I want to give you one phrase
by which we should endeavor in all things to govern our lives
for the glory of God. One phrase which ought to motivate,
inspire, encourage, and strengthen us as we endeavor to walk with
God and serve our generation by the will of God. I want you
to write it down and I pray that God the Holy Spirit will inscribe
it upon our hearts. Here it is. Consider Christ. Always consider Christ. Now turn to Hebrews chapter three.
That's the title of my message and that's clearly the subject
before us in this third chapter of Hebrews. Consider Christ. Always consider Christ. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider, that is, pause and look him over,
thoughtfully investigate, discover and discern the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Before you make any decision,
before you do anything, before you go anywhere, consider Christ. I've often told you what I used
to say to Faith when she would leave the house, and I will occasionally
yet say to her, as she would leave the house to go somewhere
with other friends, and I wouldn't be around, or she'd be gone for
a while, she'd go off to school for the week, I would say to
her, don't ever forget who you are and whose you are. I wanted
her never to forget that everything she said, everything she did,
reflected upon me, her mother, this congregation, the gospel
of God's grace, and the cause of Christ. Let us remember the
same. Don't ever forget who you are
and whose you are. In everything, consider Christ. Every decision we make, every
word we speak, everything we do, every place where we are
seen, has some reflection, be it good or bad, upon Christ Jesus,
the apostle and high priest of our profession. Thoughtfully
consider then who he is. Consider constantly what he's
done for you. Ever bear in your mind the great
debt we owe to him. And always seek to know what
his will is. As we live in this world, let
us always consider, before we make any decision, before we
go anywhere, before we do anything, what's best for Christ's glory.
What's best for the interest of his kingdom? What will best
serve the gospel of his grace and the welfare of his people?
As we go through this third chapter of Hebrews this evening, let's
consider Christ, heeding the exhortation here given by God
the Holy Spirit. Now the purpose of the Holy Spirit
in these 19 verses is to encourage God's saints to persevere in
the faith, ever looking to Christ, always trusting Christ, ever
following Christ. Now there's a reason for that.
In the days in which this book was written, there were many
of the Jews who had professed faith in Christ, and they had
renounced Judaism, they had taken up the banner of the gospel,
and were following Christ. And they were suddenly deceived
by cunning, crafty false teachers. to revert again to Judaism and
to endeavor to mix together Moses and Christ, law and gospel, grace
and works. And they were reverting again
to their former ways of religion, though those things were now
forever fulfilled. And so the apostle is urging
these Hebrew believers not to do that, but rather to continue
in the faith. Now the same thing is an admonition
needful to this assembly. We have, most of us, come from
varying experiences in religion, and there is ever the terrible,
terrible tendency of our flesh to revert again to self-righteous,
legal works religion. Let us forever say goodbye to
those things. In our baptism, we have said
goodbye to our former dead works of idolatrous religion. Let's
never revert to that. All right, now in this chapter,
there are three primary things that I want us to consider this
evening. First, in verses one through six, I want you to consider
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is a faithful Savior,
worthy of our implicit faith, our implicit confidence, and
our implicit wholehearted consecration to Him. Some of you are yet without
Christ. You're yet under the wrath of
God. You may have many excellent qualities. Indeed, I know you
do. You may possess much as far as
moral qualities and character is concerned, but you still lack
one thing needful. You lack that one thing that's
necessary, faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Religion, you've got
that. You can buy that real cheap.
Religious works, you may do those. Those things are insignificant.
The one thing needful, the one thing needful, the one thing
by which we must stand accepted with God is Christ the Lord,
Christ and only Christ. Now I urge you who are without
Christ to consider him. God help you now to look him
over, look him over real good. Look him over and find out who
he is. May God, by his grace, cause you this hour to discover
him, to trust him, to consecrate yourself to him and to him alone. For if you're yet without Christ,
you're without life. You're without righteousness,
without atonement for your sin, without God, lost, without hope
in this world. It's my heart's prayer then that
you will now look away to Christ. Trust Jesus Christ the Lord without
moving a muscle, without doing anything, without saying a word.
Come to Christ right now. Come to Christ. Oh, God help
you to come to Christ. This generation has been deceived,
they've been lied to. Folks think that somehow coming
to Christ has something to do with walking from one place to
another. We're saying a prayer, we're getting baptized. Elijah
was just speaking to me about baptism just a few moments ago.
