Hebrews Lesson 216 October 21,
2010
NKJ Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Let’s open our Bibles to Hebrews
13:18 where we’ll probably come close to finishing up this evening. This is
where we get into the concluding statements in this epistle. The writer moves
out of his final exhortation in verse 17 to some closing comments or his
conclusion.
NKJ Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good
conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.
NKJ Hebrews 13:19 But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
This is just a simple exhortation to
pray, an imperative that they should have him on their prayer list and that
they should be praying regularly for the writer of this epistle. It is given in
a second person plural so it’s addressed to all of those who read it. It is a
present imperative, which means this is supposed to be a characteristic
standard behavior in the life of any believer. We are to be praying for others,
intercessory prayer. We should have a prayer list and should keep track of
various prayer requests and how they are answered and how God fulfills those
requests.
NKJ Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us
He is with a group. It’s not just
him. If this was an apostle it would include his entourage. If he is an
apostle’s associate then it would include those who are with him.
NKJ Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good
conscience
This word for confident is a really
interesting word in the Greek. It is the word peitho. Peitho and pisteuo are etymologically related. Pisteuo is
the Greek word for faith, to believe. Peitho is the Greek word for “to persuade.” A
few times it’s translated to believe or trust but it primarily has the idea of
persuasion. It shows that there is a close relationship between belief and the
intellectual act of being persuaded that something is true. They are different.
There have been some that have come
out of the Free Grace Movement. This caused a lot of division a few years ago
that have tried to argue that they were the same thing, that you don’t really
have a volitional decision, you are just persuaded, and when you are persuaded,
you believe.
Sometimes you have to figure out
what the bad guy is that they’re trying to argue against. Usually that will
come out in the discussions. The bad guy that they were trying to argue against
is a view that you always have to know when you made a decision for Jesus and
that you always have to. A lot of times kids don’t know that. Kids, you know,
grow up. They grow up in a house where they always hear the gospel. When they
are in their 20’s or 30’s, they can’t really pinpoint a time when they believed
in Jesus.
But they went about it in the wrong
way by making this kind of emphasis and it’s caused a big rift in the whole
Free Grace Movement. This is why the group associated with Bob Wilkin and Zane
Hodges, John Niemalah and this crowd, were arguing for what they call passive
faith, that you are just persuaded to believe, and once you are persuaded, then
you have believed. It naturally falls out.
So those of you who were around for
the first Chafer Conference – I believe that’s when Tommy Ice had to have
a stint put in his heart so we plugged Niemalah in for a second paper—Niemalah
presented a paper on this and caused a big disruption and problems at Chafer
Seminary and other things. This is just an erroneous position.
The word split because they
emphasized different things. You are persuaded, and then you believe. They are
two parts of the process, but they are not identical. Faith is volitional.
Whenever you are commanded to do something that always is addressed to the
volition.
So peitho doesn’t have the idea of trust.
The King James translates it “confident” which I don’t think is the emphasis
here. The writer is saying “we believe” or “we are persuaded by our own lives”
that we have a good conscience. They’ve evaluated themselves in terms of
self-judgment, self evaluation and believe that they are living according to
the norms and standards of the Word of God.
Conscience here refers to that
immaterial part of the soul that is where our norms and standards are stored.
So to have a good conscience means that you are living according to those norms
and standards and to not have a good conscience means that you would be in
violation of those standards.
we have a good
conscience,
Then he expands on that in the next
phrase:
in all things
desiring to live honorably.
This really isn’t the word for honor
here, which is the Greek word time. It’s an adverbial form of kalos with the omicron 's' and it means to live
well or live according to the standard of the Christian life. The root word
here relates to being good, to live good, to live well, to live right in some
context. So they are living
according to their norms and standards, which means they are living well or
living correctly. That means that they are living according to the standards of
the Christian way of life.
But that’s what he is emphasizing
should be the focus of prayer is that they continue to live according to the
standards of the Word of God.
So there are two things we learn
from this.
So there are two aspects of
application there. But that is the emphasis.
NKJ Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good
conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.
Then verse 19 starts with this
contrast – just a slight contrast. It’s more of a movement. It moves to
the next level as it were.
NKJ Hebrews 13:19 But I especially urge you
This would be not just urge; but
it’s an exhortation. It’s a challenge.
to do this,
That is pray.
that I may be
restored to you the sooner.
