The subject of Hebrews chapter
3 is perseverance in faith. The text that is in Hebrews chapter
3, this portion. Perseverance in faith. And I
am reminded of this and I think this might help you to understand
perseverance of faith as we come to the end of this year. You began the year January the
1st, and you continued through the year, through good times
and sad times, through the seasons when the sun was shining, the
seasons when it was raining, the seasons when it was cold
and bare, birthdays and anniversaries, and through many trials, you
continue through the year. And you'll prove, it'll be manifest,
it'll be proven that you have persevered through this year,
through the year 2010, when you come to the end of tomorrow
night, December the 31st, and you wake up January 1st, you
persevered. You started, you continued, and
you came into the end of the year. The believer is proven
to be truly made a partaker of Christ, a partaker of the grace
of God in Christ Jesus. when he continues resting in
Christ from beginning until the end. You've rested. You've continued in Christ. That's perseverance of faith.
Hebrews 3.14 says, For we are made partakers of Christ, It's proof, it's evidence, it's
the manifestation, it's the fruit that we've been made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. Now, the subject here or the
example that's given here is those who wandered in the wilderness
that we just read about in Numbers chapter 14. That's the example
that's given throughout this. But I want to address this to
three kinds of people. First of all, to you who have
not yet begun. Secondly, to you who have begun
and are now pressing toward the mark. And thirdly, to those who
are near the end. First of all, to you who have
not yet begun, many who hear my voice haven't begun, much
less continued, haven't even begun. You may have started out in a
natural sense, but not a spiritual sense. In other words, you've
been born the first time. In that sense, you have begun. You may have continued up to
now. You've gone, it may be a short time, it may be a very long time
that you've gone up to now. Just like you begin this year.
And you continue right alongside many who believe, many who really
do believe. But you'll finish this year like
you started. No repentance, no faith in Christ
the Lord. The end is very near. It may
be the next hour. It's certainly closer now than
when you began. Look here in Hebrews 3 verse
7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith today, If you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts
as in the provocation. In the day of temptation in the
wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, saw my
works forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation
and said they do always err in their heart, they've not known
my ways. So I swear in my wrath they shall
not enter into my rest. Look down at verse 15. While
it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard,
they did provoke. We just read about that. They
provoked the Lord. Howbeit not all that came out
of Egypt by Moses, they didn't all provoke him. But with whom
was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned? whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? To whom swear
he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that
believed not? So we see they could not enter
in. Why? Because of unbelief. Unbelief. What did they hear? It says here they heard something.
What did they hear? They heard the gospel. Look at
Hebrews 4 verse 2. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard. They didn't believe God. Who did they hear? When they
heard the gospel, who did they hear? You know the gospel is
a person. When you hear the gospel, you
hear a person. The gospel's Christ. You know
where they began, those that came out of Egypt? You know where,
when they were called out of Egypt? You know how they began?
They saw a Passover lamb slain in the place of all the firstborn
in their houses, and they saw that blood put on the doorposts,
and the Lord passed over them and spared them and delivered
them out of Egypt. They saw Christ. They saw a cloud
that led them by day, and they saw a pillar of fire that led
them by night. You know who they saw? They saw
Christ. They had manna given to them
from heaven that came down. You know who they were fed in
the wilderness? They were fed Christ, the bread
from heaven. They had water out of the rock,
the rock which followed them where they went. You know who
that rock is? That rock is Christ. They had
the gospel the same as you have the gospel. God spoke, in fact,
the fact of the matter is, you have the gospel more clearly
than they had the gospel. God spoke in times past in different
manners and different ways by the prophets, but he spoke one
message. He spoke the message of His Son,
Christ the Lord. But He hath in these last days
spoken to us by His Son. His Son has come and spoken.
We need to take heed and hear Him that is speaking. It's Christ who is speaking.
The beginning of the confidence, a believer's confidence, is Christ. Look at that verse again, Hebrews
3. Hebrews 3 verse 14, we're made partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence, it means faith, it means substance. Christ is the
beginning of faith. He's the author of faith. And
if we hold this steadfast until the end, Christ is the end of
faith. That's what Hebrews 12 says.
