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Q3. (Hebrews 10:26-31). (In your discussion, please resist the temptation to slam another Christian who might understand the security of the believer differently from you!) What kind of sin is expressed by the phrase, "deliberately keep on sinning" (10:26)? Is this talking about sins related to the weakness of our flesh or apostasy? The author has the sin of apostasy in mind and not the weakness of the flesh. We think of those Christians who profess to be Believers for a while, identifying themselves with a local church, but then deliberately turning away from Christ and this after receiving the knowledge of the truth. Very much like Judas, who heard the gospel, and knew the way of salvation, and even pretending to receive it; but then deliberately repudiating it. For such a person, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. He has decisively and conclusively rejected the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. Therefore God has no other way of salvation to offer to him. It could be that they were never truly born again. What elements in 10:29 contribute to your understanding that this is indeed flagrant apostasy, not garden-variety sin? We note the following three elements in verse 10:29

Q2. According to Hebrews 3:13 and 10:24-25, what should be a prime motive for meeting together with other Christians? What is our usual motivation? Why do Christians so often get out of the habit of attending church or a small group? How can we help these individuals? Our prime motive should be to

Q1. (Hebrews 10:19-21) How did the veil of the Tabernacle function in Old Testament worship? The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place were separated by a veil. In the Most Holy Place we found the Ark of the Covenant, which represented God

Q4. (Hebrews 10:4) Why can't the blood of bulls and goats actually take away sin? What happened then to the sins the Old Testament saints thought were atoned for under the Old Covenant? We see that the covenant that God had made with the people of Israel had one serious deficiency: it was unable to take away the consciousness of sin. That is, it could not accomplish forgiveness.

Q3. (Hebrews 9:28) How did the purpose of Christ's First Coming differ from his Second Coming? Which did the Jews expect? How does the mission of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 fit here? When Christ returns, it will not be to deal with the problem of sin: this work He finished at the cross. He will come to take us home to heaven; to be with Him for all eternity!! This will be the culmination of our salvation, and we will receive our glorified bodies. The Jews expected a Messiah to come and save them. Jesus suffered for all our sins; past, present and future sins.

Read also 1 Timothy 2:5. In what sense does Jesus serve as a mediator? In what sense is Jesus a ransom from sin? Jesus as a mediator is the one who intervenes between God and us. He is the one who makes or restores our peace and friendship with God. By His death on the cross, He removes the obstacle (our sin) which caused this separation. It is when we as sinners accept the merits of the sacrifice our Lord made that the guilt and penalty of our sin is no more. The power of sin in our life is broken, and we become the recipient of the divine nature, and the estrangement between ourselves and God disappears. A ransom is the price paid to redeem someone from bondage or captivity. Jesus said of himself,

Q1. (Hebrews 9:14) In what way does Christ's sacrifice of himself cleanse the conscience in a way that the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant could not? Christ presented himself as a sacrifice, offering his body for the sins of his people. This sacrifice transforms our lives and hearts by purifying us on the inside. We know the destructive effects of sin in our lives. Here we have the blood of Christ effectively cleansing our conscience, giving us this assurance of forgiveness, and helping us to lead a life spent in love and obedient service to God. Therefore we keep God

Q5. (Hebrews 9:11-12) What does "redemption" mean? What were we redeemed from? What was the price of our redemption? How long does our redemption last? Redemption means, to purchase, to buy up; and then to set free; in this case to set us free from our slavery to sin and to free us from our death sentence because of our sins. The price paid was the blood of Christ. Our Lord and Saviour died to set us free and to think that this freedom will last into eternity!!!

Q4. (Hebrews 9:9) Why were external sacrificial regulations unable to cleanse or perfect the conscience? How does a guilty conscience keep us from intimacy with God? What is necessary for us to be able to come "boldly" (4:16)? Before the death of Christ, believers driven by a guilty conscience brought gifts and sacrifices to God. But these offerings, given to the priest who served as intermediary, did not cleanse or quiet the awakened conscience of the worshiper. They were unable to make the worshiper whole, perfect, and complete with respect to his conscience. Gifts and sacrifices made the believer outwardly clean, ceremonially, but the blood of Christ removes sin, cleanses the conscience, and makes man whole. It is only once we have a clear conscience that we can boldly approach God.

