Spurgeon's Notes on HEBREWS
Chapter 1
Verses 1-14Hebrews 1. In this chapter our Savior’s glorious person is very plainly set before us, and it is made the ground of our faith, and a reason why we should give the more earnest heed to his words, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Hebrews 1:1-2. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
The best is last is ever God’s rule. "You have kept the best wine until now." Prophets are a very blessed means of communication, but how much more sure, how much more condescending is it for God to speak to us by his Son!
Hebrews 1:2-3. Whom he has appointed heir of all thing, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
You see, dear friends, how glorious was his original — the "express image" of his Father’s person. How lowly did he become to purge away our sins and that by himself, too, using his own body to be the means, by his sufferings, of taking away our guilt. Not by proxy did he serve us, but by himself. Oh, this is wondrous love! And then see the glory which followed after the shame. He has now ascended up on high, and sits down at the right hand of God’s great Majesty. Follow him, believer, follow him with the eye of your faith; let your soul lovingly track him in his upward march, and as you see him, say — "He is my Lord and my God," and know that all that he did and all that he is, he is, and he did for you.
Hebrews 1:4-5. Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
They are servants, but they are not sons, they are created, but they are not begotten. You see what he says to the Son — "I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.
Hebrews 1:6-8. And again, when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he says, Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
So you perceive that Christ is no created angel. He is sometimes compared to an angel. He is sometimes called the angel of the covenant, but he is not a created angel. He is higher in nature, higher in rank, higher in intellect, and higher in power than they. He is nothing less than very God of very God. The very man who suffered on Calvary.
"This is the man, the exalted man,
Whom we unseen adore."Hebrews 1:9. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
As man Christ claims all men as his fellows, but as God he counts it no robbery to be thought equal to God. As man he is most truly man, and only superior to man by reason of the purity of his birth and the perfection of his nature, and the exaltation of his manhood by God; as God he is nothing less than God, though he took upon himself the nature of men.
Hebrews 1:10-12. And, You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands: they shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment; and as a vesture shall you fold them up, and they shall be changed: but you are the same, and your years shall not fail.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 1:13-14. But to which of the angels, said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
This exposition consisted of readings from John 10:1-30 and Hebrews 1:1-14.
Chapter 2 Verses 1-15
Hebrews 2:1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
We have heard them; do not let us forget them. Let them not be like the driftwood which goes floating down the stream. Let us make a desperate effort to retain them in our memories; and, above all, to ponder them in our hearts.
Hebrews 2:2-3. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; —
They could not trifle with the angels’ message without receiving just punishment from God. Much less, then, can we trifle with Christ’s gospel. We have not an angelic Savior; but God himself, in the person of his Son, has deigned to be the Mediator of the new covenant. Therefore, let us see to it that we do not trifle with these things. You see, dear friends, that we need not be great open sinners in order to perish; it is merely a matter of neglect. See how it is put here: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" You need not go to the trouble of despising it, or resisting it, or opposing it; you can be lost readily enough simply by neglecting it. In fact, the great mass of those who perish are those who neglect the great salvation, —
Hebrews 2:3. Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
The apostles and the other followers of our Lord constantly bore witness to his miracles and his resurrection.
Hebrews 2:4. God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?
Those who doubt the truth of the gospel, or who say they do, are often found believing historical statements that are not half as well proved. A man sits down, and reads the book of the Gallic wars, and he believes that Julius Caesar wrote it; yet there is not a half or a tenth as much evidence to prove that he did write it as there is to prove that our Lord Jesus lived, and died, and rose again from the dead. The witness to the truth of these great matters of fact has been borne by God himself with signs, and wonders, and miracles. Honest and true men, apostles and others, have witnessed to them; and they have also been certified by Incarnate Deity, even by the Lord who deigned to speak to us by his Spirit. We cannot, therefore, trifle with this gospel without incurring most serious guilt.
Hebrews 2:5. For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
We are the preachers of it, — not the angels; and the great Author and Finisher of our faith is the Man Christ Jesus, — not an angel. We have not now the ministry of angels, but the ministry of men, by whom the Lord of the angels sends his messages to their fellows.
Hebrews 2:6-8. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels you crown him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands: you have put all things in subjection under his feet.
This was the original status of man. God made him to be his viceregent on earth; and he would still hold that position were it not that, since he has rebelled against his own Sovereign, even the beasts of the field take liberty to be rebellious against him. Man is not now in his original estate, and therefore he rules not now; and we see many men who are very far from being royal beings, for they are mean and groveling. Yet the glory of man is not all lost, as we shall see.
Hebrews 2:8-9. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus,—
Here is the representative Man who is supreme over all: "We see Jesus,"
Hebrews 2:9. Who was made a little lower than the angels for suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Oh, how glorious it is to realize our position in Christ, and to see how he has lifted us up, not merely to the place froze which the first Adam fell, but he has made us stand so securely there that we shall not again descend around the ruins of the Fall! Glory be to his holy name!
Hebrews 2:10-11. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.—
The Christ and the Christian are one, — the Man Christ Jesus and the men whom he redeemed are one. He has so become partaker of our nature that now we are one family, and he is not ashamed to call us brothers. Am I addressing any who are ashamed of Christ, or who are ashamed of God’s poor people, and who would not like to be known to be members of a poor church? Ah! how you ought to despise yourselves for having any such pride in your hearts, for Christ is not ashamed to call his people brethren! Oh, what wondrous condescension! He has done this many times in the Psalms, where he speaks of his brethren;
Hebrews 2:12. Saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will sing praise unto you.
That is a quotation from the 22nd Psalm.
Hebrews 2:13. And again, I will put my trust in him.
Thus entering into the very faith of his people.
Hebrews 2:13-14. And again, Behold I and the children which God has given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
As you know to your cost, for perhaps you have aches and pains about you at this very moment. Truly, you are "partakers of flesh and blood." Perhaps you are suffering from despondency and depression of spirit. If so, that reminds you that, however much you may, in spirit, sometimes soar to Heaven, yet you are still "partakers of flesh and blood."
Hebrews 2:14-15. He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
He so took upon himself flesh and blood as to die in our nature, that thus he might slay death, and might set us free from all fear of death. Do you not see that, if the representative Man, Christ Jesus, died, he also rose again, and that so also will all who are in him rise, too? If you are in him, you shall rise again. Therefore, fear not to lie down in your last sleep, for the trumpet shall awaken you, and your bodies shall be molded afresh like unto his glorious body, and your soul and body together shall dwell in infinite bliss forever. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Verses 1-18Hebrews 2:1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
It is well to give heed to what you are now hearing, but it is also important to give heed to what you have heard. Oh, how much have we heard, but have forgotten! How much have we heard, which we still remember, but do not practice! Let us therefore listen to the words of the apostle here: "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip;" — as it were, slipping through our fingers, and flowing down the stream of time to be carried away into the ocean of oblivion.
Hebrews 2:2. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
See, brethren, the punishment for disobeying the word spoken by angels was death; what, then, must be the penalty of neglecting the great salvation wrought by the Divine Redeemer himself? He who does not give earnest heed to the gospel treats with disdain the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will have to answer for that sin when the King shall sit upon the throne of judgment. Trifle not, therefore, with that salvation which cost Christ so much, and which he himself brings to you with bleeding hands. And, oh! if you have hitherto trifled with it, and let it slip, may you now, be brought to a better mind, lest haply, despising Christ, the "just recompense of reward" should come upon you. And what will that be? I know of no punishment that can be too severe for the man who treats with contempt the Son of God, and tramples on his blood; and every individual who hears the gospel, and yet does not receive Christ as his Savior, is committing that atrocious crime.
Hebrews 2:3. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;
If we neglect that salvation, is there any other way by which we can be rescued from destruction? Is there any other door of escape if we pass that one by? No, there is none.
Hebrews 2:3-4. Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?
This gospel of ours is stamped with the seal of God; he has set his mark upon it, to attest its genuineness and authority. The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were the seal that the gospel was no invention of man, but that it was indeed the message of God. Gifts of healing, gifts of tongues, gifts of miracles of divers kinds, were God’s solemn declaration to man, "This is the gospel; this is my gospel which I send to you; therefore, refuse it not."
Hebrews 2:5. For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
We have no angelic preachers; we sometimes speak of "the seraphic doctor," but no seraph ever was a preacher of the gospel of the grace of God; that honor has been reserved for a lower order of beings.
Hebrews 2:6. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him?
God speaks to men by men. He has made them to be the choice and chosen instruments of his wondrous works of grace upon earth. Oh, what a solemn thing it is to be a preacher of the everlasting gospel! It is an office so high that an angel might covet it, but one that is so responsible that even an angel might tremble to undertake it. Brethren, pray for us who preach, not merely to a few, but to many of our fellow-creatures, that we may be the means, in the hand of God, of blessing to our hearers.
Hebrews 2:7-8. You made him a little lower than the angels; you crown him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands: you have put all things in subjection under his feet.
It was so with Adam in his measure. Before he fell, through his disobedience, all the animals which God had made were inferior to him, and owned him as their lord and master. It is infinitely more so in that second Adam who has restored to humanity its lost dignity, and, in his own person, has elevated man again to the head of creation: "You have put all things in subjection under his feet."
Hebrews 2:8. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
Man does not yet rule the world. Wild beasts defy him. Storms vanquish him. There are a thousand things not at present submissive to his control.
Hebrews 2:9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Thus lifting man back into the place where he first stood so far as this matter of dominion is concerned.
Hebrews 2:10. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Is it not wonderful that the Christ, who is the head over all things, could not be perfected for this work of ruling, or for the work of saving, except by sufferings? He stooped to conquer. Not because there was any sin in him, but that he might be a sympathetic Ruler over his people, he must experience sufferings like those of his subjects; and that he might be a mighty Savior, he must be himself compassed with infirmity, that he might "have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." Brothers and sisters, do you expect to be made perfect without sufferings? It will never be so with you.
The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.We shall never be fit for the Heavenly Canaan unless we first pass through the wilderness. There are certain things about us which require this, so thus it must be.
Hebrews 2:11. For both he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one:
One family; one by nature with Christ our glorious Head.
Hebrews 2:11. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,—
Oh, this blessed condescension of Christ! We are often ashamed of ourselves; alas! we are sometimes so base as to be ashamed of him; but he is never ashamed to call us brethren.
Hebrews 2:12. Saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto you.
Christ, the center of the celestial chairs, is also the center of all the bands of true singers that are yet here below.
Hebrews 2:13. And again, I will put my trust in him.
This is our Lord Jesus Christ putting his trust in the Father, overcoming by faith, even as we do. Oh, what a marvelous oneness there is here between Christ and his people! Well might the apostle say that "both he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one."
Hebrews 2:13-14. And again, Behold I and the children which God has given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;
We know what it is to be partakers of flesh and blood; we often wish that we did not. It is the flesh that drags us down; it is the flesh that brings us a thousand sorrows. I have a converted soul, but an unconverted body. Christ has healed my soul, but he has left my body still to a large extent in bondage, and therefore it has still to suffer; but the Lord will redeem even that. The redemption of the body is the adoption, and that is to come at the day of the resurrection. But think of Christ, who was a partaker of the Eternal Godhead, condescending to make himself a partaker of flesh and blood; — the Godhead linked with materialism; the Infinite, an infant; the Eternal prepared to die, and actually dying! Oh, wondrous mystery, this union of Deity with humanity in the person of Christ Jesus our Lord! Why did he become a partaker of flesh and blood, and die upon the cross?
Listen:
Hebrews 2:14. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
That, through dying, he might overthrow Satan’s power for all who trust him.
Hebrews 2:15-18. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For truly he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to Make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he it able to support them that are tempted.
Glory be to his holy name forever and ever! Amen.
Chapter 3 Verse 1
Hebrews 3:1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." What wonderful titles! "Holy brethren," made brethren in holiness and made holy in our brotherhood, -- "partakers of the heavenly calling" — called of God from among the worlds. Our occupation and our calling henceforth is to serve the Lord. Well, if you be holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." Think much of Him. Remember who it is you follow, with whom you are brethren. If you think little of your Leader you will live but poor lives. Consider him, often think of him, try to copy him. With such a Leader what manner of people ought we to be?
