Scripture
Hebrews
58 sermons
The Danger of Neglecting the Means of Grace
Hebrews 2:1–4 issues the first formal exhortation of the letter: pay much closer attention to what you have heard, lest you drift away from so great a salvation. The sermon traces the logic from Hebrews 1 — the Son of God is the final and supreme Word of God, surpassing angels, prophets, and every prior mediator — to the terribleness of neglecting that Word. Three causes of drift are identified: over-familiarity with the gospel, allowing lesser things to displace the greater, and the hardening of the heart through closed ears. The remedy is the faithful use of the means of grace — the gathered assembly, preaching, baptism, and the Lord's Supper — through which Christ continues to speak to his people.
Spurgeon & Open Air Preaching
Drawing on Hebrews 13:7's command to remember and follow faithful ministers, this lecture examines the life, preaching, and open-air ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon as a model for gospel proclamation. The speaker presents material from his published doctoral dissertation on Spurgeon's open-air preaching, working through three open-air sermons and Spurgeon's own pedagogy for street evangelism. A recurring application presses the listener — whatever their theological sophistication — to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to all people, including the lowest and most despised.
August 18, 2024 PM
The closing verses of Hebrews unfold one of the most theologically dense benedictions in the New Testament, packed with titles, covenantal language, and christological weight. This exposition works through six elements of the apostolic blessing in Hebrews 13:20–21: the divine title 'God of peace,' the mediatorial title 'great shepherd of the sheep,' the covenantal foundation of Christ's blood, the petition for completeness in obedience, the doxology rendered to Christ, and the necessity of divine enabling for every good work. The sermon draws together the covenant of grace, the resurrection as the divine vindication of Christ's atoning work, and the believer's dependence on God's working in them both to will and to do — all to the end that glory be given to Christ forever.
The Believer's Race, Part 3
Hebrews 12:3–11 presents three reasons believers must persevere in the race of faith: the example of Christ who endured hostility from sinners, the forgotten exhortation of Proverbs 3 concerning divine discipline, and the Father's sovereign purpose in chastening every son He receives. The sermon argues that suffering and hardship are not evidence of God's absence or anger, but proof of the Father-son relationship and the means by which God conforms His people to the image of Christ. Believers are called to neither despise nor be discouraged by chastening, but to receive it as the painful yet fruit-bearing discipline of a loving Father, whose corrections are light in comparison with the sins that deserve them.
The Believer's Race, Part 2
Hebrews 12:2 presents Jesus as the supreme object of faith for the believer running the Christian race. This sermon examines five dimensions of Christ to which the runner is directed: His person, His work as author and finisher of the faith, His mission under the covenant of redemption, His suffering and shame on the cross, and His exaltation to the right hand of God. The central pastoral application is that the believer neither enters nor sustains the race by personal effort, but by faith in Christ alone — and that the pattern of the cross preceding the crown should brace believers for mounting opposition to their identification with Jesus.
The Believer's Race
Hebrews 12:1 commands the people of God to run with endurance the race set before them — a race marked by real obstacles, both the weights that encumber and the sins that ensnare. The sermon works through the broader perseverance theme of Hebrews, identifies the duty, obstacles, and manner of the Christian race, and then turns to the cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 11 as the primary incentive: not spectators watching the runner, but testimony from Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the judges, David, and the prophets that God is faithful in every conceivable circumstance. The appeal is not to muster willpower but to look by faith at those who have gone before, hear their unified witness that God upholds his people, and so press forward in the joy and gratitude that belongs to those justified by grace through faith in Christ.
