Today’s passage: Hebrews 6:1-8

Helpful thoughts:

• Remember while reading this passage:  The original audience was Hebrew people who had lived under the Old Covenant who now needed to transition to the New Covenant.
  • The people of God in the Old Covenant looked FORWARD to the coming of Christ.
  • The people of God in the New Covenant believe in the Christ who CAME, died, was buried, who rose again…and is coming again.
    • Therefore, remaining under the Old Covenant is not an option.  Choosing to remain is disobedience to God.
• The Hebrew people who were being taught about Jesus Christ and declaring Him to be a false Messiah, were condemning Him to death all over again (“Crucifying again”).
  • If Jesus was not the Messiah and He claimed to be the Son of God, it would have been right to declare and punish His guilt.  But if He truly is the Messiah, to reject Him is to reject God!
• These Jewish people had been part of the people of God (The visible Israel) prior to Christ’s coming, but if they rejected Christ, they would not be a part of the people of God (The Church) in the New Covenant.
  • This is how they could be “in” and then “out.”  Those Jews who live in the time of Christ and then rejected Him as their Lord would have enjoyed the benefits of God’s blessings on His people (The “rains”) but then never bore the fruit (“Thorns and thistles”). – Verses 7-8
  • This means those Jews who rejected Christ were taught the truth about God (They had been “enlightened” – verse 4), but they never truly surrendered and believed.

Questions to consider:

1. How do Jesus’ words of rebuke to the Pharisees in John 5:36-47 help us to better understand this passage today?  Were the Pharisees ever truly believers?  What did Jesus say?
2. Why then is it wrong to view this passage as saying that Christians can lose their salvation?  Who is the original audience?  What/When is the occasion for the writing?  What does the text actually mean?
3. With all this being said, what is it that we are to do with the truth of God’s Word?  How does one move on from “elementary doctrines?”

Today’s passage: Hebrews 5:11-14

Helpful thoughts:

• The Hebrew readers are rebuked for being hard to teach in this first verse!
  • The writer desires to explain how Christ fits into the priestly line of Melchizedek.
• The word translated as “dull” in verse 11 comes from a Greek idiom and it means, “Lazy as to one’s ears.”  The word is translated as “sluggish” in 6:12.
• There is a skill that can be acquired in handling the Word of God through “constant practice.”  And this constant practice, when pursued rightly with a heart to learn and grow will produce maturity in the faith.

Questions to consider:

1. God promises to complete the sanctifying work He has started in us (Philippians 1:6), but what is required from us in order to grow in this life?  What does it mean to be dull or sluggish in our hearing?  What would repentance look like?
2. With that being said, are time and life experiences the biggest difference makers for growth as a Christian?  As valuable as those can be (When rightly understood through the lens of Scripture), what practice makes a Christian ready for solid food from the Word of God?
3. Why is it hard so often to get started reading the Bible and yet so easy to watch a tv show or listen to the radio (Or other media)?  How would you like to grow in your learning from Scripture?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 5:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• Qualifications listed in this passage for a High Priest:
  • Compassion for the people he serves which comes from experiencing the struggles of living in this world.
  • Appointment to the position by God.
    • Jesus meets both qualifications.
• Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20) was both King and Priest.  Jesus’ priesthood follows this order, not that of the sons of Aaron.  More on this in Hebrews 7…
• Jesus did not need to learn how to obey in the sense that He had previously disobeyed.  He came to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15)  He lived a sinless perfect life, full of obedience in the face of temptation and in the face of suffering, so that our sin could be placed on Him in judgment, and His righteousness could be put to our account!

Questions to consider:

1. If you were a Jewish person who loved your history and ancestors, how might you struggle with the idea of having a different order of priesthood (Aaron and Melchizedek)?  How can history and traditions become a stumbling block to hearing, believing, and submitting to the truth?
2. How does the necessity of compassion in today’s passage tie back to 4:15-16?  How does Jesus meet this requirement?
3. What is the place of obedience in verse 9?  Is the obedience mentioned as a prerequisite to earning salvation, or is it the marker to see all those who have inherited the righteousness of Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10)?  What change progressively comes in the life of a believer who has the perfect Christ in them?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 4:14-16

Helpful thoughts:

• The High Priests in the Old Covenant would pass through into the Holy of Holies to offer the atoning sacrifices annually.  Jesus passed through the heavens and offered His own blood as our atonement.
  • The Old Covenant practice was a picture pointing to the real thing.  Jesus is the real thing.
• Jesus endured temptation better than all of us…He never gave in!  He never sinned!
• Kings are often unapproachable, especially if you are guilty of rebellion against them.
  • Jesus has taken away our sin and provided access to the throne.  We can pray with all confidence that our Lord has invited our requests.

Questions to consider:

1. These verses build up to the exhortation to pray.  How do all the truths combine to encourage us in this way?
2. How does verse 16 help us to think rightly about prayer?  What are we actually doing when we pray?  Is it just a routine for us?  Is it a tool to help us calm down or something like that (Meditation)? Or are we actually talking to someone of the highest authority who is listening and will respond?
3. What does it mean to come “boldly” before the throne of grace?  What is the basis of our boldness?  What would give us reason for pause before kneeling before the king?  What has been done to take away our hesitation?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 4:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• That which is required for any to enter into God’s rest, faith (Verse 2).
• Doing as much as we can to keep God’s commands and hearing the Word of God countless times does not profit us in any way if we do not believe.
• The word of God gives us hope and truth for rescue.  It is also a word of judgment to those who refuse to believe.
  • God reveals and knows even the motives of our hearts.

