need a handout sheet just lift your hands right up and the ushers will see that you received one. We have a couple you should have one that has a diagram in there as well as the one entitled, Hebrews, Our Ever Faithful Christ is the lesson that we are going through. This particular chapter and through pretty much chapter 4 of Hebrews we are going to spend two weeks on. So, I'm sort of laying a foundation this evening on But it will take me that long because of the fact of so much confusion that arises from this particular portion of Scripture. You'll notice as we go through these two chapters, the word rest is mentioned. And so it's important for us to get the context of this rest that's being talked about. You know, as believers, we know that there is a past rest that is when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. There is a present rest where that is what we would refer to as the victorious Christian life. And then there is that perfect rest or a future rest that we look forward to when we are with Him, with Jesus forever and ever. And it is interesting when you look at these particular general epistles since they are Jewish in nature. As I mentioned at the beginning of the service how that you can have that peace that passeth all understanding, that undercurrent of joy in your life even though you are going through some tough times. And we know that these Hebrews were going through some tough times. They were under intense persecution. I wanna point out just a couple of portions of scripture. I thought of this just recently here. James chapter one, it talked about this fire, this trial, the deep trials of affliction that you're going through. It says here in James chapter one, verse two, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. And then if you go over here to 1 Peter, one book over, it talks once again about the deep trials of your faith. Verse 7, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be founded to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So when you come over here to the book of Hebrews that is sort of the stage that is being set because when you took a stand in Jesus' day and just past or post Jesus' day in the time of the first century with the Apostles and establishing those churches. When folks would come out and openly declare that Jesus was the Messiah it was one thing for them to declare it, it was another thing when they would take that step of obedience in the waters of baptism to openly identify with Christ. That is why if you look at Martyrs Mirror, Martyrs Mirror is a real thick book I should have brought it out here for my library. But but it traces to the first 17 centuries the trail of Christians who were martyred for their faith. And really what made the difference in so many of them and why they were martyred is because of that open public profession of faith. And so when people would take that open public profession of faith that's when the persecution would come because they were openly identifying with Christ and not any other God at all. And it was really bringing to light the invalid belief system of so many others as well as the short changing of Judaism without recognizing Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And so let me ask you this, have you ever had your confidence in someone or something shaken? I thought, how could I illustrate this? And we don't have any children here, and I don't wanna have any adult get up here and do this because I'm afraid I would just really blow it. But you know, I thought about this, that if I had a child standing there on this top step on the platform, and I was down here, and I asked them to jump, they might like me enough and they might trust me enough that first time to take that jump into my arms. But you know, if as they were jumping, I withdrew and they plopped on the ground, if I asked them to get back up there and then I would ask them to jump again and then I would catch them, chances are they would hesitate greatly. because they would not trust me. They would not have confidence in me. The book of Hebrews is not written to shake people's faith. It's meant to bring confidence to people's faith and to their life. And many times, the way we have looked at the book of Hebrews, we've almost gone to it and saying, well, can we lose our salvation? Can we not? Can we really trust God? Can we not? And it's like picking the petals off of a flower. She loves me, she loves me not. I'm secure, I'm not. I'm secure, I'm not. I'm secure, I'm not. And the fact of the matter is these 13 chapters were written to give these Hebrew Christians confidence in the person of Jesus Christ. We saw already in chapter 1 where Jesus is the one who has spoken to us in these last days and He is greater than the angels, amen. We see here also in chapter 3 that He is greater than Moses. And it is interesting as you travel through these 13 chapters it mentions the angelic host often. It also mentions Moses because many of these Hebrew Christians they put a lot of stock in Moses and what he did for the nation of Israel. And he did some great things. so the writer here which I believe is the Apostle Paul doesn't shortchange that. He doesn't try to minimize the importance of Moses and his place in Jewish history as well as in God's economy of the Messiah eventually coming. And so he addresses that here in chapter 3. Let's read the first six verses of Scripture as we look at this. It says, Now notice the words here, there is nothing here in the Word of God by accident. It is purposeful. He didn't just take up space. The Lord didn't just take up space. Of all