If you will, open your Bibles
with me tonight to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3, and I'll
read the first six verses in this chapter. Wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, Consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful
to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all
his house. For this man was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath built the house
hath more honor than the house. For every house is built by some
man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was
faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ as a
son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. I want us to look at these six
verses tonight, and I would point out three things and then conclude
by looking at a warning in the last part of verse six. First,
look at those addressed. Let's notice this first of all.
Look at these addressed. holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling. Holy brethren. These are the
ones that the apostle is writing to. Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling. Consider the three things that
he says about these that he addresses. First of all, holy, holy. What does that mean, holy? Well, it means this word that's
translated holy, it means set apart or separated. Remember that this New Testament
letter, like every New Testament letter, it is addressed to men
as to what they professed. In other words, they profess
these that he's writing this letter Two, they profess to believe,
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. And in every
letter, that's the way the letter is written. That doesn't mean
that in every church, now this is not written to a church, but
like the church at Thessalonica or the church at Corinth, it
doesn't mean that everyone in that church was saved. But everyone
that was a member of that church, they professed to know Christ.
And that's the way the letter is written, as to those who profess
Christ as their Lord and Savior. True believers then, when we
read here, wherefore holy brethren, true believers are set apart. They are holy. Every child of
God here in this building tonight is holy. Everyone, no exception,
every child of God, every true believer is holy, set apart,
sanctified, first of all, by God the Father in sovereign election
from before the foundation of the world. The word means set
apart, and God set apart before the foundation of the world those
that He chose. If you turn over just a page,
keep your place here, but look in the small letter of Jude,
the small letter of Jude, in the very first verse, we read, Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ and brother of James, now notice, to them, These are
the ones he's writing to. The first thing he says about
them, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved
in Jesus Christ and called. Now, sometimes people say, well,
aren't we called first in our experience? Yes. But in the order
in which we have been sanctified, first of all, we were set apart. God's children were set apart.
by God the Father in eternal election before the world ever
began. Set apart by God the Father in
sovereign election, holy, holy. But then we know true believers
in time, in time, during our lifetime. Sometime we are set
apart by the new birth. There's a time when we are regenerated
by the Spirit of God. That is, we are made alive spiritually
in the new birth. Turn back the other way this
time to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
and verse 13. The Apostle Paul says, but we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you. And that's true
of every child of God. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you. Because if it had not been for
God, you would never have become a child of God. We're bound to
give thanks unto God always for you. Brethren, beloved of the
Lord, now notice, because God hath from the beginning, chosen
you to salvation. Now that's sanctification by
election before the foundation of the world. Chosen you to salvation,
but now notice through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. So these that the writer of Hebrews
addresses in our passage tonight, the first thing that he tells
us about them, they are holy. And so every child of God here
tonight is holy, sanctified. Sanctified by God the Father
and sanctified in time by God the Holy Spirit in birthing us
again, giving us a new birth. Now notice the second thing that
he says, brethren, holy brethren. Now what does that mean, brethren?
Well, we know that all men are brothers and sisters as we are
related to Adam. We know that. We're all brothers
and sisters. We're all God's creatures. But
these brethren here are brethren in a special way. That is, we
all, or they all have the same father, the same father. And remember, we're children
of God the Father by adoption, by adoption. So we all have this. They all had the same father.
They were brethren. They all belong to the same family. That is the family of God, the
household of God. They're brethren, all believers,
all of God's children. We are brethren. We are all of
the same family, have the same father. And then we all are related to
Christ as our savior, as our elder brother. If you look back
into chapter two and verse 11, Hebrews chapter two and verse
11. Remember, we read this or looked at this a couple of weeks
ago, but it says, for both he that sanctified and they who
are sanctified are all of one. for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren. So the second way that they are
addressed is brethren. And then third, partakers of
the heavenly calling. Now, what does that mean? Holy,
what does that mean? Set apart. Brethren, what does
that mean? We're all adopted into the same
family. Partakers of the heavenly calling,
what does this mean? Well, the word which is here
translated partaker, partakers, it is literally sharers. We are participants. We are sharers
in this common heavenly calling. They were sharers rather in God's
eternal purpose. We're all sharers in God's eternal
purpose to redeem a number, a multitude that no man could number. They're
all objects of God's amazing grace. That call which we call
effectual, this is the call that he's speaking about here. Partakers,
sharers of the heavenly calling, this call is what we call an
effectual call. It calls men to the blessings
of grace, of grace here and glory to come. The gospel goes out. God said, go into all the world.
The Lord Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. And so men go forth. And not
only men, but ladies, testify the gospel, give their testimony,
and speak to others. The gospel goes out in many ways,
and whosoever believeth shall be saved. Not everyone believes. Remember this, who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Well, not everyone believes the
report. Not everyone believes the gospel,
but some do. Who makes the difference? Who
maketh thee to differ from another? That's what Paul asked, wasn't
it? There is this effectual call, and I like the way one old preacher
described that. He said, it gets the job done.
