October 19 2008

JESUS: Faithful & True

Hebrews 3:1-19

 

We are living in a day of famine in epidemic proportions among God’s people, particularly the American churches.  It is not a famine of food, but more along the lines of that of Amos speaks of.

 

Amos 8:11  “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.  [Failed to hear God’s prophetic word of the prophets therefore God removed His spoken Word. See 7:12]

 

Because we as the born-again have failed to hear and do God’s Word we are experiencing a “FAMINE OF FAITHFULNESS”. 

 

Faithfulness has been divorced from faith. Faith is reduced to the realm of self-desired and self-defined miracles where God takes care of material pursuits, messes and other measures of immediate need in our lives, with no acknowledgement to the need of “living faithful” to the Word of God.  And with such come spiritual maladies that play themselves out in our country, churches, and families as well as in our lives.

 

As we return to our study of Hebrews the writer presents JESUS: “FAITHFUL & TRUE”.  

 

Hebrews 3:1-19

 

The writer plugs us into Jesus by pointing back to His humanity, work of atonement, suffering and temptation (2:17-18) with the use of “therefore” the thus show the outcome of the work of Jesus… “holy brothers.” (1:3, purification of sin and 2:11, the one who makes men holy)  

 

It is a declaration of the work of Christ “positionally” and “progressively” in the life of the believer leading the writer to point out Jesus as the SUPREME EXAMPLE OF FAITHFULNESS.

 

1.   Consider Jesus Faithful

 

“Fix your thoughts” … this is the emphasis, the center, the core of the writer’s message.  We will later be told … fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (12:2)

 

He is to be the MAIN-STAY of our thoughts as well as the only ONE we look to.  He is Jesus!

 

“The preacher … calls his readers back to a serious focus on the One whom they had claimed in the past as the great center of their lives.”  - George H Gutherie, Hebrews NIV Application Commentary

 

Jesus as the Son of God came the ultimate apostle to deliver with His body the message of salvation and to act as the ultimate High Priest so as to represent God to man and man to God. 

 

It is JESUS we CONFESS!  Our confession of faith lies not is some catatonic state of memorized beliefs … no, no, no!  It lies in the One and only supreme Son of God, who has spoken

 

§ Public Confession … confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father (Mt 10:32)

§ Pronounced Confession … confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:9)

§ Praising Confession … sacrifice of praise

 

Hebrews 13:15  Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that confess his name.

 

Why, because He is FAITHFUL!

 

ü Faithful First to God  … to the One who appointed Him

 

§ John 4:34 … My food is to do & finish the will of who sent Him

§ John 17:4 … brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave Me to do.

 

ü Faithful Over All

 

§ Over Moses … Faithful Servant … Hero to the nation

§ Over House of God … Greater honor as builder (Creator)

§ Over Christian’s Lives … We are his house (v.6)

 

** INTERMISSION OF WARNING:

 

Hebrews 3:6  But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

 

Hebrews 3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

What does the author mean by IF WE HOLD … ON & FIRMLY?

 

§ Don’t build a theology of belief based on one or two scriptures.

§ Let Scripture interpret Scripture.

 

Is the writer using such “conditional” warnings as a means of speaking to the danger of losing one’s salvation?   Scripturally we can safely say no … and we will be looking at this issue more in chapter six.  So what is meant?

 

The “IF” condition is not suggesting the loss of salvation or questioning salvation but rather …

 

§ DESIGNATING who IS saved and who IS NOT saved.

 

1 John 2:19  They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

 

“The one who falls away never belonged in the first place.”  - John MacArthur

 

§ QUALIFYING the evidence of the saved standing in their salvation.

 

Romans 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

 

1 John 2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.

 

1 John 2:5-6  But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6  Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus

 

“The inner reality of one’s relationship with God is manifested in outward action and gives assurance.”  - George Guthrie

 

We can say it like this … FAITHFULNESS is evidence of one’s salvation!  It doesn’t save, but it identifies the saved.

