"The Holiest of ALL" part CXXX

PARTING WORDS
Hebrews 13:22-25  But I exhort you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation: for I have written unto you in a few words. Know that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen.

Continuing on in the SECOND HALF- PRACTICAL.
Hebrews Chapters 10:19 - 13:25
Of a Life in the Power of the Great Salvation.

Now the Last of  the TWELFTH SECTION
Hebrews 13:1-25.
Love and Good Works.

BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY

These closing verses are so entirely in the spirit of Paul, that involuntarily we feel as if we were listening to him. The mention of a Timothy, of his deliverance and of the hope of accompanying him, the greeting to the rulers in the Church and to all the saints, the greetings from the saints of Italy, and the final benediction, all remind us of what we find in his other Epistles.

I exhort you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation. Ere the writer closes, one more word of exhortation, and that is, to bear, to submit to and accept the exhortation he has sent them. The word he uses means both admonition or reproof (so 12:5), and encouragement (so 6:18). This Epistle has combined both elements most remarkably. In the five Warnings, and in its hortatory parts, its tone has been one of faithful reproof, with a view to convict of sin, to awaken to a sense of Danger, and to urge to Repentance. At the same time, everything has been done to quicken faith and hope, and to urge to steadfastness by pointing to the strong encouragement to be found in the word of God and the power of Christ.

To us the closing message comes too: Bear, yield yourselves to, the word of exhortation. Exhortation is indeed the main characteristic of this Epistle. It conies to us as an intensely practical, personal appeal, to give ourselves wholly to the Son of God from Heaven, and to live the Heavenly Life He offers to work within us. We may gather up its chief thoughts in four of the words it has used more than once.

Take heed! Its tone is one of Solemn Warning against the Danger of Negligence and Sloth, Disobedience and Double-mindedness, unbelief and falling away and of lawlessness which is sin. Let us yield to its discovery of sin and danger. Let us beware lest the contentment with beginnings, a resting short of an entire devotion to God and perfect conformity to Jesus, a selfish desire to have Redemption and Salvation and Heaven without the very Spirit of Christ and of Heaven, deceive us, so that, like the Hebrews, we perish half-way between Egypt and Canaan.

Press on! Let us accept its teaching of what the true aim of the Christian life is. We are to give due diligence to enter and dwell in the Rest of God. We are to press on to perfection; to be like men running a race for life. We are to take Jesus as our Leader and Forerunner, to follow Him in the path of perfect obedience to God's Will, and entire Self- Sacrifice. We are to enter with Him into the Holiest, to make God's presence our home, and His fellowship our daily portion and our chief joy. We are to be like the old saints, to go out from our home, to live in the pilgrim spirit, seeking a Heavenly country. Yes, we are to live as those who are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem. We are to go forth to Him without the camp bearing His reproach, wholly identified with Him. Let us press on. Let us run. Let us enter in. Let us go forth. This is what the exhortation means.

Consider Jesus. The one sure and effectual remedy this Epistle offers for all the prevailing feebleness and danger of the Christian life, we know. It has been said to us, You do not Know Jesus aright. The knowledge that sufficed for conversion, does not avail for Sanctification and Perfection. You must Know Jesus better. Consider Jesus! As God! As Man! In His Sympathy! In His Obedience! In His Suffering! In His Blood! In His Glory on the Throne; opening Heaven; bringing you in to God; breathing the Law of God and the Spirit of Heaven into your heart, as your very life! As little as you can reach Heaven with your hand, can you of yourself live such a Heavenly Life. And yet it is possible, because God has borne witness to the Gospel of His Son with the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Priest- King, on His ascension to the Throne, sent the Holy Spirit into the hearts of His disciples, and with Him returned Himself to dwell in them, that in the power of His Heavenly Life they might Live within Him and He within them. Consider Jesus! and you will see that you can Live in the Heavenlies within Him, because He Lives in you.

By faith! This word is the key to it all. By faith!  In fulness of faith! We can inherit every promise. Faith is moved with godly fear, and takes heed! Faith obeys and forsakes all, and presses on to enter the land! Faith looks to Jesus, holds fast its boldness, and draws near to God, and goes forth without the camp. Faith sees how in Christ God has worked out His Will, sees that this God will just as surely Work in us too what is pleasing in His Sight, and conquers every difficulty and every enemy. By faith we inherit every promise, and dare to sing even now: To Him be Glory forever and ever! It is in His faithfulness we now trust and our trusting become His faith in us as we pass through all trials and tests imposed upon us for our learning and perfecting of His Love within us.


1. You will find it most profitable to look back over this whole Epistle, and see whether you have grasped its teaching. And then to say whether you are making it this one aim of your life to live up fully to its glorious revelation of the Life of God.
2. The Holiest of All is the title of our book. I think you see how it expresses the central thought of this Epistle. It is the spiritual life- state into which Jesus entered, and Opened the Way for you, and calls you to enter in. Have you entered? Are you dwelling there? Are you there now daily drinking in the Holy Spirit of Jesus, yielding to the Father to make you perfectly conformed to the humble, obedient, holy Jesus, your Leader and Forerunner? Oh, rest not without a full experience of the Heavenly Priesthood of Jesus, and of the Heavenly Sanctuary as your abode.
3. Grace be with you all, beloved readers; all the Grace this Epistle has so wondrously revealed; all the day and for all and every need. With all of you, not one excepted, Amen.

This is our last of this Epistle, hope all have learned from it as I have and are enjoying the rewards.