He's the author and finisher of faith. He's the beginning
and He's the end, and the gift of faith is of God, whereby we
lay a hold of the faithfulness of Christ. We hold fast Christ. How do we steadfast? How do we
continue in Him? We hold fast by believing on
Him, by rejoicing in His Word declared, whereby He grows us
more and more in grace and knowledge of Him, through every trial whereby
he grows us in faith and assurance. So here's the point I'm making
to you who've not yet begun. Take heed. Take heed. I was about William's age, and
I remember that my family had some pigs. And pigs will eat
anything. Absolutely anything. You can
put, you can put food, slop, is what it, well you just take
all your, we didn't have a, we didn't have a garbage disposal. Or the thing that chops up food
in the sink. Is that garbage disposal? We
didn't have that. So you just put it all in a bucket. And the
pigs were the garbage disposal. Put it all in a bucket. But you
could put anything in that bucket with that, anything that was
food, you could put trash in there, whatever, they'd eat it
all. They'd eat it all. And when they got time, when
you poured it out in the trough for them to eat it, they not
only would eat it, they would try to run over each other to
get to that trough and they would grunt and growl and root and
bore one another and try to eat more than the other one who had
his head in the trough. Is that all our life is? Is trying to just root and bore
and grunt and beat the next one to the trough and eat more than
the one beside us. To just have more. And I don't
mean just food. I'm talking about shelter, food,
clothing, stuff, all the extras. We just wanna just have and have
like an old pig eating out of a slop trough. Is that what we
want? Is that what your life is? If so, you know what we did
with those pigs after a little while? We killed them and butchered
them. And they became bacon. And if that's all our life is
in this earth, we're just pigs being fattened for the slaughter. Pigs fattened for the slaughter. Well, let's take heed. How have we used this time? How have we used this year? How
have we used today? It's called today. Today, the
day of salvation. How have we used it? I see you with your iPods and things
like that. I think an iPod is a magnificent
tool to use to hear the gospel. I really do. I use one all the
time. Partly because I can't hardly
hear any other way. But I use one, and I can download
messages on it, and I can listen. Now that's a supplement. That's
not a substitute for hearing the gospel preached, but that
is a supplement, and a good supplement it is. You can hear the message,
then go listen again. give ourselves to it, to study
it, to learn, to take heed, to hear and understand and know
more of this glorious good news of God. Take heed. So that's first to you who haven't
begun. Now to you who have begun and
continue, true faith, true confidence, true substance, it's believing
God and trusting Christ to deliver us. It's not looking anywhere
else. It's trusting Christ to deliver
us. I want you to see some things in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
Paul goes back and he brings us up through the time of their
journey in the wilderness. And he tells us some things about
that. 1 Corinthians 10. Now, the warning we have here
is they all desired to come out of Egypt. They all wanted to
get out from under the taskmasters in Egypt. Who wouldn't? Nobody
wants to have their back whipped by being a slave in Egypt. They all came out of there. And
they all came out together. And they all tasted of spiritual
things. God said, they've seen my miracles.
They've seen what I've done. Look at what Paul said, 1 Corinthians
10. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant. how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat
the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased. for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent
we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Now I want you to look at these
things here. This is leading us up to that
final thing there in Paran when they wouldn't go into the land
of Canaan. But I want you to note here these are all various
actings of the one and same sin. Everything we're going to look
at here, it's all the acting out of what was in the heart,
and that was unbelief. Unbelief. Absolute idolatry. Total unbelief. Watch this. Watch
this. It's turning from Christ. The
first thing they did is they turned from Christ to bread.
He says here that they lusted after evil things. Let me read
this lust to you. That sounds like some wicked
things, don't it? They lusted after some evil things. Let's see what that is. You hold
your place there in 1 Corinthians 10. Look over at Numbers 11,
verse 4. Numbers 11, verse 4. And the mixed multitude that
was among them fell a lusting." We probably think we need to
cover the young people's ears here on this so that they don't
hear what this lust is. You ready? Ready to hear what
this is? They fell a lusting. And the
children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give
us flesh to eat? This is what they lusted after. We remember the fish we did eat
in Egypt freely. The cucumbers, and the melons,
and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. That's what they
wanted. They wanted something for their
belly. They were hungry for something other than what they had been
fed. They wanted something for their belly. What had they been
fed? What was it they were so sick
and tired of that made them want to go back and be slaves again?
