Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I will be speaking to you this
morning from Hebrews chapter 3 on the subject of the danger
of unbelief. the danger of unbelief. And I
want to begin by looking at the last verse in this chapter. If you want to turn with me there,
we'll begin reading with verse 19, the last verse. It says,
so we see, so we see here is the conclusion of what he's saying
in the chapter. This is the summary of everything
that he is teaching in this chapter. Verse 19 says, so we see that
they could not enter in because of unbelief. They could not enter
in because of unbelief. Now the heading for this chapter
at the top of my page and your Bible might have a different
heading at the very top of the page, but the one on mine says
Christ more worthy than Moses. And that's important. Christ
more worthy than Moses. And it also says the danger of
unbelief. The message of this chapter. the message of this entire book. But specifically, the chapter
we're looking at this morning is. Don't try to obey what Moses
wrote. To be saved. Just believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm going to repeat that because
it is so important. Here's the message. Don't try
to obey what Moses wrote in order to be saved. Just believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's good news, isn't it? Don't
try to obey what Moses wrote in order to be saved, which is
what everybody thinks they need to do. It's what everybody believes
the scripture commands them to do in order to be saved. I have
to obey the things that are written in the law. But this is telling
us and this is the good news of the gospel. This is the relieving
news of the gospel. Don't try to obey what Moses
wrote in order to be saved. Just believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, now look with me at
verse one, Hebrews three, verse one, he said, where for holy
brethren, he's talking to a particular people. He's not just generally
speaking to the world. He's talking to a particular
people, those who are holy in the Lord, Jesus Christ, not holy
in themselves. Men and women are not holy in
themselves and they cannot cause themselves to be holy through
what they do. Not holy in anything that we
have done. Holy in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Holy because they were chosen
to be holy. Chosen by God the Father. He
goes on to say here in verse one, wherefore holy brethren,
he calls them partakers of the heavenly calling, chosen to be,
called by God's spirit to be. He says here in verse one, consider,
consider, let's fix our eyes on, fix our minds on the apostle,
and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. That's how he begins
the chapter. Let's consider the Apostle. And if you're reading along with
me, you'll see that Apostle is capitalized. High Priest is capitalized. Jesus Christ, He is the true
Apostle. He is the Apostle. He was sent
of God to declare the gospel to his people. He was sent of
God to preach redemption. And he is the one who confirmed
and secured the salvation of the of the people of God. That
means he is the high priest. He is the great high priest who
entered into the holiest of holies. That's what the high priest did.
He went in with blood. And he made intercession to God
on behalf of the people. And that's what Christ did for
his people with his own blood. He made intercession to God on
their behalf. And the apostle says, believe
on him. The writer, the one God used
to pen this, he says, believe on him. Just believe on him.
Don't look to Moses. Look to Christ. Somebody's going
to say, well, now wait a minute. Didn't Moses write God's word? Didn't he give the commandments
of God Almighty? Isn't that the word and commandments
of God Almighty? Yes, he did. Yes, it is the word
and the commandments of God almighty, but this is what we must never
forget. Moses wrote exactly what God
told him to write. God gave this word to us, but
this is what we must never forget. God did not give Moses these
commandments to give sinners the opportunity to earn salvation. God never did give these commandments
to give us the opportunity to earn salvation. Never was that
the reason. Never. People say they believe
this in their heart. It's pretty common. Most people
say, well, now everybody has a chance. Talking about salvation,
talking about good deeds, talking about obeying God's word, the
things he says that he will only accept to enter into his presence.
Everybody believes people have a chance. Everybody has a chance. The truth of the matter is, unfortunately,
everybody does not. No soul on this earth has a chance
and here's why. Everyone on this earth was conceived
in sin. That's what David said. I was
conceived in sin. Everyone on this earth comes
forth from their mother's womb, speaking lies. They're not taught
to speak lies. You didn't teach your children
how to lie. You didn't sit your children down and say, now, honey,
this is something I want to teach you today. I want to teach you
how to lie. You tell me one thing meaning something else or when
the opposite is true. We didn't do that. Our children
come forth. We came forth speaking lies because
we were conceived in sin. We are sinners. Sin is what we are. By the time
a child is aware of the fact that he's even alive, you know,
children are born and they are alive. but they're not aware
of things that we are when we grow up. By the time a child
becomes aware that he's even alive, he has already committed
so much sin. That child is angry. I'm hungry. Feed me. I'm mad. I'm unhappy. I'm all that crying all that
sin. That's the result of sin. It's
very unfortunate, but it's so. And by the time we become aware
of the fact that we're even alive, we've already committed enough
sin to commit us to an eternity of hell. So unfortunately, no
one truly has a chance. We start out with no chance.
