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HEBREWS CHAPTER 3 See previous page Heb 3,1-19 (140b) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> Worshipping God in His temple Heb 3,1-8 (102m) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Loyalty is unswerving – Jesus was faithful and Moses was faithful, and now the writer of Hebrews is calling us to be faithful and model after them, and the first step in doing that is to consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. He is our leader, and as a high priest He paid our ransom with his own blood, making us acceptable to God and our confession of Him worthy of eternal life. Our confession should be public. There is something about being unashamed of His cross. To confess our faith in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ is sufficient to forgive us of all our trespasses, making us acceptable to the Father. Making Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession is our purpose in this life; it is the reason God didn't whisk us into heaven the moment we believed. The works we perform through faith are holy to the Lord. KJV WEB Heb 3,1-6 (32g) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Your faithfulness (71i) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Jesus is ordained by God (81d) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Church is the altar of Jesus’ ministry (83g) Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He is our Great High Priest – In the old covenant, the high priest ventured into the Holy of Holies once a year, not without taking blood for the propitiation for the sins of Israel, yet Jesus never went into the Holy of Holies, because He was the substance of those things, and all the high priests before Him merely simulated His ministry. Instead, Jesus went directly into heaven. The Holy of Holies in the earthly tabernacle represented heaven and the presence of God. Jesus' high priestly duty was not finished at His death; He ascended into heaven in the presence of the people, and they watched Him journey to the Holy of Holies to formally make propitiation for the sins of all mankind, and He was seated at the right hand of absolute power, the mercy seat. No one once sat on the mercy seat in the earthly tabernacle, because it was reserved for Jesus, the chair representing the throne of God, where He is still seated in heaven after being fully accepted and received by the Father. This acceptance by the Father is our salvation! God received His Son after He lived a full life in the flesh without sin and was murdered because of righteousness, man’s sin being the cause of His death. (152e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Apostles >> Jesus is our great apostle – The fact that Jesus is sitting on the throne in heaven is suggestive that His work is finished. There is another one at work in the trinity who does not have a throne; He is the Holy Spirit, whose work is never finished. He works the grace of God into the hearts of His children that Jesus purchased with His own blood. Even so, as Jesus had limitations in ministry, so does the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, Jesus drove out the money changers with a whip, yet the Holy Spirit does not impose His will on anybody. On the other hand, Jesus could not reveal the Father even to His disciples; that was the job of the Holy Spirit. If the people of God imposed their will on the world, the Holy Spirit would superimpose His will on their influence. This apostleship of Christ from heaven is the imposition of the true Church in the world. We should consider Jesus the great apostle of our imposition on the world through the Spirit. (231h) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Body of Christ is the organism of God’s kingdom >> Jesus is the head of His body’s kingdom >> Jesus builds His kingdom in your midst – The house of Moses was the old covenant tabernacle, while the Church is the house of Christ, not as one who is finished, but as one He is still building. God is still in the process of crafting man. In the Garden of Eden He created the basic raw material of man and set up the scenario for him to be tested for loyalty to see if he could be trusted, and he was found unfaithful. Why was it so important for God to trust Adam, unless he planned on entrusting him with his creation? We all know the story from Genesis chapters 1-3, but what if Adam had passed the test? His offspring would not have been tested, and that would be a tremendous limitation, compared to us who are all tested. The woman would have brought the fruit to Adam and Adam would have reported her to God, and He would have forgiven Eve through Adam and removed the tree from the garden, and from that point Adam would have been in charge of his descendents to train them in the ways of the Lord and tell them about evil, though he would not have personally known sin. There would have been no need for the cross. It would have been nice that Adam passed the test, but the fact that he failed was even better, because now man knows first-hand about evil, and now we can better teach about sin to those whom God puts in our charge. This is exactly what God intends to do. In eternity God will create a new species of man with the forbidden tree removed, and He will call us to teach them good from evil. See also: God uses Adam's curse to test man's loyalty; 1Jn 4-21; 4l Heb 3-1 (91j) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> God’s calling transcends the will of man >> It is etched into our spirit -- This verse goes with verses 7&8 (94f) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> His perspective on the gift of God (96e) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Positive attitude toward God >> Good attitude toward Jesus – Jesus is our Great High Priest and shepherd of our souls. We confess our sins directly to Him, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim 2-5). He leads His lambs to streams of the water of life and into fields of righteousness. In order to be saved we must recognize Jesus as the Great High Priest of our confession. He is our Apostle, who teaches us the word of God and establishes us in His Church. He takes away our sins and we fulfill our calling in truth and forgiveness, in unity in the body of Christ, in fellowship with one another