Good morning to everyone. It's a chilly morning on the farm. They're doing chores, but I think we have some nice weather coming. Spring is coming, so we'll appreciate that. 

We're looking at the end of the book of Hebrews this morning, really coming to the last message. I was looking. We've been in this book for many, many months, many messages, many complicated texts we've looked at, and I was just thinking what a joy it is to study verse by verse through the Scriptures and to see how God puts it all together and teaches us these important truths and how He's faithful to us to continue to teach us. 

I wanted to begin this morning by asking you to turn to Galatians 2. I just want to look at one verse there. I was thinking about the book of Hebrews and the main message, and I kept coming back to the truth that the author was emphasizing, which is really a dual application often for those who hadn't come to faith in Christ, that they needed to leave the old covenant behind, leave behind self-righteousness and the law and go on to faith in Christ, and then primarily for the believer in the book was to hold fast to that truth, to the truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 

In the verse we love so much, Galatians 2.20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." But I want you to look at verse 21. "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

Each verse of the way through this book, God's been faithful to guide us and teach us and help us to understand some very deep and complicated doctrinal truths about the old covenant and about the superiority of Christ over all things, and especially the importance of the new covenant in His blood. 

This morning we're wrapping up this application, chapter 13, but what I want us to see this morning after studying such a tremendous amount of truth these many months concerning the new covenant and the salvation that Jesus provides through His death on the cross, through His burial and resurrection, is that God has a plan and a purpose for His saving work, for His work in you. He didn't just save us to get us out of hell, to take us to heaven, but He transformed us, He made us new men, He saved us for the purpose of living for Him as a witness and a testimony on this earth. 

I'm continually concerned with much of the teaching that I hear in the Christian realm concerning the nature of the believer in Christ and the expectation that we should have for our lives here in this time on the earth. I believe that we very often miss the magnitude of the salvation that Jesus Christ provides, the greatness of our Savior and His life in us, and this underestimation of who we are in Christ, our relationship to sin and the law, and the great and mighty power of God working in us causes us very often, I think, to have a wrong view of the Christian life and results in an expectation for our daily living that is inconsistent with God's expectation and purpose in us. 

In short, I want us to see and know and understand and believe the prevalent truth of the New Testament that God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, that we have been fully equipped to live a holy and fruitful life through faith in Christ, and that God has also put in place those in the church to help us, to encourage us, to remind us of these truths so that we might see this new life in us worked out through us. 

Our expectation should be one of excitement, one of anticipation to see what God will do today through me as I trust and abide in Him, believing all that He has taught me about the superiority of the New Covenant and Jesus Christ living in me as I look to Him, depend on Him, and trust Him to work out His will in my life. 

And we see these very words, these truths, promises, expectation in the author's closing words of admonition and prayer. My brothers and sisters, we've been studying for months the absolute superiority and greatness of the New Covenant, of regeneration, of Christ's life in us, all that we have and are in Him, and this must translate into a new life, an abundant, holy, consistent life of fruit for His glory, because this is His will for us, and this is His promise to us. 

We cannot divorce the truths of our salvation in the New Covenant from the practice of our daily lives in Christ. And I ask you this morning, what is the expectation that you have for your life today, for tomorrow, each day, as you, by the grace and mercy of God, wake up and take your next breath, as you experience His new mercies every morning, go out into this world as ambassadors for Christ, what do you expect from your life today? 

Because the text before us, built on all the truth of the entire book in the New Testament, is that God is working in you for His good pleasure and purpose, to bear fruit for His glory, for His kingdom. And I asked myself this morning, what are my expectations for this life? 

Let's look at our text in Hebrews 13:18. We're going to read the last verses here. The author writes, "Pray for us, for we are confident that we have a good conscience in all things desiring to live honorably. But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 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 few words. Know 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, I've just lifted some phrases out of the text this morning for our outline. First, "pray for us." Second, "make you complete." Third, "working in you through Jesus Christ." Fourth, "bear with the word," and fifth, "grace be with you." 

