Lessons From Hebrews – Lesson 3
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Wherefore, holy brethren…consider…Christ Jesus.
Someone has said that the wherefores and therefores of Scripture are like the STOP, LOOK & LISTEN signs at railroad crossings, designed to raise our alertness. The first verse of chapter 3 starts with the word Wherefore. It reminds us to review what has already been said about Jesus. We are to consider Christ Jesus, Who He is, His dignity, majesty, Excellency, authority, and position as presented in chapters 1 and 2. Wherefore.
God has spoken unto us by his Son. (1:2)
He was appointed heir of all things. (1:2)
He made the worlds. (1:2)
He is the brightness of his [God’s] glory. (1:3)
He is the express image of his [God’s] person. (1:3)
He upholds all things by the word of his power. (1:3)
He purged our sins by himself. (1:3)
He was made better than the angels. (1:4)
All the angels of God worship him. (1:6)
Unto Him the Father said, Thy throne, O God. (1:8)
He loves righteousness and hates iniquity. (1:9)
The earth and heavens shall perish, but thou remainest. (1:10,11)
He is the same, and His years shall not fail. (1:12)
Only Jesus is sitting on the right hand of the Father. (1:13)
All things have been put in subjection to Him. (2:5 & 8)
He has been crowed with glory and honor. (2:7)
He tasted death for every man. (2:9)
He is the captain of our salvation. (2:10)
Was made perfect through sufferings. (2:10)
He is not ashamed to call us brethren. (2:11)
He delivers them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (2:15)
He was made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest. (2:17)
No wonder we read the words in chapter 3 verse 1. Wherefore, holy brethren… consider… Christ Jesus.
Consider Him. Think of His rank; His dignity; His holiness; His sufferings; His death; His resurrection, ascension, and His intercession for you. Christians should spend time thinking about Jesus. You get down and depressed a great thing to do would be to consider Jesus. You feel like quitting, a great thing to do would be to consider Jesus. Prayerful and thoughtfully considering Jesus will go a long way to fixing a multitude of attitude problems.
The book of Hebrews was written to saved Hebrews. This book was written to Christians. Paul calls them holy breathren, he calls them partakers. He says consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Paul says our profession, Christ Jesus. If you are going to properly understand the book of Hebrews it is very important to know that it was written to people who are saved.
To get saved do you have to have a theological degree? No. You only have to understand a few things. I am a sinner, I can’t save myself, there is a penalty for my sin and Jesus paid it. He went to the cross for my sin and rose again. I believe that and call upon Him to save me with a repentant heart and I am saved. That is all I have to know.
Now that I am saved, do I all the sudden know everything. No. I get saved in August and I will be a seasoned mature stable Christian in September. No. It takes time to grow.
You don’t get saved on Monday and put away every bad habit by Wednesday.
Are some new Christians tempted to keep their old ways? Yes. After they are a Christian a while are some tempted to go back to living the way they used to? Yes.
Can family influence that? Sure especially if your family are of a different religion.
What we have in Hebrews are new Jewish believers who are tempted to go back to the rituals of Judaism. After two chapters of presenting Jesus High and lifted up, Paul is now going to start to deal with this issue.
What did unsaved Jews think of Moses?
They held Moses in high esteem. More so than any other man. So Paul now gives a comparison of Moses to Jesus.
Heb 3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses [was faithful] in all his house.
Heb 3:3 For this [man] was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
Heb 3:4 For every house is builded by some [man]; but he that built all things [is] God.
Heb 3:5 And Moses verily [was] faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house;
The 7-fold superiority of the Son of God over the servant Moses.
- Moses was a member of a house, Christ the Builder of one.
- Moses was identified with a single house; Christ built all things.
- Moses was an Apostle; Christ THE Apostle.
- Moses was a man; Christ the God-man.
- Moses just a servant; Christ the Son.
- Moses witnessed of things to come; Christ was the substance and fulfillment of it all.
