A Greater Shepherd

Jesus is Greater: An Exposition of Hebrews November 23, 2025 Hebrews 13:18-25 Notes

We live in a world filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and spiritual drift. Many believers feel ill-equipped to live lives that truly please God. We often try to rely on our own strength, self-help strategies, or even religious routines rather than trusting the One who is greater than all our problems and needs. Some of us feel wounded, weary, or wandering. Like sheep, we easily go astray. What we need most is not more effort, but a greater Shepherd.

That’s why today’s message is so important. The author of Hebrews closes with a benediction that points us to Jesus, our Great Shepherd, who alone can equip us to live lives pleasing to God.

In the book of Hebrews 13:18-25, the author concluded his letter to the Jewish background believers by offering a benediction asking God to equip believers through Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, to live lives pleasing to God.

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Transcript

It's great seeing you here this morning. We're together on a significant day. It's the final sermon in this sermon series, sermon number 26. For 26 Sundays we've spent working through the book of Hebrews together. We started three years ago and we've worked on it in the Autumn season for three years and now finishing up before Thanksgiving.

And I have to admit that I'm a little sentimental about leaving it behind. I've been living here for several weeks and it's been a wonderful, wonderful journey. And as we stand at these final verses in chapter 13, I hope you feel as I do, that we don't have to end the journey. We can keep studying what we've learned. And my prayer is that we will carry the core truths that we've learned together from this book forward and continue to study this magnificent letter for the rest of our lives.

And there's really no other book like the book of Hebrews either in the New Testament or the Old Testament. Think about what we've learned. It contains the most significant and sophisticated Greek in all the New Testament. The New Testament's written in Koine Greek. Much of Hebrews is written in classical Greek.

It's very highly rhetorical, polished and it's structured like a sermon. It masterfully navigates Old Testament categories. We've referred to it as like the reader's digest version of the Old Testament. And it discusses the priesthood, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the covenants, all to demonstrate one towering non negotiable truth. Jesus is greater.

It offers a unique theological voice introducing Jesus as the Melchizedek of priests, that he comes from the order of Melchizedek and shows us just how vast and glorious his office is. And this entire grand masterpiece has been distilled into one magnificent theme. Jesus is greater. He's greater. Yet we live in a world that's filled with anxiety, uncertainty and even spiritual drift among believers.

Many believers feel ill equipped to live a life fully pleasing to God. We often rely on our own strength or our own self help strategies or even religious routines. I asked someone recently, on a scale of 1 to 10, how are you doing with Jesus? And the person answered, something like three, I think is what I recall. And I thought, well, what's going on in your life?

Why are you feeling distant from Jesus today? And they begin to answer, as many of us do, maybe you've done this. I haven't been having a faithful quiet time. I haven't been reading my Bible, I haven't been praying. I’ve not been attending church as I should, or I haven't been going to my community group.

And they begin to list these outward things, these important things that may or may not be indicative of where you're at in your spiritual walk. But what I was really asking wasn't these outward things. I was asking, how are you and Jesus doing? Are you growing in love with him? Do you know him better today than you knew him yesterday?

Do you have an ongoing conversation with him? Do you find yourself empowered by his spirit? We're all tempted to drift back into religious things and self effort. It's the default of human nature. But this great book calls us to this greatest person, Jesus, as the one who is able to shepherd us.

And that's really what this final sermon is about. He's a great shepherd. He's the great shepherd of the sheep. And that's why this message is so important. As the author of Hebrews closes with some personal prayer requests, with an amazing benediction and finally a P.S. at the end, as most letters would require.

And so as we close this letter out, we will see how Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, offers us a way to equip us to please God. And I believe today that we can depend on, we can rely on this great shepherd to help us please God. And the text gives us three essential priorities that through Jesus the great shepherd, we can live lives pleasing to God. So let's dig in.

We're picking up at verse 18 through the end of the book. Hebrews 13:18-25 (ESV) 18 “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

22 I appeal to you, brothers,[b] bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.

25 Grace be with all of you.” This is God's word. Amen. We're looking for three essential provisions that through our great shepherd Jesus we are equipped to please God. Here's the first:

1. We have His confident access to intercessory prayer.

We have his confident access to intercessory prayer. First of all, we can see that Jesus gives us this access to the Father. He indeed intercedes for us himself. And he also calls his people and energizes his people and enables his people to intercede for one another.

Well, let's look and see how the author of this book continues. He says, “Pray for us.” Do you see it in verse 18? “Pray for us.” Now, who is speaking here?

We're uncertain. The traditional view is this of the apostle Paul. Who is the author behind this book? It does sound like Paul. Paul would be well qualified to write such a book because of his great rabbinic background.

Having studied under Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem before he became a Christian, he was well versed in the Old Testament. However, all of Paul's other letters have his autograph. This letter is unique in that it has no autograph. It does close like a letter. And like most letters, it becomes very personal at the end.

Throughout the book we have 12 and almost all of 13 very propositional kinds of sermon-like doctrine being taught to us. But in only a couple of rare places in Hebrews do we see a reference to the first person language. But here we see it throughout. At the end we see we and I and us all first person, very personal. As we close out, who might this be speaking?

You've heard my thoughts on it. No one really knows. We know the Holy Spirit inspired it. It's a very important book in our Bible. But it seems to me, as I've studied it, that it's possibly written by Luke.

It's the handprint of Luke writing it, but the voice of Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit. And so when I think about who “us” is, “pray for us.” It's his team that is currently writing this book in Italy. Well, how do you see that? Well, as we see in the P.S.

at the end, verses 22 through 25 is kind of like a P.S. We see, 24 “Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.” And this way of describing the place Italy sounds more like Luke to me than Paul.

Paul almost always refers to it as Rome. Luke refers to it almost always as Italy. There's only four times in the Bible that the word Italy occurs; three times in the book of Acts, which we know Luke wrote, and then here in the book of Hebrews. It's not enough to say Luke wrote it, but it seems to fit his high education, his Greek background, perhaps we see in Luke and in Acts this excellent kind of Greek, higher, more complex Greek. Anyway, enough on that.

You can see that I'm fairly thoroughly convinced personally that Luke might be the writer and Paul might be the voice. And in that way, I guess I cover all my bases for that. Enough said on that. As we conclude, who's “us?” It might be Paul, Luke.

It's some other members here. It's also found that he's praying for Timothy, who apparently has been imprisoned. We see in verse 23, “You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.” He's praying, our brother Timothy has been released. You should know that. So he's been in prison and he's trying to get back with Timothy so they can travel together to be with these saints that he's writing to, these Jewish background saints.

And so pray for us. 18 “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.” That's an unusual kind of prayer request that includes that he's someone that they should be praying for. Why would he say that? I've been thinking about that.

The fact that Timothy's just getting out of lockup. It sounds like we know that Paul has been imprisoned many times. He might be concerned, as I'm asking you to pray for me. Don't worry about the fact that you've heard that I was locked up over there in Philippi, that I've been locked up in Rome, because it seems to me that the book of Hebrews may have been written between Paul's two imprisonments. The first imprisonment was really house arrest in Rome.