Well, you have a letter, as Pastor mentioned, from Augustine Assire. I got the email from him a few days ago, and as Pastor said, the missionaries in India are experiencing a lot of resistance and persecution because of the gospel. And I perceive from Augustine's words that this is a very difficult time there. He doesn't really overemphasize this; he under-emphasizes it. When we see these kind of words in his letters, we know that a difficult time is happening there, financially and physically, and this is all due to the hatred of the gospel and the persecution of the believers. 

In his letter, he wrote, "When you have trouble sleeping, you do not count sheep, but you talk to the shepherd." The amount of fruit that Augustine has seen from his ministry with Word for the World in India, ministering to the socially neglected people of India, is profound and encouraging. When I went there, it was amazing to go out each day and just preach the gospel, to go into the leper colonies and the slums, and to all these people, handicapped children, and to give them good news. 

I would preach a message, the town would come out, they'd have a tent, and people would just start coming. I never asked anyone to come forward, but I'd be preaching the gospel, and people would just come up, they'd start walking forward; they were so hungry. A tremendous amount of fruit. And it's because he and his ministry have a complete and utter dependence on the shepherd. They're focused on the gospel, on Jesus, on prayer, on His power and provision to work through them as they faithfully go out and bring the good news. 

A couple of weeks ago, we studied in verses 7 and 17 of Hebrews 13, concerning the pastors and teachers in the church, those who oversee and equip the saints through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And I want to pick that up in verse 18 of our text this morning, because I didn't get to that in that message. Notice what the author says. He's including himself as one of the overseers of this fellowship. He wants to be restored to them. He says, "pray for us." We have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably, to carry out our roles as teachers, preachers, examples, encouragers. And he says, "pray for us." 

The author of the book of Hebrews understood well his need for and dependence on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, the power of His life in us. And this need was perhaps greatest for the one burdened with the responsibility of laboring in the Word, of teaching, correcting, shepherding the flock. 

When we think about our expectations for the Christian life, when we think about all that we have in Christ, God's plan and purpose and promise to make us like Jesus, to conform us to His likeness, the predominant truth that must dominate our mind is our utter dependence on God. Our utter dependence on His grace, on His power in our life to work it out. And this need, this branch and vine relationship drives us to prayer continually. 

Prayer is an expression of our desire and a recognition of our need. And this is God's will for our life and it is His means as well of working in us. We must understand our desperate need for Him each day, and we must go to Him in prayer, just talking to our Father, seeking Him, depending on Him, trusting Him. And this really is the basis, the beginning point of an abiding relationship with Him. 

And fruit, as Jesus said in John 15, comes from that abiding relationship with Him. And so the author says, "pray for us." And I say to you, my brothers and sisters, pray for the leaders of Living Hope Church because we have a desperate need for the grace of God. And pray for all the believers of Living Hope Church, that we would be a people wholly dependent on Christ, continually in prayer and communion with God, our Father. 

Well, next we see in our text that this is the will of our Father to make us complete in every good work to do His will. Look at verse 20. It says, "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, the 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 glory forever. Amen." 

I want you to notice first the words, "everlasting covenant," through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews has talked at length about the end of the old covenant and the coming of the new covenant, and here he calls it the everlasting covenant. It's the final covenant. Jesus has completed the salvation work of God at the cross. There's no more sacrifices, no more covenants. The old has been replaced by the new, and this everlasting covenant through the blood of Christ is finished, is perfect, is complete. 

In Christ, God has made the one who believes Jesus complete, new, alive in His inner man, in His spirit, this new covenant doctrine of regeneration of the new birth that was promised back in Ezekiel 36 of a new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit living in us. God has equipped us for every good work. He has made us complete and full in Christ, changed the very essence of who we are on the inside. 

And so sanctification, this confirmation to Christ's likeness in our life, is not a continued work on the inside as if there was something lacking or something we don't have that we need to live a holy life, but rather sanctification is a conforming outwardly to the truth of who we are inwardly. Perhaps the clearest text on this is Romans 12:1 and 2. I'd like you to turn over to Romans 12 with me, verses 1 and 2. Paul, writing after 11 chapters of profound truth concerning our salvation in Christ in the gospel, says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." 