It gets the job done. God's effectual call. John Gill said, this calling
is heavenly. Notice, partakers of the heavenly
calling, John Gill said, This calling is heavenly because the
grace by which the saints are called is from heaven. The grace by which we are called,
it's from heaven. And it is a call to heaven. And the means of their calling
is the gospel, which is from heaven. Let me say that again. It's a heavenly calling. The
grace by which we are called comes from heaven. And it is
a call of us to heaven, and the means by which we are called
is from heaven, that is the gospel. The gospel didn't originate with
man, did it? It's an everlasting gospel, the
scripture says. It's the gospel of God's grace. If you turn back again to that
passage in 2 Thessalonians that we looked at just a few minutes
ago, And I think this is important because we know that election is not
salvation. Election is unto salvation. Now, every one that God chose
is going to be saved. But some people, they take that
and they say, well, that means whether you hear the gospel or
not. No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I remember as
a missionary, once or twice being Receiving a letter from a supporting
pastor, you know, a church would start supporting you and then
they'd change pastors and the next pastor might not believe
the same thing the other pastor did. And getting a letter saying,
well, we understand that you believe that people are going
to be saved no matter what. Well, I never said that. You
went, no matter what? You mean no matter if Christ
died for them? No matter if they hear the gospel? No matter if
they believe, we're not saying that. But we are saying that
there are people in this world that God has chosen and yes,
they're going to be saved and they're going to be saved through
hearing the gospel and believing the gospel. Look at this verse
again in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13 and 14 this time. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So first, we look at those who
are dressed in this passage. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling. Now notice second, I'm back in
Hebrews three. Look at the exhortation, the
last part of verse one. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Now, this is an exhortation. And let me just say this, first
of all, this is both a privilege and a necessity. It is a privilege
to consider the apostle and our high priest the apostle of our
confession and our high priest, Christ Jesus. It is a privilege
to consider. Just think of the fact that God
has given you, as a believer, a heart and a mind to consider,
to meditate and think upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This word,
which is translated consider, it means much more than a fleeting
thought every once in a while. I suppose most everyone that
lives in this country has a fleeting thought every once in a while
about Jesus Christ. But that's not what this verse
is exhorting us to do. As believers, as holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, we are being exhorted to consider. Matthew Poole's comments are
this. This word imports not a bare
single act of the mind, to think on or understand, but a repeated
one to think again and again, again today and again this evening
and again in the morning and again tomorrow, again and again. Consider, think upon Him. I said that this is a privilege
to think and meditate upon Christ Jesus, but listen, it's also
a necessity. As a child of God, as a believer,
to grow, to be established, to be of any strength, to have any
strength at all in Christ, we must think, we must consider
Him. You know, a man just last Sunday
who was visiting with us, and back in the luncheon, he made
this comment, not in these exact words, but this was the gist
of what he said. He said, if we take our eyes
off of Him, If we take our eyes off of Christ, we are sure to
regret it. We're sure to regret it. If we
take our eyes off Christ, we are to consider Him. It is a
privilege, it is a necessity for every child of God. And how
true it is, my friends, that we cannot hear too often, we
cannot hear too often of Christ. You know, the writer of this
letter of Hebrews He repeats Himself. And someone said, repetition
is the best teacher. Now He tells us here, those that
He wrote this letter to, He tells them here, consider. But once
again, in chapter 12 and verse 3, He says it again. He repeats Himself. Consider
Him. And He's speaking especially
to those who maybe are going through trials and difficulties. And most of God's children are,
and if you're not in a trial today, you probably will be tomorrow. But he said, consider him that
endured such contradiction of centers against himself. You
just think about him. What he suffered when he came
into this world, consider. him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, now listen, lest ye be wearied and
faint in your minds. In other words, it's a necessity
to think and consider him. Now God has ordained public worship. We live in a country where we
have freedom to gather together, to assemble ourselves. And when
we come here, as we are here tonight, and every time we join
together, this should be the primary purpose, that we consider
Him, that we hear of Him, that we learn of Him. But God has
not only ordained public worship, but He has ordained private worship. And in our private worship, when
we are alone with the Word of God in prayer, in our prayer
closet, if you please, then we are to consider Him. We are to meditate upon Him. And we only hurt ourselves if
we fail to do this, if we fail to practice this. You say, I'm
too busy. You better not be that busy.
not as a child of God. You better not be that busy.
