We're going to turn back to the book of Hebrews together this morning, but I'm gonna throw a little curveball at you. We're gonna go all the way to the end of the book. Last Sunday, we wrapped up chapter two, and now we're literally going all the way to the end, but we will go back to chapter three here, don't worry. But the reason we're going all the way to the end of the book is because it's Easter, and there is an awesome resurrection passage here at the end of Hebrews. Probably not one of the resurrection texts that you're most familiar with, but it's awesome. And we're going to draw our attention there together today. Hebrews chapter 13, and we'll be looking at verses 20 and 21. There are some fascinating real-life accounts, perhaps some of which you've heard, where people have done things that seemed almost superhuman, where you're left scratching your head going, how does a human person do that? That's beyond their capabilities. And doing feats that seem largely superhuman thanks to what would appear to be a sudden rush of adrenaline. For example, a man by the name of Tom Boyle saw a teenage cyclist get hit and then pinned under a car, a Chevy Camaro, and he ran over and he lifted up the car, all 300 plus pounds of that car so that the boy could be pulled out to safety. And Boyle later said that he had no idea how he did it. He wasn't like a bodybuilder or something, just really, really strong dude, just average guy going in, picks up a whole car. How is that possible? Wouldn't it be amazing if you had some kind of spiritual adrenaline and hard moments when life gets really, really hard, or the Christian life gets really, really hard? Do you ever wish that when it came to doing the right thing, or sticking out and enduring and doing the right thing, that you could just put things kind of in this extra gear spiritually? Instead, I think you and I feel like, man, I can't do that. You're trying to fight your sin, and you go, I just, I can't win. Or you're having that same conversation with your spouse that maybe you've had for like, I don't know, two, three decades now, and every time you've had it in your marriage over those years, you find yourself sinning, getting angry, getting upset, being in conflict. Or maybe you're going through something super tough, and frankly, you are out of juice. There's no gas left in your tank. All through life, Christians find that they do not have the internal capacity or power to do what God calls them to do. They might think they do. I think sometimes we think, I can do this. And so we maybe try, and we try on our own might and strength and power. Where does the rubber meet the road for you right now on that? As you think about wherever the intensity is at, wherever the battle's raging. God has not called you to live in your own strength and power. And the book of Hebrews closes with this beautiful benediction that's so awesome where the writer of Hebrews is reminding God's people of that. This Christian life that frankly for you right now is very hard. It's not all on you. And this text calls you to believe that all the resources that you need are found in Jesus Christ. And the writer of Hebrews ends this book by declaring, you are blessed. You are blessed. Because God will equip you with everything that you need in order to live the life that he has called you to live. And I wanna prove that to you here today by essentially taking three looks at God together. Let's look at him here, here, and here. And with each look that we take at God, we're looking at the same God. The God of peace is the God who raised Jesus from the dead, is the exact same God who equips you for every good work, same God. Now let's look at this text together, Hebrews 13, just verses 20 and 21. Here's how this book ends. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good, that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Three looks at God. First, we're gonna look at Him and see that He is the God of peace. In a word, peace. And that's how this starts. Now, may the God of peace. And so our attention is immediately drawn to one aspect of God's character. He is the God of peace. And maybe we could just note what he's not called here. He's not called the God of turbulence or chaos, confusion, anxiety, interpersonal conflict, but peace. reconciliation, wholeness. And more specifically, if we were to drill down on what the emphasis here is on with this word peace, he's not called the God of wrath, or the God of judgment, or the God of condemnation. He's called the God of peace as opposed to those things, as opposed to the God of judgment and wrath. And what's interesting, it's not that God is not those things. It's not that God is not a great judge who should be feared. It's not that he's not a God of wrath and anger. He is. It's that he is not those things to us. We know and relate to him as the God of peace because he has made peace. He has established peace through an eternal covenant that he has made between us and him. through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the context here that we read these words. And it's the only way that peace could ever be made between us and him. How could you and I have peace with God? Well, that was made possible through Jesus and his death and resurrection. God did that. As you think about the end of World War I when the armistice was signed, you basically take two massive warring powers sitting down together and signing a peace treaty. But that doesn't mean that they like each other, right? I mean, they can all gather in the train car and let's sign this and say, we're done. We're not gonna fight anymore. The peace that God makes is a peace of the highest order. It's not merely the cessation of fighting and war and let's be done with our conflict. The peace that the God of peace offers is peace that actually turns foes, enemies, into friends. He is the God of peace. So that's where we should start here today. Do you have peace with God? Are you his enemy or are you his friend? The Bible is quite clear that we are alienated from God by our sin. We're estranged from him. And we might even