Paul says, by these truths, the great doctrinal treatise of the book of Romans in the first 11 chapters, by these doctrines, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice. The key words in these verses, for our understanding, are conformed, in verse 2, conformed and transformed. It's been a while since we considered the words of Kenneth Wiest explaining the full meaning of these two words, but I think he gives us great insight in his word study of these two words, conformed and transformed. 

He writes, "The word translated conformed here refers to the act of an individual assuming an outward expression that does not come from within him, nor is it representative of his inner heart life. The prefix 'soon' adds the idea of assuming an expression that is patterned after some definite thing. What's the some definite thing they were patterning their lives after? The world. So Wiest translates this, 'stop assuming an outward expression which is patterned after this world, a pattern which does not come from nor is representative of what you are in your inner being, as a regenerated child of God.'" 

He says the word translated transformed is "metamorphame," where we get the word metamorphosis. It speaks of changing your outward expression from one that you have, to a different one, an expression that does not come from within you. Which comes from and is representative of your inner being. 

This word, interestingly, is used in Matthew 17, of the transfiguration, where Jesus pulled back His flesh, as it were, and showed the true essence of who He is. The doctrine of sanctification is this, being transformed outwardly into consistency with who we are inwardly because of what God has done in us through salvation. 

This is the very essence of what the author writes in our text when he prays that God would make us complete. The word means mature, fully expressing outwardly who we are by Christ's life and power in us. This is the same word here translated complete that Paul uses in Ephesians 4. Remember that passage where he talks about God giving gifts to the church and pastor teachers for preaching and equipping the saints that we all might grow in unity and come to a perfect man, it says there. The word means mature, it means complete. 

Look at verse 20 again in our text, Hebrews 13:20. "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant..." Notice what it says, "now may God..." It is God who does this work. He's the one who provides this power in us, the God who brought up the Lord Jesus from the dead. 

Turn over to Ephesians 1 with me, please. I want to show you an amazing truth and a prayer that Paul gives for the Ephesian believers. Ephesians 1:15. This chapter speaks of the greatness of our salvation in lofty terms, and when he comes to verse 15, he says, "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Here's Paul's prayer for them. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." 

Paul says the very power of God that raised Jesus from the dead works in you for the express purpose that you might know the hope of His calling. Here in our text it says that through the blood of the everlasting covenant, this speaks of all the truths that come with the new covenant, the power, the promises, all working toward making you mature, making you complete, sanctified. 

"May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will." In every good work. You see, His will for you is to abide in Him, is to depend on Him, to believe Him, to trust Him so that He might work out through you His good pleasure in the form of every good work doing His will. 

And we see that this can only happen, this can only work through Jesus Christ. This is the secret of the Christian life. This is the mystery of the new covenant life, Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

I just want to comment here, make an important point, I hope. Romans 6 says that we first must know. If we're going to express this will of God, of holiness, of righteousness out through our members, first we must know these truths. If you do not know the truths, the doctrines of the new covenant, your death to sin, death to the law, release from the bondage to fear of death, if you do not know your union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, the crucifixion of the old man and Adam, the fact that we are no longer slaves of sin, no longer sinners in our nature, no longer under bondage to the law, if we do not know that, in Christ we are under grace, righteousness, and our destiny is eternal life, if we do not know these things, these truths, then how can we ever hope to apply them in our daily lives? 

How can we ever hope to believe them, to trust God for what He says to be true, and then to yield to His power in us? If I believe that I'm still a vile, wretched sinner, if my expectation is to sin every day, if I somehow see myself as two men, having two natures, where victory is not yet won on the inside and the outcome is somewhat unknown, then I dare say I will live up to my expectations. 

There's still a battle, my friends. Sin still dwells in the believer. But the battle is not with sin. I have died to that. I have put off the old man, Colossians 3, Ephesians 4. I have put on the new man. I am being renewed in my mind of the truths of who I am in Christ. 

