Exhortations (12:12-13:25)

1
Lesson 7 Christianity Has a Worthy Expectation
A Sustaining Faith (1019-1325)--Part 2

• Exhortations (1212-1325)
• Pursue peace.
• Avoid defilement.
• Do not refuse the messenger.
• Care for brothers, strangers, and the captured.
• Be sexually moral.
• Live without covetousness.
• Respect rulers.
• Do not be deluded by false doctrine.
• Offer spiritual sacrifices.
• Heed the word of exhortation.

2
Pursue peace (1212-14)

• (Heb 1212 NKJV) Therefore strengthen the hands
  which hang down, and the feeble knees,
• (Heb 1213 NKJV) and make straight paths for
  your feet, so that what is lame may not be
  dislocated, but rather be healed.
• (Heb 1214 NKJV) Pursue peace with all people,
  and holiness, without which no one will see the
  Lord
• Note Is. 353 was spoken to discouraged Jews in
  exile, waiting for deliverance.
• (Isa 353 NKJV) Strengthen the weak hands, And
  make firm the feeble knees.
• (Isa 354 NKJV) Say to those who are
  fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold,
  your God will come with vengeance, With the
  recompense of God He will come and save you."

3
Pursue peace (1212-14)--Contd

• (Heb 1212 NKJV) Therefore strengthen the hands
  which hang down, and the feeble knees,
• (Heb 1213 NKJV) and make straight paths for
  your feet, so that what is lame may not be
  dislocated, but rather be healed.
• (Heb 1214 NKJV) Pursue peace with all people,
  and holiness, without which no one will see the
  Lord
• How do these verses convey the admonition to
• Keep on keeping on? (212)
• Keep on the right path? (213, Prov. 426-27)
• How fundamental is peace to Christianity? (I
  Pet. 311-12 Ps. 3414-16 Rom. 1218 Mark
  950)
• Can peace include holiness/sanctification?
  (1214 Rom. 51)

4
Avoid defilement (1215-17)

• (Heb 1215 NKJV) looking carefully lest anyone
  fall short of the grace of God lest any root of
  bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by
  this many become defiled
• (Heb 1216 NKJV) lest there be any fornicator
  or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel
  of food sold his birthright.
• (Heb 1217 NKJV) For you know that afterward,
  when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was
  rejected, for he found no place for repentance,
  though he sought it diligently with tears.
• What does it mean to fall short of the grace of
  God? (1215)
• What is a root of bitterness?
• How can it spring up?
• How can it cause many to be lost?

5
Avoid defilement (1215-17)--Contd

• (Heb 1216 NKJV) lest there be any fornicator
  or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel
  of food sold his birthright.
• (Heb 1217 NKJV) For you know that afterward,
  when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was
  rejected, for he found no place for repentance,
  though he sought it diligently with tears.
• In what sense were Esaus values a warning to the
  Hebrews?
• What is the warning for the Hebrews in verse 17?
  (64-6, 1026 see Gen. 2734, 38)
• How can we become defiled today?
• If we do, what will we lose?

6
Do not refuse the messenger (1218-29)

• (Heb 1218 NKJV) For you have not come to the
  mountain that may be touched and that burned with
  fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
• (Heb 1219 NKJV) and the sound of a trumpet and
  the voice of words, so that those who heard it
  begged that the word should not be spoken to them
  anymore.
• (Heb 1220 NKJV) (For they could not endure
  what was commanded "And if so much as a beast
  touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot
  with an arrow."
• (Heb 1221 NKJV) And so terrifying was the
  sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid
  and trembling.")
• Describe the scene at Mt. Sinai when the Law of
  Moses was given. (Deut. 523-27, 919 Ex.
  1912-13 Acts 732)

7
Do not refuse the messenger (1218-29)--Contd

• (Heb 1222 NKJV) But you have come to Mount
  Zion and to the city of the living God, the
  heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of
  angels,
• (Heb 1223 NKJV) to the general assembly and
  church of the firstborn who are registered in
  heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits
  of just men made perfect,
• What does Mount Zion represent?
• In what sense had the Hebrew Christians come to
  Mount Zion?
• Could they have Mount Sinai and Mount Zion at
  the same time? (109, Rom. 74)
• When were just men made perfect? (Heb. 915)

8
Do not refuse the messenger (1218-29)--Contd

• (Heb 1224 NKJV) to Jesus the Mediator of the
  new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that
  speaks better things than that of Abel.
• (Heb 1225 NKJV) See that you do not refuse Him
  who speaks. For if they did not escape who
  refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall
  we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks
  from heaven,
• How bad was/is it to refuse Jesus Christ--His
  message and Him as messenger?

