June 5, 2016
Morning Service

In chapter two the writer makes some very interesting statements, such as:

Heb 2:3-4  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;  (4)  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Heb 2:14-15  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;  (15)  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Heb 2:16-18  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.  (17)  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.  (18)  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

 

So we begin chapter three:

 

Heb 3:1-19  Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 

·         Christians are to be holy brethren, with a heavenly calling.

·         Jesus, our Apostle, or one that has been sent.  High Priest, remember, He can help us, and understand what we are going through because He Himself took on the flesh of Abraham.

(2)  Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.  (3)  For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.  (4)  For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 

·         To Him that appointed Him.  God the Father, the eternal Spirit of love, is Who appointed Him.

·         Joh 1:1-3  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  The same was in the beginning with God.  (3)  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

·         Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

·         Joh 8:26  I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

(5)  And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;    ( the new covenant ).

(6)  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. 

·         It was Moses who told the people to look for a Prophet that God would raise up among them, but they didn’t accept Jesus as that Prophet.

·         And look at the comparison, Moses, a servant, and Jesus, a Son over His own house.  This is how Paul explains things in the end days.  I Cor. 15, where he says Jesus will turn everything back over to His Father.  But now, Jesus is the head of the body, the church.  He it is Who is in the seat of authority.  We have His writings, and what He gave to the Apostles to teach, so He is still in control.

(7)  Wherefore

·         Because Moses was a servant, and Jesus is a Son, over all things;  again, showing his readers the superiority of Jesus over Moses.  He gives them another warning.

(as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,  (8)  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 

(9)  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.  (10)  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.  (11)  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 

Here’s the warning:

(12)  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 

And a charge:

(13)  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 

·         Exhort, or encourage one another daily.

·         Lest you be hardened, or turn your back on God, because you have allowed sin to deceive you.

·         Sin is missing the mark.  Here are five definitions of sin:

1.      1Jn 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

2.     1Jn 5:17  All unrighteousness is sin:

3.     Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

4.     Rom 14:23  for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

5.     Pro 24:9  The thought of foolishness is sin:

·         So we can see how easy it is to be deceived, and fall away from serving God.  We must do the things that constitutes a close walk with God.  Do not allow your heart to be hardened.

(14)  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 

·         Here again we see the danger of not keeping a close walk with the Lord.

(15)  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.  (16)  For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.  (17)  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?  (18)  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?  (19)  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

·         The writer is explaining an old story that they all knew.  That of Caleb, and Joshua, 12 spies.

Upon arriving at the promised land God told Moses; Num 13:2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

Upon returning and telling Moses, and the people, what they had seen:

Num 13:27-28  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.  (28)  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

This report scared the people, and they were afraid to go in and take the land.  But Caleb spoke quickly; 

Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

Then because the people listened to the scary report, rather than Caleb, this is the results;

Num 14:22-23  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;  (23)  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

·         The admonition, don’t allow satan to cause you to dwell in sin, and lose your faith.  If this happens you will not enter into our promised land, that is the message from the Hebrew writer this morning.

 

ALMIGHTY GOD, WE WILL CONTINUALLY THANK YOU FOR THIS MARVELOUS WORD.  CREATE IN US A GREATER DESIRE TO STUDY IT, AND BUILD OUR FAITH.   AMEN.