Hebrews 3 Live Faithfully to the Lord

The speaker shares about teaching Hebrews, highlighting the theme of endurance seen in chapters 11 and 12. He mentions the connection between Joshua and Hebrews, emphasizing how Hebrews reveals the true meaning behind the sacrificial system pointing to Jesus. The importance of enduring through faith in Jesus is stressed, contrasting prideful works-based salvation and antinomianism. Five warning passages in Hebrews are mentioned to correct believers. Hebrews 3 discusses Jesus as the superior Savior providing superior salvation compared to Moses. The importance of understanding the heavenly calling in Hebrews is highlighted. All right, good to be with all of you today, looking forward to looking at Hebrews chapter 3. And so, I love the book of Hebrews. I've talked to it a few times over the years, and it's just really a fun book to teach through. It's not an easy book to teach through. It's challenging. And the most challenging chapter, I think, of Hebrews is chapter 6. And so, I'm thankful, not only that I'm able to teach Hebrews, but that I'm not teaching Hebrews chapter 6. And so, glad to have Jimmy be able to step in and teach that. Really, the thread that weaves throughout the book of Hebrews is the thread of endurance. This idea of enduring, of persevering. We kind of see the pinnacle of that when we move into Hebrews chapters 11 and 12. We have that great chapter of faith, followed by the admonition for us to run with endurance, the race that has been set before us. And so, just really looking at this theme of endurance, I think that's the thread that kind of binds everything together in the book of Hebrews. I've had to practice that this past weekend. Sandy's off with her sister. They're doing a Christmas shopping trip that they try to do every year. And so, I've had to endure at home by myself over the last few days. And it has been a thing of endurance. I mean, I've had to make my own food. I had to iron my own shirt. I had to choose my own clothes. It's really been a practice of my own endurance. I'm not too sure I've survived. She'll be home about 4 o'clock this afternoon. And so, I'll let you know next week if I've survived. If I don't survive, Brother Jimmy or Dr. Terry will be teaching next week. And that means that I did not endure. And so, we all pray that I've been able to endure. But it's really fun that we're moving from Joshua to Hebrews because there's really a lot of connections that occur there. You remember when we finished up Joshua, we looked at Joshua chapter 24. And though there was a sense of celebration and a fitting conclusion, it's like God intentionally left a little bit of some unfinished business. So that when we move into Judges, we realize that as celebratory as the ending of Joshua was, it left open this idea that each person did that which seemed right in their own sight. And Hebrews comes along and Hebrews says, here's why it seemed unfinished. Was that although they came to this point where they celebrated living in the land of promise, there were still some things that they did not understand. And what was it that they did not understand? It was that everything that they had come to realize in the sacrificial system would not fully have the light of revelation shined upon it until they recognized that all of the sacrificial system, the bloodiness of the shedding of the sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats, really pointed not to a repetitive sacrifice, but to a concluding sacrifice, not of a lamb in the pasture, but of a lamb who had come from heaven. And the author of Hebrews, whomever he is, whomever it was, we know was the Spirit of God and we'll see that briefly in just a moment. But whoever it was from a human perspective wants us to understand that everything that had occurred way back in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and throughout the remainder of the Old Testament was pointing us to Jesus Christ. And that is going to come to be the subject of our study in the book of Hebrews. How do we endure? We don't endure by our own strength. We endure by his finished work. Let's go ahead and pray together and then we're going to look at Hebrews chapter 3. God, we thank you that our perseverance in faith, our endurance in the Christian life is not based upon our power, but it's based upon your grace and upon the work of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to understand that as we continue this study of the book of Hebrews. Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful, magnificent, wonderful book. And as we consider it over the next few months, Father, we pray that you would just continue to do a great work in our lives and in our understanding. And Lord, we ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. As Dr. Terry shared with us last week, at the heart of the book of Hebrews is this idea that it seems that the audience was beginning to consider going back to the Old Testament sacrificial system. They had grown, for whatever reason, frustrated with the Christian life. They had grown somewhat discouraged. And I think if most of us were honest, we might say as well that perhaps there's been times where God just didn't really do things the way that we felt like He should have done. And left to ourselves, we would probably grow frustrated, confused, maybe wishing that God had done things differently than what He had done then. And what begins to happen is that there is this loss of joy. And I'll refer back again to Hebrews chapter 12, let us run with endurance, we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses, let us run with endurance the race that has been set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame. And He is now set down at the right hand of God. You know, endurance and joy are closely united. One of the things that from our perspective that helps us to