The Warning Against Apostasy
Hebrews 10:26–31 contains one of the New Testament's starkest warnings, and the question it raises is precise: who has committed the sin of willful apostasy, and can it be the believer who struggles with remaining corruption? This sermon works through the nature and judgment of apostasy, distinguishing between the sensitive saint who sorrows over indwelling sin and the apostate who openly tramples the Son of God underfoot, counts the blood of the covenant a common thing, and insults the Spirit of grace. Drawing on Calvin, Owen, Gill, and Ursinus, the sermon argues that the persons in view are not struggling believers but outright rejecters of the gospel — in the original context, Hebrew Christians who publicly renounced Christ to return to the Levitical system. The chief comfort the passage affords is precisely this: the believer who fears he has committed the unpardonable sin almost certainly has not, and is called to draw near, hold fast, and consider one another in the confidence of a once-for-all sacrifice that saves to the uttermost.
Better Things in Christ
Hebrews 1:1–4 presents Jesus Christ as the apex of divine revelation, the eternal Son who bears the undiminished nature of the Father, and the perfect High Priest whose finished work secures salvation for all His people. The sermon moves through three considerations: the singular greatness of Christ's revelation over all prior prophetic speech, the infinite excellency of His person as the brightness of the Father's glory and the exact imprint of His nature, and the perfection of His redemptive regency demonstrated in His expiatory sacrifice and His session at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Against any drift toward lesser things — whether Old Covenant shadows, Roman Catholic purgatory, or the kenotic diminishment of Christ's deity — the congregation is called to hold fast their Christ, rejoice in the revelation God has given, and fear the consequences of neglecting so great a salvation.
The Command to Remember the Prisoners
Hebrews 13:3 commands believers to 'remember the prisoners as if chained with them' — not as a vague awareness, but as an active, continual concern that issues in prayer, correspondence, advocacy, and tangible aid. The sermon traces the biblical pattern of righteous suffering from Joseph and Jeremiah through the apostolic era, demonstrating that enmity against the people of God is not an anomaly but an expectation rooted in Genesis 3:15. The command is grounded in the solidarity of the one body: those who enjoy liberty share membership with those who suffer chains, and to forget the persecuted church is a failure of brotherly love. Believers are called to cultivate a global, intercessory prayer-life that refuses to confine concern to the local congregation, and to find in Christ's worth the courage to rejoice if they themselves are called to suffer.
The Perfection of Christ as the Prompting of His People
Hebrews 10:19–25 marks the great hinge of the epistle, where doctrinal exposition gives way to exhortation. The perfection of Christ's sacrifice and priesthood — the absolute sufficiency of His once-for-all offering and His unceasing high-priestly office — forms the irreplaceable ground upon which three congregational imperatives rest: draw near to God in full assurance of faith, hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, and consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Christians are not called to seek experiential novelty or emotional stimulation, but to the settled, corporate, and simple obedience of gathered worship, resting entirely upon the finished work of the One who consecrated a new and living way through His own flesh.
The Believer's Race
Hebrews 12:1 commands the believer to run with endurance the race set before him, stripping away every weight and ensnaring sin. This exposition of that verse examines what the race requires and then opens Hebrews 11 to demonstrate that the 'great cloud of witnesses' are not spectators cheering the runner on, but testimonies given on the runner's behalf — each one declaring, from Abel to Polycarp, that God is faithful to his people whatever their circumstances. The sermon closes with a clear distinction between the ground and the motive of running: salvation is received by grace through faith in Christ alone, and it is from that standing that the believer is called to press forward with resolute endurance.
2LBC Chapter 8 - Christ the Mediator
Christ the Mediator, as confessed in chapter 8 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, is examined through Hebrews 10 and supporting Scripture, tracing the pre-temporal appointment of the Son in the covenant of redemption, his hypostatic union, his anointing for the mediatorial office, and the execution of his saving work. The confession's account of Christ's perfect obedience, sacrificial death, and resurrection is shown to satisfy divine justice, procure reconciliation, and secure an everlasting inheritance for all the Father has given him. Particular attention is given to the retrospective communication of Christ's redemptive benefit to elect saints under the old covenant, demonstrating that salvation has always been by grace through faith in Christ alone. The study exhorts believers to find stability, comfort, and assurance in a precise knowledge of who Christ is and what he has accomplished.
