Well, after completing Hebrews chapter two, we took a long break and we've now come to chapter three. We do not know who the writer of this book is, but we know the reason why he wrote the book. Not long after the Lord ascended to heaven, some Jewish believers came to faith. We do not know where they were. Were they in Italy or were they in Israel or elsewhere? We have covered all of this in the introductory messages. And these new believers rejoiced in their faith and lived in hope of Christ's soon return. How many of you have seen Christians? They rejoiced when they became Christians, and now they've all dribbled down. How many have seen this? Yeah, it's a possibility. So they had this hope, but Christ did not return, and their Christian life turned for the worse, not better. You know, we expect when we become Christians it's going to go fine from here on. No, not necessarily. And now the hope in Christ was not wonderful anymore. As a matter of fact, persecution set in and life became difficult, and slowly their newfound hope in Christ began to wane. And then they began to look back to the security they had had in traditional Judaism. When they had turned to Jesus Christ, they were cut off from the Jews, their own people, and now they didn't fit into the world nor among their own people. They became lonely, and life became more difficult, and they began to look back. like Israel of old, looking back to Egypt. The first teaching they were beginning to consider was a certain teaching of the Jews of the hope of deliverance from Rome's oppressive rule by their hope in angels. Instead, remaining steadfast in their hope in Jesus Christ, they began to waver, and that is possible for Christians. They became double-minded and unstable. And so in chapters one through two, the writer shows them that trusting in what was not good. Trusting in what? What were they trusting in in chapters one and two or looking to? Angels. And so they were to place their hope in Jesus Christ. Then in the remainder of the book, he will show how hopeless it is to put their trust in Judaism and the high priest and traditional life they were used to. And so in the next longer section, we will begin to look at this matter of Judaism that they were considering of going back to. Let me briefly go over how I see the structure of this book. There is always, first and foremost, a section of doctrine, that is, a section of teaching. One of the reasons the Church today is in such sad shape is that for the last 100 years, if not a little more now, we have failed to teach biblical doctrine. In days gone by, new believers were taught biblical doctrine by way of a little book called what? What did we learn doctrine in? Catechism. Catechism. Today, the majority of Christians do not have a good, solid biblical foundation. Nowhere in America that I know of. We think they do, but they don't. And so in the book of Hebrews, after the doctrinal section, a warning is given to believers not to drift away from this teaching. There are five such warnings, and they are some of the strongest warnings in all the Bible for believers not to drift from the truth. And that if they drift from the truth, they immediately enter a danger zone. And if they do not pay heed, repent, and turn back, they are in danger of hell fire." Now, this wouldn't go over very well in hardly any churches of America saying something like this. Calvinism, which took hold in Christian camps when John Calvin wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion in the 1500s, taught a new and totally false doctrine of God. And of the five main points, the last was the, what's the last point? Perseverance of the saint, thank you. This teaching said that once a person was a true believer, such a person would persevere to the end. God had rendered them incapable of falling away. Like a machine, they would do what God had predestined them to do. And I would say all five of these points are heresy. Then in the 1800s or so, and nobody seems to know where or by whom a teaching came along that rejected four of the five Calvinistic points and slightly changed the fifth point, and this teaching goes by the name of what? Once saved, always saved. Now I cannot find that teaching anywhere in the first 1800 years of Christianity. Anyone listening online, anyone anywhere who hears this message or my other message, please send me that information if you have it. I have concluded it is a teaching that developed in the last 200 years. It's a brand new teaching, and it is one of the teachings responsible for removing people from the fear of God. There are atrocious teachers in this camp. Let me name one, Charles Stanley. His teaching is that once you become a believer, though you murder or live in adultery without repentance, you will never be lost. Once a son, always a son. But both Calvinism and the teachers of once saved always save stutter and stammer when they come to the warning sections of the book of Hebrews. Let me read one of those sections for you, the first one we have. No, in chapter 10. I'll just read it for you. Verses 26 through 29. For if we, we're talking to Christians now, sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains the sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses of how much worse punishment do you suppose Will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the spirit of grace? When you read commentaries on these passages, you will find what the sign on a woodworking shop said. Many fancy twistings and turnings done here. If one wants to make these warning passages fit the perseverance of the saints or the once-saved-always-saved doctrine, it requires many fancy twistings and turnings to make them fit. Listen to what John MacArthur says when he comes to the first warning in chapter 2. He said this about the warning in 