the things that God could say and that He could give to us He gave us these words. And He says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, Now, you need to pay attention to these words because it talks about our position in Christ. You know, we talk a lot here about knowing your position. I'm a firm believer that you have to know your position in Christ, that you're born again, that you're saved, that you can claim the promises of God, that you can indeed live the victorious Christian life. And so right here when he begins this topic of rest, as we look here in these two chapters three and four, he addresses them as believers. And you'll also find as you go through these chapters that he uses the word us. The writer puts himself in the same predicament, not predicament, but in the same context of those whom he is addressing. And so he's not trying to shake their faith, he's trying to solidify their faith. And so he says, holy brethren, he says, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. "'Inasmuch as he who hath built the house, "'hath more honor than the house. "'For every house is built by some man, "'but he that built all things is God.'" Now it's interesting here, if you just stop and think about this, you notice that he's saying God created everything, and so he's essentially saying Jesus Christ is God as well. He says, verse five, and Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." So right away, he's not calling their salvation into question. He's really, in these particular verses of Scripture, talking about the victorious Christian life and the rest that we can now enjoy in Christ. And I hope to lay the foundation tonight for that from the Word of God. And so it's interesting here that if you look at verse five, it talks about the faithfulness of Moses and how he was faithful in his house. Now, he was not perfect. He had faults, he had problems, he had sins and so on. But by and large, he was faithful to what tasks God had given him to do. And then we also have Christ who is over the house, amen? So you have Moses serving in the house, you have the Lord over the house as a son. A big difference there. If you look on your study sheet, you see Hebrews chapter three is outlined as follows. Number one, our profession. That takes in verses one to six. You have number two, our provocation, verses seven to 13. And then number three, our partaking, verses 14 to 19. Now, it's interesting here, if you look at chapter three, verse one, it says, wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Drop down to chapter four in verse 14. It says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Now, what he's doing here, he says, there is a potentiality of losing the confidence that you might have in your faith. And of course, that's the truth that Jesus Christ was trying to get across to his disciples. Sometimes he'd say, as I mentioned on Sunday, he'd say, where is your faith? He would say, oh, you have little faith. And then he'd say, well, I haven't seen such great faith in all of Israel. And so faith was a key ingredient that he was looking for in the lives of people. And of course we know faith is belief, it's trust. And so that's what we find that is being emphasized in this passage of Scripture as well. Take your Bibles and go to Hebrews chapter 10. In verse 23, this is another chapter that really causes consternation in some people's lives, but it says in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And so once again, he's saying, look, you need to be confident in Jesus Christ. And so he was trying to add that confidence and build them up in their faith, not trying to shake them up thinking, oh, somehow you may lose your salvation. That's not the context of this passage of scripture. and of course, of these entire 13 chapters. Okay, and so, Roman numeral number one on your study sheet, it says, our profession, our profession. Now notice he says, holy brethren. Now, praise the Lord for computers these days and And I know some of this is just a cursory kind of a study that you can do on your own, but you can glean a lot just by comparing on even the surface value, scripture with scripture. In other words, there's a lot of jewels that God has just laying on top of the ground for us to pluck up. Proverbs talks about, you know, going down deep into the well and pulling out wisdom. It talks about mining out the truth. It talks about buying the truth and selling it not. But yet there's a lot of things that are just on the surface of the Word of God. And that's why I always say when you study the Bible, you ought to, if you go into a book, You get the general view, and then you get into the particulars. And so many times where we trip up in our Christian life is we go jumping right into a verse. Show me that, and we go to chapter six of Hebrews and pull this verse out. Chapter 10 in Hebrews, we pull this out. What about this right here? And we have not even considered the general overall view of those 13 chapters. And so we come up with all kinds of variant doctrines. And that's why when you Google something, you'll come up with all kinds of stuff out there, because people are putting their own spin on it. God, we just need to listen to what God has to say. He doesn't give us a spin, by the way. He gives us truth. Now, look what it says in chapter 2, verse 11 of Hebrews. It says this, it says, for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. I've been bringing out as we've come to this point in our study, how that we are part of the family of God. And once part of the family, you're always part of the family. But