continue to endure is the fact that even when we don't know and understand what God is doing, we can have joy. We can have joy not because we understand, but because we believe. Our joy is not based upon the understanding of our current circumstances. It's based upon the faith that we know that in spite of our current circumstances, God is working all things together for good. And so the biggest challenges that we face in this day by faith, we can know even when we don't see it, which is why it's called faith, that He's working it out for our good. And there's really two things that will rob us of that joy in the Christian life. The first threat is that we can find ourselves being prideful, self-righteous. What ends up happening when we are prideful and self-righteous is that we begin to make Christianity a works-based system. How do I know that I'm going to go to heaven? Well, because I'm a good old boy. I don't do a lot of bad things. I don't lie very often. Every time I lose my temper, it's because I've got a good reason. I'm the humblest person I know. Salvation becomes a works-based system, and that will rob us of joy because we never know when our works have been enough. How many lambs must I sacrifice? How many turtle doves must I give over? How much sacrifice and repentance and regret shall I have until I've finally earned God's favor? And we lose our joy. We lose our joy because our salvation becomes more about us than it is about God's grace. The second threat to the faithful Christian life is that we think that because we've been saved, we can live any way we want to live. Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? The term for this is the word antinomianism. The Bible, the word namas means law. Anti means against the law. And there are some that think that if I've been saved, well, I can just live it up. I can do whatever I want to do. There's no reason for me to abide in Christ. There's no need of me to walk in the Spirit. I've been saved. I've gotten my get out of hell free card. And now I can just go and live however I want to live. And I'm going to go to heaven when I die. I don't need to have a church family. I don't need to have a daily faith. I don't need to walk with Christ on a daily basis. I can just do whatever I want to do. And the most miserable person in the world, in my opinion, is not the unbeliever. It's the believer who's not walking with Jesus Christ. Because when we're a Christian, and we have seasons of not walking faithfully, the Holy Spirit is convicting us. And we're never more unhappy than when we're under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and yet we continue to wrestle. Hebrews is going to have five warning passages that runs throughout it. We see the first one back in Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 through 4. We're going to look at a second one today and next week. And then we'll see some more Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 12. But there's going to be five different warning passages. And God gives us warnings in His Word to show us that when we live outside of His will, we shouldn't be surprised when we don't know His joy. I warned my daughters when we were raising them, well, if you don't straighten up and fly right, we'll skin you alive. Now, I didn't really mean it, but the warning itself became the correction. Well, I don't want to be skinned alive, so I better straighten up and fly right. And God gives us these warnings because His warning is part of His correction. I want us to look, first of all, at the first six verses of Hebrews chapter 3. And what we're experiencing here is this conviction under which God in His Word is giving to these believers. And what He wants us to understand is that a superior Savior gives us a superior salvation. And the superior Savior is not Moses. It's Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 3, look at verse 1. Therefore, holy brothers and sisters. Now, by the way, Hebrews, and I'm reading today from the CSB, the Christian Standard Bible again. I got it free, and so if I get anything for free, I want to use it. And so if somebody gives me free food, I want to eat it because it was free. And there's something great about that. But the CSB uses the language rightly so, holy brothers and sisters. Hebrews is a book that is not primarily to the individual, but it's to the community, to the congregation, if you will. And so holy brothers and sisters, we share in a heavenly calling. Think about that phrase for just a moment. A heavenly calling. You see, in the book of Hebrews, there is this calling that originates from heaven. Where God, by His Spirit and by His grace, calls out to us to look upon Him in belief. Consider your heavenly calling. For me, that heavenly calling was a moment when as an eight-year-old, I'd watched my dad who was a deacon in the church, my mom who was my Sunday school teacher in Vacation Bible School, director and chief disciplinary officer. There was more than once I was carried out of the church service during the sermon because I was crying. I would act up and mom would carry me out of the service and I would cry and yell and scream and everybody would turn around and look and it didn't take me long to figure out that just made it that much worse by the time I got to the bathroom. But at eight years old, I remember when the Holy Spirit convicted me of all of that teaching that I'd heard from mom and dad and going to church. And I prayed at my kitchen table and gave my heart to Jesus Christ. Consider your heavenly calling. Consider Jesus, the Apostle, the high priest of our confession. He was faithful to the one who appointed Him just as Moses was in all of God's household. For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses. Just as the builder has more honor than the house. Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. Moses was faithful as a servant in all of God's household as a testimony to what would be said in the future. But Christ was faithful not as a servant, but as a son over His household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast. And so the author of Hebrews, we'd look back in Hebrews chapter 1 where there Jesus was superior to the angels. We saw in Hebrews chapter 2 where He was the superior man. We see here in Hebrews chapter 3 where He is superior to Moses. And you'll remember that as this original audience was considering returning back to the Old Testament sacrificial system, the author of Hebrews, God, is telling us to consider this heavenly calling. Moses had rightly served in a preeminent place in the life of the nation of Israel. But he was merely a servant. He wasn't the son. And what they were considering doing was not abandoning a religious conviction. They were considering leaving the son to return to a servant. Moses is secondary to Jesus Christ. And notice two titles that are used here for Jesus in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1. He is the Apostle. And He is the High Priest of our confession. The word for Apostle, and I think this is the only time in the New Testament where Jesus is referred to as Himself, not an Apostle, but the Apostle. That word for Apostle, it literally means sent. Sent. S-E-N-T. And so Jesus has been sent from heaven to earth to rescue us. And that therefore that begins in chapter 3 verse 1 is in reference back to chapter 2 verse 18, for since He Himself has suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted. And so that therefore in 3.1 refers back to 2.18. And so it's showing us that Jesus Christ, and we'll see this throughout Hebrews, came down to identify with us in our suffering. He was sent to participate in our suffering as an Apostle. If you want to do a fascinating Bible study, go back to the Gospel of John and read through the Gospel of John. And what you're going to see is you're going to see that Jesus was sent. You're going to see that the Spirit in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of John is promised to be sent. And then you're going to see at the end of the Gospel of John where we are sent. And read through the Gospel of John and circle or underline every time you read the word sent. The Father sent Jesus, Apostle, into the world. Jesus in John chapter 17 sent the Apostles. And as the Father sent Him, so does He send us. And the Father will send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Think about what that means for just a moment. What God has done is He has invited us, the heavenly calling, into His Word. The Father sent the Son. The Father and the Son sent the Spirit. The Son sends us. You see, what we do is not meaningless. It is a part of God's divine plan. And the way that we are brought into this divine plan is that the Apostle in chapter 3, verse 1, the sent one who does the sending, is also the High Priest. That's the second title. To say that He is the High Priest is to say that He is the Mediator. He is the one who stands between heaven and earth. That's why His position as the sacrifice was not that He was laid down, but it was initially that He was lifted up. He was lifted up on a cross. Symbolically showing that He was mediating between heaven and earth. And He was not only the High Priest that offered the sacrifice, He was also the Lamb, as we'll see later on in Hebrews, who was sacrificed. You see, ultimately the book of Hebrews is about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the Apostle, Jesus Christ the High Priest, Jesus Christ the one who was sent, Jesus Christ who Himself is the Mediator. And verse 1 commands us to consider Jesus Christ. Consider Him. Now that word there for consider doesn't mean that He's a fleeting thought. You've considered what you're going to have for lunch today. You've considered whether or not you're going to watch the Cowboys today. You've considered what you're going to have this evening before you go to bed. That's not what this word consider means. This word for consider, it means that we are to take it up and we are to hold it in the light and we are to reflect upon it and we're to think about it and we're to meditate upon it in our minds. And He says consider, ponder, think about Jesus. The one sent from God to be our High Priest. Think about Him. Many people give religion, faith, God, a fleeting thought at seasons of our life when things are hard. Maybe we have a religious routine of bowing our head before we eat, but the biblical admonition is for us to ponder. Like Mary who kept these things and pondered them in her heart after she had been told by the angel that she would give birth to Emmanuel, God with us. We're to reflect upon these things. He goes on to say He was faithful to the One who appointed Him just as Moses was in all of God's household. Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses just as the builder has more honor than the house. Now every house is built by someone, but the One who built everything is God. Moses was faithful over a servant in all of God's house. In other words, what He's doing here is He's giving to us a common analogy that we might think upon, right? You might look at your house or maybe if you've had a home that's been custom built, you look at that house and you think, I really like the house, but the artistry is not so much found in the house, it's found in the builder. The One who designed the house, the One who engineered the house. And so what He's saying here is that yes, we are grateful for the work that Moses had done that led up to the book of Joshua that led through the Exodus that all of the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy was building toward Moses, that great Exodus leader. But the One that we really are looking toward is the One who designed the house and the One who designed