Author: Lamar Austin

This modern age could be called an age of restlessness.  People are agitated and stirred up by the slightest thing, satisfaction and contentment are in high demand but short supply.  Emmanuel Mounier, the founder of the French “personalist” philosophical movement, writes that human life is characterized by a “divine restlessness.”  The lack of peace within our hearts spurs us on a quest for the meaning of life–a command imprinted on “unextinguished souls.”  (Charles Colson, The Good Life, 10)

I’m convinced that if our civilization were to be uncovered by curious archaeologists thousands of years from now, they would see relics of an anxious society.  Vacation destinations provide havens for those approaching the critical zone of “burnout.”  Treatment facilities house countless victims of mental, emotional, and physical breakdown.  Therapists help calm the fretful, and physicians routinely prescribe antidepressants and anxiety medications.  Our generation is marked by all the ingredients of a society dominated by anxiety, which include feelings of apprehension, uneasiness, worry, and dread.  (Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights: Hebrews, pp. 60-61)

We ended last week talking about God’s rest.  This is the rest that God has promised to us through the gospel and it is God’s rest.  It was the rest displayed at creation when God brought everything into existence with each day and called it good.  The seventh day, however, is endless.  And on that day He rested. 

At the conclusion of God’s magnificent creation, there was nothing more to add.  It was perfect, complete, harmonious.  It was exactly the way God wanted it to be.  It was “very good.”  And that’s what God’s rest is: perfect satisfaction, perfect peace, perfect contentment in the knowledge that God has done very well. 

John will expand on this in Revelation 21:3-5: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” 

Rest was promised to the exodus generation, enjoyment of the land of promise in peace and prosperity.  Because of their disbelief the vast majority of them didn’t experience it.  It was available to Joshua’s generation, but because of their disbelief, they didn’t experience it (v. 8).  It was available to the audience of the book of Hebrews in the first century, but they were in danger of not experiencing it because of unbelief.  It is available to you and me today, but we have to believe it as well.

These are the words of the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 4:6-11

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

So today we begin with a third principle from this passage:  Ultimate rest is a promise God still extends.  Verses 6 and 7: “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The promise of entering God’s rest still stands.  And we can be thankful for that.

How do we know that the promise still stands for us today?  Because centuries after the exodus generation and Joshua’s generation, God’s Spirit is still exhorting us, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  He’s still holding out the promise of rest to us today.

If you have heard of Christ, if the Holy Spirit is convicting and calling your heart to repent of your sins and embrace Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith, now is the time to believe.  Don’t put it off another day!

That rest is available right now!  Don’t the words of Jesus Christ sound so inviting?

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Jesus doesn’t “pay” you rest as if you’ve earned it after a few decades of hard work.  He “gives” you rest because He has already done the work.  All other religions are spelled “D-O.”  Christianity is spelled “D-O-N-E.”

That rest is available to you…right now!  Verse 3, which introduced this section on the nature of our rest, says, “For we who have believed enter that rest.”  The verb “enter” is in the present tense, which means that as believers we are in the process of entering.  There is a now and then to our rest.  Now, in Christ, we have entered and are entering our rest.  Our experience of rest is proportionate to our trusting in him.  A wholehearted trust, for example, brings his rest into our souls in all its divine, cosmic, and ideal dimensions.  But there is also a future rest in Heaven—the repose of soul in God’s rest, forever joyous, satisfied, and working —“work that never becomes toil nor needs repose.”

Sam Storms points out these dynamics of our current rest.  See if these express your current experience.

• Rest = the soul’s sigh of joyful relief and satisfaction that comes from experiencing release from the anxiety and tension of constantly wondering whether or not I’ve done enough to gain favor with God.
• Rest = the soul’s sigh of joyful relief and satisfaction that comes from never again fearing death as some dark and unknown termination.
• Rest = the soul’s sigh of joyful relief and satisfaction in knowing that even if everyone else abandons me, God never will [leave me or forsake me.]
• Rest = the soul’s sigh of joyful relief and satisfaction in trusting the perfect and finished work of Christ for me rather than trusting the imperfect and never-ending effort on my part to work for Christ.
• Rest = the soul’s sigh of relief and satisfaction that comes when you forsake the endless and ultimately empty legalistic demands of religion and find everlasting peace and joy and hope in what God has done for you in Jesus.

In God’s rest we are forever established in Christ.  We are freed from running from philosophy to philosophy, from religion to religion, from life-style to life-style.  We are freed from being tossed about by every doctrinal wind, every idea or fad, that blows our way.  In Christ, we are established, rooted, grounded, unmovable.  That is the Christian’s rest.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, pp. 96-97)

Our future experience of rest is that final and perfect and never-ending state of complete satisfaction and joy and fulfillment and pleasure and fascination that will be ours when our bodies are glorified and our hearts are entirely joined to Christ’s.

Joshua’s experience of taking and settling into the land of Promise was only a shadow, a foretaste of the future experience of rest promised here.  That’s why verse 9 says, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.”

So the obvious conclusion is: 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

The author argues that the purposes of God are not frustrated because Israel of old disobeyed him and failed to enter the rest he had promised his people.  The promise remains.  If the ancient Israel did not enter God’s rest, then someone else will; namely, the Christians.  But this should not lead to complacency.  If the Israelites of an earlier day, with all their advantages, failed to enter the rest, Christians ought not to think there will be automatic acceptance for them.  They must take care lest they, too, fail to enter the blessing.  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, 39)

Restlessness is a gift of God.  If we are not restless, we would never search for God.  Simon Guillebaud, in his little book Choose Life, 365 Readings for Radical Disciples, has this little poem: “Look around and be distressed; look within, and be depressed; look to Jesus, and be at rest.”

Jesus said, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”  He gives that invitation to those who “labor and are heavy laden.”  Does that describe you?  Are you laden down with expectations?  With guilt?  With shame?  Are you just tired of trying to be “good enough”?  I don’t know how many people I have talked to who, when asked about their salvation, said “Well, I hope I’m good enough.” 

We aren’t!  We are not good enough!  But Jesus was good enough.  He was perfectly righteous and died on the cross for unrighteous, ungodly sinners like you and me.

When we come to faith in Christ, we move away from every attempt to try to work our way to heaven.  We repent of trusting in our own righteousness, our own good works.

We don’t have to work for our salvation, our rest.  But once we’re saved, we have to work at staying in that rest.  We won’t lose our salvation, but we may let our satisfaction drain away.

We can taste the firstfruits of that ultimate rest now.  Full rest, God’s rest, when all the toilsome work, labor, pain and sacrifice will one day be brought to an end.  Revelation 14:13 says, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”  “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

This is an offer that God still extends to you and me. (1) Ultimate rest necessitates belief in the gospel.  (2) Ultimate rest is the experience of God’s own rest.  (3) Ultimate rest is a promise that God still extends today and you and me.

And Principle Four: Ultimate rest merits our most serious consideration.

Verse 11 says, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

He includes himself in this exhortation, “let us” do this.  True Christians need to do this too!  It also reminds us once again that genuine assurance is a community project.  Remember Hebrews 3:12-13, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

To be concerned about one’s own salvation is commendable; to pray for one’s fellow man is praiseworthy; but to strive for the salvation of everyone within the confines of the church is exemplary. We ought to take careful note of members who may be drifting from the truth in doctrine or conduct and then pray with them and for them.  We are constantly looking for spiritual stragglers.  (William Hendriksen & Simon J. Kistemaker, NT Commentary: Hebrews, 104)

Do you know what a gibbet is?  It is a structure, a gallows, on which the body of a criminal already executed is hung on in a town square to continue to serve as a warning to others.

This is what the writer does as he closes this warning passage:  He holds the exodus generation up once again as a warning to his first century audience and to us today, showing what can happen to those who come up short of authentic faith.

“Strive” or “make every effort” is not saying that we have to work endlessly for our salvation.  He is saying, however, that we do have to do everything possible to insure that we are not deluding ourselves, thinking that we have entered God’s rest when we haven’t because we are not truly trusting in Jesus Christ, but because we are trusting in ourselves.

There is a place for close, microscopic scrutiny, testing the quality of our faith, to see if it is indeed the real thing.  More than merely acknowledging the truth of historic facts, more than mere assent, but an absolute throwing ourselves upon the mercy of Jesus Christ in urgent trust that He is faithful to save us.

Is that what you possess?  If not, you’re still short of the mark and will fall short of entering God’s rest.  There is only one way to enter that rest—through faith in Jesus Christ, by trusting fully and only in Him.  There is no other way.  God doesn’t offer another option.

Our work now is merely an extension of his continued work in us.  As Andrew Murray says, “We work, because He worketh in us to will and to do” (The Holiest of All, p. 152).  That is a reflection of what Paul says in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

God is still at work.  He initiates my working by placing in me both the desire to do his good pleasure and the power to be able to do his good pleasure.  I would be unable to “work out my salvation” without his prior work in me but because he does do it my desires and abilities are secured.

So “striving to rest” is not an oxymoron.  We only work out what God is working in us, in his power.  Listen to these verses:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

“For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29).

Hebrews 13:21 continues our author’s benediction with these words: “equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight.”

We enter his rest by working out his working in us.  It ultimately is his power and strength, not our own.

There’s something else interesting to take note of in this text.  It’s there in the Greek text.  These readers read Greek.

The name Joshua, in verse 8, and the name Jesus, are both spelled exactly the same way in Greek.  And remember, the name literally means, “Yahweh saves.”

Verse 8 does refer to the historical Joshua, but the first century readers would hear or read these words and their minds would have been directed very powerfully to both a Joshua who led their ancestors into the land, but not to rest; and a second Joshua, who didn’t lead them into the land, but does lead us into rest.  And that Joshua is Jesus Christ.

Therefore, make every effort to enter into that rest.  There is no other way in.  The greater Joshua is not interested in a piece of geography, but he is interested in your heart.  He wants your heart to enjoy the contentment and satisfaction in knowing that everything is good in Jesus Christ.

It’s not just the facts, it’s an act of trust in Jesus Christ.  So, let us strive to enter God’s rest.  Or, in other words, let us labor to quit laboring!  Trust, lean on Jesus Christ, put all your hope in Him.  Be “all in” for Jesus.

Spurgeon says: “It is an extraordinary injunction, but I think he means, let us labor not to labor.  Our tendency is to try to do something in order to save ourselves; but we must beat that tendency down, and look away from self to Christ.  Labor to get away from your own labors; labor to be clean rid of all self-reliance; labor in your prayers never to depend upon your prayers; labor in your repentance never to rest upon your repentance; and labor in your faith not to trust to your faith, but to trust alone to Jesus”  (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, 99).

If we continue to look to ourselves, to our own efforts, to our own goodness, our hearts won’t be at rest.  They will be troubled, saddled with the disturbing thought, “Have I done enough?  A, I good enough?”

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he was saying, “paid in full.”  Nothing has to be added, or can be substituted for, what Christ has done for us.

Strive to enter God’s rest.  That seems like an oxymoron.  He’s saying “work hard not to work hard for your salvation.”  Don’t go back under the Mosaic law and be weighed down by the onerous burden of having to perfectly obey every law.  Not only that, but the encrustations to the law that the Pharisees had added over the years.  Don’t go back to that!

Why would anyone want to go back to that?  Well, because it was familiar and comfortable.  Because they would escape persecution.  Because then their peers would accept them.

We are in Hebrews 4.  The author of Hebrews is drawing a conclusion based upon the historical experience of the exodus generation that he had recounted in Hebrews 3.  They had forfeited their rest due to unbelief in God’s goodness and God’s promises, and the current generation of professing Jewish Christians were in danger of doing the same.

The “rest” for the exodus generation was freedom from slavery and victory over their enemies so that they would be able to live and flourish in the Promised Land.  The exodus generation forfeited that.

The “rest” for these first century recipients of the epistle to the Hebrews was not a strip of geography, but an infinitely more glorious and valuable antitype, the full and final and ultimate experience of salvation, freedom from guilt and shame, freedom from slavery to sin and Satan, freedom from judgment and death.

Hebrews 4, starting in verse 1:

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Unbelief caused the exodus generation to forfeit their rest, and unbelief would be the cause that this generation (or any generation) would forfeit their rest.

I want to establish four principles regarding this promised rest.

First, ultimate rest necessitates belief in the Gospel.  Look at verse 1, “therefore” (as a consequence of this historical example of unbelief and failure with the exodus generation)…” while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”

We talked last week about the doctrines of eternal security and perseverance, and that true Christians will persevere, in other words, they will not fail to reach that rest.

Two important observations can be made.

First, the failure of God’s people, the Jews, to enter the promised land because of unbelief, did not in any way nullify God’s promise to bring his people into rest.  God always keeps His promises, even though some individuals or generations may forfeit them.  They are still in effect.

Thus, God is still extending this promise of rest to people today.  The promise of entering God’s rest still stands in this current day.

Now, it is clear from this present application that the promise of entering into his rest does not mean the Promised Land.  The current audience of this letter, and we today, are not being promised a piece of geography.  We aren’t being given citizenship in the land of Israel whenever we trust in Christ.  Rather, the author of Hebrews is talking about something better and greater—the fullness of eternal salvation in Jesus Christ.

That promise is still available to us this very moment.

If you are not a Christian, you need to know this promise.  God’s promise of eternal rest is open to you.  It is possible for you to experience reconciliation with God, peace with God, forgiveness of all your guilt and shame, freedom from slavery to sin and Satan, freedom from judgment and eternal damnation.

However, it was clear in chapter 3 and again here in vv. 7-9 that this offer is extended to us “today,” at this very moment.  It may not continue to be offered tomorrow.  We have no assurance of that.

What this means is that a positive response to this promise should be made today.  I think if you are still exploring it and thinking about it tomorrow, that God extends his mercy.  But if you refuse Him today, there is no guarantee that the Spirit will be calling you tomorrow.

Second, falling short of ultimate rest ought to be of great concern to every professing Christian.  It you are a believer, you should give some concerned thought to the question of whether you are, or could ever, fall away.