 

2.   Consider Yourself Faithful

 

So with the reality of Jesus being our example of faithfulness and the “IF” evidence given to identify the saved … WE WHO ARE … are called therefore to live FAITHFUL.

 

5 Principles of Faithfulness (adapted from George Guthrie)

 

1.        Keep a Healthy Focus on Jesus

2.        Faithfulness is a Volitional Choice

3.        Sin & Unbelief Hinders Faithfulness

4.        Faithful Perseveres to the End

5.        Corporate (body life) Living Encourages Faithfulness

 

ü Faithful First to God

 

The writer uses Psalm 95:7b-11 to give both warning and encouragement to remain faithful.

 

§ Exhortation … Keep a Soft Heart

 

Proverbs 4:23  Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

 

§ Explanation … Don’t Test or Try

 

“Grace Gone Wild!” … God’s grace frees us FROM sin … not free us TO sin.

 

Romans 5:20 But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

 

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2  By no means! (God forbid!) We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

 

§ Confrontation … No Rest for Unbelieving

 

“See to it” … speaks to scriptural (doctrine) understanding mixed with personal responsibility (accountability) of being found faithful.

 

You and I, as the born-again MUST be found FAITHFUL in all ways at all times. 

 

ü Faithful to All Others

 

§ Exhortation … Encourage one another daily

§ Explanation … No Deceitfulness in the body

Let us be not only considerate of one another … but all the more let us encourage one another with scriptural exhortation & rebukes as a prevention to keep us FAITHFUL as well as from drifting and falling away from an active relationship with God through Christ.

 

There a FAMINE of FAITHFULNESS going on.  I would encourage us all to feast upon the …

 

ü Faithfulness of Christ

ü Faithfulness of God’s Word

ü Faithfulness of Others

 

Hebrews 3:1  Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

 

Amen!

October 5, 2008

Jesus: Listen to Him

Hebrews 2:1-4,

 

Looking at chapter two of the book of Hebrews, I have to confess that I feel like a child in a candy store wanting to taste it all.  But it is simply not possible in one trip (message).  But the treat is … we get to eat some of sweet words of the Lord!

 

Psalms 34:8  Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

 

Read: Hebrews 2: 1-18

 

Hebrews 1 … introduces Christ … as Heir of all things … Creator … Incarnation (exact representation) … Sustainer (upholds all things by power of word) … Purification of sin … Sat down at the right hand (a finished work).  The writer is giving both a declaration and celebration of God’s final word to the world—Jesus Christ the Son of God.

 

Hebrews 2 introduces a command to Christ … Listen to Him!

 

Luke 9:35 “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

 

I read this past  … The two most important questions to ask is: “Does God speak?” and second, “What does God say?”  [Jim Davis, Exhortations to Faithfulness ]

 

The writer of Hebrews attests to us God has spoken many time and in many ways but now … “He has spoken to us by his Son” [Heb 1:2] and “listen very carefully to the truth we have heard” [Heb 2:1]  

 

1.   The Necessity of Listening …

 

Hebrews 2:1  We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard,

 

The writer takes us from “seeing Jesus” [See – Seek – Speak]  to “listening to Jesus.”    Some has said, The first command of this book is not “labor for Jesus,” but “listen to Jesus.”

 

The Christian life is often summarized as a life of “doing” as James 1:22 is often quoted … Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  But did you hear? Our doing begins with “listening.”

 

Who do you listen to [preacher, teachers, bosses, spouses, children, friends, Word of God]?  Who remembers the 1970-80’s commercial … “When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen.”  The idea being given that E.F.H. has something worth listening to. [1985 collapse, acquired by Shearson Lehman Co; now part of Smith Barney; Citigroup]

 

While James instructs us to not “merely listen” (listening without hearing that leads to action) the writer of Hebrews instructs us to listen with “more careful attention.” 