the house was God. And Moses was merely a servant in the house, but Jesus Christ, He was the Son. Look at verse 6. But Christ was faithful as the Son over His household. And we are that household. Now, as we read our Bibles closely and we're going to see this regularly in the book of Hebrews, we're going to read these if-then statements. Okay? You know what an if-then statement is? If Sandy comes home, then I will survive. It's an if-then statement. He says, if we hold fast, or if we hold on, if we hold fast to our confidence and the hope in which we boast. Now, look at that phrase there. We are of that household if we hold fast, if we hang on to. We're going to see this language throughout the book of Hebrews and we're going to have to kind of wrestle with it a little bit. We are of that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast. This confidence that we have, this hope in which we boast, is not based upon what you and I do. It's based upon what Jesus Christ Himself has done. And so the very fact that we are depending upon Jesus, who is the Apostle and the High Priest, brings us joy. Not because we're relying on ourselves, but because we are depending upon what He has done. We'll see a particular word that is used in the book of Hebrews, and that is the word confession. The confession of our faith. That word there, confession, is the word homologia. Homologia. The word homo means the same. The same. The word logia comes from the word logos, where we get our word logic or word. And so to have a confession is to say that we are confessing the same thing about Jesus Christ that God has shown us about Jesus Christ. And we are to hang on to that confession. Are we confessing about Jesus what God has given to us to confess about Jesus Christ? Do we hold fast to that confession of hope? See, to confess Jesus Christ is for us to say the same thing about Jesus as what God has revealed to us about Jesus. He is the Apostle. He is sent from heaven to bring the message of salvation. He is the High Priest, the one who makes a sacrifice to God for our sins. And of course, we will also see that He is the one who Himself was the sacrifice. Now, what the author of Hebrews has done for us is he has shown us in the first six verses there, that if we are depending upon anyone other than Jesus Christ to be the source of our salvation, then we are missing the point of the Bible. We don't go through a priest to get to God. We go through the High Priest to get to God. Jesus Christ. And that leads us then into... I said that we would see a few warnings throughout the book of Hebrews. That leads us then to look at the first, or really the second warning, but the first one that we see here in Hebrews chapter 3. Look at verse 7. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says... Now, let's talk for a moment just briefly about what the Bible is. What follows here is the quotation of Psalm chapter 95. And Psalm chapter 95 was a psalm that was regularly sung in the synagogues on the Sabbath day. But notice that in verse 7, it attributes Psalm chapter 95 to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says... And then he quotes Psalm 95. We have conversations and have had conversations about who is the human author of the book of Hebrews. Well, originally it was thought to be Paul. Some have argued that it was Barnabas. Some have argued that it was Luke. There have been many people that have been argued, right? We know who wrote a lot of the books. We know that Paul wrote Romans because he says that he wrote Romans. We know that Paul wrote Galatians. We know that Luke wrote Luke. We know that Peter wrote Peter. We don't know who wrote Hebrews. Oh, but we do. Because just as it is the Holy Spirit who inspired the words of Psalm chapter 95, it is the Holy Spirit who inspired the words of Hebrews. And James. And Corinthians. And Chronicles. And even Leviticus. And Numbers. You see, the Spirit of God ultimately is the one who penned the words of Scripture. And in Psalm chapter 95, we read, by the inspiration of the Spirit, the words of Psalm 95, that the author of Hebrews is going to apply to the people who are considering turning back. And he writes these words. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness. Notice how he's referring back to the generation of the Exodus. Okay? Where your ancestors tested me, they tried me, and they saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was provoked to anger with that generation. And I said, they always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. And so I swore in my anger, they will not enter my rest. And so we see here this warning that comes from Psalm chapter 95, but I want you to see how Psalm 95 begins. So go ahead and flip back to Psalm chapter 95. It sounds like a very dire warning. And rightly so. But it's helpful, I think, for us to see the context of Psalm chapter 95. Again, they would have seen this when they would go into the synagogue. But notice how Psalm 95 begins in verse 1. Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord. Shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation. Let's enter his presence with thanksgiving. Let's shout triumphantly to him in song. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks are his. The sea is his, he made it. His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. And then here's the warning. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. As at Meribah, as on the days at Manasseh, or at Massa in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me, they tried me though they had seen what I had did. For 40 years, I was disgusted with that generation. I said, they are a people whose hearts go astray. They do not know my ways, and so I swore in my anger, they will not enter my rest. Notice that where Psalm chapter 95 begins is with thanksgiving. Shouting joyfully. Shouting triumphantly. You see, the hardness of heart begins to set in, not when there are visible works of rebellion, but when there is a lack of thankfulness. The lack of thankfulness precedes the visible works of rebellion. Which means that it rests within our hearts long before it is visible in our actions. And so for us to consider Jesus is not for us to point to our works. Oh, of course I'm a Christian. I go to church three times a week. I bring a friend. I bring a Bible. I get a gold star. I give 11% to be on the safe side. Of course I'm a Christian. The evidence is not initially in our works. It's in our heart. A lack of thankfulness. And so the hardness of the heart begins with a lack of thankfulness. Joy. Shouting triumphantly. You see, the inoculation that keeps us, that keeps our hearts softened to the things of God is thankfulness. And we need to consider whether or not we are thankful. Gratitude. It goes on to say verse 12, right? I swore in my anger. Verse 11, I swore in my anger they will not enter my rest. And then he gives us this affirmation. Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won't be any of you. An evil and unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But in contrast to that, encourage each other daily. You know, I've never met a person who said, I'm so tired of you encouraging me. Would you please stop? I've never met that person. I had a lady one time, we were going through a challenging time while I was pastoring and things. We had a couple of issues that we were facing and they were very challenging. And I had a dear old lady, matriarch of the church. She was at that time, I don't know, she went to be with the Lord probably 10, 12 years ago. But she was 85, 86 years old at the time. Just very precious, sweet lady that loved the Lord. Knew scripture and very prayerful. And I had had a very difficult season over some things that we were facing. And she just seemingly out of the blue called me one day. I was up at the church and she just called me. She just said, Brother John, I just want you to know that the Lord kept me awake last night. And I spent all night praying for you. She said, I haven't gone to bed yet. This was probably 8.30 or 9 o'clock in the morning. She said, I haven't gone to bed yet. She said, I'm about to go ahead and go to bed. But I just felt like I needed to call you and let you know. I've spent the entire night praying for you. I tell you, that gave me enough encouragement in a season when I needed encouragement to just continue to faithfully serve the Lord. Encourage one another daily. You see, we should not only be thankful people that keep a soft heart, but we should be an encourager. We should be a Barnabas. We should be someone who is constantly encouraging others. Because I've found that when I'm busy encouraging others, I don't have time to be discouraged about what I'm facing. Who are you encouraging today? Just a little brief card. Just a phone call. A passing word. Who are you encouraging today? That keeps our hearts, think about how simple that is, that keeps our hearts sensitive to the work of the Spirit. I've had a lot of discouraging people. I've had enough of those. I've never had enough encouragement. With Jimmy, I had a dear old lady. I was in, I think, about two or three months of brand new pastor. I was in that wonderful place where I knew it all, but didn't have a clue. I had a dear old lady. I walked up to her on a Sunday morning. Her name was Miss Ruth. I said, Miss Ruth, I just appreciate you so much. She said, Brother John, I just want you to know, this was when Mack Brunson was over at First Baptist Dallas. She said, Brother John, I just want you to know, you remind me so much of Mack Brunson. Oh my goodness, I was, you know, Mack Brunson pastoring First Baptist Dallas. That search committee is going to be calling me any minute now. Very next week, true story, very next week, I walk up and I'm kind of standing outside of their Sunday school room. There's two matriarchs of the church, Miss Ruth, that told me those words. And then another one by the name of Miss Anna Christoph. Now, Miss Anna Christoph was a sweet lady. Miss Ruth, she learned, grew. Miss Anna said, Miss Ruth, did you listen to Mack Brunson on television this morning? Now, this is the same Miss Ruth who told me I reminded her of Mack Brunson. And this is Miss Ruth's response to Miss Anna. She said, Oh, Anna, I can't stand Mack Brunson. Oh. Scars. Where was I going? Oh, yeah, be an encourager, not a discourager. Be filled with thanksgiving. Be an encourager. And then he goes on to give us this warning about cheap grace. Verse 14. We have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. Now, we've got a lot more work to do, I think, before we can just really get a good grasp of this. But I'd want to say endurance and perseverance like this. You see, what we're going to see throughout the book of Hebrews, we've seen beginning to introduce this concept to us here in Hebrews chapter three. But what we're going to see is that our salvation, our salvation is not based upon our endurance. Rather, our endurance is based upon our salvation. In other words, here's our encouragement for today. We can walk out of here knowing this. That if the Spirit of God dwells within our heart, Jesus Christ is our Savior. We're not going to endure because we're hanging on to Him. We're going to endure because He's hanging on to us. So let's all walk out of here with this today. We can be thankful and we can be encouraging because He's got you. No matter what you're facing today, He's got you. Be thankful and encourage someone today. Amen? Amen. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your Son, our High Priest, our Savior, our Lord, our Master, our Mediator, our Advocate. Help us to be thankful and help us to be encouraging in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, good to see you today.