So let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, I pray God, please help us with your word, Lord. We can be so feeble, God, in our own understanding. I pray through your spirit that we would be empowered, God, and have a biblical understanding of the truth. God, please work in us today, Lord, that this truth would transform our lives, that we would not just hear and learn but that we would hear, learn, and apply the things that we have heard. And I pray, Lord God, please work it in us for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let's look at chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. It's the verses we're going to look at today. It says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him. and also Moses was faithful in all his house. But this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he which buildeth the house has more glory than the house. For every house is builded by some man, but he that buildeth 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 as a son over his own house whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope till the end. Now I believe we'll be on these six verses this week and next week to get through all six verses because we really won't get beyond actually verse one I don't think today although we're going to touch all the verses in general but then we won't really get beyond the specifics of verse one. And in these six verses we have yet one more exhortation to do what? To consider Jesus Christ. This chapter starts much like chapter two. And what precedes it is also very similar. What I mean by that is chapter one is illogical and biblical and what I mean by biblical is that every argument presented in chapter 1 in this whole book is based on the Old Testament scriptures and you clearly see that from the Old Testament quotations some of this is word for word right from the book of Psalms whole portions so if you look up you'll see that he's not just pulling this out of the air this is all coming from the Old Testament scriptures So what you see is this logical and biblical argument. And the first chapter is a logical and biblical argument for the deity of Jesus Christ. Then in the first four verses of chapter 2, we are strongly warned against forgetting what we have learned in chapter 1. Then in verses 5 through 18, the writer of Hebrews, in chapter 2, In verses 5-18 he goes back to his argument of the person of Jesus Christ. This time dealing more with his humanity, but never leaving his deity. The point is to see that you see the same pattern repeated. You see the clear facts of the argument through the scripture are laid out. Then you have a warning or an exhortation not to forsake or to forget what you have learned. Do you see that pattern? Chapter 1 he gives the argument that is clear, logical, and biblical. Beginning of chapter 2 he gives you the warning. Now he does the same thing in chapter 2. He gives the clear, biblical, logical argument for the person of Jesus Christ. And then at the beginning of chapter 3, he gives you the warning. It's a pattern. You see that same thing happen in both of these chapters. And in chapter 1, he's dealing more with the deity of Jesus Christ. And in chapter 2, he's dealing more with the humanity of Jesus Christ, and how the humanity and deity of Jesus Christ work together. And I believe there are three reasons that I'm going to run through quickly, because I think we've gone over these before. But I believe there's three reasons why this epistle is written this way, with this pattern of laying out these great truths. Then warnings immediately following. You're going to see this through the whole book. You have these great truths laid out, and then immediately after the great truths, you have a warning. You have a warning, and I believe there's three reasons. Number one, we've been over this before, do much as given, much as required in Luke 12, 48. And that's what it says there. These truths that we are learning in this book of Hebrews are of great value. They're like gold, silver, and precious stones, but they're not to be treated as common. But we have learned these things that they might be applied to our lives and used for their intended purpose. They're warning us, the apostles warning us here, don't learn these truths as if you're in a classroom and this is a textbook. He is warning us against that. He is saying these things are not to be held in a common way. We have learned these great truths and we are therefore responsible for them. And that brings us to our second reason why we see the pattern of warnings in the book of Hebrews. This point we will get more into in a few minutes because it is directly in our text. But it is to consider in 3.1. In 3.1 it says to consider. And in 2.1 it says, to give the more earnest heed to these things. In other words, the writer wants us to understand that these principles are not just to be understood with an intellectual ascent, but these things that we ought to be giving ourselves to, these are things that we ought to be giving ourselves over to. In verse 13 of this chapter, it tells us to exhort one another daily in these things. Therefore, we should