You must take time, you must set apart time to consider Him. Now, the writer here exhorts
us in this place to consider Christ Jesus in two offices. But let's begin tonight as we
look at this with the two names that he gives us here. And let's
begin with the last one, and that is Jesus. Notice what the
verse says, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus. We know that this name was given
him at his birth, at the incarnation. Look back with me to Matthew
chapter one. This is his name that we usually
consider with his humanity, when he became flesh, when the word
was made flesh, Jesus. In Matthew chapter one, and beginning
with verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. when as his mother Mary was espoused
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, Fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son, and notice this, and they shall call his name
Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. God with us. God in our nature. The great mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He said, I and my Father are
one. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath seen him. So first, consider
him. His name, Jesus. He is the God-man. Then we see Christ. Christ Jesus. The title Christ
means anointed. And when we think of the anointed,
I think of the fact that in the Old Testament, men were anointed
with awe to three offices, prophet, priest, and king. And so this
reminds us that he is the mediator, the one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus, And he wasn't anointed with oil,
he was anointed with what that oil symbolized, God the Holy
Spirit. And the Holy Spirit came upon
him at his baptism when he begins his public ministry, and I always
like the way we read there, and it remained on him. He was filled without measure
with God the Holy Spirit. So as the God man, He lived and
he worked in this life by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Now we are to consider him as
the God-man mediator. First, the apostle of our confession. The apostle of our confession. Well, what is our confession?
Well, what do we profess? We profess Christ. We profess
the gospel. He is the apostle of our confession. Now the title, apostle, the word,
it simply means sent. Sent. And Christ Jesus is the
one that God sent to bring the gospel. He is the gospel. He is the gospel. No man knows
the Father, he said, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal Him. Now, the Gospel had been preached
from the very first days in the Garden of Eden. The Gospel had
been preached all through those Old Testament days, but when
He came into this world, the Gospel is made manifest. Look at that in 2 Timothy 1. And let me say what I mean by
that, made manifest, all of the types And all of the shadows
that are contained in the Old Testament concerning Christ,
we admit, I do, we admit that had we lived in those days, maybe
we wouldn't see near as clearly as we can today how those types
all pictured Christ. But now we see clearly, don't
we? We think about the ark. of the Ark of Noah and people,
Sunday school teachers and parents, they teach their children the
Bible story. Listen, that's the Bible history.
It's not just a story like Alice in Wonderland or something like
this. This is the truth. But if you just say that a family
went into that Ark and God caused it to rain and they came out
of the Ark and and repopulated the earth from those men. If
that's all you see, you've missed the message. That ark is Christ. The wrath of God that those inside
the ark deserved and merited fell upon the ark, beat upon
the ark. They were safe and they were
saved. Why? Because they were in the
ark. What a picture. We are accepted
in the beloved in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. He
is the apostle of our confession. Look here in second Timothy one
in verse nine, it says who has saved us and called us with an
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Now, Notice, but now, now with
the coming of Christ, now is made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Now that He has come, we are
able to see the gospel all through the Old Testament. When our Lord
was here in the flesh, He said that scriptures are they that
testify of me. He was not sent, as one writer
said, just to inform, just to inform us, but he came to redeem
us. Not just to inform us, he does
that, but he was sent to redeem us. He was sent on a mission.
You know, there used to be a television show entitled Mission Impossible. Some of you are way too young
to remember that. Mission Impossible. Well, I tell
you, for anyone other than Jesus Christ, the mission He came on
was impossible. No one but Him could accomplish
the mission He came on. And that mission was to save
those that God had given Him. To finish the work. And you know,
at the end of his life, before he died on the cross, he said,
Father, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. You
look back in Hebrews chapter one and verse three, what a,
what a concise statement here. And this one verse of scripture
that tells us so much about Christ and his successful work, who
he is and what he has accomplished. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, thank God our sins have been washed away, purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Have you ever been given a work
that you couldn't do? Have you? Have you ever been
given a work and maybe you tried your best, you wanted to please
whoever gave you this work and you just did your very best,
but in the end, you just couldn't do it. You just couldn't do it
for some reason or the other. Maybe you didn't have the strength,
you didn't have the know-how, you didn't have the tools, whatever,
but you couldn't finish the work, and you had to go back to that
person that you respected and you wanted to please, and you
had to say, I apologize, but I couldn't do it. Maybe you've
had that experience. I imagine most all of us have,
in some way or the other. Well, let me tell you something.
When the Lord Jesus Christ returned unto his father, he did not go
back apologizing. He came back. confessing that
he had finished the work, he had accomplished the Father's
will, successfully saving those that God had given him. If one person, if one person,
you say, well, that's just one person, not very many out of
a great multitude. Yes, I know that, just one, just
one. But let me tell you, if just
one, that God chose and gave to him to be their surety would
be lost, then he would be a failure. He would be a failure, and Christ
is not a failure. Consider him, the apostle, and
then notice, secondly, the high priest of our confession. Now
under that Old Testament, that Old Dispensation, the high priest
was the most important person in the nation. He was a mediator
between God and the people. He is the one who represented
the people when he went into the Holy of Holies. He's the
one who blessed the people. The writer of Hebrews has much
more to say about Christ Jesus as the high priest and God willing,
We will see that in days to come. But now, in conclusion, look
at the superiority of Christ Jesus to Moses. Now, he's writing
to Hebrews, and for the Hebrews, Moses was the man. He was the man. In fact, when
our Lord was here, some of the religious leaders said one time,
we know, we know that God spoke by Moses, but as for this fellow?
