Hebrews chapter 3, we'll be looking
at verses 1 through 6. The scripture says, 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 to
those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ, as
a son over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end."
The title of the message this morning is, The Faith and Faithfulness
of Christ. the faith and the faithfulness
of Christ. This text, we know, is written
to us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have been
saved by His sovereign, immutable grace. We read this, wherefore,
holy brethren, holy brethren, Those of us who were by nature
sinners, in bondage to fear and death, sinners without hope of
pleasing God by any stretch of the imagination by our works. Our works were nothing but filthy
rags in the sight of God. We were born sinners, but now
we've been born again. being born again. Jesus said
no man is going to enter into the kingdom of God unless he
is born again. To us who have believed, we have
been born from above. We have been born by the Spirit
of the living God. And it's because God imputed
our sins, not to us, but to His Son. God, who was not willing,
not willing to impute our sins to us. Is that not the most wonderful
thing that you've ever heard? That God was not willing to do
that? God was not willing to impute
our sins to us because we could never satisfy His justice. But praise God, He did impute
them. He was willing to impute our sins to Christ,
to charge them to Christ. And He suffered the wrath of
God, the vengeance of God. All that you can imagine hell
to be, He suffered more than we could imagine. I was thinking
about this the other day. What if you knew everything?
What if you could read the minds of people? What if you knew all
things and what everybody thought about you? In every conversation,
Someone said, hey, how you doing? Oh, it's great to see you. And
you read their mind and say, I can't wait to get rid of this
loser. How I mean, just think of the suffering that would be
that men despise you and hate you and reject you, and you know
they hate you. This is what Christ experienced
all his life. And yet he bore the sins of those
who hated him. Us. He bore our sins in his own
body on the tree. That song we just sang, More
About Jesus Would I Know, this is why we sing that. Because
I tell you, I don't know the depths of his suffering. I don't
know how low my Savior went to redeem me from my sins. But he has, however low that
is, however low he condescended, however God had made him sin
for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
I know this, that we who are believers
in Christ are holy brethren. Holy brethren. You are holy brethren
because of what Christ has undertaken for us. We're holy. He has made
us holy so that we are in the new nature, holy and righteous. Pastor, I don't feel holy. Neither
do I. because we still have this old
man that's outside man, this man we were born with. He did
not change one bit when we believed in Christ, and he created in
us a new nature. That new nature was righteous
and holy and just as God Himself, but the old nature did not change
in the least. He's still just as wicked and
evil, and therefore we truly, as holy brethren, struggle against
sin. Do you struggle against sin? The spirit and the flesh oppose
one another and cannot do as they desire to do. My holy nature,
it desires only holiness. I want to be like Christ, and
my old nature desires nothing but sin." And the Apostle said, I found
two principles within myself, two natures. He said, when I
would do what I wanted to do, I couldn't. And that which I didn't want
to do, that's what I did. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?" I'll tell you
what, that's exactly how a believer feels about this flesh, this
body of death. We take care of ourselves, don't
we? We like to pamper ourselves and we like to make sure that
we look as good as we possibly can. We fix this outer frame
up. But truly, this frame is getting
old. We once were young. We once had youth. But the psalmist says, now I'm
old. Now I'm old. Soon we'll all be old. If you're
young now, you'll be old. And you won't be able to fix
this body. But I'll tell you, there's something worse than
just not being able to fix this body. It's not being able to
fix this sin. It struggles in our heart. It breaks our heart
that we cannot be like our Master. What is the answer then to our
struggles? How is it that we can get through
this life? How is it that we make it daily
with this battle that goes on inside of ourselves all the time? It never rests. It's always there. How can we be faithful to our
God and our great Savior who saved us from our sins? How can
we be faithful to Him? Man, that's the question of a
believer's heart daily. How can I be faithful to my Savior? Moses was a faithful servant,
wasn't he? The Scripture says he was. He
was faithful in all God's house. He was a servant in the house
of his master. What was Paul's answer to his
statement of his wretched flesh? He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ, my Lord. That's how. That's how he delivers
us daily from the body of this death. That's how he comforts
us. That's how he strengthens us. is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, though I with the
mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law
of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. There is now no condemnation. And you could say that the rest
of your day. You see, I can be faithful only
because He was faithful. I am a holy brethren, partakers
of the holy, divine calling, because He was faithful. Because of Christ. That's divine
calling. He says, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling. This is not an audible voice. But friends, this is the power
of God unto salvation. The heavenly calling is not some
epiphany. It's not some dream or vision
you will have. The calling of God comes by preaching
this gospel. I remember thinking how foolish
it was for us to spend our days hearing the gospel being preached. When I was lost, this was a foolish
thing. But one day, it was the power
of God. One day, the same man that preached
to me for years, it was the power of God unto righteousness, unto
salvation. And I believed on Christ, and
he saved me. He saved me from myself, from
my sin, from this death. And therefore, we who have heard
this calling, the Apostle says, consider Christ. Consider the apostle and high
priest, Christ Jesus. This is the law of Christ. We are free from the law of sin
and death. The law that cursed us, we are
free from that law. But we are not free from all
law. What law do we serve? We serve the law of the master,
the law of Christ, which is faith. Faith in him. Faith and not by law, the just
shall live. How? By faith. I desire to consider him. But
you desire to consider Him, to meditate on Him. How often
do we take time to consider Him? I know this by my experience.