- Moses was a servant in the house of Jehovah; Christ was the Son over His own house.
Jesus is Superior to Moses. A son is always superior to a servant in any house. A servant owns nothing; is heir to nothing; has no authority, and no right to control anything, he is under the will of another. Moses was a great servant to God. But he was still a servant. You cannot put him on the same level as the Son. Jesus is clearly vastly superior.
Paul is making the point. Don’t go back to following someone who is inferior. You follow Jesus and you are following the best. You can’t get any better.
Heb 3:6 …whose house are we,
The house that is being talking about here does not refer to bricks and 2×4’s. It is talking about people. Your house is your children and your grandchildren and so on.
Moses was faithful in the house of Israel as a servant. It was not Moses’ house it was really God’s house. Christ is a Son over His own house. And we are the house. We are His. Amen. You are His, so don’t go following Moses. Follow Christ.
Heb 3:6 …if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
The end of verse 6 has been abused by many. Someone will come along and say. See that. You are only saved if you hold out. You can lose your salvation if you don’t hold it. They will say see that. We are his house if we hold fast unto the end.
Nope sorry. You can’t lose your salvation. Salvation is not by works. Having to hold it would be works. If you have to hold it, then you are relying in your strength.
If you could lose your salvation, then Jesus would be a liar. Jesus said, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Jesus taught that if you believe in me that you will have eternal life. That means it lasts forever.
If Jesus was a liar, then He was a sinner, and if that was the case then there is no salvation for anyone.
All the Bible needs to be taken as a whole. You cannot take one scripture out of the Bible and teach that you are only saved if you hold out, since it goes against a volume of other scriptures.
Here is a principal of Bible study. Don’t let a verse that you might not understand take away what you do understand. The Bible is clear that Jesus saves by faith alone. It is a gift that cannot be taken away. We have a, know so salvation. So what is the last part of verse 6 talking about.
Heb 3:6 …if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
The verse does not say if we hold our close fellowship with Jesus. It does not say if we walk close to Him every day. It does not say if we stay in church until the end.
This verse is talking about the mark of a true believer. People who are really saved never deny Jesus. They still have confidence in Jesus and know they are saved.
Have you ever wondered about someone that you have seen backslide. They got saved, they were here for a while and now they are not. Have you ever wondered did they get saved, and how far can a Christian backslide. I struggled with that thought for years. Then I studied the best example of a backslider that there is in the Bible. Lot.
The New Testament calls Lot Just. He was saved; justified in the sight of God. He turned from God and to the world. He was living in Sodom and lost his testimony. When he tried to witness to his son’s in law, the bible says, But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. Lot was in the world and living like the world.
Lot did a great many bad things, but do you remember what Lot did when he saw the angels show up. He is right out there inviting them into his home, and he will not take no for an answer. They were the angels of his God and Lot would not deny them.
Lot did not say I have no idea who you are. Lot did not say God who? There was going to be consequences if he stood with the angels. The city would be at his door. Lot knew that. As backslidden as Lot was, he would not deny that he was a believer in the true God. That is a mark of a true Believer.
I have talked to some people who were really back slidden. You look at them and it would never cross your mind that they are saved. I have showed them verses out of the bible trying to get them to accept Jesus. And they say I am already saved. You think yea a lot of people say that but don’t really understand. You go thru it all, and they fully understand it.
There was a day that they really did call upon the Lord with a repentant heart, and got saved. I have even tried to trip them up just to make sure. They are not budging. They know they got saved.
People can backslide for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it is because they get their feelings hurt. Sometimes it is because they got a hard heart about something God was asking them to do or give up. And sometimes they just let things slip. A little here and then some more, and some more. A true believer can backslide and they can backslide a lot. And they do suffer the consequences in this life. But a true believer will never say. I never got saved. A true believer will never become an atheist.
The last part of verse 6 is talking about the mark of a true believer.
Heb 3:6 …if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Let me give you another verse on this.