Hebrews 3:2-3. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has more honor than the house.
Moses was but a part of the house after all, a prominent stone in the building, but Christ is the builder, builder of the house, foundation, topstone of it. Think then much of him. Get an high idea of him as faithful unto God in everything. Moses kept the law and was a good example to Israel save in some point of weakness, but Christ perfectly carried out his Father’s commission, and he is worthy of more honor than Moses.
Hebrews 3:4-6. For every house is built by some man but he who built all things is God. And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
"But Christ as a Son" — far higher degree -- "Christ as a son over his own house," of which he is the heir, of which he is even now the sole proprietor -- "whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." None are truly Christ’s but those who persevere in grace. Men may be nominally Christ’s, but they are not Christ’s house unless they hold fast to the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Temporary Christians are not really Christians.
Hebrews 3:7-8. Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
You are his house, give him rest, do not provoke him. If you belong to him be holy, do not grieve him. If you are his house be not defiled: surely he should dwell in a holy place.
Hebrews 3:9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Oh, children of God, you have some of you been more than forty years now in the Lord’s service: do not vex him. You have been long called out of Egypt and brought into the separate place in this wilderness world: be careful to be fit for the Divine indwelling.
Hebrews 3:10-11. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
God grant that none of this congregation may be of that mind, who having named the name of Christ and being known as his people, continue to grieve him one way and another, to put him to the test by their doubts to make him angry by their sins. No, God grant we may be of another sort lest he should lift his hand and swear, "They shall not enter into my rest."
Hebrews 3:12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Here the charge is not to the outside world but to those whom he had called "holy brethren." He drops the word "holy" for there are some brethren so called who would not deserve that name, and to them he speaks very pointedly, "Take heed, take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief." And how will that be shown? By wandering off, one way or another, away from the living God. If your God is not a living God to you in whom you live and move and have your being, if he does not come into your daily life, but if your religion is a dead and formal thing, then you will soon depart.
Hebrews 3:13-14. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;
Not otherwise. Again I say they who do not hold on and hold out are not really partakers of Christ, but we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Those that fly to this doctrine and that, unsettled spirits, wandering stars, mere meteors of the night, these are not Christ’s, but we must hold the beginning of our faith steadfast unto the end.
Hebrews 3:15. While it is said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Twice over we are warned of this, to avoid hardness of heart. God save us from ossification of heart, petrifaction of heart, until we get a heart of love or a heart of stone-may God save us from this.
Hebrews 3:16. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
There were two; it was a slender remnant that were faithful.
Hebrews 3:17. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
God speaks very lovingly of the bodies of his saints but see how he speaks of the bodies of apostates, "whose carcases" as if they were no better than so many brute beasts, "whose carcases fell in the wilderness."
Hebrews 3:18. And to whom swore he who they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Sinning and not believing seem to go together. The 17th verse asks the same question as the 18th, but the answer is different. "With them that had sinned" says the 17th verse, "to them that believed not" says the 18th verse. Want of faith brings want of holiness, and when we abide in the faith we abide in obedience.
Hebrews 3:19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
4:1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
I left out the "us" because that is inserted by the translators and should not be there. The promise is left to somebody, it does not say to us -- "a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Not come short of it but even seem to do so. God keep us from the very shadow of sin, from the very appearance of evil. "For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them." In the old time that gospel which was preached to them was preached to us -- "but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." God send us this holy mixture of the hearing and the believing, to our hour’s salvation, to his glory. Amen.
Verses 1-16Hebrews 3:1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus: —
Oh, that he had more consideration at our hands! Consider him; you cannot know all his excellence, all his value to you, except he is the subject of your constant meditation. Consider him; think of his nature, his offices, his work, his promises, his relation to you: "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;" —
Hebrews 3:2. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
See how our Lord Jesus Christ condescended to be appointed of the Father. In coming as a Mediator, taking upon himself our humanity, he "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant," and being found in fashion as a servant, we find that he was faithful; to every jot and tittle, he carried out his charge.
Hebrews 3:3. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has more honor than the house.
And Moses was but one stone in the house. Though in a certain sense he was a servant in it, yet in another, and, for him, a happier sense, he was only a stone in the house which the Lord Jesus Christ had built. Let us think of our Lord as the Architect and Builder of his own Church, and let our hearts count him worthy of more glory than Moses; let us give him glory in the highest. However highly a Jew may think of Moses, — and he ought to think highly of him, and so ought we, — yet infinitely higher than Moses must ever rise the incarnate Son of God.
Hebrews 3:4. For every house is built by some; —
By someone or other; —
Hebrews 3:4. But he who built all things is God.
And Christ is God; and he is the Builder of all things in the spiritual realm, — ay, and in the natural kingdom, too, for "without him was not anything made that was made." So he is to have eternal honor and glory as the one great Master-builder.
Hebrews 3:5-6. And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
You see, then, that the apostle had first made a distinction between Christ and Moses on the ground of, the Builder being greater than the house he builds; now, in the second place, he shows Christ’s superiority to Moses on the ground that a son in his own house is greater than a servant in the house of his master. How sweetly he introduces the truth that we are the house of Christ! Do we realize that the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of us? How clean we ought to be, how holy, how heavenly! How we should seek to rise above earth, and keep ourselves reserved for the Crucified! In this house, no rival should be permitted ever to dwell; but the great Lord should have every chamber of it entirely to himself. Oh, that he may take his rest within our hearts as his holy habitation; and may there be nothing in our church life that shall grieve the Son of God, and cause him even for a moment to be withdrawn from us: "whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Perseverance — final perseverance — is the test of election. He whom God has chosen holds on and holds out even to the end, while temporary professors make only a fair show in the flesh, but, by-and-by, their faith vanishes away.
Hebrews 3:7. Wherefore —
Now comes a long parenthesis: —
Hebrews 3:7-11. (As the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Oh, that none of us, as professors of the faith of Christ, may be like Israel in the wilderness! I fear there is too much likeness; God grant that it may be carried no further! May we hear the voice of God, as they did not hear it, for their ears were dull of hearing! May we never harden our hear as they did, for they kicked against the command of God, and rebelled against the thunders of Sinai! May God grant that we may never tempt him, as they did, when they were continually proposing to God to do other than he willed to do, — something for their gratification which would not have been right, and which therefore he did not do! Oh, that we might never grieve him as they did, for they grieved him forty years! He bore with them, and yet they bored him. He forgave and overlooked their errors only to be provoked by the repetition of them, for they would not know what God made very plain. His works were such that, the wayfaring men might have read them; but they did not know God’s ways, and at last he banished them from all participation in His rest. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and they entered not into the land of promise. "Wherefore" —
Hebrews 3:12-13. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Watch over each other as well as over yourselves. Take heed lest sin hardens you before you are aware of it; even while you fancy that you have wiped it out by repentance, petrifaction will remain upon your heart "through the deceitfulness of sin."
Hebrews 3:14-16. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Not all, for there were two faithful ones. See how the Spirit of God gathers up the fragments that remain. If there are but two faithful ones out of two million, he knows it, and he records it.
Verses 1-19Hebrews 3:1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Think of him, think how great he is, think what attention he deserves from all who believe in him.
Hebrews 3:2-6. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by some man; but he who built all things is God. And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over his own house;
See the superiority of Christ to Moses; Moses is honored by being called the servant of God, but Jesus is the Son of God, and as Son, Master over his own house.
Hebrews 3:6. Whose house are we,
Christ built the house; he laid us together like stones upon the great foundation, Moses is but a caretaker in the house.
Hebrews 3:6. If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope from unto the end.
Final perseverance is an absolute necessity of a child of God. We do not prove ourselves to be a part of the house if we move about like loose stones.
Hebrews 3:7-10. Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Do not provoke your God by your quibbling, or your murmuring, or your idolatry; act not as those unbelievers did who died in the wilderness.
Hebrews 3:11-12. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
There was that "evil heart" in the Israelites, is there not a danger that it may be in you also who are partakers of the like nature?
Hebrews 3:13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
If sin came to you openly proclaiming itself as sin, you would fight against it; but it is very cunning and deceitful and it gradually petrifies the heart and especially the heart of those who think that they will never provoke God by their sin. Pride has already begun to work in them; and where pride can work, every other sin finds elbow-room. God save us from the deceitfulness of sin!
Hebrews 3:14. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
You are to hold fast, to hold on, and to hold out to the end; and the grace you need in order to do this is waiting for you if you will but look for it and daily live under the power of it.
Hebrews 3:15-16. While it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
All but two that came out of Egypt died in the wilderness; only Joshua and Caleb were faithful among the faithless found.
Hebrews 3:17. But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
See how the apostle speaks of them; he does not say that their bodies were buried, but that their carcases fell, in the wilderness. Unbelief degrades us into beasts whose carcases fall beneath the pole-axe of judgment. Oh, that we might all be rid of unbelief, that degrading, desecrating, defiling,
destroying thing!
Hebrews 3:18-19. And to whom swore he who they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
It was not the sons of Anak that kept them out, it was not the waste howling wilderness; it was nothing but their own unbelief.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 2, 3.
Chapter 4 Verses 1-9
Hebrews 4:1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
If you avoid the very seeming of it, you will avoid the thing itself. Oh! that we were careful about this — that there was nothing that should give any reasonable fear to those who observed us, or to ourselves when we search our hearts, lest we should not enter into this rest.
Hebrews 4:2. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
It must be mixed with faith. There are many drugs that are of no value until they are mixed with something else; and the Word preached becomes of no value to a soul until it is mixed with faith in them that hear it.
Hebrews 4:3. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
I leave out the intermediate words for the time being. "There is a rest."
Hebrews 4:9. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 3; Hebrews 4:1-9.
Verses 1-16Hebrews 4:1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it.
Not only dread coming short, but dread the very appearance of it. Oh, that we might now enter into that rest, and so clearly enjoy it that there should not even be a seeming to come short of it.
Hebrews 4:2. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
They were not united to it by faith; consequently, as they did not receive the Word, it was taken away from them.
Hebrews 4:3. For we which have believed do enter into rest.
Faith brings us into this rest, even as unbelief shut them out.
Hebrews 4:3. As he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
That is God’s rest, the rest of a finished work, and into that rest many never enter. The work by which they might live forever, the finished work by which they might be saved, they refuse, and so they never enter into God’s rest.
Hebrews 4:4-5. For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
There are many professing Christians who do not understand what it is to rest because the work of salvation is done; they do not even seem to know that the work is done. They understand not that dying word of the Lord Jesus, "It is finished." They think there is something still to be added to his work to make it effectual; but it is not so.
Hebrews 4:6-8. Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limits a certain day saying in David, Today after so long a time; as it is said, Today if you will hear the voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
We read of this in the 95th Psalm, where David was urging those to whom he was writing to hear God’s voice, and not be like the unbelievers in the wilderness, so that the rest still remained to be entered upon by somebody. Joshua had not given them rest, or else David would not have spoken of entering into rest.
Hebrews 4:9-10. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he who is entered into his rest, he also has cease from his own works, as God did from his.
He says, "It is finished. I am no longer going to do my own works, I am done with them; I now trust the finished work of Christ, and that gives me rest. But as to all that wearied me before, and made life a continual task and toil, it is ended now." God is not a cruel taskmaster to his people; he gives rest to those who trust in him, and some of us have entered into that rest.
Hebrews 4:11. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Let us not repeat the story of unbelieving Israel in our own lives, let us not live and die in the wilderness, but let us go in and take possession of the promised land, the promised rest, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is quick, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
This verse may be interpreted with reference to the incarnate Word or to the inspired Word, and they are so closely united and related to one another that we need not attempt to separate them, but see Christ in the Word, and the Word in Christ, and learn that both Christ and the Word do for us all that the apostle here declares.
Hebrews 4:13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
However great a revealer the Word may be, however clear a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, the God who gave the Word is even more so.
Hebrews 4:14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Shall we desert him now that he has gone into Heaven to represent us, now that he has fought the fight, and won the victory on our behalf, and gone up to Heaven as our Representative? God forbid!
