Hebrews Chapter 3 

• Hebrews 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus;
• 2 who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house.

Imagine for one minute what this means. We who have believed and have remained faithful to Jesus Christ are partakers of His heavenly calling. We are to consider our example, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Apostle, the high priest of our confession, the author and the finisher of our faith. He is everything and without Him is no salvation. We who believe are even considered to be holy as He is holy. If we are covered by His blood with our sins forgiven, we partake of His holiness. Be belong to Him who has saved and redeemed us from our sins and back into the fellowship with God which was broken at the fall of Adam.

God appointed Moses who was faithful in all that was given to him to accomplish. Jesus was also faithful in His accomplishments that God appointed to Him. They both were faithful in fulfilling their role in the work of God which was to bring us back into fellowship with God. Both were used of God to show us how to find eternal life and become children of God again. They are our examples. We are to be faithful in our calling just as they were.

• 1Samuel 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 

Obedience and faithfulness are better than a sacrifice according to the words of Samuel the prophet when King Saul used the excuse for his disobedience to God's orders by claiming to use the spoils that he wasn't supposed to take, as a sacrifice to the Lord.

• Hebrews 3:3 For he hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honor than the house.

Jesus built the house that Moses was serving in. Jesus is worthy of more honor. Jesus did not discount or put down Moses in any way. Moses did his part to bring down the law written by God to show us what sin was and what was separating us from God. Moses was the vessel used to point the way to Christ, the Messiah to come. Here is God's word to Moses in Deuteronomy 18.

• Deuteronomy 18:15 Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

The law was to show the seriousness of sin against God. The law could not make anyone perfect. We needed help. We needed something inside to change us and make us holy since there was no way any one of us could keep the perfect law of God without outside help. That is why God sent Jesus Christ, son of man but also Son of God. Jesus kept the law in all points, fulfilled the law and died for all sins. He did not sin and that made Him eligible to die in our place for our sins.

When we believe in Jesus Christ, we receive the spirit of God on the inside which enables us to keep the law of God in our hearts. The ordinances, feasts and outward sacrifices within the law were done away with and fulfilled in Jesus Christ but the moral law of what is right and wrong is planted within us so that we do not desire to sin. We have a free will to choose but the power is within us to choose right.

We are no longer under the law of things like circumcision, feasts, sacrifices and such because they are laws concerning cleansing. Cleansing from sin is now done by the blood of Jesus that He shed on Calvary. We are still under the law of Christ which is against such things as adultery, idolatry, fornication, murder, stealing and things mentioned by Jesus as wrong. Through Jesus a way was made to give us the spirit of God within us to keep us from desiring sin and becoming under bondage to sin again after Jesus comes into our lives by our faith in Him. Moses foretold of His coming in Deuteronomy 18:15. That prophet that we are to hearken (listen to) to is Jesus our Christ.

To believe in Jesus means more than just believing in His existence. To believe means to accept who He is, what He represents and receive Him into our individual lives. To believe in Him is to love Him and keep His commandments. We can't say we love God and ignore all that He says to us.

• Hebrews 3:4 For every house is builded by some one; but he that built all things is God.
• 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken;
• 6 but Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.

Moses was a faithful servant but Christ is a son over His own house. We are part of that house IF:
We hold fast to Jesus Christ. We have to hold onto the hope firm to the end in boldness, not being ashamed of Jesus or the gospel.

• Luke 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in his own glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels.

When a person meets the one he wants to marry or a woman meets the man who is the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with, what kind of person would they be if they were ashamed of their spouses. It wouldn't be much of a marriage. When we truly love someone, we love them and would never be ashamed to associate ourselves with them. 

• Luke 8:15 And that in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience.

We now hold fast to the one who saved us from sin. We want to learn more and more about Him through the study of His word and continuing fellowship with Him through prayer and worship. He is our savior, our Lord and our God. Hold fast, keep that which we have received, and go forth unashamed and with holy boldness that is given to us for the asking.

• 1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand,
• 2 by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain.

We have Jesus, Paul, Jude, John, Peter and the writer of Hebrews (may be Paul) to warn us to hold fast and contend for the faith without falling away.

• Hebrews 3:7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye shall hear his voice,
• 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
• 9 Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years.
• 10 Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways;
• 11 As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
• 12 Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God:

If it were not possible to fall away, then the writer here and other writers of the New Testament would not have warned us to take heed. Jesus Himself had many warnings some of which is in Revelation 2 and 3.