That's the one we have in the book of Acts. We know there's a later imprisonment, as in evidence, as he writes his second letter to Timothy where he's talking about asking for his outer garment and his books. And he's in a different state of mind there, which seems to show he was in chains, he was in a different situation. There appears to be two imprisonments. This one seems to be between the two,

the best I can determine, looking at it very closely. And so here he is. Pray for us, and don't be worried about what you've heard about us, because we've lived with a clean conscience and we've acted honorably in every way. In a way, he's maybe also saying, and pray for us that we're able to continue to do that, continue to act with a clean conscience and to continue to act honorably in all things. But then he gets to the real prayer request.

Pray for us. Here it is. Do what? Pray for us. “...for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.”

For what reason? 19 “I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.” That's his prayer request, so I can get back and be with you in fellowship. What a sweet prayer request. Pray that I can come and be with you.

Pray that my whole team can come and visit with you. That just shows the affection that our author has here for God's people. He wants to be with them. He's called to this. And so, as we think about this, as we think about this call for intercessory prayer, what would cause someone to ask for prayer?

Why can't he pray for himself? Well, he can. He can pray for himself. But we have the model of being asked to pray for others that he's modeling here. He's not above asking for prayer.

The author is writing, saying, 18 “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.” Pray for us that we can continue to be honorable and have a clear conscience. And most of all, pray for us that we can come and be with you and be reunited with you. We have this model from Jesus in Hebrews chapter 7. He is our great intercessor. It says, Hebrews 7:25 (ESV) “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Think about it like this. Every time you pray, you have Jesus repeating your words to the Father. He's opened up the door, but he's also agreeing with you and interceding for you that we have the Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, as an intercessor, praying to the Father on your behalf. And then here's the author of Hebrews saying, would you join with the great intercessor? And would you take advantage of this confident access we have through him to pray for us?

To pray for us. We see this in Hebrews chapter 10 as we speak of access. Hebrews 10:19-22 (ESV) “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, …and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” We can draw near with confidence, with full assurance that when we pray, the Father hears us. Not because we pray better, not because we pray good, not because we pray a certain formula, not because we have a good life or we somehow are more righteous.

Well, he'll listen to me. Some people think if they come and ask me to pray for him, that I have a closer connection with God. Like if I pray, I feel like if the pastor prays, that's a clear misunderstanding. Can I tell you who has the greatest access to the Father? It's the great shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, who intercedes for you.

And he has opened the way so that you can approach the Father by him, through him, and you can intercede for each other through him, for each other. There's just something about praying for each other that's important in God's house, that God made this provision through Jesus Christ that we have this powerful prayer life that we can intercede for one another. It says in Ephesians, Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” There's something about someone not being present in your life for a season where you might forget to pray for them.

You know, out of sight, out of mind. You forget to pray for them because you haven't seen them for a while. Here's the author of Hebrews saying, pray for us. We want to get back with you soon. We sometimes forget to pray for our missionaries that are in foreign countries that used to be sitting in these chairs with us, that we saw them answer God's call and we laid hands on them on this stage and sent them out.

And then we forget them. We forget to pray for them, which is the most important thing we could do to intercede for them. We forget to support them in finances and in prayers and in going to visit them. But he says to pray for us, intercede for us. One of the most beautiful things that I've noticed in my community group lately, our community group's a year old now.

We started last fall, and we've really been growing, not just in numbers of people that are staying together in my community group every week, but in the way we pray. I remember when we first started praying together, everybody kind of prayed surface prayers. Those first few prayers, everybody's, like, praying for their grandma's cat, that kind of thing, you know, praying for surface prayers. And then people start trusting each other. Finally, someone is courageous enough to be authentic and transparent, which takes the whole group to a deeper level, because, well, if she can be transparent, maybe I can.

And then lately, our group's a year old, and the last few weeks, it has been amazing what's been going on in our small group, our community group, praying together, people confessing their sins. That's serious. They're talking about their weaknesses. They're not talking about something over there. They're opening up and revealing their hearts to each other.

And people are weeping and crying and praying and loving each other. Man, it's starting to look like the church is supposed to look, interceding for each other. Is that happening in your community group? Maybe you're the one that's supposed to be courageous enough to be authentic and not just praying these kind of surface prayers, but to get down there and pray some “booga booga” prayers, you know, get down in there and get real, you know, pray like that. Are you taking full advantage of this provision that Christ has given you, the power of having access to the Father, the God of all the universe, and the power we have to intercede for each other through Jesus, our great high priest and our great shepherd.

Let's take full advantage of this and let's remember to pray for our leaders and our fellow saints and for each other and for those that we haven't seen for a while, let's remember them in prayer too, because Jesus is interceding for us. Well, let's go to the second essential provision that we see in the text. We come now to verse 20 and 21. And what we have here is one of the most beautiful, powerful benedictions that I've seen in any of the letters in the New Testament. A beautiful benediction.

For one thing, it's amazing because it essentially summarizes all of Hebrews in two verses. It just kind of grabs all the threads that we've been learning and ties a bow in the whole book. It's beautiful, it's powerful, and it's really amazing. Benediction means a good word, a blessing. Notice how the author writes it.

2. We have His eternal covenant that perfectly equips us.

Here I'll give you my second essential provision as we dig in: We have his eternal covenant that perfectly equips us. Notice how the benediction begins. Verse 20, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

”Now may the God of peace…” That's a lot right there. Now may the God of shalom, of harmony, of unity, of wholeness, of health, of provision, of right relationship between God and one another. May the God of Shalom, the God of peace.

Let's just start there. How is it that we are able to even talk about the God of peace? When did you make peace with God? Have you ever heard someone say that? Are you ready to make peace with God?

Well, you can't make peace with God. You first have to admit that you're in rebellion with God before you can make peace with God. That means that you're a sinner, that you've chosen to live your own way instead of God's way, which is what all of us have done. But even so, we still can't make peace with God without a go between, a mediator, someone who could step between us. In order to have real peace with God, we need a savior who could stand before God on our behalf that we could put our faith in.

”Now may the God of peace…” how did he get to be the one that we're right with, that we have peace with? Well, he's going to explain it now. “...who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus…” Well, this speaks of his resurrection. You can't have Christianity without the resurrection.

It's an empty tomb. And Christianity rises or falls. Paul writes in the book of First Corinthians, chapter 15 on the resurrection. It's the only religion of all the religions that speak of this, that we serve a resurrected living Jesus. And so we see that he affirms the resurrection.

He's made peace with God by his resurrection, by his blood. And then it says, “...the great shepherd of the sheep.” Glad it finished with one more “great” word. We have a great high priest. We have a greater, greater, greater name.

And we have here a closing greater. He's the great shepherd, the great pastor, the great lover of our souls, the great shepherd of the sheep. He's the resurrected one.

“...by the blood” it says by the blood. You see, he's not only the resurrected one. In order to be the resurrected one, he had to be the one who died for our sins by the blood. The book of Hebrews is the “bloodiest” book in the New Testament. It has the word “blood” in it more times than any other New Testament book.

It's in here 21 times; by far more than any other book. Why is that? Because it's relating to all those sacrifices in the Old Testament and how they were without meaning until their fulfillment came in Jesus, who by his blood made for us the eternal covenant. That's what it says,

“...by the blood of the eternal covenant.” That's what the New Testament is. There's not going to be a new, improved Testament. There's not going to be another chapter. The New, New, New.

No. We have the former covenant, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, which is fulfilled by the New Covenant, which is the eternal covenant. Eternal; that speaks of something that's everlasting, that's timeless. It certainly speaks of something that goes into the future forever.