Somehow there are people today who have come to believe that what the doctrine of eternal security means is that no Christian ever needs to look at himself with any kind of scrutiny or assessing—that it is always and in every way sinful to ever doubt one’s salvation, that any kind of questioning or critiquing of oneself is out of bounds.

But the writer of Hebrews, and Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:5 and the apostle John throughout 1 John would say otherwise.  Paul says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

In the original of Hebrews 4:1, the word phobos is used, revealing a strong concern.  Literally, it reads, “let us be fearful…let us be scared!”

“Such warnings against apostasy are misunderstood when they are thought to teach that true believers may fall away and be lost.  For just as accidents are avoided by obeying the road signs which are put up for our safety, so we are persevered from the dangers of our pilgrimage by paying heed to those warnings which are annexed to the promise of salvation.”

True believers shouldn’t have to live in fear because they prove themselves; they do persevere.

In Acts 27 Paul was traveling to Rome and a hurricane comes up that tosses them to and fro and this goes on for days.  Finally, the men on the ship give up hope and they panic and they ready themselves to die…but Paul speaks up.  He says (summary of vv. 1-25), “God has given His word that no one on this ship will be lost.  This ship will be destroyed, but everyone on it will be saved.”

At that point, God had spoken.  Those men could stake their lives on that promise.  The sovereign God had given his word.  It was unqualified; it was final.  “The ship would be lost, every life would be preserved.”

Yet, several days later, as the hurricane persisted, several men attempted to escape from that ship in a lifeboat.  Paul had no hesitation going up to the Roman soldiers and say, “No one will be saved at all if they try and get away from this ship.”  So the Roman soldier cut the rope to that “alternative method of salvation.”

The point is this: Those ordained to salvation, only obtain it by using the appointed means to that end.

We depend upon the preserving grace of God.  So we do not say, “I’m going to live as a please and believe what I want, because after all, I’m eternally secure.”

No, you do the very opposite.  You guard your heart with all diligence.  You make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lusts, precisely because you are very mindful of the possibility of your own apostasy.  You know very well that you could fall away, were it not for the grace of God keeping you.

Believers overcome.  1 John 5:4 says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.”  Our writer, is afraid that those who had heard the gospel were now, in the face of opposition, in danger of the possibility of turning away from Christ.  To do that would be to “fall short” of the promise.

Here is the current application, verse 2 in Hebrews 4, “For good news came to us just as to them…”  They heard the good news.  Now the exodus generation did not hear the gospel, but rather the promise of inheriting the land.  They heard that promise about the land, but it did them no good.  Why?  Because they did not combine the hearing with believing.  Faith has to be joined to listening, believing must proceed from hearing.  As Paul says, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Israel had heard the “good news” (that is, the good news brought by Caleb and Joshua that the land was theirs for the taking, the Nephilim notwithstanding).

So confident were Caleb and Joshua in heralding the good news that they said, “They are bread for us” (Numbers 14:9), or in today’s language, “It’s a piece of cake!”

But Israel’s response to the good news was tragically deficient: “the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”  Literally, “they didn’t mix it with faith.”  As the NEB says, “They brought no admixture of faith to the hearing of it.”

This is amazing because they had had constant witness of God’s character and provision.  They had the spectacular historical examples of the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea.  And there were also the ubiquitous pillars of cloud and fire and the day-in, day-out provisions of manna.  But now, faced with a new challenge, they simply did not trust God and so failed to enter their rest.  Many, perhaps thousands, were believers (they believed in God), but only two really trusted God and found rest.

Be afraid, he tells us in vv. 1-2, that what happened to them might happen to you.  Be careful lest you become bored and indifferent and eventually become hardened in your heart and fail to embrace God’s promised rest by faith in Jesus.

So, am I saying that living in fear of forfeiting your salvation is the ideal way to live.

Well, there are passages that tell us to have a greater concern than we often do: such as “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:13) and “let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

But there really is only one thing to fear: faithlessness, refusing to believe or refusing to continue to believe.

But this is like a child whose parents tell him or her to “stay out of the streets.  It’s dangerous out there.”  As long as they don’t play near the streets, they have no need to live in fear and anxiety.  Fear only arises, and it should, when one gets close to the street, or maybe we should say, when one gets close to the street without holding a parent’s hand.

Use the bad feeling of fear to cause you to run back to the safe yard of God’s goodness and promises.  The normal Christian life, then, is aware of the fearful danger of unbelief, but does not live paralyzed or terrorized by it.  It lives in faith.  Fear only rises where faith starts to weaken.  As long as faith remains strong, there is no need to fear.

So, hear the gospel and believe the gospel.  Hearing is not enough.  There will be a great number of people on that final day who have had the opportunity to hear the gospel, but will be ushered into eternal damnation and separation from God because they did not believe.  The prerequisite for spending eternity in heaven is not hearing the gospel, but believing the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again.  The promise of ultimate rest is the reward that God gives to believers.

What did Paul say when the Philippians jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?”  Very simple: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  That’s it.  That’s all that God requires.

John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…”  It’s just that simple.  Those who inherit eternal life do so by faith…and only by faith…and by faith alone.  We are declared “just” before God on the basis of faith alone.

Have you believed the gospel?  Heaven is for those who have set their hope on the work of Jesus Christ alone.  It is not enough to hear the gospel, or to know the facts of the gospel.  To have all of that but not believing in it, not trusting in it, is to fall short of the promise.

The gospel is to be embraced by faith.  That is the way God ordained for you and me to enter that rest.  You will not experience rest unless you believe in the gospel.

Principle Two is ultimate rest is the experience of God’s own rest.

Look again at verse 3: “Now we who have believed enter that rest.”

“Trust brings rest,” says Alexander Maclaren, “because it sweeps away, as the north wind does the banded clouds on the horizon, all the deepest causes of unrest.”  It sweeps away the guilt and shame, the uneasy conscience, and gives us peace and assurance and confidence.

The principle is so simple: the more trust, the more rest. There is not a fretful soul in the world who is trusting. “The message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened” (v. 2)—and so it is with us. Our belief or unbelief makes all the difference.

Now, what is the rest that the author of Hebrews is referring to?  Verse 3 goes on to say “as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'”  My rest, God’s rest.  He quotes from Psalm 95, but only so that we will clearly hear those last two words.  In verse 1 it was called “his rest.”

God rested?  Of course He did, not because He was tired, but because He was finished.  Verse 3 goes on to say, “his works were finished from the foundation of the world.”  The “foundation of the world” was the time and act of creation.  Verse 4 clarifies, “For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’”

The first mention of “rest” in the Bible is found in Genesis 2:1-2.  There it obviously describes God resting after the work of creation.  God entered into a time of celebratory joy and a glorious satisfaction that came with knowing that all he had made was “good,” in fact “very good.”

The second instance of “rest” focuses on its geographical dimensions.  Simply put, the promised land of Canaan was an expression and offer of “rest” from God to his people.

A long time before the promised rest in the land of Canaan was ever an issue, God entered into His rest…a rest into which He fully intends to bring His own people.  A rest of which the land was merely symbolic.

Let me explain.

If you read the creation account carefully, you will see a repeated refrain throughout the six days of creation that reads like this: “There was evening and morning…the first day…the second day…the third day…the fourth, fifth and sixth.”

That phrase marks out the boundaries of each day.  But when we come to the seventh day, there is no such demarcation.  All we read is this: “On the seventh day God rested from all His work.”  But there are no boundaries, no parameters, no limits to close off that period of time…as if it goes on forever.

When he finished the cosmos, he entered into an unending epoch of rest.  It wasn’t because God was tired and needed to catch his breath, nor was it because God doesn’t do anything anymore (deism).  God’s rest is not inactivity, for Jesus said in John 5, “My Father is always working.”

Now, we’re to understand God’s rest like this: At the conclusion of God’s magnificent creation, there was nothing more to add.  It was perfect, complete, harmonious.  It was exactly the way God wanted it to be.  It was “very good.”  And that’s what God’s rest is: perfect satisfaction, perfect peace, perfect contentment in the knowledge that God has done very well.  John will expand on this in Revelation 21:3-5: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” 

Hebrews 4 promotes the “rest” that was introduced in Hebrews 3:18-19, the rest that the Exodus generation forfeited due to their unbelief, which led to grumbling and complaining, and disobedience, eventually turning to other gods.

As Christians, we understand there is no rest for the soul apart from Christ. St. Augustine, in the fourth century, gave this truth its eloquent, classic expression in his Confessions : “Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee” (Book I.1.1) (Philip Schaff, ed., The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, The Confessions of St. Augustine , trans. J. G. Pilkington (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), p. 45).

Blaise Pascal, perhaps the greatest of French minds, wrote even more explicitly in his Pensées :

What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself. (VII, para. 425) (Robert Maynard Hutchins, ed., Great Books of the Western World, vol. 33, Pascal , trans. W. F. Trotter (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952), p. 244).

The Exodus generation did not experience their rest because they doubted God’s Word.  They didn’t believe God could deliver them from their enemies in the Promised Land.  They perceived these enemies as bigger, stronger and better fortified.  Because they didn’t believe God’s promised victory, they died in the wilderness.  The next generation entered the land and conquered most of it, but forfeited their rest because they failed to eliminate all the godless Canaanites from the land.

Our author’s current generation was in danger of forfeiting their rest.  They had found it in Christ, but were in danger of returning to the more familiar Mosaic law.  They wouldn’t be persecuted for returning to the law; but they would forfeit their rest.  Their experience of Christ was not living up to their expectations.  They had given up their old religion but now they were suffering for their faith in Jesus.

So it is to these people that the author of Hebrews is writing.  And to us, because we, too, are in danger of giving up our faith in Jesus Christ because it is just not popular today to be a Christ follower.  The world calls us homophobic, racist, hypocritical, uncaring, and leaving our brains at the door.  It is clearly not popular being a Christian anymore.

Will we jettison our faith for something easier?

Back in Hebrews 2:4 our author exhorted us not to neglect this great salvation.  Is this the way you think of it?  A great salvation, a marvelous salvation?  Do you see it as so valuable, that like Paul, you would give up everything for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ?

Just think of our salvation, how God redeemed us out of sin, judgment and death!  Just think of how he adopted us into his family to enjoy fellowship with him and be joint-heirs with Jesus!  Just think how he justified sinners through faith!  Let it sink in how he reconciled rebellious enemies to himself through the death of His only, beloved Son.

Or I could speak of the blessings that come with salvation, things such as peace with God, the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, a sure and solid hope for the future, the promise of eternal life in the new heaven and new earth, forgiveness of sins, and the guarantee that we will one day be transformed or changed into the moral likeness of Christ himself, what the NT refers to as glorification.  (Sam Storms)

And one of the most precious gifts of this great salvation is rest, the ability not to have to work for or strive for God’s approval.  Jesus said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-29).

In the context, Jesus was speaking of the rest that comes from having one’s guilt and shame removed not by the works of the law, but simply through faith in Jesus Christ.

You can clearly see that this promise of “rest” is the focus of our author’s appeal here in Hebrews 4:1-11.  

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

We read in Hebrews 3 about the tragic events that followed in the wake of Israel’s exodus out of slavery to Egypt, how the people griped and complained and didn’t trust God, despite repeated miracles throughout the wilderness wanderings.

The result of this was stated in no uncertain terms in Hebrews 3:11 – “As I swore in my wrath,” said God, “’They shall not enter my rest.’”

We need to understand what this “rest” is, this “rest” from which the unbelieving Israelites were excluded.  We need to know because immediately following this horrible declaration of judgment in Hebrews 3:11 and 3:18 we encounter the word “therefore” in Hebrews 4:1.  Evidently, our author is about to draw a very important conclusion about this issue of the availability of “rest” and the failure of the Israelites to enter in and experience it.

And that conclusion couldn’t be any clearer or more explicit than what we read in 4:1 – “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”

I believe in the eternal security of the believer.  I believe that God eternally preserves all those who are truly His.  I have never believed otherwise.

The reason I possess this immovable conviction is not simply because it feels right, or because I was taught it since a young boy…none of these are legitimate reasons for believing anything.  I believe it because dozens of passages teach this truth explicitly and many others teach it indirectly.

I believe all “those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).  This is an unbroken chain.  If you have been justified, you will be glorified.  In fact, the glorification of the elect and justified is so sure it is put in the past tense, as if it has already happened.  In fact, we are already “seated in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 2:7).

I believe no true child of God will ever be lost, for “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).  Earlier in this chapter Paul had said, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

We are “kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:5), not our own strength.  It is God that holds on to us (John 10:28-30) in the two-fold grip of the all-powerful Son and the all-powerful Father.  We are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30).  Therefore, we are totally, eternally secure.

Nothing in the book of Hebrews contradicts the doctrine of eternal security.  However, the purpose of the book is not to directly teach that doctrine; rather it is focused on warning those who think that they are saved about the dangers of falling away from Jesus.

It is not directed at genuine believers who are really struggling about whether God will keep them through to heaven.  It is rather a strong warning to professing Christians in danger of turning their backs on Jesus.

In that setting, the companion doctrine of eternal security needs to be stressed: the perseverance of the saints.

The writer of Hebrews is nowhere suggesting that true, genuine believers can or will fall away from the father, but he is saying that true Christians will always endure to the end.  Perseverance is a proof of true saving grace.

He said it as clearly as could be said in Hebrews 3:14, “we come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”  This is how we can know we have become partakers of Christ, or to use Pauline terminology, to know how we are “in Christ,” IF we “hold firmly” to the end.  Not that it keeps us saved, but it proves that we have been saved.  Perseverance does not determine our salvation, but it demonstrates our salvation.  We do not become partakers if we persevere, but we persevere because we “have become” partakers.

Remember that twice in chapter 3 our author referred to his readers as “brothers” (3:1, 12).  It appears that as far as can be humanly assessed, these are people who have professed Christ as their Savior.  So why does he talk so strongly about the possibility of falling away?  Because he understands that no one but God knows those who are truly His. 