have positive feelings towards God as we grow up and all these things, but God says, no, no, no. When we look at this according to scripture, in my perspective, all of us are born in sin. And our sin alienates us from God who has no sin. He created and made us to live for him and to love him. And instead we love ourselves and we live for ourselves. Because of our sin we're estranged from God and yet the scriptures teach all the way throughout that God has this amazing plan that he would offer up his son as a sacrifice to satisfy God's holy right fair anger over our sin in our place. so that we could be made right with God, we could be at peace with God. Are you at peace with Him? God has done all the work for that to happen. And He calls you to basically lay down your arms and say, I've been a rebel no more. I am a sinner and I wanna leave that way behind. How will you forgive me through your son, Jesus Christ? Will you save me? Will you bring me into a relationship of peace with you? Here's another question for you, I mean, at the heart of everything, it's do you have peace with God? But a follow up question to that would be, well, do you have peace with others? Because the God of peace produces that within his people. He produces that amongst us. That if we are people who have peace with God, then consequently, we should be a people who have peace with one another. And even when we enter into seasons of conflict or sin or wrongdoing against one another, we go and we run towards peace because that is what our God has taught us to do. He has taught us, like himself, to be people of peace, where we go and say, hey, we have sinned against each other, we are not right with each other, I've sinned against you, let's be right. We are family. You have peace with others. And you have peace in your own soul. If God is the God of peace, as this text describes him to be, and he makes it possible for us to be at peace with him, that is the realm where we need peace. And that peace trickles then down to every realm of life. You know, if you have Jesus as your Savior, the Savior who died for you and rose again, that can then translate into peace and tranquility in your heart and soul no matter what is going on. You have a Jesus, a Savior, a Lord who's enthroned in the heavens and he rules and he reigns as the ascended Christ who sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, which means you can have calm and tranquility in your soul. He is the God of peace. But that is not all, we want to quickly take a, or pause to take another look at God. He is the God who raised Jesus. In a word, we might say power. Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus. The God of peace is also the God of power. He raised Jesus from the dead, and Jesus here is given two titles in this verse that we should pause on. Jesus is referred to as our Lord, and he's also referred to as the great shepherd of the sheep. He is the risen, and I think we should take these titles and we should fuse them together, because it's an awesome combination. He is the risen shepherd king. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, that means that you have a few things as you go through this life. You have a risen Lord or Master. He's here, our Lord Jesus. And as we've seen in Hebrews 1 and 2, you have a King. After God raised Jesus from the grave, we read in the focus in Hebrews is on the fact that that that he's ascended up into heaven and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high and we see the ascended enthroned Christ. As you endeavor to live the life that God has called you to live, remember that that you have a risen king and he rules and he reigns, he's in complete control, even though we have this tension of the now and the not yet, he's enthroned. And do you know what else you have as you strive to live the life that God has called you to live? You have a great shepherd. Verse 20 calls Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep. I don't think that's incidental by any means. In fact, this text highlights that that's who God raised. He raised the great shepherd. The shepherd language is used in association with Jesus throughout the Gospels. If we just trace how the shepherd language is used in the New Testament of Jesus, it is fascinating. For example, in Matthew 9, verse 36, we start to have hints of this when we read there that when Jesus saw the crowds, he looks out at all these people. We read that he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd, and the heart of Jesus beats in love and compassion for these people. And in John 10, Jesus is specifically referred to as the good shepherd. In verse two of that chapter, he's called the shepherd of the sheep. That's basically the same language we have here in Hebrews. except it's expanded in Hebrews. In verse 11 of John 10, it says, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And in verse 14, Jesus says there, I know my own sheep and they know me. There is this rich, close relationship between Jesus and his sheep. But where this really, really gets pointed is by the time you come to the end of the gospel accounts, in Mark 14, verse 27, do you remember as Jesus, he's just celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples, and they make their way towards the Garden of Gethsemane, and somewhere on the way over there, or once they're there in the garden, Jesus quotes a very interesting Old Testament text. There in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus is essentially looking into the cup of God's holy wrath, he reaches far back into the Old Testament, and he puts a text in front of his disciples. And it's Zechariah 13, verse 7, where God says to his sword, Awake. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of Hosts. The father is talking to his sword, basically saying, Awake, awake, awake. And then he goes on to say, Strike the shepherd. And the sheep will be scattered. And God, indeed, raised his sword. And he slew his own son, Jesus Christ, on the cross, the shepherd of the sheep. And so we have this this very, very clear truth being presented that the shepherd laid down his life for you. To save you, not from a wild animal, but specifically from your own sin and from God himself. And now in Hebrews 13, verse 20, this text tells us that God, the father in power, raised from the dead the very shepherd son that he struck. And he now calls him the great shepherd of the sheep. And the writer of Hebrews reminds us all that he is alive. The shepherd that was slain is alive. And we fuse these titles of Jesus together and we see that Jesus is not just alive, reigning from afar in the heavens and having sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high so far away in power. But that he's alive and he's right here shepherding his sheep here and now through all of life's journey. And so on a personal level, that means that as we see of Yahweh in Psalm 23, that Jesus is always with you. And you never lack his care. He's with you all throughout the ordinary events of life. He's with you in the dark valleys of life. He's always with you. You never lack his care. You never lack his guidance. You never lack his protection. He's always there. And I think one of the things that might happen is we open up our Bibles to the book of Psalms and say, read Psalm 23, and we go, wow, God is such a great shepherd. And this thing that happens in our hearts is, well, is he that to me right now? It doesn't feel like I have his care. It seems like he's far removed. I feel like maybe I lack the care of this shepherd. And so you might say, I'm not sure. And I would say this to you. So you don't believe? in the resurrection? Because the way that the writer of Hebrews is arranging and structuring all this, he's saying, how do you know that you have a shepherd like the one in Psalm 23 and that Jesus shepherds you like that? You know that because of the resurrection. And on the church level, this passage means that Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep, doing what he does, guiding, protecting, caring. In 1 Peter 2, verse 25, Jesus is called the shepherd and overseer, and we could even bring the guardian language into that. He is the great shepherd and overseer of your souls. And one of the ways that the great shepherd of the sheep shepherds his churches or flocks all around the globe, not just here in Beaumont or Edmonton, all around the globe, he gives his churches shepherds or pastors. Ephesians 4.11 says, and he, Jesus, gave the shepherds. God sure is kind to you and to me. when he gives us shepherds and when he gives us more shepherds. And we stop and we marvel and we say, wow, our God is a giving God. who loves his sheep. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, you can be certain that you have a risen Lord and King who sits enthroned in the heavens, but you also have a great shepherd here and now. And it just keeps going. You also have eternal promises. Verse 20 mentions the eternal covenant, which would be the new covenant that was inaugurated and ratified by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. The blood of Jesus accomplished and sealed, it stamped the new covenant, and we read here of it that it's eternal. It's everlasting. It never comes to an end, it never fades. Verse 20 explains that the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus by the blood of the eternal covenant. What's the connection going on there between the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus shedding his blood on the cross, and God raising Jesus from the grave. What's the connection there? One person explained it this way. Jesus was brought up from death, we read, by the blood of the eternal covenant. That is to say, his resurrection is the demonstration that his sacrifice of himself has been accepted by God and the new covenant established on the basis of that sacrifice. The gospel is an eternal, everlasting promise, and the resurrection backs all that up. And as Hebrews makes clear, the gospel is not a temporary fix. You've got all this language of bulls and goats and priests and repeated sacrifices, and you get to the end of the book, and we're reading here about an eternal covenant. It's not a temporary fix. It's not a picture. It's this is it. It's not a band-aid. It's the final, once-for-all, everlasting remedy. And the gospel is a promise, an everlasting promise, that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved. Whoever calls out to Jesus and says, I am a sinner, and you died for me, and you rose for me, help, save me, make me new, Whoever will cry out to Jesus will be saved. And if you want proof of that, the writer of Hebrews says it's right here, it's the resurrection. The Father has accepted Christ's sacrifice on the cross for you. And so if you're sitting here and you're thinking, do you know what I need to do? I need to work and I need to dig in and I need to work on being better. And then once I get better, then God can accept me. The resurrection says, no. No, the resurrection says that God looked at Christ's death on the cross and said, yep, that's enough. That's everything. It's done. That's sufficient. You don't need to work your way to cleanliness in God's eyes. And everything that God requires of you, he has already provided in Jesus. Jesus died for you, that's enough. How do you know? Because God raised Jesus from the dead. Maybe today you're doubting some things. The three matters of which I just spoke. Maybe you're prone to doubt that God reigns as Lord and King in the heaven. You look out at the turmoil in your world, in our country, maybe in your home, in your family, maybe in our church, maybe out in society, whatever it is. And you look at the problems and you wonder why there aren't answers, or you wonder why God hasn't stepped up and fixed something for you. And maybe you're prone to doubt that God reigns as Lord and King in the heavens. Or maybe you're prone to doubt if you really do have a good shepherd. Maybe you're prone to doubt if he really does care for you or if he's really with you right now. If he's there caring for you in this very moment, if so, then why doesn't he fix it or make it easier? Maybe you're prone to doubt if the gospel really is an