The Church's Compassion for Sufferers
Hebrews 13:3 commands believers to remember imprisoned and mistreated Christians not merely as a cognitive acknowledgment but as an active, embodied solidarity — 'as if chained with them.' The sermon expounds the duty, the objects, and the reason for this command, tracing the antithesis between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent from Genesis 3:15 through the New Testament persecution accounts. Drawing on 1 Peter 4, Hebrews 11, and Acts 12, the preacher grounds the church's compassion for sufferers in the one-body reality of 1 Corinthians 12, calling believers to importunate intercession for the persecuted church worldwide and to trust that God gives sustaining grace in the moment of trial.
The New and Living Way
Hebrews 10:19–25 presents two grounds of confidence for the people of God — boldness of access to the Holy of Holies through Christ's blood and flesh, and the possession of a great high priest over the house of God — and then presses three exhortations upon that foundation: draw near, hold fast the confession of hope, and consider one another to stir up love and good works. The sermon traces the problem of sinful man's exclusion from God's presence from Exodus 40 through the Levitical sacrificial system to its resolution in the incarnation and definite atonement of Christ, who consecrated a new and living way. Particular attention is given to the prohibition against forsaking the assembly, argued to be grammatically tied to the third exhortation and theologically governing all three, so that corporate Lord's Day worship is the ordained context in which God's people draw near, are educated in hope, and mutually provoke one another to love and good works. The sermon closes by calling the unconverted to look to Christ and the converted to embrace their shared responsibility for one another's souls through faithful churchmanship.
The Superiority of the New Covenant
Hebrews 8 presents Christ as the minister of the true heavenly tabernacle and the mediator of a new covenant that is categorically superior to the Mosaic economy. The old covenant was not defective in its essence but in its inability to justify and renew fallen humanity, and its breakability exposed the fatal flaw of any covenant whose continuance depended on human fidelity. The new covenant, announced in Jeremiah 31 and now realized in Christ, is unbreakable, writes God's law on the heart, grants saving knowledge of God to all its members, and secures the full remission of sins — four blessings that belong essentially, not accidentally, to every member of the covenant. Because membership in the new covenant is defined by these regenerate characteristics, believers' baptism by immersion is the only covenant sign consistent with new covenant theology.
The Past as a Present Reminder
Hebrews 10:32–39 calls suffering believers to recall God's proven faithfulness in former days as the present ground for ongoing endurance. The apostle first rehearses the Hebrew Christians' early trials — public reproach, solidarity with persecuted brothers, and joyful acceptance of plundered possessions — showing that heavenly-mindedness, not stoic willpower, sustained them then and must sustain them now. He then exhorts them not to cast away their confidence, grounding Christian perseverance not in moral grit but in faith in the Son of God who loved and gave himself for his people. The sermon applies this to every believer: remember what God has done, set your hope on the enduring possession in heaven, and press forward by faith rather than drawing back to perdition.
The New and Living Way
Hebrews 10:19–25 presents two encouragements and three exhortations for the covenant people of God. The two encouragements — bold access into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, and the possession of a great high priest — ground the three commands that follow: draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, and consider one another so as to stir up love and good works. Neglect of these exhortations is the path by which professing believers drift toward the apostasy warned against in verses 26–31, making faithful corporate worship, steadfast confession, and mutual encouragement indispensable means of perseverance.
The Warning Against Apostasy
Hebrews 10:26–31 is one of the most pastorally misread warning passages in the New Testament, and this expository sermon works carefully to distinguish the sin of apostasy from the ordinary, ongoing sin of weak believers. The apostate is not a struggling saint who confesses and seeks mercy; he is one who, having made an outward profession of faith, openly and obstinately repudiates Christ — trampling the Son of God underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant a common thing, and insulting the Spirit of grace. The sermon draws on Owen, Calvin, Gill, and Ursinus to establish that apostasy is a total, willful renunciation of the gospel, not any species of sin for which Christ has made atonement. Believers burdened by remaining corruption are urged to distinguish themselves from apostates by the very instinct that drives them to the throne of grace — and to make full use of the means of grace God has appointed to preserve them from the apostasy the passage warns against.
