March 31, 2024: Message: Christian, You Shall Never Be Lost | Scripture: Hebrews 13:20-21 | Speaker: Pastor Stephen Choy
Worship Songs: Christ The Lord is Risen Today; Crown Him with Many Crowns; Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
Full Manuscript
Introduction
If able, please stand as I read to you from Hebrews 13:20-21. TWoL: 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
The whole book of Hebrews is one extended sermon written to Jewish Christians. And like every sermon, it has two parts. The first part is what we call the exposition—the explanation of what a passage means, only the author of Hebrews is seeking to explain the entire nature of the Bible. He’s trying to show us what all of Scripture is about, and the thing he tells us is that it’s about Jesus—that he is greater, better, more wonderful, more satisfying, and the supreme fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament Law.
But our author gives us that first part so that he might lead us into the second, namely, that we should live as those who belong to this Jesus securely forever. This book is God’s declaration to us—his people—that his salvation of us through his Son is absolutely sure, and our verses here in Hebrews 13:20-21 tell us it’s because we’ve been enabled to live and to keep living the resurrection life—to live as those who belong to Jesus. That’s the takeaway here: because of Jesus, we are to live the resurrection life.
Now, I am not preaching to you a life of ease and comfort. No, the resurrection life may look very different than health, wealth, ease, and comfort, yet what the Bible tells us is that it’s the kind of life that God desires us to have—one that he has provided for us in Jesus—one that centers on his character and his desires over our own wicked character and desires. This is the resurrection life—a life that keeps God as its main point, and I have four supporting points that tell us how we can live in such a way where God remains the main point, and it begins with living as one who has been reconciled.
1) Live as One Reconciled
Hebrews 13:20-21 begins like this: “Now may the God of peace …” Easter wouldn’t be Easter unless it began with God. Yet, we must ask what kind of God is he? The Bible has a lot to say about the kind of God he is—that he’s a God of love (1 Jn 4:7-21), triune (Matt 28:19), infinite (1 Tim 1:17), self-sufficient (2 Cor 3:5), holy, merciful, gracious, wise, steadfast, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, righteous, just, immutable, transcendent, sovereign, and imminent. Yet, on Easter Sunday, perhaps the most important of his attributes for us is that he is a God of peace.
Why you might ask? Well, the context of the book of Hebrews actually provides us with two reasons. The first reason is because these Jewish Christians were facing persecution. It’s likely that this book was written around 55-67 AD, which means things are getting dangerous as the Roman Emperor Nero approaches—a man who hated Christians. And it’s clear in Hebrews 10 and 11 that this persecution has at least begun with some believers facing expulsion from their homes, some facing the sword, some being threatened with their livelihoods. These believers hearing or reading this sermon were a people on the precipice of death wondering if God had abandoned them, and if they had followed the wrong faith.
So, the author of Hebrews wants them to know, God has not abandoned them. No, look at all of these men and women of faith in Hebrews 11 who have gone before you. They suffered worse than you, and yet, God counted them as righteous, saved them, and vindicated them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! So, too, shall he do with you, if you remain faithful and hold fast, even in death, to the peace you have in his Son.
Yet, more than God being a God of peace in the face of persecution, the author of Hebrews wanted these Christians to remember why he was the God of peace—why they could face death. It was because they knew the gospel. God doesn’t only help you die well, but he helps you find peace even if you don’t die. Because what you need peace for isn’t just to die well, but also to live this life knowing that, although you were once hostile to God, you are now reconciled to him. The point of the Bible since creation in Genesis—the point of the gospel is to bring you back where you might live in peace and rest with God.
What sin did in Genesis 3 was uproot that peace, and since humanity’s fall, God has been sending person after person to try and restore that peace. And person after person, because they were merely men, and because they were born into Adam’s sin, they proved insufficient. So, there has been ongoing conflict between God and man since the first man. Since sin entered the world, there has been no true peace. But we’re told here in these first words of Hebrews 13:20 that God, himself, is the bringer and giver of peace.
And this is utterly important for us in this room because it seems that conflict describes our circumstances more and more every day! You just need to turn on the T.V. or read a newspaper, and you’ll see conflict all over the world. Or you just have to look at the person next to you, and you’ll find, in his or her family, some problem. Or you need only look into your own heart, soul, and mind, and I can guarantee every single one of us is at war to some degree with ourselves—some of us have trouble with our tempers, some can’t tame our tongues, some are cowards, and some of us are enslaved to lusts and passions of the flesh.
So, before we talk about anything else, what we need to establish this morning is that Easter is first and foremost about a God who brings us peace from the conflict that exists between us and him, between us and the world, between us and our relationships, between us and ourselves. He reconciles us to himself, and he fills us with peace when all we would do in our sin is breakdown and fall apart like the world is doing to itself now.