We start out having ruined our chance. Our God knew that. He knew that the all knowing
God knew that when he gave the law to Moses. Never did he give
that law to try and give us a chance to earn salvation. The problem
for mankind is he does not realize that man does not know that man
is oblivious to the fact that God only gave the law to Moses
to show us how great our sin is against him. Man was already
sinning against God. God gave the law to show man
how great his sin was. God gave the law to show man
what he actually demands to be in his presence. Man believes
in his heart he can please God. God gave the law to show man
you cannot please me. God gave the law to show us who
Christ is, what Christ is, his perfection. God gave the law
to show us how Christ would deliver us. That's the reason God gave
Moses the law. So he said, don't put your trust
in Moses. That's where every religion goes
wrong. All denominations. There's one
truth. There's one gospel. Every denomination
that veers from it is going wrong by trying to look to the law
of Moses, trying to put their trust in the law of Moses, meaning
in themselves. Well, I'm keeping it. I'm doing
good. I'm doing right. God must be pleased with me.
I'm, I'm obeying what is written in the law. Don't kill. I've never killed. Don't commit
adultery. I've never committed adultery.
God must be happy with me. having no idea that God's looking
on the heart. He said, anger is murder. He
said, lust is adultery. It is impossible to please him
through trusting in the law of Moses. So he says, don't put
your trust in Moses. Put your trust in Christ. Put your trust in Christ. Verse
two. This apostle and high priest,
Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as
also Moses was faithful in all his house. Moses obeyed God. He delivered the people. God
told him, you deliver my people out of bondage, out of Egypt.
And he obeyed God. But that earthly deliverance
was a type, it was a picture only of the great deliverance
to come. Verse 3 says, For this man was
counted worthy of more glory than Moses, speaking of Christ,
in so much as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than
the house. Now hold your place here in Hebrews
3 and look with me at John 5. If you have your Bible open and
if you're turning with me, go over to John chapter 5 and look
at verse 45. Our Lord said, Do not think that
I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me." Everything he wrote
was just a picture pointing to me. But if you believe not his
writings, how shall you believe my words? Over in John chapter
9, just a few pages over to John chapter 9, verse 28 says, Then
they reviled him and said, thou art his disciple, but we are
Moses disciples. We're Moses disciples. We claim
and cling to and trust what Moses has written. They said, we know
that God spake unto Moses. As for this fellow, we know not
from whence he is. We're sticking with Moses. That's
what men do today. That's what religion does today.
They say, we're going to stick with Moses. I think we'll just
stick with Moses. Moses said in this law, if you
do this, you'll live. If you don't do this, you'll
die. And they say, that's what we're going to stick to. We're
going to stick to works. We're going to stick to man's
works. If you'll turn back just a few
pages to John six, John chapter six, this is what Christ said. The apostle, the great high priest,
he said in John six, verse 37, all that the father giveth me
shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out for I came down, I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and
this is the father's will which hath sent me that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up
again at the last day and this is the will of him that sent
me that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on him
may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last
day." The writer of Hebrews said, don't put your trust in Moses. Did we hear what our Lord just
said? I will do this. I will do this. I will satisfy
God. I will redeem my people. I will raise them up at the last
day. Don't put your trust in Moses,
trust Christ. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, back over in Hebrews 3,
verse 4 says, For every house is built by some man, but he
that built all things is God. Now, what house is he talking
about here? Verse 5, he says, And Moses verily
was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony
of those things which were to be spoken after." Moses was pointing
to something after. Verse 6 says, "...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." Moses was
faithful over the house that he was given, the actual children
of Israel, the children of Israel that God put into his hands.
