Additional Thoughts on Hebrews Part Three
HEB 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Jesus is not just in a few books of the Bible. Jesus is not just in a majority of the books of the Bible. Jesus is in the entire volume of the Bible. The entire volume of the Bible is about Jesus. Jesus was promised to come in Gen 3:15. Jesus was pictured as the substitute ram for the offering in Gen Ch. 22. Jesus is pictured in the Passover in Exodus. Jesus is pictured in the tabernacle and in all the offerings. It was Jesus who came and met with Joshua. Everything in the book has something to do with Jesus. If you are not seeing Jesus when you are reading the Old Testament, then you are missing the main point.
The volume of the Bible is written about Jesus.
HEB 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
HEB 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
HEB 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
The focus of the whole book of Hebrews is Jesus. What Jesus has done, who He is, what He will do, and His great flawless character. Jesus went to the cross for us. He died for us. He paid the terrible penalty for our sin. He promised that if we believe in Him that we will have eternal life. And, “he is faithful that promised”.
Because of Jesus we are to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We are to gather together. We are to provoke each other unto love and to good works. As Christians living in a sin stained world we need each other. We need the help and encouragement of other believers in Christ. We need the fellowship of the saints of God. God knew that, and He instructed us to assemble together. Too many people leave churches for very poor reasons. They let some small thing keep them from being obedient to God’s command to assemble.
We need to assemble to honor Christ and worship Him. We need to assemble to serve Him. We need to assemble for the sake of others, to give others encouragement. We need to assemble to strengthen ourselves spiritually. We need to assemble to support the preacher and God’s work. And we are to do it, “so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
I believe that we see the day approaching. We should be more concerned about assembling and not less.
HEB 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
HEB 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
HEB 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
HEB 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
HEB 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
What a contrast between Jesus’ sacrifice and the sacrifices of the Old Testament priests. They offered the same sacrifices over and over and over again. Why? Because they could never take away sins.
Jesus’ sacrifice only needed to be done once. And not once for each person, but once for all the people of all the ages. The Old Testament priests had no chairs in the Tabernacle to sit on. A picture that their work was never done. What they did could offer no rest. But after Jesus’ sacrifice He sat down on the throne in Heaven.
Only Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect and sufficient. And notice how long it is good for in verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Sanctified means to be set apart. You are set apart unto Him when you get saved by believing in the sacrifice that Jesus made. And it says that it lasts forever!!!
Amen and Amen.
This Chapter is often referred to as the great hall of faith. A list of men and women is given here and a brief mention of how they had great faith. Take your time to read this summary about some of the great things that were accomplished by faith.
HEB 11:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
HEB 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
HEB 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
They saw God accomplish great things thru faith, but not everything that happened to them was good.
HEB 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
HEB 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Having great faith does not mean comfort, peace, and prosperity in this world right now. The devil and his world system hate people who have great faith. We are told in these verses that these people of great faith were treated by the world with cruel mockings, scourgings, and imprisonment. They were killed by stoning, some were sawn in two, others were slain with the sword. Some were very poor. They were destitute wandering about in sheepskins. They were afflicted and tormented.
The prosperity preachers don’t know what they are talking about. Great faith does NOT equal peace and prosperity. Instead great faith brings trials and tribulations.
After showing what the world thinks of those with great faith, God tells us what He thinks about them.
HEB 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
God holds them of great faith in high esteem. He says that the world was not worthy of them. What God thinks of you is much more important than what this rotten world thinks about you.
What a great example of faith we have in this chapter from people of whom the world was not worthy.
HEB 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
In this great hall of faith chapter the first thing mentioned, after what faith is, is that we understand creation by faith. It is through faith that we understand that God spoke all things into existence. God did not make the worlds from material that was around. Everything that we see was NOT made of things which do appear. There was absolutely nothing. God did not need gas or dust to already be there. God did not need some material to start with. Planets and stars did not come from gas or dust. There was no big bang. Hydrogen did not turn into iron and life did not come from a rock or a pool of slime. There was nothing, and then God spoke the stars and planets into existence.
There is a lot of scientific evidence to back up the biblical account of creation. But in the end we understand that God created all by faith.
HEB 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews Chapter 11 is one of my favorites. It has been well called the hall of faith. Example after example is given of people who did great things for God and others who suffered greatly for God. And they all did it thru faith. They are a shining example to us to have their kind of faith. Faith that believes in a Great Almighty God. Faith that trusts in Him and His promises. Even when the hard things come. Faith that accepts the promises, even when the answer is going to be a long time in coming. Faith that has its eyes upon another country and not this world. Faith that accepts the miraculous. Faith that gets us thru the trials and storms of life. Faith that stands for God no matter what happens or what others might say. Faith that saves from hell and then goes on to help us thru life in this sin stained world. Faith that enables us to be used by God. What a shining example we have here. The faith described in Hebrews chapter 11 is the kind of faith that we need more of.
HEB 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
The Wherefore is a connecting word that points back to what went before. It points us back to the great hall of faith chapter. (Chapter 11) Their witness and example to us is to have an effect upon us. It should inspire us to lay aside the sin that so easily besets us. It should inspire us to lay aside the weights of this world. The witness of their great faith and the example of how they lived even in the face of trial should inspire us to run with patience the race that is set before us. They give us an example of how NOT to quit when things get tough.
