Without
THREE GREAT “WITHOUTS” OF HEBREWS
Adapted by Toby L. Soechting
SUBJECT: Hebrews
TITLE: THREE GREAT “WITHOUTS” OF HEBREWS
PROPOSITION: Without certain things we shall not be saved.
OBJECTIVE: To show these “withouts” and their relationship to each other.
INTRODUCTION:
1. There is an element today that is quick to label pointed preaching as “harsh,” “negative,” or even “pharisaic.”
(1) They do not like it when someone points out sin in their life or when someone labels sin as “sin” (1 Jn. 3:4; Gen. 49).
(2) They are “OK” if they are negative about you but you’re not “OK” if you happen to say something about them that they don’t like.
2. You must realize the Bible, the word of God places many things in a negative category.
(1) “Thou shalt not” appears 334 times.
(2) “Put away” appears 38 times.
3. Negatives are a necessity.
(1) A parent must inform a child of things that they cannot do or rebuke them when they do things that are forbidden.
A. Does that make such parents harsh, unloving, negative?
B. IT means just the opposite!
(2) A car battery has TWO poles!
4. Positives are essential as well!
(1) The Bible is a book full of the wonderful things that God has done for us. The divine side.
(2) The Bible tells us of the positive things we must do for ourselves (Phil. 4;13; Mt. 6:33). The human side.
5. The book of Hebrews highlights three such things. Three “Withouts.” Three golden threads woven together upon which salvation hangs.
6. Reference to STPO: The Bible teaches that without certain things we will not be saved. We hope this lesson encourages you to examine your life for their presence.
DISCUSSION: THE WRITER OF HEBREWS POINTS OUT--
I. WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE WELL PLEASING TO GOD FOR HE WHO COMES TO GOD MUST BELIEVE THAT HE IS, AND THAT HE IS A REWARDER OF THOSE WHO DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM (Heb. 11:6).
1. Faith is the conviction, assurance, substance, evidence that
(1) God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things.
(2) God is a bestower/provider of eternal salvation through Christ.
2. “Pleasing God” involves “Believing that He is!”
(1) There is no substitute for belief.
A. Not I think so!
B. Not I believe there is “something” or “somebody.”
C. Not maybe this or maybe that!
D. You must BELIEVE in God.
(2) Failure to recognize this fact means that you are without excuse! There is ample evidence! Examine it!
A. This is not MY opinion notice (Acts 14:14-17).
B. Rom. 1:18-22.
(3) If you believe that God does not exist then you are an atheist and you are faced with overwhelming difficulties.
A. If no God then matter must be eternal (cf. 2 Cor. 4:18).
B. Organic life somehow had to come from inorganic dead matter (cf. Gen. 1:1).
C. Everything you see exists purely as a result of chance.
a. No intelligence involved.
b. No designer.
D. “The fool hath said in his heart, “There is no God” (Psa. 14:1).
(4) I DO NOT ACCEPT God’s existence on “Blind Faith.”
A. I know that He is just as strongly as I know that Secondi-Takorawdi, Ghana exists!
B. The evidence demands such a conclusion.
3. Reason = because God is a “rewarder of seekers.”
(1) Rewarder = renumerator = one who pays wages.
A. “Grope for Him, He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17;27)!
B. “Therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward” (Heb. 10:35).
C. Greater riches than the “treasures in Egypt” (Heb. 11:26).
(2) HOW do I seek Him?
A. God never has rewarded man’s faith until that faith is expressed in some visible outward way!
a. “Faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:26).
b. Hebrews gives an entire chapter of examples.
1. Abel offered sacrifice to God.
2. Enoch pleased God.
3. Noah prepared an ark.
4. Abraham obeyed.
5. Sarah judged God faithful.
6. Jacob blessed.
7. Joseph gave instructions about his bones.
8. Moses refused to be called son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
9. Moses forsook Egypt.
10. Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, ...
B. Without faith it is impossible to please God (11:6).
C. Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17).
D. Therefore to “seek” God you must hear, study, and obey His word.
a. We seek God by faith and that faith is rewarded when it obeys God.
b. Our “hearts are purified by faith” (Acts 15:9).
c. “...purifying their souls in obeying the truth” (1 Pt. 1:22).
II. WITHOUT SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO REMISSION OF SIN (9:22).
1. This is a well supported Bible fact.
(1) Mt. 26:28 - “This is My blood...”
(2) Acts 20:28
(3) Rom. 3:24-25 - “...justified by His grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith.”
(4) Eph. 1:7
(5) Eph. 2:13 - Brought near “by the blood of Christ.”
(6) 1 Pet. 1:18-19 - Not redeemed with corruptible silver and gold but “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
(7) Rev. 1:5 “...To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
(8) 1 Jn. 1:7.
2. The importance of blood is seen in God’s demands upon men throughout the ages in every age.
(1) Ex. 12:21-23 - Passover lamb, hyssop
(2) Priest sprinkled the tabernacle with blood (Heb. 9:21).
(3) Heb. 9:22.
(4) Heb. 9:11-20.
3. Why did God place such importance upon “blood?”
(1) Many theories and much speculation.
(2) I do not know exactly WHY God did it but I do know that God did do it! That is enough!!!
A. The shedding of Jesus blood upon the cross is not a story of man’s invention.
B. It is not the result of human reason.
(3) Without the shedding of blood there is no remission (9:22).
A. Without it you are DEAD in your sins.
B. Without it you are HELPLESS and HOPELESS.
III. “WITHOUT PEACE AND SANCTIFICATION NO ONE SHALL SEE GOD (Heb. 12:14).
1. “Peace” = peace between individuals, harmony, concord.
(1) Look how Paul describes the peace available through Jesus Christ (Eph. 2;14-17).
(2) God “made peace through the blood of the cross” (Col. 1;20).
(3) Heb. 13:20 - speaks of a God of peace who raised Jesus from the dead through the “blood of the everlasting covenant.”
(4) “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called Sons of God” (Mt. 5:9).
A. We are obligated in the kingdom to be at peace with others.
B. Especially we are obligated to be at peace with God.
a. Only through the cross is this peace available.
b. Only through baptism can you contact that blood.
c. Rom. 6:3-4.
2. We must have “sanctification” to “see” God.
(1) Sanctification = consecration, purification, holiness, living a course of life befitting those sanctified or set apart for God.
(2) We are no longer slaves to sin! Rom. 6:19-22
A. We now present our members as slaves of righteousness.
B. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22).
(3) We are “sanctified” to the will of God.
3. You cannot have peace or sanctification without Jesus Christ.
(1) You cannot have Jesus without obedience to His gospel.
(2) Jesus has led the way.
CONCLUSION: WE CANNOT BE SAVED WITHOUT --
1. FAITH (Heb. 11:6; Eph. 2:8).
2. BLOOD (Heb. 9:22) = Death of Jesus .
3. PEACE AND SANCTIFICATION (Heb. 12:14) = Newness of life.