Keep the Faith (Part 1)

 

Lesson Four

Keep the Faith

Hebrews 3:1-6

 

Theme: Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is our Model of fidelity and is infinitely Superior to Moses. Therefore, hold firmly to your faith in Christ, God’s faithful Apostle and High Priest.

 

Reflection

Begin your study by sharing thoughts on this question.

1.  Think of a time when a Christian friend encouraged your faith. What did this person do to help you?

I, like you, have had several Christian friends challenge and share with me the varied examples of our Lord Jesus and several verses of Scripture to encourage me to continue trust, look to, depend on, to grow in, and serve the Lord and God faithfully…without letting up. 

 

Bible Reading

Read carefully and thoughtfully Hebrews 3:1–19.

The Letter of Hebrews is about Christ in His glory. The many Old Testament quotations and arguments portray Jesus as the Son greater than Moses, the conqueror greater than Joshua, and the priest greater than Aaron. In all respects, Christ supersedes all! Jesus can be trusted in His current ministry in glory; He can help us because He intimately knows our human frailties, yet is not ashamed to call us His brothers (Heb. 2:11)! His present ministry as intercessor for believers assures us that we shall persevere until we fully receive the “kingdom which cannot be moved” (Heb. 12:28).

Pastor Smith looked across his desk at Mrs. Jones and wondered what to do next. Several weeks had gone by in this pastoral counseling situation and they were at an impasse. This poor woman had come to him depressed and exhausted from trying to cope with an impossible burden of bitterness and anger. Now it seemed that she couldn't let go of this burden. The resentment was destroying her, but it was a familiar companion of many years.

Mrs. Jones had wept to tell of the betrayal she had experienced as a child at the hand of her parents, as a young woman at the hand of her husband, and as a middle-aged adult at the hands of her grown children. Everybody owed her an emotional debt. She seemed to have a library of videotaped scenes from her past in which people important to her wounded her. Life was too much for her because of the burden of her memories.

Pastor Smith had talked with Mrs. Jones about Jesus Christ and forgiveness, and she professed to trust Christ as her Savior. When he talked with her about the need to forgive others as Christ forgave her, she reluctantly agreed. When they discussed the relationship between granting forgiveness to others and enjoying the forgiveness provided in Christ, Mrs. Jones grew uncomfortable.

For two weeks Pastor Smith had realized that they had been marking time. He said to her, “We aren't making much progress these days.”

“No,” she replied, “you keep giving me these dumb little Bible verses to look at that don't have anything to do with my situation.”

“Why do you think they don't have anything to do with you?”

“You act like God wants me to let everyone hurt me, and I won't do it. They've hurt me, and I'm not going to let them get away with it.”

And Mrs. Jones left without any of the peace she had said earlier that she wanted.

 

The Best Personal Savior

 

Mrs. Jones wanted peace as a result of the humiliation of all of her perceived enemies. The writer of Hebrews envisioned peace, or “rest,” as a matter of relationship with God. He reasoned with his Hebrew Christian readers that Christ Jesus was the key to peace with God. Hebrews 2 concluded with reference to Jesus as the perfect Priest for fallen people because of the temptations and sufferings He experienced in His incarnate state. Chapter 3 picks up right at that idea.

 

Outline

             I.                 Jesus, the Son, is Faithful to God, and Superior to Moses in His Person and Performance (Heb. 3:1-6).

a.      A Description of the Saints (3:1-2).

                                          i.     The Believers are Describe (3:1-2)

                                        ii.     The Lord Jesus is Described (3:1)

                                       iii.     The Believers are Directed (3:1-2)

1.      To Fix our Faith on Christ

2.      Stop Focusing on Moses

b.      A Description of the Son.

                                          i.     The Superiority of His Person Makes Jesus Worthy of Greater Honor (3:3-6).

                                        ii.     The Superiority of His Performance Makes Jesus Worthy of Greater Honor (3:3-5).

            II.               Israel’s Failure in the Wilderness Impress us with the Need to be Faithful to God (Heb. 3:7-11).

a.      The Spirit’s Warning Issues a Command (3:7-8a).

b.      The Spirit’s Warning Illustrates a Calamity (3:8b-9).

c.      The Spirit’s Warning Illuminates a Condition (3:10).

d.      The Spirit’s Warning Issues a Condemnation (3:11).