So there can be among the gathered people of God those who have made some kind of profession of faith, those who may have walked an aisle, raised their hands, signed a card, those who have been baptized, those who have become members of a church, and those who are involved in serving Christ or involved in leadership, but in the final analysis are still without the life of God in their souls.  They were never born again.

That is why Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23 are so chilling.  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

These people are doing some amazing things.  They are serving God, doing it in the name of Christ (i.e., for his glory)—prophesying, casting out demons, doing miracles—and yet in the final analysis will be excluded from heaven because Christ “never” knew them.  His words are clear, He “never knew” them.  It’s not that He knew them before and then they did something wrong and he forgot them and excluded them.  No, they had always been excluded because Christ never knew them.

Listen to me:  Anyone who has been associated with the church, its experiences and lifestyle, still must beware of the cultural religion that falls woefully short of personally experiencing salvation.  You can adopt the lifestyle, copy the language, imitate the convictions and yet never possessed a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Demas was a companion of Paul whom Paul must have considered with esteem, because he mentions him along with Luke in Colossians 4:14.

Now, Paul was a great guy, but where the work of the ministry was concerned he had little patience with those who weren’t “sold-out faithful,” who weren’t “all in.”

On his first missionary journey a man named John Mark went with Paul and Barnabas, but when things got rough, he ran home to momma with his tail between his legs.

Sometime later, when Paul and Barnabas were getting ready to go out on another missionary journey, Barnabas, being an encourager, wanted to take John Mark along, give him a second chance.  Paul’s response was “no way!”  And they argued about it and split up.

My point is not to debate the rightness or wrongness of this situation, but just to show that Paul wasn’t about to coddle someone who was not up to the task.  Demas must have been that kind of man.

Yet, in Paul’s last letter, with Paul awaiting imminent death, he wrote to Timothy and said, “Do your best to come to me quickly.”  Why was this such a matter of urgency?  “for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:10).

John Mark was restored, but in the end Demas deserted Paul (2 Timothy 4:10-11).  The doctrine of eternal security guarantees that authentic Christians will never be lost.  It does not affirm that counterfeit Christians will be saved.

The most notorious example of all is the one who lived among Jesus’ disciples for more than two years.  I’m talking about Judas Iscariot.  His skills at hypocrisy were so refined that none but God himself could see through him.

What am I saying?  That the only thing that can distinguish a true Christian from a counterfeit one is an encounter with opposition.  By the grace of God true Christians will endure; counterfeits, on the other hand, will wash out.

The writer of Hebrews understands this.  He knows this theological truth.

But even he had not been given the privilege of knowing who the elect are.

He loves each and every one of these people and wants to believe the best about them.  Many may have made a profession of faith in his very presence and even been baptized by him, so he makes his appeal to them as “brothers” and warns them “don’t fall away…don’t fall away.”

Eternal security does not mean that God will save apostates.  Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:12-13 “ if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful–for he cannot deny himself.”

If any of these Hebrews fall away fully and finally, it is because they were never saved to begin with.

Listen to Spurgeon: “We detest the doctrine that a man who has once believed in Jesus will be saved even if he altogether forsook the path of obedience.  We deny that such a turning aside is possible to the true believer.  No beloved, a man if he be indeed a believer in Christ, will not live after the will of the flesh.  When he does fall into sin, it will be his grief and misery, and he will never rest until he is cleansed from his guilt.  But I will say this of the believer: that if he could live as he would like to live, he would live a perfect life.”

Isn’t that true?  Is it true of you?

You may have heard someone say, “Once saved, always saved” and then they go out and live any way they want to.

But Spurgeon is saying that the true believer will want to live a life that is pleasing to God, not pleasing to themselves.

1 John 3 says that God has put his seed in my heart and changed my very nature.  In this way the children of God and the children of the devil are “obvious.”  They stand out from each other.  A true child of God will not live like the world.  A true child of God will not live in such a way that people cannot tell the difference between a pagan and a Christian.  The Bible says the difference should be “obvious.”

So here in Hebrews is a pastor, writing to those whom he dearly loves…some of whom are giving serious consideration to turning away from Christ.  So he warns them that to do so would be to forfeit their rest, to forfeit their salvation in Christ—their peace with God, their freedom from the guilt and shame of sin.

He does this by citing the historical experience of their own forbears.  The exodus generation had started out so wonderfully.  They started out mightily from Egypt, experiencing miracle after miracle, many displays of God’s supernatural power.  They all started out so wonderfully, yet ironically only two adults out of many hundreds of thousands made it alive to the Promised Land.

So many evidences, yet they persisted in unbelief, and as a result they were debarred from entering the Promised Land.

Were they saved?  The Bible doesn’t say…in those words.  But just keep these things in mind.

Being born a Jew had no saving benefit.  Experiencing many miracles did not guarantee salvation.  Like us, they had to have faith, and many of them disbelieved.  Don’t let that happen to you.

Most of the signs you’ll encounter when you’re out for a drive or stroll are pretty predictable.  They’ll tell you when to stop or go, and warn you when there are dangers to avoid.  But every once in awhile, you’ll encounter a sign that seems determined to make you laugh.  Either by design or accident, some road signs are just ridiculous.  And thank goodness for that, because it keeps our attention up where it belongs, on the road.  Funny road signs may very well be the best defense against the deadly distraction of texting and driving.

Here are some funny road signs:

Men are working—Prepare to be annoyed.  Nothing like brutal honesty.

Old dog, young dog, several stupid dogs.  Please drive slowly.

That seems kind of mean.  How would you like it if they put out a sign that read, “Look out for our owner, he’s an ignoramus?”

Or the sign that says, “stop here when flashing.”  Now, you know what it’s really talking about, but it takes you a minute to get there.

Or that sign that says, “caution, depression ahead.”  Really?  And I was feeling so optimistic about today.

But signs are often very serious, and the writer of Hebrews is very serious in giving his readers the signs that lead to apostasy.  In chapter 2, he had said, “don’t drift.”  Here in chapter 3, showing that things had already grown more serious, he said, “don’t harden your heart.” 

It is quite possible to harden our hearts and not experience the rest that God has promised us.

The final verses of Hebrews 3 read:

15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?  Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Here our author goes back to the historical tragedy of the Exodus generation failing to believe God’s promises and enter into the promised land.  They died in the wilderness.

He repeats the statement from verses 7-8, “do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”  He is warning the current generation of professing Jewish Christians not to turn away from Jesus Christ and return to the Mosaic law.  That would be as serious a rebellion of unbelief as the rebellion of unbelief by the Exodus generation.

Thus, he calls out to them again to “hear his voice,” to hear the voice of God calling them to believe His promises.  Again, the urgency of the call and the need to believe in His promises is “today.”  So he was telling them, “Don’t put it off.  Act now!”

Now the writer of Hebrews asks six questions, given in three pairs.  The first question asks the question, then the second question answers the first question.  In the words of R. Kent Hughes, “The questions are definitely phrased to raise soul-searching tensions among his hearers in the struggling church”

The reason he says this is that the Exodus generation—“those who left Egypt led by Moses” heard and experienced God’s promises but they rebelled against him.  This group sang the celebrative song of worship to the LORD after crossing the Reed Sea (Exodus 15) only shortly to begin their grumbling against God, as if He wasn’t good to them.

These were people who had experienced one of the greatest miracles in all of Scripture.  Their salvation from Egypt through the parting of the Reed Sea had been miraculous, unbelievable.  It is celebrated throughout Scripture as an example of God’s great love and power displayed for the sons of Jacob.

Not only that, but they had seen the 10 plagues with which God had cursed Egypt.  And they would experience miracle after miracle, yet grumble all the way.

But we do the same when we have evidence of God’s wonderful love and magnificent power in our behalf through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The resurrection is one of the most well-attested facts in all of history, yet people can turn their hearts away in unbelief because “it’s just not enough proof for me.  You’ve got to show me more.”

Miracles don’t necessarily engender faith.  It is the Word of God that produces faith.  More particularly, it is the Spirit of God opening our hearts to hear and believe the Word of God that saves us.

A common way of provoking God and hardening the heart is that indicated by the context.  “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.”  That is to say, by unbelief, by saying, “God cannot save me.  He is not able to forgive me; the blood of Christ cannot cleanse me; I am too much of a sinner for God’s mercy to deal with.”  That is a copy of what the Israelites said:  “God cannot take us into Canaan; He cannot conquer the sons of Anak.”  Although you may look upon unbelief, as a slight sin, it is the sin of sins.  (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, 63-4)

They began in great hope, but that hope slipped away as their unbelieving hearts whittled away at the revelation of God’s promises that they had.

What is the author of Hebrews saying?  He is saying that it is not enough to have a good beginning.  The kind of faith that saves perseveres and trusts God fully to the end.

Jesus taught in a parable that it is the kind of faith that perseveres that saves.  He spoke of the seed being sown on different types of soil.  In one case, the seed was sown on the rocks, where the soil lay in a very thin layer about the rocks.  That seed grew up but then withered away because it didn’t get enough moisture to withstand the heat of the sun.

Jesus interprets that in Luke 8:13, “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy.  But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.”

Likewise, Jesus taught of the seed sown among thorns, which choked the seedling plant.  That is like, Jesus said, “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

It is likely that many people have a great start, but do not have the kind of faith that perseveres.

C.S. Lewis speaks to the difficulty of persistence (from a tempting demon’s fictional perspective): “The Enemy has guarded him from you through the first great wave of temptations.  But, if only he can be kept alive, you have time itself for you ally.  The long, dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather.  You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere.  The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it — all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition.  If, on the other hand, the middle years from prosperous, our position is even stronger.  Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’ while really it is finding its place in him… That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unraveling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the earth.” (The Screwtape Letters)

Have you experienced that in your life?  Be on your guard, our enemy will put all effort into making sure we have an unbelieving heart that turns away from God.

The next set of questions are: “And with whom was he provoked for forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?”

Again, he is speaking of the same group of people, those who grumbled over and over again in the desert, doubting God’s goodness, and who finally came to the edge of the Promised Land and instead of believing God’s promise that He would help them defeat all their enemies, believed that these enemies were too gigantic and too numerous and too well-fortified for them to defeat.  Unlike David against Goliath, they believe that their giants were bigger than God, or doubted that God really loved them enough to assure their victories.

This provoked God’s anger and wrath.  Israel was debarred from the promised land, the place of God’s rest. God said:

For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”  Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Psalm 95:10, 11)

Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word [Moses].  But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers.  And none of those who despised me shall see it” (Numbers 14:20–23).

And thus, their “bodies fell in the wilderness.”  Not a single member of that generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, lived to enter into the Promised Land—none who was over twenty at the time of the Exodus (Numbers 14:29-30).

The people were so convinced that God couldn’t deliver them that they simply lost their faith in him.  People with hardened hearts are so stubbornly set in their ways that they cannot turn to God.  This does not happen suddenly or all at once; it is the result of a series of choices to disregard God’s will.  Let people know that those who resist God long enough, God will toss aside like hardened bread, useless and worthless.  (Bruce Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Hebrews,38)

The men who angered God for forty years were those who did not believe he could provide for them, though they had left Egypt with great hope.  This is a warning that high hopes will not suffice—there must be belief.

The third and final set of questions is found in verse 18. “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?”

They wouldn’t believe in God’s promise to deliver them from their enemies, so he made another promise, he swore “that they would not enter his rest.”  By saying So we see that [v. 19], the writer assumes that his reasoning will be self-evident.

The swearing of God, whether positively or negatively, is an unchangeable oath.  They could beg, plead, offer gifts, and attempt in every other way imaginable, but they would not enter His rest.  They bypassed their “today” and forfeited their rest.  Now the writer of Hebrews is saying that his readers also have a “today” in which to make that decision to trust, or continue to trust, in Jesus Christ.

But the Exodus generation did not believe and did not enter into God’s rest.

Why, because they were “disobedient.”  Unbelief gave way to disobedience, showing that they deliberately turned away from God.

The last verse says it all.  It is the true bottom line.  “They were unable to enter because of unbelief.”  Unbelief is the root sin.

John Piper explains:

The most penetrating and devastating definition of sin that I am aware of in Scripture is the last part of Romans 14:23: “Whatever is not from faith is sin.”  The reason it is penetrating is that it goes to the root of all sinful actions and attitudes, namely, the failure to trust God.  And the reason it is devastating is that it sweeps away all our lists of dos and don’ts and makes anything, from preaching to house-painting, a candidate for sin.  In the original language, this is stressed even more than in our versions: it says, “Everything which is not from faith is sin.”  Anything, absolutely any act or attitude which is owing to a lack of trust in God is sin, no matter how moral it may appear to men.  God looks on the heart.

As Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  Unbelief is a terrible, terrible insult to God.  Just imagine a friend offering to do you a favor and promises by his honor that he will see it through, but you decline the offer, effectively if not verbally saying, “No friend, I’ve decided I just can’t trust you any more,”—and if that is your response, it is likely that the friendship is over.  You have insulted his integrity.

And because God is infinitely more trustworthy, it is an infinitely more despicable sin against God than against a friend.  Just as your friend is highly insulted by your unbelief in him, God is even more so when you fail to believe Him.

Yes, these people were embittered against God because of God’s testing them (v. 8), and yes, they sinned (v. 17), but beneath all that was the root problem—they didn’t trust God, that is, they didn’t trust His goodness—to lead and protect and provide and satisfy.  Even though they saw the waters of the Reed Sea divide and they walked over on dry ground, the moment they got thirsty and didn’t see immediate relief in sight, their hearts hardened against God and they did not trust Him to take care of them.  They cried out against Him and said that life in Egypt was so much better.

That is why this book is written, to a current generation of Jews who had started off well, they had made strides towards Jesus Christ, they had responded to some of the preparatory work of the Holy Spirit—they had started off well.  They have heard that Jesus Christ died for their sins and by His own act of sacrifice they can be completely, once-and-for-all forgiven for their sins.  That sounds good.  But then a week or a month or a year or so later, along comes a time of testing.  Life doesn’t seem so good.  My needs are not being met.  A weariness sets in with manna, we seem to be walking in circles.  And hearts begin to harden towards God.  It becomes harder to believe.