Hebrews 4:15-16. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Verses 14-16
Hebrews 4:14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Why should we let it go? Jesus has triumphed, he has entered into the glory on our behalf, the victory on our account rests with him; therefore let us follow him as closely as we can. May he help us, just now, if we are in the least dispirited or cast down, to pluck up courage, and press on our way!
Hebrews 4:15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
How this ought to draw us to the Savior, — that he was made like unto ourselves; that he knows our temptations by a practical experience of them; and though he was without sin, yet the same sins which are put before us by Satan were also set before him.
Hebrews 4:16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We have a Friend at court; our Bridegroom is on the throne. He who reigns in Heaven loves us better than we love ourselves. Come, then, why should we hesitate, wherefore should we delay our approach to his throne of mercy? What is it that we want at this moment? Let us ask for it. If it is a time of need, then we see clearly from this verse that it is a time when we are permitted and encouraged to pray.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews , 5.
Chapter 5 Verses 1-14
Hebrews 5:1. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Notice that the high priests were taken from among men, not from among angels. Hence, our Lord Jesus Christ took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. The Jewish high priests were ordained for men; they acted on behalf of men, and they stood in the place of men. So the Lord Jesus Christ stood in the room, place, and stead of his people, that he might offer to God for them two things, — gifts, — that is, such offerings as the Jew made when he presented the fine flour, and oil, and other bloodless oblations which were only intended for thanksgiving. Christ offered thanksgiving unto his Father, and that offering was a sweet savor unto God. But beside those gifts, the priests offered sacrifices, and our Lord Jesus Christ did the same, for he was made a sin-offering for us, though he himself knew no sin.
Hebrews 5:2. Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way;
The marginal reading is, "Who can reasonably bear with the ignorant," —that is, one who does not lose his temper even when they are very slow to learn what he teaches them. Having taught them nineteen times, and finding that they do not understand or remember the lesson, he is ready to teach them the twentieth time, he is one who will give them line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, because he has compassion on the ignorant. Then there were other who tried the high priest far more even than the ignorant did, they were those who erred from the right path, those who went out of the way, and who continued to do so even after many warnings and much earnest exhortation. The true priest must have patience with people of this sort.
Hebrews 5:2. For that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
So all the high priests under the law were. They had to confess their own ignorance, they had to admit their own errings and wanderings, and therefore they could the more readily have patience with others. Our Lord Jesus Christ had neither ignorance nor sin of his own, but he has become so completely one with his people, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, that he can have compassion upon us, ignorant and out of the way as we may be. Are you distressed, my brethren and sisters, because you feel your own ignorance? Do you mourn because you have gone astray? You have to come to no angry Christ; you have to approach One who will be very gentle toward you. Come boldly to him, then; confess your folly, and expect the pardon that he is waiting to bestow.
Hebrews 5:3. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
We know that, being compassed with infirmity and imperfection, the high priests first offered sacrifices on their own account, and then afterwards offered them on behalf of the people. Christ, being pure and holy, needed no sacrifice for himself; but he did offer a complete, and acceptable, and sufficient sacrifice for us.
Hebrews 5:4. And no man takes this honor unto himself, but he who is called of God, as was Aaron.
Men could not constitute themselves high priests; for the appointment was made by God alone.
Hebrews 5:5-6. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he who said unto him, You are my Son, today have I begotten you. As he says also in another place, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Beloved, there is rich comfort for all believers in the fact that Christ is God’s appointed and accepted High Priest. God ordained him to do what he has done, and is doing, and will do; and therefore it is impossible but that God should accept him and all his work.
Hebrews 5:7-8. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Just as the earthly high priests offered sacrifices for themselves, so Christ, though he needed not to offer sacrifice for himself, did need to pray for himself. You know, beloved, how he gave himself unto prayer upon the cold mountains at midnight, and how Gethsemane’s garden witnessed the bloody sweat falling in clots to the ground. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without suffering. We may escape the rod if we are not of the family of God, but the true-born child must not, and would not if he might, avoid that chastisement of which all such are partakers.
Hebrews 5:9. And being made perfect, —
That is, perfect in his obedience, perfect as a sacrifice, perfect as the Mediator and Substitute for his people, —
Hebrews 5:9. He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Brethren, what a grand expression that is, "eternal salvation"! You know that there are some who preach a temporary salvation; they say that you may be in Christ today and out of Christ tomorrow, that you may be saved by grace at one hour, but damned by sin the next. Ah! but the Bible says no such thing. This may be the gospel according to Arminius, but it is not the gospel according to John, nor according to Paul, nor according to our Lord Jesus Christ. That gospel is, —
"Once in Christ, in Christ forever;
Nothing from his love can sever."
Christ became the author of "eternal salvation," and the word "eternal" must mean without end; so that, if we once receive the salvation which Christ has wrought out, we are saved in time, and shall be saved throughout all eternity. Christ is the Author of this eternal salvation; not our good works, though our faith and our works become the evidences of our having received this eternal salvation.
Hebrews 5:10. Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Then the apostle appeared to be going on to enlarge upon the Melchizedek priesthood, but he stopped. Perhaps he recollected what his Master said to his disciples on one occasion, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now." In a similar fashion Paul writes: —
Hebrews 5:11-14. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing. For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Chapter 6 Verses 1-20
In the previous chapter, Paul was writing to some who ought to have been teachers, but who needed still to be taught the first principles of the gospel; they were such babes in grace that they needed the milk of the Word, —the very simplest elements of gospel truth, — and not the strong meat of solid doctrine. The apostle, however, desires that the Hebrew believers should understand the sublimer doctrines of the gospel, and so be like men of full age who can eat strong meat. In this chapter he exhorts them to seek to attain to this standard.
Hebrews 6:1. Therefore leaving the principles —
The rudiments, the elementary truths, —
Hebrews 6:1. Of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; —
Let us go from the school to the university, let us have done with our first spelling-books, and advance into the higher classics of the kingdom.
Hebrews 6:1. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Let us make sure that the foundation is laid, but let us not have continually to lay it again. Let us go on believing and repenting, as we have done; but let us not have to begin believing and begin repenting, let us go on to something beyond that stage of experience.
Hebrews 6:2. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Let us take these things for granted, and never dispute about them any more, but go on to still higher matters.
Hebrews 6:3. And this will we do, if God permit.
We must keep on going forward; there is no such thing in the Christian life as standing still, and we dare not turn back.
Hebrews 6:4-6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, —
Note that Paul does not say, "If they shall fall;" but, "If they shall fall away," — if the religion which they have professed shall cease to have any power over them, — then, it shall be impossible —
Hebrews 6:6. To renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
If all the processes of grace fail in the case of any professors, what is to be done with them? If the grace of God does not enable them to overcome the world, — if the blood of Christ does not purge them from sin, what more can be done? Upon this supposition, God’s utmost has been tried, and has failed. Mark that Paul does not say that all this could ever happen; but that, if it could, the person concerned would be like apiece of ground which brought forth nothing but thorns and briers.
Hebrews 6:7-8. For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God: but that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is near unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
If, after having ploughed this ground, and sown it, and after it has been watered by the dew and rain of Heaven, no good harvest ever comes of it, every wise man would leave off tilling it. He would say, "My labor is all thrown away on such a plot of ground as this, nothing more can be done with it, for after having done my utmost nothing but weeds is produced, so now it must be left to itself." You see, my dear hearers, if it were possible for the work of grace in your souls to be of no avail, nothing more could be done for you. You have had God’s utmost effort expended upon your behalf, and there remains no other method of salvation for you. I believe that there have been some professors, such as Judas and Simon Magus, who have come very near to this condition, and others who are said, after a certain sort, to have believed, to have received the Holy Spirit in miraculous gifts, and to have been specially enlightened so as to have been able to teach others; but the work of grace did not affect their hearts, it did not renew their natures, it did not transform their spirits, and so it was impossible to renew them to repentance. How notice what Paul says: —
Hebrews 6:9. But, beloved, we are persuaded better thing of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Harsh as the apostle’s words may seem, they are not meant for you who are really believers in Christ, and in whom the Holy Spirit has wrought a complete change of heart and life; Paul is not speaking of such as you.
Hebrews 6:10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
If you have proved by your works that the grace of God is within you, God will not forget you; he will not leave you, he will not cast you away. You know the contrast in the speech between different persons concerning this doctrine. One will wickedly say, "If I am a child of God, I may live as I like." That is damnable doctrine. Another will say, "If I am a child of God, I shall not want to live as I like, but as God likes, and I shall be led by the grace of God into the path of holiness, and through divine grace I shall persevere in that way of holiness right to the end." That is quite another doctrine, and it is the true teaching of the Word of God.
Hebrews 6:11. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
Keep it up; be as earnest today as you were twenty years ago, when you were baptized and joined the church: "Show the same diligence unto the end." Still, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Hebrews 6:12-15. That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Wherefore, brethren, you and I also are patiently to endure, to hold on even to the end, and God’s sure promise will never fail us.
Hebrews 6:16-18. For men truly swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
It seems a great change in this chapter from the sad tone at the beginning to the joyous note at the end; but, indeed, there is no contradiction between the two. Paul is but giving us two sides of the truth, — both equally true, — the one needful for our warning, the other admirable for our consolation. God will not leave you, my brethren, he has pledged himself by covenant to you, and he has given an oath that his covenant shall stand. Wherefore, be of good courage, and press forward in the divine life, for your work of faith and labor of love are not in vain in the Lord; so let us "lay hold upon the hope set before us:" —
Hebrews 6:19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil;
Sailors throw their anchors downwards; we throw ours upwards. Their anchor goes within the veil of the waters into the depths of the sea; ours goes within the veil of glory, into the heights of Heaven, where Jesus sits at the right hand of God: "within the veil;" —
Hebrews 6:20. Where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Chapter 7 Verses 1-14
Hebrews 7:1-2. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace.
His very names being instructive, Righteousness first, and Peace afterwards, as it is with our divine Lord, who has brought in everlasting righteousness, and speaks peace to guilty men.
Hebrews 7:3. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abides a priest continually.
Melchizedek just passed across the page; he has no predecessor, he has no successor. We see him in Scripture, and we know nothing of his descent we know nothing of his death; we only know that he was a priest of the Most High God; and this very silence about him is highly significant and instructive, far in this he is "like unto the Son of God, who abides a priest continually." Now consider who this great man was, unto whom even "the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth part of his spoil." If Abraham, the father of the faithful, the friend of God, paid tribute to him, how great must he have been, how high his office!
Hebrews 7:5-7. And truly they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
Therefore, Abraham was less than Melchizedek: he could not bless Melchizedek, but Melchizedek could bless him. How great, then, was he! How far greater still is that Lord of ours of whom Melchizedek was but a type
Hebrews 7:8-10. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receives tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him.
Thus the old priesthood, the Levitical and Aaronic priesthood, did homage unto the Melchizedek priesthood, which is greater still.
Hebrews 7:11. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
We read in the psalm just now, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek," which proves that the priests of the order of Levi were not sufficient: there was need of a still greater priesthood.
Hebrews 7:12. For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
The law of the priesthood alters since the person of the priest, the character of the priest, and the very office of the priest had altered too.
Hebrews 7:13. For he of whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar
According to the belief of the Jewish people, the Messiah was to come of the tribe of Judah, yet none of the house of David or of the tribe of Judah ever presumed to present themselves as priests of the order of God.
Hebrews 7:14. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.
So there was an entire change of the priesthood, and of the law of priests.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 110:1-7; Hebrews 7:1-14.
Verses 15-28Hebrews 7:15-18. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifies, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is truly a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
The old Levitical law is disannulled; it became weak and unprofitable; and now a higher and better dispensation is ushered in with a greater and undying priesthood.
Hebrews 7:19. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw near unto God.
That is all it did: it was a stepping-stone towards something better. "by which we draw near unto God." "The Lord has sworn and will not repent."
Hebrews 7:20-24. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest. (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the Lord swore and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; But this man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
I think they reckoned that there were eighty-three high priests in regular succession from Aaron to the death of Phineas, the last high priest at the siege of Jerusalem. One succeeded another, but this one goes on continually, forever has an untransferable priesthood. That word "untransferable" is nearer to the meaning than this "unchangeable." If any of you have old Bibles with the margin, you will see "has a priesthood which cannot be passed from one hand to another," and the margin happens in this case to have the true rendering, "This man has an untransferable priesthood."