III.             Christians Must not Forsake the Living God Because of Hardness, Sin, and Unbelief (Heb. 3:12-19). 

a.      Some Turn Away from God.  Why? (3:13)

                                          i.     Worldliness.

                                        ii.     Unsaved.

                                       iii.     Tragedy is also a reason people turn away from God. 

                                       iv.     Emotional Pain. 

b.      Advice for Remaining Faithful (3:13-19).

                                          i.     Warn and admonish one another to keep their hope and confidence in Christ (v. 13).  

                                        ii.     Encourage one another’s faith and obedience to prove you are indeed partakers of Christ in the blessings of the promised rest (v. 14).

                                       iii.     Continue as long as it is called “Today” (v. 15).   

                                       iv.     Do not fail to enter into God’s rest; believe God (v. 19).     

 

 

Discovery

Explore the Bible reading by discussing these questions.

 

2.  What has been said about Jesus in Hebrews 1–2 that would justify calling His followers by the unusual names “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”? (Heb. 3:1)

 

I.                 The Believers are Describe (3:1-2).

a.      This form of address gathered up the strands of truth dealt with in chapter 2.

b.      They were indeed “brethren” (Heb. 3:12; 10:19), not only with one another but with their Captain (2:11-12). The readers clearly were converted people, not merely Jews.

c.      They were “holy” because Christ had made them so—He sanctified them to God (2:11).

                                                    i.     “Holy brethren” could only be applied to people in the family of God, set apart by the grace of God.

                                                  ii.     All true believers are holy as to our position, and we should be holy as to our practice. In Christ we are holy; in ourselves we ought to be holy.

d.      They did share in “the heavenly calling” because God was “bringing” them “to glory” (2:10).

                                                    i.     The word “partakers” meaning ‘sharer’ is “fellows” in 1:9, and means ‘companions’ (3:14; 6:4; 12:8). The word “partakers” is translated “partners” in Luke 5:7, where it describes the relationship of four men in the fishing business: they were in it together.

                                                  ii.     This is referring to saved people because they are “partakers of the heavenly calling.” No unconverted Jew or Gentile could ever claim that blessing! The focus is on our high privilege of being invited to participate in the future dominion and joy of God’s King-Son.

                                                 iii.     Their heavenly calling is in contrast to the earthly call of Israel. Old Testament saints were called to material blessings in the land of promise (though they did have a heavenly hope as well). In the Church Age, believers are called to spiritual blessings in the heavenlies now and to a heavenly inheritance in the future. –William MacDonald

                                                 iv.     True Christians not only share in a heavenly calling, but they also share in Jesus Christ (Heb. 3:14). Through the Holy Spirit, we are “members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). True believers are also “partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 6:4). “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). Because we are God’s children, we also partake in God’s loving chastening (Heb. 12:8). Not to be chastened is evidence that a person is not one of God’s children. –W. W. Wiersbe

e.      Because these people were holy brothers and sisters, and partakers of a heavenly calling, they were able to give a “profession” or ‘confession’ of their faith in Jesus Christ. The word simply means “to say the same thing” or to agree with the faith.  All true Christians “say the same thing” when it comes to their experience of salvation. Twice the readers are exhorted to ‘hold fast to this profession’ (Heb. 4:14; 10:23). It was this same confession that they were “strangers and pilgrims” on the earth that characterized men and women of faith in the ages past (Heb. 11:13).

 

II.               The Lord Jesus is Describe (3:1).

a.      As such people we are to focus our thinking on the Jesus who is both the Apostle and High Priest of our Christian profession.

b.      Apostle points to the Lord Jesus as the One sent forth by God as the supreme Revealer of the Father (Heb. 1:1-2).

                                                    i.     That Christ is superior to Moses in His person is an obvious fact. Moses was a mere man, called to be a prophet and leader, while Jesus Christ is the Son of God sent by the Father into the world.

                                                  ii.     The title apostle means “one sent with a commission.” Moses was called and commissioned by God, but Jesus Christ was sent as God’s “last Word” to sinful man.

                                                 iii.     Read some of the verses in the Gospel of John where Jesus is referred to as “sent from God” (John 3:17, 34; 5:36, 38; 6:29, 57; 7:29; 8:42; 10:36; 11:42; 17:3; and note also 13:3).—The Bible Expositors Commentary

c.      High Priest picks up the role just mentioned in Heb. 2:17-18.