1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
John is not talking about leaving the church. He is talking about leaving the faith. A true believer may do some terrible things, but a true believer will never stop believing.
Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
You know today is all we are assured of. God might really work on your heart today on a matter, but He might not tomorrow. The expectation is for us to not only respond to God’s word but to do it today.
Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways.
Paul is now pulling an illustration out of the Old Testament to make a point to New Testament believers. Hebrews was written to saved Jews. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. This illustration is for us today. We need to learn from this also.
He is saying harden not your hearts as they did back then. In verse 10 God says, They do always err in their heart.
You know that is where all the trouble starts. In the heart. Have you ever known a Christian to get a hard heart? I have.
Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
You know the story. The night Israel got out of Egypt, the Passover lamb was slain. A picture of Jesus. And for the death angel to pass over them. To escape judgment and death, they had to apply the blood. A picture of accepting the shed blood for salvation. They did this in faith and were saved.
They get to the wilderness and what happens. They get hard hearts. They doubt God and complain over and over again.
God finally gets fed up and says no rest for you. They do not get to enter into Canaan. Instead they have to wonder around in the wilderness for 40 years. Did God leave them? No. God still fed them Manna from heaven. He still loved them and took care of them, The Bible says that their shoes did not wear out. But they did not get to have any victory. They did not get to accomplish anything for God. They were just put on a shelf so to speak. They did not get the great things that God had for them.
Some people make the mistake of thinking that the rest in verse 11 is heaven. That is not so at all. Canaan is a picture of the victorious Christian life. They still had battles and trials to endure in Canaan. Canaan is not heaven.
The people that had to wonder in the wilderness were saved. The ones that applied the blood in faith. One place to see this is in numbers 23:21.
A wicked king had hired Balaam to curse Israel, but instead God uses Balaam to bless Israel. And in that blessing from God we find this statement.
Num 23:21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God [is] with him, and the shout of a king [is] among them.
Remember this is after the 40 years in the wilderness. The new generation is about to go into the land. God looks back and says that He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.
Explain that to me.
When God is looking at them, He is seeing them covered in the precious blood of Jesus. He is seeing them in Christ’s righteousness.
As far as salvation is concerned, are you not glad that God looks at you the same way.
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Paul has given an example of what you could call UNBELIEVING BELIEVERS.
They trusted God for deliverance from the death angel by applying the blood.
They were believers, they were saved. But they did not believe God’s goodness when things got a little hard. They did not believe God for the trials of life. They did not believe God’s power to give them the victorious Christian life.
The same thing happens to Christians today. That is why Paul is using this illustration of the unbelieving believers in the wilderness. Some people will believe God’s plan of salvation and apply that and get saved.
But they don’t believe that God will enable them to tithe. Or that God will give them the boldness to witness for Him. Or that God will provide for their needs. Or or or. They believe God for salvation but have an evil heart of unbelief in another area.
So Paul is warning Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
A Christian goes dabbling in the deceitfulness of sin and his heart can get hardened.
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Heb 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
He is saying Christian do not make the same mistake that those unbelieving believers made.
Heb 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Here is the warning of Paul. Christian don’t do what they did back then. Christian don’t harden your heart to God.
Christian don’t have an heart of unbelief on any of God’s promises.
Christian don’t grieve the Holy Spirit.
Don’t provoke God. Don’t try His patience. He is long suffering with us, but there is a limit.
They provoked God and provoked God, and one day God finally said that is enough. I can’t use you people.
I can’t bless you people with this great victorious life that I had for you.
You will not enter into my rest. Heaven yes. But spiritual rest and victory in this life no.
Paul is showing, Christian if God did it to those believers back then, He will do it to you.
He is warning, don’t provoke God. Don’t doubt His promises.
Christian Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
For if you do, there will be consequences in this life. I have seen people go thru this. And it is not pretty. They are saved, they know they are saved, but they are useless in this life to God. It’s like they are just wondering around in a wilderness. When God speaks to your heart, listen, respond, and be useful for God.