I take more time grumbling and complaining than just to sit
and consider Him. I'm spending more time complaining
and murmuring against Him rather than just considering Him. That's what it is. There's peace. There's joy. There's
contentment. It's to consider Him. Well, what are we to consider
about Him? Consider Him who was faithful to God. It says this
in verse 2, who was faithful to him that appointed him? Who
appointed Christ? We didn't. God appointed Christ. The Father
appointed him to be king. I'm so glad that we didn't have
a vote. I'm so glad. I'm glad that God
appointed Christ to be my Savior before time began. When it comes down to the root
of faithfulness, I'm not accepted of God or forgiven
of God. I don't have eternal life because
of my faith or my faithfulness, but because of His. If you want to get down to the
root of contentment, there it is. I have all the blessings
of God because of His faithfulness. Because of His faith and faithfulness. I am accepted of God, first of
all, because of the faith of Christ. Go over to Galatians
chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 and look
at verse 20. I don't think my fingers are
working. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
20, the apostles said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of who? The Son of God. I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I live by his faith. When Christ Jesus was here on this earth, he was
tempted of Satan. Satan said, if thou be the Son
of God, make these stones bread. Now, what was wrong with that? He was hungry. Could not the
Son of God make bread out of stones? Well, of course he could
have. But you see, then he would be
relying on himself rather than God. And he said, Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. If God commanded him to make
those stones bread, he would have done it. But God didn't
do that. He trusted God to give him his bread. Christ trusted God to prove his
deity. Satan took him up on that temple.
And you imagine, on top of this beautiful temple, and there were
people all down there. And he said, cast yourself off
and show yourself to be deity. He said, the angels, they'll
bear you up. If you're the Son of God, prove
it. Could he have fallen off that
temple and lived? Absolutely. But what was Satan
doing? He said, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God. You don't test me. He trusted in God to prove his
deity. And God did prove his deity.
Christ, in faith, as he was taken up on that mountain, he said,
I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. All the arrogance. If you just bow down and worship
me, he said, no, there's one who is to be worshipped, and
it is God. He worshipped God faithfully. He wouldn't bow to
anyone. You see, his faith was perfect.
Perfect in every way. You know what he was doing? He
was building a house. He was making my faith. And in time, he gave me the faith
that I now have. It's his faith. And it's perfect. It's perfect. His faith was perfect. And his faith has been given
to us. Second of all, we are accepted
because of his faithfulness, not only his faith, but his faithfulness.
Consider the great faithfulness of Christ. I'll tell you what,
we are just very unfaithful people. It doesn't take much to get us
off track. It just doesn't take much. And
my mind has 20,000 things at one time, and I'd be listening
to somebody and be off in outer space somewhere else. It doesn't
take much to distract us, doesn't take much to bring us off task. But consider the faithfulness
of Christ that he daily obeyed God's law, daily, moment by moment,
constantly thinking, worshiping his God. Constantly, faithfully,
righteous in all that he was appointed to do. He was faithful
to please God who appointed him. What did God appoint him to do?