This is a terrifying condition to be in—to find yourself no longer interested in Christ and His Word and prayer and worship and missions and living for the glory of God.  And to find all fleeting pleasures of this world more attractive than the things of the Spirit.

If that is your situation today, then I plead with you to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking His Word to your heart.

• Give heed to the Word of God (2:1).
• Do not harden your heart to God (3:8).
• Wake up to the deceitfulness of sin (3:13).
• Consider Jesus again, the apostle and high priest of our confession (3:1)
• And hold fast to your confidence and the boast of your hope in God (3:6).

And if you’ve never even made a start with God, then today is the day to put your hope in Him alone.  Turn from your sin and your self-reliance and put your confidence in a great Savior.  These things are written, and this message is preached, that you might believe and endure, and have life.

What do you do today if you have a hardened heart, a heart of unbelief?  Well, if you recognize this and accept the reality of it, that is the first step, that is a hopeful step.

Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12^th century abbot and a major leader in the revitalization of Benedictine monasticism, reminds us that “My brother, only the heart is hard that does not know it is hard.  Only he is hardened who does not know he is hardened.  When we are concerned for our coldness, it is because of the yearning God has put there.  God has not rejected us.”

But don’t put it off.  “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).  Today is the only time we have.  Happily for us, the Holy Ghost says, “Today, if you hear his voice.”  Never do I find Him saying “tomorrow.”  His servants have often been repulsed by men like Felix who have said, “Go your way for this time.  When I have a more convenient season I will send for you.”  And never did any apostle say, “Repent tomorrow, or wait for some convenient season to believe.”  The constant testimony of the Holy Ghost, with regard to the one single part of time, which I have shown indeed to be all time, is, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, 62)

Every command of Christ bears the date today.  If a thing is right, it should be done at once; if it is wrong, stop it immediately.  Whatever you are bound to do, you are bound to do now.  There may be some duties of a later date, but for the present that which is the duty, is the duty now.  There is an immediateness about the calls of Christ.  What He bids you do, you must not delay to do.  The Holy Ghost says “Today.”  (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, 66)

Did you know that perseverance in the faith is a community project?  Do you realize just how much you need others—brothers and sisters in Christ—to help you keep the faith?  We Americans are “rugged individualists” and have a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” which we mistakenly think means a “private” relationship with Jesus not to be shared with anyone else.

But the Christian life is not a solo event.  Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.  We need each other to successfully traverse this Christian journey.

The author of Hebrews has been warning the Jewish Christians not to abandon Jesus Christ, not to harden their hearts in unbelief like the Exodus generation did.  Despite seeing miracle after miracle they would not trust God for their best.  Therefore, they didn’t enter their rest.

We might think, “How could they have been so dense?  Why couldn’t they see God’s goodness right before their very eyes?”

The truth is, we are in danger of becoming just like Israel.  That is the point of this warning passage.

One of the keys to persevering is by doing it with others.  That is what our author is saying in Hebrews 3:12-13

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

So how can we avoid falling away like Israel?  Well, we can remain hyper-vigilant and pay attention to the first signs.  And, we can engage in community encouragement.

The verb, along with the plural “brothers,” indicates that our author is not addressing them as individuals, but as a group.  This danger of falling away from God is a group concern and can be remedied by a group effort.

“Take care” is to watch out, to be alert and vigilant.  We cannot afford to let this sin of unbelief sneak up on us.  We must be aware of the first step into unbelief.

“Unbelief is not inability to understand,” William Newell reminds us, “but unwillingness to trust… it is the will, not the intelligence, that is involved.”

And doubt is not the same as unbelief.  Unbelief, like belief, is a settled state, an entrenched perspective.  Doubt is caught in between.  It is the unsteady experience of being unsure, or as the Chinese picture it, having each leg in a different boat.

When you are doubting, you are still searching for the truth.  Unbelief has decided to stop searching and settle for no longer believing, or never believing.  It is a refusal to believe.

Doubting is more an intellectual issue—you are struggling with some truth you cannot seem to reconcile.  Unbelief is an issue of the will—determining not to believe no matter how much evidence is available.

The very real danger is that some, actually “any one of you” might develop “an evil, unbelieving heart.”  You might not take unbelief seriously, but God does, and calls it “evil.”  The danger is that an “evil, unbelieving heart” will cause you to “fall away from the living God.”  That is what the Scriptures call apostasy, standing away from the God you once followed, the truths you once embraced.

Turning away incurs a huge penalty.  For the Israelites it meant forfeiting the land and their physical lives.  For us in means forfeiting eternal rest with God in heaven.

“It is sobering to think that those who were so highly privileged to be the recipients of God’s grace and power of deliverance could fall so easily into unbelief and disobedience.  This is precisely the point the author of Hebrews wants his readers to see.  What happened then can happen again; indeed, the original readers apparently were in very real danger of falling away from their Christian commitment.  But this danger is one that every generation of Christians needs to ponder.  Though our salvation derives from grace and is therefore free and unmerited, we dare not take it lightly.  We are called to perseverance and faithfulness” (Donald Hagner, Encountering the Book of Hebrews).

The seriousness of this sin is magnified by the fact that it is against “the living God.”  Throughout the Scriptures God is owed ultimate honor and loyalty because He is the only true, living God.  All other so-called “gods” are fake and really nothing.

To disbelieve in the living God is to treat Him like he was fake and worth nothing.  Leon Morris notes: “The rebellion he warns against consists of departing from a living, dynamic person, not from some dead doctrine.  Jews might retort that they served the same God as the Christians so that they would not be departing from God if they went back to Judaism.  But to reject God’s highest revelation is to depart from God, no matter how many preliminary revelations are retained.”

Sin and Satan wage a constant battle to deceive and harden hearts of Christians—both professing Christians and genuine Christians.  But the evidence and confirmation that we share in Christ is whether we “hold fast our confidence.”  Professing Christians will either hold fast their confidence, or they will become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and fall away from God with a heart of unbelief.  It shows that they had never really becoming a sharer in Christ.

Remember the “Therefore” at the beginning of verse 7, and how it connects to verse 12?  This is where the warning for the Hebrew Christians (and us) begins.  The author says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).  The author is saying, “Watch out, Hebrews, do NOT become like Israel!”

Remember, the book of Hebrews was written to Jews who at least professed to be believers in Jesus Christ, but under intense pressure from family and friends and religious leaders, they were thinking about abandoning Jesus Christ for Moses, refusing grace and going back under the law—something that was comfortable and familiar to them.  Of course, this may well be an indication that they had never really trusted in Christ as their Savior.  They had had some kind of experience, yes, but not a saving relationship with Jesus.

This issue has always been the same.  It is an issue of faith, or rather where we put our faith?  Will we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone?  Will we continue to believe in Jesus Christ alone?

The same question confronts us today that Israel and these 1^st century believers had to answer:  “Will we believe what God has said, or reject Him?”  God’s revelation now was through His Son, Jesus Christ, and Jesus is superior to the angels and superior to Moses.  To believe God now is to believe in the provision He has made for salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ.

If they reject God’s provision for salvation, refuse to believe in Jesus Christ alone, they will experience judgment just as the Exodus generation did.  They will not be allowed to experience God’s blessings and the “rest” that God offers His children.

The heart our author is describing here is “an evil unbelieving heart.”  It shows, first of all, that the heart is the issue.  Not our outward behavior, but our heart.  Second, by combining these words “evil unbelieving” it reveals just how awful this is.

No one is evil all the time.  it is possible to get to the place where one has an “evil, unbelieving heart.”  Not everything we do is evil, but this shows that the heart has gotten to a place that is really bad.  Notice also that it is described as rejecting God, as turning away from “the living God.”

And observe that the author issues this warning to any of them (“none of you”).  This is a call for all of us to examine ourselves to make sure we are of the faith, regularly.  It is a personal issue for each one of us.  All too often we are far to quick to point out the sins of others while ignoring our own sins.  The warning of verse 12 is clear: each one of needs to “watch out!”

Verse 13 then speaks to the issue that this is not really an individualistic approach to keeping the faith—it is a community project.

13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Our hearts are naturally deceived by sin.  From the very beginning, Satan has been able to tempt us with illusory images of what might bring us happiness.  But it never happens.  Sure, sin is “fleeting pleasures” (Hebrews 11:25, ESV) or “temporary pleasures” (NASB), but Satan always overpromises and underdelivers.

We must be the church for each other.  And what is the main thing that the church does for each other?  We speak to each other in ways that help us not to be deceived by the seduction of sin.  We do not stay silent—we fight to help one another maintain a believing heart committed to Jesus Christ.  Helping each other believe means that we keep on showing people reasons why Jesus is more to be desired and trusted and loved than anything else.

People today are listening to the world, why not listen to us?  People are “squeezed into the mold of the world” (Romans 12:2, Phillips).  The thought life is a battlefield and we need to be equipped to fight a battle to think rightly.  For that, we need our Christian brothers and sisters, speaking encouragement from God’s Word into our hearts every day.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Christian and pastor, executed a few days before the end of World War II for opposing the Nazi regime, said this:

But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain; his brother’s is sure. (Life Together, 11–12)

Think how different it might have been for Israel if they had daily encouraged one another instead of falling to negativism and grumbling and quarreling.  Isolation, and particularly isolation from the mutual encouragement of the body, is a dangerous thing.  In isolation we are “prone to be impressed by the specious arguments which underline worldly wisdom” (F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984), p. 67).  When you are alone and unaccountable, it is tempting to take the easy course instead of the right one.

Our text says that we should “exhort one another.”  This is the Greek word parakaleo, which means to “call alongside.”  It is not forceful and commanding or abrasive, but is calm, collegial and supportive.  It focuses on what can be done, not what went wrong.  It is to urge into action.  It can mean to beg or implore.

The noun form is paraclete, a word describing the Holy Spirit’s comforting ministry in John 14.

Some believe that Jesus in Matthew 7 negates any ministry like this.  In fact, the one verse most Americans know today is no longer John 3:16, but Matthew 7:1, which they quote: “Judge not lest you be judged.”

But Jesus is not saying in that passage that we are not to speak the truth to people.  In the context he is saying first get the log out of your own eye, then help your brother with his speck.  Deal with yourself first, but don’t neglect helping your brother.

Notice that this encouragement is:

• Intentional—it is commanded of us.
• Mutual—we do this for each other.  It is not just one way.
• Continual—did you notice that, every day!
• Urgent—as long as it is called today.  Do it now.  Don’t put it off.
• And purposeful—so that unbelief will not develop.

So this is commanded.  It is not optional.  Each of us must obey God and give regular encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  If we want to win this battle, we have to stay at our battle stations and fight for truth and hope.

It is mutual, not one way.  This is not something only pastors can do.  It is ministry for each of us.  That way it can be done anywhere and anytime, whenever it is needed.  Like Bonhoeffer said, one moment I may need that lifeline of encouragement and the next day you might need it.  Will we be there for each other?

It is to happen daily.  In other words, it doesn’t happen weekly.  That’s not often enough.  We need to meet together more often than just once a week for this to work.

This is what the early church in Jerusalem did, recorded in Acts 2:42-47:

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Notice v. 46, “day by day.”  They devoted themselves to all these ministries towards God and each other.  No wonder the church grew!

This is urgent.  Do it today.  Don’t be a mañana man.  Each day, every time you think of or are around another Christian, think of a way to encourage them to keep the faith.  Remind them to trust God’s promises and remind them how good Jesus is.

The purpose of this is to help people not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  The deceit of sin started in the garden.  Charles Spurgeon pictures it:

The serpent played his part right cunningly with the woman, and soon withdrew her from her loyal obedience to the Lord God.  She began to question, to parley, to argue with rebellious suggestions, and after a while she put forth her hand, and she took of the fruit which had been forbidden, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat. (https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-deceitfulness-of-sin/#flipbook/)

Matthew Henry wrote that sin is deceitful because “It appears fair, but is filthy; it appears pleasant, but is pernicious; it promises much, but performs nothing.”

God has appointed a means by which he will enable us to hold our confidence firm to the end. It is this: Develop the kind of Christian relationships in which you help each other hold fast to the promises of God and escape the deceitfulness of sin.  Exhort one another day in and day out to stand fast and put on the whole armor of God. (John Piper)

The wondrous declaration of verse 14 indicates that the writer gladly identifies with the church.  “For we have become partakers of Christ.”  “Become partakers” is in the perfect tense in Greek meaning that it is speaking of a past action (the initial act of becoming a partaker) with continuing results (you are still a partaker).  As “partakers” we share in the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection, but only “if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.”

Once again, this verse isn’t preaching that we work for our salvation.  The condition “if we hold fast to hope” is a condition for being something now, not for becoming something.  Holding fast, keeping our confidence, continuing to believe, these are what defines the household of God (Heb. 3:6).  We don’t become God’s house by doing these things, but we show that we are God’s house by doing these things.  Verse 1 describes these people as “partakers of the heavenly calling.” 

Our author is not saying that you can partake of Christ, share in His heavenly calling, be His house, and then lose or forfeit that salvation.  It is a way for us to test ourselves to see if we really are saved.

This book teaches eternal security, but not in the way other passages do.  It teaches that we must examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith.  It teaches that once you become a partaker of Christ, you will always be one.  But if you don’t persevere, it shows you never were one.

No nation was so favored as Israel.  Though not mighty or large, God had chosen them, in keeping with His covenant with Abraham and had delivered them from the hand of mighty Egypt.  God led them, provided food and water, covenanted with them to be their God.

But in the wilderness they griped and groaned, and when they came to the edge of the Promised Land, two spies said, “Let’s go!” and ten said, “No!”  They didn’t trust God’s promises that He could defeat all the Canaanites, no matter how numerous, how gigantic or how well fortified they might be.  They refused to go into the land out of fear.  Then, when God said they would die in the wilderness for their unbelief, they tried to go in without God’s presence with them and failed miserably.