                                                    i.     Jesus Christ is not only the Apostle, but He is also the High Priest. Moses was a prophet who on occasion served as a priest (see Ps. 99:6), but he was never a high priest. That title belonged to his brother Aaron. In fact, Jesus Christ has the title “great High Priest” (Heb. 4:14).

                                                  ii.     As the Apostle, Jesus Christ represented God to men; and as the High Priest, He now represents men to God in heaven. Moses, of course, fulfilled similar ministries, for he taught Israel God’s truth and he prayed for Israel when he met God on the mount (see Ex. 32:30–32). Moses was primarily the prophet of Law, while Jesus Christ is the Messenger of God’s grace (see John 1:17). Moses helped prepare the way for the coming of the Savior to the earth.

d.      Faithfulness to God.

                                                    i.     Both Christ and Moses are portrayed as faithful, but Christ’s faithfulness is superior as the Son and Creator as oppose to being a servant and mere member of the house like Moses. So faithfulness to the Lord who commissions and sends out his apostles is the highlighted quality.  The Lord Jesus was utterly faithful to the Father in a supreme manner (John. 7:18; 8:29; 10:37; 17:4-5; Matt. 26:42).  The Lord Jesus always did the Father’s will; it is this fact that the believer is to “consider” according to verse one.  We are to likewise be faithful to God as the Lord Jesus was (Matt. 25:21, 23; Luke 12:43; 1Cor. 4:2). 

                                                  ii.     All Christians are stewards in the Lord’s house, though in a lesser sense of course.  We all, for example, have spiritual gifts.  We have them as sacred trusts; they are not ours.  If we are unfaithful in administering our spiritual gifts, we are unfaithful stewards. Some of us have been given special responsibilities to witness, specifically to people in our community that God has placed around us.  Some have been unfaithful stewards of this trust.  Others of us have been given positions of teaching and instructing and have been unfaithful in studying diligently, faithfully, and sacrificially. These too, are unfaithful stewards.  The Christian life is a sacred trust given to us by God and it demands our faithfulness.  One of the greatest thrills a Christian can hope for is that of hearing his Lord say at the end of his life, “As I was faithful to the Father, so you have been faithful to Me.”  We have not begun to discover what God can do through us if we are willing to be faithful. –MacArthur, J. F., Hebrews, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary

 

III.             The Believers are Directed (3:1-2).

a.      To fix our focus on Christ.

                                                    i.     Consider Jesus. He is eminently worthy of our consideration as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. In confessing Him as Apostle, we mean that He represents God to us. In confessing Him as High Priest, we mean that He represents us before God. –William MacDonald

                                                  ii.     The word “consider” means “to consider carefully, to understand fully.” This is no quick glance at Jesus Christ! It is a careful consideration of who He is and what He has done, which culminates in obedience to Him.

                                                 iii.     The Lord Jesus is being faithful to the Father who “appointed Him.” Therefore we are urged to fix our gaze on the person of Christ who is even now faithful to God. Jesus is our Model for fidelity to God and He expects us to be faithful to Him. The faithfulness of Christ, moreover, has an Old Testament prototype in Moses.

b.      To stop concentrating on Moses.

                                                    i.     It was not Moses who did all of this for these believers; it was Jesus Christ! They were not exhorted to consider Moses, but to consider Christ.

                                                  ii.     The New Testament, however, shows that Moses’ teaching was intended only to prepare humanity for the greater teaching and work of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16–3:31). What Moses promised, Jesus fulfilled: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). –Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary

                                                 iii.     There is one aspect in which Jesus was admittedly similar to Moses. He was faithful to God, just as Moses also was faithful in God’s house. The house here does not mean only the tabernacle but also the entire sphere in which Moses represented God’s interests. It is the house of Israel, God’s ancient earthly people.

Journaling

 

Take a few moments to record your personal insights from this lesson.

 

 

What steps can I take this week to strengthen my faith in God?

 

 

For more Bible passages about remaining faithful, see Deuteronomy 11:13–18; 1 Samuel 12:24; 2 Samuel 22:26; 1 Kings 2:3,4; 2 Chronicles 19:9; Psalm 97:10; Proverbs 28:20; Matthew 25:19–23; 1 Corinthians 4:2; 10:12, 13; 3 John 3–5; Revelation 2:10; 17:14.

 

To complete the book of Hebrews during this twelve-part study, read Hebrews 3:1–19.