The Believer's Race
Hebrews 12:1 calls the people of God to run the Christian race with endurance, laying aside every weight and entangling sin. This sermon expounds the first of three incentives the author of Hebrews sets before believers: the great cloud of witnesses from Hebrews 11, who function not as spectators watching the runner, but as witnesses testifying to the faithfulness of God through every trial and affliction. Drawing on Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, David, Job, Habakkuk, and the martyrs Polycarp and Thomas Hawkes, the sermon presses believers to receive the unanimous testimony of the saints — that God is faithful, God sustains runners, and God will bring them through to the end — and to run without quitting, because the Christian life is a marathon requiring daily faithfulness, not a glamorous sprint.
A Thoughtful Diligence in Fellowship
Hebrews 10:24–25 contains the third of three apostolic exhortations grounded in Christ's blood and high-priestly office: a thoughtful diligence in corporate fellowship that stirs one another to love and good works. The sermon traces the call to mutual consideration — looking away from self and toward brothers and sisters in Christ — and grounds its motivation in the incarnate humility of the Son of God, who made himself of no reputation to serve sinners. Forsaking the assembly is not a private failure but a breach of the covenantal reciprocity that belongs to those who rest on so great a salvation.
The Three-Fold Exhortation
Hebrews 10:19–25 sets forth a two-fold foundation and a three-fold exhortation for corporate Christian life. The foundation is Christ's blood-purchased boldness of access into the holiest and His abiding high-priestly intercession — both of which make the old-covenant sacrificial system not merely obsolete but inferior in kind, not degree. From that foundation the apostle issues three commands: draw near with a true heart in full assurance, hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, and (deferred to a subsequent sermon) consider one another to stir up love and good works. The sermon presses hearers to root their weekly confidence not in the quality of their obedience but in the dignity of Christ's person and the virtue of His once-for-all sacrifice.
The High Priest of the New Covenant
Hebrews 7:20–28 presents Christ's high priesthood as superior to the Levitical order in three respects: His appointment was confirmed by divine oath rather than hereditary succession, His priesthood is permanent because He lives forever, and His personal sinlessness qualifies Him as the perfect once-for-all sacrifice. The passage presses toward a practical conclusion: believers must actively avail themselves of this High Priest — confessing sin through their Advocate, crying out for aid in temptation, and resting in the unchangeable intercession of the One who always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 13:3
Hebrews 13:3 commands believers to 'remember the prisoners as if chained with them' — not merely to recall that persecuted saints exist, but to remember them with a view to action, prayer, and tangible aid. This study traces the command through its immediate context of brotherly love (Hebrews 13:1-3), the Old and New Testament witness to the normalcy of suffering for the cause of Christ, and the reasons why remembering persecuted believers is both a duty and an expression of the church's solidarity in one body. The practical application presses the congregation to move beyond apathy toward the persecuted church through prayer, correspondence, giving, visitation, and the conscious redirecting of attention away from self toward those who suffer for the name of Christ.
The Past as a Present Reminder
Hebrews 10:32–39 calls the people of God to recall their early days of faith — the illumination received, the sufferings endured, the goods joyfully surrendered — not as a memorial to past zeal but as a present summons to perseverance. The passage moves from a reminder of former faithfulness (vv. 32–34) to a direct exhortation not to cast away confidence (vv. 35–39), grounding both in the confession that the just shall live by faith. Trials are not accidental but divinely ordered, and endurance is not a matter of moral bootstrapping but of faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. The sermon calls hearers to shake off spiritual lethargy by drawing near to God, holding fast the confession of their hope, and actively considering one another in the assembly.