2.1. And may I add that this is the first of five great warnings in the book of Hebrews, and you must understand this. Interjected throughout the book of Hebrews are warnings. They're slapped at intervals in the middle of great treatises on the superiority of Christ. Let me just kindly say, there is nothing in scripture that is just slapped. Hebrews is a carefully written book with a clear purpose. Saying it like he did is a subtle way of downplaying the warnings. So let me begin with a warning. If you claim to be a believer and you are living or dabbling in sin, the book of Hebrews, after five carefully thought out teachings, will warn you to repent and drop that sin as if you had the devil himself in your hands. My wife read to me a certain preacher who said, if you are a preacher and you do not preach on sin, repentance, and I don't remember the third thing, I think it was hell, then you are a false prophet. That's pretty serious warning. So besides being warned in this book to never let sin get a hold in one's life, there are some incredible things to be learned, both of angels and the priesthood. Well, in chapters 1 through 2, we have had some teaching on angels, and we have had the first warning to not drift. Look at chapter 2, verses 1 through 3a. Here we have the first one. We've gone over this quite carefully. We're talking to believers, not unbelievers. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Answer, we won't. We won't. We won't escape. One other introductory point, this book is a book of hope. In numerous places we find the word hope in Hebrews. I titled the main point number one of this book, Jesus Christ, the hope superior to angels. The second point now, which is a long, long point, I have titled as Jesus Christ, the hope superior to the high priest. That's what they were looking back to. As I interpret this next section in 3.1-6, we have the doctrine from which the application of the doctrine will be explained, and in the application we will be given the second warning to these Hebrew Christians, and hence to all Christians. In the book of Hebrews, we learn that Christ is our High Priest. The High Priest of the Old Testament was a picture of Jesus Christ. Let me say this here. Without some understanding of the Old Testament, listen, we cannot understand the New. It is not possible. Christ is the fulfillment of the ministry of the Old Testament high priest. We go then to verse one, which introduces our subject of Christ as our high priest. It says, therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. The writer has been dealing with angels for two chapters, and now he's beginning to deal with the high priest. But notice how he makes a transition from dealing with angels to dealing with the high priest in chapter 2, verses 14 through 18. Here he writes, inasmuch then as children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he gives aid to the seed of Abraham. There we have the concluding remarks on angels and now comes the transition to the subject of the high priest in verse 17. Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted." So he's talked about the high priest. So the writer begins to move to the subject of the high priest, and the word, therefore, in 3.1 connects back to the subject of the high priest in 2.17 through 18. Now these discouraged Hebrew believers, let me ask you, do you ever get discouraged? Anybody here? Sometimes I do. There's some honest children. These discouraged Hebrew believers were thinking of returning to Judaism in which the high priest played a very important role. The most important role, I guess. But the writer will now show that Jesus Christ is our high priest. When we dealt with those verses, we gave some explanation of the high priest, that's in chapter two. Now, what these Hebrew believers did not realize was that not only the Jewish high priest, but also the Jewish temple would soon be destroyed. They didn't know that yet. It would happen in a few years. That is how it still is today because the church age has entered. Today we see a transition taking place in our world where Judaism will once more have a temple and a high priest. Let me just tell you this, it won't be the real temple and it won't be the real high priest. we have the real high priest. The real temple and the high priest will happen seven years later in the millennium. And you can read the last chapters of Ezekiel to see what will happen. Now note the main verb of verses two through three. Look at the verse and you tell me, what is the main verb? Okay, so you didn't have grammar, that's okay. Nobody got it? Verse one. Consider. Consider. Consider. The original word is katano'eo. I would give its meaning like this. Here it is. Immerse your thoughts in this. The high priest. Jesus said, consider the lilies. It doesn't mean just look at the lilies. It means think through these flowers. Consider. Immerse your thoughts in the lilies. Now this verb is an imperative. This is not a suggestion. It is a command to consider here to consider what the Hebrews were to look at, the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. You see, the Christian has a confession. Now there is no greater confession than the confession of Christ Jesus. Someone tell me what Christ means. See, now, maybe next time you'll remember, right? Christ, that's the Messiah. That's the Messiah. It means anointed one. He was anointed by God Almighty. And the name Jesus means? I'll ask a few more times. Jesus, Jehovah saves. Jehovah saves. Jesus is our Jehovah saves. This is our confession. Now, someone tell me, what does he save us from? Sin, not hell. Oh, he does save us from hell. That's not why he came to save us. He came to save us from sin, which saves us from hell. Matthew chapter one, his name is given Jesus because he will save us from, not in, our