We'll read the whole chapter. There's only 19 verses, and we're going to do an overview of the whole chapter today by God's grace. Let's pray first. I pray, Heavenly Father, oh, I so desperately need you, God. Please help us today. Please help me in the speaking of your word, God, that the words would be clear, easy to understand, God. and able to apply to our lives, I pray, Lord, please help us and direct us, give us power through your Spirit that you would be glorified in our lives, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Verse 1 of chapter 3 says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, and 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 home hath more honor than the house. Continuing at verse four, it says, For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ is a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation of the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty 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. 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. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation For some, when they had heard, did provoke, howbeit not all came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty 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 his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. So we're going to look at this whole chapter, and we see it in several different parts. But before we get into that, I would say that this third chapter starts much like chapter two. Chapter two, you see the word, therefore, in the beginning of chapter three, you see the word wherefore, which is actually used in a very similar way, where we could say taking everything in consideration that has been to this point, which we went over at the beginning of chapter 2, and it's very similar. So again, the writer is building his argument. In chapter 1, he establishes the deity of Jesus Christ beyond a shadow of a doubt. And in chapter 2, he establishes the Lord Jesus' humanity and shows how he can be a man and God at the same time. In chapter 1, we see the undoubted deity of Jesus Christ In verse 2, He is the Creator. In verse 3, He is the exact essence of God Himself. In verse 6, the angels worship Him. In verse 8 and 9, He is altogether holy. Then, in case there was any doubt, in verses 10 through 12, we see His eternal, almighty, and infinite nature that leaves us with no choice other than to join in with the angels and worship Him as God, or to remain in our rebellion But then in chapter 2, which is really the beginning of chapter 2, it's the warning. If this is so clearly laid out in chapter 1, and we're not worshiping Christ, then we're warned that there's no escape for God's judgment. And that's the beginning of chapter 2. And after that warning in chapter 2, the writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, masterfully shows how men and eternity will be higher than angels because they partake of the divine nature and how Jesus Christ in the same way was made a little lower than the angels during his time on earth but was crowned with glory and honor because of his perfect obedience and because of his infinite nature. Now, we can break up chapter 3 into an outline, which would be a pretty simple outline, which would be verses 1 through 6. You see verses 1 through 6, it's Jesus is greater than prophets. He's greater than all the prophets. And again, as the scripture often does, it takes the greater to prove the lesser. Moses being the greatest prophet according to the Jews. So Jesus being greater to Moses makes him greater than all prophets. And not just greater, though, as we will see when we get into this in our verse-by-verse study, not just greater amongst, but greater above. in verse 4, greater as He is God and they are not. They are human. You're going to see that in verse 4. So He's greater in a way where He's above. But you see that in the first six verses. Then the second part in this chapter you see in verses 7 through 19, which is a warning not to harden our hearts towards our great God and Savior. which is really the whole rest of the chapter. And then that theme runs into chapter four. You'll see that theme of not hardening your hearts because of unbelief runs into chapter four. However, I would like to look at this chapter by looking at it in the three main doctrines that we see in this chapter. So we're going to look at it in an overview today. And the three main doctrines I would like to consider, but I would like to relate to the believer's consideration of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So each of these doctrines is going to point back to the beginning of this chapter, where he says, consider, look in verse 1, holy brethren, partakers of the holy calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession. Christ Jesus. So each of these three main doctrines that we see in Hebrews 3 is pointing back to verse 1. We want to consider these things in light of our Apostle and High Priest, Jesus Christ. And the three doctrines are these. Number 1, in verses 1 and in verses 12, you see the warning of the brethren. The warning of the brethren. It's kind of unusual in one sense. You see this in other epistles in the New Testament, but you especially see it in Hebrews. There's these warnings toward the brethren over and over again. And you see it in verse 1 that we just read. But if you look in verse 12, it says, Take heed, brethren. It's interesting that it uses the word brethren. Lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. in departing from the living God. And so we're going to look at that in light of considering Christ. The other main doctrine I see in this chapter is in verses 6 and in verses 14, which is the perseverance of the saints. If you hold steadfast until the end, you are saved. And that's in verses 6 and 