They imagine, they're dreaming here, we ate that stuff freely.
They didn't. They were slaves. They didn't
get anything given to them freely. They had to work and be beaten
and just barely get what they got because they were slaves.
Yet they're sitting here pining away after what they had and
saying, we ate so freely then. Well, what was it that was so
bad about where they were now? Well, let's see. Verse 6, But
now our soul is dried away, and there is nothing at all beside
this manna before our eyes. Now that did come down free.
That came down from heaven. And they didn't do one thing
to get it. That manna is a picture of Christ
the bread. That manna is a picture of Christ
who is the life of the believer. And this lusting that they had
was, we want something other than Christ the bread. That's what lust is. I want something
for my belly, for my fleshly appetite, but I'm sick. I'm fed up of Christ the bread. Well, then Paul tells us back
there in 1 Corinthians 10, they turn from Christ the altar to
worship of Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians 10, 7. Neither be ye idolaters. This
is the same sin. We're still dealing with the
same exact sin. It's turning away from Christ. Unbelief. Neither be ye idolaters as were
some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. What happened? Moses went up into the mountain
as God commanded him to receive the law from the Lord. And he stayed there a little
longer than they were happy with. And so the people said, Aaron,
he was the priest. They said, Aaron, up, make us
a golden calf. And they took all the jewelry
they had, and they took all the golden things they had, and he
made them a golden calf. And he made them an altar. And
they made them a play. They had some parts and they
acted this whole thing out. And they called it a feast unto
the Lord. They weren't worshipping the
calf, they would have told you. This was just a feast reminding
us of who it was that brought us out of Egypt. And Moses came down and he saw
this and he, the scripture says he was angry and he took the
tablets and threw them down on the ground and broke them. Because
everything that was going on there was the breaking of God's
holy law. Everything that was going on
there was the contradiction of sinners against the thrice holy
God of glory. And that's what it is to come
short of the glory of God, is to do everything in direct opposition
and contradiction to the Lord of glory. And that's what they
were doing. But it was all a big religious show. It looked good. It probably sounded
good. They probably had some good dancers.
But it was idolatry. returned from the Lord who delivered
them, and they served and worshipped the work of their own hand. Here's
what else happened. Verse 8, 1 Corinthians 10. He
says, Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and
fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Twenty-three thousand
people. Believers are the chaste virgin
of Christ. They have betrothed to Christ,
married unto Christ. And it was common in idolatry,
in worshiping. And when you think of idolatry,
I know we get to thinking of these, we get to thinking of
jungles, and we get to thinking of like down there in the Yucatan
with the Aztecs and the temples they built and the things they
built and worshiped. Just look around at them today
in the United States of America. There's plenty of the same kind
of stuff, but it goes by the name of Christianity, just the
same. But in those places when they
were worshiping, and that's what the children of Israel were doing,
they were imitating the heathens around them and how they worshiped.
And it was just as natural to them to imitate that and do what
they were doing. It was more natural than that
than for them to follow the Lord. Because they didn't believe Him. They hadn't been brought out
and called by Him and given a new heart and a new spirit. They
didn't have the spirit of a believer in them. And this was all being
proven here in all these things they did. But it was common in
those places. that they would also not only
spiritually commit fornication, they would literally commit fornication. And this was, this came about
through a false prophet named Balaam. And this was his counsel. And he, through what he did,
he helped them, lead them into spiritual and literal fornication
against God. Well, what else did they do?
They turn from Christ their provider. Look at verse 9. Neither let
us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed
of serpents. What did they do in this case?
