Encouraging Words

Encouraging Words

Hebrews 13:20-25

The book of Hebrews ends with a prayer and a plea. It’s the writers hope that the Hebrew Christians will continue in the faith. We will see that in this closing section.

v. 20 In verse 18 he asked the Hebrews to pray for himself and other leaders.

Now he prays for them. If someone is praying for you, you should return the favor!

Let’s look at this prayer:

“The God of Peace”

Who seeks peace with us.

Who grants peace to us through salvation.

Who desires us to be at peace with one another.

Because God has went to great lengths to be at peace with us, we should go to great lengths to be at peace with one another.

“Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus”

Our salvation hangs on the resurrection. If Christ is not risen, we are in our sins. God raised Jesus from the dead.

Amazingly He rose to save us. We might worry that God raised Him from the dead so He could get revenge on His enemies.

Do you remember when Herod had John the Baptist killed? Jesus was performing miracles and he thought Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. He was afraid because he thought John may be coming to get him (Mark 6:16).

God raised Jesus from the dead to save us. This is amazing grace!

“The great Shepherd of the Sheep”

Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd. He is also the Great Shepherd! There are many shepherds in the Bible.

Abel

Abraham

Jacob

Moses

David

Jesus stands above them all.

He purchased the sheep (saved us)

He protects the sheep (keeps us)

He provides for the sheep (feeds)

By virtue of the resurrection of Christ He is:

“Our Lord Jesus” He is the supreme ruler of the universe.

“by the blood of the eternal covenant”

Let’s consider a few things about the New Covenant we see in this verse:

“Through the blood”. Our salvation is through the death of Christ.

“Eternal”. The Old Covenant passed away but the New Covenant will not. It is eternal. There will never be another way to be saved.

Christ crucified.

Christ buried.

Christ risen.

This is the only way there will ever be.

We have seen the God he is addressing prayer. He is:

The God of Peace

The God who raised Jesus up from the dead.

The God who has brought us into eternal covenant with Himself through the blood of Jesus.

Now we see the request.

v. 21 “equip you with everything good”

He is praying that God would give everyone what they need to live the Christian life. What do we need?

His power. We cannot live the Christian faith in our own power. We need the Holy Spirit.

His Word. We must know it.

A submissive will. God must break our own will.

What is the purpose for God giving us every good thing?

“that you may do His will”

We need to be equipped by God to do the will of God. This means we must be committed to personal spiritual growth.

When we do His will, He is:

“working in us that which is pleasing in His sight”

This should be our goal. To be pleasing to God should be our greatest desire. This brings glory to God.

If you are saved, you can live a life that pleases God. But you have to be equipped. There is a process. It involves:

Dying to self

Learning the Bible

Obeying the Bible

Submission to the Spirit

Serving God in His church

We should pray this type of prayer:

God equip me!

God help me to do your will!

God help me to be pleasing in Your sight!

v. 22 Now we move to the plea.

“bear with my word of exhortation”

We know he is talking about the letter because he says, “I have written to you briefly.” He could have said so much more.

His concern is how they will receive what he has written in this letter.

“bear with” means to receive it. There were some difficult things written in the letter. He had to address some problems. How they received the letter would determine if they obeyed the Lord or not.

How we receive a sermon matters. We get no spiritual benefit from merely listening to a sermon. The pastor can prepare his sermon, but he cannot prepare our hearts. That is our responsibility.

“word of exhortation” is encouragement. The man of God is always encouraging the people of God to do the will of God.

You can endure a sermon with little regard for it. When will this end?

You can enjoy a sermon with no intention of obeying it.

You can ignore a sermon. Have your mind on a hundred different things.

Here is a good thought:

We stop truly listening to sermons when we have no intention of growing in our faith. When we have arrived at the spiritual state, we want to be at we quit listening.

The truth is we have besetting sins we refuse to deal with. We become spiritually plateaued. We are stagnate.

When is the last time we said:

I need to stop doing this.

I need to start doing this.

I need to forgive so and so.

When we stop receiving the Word of God we stop growing.

When we stop growing, we become spiritually stagnate.

When we become spiritually stagnate, we justify sins.

v. 23 Timothy had been released. We assume it was from prison. Paul had warned him to stand strong when persecution came (2 Tim. 3:12). The writer knew Timothy well. He hoped to travel along with Timothy to see the Hebrew Christians sometime in the future.

Let me interject something. The leaders of the early church were often imprisoned for their faith. Obeying the Word of God was not easy for them, but they did it. They received the Word. They didn’t expect the congregation to do anything they were not doing themselves.

When Timothy came, he could testify to the goodness of God. His obedience led to imprisonment, but God took care of him. The writer was not sure if the two would make the trip. He says “if he comes soon.”

v. 24 “Greet all your leaders”

Couple of things here:

There were a plurality of elders in the early church. A church should be led by a group of qualified men. The single elder model is not best for the elder or the congregation.

They were to greet each leader. Be careful not to grow hard hearted toward the leaders in your church. Speak with them. Ask them about what’s happening in their lives. Encourage them. Pray with them and for them.

“Greet the saints”

The same is true for your fellow believers. Speak to one another in the church. If we are not careful, we will speak to the same folks over and over.

“those who come from Italy send you greetings”

Who are these people?

Some say Hebrews was written from Rome. This would have been believers present with the writer.

Some believe it was Italian believers outside of Rome.

The big point is there were Christians from Rome. The gospel had penetrated that city. The Hebrews had no reason to fear those who opposed the gospel. God was conquering hearts through the preached Word. This would encourage those who were tempted to return to Judaism.

A great proof of Christianity is its rapid spread across the globe. There are believers from every inhabited continent that can greet you.

v. 25 A prayer for the grace of God to be with the people of God. We need God’s grace. We can’t survive a moment without it.

God’s saving grace

God’s keeping grace

God’s strengthening grace

A prayer and a plea. A prayer that we will be equipped to do the will of God and thus be pleasing in God’s sight. A plea to submit ourselves to the Word of God.