But doesn't it also speak of something without beginning or end to say it's eternal? Well, how is this possible? The author John writes in the book of Revelation this, Revelation 13:8 (KJV) “ … the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” What's this? That it was already in God's mind and already in God's heart before he even put Adam and Eve in the garden.

That he already had decided that it was his purpose to declare his glory more manifest and more fully by showing his sacrificial agape love by Jesus, giving His life on the cross. That he had decided that all the things he made in creation, the sun, the moon, the stars, the beauty of man and woman, the beauty of all of his creation, the beauty of a rising sun, of seeing an ocean or being in the mountains, all of these beautiful things that show his glory. But the most glorious thing of all that he showed us about his nature is how much he loves us. Demonstrated by Jesus on the cross. He decided before he made us.

I'm going to really show them my heart. This eternal covenant that all of these were looking forward to, but never saw it. It says in Hebrews 11 that they were waiting for us and waiting for Him. And now we've seen it. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.”

There's not going to be another covenant. This is the final covenant. And it's impossible, by the way, to please him apart from faith. We found in Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) “And it is impossible to please God without faith.” But here we see in verse 21 that now that all these things are true through Jesus.

How does that relate to us? It says by the blood of this new covenant that God will equip you with everything good that you may do his will. So everything that you need to do good to please his will, to be obedient to him is now available to you, believer. It's all available to you now by the blood of this new covenant, this eternal covenant. Verse 21, it says, “equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

It's all available to you now to do good through Jesus Christ. It's possible that you can do good, “...working in us…” Wow, so that's an “ing” word. So he has already done it. He's already paid for it.

He's already risen from the grave. It's a done deal. In fact, that word equip could be translated to perfect. It could be translated to perfect.

It could be translated to perfect you, which means complete. So there's this “already, not yet” thing happening here that Jesus, when he died on the cross and was raised from the grave and lives today, and he's interceding at the right hand of the Father even now when we by faith believe in him. Because faith requires an object. You can't just believe anything. You have to believe in him in order to receive this eternal covenant.

Now that this faith has taken hold of that you've already been perfected in terms of your position before the Father. This is called the doctrine of justification. Justification means “just as if I never sinned,” right? You're already counted just that. His righteousness has been given to you.

He took your sin. He offers his righteousness. And so now you're right with the Father. But there's a problem, right? Okay, I'm right with Him.

But I still struggle against temptation and sin in this life, in this experience. Experience of my life. So we have a positional truth and an experiential truth that are somewhat at odds. But this is being addressed in verse 21. I want you to listen again.

“equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” The blood of the eternal covenant will equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working. It's working. So we have the “already, not yet” of justifications already done, but sanctification is working.

It's happening. It's working in us right now. It's at work in us. So this new covenant, this faith in Jesus is working in us to do what? That which is pleasing in his sight.

That which is pleasing. You want to know how to please God? Follow Jesus. It's the only way. It's the only way to please God.

You want to make God happy with you? Remember what he said to Jesus at Jesus’ baptism, what he said over him? He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. You want him to look at you and say, “This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.” Let him look at you and see Jesus in you.

To receive Jesus and to know him and to follow him. And he will be pleased with you. And you will have a new heart that wants to be obedient to him because he's equipping you in order to do his will. Then he just explodes into a gloria at the end “through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen.” He gets all the glory because he's the greatest. And so we have this beautiful, beautiful benediction. Look at Hebrews chapter 9. One of the things I'm trying to do is, as we're concluding here, is I'm trying to go back in earlier passages in Hebrew, Hebrews to remind us what we've learned.

Hebrews 9:11-12 (ESV) 11 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

So this is the heavenly tabernacle into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. And so we have here what the conclusion and this benediction is talking about this eternal covenant, this eternal redemption, paid for by the blood that Jesus offers in the real tabernacle, the heavenly tabernacle. And he's done this how many times? How many times did he have to do it in order to save us? Did he have to do it over and over again, as we see in the Old Testament?

No. We see in Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time. Past tense, done deal, completed. Those who are being sanctified.

There's that “already, not yet” again. You see that he's already paid all that's necessary. He's already done it all. When you receive him, you receive a finished salvation.

There's no extra work for you to do to earn anything that's missing. It's all done. You receive it by faith. It's paid in full. Yet there's an outworking of it called sanctification.

Let me look at it with you again. “For by one offering, a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Let me give you an example. When you're born, the Lord gives you a body. Aren't you glad you get a body?

But it doesn't know how to do anything. When it's first born, it knows a couple things. It knows how to cry and make a mess. Right? It knows how to do that.

Doesn't know how to talk, doesn't know how to walk, doesn't know how to feed itself. It has to grow. And so it's perfected in that all that's necessary is present, but it has to grow up into it.

We're talking about your first birth, your physical birth. I remember when our firstborn was born. My wife and I got in a competition to teach him to say mama or dada. And I wanted him to say dada.

And she wanted him to say mama. And so if I'd see him going, ma ma ma, I'd go, no, no, no, no, no. da da da, da da da. Like that. And then she would do the opposite

like that. And so I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure, Robin probably is claiming otherwise. You'll have to ask her. I'm pretty sure he said da da first, but he came out not knowing how to say anything.

I mean, we were amazed when he finally said something. Right. And so when you're born again, you're given all that's necessary through the eternal covenant by the blood of Jesus, who died for your sins and was buried and was raised again on the third day and ascended to the right hand of the Father, and who intercedes for you. You're given all that you need in the new birth to be perfected, whole, complete before God. But you have to grow up in it.

This is all right here. I should have just preached these two verses for the next few weeks, but, you know, we're trying to get through the book of Hebrews, but there's so much meat on the bone right here. It's so beautiful.

Have you been trying to live the Christian life in your own effort?

Have you been trying to keep a list of do's and don'ts? That's what he was warning the Jewish background believers about. It's not going back to law keeping. This is about grace. It's about Jesus.

It's about putting your faith in him and even trusting him to make you more like him as you pursue the knowledge of him and loving him and talking to him. Are you growing to be more like Jesus? Wake up and pray, Lord Jesus, equip me today so that I might do the Father's will and please him. Have you ever prayed like that in the morning? Lord, help me get through this day.

Lord, I have this problem with my boss. I have this test at school today. We have a laundry list. All of us do. But do you ever pray, Lord?

What do you want me to do today? What would please you for me to do today?

What a beautiful benediction. So we've heard two of these essential provisions. We've heard about intercessory prayer that's made possible because of Jesus. We've heard about this eternal covenant which is paid in full, all that's necessary for our

new life in Christ. Yet we have to grow up in it. And then we get to the P.S. of chapter 13, verses 22 through 25, where we come to our third and final essential provision. It's this:

3. We have His exhorting Word and gracious people.

I had to kind of work that point a little bit because as P.S. 's go, they tend to be kind of a list of things. I feel like it captures both items in this point, this essential provision. We have the exhorting word of Christ and we also have his people. These combined together encourage us to grow up in our life in Christ. Let's look at it.

Verse 22 says, 22 “I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.” What does he appeal to?

Bear with my word of exhortation. What's he talking about? He's talking about this whole big letter here. He's talking about these 13 chapters of some of the heaviest reading that you'll read in the New Testament. If you don't know anything about the Old Testament, you won't be able to even understand the book of Hebrews because it is a book that's helping you understand the Old Testament.

