SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Please take your Bible with me this morning to the book of Hebrews in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, but I love flyovers.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what a flyover is?
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully you do.
SPEAKER_01: It's when a plane flies over you.
SPEAKER_01: I remember growing up in the opposite corner of the state, out in the badlands of North Dakota, and seeing massive bombers flying low over the little Missouri River.
SPEAKER_01: So low that the noise seemed to shake the ground.
SPEAKER_01: It was awe-inspiring.
SPEAKER_01: I've been in places where A-10s have flown over, and probably the most awe-inspiring are stealth bombers, where I've been in stadiums where stealth bombers have flown over before a sporting event.
SPEAKER_01: Flyovers are fascinating because they give you a glimpse.
SPEAKER_01: But just a glimpse.
SPEAKER_01: You have maybe a few seconds to grasp what's there.
SPEAKER_01: And it leaves you with a sense of wanting more.
SPEAKER_01: That's my hope for this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want to cover four chapters of the book of Hebrews in a flyover.
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, Lord willing, leaving you with a sense of wanting more.
SPEAKER_01: Every portion of the book of Hebrews this morning could be a standalone sermon.
SPEAKER_01: But we're just going to give you a few seconds of it.
SPEAKER_01: Because what we're going to, in essence, see is the Lord Jesus and all of his glory briefly to leave us with a taste of wanting more.
SPEAKER_01: I began a series in July that took us through most of the book of Judges, but I wanted to put it into a more familiar context for modern Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So the first sermon that I preached in that series was from the New Testament, from the book of 1 John and chapter 2, beginning in verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 15 of John chapter 2 begins applying the truths that we find in Judges to the followers of Christ in the New Testament age.
SPEAKER_01: John commanded us, do not love the world or the things in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
SPEAKER_01: And they had fallen in love with the world around them.
SPEAKER_01: By the time of the end of the book of Judges, they had rejected God as their king and were demanding a king like all the nations around them.
SPEAKER_01: So they saw the world and they wanted to be like the world.
SPEAKER_01: And so everyone just did what was right in their own eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Then we went to 1 Samuel, where we see the end of the times of the judges.
SPEAKER_01: And there we saw the kind of king that Israel really wanted, because God gave them what they wanted.
SPEAKER_01: He gave them a man named Saul.
SPEAKER_01: Saul could not obey God because, like everyone else, Saul did what was right in his own eyes.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a human savior judge brings.
SPEAKER_01: You will get a human result if you look for a human solution to a problem that has its roots in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Israel had a faith problem.
SPEAKER_01: They could not and would not trust God.
SPEAKER_01: Late in the time of the judges, God revealed himself through the prophet Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: And Samuel instructed God's people in the ways of God.
SPEAKER_01: But Israel would not listen.
SPEAKER_01: And it grieved Samuel that they asked for a king.
SPEAKER_01: But God gave them a king.
SPEAKER_01: He gave them a king that they wanted.
SPEAKER_01: And as Saul did what was right in his own eyes, God was done.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm taking Saul away.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm giving you a new king.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not giving you a king that you want.
SPEAKER_01: I'm giving you a king that's a man after my own heart.
SPEAKER_01: And we know his name as David.
SPEAKER_01: Unlike Saul, David was a man after God's own heart, but he was still an imperfect man.
SPEAKER_01: He ruled over Israel righteously, at least for the most part.
SPEAKER_01: And David was called God's son.
SPEAKER_01: And that was very common in ancient times.
SPEAKER_01: A king was the human son of the divine.
SPEAKER_01: He was a man who ruled on behalf of God himself.
SPEAKER_01: And so David was a king, kind of like Israel wanted, for he fought their battles for them, but he had a faith and a trust in God that Israel's covenant God wanted.
SPEAKER_01: So he spoke then kind of like a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: He declared God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And in doing so, David spoke of a greater son of God who would serve as the world's judge, not just Israel's judge, but the world's judge, the Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings.
SPEAKER_01: When we get through the Old Testament to the Gospels, the Gospels in their various ways show that this promised anointed one is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's the God man, perfect and holy, righteous and just.
SPEAKER_01: He is the ideal savior judge.
SPEAKER_01: Now what do we do with that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, as a non-Christian, if you are in a place of not having placed your trust in Christ alone, my friend, you have to let go of your faith in yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You have to release doing things in your own way.
SPEAKER_01: Let go of your trust in your world or anything else and trust entirely in Jesus as your only hope for now and eternity.
