Holding Fast

Do you know the thing about puberty that really sucks? Like, yes there’s growing pains, and your voice changes, and one year you go to school and you’re three feet shorter than all the girls, and the next year you’re two feet taller, but now you’re a string bean and have really bad acne. Yes there’s those things. But do you know what’s the worst? The fear of the unknown! like, people can tell you “oh yeah, this will change and that will change and you’ll most likely experience this or that.” And then you live it and you’re like “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!” The thing is that growing is really hard in the moment. But if you preserver through it, you achieve this awesome, way more capable body. But the process of holding on through puberty can be rough at times.

Isn’t it often like this in our faith journey too? Somedays walking with Jesus is awesome, but other days it’s really tough. Sometimes God allows us to experience discomfort, pain, or other not so fun feelings in a circumstance. We don’t understand. Why is this happening to me? What is happening to me? But later on down the road, when we are blessed with hindsight, we can see how God worked things and grew us through the experience. It is only in holding fast to our faith that we both are blessed in time with wisdom of experience. Moreover, it is only when we persevere to the end that we enter God’s rest - eternity with Jesus. If we choose to hold onto Jesus, even in the roughest of times, we come out the better for it because our faith is stronger. But we must hold onto our faith.

Hebrews 3 ESV

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Jesus’ faithfulness to us calls us to be faithful to Him.

This morning, we are going to look at how the author demonstrates Jesus’ faithfulness as God the Son, and then our faithfulness as part of God’s family.

Jesus' Faithfulness

The author of Hebrews starts with the word “Therefore.” What this signals to us is that, as a result of the teaching he has just given us, here is an application. In this case, the author asks his hearers to consider the apostle and high priest of our confession: Jesus.

We need to note here that in our bibles, often it reads as the ESV does: Hebrews 3 1

Hebrews 3:1 ESV

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,

Notice how Jesus comes first, and then a description. However in the Greek, this is the other way around. So the text would read “consider the apostle and high priest of our confessions: Jesus.” This is so typical of the author of Hebrews, to give the descriptors first and then identify the person by name. This helps us to zero in on who Jesus is. He is apostle - meaning one who is sent - and high priest - our representative. Remember what we learned back in Hebrews 1, that Jesus is the messenger our a new and better covenant with God’s people. Hebrews 1:2 tells us:

Hebrews 1:2 ESV

but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Jesus is the sent One from God, bringing the message of hope through the sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Himself.

The author says that Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession. We also need to camp here. Because the leads us right back to the start of verse one. The author calls us “holy brothers.” Putting it in these terms, the author carefully reminds them of the high calling they have received from God to be called sons and daughters of the King! To in any way treat this lightly, like it doesn’t matter, is insulting to the One who sacrificed everything so that we might have life. So we see that this entire chapter is addressed to us - those who faithfully hold to the confession about Jesus Christ, and therefore are holy people - set apart for God.

The author continues to say that Jesus was faithful to him who appointed him. How is Jesus faithful? Well, as we read last week in Hebrews 2:17

Hebrews 2:17 ESV

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus is a faithful high priest, making atonement for us and making us right with God. But He’s also a faithful messenger, as the gospel accounts show us. Christ was faithful to accomplish what the Father had set out for Him to do, and to testify through Himself and then through believers as to the great salvation work He accomplished. So, Jesus fulfills his promise of trust in the Father in 2:13, and as the author says, even as Moses was faithful over God’s people, so Christ is also faithful.

Yet a distinction is made that we must understand. Moses and Jesus are compared, but we know that Jesus is no ordinary man. He is in fact God in flesh! So there’s this distinct difference that the author skillfully demonstrates. Yes, both men are entrusted with God’s house. But Moses is as a servant. He is one of the household of God. Jesus is faithful as the Son. Jesus is shown to be God, and over God’s house. Moses however is in God’s house. Notice this difference here.

Last week we talked about how the author demonstrates Christ’s solidarity with His brothers and sisters. He’s our representative, our redeemer, He even sings praise along with us here in this place! Yet we still must realize that Christ - as chapter 1 told us - is over and above all. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and therefore rules in power! This comparison between Moses and Jesus function in part a lot like that comparison between angels and Jesus in pervious chapters did: To demonstrate the superiority of the Son.