They didn’t enter into their rest.

Our last study in Hebrews concluded at verse 6, a warning against falling away from Jesus Christ.  Our author has been making the case that Jesus is vastly superior to any other being—whether an angel or the most revered man in Jewish history (Moses).  We learned that Moses was “faithful,” and so was Jesus.  However, Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house, whereas Jesus was faithful as a Son over God’s house.  This fact proves that Jesus is superior to Moses and worthy of their utmost love and loyalty.

Moses was faithful, but Moses’ generation was not.  In verses 7-19 of Hebrews 3 our author turns to the generation of Israelites that Moses led out of bondage in Egypt and warns his readers not to be like them.  Do NOT follow their example.

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.'” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Verse 7 begins the second warning passage in the book of Hebrews.  The first warning, in Hebrews 2:1-4 was “Don’t drift.”  Here is it more serious, “Don’t harden your hearts.”  This warning passage continues through 4:13.  The warning is divided into two sections.

Verses 7-11 record the Old Testament event of Israel’s conduct in the wilderness, quoted from Psalm 95:7-11.  The author is going to build upon this event and apply it to his current readers (and thus to us today).

By the way, Psalm 95 is a worship psalm, beginning with strong affirmations of worship.  It starts with an invitation to come into God’s presence to sing praises to Him.  But after this call to worship, it suddenly shifts gears to warn them against hardening their hearts as the wilderness generation did.  Thus, a heart problem that the wilderness generation had, endangers God’s people again in the psalms and now in Hebrews.  It would appear that this is a perennial problem that we need to be vigilant against.

So for us today, two thousand years after the use of it in Hebrews, it remains the Holy Spirit’s message.  There is a timeless urgency to the message.  We must listen to the Holy Spirit’s message today, for it is God’s message for the church in this troubled age.

Keep in mind that this lengthy quotation from Psalm 95 directly ties in to what was written in verse 6, “but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”  He is explaining what he means by “holding fast our confidence and the boast of our hope.”

That first generation out of Egypt, with few exceptions, did not do it.  They, therefore, missed out on the blessings of God, both temporally and eternally.  Their unbelief cost them dearly.

Verses 12-19 then apply this to the readers of this epistle, with a restatement of the Old Testament quote.  The point of the author is that there is a very real and present danger that this generation might follow in the footsteps of their ancestors.

Our author is drawing a comparison between the experience of Israel in her Exodus out of physical bondage in Egypt and the Church’s Exodus out of spiritual bondage in sin.  The point that he makes here in Hebrews 3 is that we need to be very, very careful that no one in our midst makes the same mistake that many Israelites made.

The application begins with the word “Therefore” (v. 7) and is meant to be connected with the “Take care” of verse 12.  “Therefore,” because of the bad example of the wilderness generation as expressed in Psalm 95 (vv. 7-11), “take care” or “be on guard” that you and your brothers in Christ don’t fall into the same hardness of heart.

1.  The Warning from Israel’s Bad Example (Hebrews 3:7-11)

The quote from Psalm 95 is introduced as an address from “…the Holy Spirit.”  This is true of all of Scripture, although it was written by 40 men over the course of 1,500 years, it was all under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Peter confirms this when he says…

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The psalmist makes it explicit here that the words he is writing are the words of the Holy Spirit.  So listen up!

You might notice that, throughout this entire warning passage, the word “Today” is very prevalent.  It is used five times (verses 7, 13, 15 and twice in 4:7).  The stress on the fact that “Today” is the day of opportunity to respond to and believe in Jesus Christ, whether that “today” happened in the days of Moses, the days of David, the first century or today in the 21^st century.

We all, everyone of us, has an opportunity to hear His voice, and we will respond to it in one of only two ways: believe it or reject it.

The author says, “…if you hear his voice…”  As we’ve seen in this passage (v. 6, 14), the word “if” carries with it the potential that they won’t actually hear his voice—they might hear it but pay no attention to it.

The danger here is introduced to us in the warning, “…do not harden your hearts.”  To harden one’s heart means to close our hearts and minds to what God has to say, to resist it.

In verses 8-9, we see that the author refers to a specific incident in time, which clarifies what it means to have a hard heart.  He says, “as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.”

Two key words in these verses help us understand what it means to harden one’s heart.  They are the words “rebellion” and “testing” in verse 8.  The renderings here come from the Greek Septuagint, but the original Hebrew behind the word “rebellion” is meribah, and behind “testing” is massah.  Check Psalm 95:7, 8, as it is rendered in your Old Testament, and you will read: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.”

Moses illustrates this rebellion by the Israelites in the book of Exodus.  In chapter 17, the people of Israel begin to complain to Moses about God’s plan.  They were thirsty, with no water to be found, but they refused to trust God and quarreled with Moses.  Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’” (Exodus 17:2).  Moses struck the rock and water came out.

The account concludes with this postscript: “And he called the name of the place Massah [i.e., testing] and Meribah [i.e., quarreling], because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not?’” (Exodus 17:7).

Significantly the word Meribah is used in one other place, and that is forty years later at Kadesh when Israel is again out of water and threatening rebellion, and Moses tragically strikes the rock twice instead of speaking to it as the Lord had directed (Numbers 20:1–13, esp. v. 13).  The mention of these words at the beginning and end of the wilderness sojourn is meant to tell us that this conduct was repeated many times during that whole period of wandering.

So the first sign of a hard heart is the refusal of God’s hand of parental authority (Moses and Aaron) in your life (“Massah”).  The second, is the critical, complaining spirit (“Meribah”).  The third stage we will see in 3:16-18 is just outright disobedience.

Deuteronomy 9:7 shows us what Israel was like after forty years in the wilderness.  Moses says, “Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.”

In spite of all the miracles that God had performed throughout those forty years, in spite of all the things God did for Israel, every time a new crisis came up, their first response was to rebel against the Lord.

Hardness is rooted in unbelief.  It is a decision not to believe God’s promises or God’s goodness.  You would think that God’s repeated provision and protection throughout these years would have prompted trust and reliance upon God—that their first response would be to ask God for help.

Our author continues his quotation of Psalm 95 in verses 10-11, saying:

10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.'”

Leon Morris writes, “We should not miss the reference to the anger of God.  The Bible is clear that God is not impassive or indifferent in the face of human sin” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary—Hebrews, p. 34).  The implication is pointed.  If God was angry with people to whom he had graciously and mightily revealed Himself over and over again, how much more with those who have heard the gospel, felt its beauty, sensed its urgency, yet have turned away in stubborn defiance.  And that is what the audience of this letter was in danger of doing.

That generation of the Exodus died in the wilderness because they had hardened their hearts and would not trust God to deliver them.  The author of Hebrews is warning his own generation not to follow in their footsteps.

What was the consequence that the Israelites faced for not trusting and obeying God?  They could not enter His “rest.”  This was in response to the unbelief of the Israelites when they refused to go into the land God had promised to them.  They grumbled against Moses and Aaron, believing they would be better off in Egypt (Numbers 14:1-3).  So Numbers 14:11 says:

And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

The penalty was that not one of them “shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it” (Numbers 14:23).

Only Joshua and Caleb of that generation would experience rest in the promised land.  Psalm 81:10-16 expresses this problem well:

10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. 13 Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. 15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. 16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

An unbelieving heart never has enough proof.  It may claim that it would believe if God would show Himself through miracles, but it won’t.  Israel is proof of that.  They had seen God’s works “for forty years” (Heb. 3:8) but they still hardened their hearts against God.

The Lord Himself testified they had done this on no less than 10 occasions (Nm 14:22).  As far as God was concerned, the whole 40 years in the wilderness was a time of testing revealing what the hearts of the Israelites were really like (Dt 8:2).  But they flunked the test.  In spite of all the miracles God did before their eyes, they refused to believe He would do what He said.  This is why He became angry with them.  The more He did for them, the more they rebelled against Him.  Thus, He became angry with that generation, keeping them in the wilderness until all the men of war (except Joshua and Caleb) died.  Only then would He allow the next generation to enter the land–which He referred to as His “rest” (Dt 12:9).  (C. S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Hebrews, 70)

“Rest” is something promised in Eden.  It is the nature of life lived without sin in the presence of God.  It is what is promised in the Sabbath and was meant to be lived in Eden.  Of course, Adam and Eve forfeited that rest.

Yet Israel could attain that rest when they entered into the land God promised them.  In Exodus 33:14 God promised, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  God has promised Israel that they would experience His blessing if they were obedience, but be under His curse if they disobeyed, especially if they worshipped other gods.  In this context, rest is to be protected from one’s enemies so that life could flourish.

“‘Rest’ (katapausis), as used here [in Hebrews 3-4], points to a place of blessing where there is no more striving but only relaxation in the presence of God and in the certainty that there is no cause for fear” (Leon Morris, Expositor’s Bible Commentary—Hebrews, p. 35).

We are promised rest in the gospel.  Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  In this context, rest is to no longer be under the law, especially the Pharisaic excesses, they weighed men down under heavy loads of guilt and despair.

The urgency of responding in trust now is carried by the word “today” (v. 7).  We are to respond to this prohibition against allowing our hearts to harden immediately.  Don’t put it off another moment.  The Holy Spirit is calling your heart right now.  It must not be neglected.

There is nothing so hardening as delay.  When God speaks to us, He asks for a tender heart, open to the whispers of His voice of love.  The believer who answers the To-day of the Holy Ghost with the To-morrow of some more convenient season, knows not how he is hardening his heart; the delay, instead of making the surrender and obedience and faith easy, makes it more difficult.  It closes the heart for to-day against the Comforter, and puts off all hope and power of growth.  (Andrew Murray, The Holiest of All, 125)

The Exodus generation saw miracle after miracle, but not everyone believed.  In fact, it is likely that most of them did not believe.  That is why they died in the wilderness.

Even in the church today, there may be people who have gone through a moral reformation, go to church, live and act like Christians, have seen God do miracles for them, yet are not saved.  Why?  Because they have not put their whole trust in Christ alone for salvation.  Maybe they haven’t consciously refused to believe in Jesus, but they just haven’t ever consciously placed their whole trust in Jesus alone to forgive their sins.

I challenge you to examine yourself.  I’m not asking if you go to church, if you have experienced some wonderful spiritual experiences, even miracles, if you’ve walked an aisle or prayed a prayer.  I’m asking, “Have you put your whole trust only in Jesus Christ and nothing else, for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Don’t trust in your history of church attendance, in your giving amount, in your good deeds for God.  Trust only in Jesus.

And keep trusting Him.  Don’t let anything distract you from trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

Jesus is superior to Moses.  That is the theme of Hebrews 3:1-6.  Moses was the most highly respected person to the Jews—their liberator from Egypt, the giver of the law, the tabernacle and the sacrificial system.

According to Leon Morris, the ancient Rabbis considered Moses to be the greatest man ever, greater than the angels. The writer to the Hebrews does nothing to criticize Moses, but he looks at Moses in his proper relation to Jesus.

In Hebrews 3:1-6, the author of Hebrews identifies some similarities between Jesus and Moses, but also points out some vital differences.

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Moses received much glory from God.  This is seen in his shining face after spending time with God (Exodus 34:29-35), in his justification before Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12:6-8), and before the sons of Korah (Numbers 16).

But Jesus received far more glory from the Father, at His baptism (Matthew 3:16-17), at His transfiguration (Mark 9:7), and at His resurrection (Acts 2:26-27 and Acts 2:31-33). He is “my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

Moses was a member of an “house;” but Christ was the Builder of one (v. 3).  Moses was connected with a single house, Christ “built all things,” being the Creator of the universe (v. 4).  Moses was a man; Christ, God (v. 4).  Moses was but a “servant” (v. 5); Christ, the “Son.”  Moses was a “testimony” of things to be spoken after (v. 5), Christ supplied the substance and fulfillment of what Moses witnessed unto.  Moses was but a servant in the house of Jehovah, Christ was Son over His own house (v. 6).

Both Moses and Jesus were faithful in their God-given mission, there was no arguing that (3:2).  Moses was part of the house (of Israel), but Jesus was the builder, the creator.  In fact, verse 4 affirms that God is “the builder of all things.”  Back in Hebrews 1:3 we get more clarification when he says, “through whom [Jesus] also he created the world.”  God created the world through Jesus’ direct creative involvement.

So, besides being our faithful apostle and high priest (Hebrews 3:1-4), Jesus also possesses an exalted status and position.  This is found in verses 5-6:

5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.  And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Among the Jews, Moses was the top guy.  Moses was faithful; Jesus was faithful.  But that faithfulness was expressed in different spheres and different statuses.

In verse 5, we see that “Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant.”  First, as to the sphere, he was faithful “in all God’s house.”  And he was faithful as a “servant.”

Christ, on the other hand, “is faithful over God’s house as a son.”  Moses resided in the house, but Jesus presides over it.  Moses was a servant, but Jesus was a son.  Jesus has a higher status.

Now, the word for “servant” here is not the familiar diakonos, nor the more serious doulos (bond slave).  This is the word therapon, which as a noun is used only here in the New Testament.  It can mean an “attendant” or even a “comrade in arms.”  It refers to a “personal service freely rendered.”  So, it was an honored place in the nation of Israel.  But wonderful as Moses is, he never had the status of being a son, or the Son.

You want to compare the two?  Fine.  It’s the difference between an exalted son and an honored servant.  In that culture, much more than in our more egalitarian society, those statues were totally different and uncrossable.

Why should Jesus, rather than Moses, be the object of your steady preoccupation?  Because He’s the one who occupies the most esteemed, exalted status and position; He is the Son who rules over the household of God.

It is interesting that the very nature of Moses’ ministry as stated here was anticipatory.  He was “faithful as a servant in all God’s house…”  And how did that faithfulness express itself?  By “testifying to what would be said in the future.”

In other words, Moses’ ministry was preparatory.  What Moses did and wrote about anticipated Jesus.  It all points to Jesus.  The law, the sacrificial system, the tabernacle, the priesthood—all of it was to point people to Jesus Christ.