you can be in a family, but be out of fellowship with a family, but you're still part of that family. And so, you know, when you got saved, you were called a brother with Christ. Not only that, you're a joint heir with Christ. Now you can be a brother, but be a brother on the outs with your brother and so on. And so there's no end to that, but yet your relationship is still a settled issue. When you trust Jesus Christ as your personal savior, your relationship with Christ is a settled issue. And I hope to illustrate that with that diagram. Look at verse 12. It says, saying, I would declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee. Verse 17 of chapter two, in all things that behoove him, to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Chapter 3, verse 1, it says, Holy brethren, if you drop down to verse 12 of chapter 3, take he, brethren, "'lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief "'and departing from the living God.'" So right there it says, you can't have an evil heart of unbelief, but he still calls them brethren, okay? And then in chapter seven, verse five, It says, and verily they that are of the sons of Levi who received the office of the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law that is of their brethren, though they may come out of the loins of Abraham. If you'll go to chapter 10, verse 19. It says, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Chapter 10 and verse 20, excuse me, chapter 13, verse 22. Chapter 13, verse 22. He says, and I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I've written a letter unto you in few words. And so once again, he's addressing them as not just Jewish people in general, but Jewish believers in particular. And so our profession, he gives this list here, he calls them holy brethren. And then letter B, partakers of the heavenly calling. Once again, a reference to heaven, a reference to our salvation. And then letter C, the apostle, the apostle. The definition of apostle is one cent. That's the basic definition. Scripturally speaking, we would probably say an apostle is one sent with a special commission, okay? An apostle. And of course, you notice there that Jesus is referenced as the apostle. The special one sent with a special commission, amen, with a special mission. And it says here, and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. And so these next few points here give more of an explanation of what that means. An apostle is one who's sent and we know that Jesus Christ was sent. with a special mission, and that was, he came to seek and to save that which was lost. And then letter D, the high priest, the one who mediates. The high priest was a mediator. It tells us in his word that there's only one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And so he's the mediator, he's one who mediates. And it's interesting if you, we're not gonna look at it tonight, but in John chapter 17, you know when it talks about the inaccessory work of the Lord Jesus, he is not praying for the sinners right now, he's praying for us. He's praying for the believer. And in John 17, in his high priestly prayer to the Father, he says he's praying for us. And he's praying for us to do our job and to live victoriously in this life. Letter E, Christ, means the anointed of God. the one who's been specially set apart by God. He is the Christ. And of course, Jesus, the Old Testament name is Joshua. It means our salvation. Now, if you'll take your diagram that I have for you, you may have seen this before, but it's one that just ought to thrill you, even if you are familiar with this diagram, that you would be able to understand your legal position in Christ. This is who you are in Christ. The moment you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, this is what happened. And you'll see how you have a shaded part, a gray part, then you have the white part on the inside. And the reason I want you to see that is the gray part is Jesus Christ and the white part is you. So in other words, you are in Christ. If you go to the book of Ephesians, which we won't write this moment, but when you go there, there's a phrase mentioned, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. And I've mentioned before that I like signing at the bottom of my letters, I say in Christ. And because I never want to lose sight of the fact of who I am in Christ. And that is a secure position. Because we do go through trouble. We get hammered in our thought life. We get tempted. We get tried. We have trouble come our way. And so it's important for us to understand our position in Christ. And I think that's one reason why the writer of Hebrews is spending the time he's spending trying to solidify and encourage these Christians to stand firm in their profession, be steadfast in their belief, and just trust God. Because of all that they're going through, just as I mentioned, that child would hesitate to jump into my arms if they were not, if their confidence was shaken in me. And so what he's trying to say is, look, you can trust God, you can trust Jesus, because he's far superior than the angels. He's even better than Moses. And if you study the gospels in the life of Jesus Christ, you notice what stock the Pharisees and Sadducees put in Moses. Hey, we are Moses' children, you know? and they tried to lift him up. And we know that Moses was one who brought in the law. We have Elijah who was of the prophets. And so they were important Old Testament characters, but Jesus Christ is superior to them all, amen. He's our ever faithful Christ. He can be trusted. If you look here in Galatians chapter 2, let's go to Galatians. We're going to leave Hebrews for just a moment. In Galatians chapter 2, I want you to see where it says, His cross, my cross. And of course, Galatians written to some churches. And he says here in verse 20, famous verse of scripture, but I think sometimes it's one of these kind of passages that we may memorize and it just sort of flows. And we really miss the import of them. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Now, when they walked by in AD 30, and they saw Jesus on the cross, Paul was not there in physical form. Jesus Christ took his place, right? He's our substitute. But in the death of Jesus Christ, because of Paul's faith in what Jesus Christ has done, then he was on that cross. He died with Jesus. He died in Christ. He says here in verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And so you see, because he was on the cross, I was on the cross. He didn't represent us. He took our place. We were the sinners, but He became sin for us. You see, He paid our sin debt. And as we trust in what He did on the cross, then that is us on that cross. And then you see here, we have a co-resurrection. Because He was raised, we are raised. We're raised in Him. Let's look at Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. And this will take you probably some study on your own and just look and meditate and think about these truths. Like I said, I only have time to give a cursory view of this tonight. Next week, Lord willing, if the Lord tarries His coming, then we'll approach and dig a little bit deeper here. But in Romans chapter six, verse three, it says, Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. And then it goes on in verse five, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, notice that, likeness, likeness. It says, of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, because of the above truth of this passage of Scripture, because of his death, his burial, his resurrection, and because of your faith in him, when you put your faith in him, it was as if you died when he died, and you were buried when he was buried, and then you were raised when he was raised. And that's your legal position. It's almost like if you, if I can say it this way and not be too off base, it's almost like if you have a membership in some club and you don't really realize all the benefits of it. And there you are, you're going about, you're doing whatever you can be doing. And then as you're right in the middle of things, they begin to tell you some of the benefits. But until that point, and you said, boy, I didn't realize that I could do this. I didn't realize I could do that, and so on. And they say, well, that's all the benefits of being a member. Well, it's the same thing, many Christians, they don't know all the benefits that there are of being saved. if you can follow my line of reasoning here. Many people say, well, yeah, I'm on my way to heaven, and when I die, I'm going there, that kind of thing, but they don't realize everything else that God has in store for us right now. And so that's why we, many times, we are spiritual paupers here, and we're looking so forward to heaven that we fail to experience and enjoy the pleasures that God has for us right now. And so it's important for us to understand our legal position. And once we understand that, then we can get in to find out what the benefits are of being a child of God. And there are many. There are very many, okay? And so it says here in verse 11, likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Next week, I'm gonna give you another chart kind of a thing, not like this, it'd be a little bit different, but it will show you exactly how that works. And I trust it will be very clear to you, but we're to reckon ourselves, count it as so. That reckon is an accounting term. And so we are to count it as so. In other words, even though we did not experience that ourselves physically, we did spiritually in Christ when He went through that. That's why the truth of Romans 6, 7, and 8 is so powerful. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2 if you would, Galatians, Ephesians, and go to chapter 2. You probably feel like you're in a college class or something, but it says here, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past she walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, For His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you're saved. Now folks, one of the things you and I need to come to grips with is if you trusted Christ as Savior, and you were placed in Christ, then if Jesus Christ could lose His salvation, then you could lose yours. You say, well, he is salvation. Yes, but if he could go to hell, then you could too, because you're in him. Let that sink in a little bit. And you know, you can't walk away from him. You're still part of him. The two of you are one. That is the whole truth of 1 Corinthians 6, Ephesians 5. And that's why you have so many illustrations given about salvation and the marriage union, the two becoming one. When you trusted Christ as Savior, you became one with Christ. You can't split a one. Amen. Okay, so now you have my throne and you have co-exaltation, it shows here. You have his throne and you have my throne. Ephesians chapter one, since we're there, look at verse 18. And it says these words, it says, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and with the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and was exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him on his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. Ephesians 2.6, it says, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's what I'm talking about, your position, okay? That's who you are, amen? So it's like if you are in a family and you're the son, but yet you don't act like the son. Maybe you're doing a servant's work or something of that nature, but you're the son. So what happens is, hey, when you got saved, you were placed into the family of God. Now we need to live like that. We need to live according to our legal position in Christ. If we are a son, we need to act like a son. We don't need to act like a servant. You follow me? Now, it says here, my return, the co-return of Christ. If you'll go to Colossians chapter three, Colossians chapter three, and of course we know the emphasis of Colossians is the preeminence of Christ. In chapter three, in verse four, He says, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And then you have the Koran, which is the crown, his crown, my crown, okay? And 2 Timothy, well, we're right here to Colossians 3, verse 4. Again, it says, when Christ uses our lives to appear, we shall also appear with Him in glory. And then if you'll look at 2 Timothy chapter two, 2 Timothy chapter two, and verse 12. It says, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. So there's the crown speaks of reward and so on. And so notice the big letters at the bottom here, and I'll let you read Revelation 22 five. It says, set your mind on your legal position in Christ. And that's what was the writer here in Hebrews was trying to get across to these saints. He was saying, look, you need to know whom you belong to. And he says, I don't want you to be caught up in a spirit of unbelief. Let's go back here. Now you have a little square box there that says subjection of angels, principalities, powers, and that will help you to see how He's superior in all those ways as well. So you see how the diagram works. Now this is for our admonition. I'm gonna have to hurry here with my time. It says here, now what I'm doing here in this particular section as we look here Hebrews chapter 3, is I want you to see the typology that's mentioned. And types are important. And the Lord doesn't mess with His types. What I mean by that is, is they're pictures, the types are pictures. And for example, number one, Israel is a picture of the believer. Okay, Israel is a picture of the believer. Now it's amazing, we will understand these truths, what I'm about ready to share with you in this study sheet, we will understand this as we look at other portions of scripture, but somehow some people wanna set it aside when they look at the book of Hebrews. And you can't do that, you know, it stays constant. And we'll see that as we travel through. But Israel is a picture of the believer and we see in our own lives, the backsliding and getting right and the backsliding and getting right, you know, over and over again, we see that in our own lives, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, you know, that kind of truth. And we see that with the nation of Israel. Egypt is a type of the world of sin and bondage in which we as sinners are enslaved. So Egypt has always been a symbol of the world. Moses, number three, their deliverer was a type of Christ. He was the type of Christ. Okay, number four, the Passover lamb was a picture of Christ, and the blood of the lamb of redemption pointed to the blood of Christ, okay? And so that was the, every time that lamb was killed on the Day of Atonement, and the high priest took that blood into the Holy of Holies, and he paid the sin debt for the people of that year. And that's why it says, once every year, the high priest would go in. And he would offer for the sins of the people that atonement. And of course, Jesus Christ came once for all, the scripture says. And number five, excuse me, says the drowning of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea speaks of our security forever in Christ. You remember if you were to look at the scriptures in Exodus 15, 16, and 17, right after they're taken out of Egypt, then as Pharaoh's armies went into the Red Sea, then the Lord caused the waves to come back and envelop them and all of them were killed. The children of Israel could not go back. They could not go back into the world. They could not go back to Egypt. That's the old life. Egypt is the old life. So when you look at interpretation of other scriptures that seemingly cause you difficulty in your questioning, is this talking about salvation or something else? These kinds of things will be indicators of what the writer's trying to get across. Once again, we think from a Gentile perspective, these Jews understood exactly what was going on at this time because they had been told this and taught this all the way through. their heritage. And of course they knew the Pentateuch the first five books of the Bible. Ok, and so it says here the pillar of a cloud is the guiding Holy Spirit. And then number seven the manna was Christ the bread of life. And then the water from the rock speaks of the word of God, the Bible. And the rock was Christ, the living word. If you'll write down next to that point, 1 Corinthians 10, in verse four, that's a clear statement of how Jesus is, he was the rock. portion of Scripture. And that is what we have to understand and why you have heard so many of us say that in the Old Testament Jesus Christ is in shadow form. And in the New Testament you see the substance, you see the person of Christ. And this is a great example of that. And that's why I mentioned every piece of the tabernacle was a different perspective, facet of the ministry or the person of Jesus Christ. And so there's