SPEAKER_01: For the Son of God is the righteous judge who will judge your sins.
SPEAKER_01: He will either condemn you for eternity for your failure to trust him alone, or he will save you from judgment by bearing the condemnation for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you know him as your Savior and Judge, that truth brings great hope and joy.
SPEAKER_01: Don't wait.
SPEAKER_01: Trust him now.
SPEAKER_01: As a Christian, the what do we do with that question?
SPEAKER_01: It's a little more detailed.
SPEAKER_01: Since that category, I trust, is my primary audience this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I want to direct your attention to the book of Hebrews to hear how God answers the question.
SPEAKER_01: I want to lead us this morning to the Lord's table, to participating in communion together.
SPEAKER_01: And that is open to everyone this morning who trusts in Christ alone as their Savior and Judge.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be a member of this church.
SPEAKER_01: You just have to have your faith in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: To have cast aside the idolatry of self and whatever idols might be drawing you to trust in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: I want to lead us there this morning by moving from the failures of human savior judges to the faithfulness of the faithful and true Savior Judge.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to read the first four chapters of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_01: Let Hebrews mostly speak for itself and highlight a few elements along the way.
SPEAKER_01: So if you would look with me at Hebrews chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
SPEAKER_01: But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.
SPEAKER_01: He, that is the Son, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
SPEAKER_01: And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
SPEAKER_01: This son, after making purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name that he has inherited is more excellent than ours, or than theirs, pardon me.
SPEAKER_01: For to which of the angels did God ever say, quoting from Psalms 2, You are my son.
SPEAKER_01: Today I have begotten you.
SPEAKER_01: Or again, from 2 Samuel chapter 7, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
SPEAKER_01: And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him.
SPEAKER_01: Now of the angels, he says, he makes his angels, his messengers, winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.
SPEAKER_01: But of the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: The scepter of righteousness, of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom, for you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like the opposite of the judges, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
SPEAKER_01: And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
SPEAKER_01: They will perish, but you remain.
SPEAKER_01: They will all wear out like a garment, like a like a robe, you will roll them up, like a garment, they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will have no end.
SPEAKER_01: And to which of the angels, as he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?
SPEAKER_01: Are angels not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
SPEAKER_01: What do we make of this?
SPEAKER_01: As Christians, what do we do with the fact that David pointed forward to a son of God who would be the ultimate savior judge?
SPEAKER_01: Well, what we make of it from this first chapter of Hebrews is that we have to listen to the right voice.
SPEAKER_01: Don't listen to the world, listen to the right voice.
SPEAKER_01: In the times of the judges, they listened to everyone around them except for God.
SPEAKER_01: We must listen to the right voice, and the right voice is the true Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Not ancient King David, as great as he was, but the Son of God to whom he pointed.
SPEAKER_01: We have to listen to him because he is the true Son.
SPEAKER_01: The text tells us that we must listen when God speaks.
SPEAKER_01: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke.
SPEAKER_01: If God speaks, you have to listen.
SPEAKER_01: He spoke in all kinds of ways through various people.
SPEAKER_01: But now, in these last days, that is the time from the point of writing of Hebrews till today, he has spoken to us through his son.
SPEAKER_01: That indicates a change of direction, a change of plans.
SPEAKER_01: God used to speak this way.
SPEAKER_01: Now he speaks to us through his son in the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Notice he says it is by his son in verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: He has spoken to us by his son.
SPEAKER_01: Who is this son?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is rich.
SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to just give a flyover.
SPEAKER_01: He's the son who has been appointed heir of all things.
SPEAKER_01: He's the son through whom God created the world.
SPEAKER_01: He's the son who is the radiance of divine glory.
SPEAKER_01: He's the son who is the exact imprint of God's nature.
SPEAKER_01: That is, if you were to take and make an imprint, an impression into something that gave you exactly what God is and who God is, that's Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is the Son who upholds the universe by the word of his power.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have to exert energy, he just speaks and it is upheld.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't, though, some great and cosmic universal power who is impersonal.
SPEAKER_01: No, this is the same Son who made purification for sins.
SPEAKER_01: He did what the blood of goats and of calves could not do.
SPEAKER_01: He shed his own blood so that our sins might be purified.
SPEAKER_01: This is the same son who ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
SPEAKER_01: This is the Son who is far superior to any kind of angel you might ever imagine.
SPEAKER_01: That's all just a flyover of a few verses.
SPEAKER_01: Most of it quotes from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: We must listen when God speaks.
