These small group Bible studies of Hebrews contain outlines, cross-references, Bible study discussion questions, and applications. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.
Hebrews 6:9-20 Small Group Bible Study Lesson
Hebrews 6:9-20 Bible Study Video
Hebrews 6:9-20 Podcast
Outline
I. Fulfill your responsibility to follow God diligently (9-12)
II. God’s promises are sure (13-18)
III. We have a sure hope in Christ our high priest (19-20)
I. Fulfill your responsibility to follow God diligently (9-12)
Discussion Questions
• What contrast does the “but” signify? What is the connection of this passage to the preceding passage?
• Better things than what?
• What kind of things accompany salvation?
• What good things had they done before? Should they rely on those past works towards God?
• Last time we discussed eternal security. How can we balance verse 11 with eternal security? Does this verse mean we can only be saved if we diligently follow God? Are we saved by our works?
• Since Christ has saved us, what do you view your responsibility towards Him to be? How much do you owe Him? What part of your time, finances, and life should you give to Him?
• What is the “full assurance of hope” mentioned?
Cross References
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
James 2:18, 26 – But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Matthew 7:20 – Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Philippians 1:6 – Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 11 – This chapter has a great list of great men and women of faith we should imitate.
1 Corinthians 11:1 – Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. Notice that the writer begins to encourage his audience. In the first half of chapter 6 and the end of chapter 5, he is rebuking them and warning them quite severely for their lack of growth in Christ. Now he begins to encourage them. They needed a certain amount of humility. Now he seeks to build them up. He writes his belief and expectation that they can do better, that they will grow and live out a spiritual life filled with fruit as they should. This is a reminder for us as to how to communicate with others.
Correction requires first showing the error of someone’s ways. However, after that it requires showing them what they should be doing. Throughout the Bible we can see this dual teaching. What you should NOT do and what you SHOULD do. A parent should not only give his children negative feedback (rebukes, criticism, discipline), the parent should also seek to compliment and build their children up. Parents should praise children when they do well. Parents should try to give them a vision for how to reach their full potential while always motivating them to aim higher.
This approach is sometimes termed the “carrot and the stick”. A parent/teacher needs to correct, but they also need to look optimistically at their children/students and push them forward in the hope that they can and will do better.
2. Things that accompany salvation – This phrase shows clearly that salvation is not just an intellectual assent to a list of facts about God. There are certain things (often termed fruit) which accompany genuine salvation. What are some of those things (some answers include repentance, good deeds, obedience)?
This should motivate us to examine ourselves and see if we are evidencing signs of these things that accompany salvation. Are you a tree that is bearing fruit? Is the fruit scarce and withered or is it abundant and vibrant? How can we begin to bear more fruit? (Psalms 1).
3. The report of this group was not all bad. At least some of them had done some good things including work, love, and ministering. However, the Christian life is not something we are living in the past. It is something we have to live anew each day. We should never think of our spiritual victory in the past and become complacent and decide to rest in light of our past accomplishments. Each day is a new battle and has its own set of temptations and opportunities. God sees and remembers every single thing we do for Him. Knowing that God sees all of our service which we render to Him, how does that make you feel?
It should inspire us to keep doing more for God. It doesn’t matter who sees or doesn’t see us because God sees and He is the one who can give true rewards. He is the one whom pleasing really matters.
4. Verse 11 is yet another of the many warnings in the book of Hebrews to keep following God faithfully. These warnings take a number of forms including not drifting away, not falling away, holding firm, etc. Here it says to be “diligent so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end.” What does it mean? I believe it shows our responsibility towards God after salvation. The Bible teaches us that God is sovereign, He saves us, and cannot lose us. It also teaches us that we are responsible to respond to God’s message. We are responsible to confess our sins. We are responsible to obey God.
Illustration: Imagine that this coming Easter you meet a person at church whom you have not seen before. After talking with them you realize they only attend church on Easter and Christmas. They tell you that they made a decision to trust in Christ 20 years ago and therefore are confident in their eternal destiny. Yet it is also clear that their lifestyle is not following the Bible. What would you tell them? You could use this verse to remind them to be diligent.
Each one of us MUST be diligent to obey what God has revealed to us every day. Our hope hasn’t been 100% fulfilled yet. It will be when we face God and He says to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Until that moment, we need to be that good and faithful servant.
5. Sluggish – This is the same word used back in Hebrews 5:11, which there was translated as “dull”. It denotes a spiritual lethargy and laziness. We should train ourselves to be disciplined and diligent spiritually.
6. Imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises – One of the great benefits of the Bible is that it records the real lives of many believers. It shows us both their successes and their failures. These people (Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Ruth, Daniel, etc.) are examples for us. We can imitate their great faith and learn from them how to deal with a variety of trials and temptations.
Even since Bible times there are many more saints who demonstrated amazing faith in God through difficult times. Books and biographies have been written about many of them. By reading these, we can be motivated to follow their examples in serving God no matter what the cost. Also, in modern times we may know other believers who live out a good testimony before others.
Perhaps we have seen businessmen who don’t give in to bribery or corruption. Maybe we see a young couple who stands up to pressure from their parents by refusing to turn away from their faith. Maybe we see a student who rejects cheating. Maybe we see parents who raise up godly children even when there are peer pressures and temptations everywhere. The list goes on and on. Of course, Christ is the only perfect model. But some Christians are doing a good job of following Christ’s example in certain ways and we can look to them for some help and tips so that we can be successful as well. What good examples can you see around you whom you can share with the group? In the meantime, we should live our lives in such a way that others can look at us and find good examples to follow instead of only mistakes that they want to avoid making themselves.