The battle is to believe what God says. The battle is to reckon it to be so, continually, moment by moment, and to depend on and trust in God and His life and power in and through me. You see, God is working in me, through me. Not to change who I am on the inside, that's done, it's complete. But to conform me outwardly in my life and actions into consistency with who I am in Him. 

Let's look at another passage in Ephesians 3, please, where Paul explains this, how God works this out. Ephesians 3:14, he's praying for them again. "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory." Pastor talked about that last week or the week before. According to the riches of His glory. Have you thought about that? 

It's like if Donald Trump wrote you a letter and said, "According to my bank account, I want to pay off your debts." Wow, he can do that, can't he? I mean, we could have confidence in that. If I wrote you that letter, then you're in trouble. "That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." 

Look at verse 20. "Now, to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." 

How can there be glory to God in the church? How can we live fruitful lives, holy lives, pleasing God? How can we be complete in every good work according to the pleasure of His will? "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us," His power, His life in us, Jesus Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. The Holy Spirit imparts strength to our inner man. We now live by faith. The just shall live by faith. God works in us through Jesus Christ and His life and power. 

Let's go back to that passage in Galatians 2, Galatians chapter 2. You know, the Galatians had a hard time understanding the Christ life. They were trying again to build the law as a means of holiness, obedience to an outward standard. Look at what Paul wrote in the beginning of verse 18 and we'll extend down into chapter 3. 

Galatians 2:18, "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. No longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

If we can be righteous through the law, then why did Jesus have to die? Look at chapter 3. He says, "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" 

That's sanctification, my friends. That's confirmation to Christ's likeness. Are you being made perfect? Same word, perfect, complete, mature, by the flesh, by our works, by striving to keep the law. This is a great danger in the church and unfortunately a powerful tendency because man wants to keep the law. He wants a standard to do and to accomplish so that he can be proud and feel good about himself. 

But the truth is that sanctification cannot come through the law, any law, any outward standard. We cannot be made perfect, outwardly conformed to who we are inwardly by the flesh, by our effort, by striving to keep the law. Rather, we are sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit. We see a manifestation of the new Christ life only one way and that was by Jesus Christ and His life in and through us as we believe Him. 

When we are striving, we are not trusting. And the key to the Christian life is to trust Him, to look to Him, to believe Him, to abide in Him. 

I have been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

So we see in our text this morning, "pray for us," "make you complete," "working in you through Jesus Christ," and the author exhorts them, "bear with the word." This is a tremendous phrase. The word translated bear literally means to hold oneself up against. Hold oneself up against the Word. 

These were some difficult things that the author very clearly and forcefully wrote to this group of Hebrew people. It challenged much of what they thought to be true about the Old Covenant, about Jesus, about the New Covenant, and how to live the Christ life. It isn't easy to let go of the old. It isn't easy to shed the baggage that has been placed upon us, like a yoke of bondage, by teachers and preachers and fellow believers from our past, things we have taken for granted, things that we have believed to be true. 

There was a ton of this for these Hebrews in this epistle. So the author says, "listen, bear with the words of exhortation." I ask you, challenge you to hold yourself up, all that you have believed, what you have been taught, even how you've lived, up against the words, the truth that I've written to you about the New Covenant and Christ. What an amazing exhortation. I think one that we need to continually come back to. 

We should constantly be holding up ourselves, our beliefs, our teaching, and understanding of salvation and the Christian life up against the word of truth. And we must be willing to shed those things, leave behind that which isn't so. "Bear with the word." Consider what I say. Hold yourself and all you trust and believe up against the word of God, the truth. 

And inherent in this exhortation is that we should be willing to get rid of that which does not line up with the word. That was the great need of these Hebrews, specifically to forsake the old, to utterly abandon and leave the old and go on to perfection in the new by faith in Jesus Christ. 

What a message this book of Hebrews is. And the author now closes with perhaps the most important words in the whole epistle. He says, "I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words. Know 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. And here it is now, verse 25, grace be with you all. Amen." 

"Grace be with you." What a mouthful. Grace be with you, especially spoken to these, many of them legalistic Jews. The word is a summation of all that he said in this book, all that New Covenant salvation is set in contrast to the Old Covenant law and how the Jews had twisted God's original intent for the law and made it into a works-righteous, man-centered religion, much like we see in so much of Christianity today. 