“To do this that I may be restored
to you sooner”, the “being restored” doesn’t sound like it fits with what he
said before. So there’s an ellipsis here based on the fact that he knows his
readers understand his position and where he is. But all this tells us is that
he seems to be somewhere else and there seems to be something that hinders him
from being with them in their presence, but we don’t know what that is. That’s
all we can infer from this is that, and probably at first supposition well,
maybe he’s in prison as Paul was in prison. There’s a mention of Timothy being
set free in verse 23. So I would think that if that is what is hindering him
that he would say it a little more clearly. We are not sure just why he wasn’t
able to be restored to them at this particular time.
Then he comes to his closing
benediction or his closing prayer, blessing upon his readers.
NKJ Hebrews 13:20 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,
NKJ Hebrews 13:21 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.
We have this brief closing prayer and statement that
focuses on what the goal should be.
If you break this down, these 2 verses, a lot of
extraneous material is here that is not unnecessary material but extraneous in
the sense that it doesn’t relate to the main idea. The main idea has to do with
“may God do something.” May God make you complete in every good work.
Everything else modifies either God or making you complete or equipping you in
every good work.
So verse 20 focuses on identifying the God of peace
and attributes related to God that focus our thinking on the message of the
book.He says several things. He says first of all He is the God first of peace.
Second, He is the God who raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Third, he
identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep. Then
fourth he makes this statement, “through the blood of the everlasting
covenant.” Now this is a very unusual verse, and commentators really struggle
with this. It’s not an easy solution.
NKJ Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,
“Who brought up” is one word. It’s a participle in the
Greek.
that great Shepherd of the sheep,
…modifies the Lord Jesus, so let’s just take that out
in our minds.
He brought up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead…
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
This is the only place in the New Testament that
indicates that resurrection of Jesus is related to the New Covenant and is on
the basis of the New Covenant. It is through the New covenant. It is en plus the
dative. It’s very clearly stated this is a statement of means: that God raises
Jesus through or by means of the eternal covenant.
That’s a very odd way of stating it; but it would
indicate that the resurrection then is based on the fact that sin has been
conquered. If we can add some
thoughts from Romans, it indicates that it is a statement or a validation of
God for what Christ did on the cross in completely paying for sin. It is that sacrifice that paid for sin
that establishes or that is the basis for the New Covenant. It doesn’t inaugurate or begin the New
Covenant.
This is when we get into a little bit difficult
terminology and theologians haven’t settled on precision in some of this
terminology. The covenant we can say was established in the sense that the
sacrifice for the New Covenant was made at the cross. But the covenant doesn’t
go into effect until the end of the Tribulation when Jesus Christ returns to
the earth. So all of the aspects of the New Covenant are yet future.
Now we are not experiencing the benefits of the New Covenant
as it is stated in the Old Testament. We are experiencing things that are
similar to and foreshadow different aspects of the New Covenant, but the New
Covenant is not here. The New Covenant implies, clearly states that everybody
(all the Jews) are indwelt by the Holy Spirit such that no one needs to teach
their neighbor anything about the Word. There is sort of this intuitive grasp
of doctrine as the result of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit under the
New Covenant.
I’ve heard seminary professors and pastors try to
argue that what we learn from the Word of God, the Holy Spirit teaches us and
that’s the application. But that’s not what the text says in the Old Testament.
So we have to get away from that. We are not living under the New Covenant.
Then you get into the problem with amillenialists and
post-millenialists who argue that we are in a form of the kingdom. See the New
Covenant is related to the kingdom. We are in a form of the kingdom; and we are
partially under the New Covenant, but not fully under the New Covenant. So you
have this terminology – already but not yet. It’s already here but not
yet fully. This just sets up a duality that’s just not biblical. It’s not here
at all. We’re ministers of the New Covenant, which is what Paul says in 2
Corinthians. We are ministers of the New Covenant but only because as we
proclaim the gospel and people believe it. Then in the future they will
experience full New Covenant blessing but not because they do that at this
point.
If we’re under the New Covenant now in any sense, if
it is in action, if it’s been inaugurated, then we’ve got some real problems
with the kingdom.