HEB 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Verse 2 tells us how to run this race. How can you keep going? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Just keep looking to Him when you faith is tried. Look unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. Look to Jesus who even though He despised the shame endured the cross. He did it for the joy that was set before Him. He did it because He loves you. He did it so that you could be saved.
Since Jesus was willing to suffer the cross for you, you should be willing to suffer a little for His name’s sake. You should keep pressing on in spite of trouble like the heroes of the faith in Chapter 11 had.
And to do this you need to keep your eyes on Calvary; you need to keep your eyes upon Jesus.
HEB 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
There is a big difference between condemnation and chastisement. It is true that there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. We cannot lose our salvation and will never be condemned to hell. However, being saved does not give us a free pass against chastisement in this life. In fact God promises that you will have chastisement. It is a given.
HEB 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
God will chasten every son. Every one. Why? Because we all do things wrong. We all make mistakes, and God loves us. Even when we mess up He still loves us. Because He loves us He wants what is best for us. That is why He corrects us. He does it out of love so that we will learn and not do it again. If a human father is worth his salt, he will correct a little child that is doing something that will be hurtful to him. He will correct the child and train him to become a good, well behaved, productive, God honoring person. This is what is best for the child and without correction, the child will grow up to be rotten. So if the father really loves the child, he will correct him. How much more so will our loving heavenly Father correct us.
HEB 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
HEB 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Chastisement is a sure mark that we are His. We should not despise God’s chastisement. He corrects us for the right reason. It is out of a perfect knowledge of what is really best for us and is done out of His great love.
HEB 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Christians are to follow holiness. This is something that is NOT taught nearly enough today. And it says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. This is not talking about getting saved. This is talking about your walk with the Lord. If you reject holiness, then you are not close to the Lord. If you think that you can be close to the Lord in your walk and go to that rock concert or walk into that bar, then you are kidding yourself. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. For Christians to walk close to the Lord in this life, they need to put off lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, backstabbing, watching fifth and fornication, and so on. I understand that none of us can totally achieve it, but we are to try. Yes we will all slip up time to time, but that is no excuse for not striving to live right for the Lord. When we mess up, we need to confess it to God and get right back striving to live right. Christians are to be separate from the world; we are to pursue holy living. This is truly taught by few today and followed by a very small proportion of Christians today. This is one reason why so many don’t have a close walk with the Lord.
HEB 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
HEB 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
The Old Testament sacrifices of bulls and goats ended when Jesus came and fulfilled what they pictured when He went to the cross. God does NOT want us to sacrifice animals today.
However, there are different sacrifices that God wants us to make today as New Testament Christians and they are listed in these two verses.
The first one is the sacrifice of praise. You might say how is that a sacrifice. If you will notice the sacrifice of praise is to be done continually. We are to continually use our lips to give thanks to His name. There is no loophole for I am too busy, or I do not feel like it. You are to praise His name when you feel like it and when you don’t. You are to praise His name in the good times and in the bad. You are to praise His name when it is smooth sailing and in the storm. You must always constantly make an effort to praise His name no matter what, and you are to praise His name if you have time or if you DO NOT have time. That is what makes it a sacrifice.
The second sacrifice is to do good (verse 16). Christians do NOT do good works to get saved we are to do good works because we are saved. Doing good works is going to cost you something. It is going to cost you your time, it is going to cost you some energy. You are going to have to do some work. And in many cases it is going to cost you some money.
We are to offer God the sacrifices of praise and good works for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
HEB 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
He has promised to never leave us and never forsake us. What a wonderful promise. And it is a sure promise that can be 100% trusted because God cannot lie.
This should have an effect upon our lives. We should not covet things. Instead we are to be content with what we have. Since Jesus is with us, He knows exactly what we have and don’t have. He is well aware of our needs. One of our problems is that we confuse wants with needs. And many times our wants will not be as good for us as we think. God many times withholds things from us for our own good. We need to simply trust His perfect knowledge and His perfect judgment and be content with whatever He has decided to give us.
HEB 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Jesus always being with us should have another effect upon us. It should give us boldness. He is our helper. Therefore we should not fear what man might do to us. If they hurt us, it is only because God allowed it and has some reason for it. There is a connection between a realization that Jesus is with you and fear being quenched. Jesus’ presence and fear do not go together. If you have a lack of the realization of Jesus’ presence you will have fear. If you have a realization of the presence of Jesus, then you will lack fear.
HEB 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Works have nothing to do with getting saved. However, time and time again the Bible instructs us that Christians are to do good works. If you are a Christian and are not doing good works, it is safe to say you are out of the will of God. The good works that we do are to be what He wants us to do. Some people are doing what they consider good works, but what they are doing does not line up with God’s will. It would never be God’s will to sin. Even if the goal is good. For example Christians should not sin in order to try to win the lost. Jesus sat down with sinners, but He never partook in sin with them. Sinning is never well pleasing to God. All of our good works need to be done out of the right heart and done in the right way.
We are His children and are bought with a price. Therefore it is only reasonable that we should want to do His will. And when we have the right attitude about it and put His will first, the Bible says that it is well pleasing in his sight.