He led them out of bondage Just as God commanded him to do, he
brought them into the or up to the promised land. Just like
God commanded him to do, but he was only a testimony of things
to come. Christ and his own house, whose
house are we. If God gives us faith. to believe
on him and hold fast our confidence and our rejoicing in him all
the way to the end. That faith is not the condition
for salvation. That faith is the evidence. That's
what he's saying. If you believe on Christ, that's
not a work that saves our soul. That's the evidence that the
work is finished. That's the evidence that Christ
chose to save us, call us to himself, build us up into his
own spiritual house. It reveals who he has been made
a partaker of him, who he has called to be a partaker of him. So as the heading says, Christ
is more worthy than Moses. much more worthy. Don't look
to the law. Look to the one who fulfilled
the law. Don't miss Christ on your way to work. That's what
he's saying. Men go to work trying to earn
a salvation and he's saying, don't miss Christ on your way
to work. Don't miss Christ. Stop and consider
him. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Believe on him. Now, he's
saying believe on him because now he's going to tell us the
danger of not believing on him. 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, and saw
my works forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation,
and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have
not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they
shall not enter into my rest." That's what God said. He said,
I swear in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest. They
did not believe on me. He is directly quoting Psalm
95 verses 7 to 11. And what he's telling them is
these were Israelites. These were Israelites. They professed
to be God's people, just like men and women do today. Churches
everywhere, they profess to be God's people, but they spent
their time in unbelief. They were murmurers, they were
complainers, they were rebellious. They would not hear and bow to
his word. They hardened their hearts. And
he said, I was grieved with them. So he said, wherefore, verse
12, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief. In departing from the living
God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, For
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. 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,
did provoke, how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses."
What he's saying is, Who was it that heard and provoked him?
He's reminding them. He's warning them. Who was it
that heard and provoked him? It was the very ones that were
brought out of Egypt, the very same ones. Verse 17. But with whom was he grieved
40 years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? It was the
very ones he showed kindness to. So verse 18, he says, to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that believed not. Verse 19, so we see. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. That's the reason because of
unbelief, he's saying as clearly as a prophet can say it. As clearly
as a prophet can say it, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, put your all the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not look to the law. Look
to Christ. Now, we're not going to leave
this on the note of the danger of unbelief. We're not going
to leave this message on that note. There is great danger in
not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Be warned. Let's all
be warned. I need to be warned. I need to
realize that I must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
great danger, but we're not going to end this message on that note. And this is the reason why this
is very important. This is very important. Talking
about belief, talking about unbelief, that's faith. Whether a person
has faith or does not have faith. All right. This exhortation is
believe. Now, faith does not look to our faith. This is very
important. When we're talking about believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, the object is Christ. The object
is not our faith. It's not our faith. Faith does
not look to our faith. You tell somebody if you don't
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll die in your sins and that
can be fearful and they can say, oh, I hope I have enough faith.
That worries me. What if I don't have enough faith?
If I don't have enough faith, I'm going to die. That's not
how this works. That's not how faith works. Our
faith does not look to our faith. Our faith in Christ is not faith. In our faith in Christ, does
that make sense? Faith considers the apostle. Faith considers the high priest. Faith looks to Christ. That's all it does. It looks
to Christ, so we're going to end this message considering
the apostle. We're going to end this message
trusting the word of our great high priest. Turn with me over
to John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, Our Lord
said in verse 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. He said they are in my hand and
I am in my father's hand and they're never coming out. Stop right there. Trust right
there. Unbelief is Here's the danger
of unbelief. Unbelief is trying to figure
out how much faith I have in him. It's trying to make sure
I have enough faith in him. Unbelief is assessing my faith.
That's unbelief. Belief is. Faith is. Trusting whatever he has said. That's it. completely trusting
whatever he has said. And this is what he has said.
I know my sheep. They're in my hand. I'm in my
father's hand and they're never coming out. He is faithful. Trust that. Believe that. Don't look to yourself. You'll
be disappointed every time. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust His faithfulness and rest
right there. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m. Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.