So you have to keep flipping back and forth to see what he's talking about. He says, bear with. It was heavy. I know it was heavy. I know it was a heavy book.

So bear up under it. Bear with my word of exhortation. Exhortation could be encouragement. It kind of means encouragement with a little bit of Bible to it. Kind of a press on kind of encouragement like that.

Bear with it. And then there's this part that makes you kind of laugh a little bit because it's 13 chapters. For I have written to you briefly. It didn't feel brief.

It took 26 sermons and I could have easily done 52. It was easy enough because it's so deep and so wonderful, so amazing. I wrote to you briefly. I heard that one of our community groups this past week decided in lieu of their normal Bible study, they're just going to read all 13 chapters aloud. And I said, well, how'd that go?

They said, well, it took almost an hour. And then when we got to that verse and the person that was reading verse 22 when they got to the part, they said, “I've written to you briefly,” the whole room burst out laughing.

It didn't feel brief. Paul didn't feel brief. Luke, I don't know. But think of it like this. He just gave us an understanding of the whole of the Old Testament.

The Mosaic law, the histories, the prophets in 13 chapters. Pretty brief. He could have written a lot more, couldn't he? He could have put a lot more into it than what he did. And so we have here, he said, I've written to you briefly and I want you to bear up under this exhortation.

I want you to dig into it and don't just throw it to the side, but take it on. Take it on and bear up under it. It's his final exhortation in this book before he just gets into a list of things he wants, wants them to be praying about and thinking about. He says this in verse 23. He says, 23 “You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.”

I want you to know something. Our brother Timothy has been released. Sounds like Timothy got locked up. You know, all the apostles suffered severe persecution. All the first century apostles, even John, the last living apostle, who is the only one who did not die by execution.

He was exiled to the isle of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation. It is said he was boiled in oil, but did not die, which would have been a terrible persecution, a terrible torture. But we see here that Timothy apparently had been imprisoned in some way. And so Paul is hearing that he's about to be released. And so he's saying, here, look, our team from Italy, probably Paul, Luke, Silas, some others that have been mentioned along the way from that area, they want to come and visit with these Jewish background believers.

And they're saying, we don't want to leave until Timothy gets with us because we want to bring him too, as Paul often referred to him as his spiritual son in the Lord. So he calls for this. And then he says in verse 24,”Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.

Tell them. They said hello. And then he says, 25 “Grace be with all of you.” Not law, not judgment, but unmerited favor be with all of you. “Grace be to all of you.”

The great shepherd, he sustains us through his word that exhorts us, but also through his people, because iron sharpens iron. Notice what it says in Hebrews 3:13 (ESV) “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” And then we see again in Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” So we have not only the word of God that exhorts us and encourages us and challenges us.

But we have one another. We have one another. Which is why it's so important to be regular in your church attendance and regular in your community groups. Because there's just something about it that's helping us learn to walk, talk the walk and talk of faith. Because we've been given a new spiritual life and it's all been paid for.

But we have to grow up in it. We have to grow up in it. You know, a shepherd's staff has something different on each end. On one end it has a crook and on the other end it has a sharp point. And on the end with the crook we see that the Lord, the great shepherd of the sheep, pulls us near and takes us in his arms and he leaves the 99 to go after the 1.

And he does this today through the church and through the fellow members of the church, that we're like the shepherd's crook at that point where we draw people in that may have strayed a little bit, may have forgotten their way, because sheep do love to wonder. But then there's a sharp point. Often it comes through the preaching of his word, through the study of his word. Sometimes it comes through the loving correction of a fellow saint who occasionally we need a little poke, we need a little reminder, and the shepherd uses both. So bear up under it.

Bear up under this word of exhortation as we close out this wonderful book. And I pray grace would be with all of you as he concludes. Today we conclude our journey through the book of Hebrews. We find the life-giving core of a God pleasing life is found in the great shepherd's three essential provisions. The first is his intercessory prayer and his access to the Father.

The second is his eternal covenant and finally his final grace through His Word and through other believers. The entire weight of this powerful letter rests on this one singular truth. Jesus is greater. He's greater than whatever you're facing today. He is the risen Lord.

He is the one we pray to, to him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we do thank you for this wonderful book, the book of Hebrews and Lord, we pray for that one that may be here this morning, may be watching online, that you've never given your life to Jesus. We pray for you.

We intercede for you. Now would you be willing to talk to the Lord right now? Would you pray like this, asking him to save you? Pray like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner.

I've been in rebellion against you. But I want to make peace with the Father. I believe in you, Lord Jesus. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. That you were raised from the grave.

That you live today. Come and live in me. Adopt me into your family. I want to be a child of God. I want to follow you all the days of my life as my Lord and my Savior.

If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing he'll save you, that's why he came. He is the great shepherd of the sheep. If you're a believer, you've already realized this reality and you know it in your heart. But you've been straying a little bit. If someone asked you the question, how are you doing with Jesus?

You'd have to say, I'm not as close as I used to be. Would you today just recommit your life and say, lord, help me to live for you. Help me to live a life that's pleasing to you. Help me to elevate you to the first place in my life every day. I pray it all in Jesus' name, Amen.

Audio

Transcript

Anyway, we're finishing up the Book of Hebrews, and I'm very thankful to be preaching this morning, to be finishing this series that has taken us several years to complete. If you've been around here, you know, kind of how we operate. But if you're new from, we kind of bounce around to some degree. But at the. At the end of the fall, normally we take on some New Testament passage.

And so for the last couple of years, we've been knocking out Hebrews together. And it's been a true blessing in some ways. I'm pretty sad to be finishing it because. Cause I've really enjoyed preaching it. And so we're finishing up Hebrews this morning in a sermon we've entitled A Greater Shepherd.

A Greater Shepherd. It's taken us. This is our 26th Sunday in Hebrews. Some of you have been with us for that journey. I pray it's been a blessing to you.

This is a profound and a just, powerful book of Scripture, and I pray it's blessed you. The whole theme has been Jesus is greater. That was the idea that the writer of Hebrews intended to get across. And I think he's done it beautifully. A few things just to remember about what Hebrews has been to us.

And if you haven't caught the series, that's fine. We've got them all online at Eastgate Church. You can go back and check out the whole series. But just a few things to notice. This contains one of the most, if not the most sophisticated Greek in all of the New Testament.

It's been a real joy to do the word studies on this for the last couple years. Very rhetorical, very polished. It navigates these Old Testament categories in a way that almost no other New Testament writer does, which makes it pretty unique and pretty challenging. But it's been a real pleasure to dig in. And it's got this wonderful theological voice that just again and again says, jesus is greater.

Jesus is better. A better sacrifice, a better covenant, a better kingdom. 26 of these. And now it finishes with really the theme of the whole letter, which is he's a greater shepherd, He's a greater priest, he's the great sacrifice. So as we finish this series, really with a bow on top, we're putting a bow on the present.

We're handing it off. Good news. I have great news for you, church. Hebrews isn't going to, like, escape your Bible. Now, you can go back and check it out tomorrow if you want to, but we're going to take a break from preaching on it for A season.

But we're finishing up. And as we put this bow on with a greater shepherd, we recognize something that he finishes his letter by really addressing. And that's the idea that even back in the first century, all the way to now, we as believers and we as human beings are struggling with some things that are not unique to us, but they are uniquely human. Things like anxiety, uncertainty, spiritual drift, if you will, that in a lot of ways, we have all suffered from things like this. We often feel ill equipped to do what is pleasing to God.