SPEAKER_01: And we are told that God has spoken to us through his son.
SPEAKER_01: And so we listen to God when we listen to the Son.
SPEAKER_01: Angels are not the recipients of the biblical promises made to the Davidic son.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 5, which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you?
SPEAKER_01: That in its context is spoken to David, to David as God's king, son, reigning in space and time.
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately it speaks of the true son of David, the true king, Christ himself.
SPEAKER_01: That's not an angel.
SPEAKER_01: Or again in verse 5, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
SPEAKER_01: That's the promises given to the line of David that he would have a king reigning over the throne of David forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: That's not just to David or even to Solomon.
SPEAKER_01: It's to this son.
SPEAKER_01: It's not to an angel.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, angels worship this son, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: These angels who are servants, who are ministers that do God's bidding in verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, verse 8 tells us that this son is the God who reigns eternally.
SPEAKER_01: You want a key verse for the deity of the Son of God?
SPEAKER_01: Right there, verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: But of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: This Son is the eternal covenant God of Israel, Yahweh Himself, who created everything.
SPEAKER_01: Do we want to go further?
SPEAKER_01: Let's go further.
SPEAKER_01: No angel has ever received the divine invitation to be co-regent, to reign side by side with God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: This is your divine Savior, Judge.
SPEAKER_01: We can go even one more step, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: These angels are ministering spirits sent out to serve for your sake.
SPEAKER_01: For your get that.
SPEAKER_01: Because all we hear is the noise around us, right?
SPEAKER_01: Social media and all of the ways that you can gather information today, it's just noise and it's distracting noise, and it distracts you from hearing the one place where God speaks through his son.
SPEAKER_01: It's why the Father said at the Lord's baptism and at his transfiguration, this is my beloved son, listen to him.
SPEAKER_01: God never said to one of the human savior judges in the book of Judges, listen to him.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to him.
SPEAKER_01: So every time you see one of those bombers flying overhead and you hear the noise and you feel the reverberation, think, listen to the sun.
SPEAKER_01: For he is more awesome and more grand than any human or created thing.
SPEAKER_01: He is the word of God made flesh.
SPEAKER_01: All scriptures come from him.
SPEAKER_01: They are his voice.
SPEAKER_01: We must listen to the right voice.
SPEAKER_01: When we are tempted to live in the middle with one hand in the world and our heart tugging that direction, yet not wanting to let go of Christ the Savior, listen to Jesus, not to the world's voices.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me at chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Lest we drift away from it.
SPEAKER_01: For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
SPEAKER_01: It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
SPEAKER_01: Here in this chapter, in chapter two, we see the truth that we must pay closer attention to what we have heard.
SPEAKER_01: How do we avoid being like the people in the book of Judges?
SPEAKER_01: Pay closer attention to what the Son has said.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: There are three reasons in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: The first reason is the state of our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: That is, the state of our hearts is that we are constantly prone to drift.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up literally with the Little Missouri River in my backyard.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time, the Little Missouri River didn't have much water in it.
SPEAKER_01: And so it looked as though the water was just.
SPEAKER_01: Stable, it wasn't moving, it wasn't flowing at all.
SPEAKER_01: Yet if you threw a stick into the water and you just kind of forgot about it and then came back later, you would find that stick a half mile down the stream.
SPEAKER_01: That's drifting.
SPEAKER_01: It may be rapid as though you're floating on white water.
SPEAKER_01: It may be so imperceptible that you can't feel the drift in the moment.
SPEAKER_01: But beloved Christian, your heart is prone to drift.
SPEAKER_01: Pay closer attention.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2, since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect?
SPEAKER_01: That word neglect means to not care enough.
SPEAKER_01: It means to be kind of apathetic.
SPEAKER_01: To just be so so about what has been spoken to you by the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: If we're just apathetic and yeah, we we just kind of come in and out and in and out and we don't really care that much, before we know it, we are three miles downstream in love with the world.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the message is proven reliable.
SPEAKER_01: The consequences have proven just.
SPEAKER_01: So why would we think that we can neglect such a great salvation?
SPEAKER_01: Resist drifting by paying close attention.
SPEAKER_01: Because the state of your heart is prone to drift.
SPEAKER_01: Reason number two that we should pay close attention is because of the status of human beings.
SPEAKER_01: The author of Hebrews comes back now and brings in conversation about angels again.
SPEAKER_01: He says, listen, mankind, not angels, were placed in a position of authority.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it in verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we're speaking.
