Hebrews 5 Lesson

Many people believe in Heaven, but not everyone understands how to get there.  For today’s lesson, we will be looking at:

1. The superior sacrifice of Jesus,
2. Five matters of salvation that are required for us to go to Heaven.

THE SUPERIOR SACRIFICE OF JESUS

In Hebrews Chapter 5, the Hebrew writer talks about Jesus being our High Priest, and why He is superior to all previous sacrifices made under the law.  Prior to Jesus, people had to repeatedly offer up animal sacrifices for their sins.  One can imagine that there was a sense of relief each time an animal was sacrificed on one’s behalf.   For a moment, they probably felt restored and relieved.

But what about the next sin?  Or the sin after that?   

Before Jesus, sacrifices had to continuously be made as new sins were committed.  Thankfully, Jesus changed all that.  Once Jesus offered up His body on the cross, no other sacrifices would ever be necessary.  As the Hebrew writer put it:

• “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” – Hebrews 10:10.

Jesus’ perfect sacrifice was part of God’s plan since the beginning of time.  As Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount:

• “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” - Mathew 5:17.

And because Jesus paid the price “once for all,” (Hebrews 10:10) animal sacrifices are no longer necessary.  That does not mean that there is not work to be done. Far from it!

Being a Christian requires us to live active lives in service to the Lord.

In Virtual Bible Study’s lesson from Revelation Chapter 20, we identified the following five matters of salvation that must be done in order to get to Heaven:

1. Believe in Jesus,
2. Be baptized,
3. Confess our belief in Jesus,
4. Repent of our sins,
5. Obey God’s commands.

We will look at each of these in more detail, and then the lesson will be yours.

BELIEF IN JESUS

Our road to Heaven starts and ends with belief in Jesus.  Consider these five verses:

1. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” - John 3:16-17,
2. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” - Acts 16:31,
3. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” - John 5:24,
4. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” - John 14:6,
5. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” - John 6:47.

BAPTISM

There are three scriptures that highlight the necessity of baptism when it comes to salvation.  They are:

1. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” - Mark 16:16,
2. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” - John 3:5,
3. “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” - 1 Peter 3:21.

CONFESSING JESUS AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR

In addition to believing and being baptized, we must also confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior if we want to go to Heaven.  The Apostle Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans:

• “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9-10.

It is not good enough to quietly believe in Jesus and go about our lives.

• “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” -Luke 9:26.

Being a disciple of Jesus means sharing with others who Jesus is, and what He has done for us.

REPENTING OF OUR SINS

Every single one of us is a sinner.  The following two scriptures make that abundantly clear:

1. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” -Romans 3:23,
2. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” -1 John 1:8.

The Bible teaches us that when we sin, we are to confess our sins and repent (turn away).  When we do this, our merciful father forgives us and remembers our sins no more. 

• “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” –1 John 1:9. 

Jesus lets us know that repenting of our sins is necessary for salvation in the following scripture:

• “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” -Luke 13:3.

OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

• “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21. 

And while it is true that we are saved by faith through grace, it is also true that being a Christian requires action. The more we read the Bible and mature in our faith, the more we understand that we were put on this earth to do two things:

1. Glorify God,
2. Serve others.

CONCLUSION

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He replied:

• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Mathew 22:37-40.

Jesus also said:

• “If you love Me, keep you will keep My commandments.” –  John 14:15.

Understanding what we need to do to go to Heaven is critical to our salvation.  After all, we cannot obey the Gospel if we do not understand what it says.

In today’s lesson, we pointed out five matters of salvation that are required for us to get to Heaven:

1. Belief in Jesus,
2. Being baptized,
3. Confessing our belief in Jesus,
4. Repenting of our sins,
5. Obeying God’s commandments.

We will end today’s lesson with the following scripture that describes the majesty of Heaven. Because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross at Calvary, we have the hope of spending eternal life with Him and His Father in Heaven. How glorious that will be for those that obey the Gospel!

• “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:3-4.