14. We'll get into that today. And then in verses 12 and 19, the third doctrine is the great sin of unbelief. There's one other doctrine that's in this book, this chapter specifically, that we should recognize, which is the person of the Holy Spirit. You see the person of the Holy Spirit in Hebrews chapter 3 like you do in no other chapter in the Bible, actually. Because it says in verse 7, Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation in the wilderness, when your father's tempted, and proved me, it says, when you tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, Therefore, I was grieved with that generation." Speaking of the Holy Spirit there, all pointing back to verse 7, which is an important part of this chapter, is the person of the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit has a mind, a will, and emotions. The Holy Spirit is not a force. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God, one God. So, why does the Holy Spirit, let's look at this first point though, the warning of the brethren. Why does the Holy Spirit see as the most important point of this whole epistle to continually point us to Jesus and to warn us against forgetting or allowing these things to slip. As it is put in the second chapter, verse one, it says, don't allow these things to slip. Why? And when you ask the question why, there's often things behind what the writer is writing. Like if you look in Romans, Paul's answering questions in Romans that are not being asked. He's like, why is he answering these questions? If you look at Romans 6.1, he answers the question of antinomianism, basically, without it even being asked. So obviously he was being asked these questions. And you see the same thing here, like, why? And you can start to look in other parts of the Bible and see why. So why does the Holy Spirit here make this point so imperative towards us? He's talking to believers. And he's telling believers, don't let these things slip. Don't forget. Consider Christ. Consider Him. Lest there be unbelief in your heart. Why is he doing this? Why is he speaking to believers in this way? Because he knew that there were many people in the Hebrew church who had an outward profession of trusting Jesus, but when reality set in, there was a portion of them that were still trusting in their own natural heritage. The Jews consistently had two problems. And you see these problems in us. This is a common problem, but you see them particularly in the Jews of that day. They thought they were the children of God, number one. They thought they were the children of God because they were born the natural children of Abraham. You see them arguing that with Jesus all the time. saying, we're the children of Abraham. Why did you come to save us? We are the children of God. We're the natural-born children of Abraham. We also see Paul arguing against that in Romans chapter 2. It was a common argument against the Jews because they thought they were the children of God because they were born as natural children of Abraham. Number one. Number two. Many, even those in the church would profess to believe in Jesus, but were caught in what we call the Galatian heresy, which is in its simplest explanation is believing that salvation comes by faith in Jesus plus works, plus baptism, plus circumcision, or plus, as the Hebrews often did, plus keeping the Mosaic law. They would say, well, we believe in Jesus plus You have to keep the Mosaic Law. So, these two things, being born a natural child of God, and thinking that there's something else more than Jesus, plus Jesus, to save themselves were the two great hindrances in the Hebrew Church. And these two deceptions are very common today, and have prevailed often over the past 2,000 years. The two deceptions of believing first, that we are born by nature the children of God. You hear people say that often in the world. They'll say, oh, we're all the children of God. We're all brothers and sisters. And in a physical sense, it's true. In a physical sense, we are brothers and sisters. But in a spiritual sense, we are not. We are not. And this is a very common way to think, and we should understand that, because I don't Personally, I don't think that way, because I was taught from a young boy never to think that way. So it's not in my thinking, but it's in the thinking of the world, where they say, yeah, we're all children of God. We're all brothers and sisters, and God loves everybody, and we're all going to heaven. And even people that don't go to church or don't have any religious background will say that. And it's a very common way to think. And the Jews especially thought that way. But the second great deception that has been so prevalent through the centuries is adding works to faith for salvation. Sometimes this can be very obvious when certain churches put it in their theology that you must be saved by faith plus baptism, plus sacraments, plus obedience, plus whatever. But this way of thinking can also affect those who would say that they adhere to the doctrine of faith alone for salvation. but have never really dealt with the doctrine of total depravity. So there's two sides of this. There's those who openly preach faith plus warps, and then there's those who do it and don't realize it because they're not dealing with total depravity, the total sinfulness of themselves. The two doctrines of faith alone for salvation and total depravity go hand in hand. You can't really have one without the other. It's like repentance in faith. You can't have one without the other. Because if I'm only partially bad, then I only need a partial Savior. And I'm capable of doing part of the job. And if that's the case, then I would still be in a system of works plus faith. However, if I am a total sinner, 100% no good, as the Bible teaches in Romans 3, 10-12 and Romans 7, 18. There is none that are righteous and there is none that does good. Now, if we are total sinners, we are in need of a total Savior. And the Lord Jesus Christ is that total Savior. He is not a partial Savior, but He is a total Savior. 