Well, look back at verse 1. You see, consider that he was
an apostle. Consider the apostle Jesus Christ. What is an apostle? Well, it
simply just means a messenger It means one that is sent of
God. It's the same as you would say
in the Old Testament, a prophet, a prophet. A prophet was nothing
more than a mouthpiece for God. God would tell the prophet and
the prophet would speak the word of God to the people. Jesus Christ
is the prophet. He is the apostle sent of God
with his word. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses
tells the people, he said, God will raise up a prophet like
unto me, like unto Moses, a faithful man, a man that was dedicated
to God. And what did Moses say? You hear
him. See, Moses was just a servant
in the house. He wasn't the owner. Christ was the Son in the house. How much more glory does the
Son get than a servant? How much more glory? And I'll
tell you what, when Moses spoke, you better listen. Remember those
men who didn't? God opened up the earth, swallowed
them up. because they did not heed Moses'
word. They rebelled. How much more should we consider
the word of Jesus Christ? What was his word? What did he
say? He is that faithful apostle that
spoke only the word of God. And all that is recorded of this
in this book is a faithful word. The gospel is not something that
happened only when Jesus came. The gospel was preached before,
but now it is made clear. Have you noticed that the more
technology we have, the less the less intelligence we have? Isn't that something, the more
accessible everything is, the less we care to look into it.
There's never been a day where this book has been printed more
than today. You can find, I know, I can pull
out my phone and I could have the entire Spurgeon's library
on my phone. But I'll tell you this, unless
the Spirit of God opens our understanding, it doesn't matter how much access
we have to this Word, unless you realize this is His Word,
you'll not study it, you'll not read it, you'll not care for
it. I don't care how many copies
you have. This is the Word of God. Should you not consider him who
brought us and made clear all of the word of God? Jesus was faithful to preach
the gospel. He was faithful to open the eyes
of the blind. That's what the prophecy said.
He said the spirit of the Lord is upon me to do what? To preach. To preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of the
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the year of Jubilee. That's what he came to preach. Came to preach to the poor, you
poor. He's faithful to preach to you.
He's faithful to declare to you again and again His Word. Are
you crushed by the guilt of your sins? You see, He came to heal the
crushed heart. He came to bind up the brokenhearted,
to set at liberty. Are you chained to your sins?
Do you find yourself not able to believe on the Son of God? You see, He came to set us free. Christ came to preach to me. He came to preach to me. And
even so, this morning, as I preach to you, so does He. Because this
is His Word. He was a faithful apostle. Consider His faithfulness. Consider that we were all lost,
and he did double what God demanded. God demanded righteousness. He
didn't give us just any righteousness. He gave us the righteousness
of God, not of angels. Why is that important? Because
angels, remember, some angels lost their righteousness. God
will never lose his righteousness, and I'll never lose his righteousness
because it's his. And it's given to me. He paid
double for all my sins. This is his message. Speak comfortably
to Jerusalem. For the Lord hath received double
for all his sins. Is that not wonderful? This was the message of hope,
the message of deliverance, and he was a faithful high priest.
What does a high priest do? A high priest stands between
me and God. A high priest was sent because
we had need of one to offer a sacrifice that we could not offer for ourselves.
What are you offering to God? This morning we come to worship.
There is no worship without a sacrifice, is there? You can't approach
unto God without a sacrifice. You can't have worship without
a sacrifice, without a high priest, without somebody to intercede
for you. You see, I'm pointing you to one
who was a faithful high priest. He was faithful to offer himself. Because he was the only sacrifice
God will accept. I'm so thankful that I don't
have to put any of my filthy works into his sacrifice. I'm so thankful that I don't
have to add one thing to his offering. Because his offering was perfect.
He was faithful. You want peace? Consider his
faithfulness for you. Consider his faithfulness to
God on your behalf. We must have a mediator, and
Christ is the only mediator between God and men. He offered himself, and he was faithful. He was faithful to preach the
year of Jubilee. Do you know that the year of
Jubilee, that was the 49th year? And every slave was to be set
free. It didn't matter what you owed.
It didn't matter how long you had been enslaved. But do you know what day that
trumpet sound on the year of Jubilee? You know what day it
was? Great Day of Atonement. It had to be on that day. What
was the atonement? Remember the two goats? One was
the scapegoat. One was the sin offering. The
high priest put his hands on the scapegoat and confessed the
sins. And they carried that goat away. The other goat, he slit his throat,
cut him open, drained his blood. and poured it out on the mercy
seat. Both picture Christ. Friends,
today is a day of celebration. It's a day of joy for God's people. A day of rejoicing because our
Savior has taken our sins away and access to God has been granted
to us who believe. Do you believe? Have you trusted
Christ? Do you consider Him who God has
sent? I consider Him. I consider His
faith and His faithfulness as all my faith and faithfulness.
How faithful am I? As faithful as He is. How strong
is my faith? Strong as He is. You ever lean on your faith?
Don't handle much, does it? See, we should lean on His faith. His faith and His faithfulness. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. I pray that God would bless this
to your hearts.