So, in John 1, Philip says to Nathaniel, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45).

Jesus told the unbelieving Pharisees in John 5: “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46)

And following His resurrection from the dead, what an incredible gift Jesus gave to His disciples.  In Luke 24, He took His disciples through a seminar showing how the Old Testament, from beginning to end, talked about Him.

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

When you read Genesis through Deuteronomy, the books that Moses wrote, you must look for Jesus Christ, for He is there.  All that Moses wrote was aiming toward Jesus Christ.  He was pointing to Jesus.  Moses displayed supreme human faithfulness as a servant, “to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.” But he was not a son.

“But Christ,” says our text, “is faithful over God’s house as a son” (v. 6).  He faithfully fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy.  He faithfully and joyfully became incarnate, perfectly becoming a human in body, mind, and emotions.  He faithfully submitted his “omnis”—his power, his presence, and his knowledge—to the will of the Father.  He faithfully underwent temptation and suffered terribly, never giving in.  He faithfully went to Gethsemane.  He faithfully yielded his hands to the nails.  He faithfully became sin for us, as wave after wave of the world’s sin was poured over his sinless soul.

Again and again during those three hours on the cross his soul recoiled and convulsed as all the lies of civilization, the murders of a thousand “Killing Fields,” the whorings of the world’s armies, and the noxious brew of hatreds, jealousies, and pride were poured on his purity.  Finally, he became a curse: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13).  In the darkness Jesus bore it all in silence.  Not a word came from his lips.  Can you see him writhing like a serpent in the gloom (see John 3:14, 15)?  And, of course, he faithfully died for us—“Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last” (Mark 15:37).  Such was the ministry of our faithful apostolos, the sent one (R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews, Volume 1, p.

So fix your attention and affection on Jesus Christ and keep it there.  If you want to enjoy Jesus you have to stay with Him until you learn to enjoy Him.  Stay there until your Christian life is one thrill after another.  Until every waking moment of every day is joy upon joy upon joy.  Consider Him.  Focus your attention on Him.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 77)

Will you give up Jesus Christ for Moses—or any other thing or person?

Why should we stay focused on Jesus?  Because he is (1) a faithful apostle and high priest, the very best, and (2) because he has an exalted status and role and (3) Jesus should be our steady preoccupation because to lose sight of Him is to put our eternity in jeopardy.

The last part of verse 6 says

And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Moses was Christ’s “house” (or part of it) in the Old Testament.  Now we who believe in Christ are “his house,” but under condition.

He says we are His house, we belong to Him IF “we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”  That’s a big IF.  This “if” statement is what is called a third class conditional sentence in Greek.

Daniel Wallace, in his Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, says that the third class condition encompasses “a broad range of potentialities in Koine Greek.  It depicts what is likely to occur in the future, what could possibly occur, or even what is only hypothetical and will not occur” (p. 696).

In other words, our author holds out the possibility that they will hold fast their confidence and boasting in their hope, but they may not.  In other words, they may or may not persevere.

Now, that is not very encouraging.  It reminds us not to take our salvation for granted, but to be vigilant.  I do want you to understand: perseverance does not save you, but it does prove that you are saved.

When someone falls away fully and finally, it is not that salvation has been lost; rather it was never there to begin with.  God’s children do endure to the end.

This is the corollary to eternal security.  Eternal security is the objective reality that having been united with Christ I shall be forever.  Assurance is our subjective grasp of that, which can be strong or weak.

We cannot drift (Hebrews 2:1), we’ve got to hold fast (1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23; Hebrews 3:6; 6:11-12).

One Baptist pastor said: “There may not be a more needed word among Baptists than the one of this verse.  While Southern Baptists claim 14 million adherents, less than half of this number is actively involved in a fellowship of believers.  Yet the remaining 7 million glibly claims to be Christian under the guise of ‘once saved, always saved.’  This verse removes the mask.  There is no hiding.  If there is no evidence of a persevering faith then there is no evidence of faith at all.”

Some object and say that this amounts to works for our salvation.  No indeed.  According to our writer, it is the evidence that we are part of “His house.”  We “hold fast our confidence” in Christ and his sufficiency, we “boast of our hope” in Christ “firm until the end.”  A compass’s needle always points north.  You can shake the compass, twist it around, so that momentarily it points another direction, but eventually the needle finds its way back home.  The believer might fall into sin.  He might grieve the Lord.  He might bring shame to his life and to his church.  But if his faith is sure, then that inward spiritual needle points back to his boast and hope, Jesus Christ.  Does this describe you?

(Phil Newton, http://archive.southwoodsbc.org/sermons/hebrews_03.01-06.php).

This is not the only warning from our author about the potential of falling away from our faith.

Notice that our author puts himself in this category.  He says “we are His house.”  He, too, needs to persevere.

First, we need to “hold fast our confidence.”  Then, we are to “boast of our hope.”  Our “confidence” and our “hope” are the same thing—that salvation is found fully and only in Jesus Christ.  Confidence is parrhesia and it means “boldness” or “assurance.”  It describes a perspective that carries no doubts.  It is used four times in Hebrews.  Here and in 4:16; 10:19 and 10:35.  Hebrews 10:35 encourages us “do not throw away your confidence.”  We are to hold fast that confidence.

We are to “boast of our hope.”  Again, our hope is Jesus Christ and all He has done for us in His active obedience of perfectly obeying His Father and in His passive obedience dying on the cross.  Hope is a confident expectation that the faith we have put in Christ is well invested and will pay off. 

In the Scriptures we have to be very careful what we boast in.  We should never boast in ourselves and our own abilities.  Instead, we are to boast in Jesus Christ.  If there is one thing God hates it is human pride.  It is the one thing that keeps us from receiving grace from God.

Pride is…

• It is boasting in self and not the Lord.
• It is taking credit ourselves for what God alone can do.
• It is relying on self and not God.
• It is feeling sufficiency in our own strength and not in God’s.
• It is the disinclination to admit that we are mere earthen vessels so that another gets the glory.
• It is the unwillingness to admit weaknesses that may accent the power of Christ.

Rather,

• He loves the heart that boasts in the Lord.
• He loves the heart that gives him credit for what he alone can do.
• He loves the heart that relies on his power.
• He loves the heart that wants him to get the glory in all things and that wants the power of his Son to shine in our weakness.

Perseverance functions as evidence of an existing right relationship with God.  Our author doesn’t say that a person will become a part of God’s people if they persevere.  Neither does he say that a person will remain a part of God’s people if they persevere.  Rather he says: this is how you can know if someone already is a part of God’s people – does he or she hold fast their confidence and their boasting in hope in Christ all the way to the end?  In other words, he is less concerned with whether or not they profess to believe and more with whether or not they persevere in believing.

So, how do you persevere?

The hymn writer was right, we are “prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love.”  Our hearts are naturally faithless and only God’s Word and God’s Spirit can move our hearts to stay preoccupied with and passionate about Jesus Christ.

We persevere by keeping our eyes on Christ.  Not a glance every now and then, but consistently gazing upon Him, seeing and savoring all that He is and has done for us.  As you keep your eyes on Jesus you will find Him pulling you to Himself.

Christ must be the consistent focus in our teaching, our preaching, our communion, our fellowship, our personal quiet times and Bible reading, our prayers and worship, our service and evangelism.  If we don’t keep setting forth Jesus Christ to our attention we will be distracted.  Satan will make sure of it, the world will provide many opportunities and our flesh will jump at it.  Why?  Because meditating on Christ is difficult.  It isn’t easy to stay focused.

George Mueller, the great prayer warrior and a man who started and maintained multiple orphanages, said:

“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.  The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished…I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it.”

That’s why the Psalmist says that meditating on the Word makes us like a fruitful, stable tree and prospers us in life.  Meditate on Jesus Christ.  Stay focused on Him.

The author of the book of Hebrews is very concerned about his congregation and the possibility that they may not persevere in the faith—that they might turn back to the familiar and comfortable arms of Judaism.

All of us face this possibility too—not returning to Judaism, but going back to our old life.  Paul tells us to “put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man” (Ephesians 4:22), but that old life has a magnetic draw.  Many of our old friends still live that way.  It seemed so fun.

Peter (2 Peter 2:20-22) says…

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

It may sound like these people have lost or forfeited their salvation, but in reality their nature never changed.  The dog and pig are acting in accordance with their true nature.  These people obviously had some moral reformation of their lives, but becoming entangled in the old life so that “the last state has become worse for them than the first” shows that they had never been born again and given a new nature.

So the author of Hebrews is concerned.  He starts out in Hebrews 1 reminded these Christians of who they were

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling,

And we talked about that last week.  Now our author focuses on the key thought.  We not only need to think accurately about our new nature, but we need to think accurately about Jesus Christ.

We don’t just need to have the right theological understanding of who Christ is, but we need to fix our thoughts on Jesus Christ.

consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Consider Jesus—that is the focal point of this paragraph.  We are to stay focused on Him.  This imperative carries with it the full apostolic weight.

The Greek word here is katanoein.  It is an intensified expression of thinking, applying the mind.  “It does not mean simply to look at or to notice a thing.  Anyone can look at a thing or even notice it without really seeing it.  The word means to fix the attention on something in such a way that its inner meaning, the lesson it is designed to teach, may be learned.” (Barclay) 

There are no less than eleven Greek words in the NT all rendered “consider,” four of them being simple ones; seven, compounds.  The one employed by the Holy Spirit in Heb 3:1 signifies to thoroughly think of the matter, so as to arrive at a fuller knowledge of it.  (Arthur W. Pink, An Exposition of Hebrews, 154)

It means to give consistent, concentrated attention and deepest regard to Jesus Christ.  It means considering Him deeply and thoughtfully.  One author says, “To attentively weigh His dignity, His excellency, His authority, to think of what is due to Him.”

We live in a world that is so easily distracted.  It is hard to give 10 seconds of serious, concentrated thought to anything.  We are bombarded with information and we have learned to skim it.  We don’t know anything deeply; we know a little (a very little) about a lot of things.  We think we know a little about a lot of things.

This word is the exact opposite.  Considering Jesus requires focus over time.  It is not a momentary glance, but a lingering gaze.  And it is the key to perseverance in the Christian life.

Keep your attention focused on Jesus!

Here is the simple principle:  The successful perseverance of the Christian is the consequence of a steady preoccupation with Jesus Christ.

Don’t keep your eyes on yourself.  Don’t put your eyes back on Moses.  Keep focused on Jesus.

There are really two ways to apply this to our lives.  One is negative, it is what we should keep our minds away from.  We must stay away from having as our model anyone other than Christ.  Don’t put your focus on your pastor, or a Christian celebrity.  We can be encouraged by them, but it is not our goal to be like them or to put our hope in them.  They will likely disappoint us.

But the positive side is this—not what we must not do, but what we must do.  That is to explore the depths of Jesus Christ, to see and savor everything about Jesus Christ, making Him the burning center of our hope and our life. 

Everything in life will try to keep you from fixing your attention on Jesus.  Sports, grades, boyfriends, our kids, a better job.  The Bible says, fixate on knowing Christ and learning how much more valuable and pleasing and sweet He is than anything else.

John Piper says it like this: “If your mind is like a compass moving through a world of magnets, making it spin this way and that, make Jesus the North Pole of your mental life that your mind comes back to again and again through the day” (“Jesus Worthy of More Glory Than Moses”).

Focusing on Jesus this way begins with desire.  This is what David said in Psalm 27:4: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”  Paul expressed his desire in a passionate prayer: “I count everything as loss . . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:8–10).

But desire is followed by concentration, of applying the mind in dedicated attention.

A brilliant mathematician, Norbert Wiener, was walking across the campus of MIT.  He was so absorbed in thought that when a student greeted him, he failed to respond.  But after a few steps he turned and said, “Pardon me, could you tell me which way I came from?”  The student pointed and answered, “That way, sir!”  “Thanks,” said the prof.  “Now I know I’ve had lunch!”  This is extreme, to be sure, but no one’s thoughts can be said to be fixed without concentration. And no one will ever learn anything about the subject being considered without it.  Isaac Newton said the key to his understanding was, “I keep it before me.”

The third element involved here is discipline.  We’ve got to keep at it.  God’s Word (through which we know Christ) will only yield its riches to those who persist in disciplined meditation.  It will take time, therefore it will take discipline.

These are the people who stand fast in the Christian life.  These are the ones who are not given to extreme highs or extreme lows.  These are the people in it for the long haul, who endure to the end.

They are not turned aside by the seduction and allurements and enchantments of the world, not because they are less susceptible to temptation than you and I, not because fate has given them a better marriage or a better job or better finances, but because they are steadily preoccupied with Jesus Christ.

There is no mystical “secret” to the Christian life.  It is simply training our minds consistently upon Jesus Christ.

We need to remember who we are, but we need to focus our attention and affection upon Jesus Christ.

And then he gives us three reasons why Jesus Christ (not Moses) should be the object of our steady preoccupation.

First, because Jesus Christ is our faithful apostle and high priest.

We should keep our focus on Jesus because He meets our two basic needs.  We need a word from God and way to God. We need revelation from God and we need reconciliation with God. And the point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is both. This is why verse 1 ends with two descriptions of Jesus: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.”

“Apostle” means “sent one,” sent from God to us with His Word.  He brings us our “heavenly calling.”  Jesus repeatedly describes himself (over ten times in John’s writings alone) as being sent by the Father into the world. Jesus is “the first apostle, the great apostle, the source of all apostleship” (Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972), p. 127).  Yes, Moses was sent by God, but Jesus is the apostle par excellence. Jesus was sent on a mission and the cross and resurrection meant that the mission was accomplished.

As “high priest” he is the mediator between God and man, offering sacrifice to bring us to God.  Jesus is also the “high priest” par excellence. Because he was perfectly human and perfectly divine, he can relate to both man and God.  Thus, He can perfectly mediate between God and man.

We saw back in Hebrews 2:17

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus came in a human body, allowing Him to die in our behalf, to “make propitiation” or to “satisfy” the wrath of God against my sins.