Hebrews 7:25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us,
We want just that high priest who would live on throughout all the ages for ever to sustain his people, and do for them all they should need to have done for them, until time should have been no more.
Hebrews 7:26-28. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: For this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the law makes men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, makes the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
There is our joy.
This exposition consisted of readings from Haggai 1:1 to Haggai 2:9; Hebrews 7:15-28.
Chapter 8 Verses 7-13
Hebrews 8:7-13. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
So the old covenant has vanished away, with all its types, and symbols, and sacrifices. As the morning mists dissolve upon the rising of the sun,- as darkness flies away when the light shines,-so has the covenant of works departed forever; and, in its place, stands out the everlasting covenant of God’s unmerited mercy to the most guilty and vile of the sons and daughters of men. May he graciously grant to us the privilege of having an interest in that covenant, for his dear Son’s sake. Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-32; and Hebrews 8:7-13
Chapter 9 Verses 1-22
Hebrews 9:1 Then truly the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
An external sanctuary, a material structure, and therefore belonging to this world.
Hebrews 9:2. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread: which is called the sanctuary.
Or, "the Holy Place."
Hebrews 9:3-8. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the Second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Notice especially those words, "Not without blood." There could be no approach to God under the old dispensation without the shedding of blood, and there is no access to the Lord now without the precious blood of Christ.
Hebrews 9:9-22. Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testators. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has lineenjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
That is the great gospel truth that was set forth by all the sacrifices under the law: "without shedding of blood is no remission."
This exposition consisted of readings from Leviticus 16:1-31; And Hebrews 9:1-22.
Verses 1-28Hebrews 9:1. Then truly the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
That is to say, a material sanctuary, a sanctuary made out of such things as this world contains. Under the old covenant, there were certain outward symbols. Under the new covenant, we have not the symbols, but we have the substance itself. The old law dealt with types and shadows, but the gospel deals with the spiritual realities themselves.
Hebrews 9:2-3. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
All this was by divine appointment; the form of the rooms, the style of the furniture, everything was ordained of God; and that not merely for ornament, but for purposes of instruction. As we shall see farther on, the Holy Spirit intended a significance, a teaching, a meaning, about everything in the old tabernacle, whether it was a candlestick, or a table, or the showbread.
Hebrews 9:4-5. Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
It would not have been to the point which the apostle had in hand, so he waived the explanation of those things for another time.
Hebrews 9:6-8. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Spirit this signifying,
It is from this sentence that I am sure that the Holy Spirit had a signification, a meaning, a teaching, for every item of the ancient tabernacle and temple; and we are not spinning fancies out of idle brains when we interpret these types, and learn from them important gospel lessons. "The Holy Spirit this signifying,"-
Hebrews 9:8. That the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
It was necessary that you should take away the sacred tent, the tabernacle, ay, and take away the temple, too, before you could learn the spiritual meaning of them. You must break the shell to get at the kernel. So God had ordained. Hence, there is now no tabernacle, no temple, no holy court, no inner shrine, the holy of holies. The material worship is done away with, in order that we may render the spiritual worship of which the material was but the type.
Hebrews 9:9. Which was a figure for the time then present,
Only a figure, and only meant for "the time then present." It was the childhood of the Lord’s people; it was a time when, as yet, the light had not fully broken in upon spiritual eyes, so they must be taught by picture-books. They must have a kind of Kindergarten for the little children, that they might learn the elements of the faith by the symbols, types, and representations of a material worship. When we come into the true gospel light, all that is done away with; it was only "a figure for the time then present."
Hebrews 9:9. In which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
All these rites could only give a fleshly purity, but they could not touch the conscience. If men saw what was meant by the outward type, then the conscience was appeased; but by the outward sign itself the conscience was never comforted, if it was a living and lowly conscience.
Hebrews 9:10. Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
These ordinances were only laid upon the Jews-not upon any other people-and only laid upon them until the better and brighter days of reformation and fuller illumination.
Hebrews 9:11. But Christ-Oh,
how we seem to rise when we begin to get near to Him, away from the high priests of the Jews! "But Christ"-
Hebrews 9:12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
The Jewish high priests went once a year into the Holy of Holies. Each year as it came round demanded that they should go again. Their work was never done; but "He entered in once," and only once, "into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." I love that expression, "eternal redemption"-a redemption which really does redeem, and redeems forever and ever. If you are redeemed by it, you cannot be lost; if this redemption be yours, it is not for a time, or for a season, but it is "eternal redemption." Oh, how you ought to rejoice in the one entrance within the veil by our great High Priest who has obtained eternal redemption for us!
Hebrews 9:13-15. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
When you come to deal with Christ, you have to do with eternal things. There is nothing temporary about Him, or about His work. It is "eternal redemption" that He has obtained for us, it is an "eternal inheritance" that He has purchased for us.
Hebrews 9:16-17. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
Or, "Where a covenant is, there must also be the death of him who covenants, or of that by which the covenant is established." Or read it as we have it in our version, for it seems as if it must be so, although we are loathe to give the meaning of "testament" to the word, since its natural meaning is evidently covenant: "Where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives"; or, if you will, while the victim that was to confirm the covenant lived, the covenant was not ratified; it must be slain before it could be thus effective.
Hebrews 9:18-22. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
There is no truth more plain than this in the whole of the Old Testament; and it must have within it a very weighty lesson to our souls. There are some who cannot endure the doctrine of a substitutionary atonement. Let them beware lest they be casting away the very soul and essence of the gospel. It is evident that the sacrifice of Christ was intended to give ease to the conscience, for we read that the blood of bulls and of goats could not do that. I fail to see how any doctrine of atonement except the doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ can give ease to the guilty conscience. Christ in my stead suffering the penalty of my sin-that pacifies my conscience, but nothing else does: "Without shedding of blood is no remission."
Hebrews 9:23. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these;
These things down below are only the patterns, the models, the symbols of the heavenly things; they could therefore be ceremonially purified with the blood which is the symbol of the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
Hebrews 9:23-24. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
He never went within the veil in the Jewish temple; that was but the symbol of the true holy of holies. He has gone "into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."
Hebrews 9:25-28. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;
There is no need that He should die again, His one offering has forever perfected all His people. There remains nothing but His final coming for the judgment of the ungodly, and the acquittal of His redeemed.
Hebrews 9:28. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Christ’s second coming will be "without sin," and without a sin offering, too, wholly apart from sin, unto the salvation of all His chosen. May we all be among those who are looking for Him! Amen.
Verses 18-28Hebrews 9:18-22. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Under the law, some things were purified by fire or by water, but "almost all things" were "purged with blood;" and there was and still is, no remission of sin "without shedding of blood."
Hebrews 9:23-26. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
In every respect, our great High Priest was superior to the high priests under the law; though, in some points, they resembled him, and were types of him.
Hebrews 9:27-28. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
His one offering so fully met all the claims of divine justice on behalf of all his people that there was no need of another offering for sin, and no room for it, so his second coming will be "without a sin offering unto salvation," as the passage may be rendered.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:18-28; and Hebrews 10:1-25.
Verses 24-28Hebrews 9:24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
He has gone within the veil;-not the veil of "blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work;" but within the veil that hides "Heaven itself" from our eyes, and there he is "in the presence of God for us."
Hebrews 9:25-26. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The high priest brought the blood of the animals that were slain for a sin-offering, and hence he came often. He could not bring his own blood, or he would only have come once, but our Savior has come only once, "to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself "
Hebrews 9:27-28. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
He had to suffer because of sin once, but he will never again have to do that; his sacrifice will never need to be repeated, and never can be repeated.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:24-28; and Hebrews 10.
Chapter 10 Verses 1-18
Hebrews 10:1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
A man could go to the Levitical sacrifices twenty years running, and yet be no forwarder. He must go again and again as long as he lived. They were only figures and shadows and types; the real sacrifice is Christ.
Hebrews 10:2. For then-
If they had been effectual,
Hebrews 10:2. Would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Once forgiven, the sin would not have come back again. If the sacrifice had really cleansed the conscience of the offerer, he would not have had cause to present it again.
Hebrews 10:3-5. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore when he comes- he who is the essence of it all, "When he comes,"
Hebrews 10:5-7. Into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.
Types were no longer needed when the great Antitype had come. Christ was no longer pre-figured, for he was there in person. He put away the old shadows of the blood of bulls and goats when he brought his own real sacrifice, the true atonement for sin.
Hebrews 10:8-9. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.
The old law is gone, the first sacrifice is no longer presented, for the second is come, the real offering of Christ the Lamb of God.
Hebrews 10:10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Once, and only once. How Paul loves to recall this fact!
Hebrews 10:11-12. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man,
Note these glorious words, "This Man,"-
Hebrews 10:12-13. After he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.
He would not have sat down if his work had not been done. He would not have ceased from his priestly service of presenting sacrifice if his one offering had not been sufficient. This Man’s offering once, once, once, has done all that God demanded, and all that man required.
Hebrews 10:14. For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
This glorious message is for you, beloved, if you believe in Christ. By his one sacrifice he has done all that you need; he has perfected you forever.
Hebrews 10:15-17. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Treasure up these golden words: "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Hebrews 10:18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
The offering for sin is in order that sin may be put away; and if it be put away, so that God himself will remember it no more, what more is wanted? What more could be desired? Wherefore, let us rest in the one great finished work of Christ, and be perfectly happy. Sin is gone, wrath is over, for those for whom Christ died; they are perfected forever through his one great sacrifice.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:24-28; and Hebrews 10:1-18.
Verses 1-22Hebrews 10:1. For the law —
The old ceremonial law of Moses, —
Hebrews 10:1. Having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Those that were sprinkled with the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices did not feel that their sin was forever put away. They went back, after the victim had been offered, with a certain measure of rest and relief, but not with that perfect rest which is the accompaniment of the pardon that Jesus gives to those who come unto God through him.
Hebrews 10:2. For —
If the worshipers had thus been made perfect; if they had been completely cleansed and accepted through these sacrifices, —
Hebrews 10:2. Then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
The fact that there was a lamb to be offered every morning and every evening, and that there was a great day of atonement to be observed every year, proved that there was sin still remaining, which had not been put away, sin that the worshipers needed to come again, and again, and yet again, with fresh sacrifices for their fresh sins. The apostle’s argument is unanswerable.
Hebrews 10:3-4. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Your common sense tells you "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Although rivers of such blood should continually be flowing, what efficacy could there be in them to put away the moral stain of guilt and transgression against God?
Hebrews 10:5. Wherefore when he comes into the world, —
That great HE, — that Divine HE, — our Savior and our God. "when he comes into the world,"-
Hebrews 10:5-7. He says, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.
That will had not been done, although myriads of sacrifices had been offered. But Christ came really to do that will by offering himself as the one and only acceptable sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:8-9. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do your will O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.
An end was made of the types and shadows of the ceremonial law, that the real substance might be introduced by Christ. Never imagine, dear friends, that the old Jewish ceremonial law is to drag on its existence, and to be intermingled with the Christian dispensation. Ah, no! As the shadows of the night vanish when the sun arises, as the lamps in yonder street are put out when daylight returns, so was it with all the types and shadows of the ancient law when the great Antitype appeared.
Hebrews 10:10. By the which will —
That is, the will of God as done by Christ: "By the which will " —
Hebrews 10:10-12. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; —
Oh, what a blessed doctrine this is, — that the one offering of Christ has done what the tens of thousands of offerings under the old law never could accomplish! All the work of man is but the spinning of a righteousness which is undone as quickly as it is spun; but Christ has finished the seamless and spotless robe of his righteousness which is to last forever. By his one sacrifice he has ended all the fruitless labor of the ages; and, now, as many of us as have believed in him have all the benefits of his perfect work. Having completed his great task, he "sat down on the right hand of God;" —
Hebrews 10:13. From henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.
"Expecting." That was the subject of this morning’s sermon. We are expecting something better than we have yet seen. "We were saved in hope," We are expecting that which is yet to be revealed; and our covenant Head is expecting, too. This is the age of expectancy. We have not yet come to the fullness of the blessing that is ours in Christ Jesus. The mercy of God is at present; only in the bud; the fully-developed flower has yet to be seen. Christ is expecting; his saints are expecting; the whole creation is expecting.
