Outline
5. Christ's superior priestly order (ch. 7)
A. A New Sanctuary and a New Covenant (ch. 8)
. Having Confidence to Enter the Sanctuary (10:19-25)
A. A Warning against Persistence in Sin (10:26-31)
1. As in the past, so in the future (10:32-39)
2. Faith and its many outstanding examples (ch. 11)
3. Jesus, the supreme example (12:1-3)
C. Encouragement to Persevere in the Face of Hardship (12:4-13)
D. Exhortation to Holy Living (12:14-17)
E. Crowning Motivation and Warning (12:18-29)
V. Conclusion (ch. 13)
. Rules for Christian Living (13:1-17)
A. Request for Prayer (13:18-19)
B. Benediction (13:20-21)
C. Personal Remarks (13:22-23)
D. Greetings and Final Benediction (13:24-25)
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we
can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and
life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
21And since we have a great High Priest who
rules over God’s house,
22 let us go right into the presence of
God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have
been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been
washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering
to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
24 Let us think of ways to motivate one
another to acts of love and good works.
25 And let us not neglect our meeting together,
as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of
his return is drawing near.
26 Dear friends, if we deliberately
continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no
longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.
27 There is only the terrible
expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his
enemies.
28 For anyone who refused to obey the
law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses.
29 Just think how much worse the
punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have
treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and
unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy
to us.
30 For we know the one who said, “I will
take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The LORD will judge his own
people.”
31 It is a terrible thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.
32 Think back on those early days when
you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though
it meant terrible suffering.
33 Sometimes you were exposed to public
ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering
the same things.
34 You suffered along with those who
were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted
it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last
forever.
35 So do not throw away this confident
trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!
36 Patient endurance is what you need
now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that
he has promised.
37 “For in just a little while, the
Coming One will come and not delay.
38 And my righteous ones will live by
faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
39 But we are not like
those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful
ones, whose souls will be saved.
Hebrews 11 NLT
1 Faith is the confidence that what we
hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot
see.
2 Through their faith, the people in
days of old earned a good reputation.
3 By faith we understand that the
entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come
from anything that can be seen.
4 It was by faith that Abel brought a
more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence
that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although
Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken
up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before
he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.
6 And it is impossible to please God
without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and
that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
7 It was by faith that Noah built a
large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him
about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the
rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed
when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give
him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.
9 And even when he reached the land God
promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in
tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.
10 Abraham was confidently looking
forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by
God.
11 It was by faith that even Sarah was
able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that
God would keep his promise.
12 And so a whole nation came from this
one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the
stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count
them.
13All these people died still believing what
God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it
all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and
nomads here on earth.
14 Obviously people who say such things
are looking forward to a country they can call their own.
15 If they had longed for the country
they came from, they could have gone back.
16 But they were looking for a better
place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 It was by faith that Abraham offered
Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s
promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
18 even though God had told him, “Isaac
is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”
19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died,
God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did
receive his son back from the dead.
20 It was by faith that Isaac promised
blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.
21 It was by faith that Jacob, when he
was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he
leaned on his staff.
22 It was by faith that Joseph, when he
was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt.
He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.
23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents
hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an
unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
24 It was by faith that Moses, when he
grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
25 He chose to share the oppression of
God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.
26 He thought it was better to suffer
for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking
ahead to his great reward.
27 It was by faith that Moses left the
land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept
his eyes on the one who is invisible.
28 It was by faith that Moses commanded
the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the
doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.
29It was by faith that the people of Israel
went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the
Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.
30 It was by faith that the people of
Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing
down.
31 It was by faith that Rahab the
prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey
God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
32 How much more do I need to say? It
would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.
33 By faith these people overthrew
kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They
shut the mouths of lions,
34quenched the flames of fire, and escaped
death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They
became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.
35Women received their loved ones back again
from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be
set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.
36 Some were jeered at, and their backs
were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons.
37Some died by stoning, some were sawed in
half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of
sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.
38 They were too good for this world,
wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the
ground.
39 All these people earned a good
reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had
promised.
40 For God had
something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection
without us.