Moses performed part of the role of a priest by interceding for the people, but never could do anything to satisfy God’s anger against them.  Moses himself was a fallen man.

John Piper says…

So what the writer is saying is: You Christians, you who share in the calling of God from heaven to heaven, you have great confidence that you have heard from God (through your apostle) and you have great hope that you are going to God, loved and reconciled and secure, you Christians consider Jesus, think about Jesus, meditate on Jesus, listen to Jesus.  Why?  Because he is the Apostle from heaven who brought you your calling.  And he is the final, once for all High Priest of God whose sacrifice of himself reconciled you to God and guarantees your homecoming to heaven. Consider Jesus, God’s Apostle—the final word from God—and God’s High Priest—the final way to God. (“Jesus Worthy of More Glory Than Moses”)

So, our author is telling us to consider Jesus, specifically in comparison to Moses, this great man in Israel’s history.

Have you thought much about Jesus as your “faithful apostle and high priest?”

John Brown of Edinburgh, a puritan in the 19^th century, wrote:

It is because we think so little about Him, that we love Him so little, trust in Him so little, so often neglect our duty, are so much influenced by “things seen and temporal,” and so little by “things unseen and eternal.”

Jesus was “faithful” as an apostle and high priest from the time he was 12 years old, throughout his earthly ministry and to the last moment on the cross.  He could declare, “It is finished!  I’ve accomplished it.  I’ve faithfully finished what you sent me to do.”

Yes, there are some similarities between Moses and Jesus.  Both were faithful, but the magnitude and meaningfulness of Jesus’ faithfulness was so much greater.

Moses was an apostle and priest, but an imperfect shadow of all that Jesus Christ would accomplish as the apostle and priest par excellence.  This is why he says in verse 3: “Jesus is worthy of greater honor than Moses.”

Remember, he is writing to believers tempted to take their eyes off Jesus and go back to Judaism.  Brilliantly he takes the best guy Judaism had to offer and shows how inferior He was to Jesus.

First of all, he shows the similarity between Jesus and Moses and then he shows the superiority of Jesus over Moses.

Look at it.

“He [Jesus] was faithful to Him [God the Father] who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.”  So first there is a comparison before there is a contrast.  The writer is not putting Moses down.  That’s not the point.  Moses was faithful in the household of God.  The writer is quoting from Numbers 12:6–8 where God says,

Hear now my words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 not so, with my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my household; 8 with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord.

When the writer turns now to contrast Jesus and Moses, it really means something because Moses was one of a kind in his day—with a more intimate relation to God than any other prophet.

In what ways is Christ superior to Moses?  In the following verses our author will show:

Moses was a member of an “house;” Christ was the Builder of one (v. 3).  Moses was connected with a single house, Christ “built all things,” being the Creator of the universe (v. 4).  Moses was a man; Christ, God (v. 4).  Moses was but a “servant” (v. 5); Christ, the “Son.”  Moses was a “testimony” of things to be spoken after (v. 5), Christ supplied the substance and fulfillment of what Moses witnessed unto.  Moses was but a servant in the house of Jehovah, Christ was Son over His own house (v. 6).

Let’s look at each one.

First in verse 3,

For He [Jesus] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

Verse 3 says that Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses in relation to God’s house. And he gives an astonishing reason.  Because Jesus is the builder of the house and Moses is a part of the house.  Look at it carefully. Verse 3: “[Jesus] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.”  In what way? “By just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.”  In other words he is saying: Jesus is to the people of God as a builder is to a house.  Moses is to the people of God as one of the people of God is to God’s household.  Therefore, Jesus is Moses’ builder.  In short, Jesus made Moses.

The architect or builder is greater than what he builds, thus Jesus is greater than Moses.  It’s not that Moses wasn’t important, or that he wasn’t faithful.  It’s just that he and Jesus are in different categories.  Jesus is the Creator, Moses is the created.  He is a creature and Jesus created Him.

John Piper compares it to decathlon athletes bragging about their accomplishments:  One said, “I threw the javelin farther than anyone else. I’m the greatest.”  Another said, “I put the shot farther than anyone else. I’m the greatest.”  Another said, “I jumped higher than anyone else. I’m the greatest.”  And eventually they all look toward Jesus in his burgundy sweat suit sitting calmly in the corner, and someone says, “What about you?”  And Jesus says, “I made all of you.  So, I’m the greatest.”

We might admire the house, but we honor the builder.  It’s a misdirection to honor the house for being a house.  But that’s exactly what they did when they honored Moses and the Mosaic system of rules and regulations.

The existence of a house presupposes a builder, thus verse 4 says, “Every house is built by someone” and concludes “but the builder of all things is God.”  Thus, Jesus, the builder, is God! Focus on Him!

On a foggy morning, July 4, 1952, a 34-year-old woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.  She had already laid hold of the honor of being the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.  Now it was her ambition to swim the 21 miles of ocean from the island to the California coastline.

Though millions were watching on television the fog was so think that July morning that Florence Chadwick could barely see the boats that were accompanying her on either side along the way.  It was just as well, for repeatedly sharks tried to draw near her lone figure in the water and had to be driven away with rifle shots.

Hour after hour passed by.  She continued to swim.  In incredible physical condition, fatigue had never been her problem.  The dilemma in this particular swim was the bone-chilling cold of the water.  More than 15 hours later, numbed with cold, she asked to be taken out.  She could go no further.  Her mother and her trainer, alongside her in one of the boats, pleaded with her to continue, insisting that land was not far off.  But when she looked up out of the water toward the California coast, all she could see was the thick fog.

A few minutes later, 15 hours and 55 minutes since she had begun, she was taken out of the water.

As her body began to thaw, she soon felt the shock of her failure.  She had climbed out of the water less than half a mile from her destination.

Later, she was to reflect that she had been defeated not by fatigue or even by the cold.  She had been conquered by the fog which had obscured her goal.  She said to reporters, “I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land, I might have made it.”

A fog had blinded the eyes, which in turn had compromised her will to continue.

Athletes from every form of competition tell us exactly the same thing:  The key to perseverance is to keep your eyes on the prize.  Distraction spells defeat.

At the Olympic games in 1920, Jackson Shultz, known as the “New York Thunderbolt,” lost the goal medal in the men’s 100-yard- dash because he broke the cardinal rule of sprinting.  In his very last stride he took his eyes off the tape, turned his head to the right to locate the position of his American teammate Charles Paddock, who in turn thrust his chest into the tape, and beat Jackson Shultz by a millisecond.

The key to successful perseverance in life, as in sports, is to keep your eyes on the prize.

As we come now to this second major section of this letter to the Hebrews, it is the burden of this pastor to say the same thing.  You see, a great anxiety was plaguing his heart—an anxiety that plagues the heart of every true pastor.  He was fearful that some among these Hebrew Christians had taken their eyes off the prize—off of Jesus Christ—and as a result they were very close to pulling out of the Christian race altogether—just shy of their goal.

To do so, as he wants to make abundantly clear to them, would be eternally disastrous.

Now, we understand that God preserves those who are truly His.  Don’t we?  The God who calls us keeps us.  “No one can snatch them out of His hand” (John 10 reads).  Paul tells us in Romans 8 that “Those whom God called, He glorified” (past tense—a done deal).  This is one of the most comforting truths in all of the Bible for the true child of God.

While the book of Hebrews doesn’t seek to undercut this doctrine, the writer is inspired by the same Spirit to present the flipside of the coin.  More than any other book in all of the Bible, it takes up the issue of our perseverance.

Hebrews makes it clear that perseverance—remaining faithful to Jesus Christ to the very end—is an evidence of authentic Christianity.

Look at verse 6 in chapter 3: “…And we are his house if [notice the conditional “if”] indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

And down in verse 14: “For we have come to share in Christ, if [there’s that conditional again] indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

So there is a strong emphasis here on our need to “hold fast” and “hold” onto our confidence, to maintain our faith.

Now the writer of Hebrews is not at odds with Paul; He’s not at odds with John—He’s simply establishing the necessary theological balance in this issue.  It is theological balance that is very important to every single one of us where this doctrine of eternal security and assurance is concerned.

We affirm that those whom God saves He keeps.  But we must not allow this doctrine to become perverted into this kind of thing that says, “Well, I prayed to receive Christ when I was six years old, and I know that I haven’t really lived like a Christian since then…but isn’t it great to know that I’ll be in heaven on that final day?”

There is no assurance in that!

God keeps his children, but those who are His children maintain their pedigree—they act like their heavenly Father!

The writer of Hebrews is standing with a bullhorn in his mouth, telling those who are Christians, who are wearied from the race: Keep your eyes on the prize.  Keep your eyes on the prize.  KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE!

Why is he saying this?  Because under the incredible pressure of spiritual opposition and the pull of familiar culture, these believers were beginning to turn their heads to the left and to the right.

To the left is the allurement of the Roman pantheon of gods.  As far as Rome was concerned, any god or any combination of gods was fine, as long as you refused to confess Jesus as Lord, as long as you didn’t profess allegiance to Him alone.

To the right, an even more enticing allurement, coming at them from family and friends, was “Come back to Moses.  Come back to Moses, the embodiment of everything Jewish.”

Taking up with the Roman polytheists was less likely, given their traditional monotheism.  They were raised with the shema: “The LORD our Lord is God, the LORD is one.”

On the other hand, to embrace Moses, to return to Judaism, that would instantly alleviate a lot of the present difficulties they were experiencing.  Rome would leave them alone and their former friends and family would gladly take them back in again.

We may not be able to appreciate the pressure these people were under, but the temptation for them was enormous.

I suppose it is impossible for us, at this time in history, and most of us Gentiles, to exaggerate the significance of Moses in the minds of 1^st century Jews.

He was revered, next to Abraham, as the greatest man in all of history.  In fact, most Jews believed Moses to be the greatest man who ever lived.

When you think about it, his life from the very beginning was very miraculously preserved.  Plucked from the bulrushes by Pharoah’s daughter, cared for by his own mother.  He was given the finest of educations.

Then, as a man, his election as deliverer was sealed when God, the “I AM,” called and ordained him at the burning bush (Exodus 3).

He was called by God to be the deliverer of God’s people, to have a showdown with Pharoah and deliver his people by parting the Reed Sea.

He was a prophet, and the great lawgiver, a kind of Old Testament apostle sent by God with God’s Word on his lips.  But unlike any of the other prophets, God spoke to Moses like a friend “face to face.”  His face would glow from being in God’s holy presence.

Numbers 12:6–8:

If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.  Not so with my servant Moses.  He is faithful in all my house.  With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD.

He was the conduit for the ten commandments, the Levitical priesthood, the building of the tabernacle.  He wrote the first five books of the Bible!

Everything in Jewish religion was neatly summed up as “the law of Moses.”

He not only spoke for God to men, but he spoke for men to God.  While Aaron and his family was the official priesthood, Moses was faithful to intercede for the people, gaining God’s forgiveness (Exodus 32), providing what they needed in the desert, and giving them victory over their enemies (Exodus 17).

And beyond all this, God called Moses “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).

Finally, God buried him where no one could find him, because in all probability, given the track record of the people of Israel, they would have worshipped his bones!

It can be summed up under one grand heading: Moses—The Great Apostle and High Priest of the Old Testament.  Apostle means “one who is sent,” and Moses certainly was that because he was called by God, appointed by God, and sent by God as his representative both to his people and to the court of Pharaoh.

To all Jews, Moses was simply the greatest.  According to one early tradition, Moses was superior to the angels, having higher rank and privilege than the ministering angels.

Imagine growing up in this kind of tradition—this kind of legacy and heritage—all your life hearing about God’s great man…Moses.  And by and by, by the grace of God, you’ve been brought out of the shadows and into the substance; you’ve been brought into the reality of the Person to whom Moses always pointed, Jesus Christ.

And for awhile things go kind of smoothly, things are rather neat in your life, but before long, there begins to be a cost to confessing Christ.  Opposition intensifies, pressure comes at you from multiple angles.  Suddenly this doesn’t seem to be as sweet of a deal.  What’s more, whispering in your ears is the call, “Come home.  Come back to Moses.”

So because Moses was held in such high esteem, our author knew he needed to show how much better Jesus was than even Moses.

So we read in Hebrews 3:1-6

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

This major portion of Hebrews begins here and goes through chapter 10, verse 18.  Having concluded that Jesus is superior to the mediators of the Mosaic law (i.e., angels, 2:2), the author now establishes the superiority of Jesus to Moses himself (3:1–6), of Jesus to the Aaronic high priesthood (4:14–7:28), of the new covenant in Jesus’ blood to the former covenant (8:1–13), and of Jesus’ death to the Mosaic sacrifices (9:1–10:18).  This exposition also leads to three prolonged exhortations to Christian perseverance (3:7–4:13; 5:11–6:12; 10:19–39).

So in vv. 1-6 our author points out that Jesus is greater than Moses, wanting to persuade his readers to maintain their confidence in Jesus Christ.  While it might seem anticlimactic to go from angels to Moses, this was not the case.  To the Jew it would have been impossible to conceive that anyone ever stood closer to God than Moses did, and yet that is precisely what the writer of the Hebrews sets out to prove.

While Moses was one of God’s most faithful servants (vv. 2, 5), Jesus is the faithful high priest and Son of God.  Thus Jesus is worthy of more glory (vv. 1–2, 6).  This leads to exhortations and warnings (3:6–4:13).

The first thing our author does is to remind them who they are.  The twofold description of the readers makes it clear that they are converted people.  But they needed to remember this.  They are, like all believers, “holy brothers.”

We’ve already seen, in chapter 2, how Christ is “not ashamed” to call us brothers (Hebrews 2:11).  Through faith we have been born into AND adopted into the family of God—with God as our Father and Christ as our brother.  We are a part of God’s family.  We belong to Him; His precious possession.

