If the first few chapters of this letter to the Hebrews were a slow build to define and describe the significance of God’s truth, the final two chapters are a rapid-fire plea for application.

At first, it may seem like Hebrews 13 is a list of dos and don’ts, but the author of Hebrews has made it clear that legalism – ceremonies and works to gain the favor of God – has no place in the lives of believers. Instead, the exhortations in this chapter are intended to guide us in our response to the truths that we have learned throughout the letter to the Hebrews. They are practical pictures of loving God and loving others. Under the New Covenant, we have access to God through Jesus Christ. He writes His laws on our hearts and puts the Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth (John 16:13). We will respond obediently in love for Him, and His commands will not be burdensome to us (1 John 5:3).

Through the author’s final exhortations and reminders, let’s allow the Word of God to pierce our souls, discern even the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, and convict us of how the Lord would have us respond to His truth.

Show Notes.

We've just got this one life to live, this one race to run, and the Lord cares about how we run it. God's encouragement and His discipline go hand-in-hand are both His gift to us as He guides and cares for us.

Show Notes.

We've finally come to the first chapter of Hebrews that we are likely already familiar with. We're so accustomed to reading Hebrews 11 and viewing it as an account of the incredible faithfulness of the ones who've gone before us. But what if instead, we viewed it as an account of those who can testify to the faithfulness of their God--of our God?

Whatever our circumstances, we can have confident faith not in our ability to have faith, but in our very faithful God.

Show Notes.

Active belief requires putting our faith into practice. It requires taking what might seem like theory and applying it to the way that we live out our days on this earth.

In Hebrews 10, the author encourages us: Since Christ has made a way for us to come into the presence of God, then we ought to respond accordingly--we ought to actually draw near to God! And then, as though knowing that might sound obscure, he gives us a few specific instructions:

• Hold firmly to the hope we confess -- keep our eyes on the promises of God and His faithfulness to those promises.
• Encourage one another to live out our faith -- to love and serve those God has given us.
• Continue gathering together. Don't give up on community.

Living on this earth requires endurance. It requires persevering through suffering and a continual turning to God even in the midst of what we cannot understand. This week we consider what our hope is and how we can keep walking toward Jesus even in a world fraught with pain and suffering.

Show Notes.

In Lesson 8, we talk about the significance of remembering. We are encouraged to remember what God has done for us -- to recall His past faithfulness and remind ourselves that He can be trusted. We are also reminded that the Old Covenant, with its sacrifices and offerings, provided a reminder of sin year after year. Under the New Covenant, when Christ extends His perfect forgiveness, He no longer remembers our sins. Instead, we celebrate communion as a way to remember what Christ has done for us.

Christ has come once to save us from the death our sin deserved--to draw us to Himself. He will return to save us from the consequences of that sin -- to unroll His perfect and unshakeable kingdom upon this earth.

Show Notes.

All of the good news of the gospel can start to sound a lot like theory, especially when we start talking about covenants and promises that were made to people who lived thousands of years ago. Even when we are able to summon the faith and hope to believe that the God who has kept that covenant for thousands of years, we may not know what to do with it when our tire is flat on a Wednesday.

That was the reality of my week. I was deep into preparing this lesson about Jesus' faithfulness to His covenants, about how even the Old Covenant Law is intended to point us to the Lord who forever welcomes us into His presence, who places that presence within us, and I was encouraged by it. But then things didn't go as planned, and I ended up in a place where I hadn't inteded to be.

And right there in the tire shop -- in the place I wished I wasn't -- God showed me what the New Covenant meant for me in that moment:

• It meant that He was with me.
• It meant that He could forgive me for the impatience and critical spirit that overflowed within me.
• It meant that I wasn't alone.
• It meant that even that menial trial didn't have to be wasted if I would let Him use it to shape my heart by the power of His Spirit.

It meant that God is even God of tire shops.

View Show Notes (which include the images I reference in the first part of the episode.)

In Hebrews 7, we find Jesus introduced as the perfect mediator--the perfect go-between for God and man. Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins and revealed Himself to be the perfect priest.

Under the Old Covenant Law, a priest was needed to go before God on behalf of mankind and to come before mankind on behalf of God. When Jesus, our Great High Priest, came, He became the final, perfect go-between for God and man, introducing a way for each of us to draw near to God through Him. No longer do we need another mediator to go before God on our behalf.

I don't know who in your life you think might have more direct access to God. Perhaps you think your teacher or pastor or parent or friend has God's ear in a way that you don't, is invited before God in a way that you aren't, is welcome in God's presence in a way you could never be.

But I am confident that, in Christ, you have all the access you need. The only question is whether you will come.

Helpful Links for Lesson 6-The Perfect Go-Between

• EP 7: Lesson Six - The Perfect Go-Between
• Workbook is Available on Amazon - Hebrews: Drawing Near to Jesus

In Hebrews 6, we come across one of the most controversial and confusing passages of Scripture, and we are forced to ask ourselves, what does it mean to "fall away" from God? My hope in this lesson is that we will be challenged and encouraged to "press on" to maturity, to not grow weary in seeking Christ, to persevere in our pursuit of Him--not because we are earning salvation but because we are assured that Christ has provided it.

In the Abrahamic Covenant, God obligated Himself for the redemption of mankind. He put His own life on the line. And 2000 years later, God wrapped Himself in fragile flesh and gave up His very life.

Jesus has secured our hope inside the veil (Hebrews 6:19), in the very presence of God Himself. This is the hope we are invited to hold to: That the One who kept that ancient promise to Abraham will keep every other One He's made. He is trustworthy. His promises are sure. And the author of Hebrews knows it, so he tells us to endure, to persevere, to not "be lazy."

Helpful Links:

• EP 6: Lesson Five - What Does It Mean to "Fall Away"?
• Workbook is Available on Amazon - Hebrews: Drawing Near to Jesus