9
Do not refuse the messenger (1218-29)--Contd

• (Heb 1225 NKJV) ...much more shall we not
  escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from
  heaven,
• (Heb 1226 NKJV) whose voice then shook the
  earth but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once
  more I shake not only the earth, but also
  heaven."
• (Heb 1227 NKJV) Now this, "Yet once more,"
  indicates the removal of those things that are
  being shaken, as of things that are made, that
  the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
• (Heb 1228 NKJV) Therefore, since we are
  receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let
  us have grace, by which we may serve God
  acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
• What is being shaken and will be removed?
• What will remain?

10
Care for brothers, strangers, and the captured.
(131-2)

• (Heb 131 NKJV) Let brotherly love continue.
• (Heb 132 NKJV) Do not forget to entertain
  strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly
  entertained angels.
• (Heb 133 NKJV) Remember the prisoners as if
  chained with them those who are mistreated
  since you yourselves are in the body also.
• Why was brotherly love particularly important at
  that time? (1033-34)
• With what kind of empathy are Christians to
  remember those in distress?

11
Be sexually moral. (134)

• (Heb 134 NKJV) Marriage is honorable among
  all, and the bed undefiled but fornicators and
  adulterers God will judge.
• What is fornication?
• What is adultery? (Matt. 199)

12
Live without covetousness. (135)

• (Heb 135 NKJV) Let your conduct be without
  covetousness be content with such things as you
  have. For He Himself has said, "I will never
  leave you nor forsake you.
• (Heb 136 NKJV) So we may boldly say "The LORD
  is my helper I will not fear. What can man do to
  me?"
• What is covetousness?
• Is covetousness limited to money, or even
  material possessions?
• How does covetousness relate to trusting the Lord
  for help?

13
Respect rulers. (137)

• (Heb 137 NKJV) Remember those who rule over
  you, who have spoken the word of God to you,
  whose faith follow, considering the outcome of
  their conduct.
• (Heb 137 NASB) Remember those who led you, who
  spoke the word of God to you and considering the
  result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
• What two characteristics are used to identify
  those whom the author said should be remembered
  and imitated?
• What about the lives of those people made them
  worthy of imitation?

14
Do not be deluded by false doctrine. (138-14)

• (Heb 138 NKJV) Jesus Christ is the same
  yesterday, today, and forever.
• (Heb 139 NKJV) Do not be carried about with
  various and strange doctrines. For it is good
  that the heart be established by grace, not with
  foods which have not profited those who have been
  occupied with them.
• How do we know that the doctrine of Christ has
  not changed since the time that the New Testament
  was written? (Heb. 138, John 1613, Gal. 18)

15
Do not be deluded by false doctrine.
(138-14)--Contd

• (Heb 1310 NKJV) We have an altar from which
  those who serve the tabernacle have no right to
  eat.
• (Heb 1311 NKJV) For the bodies of those
  animals, whose blood is brought into the
  sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned
  outside the camp.
• (Heb 1312 NKJV) Therefore Jesus also, that He
  might sanctify the people with His own blood,
  suffered outside the gate.
• (Heb 1313 NKJV) Therefore let us go forth to
  Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
• (Heb 1314 NKJV) For here we have no continuing
  city, but we seek the one to come.
• What was the true and only effective altar?
• Was salvation for the Hebrew Christians within
  the camp of Judaism?
• Why? (See verses 1222-23 and related questions.)

16
Offer spiritual sacrifices. (1315-21)

• (Heb 1315 NKJV) Therefore by Him let us
  continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God,
  that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
  His name.
• Because Jesus Christ is the same today (138) and
  because we must come to Him (1313), what should
  we do? (1315)
• Do mechanical instruments of music accomplish
  this?

17
Offer spiritual sacrifices. (1315-21)--Contd

• (Heb 1316 NKJV) But do not forget to do good
  and to share, for with such sacrifices God is
  well pleased.
• (Heb 1317 NKJV) Obey those who rule over you,
  and be submissive, for they watch out for your
  souls, as those who must give account. Let them
  do so with joy and not with grief, for that would
  be unprofitable for you.
• .
• (Heb 1320 NKJV) Now may the God of peace who
  brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that
  great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of
  the everlasting covenant,
• (Heb 1321 NKJV) make you complete in every
  good work to do His will, working in you what is
  well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
  to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
• Is our response to Christ limited to formal
  corporate worship? (1316)
• Notice how much of the gospel is in verse 20!

18
Heed the word of exhortation. (1322-25)

• (Heb 1322 NKJV) And I appeal to you, brethren,
  bear with the word of exhortation, for I have
  written to you in few words.
• (Heb 1323 NKJV) Know that our brother Timothy
  has been set free, with whom I shall see you if
  he comes shortly.
• (Heb 1324 NKJV) Greet all those who rule over
  you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet
  you.
• (Heb 1325 NKJV) Grace be with you all. Amen.
• Is this word of exhortation relevant to us
  today?