HOPE BIBLE FELLOWSHIP
Final Instruction Pt. 2

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    Introduction
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    At this time our children may be dismissed to our children's ministry time. I want to invite the rest of you to turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
    I have one more announcement to make but I wanted to save it for during the sermon time. Next week we have a special guest preacher. I am going to be here with you to hear from Pastor Greg McGhee from Northroad Church Harvester in St. Louis. Greg was my college roommate for two years. I've been telling him about our church for the last couple of years and he's been so encouraging. He's going to be here to share the story of their church. I know it's going to be an incredibly encouraging time and I don't want you to miss it. Please reach out to anyone who is missing today and invite them. And please be praying for Greg and for our hearts to be encouraged by the message next week.
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    I love history. I especially love anything dealing with military maneuvers or missions. I went down the YouTube rabbit hole the other day. Have you done this? You know, you watch one video about something that you are interested in. When it ends there is a list of suggested videos so you click on one and the next thing you know it's an hour later and you're watching a video of a guy making a mud hut with his pet squirrel in Aruba.
    Lately I've been watching some interviews about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In one of the videos, a navy Seal lays out the process for them getting ready to go on the mission. Before troops go on a mission there is a briefing that is given where the commanding officer lays out final information that applies to their mission. There might be info about troop movements, exfiltration, possible trouble spots, and making sure everyone has all the info they need to complete the mission and come home safely.
    Our passage for this morning is the final section of the book of Hebrews. We understand that this letter was originally delivered as a written sermon. This final section might seem a bit disjointed or bullet-pointed to us but to the original hearers, this would have made perfect sense. It would have been similar to one of those last briefings before heading out on the mission. The author was wrapping up and making sure they had any last information they would need. He was wrapping up his whole communication to them and putting a bow on this theme of Jesus is better. The initial audience was comprised of Hebrew Christians who lived in a culture that was pressuring them and persecuting them. He has been encouraging them to hold to their faith in Jesus and persevere against the pressure and temptation and amid their suffering because the new covenant in Jesus' blood is so much more superior than the old covenant. To simplify it greatly: Jesus is better and so they should live like it. And so should we. Let's read what the Lord has said in His Word in Hebrews 13:7-25.
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    READ Hebrews 13:7-25
    Hebrews 13:7–25 ESV
    7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 22 I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.
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    This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray and ask God to let our hearts understand and our lives to obey.
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    PRAY
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    My goal this morning is to walk your through what the author's final instructions were and for us to see how our lives should be different in these same ways because of Jesus being superior. Therefore we should watch our life and our doctrine closely. Our beliefs and our lives should match the way of Christ. God has given us the gift of leaders in the church to help us in this.
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    1. Remember your leaders. v. 7

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    First off, he tells them to remember your leaders. These could potentially be leaders who were not now with them because they may have been emprisoned or had died. But either way, they are to remember those leaders, specifically those who spoke to them the word of God. Now in context of this letter, we can deduce that he likely means those who taught them gospel but when we broaden it out it refers to the leaders who taught them the whole of Scripture. This is doctrinal instruction. Remember those who taught you the things of God. Not those who spoke eloquently or had a big following. Not those who were pretty or funny. No. He says to remember those who spoke the word of God to them. The primary role of pastors is to preach and teach God's Word and our lives should reflect what they teach. He's calling them to look back at these leaders and to consider the outcome of their way of life. Do you ever do this? Have you ever looked up to someone as a spiritual leader who taught you the Word of God and wanted your life to look like theirs? He says to imitate their faith. Your actions in life have been perfect to get you to the point you are at right now. So if we see faith in the life of a person who has taught us the Word, let's look at their life and imitate what we see. This is not to put them on a pedestal or expect them to be perfect. They're still sinners saved by grace in Jesus. Most of us would probably say that we want to live lives of faithful obedience to Christ. We see it in the lives of others who have gone before us but we don't think we need to do things that way. Then we are surprised we aren't farther along. I don't want to beleaguer the point or get us off the rails but consider those leaders who have taught you the Word of God and consider their lives. If their lives are still faithful, imitate that faith.
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    We will come back to the top of leaders because the author mentions them gain in verse 17.
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    2. Remember Christ v. 8-9

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    Remember that Jesus is the same always. All teaching that we receive should be judged according to the gospel. When something is taught we should see if it lines up with the word of God. Jesus doesn't change. His message never changes.
    The author warns them about getting led away by "diverse and strange teachings in verse 9. Based on rest of the verse this was probably directly referring to some teaching about food related to the Jewish Mosaic law. This was law and rules. The heart should be strengthened by grace. Nothing outside the gospel will work for strengthening the heart. Don't play around with false teachings. Whatever these teachings were they contradicted the theology of the gospel. He warns them that these teachings will lead the astray. Too often, Christians will continue to play with false teachings because they like something about the person or the music. Let me illustrate it like this. You're at your favorite restaurant and you've had a huge meal. And after the meal you order your favorite desert. Let's say your desert is chocolate lava cake. And with it you order a nice big glass of milk. As the waiter brings your desert and your milk to the table and sets it down, he sneezes right in the milk. Now, do you say, "it's okay, I'll be fine," and drink up? No, you send it back because there's something in there that isn't milk. It's not pure milk anymore. Friends, when we see some teaching that either adds to or takes away from the message of the gospel we need to send it back. Don't play with it.
    Too many have started to mess around with strange teachings in the last few years and we've seen many of our young people led away from the faith. They call it deconstruction. It tears down but in the end it tears away most of the time. Don't be led away. The way to not be led away is to focus on the one who is always the same, the Lord Jesus the Christ.
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    3. Go outside the camp to the cross. v. 10-14