Sometimes we can be really unsure about what it is that we should be doing or how we should live our life in a way that truly pleases a holy God. And I know I've struggled with that. I know many of you probably have. Oftentimes we try to do it in our own strength. I'm a pastor's kid, and so I grew up trying to figure this thing out, trying to go, well, I'm supposed to be a certain way.

I watch my dad, I watch my older brother. I'm watching people in ministry, and I'm thinking, well, there's something I've got to live up to. Somewhere on this journey, I've realized I can't actually do it. I don't personally have the ability to pull this off. I need something more.

I need a greater shepherd. And a lot of you have experienced this. Some of you are in the middle of it, where you're figuring out, I can't do what pleases God on my own. I've got to depend on him. It's not going to take just better strategies from me.

It's not going to take more dependence on self. Better. Even religious routines won't be enough unless I put the one in charge who can solve all these problems. So if you're feeling a little weary today, a little like you're wandering a little bit, good news. This sermon's for you.

We have a great shepherd, and we are all the sheep. You know, I know that's kind of a word people don't want to say anymore. Like the sheep means this other thing to people. But guess what? In the spiritual realm, in the word of God, we are his sheep.

And I'm thankful for that, that he's my great shepherd and I walk with him. And so in today's message, we're going to find the writer of Hebrews getting more personal than he has in the whole letter. He finishes, really with a personal touch. And we're going to see the author concluding this letter with a benediction. That draws people back to the Great Shepherd.

I think you're going to see three really clear essentials that the Great shepherd has equipped us to live lives that are pleasing to God. And so let's finish strong. Hebrews, chapter 13:18 to the end. Here's what it says. Church, pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.

I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you sooner. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good, with everything good, that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I appeal to you then, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation. Some of you are going to like this line, for I have written to you briefly.

I've never written a letter this long, y', all, but he says this one's short. You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you.

God bless the reading of His Word. Amen. Grace be with all of you. What an appropriate way to end a letter where all he's been talking about is the old systems of getting grace from God. They're done for.

We have a new system in Christ Jesus. So grace be with you all in Christ Jesus. Through our great shepherd Jesus, we're equipped. We're equipped to do things that we couldn't have imagined prior. We're equipped especially to do things that please God.

When we follow our Great shepherd, we do things that please the Father. That's where we're going to spend time today. How do we become equipped by our Great Shepherd? Here's the first, and this is maybe the best news of all. We now have confident access to intercessory prayer.

Because of our great Shepherd Jesus, we have confident access. This is where he concludes his letter with a few comparisons commands, one of which should not be made light of. He says, pray for us. Pray. You shouldn't be surprised that a Christian letter ends with pray, although I admit that some of us at times feel like this is a last resort or some kind of a chore, instead of seeing it as a great privilege.

Pray for us, he says. Command, for we are sure. He says we are sure. That we have a clear conscience. Why is that important?

Why is he saying we have a clear conscience? This is a writer. My opinion is this sounds like Paul. It has sounded like Paul throughout this letter, and so it's likely him. And then he mentions his brother Timothy, which would also seem like Paul.

Nevertheless, whoever this is writing has spent some time in prison and maybe doing so, maybe writing this letter from there. And he says, we're sure of something, that we have a clear conscience. Hey, you might have gotten word that I've been in prison. You might have gotten this word. And you might be thinking to himself, well, he probably deserved what came to him.

But I want you to know something. I have a clear conscience. I got put in prison by mistake. I got put in prison for my faith. That's the argument that this person apparently is making.

And he wants us to know the reader, that they've been acting honorably in all things. That's been their ultimate desire. They've been in prison because of their faith, not because of wrongdoing. So he says, hey, pray for us. And you can be assured that you can pray for us, because, look, we're here by persecution, not by mistake.

You know, it's a little harder. Here's why I think he says this. Let's just be honest. It's a little harder to pray for somebody who, you know, got themselves into that situation, like, hey, please pray for my finances. But then you look at their, you know, you look at their budget with them and go, well, you know, prayer can only go so far when stupidity is involved.

All right? There's only so far prayer can go. And that's just true, you know, some of us need to look at our situation and go, well, I did this. And our prayer needs to shift a little bit. We need to pray such that, hey, God, help me.

With me, I am my biggest problem. Help me to think more clearly. Help me to do what is wise according to youo Word. But let's be honest, Lord, I'm gonna need a miracle here because I'm a mess, right? That's some of the situation that's not the case for the writer here.

He's saying, hey, look, you can pray confidently for us because we're in this situation because of our faith. So please pray for us. And he says in verse 19, I urge you to do it all the more. Listen to this all the more earnestly so that I may be restored to you sooner. Look, I want to come see you.

I want to spend time with you. Now. He's talking to these Jewish background believers all throughout Asia Minor. He's hoping to make the journey back. We don't know exactly where he is, whoever this writer is, but here's what we know.

He's stuck and he's praying that they would give him grace and pray for him to be able to move and see them again. There's something powerful that happens when we pray for one another. Don't make light of this church. This is a mistake. This is, I think maybe one of the greatest weapons of the evil one is to convince us that prayer is completely useless, to convince us that praying for one another has no real point.

Isn't God going to do what God's going to do regardless of what I pray? Well, it seems to me, at least biblically speaking, that God often reacts to the prayers of his people. I mean, just read the story of the text. You'll find many times one that stands out really clearly to me is the prophet comes into Hezekiah and says, hey, God's about to take you out. You're done.

And it says in the word that he rolled over and wept and cried before the Lord. And as the prophet is leaving the room, God speaks to him and says, hey, go back in there. Tell him he can have about 15 more years. 15 more years. Hallelujah.

Thought I was going to die.

Did God change his mind? No, but God reacts to prayers. He always planned to react to it. But we got to do the praying, right? There's something powerful that's happening when we pray for one another.

Don't make light of this. Christ is our greatest intercessor. This is what he's doing first for us. Understand this. Look at Hebrews chapter 7.

Consequently, Jesus, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Do you recognize the courtroom scene? This is what's happening for you and I every single day, every single moment of every day. The Father and the Son are in the courtroom and Jesus is saying again and again, hey, I've paid for that. That's my son.

That's my daughter. Now I'm ashamed that often I have to have him come and say, yeah, I'm covering that one too. Right. But nevertheless, that's what's occurring. He is making intercession for us constantly.

My goal is that more and more, the Lord can just come before the Father and say, look what my boy's doing. Look what's going on. This is awesome. Sadly, there are times Where I think things and do things, and thankful that the intercessor is there. Hebrews 10.

It says, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. This is the gift you've been given. Do you understand this? Don't make light of it, Christian. You've been given the gift of prayer.

Something new has happened. We talked about this much earlier in the Book of Hebrews, but here's what Christ has done. He has given us, granted us access into the holy of Holies, a place that no one else could have gone. One priest once a year could go in that room, and they would tie a rope to him to make sure if he died in there, they could pull him out. Because you weren't about to go in there if you weren't allowed, because it would be instant.

The Holy Spirit of God was in that place. Guess what's changed by the blood of Jesus. You get to go in that place in the real sense in heaven, every single moment of every single day. Do you understand that principle? That you get to speak to the King of Kings as if he was sitting next to you like a friend?

This is unbelievable. So when we make light of prayer, boy, what a mistake. What a mistake. In the spirit of Christ, we are always to pray for fellow believers. Ephesians, chapter six.