and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. (133h) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holiness >> The body of Christ is holy >> God’s people are holy to the Lord (150e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Confessing Jesus >> Making the good confession (Son of God) KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3,2-6 (140g) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Christ builds the temple from the bricks of the Church – The writer of Hebrews contrasted Jesus with Moses, contrasted covenants saying that the new is better than the old by just so much as Jesus is greater than Moses. Why then do people spend more time reading the Old Testament than the new? The substance of the old covenant was hope for the new, and the substance of the new is Christ Himself. The old covenant said that the temple of Moses was the temple of God, but the new covenant says that Moses is the temple of God, along with all who believe in Jesus. The makeshift house that God commanded Moses after their exodus from Egypt was a mere prototype of the one that Solomon built for Him, yet that too was just a prototype of the one that God is building in heaven and that Christ is building in our heart, consisting of the truth, which is the substance of heaven. (233j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> Seek His glory through perseverance (252c) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Jesus is worthy of our worship >> Worship Jesus for what God made Him through suffering Heb 3-2,3 (151d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Moses -- These verses go with verses 15-19 (226h) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> Levels of reward >> God rewards us to the degree of our faithfulness – Although Jesus never committed a sin, He has experienced every sin man has ever committed while dying on the cross. Now He understands sin better than anybody, though He personally remained innocent. So the lesson to be learned here is not in the commission of sin but in its effect of death. It caused Jesus to die and be separated from His Father, from which Christ delivered us. Over the course of eternity God will reveal to us by many ways and means just how high above us God has placed His Son. Over the course of eternity, we will come to realize that Jesus is infinitely higher than any created being, even though He will be very approachable. Many events will happen throughout eternity, some approaching the extreme of the cross itself, which will make His infinite glory even greater, though the Father will never ask His Son to suffer for sin again. Heb 3-3 (212a) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> He is the creator >> The creation glorifies God >> The creation exemplifies God’s sovereignty – No matter how great the house, the builder is always greater, and so God is greater than his creation; He is greater than infinity. There is no reason to assume that the universe has an end. We build bigger telescopes, which help us see farther into space, where we discover more celestial bodies with no end in sight, yet God is bigger than that. He dwells beyond infinity and eternity, both of which are His creation. Between the stars, in the vastness of space, scientists are now saying something is there, dark matter, the lattice structure of creation representing both space and time. We are incapable of comprehending eternity or infinity, much less God who lives beyond them, otherwise how could He create a universe while standing in it? These are things we can accept but will never truly understand; they are beyond us. When we enter eternity, still we will not comprehend it, because we cannot experience eternity past, and we will only understand eternity future when we reach the end of it. We were born at a certain time; we were created, so time before us will forever remain a mystery. In many ways God will always remain an unsolvable mystery, and for this we worship Him, not in ignorance, but paradoxically in full knowledge of the mysteries we will never solve. See also: Time (Eternity past); Jn 5,24-29; 254f Heb 3-4 (94j) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> His perspective on the premise (151i) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Creation is evidence of God >> No other source but God can explain the creation (212f) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> He is the creator >> Evolution (Defaming God) >> God created atheists too – God holds the wicked responsible for not creating the heavens and the earth, since they surmise that they are gods; more than that, He judges them for not believing that He created the heavens and the earth. They lie and make excuses and believe other people’s religious fables about life and the universe, corroborating their interest to exclude God from His own creation, denying His preeminence, that without Him nothing would exist. We don’t need the Scriptures to tell us that God is our creator, for these are things we know innately, regardless of our belief systems that may contradict these facts. Everything has a cause; it is why we get scared when we hear an unfamiliar noise in the house; we worry what caused it, but an atheist when he hears an unfamiliar noise in the house shouldn’t get scared, because he doesn’t believe everything has a cause; he denies that God caused the universe. Nevertheless, when he hears an unfamiliar noise in the house, he gets scared, because innately he knows everything has a cause. He is only fooling himself when he says the universe didn’t need God to create it, that it just exists on its own. God has every intension of judging people for believing this foolishness, having lived against their conscience and against everything they have ever known and learned throughout their lives. They understand that everything has a cause, but when it comes to the universe, they say it doesn’t have a cause. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3-5,6 (13d) Servant >> Serve the body >> Promoting its health >> Building up the body of Christ – This is a comparison between Moses’ ministry and Jesus’ ministry, which we already know there is no comparison, but that is the point. If a pastor or some leader of a church refuses to allow his flock to mature, but dictates the ministry, that person will not rise above Moses’ success in dealing with the people of Israel, but if he leads the people to mature in Christ, then God will take over and build a dynamic ministry and use the pastor as an overseer of the people's ministry. He would be much further ahead if he built the Church God’s way. Nevertheless, the predominant scenario is a ministry fashioned like Moses with strong central leadership. (36k) Gift of God >> Inheritance >> Jesus is our inheritance – The writer of Hebrews is showing the steep curve between Moses the servant and Christ the Son of God. A servant can work for his master all his life, and at the death of his master receive no inheritance, only watch as the children receive the wealth of the estate. That was the old covenant, but the new covenant says that Moses represented the Church, and now we are the beneficiaries of the estate, and we are also Christ’s inheritance. The beneficiaries cannot receive the inheritance while the promisor of the estate is alive, but neither is there clause in the will about him rising from the dead. The children inherit the estate from the one who died; therefore, the Son both gives and receives the inheritance. When He died we received the estate, but when He rose from the dead, He inherited us. That is, through the resurrection He retrieved his position with the Father, only now attached to the estate is the Church. In other words, through the resurrection from the dead we were forgiven and received access to heaven, and when Christ rose from the dead, He received us as brothers and sisters, being the first fruits of those who will receive the inheritance through the resurrection from the dead. We will receive all things that the Son owned prior to His death, which was everything except us. We are the only possession Jesus did not own, until He submitted to the cross, died and was buried and three days later rose from the dead. The Father has withheld nothing from Him, and the Son has withheld nothing from us, so we are all co-owners of the creation, and from now on God will involve us in everything He does. (213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant Heb 3-5 (90l) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> God’s purpose for us is to fulfill His calling >> Our purpose is to do God’s will – We are the called, the chosen and the faithful. As Christians we can hear God's voice, and He leads us on a course that we should follow, one that is designed specifically for us. When we look at Moses, we see the hand of God in his life, and that should also be our testimony. Moses had a special calling on his life, yet he was also a model Christian as a man ahead of his time. All the Old Testament prophets were prototypes of new covenant believers, for what is a new covenant believer but someone who listens for the voice of the Holy Spirit and does what He says, which does not differ from old covenant prophets. We heard God's voice in our heart and responded to His call and were born-again, and this is how we live from day to day. It is not a one-time event; the first time we obeyed the Holy Spirit was the day of our salvation, and then we become His children, and now He speaks to us as sons and daughters, and that relationship continues, and so does the path where He is leading us. God will lead us to do something that He guarantees to bear more fruit than anything we could devise on our own. See also: Obeying the Holy Spirit; Heb 11-1; 110l (144e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The Church Bears Witness of Jesus >> That He was sent by God KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3,6-19 (19a) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Evil is good >> Loving darkness (20m) Sin >> Disobedience >> Demonstrating unbelief in the validity of God’s word – It is one thing to commit sin and another thing to surrender to it. The writer of Hebrews equates unbelief with disobedience, showing that they are one and the same. We disobey because we don’t believe, and we don’t believe because we disobey. It’s a vicious cycle; one creates the other. What starts the cycle is falling to temptation. We all sin every day, and there are times when we commit egregious sins, and we immediately repent of them, but there are others who remain unrepentant. Through a lack of character they won’t get on their feet and fight the good fight of faith, but surrender to their sinful nature and let it become their master, trading their faith for the passing pleasures of sin. The one who surrenders to sin in hope that the torment of temptation subsides has just been deceived by it. He becomes free in his flesh but in bondage to disobedience, which inevitably leads to unbelief, and it won’t lessen his torment, but will likely grow worse, for now he will be tormented by the decision to abandon his faith. (45h) Judgment >> Of believer’s sin >> God will judge us if we don’t heed His word (87b) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word from the heart >> We have no choice but to be doers of the word – The bondage of sin has a conquest: our faith. Temptation will come to each of us, and at times it will be tormenting, making us think it will never go away. Some struggle with it for years because they toy with it, being the reason it won’t go away or weaken. We must become very stern with our sinful passions and desires, as Jesus was with His flesh in the desert of temptation. He gave it no room in His heart. We must continue fighting the good fight, being the commander of our behavior, because whatever we do has consequences. We will lose some battles, but if we apply His gift of repentance, we will win the war against sin, simply by virtue of not surrendering to it. If we stand against our fleshly impulses, God promises in 1Pet 5-10, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” Therefore, God promises that when temptation returns, it will continually grow weaker until it becomes manageable. See also: Addiction ( Bondage to sin); 1Jn 2,3-6, (90c) (92h) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> What kind of trail is this? >> The wrong gate is wide and many enter by it (96l) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about sin >> Having an attitude of unbelief (157e) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Being displeasing to God >> Walking in disobedience (172g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Hypocrites among the just >> Lazy among the prudent (176a) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Misguided (192b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Life for life >> Losing your life to gain God’s purpose (197d) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Rebelling against where God wants you to go >> Refuse to enter His rest – God chose Abraham and Abraham had a child and that child had children and those children became the sons of Israel. So, God chose Israel through Abraham, and they created a nation in whom He placed His name, but when they went astray, He rejected them, swearing in his wrath that they should not enter His rest. The rest of the promise land where He was leading them referred to this life, and the ultimate rest is in heaven that He implied when He swore in His wrath that they should not enter it. This means there are no saints in heaven who refused to serve God on earth. (202j) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running from walking in faith >> Running from God through unbelief (209e) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Righteous saved with difficulty >> Righteous saved with hardship >> Righteous saved with endurance (223g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the point >> Miss the meaning of being with Jesus Heb 3-6 (97k) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Rooted deeply >> Standing firm together in the faith -- This verse goes with verse 14 (121i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Hope Based On Faithfulness >> Hope based on perseverance – All these things will be ours “if you hold fast your confidence and the boast of your hope firm until the end.” People have devised doctrines to support the notion of eternal security, which purposely contradict verses like this. They say it is impossible to lose our salvation, but why then did the writer of Hebrews say this? This two-letter word “if ” is by far the biggest word in the Bible. God doesn’t like people who fall away from the faith, who give up on Him. He doesn’t care what circumstances were involved that led us to walk away from Him. There are all kinds of people who have experienced far worse than we have, and they kept believing in Jesus, and God will bring this to light at their judgment. He will point out Darrell and Sally and reveal their lives and all the suffering and horror they endured, and they didn’t fall away from the faith, yet lesser trials have befallen us and we quickly folded. God simply does not allow quitters in His heaven; He does not accept their excuses, because He has given us an infinite creation; we need only look into the night sky and see for ourselves that God is worthy of our faithfulness. See also: Eternal Security? (God's irrevocable gifts and calling); Rom 11-29; 91j (122e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in yourself as you die to sin >> Confident in your salvation -- This verse goes with verse 14 (206h) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to the gifts of God >> Conditions to salvation -- This verse goes with verse 14. That word “if” is a big one. If we endure until the end, how many times does the New Testament say this? Jesus said it, “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” (Mat 10-22). Those who believe in eternal security would trade their faith in Jesus for a lot of phony doctrines that allow them to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. We have all fallen into temptation, and then immediately repented; this passage is not talking about Christians who do that; it is talking about Christians who never repent, instead choose sin as a lifestyle, while affirming certain doctrines to be true and calling it salvation. (207ca) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> God will accept you into heaven if you overcome KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3,7-19 (161b) Works of the devil >> Wandering from the character of God >> Wander from the faith (167k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> The world’s unbelief (168j) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world has deaf ears to God >> Deaf from a hardened heart – The writer of Hebrews said "voice" and not word, so to directly translate this passage in new covenant terms we couldn't say we are talking about reading the Bible or hearing the preacher on Sunday morning, but are talking about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. There are many who claim to have gotten saved, yet they have never come to know God. Faith grows like any relationship, the more time we spend with the Lord in the word of God and prayer, the more acquainted we become with Him and the more we seek His company. It is a paradox and an eerily common problem today that churched people all across America and largely throughout the developed world are unwilling to mature in their faith. What is the difference between that and saying, “They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know my ways”? What is God’s response to this? “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest.” Those who never spiritually mature are most at risk of falling away from the faith. They are highly religious, but they never grow in the faith. Maybe they answered the call of a preacher and made a public journey to the altar after an emotional sermon, but did they answer the call of the Holy Spirit? Typically, this kind of so-called Christian is afraid of going to hell, but he doesn’t really want heaven either. He would rather stay here in the flesh indefinitely, but that is not an option as we know. (184f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness – This passage is talking about someone who has fallen away from the faith, encouraging us to encourage others before they have a change of heart and walk away from God. He is saying if we do, there is no coming back, having held the grace of God in contempt. God’s grace is holy to the Lord; the blood of Jesus is holy to the Lord, and we must treat Him as holy. We must partake of His grace with all reverence and fear and joy in the Holy Spirit with every intension of serving him with a whole heart to the best of our ability. (185e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> The mystery of sin (185h) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Resisting the Holy Spirit – During the days of Moses the Holy Spirit worked through Moses to disclose God's message to the Israelites, but now the Holy Spirit works directly with us who believe. This is the main advantage of the new covenant and the Church is mostly overlooking it, and if we are not careful, an even worse fate may befall us than did the Israelites, who were laid low in the wilderness after they craved evil things, “as it is written, ‘the people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.’ Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer” (1Cor 10,5-10). If the evil that befell Israel was the result of indirectly resisting the Holy Spirit through the commandments of Moses, how much more severe punishment can we expect who personally hear from God and directly resist the Holy Spirit? This passage contains a far more dire warning than most of us realize, and the saying is truer now than ever that it is a great privilege to be a new covenant believer, but with privilege comes accountability. Greater judgment upon the new covenant Church is not a possibility but an inevitability, especially regarding those who reject the faith. It says that God did not care for them. (185l) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Unwilling to obey the revelation from heaven >> Unwilling to walk in God’s freedom – Verse 15, the central theme of this chapter, if not the entire book of Hebrews, is taken from Psalm 95,7-11. We provoke God when we pretend we can’t hear Him, when He speaks to us by His Spirit. It is impossible to lie to God without lying to ourselves, which erodes our conscience, and conscience interfaces with the Holy Spirit. Lying to the Holy Spirit chips away at the foundation of the hearing ear. Conscience is the gatekeeper of the heart; therefore, we shouldn't abuse our conscience by lying to it. Conscience is what we use to interpret the truth, but if we lie to ourselves and expect to hear the Holy Spirit, demons will speak in His stead, and we won't be able to tell the difference. They will lead us into error, and we will blame God for it, and our faith will continue to deteriorate. We have all suffered in prayer, so we must search our conscience to discover the sin that restricts our prayers and repent of it. Conscience is like a flower that is easily crumpled. We must closely monitor our conscience and faithfully serve Christ by serving freedom, because it serves us. See also: Adam lived against his conscience; Heb 10-15,16; 155g (197i) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Unfaithfulness >> Unfaithful to God (198a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Unteachable >> Resisting the knowledge of God (203j) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Withdraw from obeying God >> Withdrawing from the narrow way (217f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God gives up on you >> After you refuse to comply (222h) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God shares no intimacy with dogs >> God does not let dogs in His house (228g) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God is working in you to place you in His will >> To lead you in His purpose KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3,7-14 (74l) Thy kingdom come >> Let not your heart be hardened >> Insensitive to the things of God Heb 3,7-11 (5j) Responsibility >> Discipleship tested >> God tests your strength through endurance – God tests our endurance by speaking a word to our heart to see how long we can keep it before disappointment, discouragement, and general worldliness tempt us to fumble His word. God’s response to our disobedience changes depending on the circumstances. The vividness of His word plays a part, such as if we bobble His word while living among miracles, His judgment is more severe. Conversely, His judgment is less severe when our circumstances are intense. Also, the strength of our opponents and the strength of your advocates impact His response to our defiance. In some cases He will expect us to never fail, and in other cases He may not expect us to succeed at all. He does, however, expect us to carry His word to the finish line regardless of the circumstances, even if we screw up a few times. The test is not whether we pass without making mistakes, but whether we pass without giving-up. (16i) Sin >> Continuing in sin to avoid the light >> Pretending God is not there >> Deny the truth – Israel participated in God's miraculous rescue from the pharaoh’s hand, and shortly afterward they were disobedient and sentenced to the wilderness and witnessed His miracles for forty years and were unfaithful there too. Coping with a strong-willed child, God has a little experience; He’s been there and done that. (51d) Judgment >> Judging the Church with the world >> Warned to heed the word of God (69d) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Righteous anger >> God is angry at sin (106m) Thy kingdom come >> Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >> God gives us direction (Attitude) (141j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> Old Testament is for our instruction >> It reflects the nature of man in the law (147b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Remember the Father’s miracles (180b) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Wolves bypass the cross -- These verses go with verses 15-19 (198c) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Ungrateful (217h) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> I never knew you >> Because you never did His will (255b) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> Spirit of the word >> Words of His Spirit are truth Heb 3,7-9 (217a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> No one can make God do anything -- These verses go with verses 17-19 Heb 3-7,8 (91j) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> God’s calling transcends the will of man >> It is etched into our spirit -- These verses go with verse 1 (110h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Born of the Spirit by the truth >> Hearing the Spirit -- These verses go with verse 15 (200d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Rejecting the faith of God >> Rejecting Christ through disobedience Heb 3-8 (181j) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceitfulness of sin -- This verse goes with verses 12-19 (190a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Laying your body on the altar KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3,12-19 (83m) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Be on guard (181j) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceitfulness of sin -- These verses go with verse 8. Disobedience and unbelief are like two sides of the same coin or like left and right feet that walk away from God. Unbelief produces disobedience and disobedience produces unbelief; we don’t believe because we disobey and we disobey because we don’t believe. So long as we have today we can repent, but someday we will have spent all our today-s, and then repentance will become unavailable. Everybody has an Achilles heel; everybody is tempted by sin, and the temptation is not just to allow sin, but to wallow in it. There are some sins we commit that won’t sink our ship, and there are others that destroy our conscience toward God, just like there are many poisons of varying strengths, suggesting that committing sin is not what hardens our heart but our acceptance of it. Remember Judas Iscariot. The primary negative effect of a hardened heart is hearing loss. We suddenly lose our ability to hear the Holy Spirit, and by that we lose our direction. God may have placed us on a straight and narrow path and ordained our feet, but then we were overtaken by sin, which hardened our heart and we lose our bearing, and suddenly our candle is snuffed. It turns dark and we become blinded by the night and veer off the designated trail. The spiritual effect of a hardened heart keeps us from walking with God. So, how do we repent? Unbelief seems nebulous, whereas disobedience is an action requiring no interpretation. If we repent of certain acts of disobedience, the unbelief that feeds on it will wither, and we will be able to believe in God again. See also: Judas Iscariot; Heb 3,12-14; 98e Heb 3,12-14 (79b) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Satan will control your mind if you don’t (98e) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Rooted deeply >> To keep from falling away – The book of Hebrews follows a handful of themes; one is the process of developing a reprobate mind. This can happen to both Christians and unbelievers; the problem is that most Christians don’t believe this. The reason Jesus chose Judas Iscariot was to give us an example of a person falling away from the faith, detailing the process, and the Scriptures contrasted it with Peter's denial of Christ to show the difference between these two events. Peter backslid, whereas Judas fell away. To backslide we can repent and be restored, but to fall away from the faith we cannot. See also: Judas Iscariot; 174i / Comparing Judas Iscariot to Peter; Lk 22-31,32; 193c (131j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Many members but one body >> Many partakers but one loaf of bread (139f) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Encouragement >> Encouraging one another (174i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Form of a servant but denying God your loyalty – Judas Iscariot intended to betray the Lord and then go his way, making a life for himself with the money he stole from the treasury. Note the comparison between Judas the reprobate and the profile of a psychopath; they both have two things in common: neither of them will ever see heaven, and both have a conscience that is grossly deformed. We see that Judas was sorry he betrayed the Lord after he discovered what they intended to do to Him. He was in denial that his betrayal would end in the death of Christ, just like people today who betray their faith are in denial that it will end in their spiritual death. Developing a reprobate mind is a process; it doesn’t happen overnight but over a course of years. They thought they believed, and then like Judas their faith slowly morphed with unbelief replacing what little faith they had. What did Jesus say about this? “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mat 6-23). Jesus was talking to the reprobate mind who denies that his faith is really unbelief. See also: Judas Iscariot; 197j (197j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Unfaithfulness >> Unfaithful to your own conscience – Judas was sorry for what he did, but repenting of his unbelief was not on the table, because he never really believed in the first place. He was a slave to his unbelief. Judas was completely cemented in his secular worldview and in the interpretations of this world, so much that anything spiritual simply did not register with him. Not even the miracles Jesus performed had any real impact on him. His lack of sensitivity to the Spirit defined his “evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God,” whereas the other disciples believed that Jesus was their Messiah, and they understood that there was a spiritual realm and that Jesus was in the process of manifesting it. See also: Judas Iscariot; Heb 3-12,13; 76h (207ca) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> God will accept you into heaven if you overcome -- These verses go with verse 6. We are partakers of Christ IF we hold fast our assurance to the end. Falling down is nothing to God; stumbling is nothing, but giving-up on Him is blasphemy! Never give up on God. He believes in Himself too much for us to quit on Him. He is not a melon in a grocery store that we tap for ripeness and then set back down. He knows His own worth, and if we determine Him unworthy of us, He will determine us unworthy of Him. We shouldn't let sin lie to us about God. If we pay attention to the voice in our flesh, it will lead us to despise God whom we once loved. Heb 3-12,13 (76h) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Living by a double standard – “An evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God,” describes Judas Iscariot to a tea. Judas was both a believer and an unbeliever at the same time; to speak of him this way sounds like doubletalk, but this is the kind of thing that happens in the hearts of those who fall away; their faith is more like unbelief. Judas may have superficially believed in Jesus, but clearly not above the value of money. He saw the direction He was going and was convinced