Hebrews 10:14-17. For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Oh, what a blessed covenant this is! Christ’s death has established a covenant of grace in which there is no flaw, and no possibility of failure, for the one Condition of the covenant has been fulfilled by Christ, and now it stands as a covenant of "shalls" and "wills" on God’s part from which he will never run back. It is not, "If they do this, and if they do that, I will do the other;" but it is all "I will." "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Hebrews 10:18. Now Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
No more offering for sin is needed, for the work of atonement is fully done, and done forever. As the sin of all who believe in Jesus is put away, what heed is there of any further sacrifice on account of it? The atonement is complete; let us therefore rejoice in it, and praise God for it.
Hebrews 10:19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Verses 1-25Hebrews 10:1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
This refers to the old ceremonial law, under which the Jews lived so long. They always had to go on, year after year, offering the same kind of sacrifices, because the work of atonement was never done perfectly; men were not cleansed or saved by it, so the process had to be constantly repeated.
Hebrews 10:2. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
There would have been no need to bring another lamb to be offered if the one which was presented had put away sin; there would have been no need of another day of atonement if the sacrifice on the one day had really made atonement for sin.
Hebrews 10:3-4. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Their blood was only a picture, an emblem, a type of far more precious blood, — the shadow of the real atonement which was afterwards to be offered.
Hebrews 10:5. Wherefore when he comes into the world, —
That is, the true Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, our Redeemer: "When he comes into the world," —
Hebrews 10:5. He says, —
According to Psalms 40:6-8, —
Hebrews 10:5-9. Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.
He takes away the type because the great Antitype has come. He abolishes the offering of bullocks, and goats, and lambs, because HE has come whom they all foreshadowed.
Hebrews 10:10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Or, "once." It can never be offered again. The presence of offering up the body and the blood of Christ in the mass is sheer profanity. It has been done once, and there is no need of a repetition. To suppose that it could be repeated, is to imply that it was incomplete on the first occasion; but it was not, for by it we are already sanctified.
Hebrews 10:11-12. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
It was done, wholly done, and done forever; nothing was to be added to it, and, therefore, Jesus "sat down" in the place of honor and power "on the right hand of God"; —
Hebrews 10:13-14. From henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Or, "set apart." He has fully saved all those for whom he died. His one sacrifice was so effectual that, by it, he has forever put away the sin of the whole multitude of those that believe in him.
Hebrews 10:15. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us:
And what more veritable witness can we have? That to which the Holy Spirit bears testimony must never be questioned by us.
Hebrews 10:15-17. For after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
What a wonderful covenant that is; — not that he will bless you if you keep the law, but that you shall be enabled to keep it, and that he will lead you to do so by putting his law, not on tables of stone, where your eye can see it, but on the fleshy tablets of your heart, where your soul shall feel its force and power, so that you shall be obedient to it. Meditate on those glorious words: "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Hebrews 10:18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
If the sins themselves have gone, and God will remember them no more, no further sacrifice is required for them. What need have you of cleansing if you are so clean that God himself sees no sin in you? O glorious purgation by the atoning sacrifice of Christ! Rejoice in it, and praise the Lord for it for ever and ever.
Hebrews 10:19-25. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true 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 profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
Notice the practical teaching of this great truth. If you have been thus washed, do not defile yourselves again. If, by God’s rich mercy, you have been delivered from the transgressions of the past, let gratitude move you to holy living, and endeavor, not only to grow in grace yourselves, but to help others in the same direction, that so the abounding mercy of God may have from us abundant praise. God grant it for his name’s sake! Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:18-28; and Hebrews 10:1-25.
Verses 1-39Hebrews 10:1-2. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered"
If the sacrifice had really put away sin, surely it would never have needed to be offered again. If one sacrifice had put away the guilt of Israel, there would have been no need to bring another.
Hebrews 10:2. Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Once cleansed from sin, we are cleansed from sin; the great deed is done once for all,
Hebrews 10:3-5. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he comes into the world,
You know who that is, there is but one great "HE" to us,-our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the true High Priest.
Hebrews 10:5. He says, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me:
By the work of the Holy Spirit within the Virgin Mary, the blessed body of Christ was "prepared" so that he ought be God and man in one person, and so might bring an offering acceptable unto God.
Hebrews 10:6-9. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.
That he may bring in the real sacrifice of which the others were but types and prefigurations.
Hebrews 10:10. By the which will-
The will which Christ fulfilled in life and in death: "By the which will" —
Hebrews 10:10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.
Only one sacrifice was required. The key-word here is that little word "once." Let it not only sound in your ears, but be written in your hearts. Jesus Christ died once, he brought his sacrifice once, he put away our sins once.
Hebrews 10:11-12. And every priest stinted daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Christ stands no longer to minister as a sacrificing priest, he is sitting down on the right hand of God. That is the posture of one whose work is done, and who is taking his rest: "He sat down on the right hand of God
Hebrews 10:13-18. From henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in the minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, these is no more offering for sin.
Sin itself being no longer imputed to any believer in Christ, there is neither the occasion nor the need for the offering of another sacrifice for sin. Christ’s one sacrifice has forever put away the sins of all who believe in him.
Hebrews 10:19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
The Jew could not personally go up to the mercy-seat; he had to go there through his representative, the high priest, and we have Christ as our "high priest over the house of God," so we come to God through him. The Israelite could not pass through the veil which hid from public gaze the glory of the Shekinah, and Jesus Christ’s humanity was a veil which somewhat concealed the glory of his Deity; but the flesh of Christ having been crucified, the veil has been rent, and now we may come right up to the throne of God without trembling; nay, we may come even with holy boldness and familiarity, and speak to God without alarm. Having such a privilege as this, let us not neglect it. It was denied to prophets and kings in the olden time; but now that it is given to us, let us avail ourselves of it, and constantly "let us draw near" unto God "with a true heart in full assurance of faith."
Hebrews 10:23. Let us holdfast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
As he is faithful, let us also be faithful, and hold, as with a death grip, the faith which has been revealed to us and wrought within us by the Holy Spirit; ay, and the profession of that faith too, never being ashamed to own that we are followers of the Nazarene. And let us while we are thus faithful ourselves, endeavor to strengthen others.
Hebrews 10:24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
The Greek is, to stir each other up to a paroxysm of love. There is no fear that we shall ever go too far in our love to God; though it should cast us into a state of blessed excitement, yet would it be healthy for us so to live and so to work.
Hebrews 10:25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;
For Christian fellowship is helpful to us, and we are helpful to others by it. A Christian is not meant to be a solitary being. Sheep are gregarious, and so are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be solitary pilgrims along the road to Heaven, but join that glorious host of God’s elect who march beneath the guidance of our great Master.
Hebrews 10:25. But exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
Does not every day bring us nearer to the coming of the Lord? Are there not many signs that these are the last days? Well then, so much the more let us stir each other up to love and to good works.
Hebrews 10:26-27. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Here the truth taught is that, if a Christian apostatizes, if he renounces his faith, and goes back to the world, it is impossible to reclaim him. A backslider may be restored, but anyone who should willfully, after receiving the truth, reject it, has rejected the only Savior; he has rejected the only regeneration; and, consequently, he is without the pale of the possibilities of restoration. The question is, "Will any true child of God so apostatize?" That question is answered in this very chapter; but the truth here taught is that, if he does, he goes into a state of absolute hopelessness.
Hebrews 10:28-29. He who despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment,-
Can there be any sorer punishment than to die without mercy? Yes, there is, for there is eternal punishment: "of how much sorer punishment," —
Hebrews 10:29-31. Suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
With what terrible sentences does Paul hedge up the way of the believer! Leave that way, and there is nothing for you but destruction. Reject your Savior, give up your hope in him, and there cannot be another name by which you can be saved, or another glorified by which you can be cleansed from sin.
Hebrews 10:32-33. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, while you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions;-
Made a spectacle to be mocked at in the theater of the world; —
Hebrews 10:33-35. And partly, while you became companions of them that were so used. For you had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.
You must push on; you have already defied the foe, to turn back is certain destruction, for you have no armor for your back.
Hebrews 10:36. For you have need of patience,-
Or, endurance, —
Hebrews 10:36. That, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
To hold on, to continue to do God’s will,-this is the task. To start, and to make a spurt now and then, is easy enough; but to keep on, is trying to every spiritual muscle; and only God can enable you to do so.
Hebrews 10:37-38. For yet a little while, and he who shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
If there be a drawing back from faith, God can have no pleasure in us; but shall we draw back? That is the question, and here is the answer: —
Hebrews 10:39. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;-
We who have believed in Jesus, we who have sincerely committed ourselves to his care, we who have been born again of the Holy Spirit, we in whom there is the real work of grace which God has pledged to carry on, — "we are not of them who draw back unto perdition:" —
Hebrews 10:39. But of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
What a blessed truth is this! O Christian, as you see the danger that lies before you if you did prove to be an apostate, bless that sovereign grace which will not suffer you so to do, even as Paul wrote to the Philippians, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:24-28; and Hebrews 10.
Verses 19-39Hebrews 10:19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
The place of the Christian is that of the nearest conceivable access to God for "the holiest" is "the holy of holies,"-that innermost part of the tabernacle to reach which the high priest had to pass through the outer court, and through the court of the priests, and then through the beautiful veil which concealed the mercy-seat. At the death of Christ, that veil was rent from the top to the bottom, so now there is nothing to keep us back from the mercy-seat. We, therefore, have boldness and liberty in that way "to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus;" where the high priest himself could only go once in the year, we may go at all times. The veil has not been merely lifted up for a while, and then dropped down again; it is not rolled up ready for future use; it is rent in twain, destroyed. Since Jesus has died, there is no separation now between the believer and his God except by means of such a veil as our base unbelief may please to hang up. The crimson way of Christ’s shed blood lies open to all believers therefore, "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water,"
Hebrews 10:23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;
Not only hold it, but hold it fast without wavering. Let us never have a question about it. God grant that we may have an unquestioning, unstaggering faith! To hold fast the profession of our faith, seems enough; but to hold it fast without wavering, is better still; and so we ought to do.
Hebrews 10:23. (For he is faithful that promised;)
God gives us no cause for wavering, for he never wavers. If he were an unfaithful God, we might naturally be an unbelieving people; but "he is faithful that promised." Therefore, "let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering."
Hebrews 10:24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
I am afraid there are some who consider one another to provoke in quite a different spirit from this,-who watch to find out a tender spot where a wound will be most felt. They observe the weakness of a brother’s constitution, and then play upon it, or make jests about it. All this is evil, so let us avoid it; let us all seek out the good points of our brethren, and consider them, that we may afterwards be the means of guiding them to those peculiar good works for which they are best adapted. "Provoke unto love and to good works." I do not know how we can do that better than by being very loving and very full of good works ourselves, for then will others be likely to say, "If these people are helped by God’s grace to love like this, and to labor like this, why should not we do the same" A good example is often better than a very proper precept.
Hebrews 10:25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;-
Yes; there are some who even make a bad use of what ought to be a great blessing, namely, the printing-press, and the printed sermon, by staying at home to read a sermon because, they say, it is better than going out to hear one. Well, dear friend, if I could not hear profitably, I would still make one of the assembly gathered together for the worship of God. It is a bad example for a professing Christian to absent himself from the assembly of the friends of Christ. There was a dear sister, whom many of you knew, who used to attend here with great regularity, although she could not hear a word that was said; but she said it did her good to join in the hymns, and to know that she was worshiping God with the rest of his people. I wish that some, who stay away for the most frivolous excuses, would think of this verse: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;"-
Hebrews 10:25. But exhorting one another and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
It is not the work of the minister alone to exhort, but the brethren, and the sisters, too, should exhort one another, and seek to stir each other up in the faith and fear of God.