The Warning Against Apostasy
Hebrews 10:26–31 has long troubled sensitive believers who fear they have committed the unpardonable sin described there. This exposition argues that the willful sin in view is not the ongoing struggles and failures of the regenerate, but apostasy — a total, obstinate repudiation of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, the renunciation of the gospel itself. Drawing on the parallel warning in Hebrews 6, the covenantal comparison with Deuteronomy 17, and the testimony of Owen, Calvin, and Gill, the sermon demonstrates that those most troubled by this passage are precisely those whom it does not address. The comfort the text affords is real: the priestly intercession of Christ sustains weak and failing saints, and the just shall live by faith — not by the perfection of their obedience.
An Encouragement to Consider the Father's Purpose
Hebrews 12:3–11 calls suffering believers to consider the Father's purpose in divine discipline, not as evidence of abandonment but as proof of His fatherly love. The sermon works through three movements: a preliminary call to consider Christ who endured hostility, the presence of divine discipline as the demonstration of God's fatherhood, and the purpose of that discipline — that believers may be partakers of His holiness. The central pastoral concern is that God's people too easily forget the word of exhortation (Proverbs 3:11–12) when trials come, interpreting chastening as divine absence rather than divine presence. Believers are urged to resist despising discipline, to guard against weariness and discouragement, and to rest in the certainty that God works all things — including painful pruning — for their conformity to Christ.
An Encouragement to Look unto Jesus
Hebrews 12:2 calls the struggling Christian to run with endurance by looking unto Jesus — not merely as a moral example, but as the author and finisher of faith, the one who both originates and secures the believer's perseverance to the end. The sermon works through five aspects of Christ presented in the verse: his person, his work as author and finisher of faith, his resolve in enduring the cross for the joy set before him, his shame and suffering in the crucifixion, and his present exaltation at the right hand of God. The cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11 testifies unanimously that God is faithful, but the believer's gaze must ultimately rest on Christ himself, in whom all hope, trust, and confidence are grounded. The practical summons is to use the means of grace — Scripture, prayer, the Lord's Supper, and the gathered assembly — to keep the eyes of faith fixed on Jesus and to press on without coasting.
Sola Scriptura: The Bible Alone
Hebrews 1:1–3 opens with the declaration that God has spoken — a claim the author of Hebrews treats not as background noise but as the controlling fact of redemptive history. This sermon works through six attributes of Scripture drawn from those opening verses: its divine source, its authority, its finality in the Son, its intended beneficiaries, its perspicuity, and its sufficiency for faith and life in the new covenant community. The Reformation's sola scriptura is shown to be not a negative protest but a positive testimony: Scripture alone is God's last, best, and sufficient word, complete in Christ, requiring no supplement from tradition, continuing prophecy, or moralistic self-help.
The Covenantal Context of the Incarnation
The Incarnation of the Son of God was not an afterthought but the execution of an eternal, intra-Trinitarian covenant — the covenant of redemption — in which the Father gave the Son a definite number of elect people, and the Son willingly undertook to be their covenant surety and mediator. Drawing on Hebrews 10:5–10, John's Gospel, Isaiah 53, Romans 5, and Ephesians 1, this study presents three lines of biblical evidence: the relationship between the Father and the Son, the covenantal language applied to that relationship, and the pre-temporal foundation of the Son's redemptive work. The practical force is doxological and pastoral: believers are eternally secure because their salvation rests not on their own resolve but on a covenant sworn before creation, in which Christ bore a covenant of works on their behalf, obeying perfectly so that his righteousness might be imputed to them by faith alone.
Hebrews 12:1
Hebrews 12:1 calls believers to run with endurance the race set before them — not to earn salvation, but because they have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The sermon works through the obstacles that must be laid aside (weights and ensnaring sins), the sustained pattern of perseverance found throughout Hebrews, and the parallel athletic imagery in Paul's letters. The great cloud of witnesses in verse 1 functions not as a cheering section but as a courtroom testimony — each witness declaring that God is faithful, that He sustains His people, and that resolute endurance to the end is therefore possible.