, the attributes of the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament were being applied to the ministers of the Church. Let me say that again. Already in Clement of Rome, and in the Didache, the attributes of the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament were being applied to the ministers of the church. What Pelican is saying here is that by the second century, the so-called apostolic church fathers were beginning to reinstate a clergy with the same attributes and practices over you as the Levitical priesthood that God had destroyed. That ought to take your breath away. Another church historian says this, a fellow by the name of E.H. Broadbent, He says, there were striking changes by which the remembrance of the Lord and his death and the breaking of bread, and this is by the year 197 AD, the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine among his disciples was changed into a miraculously performed, it was claimed, by a priest act intensified the growing distinction between the clergy and laity. So the priesthood of all believers, the priesthood of all those who are in Christ, was being set aside for a reinstatement of a Levitical-like priesthood, which is a mediating, sacrificing priesthood that holds itself in authority over you as being the exclusive dispenser of grace into your life. the growth of a clerical system under the dominion or the domination of the bishops, who were in turn ruled by metropolitans, which are regional bishops, substituted, important word, substituted a human organization and religious forms for the power and working of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the scriptures in the separate churches. Let me read that last line. The growth of a clerical system substituted a human organization religious forms for the power and working of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the scriptures in separate churches. What have we just heard? We just heard in the letter to the Hebrews that God has spoke in these last days in his Son. whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the worlds." It's a final word. It's an exclusive word. And it is not to be tampered with. It is to be rejoiced over. It is to be received. It is to be something that we hold as a treasure. For in that once and for all, all-sufficient sacrifice, our sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. We have a complete redemption, a full redemption. Not a partial redemption, not a probationary redemption, but a complete pardon. And we are made, beyond that, we are made children of God after the model and image of Christ. and the Levitical priesthood not only was fulfilled, it became obsolete. And while it stood in defiance of God's revelation in his son for almost 30 years, God finally destroyed it, smashed it to the ground, burned the records of that lineage of those who were in the Levitical priesthood. But that didn't end it. By the second century, the early Church Fathers began to establish a clerical hierarchy of bishops and priests and deacons to rule over the people and appoint themselves the mediating, sacrificing dispensers of grace. in place of Christ. In fact, in the Roman Catholic liturgy, ordination liturgy, they refer to the candidate for ordination as an alter Christus, another Christ. Now, All of that is very sobering. And we can poke at the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic and the Anglican and even some of the other liturgical traditions with a hierarchy, with an elevated clergy. And we recognize why that is so important to not participate in now, right? Because of the letter to the Hebrews. Because we took a deep dive into the letter of the Hebrews. We didn't read it thinly, we read it thickly. And consequently, the historical, the grammatical and the literary context led us to realize that not only the Roman Catholic and Anglican and Greek Orthodox and some Lutheran and other forms of liturgical churches, even the Presbyterians, have this elevated exclusive clergy that are the exclusive dispensers of grace, the means of grace into your life. We've come to recognize that anyone, any Christian leader, that sets himself up as the exclusive mediating position in your life between you and Christ is to be rejected. He's a false Christian pastor. He's a false leader. He's a false minister. Anybody who seeks to reinstate the Levitical priesthood, even if they don't call it that, and most times they wouldn't call it that, But anybody who seeks to put themselves between you and your Lord, and act as a demand that they have the authority to be a mediating, sacrificing, absolving influence in your life, is to be rejected. Because the good news is, the positive side is, you have a High Priest, whoever lives to make intercession for you. so that you now are able to enter into the Holy of Holies, not with fear, not with trembling, but as a child of God. You have the Spirit of His Son dwelling in you, so you no longer are in fear, rather you cry out, Abba, Father. So let me close with this last quote from the letter to the Hebrews. regardless of what's happened throughout church history, regardless of what's happening even today. I mean, even the charismatic churches are filled with these false shepherds who believe that they have certain powers to forgive sins, to heal, to speak the Word of God over you, is that there's some kind of special intermediary between you and Christ. This is not limited to denominations. And you can reject all of that. If your pastor tells you that you're dependent upon him for some kind of grace, as a means of grace in your life, you can not walk, but run the other way. you have a high priest. Paul said it this way in Timothy, there is one God and one mediator, one mediator, one, singular, one mediator between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus. So let me end with chapter 10 of Hebrews verses 19 through 25. Therefore, brothers, he says, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, there's the ground of our confidence. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that glorious? Isn't that worth a praise, God? Isn't that worth a shout of hallelujah? We have confidence to enter the holy places today by the blood of Jesus. Not by the absolving movement of hands and hocus-pocus of some false priest. Verse 20, by a new and living way which he, Christ, inaugurated for us through the veil, that is his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, so we don't need any others. Verse 20, verse 22. Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembly together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. You have a high priest. And it's through His blood alone that you enter the holy places with confidence, with full assurance and a sincere heart, having your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and your body washed with pure water. And he tells us not to forsake our assembling together. Now I know a lot of church men use that to tell you that if you don't keep going to their empty or abusive church that somehow you're sinning, don't let them do that to you. That's not what the text is saying. He's saying here that we should encourage one another. That's the point. Listen, you can be in a toxic church and not be encouraged in one another. Just attending church doesn't mean that you're fulfilling Hebrews 10.25 by any stretch of the imagination. No, we are to gather. That's the point. We are to gather in order to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. We are to encourage one another and all the more as we see the day drying near. So don't let anybody use Hebrews 10 24 through 25 as a hammer for you to attend church where there's either no life, false teaching, or some kind of an abusive leadership. You have no obligation to attend any church. You do have an obligation under this imperative to gather to stimulate your brothers and sisters to love and good deeds, to encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. And that you can do anywhere. That you can do in a field. You can do that in a dining room. You can do that in a kitchen. You can do that anywhere. In your front room. On your deck. In a coffee shop. so be free christ died to set you free let your focus remain on him and him alone and i encourage you again to begin to read the bible thickly take a book Read it, study it, buy a few commentaries, read those good commentaries by good teachers. Use your tools, your Greek tools and your concordance and your strungs and concordance, for example, and your other tools to get a good deep dive into that letter. Master it and then rejoice in the transformative power of the Spirit as he works in your life through the inspired text. Amen.