It says, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Did you notice how many times the word all is in that sentence? That is ridiculous. Wanted to make very clear.

Hey, when do you pray? All the time. What do you pray for? Everything.

No, prayer is too big, too small. Be in prayer. Look, most of us are not making the mistake of praying too much, as if that could be a mistake. One of the most beautiful and powerful things that I've ever been a part of or ever seen is when someone's really going through something tremendous. Maybe it's sickness, maybe it's some other brokenness.

Maybe it's addiction. Maybe it's something El. But when believers pile around someone and put their hands on them and pray for them, I find this to be one of the most powerful things I ever witnessed I ever get to be a part of. And here's what happens in those moments. If we're praying for someone that God might heal them or that God might overcome some Illness.

It doesn't always go the way we're hoping maybe. We certainly come together confidently praying for some sort of healing. But God doesn't always do it that way. I'll tell you what he does do. He unites us and he begins to change the way we think.

What I mean by this is sometimes when I come to the Lord in prayer, I think I'm praying for X. But then as I'm praying, it begins to be very obvious to me, why am I praying for this? This isn't the thing that God's pushing me towards. So then tomorrow I can pray for Y instead of this.

This is the idea of a constant state of prayer that you begin to say, I don't. You know what? I get it now, Lord. This is why you're not answering me on this thing. Because I keep praying for something that's not even a part of what you're up to.

Let me get on track with what you're doing. So when we surround one another in prayer, it unifies us and we begin to see through God's eyes what he's up to sometimes. I shouldn't say sometimes. All the time. He allows us to go through some valleys.

Do you understand this? The stuff isn't accidental. Nothing slips through there without his seeing it, without his knowing it. Read the book of Job sometime. If you're confused on this.

There are times where he allows great, great trouble for purposes that we don't see until we spend great time in prayer and a great time with the Lord. Then we begin to see how God's moving me. The last many years of my life, God has been moving me towards where I am now. And he's not done. And guess what it's going to take to get me to the next place.

Not a mountain, probably. Most likely another valley. Why? Because I am a knucklehead, y'. All.

I am a broken man who is stubborn and I don't learn well from others. I'm very sorry to say that I could read books, I could read stories, I could watch other people and go, that makes sense. I should try to do it that way. But I'm going to have to go ahead and hurt myself along the way to figure it out. And some of you are like, this doesn't have to be this way.

But it is the case. I learn so much more as I suffer in Christ than I ever do on a mountaintop. Do you take full advantage of this provision, Church? Don't miss it. Stop thinking of prayer as a chore.

Well, I Know, as a Christian, I'm supposed to check this off every day. Stop checking it off. You're wasting your time. But when you start seeing prayer as an opportunity to spend time with the King of Kings who has allowed you in his presence by the blood of Jesus, then you'll view this different. Oh, but Jonathan, I don't really know what to pray.

Okay, we'll start there. Start there. Hey, God, I don't really do this prayer thing. What should I be praying for? Lord, guide me in this.

Just begin a conversation. It's like all of us have gone. So many of us have reverted back to when we were like preteens and we would look at each other and go, hey, I really like her, but I don't know what to say. Right. Well, the first step is just go for it.

And it doesn't always work. You know, the good news is this. God's not that he's not that way, but that's kind of how it starts sometimes is just come before the holy God and say, I don't really know what I'm doing here, but I want to know you. I want to experience the things that you've planned for me. I want you to guide my steps and it's going to begin for me.

Would you guide my prayers? Because I don't know exactly what to say. Start. Get going. Take advantage of it.

It's not a chore. It's a confident meeting with the King. Here's the second provision that God has given. It's this. We have his eternal covenant.

Eternal covenant. That perfectly equips us. This is the great news of the benediction. This is like a great benediction here, verses 20 and 21. May the God of peace, who resurrected our Lord Jesus.

Do you see it? The great shepherd of the sheep. By the blood of the eternal covenant, may he equip you, this great God, who's done everything necessary for you to be saved. Rest in that. May he equip you in it.

This is really. This benediction summarizes almost the whole book really well because we were not at peace before. Why does he say God of peace? This is purposeful. It's not accidental.

This word is the Greek word eirene. It's the closest Greek word we have to the Hebrew concept shalom. He's saying, may you have peace, tranquility, prosperity, safety, harmony.

May you have it by the God of peace who brought it to you, how he did it through the sacrifice of Jesus. This is how it happened. And he's made a covenant with you, that's everlasting. Despite you, it's everlasting. I love what one writer, one commentary, says about this concept of the God of peace.

It says God's disposition toward those who are in Christ is one of peace. Because of Jesus, work on our behalf. We know God as the God of peace. We thank God that Christ has achieved that peace for us. We now get to enter into the Holy of Holies with a clear awareness and a clear confidence that we're good with Him.

We're not perfect. We don't come to this place saying, I'm now sinless. We know better. But we come to this place saying, Christ has done it. We come to this place like the thief on the cross who walked into heaven.

And probably, Okay, this wonderful story where the thief walks into heaven and probably is asked, this comes from a great sermon that I love. But he comes in and the people at the gate are probably like, hey, what are you doing here? And he simply says, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing here. I just know the guy in the middle cross said I could come.

And that's how all of us come. We're all the same way. We don't come with this perfection. We come there saying, hey, Jesus said I could be in here. It's kind of like going to your grandma's house.

Some of you experienced this. There was a room in my grandparents, both sets you weren't allowed to go in. It had knickknacks in it that were apparently expensive, although nobody wanted them. Okay. I'm just saying, when all was over, nobody wanted them.

I'm just putting that out there. But to her, very important. And that room was dangerous, too. Everything in there would hurt you, it seemed to me when I was young. But you weren't allowed in there unless Grandma said you could go in there.

That's what's happened here. Oh, we have no business being in the holy of holies, that's for sure. But he said we could go.

He's made an eternal covenant with us, the God of peace. How? Well, he tells us, number one, the blood of the covenant, Number two, the resurrection. This is the gospel in one verse. How is it that we can be made right with God?

Are you asking this question today? Have you walked in here? Have you been dragged in here? I'm so sorry you got drug in, but I'm glad you're here. Here's the gospel in a nutshell.

Christ died for you. He died for you. So that the God of peace could restore you and you could spend time eternally with the Father. You did nothing right other than to say, I believe. And that's the same for me.

He died for you. The blood of the covenant is now for you. And he has been raised again. This should give you incredible confidence. This is the Gospel, my friends.

And he sums it up right here in verse 21. And then he goes on to say, may it equip you, this eternal covenant. This reminds me of this idea, and this is going to blow some of your minds because I bet many of you have never thought to just consider this for a moment. He says, Notice, he says, an eternal covenant. This means this covenant did not start at the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but long before it.

Have you ever considered this thought that long before God ever made the world, he already planned to save you? Isn't that wild? Isn't that insane that God said, I'm a creative God, so I will create. I am a loving God, so I will make a people in my own image. I am a sacrificial God.

Do you understand this? This is who God is. I am a sacrificial God, so I will sacrifice. This is clearly what the word of God says. Revelation, chapter 13.

It says, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Hold up. Wait a minute. I'm pretty sure that was 2,000 years ago. No, it was before.

Before the earth, the moon, the stars. God had already decided. I love this people, and I want them to see it. Do you understand what this means about who God is? He doesn't want robots.