100%. So these are the two errors I sincerely believe that the writers dealing with this, number one, these Hebrews were in the church and they were professing Christians, so Paul's addressing them as brethren, but there's a portion of them that are still believing that they're the children of God because they're born into it. They're still believing that they're the children of God because they believe in Jesus. Plus, they're good. Plus, they're doing something. They're keeping the Mosaic Law. They're circumcised, they're believing in those types of things. So keeping that in mind, keeping that in mind, wherefore brethren? Not brethren after the flesh in verse 1, but brethren after the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The brethren, or those who are the children of God, are characterized by what? They are characterized by holiness. He calls them holy brethren. Holy brethren. we are set apart for God's purpose, to live separate from the world. Those who pursue what it means to love God and to love men, not a holiness that is only an outward morality, but a biblical holiness, that is identified by those who are being conformed to Jesus Christ, those who lay down their lives for others, as the Lord has so graciously laid down His life for us. Really, that's what holiness is. Holiness is to be like Christ, to be conformed to His image. Is it an outward morality? I believe it is. I believe it's part of it. We don't go to the bar room like the world does. We don't Go to the movies, the foul movies that the world goes to. So in that sense, we are morally different. But I think that there's something much deeper in holiness. When he says, holy brethren, he's talking about those who love God and those who love men. Have you ever thought of this? That you have sinned against God? Yes, primarily. But you have also sinned against the human race. You have sinned against your fellow man. I thought about that. I've been thinking about that. Wow, I have sinned against my fellow man. I've wronged them. They don't deserve me to treat them like this. I should be different. I should be loving them. And I haven't. I have failed. And to have true holiness is a love for God and a love for our fellow man, especially for the brethren. Our love for the brethren, those who are in Christ. And that love will be seen. in how we live. Those who are committed to the truth of God's word and the implementation of that word and is seen by a love for God and by a love for others. Holy brethren, he says, partakers of the heavenly calling. This is not an earthly calling, but this transcends any earthly calling. This is a heavenly calling. That the highest earthly calling that you can think of does not compare to the heavenly calling that God has on the believers. God has called us by a heavenly calling. We who are trusting Christ have been preordained unto good works, predestined unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ in Ephesians 1.5. What calling there is on earth. This heavenly calling far transcends it. It is a calling from God. It is calling to be about His business and not to be solely occupied with the business of this world. Although we have to function in the business of this world, but it is not our calling. Our calling is from God. It is a heavenly calling and it transcends all earthly callings. Praise his name. Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. This word apostle simply means the sent one, the sent one. And the high priest are those who stand between God and man. Consider him the one who came down from heaven. to make reconciliation for the sins of His people, and the one who goes back to God to make intercession day and night. Consider Him. Consider Him. Do you feel your heart getting cold? Consider Him. Do you see your life going in the wrong direction? Consider Him. Are you not sure where you stand in terms of salvation? Consider Him. Are you struggling with obedience? Consider Him. Everything comes back to that. Everything in our life. If we're struggling with sin in our life, we're not really properly considering Christ. If we're struggling with obedience, if we're struggling with whatever, whatever it is, consider Christ, consider Him. I was telling a young man Friday night, he was telling me that he was struggling with obedience. And I said, why do you think you struggle with obedience? He couldn't answer. And I said, it's because of your love for God. And that's why I struggle with obedience. It's my love for God. If I loved God more, I would obey Him. If I loved Him more, I would obey Him. And how can I love Him unless I consider Him? Unless I consider myself. Consider myself in light of Him. Consider myself as a terrible sinner, as I am. Much worse than I can even imagine. Yet, I consider Christ. Consider Him who came down, the Apostle, the Sent One, who was sent down and then now he ascended back to make intercession for us. He's the high priest standing between us and God. Consider him, consider Jesus Christ, not just greater than Moses in verse 4, as one amongst prophets, but greater than prophets because he is above the prophets. He is a prophet, Jesus Christ is a prophet, but he is God. God in the flesh, as we've already been through in Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 2 thoroughly, that must be believed. And in light of who Christ is and in light of considering him, I want to look at these three doctrines in this chapter. Number one, we are looking at the warnings to the brethren. Consider or take heed in verse 12. Look in verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Take heed. Do