Hebrews 10:26-27. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
This is a solemn text, containing a very terrible truth. If, after having been regenerated, and made children of God, we were willfully and deliberately to let the Savior go, and apostatize altogether to the world, there would be no hope for us. What, then, is our hope? Why, that we shall never be permitted to do so,-that the grace of God will keep us so that, although we may fall like Peter, we shall not fall away like Judas,-that, though we may sin, there shall not be that degree of studied willfulness about it that would make it to be the sin unto death, a deliberate act of spiritual suicide. The doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints derives great glory from this other truth that, if they did not persevere, there is no second means of grace, no other plan of salvation. No man was ever born again twice; no man was ever washed twice in the precious blood of Jesus. The one washing makes us so clean that "he who is washed needs not save to wash his feet," for which Jesus provides by daily cleansing; but the one grand atoning act never fails. If it did fail, there would remain "no more sacrifice for sins.
Hebrews 10:28-29. He who despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace
For apostasy from Christ would amount to all this; and if that were possible, what grace would remain?
Hebrews 10:30. For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
O professors, take this message home to your hearts! Let every one of us take it home: "The Lord shall judge his people." God’s fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. If a man tries nothing else, he will test his gold; and if no others shall be judged, yet certainly those will be who say that they are the Lord’s people. In that dread day, he will separate the goats from the sheep, the tares from the wheat, and the dross from the gold; his fan will be in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor; he will sit as a refiner of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi; he shall be like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. Woe to those, in that day, who are a defilement to his Church, and an adulteration to the purity of his people!
Hebrews 10:31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
What a terrible verse is that! It is a text that ought to be preached from by those who are always saying that the punishment of the wicked will be less than, according to our minds, the Word of God leads us to expect it to be:
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Hebrews 10:32. But call to remembrance the former days,-
The apostle is not expecting that any of them will ever go back to where they were before; he is persuaded that they will persevere even to the end. The very warning that he gives is a powerful preventive against apostasy. Now comes the exhortation: "Call to remembrance the former days." Some of you can "call to remembrance" the time when you joined the church, when you had to run the gauntlet for Christ’s sake. Then, in your early Christian life, you feared nothing and nobody so long as you could glorify God. Then, you had great enjoyment, sweet seasons of communion with your Lord: "Call to remembrance the former days."
Hebrews 10:32-33. In which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, while you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, while you became companions of them that were so used.
In your early Christian days, you were pointed at, and regarded as quite singular for being servants of Christ; or, possibly, it was not yourselves so much as your pastors, your leaders, your friends who were prominent in the church, at whom the arrows of the adversaries were aimed. They shot at you through them; and, sometimes, that pained you much more than when they distinctly attacked you. Altogether, it was "a great fight of afflictions" that you had to endure.
Hebrews 10:34. For you had compassion of me in my bonds,
In those early days, the Jewish believers clung as the unbelieving Jews persecuted him, to Paul just as ardently
Hebrews 10:34-35. And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.
Be like the brave Spartan who would never lose his shield, but would come home either with it or on it. "Cast not away your confidence." You trusted in God in those early days, and nothing seemed to daunt you then. "Cast not away your confidence." Rather, get more to add to it. Let there be no thought of going back, but may there rather be a distinct advance!
Hebrews 10:36. For you have need of patience,-
Our supply of that virtue is often very short; it is an article of which there is very little in the market, and all of us have need of more of it: "You have need of patience,"-
Hebrews 10:36. That, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
There must first be the doing of the will of God, and then the reward will come afterwards. God will not give to his people their full reward yet. Patience, then, brother; patience, sister. Saturday night will come one of these days; your week’s work will then be over, and you will be more than repaid for anything you have done for your Lord.
Hebrews 10:37-38. For yet a little while, and he who shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
The drawers back-the mere professors-those who say they have been illuminated, and who have tasted, in a measure, the sweetness of religion, yet who never received Christ in their inmost heart,-these are the people in whom God has no pleasure.
Hebrews 10:39. But we-What a consoling end this is to the chapter!
It ought to comfort every believer in Christ who has been distressed by the earlier verses: "we"-
Hebrews 10:39. Are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
May that be true of every one of us, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.
Chapter 11 Verses 1-13
Hebrews 11:1-2. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elder obtained a good report.
So it was written, in the olden time, that believers "obtained a good report;" and this second verse shows that they obtained it by their faith. The best part of the report about them is, that they believed their God, and believed all that was revealed to them by his Word and his Spirit.
Hebrews 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.
The facts about creation must be the subject of faith. It is true that they can be substantiated, by the argument from design, and in other ways; still, for a wise purpose as I believe, God has not made even that matter of the creation of the universe perfectly clear to human reason, so there is room for the exercise of faith. Men like to have everything laid down according to the rules of mathematical precision, but God desires them to exercise faith; and, therefore, he has not acted according to their wishes.
Hebrews 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
The first of the long line of martyrs triumphed by faith; and if you are to be strong to bear witness for God, you must be made strong by the same power which wrought so effectually in Abel. If, like his, your life is to be a speaking life, — a life which shall speak even out of the grave, — its voice must be the voice of faith.
Hebrews 11:5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
It is faith that muzzles the mouth of death, and takes away the power of the sepulcher. If any man, who had not been a believer, had been translated as Enoch was, we should have been able to point to a great feat accomplished apart from faith. It has never been so; for this, which was one of the greatest things that was ever done, — to leap from this life into another, and to overleap the grave altogether, — was only achieved "by faith."
Hebrews 11:6-7. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
These are the things with which faith always deals; — not with the things that are seen or are apprehensible by the senses or the feelings.
Hebrews 11:7. Moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
So you see that faith has a condemning power towards an ungodly world. You do not need to be constantly telling worldlings that they are doing wrong; let them see clearly the evidence of your faith, for that will bear the strongest conceivable witness against their unbelief and sin, even as Noah, by his faith, "condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
Hebrews 11:8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went.
That is, surely, the very masterpiece of faith. God bade Abraham go forth from his native land, he believed that God knew where he was to go though he did not himself know; so he left the direction of his wanderings entirely in the Lord’s hands, and obeyed, and "went out, not knowing where he went." We are not to ask for full knowledge before we will be obedient to the will of the Lord; but we are to obey God in the dark, even as Abraham did.
Hebrews 11:9. By faith he adjourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
It is one of the great evidences of true faith for her to keep on, to continue, to abide, without any visible signs or tokens of what she knows is hers. The life of faith is wonderful, but so also is the walk of faith. Her walk has much about it that is mysterious; she knows that the land she treads on belongs to her; and yet, in another sense, she cannot claim a solitary foot of it. She knows that she is at home, even as Abraham was in his own land; yet like him, she knows herself to be a sojourner in a strange land, and is quite content to be so.
Hebrews 11:10. For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
What a depth of meaning there is in those five words, "a city which has foundation," — as if all other cities had none! They come, and they go, as if they were molehills raised on the surface of the earth, or little mounds of sand made by the children’s wooden spades upon the seashore, which the next tide will wash away. What vast numbers of cities have been destroyed already! We are constantly picking up the relics of them, but there is, blessed be the name of the Lord, "a city which has foundations," a city founded on eternal power, and we are on our way to that city, I hope.
Hebrews 11:11-12. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
Perhaps the reference is to Abraham, who was as good as dead, being so old; or to Isaac, who was as good as dead, for he was laid upon the altar, and was practically "offered up" as a sacrifice unto the Lord. There were many deaths to work against the life of faith; yet life triumphed over death after all.
Hebrews 11:13. These all died in faith,
That is the epitaph which God has carved over the resting-place of his faithful ones: "These all died in faith." Will this be the record concerning all of us, "These all died in faith"?
Hebrews 11:13. Not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
The chapter is a very long one so I must condense it, as the apostle himself did when he came to the 32nd verse; there was so much to be said that he added, —
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 11:1-13; and Hebrews 11:32-40.
Verses 1-21This is the triumphal arch of faith. Here we find the names of many of the heroes of faith, and a brief record of some of the battles in which they fought and conquered. May you and I possess "like precious faith" at; that of which we have here the story! We cannot enter Heaven without it; we cannot fight our way through the world without it.
Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
It gets a grip of what it hopes for, and holds it in its hand.
Hebrews 11:1. The evidence of things not seen.
We do see by faith. We see by faith what cannot be seen by our eyes; we grasp by faith what cannot be grasped with our hands. A strange mystery is the simple act of faith.
Hebrews 11:2. For by it the elders obtained a good report.
All the godly of the olden time had a good report of God and of holy men as the result of their faith.
Hebrews 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.
They were not evolved out of something else that existed before; evolution is a rank lie against revelation. The worlds were not made, not one of them was made, out of something pre-existent; but they were framed by the Word of God, and the things which are seen were not made of things which are seen.
Hebrews 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
He was a better man than Cain, and his offering was a better offering than Cain’s was; but at bottom here was the difference between the two brothers, Abel had faith, and Cain had none. It was "by faith" that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain presented.
Hebrews 11:4. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
What wondrous faith this is! Here is a dead man speaking. Here is a man who is slain by his brother; yet the one who is killed receives the approbation of God.
Hebrews 11:5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;
Faith has conquered death itself, or else avoided it. There is scarcely anything which faith cannot do, for faith ranks itself on the side of the omnipotent God, and becomes all but omnipotent. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
Hebrews 11:5-6. And was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is,
He cannot come to a God who to his own mind is non-existent; he must believe that he is.
Hebrews 11:6. And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
You must believe that God hears prayer. You must believe that he will punish the guilty, and that he will reward the righteous. Without this sure faith, you cannot come to him.
Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
You see, faith and fear can live in the same heart; and they can work together to build the same ark. Faith and fear are very sweet companions, when the fear is filial fear, a holy dread of disobeying, God. When we are moved with that fear, our faith becomes practical.
Hebrews 11:7-8. By the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed;
He did not hesitate to leave his family, to leave his property, to leave his country; but he obeyed, "when he was called to go out into a place which be should after receive for an inheritance."
Hebrews 11:8. And he went out, not knowing where he went.
Faith puts her hand into God’s hand, and follows where he leads, with sweet contentment, knowing that, if she cannot see, God can, and he will not lead us wrong. Do you not remember that hymn that our Brother Chamberlain sings so sweetly?
"So on I go — not knowing, I would not if I might;
I’d rather walk in the dark with God, than go alone in the light;
I’d rather walk by faith with him, than go alone by sight.
Where he may lead, I’ll follow, My trust in him repose:
And every hour in perfect peace I’ll sing, ‘He knows! he knows!’"Hebrews 11:9-10. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
There have been many here in this house of prayer who have looked for this city, and they have gone to it. Others of us sit waiting here until our Lord’s dear hand shall beckon us, and his voice shall say, "Come up higher." We are looking for the city. Keep looking, beloved, there is nothing here worth looking for; but look for "a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
Hebrews 11:11. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
And this holy woman is enrolled among these saintly ones. Her faith was not all it ought to have been; but God saw that it was true faith, and he loved it, and he wrote the record of it.
Hebrews 11:12. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
This is true, literally, of Abraham’s seed according to the flesh. It is also true in a spiritual sense, for he is "the father of all them that believe", and they are a multitude whom no man can number.
Hebrews 11:13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
What long arms faith has! The promises are afar off, and yet faith embraces them tonight. Embrace the promises, dear friends, and stretch out your hands by faith to hands that have gone before.
"E’en now by faith we join our hands With those that went before;
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands On the eternal shore."
Hebrews 11:13. And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
They not only were strangers and pilgrims, but they confessed it. Confessed faith is requisite. Oh, you who, like Nicodemus, come to Christ by night, be ashamed that you are ashamed, and come out, and boldly confess what you are!
Hebrews 11:14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
They were strangers and pilgrims here, and they sought a country elsewhere. Every man wants a country; and if we have not one beneath the stars, we seek it somewhere else.
Hebrews 11:15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Ah, but God’s people are not mindful of that country from whence they came out! They have opportunity to return; but they have no wish to return. May God’s grace always keep any of you from turning back; for it is to turn back unto perdition! Your faces are heavenward today; keep them so. Remember the doom of any that apostatize. It is impossible, "if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance." "If the salt have lost his savor, with which shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Lord, keep your servants! Hold us up, and we shall be safe.
Hebrews 11:16. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.
They are not ashamed to be called God’s people, and he is not ashamed to be called their God. They are looking for a city, and he has prepared a city for them. Evidently he and they are well agreed. They want a Heaven, and he is preparing Heaven for them, and preparing them for Heaven.