He doesn't want automatons. He's interested in a people who would love him willingly and who would look at him and say, how could we possibly love anybody else? Look what you've done. I had no business being in heaven. And yet you have done what was required before the foundation of the earth, the Lamb was slain.

This is incredible. One commentator on this very thought says, the everlasting covenant, the purpose for which God made the world, to demonstrate his glory in salvation, in the salvation of sinners by the blood, the shed blood, of the Lord Jesus Christ. The everlasting covenant was his purpose. Wow.

You know, I've endured some things in my life that were pretty hard. I can tell you just about 100% of those I didn't seek to endure.

And yet it says of the Lord he created, seeking to show sacrifice. Okay, wow.

Why? So that we could be a part of his kingdom. He wanted to share his goodness with us. And he wanted to equip us to do his will and work according to his purpose. This is what it says in verse 21.

He's done everything necessary so that now we can be in prayer with him, we can be in covenant with him, and now we can grow up in him. In a sense, he equips us for everything good. Verse 21. It says to do things in state that will please him. Hebrews 11.

It says it is impossible to please God without faith. So it begins with, yes, Jesus, I buy it. I believe. Yes, Lord Jesus, I know you died on the cross for me. You were raised from the dead for me.

Now make me what you planned for me all along so that I could be pleasing in your sight. He secured this eternal redemption. Hebrews chapter nine. It says when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent. He's talking there about the Old Testament tabernacle.

But this more perfect tent was not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and of calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Praise him for this. It says in Hebrews 10 that for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

So here's what's happening here, Church. The eternal covenant has been made. That's true. It is done. When Jesus on the cross says it is finished, he means is indeed finished.

Sin has been paid. And when he rose from the grave, death has been defeated. It's finished.

But we're still here. What are we doing? What's going on? And we're 2,000 years late. What's going on here?

Well, God's still up to something. He's still equipping his people. He loved. I'm thankful he loved me. He loved you enough to wait and let us enter into that good kingdom.

And in the midst of all this, he is equipping us, those of us who believe in this eternal covenant. This is what's happened here. When we were born into this world, sure, we were born in with a body and all the equipment necessary to do life. But you know this. A baby doesn't really know how to do much of anything but cry and remove food.

I couldn't think of a good word there. I thought of a lot of words, but just not that.

And it has everything necessary to walk, and yet it won't do it for a while. It has everything necessary to speak sentences. And yet it won't do that for a bit. It's really good at making noise when it needs. It takes time for the human body to begin to develop.

It takes time to walk and talk and feed oneself. Great news, Hanaway is. Eventually that kid will feed itself and things get way easier, right? They get way easier and then they get way harder again because then their words turn into words that oppose you and you go, oh, well, I kind of missed just the whining, because at least I didn't know what that meant. And you work through that, and that's great, but this is how we enter into this life.

We have everything we need to accomplish, but it takes time and it takes us being molded and mentored by our parents. And the same is true in your faith, my friend. The eternal covenant has been made. God has done everything necessary. He has established this for you, but you got to walk in him.

He begins to equip you for prayer. Right now you may not know how he begins to equip you for the good work he's planned for you. You might be doing something totally else other than what God had planned. He has a purpose for you in your saving faith, and you're going to have to get there. There might be somebody in the room that's going to be standing on a stage like this preaching one day.

You couldn't imagine it right now. And yet that's what God's up to. But it takes equipping. Walking. In this eternal covenant, have you been trying to live your life and your own effort, even your Christian life?

Instead, I'm praying for you that you would trust the finished work of Christ, that every day when you wake up, you might pray something like, lord Jesus, equip me today to do what you've called me to do today. I don't have to worry about tomorrow. There's bills to pay. There's stuff to do. But today, Lord, equip me.

Step out in faith, knowing that he who calls you, perfects you, equips you. This is the great news of the Gospel. Here's this final provision. This is where he ends in these last few verses. It almost kind of seems.

This was kind of a difficult paragraph to know how to end with you. So here's what we came up with. We have the provision of his exhorting word and his gracious people. His exhorting word and his gracious. He says this final command to close the letter.

I appeal to you to bear with this is really just powerful news to you, my friends. Because here's what I want you. And pray that you will hear that the good news of the gospel is here and that he's certainly talking about his letter. But I might make it larger. I appeal to you that you would bear with this word of exhortation.

What does that mean? This word bear with, is interesting. It literally means to endure, to persevere through, to hang on. Have any of you ever read the word of God and gone, I don't know what to do with that. That hurts.

I gotta change. What am I supposed to do? He's saying, bear with it. Sometimes you read the passage and go, well, I am nowhere near. Some of you are trying to be husbands and fathers.

We wives. You're trying to be mothers. Some of you are trying to know how to be good workers, good bosses. It's all in here. And you begin to unpack it and you go, first of all, Lord, my anger is a main issue.

And I'm seeing that here. Help me, Lord, my tongue. James talks about the tongue being the rudder. Look, have you heard me lately?

I didn't have a great example. Some of you might say, growing up, I didn't see what it meant to be a good dad. I didn't see what it looked like to be a good wife. I didn't see that. Some of you are saying that.

So then when you come before the Lord of God in Ephesians chapter five and chapter six, and you see wives, husbands, husbands, cherish and nourish your wife, die for her sacrificially. Well, most of us didn't say, see that.

Endure it.

I appeal to you, bear with this exhortation. Your temptation is going to be, forget this. There's no way. That's not the argument that the writer is making. Stay in it prayerfully.

God, I'm trusting that what you've spoken here is good and true. And if I walk in you and walk by faith, I will look a little more like this tomorrow than I do today. Great news, friends. He's not expecting you to have instantaneous Christ likeness. I've come to Jesus.

Tomorrow I'm going to look just like Christ. What about all your baggage, friend? You've brought a bit. Some of you bring a little more. What about all this junk?

He loves you. He wants to deal with it. But guess how he deals with it? Church? Here's how he deals with your baggage.

He doesn't take it and just throw it out. He takes it. He opens it and goes, what's this?

I don't want to talk about that, Lord, I don't want to talk about it. Oh, we're going to talk about it.

This is what healing really looks like. You go to someone who's good at counseling, good at therapy, they're not going to dodge your issues. They're going to dig right in on them. Ew. I don't wanna.

Yeah, let's get in it and rub salt in it. Alright.

You want to be a part of this. You want to walk in Christ. This is what it looks like. He doesn't throw it out. He examines it and helps you truly heal.

He says, I appeal to you, bear with it. I know this letter feels heavy. I know this work of faith feels heavy. But in Christ Jesus, I want to walk a little closer to it tomorrow than today. I want you to examine one more thing today and let's get through it.

And then he says in verse 22, something that seems insane to me. He says, I have written to you briefly. This is a long letter and it was tough and it took a lot of work. We're talking 26 sermons. You know how many man hours of preaching that is for me, not just the actual preaching.

I spend at least 10 hours a week preparing. We're talking a lot of hours. And I'm not thinking it was brief because I know there was stuff I didn't touch. I wanted to, but I only got 40 minutes.

It doesn't mean that it's short, though. That's not what he's saying. In fact, he's saying the opposite of this. I like what one commentator writes. This is Barnes notes on the Bible.

He says, this does not mean that this epistle is short. Agreed. But it does mean that it was brief compared with the importance and difficulty of the subjects of which he treated. Basically, here's what he's arguing. I could have written a lot more.