Now I’m not going to get into any more detail than
that tonight because this is a major issue in the first 3 or 4 chapters in
Acts. We are going to be tired of this subject in about 3 months as we go
through this because it all relates to this transition period and the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Peter talks about in Acts 2 when he
identifies what happened on the Day of Pentecost with what Joel prophesized in
Joel 2; that this is what Joel the Prophet spoke of. What we’ll learn is that
Peter wasn’t saying that this is a fulfillment in the sense of a fulfillment of
Jesus was born in Bethlehem or Jesus would be the Son of David. But he’s
drawing a parallel that the ministry of God the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost wasn’t a fulfillment of Joel 2 in the sense of a literal fulfillment
because Joel 2 is talking about the Day of the Lord when the New Covenant and
the kingdom come into being in history. That happens at the end of the
Tribulation. That’s what begins the Millennial Kingdom.
None of the things that Joel mentions in Joel 2:28-32
are mentioned in Acts 2. What happens in Acts 2 (which is speaking in tongues)
isn’t mentioned in Joel 2. It’s just a parallel. So what we see is that
something new comes into existence on the Day of Pentecost. There is an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit that is analogous or similar to the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit that will occur at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom when
the New Covenant is put into effect, but it is not the same thing.
So this New Covenant, the
everlasting covenant terminology here, is very important to understand.
NKJ Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace
God is referred to many times as the
God of peace because He is the source of peace.
Romans 5:1 says:
NKJ Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have
Present tense
peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
God is the one who is the source of
peace. Some people struggle with the genitive here and try to make it
attributive or quality or something like that, some sort of adjectival sense;
but it's a genitive of source. God is the one who's the source of peace because
He is the one who provided peace in terms of the harmonious relationship
between man and God. God is one who designed the plan that restores peace
between man and God. God is the one who brought peace about by the work of
Jesus Christ on the cross. So we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ and that peace was made possible because of God's grace.
This is the peace that Paul talks
about in Romans 15:33.
NKJ Romans 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Again this describes God as being
the source of peace.
NKJ Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly…
Notice the juxtaposition there of
the God of peace and the verb to crush. Peaceful people don't crush things, do
they? But God who is a God of peace crushes. He violently and completely
defeats and destroys Satan and sends him to the Lake of Fire. So that ought to
modify our view of peace just a little bit.
1 Corinthians 14:33 says something
else related to peace.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the
saints.
Again this emphasizes the idea that
God is the source of peace and that those who are in right relationship to God
should experience that peace.
Now the next thing that this verse
says is His role in the resurrection: that the God of peace is the one who
brought up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead
NKJ Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus
from the dead,
Jesus Christ did not raise himself
from the dead; but it was God the Father who was the one who raised Him from
the dead and brought Him forth from the grave. This is an expression of the Father as judge validating and
verifying the completeness of Christ’s work on the cross and that the Father's
righteousness and justice were completely satisfied by the work of Jesus Christ
on the cross.
Then we have the next phrase that
modifies Jesus and refers to Him as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep. This goes
back to what Jesus taught in John 10:11 which has its root in the Old
Testament. I want you to notice in the next couple of slides here the
connection between something Jesus said that comes out of the Old Testament.
NKJ John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives
His life for the sheep.
The shepherd is typically emphasized
as the one who leads and guides and provides for the sheep. “The Lord is my
shepherd” in Psalm 23:1 emphasizes the provision of God; that He takes care of
us. “The Lord is my Shepherd.” What? “I shall not want.” There are no needs
that I have because God is my Shepherd. That completely negates all need-based
psychology which dominates of modern psychological theory. We do not have
needs, not if you're a believer. Psalm 23:1 says you don’t. God is your
shepherd. You have no needs, period. Don’t talk about it; you’re just
arrogant.
NKJ John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives
His life for the sheep.
This connects the role of the shepherd
to the role of the high priest who provides the sacrifice. Jesus identifies
Himself as the Shepherd, and the Shepherd will sacrifice Himself for the good
of sheep.
This also goes back to Isaiah
63:11.
NKJ Isaiah 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying: "Where is He who brought them up out of the sea
With the shepherd of His flock?
Moses being the shepherd of his
flock, God’s flock (the people.)
Where is He who put
His Holy Spirit within them,
The emphasis of leadership in God
shepherding of the people is then seen to be directly related to the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd.
