Here is the link to this quarter's lesson study:

http://www.ssnet.org/lessons/22a/

Here also is the link to this week's lesson study:

https://ssnet.org/lessons/22a/less01.html

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week?s Study: Heb. 2:3, 4; 1 Pet. 4:14, 16; Heb. 13:1-9, 13; 1 Kings 19:1-18; Heb. 3:12-14; Numbers 13.

Memory Text: ?For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise? (Hebrews 10:36, NKJV).

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to hear Jesus, or one of the apostles, preach? We possess written excerpts and summaries of some of their sermons, but these provide only a limited idea of what it was like to hear them. God, however, preserved in the Scriptures at least one complete sermon for us: Paul?s letter to the Hebrews.

Paul, the author of Hebrews, referred to his own work as a ?word of exhortation? (Heb. 13:22). This expression was used to identify the sermon, both at the synagogue (Acts 13:15) and at Christian worship (1 Tim. 4:13). Thus, it has been argued that Hebrews is the earliest ?complete Christian sermon? that we have. Hebrews was addressed to believers who accepted Jesus but then experienced difficulties. Some were publicly shamed and persecuted (Heb. 10:32-34). Others faced financial problems (Heb. 13:5, 6). Many were tired and had begun to question their faith (Heb. 3:12, 13). Can any of us today relate?

The apostle in a stirring sermon, however, challenged them (and, by extension, us) to persevere in faith in Jesus and to fix their eyes upon Jesus, now in the heavenly sanctuary.

Sunday: A Glorious Beginning

In order to understand the sermon and apply its message to ourselves, we need to understand the history of the congregation and their situation when they received the letter from the apostle.

Read Hebrews 2:3, 4.

What was the experience of the audience of Hebrews when they were first converted?

These are good questions for us all to think and pray about:

What is the story of your conversion?

In what ways have you been confirmed in your faith and belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord?

Why is it good at times to remember how God first worked in your life to bring you to Him?

Monday: The Struggle

When believers confessed their faith in Christ and joined the church, they set a boundary marker that distinguished them from the rest of society. Unfortunately, this became a source for conflict because it implicitly passed a negative judgment on their community and its values.

Read Hebrews 10:32-34 and Hebrews 13:3.

What was the experience of the audience of Hebrews after their conversion?

More good and thoughtful questions:

Everyone, a Christian or not, suffers.

What does it mean, however, to suffer for Christ?s sake?

How much suffering that we face is for Christ?s sake, and how much is brought about by our own choices?

Here is the link to the 2nd week's study:

https://ssnet.org/lessons/22a/less02.html

Memory Text: "This is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." (Hebrews 8:1, NKJV).

Jewish document written a few decades after Hebrews, around 100 A.D., contains a prayer: "All this I have spoken before you, O Lord, because you have said that it was for us that you created this world. ? And now, O Lord, behold, these nations, which are reputed as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. But we your people, whom you have called your first-born, only begotten, zealous for you, and most dear, have been given into their hands." James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1, [New York: Hendrickson Publishers, 1983], p. 536.

The readers of Hebrews probably felt something similar. If they were God?s children, why were they going through such suffering?

Thus, Paul wrote Hebrews to strengthen the faith of the believers amid their trials. He reminded them (and us) that the promises of God will be fulfilled through Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and who will soon take us home. In the meantime, Jesus mediates the Father?s blessings to us. So, we need to hold fast to our faith until the end.

Jesus Is Our King

The main point of Hebrews is that Jesus is the Ruler, who is seated at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 8:1).

As God, Jesus has always been the ruler of the universe. But when Adam and Eve sinned, Satan became the ruler of this world (John 12:31, John 14:30, John 16:11).

Jesus, however, came and defeated Satan at the cross, recovering the right to rule those who accept Him as their Savior (Col. 2:13-15).

The first two chapters of Hebrews focus especially on the inauguration of Jesus as King.

How can we draw comfort, especially amid trials, from knowing that Jesus is the ruler of the universe?

Jesus Is Our Mediator

God sent His Son to be born as the Son of David, and He has been perfectly faithful. Therefore, God is able to fulfill in Him all the promises He made to His people.

When God blesses the king, all his people share in the benefits.

This is why Jesus is the Mediator of God?s blessing to us.

He is the Mediator in that He is the channel through whom God?s blessing flows.

Our ultimate hope of salvation is found only in Jesus and what He has done for us.