so much typology there that points us to Jesus. So when you're reading these portions of scripture in the Old Testament, you ought to be looking for Christ. Say, where's Christ pictured here? Okay, and then number 10, Canaan is God's picture of the life of victory. Canaan is not a picture of heaven. Canaan represents the abundant victorious life of the believer here and now. Canaan cannot represent heaven, for Canaan had to be possessed by conquest. And if you just, the book of Revelation talks about that in heaven there'll be war no more. Chapters 21 and 22. There'll be war no more. In other words, you don't, there's not war in heaven. There's not sin up there. There's not war up there. From whence comes wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that warn your members? James chapter four, verse one. And so we know it's because of our fallen human nature that we have contentions and strifes and wars and things of that nature. But in heaven, there's none of that. So Canaan cannot represent heaven. Canaan is talking about the will of God, the victorious life. The river Jordan is really a death to self. You're dying to self, and then you're going in. And you find that as you and I dwell in Canaan, we're gonna experience our Jerichos, praise God. But if we allow sin to come in our life, we'll experience our AIs. And it will just take a little bit of sin to withdraw the hand of God's blessing upon our life. Because you remember, they looked at Jericho and it was just an impregnable city, everybody thought, and yet God had those walls come down and the victory was given. And so they said, hey, we'll just send up a few thousand guys and we'll take this little city of Ai. But they had taken of the accursed thing. And because they took of the accursed thing, the blessing of God was withdrawn and they suffered defeat. And so we will too if we allow sin to dwell in our life. That's why David was so concerned about that. You have Psalm 51. It's something that you ought to study and just say, this is a model for repentance when you and I are sinned. And then you see how he says, Lord, cleanse me from secret faults and keep me from presumptuous sins. He was so concerned that he stayed right with God because he knew what it meant when he got out of fellowship with God. He knew what it meant when he sinned. Oh yes, he experienced great forgiveness, but by the same token, he suffered the consequences of his sin. And so, once again, Canaan is God's picture of the life of victory. If you'll flip over on your study sheet, at least I have to. Roman number number two, our provocation. Now, our provocation takes in verses seven to 13, if you'll look there. Let's read in Hebrews chapter three, verse seven. It says, wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice, "'Harden not your hearts as in the provocation "'in the day of temptation in the wilderness. "'When your fathers tempted me, "'proved me and saw my works 40 years. "'Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation and said, "'They do always err in their heart, "'and they have not known my ways. "'So I swear in my wrath, "'they shall not enter into my rest.'" Okay, and let me read verse 13. "'Take heed, brethren. lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." And you notice it talks about how that sin deceives us, it tricks us, It doesn't always present itself in an overt way. There's a seduction that takes place with sin as well. And so you don't wanna be, the Bible talks about seducing spirits. And a seducing spirit is one that's behind every level of false doctrine. And so that's why it's called the doctrine of devils, the doctrine of demons. And really the ultimate focal point of the devil through any false teaching is an attack on the gospel ultimately. And so he doesn't usually sometimes start out that way. It's usually some other variant teaching. And once you grab hold of that, then he takes you to the next step, to the next step. And ultimately, then it attacks the very doctrine of salvation. And if he can't get you a believer in Jesus Christ, he wants that next generation. He wants your neighbor. Okay, and so our provocation, let's go to, I believe it's Psalm 95, Psalm 95. You may wanna write that down in your notes. I hope I'm writing that, Psalm 95. It says, oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hands are the deep places of the earth. The strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my work. 40 years long was I grieved with this generation and said, it is a people that do err in their heart. And they have not known my ways, unto whom I swear in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest." And of course, he's talking about going into Canaan, and they went and spent 40 years in wilderness wandering. Let's go to Exodus chapter 15, if you would. Exodus chapter 15. Now this is just right after the children of Israel have gone out of Egypt because of the death of the firstborn. They crossed the Red Sea. And right away, it's interesting here. You would have thought, now, They saw all these miracles take place. They saw all these plagues. They were right there in the thick of things. And because they had killed that lamb and taken that blood and put it on the doorpost, and the death angel passed through, and every house that had the blood, where we get the song, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you, that death did not strike that house. They experienced that. And so here they see God deliver them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, on dry land, over onto the other side, and right away, they get to complaining. Now, isn't that a lot like us? We get saved. We have been delivered. We're going to heaven instead of hell. We need not fear the Egyptians anymore. And yet then we start moaning and groaning and complaining, God, why are you doing this? You took us out of the world and look what you're doing now. I never had it so hard. I never had this and I didn't have to worry about that. And I never, you know, and we start having our own little pity party just like they did here in Exodus chapter 15. And then chapter 16, and then he's making reference here in chapter 17 and verse seven about Meribah and Massah, where they were just chiding with Moses. They were moaning and groaning. He'd already given them water out of the rock. He'd already given them a manna from heaven, feeding them, taking care of them. And it was just one thing after another. Folks, we need to learn who we are in Christ and be forever grateful for our standing and our position in Him. We're saved, amen? And you see God's care for the nation of Israel all throughout the scriptures. And what a picture for us, God cares for us. And He will continue to care for us. And we need not worry about our salvation in Him. Where the struggle for us comes is to walk in that newness of life. And that's where our human responsibility comes into play here. So our provocation is letter A, not hearing. If you go back to, I'm out of time to be able to go through Exodus, but if you'll write that down, you can look at it yourself. Exodus 17 is a direct reference to Psalm 95 and this portion of Scripture. And it says here, not hearing him in verse seven, it says, wherefore as the Holy Ghost say it today, if you will hear his voice. Our provocation, the way we sort of shake our fist in God's face as believers is we don't listen to him, we don't hear his voice, we don't pay attention to what he has to say. And we see that always in the nation of Israel, that always led to trouble in their life. not hearing him. Our provocation is a hard heart. Verse eight, it says, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. And then letter C is unbelief. That's verse 12. It says, take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. And folks, if you were to look at the base word meaning of unbelief and faith, It's all part of the same family. So when it talks about belief and unbelief, it's talking about faith. That's why he spends an entire chapter, Hebrews chapter 11, talking about faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. You have to see what the scriptures have to say, and you have to just embrace it as your own. Doesn't mean that you fully understand everything, but by the same token, you believe in what God has said. You trust Him. Amen, you trust Him. Okay, and then here letter C is the unbelief. If you'll write down these verses, verse 19, verse 19 of chapter 3, we see then that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Then we see chapter four verse six, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. That's why you see some who will enjoy the victorious life, the Christian life, and others that won't. Okay, and then you see in verse 11, verse 11 says, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Now this ought to nail it down for you. And that is, we know that we're saved by grace, through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, right? Salvation is free. Well, if this is talking about salvation rest, then it says, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. You don't work for your salvation. So it cannot mean salvation here. Okay, so it's important for us to look at the context of something and get your position in Christ as a settled issue first. And then as you see here, as a writer is writing to these Hebrews, he's writing to believers, he's writing to fellow brethren, he's including himself and saying us and we. You know, and so he's including them as believers. So when you get into interpreting some of these problem passages that people have pulled out verses, you have to go back and say, okay, who is he addressing? And it makes all the difference in the world. Amen. Okay. Then you see letter D is not encouraging one another. And then number three are partaking. Of course, verses 14 to 19, and I'll draw it to a close here. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Notice that, confidence, steadfast. And it says, while it is said today, that alarm went off. Yes, I know, it's 8.30. Okay, all right. It says, today if you will hear His voice, if you will hear His voice, okay? Harden not your hearts as in the provocation. Oh, man. For some, when they had heard, did provoke, how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into that rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And that's our partaking, letter A, of Christ. Our union with Christ assures our standing. And our communion depends upon our walking. Okay? Our union with Christ assures our standing. That's the chart you have. That's the legal position you have in Christ. You're a child of God. Okay? Now, our communion, our day-to-day walk, our enjoying fellowship. Okay? That depends on how we live. And then, letter B, it is important to know who you are in Christ. This gives you confidence steadfast until the end. Let's all stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. I know I unloaded quite a truck of information here tonight, but I really do pray and I hope that you will really grasp who you are in Christ and your position in Christ because it's liberating. There's a freeing up of knowing that you're Christ, that you're in him and he's in you.