Florence Chadwick is an icon in women's swimming. In 1950, she set a world record by swimming the English Channel faster than any other woman had previously been able to swim it. In 1951, Florence Chadwick broke another world record by being the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. And in 1952, she sought yet another record. She wanted to be the first woman to swim the 21 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. So on a foggy July 4th morning, she waded into the Pacific Ocean to make history. As she entered the water, she was flanked by boats on both sides that were there to keep an eye on her in case she got in trouble and also to keep the sharks away in case they got too close. The fog was so dense this particular morning that she actually had to strain to be able to see the boats that were accompanying her, even though they remained quite close. Well, hour after hour passed and she continued to swim. As you might imagine, as a world-class athlete, Florence Chadwick was in remarkable physical condition. She had unparalleled endurance and stamina. But there was something she was unprepared for on that day, the bone-chilling cold of the Pacific Ocean. It was like nothing she had ever experienced. And after about 15 hours in the water, the cold overcame her, and she asked those in the rescue boats to help her out of the water. Her mother and her trainer were in one of the boats next to her, and they urged her to continue on, to persevere. And they did their best to assure her she didn't have far to go, that the goal was attainable, and that the prize she sought was right there. But when Florence Chadwick raised her head out of the water and looked in the direction of the shore, all she could see was a thick fog. And that was too discouraging. So 15 hours and 55 minutes after she had begun, she insisted she could go no further and she was pulled into one of the boats. As her body thawed out just a bit, she began to contemplate her failure, something that Florence Chadwick really had known very little of in her life. And what was most devastating to her was finding out that she had given up less than a half mile from the shore. Later, she would reflect that she'd been defeated not by fatigue, not by the cold. She was defeated by the fog, which made it impossible for her to see what was right in front of her. She said to reporters, and I quote, I make no excuses, but if I could have seen the land, I probably would have made it. You see, the fog ostensibly blinded her eyes so that she was unable to see the prize that she so earnestly sought, another world record. And this principle is familiar to anyone who's participated in athletics. And the key to perseverance, the key to victory is keeping your eye on the prize. The Apostle Paul had this sort of illustration in mind when he wrote these words in Philippians 3.14. I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. The secret to persevering successfully, my friends, is to keep your eyes steadfastly fixed on the prize. This morning we come to the second major section of the letter to Hebrews, and it becomes clear that there was an anxiety in the heart of this author who was also a faithful pastor. He feared that some among the Hebrew Christians had begun to lose their focus on the prize, on Jesus Christ Himself. The persecution of the Romans, the pressure from their Jewish neighbors to revert back to Judaism was creating a dense fog around them, and they were losing sight of the heavenly shore. And they were stumbling. And so the writer will make a solemn plea to persevere, to endure, to not give up, that the prize is right there in front of you. Don't get in the boat. And his encouragement and his exhortation to enable these believers to clear away the fog is simple and profound at the same time. He's gonna tell them, consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. Don't let distractions and fog keep you from finishing your Christian race. Consider Jesus. Well, let's seek the Lord's help and then you and I together will consider Jesus. Please pray with me. Father, we thank you and bless you for your word. We're thankful that your word always brings us to a place where we can consider Jesus, where we can marvel at his majesty and grace and glory. And we pray, oh God, that whatever may be limiting our vision of Him this morning, that it would be removed and we would see Him clearly. We ask all this in His precious name, amen. Let me ask you to open up your copy of scripture to Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3, and we're gonna read verses one through six. Hebrews 3, beginning in verse one. This is the true word of the living God. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who is faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Well, there ends the reading of God's Holy Word. May it bless it to our hearts this morning. Well, dearest congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I want to begin this morning with an important theological point, and it's one I'll be reminding you of as we move forward in our study of Hebrews. That is namely, those who are regenerated by the sovereign spirit of God and brought into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ cannot ever fully and finally fall away from the faith. I trust we know that, don't we? And this is one of the great comforts that Christians have, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It says in Philippians 1.6 that we can be confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 6.39, this is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing. I should raise it up the last day. So true Christians will persevere. And I trust that's a truth that blesses your soul. But one of the teachings we're gonna continue to see emerge in the book of Hebrews is that persevering in Christ, remaining faithful to him to the end, is actually the evidence and fruit of an authentic Christianity. And I hasten to add, our perseverance is not what saves us. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. It's not who we are or what we do that saves us. At the same time, those who are genuinely saved will persevere by God's kind providence. And Hebrews, perhaps more than any other book in the New Testament, stresses that perseverance. And one of the ways we're gonna see that emphasis is in a lot of conditional statements in Hebrews, what we might call if statements. Just a few weeks back, we looked at chapter two, and do you remember how chapter two began? Verse one, therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we've heard last. we drift away. That's a conditional statement, isn't it? And then in verse 3 of chapter 2, it says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And then this morning's text in chapter 3 verse 6, it says, we are Christ's house if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. And if you scan down to Hebrews 3.14, it says, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Now these if statements that we're going to encounter actually quite often in the letter to Hebrews are not in the Bible to rattle Christian assurance. They're here to make sure folks don't have false assurance. These conditional statements are intended to call God's people to make their own calling and election. And sure, they're intended to make sure our assurance is well-founded because it's grounded in Jesus Christ as he's freely offered in the gospel. See, we wholeheartedly affirm those whom God saves, he also keeps. But we can't let this beautiful doctrine be twisted into something it's not. I've often contrasted the doctrine of perseverance of the saints with the doctrine of once saved, always saved. I believe the doctrine of the perseverance of saints is biblical and right and true. Often the doctrine of once saved, always saved is skewed, you know? And that's not perseverance as it's understood in the Bible. There are many who think that it's perfectly fine to say, you know, back in the day, when I was 10 years old, I went to this camp, and I said a prayer, and I asked Jesus into my heart, and while I haven't thought about Christ for 25 years, it's great to know that I'm gonna be in heaven one day. That's not the doctrine of perseverance. That's a perverse doctrine of demons. That's false assurance. To be sure, God will keep his children eternally secure, but his children will necessarily bear family resemblance. Those who are his children will prove their spiritual pedigree through lives that reflect that they're the recipients of his grace. And these if statements were a way of shaking the Hebrew Christians out of their lethargy, because they're a grace to believers. They're a grace that says, I better check and make sure I be in the faith truly. Presumably these dear believers that this letter was written to had begun well. Their Christian race had begun strong, but the persecution, the pleas of their families and friends to come back to Judaism, and specifically probably to come back to Moses because he was such an important figure in their history, these were increasingly fogging up their vision. And they were losing sight of their prize, Jesus Christ. So the writer of this powerful epistle is saying to the church, don't let anything distract you. Don't let anything cloud or fog up your vision, not even Moses. You'll recall that in the first two chapters, Jesus was presented to us as God's supreme prophet and priest and king. He was presented as supreme over the angels. Now he's presented as being supreme over Moses. And that will become clear They hear his charge to consider Jesus. Now let's start unpacking our text. Listen again to verses one and two. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house. So first off, Notice how this church of Hebrew Christians is addressed, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. And there's something I wanna draw your attention to that you may have picked up on, and it's important. This is actually the first time the writer of Hebrews has formally addressed this group of Christians. And he refers to them as holy brethren. And this is an oddity for a couple reasons. First, you don't find this designation for God's people, holy brethren, anywhere else in the New Testament, just right here. And second, everything we know about the letters in the New Testament and letter writing in general during the first century would teach us that the normal procedure would be to address your readers at the beginning of the letter. So it's clear there's some intentionality here in this rather odd greeting format. And we need to ask, well, what's the purpose behind it? Well, it seems he waited till this point to use this special greeting so that it would be a particular comfort. to this struggling church, and we can make sense of that. We can see why I say that if we place this in the context, if we place holy brethren in the context. Again, if your Bibles are open, glance back to chapter two, chapter two, and let's read verses 10 and 11. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Now, we've already studied this passage, and you recall what an encouragement it is. It taught us that it was fitting that God sent his perfect son to bring many sons to glory. It was fitting that God would make Jesus, the captain of our salvation, perfect through suffering. It was fitting that he would be made holy by the one and only who is holy. And it was fitting that the glorious Son of God would not be ashamed to call them and us brethren. Now go back to chapter 3.1, therefore, holy brethren. Do you see what a tremendous blessing these simple words were meant to be? At this point in the letter, The writer of Hebrews is saying, this is who you are in Christ. This is how God sees you in Christ. You're God's set-apart people. You're the family of God. You're the ones that God called His treasured possession. You're the ones Jesus spilt His precious blood for, to make you holy, that you might be called brethren. This is your heavenly calling. You've been called out of this world and brought into the family of God. This is who you are by God's divine appointment. You weren't called to find refuge in Moses. You were called to find refuge in Christ. Moses isn't your elder brother. Christ is. So you see right off the bat, the author's trying to clear the fog. to remove the distractions and enticements to return to Judaism and Moses. So even in this greeting, when he says, holy brethren, it carries with it the idea, don't give up because you belong to Christ. Persevere, continue on. Don't quit swimming, as it were. Your goal, your prize is right there. Just lift up your head and look. And that's what's behind the exhortation in our passage, when he goes on to say, consider Jesus, who's the apostle and high priest of our confession. Now, when we use the word consider, We most often do so in a context of just pondering something or maybe even questioning something. For example, I want you to consider where we'll have lunch this Tuesday. Of course, it all depends on who's paying. Or you might want to consider taking your family on a vacation next summer. That's the way we often use the word consider, but that's not what's meant here. It's a very potent word, and it's an imperative, and what it means is to gaze intently on Jesus, to fix your thoughts and attentions upon him, to dwell upon him, reflect upon him, meditate on him, focus on him. It means we're to have an all-consuming preoccupation with Jesus. It means no attention deficit disorder where Jesus is concerned. One author says it's to attentively weigh his dignity, his excellency, his authority, to think of what is due to him. We actually heard an example of this in our responsive reading a few moments ago from Psalm 27, where David said, one thing. one thing I've desired of the Lord. That will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Unlike us, David was a sinner, but clearly David knew about keeping his eye on the prize. David would have understood this command, consider Jesus. Beloved, lend your hearts and minds to this truth. At the heart of a persevering Christian is one who's focused on Jesus. One preacher put it this way. I want to tell you this is the key to successful perseverance in the Christian life. It's not just that some Christians kind of naturally have greater staying power than other Christians. In fact, let me put it to you in a very simple principle. The successful perseverance of a Christian is the consequence of a steady preoccupation with Jesus. Let me say that again. The successful perseverance of a Christian is the consequence of a steady preoccupation with Jesus. Beloved, these are the people who stand firm in the Christian life. They're not the ones who are tossed to and fro by every emotional high and low or have lives marked by wild inconsistency. These are the ones who endure to the end. These are the steady, stable, consistent examples we look to and seek to emulate. These are the believers who aren't pulled away by the shining objects, the seductive enticements, or the fleeting enchantments of the world. But hear me, it's not because they're somehow less vulnerable to temptation than the rest of it. It's not because life handed some people perfect marriages, an easy road, a hefty bank account. No, it's because those stalwart Christians that we look to and admire are simply believers whose hearts and minds are steadily fixed on the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's it. If I can say this gently, but as directly as I can, we need to set aside the notion that there's some secret to living the Christian life. I grow weary of the books and the sermons and the formulas that promise, there's a secret if you just do this, it'll enhance your life as a believer. There is no secret to living the Christian life. What makes a vigorous, vibrant, joy-filled, enduring Christian is not a mysterious formula. It's the daily intentional act of fixing our thoughts on Jesus Christ. That's what fuels a life of spiritual enthusiasm, perseverance, and even impact. The successful perseverance of a Christian is the consequence of a steady preoccupation with Jesus Christ. And the problem is the fog of distraction takes us away from that. It's the fog of distraction that prevents us from keeping our eyes fixed on the prize. Well, the rest of this passage is simply piling up reasons as to why were to consider Jesus, why he's the one we're to be preoccupied with, and specifically, why he's superior even to Moses. So first, we're told Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession. This is a wonderful and fulsome description of Jesus' work. Obviously, you know this, because of sin, Man is estranged from God. And that estrangement means that man has two big needs. We need a word from God and we need a way to God. And Hebrews tells us Jesus fits that bill in both cases. First, he's the apostle of God. This is actually the only time in the Bible when Jesus is called God's apostle. But it's not hard to understand the significance. An apostle is one who is sent with authority to communicate an authoritative message, right? That's what Jesus' apostles were. So Jesus sent out his