SPEAKER_01: It has been testified somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: What is man that you are mindful of him?
SPEAKER_01: Or the Son of Man that you care for him.
SPEAKER_01: You made him for a little while lower than the angels.
SPEAKER_01: You've crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside of his control, speaking of humanity.
SPEAKER_01: Yet we say, What?
SPEAKER_01: We don't have everything under control.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: At present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
SPEAKER_01: So what do we see?
SPEAKER_01: But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We see him crowned with glory and honor.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because of the suffering of death.
SPEAKER_01: So that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
SPEAKER_01: For he who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified, all have one source.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he, Jesus, is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers.
SPEAKER_01: In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise.
SPEAKER_01: And again I will put my trust in him.
SPEAKER_01: And again, behold, I and the children God has given me.
SPEAKER_01: Go back to the beginning there, to verses 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that we have a situation of status here?
SPEAKER_01: Mankind at creation was placed in authority over all of creation, not the angels.
SPEAKER_01: That means there's a significance that God gave to mankind that he did not give to angels.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't really see that now.
SPEAKER_01: Because mankind abandoned their position in God's program and chose sin instead.
SPEAKER_01: It's now things are flipped.
SPEAKER_01: And so for a while we are lower than the angels.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not the way it will always be.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says that in the end we will judge angels.
SPEAKER_01: And in Jesus we begin to see a little bit of God's purpose, just a glimpse, just a flyover of God's purpose.
SPEAKER_01: In taking on human form in verse 9, Jesus himself was made lower than the angels.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine what a humiliation that would be?
SPEAKER_01: If you imagine yourself being, as an adult, all of a sudden being placed under the authority of a three-year-old, that doesn't even compare.
SPEAKER_01: This is the creator, the divine son of God, being placed under what he made.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: To die.
SPEAKER_01: For a little while he was made lower than the angels.
SPEAKER_01: And in taking on human form, Jesus was crowned.
SPEAKER_01: He receives even more glory and honor through the suffering of death.
SPEAKER_01: And notice that last part there at the last line of verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: It was an act of God's grace for Jesus to die.
SPEAKER_01: For in taking on human form and dying a death that only he could die, Jesus brought many sons to glory.
SPEAKER_01: That is, he takes people and he brings them from being mere human beings who have fallen away from God's glory, and he makes them daughters and sons of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: He restores what was broken.
SPEAKER_01: Why would you pay attention?
SPEAKER_01: More attention to what you've heard.
SPEAKER_01: Because of who you are.
SPEAKER_01: If you are in Christ, that means one day you will judge the earth and you will judge angels.
SPEAKER_01: You may not feel that now.
SPEAKER_01: You may not feel able, capable to do that now.
SPEAKER_01: But in Christ that's who you are because he has reclaimed what was lost, and he has brought you back to be a daughter and a son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: Truly to be his image.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, but there's a third reason.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
SPEAKER_01: And deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
SPEAKER_01: For surely it's not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers, those he's reclaimed in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation, to satisfy God's wrath for the sins of the people.
SPEAKER_01: For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
SPEAKER_01: Let me summarize all of that.
SPEAKER_01: In seven points, don't worry, you don't have to write them down.
SPEAKER_01: I'll make it simple.
SPEAKER_01: This is all about what Jesus has done for us.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, for us, Jesus shared in flesh and blood.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have to take on a human body.
SPEAKER_01: He did it for us.
SPEAKER_01: For us, Jesus suffered death to destroy the devil who has the power of death.
SPEAKER_01: For us, Jesus destroyed death to free us from the fear of death.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus helps us, not angels.
SPEAKER_01: For us, Jesus became a merciful and faithful high priest, unlike those priests in the time of judges.
SPEAKER_01: For us, Jesus made propitiation.
SPEAKER_01: Unlike any mere human savior judge in the past, they just rescued people from their enemies.
SPEAKER_01: No, Jesus destroyed the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: For us.
SPEAKER_01: For us, Jesus was tempted so that he might give us needed aid.
SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters, we must pay closer attention to what we've heard because of what Jesus has done for us.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 3.
SPEAKER_01: Notice verse 1, therefore, holy brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Holy brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's you.
SPEAKER_01: If you have placed your faith and trust in Christ, you are holy.
SPEAKER_01: You have been declared holy.
SPEAKER_01: You who share in the heavenly calling.
SPEAKER_01: So notice that we have a status here.