As we move into the last part of verse 6, we see that the house of God that Christ is faithful over is not a church building or a temple, but rather the collective body of believers. God’s people. The author says “we” - those holy brothers that are addressed at the very beginning of the chapter. But that we extends to us. Right here and right now. We are the church, God’s people and household. But the catch is, we must hold fast to our confidence in Christ. We must not treat it lightly but instead hold onto it like our lives depend on it - because they do!

If we go back again to chapter 2:13, Jesus says

Hebrews 2:13 ESV

And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

Jesus is faithful over God’s house because He is God. We must be faithful as part of God’s house. So in this first section of the text we meet Jesus, apostle and high priest - the faithful Son of God entrusted with God’s house. Now, His Faithfulness calls us into our own - that we will be faithful to the message that we have received from Christ Himself. If we do not, it is to our own peril.

Our Faithfulness

As we dive into the rest of chapter 3, immediately we see the writer once again say “therefore.” The author draws a logical conclusion based on what he has previously stated. Now, the logical conclusion is that, since Jesus is our faithful apostle and high priest over God’s household, we need to heed the words of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s stop there for a second… why does the Holy Spirit get the credit here? Why not God the Father, or Jesus? This is the first time we have the Holy Spirit explicitly mentioned. Why?

Long story short, by showing that God’s Spirit is the one speaking in this instance the author demonstrates that these words that we read (or in that day would have been preached) are for us right now. So the OT quotation that follows isn’t just to the people of Israel way back when Moses was around. It wasn’t just for the early Christians either. Instead, it is for all believers. We can read the following quotation and heed it too.

So let’s read it together:

Hebrews 3:7–11 ESV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”

This quote originally came from Psalm 95:7-11. The author of Hebrews take this psalm - which focuses on praising God because of who He is, and His relationship with His people. here the author uses this psalm to demonstrate the hardness of the people of Israel’s hearts when God brought them out of Egypt. An entire generation died before God brought Israel to the promised land, because they chose to turn away from God, and hardened their hearts. In the same way the the psalmist implores Israel to draw near to God in worship, the author of Hebrews compels us to listen to these words of the Holy Spirit for our own lives.

Picture a river for a minute with me. There is a town on either side of that river, and a bridge across the river. Our job is to cross that bridge from one town to the other, carrying an important message. It’s as relevant to the people on the one side of the river as the other, but they need to presented to them in their context. Why? Because these “towns” are split. The river represents time. The one town is the ancient Israelites. The other town is the more modern hearers of the sermon of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews crosses that bridge, and brings the teaching of Ps 95 into sharp focus for his hearers - then and now.

He says that we must take care as well. Do not let an evil, unbelieving heart dwell in you. This will send you to your own destruction. What is the antidote? The author of Hebrews tells us to exhort one another every day!

If we Google the word “exhort,” here’s what comes up:

strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something.

This word here can carry that idea of “encourage” or also “warn.” We need to encourage and warn each other against falling away into unbelief!

People ask, why do I need to go to church? Because you can’t live a life of faith in a vacuum by yourself. You need community. A healthy church community will encourage and build each other up. Sharpen each other, warning and encouraging each other to faithfulness. You need your brothers and sisters, and they need you. As long as it is “today,” meaning that as long as we are still here before Christ comes back, we need to be stirring each other to faithfulness in our Lord Jesus Christ. Not allowing the enemy to gain a foothold in our heart to stir up unbelief. If we choose to hold fast to Christ, we will share in all the benefits of salvation when Jesus comes back.

There is a negative thrust to these quotations: God says to the Israelites “they shall never enter my rest.” But in fact there is something very positive here - that fact that God does have a place of rest for His people. Some will enter it, but the author makes it clear that some will not.

As the author moves into these last verses of chapter 3, he explicitly shows who these people were that chose to reject God and therefore died. It was the very people that saw God rescue them from the most powerful nation in the world! That first generation of Israelites that left Egypt. The warning here centres around this word apistia, which is Greek for unbelief. If you look at Psalm 95, we don’t find the word “unbelief” anywhere. But the author helps to show us the scope of those who do not enter God’s rest. Those who rebelled and made God angry. Those who harden their hearts against God are the ones who will not enter His rest. Next week Katie is going to walk with us through chapter 4, in which we understand more of the good news of faithfulness. But here we see that we must remain faithful. Jesus is faithful over God’s house. We must be faithful as a part of God’s house. Today, if we hear God’s voice, we must not harden our hearts or turn away from God. Rather we need to strive to be faithful to our Lord. As the writer says Hebrews 3 14

Hebrews 3:14 ESV

For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Conclusion

We come together into the household of God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ faithfulness to us calls us to be faithful to Him.