not be dull of hearing towards the voice of God, but cling fully to Jesus Christ. Lest your profession be found as a false profession, empty words and vain promises. For those who are truly born again will persevere to the end, but we must consider these warnings. And it even says in verse 13, to exhort one another. Daily, are you looking to Christ? Are you looking to Him today? Have you considered Him this morning before you came here? Have you considered what He has done for you before you came here this morning? Will you consider it tomorrow morning before you go to work? And consider Him and what He has done in light of our sin and what He has provided for us for all of eternity. That's what will cause you to love God. That's what will cause you to be obedient to God. is to consider Him. Have you considered Christ? And I warn you, very strongly, as the Apostle does here in these chapters, I warn you, do not forget to remember, lest your profession be just vain, just be words. But to meditate and consider Christ daily, we're exhorted to do as believers. And that's what believers do. And believers love doing it. Because we see what Christ has done for us. And we also see just the desperate need. We see our desperate need. Even when God gives me victory over certain sin in my life, I still can't take stock even in that. Because I say, God, I can turn back to it tomorrow. These things that I used to do, I can turn to today, just like I did them 15 years ago. If I'm not clinging to Christ, if I'm not looking to Him, considering Him, or God forbid, even far worse, I would become self-righteous and say, I don't do those things anymore. Why don't you not do them? What's wrong with you? And unless we are considering Christ, that's what will happen to us. Consider Him lest you slip into self-righteousness and lest you slip into the same errors of the past. And any one of us can slip in a moment, in a moment, but we must be wholly clinging to Him and looking to Christ, considering Him daily and what He has done for us. It's a great joy to do so and to look to Him lest we slip away. For those who are truly born again, persevere until the end. Look in verse 6, it says, But Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm till the end. Then we see in verse 14, it says, For we are made partakers of Christ's nature. There it is again. If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast until the end, Turn to Philippians chapter 1 if you would. I was taught years ago that perseverance of the saints means that you have to do a work in order to keep your salvation. And nothing is further from the truth. In 1 Thessalonians 5 24, as faithful as he who called you, he will also do it. Faithful is he who calls you, he will also do it. But look here in Philippians chapter 1, in verse 6 it says, being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. I think also it applies to Philippians chapter 2, Also in verses 12, it says, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So it's God who keeps us, it's God who works in us, but at the same time, the believer is working out their salvation. He's persevering, he's objectively evaluating himself, he's looking and saying that God is the one who's working this in me. Therefore, we're considering Christ. I'm looking at my life and saying, have I considered Christ this morning? I don't just walk through my day and say, everything's fine, I'm a Christian, and I don't care. That's not what a Christian says. A Christian works out his salvation. He says, am I considering Christ? Have I considered Him this morning? Have I considered Him today? Have I considered Him in how I relate to other people? Or am I simply just walking along in the flesh? We're working out our salvation with fear and trembling. It's called the perseverance of the saints. But God will keep those who are His to the end. Jesus said, a good tree brings forth good fruit. Those who have been truly born again will persevere until the end because it is a work of God in their heart. It is a transformation of the life Nothing is the same, but those who simply make a profession and drift away, and are not obedient, just simply have never been born again, have never had their spiritual eyes opened, and are dreadfully still in unbelief. Are dreadfully still in unbelief. Because we can believe There is a believing that is natural. There's a believing that's an intellectual consent where, yes, I agree with that. Then there's a believing when you see, when your spiritual eyes are opened to the truth, and you see the worth and value that's in Christ. and you see the terrible consequences of sin, and your spiritual eyes are opened, and everything is changed, at that point you persevere. Because Moses in Hebrews 11.25, he considered the riches of Egypt as nothing. Why? Because he saw the recompense of the reward. He saw his spiritual eyes were opened. He saw what reality was. He saw the internal inheritance in Christ. He saw the deceitfulness of sin. And therefore, he persevered. And he would persevere through anything, because he knew it was worth it, the worst circumstances. And those who are truly born again will persevere, because God perseveres in them through the work of the Spirit. Causes them. to wholly cling to Christ, and to cut sin out of their life, and to deal with it in a real way. But those who have not their spiritual eyes opened are dreadfully still in unbelief. Which brings us to our last point before we conclude. If you look in verse 18 of this chapter, it says, Hebrews 3, verses 18 and 19, it says, And to whom swear He that they should not enter into rest, but to them that believed not. And we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. This was the great sin of Israel. And it is the great sin of mankind throughout the ages. It is unbelief. God makes promises