Sermons on Hebrews (Page 2)

When we truly encounter the truth of the gospel, it always makes a practical difference in our lives. After finishing the main theological argument, the author of Hebrews gives 3 specific applications, each signaled by the phrase “let us”: let us draw near to God, let us hold fast our confession, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. And, we are reminded that we can’t do these things on our own. We…

Most of us would say that we are forgiven before God through Christ’s sacrifice alone, yet it is easy to live as though we still need to pay for our sins and earn God’s favor. This passage teaches that, unlike the sacrifices under the Old Covenant, Jesus’ sacrifice of himself was acceptable and sufficient: perfectly acceptable to God, and utterly sufficient to pay, once-for-all, the debt for the sins of God’s people, so that in Christ we are assured that our sins…

This passage teaches us that Jesus brings a greater access to God through a greater cleansing of worshipers. The old covenant, with all its restrictions, taught that the way to fellowship and communion with God was not yet open, but rather, sin and guilt still separated God’s people from Him. Through faith in Jesus, all of us can have access to God, because Jesus’ blood thoroughly cleanses us of our guilt before God.

The essence of the covenant promise of God throughout the bible is God’s promise that “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The Old Covenant was faulty in that it couldn’t bring that reality about, but could only point towards Jesus. Jesus, as a greater priest, brings greater covenant promises than came in the old. This chapter states three better promises of the New Covenant: God’s renewing the hearts of his people, the personal and unmediated knowledge…

Imagine arriving to your hotel, late at night, ready to check in and go to sleep, only to find that the lobby was shut and locked. What good is a hotel with a closed lobby, such that you can’t gain access to what you need? The priests of the Old Testament were mortal men who died, such that their priestly work was constantly being interrupted. But Jesus priesthood, by contrast, is continual, perpetual, and eternal, such that through him, we can…

Many Christians live their lives believing that their salvation is all up to them – and, that they can lose it. Instead of having security and confidence, we can live life like a tightrope walker in the circus, taking each step ever so slightly, thinking that if we take one wrong step, we are lost and gone and perish irredeemably. As a result, we can live out our relationship with God in tremendous insecurity and fear. The Bible affirms both that a person can fall away from a…

There is a natural drive in us to want to mature – we want to grow up. But, it is possible to become content with immaturity. It is possible to become content with where we are, until we are confronted with our immaturity and awakened to our need of change. Unfortunately, in our culture today, immaturity is often met with embrace and acceptance, and even celebration. The greater tragedy is when spiritual immaturity is embraced in the church.  The book of Hebrews encourages the believer…

Jesus knows what it means to suffer.  If you have suffered in this life, if you know what it’s like to cry, to shed tears, to experience pain and grief, and if you know what it means to obey God even when it is costly, then you can take comfort in knowing that Jesus, your great High Priest, knows, even more than we do, what it means to suffer.  He knows what it means to experience grief, to cry, to…

There’s a common, but false, idea out there which thinks that “Normal” in the Christian life is a life of ease – that it is a life of uninterrupted smooth sailing, such that if trials and difficulties comes, if failure or struggle comes, if hardship comes, then something’s wrong … “Normal” has been interrupted, and so we assume that we are defective and something is wrong.  But the Bible paints a far different picture of the Christian life: it is a battle, where…

When someone is important to you, their words will be important to you.  How you listen to somebody reveals in some degree how important that person is to you.  The Bible is God’s Word.  It is God speaking to you.  How you respond to His Word, the Bible, is how you respond to God Himself.

Rebecca Pippert recounts the story of one individual coming to faith in Christ, where it required the individual to become homeless, to flee the environment she was currently in.  To Pippert’s surprise, the next day she observed the woman, suitcase in hand, a smile on her face, and tears in her eyes. This is a picture of the Christian life: Christians have no home in this world, but are wilderness wanderers in this life. As they walk through a life of suffering,…

Chapters 3 and 4 of Hebrews are written to Christians who are experiencing the lows of life, who are profoundly experiencing what it is like to live in a fallen, broken, sin-filled world.  These chapters teach us to not despair, even in the lows, because our ultimate hope is not in this life.  It is also written to Christians experiencing the highs of life. It teaches us not to be ultimately satisfied with these highs because they are fleeting and…