everlasting promise and more than just some kind of temporary fix or this thing that we all talk about to make us feel better. The resurrection of Jesus Christ assures you of all of these things. Jesus is King, Jesus is a present shepherd, and the gospel is true. So how do you know that you have a reigning Lord and King, that you have a great shepherd, and that you have eternal promises? Because this text tells us that the God of peace, brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus. He is the God who raised Jesus. So, so far, what has this text done? Well, it's shown us that the God of peace is the God who raised Jesus from the dead, and is the same God, the exact same God, who equips you for every good work. The same God, as we make a third look at God, he is the God who equips you. In a word, we might say provision. Look at verse 21. Actually, if we kind of get a running start, may the God of peace from verse 20, now verse 21, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. You are blessed, this text says, because the very same God who brought peace And in power raised Jesus is the exact same God who today, here and now, will equip you with everything that you need to live the life that God has called you to live. And according to verse 21, you are fully equipped for every good work, or God will do that for you. That's the idea in verse 21 where it says equip you with everything good. The word with there could just as easily be translated in as it's translated in the New American Standard. For example, it says, equip you in everything good to do His will. What's being conveyed there? What's being conveyed is that there is no area of your life where you cannot do the will of God. It doesn't exist. And with that, you're fully equipped. You're not just scraping by, trying to make it through or something like that, but fully, abundantly equipped. And so maybe we could pause for a moment and just think about how maybe we don't feel that way. In what area of your life do you not feel equipped to be or to do what God expects you to be or to do? Maybe it's role specific. You think about your roles for a minute in life. For me, as I think about my roles, I go, okay, I'm a husband. I'm a father. I'm a pastor. I'm also a church member. I'm a friend. And most recently, within the last couple weeks, I am now, my wife and I both, are Canadian citizens, which we are both super excited about. So it's been like, thank you. You really don't have to do this. It's about Jesus, but we're really overjoyed. 10 years in the making on that. I don't know about you, but I rarely feel equipped for those roles. Do you feel equipped? I mean, do you ever feel like, man, I stink at this? Like, I struggle in all these roles. And maybe you don't feel equipped today. You go, I do not feel equipped to be a godly mom or dad. I mean, my growing up was a disaster. My mom and dad, like, it wasn't good. This wasn't modeled for me. I don't feel equipped to be a godly church member. I've got so many problems. I don't feel equipped to be a godly spouse or to have a godly marriage. I'm just stumbling all the way through this. I don't feel equipped to be a godly sibling. I don't know what to do right now. I don't feel equipped to be godly in my workplace. I'm not quite sure how to be a godly in-law. Maybe it's situation specific. You don't feel equipped to make it through the trial you're facing. That's just, this is just too much. Maybe you don't feel equipped to have that much needed conversation. You're like, I know that I should go talk to that person. I don't really want to. Maybe you don't feel equipped to face the day or maybe it's way bigger than that. You go, I don't, I don't feel equipped to face another. or to endure under the pressure or to be true to Jesus in my workplace or my home, you don't feel equipped to fight your sin. I can't win in this battle. Maybe you don't feel equipped to lay down your bitterness. Something's happened and you are so wrapped up in the cords of that sin, I don't think I can lay that down. Or I don't feel equipped to go and humbly ask for forgiveness and look that person in the eye and say, I sinned against you. Will you forgive me? You don't feel equipped to go seek reconciliation? Perhaps you don't feel equipped to be a gospel witness? I mean, other people could do that, not me. I'm just going to be quiet here. Maybe you're somebody's caregiver. And you love that person and you're trying to give care to a person when the fact of the matter is you're like, I just desperately need somebody to care for me. Can I submit to you that your feelings are 100% wrong? That you are in fact fully equipped or that when the hour comes for you to do whatever needs done, you will be. God will fully equip you for every good work. And the writer of Hebrews and more specifically, God himself, the ultimate writer of this book, calls you to believe it. These verses summon you to believe that you are blessed that way. And guess what? You can actually do God's will. Not just know it. Not just be familiar with it, not just think it, but walk it and do it. Verse 21 says, God equips you with everything good. To what end? For what purpose? So that you may do His will. God is saying, you know what? You can do the right thing. You can bear up under that trial, under that difficulty. You can keep going. In fact, you and I don't have any excuse not to. You might think, come on. I cannot do this. And maybe the reason that you think that that is the case is because you think that all of this relies on you alone. But it doesn't. Because you are never alone in the process. Verse 21 says, God working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. God works in you so that you can do what is pleasing in his eyes. And again, the writer of Hebrews is drilling down here after all after all the ways that it's presented Christ to us as ascended and enthroned in the heavens. The book of Hebrews. Makes it so clear God is not a distant observer way up there somewhere so far away. No, no, he's actually he's active and he's not just active next to you. He's active in you. And if you think that