He said, I was baptized, but it was in a Christian church,
Campbellite Church. He said, I was baptized for the washing
away of my sin and baptized for salvation. I know that's wrong.
I know that's wrong. Oh, thank God you know that's
wrong. Thank God you know that's wrong. Salvation is not something
you do. Faith is not connected with action. Faith is a hard work. It's believing God, coming to
Christ right where you are. But our text specifically is
written to you here who are called holy brethren. You and I must
always consider Christ. The apostle is urging us as we
have begun in faith to continue in faith. As we receive Christ
Jesus the Lord, so to walk in him. You and I must look at Christ
continually, constantly discovering him, constantly being inclined
toward him, constantly devoting ourselves to him. All right,
now let's look at these six verses together. First, we have here
a description of God's people. In verse one, these Hebrew believers,
and you and I, don't ever imagine this is talking just about those
folks who lived in that day. It's talking about David Peterson
and Don Fortner. He says we are holy. Holy brethren. Holy, not because of something
we do. No. Paul read back in the office
a moment ago in Psalm 16, was it in verse 2, David said, my
goodness, extendeth not unto thee, O God. It reaches you,
it reaches men and women on the earth like myself, but not God. We cannot do that which is holy. We're not holy by birth, we're
not holy by association with other people, we're not holy
because of who our parents are, we're not holy because we're
raised in a moral environment and learned to live in morality.
Oh no, we are made holy by the sanctification of God's Spirit,
made holy by Him giving us a new nature, made holy by the imputed
righteousness of Christ to us, and we're holy only because Jesus
Christ the Lord is the Lord, our righteousness, our only holiness
is Christ the Lord. Understand that? We're holy brethren,
holy because grace has made us so, and we are brethren. Oh,
what a sweet word, brethren. Brethren, because we've been
adopted into one family. Adopted because of the same eternal
love. Adopted by God, one father, our
heavenly father. Adopted into that family of which
Jesus Christ is the firstborn, the elder brethren. We are one
family, brethren in Christ, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
And we are of one faith. Now then, look at this. We are
also partakers of the heavenly calling. Partakers of the heavenly
calling. We have been called to life and
faith in Christ by the irresistible almighty power and grace of God
the Holy Spirit. Now this call of God is called
the heavenly calling with good reason. It is issued from heaven. We are called to Christ who is
in heaven, and it is a call that will ultimately bring us to heaven.
The scriptures clearly teach us that there are two calls.
The theologians divide them this way, a general call and an effectual
call. All men, in a sense, receive
a general call. By nature, all men are warned
of the wrath of God according to Romans 1. By conscience, all
men are made aware that God requires justice and righteousness and
judgment is to come. And as the gospel is preached,
now certainly the gospel is not preached to all men. It is not.
There are some folks who live and die all their lives, they
never hear the gospel of God's grace. So when we talk about
calling all, and folks say, well, you know, salvation is offered
to everybody. No, I beg your pardon. Salvation is not an offer,
it's a gift. It's not an offer, it's an operation.
It's not something God sets out there and offers for you to take.
It's something God performs in you. But he doesn't even preach
the gospel to all men, many never hear the gospel. But as I preach
the gospel tonight, I'm preaching to this congregation, some believers,
some unbelievers. I preach to you indiscriminately
and call you to life and faith in Christ. In that sense, the
scripture says many are called, not everybody, but many, but
few are chosen. Who will hear the call? Those
who are chosen. Those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus
Christ, they shall hear the call, for they shall be called not
merely with the word of a man, not merely with the outward preaching
of the gospel in a general call, but they are called from death
to life by the irresistible, effectual, almighty power and
grace of God the Holy Spirit. I love the picture given of this
call in the gospels. You remember in Luke chapter
19, verse 5, The Lord Jesus came to where Zacchaeus was. There
were a lot of folks around there. But he came to that one sycamore
tree, at that one place, and called that one man. He said,
Zacchaeus, come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And
Zacchaeus came down. He came to the cemetery outside
Bethany where Lazarus is buried in a tomb. And as he walked in
the cemetery, he walked to one tomb, commanded that one stone
be rolled away. And he called one man. He said,
Lazarus, come forth. Now Lazarus didn't have to make
a decision. Lazarus didn't have to, he didn't have to do something.
Lazarus was dead. But what did he do? He came forth. Well, he can't do that. If he
calls, he can. And I'm telling you, you cannot
come to Christ. You cannot believe the gospel.