Those who have been reconciled by God to God are those who live the resurrection life. They are those who have been brought out of conflict into eternal, persevering, death-defying peace. Yet, we must ask, how is it that God gives us this peace? How does he reconcile himself to us when Scripture says God hates the wicked (Ps 5:5; 11:5)? Well, that’s the question we face in our second point: the resurrection life means (living) …
2) Live as One Covenanted
Here’s what God did in order to secure our peace: he raised his dead Son, our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, back to life. Brothers and sisters, there isn’t enough ink in the world to explain the depth of these words—how incredibly sweet they should be to our ears. Yet, I’d like to say a few brief things about them.
Firstly, he is the Great Shepherd leading his sheep. What does this mean? It means, in part, that his Shepherding of those who belong to him—those who are a part of his flock—is eternal. Since the Old Testament, God has called upon his human leaders to shepherd his people. They were to lead them, teach them, care for them, uphold them, and guide them into life with their God. Yet, because they were themselves sinners—flawed—in their leadership, no matter how good they were, their time as shepherds would always come to an end. What distinguishes those good shepherds from our great shepherd? It’s that, at least in part, Christ’s Shepherding will never come to an end.
However, we run into a problem here because in order for him to be Great, he would also have to ensure their safety, longevity, and assurance—that none in the flock would ever be lost. He wouldn’t be Great if he was just like those who were good or bad shepherds—those who had let their sheep be lost along the way either because they were shepherded poorly or because the sheep were simply rebellious, prone to forgetting and looking away from the guidance of their shepherds. But Jesus is the Great Shepherd, which means he can’t lose a single one.
So, what does he do to make sure that even those who were rebellious and forgetful might not be lost? He goes out to find them, and when he sees that they are snatched up in the jaws of a prowling lion, what, then, does he do? He intercedes. He fights. And here’s the problem, he dies because the fight is great, and the lion will not relent without his pound of flesh. Jesus is Great because he unlike all the good and bad shepherds before him, he cares so much for his flock that he’ll give up his life to save them—to make sure not a single one is lost—to make sure they are secure in their life forever and ever!
But do you see the problem? How can he be both the Great, Eternal Shepherd and the Great Shepherd who dies for sinful, rebellious sheep? There is only one answer, and the author of Hebrews tells us it’s in his blood. It’s in his life. The blood of Jesus is Great. His blood is greater in its goodness, in its value, in its cleansing effect than all the wickedness and all the wages of our sin put together. So Great is our Jesus that all our guilt and all his wrath against those who opposed him was instantly satisfied as soon as he declared the words, “It is finished!” And by those words, with his perfect, great blood, he assured the defeat of sin and the death of death forever in which he was to be the firstborn from the grave.
Let me put this into perspective, God didn’t just raise Jesus from the dead. No, he raised a dead man who not only knew our sin but became all of our sins—all of our gossiping, all of our disobeying, all of our lying, all of our cowardice, all of our porn watching, all of our profaning, all of our time wasting, all of our discontentment and complaining, all of our judgmentalism, all of our worldliness, all of our godlessness—he became this for us. And he didn’t just become sin for us, but he bore the full weight of God’s wrath for those sins—the anger, the disappointment, the punishment for our rebellion, the guillotine for our treason.
God didn’t just raise Jesus from the dead. He raises a man who was all of our sins and suffered all of our wrath—the whole of the universe wouldn’t be heavy enough to describe the weight that this man bore. God raises, in his power, this man! Why? Because of the greatness of his sin-cleansing, wrath-satisfying blood. In fact, so great are he and his blood that we are not only reconciled to God through his death as forgiven sinners, but in our Lord’s resurrection we’re promised and given resurrection life!
No longer are we under the condemnation of the law as those who could not keep it. No longer are we required to offer sacrifices for our iniquities. No longer are we required to observe physical circumcision. No longer are we anticipating the satisfaction of God’s promises. No longer are we waiting to die. Jesus fulfilled the law. Jesus was the final sacrifice. Jesus gives the Spirit who circumcises our hearts. Jesus is the yes and amen to all of God’s promises. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
By his blood and resurrection, God through our Great Shepherd brings us only that which is great! Gone is the old. The new has come, and it’s eternal. Its payment for sin has been satisfied. And with it comes the promise that not a single sheep of the Shepherd shall ever be lost. We’re meant not only to live as those who are reconciled, but we’re meant to live as those who have been brought into a new covenant. We are an eternal people. We are a sanctified people. We are a blood-bought people.
And because we are his sheep, we are called, now, to be a Great people, which leads us to our third point: in reflection of our Great, Resurrected Shepherd, live with purpose …
3) Live as One Purposed
Verse 21 introduces us to the main point of the passage and really to the entire book of Hebrews. What does the author want us to do with the knowledge that Jesus is Great? What does he want us to do with the knowledge that through the Greatness of Jesus we have been peacefully reconciled to God? He wants us to do his will. That’s the point! How do you know if you’ve believed in the free, gracious gift of the gospel? It’s if you now do the will of him who gave you the gospel! How do you know that you have not fallen away from the faith? It’s if you keep seeking the will of the one who gave you faith!