I mean, they had the highest regard, the highest esteem for
Moses because Moses had been the mediator through whom God
had given the law. Now we're told that Moses was
faithful to him who appointed him. Who appointed Moses? Who called Moses? Remember the
burning bush? Jehovah called him. Who appointed
Moses? God appointed him. He was faithful. And the writer here has reference,
if you turn back to Numbers with me just a moment. Numbers chapter
12. Numbers chapter 12. This is what
he has reference to, that Moses was faithful to Him that appointed
him. In Numbers chapter 12 in verse
1 we read, And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of
the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an
Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the Lord
indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?
And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek,
above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And
the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto
Miriam, come out, you three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And
the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the
door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both
came forth, and he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet
among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in
a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. But my servant
Moses is not so, who is faithful in all his house. With him will
I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches
and in the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore
then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And
the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. Moses was faithful to him who
appointed him. Even so, the writer says, Christ
Jesus was faithful to him who appointed him. Who called the
Lord to this work? The Lord did. Who appointed him?
God did. Even so, he is counted worthy
of more glory than Moses. And he gives this example. You
go into a house and, oh, it's so beautiful. I mean, everything
is just right. It's built so well, so finely
built. And you can't say enough good
things about that house. But you know that someone put
a hammer to the nails. Someone put mortar to the bricks.
Someone put paint on this place. He's the one that really gets
the glory. More glory than the house. And
that's what the Lord, that's the illustration the apostle
uses here. That Christ is worthy of much
more honor than Moses, for he is God who built all things.
Yes, a man who builds a house, he has more glory than the house.
But he who built all things is God, and Jesus Christ, he is
God. And think about this. Moses was
faithful as a servant. That's what he was. He was faithful
as a servant. But Christ is faithful in all
his house as God's son. Moses was faithful as a servant,
as a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.
Now, let me just say this in conclusion. Notice those last
words in verse six. Let me read the whole verse.
But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we
if we hold fast the confession or the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end. Some have mistakenly used these
words to teach that a true child of God might lose his or her
salvation by not holding fast his faith. Christ and his substitutionary
work alone is the cause of my salvation. And he is the cause
of your salvation alone if you are saved tonight. It's not your
holding on or anything like that. That's not the cause of your
salvation. Christ and His finished work
alone is the cause of our salvation. Nothing a child of God does or
could ever do can destroy the work of Christ which Christ did
for him. The effect of salvation is perseverance. It's the effect It's not the
cause. Perseverance is not the cause
of our salvation. It's the effect of our salvation. Someone would say, well, then
what is the purpose of these words? It is clearly a warning. And we see several of those in
this letter of Hebrews. It is clearly a warning of the
danger of apostasy. There is a danger of apostasy,
not for a true child of God, but there are many who believe
themselves to be children of God. And so while they are agreeable
to hear the word of God, then these warnings are relevant and
pertinent. While a person is receptive to
the word of God, recognize that apostasy is real. You know, we
see this in the parable of the sower. And I know I'm taking
a little bit longer tonight, but I'm almost finished. I told
Lance the other day, you know, the parable of the sower, I've
been pastor here for 40 some years now, and I've seen every
one of those seeds. I've seen those who've received
the word in the good ground, those who received the word by
the wayside, among the rocky places, and among the thorns. I've seen it all, but people
come and go. But thank God, that's always
going on. That's not just something that
happened when the Lord was here. This is always going on. Apostasy
is a real thing. Some people, they come in, they
hear the word of God, and bam! That's for me! I'm on my way
to glory! And just about as fast as they
come in, they go out. And people, because of trials,
temptations, and struggles, Because of the word. Because of the word.
Persecution because of the word. They fall away. We see it all. You've seen it. And so it's a
warning to you and I. It's a warning to all of us tonight.
Well, what are believers to hold fast? Our confidence. And that word simply means our
courage and our hope. Someone I was reading just recently
defined hope as desire and expectation. Desire and expectation. One said that it is in life,
this is our desire and our expectation. Let's hold it fast. In life,
we have the promise of his presence, his grace, and his power. In death, we have the promise
of the resurrection, And in heaven we have a place reserved where
we will behold the glory of Christ and inherit the riches of his
kingdom. Let's hold fast our profession, our confidence, our courage.
I pray that the Lord would bless the message this evening to all
of us.