 

In Hebrews 3:1 the writer encourages his readers to   … fix your thoughts on Jesus (ESV= consider Jesus … not as an alternative, but as THE SOURCE).  In Hebrews 12:1 he says, run fixing your eyes on Jesus. 

 

In triplicate the writer draws our attention to Jesus to … Listen to him … Consider him … Focus on him.   The thoughts the writer gives may well be equal to those of the psalmist who cries, “Draw near to my soul and redeem it; deliver me …” [Psalm 69:18]

 

The language suggests there is more here than a simple note of encouragement.

 

The writer wants us to understand there is an IMPENDING DANGER if we fail to heed the “exceeding necessary urgency” … to listen to Christ.  

 

2.   The Neglect of Listening …

 

Hebrews 1:1b,3a … so that we do not drift away … how shall we escape if we ignore [neglect] such a great salvation?

 

The writer warns with passion the danger of “drifting” and “neglecting” that which we have heard of Christ.   He gives the idea that drifting brings about the results of neglect.

 

To “drift” means … “to flow by carelessly.”  The language, or so as I see it, isn’t speaking to those who violently reject or oppose the Gospel, but to those who drift further and further away from the shore without notice.  

 

I believe the writer is speaking to the believer, though I can see reason to see it speaking to the unsaved … but contend it is believers he addresses.

 

“He is not encouraging sinners to become Christians; rather he is encouraging Christians to pay attention to the great salvation they have received from the Lord.  – Bible Exposition Commentary: Hebrews (Warren Wiersbe)

 

So the immediate danger of failing to listen is … we believers set ourselves on a “drifting” pattern … getting further and further away from Christ and what salvation is intended to do in the believers life … become like Christ and thus serve like Christ.

 

The Christian life is not a static, mud puddle existence [out of his heart will flow rivers of living water; John 7:38].  There is no standing still as we are either drawing near or drifting away from Jesus, the Gospel, the Word, our God.

 

It is a solemn invitation to be satisfied in Jesus so that we do not get lured downstream by deceitful desires. – John Piper

 

Psalms 90:14  Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

 

What God spoke through His messengers (prophets, angels) was true (binding: proved unalterable) and ever so is it through the Son … the message is so sure and true … we face God’s judgment to neglect it.

 

-     Life is filled with “Yea But’s” more than “Yes Lord.”

-     Life is filled with “Philosophies” more than the “Spirit”

 

Both produce “compromises” to God’s Word and effects His salvation is to have on the believer’s daily life.

How shall we escape if we ignore [neglect] such a great salvation? 

ü Everything is subject to Christ (v.8)

ü Suffered & Tasted death (separation from God, 2^nd death)

ü Brings sons (man) to the glory of salvation (v.10)

ü Makes men holy (right standing before God v.11)

ü Destroyed the Devil & Power of Death (v.14)

ü Freed lives held in slavery by becoming like us (v.15)

ü Made like us to pay (atone) for our sins (v.17)

ü Able to help the tempted (v.18)

 

The greatness of salvation cost a great price … Christ.  And the greatness of salvation cancels out the great sin of man.

 

For Unsaved … they cannot escape hell without the truth of the message Christ brought in the Gospel.

 

For Saved … we will not escape the judgment of our works with the message of Christ brought in the Gospel.

 

Salvation has a “saving” effect, but also a “sanctifying” effect on the believer … separating us to good works.  [Eph 2:10 created in Christ Jesus to do good works]

 

How do you treat salvation?  Like a signed insurance paper tucked away somewhere?

 

Mom and Dad kept their life insurance policy in the family Bible.  There never seemed to be any cause for alarm or great need to get it out and look at it … they just knew it was there.  But the day came when Mom and Dad died and the question was, “Where’s the insurance policy?”  For then it had great value.

 

Don’t treat your salvation like a “life insurance” policy tucked away somewhere only thinking it has value for your day of death.  It pays dividends now, not just later.

 

Hebrews 2:1  We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

 

Amen!