Draw Me Close: Podcast - A Ministry of Whitestone Christian Fellowship, with Pastor Bob Lawrenz

The Jews were called a stiff-necked people in several places in the Old Testament. They often acted arrogantly, believing that their logic was like God's. But that's a presumptuous conclusion. To think that we mortals can match God with motives, means, and planning seems outrageous to us these days. And Isaiah 55:7-11 confirms that God thinks so too! His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways are higher than ou...

We are beginning chapter 12 this week.  The writer is now transitioning as he begins to conclude with a powerful exhortation for believers to persevere in their faith journey, drawing inspiration from the witnesses of the past, shedding hindrances, running with endurance, and fixing their eyes on Jesus.
He further explains that God's discipline is a loving act of a father, not punishment, and warns against falling short of h...

To the Hebrews that the writer addresses in this Epistle, Chapter 11 serves as a reminder of their history, and to God’s faithfulness to them, through each individual listed in the text. And today in Chapter 12, those Heroes of Faith have become a great cloud of witnesses. Each of the names listed in the last chapter are familiar to every Jew, their stories fill the Old Testament, indeed their stories are the Old Testament: the bat...

What is faith? No better answer is given in perhaps all the Bible than in the great eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. Here a tapestry is unfolded, depicting great examples of faith from the record of Old Testament heroes.
In this chapter there are numerous biblical figures who demonstrated great faith. These "heroes" are highlighted for their unwavering faith in God and their obedience, even in the face of immen...

This morning, we will begin our exposition of Hebrews, chapter 11. It is one of those most loved portions of Scripture. It has various names. The most famous of them are, “The Faith Chapter" and “The Hall of Faith.” It is an entire chapter of the Bible devoted to the topic of faith. Faith is mentioned 26 times in chapter 11. It will be the recurring theme in this chapter again and again and again and again.

In many ways, He...

Hebrews 9 is deeply connected to Jesus Christ as it emphasizes His role as the High Priest of the New Covenant. Jesus’ sacrifice is presented as superior to the repeated sacrifices of the old covenant. His blood cleanses the conscience and secures eternal redemption, contrasting sharply with the temporary and external cleansing provided by the blood of animals. Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice and His ministry in the heavenly sanctuar...

As we finish the rest of Hebrews chapter 10, let's focus our attention upon the perfect, finished, completed, sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Indeed, that's the main point of our text: the single, sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The one offering of Jesus was sufficient. There is no need for any other. Because, we have been sanctified through this offering (verse 10). Because, we have been perfected through this offering...

The Levitical system was not designed by God to remove or forgive sins.  It was preparatory for the coming of the Messiah. It was meant to show us our sinfulness, and that to be right with God, faith was necessary and a substitute sacrifice was the required payment for our sin. Jesus came as that substitute and performed the final sacrifice, the one The Law was hinting at, and as such, that old covenant is no longer necessary, and ...

In Hebrews 10: 20, Jesus entered into the veil of the Holiest by a new and living way! He became the living veil across the Holy of Holies. In the Old Testament, the veil blocked the way for all but the High Priests, and at the Crucifixion, it was torn specifically from top to bottom. (Not bottom to top, but from the top to the bottom (See Matthew 27:51; Mark 15: 38; and Luke 23: 45). This “new and living way” was by Christ Himself...

In Hebrews 10, it is clearly affirmed that animal sacrifices were insufficient for clearing our guilt for sin. In the early verses of Genesis 3, the first couple was lured into sinning against God, first Eve, and then Adam. At verse 21, an animal sacrifice was made, and God made them coats of skins to cover their nakedness. They had been other-oriented, but because of sin, they became self-oriented, and self-aware. This was the ful...

Hebrews 9:1-15 contrasts the limitations of the earthly Tabernacle and the old covenant with the superior work of Christ. It describes the Old Covenant's regulations as an imperfect system with animal sacrifices that could not perfect the worshippers' consciences. In contrast, Christ, as the high priest of the new covenant, entered a greater, heavenly sanctuary with his own blood to achieve eternal redemption and cleanse be...

As God made man in His own image, Satan’s plan is to make man as rebellious against God as he himself was, and is to this day. Satan’s first victims were Adam and his wife Eve. Judgment befell them and they were cast out of God’s beautiful garden. Genesis 5:1-5 follows with an explanation of how sin was passed down to Adam’s third son, Seth. And as it was passed down to him, it was passed down to all, because although Adam was made...

Hebrews 8 transitions from Christ's superior priesthood (Chapter 7) to His superior ministry within a superior covenant. It functions as the central hinge of the book's argument, establishing the theological basis for why the New Covenant in Christ's blood renders the Old Covenant system obsolete. The author uses a lengthy quote from Jeremiah 31 as the definitive scriptural proof that God Himself had always planned to r...

Our study takes us to Hebrews 7 this week and teaches that Jesus, a priest in the order of the mysterious King Melchizedek, has a superior, powerful and perfect eternal priesthood that surpasses the temporary, imperfect Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament.
In the Bible, the Melchizedek priesthood is an office that only applied to Christ. Melchizedek is introduced in Genesis 14:18 and is described as the king of Salem and “...