You cannot repent. It does not lie within the realm
of human possibility for a man to believe unless God calls. Now, if God calls you, you not
only can, you will believe. You not only can come, you will
come. You not only can decide for Christ, you will decide for
Christ. You not only can repent, you will repent. for takers of
the heavenly calling. Now then, here's a description
of our Savior too. Consider, take a good look at the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus
is here described in these three ways. First, as the apostle,
second, the high priest, and then thirdly, the faithful servant
of Jehovah. He is the apostle, the messenger
of our faith, the messenger of the covenant. He is that one
who was specifically sent of God to preach the gospel of peace. He said so in Luke chapter four,
when he quoted a prophecy in Isaiah 61.1. He said, I am appointed
and anointed of God. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he sent me to preach the gospel to the meek. He sent
me to proclaim glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty
to the captive, to set prisoners free. The Lord Jesus then is
that one who is preeminently, who is perfectly, The revelation
of God's free grace and that covenant of mercy established
upon turns of mercy before the world began between God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He's the one who is the
messenger of the covenant. He is also the high priest. He
is not a high priest, he's the high priest because he has entered
into and resides in the holiest with his own blood. He entered
in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for
us and now his blood perpetually makes intercession for the saints
according to the will of God. His blood perpetually pleads
with God for the non-imputation of sin to his people so that
we are never ever, ever charged with sin. And God never ceases
to look upon us with favor because Jesus Christ, our high priest,
is always in God's favor. He's always seated upon the throne
of grace, always making intercession as our advocate in heaven. And
then in verse two, the apostle begins to describe the Lord Jesus
as Jehovah's faithful servant, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Now there's a reason why the Apostle here speaks of Moses
and makes this comparison. The Jews held three men as eminent,
eminent examples of faith and godliness and uprightness. Those
three examples were Moses, by whom the law was given, Abraham,
the father of Israel, with whom the covenant was established,
and David the king, by whom God ruled over all of Israel in righteousness
and in justice. Here though, the apostle picks
Moses first because Moses represented the law. Moses is that one by
whom the law was given at Sinai. Moses was that one by whom Israel
was brought out of Egypt. And so the Lord Jesus is here
compared to Moses in this sense. Moses was a faithful servant
of Jehovah. He was faithful to the trust
and responsibility laid upon him. God gave to Moses the people
of Israel to be a judge and a deliverer of Israel, to be the lawgiver
in Israel, to bring Israel out of the house of Egypt and out
of the house of bondage and to deliver them from the tyranny
and power of Pharaoh. But Moses was nothing but a type
and picture and prophecy of Christ. All that he is, all that he did,
and all that he wrote spoke of Christ the Lord. The whole purpose
of the writing of Moses, that is Genesis through Deuteronomy,
the whole purpose of the law given by Moses. All the types,
all the pictures, all the commandments, and all the ceremonies was to
point to Christ. And the whole purpose of all
that Moses did was to show us the necessity of Christ the Redeemer
and to point us to a prophet like him but infinitely indescribably
superior to him. Our Lord Jesus Christ is also
one to whom God has trusted his people. He trusted all his Israel
to the hands of Christ, our surety. He trusted him with his glory
and our salvation. And the Lord Jesus, when he became
our voluntary surety and substitute, became personally responsible
for the salvation of his people. As Moses became responsible under
God to bring Israel out of Egypt, so the Lord Jesus became responsible
under God to bring us into everlasting glory, his Israel and his people. And the scripture says, he shall
save his people. What's he gonna do? He's gonna
do what he's responsible to. Moses couldn't. And I'll show
you why in a few moments. Moses was responsible to do it,
but he couldn't do it. The Lord Jesus did it. The Lord
Jesus is that one who's called Jehovah's Servant in Isaiah 42. And the Lord God says, He shall
not fail. so that all the trust committed
to him is a good trust, and he will at last bring his people
into heaven's glory. All right, now look at verses
3, 4, 5, and 6. Because Christ is greater than
Moses, he is worthy of greater glory than Moses. You see, the
Jews, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes, they did exactly
what religious people do today. Religion magnifies men, and ceremonies,
and works, and creeds, and doctrines, and tradition. That's what religion
does. This book magnifies Christ. Magnifies Christ. Had the ordeal
of listening to a fellow this week bring a religious talk from
Philippians chapter 2. Wondrous, glorious passage of
scripture. Talking about the coming of Christ
into this world and God giving him a name that's above every
name. And I heard a lot about creeds and confessions and what
this fellow said and that fellow said. Didn't hear anything about
Christ. Nothing about Christ. Nothing about him of whom the
text spoke. Now, that's what religion does. This book exalts
and magnifies Christ the Lord and his people exalt and magnify
him. The Jews gave great glory to
Moses, but here the apostle, I should say the Holy Spirit
writing by the apostle, tells us that Christ is worthy of great
glory. Look at verse 3. For this man
was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Don't even compare
the two. Inasmuch as he who hath builded
the house hath more honor than the house. The house, doesn't
matter how beautiful it is, man, let me see the fellow who built
it. He's the one who gets the honor. We don't give honor to
the house, we give honor to the man who built it. And Moses is
just part of the house, just like Larry Chris. He's just part
of that, he didn't build it, he's just part of the house.