I'm sitting here talking about the Old Covenant. I'm talking about how Christ's blood is the New Covenant. I'm talking about these major biblical issues. He basically covers the whole Bible in one letter. He's saying to you, I could have written a lot more.

I kept it as brief as I could.

I agree with that. And then he closes with a few thoughts, some of which I think are hilarious. Things like, Timothy's been released. It's the only place in the whole Bible that we know Timothy gets released from something. Is it the Timothy of first and second Timothy?

We think so, but we know no other place where it tells us he was imprisoned. But apparently he was. I got news for you. If you hang out with guys like Paul, you're going to get in trouble with him. If you hang out with guys like Jesus, guess what happens to all of the disciples?

A lot of trouble.

He in fact tells them this, but take courage, for I have overcome the world. That's what he says to them. So Paul and Timothy and Silas and Barnabas, all these guys probably experienced imprisonment, persecution, for sure. He says, hey, look, Timothy's been released. I'm waiting for him to get to me, and then we're coming to see you.

Yes. Okay, cool. And then verse 24 just randomly tells us, oh, yeah. And the people from Italy say, what's up, Italy? Where'd that come from?

Why not Rome? There's only one other place where it mentions the Greek word Italia. Italy. And that's in the book of Acts, which I think is more evidence that what we may have here is the penmanship of Luke. But the voice of Paul, we've got Luke in Acts.

And then maybe just my opinion, Hebrews is also a work of Luke. And he concludes by saying, grace and peace be with you all. Grace to you all. The great shepherd sustains our faith through the Word and through the fellowship of the saints. Hebrews 3.

It says, exhort one another every day as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As long as you're in today, folks, hey, let's encourage each other. Let's push. Exhort is a bigger word than this. Let's push each other to something great.

Let's look each other in the eyes and say, hey, you can do even greater things in the name of Jesus. Hebrews chapter 10. It says, Then let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. You know you've got a good friend when it's somebody who's constantly pushing you to good works. To follow Jesus more closely, to love your wife more deeply.

You've got just average friends that say, hey, she's mistreating you. Just bug on out. Those are not good friends, right? But your great friends will say, hey, love more deeply, love Christ more faithfully, walk more straightly in the faith. Those are great friends.

And this is the encouragement of the Lord. Do you bear with this exhortation, friends? Even when it hurts, it hurts a lot. Hey, I have great news. I hope this encourages you.

Do you know, sometimes I read this and go, I was way off Samsonite. I was way off. Yeah. This happens to me all the time. I dig into this and go, wait, I thought I remembered this better.

It's okay. My friends, we, each and every one of us need the grace of God. Would you bear with it?

Would you receive the good Gospel? Receive the eternal covenant, allow it to equip you and make the decision that every day, here's what it looks like for me. I'm going to spend time in prayer. I'm going to bear with the exhortation of the Word and ask God to change me and mold me. I hope you've enjoyed Hebrews.

Those of you, some of you have been on the whole journey, I hope it's been great. I'm sad to see it go. I feel similar to the Book of Romans. We knocked that out a few years ago. I loved preaching the Sermon on the Mount earlier this year.

Sometimes it's kind of like, man, I wish I could just preach this forever. I have great news. I'm going to keep on preaching next week, y'. All. Our dear brother Josh is coming up to preach, and I want y' all to be here.

You're slowly gonna start finding out, oh, Jonathan's not gonna be there, and you're gonna decide not to go to church. Wrong answer, my friend. Cause he's probably gonna knock it out. But that's not the main reason. The main reason is we should look all the more at stirring one another up and encouraging one another all the more as we see the day approaching.

So be encouraged in the Word. I want to finish with a thought that has almost nothing to do with this sermon. But we're heading into the Christmas season, and there's something that most of you aren't really considering very often. And that's okay, because that's totally normal. But this time of year, a lot of people are in greater need than other times of the year.

And just so you know, this is a bit of a kind of underneath the hood language, but we have a fund around here called the Benevolence Fund, and that is funded by our church people, our church members and attenders. And right now, it is almost empty. So my encouragement to you today is if the Lord, if you feel the Lord calling you to this, that you would put some money in there to help some people that we always know December's tough. There are certain people that really struggle to do the things they're hoping to do this year, even down to the point of just keeping their lights on and stuff like that. And so if you Feel the Lord calling you to look towards that generosity.

Take a moment and do that today. Give a little bit towards that. You can write it down. Just write the words benevolence somewhere on the envelope. Or if you're giving online, I think there's a section where you can pick that Also.

Towards the end of the month of December, we're going to take up our Christmas missions offering. This goes to our missions partners around the world. And we have a handful up here that some of you know very well. I don't know what liberty I am to say some of these names, but you can talk to me afterwards. Some of these people are in pretty dangerous places, but every year we take up an offering for them to help them in their ministry.

So I'm prayerful for you today that your generosity would blossom and that we would help those who we can. Let's spend some time now in prayer and then we'll finish in worship. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the book of Hebrews. We have enjoyed it, we have been thoroughly blessed by it. I pray today, Lord, that we will be moved by this last entry.

That, God, you are amazing to us, that you loved us so much, that at the beginning of all things you were already planning sacrifice. This is then who you really are. One of your key attributes must be sacrifice. One of your key attributes must be loving kindness to the point of sacrifice. I'm thankful that that's who you are, Lord Jesus.

I'm thankful that you are the great Shepherd. I'm asking you now to guide your people. There are people in this room today, Lord, that are not walking with you, maybe are far from you, Lord. Would you draw them to yourself, Lord, for your people today? Would you guide them?

There are people in the room trying to make really hard decisions over the next few weeks. Would you grant them wisdom? Would you help them to see your will? Would you help them to understand your purpose? God, be with your people.

If you've come in today, have you not yet said yes to being led by the great shepherd Jesus, and you've heard this word today, this good word, this good Gospel, that you can be restored by the God of peace. If you're hearing that today and you're feeling drawn to the Savior, there's no reason to wait anymore. You're here for a reason. And there's an opportunity for you to say yes to Jesus, who has not only died for you and established an eternal covenant for you. He's also risen from the grave for you.

And you can go now into The Holy of Holies because of his goodness to you. If that's you, my friend, would you pray a simple prayer of confession with me today? This is where it begins. We first confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and then we walk in him and ask for him to equip us. That's what we all do.

If that's you, my friend, today, pray this simple prayer with me. Jesus, I believe you are Lord, you are king of my life. You're in charge. Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sin. That you established an eternal covenant in your blood and God, I believe that you raised Christ Jesus from the dead.

This gives me confidence, Lord, that not only have you paid for my brokenness and my sin, but you've also defeated death. And I can believe that eternal life is in store for me. So I'm asking now, Lord, would you guide my steps, help me to walk in? You equip me for every good work.

Dear friend, if you prayed that prayer with me just now, you've now joined the family, the church, the big C church. We're so thankful for you today and we're praying along with you. The same thing. Similar, Lord. Guide us and make us and equip us.

Help us to look more like Jesus tomorrow than we do today. Help us to set our feet on the solid ground of your word. Help your people, Lord Jesus, and me too, to endure your word and allow it to change us where we need to be changed, to mold our thinking and to shape our actions. Lord, do this for us. We ask all of these wonderful things in Jesus name, Amen.

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