and keeps them over and over again, and the human race refuses to believe. It is unbelief. It is in the heart of man. We all need to be warned against it. If we see that in verse 12, believing is not just an intellectual consent, but it is a total commitment But really, that total commitment is the effect of believing, not the cause. The cause is when our spiritual eyes are opened. We see the light about Jesus Christ. And we see his worth, like we've already been over. And that happens through the power of God. And as we close, go to Luke chapter 24. You see this happen with the apostles. Think of this, here's these men. They've seen the miracles of Jesus. They've seen Jesus rise the dead, raise the dead. They've seen Jesus give sight to the blind. They've seen Jesus heal the lame, control nature. They've heard Jesus predict his own death and his own resurrection. They've seen the death and here he is risen. And what do they say? Look in verse 38. And he says to them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye not any meat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb, and he took it and did eat of them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I speak unto you while I was yet with you, that these things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." We read in John 20, verses 22 today, the same thing. And what does it say in 20, 22? That Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them and their eyes were opened and they understood the Scriptures. They understood the Scriptures concerning Jesus Christ. And this is what it means. This is what we need. We need our spiritual eyes opened. Until they are, we will not believe. We cannot believe. How can we believe? We're spiritually dead without the moving of God's Spirit. in our hearts to believe, and you see it here in Luke 24, the great sin of man and the great problem in man is that he cannot believe. He can only evaluate naturally. He can only evaluate what he sees with his eyes and what he can touch and feel and smell. It's the only way we can evaluate. But oh, when you see, when the Holy Spirit opens your eyes and you see the nail prints in His hands and His feet, and you see Christ and what He has done for you, and what He has provided for you in spite of your rebellion against Him, you know what? You'll repent and believe. You'll gladly repent and believe. You'll turn to Him and you'll continue to repent and believe your whole life. You'll continue. You'll live by faith. And in verse 41 of that chapter, it says, they still did not believe until their eyes were opened. Do not try to save yourself with your great amount of faith, but look to Jesus. He will save you. He will open your eyes. Consider Him. Consider His obedience. Consider His great compassion. Consider His miracles. Consider His death on the cross. Consider His resurrection. Consider that He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and that all things are for Him. Consider Him. Don't try to believe and say, well, if I can only work up enough faith, then I'll be saved. Consider Him. Consider Christ, what He has done, who He is. And He will save you. It's Him that saves you. You can't build up enough faith to be saved. You look to Christ. And those that look to Him will be saved. They will be saved. It's not because of my faith that I'm saved. It's because of Christ that I'm saved. And because of Him I have faith. I'm Thomas. I'm Thomas. I doubted. I said, Lord, how can this be? I grew up my whole life hearing about Jesus. And I said, how can this be? It can't be for me. Until one day he said, Mark, look at the nail prints in my hands and my feet. And I believed. I believed. I saw and I believed. I didn't see physically. I didn't see some kind of vision or I didn't see Jesus actually. But my spiritual eyes were open that He did it for me. He did that for me. And it changed my life. And now I believe. And I repent because of Him. It's the only reasonable thing I would do. What else would I do? I'm going to repent and believe because of Christ. Look to Him. Look to Him. Consider Him as the Apostle so earnestly tells us to in this chapter. And in this whole epistle, you're going to see it over and over again, over and over again. He keeps saying, look to Christ, look to Him, consider Him, and He will save you. Do not look to yourself and say, I don't have enough faith. Well, no kidding, you don't have enough faith. Look to Christ. He's the one that can save you. And through Him, we have life, and all things are for Him. And in the end, We'll see that and know that He is all in all. So let's pray. Dear Father in Heaven, I thank You for this Word. I thank You for this Word in this book of Hebrews. I pray, God, please help us as we go through this third chapter, God. Please help us to be diligent in our study of Your Word, God. More than that, Lord, I pray that we would be diligent in our application of it, Lord. Oh, Lord Jesus, that we would consider You daily before anything. We would not let our minds slip away into work or slip away into things that so easily slip away into, God, but that our minds would be fixed on You. Oh, Lord, please help us, deliver us from this drifting that can be in our minds, God, but that our minds would be wholly fastened on You, Lord Jesus. And I also pray for those here who do not know You, Lord. Jesus as their Savior, please work in their hearts, God. Please open their eyes and they would see you, Lord Jesus, and that you died for them. It's not about the amount of faith. It's simply looking to Christ and trusting Him and seeing Him. I pray, Lord God, please open the eyes of those here that need you. And I thank you and praise you for everything that you've done for us. And I pray God that we would just be rejoicing in it all day, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.