Why did I preach from Hebrews yesterday?
Because I want for you what the author of Hebrews wanted for his people.
He knew that they had 1,000 opportunities to drift away. So do you.
Countless sinful temptations lurk within your own heart. There are desires and drives arising from within that will lure you away.
For others of you persecutions and pressures from without beckon you away. You don’t want to be belittled or lose face with the worldly. You don’t want to suffer the costs of following Christ. Slackening your grip on the faith sounds so much easier.
How can I hope that you resist all of this?
That was the burden of the author who wrote to the Hebrews.
And I want to do just what he did.
Hold up Christ.
Hold up Christ who is ‘better than’ and hold up the Christian faith which is ‘eternal’.
If you are tempted to sin – the greatest help is in feeling His full sacrifice for sin. He paid it all, once for all. And He sat down because it is finished.
If you are tempted to give up – the greatest help is in feeling that He has not stopped interceding for you, and is doing so right now.
Read these three brief passages with the above thoughts in mind.
And so resist sin and every temptation to drift away
7:25-27
9:11-12
10:11-14
“Hebrews exhorts its recipients to an unqualified commitment, an unflagging perseverance, and a willingness to suffer for the sake of Christ. And to do this Hebrews holds up Christ in His incomparable glory, His unfailing forgiveness & sympathy, and His unimpeachable credentials.”
Peter O’Brien PTNC Commentary