that Jesus would not achieve his monetary goals. He figured the disciples would be stuck with Jesus at the end, while he jumped off the money train just prior to rolling off a cliff in a heap of twisted metal. Judas was right; the disciples scattered when Jesus was arrested, but in the process of bailing Judas betrayed the Lord, becoming the cause of His arrest, thus fulfilling his own prophecy. See also: Judas Iscariot; Heb 3,12-19; 181j Heb 3-12 (131e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Brother depends on you >> To lead him to Jesus (194g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Victory over sin >> Hate evil by loving good (247f) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> Concern >> Caring about the will of God KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3-13 (49h) Judgment >> God judges the world >> The last days >> The day of judgment (Armageddon) – This statement can be seen poised against the backdrop of the last days, referring to many days leading to the very last day; it can refer to the day in which Satan reveals himself in the antichrist and rises to power, and it can refer to a day in which a door will be shut on those who are unprepared. Jesus said in Jn 9-4, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” Once the devil manifests himself in the world, a door will be shut on spreading the gospel. Another meaning of the last days is the “day of the Lord,” which we could interpret as the Rapture or the period in which God judges the world. The book of Joel speaks about the day of the Lord, “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved” (Joel 2,30-33). The “day of the Lord” could refer to the sign of the son of man; it could refer to the actual day of Jesus’ return when He sets foot on the Mount of Olives, beginning His thousand-year reign. In any case, so long as we have another day let us continue to encourage one another in the faith. (214j) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s time is soon >> God’s time is always now Heb 3-14 (97k) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Rooted deeply >> Standing firm together in the faith -- This verse goes with verse 6 (106f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> When He speaks and what He says (116c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Through our relationship with Him (122e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in yourself as you die to sin >> Confident in your salvation -- This verse goes with verse 6 (206h) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to the gifts of God >> Conditions to salvation -- This verse goes with verse 6. Our salvation is based on terms and conditions, and one of those conditions is that we believe until the end, and if we violate those terms, our salvation is no longer valid. If we quit believing in Jesus and develop an evil and unbelieving heart, when we die and meet God, He will not give us any credit for once believing in Him. We can remind Him that we once believed, but He will remind us that we quit believing in Him and that He is worthy of better than that. God doesn’t like it when people quit on Him. We can fall into sin a thousand times and keep returning to God and He will continue forgiving us without complaint; but if we fall into sin and remain there and allow sin to harden our heart so we no longer believe in His righteousness or are willing to treat Him as holy, we could be heading down a slippery slope from which there is no return. (229j) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> Partaking of Jesus >> Partaking of Jesus’ gift (232g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Embrace (Jesus during the storm) >> Hold on to your faith KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3,15-19 (117c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke by faith (151d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Moses -- These verses go with verses 2&3 (162d) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> A slave to unbelief >> Bondage to an unwillingness to believe (deception) – The Israelites at that time consisted of millions of people who all had the same depraved philosophy that led them to blaspheme the God while He was helping them out of bondage from the Egyptians for the purpose of leading them into the promise land. It seems there is no wonder the Egyptians despised them. Something happened to Israel while they were enslaved; their forefathers were not like this. They became bitter, and their bitterness defiled their conscience with anger and resentment, so much that God could not reach them with His compassion. The promises they had heard from their forefathers were not coming true, being blessed above all nations. When they got stuck in Egypt and became their slaves for 400 years, they lost faith in the promise that they were God’s chosen people. They lost faith in the story of their father Abraham, who heard the voice of God and obeyed, leaving his family, taking his wife, Sarah, and their belongings and sojourned to a land that God would show him, where he and his wife would raise a family, and his family would become the greatest nation on earth that would outlast all other nations. He went and did everything God told Him to do, and by that he created many nations, particularly one. He bore a son and called Him Isaac, who bore two sons: Jacob and Esau. Jacob bore twelve sons, whom God called the sons of Israel, whose progeny became enslaved to Pharaoh. They heard the stories of their forefathers through generation after generation of bondage. They tried to hold to the faith of their forefathers, but over time their hearts were encrusted with bitterness and they lost the vision. Hearsay was all that remained of their grandparents' faith, until a baby floated down the Nile river. With Moses on the scene, God’s attitude toward Israel was revealed; His expectation for them was to put down their bitterness and resume their forefather’s faith, but instead of putting their withering past behind them, they chose to embrace their bitterness, so God was displeased with them and He allowed that whole generation to die before He would lead Israel to the promise land, because the people were unworthy of the promises He made to them, leading them aimlessly through the dessert for forty years. God’s purpose