Grace Through the Shepherd

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotion. This morning we are finishing up the book of Hebrews. Okay, so we're at Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 through 25. And I'm going to talk at the very end about what our plan is after this. So let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. Lord, we thank you that we set out at the beginning of the year to finish the books of what we did, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus last year. We did Numbers and Deuteronomy, and now we finish up Hebrews this year. Lord, what a blessing it is from you that we've gotten to spend so much time in your word. We thank you for teaching us about Jesus, our great high priest, the one greater than Abraham, with a better priesthood than Levi, and even a better priesthood than Melchizedek. Lord, we pray that you would please help us now, as we read your word, that we would be filled with hope.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go. Hebrews chapter 13, beginning at verse 20. Now may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation. For I have written to you in a few words, knowing that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? Well, this is really a few different sections. The first section, verses 20 through 21, is a benediction. Verses 22 through 24 is kind of like a farewell, and verse 25 is an adios, a final signing off. So what is this final benediction? A benediction is a word of blessing from God, and the writer of Hebrews has a blessing that they want to write and say to the people. And notice there's a few different parts of this benediction.
First, May the God of peace, right? This is the God who's going to bless them.
Who is this God and what has he done? Well, he brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead. Who was Jesus? That great shepherd of the sheep. What else did Jesus do? Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Okay, so this is the God we're talking about, right? The God who raised Jesus up from the dead. What does he want God to bless them with? This God of peace?
The blessing consists here in verse 21. Make you complete in every good work to do his will. Working in you, what is well pleasing in his sight. The prayer of benediction, the pronouncement of this blessing upon them is that God would make them complete in every good work to do his will. He wants them to grow in their good works. He wants them to fulfill what God has made them alive to do. Working in you what is pleasing in His sight, right?
It's that the Lord's face shines upon them because Jesus has been the propitiation for them. He has made expiation. We talked about those earlier. Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice. Now they can do the good works. And notice how they're able to do the good works. through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. This is not a God's face is going to shine upon you because you do good works, but because God's face shines upon you through Jesus, you're able to do the good works.
And so that's the blessing he wants. He wants them to prosper in God's sight. He wants them to do well. He wants them to bring God glory. And he says this kind of closing off a little bit of helping here. He wants them to bear with the words of exhortation. He's written them a letter. We might think it's a long letter. It's 13 chapters, right? But this is a few pages.
He says I want you to I know some of these things have been hard, but I need you to listen I Put up with listen live under do the things I've written to you in this letter and Then he encourages them right know that our brother Timothy has been set free.
I'm sure this is like wow Wow, this is great, right? What a wonderful missionary update. Timothy's set free, this is great. And then he says, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly, right? So if Timothy, he's set free, if he comes here, I'm gonna come to you guys, right? And so there's this hope of reunion, right?
I think this, Nathan and I kind of missed this a little bit yesterday when we looked at 18 and 19, but this idea that we have a desire to actually be with God's people. They have a desire, they have a vested interest in Timothy and they have a vested interest in, my personal preference here is probably Peter who wrote, or sorry, Paul. Sorry, Paul who wrote the book of Hebrews. That's my personal preference. I think he's a Hebraic person writing to Hebraic people in Hebraic style. But that's a whole other thing here. But the point is they long to be with each other. And so they want to see them shortly.
And he says, you know, remember about those elders we talked about previously, right? Those same ones, he says, greet them. Greet all those who rule over you and all the saints. You see this mutual love and affection. He desires to see them, and they desire to see Him, and they want to care for one another. By the way, the word, and all the saints there, the saints is just those who have been saved. Those who are believing in Jesus Christ.
He says, those from Italy greet you. Oh, now we get a hint. Whoever's writing this, again, my preference is Paul. Other people say Peter. That's fine. Some people actually say Apollos. But anyways, point being, this person seems to be residing in Italy at this time. And then the final farewell. Grace be with you all. So let it be. Amen. Amen means so let it be.
He says, Grace, God's favor, His face shining upon you, His unmerited good disposition be with you. What's all this about? It's about God's grace being upon His people. His grace giving us the Lord Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, who has made us right with Him. His blessing being upon us that He graciously allows us and empowers us to do His will. And His gracious blessing that we're not in this walk alone, that we get to care for one another, love one another.
I think that's what this is all about. What's the best verse? Well, you might underline verse 25, or I might underline 20 and 21. The point is, this is the final benediction. This is a sign off of the letter. Last see calling. What are we called to do? I'd like to just read this benediction to you one more time.
And may it be true in your life. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will. Working in you, what is well pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Grace be with you. Amen. Let's pray.
God, we thank you so much that you gave us Jesus Christ, the chief shepherd of the sheep. Father, we pray that you would enable and empower us to do your will. And Father, that we would follow in your ways, walk in your paths. Lord, please let your grace be with us. Thank you for Jesus and for the assurance of your grace we have in his blood through the everlasting covenant. Lord, I pray that you would please bless each and every one of us, watch over my children, care for each and every person who's been watching these many months, or even those who have just joined us, Lord, through coffee and devotions. Lord, we pray that you would please bless and care for each one. Father, we pray that you would please watch over us and give us renewed strength as we get into the next season of coffee and devotions. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, what are we gonna do now? We wrapped up Hebrews and we're a few weeks early. We got like two and a half weeks before the end of the year. Well, I'm gonna try to spend a little bit more time with my own family over the next few weeks. And I'm gonna be thinking about and praying about what to do for the next series of Coffee of Devotions. I got a few ideas.
Please let me know down in the comments, write up. But I'm gonna encourage you, pick a section of the Bible. Pick some section of the Bible, right? Maybe it's a prophet you've wanted to do, or maybe it's a minor prophets, or maybe it's a Proverbs. Maybe you've wanted to go through the gospel or something. Maybe you've wanted to read through the book of Revelation.
Take the next three weeks and practice your ABCs yourself. And at the beginning of the year, we're going to start back up. That's my plan is for us to start back up coffee and devotions. at the beginning of the year. Like I said, I'm going to be doing some reading myself and some spending time with my family over the next few weeks. And so I'm going to take this time and kind of repurpose it that way.
And I hope that I'm going to still be reading my Bible. I do my own Bible reading besides this. I'm wrapping up the, I just finished the book of Luke and I'm in John right now. I'm going to try to wrap up the New Testament before the end of the year for myself. So anyways, I hope that you, will join us again at the beginning of the year for a new season of Coffee and Devotions. I'll see you next time. Bye.