NKJ Hebrews 13:20 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,
Now every covenant is established on
the basis of a sacrifice, right? We have to sacrifice that you have after Adam
and Eve sinned when God clothes them with animals. Obviously He clothed them
with animal skins, God had to skin the animals which means they had died. So
there's a death there. There’s the sacrifice of the Noahic Covenant, Genesis 9.
There’s a sacrifice of the Mosaic Covenant; and the New Covenant is established
by or through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
But here it's referred to as an
everlasting covenant. It’s not identified as the New Covenant.
There are some people come along and
say, “This is a different covenant.”
But it's not. You have to connect
this back to the terminology in the Old Testament which talks about the
everlasting covenant, Isaiah 55:3.
NKJ Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul
shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you -- The sure
mercies of David.
In Isaiah 55:3 God is calling Israel
back to Him and talking about something that will take place in the future. Now
Isaiah wrote in the 7th century BC, and he is often predicting the
coming destruction of Judah by Babylon. So he pictures Judah as being the apostate
nation, but God is wooing them and telling them that He will make a future
covenant, an everlasting covenant with them. The only covenant that could fit
would be the New Covenant.
NKJ Isaiah 61:8 "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting
covenant.
…talking about the future
generation. The section around Isaiah 60, 61, 62 all relates to the future
Millennial Kingdom.
Jeremiah uses the term as well in
Jeremiah 32:40. In Jeremiah 31:31-33 is the only passage that specifically uses
the name New Covenant; but the next chapter is describing it.
NKJ Jeremiah 32:40 'And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not
turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that
they will not depart from Me.
No more negative volition!
NKJ Jeremiah 50:5 They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying, 'Come
and let us join ourselves to the LORD In a perpetual covenant
Or everlasting covenant.
That will not be forgotten.'
Here's another good verse in Ezekiel
37:26. God said:
NKJ Ezekiel 37:26 "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall
be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them,
and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
That occurs in the New Heavens and
New Earth. Remember Ezekiel 37 is right before 38 and 39, which occurs during
the Tribulation period. Then Ezekiel 40 and following describes the Tribulation
Temple. So Ezekiel 37 is describing that New Covenant that comes into effect
with Israel at the end of the Tribulation period.
Then we have a connection between of
blood and the covenant in Zechariah 9:11.
NKJ Zechariah 9:11 " As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will
set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Zechariah focuses on prophecy and
the coming of the Messiah.
So all of this sums up what we find
in verse 20. It explains it.
NKJ Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord
Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
…God the Father who was the one responsible
for the resurrection. Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, pulling
in all of those analogies from the Old Testament.
through the
blood of the everlasting covenant,
He's the one who made the
sacrifice.
Now we get the completion of the
thought.
NKJ Hebrews 13:21 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.
First of all we have this verb that
is translated “making you complete” which is the Greek word katartizo.
There are various cognates of this word. There’s artizo; there's katartizmos which is the noun. They all
have to do was something like preparation, equipping somebody for a task,
preparing somebody for a task, giving someone all of the things they need for a
task. There’s also a noun related to this noun katartisis, which means the process of
maturation or growing to maturity. The idea here is “may the God of peace make
you complete or bring you to maturity or equip you so that you can be a fully
functional mature believer.
This connects to a couple of other
passages in Scripture. In
Ephesians 4:11-12, in verse 11 we are told that God gave certain gifts to the
church: apostles, prophets, pastors-and-teachers and evangelists.
NKJ Ephesians 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ,
That is the maturing, the
strengthening of the body of Christ. So the spiritually gifted leaders are
given for the purpose of training or equipping the saints so that they can grow
to maturity and the body of Christ might be edified.
Then 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we find this
word “equipped” katartismos.
NKJ 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
NKJ 2 Timothy 3:17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly
equipped for every good work.
So how are you equipped? Through the
teaching of the Word of God. It is the Word of God that gives us what we need
to be equipped.
This is the same thing Jesus said in
John 17:17.
NKJ John 17:17 "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
So it is through the Word of God and
the Spirit of God that the believer is matured. This is how God works. Some
people trip over these verses and they look at this and say, “Well, God is
working in you. Does that override your volition?” No, not at all. God is
working in and through us through God the Holy Spirit and through the Word of
God to bring us to maturity.
This is the same thought that’s
expressed in Philippians 2:12-13.
