Hebrews 3
1. Look at your daily planner or time schedule and your checkbook. What do they tell
you about the priorities you are setting for your life? Where do they witness to
Jesus’ place in your life?
I have used many of John Maxwell’s leadership strategies to teach others on influence
and productivity. A key point to learning how to be a better leader is to understand your
priorities. When considering what your actual priorities are, a person can usually find the
evidence of such in their personal daily schedule and bank statement. Where a person
spends their time, and their money is where their life is. Consequently, this is where you
find how committed a person is to their faith. Hebrews 3:4 reminds us that every house is
built by someone, but the One who built everything is God. Any other priorities that take
precedent over God and His purposes is destined to fail miserably.
2. Describe the spiritual condition of the first recipients and readers of the Book of
Hebrews
My opinion is that many were more engaged in trying to navigate the legacy of their
religious upbringing while, at the same time, fully engaging with the gospel of Christ and
the salvation that it delivers. I am sure it was a difficult struggle to be consistently
debated and distracted by the teachings of the law while they fully pursued their faith in
Jesus as the completer of the law. How vital it was to have the advice of the writer of
Hebrews to remind them in 3:13 to encourage each other daily. How very important it is
to walk the path with fellow brothers and sisters and in so doing be encouraged to hold
firmly to the faith.
1
3. How does this chapter support or modify your understanding of the doctrine of
personal salvation?
I lean more to being in the support camp of this chapter. The very real reality of human
existence is that there is already a place prepared for sin and those who have been defiled
by it. For any of us who are engaged in this class, my suspicion is that we all would agree
that a person should immediately respond when they hear the voice of the Lord calling
them to come to faith. The more we can remove the “voices” of distraction from the
listener the greater the opportunity for restoration. Hebrews 3:15 reminds us that if you
hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Those “voices” in the
referenced rebellion ended up keeping thousands upon thousands from entering the
promised land that their Creator had prepared.
4. What forces or people in the modern world tempt you to follow them and slacken or
give up your commitment to Jesus?
Certainly our culture is no different to what it is today. Life is filled with every
imaginable flesh pleasing distraction and often it is easy to see how those distractions can
keep us in bondage to sin. These “distractions” so easily dangle their momentary
pleasures and the partaker is often, at least subconsciously, aware of their end results.
What is more disappointing, is that our culture is also filled with those “voices” that
would seem to be sharing God’s word but are only using its platform to confuse and
deceive the hearers. These religious distractors are similar to the ones who came out of
Egypt with Moses. What was the end result of their wages? Hebrews 3:19 tells us that
they were unable to enter [the promised land] because of unbelief.
2
Hebrews 4
1. How does the warning not to fall short of God’s rest affect your life and your
experience of salvation?
Much like pressing toward the prize, those that have heard the good news must benefit
from it. How does one benefit? By receiving the reward of being united with those who
heard it in faith and being able to enter the rest designed for those who have believed.
(Hebrews 4:3). Those who have received the good news by faith will also desire to bear
fruit as they journey towards that ultimate prize of rest. To fall short of the glory of God
is the single most terrifying result of a human life lived. There is no ultimate benefit for
the one who falls short of such. May I not only “press on” but also encourage others to
“press on” also.
2. What benefits do you receive by entering in and experiencing God’s rest in
Christ?
Hebrews 4:10-11 tells us that for the person who has entered His rest has rested from his
own works, just as God did from His. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest. Rest
from the labor of this life should not be considered a small thing. Not only will we one
day be delivered from the issues and challenges from just being human, but Jesus Christ
will deliver us from and all effects of sin and death. By giving us new life, He will restore
us to perfection where there will no longer be deterioration and exhaustion. We will
receive “rest” with Him as the ultimate prize.
3
3. What does it mean when a person who has made a public profession of Christ as
Savior and has worked effectively in the church suddenly disobeys Christ and
expresses disbelief in him?
Depending on what denominational tradition you hail from can have some effect on the
answer to this question. Some are “once saved always saved” while others hold to the
belief that should one do what this question asks, that such disbelief causes you to revert
back to your sin nature. It is God who judges the heart, but we will also be know by the
fruit that we bear for Christ. Though doubts can be part of the Christian walk, the
persistent working out of our faith allows us to continue the journey to holiness as Christ
replaces our doubts and fears with His love and protection. Hebrews 4:10 says the person
who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. So
perhaps it could be said that can one have rest from “his own works” if he wasn’t “doing
works”? God will give rest to those whom He has found worthy to receive rest.
4. Describe the rest that remains for you.
This rest will be a undeserved reward for me. There is no power of myself, no effort I can
adequately give that can justify my receiving “rest” from the Heavenly Father. In Jesus
redemptive work, I have been justified and set free from the destructive nature of sin.
With belief and faith in the One who offers deliverance, I can approach His throne of
grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper
time. (Hebrews 4:16) This access allows me to tap into Heavenly resources to find
strength and encouragement to finish the race with faithfulness. In so doing I will receive
the eternal Heavenly “rest” promised to me by my Creator.
4
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