Hebrews 11:17-19. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall your seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
This was one of the grandest achievements of faith. It was also a figure or type of God’s offering up his well-beloved Son almost on the same spot.
Hebrews 11:20-21. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
The staff which had helped him so often in his early pilgrimage, the staff on which he leaned when he came back from the place of his wrestling, halting on his thigh. He leaned on it as he sat upright on his death-couch, and pronounced the parting blessing. So, you see, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all lived by faith, and did their works by faith, and distributed blessings to their children by faith. Friend, have you this faith, or have you not? If you have it, you are blessed among men, blessed among women. If you have it not, what hope is there for you either in this life or in eternity?
Verses 1-26Hebrews 11:1-2. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.
The names of those who lived in old time are handed down with commendation because of their faith. If they had had no faith, we should have had no report of them.
Hebrews 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.
The world was not made out of the world. There was nothing to make it out of. It was created simply by the word of God, and our faith knows that. I question whether we should ever get in the matter of the creation beyond what is revealed to our faith. Reason is all very well, but faith mounts upon the shoulders of reason, and sees much farther than reason with her best telescope will ever be able to see. It is enough for us who have faith that God has told us how he made the world, and we believe it.
Hebrews 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
He spoke by faith when he lived. Faith makes him speak now that he is dead. What wonders faith can work. The first saint who entered Heaven entered there, it is certain, by faith. It was faith that enabled him to present an acceptable sacrifice, and it was faith that presented him to Heaven. If the first who entered Heaven entered there by faith, rest assured that will be true to the last; and none will enter there but those who believe.
Hebrews 11:5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Beloved, if we cannot get a translation as Enoch did, let us not be content without getting God’s good pleasure as he did. Oh! that it may be said of us that we pleased God. Then we shall, one way or another, conquer death; for if we do, we shall triumph over the grave; and if Christ shall come before we die, we shall triumph in the coming of Christ. Anyhow, faith shall be more than a match for the last enemy.
Hebrews 11:6. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Do we not sometimes fail in this matter? We try to come to God without believing that he is. We seem to pray to nothing, or to nobody, to a specter, to a phantom. But that prayer which is accepted is prayer to a real God, of whom we are assured that he is. Do we not also fail in our belief as to the success of prayer? We do not fully recognize that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He who prays, believing that God will be found by him, shall not pray in vain. Tonight we may well say, "Lord, increase our faith."
Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,
For there is a fear which comes of faith — a fear which is the strength of faith’s arms, by which it moves us into action. It is not slavish fear. It is a fit, and proper, and reasonable fear, such as any man must have that believes God’s threatenings. "Moved with fear."
Hebrews 11:7. Prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Every act of faith condemns the world. Men who did not believe in God were, some of them, made to feel condemned, and others were condemned, even if they did not feel it, when they saw this holy man building a great ship upon dry land — a ship which he never would launch, but to which God would bring the sea, so that he should float over the waters deep, absolutely secure, while others perished. If you want to judge the wickedness of men, you need not set yourself to do it in the first place. Live a holy life, and you will judge the ungodly. I have heard it said that if there is a crooked stick, and you want to show how crooked it is, you need not waste words in description. Place a straight one by the side of it, and the thing is done directly. Noah condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Hebrews 11:8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went.
Very easy to read about that, but not so easy to do it — to tear yourself from home and friends — to go into a totally unknown country, swarming with enemies, solely on the promise that one day that country should belong to his seed. It might be hundreds of years afterwards: but God had called him, and Abraham raised no question, but away he went.
Hebrews 11:9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country,
Not building a house there — not becoming a citizen of it, but always dwelling there in gypsy fashion.
Hebrews 11:9. Dwelling in tabernacles
That is, in tents.
Hebrews 11:9-10. With Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
He did not build a city. He did not try to do so, "for he looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God."
Hebrews 11:11. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
And that was good judgment, was it not? There is no mistake about that. Whatever difficulties may lie in the way, we may always know that he is faithful who has promised. You are not past age, my brother. God will bless you in seeking to do good. You are not past age, my sister. Have but faith in God, and then in your old age you may bring many to the Savior’s feet. He is faithful that has promised.
Hebrews 11:12. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead,
For he was ordered to be sacrificed. There sprung from one, and him as good as dead.
Hebrews 11:12. So many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
Or if this text means Abraham, then his body was dead; and yet there sprang of him a seed "so many as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable."
Hebrews 11:13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
By which is meant, not that they did not receive the promises, but they did not receive the things promised.
Hebrews 11:13-14. But having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
They have not come to it yet; nor will they as long as they are here below. They are still seeking a country.
Hebrews 11:15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Abraham, if he wanted to settle down, might have crossed once more the river, and gone back to Ur of Chaldees. But he did not look for a city upon earth. He was evidently looking for one somewhere else. The country that he sought was not beyond the Euphrates, but beyond the narrow stream of death.
Hebrews 11:16. But now they desire a better country,
Do you feel those desires within your heart? If not, surely you have no faith, for they that have faith in the better country desire it.
Hebrews 11:16. That is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.
He might be ashamed to be called their God if he had unsettled them, and made them long for another city, and yet had never prepared one for them. The longings of the saints are but prophecies of the blessing of God. That which he makes us hunger for, is prepared. The bread of life shall be given us, and that country which he makes us seek, exists, and will be found of us. Wherefore keep your face that way, and let every longing and pining for the home country reassure you that this is not any dreamland, but that there is such a place.
Hebrews 11:17-19. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall your seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Faith does not always account. She is satisfied with God’s word. But when she does account, then she is great at accounts, for here is a man who had not heard of the resurrection from the dead, yet believing in it. Christ had not risen from the dead. There had been no such chapter for Abraham to read as that wonderful one, the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to Corinthians; and yet his faith seemed to have a revelation within itself. God must keep his promise. Therefore, if I, in obedience to him, put the promised seed to death, God can raise him up, for he must keep his promise. He cannot lie.
Hebrews 11:20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Blind as he was, he could see more than many that have good eyes, for he had the eyes of faith. There is no end to the blessing that faith can bestow upon others. A believing man can bless his children. I believe in the blessings of good men. Why should I not? If they are believers, they have power with God. Their wishes are prayers. Their prayers are heard. Their blessings then are realities.
Hebrews 11:21. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
That wonderful staff on which he leaned when he came out of Jabbok —that wonderful staff with which he crossed this Jordan in his poverty, but after which he became two bands.
Hebrews 11:22. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
Faith touches all sense of things — even a funeral and bones, too, for faith is good at everything. She can sweep the house and seek diligently. She can enter Heaven. She can go to the gates of death. Oh! for more of it!
Hebrews 11:23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
Their faith made them hide him, for that faith laid hold of God, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
Hebrews 11:24-26. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
Verses 1-40
First, a definition of faith.
Hebrews 11:1-3. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. 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.
There was no pre-existent matter, the world was made by God’s word, so that prior to the things which are seen, there existed that which is not seen. We, dear friends, when we are trusting in the unseen God, are going back to first principles, we are getting to that which is the essence and the source of all. The next verse illustrates the worship of faith.
Hebrews 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
There is no worshiping God aright, except by faith. The most gorgeous ceremonies are as nothing in his sight; it is the faith of the heart which he accepts. Next we read of the reward of faith.
Hebrews 11:5-6. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
See this reward then; it pleases God, and that is reward enough far anyone of us. Next see faith’s safety.
Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Faith can outlive a deluge which drowns the whole world. She has an Ark even when God’s wrath sweeps all the rest away. Next we learn the obedience of faith.
Hebrews 11:8-10. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed: and he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Here you have the expectation of faith. Faith does not live on things seen; she lives on something yet to come. That which is to come she regards as eternal, not like a mere tent in which she dwells here, but a city that has foundations, fixed and firm. Next we see the strength of faith, that strength seen in the deadness of nature.
Hebrews 11:11-13. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar of, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
That is a rich word, they "embraced them." They were far off, and yet faith brought them so near that they seemed to receive them to their hearts and feel the comfort of them. Here is the confession of faith.
Hebrews 11:14-19. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall your seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Here you have the triumph of faith, one of the greatest victories that was ever achieved by faith, when a man was willing, at God’s command, to offer up his son, his only son, his son according to promise, his son in whom all the covenant was to be fulfilled. In the 20th verse you get the discernment of faith, faith foreseeing: —
Hebrews 11:20-21. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
You remember ‘his discernment, how he crossed his hands willingly that he might lay the right hand upon the younger son. Faith is always giving blessings to others, and she knows which way to give them, for God makes her wondrously quick of heart and quick of eye.
Hebrews 11:22-23. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel: and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
Here is the courage of faith: —
Hebrews 11:24-25. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son. of Pharaoh’s daughter: Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season:
Here is the choice of faith: —
Hebrews 11:26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward
Here is the judgment of faith, by which she judges wisely, choosing rather to be reproached for Christ than to reign with the world.
Hebrews 11:27-28. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Here, again, you have the obedience of faith, taking God’s precepts and carrying them out.
Hebrews 11:29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
There you have the difference between faith and presumption: faith goes through the sea, presumption is drowned in the sea.
Hebrews 11:30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
Here are the weapons of faith, the warfare of faith, with nothing but her ram’s horn trumpet she encompasses the giant walls of the city, and down they fall.
Hebrews 11:31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Here you have faith uniting itself with the people of God: she perished not with them that believed not, for she had come out from among them and allied herself with the people of God by receiving the spies.
Hebrews 11:32-35. And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jepthah: of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 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. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance: that they might obtain a better resurrection:
O the victories of faith.! When faith takes to working, how mightily she works.
Hebrews 11:36-37. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 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:
You have seen the works of faith and the sufferings of faith; now you see God’s estimate of faith. He counts the believing man to be far beyond the rest of mankind.
Hebrews 11:38-39. (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
It lay in the future to them far more than it does to us, for Christ has now come, and we look hack to that glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior, but they had altogether to look forward.
Hebrews 11:40. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
For it never was God’s intention that any part of his church should be able to do without the rest of it, so that those who lived before the time of Christ cannot do without us; neither can we do without them.
Verses 32-40Hebrews 11:32. And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
There are some names, in this chapter, which we should hardly have expected to see there, the characters mentioned having been so disfigured by serious faults, and flaws, and failings; but the distinguishing feature of faith was there in every instance, and especially in the case of Samson. Perhaps there was no more childlike faith, in any man, than there was in him; who but a man full of faith would have hurled himself upon a thousand men with no weapon in his hand but the jawbone of an donkey? There was a wondrous confidence in God in that weak, strong man, which though it does not excuse his faults, yet nevertheless puts him in the ranks of the believers. Happy is the man or woman who believes in God. There were multitudes of others, beside those whom the apostle named, —
Hebrews 11:33. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
Is that as great an exploit as subduing kingdoms? Yes, that it is; to have, by faith, preserved a holy character, in such a world of temptation as this, is a far grander achievement than to have conquered any number of kingdoms by force of arms.
Hebrews 11:33-34. Obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
Do you notice how, every now and then, there is the mention of a feat which seems altogether beyond you; but then there follows one, in which you can be a partaker with these heroes and heroines of faith? It may be that you have never "quenched the violence of fire;" yet, often enough, it has been true of you that, by faith, "out of weakness" you have been "made strong." Others —
Hebrews 11:34-35. Waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
What wondrous faith it was which sustained the saints under the awful tortures to which they were subjected! The story harrows one’s heart even to read it; what must it have been actually to endure?
Hebrews 11:36-39. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 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; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
These worthies lived before Christ came; but, since then, equally noble exploits have been performed by the heroes and heroines of faith. The Christian martyrs have shown the extremity of human endurance when they have been sustained by faith; and the head-roll of Christian heroes, since their Lord ascended to Heaven, is longer and even brighter than that of the faithful ones who came before them in the earlier dispensation.
Hebrews 11:40. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
The new dispensation is necessary to complete the old, the New Testament is the complement of the Old Testament, and New Testament saints join hands with Old Testament elders. Let us all be worthy of our high pedigree; and may God grant that, if the saints of these latter days are to perfect the history of the Church of Christ, the end may not be less heroic than the beginning was! A true poem should gather force as it grows, and its waves of thought should roll in with greater power as it nears its climax; so should the mighty poem of faith’s glorious history increase in depth and power as it gets nearer to its grand consummation, that God may be glorified yet more and more, through all his believing children. So may it be! Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 11:1-13; and Hebrews 11:32-40.