But notice how the author says it because this makes all the difference. This is where people go wrong with the book of Hebrews all the time because they think when the author of Hebrews is talking about apostasy—falling away from the faith, some commentators believe it’s actually possible to fall away, or others think that the author is describing people who were never apart of the faith, but that’s not what he’s doing! This is a sermon to believers!
What he’s doing is warning God’s people. He’s trying to prevent them from making shipwreck of their faith. And as we get to the end of the book, we see that the author of Hebrews has full confidence that none of those who receive this sermon—none who are truly sheep of the Great Shepherd—none of them will fall away! Why? Because while the main point is for us to do the will of God, the one who enables you to do it is God himself. And not only is God the one who enables you to do it, but he does it with the same resurrection power and authority that raised Jesus from the grave: Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good that you may do his will.
See, it’s the God of peace—the God who did the impossible in raising Jesus—that now equips you with everything you need to keep going and remain in his grace! When the world around you is crumbling into hell, remember the peace because that’s the power with which he’s helping you persevere! The truth of the gospel will give you everything you need to keep going. Jesus himself says, “Peace, I leave with you; my peace, I give to you. I give but not as the world gives to you. Therefore, don’t let your hearts be troubled. Don’t let them be afraid” (Jn 14:27) because it’s enough for you to persevere!
And if you don’t think that’s enough for you to persevere in his purposes, look at what the author of Hebrews adds: not only is God using resurrecting power to equip you to keep going, but he, himself, is working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ. He’s not only working outside for you, but inside as well. What does that mean?
It means Philippians 2:12-13: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It means 1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is in me. It means Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
In other words, God doesn’t just give you things to do his will, he gives you himself, so that as you live, you might reflect him. Just as he gave all that he has to his Son who died for us, how will he not also, with him, graciously give us everything? How will he not also, with Christ, graciously give us all of him in order to remain with him? Live the resurrection life as those with purpose—the purpose to do the will of God as those equipped and enabled by God.
4) Live as One Submitted
One last question. How do we know if we’re doing God’s will? The author tells us we know it’s his will if what we’re doing is meant to bring him and his Son glory.
I want us to notice two things in closing. Firstly, notice who the main actor in our verses is. Is it you? Is it me? No, it’s God. God is the one who brings peace. God is the one who raises our Great Shepherd from the dead. God is the one who equips you and works in you that which is pleasing in his sight. God is Initiator, Saviour, and Sustainer. Then, notice, secondly, who is to receive the glory? Is it you? Is it me? No, it’s God and his Son who are to receive the glory because it is through the work—the life, the death, and the resurrection—of Jesus that God has brought about any of these things.
Why do I need you to notice this? So that you might know the nature of how God preserves you. How he keeps you. How he makes sure you never fall away.
Let me frame this in the context of some of the changes we’re currently trying to make in our church. Do you know what the first objection is whenever a pastor points to the Bible and says, “we need to make a change”? It’s not, “let’s look at the Bible together.” The first objection we usually hear is, “well, that’s not in my plan—that’s not what I want.” You know what the second objection we hear is? It’s, “Well, I’ve talked to some other people, and we’ve determined that’s not in our plan. It’s not what I or we were looking for.”
And my first question when I hear these objections is when will we stop making the gospel, God’s glory, and his church about ourselves? When will we start making it about him? When do we start making it about the Saviour who brought us the gospel of peace through his death and resurrection? When does that day come? Should it be when we—when you or I—feel like it? Or should it be today?
How do we know if we’re doing the will of God? How do we know if he holds us fast and counts us as one of his eternal sheep? It’s if we’ve turned from making it about ourselves and see how it was always, it is always, and it will always be about him. God is the main point. See, the gospel—the death and resurrection of Jesus—was never about promising your safety on this earth. It was never about promising your comfort in this life. It was never about promising your ease in getting what you prefer. It was never about you.
No, it was always only meant to promise this: that God’s will shall be done, and that he will get the glory. Is that enough for you? Has he done enough to merit that from you? Are you submitted to the pursuit of his glory, or are you in this only for your own—be it comfort, ease, wealth, health, friendship, or anything else other than God and his gospel? Make God and the gospel the first thing. Make God and the gospel the final thing. Make God and the gospel the greatest thing. Because what God means to show you is that all you can bring yourself is chaos and death. But to the one who seeks to do the will of God—to the one who seeks to bring him glory and to exalt the name of Jesus Christ above every other name—above our own names—to him and to her shall be the resurrecting peace and power of God forever and ever. Amen.
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