Edgefield Church Nashville – Sermons

The next two chapters of Hebrews are all about blood. They are especially about Jesus?s blood and why his blood is more precious than any other. So why is blood so important, and what does Jesus?s blood actually accomplish?

We all want to change, Christian or not. We try to change by swapping out behaviors, but the radical message of Christianity is that change comes through a set of promises.

God responds to our abandonment of him by binding himself to us with a covenant we can?t break. In his new covenant, God makes us secure by changing what we want, by satisfying us with himself, and by forgetting our sins against him.

Hebrews is a letter full of comparisons, especially comparisons between what Jesus has accomplished and what the system of Moses was meant to provide. This passage introduces two new comparisons that are central in the chapters to come: the new tabernacle, or where Jesus intercedes for us; and the new covenant, or how Jesus intercedes for us.

Hebrews 7, the most challenging section of this letter, has offered a host of minute and obscure details to show that Jesus?s priesthood will last forever. Now, at the end of the chapter, we?re told why this is such good news.

Speaker: Bill Heerman

Why do we need a priest? And why does it matter that Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek? Hebrews 7, the meat of this letter, introduces the mysterious beauty of Jesus?s priesthood.

Few of us would likely claim what makes us confident in the gospel?s promises is the fact that God swore an oath. But this passage suggests that?s precisely how God intended to give us stronger hope and unshakeable confidence. So how does God?s oath make us secure?

Because the power of the gospel transforms, genuine followers of Jesus bear certain marks. This passage presents three of these marks?love, faith, and patience?and why they?re so important.

In one of the most difficult and controversial passages in the entire New Testament, the author of Hebrews warns of the irreversible consequences of falling away from Jesus. What is the nature, purpose, and proper effect of this harsh warning?

Spiritual growth came no easier for the earliest Christians than it comes for us. This passage helps us understand what holds us back from spiritual maturity and how we can press on towards it.

There is an ironic truth at the heart of the story Christians commemorate as Holy Week. The same man hailed as king one day is shamefully executed a few days later, and that death was inextricably linked to his becoming king. Hebrews helps us understand why Jesus had to die to become king, and its explanation has a great deal to do with a mysterious figure called Melchizedek.

This section of Hebrews introduces one of the letter?s most important subjects: the perfect priesthood of Jesus. But why do we need a priest in the first place? What did biblical priests actually do? And what makes Jesus a perfect priest?

This crucial section of Hebrews offers a summary of what?s already been said and a taste of what?s still to come. Jesus is the Son of God who became our sympathetic high priest. These titles?admitedly abstract to our modern ears?are introduced for a profoundly practical purpose. They?re meant to convince us to hold fast to Jesus because only Jesus offers what we really need.

God?s Word has the power to cut through our layers of pretension and expose who we really are. Thankfully, this same Word offers us a new identity.

This passage offers both an invitation to share in God?s rest and a warning not to miss out. On one hand, we?re invited to enjoy perfect satisfaction in God and the security that comes from knowing he provides everything we need. On the other hand we?re told to fear and strive against unbelief and disobedience. How do these commands square with our promise of rest?

Using a vivid example from Israel?s history, this passage helps us understand the nature of a disease we all share and how we can fight it. Sin is a heart condition: it deceives, it hardens, and it feeds on unbelief. The only true remedy for our disease is a deeper affection for Jesus, which grows as we encourage and challenge one another.

When the author of Hebrews wished to encourage his readers to remain faithful, he pointed them to the faithfulness of Jesus. But so much rests on the answer to this question: What is the connection between Jesus?s faithfulness and ours?

At the heart of Christianity is the claim that God took on our humanity?became one of us?so that he could suffer. Hebrews 2 helps us understand why this had to be. Jesus became like us so he could act for us, defeating death as our champion by removing sin as our high priest. And because Jesus suffered everything we could before we do, he empathizes with us and promises us our Father is trustworth...

Death is the fundamental human problem. It shows us the limits of our power perhaps more clearly than anything else. It calls into question everything we were meant to be and all we try to accomplish. And, from the perspective of the Bible and Hebrews in particular, death is unnatural?an impostor, a weapon in the hands of a ruthless enemy whose days are numbered. For the death and resurrection of...

In this first of several warning passages in Hebrews, the message is as simple as it is serious: don?t drift away from Jesus. What makes this drifting so dangerous? What would it look like for us to drift from Jesus? And how can we avoid it?

What makes Jesus more trustworthy than any alternative? According to Hebrews 1, the answer to this question has a lot to do with his status as Son of God, and with the fact that he reigns forever.

Hebrews opens with a dramatic claim that gives focus and meaning to everything that comes later. God had spoken in many ways before; but in his Son, the ultimate medium, he speaks in such a way that everything becomes clearer and comes together once and for all. But what does the fact that God has spoken in his Son tell us about his message and how we should receive it?

For all the mystery surrounding its origin, context, and style, Hebrews makes a case that is perfectly clear: Jesus is greater than any alternative hope for salvation, so we must hold fast to him.

In Luke?s narrative, the angels? celebration of Jesus?s birth hinges on the promise that his coming means peace on earth. But what did they mean by ?peace?? And where is it?