Things that could cause us to fall away:

1. Unbelief - Forgetting that our sins were forgiven and under the blood of Jesus. Forgetting about the one who saved us and delivered us from sin so that we will not return to in. Forgetting that God promised to care for and be with all who believe until the end.

The children of Israel began to show unbelief when they grew impatient and forgot that God would take care of them. When Moses was out of their sights they desired Aaron to make them something to worship thinking that God had forsaken them. When we suffer hardship and trouble the worse thing we can do is begin to think God has forsaken us.

2. Open or unconfessed sin: When we start having unbelief, sin soon returns to us. If we allow that sin to continue without forsaking it, it will grow until we are in bondage to the sin that Jesus saved us from.

• 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This verse from John chapter one was not given to sinners but to Christians to show that they still had hope if they sinned. They must confess and forsake them to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. This is what happens when a sinner comes to Christ for the first time of course but this shows that if we sin after coming to Christ, we must repent and be restored to the place we were in before we allowed ourselves to sin. This confession is done to God, we don't necessarily have to tell our pastor or a friend. This restores peace and fellowship.

3. When we stop trusting in God's grace and try to go back under the law.

When we try to make ourselves holier by religious acts. Examples are confessions to priests, sacrifices, circumcision, religious rituals, ceremonies, penances, in other words, depending on someone else for our spiritual sustenance instead of Jesus.

The only thing that makes us holy is the blood of Jesus. Things like circumcision are not wrong for health reasons but it will not make anyone holier.

Paul admonishes us:

• Galatians 3:2 This only would I learn from you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
• 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?

Staying in fellowship with God is so rewarding. Faithfulness is a blessing and will keep us out of so much trouble. I believe most of us who have been Christians most of our lives would look back and say, "I wish I had of walked with Him a little closer, been a little more faithful, and yielded to Him guidance more than I did."  Putting Him first is a good thing, not a bad thing. It works out good in the long run.

1. Prayer - We can't stay in fellowship with God if we don't talk to Him or seek His presence.
2. Bible study - We can't know who God is and what His word is if we don't read and study.
Be self sustaining - Not dependent upon a church, priest, minister or anyone except God. This is not to encourage us against fellowship with other believers. It is important and necessary to have fellowship with others who believe in Christ. God loves for us to have a true unity in the spirit and in the bond of peace. We don't have to depend on it though if we were suddenly cut off from other believers. We should be able to stand on our own (yet never on our own for Christ is with us.)

• Hebrews 3:13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin:

Fellowship with believers helps us to be strong in the Lord and guards us against being deceived by sin. This is why we must choose a fellowship of believers with the same mind and one accord with the word of God and with the Holy Spirit. We can't be of the same mind and one accord with unbelievers, compromisers and those that choose to sin and still think they are saved. The doctrine that we can sin a little, never repent and still be saved because we are "covered by grace" is a false doctrine.

Verse 13 says to beware of that. Unconfessed sin will harden our hearts and deceive us into thinking we are okay when we are not. That is why we see so many claiming to be saved when they are walking in sin. Sin is transgression of the laws of God. This is the sin that we repent of when we first come to Christ. We are not to return to that sin without repenting of it and forsaking it again. I repeat this verse again:

• 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Sin weighs us down, hinders us and makes us miserable. Forsaking it brings freedom, release and assurance. The joy of our salvation is to be within us. Sin hinders the joy that is brought to us by the Holy Spirit.

• Hebrews 3:14 for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end:

There is always an IF in serving the Lord. We are partakers of Christ IF is hold fast the confidence we had in the beginning steadfast unto the end. Sin will hinder that confidence. Its hard to have confidence in our salvation if we have unconfessed sin in our lives. Its hard to have confidence in our Lord if we never pray or communicate with Him.

The more we communicate with the Lord, the more confidence we have in Him to sustain us and assure us of His continuing presence.

• Hebrews 3:15 while it is said, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
• 16 For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses?
• 17 And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
• 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient?
• 19 And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

Unbelief is the sin that kept first Israelites from entering into the promised land. Unbelief is the thing that will hinder us the most. Unbelief is the one thing that will keep us out of heaven because if we don't believe, we will not be saved. Faith in Christ is the one thing that is required for our salvation. Exercise faith and it opens the door to all the promises of God. Eternal live is ours if we open that door and just believe. DC