The designation “holy” doesn’t mean sinlessly perfect or eminently pious.  Rather it means that we are specially set apart to God.  It has a moral application as well, meaning that we are positionally holy, having been united to Christ and credited with His holiness, and we are progressively becoming more and more holy as we are filled with the Spirit and walk in the light.

So we are first being encouraged to remember who we are.  Being a Jew has its privileges, but none better than being a brother to Christ and being made more like Him in holiness.

Then he says, “holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling…”  He is telling them that he fears they have forgotten why they were made “holy brothers.”

No unconverted Jew or Gentile could lay claim to the heavenly calling.  To be sure, there was a point in time when you turned from your sins in repentance and embraced Jesus Christ through faith in His finished work on the cross.

But why did you turn from your sin and trust Christ?

It was because you were made the partaker of an irresistible, magnificent call that came from heaven itself.

Throughout this book, the heavenly is contrasted to the earthly as something that is more substantial, more desirable, more valuable.

This is not merely the “call” of the preacher that fell upon your ears when the gospel was preached to you, but the calling of the Holy Spirit himself, the effective calling, the calling that saves, that awakening of your heart so that you willingly, joyfully, and repentantly believe in Jesus Christ.

While the gospel call is extended indiscriminately to every sinner, the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit actually achieves what it calls—it enables the sinner to hear the gospel and believe.  Like the words of Jesus to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come out,” those words don’t just offer new life, but create that life within so that a response is possible.

Timothy George describes this calling as God being “able to accomplish what he has determined to do in the salvation of lost men and women” (Amazing Grace:  God’s Initiative—Our Response, p. 74).

It is the call that originates in heaven and works to bring you there.  It is a heavenly calling because it comes from heaven—from God. And it is a heavenly calling because it invites us and leads us to heaven—to God.  It is “the upward call” (Phil 3:14) summoning the Christian to a heavenly homeland (Heb 11:16) and to the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22). 

So you can’t turn back.  You are not what you once were.  You have been changed into something more wonderful and called to something more glorious.  There is too much at stake, too much to lose.  You have a heavenly destiny.

How in the world can you take your eye off the prize??

But far more important than how we view ourselves is how we view Jesus Christ, and that is what we will get to next week.

Jesus is the perfect mediator between God and man, precisely because He is the God-man.  It was important for the writer of Hebrews to uphold Jesus Christ as the God-man.  The Jews didn’t value the idea that God could come and suffer and die on a humiliating cross.

We’ve been looking these last two weeks at the final words of Hebrews 2:

16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

We noticed last week that Christ is the perfect mediator.  But he was also the “propitiation for the sins of the people.”  He was “made like his brothers” by becoming flesh and blood.  Why? 
“So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God.”  Why?  “to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Not only does Jesus rescue us from sin (v. 16) and represent us before God (v. 17a), but He also reconciles to Himself (v. 17b)

The word “propitiation” is a theological word for “satisfaction.”  What a wonderful word!

Puritan John Owen pointed out that there are four elements in propitiation: (1) an offence or crime to be taken away; (2) a person offended, to be pacified or reconciled; (3) a person offending, to be pardoned; and (4) a sacrifice or other means of making atonement (An Exposition of Hebrews, p. 476).

What needed to be satisfied was God’s wrath towards us because of our sin.  As a holy God, God is adamantly and fiercely against sin.  The wrath of God abides on every sinner (John 3:36).  We are “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3).

When people sin, they arouse the wrath of God (Romans 1:18) and become enemies of God (Romans 5:10).  The Old and New Testaments reveal an utterly holy God whose holy nature demands wrath against all sin.  Wrath is the expression of his holiness against sin.  God cannot set aside his wrath toward our sin and remain holy.  It is impossible for God’s holiness not to hold sin in repugnance.

Because we are sinners, we are God’s sworn enemies, recalcitrant rebels.  And yes, there are verses in the Psalms that say that God hates sinners.

But He also loves sinners.  He loves those whom He has chosen for salvation enough to give His one and only beloved Son to die for us.  He did not spare the only truly and completely innocent person that ever lived, but put Him to death.  Why?  To satisfy His wrath, to pay the debt we owed.

We cannot diminish the wrath of God without correspondingly reducing His love.  God’s love is a holy love, just like a parent’s love is a holy love, hating anything that harms the beloved child.

What God’s holy justice required, His love and mercy provided, in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  As Philip Hughes exclaims, “Our hell he made his, that his heaven might be ours.  Never was there such mercy, never such faithfulness as this!” (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 120).  He truly is a merciful and faithful high priest!

We need to take more seriously than we do the wrath of God.  But God’s love is as constant as His wrath, His grace as firm as His righteousness.  To procure our restoration, God himself has met the demands of His own holiness.  He has, so to speak, propitiated Himself in our place, thereby achieving the reconciliation to himself of mankind, who otherwise were hopelessly alienated and under condemnation because of sin.

The word propitiation is used in several key verses to explain what Jesus accomplished through His death on the cross.  For example, in Romans 3:24-25 we see that believers in Christ have been “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness…”  These verses are a key point in Paul’s argument in the book of Romans and are really at the heart of the gospel message.

Paul had made the point that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), there is absolutely “none righteous” (Romans 3:10).  We all deserve His wrath and punishment.  But God, in His infinite grace and mercy, provided a way that His wrath can be appeased and we can be reconciled to Him.  That way is through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the atonement or payment for sins.  It is through faith in Jesus Christ as God’s perfect sacrifice that we can be reconciled to God.  It is only because of Christ’s perfect life, His substitutionary death on the cross, and His resurrection on the third day that a lost sinner deserving of hell can be reconciled to a thrice holy God.  We are saved from God’s wrath not because “we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Christ met all the requirements of the law and then offered His life in our place, which theologians call his active and passive obedience to the Father.  God vented the fury of His wrath, crushing His Son under the weight of the sins of humanity, so that Jesus experienced hell in our behalf.

To be our propitiation, Jesus had to be (1) sinless, (2) share in our humanity, and (3) be sympathetic to our need.  He voluntarily fulfilled each of those requirements out of love for you and me.

So, not only does Jesus rescue us from sin (v. 16) and represent us before God (v. 17a) reconciles to Himself (v. 17b), but He also relates to us in our temptations (v. 18).

Verse 18 looks back to verse v. 17 and tells us why (the word “for” at the beginning of this verse) he became a merciful and faithful high priest—“to help those who are being tempted.”

18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

When Christ lived on earth, He too was tempted.  Not just in the wilderness temptations, but throughout His life.  Remember that Satan left him “for an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).  That time probably came up quite often.

While here among us, He was a genuine human being, fully tempted.

Even in the wilderness temptations, Christ experienced the very spectrum of temptations we face—the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life.

Not only was Jesus tempted, but “suffered when tempted.”  Most of us don’t suffer when tempted because we give in right away, we don’t experience the “good fight of faith.”  In fact, we find it be a source of pleasure…for a season (Hebrews 11:25).

I am reminded of the story of the young boy in the kitchen who, asked by his mother, “What are you doing?” replied, “I’m just standing here with my hand in the cookie jar, resisting temptation.”  That’s not fighting temptation, that’s preparing to surrender!

Being the sinless Son of God, temptations repulsed him far more than they could us.  And being faithful to the Father’s will, He never gave in.

Our Lord was saddened and suffered as he sinlessly lived out his thirty-three years assailed by everyday temptations.

But his greatest suffering occurred, as the Scriptures specifically point out, when he was tempted to forsake his calling and take an easy way out.  Matthew tells us that immediately after Jesus’ baptism, he was led out into the desert where he was tempted by the devil and that at the root of each of the three diabolical temptations was the lure to leave his vocation for an easier way (Matthew 4:1–11).  Jesus was tempted for forty days.

Later, as he was establishing his ministry, Satan employed Jesus’ own family to try to dissuade him through a domestic kidnapping, because they thought “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).  

And then, at the apex of his ministry, Peter publicly rebuked Jesus for intimating that he must die on the cross.  Significantly, Jesus denounced Peter’s words with a statement almost identical to that with which he earlier dismissed Satan in the wilderness—“Get behind me, Satan!” (Mark 8:33; cf. Matthew 4:10).  Next, in Gethsemane Jesus repeatedly cast himself to the ground, sweating great drops of blood and crying out, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.  Remove this cup from me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).  And finally on the cross he was put to the ultimate suffering.

What a temptation to escape!  What suffering!  But he bore it all.  And even more significantly, he bore it as a man.  He was tempted and suffered and endured with a human mind, body, and emotions—and he never for a moment turned away from the cross.

Satan has dangled the bait of temptation before Jesus Christ many times, all without success.  Yet, because He was tempted “in all ways like we are” (Hebrews 4:15), He is able to understand our temptations.

We would be wrong to assume that because Jesus never gave in to sin, or because He was God He wasn’t really even able to be tempted, that He never really experienced temptation nor could understand the depths of our temptations.

C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, explains it like this:

“No man knows how bad he is till he had tried very hard to be good.  A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means.  This is an obvious lie.  Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.  After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in.  You find out the strength of the wind by walking against it, not by lying down.  A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.  That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness—they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.  We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.”

As Philip Hughes explains regarding Christ’s temptations: “Some have objected that only by the experience of sin could Christ have evinced full fellow feeling with fallen mankind; but for the incarnate Son to have succumbed to temptation, while it would certainly have meant his becoming a fellow sinner, would also have meant his failure and defeat, with the consequence that he would have been disqualified for the fulfillment of his high-priestly office (cf. Heb. 5:8-10) and unable to come to our aid and lead us in the way of victory” (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, pp. 123).

“It is a fallacy also to imagine that the fact that he did not fall into sin means that he knows less about temptation than those who have given in to it; for his conquest of temptation, while ensuring his sinlessness, in fact increased rather than diminished his fellow feeling, since he knows the full force of temptation in a manner that we who have not withstood it to the end cannot know it.  What good would another who has failed be to us?  It is precisely because we have been defeated that we need the assistance of him who is the victor” (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, pp. 123-124).

Kent Hughes offers a simple illustration that helps me grasp what our writer is saying.  “Think of it this way—which bridge has undergone the greatest stress, the one that collapses under its first load of traffic, or the one that bears the same traffic morning and evening, year after year?” (Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, p. 86).

• Jesus can say to the young person: “So, your family doesn’t understand you?  They won’t let you do your own thing?  Well, mine didn’t understand me either.  They reprimanded me when I stayed in the Temple (see Luke 2:48-51).
• Jesus can say to the housewife, “So, your neighbors are unfriendly?  Well, mine tried to kill me.” (see Luke 4:16, 28-29).
• Jesus can say to the businessman: “So your associates criticize you?  Well, mine ridicule and cursed me” (Mark 3:6, 21)
• Jesus can say to the condemned: “You complain that the legal system is not fair?  Well, I was condemned by a biased judge who listened to bribed witnesses” (Mark 14:56).
• Jesus can say to the deprived: “You complain that the economy is oppressive?  Well, all I had were the clothes on my back” (Luke 9:58)
• Jesus can say to the persecuted: “You complain that people are prejudiced against you because of your race or religion? Well, I was called every vile name in the book” (John 7:20, 32).
• Jesus can say to those who’ve been forsaken: “You complain that your pals are disloyal? Well, mine all ran away at the first hint of trouble and claimed they didn’t know me” (Matthew 26:74)
• Jesus can say to the disappointed: “You complain that your plans didn’t materialize and you failed to reach your goals?  Well, I wasn’t able to accomplish anything in my hometown!” (Matthew 13:54-58(
• Jesus can say to the frustrated: “You complain that you can’t get anyone to help you and they let you down when the going got rough?  Well, my followers let me in droves.” (John 6:66)
• Jesus can say to the disadvantaged: “You complain that you had a deprived childhood?  Well, I sent my first few years in a foreign country hiding out from a death sentence!” (Matthew 2:13-15)
• Jesus can say to those who feel out of place: “You complain that folks in my church are too pious and critical? Well, the leaders of my own religion condemned me as a sinner!” (Matthew 13:14, 24)
• Jesus can say to the outcast: “You complain that you were born on the wrong side of the tracks? Well, society said I was illegitimate and, furthermore, my city was the pits!” (John 1:40-50)
• You say, “Even when I try to do good deeds, people criticize me.” Well, they said I was working for the devil when I healed the sick! (Matthew 12:22)
• You say, “I’m single and will never get married.”  Well, me too, but I was fulfilled doing my Father’s will.

In short, Jesus can say, “If you’ve got a heartache; I’ve had it too!  If you’ve got a problem, me too!  If you’ve met a temptation, so have I.” (Hebrews 5:2)

And what God would he be to us if he had fallen to temptation?  His help is strong precisely because He was able to conquer every single temptation.

Because He has suffered through temptation, He is able to help us as we suffer through temptations.

Comfort drops but coldly from lips that have never uttered a sigh or a groan; and for our poor human hearts it is not enough to have a merciful God far off in the heavens.  We need a Christ who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ere we can come boldly to the Throne of Grace, assured of there finding grace in time of need.

We have two advantages – knowing the example of Jesus in temptation, but also having His active assistance from heaven, providing strength and a way of escape.  With these aids we can find victory in the midst of temptation and come out better from being tempted. Jesus did not lose anything from being tempted – He only gained in glory and sympathy and ability to help His people. In the same way, we do not have to lose anything when we are tempted.

How important it is to know that Jesus provides such aid to us in time of temptation.

“This is the most powerful preservative against despair, and the firmest ground of hope and comfort, that ever believing, penitent sinners could desire or have.” (Matthew Poole)

“Were the rest of the Scripture silent on this subject, this verse might be an ample support for every tempted soul.” (Adam Clarke)

So, “With vv. 17-18 the writer prepares to lead his hearers directly into the body of the discourse devoted to the exposition of Jesus as priest and sacrifice.  Common to the concepts both of champion and of high priest are the elements of representation and solidarity with a particular people.  The presentation of Jesus in 2:10-18 provided assurance that the exalted Son continues to identify himself with the oppressed people of God exposed to humiliation and testing in a hostile world” (William Lane, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 47A—Hebrews 1-8, p. 67).