this is all about your effort, you are wrong. Because this passage says that God enables you to do what pleases Him. He works in you to do that. And you sit here and go, I can't do this. And you're right, you can't do it. God is the one who will do it. God is at work in you. And again, we go, who? Who's at work in me? God. Who are we talking about? We're talking about the God of peace. We're talking about the God who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. The God of peace and the God of power is at work in you. You're never alone in the process. And if we were to drill down more and more and more and get even more specific, how does God do this in your life? Through Jesus Christ. You have Jesus now and forever. Look at verse 21 again. May the God of peace, verse 21, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight. And then notice the next three words, through Jesus Christ. You have Jesus now and forever. And through your union, your connection with Jesus Christ, you have all the resources you need to do his will. Jesus makes it possible. And the resources that you need, they are not found somewhere deep within yourself. In and of yourself, you don't have what you need, you don't have the ability. You're not sufficient. But in Jesus, you have everything, you have all the resources you need. That means this, that when you are at your absolute weakest point, and when you feel that you are totally out of strength, and you're all alone, and you're saying to yourself, I can't do this right now, I can't do this anymore, that means you can do God's will, and you can please Him, you can. And again, just I don't think I could be clear enough here. These verses do not point you to your own sufficiency. And some treasure trove deep within yourself. These verses point you to the presence and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, your risen Lord, and the God who raised him in power from the grave. I find myself getting so frustrated sometimes when I go to tackle a job and I get into it and I'm like deep into it. You know, like I'm all the way right in the middle of it. Only to realize that I don't have what I need to get it done. Now this happened to me just a few weeks ago. Our kids go to bed and I'm thinking I've got a couple more hours left in my day. I'm going to go out to the garage and I'm going to do this break job on the car. It's going to be done. Car's going to be good to go tomorrow. Well, as I pulled one of the rotors off, something behind the parking brake just broke. I don't have the rotor off, and parts are falling off onto the floor. And I'm thinking, oh, man. Why does it always have to go like this? Now, here I am at whatever time of night. I need to drive 30 minutes in the Canadian Tire to get a parking brake part. I wasn't intending to do my parking brake on this car. But I need to go there. I need to go. None of these stores are open. I can't get this part, which means that I can't do this right now. I can't do it. And some of you are sitting here thinking that you do not have what you need to do what God expects of you right now. And you're saying to yourself, I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. And you might even be frustrated. Very natural, fallen human response. Maybe you're frustrated trying to love your spouse, and you're like, you know, I've been at this for such a long time, and this isn't getting better, and it's just always like this. Or you're exhausted with all that life has hurled at you. You've nearly given up on victory over some sin. I've fought this, and I've won, and I've fought, and I've lost, and I've fought, and I've won, I've fought, and I've lost, and I quit. Or maybe you're just tired of the problems in your home. Or you are tired of the problems in your church. You are tired of the problems at your job. And the writer of Hebrews is saying, don't you see it's through Jesus Christ. Your risen shepherd king, that God comes and he supplies every needed resource for you to do his will right now and to do what pleases him. He is the God who equips you. The writer of Hebrews brings all this together. The God of peace is the God who raised Jesus from the dead. And that is the very same God who equips you for every good work. And so he ends his book. Believe it. So may this benediction bless you, not just bless you, though, but actually transform how you live today. Here's what I think you and I need to get. The God who raised Jesus from the dead is not just a God of some massive, incredible, awesome miracle that happened yesterday. He is the God of grace and help for today. And he equips you with exactly what you need, and he equips you exactly when you need it. He's never late. You are blessed because God will equip you that with everything that you need in its order for you to live the life that he's called you to live. And if we were to quickly just throw in one more bonus, look at God. He is the God of our eternal praise. We read all this and it's just like it just burst forth and praise this text through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And the referent may there be specifically to Jesus or to God the Father through Jesus. At the end of the day, we are in awe of our triune God and we praise him forever and ever. Amen. We praise him now. We will praise him forever. This closing benediction in the letter of Hebrews. Was meant to be read to an essentially pronounced over God's people. And so I think it would be most fitting as we conclude and wrap up our time today to conclude by actually pronouncing this benediction to you, upon you. And so as Christian brothers and sisters, can I just say to you, Jesus died and he rose again and God raised him and he's alive. He shed his blood for you and he's risen and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And so on that basis, here are these words of God, not just to the people of Hebrews, but to you. Now, today, right here where you sit, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. By the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will. Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.