NKJ Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling;
He is not talking about phase one
justification there. He is talking about the ongoing process of sanctification.
It is that same idea that we are to be engaged in learning, studying, applying
the Word of God under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, working out –
we would say our sanctification, our being saved from the power of sin.
NKJ Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do
for His good
pleasure.
You see both aspects. On the one
hand we work out our salvation. We exercise our volition to go to Bible class,
to learn the Word, to walk by means of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
stores it in our soul, brings it to memory for us to apply it. We make a
volitional decision to apply it.
We're working there; but it is God
who works in the process through God the Holy Spirit to bring about our desire
to serve Him and to do His good pleasure. The words “good pleasure” are also
found back in Hebrews 13:21 that He's working in us to do what is well-pleasing
in His sight.” So we want to live and think in a way that pleases God.
We see the same idea in Romans
12:1-2 that we are to do His will. In Romans 12 Paul says:
NKJ Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service.
NKJ Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God.
“That you may demonstrate in your
life as you apply the Word what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of
God.”
That word acceptable is the same
word used back here in Hebrews 13:21 – that which is well-pleasing in His
sight.
NKJ Romans 14:18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by
men.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well
pleasing to Him.
This is our motivation, to please
God.
Ephesians 5:10 related to walking in
truth, walking by the Spirit, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, what
is pleasing to the Lord.
NKJ Philippians 4:18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from
Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice,
well pleasing to God.
Giving to support pastors in this
case but just helping of the believers financially, believers who need it. This
is well-pleasing to God.
In verse 21 we see the completion of
this blessing statement that we’re praying to God will make us complete in
every good work to do His will, working in us what is well- pleasing in His
sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever.
He is the one who gets the glory.
Then we come to the last final
statement in the last 3 or 4 verses.
NKJ Hebrews 13:22 And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I
have written to you in few words.
…referring what he has stated.
This isn’t your normal epistle like
Romans or 1 Corinthians or Galatians, but I believe it is taken from a sermon
and then, as I said in the introduction, written down. It is a word or message
of exhortation which is a challenge to people to make a shift in their actions,
in their lives - to quit veering off course and to stay on course.
NKJ Hebrews 13:22 And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I
have written to you in few words.
Thirteen chapters, you might not think
that was a few words; but the writer of Hebrews did.
NKJ Hebrews 13:23 Know that our brother Timothy
Most people believe this would be
the Timothy that Paul mentored. This is the Timothy that Paul trained; this is
the Timothy who pastored in Ephesus that was the recipient of 1st
and 2nd Timothy.
has been set
free, with
We didn’t know he needed to be set
free, did we? It’s not mentioned anywhere in Acts or anywhere in either 1st
or 2nd Timothy. So this indicates that the writing of Hebrews is later
than those events, which would put it probably after the death of Paul. It
could be right around the time of Paul, but this is the only time that we have
any indication that that Timothy was perhaps arrested or imprisoned.
And the writer says that he is
closely associated with Timothy.
whom I shall
see you if he comes shortly.
So he would travel with Timothy if
you come to visit of those to whom he is writing this letter.
NKJ Hebrews 13:24 Greet all those who rule over you, and all the
saints. Those from Italy greet you.
Now this is a particularly curious
statement – "those from Italy". Does that mean that the writer
is in Italy? Probably not. The way the phrases are used in the Greek, it
probably indicates that he is not in Italy and there are some with him (some
believers from Italy who are with him, some from Rome, some from other places)
who were with him that are known to his recipients. Neither the recipients nor
he himself and those with him are in Italy; but they have some with them some believers
from Italy there so he simply says:
Those from
Italy greet you.
Then he closes out in verse 25:
NKJ Hebrews 13:25 Grace be
with you all. Amen.
…emphasizing God’s grace. It’s articular in the Greek indicating “the
grace.” That is, “The grace of God be with you all. Amen.”
So we come our closing, our
conclusion on the study of Hebrews that we started some 5 years ago.
Next week I want to come back to
just tie it all together again, our final flyover so we can pull all the
different threads together and be reminded one more time what we've learned in
Hebrews, what we’ve covered, go back over – spend a little bit more time
to pull the first few chapters together because it's been awhile since we were
there. Then in two weeks we will start Romans. So that should be a
challenge.