Hebrews 13:10-16

How do we worship, walk, work and witness better in 2026? We run the race set before us. We look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. We cherish the refinement of our lives. We guard the content of our character. We chose the hill of adoration. We worship with reverent, awe-filled, un-delayed gratitude.

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The last two weeks, we unpacked six relational offerings. If you were here last week, you might remember I told you that Hebrews 13 is hard living. This week’s relational offering presses into our walk with the Lord.

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Is the gospel something you have or is it something you live? Does the gospel decide where we spend eternity or does it transform how we live today? I believe this ~ if the gospel isn’t changing how you live, you probably don’t have the gospel proclaimed in Scripture. I’m going to give you three questions that you will help evaluate if the gospel is something you live.

Are you getting spiritually stronger because the gospel saturates your life? (WALK)

Hebrews 13:9 ESV

9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

If you have been part of our Hebrews study, then you know that Hebrews was originally written to Jewish Christians. The Jewish community was obsessed with rituals and ceremonies and food laws that determined if they were clean or unclean, religious or pagan, worthy before God or not. They lived at the hill of obligation. Read Galatians. Read Acts 10. Read Acts 15. In many regards, their spiritual standing was defined by the food they consumed or abstained.

The writer makes it very clear these Jewish Christians were not to get caught up in all the stuff they did before they met Jesus. Those things were in their past and didn’t define their future. Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The foods we eat do not enhance the gospel saturation of our life. The foods we eat or choose not to eat do not make us more religious or not. Heaven and hell is not determined by what goes on your plate and whether you bought organic, processed or grew your own food.

Wherever you are with Jesus today, here is one thing that will help you grow spiritually stronger. Look at verse 9 - “it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.” All through the gospel of John, we find grace invading non-religious, ordinary situations of life.

We find grace in John 2 when Jesus was at a wedding at turned water into the best wine of the party.

We find grace in John 4 when Jesus went to a well at lunchtime and had a conversation with a woman that was divorced five times and living with her boyfriend.

We find grace in John 6 when Jesus feeds about 20,000 people with two fish and a package of hot dog buns.

We find grace in John 8 when Jesus was standing in front a woman that was accused of having an affair and he was gentle with her.

We find grace in John 9 when Jesus spit on the ground to make mud so he could heal a blind man.

We find grace in John 11 when Jesus resurrected a man that had been dead for four days.

We find grace in John 18 when Peter denied knowing Jesus, although he said that would never happen.

We find grace in John 20 when Jesus hung on a tortuous cross and willingly died as an innocent man, was placed in a grave and walked out of that grave three days later.

We find grace in John 21 when Jesus found Peter because he wanted Peter to know they were good.

That might cover all the reasons why you think grace might not be available for you. We find grace in everything Jesus did because we find grace in the gospel. When there is a gospel saturation in our life, we are given grace because we are given Jesus. Verse 9 challenges us to be devoted to the gospel because its good for our soul.

Friends, when we are devoted to the gospel saturation of our life, we grow stronger spiritually. We grow in understanding. We grow in biblical wisdom. We grow in discernment. When we find things in the world that we don’t understand, we don’t let them distort the gospel saturation of our life. We don’t let those things extract the grace from our life. We don’t let those things lead us away from the gospel.

Does your life get messy and uncomfortable for the gospel while you avoid sin? (WITNESS)

Hebrews 13:10–14 ESV

10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

If you have the read the Old Testament, then you might know the writer assumes you have important details about temple practices. We know from 1 Samuel 2 that priests were allowed a portion of the sacrifice for their family table. They had to follow specific rules and abusing them was the reason Hophni and Phineas were condemned by God. We also know from Leviticus 16:27 - “The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire.”

As the writer of Hebrews addresses Jewish Christians, it becomes clear that he is talking about the Day of Atonement. The one annual sacrifice made on the same day every year that was to be treated like no other sacrifice made by the Jewish community.

Look at verses 10-11. Mr. High Priest, there is a sacrifice that you are not allowed to eat from because you are to have no part in the sins of the people. As messy as that sacrifice would have been, it’s purpose was to redeem and sanctify sinful people.

Look at verse 12. As messy as John 18-20 is, Jesus was also taken outside the camp to die so sinful people could be redeemed and sanctified.

Look at verse 13 - “go outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” Here is how you get messy and uncomfortable for the gospel. We separate ourselves from the sinful values, standards and practices of the world, while we live close enough to sinful people that we might gain an opportunity to share the gospel saturation of our life and witness redemption and sanctification in their life.

Chris, what if I want to be the messy and uncomfortable sacrifice the corrects all the sin of the world? That is not your job! John 16:8 says the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Since none of us is the Holy Spirit, I suggest we go after shepherding souls and leave behavior management to the Holy Spirit.

This sacrifice is messy because it forces us to keep our mouths shut when we want to manage behavior. Expect people that do not love Jesus to do things Jesus does not love. It’s uncomfortable because it requires us to open our mouths so we can shepherd the souls of other people. All of it, for the cause of Christ and the advancement of the gospel.

If you struggle to keep yourself quiet at the right time, speak at the right time, or know the difference, then you probably need to work on allowing the gospel saturation of your life to grow your spiritual strength. Because, when the gospel has saturated our life in such a way that we are ready to get messy and uncomfortable for the advancement of the gospel, we better be ready and we better get fired up.

Write this down. The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing EVERY time.

Do you get fired up about the gospel through the work of your life and the proclamation of your lips? (WORSHIP, WORK)

Hebrews 13:15–16 ESV

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Because of the gospel, we ‘continually, continually’ offer an offering that is worshipful. We don’t stop publically professing Jesus with our lips and our actions. We get off the couch, we leave our house, we go serve people and we tell them about Jesus.

Hebrews 13 is not age discriminate. It’s for the youngest person and the oldest person. It’s for the healthy and the unhealthy. It’s for the busy and the idle. It’s for the student, the employed, and the retired.

Any excuse we come up with for not living Hebrews 13 is anti-gospel because 2 Peter 1:3 - “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence”

Maybe it’s time for you to stop seeking additional blessings and begin using your current blessings to advance the gospel.

Maybe it’s time for you to stop looking for more love and begin using the immeasurable love you have been given to advance the gospel.

Maybe it’s time for you to stop believing that “his divine power” isn’t enough power to get you fired up about the advancing the gospel.