be purposely opposing this carnal tendency to think that spiritual life, or that which is pleasing to God, comes from a mere textbook knowledge, when in reality, to be living as Christians, we ought to be daily submitting to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. and to be daily considering His work on our behalf. So, He's warning us that we do not fall into this way of thinking that, okay, now we've learned these things in chapter 1. I got them down. What's next? He's telling us, there is nothing next. This is it. You consider this daily. Or you truly, I don't know if we can call ourselves Christian for not considering Christ daily. That's what the Christian does. These are not things that we learn and move on. But he's saying consider them. Give the more earnest heed to these things. So he gives us these great truths and then warns us against learning these things as if we're learning them. in a textbook way and not applying them to our lives and submitting to Christ as Lord and truly considering Him in our life. The third reason I think these warnings are so consistent and so strategically placed in this epistle are because of our great inclination towards apostasy. The apostles relentlessly dealt with this issue of those who were once professed to be Christian and seemed to have a true profession only to turn away and follow no more. Many were led away by false teachers as we read in Galatians, in 2 Peter and in Jude, and yet still a great many more were led away by the pleasures, comforts and riches of this world as we see in Corinth and in Laodicea and other cities in the New Testament. My friends, if you study Church history, you will see many who profess to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, only to fall away. And I'm sure that it was no different in the Hebrew Church. It was no different in the Hebrew Church then. And actually, this epistle is written not in a negative way. But this is written in a positive way, I really believe. Because here's these people in this Hebrew church, and many are turning back to Judaism. Many are turning back to the sacrifices. Many are turning back, like we read it in Galatians in times past, to circumcision and the works of the flesh. Many are turning back, right? And those who are there are, I'm sure, getting discouraged. This, I believe, is one of the primary motives of the writer of the book of Hebrews. Here's the saints in the church, and they look around them, and there's many, many falling away. Many going back. And they're afraid. These Jews are afraid. Lest they be also caught up in this river of apostasy. And it's like the same situation we're in today. It's the same situation we're in today. There's a river of apostasy in our country, per se. There's this flow of people that are turning away from the faith. And the apostle, the writer of the book of Hebrews, is saying, this is what you do. Not to get caught up in the river of apostasy. Which brings us to verse one. Let's start at verse one. Wherefore, it says, and that's pointing us back to the first two chapters, and we'll get more into that in a few minutes. It says, wherefore, holy brethren, oh brothers and sisters, our lives ought to be marked with two things. There's two things in this verse that I see the brethren are marked by. Number one, holiness. What's he say? Holy brethren. And number two, we are partakers of the heavenly calling. Two things that the Brethren are, are Christians. They are holy and partakers of the heavenly calling. Our lives ought to be marked by holiness, a love and conformity to the will of God. I would say that's the most basic definition of practical holiness, a love and conformity to the will of God. The writer is addressing not those brethren of the flesh, but he is addressing those brethren who are brothers in Christ. Made holy. Made holy in position through the righteousness of Christ. And being sanctified into a practical holiness through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Causing those individuals to be conformed to Christ. in a very real way. Holy brethren, he says, partakers of the heavenly calling. Those who are considered holy brethren are partakers of the heavenly calling. Kenneth Weiss translates that as participants in the summons from heaven. In 1 Peter 5.10 it says, but the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ. This calling is not speaking of some special calling amongst believers, where he is addressing all the brethren, which would tell us that every believer has been called unto salvation from heaven. Partakers of the heavenly calling is a calling from heaven unto salvation. It is God who calls us unto salvation. Ephesians 1.4 says, According as He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Believers, or those who have been born again, have been called from heaven. Galatians 1.15, the Apostle Paul says, But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Ephesians 2.10 says, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. This is a heavenly calling. God has elected those who would be saved. We are called from heaven. And to say that in Romans 8.29, for whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, means that God looked into the future and saw who would choose Him, and He elected those individuals, would be the same as me saying that I have elected the Son to set tonight, because in my foreknowledge, I know it will. It doesn't make sense to say that God's foreknowledge constitutes election. Election or predestination puts the power in the hands of the one who is doing the electing. Not those who are elected. The whole definition of election is in the power of those who are doing the electing. The one who is being elected does not have that power. There would be no need or purpose for God's election if he looked into the future and saw who was going to choose him and elected those ones. Again, this view makes God impotent in the dispensing of His grace. In other words, to oppose God's election in salvation would mean that God is at the mercy of man. only hoping and praying that some will choose of his goodwill. He's praying and hoping that some will choose. And it's simply not the God of the Bible. But we see quite the opposite. When Jesus prays in John 17, 24, he says, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. He foreknew. those whom He did predestinate. I know if He foreknew me, that I am saved only because of one reason, because of His pure grace. If God foreknew who I was and He did, then that constitutes I'm only saved because of one reason, because of His pure grace. because if he foreknew me and then chose me according to his foreknowledge of me what would that mean? that would mean that there's something good in me that attracted God to choosing me which denies total depravity for if God looked into the future and saw I would choose him that would make me more intelligent or more valiant or more something Wouldn't it? It would make me more something than the people he did not choose. The Apostle Paul is the perfect example. If it was by Saul's choice, which was Paul's Roman name, if it was Saul's choice, he would have continued on that road to Damascus and continued his rampage of killing and persecuting Christians. But God chose him by his grace. as we already quoted in Galatians 1.15. And those who are holy brethren are partakers of this heavenly calling called from God. Two reasons why men hate election. Number one, to deny election is to deny total depravity. Men hate the doctrine of total depravity because they don't want to admit their total inability to do one single thing to save themselves. If people are worthy of salvation, then election makes God arbitrary. But if every person deserves hell because of his rebellious state before God, which is the biblical view, then election is God's pure grace. 1 Peter 1.2 says the foreknowledge of God talks about the foreknowledge of God. If you want true assurance, understand election. But if your assurance is based on your decision, I hope you have no assurance at all. I am so thankful today that God chose me, for I know in me I would have never chosen Him in a thousand years. My heart is so wicked, so self-seeking, so deceived in sentimentality, and so self-righteous, that I would never choose God. Salvation is either a 100% work of God from start to finish, or it isn't. You can't have it both ways. You can't say salvation is a 100% work of God, but you still have to do something. The second reason I believe people hate the doctrine of election is because it's what's called a straw man's argument. They say that people who believe in election are mean-spirited and don't do evangelism. And they don't do the evangelism, they say because of this doctrine, which simply is not true. A true understanding of election humbles a man to tears because he sees his complete unworthiness of God's grace in choosing such a person. And a person who understands this, this gospel, is so captivated by God's love and God's holiness that he uses every opportunity to speak about it. My friends, God has chosen a bride for his son to be given to him. Now, like I said at the beginning, if you're not saved, this doesn't apply to you. But I do think it's important to understand that we are at God's mercy. God is not at our mercy. We are at God's mercy. And yes, people have misused this doctrine. But that does not mean that we should not properly understand it. Holy Brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of your profession, Christ Jesus. Go back to Hebrews 3.1. We're going to continue on. This word, consider, is the central word of this verse. You see it says, consider. We're for our Holy Brethren. Those who are marked by holiness. Those who have been called by God unto salvation. Considered. I believe this word considered, it's the pivotal word of the verse. It tells us what we are supposed to do. And I sincerely believe there were Christians in this church of the Hebrews who were really struggling with the apostasy that was going on. with the falling away, and they were crying out and saying, what ought we to do? And the answer is, consider. Consider. What are we to do but to consider? We should not rush by this word, because this command to consider is very similar to the command in Hebrews 2.1 where it says, give the more earnest heed. It's almost like he's telling us something because we have these long descriptive propositions of the person of Jesus Christ and how that relates to the believers like we've already been through in chapters 1 and 2. But for the writer of Hebrews that is not enough. He wants us to see that this is not something to be learned then filed away or even kept in the back of our minds or even to be periodically referred to when in trouble. But this is something that needs to be always in the forefront of our minds. Consider, ponder, think upon. We need to train our minds to think on Christ. I've been personally using note cards and Bible verses to consider Him. to meditate on the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've been using these little note cards in the morning and I've been trying to check myself and saying, am I considering Christ? I've been using Hebrews 1, 2, and 3, these three verses, Hebrews 1, 1, 2, and 3, to consider Him and just take one line Can we take one line of one of those verses and sit and be quiet and meditate and ponder on Christ? I don't know if we can. We live in a culture that has trained us not to do that, but I pray that we would. This is what the apostle, the writer of the book of Hebrews is telling us. And in verse 13 in this chapter it tells us to exhort one another daily in these things. Have I considered Jesus Christ today? Do you feel yourself slipping away? Are you discouraged by lack of concern of others for eternal things? Can you look to Jesus Christ? Do not be discouraged. Consider Him. Train your mind to be constantly considering Him. Constantly looking to Him. The Apostle and High Priest of our profession. If you have doubts, if you have struggles, consider Him. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ who has been sent by His Father Which brings us to the next word, it says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of your profession. I don't want to leave that point, though, of considering Christ, considering Him, thinking upon Him, stopping the busyness of our minds and thinking on Christ and training our minds to do that. For He is the Apostle and High Priest of the profession of our faith. Turn to John chapter 5 if you would. John chapter 5 verses 36-39 But I have greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent Him ye believe not, search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. Jump down to verse 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. Jesus Christ was sent by the Father. But we see here in these verses, we read in John, the uniqueness of Jesus' apostolic ministry. Jesus makes it clear that he had been with his Father before his existence on earth, and was sent down from heaven. Every other apostle had his beginnings on earth. But in John 6, Jesus says, I am the bread Come down from heaven. Consider Him. This salvation that we have in Jesus Christ, again, has been decreed by God. Our hope and confidence is in Him. And those who fall away are those who are not holding this confidence, but are holding on to their own ability to believe. Yes, we are called to believe. But why? Why do we call to believe? Because of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is in that great gospel. We can see Jesus Christ in the great gospel of John that we just finished reading through on Sunday mornings. John is continually compelling us to believe. But we also see in John's gospel this continual exaltation of the deity of Jesus Christ. We believe because of who He is, and we rejoice in knowing Him. We rejoice in knowing Him, the Apostle of our salvation, the Apostle of our faith, and have great confidence in that this is God's plan and His predestinating work. It is interesting that John's Gospel is also the most clear on predestination. You go through it yourself, John chapter 6, John chapter 10, John chapter 12. If you want the specific verses on that, you can see me on that. And I don't want to spend too much time on this, but all of our problems, whether it is a lack of assurance, inconsistency in obedience, a lack of faith unto salvation, or whatever spiritual problem we have, It is because we are looking to self instead of looking unto Jesus Christ. That may sound like a simple answer, but it is true. It is true. Most of our minds don't even know what that means. Jesus Christ, they don't even know what it means to consider Jesus Christ. Most of us would say, oh yeah, I already know that. Tell me something I don't know. How about this? Most people today don't even have a clue of what it means to consider Jesus Christ. While 6 out of the 10 people we talk to say they believe in Jesus, to consider Him in this context, in Hebrews 3, means to daily ponder. To sit and be quiet and to ponder the majesty of Jesus Christ. Just to sit and be quiet and to ponder the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ponder His great love. Think on Him through the scriptures. Think on Him through the scriptures. This is how we must train ourselves to think. And I really believe it's one great reason why the Apostle is going through these great truths, and then he's exhorting us not to forget them, but to consider and to give the more earnest heed to these things. To the Apostle. What's it say in Hebrews 3.1? To consider the Apostle and the High Priest of our profession. Jesus Christ. Consider the apostle and high priest. Again, all other high priests are only a picture of the true high priest, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the chief dispenser of this new covenant. He is the one who goes on our behalf, on the behalf of his people, What better representative can we have on our behalf than this sinless, spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who stands before the Father on our behalf. Consider Him the profession of our faith. He is the profession of our faith both in creed and in testimony. Jesus Christ is the profession of our faith And even in his offices as mediator, such as apostle and high priest, he is seen as our great God and Savior. For he is an apostle, but he is an apostle that has come down from heaven. And he is a high priest, but he is the final high priest, because the sacrifice that he offers to his Father ends all sacrifices and is the provision for salvation for his children. And I would like to close by saying this, I know we talked a lot about election today, but that does not limit us from calling all men and women to salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today and you shall have eternal life. Consider Him. Consider Him. Consider who He is. That here is Jesus Christ as we go through the Gospels. claiming to be God and then proving it. And he's the apostle and high priest of our profession. Consider him today. And I would say for the believers here, learn training your mind. I've been purposely training my mind by God's grace to consider Christ. Just take time and just stop everything. Just stop it and clear your mind and think on Christ through the scriptures. These scriptures in Hebrews are incredible to do that with. Just take one line. This morning I was thinking on that line in verse 3 of chapter 1 where it says, upholding all things by the word of His power. I just wanted to sit there and think about that. Wow. Christ is upholding all things by the word of his power. He created all things. He sustains all things. He will destroy all things. He will recreate all things. And I was just going through each one of those points and thinking about about Jesus Christ upholding all things by the word of his power. Wow! I mean just sit and think about that for about 10 minutes and just meditate on it and learn to meditate on Christ, learn to consider him I really believe that's what the writer's telling us. He's telling us, don't just learn these things and run through them and then move on. He's warning us, there is nothing else. Learn to meditate on Christ. Consider Him. Give the more earnest heed to these things. Give yourself over to considering Christ, to considering who He is. And for those here that are not saved, I would say, consider Him. He's the great Savior. You have nothing to do with election. If you're not saved, or you're not sure about your salvation, you really have nothing to do with election, as we talked about today. You must consider Christ, and the Gospel message is open to whosoever will may come. Those who are not saved, come to Christ today. See that He is God. He is your Savior. And without Him, there is nothing but judgment. But in Him, you have eternal life in Christ. So come to Him today. Trust Him. Turn from your works. Turn from thinking that you're a good person or that there's something that you can do. Turn to Jesus and look to Him. He is the author and finisher of our faith, and He will save you. It's not by what you do, or how much you do, or how good of a person you are, but it's by Christ and Him alone that you are saved, and by trusting Him, and looking to Him, and knowing that He is God, and that when He died on that cross, He took all of your sin upon that cross. in the whole debt, for sin has been paid. And if you trust Him, if you trust Him, you can have eternal life. Because sin has been paid for by Christ, and He has risen from the dead, and He is Lord and King of all. Don't try to say, well, I'm not sure if I'm saved, I have to try to do more. No, look to Christ. Trust Him. He has paid it all. And if you trust Him, you'll have eternal life. So, let's pray. Dear Father, I just pray in heaven. Dear Father, I pray to you in heaven that you would please bless this time, God. Please work in our hearts, God. I pray that you would send your Holy Spirit and convict those, Lord God, who need convicted of their sin, Lord. Please, I pray that these young people here would not leave here without trembling, even in their defiance in their heart right now that they're experiencing. Lord, I pray that they would tremble, God, at you, Lord God, knowing that they can drive home and be in a car accident and be dead today. None of us are promised that that won't happen. Lord, would you please convict them and turn them to you, Lord Jesus? I pray, dear God, please work in their hearts for your glory. And I pray, Lord God, that we would learn to consider you daily. Please, God, teach us to meditate on Christ and to know him in a deep way. In Jesus' name, amen.