Chapter 12 Verses 1-6
Hebrews 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 does so easily beset us,
Or "entangle us."
Hebrews 12:1-3. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
The Lord does not wish his people’s hands to hang down, and their knees to become weak, so in this passage, as in many others, he administers gracious remedies. Among the rest, he bids us consider his own dear Son. Shall we faint under our small afflictions when he endured so well under his heavy burdens? Come, be strengthened, my weak heart.
"HIS way was much rougher and darker than your;
Did Christ your Lord suffer, and will you repine?"
Hebrews 12:4. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
It has hardly come to blows and bruises yet — certainly not to bloody strokes. You have not lost blood yet for Christ.
Hebrews 12:5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him:
Neither think too little of it, nor too much of it — too little of it by despising it and not listening to the voice of the rod, nor too much of it by fainting when you are rebuked of him.
Hebrews 12:6. For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
Oh! what comfort there is here! Whenever we are under the scourging hand of God, how we ought to be cheered with the thought that this is a part of the heritage of the children. There are Elis who spoil their children. God is not one of them. He spares not the rod, and the more he loves, often the more he corrects. A tree of common fruit may be let alone so long as there is some little fruit on it, but the very best fruit gets the sharpest pruning; and I have noticed that in those countries where the best wine is made, the vine-dressers cut the shoots right close in, and in the winter you cannot tell that there is a vine there at all unless you watch very carefully. They must cut them back sharp to get sweet clusters. The Lord does thus with his beloved. It is not anger. Afflictions are not always anger. There are often tokens of great love.
This exposition consisted of readings from Isaiah 35. Hebrews 12:1-6.
Verses 1-17Hebrews 12:1-2. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 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.
We can have no doubt about the great truths which we believe, for we are compassed about with a cloud of witnesses. The former chapter gives us the names of many of these glorious bearers of testimony, who all by faith achieved great wonders and so bore witness to the truth of God. Having therefore no room for doubt let us throw our whole strength into our high calling, and run with patience having our eyes always fixed upon him, the beginner and finisher of our faith, who has run the race himself and won the prize, and now sits down on the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:3-4. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
It has never come to a bloody sweat with you as with him, nor to death upon a cross, as in his case. Shall the disciple be above his master or the servant above his lord?
Hebrews 12:5-6. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
With doting parents it is not so: often him whom his mother loves is allowed to do as he pleases and to escape chastening, but this is folly. The love of God is higher and wiser than the partialities of parents. "Whom the Lord loves he chastens;" it is a token of his favor to us that he takes the trouble to remove our love of sin by sharp and bitter pain.
Hebrews 12:7-10. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they truly for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
What a bright light this sheds upon all affliction, that it is for our profit, that it is thereby we are made partakers of the holiness of God. Oh, blessed result from a little smart and bitter.
Hebrews 12:11-13. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Look at chastisement then in the divine light, and be comforted, be strengthened, be healed of the infirmity of your weakness, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Hebrews 12:14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." A man’s God is like himself, and until we become like God we cannot see God; we misunderstand God until we have been trained to imitate him.
Hebrews 12:15-17. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
It was done and could not be undone. Does it not seem strange that after speaking to us about being God’s sons and favored with his love, yet even then, in that clear blaze of light, there comes in this caution against fornication and profanity. Ah me! how near a foul spot may be to lily-like whiteness. How Judas may sit side by side with favored and true-hearted apostles, yes, and may be near the Master, too. "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." And, oh, friends, if at any time the pottage should seem very sweet and we should be very hungry, if the world’s gain should be almost necessary to our livelihood, and we are tempted to do an unrighteous thing to get it, let us take care, for Esau could not undo the terrible act of selling his birthright, neither could we if we were permitted to do so. God grant we may be spared from such a dreadful crime!
Verses 1-291, 2. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus
The Apostle seems to say, since so many look on from Heaven, and earth, and Hell, and we are runners in the great life race, let us strip to it: let us throw aside everything that would make our running difficult; every weight, however golden; every garment, however richly embroidered, lest it should entangle us in our course. And then when we have set out, let us not conclude that we have won the victory, but "run with patience," on, on, on, until at last we reach the goal.
Hebrews 12:2-3. 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
What a runner in the race was he! and what a race he ran! While we see him at the end of the course, holding out the crown, let us remember that he knows all the trials of the way, knows what pressure must be put upon ourselves before we can reach the mark.
Hebrews 12:4. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Your battles have been nothing yet; you think yourselves martyrs. What have you done? What have you suffered? What have you endured, compared with your Lord, compared with the saints of old?
Hebrews 12:5-6. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
Here is another noble reason for patience. That same trial which, on the one hand, comes from man, viewed in another way comes from, God, and is a chastening. Let us accept it at his hands, regarding it as a token of sonship.
Hebrews 12:7-8. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.
You have not your Father’s love; you are not recognized as an honor-able member of his family.
Hebrews 12:9-13. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they truly for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
The Apostle cheers up those who are tried, with the reflection that the good which will come out of their trouble will abundantly recompense them. They are not to expect to see that good at once. It will come afterwards — not yet. No reasonable man expects the harvest at the same time that he sows. You must wait a while — bear with patience — have confidence in God — and all your trials will end well.
Hebrews 12:14. Follow peace with all men,
You will not always get it, but follow it — run after it.
Hebrews 12:14-17. And holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
He sold his birthright. He could not have the pottage and the birthright too; therefore, he chose the pottage. He must stand to it. And if here, today, we deliberately choose the pleasures of this world, we must not marvel if we have to stand to them forever.
Hebrews 12:18-24. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
The center around which we gather in these days is not Sinai with its thunder and its fire; it is the cross; nay it is Heaven; it is the enthroned Savior; it is the great Mediator of a better covenant than that of which Moses came to speak. We gather there, and we make no a part of that vast throng that now surrounds that center. Oh! that we while we hear the sweet voice of the gospel, may lend it a willing ear, and may we not be among the number of those who reject the voice that speaks from Heaven to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 12:25-28. See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from Heaven, Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also Heaven And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
For let us not think that we are not to be reverent because we gather at the gospel’s call. Let us not dream that God who is a consuming fire on the top of Sinai, is less terrible under the gospel than under the law, for it is not so.
Hebrews 12:29. For our God is a consuming fire.
Chapter 13 Verses 1-21
This is a practical chapter at the close of this most instructive Epistle.
Hebrews 13:1. Let brotherly love continue.
The word "continue" implies that the "brotherly love" exists, there are many things which might put an end to it, so see to it that, as far as you are concerned, it continues. Under all provocations, and under all disappointments, "let brotherly love continue."
Hebrews 13:2-3. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
And being likely therefore to take your own turn of suffering, and to need the sympathy of your fellow-Christians. Show sympathy to others while they need it, and they will gratefully remember you when you are in bonds or in adversity.
Hebrews 13:4. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
And terrible will be their doom when God does judge them. They may think that, because they sin in secret, therefore they shall escape punishment; but it shall not be so. Whether men judge them or not, God will judge them.
Hebrews 13:5. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
You have a grand reserve, therefore. What you have in possession is only a little spending money to use on the road to Heaven, but "he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." You may confidently fall back upon the providence of God in all times of straitness and need.
Hebrews 13:6-8. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
It is for your own benefit to remember in your prayers those who preach the Word of God to you, for what can they do without divine assistance and how can you be profited by them unless they are first blessed of God? Remember them, therefore.
Hebrews 13:9. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.
Do not put yourself into every man’s hand to let him play with you as he pleases. The fish that never nibbles at the bait is not likely to be caught by the hook, and he who will not give heed to "divers and strange doctrines" is not likely to be carried away in the net of heresy.
Hebrews 13:9. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Some in the apostle’s day made religion to consist almost entirely in observing certain rules as to what they ate and what they drank. "Be not so foolish," says Paul, "there is something better than that; seek to have your heart established with grace."
Hebrews 13:10. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Those who cling to the external and ceremonial observances of religion have no right to the privileges which belong to those who come to the spiritual altar; they cannot share that secret.
Hebrews 13:11-14. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Then, my brother or sister, do not look for a continuing city here. Do not build your nest on any one of the trees of earth, for they are all marked for the axe, and they will all have to come down, and your nest too, if you have built upon them.
Hebrews 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.
If you are believers in Christ, you are God’s priests, and this is the sacrifice that you are continually to offer, — the fruit of your lips, giving thanks to God’s name.
Hebrews 13:16. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
We are to do good to others, to communicate of our own good things to those who need them, and to do this at some sacrifice to ourselves, "for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
Hebrews 13:17-19. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
You must have noted how often the apostle asks for the prayers of those to whom he is writing, so we are following a good example when we ask you to pray for us.
Hebrews 13:20-21. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Verses 1-25
Hebrews 13:1. Let brotherly love continue.
It is supposed to be there already; let it continue, not only love of a common kind, such as we are to have to all men, but that special "brotherly love" which Christians bear to one another as members of one family. "Let brotherly love continue."
Hebrews 13:2. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Abraham did so, and Lot did so; they thought they were entertaining ordinary strangers, and they washed their feet; and prepared their food but it turned out that they had entertained angels. Some people will never entertain angels unawares, for they never entertain anybody. May we be given to hospitality, for that should be part of the character of saints.
Hebrews 13:3. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;
Christian people who have got into trouble through being Christian persons who have been shut up in prison for righteousness’ sake; there were many such in Paul’s day. Sympathize with them, says the apostle, "as bound with them."
Hebrews 13:3. And them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
So that, if you are not now in adversity, you may be before long. Therefore, have a fellow feeling for those who are in trouble. If you are not yourself distressed, you are not out of the reach of such a thing; therefore be tender towards your afflicted brethren.
Hebrews 13:4-5. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
There is a fortune for you, that is a pension to fall back upon. You may very well be content to leave your temporal concerns in the hands of God, for he has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Why, if you believe that one promise of God, he will be better to you than ten thousand friends who promise to provide for you! The Provider in Heaven is better than any provider on earth. A beautiful motto is that of the old house of Chester, "God’s providence is my inheritance."
Hebrews 13:6-7. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
It seems that there were special persons, who were leaders in the Church of God, who were to be remembered, and thought upon, and considered. They were set apart for this world: "them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God." They were leaders among the saints, and Paul would have the rank and file imitate them in their confident trust in the Lord Jesus Christ: "whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation:" —
Hebrews 13:8-9. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.
Do not believe one thing today, and another thing tomorrow; be not carried about, like the thistledown in the wind. Have a faith of your own, know what you believe, and stand to it firmly.
Hebrews 13:9-10. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar,
Yes, true religion cannot exist without an altar, but what kind of altar is it? Is it a material altar? Far from it; but "we have an altar," —
Hebrews 13:10. Whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
They have nothing to do with it, for they are still under the old ceremonial law; and those whose religion consists in outward rites and ceremonies can never eat of the spiritual altar whereat spiritual men eat, for they do not understand the scripture, and they still serve the Mosaic tabernacle.
Hebrews 13:11-13. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Outside the gate, was the place of Christ’s atoning death. "Without the camp," is the place where his servants will find themselves most at home.
Hebrews 13:14. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
We cannot stop in the condemned city; we must be outside its walls. Our Lord went out of the city to die, and we must go without the camp to live.
Hebrews 13:15-16. 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. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Christian people should be always doing good. As God is ever doing good, so we can never say we have done all we ought to do and will do no more: "To do good and to communicate," that is, to communicate of your substance, and of your charitable help, "forget not."
Hebrews 13:17-19. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
The movements of God’s servants may be controlled by prayer. You cannot tell how much of blessing will come to your own souls, through the ministry, if you are in the habit of praying about it. The man who comes up to God’s house, having prayed for God to bless the preacher, is not likely to go away unprofited.
Hebrews 13:20-25. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. Know you that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Does not that blessing seem to come across the centuries as fresh as if we heard the apostle speak it with his living lips? Oh, to feel it true tonight! "Grace be with you all. Amen."