Numbers 21.5 says, The people spake against God and against
Moses, and they said, Wherefore have you brought us up out of
Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither
is there any water. And again they said, And our
soul loveth this light bread. They said, can the Lord furnish
us a table in the wilderness? Can he? They were tempting the
Lord. They were saying the Lord can't
provide. He's not truly the salvation
of his people. And it was a tempting of the
Lord. And then, They came to Paran, and they
came to the land of Canaan, and they did everything we read about
in Numbers 14. They said, we can't go in. It
looks just exactly like the Lord said it would, but we can't go
in there. There's giants in there, and
they're going to destroy us. And the Lord sent Moses to them
with this word and said, you're going to wander in the wilderness
for 40 years according to the days that you went in and searched
out the land until your carcasses fall in the wilderness. And he
said, and your children are going to have to bear with your whoredoms
that whole time. And the children, 20 years and
under, I'm carrying them in. And I'm carrying in Joshua and
Caleb who spout out the land because Caleb had a different
spirit about him. He followed me fully. And the
people, as we saw, said the next morning they woke up after hearing
that message from Moses, and they said, we'll go. We're going
in now. We're going in. Moses said, you're
transgressing against the commandment of God. You can't go in now.
God said you could. He said yesterday, go, and you
wouldn't go. He says today, you can't go.
Now you're trying to go. And shortly after that, shortly
after that, when God sent this message through Moses and told
Moses that, they had already been putting throughout the camp,
let's make a captain and let's go back. Let's go back to Egypt. And they had also been saying,
we need to stone Caleb. We need to stone Joshua. We need
to stone Aaron. We need to stone Moses. Because
if we follow after them, they're going to try to lead us into
Canaan. And we can't go there. And shortly after that, this
took place, verse 10. 1 Corinthians 10, 10. Neither murmured ye, as some
of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. You
can read about this in Numbers 16. And what happened was Korah
and 250 princes of renown in the land got together and they
said, Moses, you and Aaron are taking too much on yourself.
Everybody here is just as holy as you are. And God opened up
the ground, swallowed them up. Swallowed them up. Now, Paul
says, verse 11, all these things happen unto them for examples. And they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And here's
the point in everything. Wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. Turning from Christ, turning
from Christ, whether it be in any of the forms that are mentioned
here. Turning from Christ is us thinking
we can stand without Christ. It's us thinking we can deliver
ourselves without the bread, without Christ. Verse 13, there
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. There was not one thing that
came about to any of the children in the wilderness that wasn't
common to man. Not one trial. But God is faithful. Now have we seen here as we looked
at the children in Israel? Man's not faithful. But God is
faithful. God is faithful. Who will not
suffer you to be tempted, tried, above that ye are able. In other words, He won't give,
He won't suffer you to be tried till you perish. But, will with
the trial also make a way to escape. That's the whole purpose
of the trial. Is to show you God is faithful
and He has made a way to escape it. That you may be able to bear
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee from
idolatry and flee where? Flee to Christ the way. Christ is the bread. He is the
manna. Christ is our altar. He is the
place where we can come before God holy, washed, clean, purged,
accepted of God. Christ is our provider. He is
our salvation. He is the one who has furnished
the table in the wilderness. Christ is our husband who provides
all for us, who cares for us, who moves about and works all
things together for His bride. Christ is our prophet. He's our
priest. He's our king. He shall deliver
us. And He's the way that you can
bear the trial. You know why? Because He's got
He's got you on one shoulder, and he's got the government on
the other. Big shoulders, and he can carry.
He can bear the burden. And I can't bear, and you can't
bear. We can't bear. He's the author and finisher
of faith. He's the faithful one. Now, to you who haven't begun,
this is the way. This is Him to whom you need
to flee, because right now you are the idolater. You are an
idolater. And you who have begun. He says,
now run this race that's set before you, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is right
now sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Consider
him. That's how I began Hebrews 3.
Consider him the apostle and high priest of our profession.
Consider him who's faithful even as Moses was faithful. But he's
more faithful than Moses. Moses was a part of the house.
This one is the one who's building the house. Christ the faithful. Don't turn away from him. Don't
loathe this manna. Oh, seek Him with everything. Seek Him with everything. Let
the swine rend one another at the hog trough.
You just seek Christ the Lord. Set all your affection on Him.