sins. Sin is man's biggest problem. Now note who is to immerse his or her thoughts in Christ Jesus. The writer says brethren. How do you think that would fly today, calling all the people brethren? The term the Bible uses would not fly well in our age, but don't worry about what our age thinks. They don't even know what a woman is. Notice further that believers are called holy brethren. And who are brethren? Well, these are the true Christians. They are further described now as holy brethren. Holiness has to do with what? Set apart from sin to righteousness. One cannot live in unconfessed sin and claim to be holy. It is not possible. Notice further that the believer is described as a partaker of the heavenly calling. I have told you many times that within the larger doctrine of salvation, there are many smaller doctrines. These are such as justification, sanctification, election, predestination, and a number more. And one of those doctrines is the doctrine of the call of God. Among theologians, it's called the doctrine of vocation. The call of God to salvation is God's invitation to be saved. The question in Calvinism is, is God's call sincere? Think about that. If only the elect can be saved and all the reprobated, the majority of mankind can't be saved, is the call of God sincere? Answer? No. Well, they say it is, but it's not. Let it be sufficient to say that God so loved the world, all of lost mankind, whosoever, all of lost mankind, should not perish if they believe, but have everlasting life. The call is sincere, it's sincere, and it is for everyone. Now let me ask, how does God call sinners to salvation? He does so by placing the gospel in the hands of sincere believers and instructing them to share it with the world, as we heard in Sunday school class this morning. God will not come and evangelize. If you and I don't do it, we're not going to get done. It's the task of the believer. If we do not open our mouth with the gospel, and it includes a lot of things, God cannot save them. They must hear the gospel, Romans 10. That is the Great Commission going into all the world. Well, the writer in these verses gives two things the Hebrew believer is to immerse his thoughts in. There are myriads of others. Here, we are given only two. The first is to consider the apostle of our confession, referring to Christ Jesus. This is the only time Christ is referred to as an apostle. Now, if we had Sunday school class, I would ask you, what is an apostle? Now, I'll just tell you. We get the word apostle from the Greek word apostolos. The word apostolos comes from the verb apostello, and apostello simply means to send, to send. So an apostle is a sent one. In the church, a sent one is a missionary, someone sent on a mission. Today we have many people who claim to be apostles. They're all over our country. They claim to be apostles. Often, they are not sent ones. They're self-appointed. Someone who is sent is sent by another, not by self. Now, Jesus Christ was sent by God, and he had a mission. We have a record of this in the four gospels of the New Testament. He is our apostle. He was sent to us and for us. So he is called here the apostle of our confession. If we make a confession of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is our confession. We agree to what the Bible says about him and live accordingly. Let me add this, that if we make a confession of Christ, that means he is presently saving us from our sins. We are not openly living in known sin. How can we live in sin if we are being saved from it? It is amazing what we discover in ourselves as we go along. Could you say amen? Not so for you. If we are truly holy, that is separated from sin, the more we learn about ourselves, the deeper ingrained we find in ourselves as sin nature. Somebody say amen now. And all that sin nature wants to produce in us is what the Lord wants to save us from. With every year, we learn new things in ourselves that we need to be saved from. All of this happens in sanctification, the process of being made holy. We may need to be delivered from envy, or jealousy, or lying, or a whole list of other sins. All of this he will save us from. That is what he was sent to do. So he became our sent one, the apostle of our confession. Further, Christ Jesus is our high priest. So let me cover something here that will help us in future messages. There is a temple in heaven, that New Jerusalem in heaven. If you study this subject, you will find that the Jewish temple was patterned after the temple that was there. That one was there first. We will see that in this book. Further, there was a time when there was no temple. How do I know that? Well, go to Hebrews chapter 8. We'll read verses 1 through 2. And it says this, now this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. Sometime it did not exist. This tabernacle was made without hands. God made it himself. And when did he make it? It is my view he made it after Adam and Eve sinned. It is there to deal with sin. In governed countries, when a law is violated, let's say I'm speeding down the highway and I get caught, you know what happens with that ticket? Anybody here know what happens? It goes to the judge's bench somewhere and it comes up. And there is a process for every kind of violation in our country. In the kingdom of God, there is a way in which all sin is handled. If we are unsaved, we will be judged at the great white throne judgment. Turn to Revelation chapter 20 for a moment. Revelation 20 and verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. When those books are opened, there will be a record, listen, there will be a record of every sin. Everyone. And they will be judged by that record. Now the people judged at this judgment are the unsaved. In those books every sin is recorded. Now the verse goes on to say, and another book was opened which is the book of life. I think the book of life is opened when the lost are judged to show them, look at this, your name is not here. And where does all this take place? This is at the judgment of the lost, and this is what the tabernacle or temple were all about, dealing with sin. These people will find what they are all guilty of, and here it will be determined what judgment they will receive. Now let me tell you about the Book of Life. Here's a record of all those who are truly born again and thus saved. You see, when we are born again and we repent of our sins, our slate is wiped clean. Sometimes after we are saved, the Lord will bring to our mind something that we need to deal with some person we have sinned against. I've heard this from many people. And then we don't need to go clean it up and listen. When you go to God and clean up, when you go to someone and clean up, it is gone. I can't tell you better news. It's huge. When the Christian dies and goes to heaven, or if we meet the Lord in the air at the rapture, then we will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. This will not be to see what punishment we will get or whether we go to heaven or not, but it will be to see what rewards we will receive or what we will lose. Now, we can't deal with this all here, but before Christ came, sins were taken care of at the tabernacle and later the temple. And this is where the high priest came in. Israel has just commemorated the Day of Atonement. It just happened last month. This is the highest holy day in Israel, even today. That's when the Six Day War started, by the way, some years ago. On the Day of Atonement, two goats were brought. Let me recommend our messages on sermon audio called, Forgiveness. Will that be one goat or two? In the Old Testament, the Jewish high priest stood between God and the people. That's the ministry of a priest. And on the Day of Atonement, he confessed the sins of the people over one goat, and that goat was slain. It took the place of the sinner. The other goat was the, anybody know what it was? Skate goat, thank you. It was sent away into the wilderness, never to be seen again. That's what happens when sins are forgiven. It showed the bearing away of the sins, so they were gone. But all the sins dealt with in the temple in the Old Testament, listen, they were only covered. When Christ our high priest came and he died in our place, then all those sins were removed. If he hadn't died, everybody else from the Old Testament would have been lost. Today, Jesus Christ is our high priest. Now, if we did what our text says, which is that we should consider or think carefully about the high priest of our confession, we might be here a long time. Let me just mention this. When Jesus died, the veil in the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom. This was the veil between, anybody know where this veil was? Yes, between the holy place and the holy of holies. The most holy place is where God dwells today. He dwells there between the cherubim. It is here that sin is judged before the true High Priest, that is, Jesus Christ. Now before the true high priest that is Christ died for us, only one man, the high priest, went into the Holy of Holies. If anyone ever went into the Holy of Holies without this being high priest, would have died on the spot. But the high priest went, how many times did he go in there? One time, once a year, one day as the Day of Atonement. I want you to turn to Leviticus 15. We're going to read a rather lengthy chapter. This will give us some idea of this work of the high priest. and the Day of Atonement, by the way, the day that Israel has just commemorated. Leviticus chapter 15, verse 1, now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron, your brother, not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. That's in the Holy of Holies, by the way. Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of the young bull as a sin offering and as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with a linen sash and with a linen turban. He shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore, he shall wash his body in water and put them on. Aaron was the high priest at this time, by the way. Verse 5, and he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord. By the way, in the forgiveness messages, we deal with all of this in detail. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord, one lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself. Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord with his hand full of sweet incense, beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire. on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony lest he die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times, Then he shall kill the coat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel." By the way, all of this the high priest does. and because of their transgressions for all their sins. And so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull, and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar round about. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquity of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. By the way, you can pray for me on Tuesday if I get an opportunity to speak to the man who is helping me learn how to work my knee. When I speak to him, he's a Catholic. I want to ask him about whether they confess to the priest. You see, Jesus Christ is our high priest. We don't confess to a priest. This is the bearing away goat. It's carrying away the sins of the people, never to be seen again. There's a mikvah, there's a baptism. put on his garments, come out, and offer his burnt offerings, and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar, and he who released the goat as a scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be carried outside the camp, and they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal. By the way, these Hebrews were thinking of going back to all of this. Christ had come to fulfill all of this. Verse 28, then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, another mikvah, another baptism, and after he may come into the camp. This shall be a statute forever for you. In the seventh month, on the 10th day, that's what we just passed for the Jewish people of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. For on that day, the priest shall make atonement for you. See, atonement. He will make satisfaction for your sins to God Almighty. to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is the Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls." It is a statute forever. That's what the Jews do today. They afflict their souls. And the priest, verse 32, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as a priest in his father's place, shall make atonement, there we are, and put on the linen clothes and holy garments Then he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting, and for the... Well, you know what all this has to do with? Sin. Sin. Everything has to be clean. clean. And he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. This shall be an everlasting statute for you to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses. Now our text said we were to consider or think carefully about our high priest. We read all about what the high priest does here. So turn to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19. Therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You know what should happen to us when we read something like that? We should jump and shout, glory, hallelujah. But we haven't got any idea what's happening. It's so huge. Only the high priest, and that only once a year, went into the holiest place. But consider this now. Today, the Christian can have boldness to enter the holiest place by the blood of Jesus. He is a high priest. If we but grasp the significance of this, we would shout, glory, hallelujah. When we sin, we can enter this holiest place of all and repent of our sins. We don't wait for a year. We do it when we need it. Repentance is, one writer has called his book this, the first word of the gospel. And the greatness, it is that repentance, repentance that it is possible through the blood of Christ is the greatest news you can bring to this world. We can be forgiven when we come before God and we repent. And when we do that, those sins are gone. Let me just say, when we sin against people, we must repent to them. It is so crucial. So many think that if they repent to God, they are forgiven. That is not true. I'll begin again in verse 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that's why it was torn, that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God. Here is Jesus, our high priest. Verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Here is the good news. Jesus Christ has paid for our sins, but, but they are not yet remitted. In order for any sin to be remitted, it must be confessed and forsaken. So John the Baptist and Jesus Christ both came preaching repentance. And here is the good news. If we repent, God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. They are gone. They will never be found again. When Jesus Christ died, the veil in the temple, a very thick veil that hung between the holy place and the most holy place, was torn from top to bottom. What did that mean? The way into the holiest place is now open for us. And Jesus Christ is our high priest in that temple in heaven, the New Jerusalem. He stands there between God and us, and he clears our sins when we repent. Repentance is one of the most important doctrines of the Bible, and it is totally under stress today in America. Repentance is both the hardest thing we will ever do and the most rewarding. So we conclude. The divine instruction of verse one was to consider, to think very carefully about our high priest. We looked at a few things in verses two through six. The writer will show us the things that he wants us to consider carefully. Then later in the book, we will learn much more about this high priest. Let me liken these Hebrews to something we might understand. Let us say someone gets saved out of a traditional church, which we understand. They learn we cannot get saved by works, they rejoice in their new faith, and then things do not progress as they thought they should. Difficulties set in, and just like before they were saved, and slowly they begin to get discouraged. And then one day comes when they begin to look longingly back at the stability of the traditional church. There's stability there, do you know that? And then the consideration to go back looms more and more appealing. These Hebrews were considering the teachings of traditional Judaism in its view of angels bringing about the longed-for kingdom. And so the writer has shown them that there is much more stability in Jesus Christ than in setting their hope in angels. And then second, they were looking back to Judaism in its religious practices, the feast days and so on. The ministry of the high priest. They were looking back at all the people they had been friends with and were now ostracized from. They were beginning to long back for the old things, just like Israel of old, wanting to go back to Egypt where they had leeks and garlics and onions and so on. The first warning the writer gave us was, therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. Have you observed how easy it is to begin to drift away? It's just so easy. Just let go. It'll come. Let me give you a part of the second warning from 312. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We do well to consider these warnings.