was finally fulfilled over a course of many generations, taking far more time than anyone could have imagined, yet His purpose for Israel is still incomplete, since their city, Jerusalem is a type of city of the great King of an empire that will endure forever. Although God works with individuals, yet in terms of filling His agenda, He takes His time. God is never in a hurry; He has all the time in eternity. We want God to use “today” to fulfill His purpose, whereas God wants us to use “today” to listen for His voice and repent of our unbelief. See also: History of Israel; 203b / Heb 6,12-19; 151b (180b) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Wolves bypass the cross -- These verses go with verses 7-11 (203b) Denying Christ >> Dishonor God >> Dishonor God by your unbelief – This passage shows the connection between disobedience and unbelief: when we blaspheme (disobey) the Holy Spirit, it produces unbelief. The Israelites bitterness and resentment was aimed directly at God, because He allowed them to remain stuck in the quagmire of bondage for 400 years, slaves of Egypt, seemingly contradicting the promise He made to their forefathers that they were chosen and blessed. God left them in bondage for His own purpose. It was their wilderness experience, but it had the opposite effect of producing belligerence and stubbornness throughout their generations, and their bitterness made them slaves of another master. The lesson here is not to let our wilderness experiences harden our heart. God took them from Egypt with a mighty hand and called them to expel their mindset of slavery and spiritual darkness, but they would not let it go. Physically they were free, but spiritually they remained Egypt's slaves. The fact that Israel has remained in spiritual darkness to this day shows how difficult it is to escape the bondage of bitterness. Again, the lesson here is that if we are not diligent to become free, we will submit to bondage. They still had the mindset of the devil's slave. There was great disparity between the love that God was showing them and the bitterness they harbored against Him, causing their unbelief to fester, and the Israelites served their bitterness with a loyal heart. Wrong attitudes will turn us into slaves of another god. The vast majority of those in our own generation who resent God have as their complaint that He allows suffering in the world. None of us knows why He allows evil; He only asks us not to judge Him for it, but to trust His judgment. We don’t have the big picture, but a day is coming when He will explain everything, and we will fully understand and accept His answers then. Until then, He asks us to simply trust Him. If we have bitterness and resentment toward God, He asks us to put it aside, for it is this kind of thing that will lead us to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, which threatens eternal separation from God. See also: History of Israel; Heb 3,17-19; 217a / God allows suffering and evil to test us; Jm 1-12; 91e (206a) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to living in the spirit >> Conditions to partaking in the spirit (206k) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> Perish in your sin >> Perish in your omission of righteousness (221j) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from sin >> He hides behind disobedience (231k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> Don’t look back >> Don’t look back to bondage Heb 3-15 (110h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Born of the Spirit by the truth >> Hearing the Spirit -- This verse goes with verses 7&8 Heb 3,16-19 (26d) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is separation from God’s life KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 3-16 (202a) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Man’s will over God >> Man is unwilling to walk in God’s grace Heb 3,17-19 (217a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> No one can make God do anything -- These verses go with verses 7-9. Try to imagine if God didn’t love us what we could do to change that? When God makes up His mind, that’s it! When the Israelites disobeyed the Lord and rebelled against Him and God made them wander in the wilderness for forty years until their generation disappeared, what could they do about it? The only choices they had were to obey or aimlessly wander on their own without God’s protection and eventually die of thirst in the desert, or starve or run into conflict with other nations, who probably would have made them slaves again. God was sending them to annihilate a people who were monstrously evil, so violence would be their future no matter what they did. Where did Israel make their choices that put them in this situation? They didn't make any choices; it was all God's doing, so that obeying God became their only real choice. These are the circumstances that every child inherits just by being born. Any dissenters were better to stay with Israel, but staying with Israel meant staying with a God, and so many decided to remain and complain the whole time, and God determined that they should not enter His rest. These grumblers represent people in the Church today who neither want heaven or hell but care only about what God can do for them in this life. God had already determined that they would not see the promise land, and there was nothing they could do to change His mind even if they straightened up and flew right. God had already spent His patience on them. He will endure our rebellion for a season, until He sees there is no end to it, and then He will give-up on us. Israel ultimately inherited the promise land, but those who grumbled in the wilderness did not. They figured they could act any way they wanted, since God made them a promise, but they didn’t realize that God promised the nation and not the people of that nation, just like he promised the Church but not the people of the Church (Mat 16-18). See also: History of Israel; Heb 3,15-19; 162d (218f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Reaping the harvest >> We choose our actions, not their consequences >> wages of sin is death Heb 3-18,19 (20j) Disobedience (Key verse) (60c) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Unable to enter because of unbelief / Unable to enter because of disobedience See next page