Month: March 2014

Teaching Outline Week 16

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The Joy in Responsibility

(An In-Depth Study of Hebrews)

Commentary

Full Assurance of Hope (Part 2)

Hebrews 6:13-18 

Outline 

Let’s set the scene:

Once again we find our text founded on the Old Testament. Our author knows it’s common ground on which we can agree God is faithful. We have a history with God!

Genesis 22: Abraham offers Isaac (A Case Study)

Abraham’s faith is put to the test and found genuine.

God promises Abraham (Genesis 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21 and 22) and Abraham’s faith grows

God waits for worldly hope to die (Sarah is childless and too old) and Abraham’s faith grows

God sends the promise and Abraham’s faith grows

God places the promise at risk to show His keeping power and Abraham’s faith grows

Conclusion: It is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises. (Vs 12)

The main idea of the text: God has a desire for you; through strong encouragement you hold fast to hope that endures to the end! (Verse 18)

You are described two ways in the text:

Heirs of the promise (Verse 17) – future glory

We who have fled for refuge (Verse 18) – present day holding fast

To you God offers two unchangeable things:

A Promise – to bless

With an oath – to keep (God cannot lie)

The aim of verses 12 and 13 is the same found in this week’s text. God wants you to have the full assurance of hope. God never wants your hope to be weak or flapping in the wind based on circumstances. If you become sluggish or dull you can start to think that God’s promises and the hope that He offers aren’t as real as the hope offered by the world. That’s the danger that this book warns against over and over. Drifting in the Christian life is dangerous. You must fight to keep your hope in God strong, compelling, and alluring.

LIFE APPLICATION:

The world calls us to DUTY.

Life for the sake of duty can only exhaust you; and in the end sees you fall away.

God calls us to HOPE.

Life for the sake of hope stirs passion and joy; and in the end sees you grow stronger and finish well.

Synopsis and Homework Week 15

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God reads the heart. Outward actions and expressions can fool the average observer, but God knows the underlying motivation for everything you do. This week the author of Hebrews encourages the reader, picturing a bright future, even though the reader has just been told they are not were they should be in the knowledge of God. Even though our author admonishes for drifting and being dull of hearing, the heart is still producing outward evidence of a born again life of sanctification.

Even though we don’t feel we desire the things of God, which includes His Word, Prayer, Worship, and community with the Body of Christ, the new heart that God placed in us when we placed our faith in Christ alone by His Grace is still beating strong. You feel dry as toast, but the heart in your chest is dripping with anticipation of a closer walk with Jesus.

This heart, a Grace Gift of God, is the key to our standing before Him. Though unseen, it is branded with the fingerprints of the Creator. It longs for God. It longs for righteousness. Even though it must battle daily our sin nature, our corrupt understanding, our lack of knowledge, and our bent forward selfishness, in the end our heart, autographed by God and sealed by the Spirit, WILL have its way.

The Apostle Paul describes a heart like this as “In Christ”.  In Christ you are a new creation and a child of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 3:26) In Christ we become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) We can rejoice because our God knows who we are even when we doubt.

In Christ Alone Our Hope is Found…hey, someone should write a song…

HOMEWORK:

Read Matthew 25:31-46

 

How does the description of Jesus match that of chapter one of Hebrews? (Verse 31)

 

 

The final judgment takes place in verses 32 to 46. Jesus, the Great Shepherd, separates the “sheep’ (the children of God) and the “goats” (the children of wrath).

 

How did Jesus say he knew that the sheep where really the children of God?  (Verses 35-36)

 

 

Did the children of God (the sheep) totally understand the type of life they lived? (Verses 37-39)

 

 

What were the ‘eyes of the heart’ of the sheep able to see that the heart of the goats couldn’t? (Verse 44)

 

 

In this account of the final judgment, did Jesus judge according to a single moment in time or over the entire lifetime of the sheep and goats?

Teaching Outline Week 15

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The Joy in Responsibility

(An In-Depth Study of Hebrews)

Commentary

Full Assurance of Hope

Hebrews 6:9-12 

Outline 

After a hard word of warning comes a breathtaking word of encouragement. This reveals that the goal of the warning is to provide full assurance of hope to the end.

Verse 9:

 

Beloved, a case study.

Though we speak this way…

With hard words of warning

We feel sure of better things…

Not apostasy

Things that belong to salvation.

Things that are owned by salvation!

Things that belong to Christ!

Verse 10:

For (reason for the confidence)

God is not unjust! (This speaks of God’s justice)

Justice – receiving what you deserve

Vs.

Mercy – receiving what is best, despite what you deserve (Grace)

God’s justice does not forget:

Your work (service to the saints; 10:32-34)

Your love for God’s name (God’s Character)

Most Christians understand the Grace and Mercy of God working in their lives, but have little to no understanding of God’s justice in their lives.

How does the justice of God work in the life of the Christian?

The highest value in creation  is God. (Holy, Perfect, Absolute, and Unchanging)

Isaiah 46:9 “for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,”

Justice (perfect justice) only exists when the highest value in creation is honored as such.

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”

God places His Name on His people and upholds it.

Ezekiel 20:44 “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

God created us for His glory.

Isaiah 43:7 “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

Giving praise to the Highest Value in creation (Glorious God) completes us.

Philippians 1:20-21 “… Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Philippians 3:8 “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

There’s the key: we praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate, what we love and praise, what we admire, our joy would not be full. Jonathan Edwards said, “Joy is a great ingredient in praise … Praise is the most joyful work in the world.” Therefore, if God is truly for us, if he would give us the best and make our joy full, he must make it his aim to win our praise for himself. Not because he needs to shore up some weakness in himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because he loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can only be found in knowing and praising him, the most beautiful of all Beings.

The justice of God always supports and maintains those who rest in the mercy of God.

Verse 11:

Live in full assurance!

Verse 12:

Imitate those who have faith and patience!

The book of Hebrews is written for our assurance.