Christ is the builder, look at it. For every house is built
by some man, but he that built all things is God. Now you won't
find a clearer, plainer declaration of the fact that Jesus Christ
is God than this right here. He's talking about Christ. And
he says that Christ is the builder of his house and the builder
of all things. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony. Do you see that? Why was he there? Why did God
raise him up? For a testimony, for a testimony
of 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 rejoicing of hope, firm unto the end. Now this is what the Spirit of
God is here telling us. Christ and Moses, must never
be compared any more than you would compare the builder of
the house with the house itself. You see Moses, which represents
what? Law. All the way through scripture,
law. Moses was just God's servant. The law was a servant, the servant
of Christ, who is the Son of God, the Lord and the heir of
all things. Moses, the law, the servant,
is of no value except as he is put in his proper place before
Christ, whom he serves. In verse 4, again the Spirit
of God states in the most unmistakable terms the fact that Jesus Christ
who is our God, He is the one whose idea, whose conception
this house called His church and kingdom is. He is the one
who laid the plans before the world began. He is the one who
builds the house. All things are of God. In this business of salvation,
particularly, people everywhere talk about God being in control
of, you know, most things. Nobody really thinks He is, but
at least they give lip service. They say He's in control of most
things. But the scriptures declare, the
scriptures declare, he rules everything. And particularly,
distinctly, he is the one who builds his church and kingdoms.
He said, Thou art Peter, upon this rock, speaking of himself,
this foundation, I will build my church. So the building of
God's church, the building of God's house, the building of
God's kingdom is not in any way the work of a man or a group
of men. It is not the result of ingenuity
and philosophy and skill and determination. No, no. It's the
result of Christ saving operations. He builds his church. Oh, my
soul, the churches and preachers, religious leaders could ever
find this out? It put an end to all the junk
that goes on in the name of religion. I said to the folks out in San
Leandro, the congregation there and to the preachers who were
there representing other congregations, everything in religion, everything
in religion, everything in every local church that has nothing
to do with the worship and praise and glory of God and the preaching
of the gospel ought to be thrown out the back door. Everything.
All the entertainment, all the skits, all the plays, all the
Christmas programs and Easter programs and Mama's Day programs
and Daddy's Day programs. Just throw it all out the door.
There's no place in God's house for anything except the service
of God. Nothing else. This is His house,
meant for His honor and for His praise. In verse 5, Moses, the
Lord's servant, was faithful. He served the Lord in fear, reverence,
and obedience in all that God called him to. Yet his entire
life in ministry was for a testimony of Christ. So that everything
that Moses did was done to speak of Christ. Verse six, Christ,
like Moses, is Jehovah's servant. Except for this, he who is Jehovah's
servant is also Jehovah's son. He's the master of the house. He's the son in his own house.
He's the heir of all things, whose house we are. Now look
at it. If we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope, there's only one, firm unto the
end. Now this is not This is not suggesting
that there's some possibility of conditional grace, conditional
salvation, or conditional sonship. This is not saying that we might
not, after all, continue in the faith. Not at all. If we are
God's people, we are His house, and we shall hold this, which
is the hope and the confidence of the gospel, rejoicing firm
unto the end. True believers continue. False professors will soon fall
away. All is not gold that glitters,
and they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. This is
what we see in verses seven through 13. This is the second thing
here. I'll just briefly mention it.