"Grace be with you." What they needed, what we need, is grace. I was thinking of a... really the profound nature of grace. We should really ponder that. It's God's unmerited favor in Christ. Mercy is Him not giving us what we deserve. We need mercy because we all deserve, as sinners, to spend eternity in the lake of fire. There's nothing we can do to change that. No good work can make up for the sins we've committed. 

But grace is God giving us what we don't deserve, His unmerited favor. We need grace. Grace for salvation, grace for sanctification, by faith, for the daily struggles, the discouragement, the battle of the mind, success, fruit, victory, holy living. God's will for our lives can only come by His grace through faith. 

This is the life that I now live in Christ, a life based in, founded in His grace, a new life produced outwardly through me by grace, and this life, on my part, is one of faith, of being renewed in my mind by the truths, the Word of God, and continually choosing to reckon, to believe what He says, and then yielding, trusting, believing, abiding, depending on Him and His power. This is my part. This is what I'm called to do, moment by moment, day by day, but you know, my friends, I don't always choose to do what I know I need to do. It's a bad thing, really. 

I don't know why sometimes. I know I need to believe God, trust His Word, put away my wisdom or the wisdom of the world, my feelings, emotions, experiences, and reckon what God says to be true. Trust Him, like Pastor said, when you don't know what to do, what do you do? Trust Him. 

I thought of a silly illustration yesterday, I had to open the gate holding the cows in to go in and do something, and when I was done, I pulled the gate to, and it rested in a little rut that the ice had formed, and it was against a six by six post on the barn. And I thought, well that fits nicely in there, I don't need to tie that rope around the end of that. 

I'm going to come back in just a little bit, and I'll just leave it. What a silly thing, huh? Do you know that the number one rule in farming is to shut the gate and secure it? I knew that, I'd done it thousands of times, preached it to everyone that comes on my farm, to my children, over and over, and guess what, for absolutely no good reason whatsoever, I rationalized away something that I knew was true, and knew I needed to do, and I'm not even sure why. 

And I was walking back to the house, and Doug pulled up, and we're standing there, talking, and here comes two heifers running around the greenhouse, with my English Shepherd hot on their tail. Sarah starts yelling, "Dad!" from over by the barn. I walk that way, thinking how dumb I am, and I see two dairy cows standing in the sheep barn eating their second crop hay. 

So we had to round them all up and put them away, and then guess what, then I tied that rope around the gate securely. Why did I do, why did I not do what I knew that I needed to do? I'm not really sure, but I know the Christian life is like that sometimes. We know we need to be in the Word, in church, in Bible study, fellowship, renewing our minds, resting in God's grace by faith, not striving in our own power, and yet sometimes I choose to go my own way. I choose to strive rather than to rest, and it's just as silly as not tying that gate. 

We need to heed the words of Galatians 2 and Paul's testimony, "the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

What an interesting thought, what an amazing application, not only for these Jews who had not come to faith, those who we see the repeated warnings through the book of Hebrews addressed to, set aside the law, don't set aside grace, because righteousness can't come through the law. 

Righteousness for salvation can't come through the law, but there's also a great application for us. Righteousness in our Christian life can't come through the law either, it can only come by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And we all have a choice to believe Jesus or to seek to establish our own righteousness. 

What a joy, a privilege it is to live under grace through faith in Christ in this new covenant in His blood, to know Him and to have His very life in us, working in us by His power to produce His will for His glory. This is the bottom line, this is the take-home message of the new covenant truth found in the book of Hebrews and throughout the New Testament. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for these many months that we've spent in this tremendous book, this letter to the Hebrews and what we've learned about Jesus and His salvation and how great He is. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to heed the last words written in the epistle, grace be with you. Help us to understand what that means and to apply it daily in our lives through faith so that You might work out Your will in our lives. And help us to be obedient to what You've called us. Help us to understand Your power in us and the hope of the calling You've given to us to be like Jesus and to be a testimony and a witness in this world. In Jesus' name we pray.