SPEAKER_01: We have a heavenly calling, not an earthly calling, not one that comes from the world around us, but one that comes from the throne of God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: This is why we are commanded not to love the world.
SPEAKER_01: We have a heavenly calling, so we must hold fast our confidence in our heavenly Savior Judge.
SPEAKER_01: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: We have to hold fast our confidence in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
SPEAKER_01: Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, in order to testify to things that were to be spoken later.
SPEAKER_01: But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.
SPEAKER_01: And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confession, our confidence, and our boasting in hope.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you're listening, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: On the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and they said, They always go away astray in their heart.
SPEAKER_01: They have not known my ways.
SPEAKER_01: As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.
SPEAKER_01: This comes from Psalm 95, and it's spoken about that generation of Jewish people who came out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: But notice that it's put in the present tense where the Holy Spirit is saying it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 95 is spoken by the Holy Spirit to you.
SPEAKER_01: Today, if you are paying close attention and if you are listening to the Son, hold fast your confidence in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: You do that first by considering the faithfulness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He is the God man, yet he was faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He's like Moses in all of his faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: He's even more glorious than Moses could ever imagine to be, yet he is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He is faithful as a son, not as a servant.
SPEAKER_01: And if you'll notice, his faithfulness is directed towards God's house.
SPEAKER_01: And who is God's house?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who places their faith and trust in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: His faithfulness is for you.
SPEAKER_01: We are the focus of his faithfulness as God's house.
SPEAKER_01: And so the faithfulness of our divine Savior, Judge, ought to soften our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: And that's important because the second way that we hold fast to our confidence is by caring for our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Take care, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to rebel against the living God.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: This is hard for us, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to think as God's people that we could ever be in a position of having an unbelieving heart.
SPEAKER_01: But Hebrews tells us that we are to care for our hearts by actively preventing unbelief and rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, if you don't actively prevent it, you will drift.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the tendency of your heart.
SPEAKER_01: It takes an active resistance to prevent unbelief and rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: And it takes one another.
SPEAKER_01: This is why our fellowship groups are so important to our church.
SPEAKER_01: Because we care for our hearts by encouraging one another in verse 12, exhorting one another about hard hearts towards sin.
SPEAKER_01: We need one another to speak truth because we can't always see the nature of drifting in our own hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta move on.
SPEAKER_01: I'm running out of time.
SPEAKER_01: For we have come to share in Christ, to fellowship in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, as it is said, today, if you listen, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?
SPEAKER_01: Was it not all those who left Egypt, led by Moses?
SPEAKER_01: And with whom was God provoked for forty years?
SPEAKER_01: Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_01: And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
SPEAKER_01: So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: What are we talking about here?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: We have to continue in our confidence in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Listen.
SPEAKER_01: We attentively listen to Christ, not the world.
SPEAKER_01: We also do it by attentive trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Those two elements capture what's happening in this last part of chapter three, where the people of Israel failed to listen to God, even though they had Moses right there.
SPEAKER_01: They failed to listen and they failed to trust.
SPEAKER_01: And so they lost their confidence in their Redeemer, Christ who led them out.
SPEAKER_01: Take care lest there be in any one of you an unbelieving, rebellious heart.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: We must hold fast to our confession of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: For the good news came to us, just as to them, speaking of the people of Israel coming out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
SPEAKER_01: For we who have believed enter that rest.
SPEAKER_01: Contrary to those who don't believe, as it is said, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, God's promise to gather his people into a place of rest should lead us to a healthy fear of sincere unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean by that?
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of sincere people in the world who think they belong to Christ, but don't.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew tells us that the Lord will say on that day to many, many who say to him, Lord, Lord, look at all the things I've done in your name.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Who are you?
SPEAKER_01: Depart from me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know you.
SPEAKER_01: There's a sincerity of heart among those who are religious who will perish.
SPEAKER_01: Proof of that, the author of Hebrews says, is all of the people who died in the wilderness wanderings through 40 years.
SPEAKER_01: He said, They did not listen and they did not trust.
SPEAKER_01: God promises rest.
SPEAKER_01: He promises a place of salvation and of peace with him.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he warns, be careful, so that you don't have a heart of unbelief and fail to enter my rest.
SPEAKER_01: Now we we need to hold God's promises and God's warnings with proper respect.
SPEAKER_01: Because our hearts are easily deceived into believing that we don't need to listen to the warnings.
SPEAKER_01: Which hand was the warning?
SPEAKER_01: I can't remember.
