Did you hear Jesus today?
Have you ever heard Him?
Do you want to?
Have you asked Him?
Are you listening?
Will you listen?
Today, when you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
Hebrews 3:1
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling...
Therefore...
When we see "therefore" we need to know what was before. It's like saying, "I said all that, to
say this..."
He just spoke about Jesus being our merciful and
faithful High Priest, representing man to God and God to man. Jesus stood in
the gap to bridge the gap between God and man. Not only making the sacrifice,
but by being the Perfect Sacrifice.
Jesus became one of us, to make us one with Him, by
making atonement, (at-one-ment), to restore the relationship between God and
man.
Therefore, holy brethren... Born again Jewish believers, members of the
body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Church, the Ekklésia. Christians.
...consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ
Jesus,
Consider Jesus
2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him (Jesus
was faithful to God), as Moses
also was faithful in all His house.
After looking at Jesus in relation to prophets, and
angels, and the Word, (chapters 1-2) now he brings Moses into the picture.
His house,
is referring to His household, the household of faith, God’s family, rather
than house as in a building of wood and brick and mortar.
3 For
this One (Jesus)
has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He
who built the house has more honor than the house.
Moses was faithful, but not as faithful as Jesus.
Moses was worthy of honor, but not as much honor as
Jesus.
Moses was faithful in God’s house.
Jesus built God’s house.
4 For
every house is built by someone, but He (Jesus)
who built all things is God.
Jesus is Builder, Maker, Creator of all things.
5 And
Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for
a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but
Christ as a Son over His own house...
Mo was a faithful servant in God’s
house.
Jesus was a faithful Son, over
God’s house—His own house.
In summary:
Consider Jesus over Moses. In their mind that meant to
consider Jesus over the Law, over Judaism, over legalism. (Which struck a nerve
because many were considering leaving Jesus to go back to their old religious ways).
The parallel for us is to consider Jesus, honor Jesus,
esteem Jesus, over religion, over Catholicism, Baptist-ism, Lutheranism, Methodist-ism,
Pentecostalism, Charismatic-ism, over denominationalism, doctrinism, agenda-ism.
Verse six continues...
6 ...whose house we are if we hold fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Hold Fast
Here, some well-known, well-meaning preachers, insert
the “once saved always saved” doctrine. Thereby (in my opinion) diverting from
the context of the text rather than simply allowing God’s Word to stand on its
own and speak for itself.
What’s “once saved always saved”?
Once you are saved, you will never be unsaved. You
cannot lose your salvation, fall from grace. You may fall, like the prodigal
son, you may run, like Jonah, but you’ll eventually come to your senses, get up
and come back to your Father’s house.
However, if you don’t get up and come back—then,
according to, once saved always saved—then, you never were really saved in the
first place.
If not explained carefully and cautiously the danger
of the doctrine is twofold.
A false sense of security for the
unbeliever. I’m saved, I’ll always be saved, I’m
going to heaven, so I can live sloppy and sleepy with sin.
A false sense of insecurity for the
believer. I want to follow Christ, I think I am, I hope I
believe, I’ve repented and prayed, but what if next week or next year tragedy
strikes, I fall, I run, I die while in the wilderness of rebellion?
What if I’m not really saved?
So, they never grow up, never have the blessed
assurance of salvation, they are always raising their hand for salvation, spiritual
babies, nursing on milk rather than the meat of God’s Word. Ever needing to be
taught the basic elements of Christianity rather than fulfilling their calling
and teaching and leading others to Christ. Hebrews 5:11-13.
Now, let’s go back to our text and simply
let it speak for itself.
Notice it says, “whose house we are if we
hold fast...”
We are of Christ’s house (family, household, ekklésia),
if we hold fast.
Hold fast to what?
New Living Translation has a good interpretation of Hebrews
3:6b: ...we are God’s house, if
we keep our courage and remain confident
in our hope in Christ.
The Bible interprets the Bible and the similar verse 14,
sheds more light. (Which is how the Bible works. It adds line upon line,
precept upon precept, painting a beautiful and full picture of the Perfect Law
of Love and Liberty):
Hebrews 3:14, “For we have become
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end.”
Hold on to the beginning of our
relationship with Christ, when we were enthusiastic and exited and believed every
word of the Word with childlike faith.
Jesus says it like this, to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5:
4 ...I have this against you, that you
have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen;
repent and do the first works...
The word “left” in the original text is also
translated as, abandoned, or, forsaken. In 1 Corinthians 7:11-12 that word is
translated, divorce.
Jesus is saying, you have left,
abandoned, forsaken, divorced, the first love you had with Me.
Note: left NOT lost.
You cannot lose your salvation, accidentally. God is
committed to the relationship more than everybody put together. He longs for it
to work, gave Himself and died for it to work.
However, God has always allowed free will; from Adam in the garden,
to you and me, here and now. lucifer had free will, before he was ever the
devil, but was drawn away by his own desire and pride.
Which is the same way we’re tempted today: But each one is
tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. James 1:14.
Any relationship based on love must
have free will built into it. Or it is not love at all.
The same free will we have to respond to His love, is the same free
will we have to walk away from His love. Anyone can willfully reject, deny,
walk away from, leave, forsake, abandon, divorce, Him.
No one coasts into heaven, and no one is dragged there against
their will.
That letter to the Ephesians in Revelation ends by saying:
Revelation 2:7, He who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. To him who overcomes I
will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise
of God.
Heaven awaits those who hear and hold fast
(overcome).
7 Therefore,
as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts...
as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Harden Not Your Heart
Compare those verses to this promise:
Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to Me,
all you 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.”
Warning:
Even
that beautiful oasis promised from Jesus will not soften the heart that refuses
to listen to His Voice, while it is called today.
12 Beware,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily,
while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who,
having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of
Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He
angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose
corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He
swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So
we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
The first warning (Heb. 2:1-3) was against drifting
due to neglecting so great a salvation.
Now we’re warned against departing from
the living God due to not listening, resulting in a hard heart of unbelief.
Hebrews 3:12.
Whenever God speaks, we choose to either:
Listen, which draws us closer to Him and our heart, softer
and more sensitive to His calling.
Or reject Him, which pushes us further from Him. With
each rejection our heart grows harder, until we become numb and can no longer
feel or hear His call, and we’ve passed the point of no return. Then, we’ve
committed the unpardonable sin.
God lives outside time. He is the I AM.
Thus, today, is the only day we have to hear.
The day of Salvation, is today, there is no tomorrow.
So, today, while it is still today, if
you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
You say I’ve never heard God’s voice. He never spoke
to me.
He has. He does. He is right now, through His Word. He
will continue unless your heart is too hard to hear.
He speaks a thousand times a day in a million different
ways, if only we listen.
The axe is laid at the root, His kairos clock is about
to strike, the day is done.
Today, listen.
Today, when you hear His voice, harden
not your heart.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we draw near to You, our first
Love. We consider You, above all. We hold fast to You alone. Please open our ears to hear Your Voice and soften our
hearts.
Listening to and loving You, forever.
Amen.
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Hebrews 3
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