apostles, but God, sent out Jesus as the Apostle. So Jesus is uniquely and supremely the Word we need from God. But he's also our one and only way to God as our high priest. He's the one who represents us before God. And this is something we're gonna give a lot of attention to when we get to chapter five and then chapter seven through 10. But just for now know this, Jesus is our word from God and he's our way to God. He's our apostle. and our high priest. Now we're given some specific ways that Jesus is superior to Moses. Listen again to those verses beginning in verse 3 and I'm going to go ahead and read down through verse 6. For this one has been counted worthy, this one is Jesus of course, for this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for the testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a son over his own house." So there's a sense in which It's difficult for us to fully appreciate the esteem and even reverence that Jews had for Moses. By and large, most Jews consider him to be the greatest man who ever lived. And it's not an unwarranted appraisal of Moses' life. I mean, you recall like every male son of Israel during his time of birth, Moses' mama was carrying him during a time when Pharaoh had said, we're gonna put to death all these little boys. But God sovereignly preserved Moses in a pretty spectacular way. He was rescued out of the Nile. And then Moses' own mother served as his nursemaid. While he was growing up in the house of Pharaoh, he received the best education possible. God called him personally and directly from the burning bush to be his chosen instrument to deliver his people out of Egyptian bondage. Through Moses, God would perform spectacular miracles. Moses was God's instrument to part the Red Sea. Moses was a conduit for the law, the centerpiece of Jewish religion. Through Moses, Israel received instruction about the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrificial system. And of course, he was the mediator of the old covenant. As such, Moses had a special and unique relationship to God. It says in Numbers 12 that God typically would speak to prophets through dreams and visions, but not Moses. To Moses, God spoke to him face-to-face as one speaks to a friend. And you'll remember that after Moses had spent some time with God, Exodus 34 tells us that Moses' face shone so brightly with the radiance of God that Aaron and the rest of Israel were afraid, and Moses had to actually veil his face. And when Moses died, What a service. He was buried by God himself. So to be fair, Moses was a great man. A man through whom God did many remarkable things. And even in this morning's passage, verse three, makes sure we understand Moses was faithful in God's house. So Hebrews is in no way running Moses down, but these Christians who are being called back to Moses, need to know that the faithfulness of Moses and the faithfulness of Jesus, they're two different categories. And this unfolds for us in several ways, and I'm going to briefly touch on them. The first thing we see is that Jesus is superior to Moses in the same way that the builder of a house is worthy of more honor than the house itself. Now this imagery is fairly clear even though it's a little cumbersome when we read it. If you see a house being built in your neighborhood and it's especially nice, who gets the honor? The builder. It would be silly to honor the house, right? And that's precisely what this group of Hebrew Christians need to know. If their gaze slips from Jesus toward the direction of Moses, that's exactly what they're doing. They're honoring the house. Because Moses is a part of the house. He's not the builder of the house. And in the Old Testament and New Testament, the term house is always a reference for God's people, the household of faith. By the way, incidentally, I know many of our brothers came from, have come from a dispensational background. And if you come from a dispensational background, you know the first tenant in dispensational theology is there are two distinct people with whom God has two distinct plans. He's got a plan for Israel, and he's got a plan for the church. And those don't really overlap. But if you notice here, you see that Moses is a service to the house that Christ built. Moses in service to the house that Christ built, and we are in the house that Moses served and Christ built, right? This is talking about the church throughout the entirety of redemptive history. Minor point. What the writer of Hebrews wants to show us is that Moses is a part of the house. Again, it's true, we can say he was a very noble part, we can say he had a very important part in the house, but verse five tells us Moses is in the house, whereas verse six tells us Jesus is over the house. Jesus is one who brought the house of God into existence as the builder. Moses is like one of us, he's a part of the house. So two different categories. And this imagery extends further and is intended to draw our attention to Christ's deity. Verse 3 tells us that Jesus is the builder, and if you look at verse 4, it says that the builder of all things is God. So again, this is a clear reference that Jesus is very God of very God. And the deity of Christ is also presented to us in that Moses was faithful as a servant in God's house, but Jesus is faithful as a son. He's God's son. So do you understand where the author is taking these first century readers? He's in no way denigrating Moses, but he's saying fix your attention on Jesus. Don't look back to Moses because Jesus is worthy of far more glory because he's the builder of the house and he's God. You see, these Hebrew Christians were tempted to let their eyes wander a bit from Jesus Not to anything bad, but to just wander back to Moses. And the author's saying, no, not even there. You can't even go back to Moses. Consider Jesus. Think about who he is. I know there's probably no one here this morning who's struggling with going back to Moses. But this still has application for us. There are things in our lives, good things, that can cause us not to fix our thoughts and hearts on Jesus, aren't there? And this is just as an important exhortation for us to have a preoccupation with Jesus. You know, a song we sang last week, I love these words because they reflect my spiritual reality. more often than I would care to admit. Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bring my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Is that you? Prone to wander? Prone to leave the God I love? It is sometimes me. And this causes us to ask an important question, how do I keep from wandering? By considering Jesus, by having a steady preoccupation with the person and work of Jesus. because he's supreme. He's the supreme apostle and high priest of our confession, because he's the builder of the house to which we belong, because he's not a servant, but a son over the house, because he's God, and he loved us so much, he took on flesh to bring us into his family. Well, two months later, Florence Chadwick tried again. This time was different. The same thick fog set in, but she made it because she said she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam. She fixed her thoughts on the prize. That's the key to persevering. Consider Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed on the prize, Jesus himself. Amen. Father, thank you for your word. Intellectually, it is so easy to say, of course, we want to be preoccupied with Jesus. but that ebbs and flows, it fades. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us and equip us, to lift up our heads, to open our eyes, to behold the beauty and wonder of the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Oh God, help us to be men and women of God who ponder, meditate, contemplate, focus our lives upon, are preoccupied with the person and work of Jesus. And we ask these things in his name, amen. Well, brothers and sisters, as we prepare to come to the Lord's table, as you know, the invitation to participate in this sacrament is extended to all those who are trusting solely in Jesus Christ for their salvation. That is, those who know their good works are not what merits participation in this sacrament. This is a table of grace. It's for sinners who know their only hope and only comfort in life and death is that they belong to their faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. If that's what you're trusting in, you're a baptized, communing member of an evangelical church, please come feast with and upon the Lord. If that's not you or if you are living an unrepentant sin, And for your own soul's sake, when the elements are distributed, let them pass by, go home, repent, come back next time, and celebrate with us. Now as we come to the Lord's table, as you know, we typically confess with the historic church what we believe from using the Apostles' Creed. You can find that on page 851 in the back of your hymnal, 851. So Christian, what do you believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Then let me ask you to give your attention to the reading of God's Word. This is from Matthew 26, verses 26 through 29. And then I have a few questions and answers from John Willison. But God's Word says in the Gospel of Matthew, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I'll not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Then you can either listen or follow along as always, it's printed in your bulletin. What is the import of these words concerning the bread? Take, eat. It is as if Christ had said, receive and make use of this broken bread as a sign and seal of my broken body with all its benefits. As you take the bread out of my hand and by eating it, receive it into your stomachs, So accept a Savior as He's offered unto you. Receive the atonement, approve of it, and consent to it. Come to the gracious terms on which Christ and His benefits are proposed to you. Accept His grace and submit to His government. What should we think upon when we hear these words? We should think upon the infinite free love of God in giving His Son and of Christ in giving Himself to such poor wretches as we are. Yes, we should, in a contemplative and believing way, understand Christ at the head of the table making offer of Himself to us in the freest manner saying, take me and the whole purchase of death and sufferings, take my sealed testament and all the legacies in it, take a sealed pardon of all your sins and a sealed right to eternal life. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful for this covenant meal. We're thankful that it is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace. We're thankful, oh God, when we take the bread and the cup, we're reminded that in the covenant of grace, the one who had a real flesh and blood body lived and died for us. The one with a real flesh and blood body lived a perfect, righteous, life in our place. The one with a real flesh and blood body hung on the cross and bore the curse of our sins. The one with a real flesh and blood body paid the full wages of sin. He died in our place. and the one with the real flesh and blood body rose from the grave to conquer death and secure for us everlasting life and assure and certain pardon. Help us to have these truths in the forefront of our mind as we take and drink. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, receive the Lord's benediction. Peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and all of God's people said, amen.