Q3. (Hebrews 9:7) Did the Old Covenant provide forgiveness for intentional, active, maintained rebellion against God? No, the Old Covenant did not provide forgiveness for sins committed intentionally. The Old Testament makes a clear distinction between sins committed unintentionally (in ignorance) and those sins man commits defiantly. Unintentional sins will be forgiven; intentional sins cannot be forgiven, for the man who commits them

Q2. (Hebrews 8:7-13) Why did the Old Covenant fail? The first Covenant was not perfect as it did not achieve an ideal relationship between man and God. As we see in Exodus 24:7, the Old Covenant was based on man

Q1. (Hebrews 8:6) In what sense is Jesus the "mediator" of a new covenant? What did he do to mediate this? Christ's ministry is superior to the ministry of the Aaronic priests, and the covenant He meditates is superior to the old one; it is better because it is enacted on better promises. Jesus offered Himself, not an animal. He presented the value of His own blood, not the blood of bulls and goats. He put away sins, not merely covered them. He gave believers a perfect conscience, not an annual reminder of sins. He opened the way for us to enter into the presence of God, not to stand outside at a distance. As Mediator He stands between God and man to bridge the gap of separation. The New Covenant is an unconditional covenant of grace. It imputes righteousness where there is none. It teaches men to live righteously, empowers them to do so, and rewards them when they do.

Q4. (Hebrews 7:26-28) How is Jesus described in verse 26? How does Jesus differ from human high priests? What about Jesus' role as High Priest gives you special confidence? The author of Hebrews list five characteristics of Jesus in 7:26. Jesus is holy - He is like God in every aspect. Jesus is blameless - being completely sinless is therefore free from guilt and blame. Jesus is pure - unstained by sin. Jesus is set apart

Q3. (Hebrews 7:24-25) Why is Jesus able to save people "completely" -- "to the uttermost" according to verse 25? What is the essential function of a priest? Why is intercession the essence of being a priest? Because Jesus lives forever He is also able to save all believers completely. It is because of His perpetual intercession for us that there is no interruption to its effectiveness; it is unchangeable and eternal. So there is no danger that any of us as believers will be lost. He is able to save us for all time because His present ministry for us at God's right hand will never be interrupted by death. The priests represented the people before God, and offered the various sacrifices prescribed in the law. They interceded on behalf of the people. Because of sin the people could not go directly to God, they needed someone to intercede on their behalf.

Q2. (Hebrews 7:22) What is a guarantee or surety? In what sense is Jesus the guarantor of the New Covenant? A guarantee is a promise to do something or to accomplish something. To make certain that an obligation will be met. Jesus is our guarantee! All of God

Q1. (Hebrews 6:18b-20) In what sense have we "fled to a place of refuge"? Why are we to "take hold of" this hope actively? How does Christian hope differ from hoping that something is true? In what ways does an anchor illustrate the idea of hope? As believers we find our refuge in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Remembering that we are refugees from the sinking ship that is this world, and that our only hope, our spiritual anchor, rests in our Lord Jesus himself, based upon God

Q4. (Hebrews 6:12) If we take seriously the writer's exhortation to exercise both faith and patience for the long haul, what effect does that have on our Christian life? On our perspective? How can we resist the subtle temptation to think that our salvation depends upon our endurance rather than Christ's atonement and the grace of God? The author of Hebrews tells us to imitate the saints in their faithful trust, perseverance, and eagerness. We are to persevere even if it is hard to maintain and it is easy to fall into laziness. We are also told to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Both Jesus and Paul told us to learn from and imitate them. Jesus says in John 13:15,