II. God’s promises are sure (13-18)
Discussion Questions
• What promise did God make to Abraham?
• How long did Abraham wait to see God’s promise (of having Isaac) fulfilled? How do you think he felt in the interim? If you were in his shoes, how would you have felt? What attitude was necessary for Abraham as he waited? What principle is revealed in this time gap between promise and fulfillment?
• Did God’s purposes/plans change? Did they change when Abraham/Sarah “helped” God by having a child through Hagar? Can we change God’s eternal purposes? Then what should you do?
• How do you feel about the fact that God’s purposes are unchangeable? What effect does this truth have on us? Are there any applications we can make based on this?
• What are your thoughts on the phrase: “it is impossible for God to lie?”
• What is the author’s conclusion as to how the knowledge that God’s promises never fail should affect us?
Cross References
Genesis 12:1-3 – The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Isaiah 14:24 – The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
Isaiah 46:11 – From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.
Psalms 2 – God laughs at those who would try to thwart His plans.
Acts 4:25-28 – God’s purposes will stand, no matter who allies themselves against Him.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. God made the promise to Abraham – In verse 12, the author introduced the idea of having faith in God’s promises. It would be an interesting study to go through the Bible and look at the various promises of God. There are many, stretching from God’s promise to Noah and his family, to Christ’s promise to return. Not all of these promises are easy to believe because many times there is no evidence that this promise will happen except the evidence of God’s character. God made several promises to Abraham including promises for descendants and giving him the land. The key promise to Abraham as listed here in verse 14 is that God would give him many descendants.
This was not an easy promise to believe. Abraham was old and Sarah was old. They had surely tried having children many, many times. Even when Sarah was young and should have been fertile, she couldn’t have any kids. Then how could she have a child when she was 90 years old? From man’s perspective it seemed impossible. Sarah herself laughed at the possibility. How long did Abraham have to wait to see this promise come true? The promise was made quite a while before Ishmael was born and Ishmael was 14 years older than Isaac. The total time Abraham waited was about 25 years.
There were times when Abraham doubted. His doubt led him to fall into sin with Hagar. Yet basically he took God at His word. He even took up his whole family and moved to a faraway unknown country in obedience to God’s command and expectation that His promise would be fulfilled. Verse 15 shows us that he waited patiently and finally obtained it. He didn’t obtain the ultimate fulfillment of receiving the land and seeing his descendants number as the stars of heaven during his lifetime (that in itself was obviously a “long-distance promise”). But he did have a son with Sarah: Isaac. Isaac was a real life “miracle child.” He saw the most difficult part of God’s promise come true.
Application
• How about you?
• Do you believe in God’s promises to you?
• Are there times when doubt?
• If so, what should you do?
• How can we learn to be patient?
• Is there something you have to learn to be patient about now? Perhaps marriage, job, career, children?
2. Verse 16-17 show that God is the highest power in the universe. Because He is the highest power, He has nothing higher to swear by. Therefore, when He makes a promise, He does so from His own mouth, which is the ultimate authority in the universe.
3. Abraham’s faith was commendable, but the thrust of this passage is God’s faithfulness. He made an unchangeable promise. Verse 18 says that it is impossible for God to lie. (As a side note, this shows that God cannot do everything. He cannot sin. This comes in handy when answering foolish questions such as “Can God make a rock so big He can’t lift it?”) See cross references.
If God says it, we can believe it. He is the source of truth. He never makes mistakes. His omniscience guarantees He won’t be surprised by some unforeseen circumstances. His omnipotence guarantees that He has the power to carry out all His plans. His omnipresence guarantees He is always there to carry out His purposes. Can you think of any examples in the Bible where people didn’t listen to or heed God’s stated plans and faced disaster because of it? Can you think of any examples where they did listen to God’s stated plans and were saved because of it? How should you respond to the knowledge that God’s promises are sure? The lesson is clear. Trust and obey.
4. Verse 18b gives the answer. We should take strong encouragement in this fact. The world may mock us for our beliefs. Our families may think we are crazy. It doesn’t matter. God is the judge. He is the one who holds us accountable for our actions. The promise is there. WE must take hold of it in faith. Set our hope completely on Christ. If He can rise from the dead and defeat death, He can do anything!
III. We have a sure hope in Christ our high priest (19-20)
Discussion Questions
• What words which convey security are mentioned in verse 19? How does this concept balance with the admonition to be diligent back in verse 11?
• What does it mean “one which enters within the veil?”
• In what way or ways is Jesus our forerunner?
Cross References
1 Corinthians 15:20-28 – In this passage we learn that Jesus is the first to be raised from the dead and thus is proof that the resurrection is real and all believers will one day rise again with new bodies.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. This hope is sure and steadfast – You don’t need to doubt. Nonetheless times of doubting may come. What should you do when you start to doubt? You could look through the Scriptures to see the many times God has been faithful to keep His promises. If He kept His promises the last 1000 times, He will do it again. Jesus Himself, upon whom we set our hope, has risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of God (within the veil could be a reference to the heavenly Holy of Holies).
2. Jesus is our forerunner – See 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Jesus rose from the dead, showing that God does have the power over death. He received His glorified body already. If Jesus rose from the dead, we will too.
Application: What is the key application you want to make based on the truth we have studied today?
Comment: What are your thoughts on this Hebrews 6:9-20 Bible study? We would love to hear your insights below in the comment section.
Hebrews Bible Study E-book – If this study is helpful, you can get our complete Hebrews Bible study as a downloadable E-book or a paperback version from Amazon.
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