We see first how Jesus is faithful, even as Moses is faithful. Moses was God’s sent one to Israel, leading them out of Egypt. But unlike Moses, who was a faithful servant in God’s house, Jesus is a faithful Son over God’s house. There is this distinction here that demonstrates the wholly other place of Jesus. The same distinction we saw in chapter 1. Jesus is both a faithful witness - or apostle - and a faithful high priest, who makes atonement for us and is our representative, as we saw last week.

Jesus’ faithfulness calls us into faithfulness as well. Remember the words of Hebrews 2:13

Hebrews 2:13 ESV

And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

He brings us into trust God, and calls us into faithfulness. The majority of chapter 3 is a dedicated warning to us, reminding us of how the ancient Israelites who rebelled against God did not enter the promised land. So too, those who choose not to be faithful to Christ will not enter God’s rest. Surely, there is rest! But for us to enter it we must hold fast to our faith in Christ!

So let me ask you this, how do we take something conceptual like “holding fast to our faith” and bring that into reality through our words, thoughts, and actions.

This passage is encouraging and warning us to hold fast to Jesus when things are good, and when things are tough. You will not always feel God super close, even those He stays closer than a brother. Likewise, God may ask you to go through hard times. He uses this to grow you. But as we know from the beginning, the process of growing can really suck. Yet just like at the end of puberty you gain this amazing new body, so at the end, when we say as Paul said, that we have finished the race, and fought the good fight, we get to enter God’s rest!

I think I’m speaking right now to myself as much as anyone else. Part of holding fast means trusting God to grow you through the hard times. Growth in your spiritual walk with God can look like learning to hear His voice better. That can be a real labor if you’re used to moving all the time, and you have to force yourself to sit still. It’s a discipline. Or, it can look like giving up control over something you are holding onto. Your time, your good job, your money. Maybe it’s a dream you need to trust God with, even though you really want to strive for just that thing. The Israelites who came out of Egypt got scared, because they looked around, didn’t see water or food, and figured well at least they had that in Egypt. What they failed to remember was that the same God who rescued them is the same God that takes care of their needs. Instead, they rejected God when it got hard and scary, and rebelled. Let this never be said of us! When God asks us to do something in our personal lives that seems scary, or hard. When God asks us as a church to move forward in a way that feels big, uncomfortable, or scary. May it not be said of us that we instead rebelled against God, dug our heels in, and would not move. If this can be said of us, that we are unwilling to God where God would lead us and rebelling against Him and reject Him, we too are in danger of loosing His rest.

So if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus as lord and Saviour, this is a call to you to not harden your heart. Today you are hearing His voice. It is saying comes, I will be your God and you will be one of my people. But that requires a scary commitment to God. Why? Because it requires you to give up control and allow Jesus to be Lord over your whole life. That’s tough. But the good news is that God can be trusted. Do not rebel against God and reject Him! Allow Him instead to be Lord of your life, and hold fast to the confidence of hope that only Jesus Christ can bring.

If you know Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Saviour, This chance for you today is to say to God, “ok, I’m holding onto my faith - I’m trusting you with this journey. I’m ready to go where you want me to.” Maybe you’re not ready to say that - it can take time. But then ask God to work on your heart so that you can pray this! Are you ready to be uncomfortable, to go into the unknown with God? You don’t get the full story of where God will take you and what will happen. but you can trust Him. Hold fast, be faithful to the confidence you have in Jesus Christ and get ready to grow. Jesus’ faithfulness to you calls you to be faithful to Him. That’s not always easy, but it is part of life with Christ. We serve the God who made you, can be trusted with your life, and will be faithful to you. Hold fast to Jesus Christ - cling to Him - and don’t let anyone lead you astray. Look forward to the hope of eternity with God, even as you do life with Him everyday.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ

Go first and make anything right with your brother or sister. When you are right with God and man, as far as you are able, partake.

Make sure your vertical and horizontal relationships are good.

Pray