Q3. (Hebrews 6:4-6) What is apostasy? Why is it impossible from a practical standpoint to restore apostates to Christian faith and practice? What point was Jesus making in his Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)? What is Jesus' point of the Parable of the Tares or Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)? Apostasy is the deliberate and complete abandonment of the Christian faith. It could be a gradual process that leads from unbelief to disobedience to apostasy. After rejecting our Lord Jesus we get a hardening of the heart and then the impossibility of repentance. It is not only a careless disregard of Christ, but a deliberate, malicious rejection of Christ. Our Lord is betrayed and He is ridiculed. And all this after enjoying all the privileges mentioned in these verses. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus makes the point that these persons had tasted the good Word of God. As they heard the gospel preached, they were strangely moved and drawn to it. They were like the seed that fell on rocky ground; they heard the word and immediately received it with joy, but they had no root in themselves. They endure it for a while, but as soon as they encounter any hardships they promptly fell away. In the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus depicts the field as the world, and the good seed are the persons of the kingdom, and the weeds are the persons of the wicked one. We find Satan sows the world with those who look like, talk like, and, to some extent, walk like believers. But they are not genuine followers of the King. The harvest is at the end of the age, which will be when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory to reign as King. The reapers are the angels who will round up all evildoers and throw them into the furnace of fire, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.

Q2. (Hebrews 6:4-5) What difference, if any, would you find between the description in verses 4-5 and a Spirit-filled Christian today? What is the writer's point in forming this description? Note: We agree to disagree, but we will disagree with love and humility toward one another in our words, as befitting genuine Christians! To keep us on track, let's limit our discussion to passages in Hebrews only, not the entire New Testament. Immoderate tirades will be removed from the Forum and poison tongues will lose their privileges to participate. I think the description adequately describes the Spirit-filled Christian of today. This is a warning against apostasy and should not be confused with backsliding. As true believers we may wander far away from Christ, but more often than not we will be restored to full fellowship with Jesus. On the other hand, apostates are people, who hear the gospel, profess to being Christians, become identified with a Christian church, and then abandon their faith, decisively disowning Christ, deserting the Christian fellowship, and they then take their place with the enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should not confuse this with the sin of the average unbeliever who hears the gospel but does nothing about it. They may fail to respond to Christ after repeated invitations from the Holy Spirit; they are not apostates, for they can still be saved if only they will commit themselves to our Lord and Saviour.

Q1. (Hebrews 5:14) How does a person become mature in God's Word according to verse 14? What can you do to grow in maturity? By reading and studying the Word and applying what we have learned we mature over the years as Christians. We need solid food, not a diet of milk, for nourishment. Therefore we should be making every effort to study the doctrines of Scripture, we have to dig deeper and spend more time with the Word. It is only then, through constant training and because of our experience that we are able to make wise choices in distinguishing between good and evil. Our maturity, therefore, comes through exercising our faith, being aware and alert, not being sluggish or indifferent about our walk with our Lord.

Q5. (Hebrews 5:9) In verse 9, what does "made perfect" refer to, since it obviously isn't talking about Jesus' moral growth and perfection? (Hint: The word teleioō means "bring something to its goal or accomplishment.") We know that Jesus, as the Son of God, was perfect from eternity. Here, perfection is seen as a completion of the task Jesus had to perform. We read:

Q4. (Hebrews 5:8) In what sense did Jesus "learn obedience from what he suffered"? How did Jesus' learning process differ from ours, since he didn't sin and suffer the consequences of his sin -- the way we usually learn? Jesus

Q3. (Hebrews 4:16) Why should we approach the "throne of grace" with boldness and confidence? What are the promises contained in this verse? On what basis is God able to offer us unrestrained mercy and grace for our sins while still retaining his justice as judge? We can approach with boldness and confidence knowing we will find grace, mercy, kindness, compassion, understanding and a sympathetic ear; and even help in our time of need. But as sinners we must come to the throne of grace in repentance and faith. We know Jesus sits exalted at the Father

Q2. (Hebrews 4:15) In what ways did Jesus share our weaknesses? In what ways was Jesus tempted? Because we know he didn't sin, were his temptations easier or more difficult than ours? Do we have any temptations he didn't have? Why does it comfort us that he can sympathize with our temptations and weaknesses? Jesus himself experienced weaknesses and temptations. At the onset of His ministry, He was tempted by Satan; He coped with thirst, weariness, desertion, and disappointments throughout His earthly ministry. When He was in the wilderness, Jesus experienced hunger, and the devil tempted Him by asking Him to make bread out of stones. While hanging on the cross, He was mocked. Jesus is not only fully divine; He is also fully human and thus understands our weaknesses and our temptations

Q1. (Hebrews 4:14) What is so important about "holding fast to our confession?" What is our confession or profession of faith? Why is maintaining this confession so vital? We read in Rom 10:10: