and I would encourage you to read the book of Hebrews. I want to say thank you for the word of God that was well read for us and will be helpful as we continue to look at the passages of scripture that the Lord has laid on our hearts today. It is the prime minister of the United Kingdom who was once invited to go to a graduation ceremony as the guest of honor. He was expected to deliver his graduation speech to the graduating students. And when the time came, he stood up and went forward. Surprisingly, he did not have a speech in front of him, but still went to the podium. And in his speech, this is what he said. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. And he sat down. This morning I come to you to encourage us from God's word and say, in other words, keep the faith. Keep the faith. In the context of the passage that we'll be considering in Hebrews chapter 4, the writer of Hebrews is writing to an audience An audience that he assumes knew quite a bit about the Old Testament and the pilgrimage of the Israelites. The author of the book of Hebrews is not known. The very audience that I talk about is not mentioned. But the title of the book might give away who he's talking to. of the many New Testament books, the book of Hebrews is one that refers back to the Old Testament more times than any other book. The other books would be the book of Romans and the book of Matthew. So the writer is here trying to encourage the Jewish believers, if you like, who were being tempted to give up their faith. to turn back and go back to Judaism. And so he comes in chapter four with this exhortation, and our focus will be in verse 14. But for the sake of context, notice that as he writes this chapter, he uses a phrase, Continuously. In verse one, he says, let us be careful. In verse 11, he says, let us be diligent. In verse 14, he continues and says, let us hold fast our profession of faith. And in verse 16, he will say, let us draw near to the throne of grace. Let us. He is a writer that is not talking at us. He is talking with us. He is walking with us. In other words, he's saying we are in this together, as he encourages the initial audience, which could have been likely the Jewish believers. We read from verse 1, and if you have your Bibles, we read from Hebrews chapter four and verse one, and we'll go all the way to verse 16, but our focus of attention this morning will be verse 14. The Bible reads, therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he said, as I saw in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world, For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again in this passage he says, they shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, Again, he appoints a certain day. Today, saying through David, so long afterwards. In the words already quoted, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Verse 11, let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fail by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Verse 14, since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted we are yet without sin, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Dear beloved friends, We come to the fourth chapter and we'll look this week on verse 14. And as we look at verse 14, the next two sermons will be taken from verse 15, another one from verse 16. Keep the faith. Keep the faith. Let us observe together Let us observe together the meaning of this exhortation. Then we'll look together the motivation of this exhortation. And lastly, we'll look together on the method of this exhortation. Reading from the English Standard Version, the Bible says, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. As I reflected on this passage of scripture, I compared with another Bible version that simplifies the English for me, and it is called the Amplified Bible. Some of you might have used that Bible before. And it reads on the same verse, in as much then as we believers have a great high priest who has already ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession of faith and cling tenaciously to our absolute trust in our Savior. The Rite of Hebrews wants to encourage his initial audience, and indeed us believers, when he says, let us hold fast our profession of faith. In the book of Hebrews, what the writer is trying to show the Jewish believers is that today, in the new covenant, we have a better prophet. We have a better priest. We have a better sacrifice. And because of that, let us hold fast our profession of faith. In verse 14, he says, let us hold fast our confession of faith. What does he mean, let us hold fast our profession of faith? In the original, writing of the New Testament, which was translated from the Greek. The word used there is kratomen. Basically, it is a word that means to cling or to clasp or to hold or to keep. Simply put, he is saying let us cling to our faith. Let us clasp, let us hold fast to our faith. He says so very knowledgeable that the children of Israel from time to time turned away from the living God, as in the time of Moses, as in the time of the wilderness, and some did not enter the promised land. Here then he speaks to people who are familiar with the history of the Israelites. They remember Abraham. They remember the nation of Israel. They remember that once they were in Egypt and were delivered. They remember the Mount Sinai experience. They remember that at one time they discarded the living God and made a calf for their God. And so you can now see the context in which he now speaks to them. Now that you've turned away from Judaism to Christianity, you've come to embrace the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, let us hold firmly. We are in good standing here. There will be times of inward witness when we doubt our very salvation. Let us go back and remember that Christ has paid the price for our sins. Christ has died for our sins. And in embracing our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we've taken on the faith. And let us hold firmly to this faith. That is our inward struggle. Outwardly, in our society, in our community, in our workplace, in our schools, we may be pressured to compromise. The word comes again, let us hold. firmly to our profession of faith. That is what he means, that despite inward witness of doubt, despite outward witness of compromise, let us hold firmly to our profession of faith. We are surrounded by many people that say they are believers, but their lives are not consistent with their profession. And so he's saying to us, let us hold fast to our profession of faith. Despite hypocrisies of those that claim to be Christians and they are not, let us hold fast because we have a true savior We have one who sacrificed truly to God and accepted by God, let us hold fast, let us cling to him, let us clasp to this faith, and let us keep the faith. So that's the meaning by which he comes to this text and encourages the early believers. But secondly, friends, what was to be the motivation for keeping the faith, for holding fast to this faith. We read again in verse 14, and the Bible says, so then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. And as I reflected on this passage of Scripture and looked at other Bibles, other versions, begin by giving the exhortation and then giving the reason afterwards. And the reason it is this, dearly beloved friends, it is because Jesus, the Son of God, is our Savior and our Lord. Listen to what he says in verse 14. He says, since then we have a great high priest. We have a relationship with this savior who has died as the ultimate sacrifice. We have an onward relationship with him, but not only onward, it is eternal. It is an eternal relationship such that We have hope even beyond a grave. Because of this relationship, says we have a great high priest. We have this relationship with this savior. But secondly, notice, he says, we have a great high priest. We read from chapter seven how that in the Old Testament, there were priests, high priests, who entered the Holy of Holies once in a year. But even as they did that, they went to present sacrifices for their sins and the sins of their hearers or adherents. Not so with the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the prefect's great high priest. Greater than Aaron. Greater than all the Levites that ever lived. He's not only greater, he is superior to whatever they were and whatever they did in answer to the problem of sin. Greater. because he was special. He was the very son of God. He came without sin, he came to identify with us, and he came to die in our place. The sinless for the sinful. Not only do we have this ongoing relationship, we have, but we have a great high priest. But thirdly, dear friends, as we look at the motivation, notice as we read in verse 14, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. Again, he's talking to people that knew something of what the priests were doing, something of the sacrifice that they were making. And may I repeat, the high priest in the Old Testament only had opportunity once in a year to enter the Holy of Holies. And as he entered the Holy of Holies, he entered with fear, lest he himself be unworthy. in the presence of God. And he entered the Holy of Holies, which was a metaphor of the real Holy of Holy. And so here we are being reminded that Jesus, replicating that and doing even more, Jesus died and rose again and ascended into heaven. And the Bible tells us that he is seated on the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. What a privilege that we have, that this great high priest not only ascended into heaven, he is the exalted one, and he completed the transaction, if you like. The demand of the holy God over sinners was satisfied by Jesus himself. It is no wonder when Paul writes the letter to the Corinthians in chapter 15 when he argues for the reality and the truthness of the gospel, he says, If Christ did not rise from the dead, we are the most to be pitted. We are hopeless and helpless. But thanks be to God, Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ ascended into heaven, seated on the right hand of the Father and interceding for us. If there were shepherds in the Old Testament, Christ is regarded as the chief shepherd, the chief shepherd of our souls. Dearly beloved friends, the motivation is that we do have a relationship with our Savior, ongoing relationship, eternal. And we have a great high priest who is superior and special. He has ascended into heaven because he is the exalted one, the Lord of Lords, and has completed the demand of a holy God over the matter of sin and sinners. But friends, He does not end there, as he outlines the reason for us to delight and devote ourselves in keeping the faith. This is what we read. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus, the Son of God. We're just moving away from December when we celebrated Christmas. And you recall that when the angel appeared to Mary and Joseph, this is what the angel said, you shall call his name Jesus because he will save his people from sin. We are motivated to keep the faith, friends, because we have this Jesus who is our Savior. But secondly, he combines the incarnation of Jesus and the divinity of Jesus in the title, Son of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This points us to him being part of the triune God. Our Savior is God himself. Our Savior is one who voluntarily lowered himself, emptied himself, came and identified himself with us so that he would then die for us. But now, he sits on the right hand of the father, interceding for us. I'm reminded of the athletes and sportsmen and women. When they are competing, they aim for the crown. They aim for the crown. It is crossing the line or a touchdown or a goal in soccer. It's a motivation to win and to get the accolades. But friends, athletes don't always get it. They don't always get it. For you and I, we must keep the faith. because our crown is promised. And in this book of Hebrews, he speaks of the promises of God as sure and steadfast. There are no shifting shadows to his promises, no excuses. Eternal life is granted for that reason. Keep the faith. Keep the faith. It is worth it, more than worth it. Keep the faith. The meaning that we take hold of this faith, the motivation, Christ himself. And may I draw your attention now to the method of keeping the faith, the method of keeping the faith. Verse four reads, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession or the profession of our faith. It's very specific as to what we are holding fast to. It is our personal faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And how do we do that? Elsewhere, Paul will say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work. Human responsibility in our salvation and the sovereign work of God in our salvation. they marry so that we can continue in our profession of faith and our confession of our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks of personal devotion to God. Unless and until you are walking closely with the Lord, sensitive to the leading of God, the Holy Spirit. How do we do that? We spend time in his word. We spend time in his word. Our devotion to our faith, our personal devotion is enriched because we spend time with the Lord in his word. But secondly, we spend time in prayer. drawing closer to him and knowing more about him as we seek to be conformed to his image and likeness. The method of this exhortation does not only involve personal devotion, but I want to suggest this morning that it involves public devotion, public devotion. In this very book of Hebrews in chapter 10, he will speak of do not neglect the habit of fellowshipping with other believers as we see the day drawing near. The encouragement is the encouragement for fellowship. The encouragement we have is the encouragement of fellowship. When I entered church this morning and I saw the welcome message on the bulletin screen, it read, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Elsewhere in the gospel of John, John writes in chapter 13, love one another. Men will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. Personal devotion, public devotion speaks of the discipline, the habit, the practice of fellowshipping one with another, characterized by love. Welcome. one another as Christ has welcomed you. May this church be characterized by such fellowship, a fellowship that looks out to others and not only to ourselves. Personal devotion is one type of method. Public devotion is yet another. But may I also suggest public witness, public witness. It is the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3, I think verse 15, if I'm not mistaken, who says, be ready at all times to give the reason for the hope. that is in you. Be ready at all times to give the reason for the hope that is in you. If we are going to keep the faith, hold fast to our professional faith, this aspect of our Christian walk and life will be essential, that we are not, we are always ready to give the reason for the hope that is in us. I'm reminded of a passage of scripture. Jesus is talking to his disciples. In Luke chapter nine and verse 26, he says, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, Of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Public witness. We must practice our faith. As we desire to keep the faith, let's practice our faith. And we practice our faith by being ready to give the reason for the hope that is in us. Otherwise, here is a solemn warning. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, Luke 9 verse 26 says, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. May God help us to represent him well, to represent him well. I like how American citizens take pride in this American citizenship. In sports, particularly the Olympics, you hear them say, USA, USA, USA. In schools, you are asked, at least I've heard, to make the pledge. We call it the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Proud of being an American. Proud of the values of being an American. How much more? How much more that you are a child of God? How much more? that Christ has saved you. How much more that he has promised eternal life. How much more that you will dwell with your savior the rest of eternity. Once again, I come with a word of encouragement. Let us take hold of our confession of faith. Let's keep the faith. active, ongoing relationship. Maintaining the faith, not merely verbal, but let our lifestyle show that we seek to keep our faith. There's always a temptation. Ask the athletes. There's always that temptation to give up. Ask professional workers. Usually a task before us causes us to fear to fail, and we are tempted to give up. But this morning I want to say, friends, let us keep the faith, because our hearts Our hearts are easily compromised. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Let us keep the faith. Not only because of our hearts, friends, let us keep the faith because of the world we live in. We are bombarded by advertisements, attractions. The pressure to compromise is right before us. Let us hold firmly to our profession of faith. Not only because our hearts tend to be tempted, the world presses on us, but because the devil is alive. And the devil is described as one rolling like a lion, seeking whom to devour, seeking whom to tempt, seeking whom to divert from the path of righteousness. Because of our hearts, because of the world, because of the devil, let us take hold firmly our profession of faith. Let us keep the faith. Shall we pray together? Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great salvation bestowed upon us the great salvation purchased by the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you for the reminder in the book of Hebrews that we have a better prophet, we have a better priest, we have a better covenant, we have a better sacrifice. And the demand of a holy God over the sin of sinners has been satisfied in Christ our Savior. Thank you, Lord, for saving us. And thank you, Lord, for continually shepherding our wandering hearts. For as the hymn writer will capture the state of our hearts, he says, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God that I love. Grant us the grace, merciful God, to keep the faith. Because we ask and pray in Jesus' name. Amen.