Questions to consider:

1. How does this passage help when a person believes they must be “good enough” to get into heaven?  If the motive behind my works is to earn my own righteousness, of what nature are my works?  Do they please God?
2. What is the only way to both work hard for the Lord and enjoy His rest simultaneously?  What has to come first?  How does true faith free us to possess right motives?
3. How does knowing Christ as Lord and Savior change how we read verses 12-13? (Romans 3:24-25)  How does Jesus Christ truly give us rest, both now and in the future?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 3:7-19

Helpful thoughts:

• The Holy Spirit led the writer of Hebrews to rightly attribute Psalm 95:7-11 to its true author, the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).
  • Today’s passage and tomorrow’s will apply this passage to the Jewish people.
• For the Hebrew person to see the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and not believe is being equated with those Hebrew people who were led out of Egypt and saw and heard the miracles and ministry through Moses and chose not to follow the Lord.
  • They were called “Israel.”  But not all who were “Israel” were truly the people of God (Romans 9:6).
• The Jewish people were/are not saved simply because they were/are Jewish.  In the same way, people who go to church are not saved simply because they “identify” as church-going Christians.
  • Verse 19 – “They were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

Questions to consider:

1. When is the right time to repent and follow Christ as Lord (First word of the Psalm 95 quote in verse 7.)?  Why do you think we tend to put off repentance?  What does the next phrase in verse 8 say is happening when we choose not to repent immediately?
2. What is the specific repentance being called for in this passage?  What is the one sin that makes forgiveness of all other sins an impossibility? (John 3:18)
3. What did unbelief result in for those Israelites in the wilderness (The last words of verse 18)?  What do those who believe grow in doing in our journey toward “His rest?”

Today’s passage: Hebrews 3:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus is superior to Moses.
  • Moses was sent by God as a servant to lead His people out of bondage from Egypt.  Moses was a servant in God’s “house.”
  • Jesus was sent by God as a servant to lead His people (Including Moses) out of bondage from sin.  Jesus is a servant AND the Son “over His own house.” (Verses 3 & 6)
• Apostle means, “sent one.”
  • Christ was sent by God.  The Apostles we normally think about, were sent by Christ before His ascension (With the exception of Paul).
• Perseverance in the faith is the evidence of sincerity of faith (Verse 6).

Questions to consider:

1. With this comparison stated in the passage, in what way did Moses serve as a type of the coming Christ?  What did he do that gave an example of what the Messiah would eventually do?
2. In what ways is Christ the “builder” of His house?  How does He build His house? (Matthew 16:18)
3. Why can those with a sincere faith in Christ be confident in knowing we will hold our confidence in Him to the end?  Whose word do we base this hope on? (Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28-30)

Today’s passage: Hebrews 2:14-18

Helpful thoughts:

• Satan and death have been defeated!  They hold no power over those who are in Christ.
• God the Son became man in order to be offered as a substitute for our sin.
  • Jesus endured temptation without sin.
  • As our spotless/sinless lamb, He suffered and died, taking God’s wrath against our sin on Himself.
  • God’s wrath has been completely satisfied (“Propitiation”).
• Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted from without.  He is able to sympathize with us in this and come to our aid.

Questions to consider:

1. Why was Jesus born?  What did He come to do?
2. How good is it to know that God’s completely just wrath against all our sin is entirely satisfied?  How does this humble us?  How does meditating on this truth stir our hearts in love for Him?
3. How does the combination of Christ’s sacrificial love and His readiness to bring us aid in the midst of our temptation encourage you to fight against sin?  How is Christ’s love a better motivator for righteousness than if we were just trying to earn ourselves a place in heaven?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 2:5-13

Helpful thoughts:

• It is right for us to me amazed by God’s love toward mankind!
  • God did not give dominion over the earth to angels, but to man.
  • God did not provide a sacrifice to redeem fallen angels, Christ came to redeem sinful man.
  • God will not put all things under angels’ feet, but Christ’s (The God-Man), who was made “lower than the angels” to save us from our sin.
• God’s perfect justice required the sufferings of Jesus.  Jesus tasted death on our behalf. (Romans 3:26)
• Jesus did not call the disciples (Or His followers) “brothers” or “brethren” until after the resurrection (Matthew 28:10).  After His death, burial and resurrection all the work had been done and vindicated which “sanctified” or set apart His people and united us to Him.
  • We have been set apart from our sin, and set apart to service!

Questions to consider:

1. How does the beginning of verse 10 remind us of God’s place in the universe?  Does He exist for us or do we exist for Him?  Is there a single person on earth who will not answer to Him?  What does the world need to hear?
2. How does a passage like this help us not to take the Gospel for granted?  What did Christ go through for our salvation and for the glory of God?
3. How could this great explanation of God’s love given to us stir up in us a love for Him and a desire and ability to show love to others?