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    Christ was crucified outside the gate. The place where they discarded the animal bodies from the sacrifices was outside the camp. Going to Jesus outside the camp is speaking metaphorically. It's leaving behind the love of the world. It's leaving behind your desire to gain the world's approval and instead it's embracing the reproach of Christ. It is to emulate the way Jesus responded to shameful suffering.
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    The world is temporary and those of us in Christ live here for but a brief moment in history as we make our way to our eternal home with Christ in heaven. We should remember this and because Jesus is better we leave behind the world and run to Jesus. I wonder what it is in your life that you need to walk away from because it's of the world and embrace the reproach of Jesus outside the camp. He gave His life on the cross in your place for that sin and all of your sin. Would you repent of your sin and go to Him, believing the gospel today?
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    4. Offer a sacrifice of praise in appreciation of Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf for our sin. v. 15-16

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    The greek word translated "sacrifice" is the word thusia. It refers to that with is sacrificially offered up to God. In this case it’s a verbal praise of God’s name. We should be giving God all of the praise He is due.
    If we look at verse 16 we also see that we are to be active in doing good works and sharing with one another and that these are also sacrifices that please God.
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    Philippians 4:18 ESV
    18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
    When we do good to one another it is a sacrifice pleasing to God. And I might add that when we do something in the name of God for someone else, they may also offer a sacrifice of praise to God. When we follow the commands of God and live our lives obediently, He gets glory.
    Matthew 5:16 ESV
    16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
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    5. Obey and submit to your leaders. v. 17

    They keep watch over you and are accountable to God for the care of Christian souls. This verse haunts me. There are two points that I want to draw out here.
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    - Submitting to your spiritual leaders benefits you. They are to care for your souls. I’m not here to run an organization but to care for Christian souls. The shepherd, shepherds the flock. You benefit from it by growing in the Lord, receiving teaching, care, and being equipped to minister to others. So make it a joy for them and not a burden.
    This is the part that haunts me. Pastors/elders will be held accountable before God for how they have cared for your souls. Whenever someone just disappears or I don’t feel like I’ve contacted someone enough, this is in the back of my mind. And for anyone who reads the first part of this verse and thinks, well, what if the leader that I submit to does bad stuff or doesn’t handle me well? Well, this second part deals with that. We have someone higher than you to hold us accountable for how we serve you. And that is a sobering thought.
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    6. Pray for your leaders v. 18-19

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    And because you want your leaders to do a good job caring for your souls and for them to lead lives of integrity that you can imitate: pray for them. Don’t stop. As your pastor I need your prayers. So many days as I prepare the sermon with you in mind or when I think about the church and plan for the future, the attacks come. The doubts and discouragements come. So please pray for your leaders. We need it and God commands it. And again, you will actually benefit from it.
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    7. Final Words of Blessing and Greeting v 20-25

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    I want you to notice the familiarity and love that the author has for these Christians.
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    Hebrews 13:20–25 ESV
    20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 22 I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.
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    In verses 20 and 21 we find what we call a benediction. This is common to New Testament letters. He invokes God’s blessing on them.
    ‌The God of peace - Common for God to be referred to in this way.
    Brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus
    Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, that is the new covenant. He recounts the sacrificial work of Jesus. He’s blessing them using the doctrines he has just spent the letter explaining.
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    Prays that God would equip them to do His will. The equipping they are to receive is for the purpose of them doing the will of God.
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    ‌Verses 22 through 25 contain what we refer to as final greetings. We are finally at the end of the letter and he’s giving them some news about Timothy.
    Asks them to receive this sermon (Hebrews) for their benefit because that’s why he wrote it. It contained some stark warnings and his hope is that they recieved it with love because he sent it with love for their good. He ends with a blessing of grace. Even in his last words at the very end, he’s pushing grace. I know an author who calls himself a grace junkie. It is only by God’s amazing grace in Jesus Christ that we can even start this life of faith. It’s only because of Jesus that we can stand before God in righteousness. It’s only by the blood of the new covenant. He wrote to them that they not turn away from that blood to some other means. He didn’t want them to turn to ritual or works but to stand firm on the grace of God in Christ Jesus. That’s the message for us today as well. Will we stand firm on the grace of God and be equipped to do His will?
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    PRAY
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      • Hebrews 13:7–25ESV

      • Philippians 4:18ESV

      • Matthew 5:16ESV

      • Hebrews 13:20–25ESV

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