Well, here's the last part. To my brethren who are near unto
the end. Hebrews 3.14. This might be any
one of you sitting here Some of you have had loved ones
to die this year. Some have had loved ones who've
died this time of year in the past. But we have some brethren
who are obviously, and they know it, very near the end. He says, we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. Those children came to the edge
of Canaan and they went in there and they spied it out. It was
just like the Lord said it would be. The Jordan really was the Jordan. The giants really were giants. And there's some who really are
near the Jordan, who really are sick. Some to whom they just face giants. Giants. They're going to die. Their body
has withered. It's been attacked. It's diseased. They're going to die. But Caleb, that faithful dog,
he had another spirit in him than those men that wavered. He fully was persuaded. He had been confident from the
beginning that his substance, his assurance was his Lord. He had been eating that manna
and while everybody else was complaining about it, he was
eating that manna and saying, oh, this is good stuff. He was
eating that manna and He was looking forward. I cannot wait
till I get to the edge of Canaan. I can't wait till we go in there.
I can't wait to see the Lord defeat all my enemies before
my face. And just as the Lord defeated
every other enemy of His all along, just as the Lord carried
him through every single trial, who is the way that carried him
the whole way, all along. Even when the Lord in His good
providence turned the whole camp back and said, now you're going
to wander for 40 years in this wilderness till your carcasses
be dropped. When it was all said and done,
and he bore that, he had to bear with those whoredoms throughout
those 40 years, But God was the way. The Lord Jesus Christ was
the way that brought him through, bearing through every bit of
that. Just like He brought Moses through
that wilderness. Moses was doing three things
all the time. He was frustrated and angry. He was telling them what the Lord told
him to tell them. And he was on his face asking God to save
him. And when it all came down to
the end, the Lord brought Caleb in there by Joshua. Savior. Salvation. Just like He promised. All of
it to teach us an example, a picture. And he's gonna carry us through
every trial. He's gonna bring us across the Jordan. He's gonna
bring us in and he's gonna conquer every giant enemy, too giant
for us to conquer. And they all are. All of them
are. And he's gonna deliver us. Mm. Friday night. Some of y'all will probably stay
up and watch the New Year come in. I probably won't. I'll probably go to sleep, and
Lord willing, wake up, and it'll be a new day, a new year. Well,
that's how it's going to be for those who are at the end. Turn over with me to Revelation
21. They're going to close their
eyes and wake up and behold His face in righteousness and be
satisfied. They're going to wake up singing,
death where's your sting? Grave, where's your victory?
Oh, thanks be to God which gives us the victory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That don't mean much to some
of us sitting here right now. You know why? We think we got
a long time. If we knew, we just knew. But here's what He says, Revelation
21. They're going to wake up. See what John saw. Verse 1, Revelation
21, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. God made that a pretty sight
to us fellas, so we'd have some idea of what he meant when he
said, that's how pretty this new heaven and new earth is going
to be. That's the prettiest thing I ever saw, was a bride adorning
for her husband coming down the aisle. I can enter into what
he's talking about now. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, Neither
shall there be any more pain. Gonna be no sea, no division,
gonna be no tears, gonna be no death, be no sorrow, be no crying,
no pain. For the former things, that's
the former things. That's what me and you know about
right now. The former things then are passed
away. You see, we're not passing away.
These things are passing away. We're not going to pass away.
We say that about our loved one. Well, he passed away. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. These things passed away. These things we know passed away.
He didn't pass away. It's a believer, not the believer.
And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me, write. For
these words are true and faithful." And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha. You know what that
means? The beginning. Hold fast your confidence which
you had from the beginning. I am the beginning. And you hold
it until the end. He said, and I am the end. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst. of the fountain of the water
of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things, all things, and I will be his
God. And listen to this, and he shall
be my son. What a day. What a day. He says, but the fearful and
unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers,
the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which
is the second death. Brethren, Get in Christ. Friends, get in Him. Get in Christ. And abide in Christ. And be found in that day in Christ. And He says, all things that
belong to the Father, all things that have been given freely to
His Son, and they are all things, they'll be yours, joint heirs
with Christ. For you'll be called a child
of God. A child of God. And I pray you have all these
things. Amen.