We'll come back another time. But there are many, very, very
many, who while professing faith in Christ, yet perish in unbelief. Here the Holy Spirit gives us
a horrible example of unbelief. Wherefore, and notice the parenthesis
marks beginning here after wherefore. 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 for
40 years. Wherefore, I was grieved with
that generation and said, they do always err in their heart,
and they have not known my way. So I swear in my wrath, they
shall not enter into my rest. The quotation is taken directly
from Psalm 95. And here's what we're told. The
Jews perished in the wilderness. because they would not hear God's
voice. Will you? God spoke to them by
Moses, they wouldn't hear. He spoken to us by his son. Believers
hear and heed. They harden their hearts. The
scripture says, he that being often reproved, hardeneth his
heart, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed in that
without remedy. And so it was with these Jews.
They tried God's patience and long-suffering through their
complaints and murmurings and rebellion. Even though they had
seen his goodness and his provisions and his protection and his miracles
for 40 years, they hardened their hearts against him, murmuring,
complaining constantly. And God was grieved with that
nation and overturned them. Now then, connect verse 12. Wherefore, back in verse 7, comes
right back to this sentence, take heed. Since God destroyed
the Jews, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Take heed. Constantly stir up your soul
to look to Christ. Consider Christ. Let nothing
turn you from Christ. Let nothing come between you
and Christ. Let nothing keep you from Christ.
Be careful of the care of this world, the deceitfulness of riches,
the trials and temptations of life. And then he gives us this
admonition in verse 13. But exhort one another daily.
Encourage. Encourage one another every day,
while it's called today, lest any of you be heartened through
deceitfulness of sin. Encourage one another in the
worship of God, praying and praising God together, teaching and preaching
and studying the scriptures, speaking to one another about
the things of God. If there's anything I could say
to you, my family, that I would like to see more of, I would
love to see and hear us speak more often to one another about
the things of this book and less about the things outside here.
These things encourage and strengthen one another, warn one another
as we see signs of indifference and worldliness, not with a pointing
judgmental finger as Pharisees, but warning one another by constantly
encouraging in the worship of God. And then in verses 14 through
19, If we would enter into heaven, if we would at last obtain eternal
life, if we would at last enter into his rest, we must persevere
in the faith. We must go on trusting Christ. Let's see if this is not what
he says. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to thee. They went out from us,
how come? Because they were not of us.
How come folks don't last any longer than they do? How come
folks come to church and make a profession of faith, get baptized,
man, they look like they're going to set the world on fire. Looks
like they're going to burn the woods up. They're going gung-ho.
They're all out for Jesus. After a while, they're gone.
Don't worship God anymore. You can go find them sitting
by the television tonight, Sunday morning, Sunday night. You can
go find them sitting in the theater and talk to them about religion.
They'll talk to you just like they always did. I mean, they
talk the right stuff. They got a good lip profession. But they've departed from Christ.
How come? Because they never had him, Linda.
That's all there is to it. That's all there is to it. While it is said today, if you
will hear his voice, harden not your heart. As in the provocation,
for some, when they had heard, did provoke, how be it not all
that came out of Egypt by Moses. Most of them, but not all of
them. Moses perished in the wilderness, but Moses had to. He had to,
because Moses represented the law. and the law could not bring
the people into rest. Joshua must bring the people
into the heavenly rest for Joshua represents Christ Jesus who is
Jehovah Jesus our Savior. And Joshua comes along behind
Moses who is dead and now Joshua brings the people into rest.
And so it's a picture of redemption by Christ. Christ fulfilled the
law and now being crucified with Christ we're dead to the law
and he brings us into rest. But other than that All Israel
perished in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb. Everybody
else who left Israel above 20 years old perished in the wilderness. Imagine that. They professed
to be God's people. They worshiped at the tabernacle.
They burned incense at God's altar. They observed God's feast. They had God's word. They sang
God's praise. but they perished in unbelief.
What a warning. But with whom, verse 17, was
God grieved for 40 years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to whom
he sware they should not enter into rest? But to them that believed
not. Why did they perish? because they didn't believe God.
They didn't believe God. Wonder who believes? Those who
continue steadfast to the end and are never moved away from
the hope of the gospel. They and they only. Read on. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Now turn to one text and I'll
let you go home. Chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse
38. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we, thank God, we are
not of them that draw back to perdition, but of them which
believe unto the saving of our souls. And that's because by
the grace of God we now believe. Amen. Would you come lead us
in the hymn, please?