SPEAKER_01: Our hearts deceive us into thinking I don't need to worry about the warnings because I believe, I believe, I can go do whatever I want.
SPEAKER_01: I can fall in love with the world, I can be like the judges, I can do what's right in my own eyes, because God won't mind.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: Hold God's promises and his warnings.
SPEAKER_01: That's how you hold fast to the confession of your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Because the example of Israel reveals that some need to heed the warnings even when they think they're already safe.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: For he has spoken somewhere of the seventh day, the Sabbath day, in this way.
SPEAKER_01: And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.
SPEAKER_01: And again in this passage he said, They shall not enter my rest.
SPEAKER_01: 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 are listening, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
SPEAKER_01: For if Joshua had given them rest as they came into the land of rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
SPEAKER_01: So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
SPEAKER_01: This is speaking, friends, of God's pattern.
SPEAKER_01: Going all the way back to the book of Genesis, where God created, he did his work for six days, and he paused on the seventh day.
SPEAKER_01: He rested.
SPEAKER_01: But God's example was not merely to give physical rest as in a break from our work week.
SPEAKER_01: No, God's Sabbath was intended to provide a greater opportunity to listen.
SPEAKER_01: Today, on your day of rest, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart.
SPEAKER_01: God's pattern provides an opportunity for us to listen.
SPEAKER_01: Every Sabbath day, every day of rest is an opportunity to shut down the cries and the longings and the demands of an unsaved, evil world and to listen to your divine Savior Judge.
SPEAKER_01: God's promise of rest also points us to his provision through faith.
SPEAKER_01: We rest from our works, our attempts to get salvation for ourselves, instead to trust in his promises.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, but that's not the end.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me at verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, let us strive to enter that rest.
SPEAKER_01: We're not working for our own.
SPEAKER_01: Own salvation here.
SPEAKER_01: We're faithfully trusting, and then that faithful trust results in obedience, striving to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, don't drift.
SPEAKER_01: And make sure that those around you don't drift.
SPEAKER_01: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
SPEAKER_01: It pierces even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
SPEAKER_01: And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
SPEAKER_01: Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens both to come down and to go back.
SPEAKER_01: Who is that great high priest?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: He's the divine Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Let us hold fast our confession.
SPEAKER_01: For we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with us and our weaknesses like those Old Testament high priests in the time of Judges.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: We have one who, in every respect, in every kind of way, has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_01: Let us then with confidence come to the throne of grace.
SPEAKER_01: Why would we come to the throne of grace?
SPEAKER_01: What does he say?
SPEAKER_01: So that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
SPEAKER_01: You see, friends, as we listen and we heed God's word, it's its piercing work, convicts, it corrects, and it then leads us to confession.
SPEAKER_01: As we listen and as we hold fast, our confidence increases in the appropriateness of boldly approaching the throne of grace, the throne where our great Savior, Judge, resides, not with fear of judgment, but with anticipation of mercy and grace and help.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we approach the throne of grace, it is in awe of that flyover.
SPEAKER_01: This is the one.
SPEAKER_01: And now I see him face to face.
SPEAKER_01: And he gives grace and mercy that helps.
SPEAKER_01: And so we can see then how paying closer attention to Scripture minimizes the draw of the world and it strengthens our attraction to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: In Judges, we saw the path of God's people when they first lived in the middle, and then they drifted toward embracing the world.
SPEAKER_01: We can see in the times of the judges, there is no true help from any human savior judge.
SPEAKER_01: We need something outside of our world.
SPEAKER_01: We need someone outside of our world.
SPEAKER_01: And Hebrews shows us that God has given it to us, not in a human savior judge, not even in an angel, but in God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: So if you find yourself in the middle, confess your sin.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to the Son.
SPEAKER_01: Find confidence in the throne of grace.
SPEAKER_01: Come boldly to Christ the Son.
SPEAKER_01: Look to Jesus by beholding him on his throne.
SPEAKER_01: Our faithful priest, our judge, and our Savior King.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, thank you for this glimpse of you.
SPEAKER_01: One day we will see you face to face in all of your glory.
SPEAKER_01: And this flyover will be real.
SPEAKER_01: It will be present.
SPEAKER_01: It will be overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: But thank you that you have given us this glimpse so that we, in the time that remains for us, before we are face to face with you, we have a way to not drift, to stay close to you, to be reminded and to hear and to listen and to be convicted and to draw near to have help.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that you are a faithful Savior Judge, our high priest, to whom we now come boldly before the throne.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.