Be Allured by the Unshakable Kingdom (Hebrews 12:18-29)

I’m old enough to remember the first days of Facebook. I’m old enough to remember it causing me problems with my faith. The first days of Facebook were the first days I was out of college, and doing unpaid work for UCCF, and Facebook caused me a problem. There on my newsfeed every day were kids I’d gone to high school and college with. They seemed to have everything. I was leading Bible studies with college kids, and living in a bedroom barely larger than a closet. And it was hard.

I wonder if that’s the battle some of you are facing right now. You’re saved, and you know in your heart of hearts that selling out and totally committing to Jesus is the right thing to do, but you’re afraid. What if I miss out? What if I never get to drive a great car? What if I never make as much money as my friends, what if the Lord calls me to be single for the rest of my life? what if I miss out. That was the fears the Jews had as well. They feared that if they committed to Christ, they would miss out. They feared that they would miss out on their religious heritage if they gave their lives to Jesus. you can’t blame them, because the Jewish heritage is a great one, but in these verses the author shows them, and us, that there is nothing on Earth that compares to giving Christ all of your life. Not a single thing.

The author begins by reminding his readers that the law brings fear. Look at verses 18-21 with me. This is a retelling of the giving of the law from Exodus 19 and 20. This law giving was so traumatic, it was so scary to come face to face with God that even Moses trembled with fear. Look at the words used to describe what was happening. A blazing fire, darkness and gloom, loud trumpets, and a voice that the Hebrews couldn’t bare to hear. This is scary stuff. The author tells the Hebrews that there’ll lose nothing by coming to Christ, because the giving of the law was so terrifying.

Not because there’s anything wrong with the law. The OT law comes from God, and is good and holy and true. The reason the law is so scary, is because it shows us our sin. The law is a mirror that shows us how messed up we are, and that’s scary. The more you read the OT, the more your hearts should long for Jesus. No one could keep the law, no one was good enough. There is no human effort good enough to save you. None. All your good works, all your hard work, all your religious activity is just storing up more wrath, unless you come to Jesus.

Imagine hearing the voice of God, speaking from a mountain that’s covered in the loudest, darkest, most terrifying thunderstorm you’ve ever seen. Imagine being told that if even an animal touched the mountain, it would be stoned. Come to Jesus, says the author, the law only brought you fear.

But the Gospel brings life, look at verses 22-25 with me. Aren’t they some wonderful verses. The intention of the author is clear here, he wants to show us, as clearly as he can, that we’ll lose nothing if we commit our lives to Jesus. All through the Bible, Jesus calls us away from sin and towards Him. He doesn’t do this by simply telling us that sin is evil and deadly, although He does do that, but by telling us that He is better. Hosea tells us that He allures us, He draws us away from the other things that distract us so easily, and He brings us to Him.

Look at what we come to. We come not to terrible thunderstorms and a loud voice, but to Zion, to the Kingdom of Heaven. We come to God Himself. We come to the reality and not the picture. Imagine your summer vacation, you’re at the beach, by the ocean. You’re not simply sitting next to a postcard and pretending are you? You’re really there. Next to the real beach, the postcard is nothing. And that’s what the author is saying here. We come to God, not to Moses, or the law, or the Temple, we come to God Himself. When we pray, we know God hears, when we read the Bible, we know God is speaking. Come to God, he says, put down the picture.

And we come by the blood of Jesus, which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. When Cain killed his brother, God told him that Abel’s blood cried out against Him for condemnation, but now God tells us that Jesus’ blood calls out to us for righteousness. We are counted righteous because Jesus shed His blood for us. He gave everything for us, why would we hold back giving Him everything He asks for. If He shed His blood for you, He will never let you down, never cause you to miss out on anything that you need.

Finally we see the application of this chapter, in verses 25-29. The Kingdom should be received. Look at those verses with me.

Don’t refuse, says the author. This has been his plea throughout the book. He’s told his readers to cast of sin, to not harden our hearts, not he says, don’t refuse. Don’t refuse the open hand of God that offers you life. If people didn’t escape from a warning that came from Earth, how will we escape a warning that comes from heaven. Right now, this moment, from His Word, God offers those of you who aren’t saved salvation. He says now is the time, don’t delay, now if your chance, don’t waste it. Be saved. You won’t always have this opportunity. Right now, God offers those of you who are holding out the chance to be all in. he says don’t waste your life chasing lesser dreams, don’t waste your life holding out for something better than what Jesus has for you. There is nothing better!

There’s no escape anywhere from this God. Verses 26 and 27 tell us that He shakes the Earth and the Heavens, and that what can be shaken will be shaken. There’s nowhere you can go on Earth to hide from God, so run to Him while He may be found.

And worship Him acceptably. Some commentators argue that’s what the next chapter is about, what acceptable worship looks like. We worship God with reverence and awe, we’re grateful and we’re amazed by His love. We know He is the judge of the whole world, and so we honour Him rightly. We’re warned He is a consuming fire. This is one of the harshest warnings in the whole book. God is a consuming fire, so make sure your life won’t be burnt up when the fire blazes, make sure your life is made of what pleases God.

See in this passage that following God with all your heart, for all your life, is always worth it. Don’t hold out waiting for something better, because it simply isn’t there.

Run To Jesus

Run!

That's the command at the start of Hebrews 12.

Run!

Run for your life. Not because you're being chased by a man eating lion, but because you're being chased by a much worse adversary. Run! Run from your sin. Running is one of the themes of Hebrews. We're told not to neglect our salvation, but run hard towards it, we're told not to harden our hearts but to stay the course, and then we're told at the end to run to Jesus, outside the camp.

As we run we are encouraged by the saints who have gone before us. We hear their stories, and we're encouraged that the God who did extraordinary things with ordinary us is the God who can do the extraordinary with us. We're encouraged to look at their example, and see their witness that Jesus is better than the wealth of Israel and the gods of foreign women. Run! Cast off the sin that entangles you. When you crouch on the starters block, don't have your legs tied, don't wear running shoes of concrete, cast off what holds you back. Stop asking, 'is this a sin,' and ask 'does this help me run?' Not, what's wrong with X, but what's right with it.

Run, don't meander or walk, run, and run towards Jesus.

Look to Jesus, says the author in verse 2. When you look at A you look away from B. When i looked to Rachel in marriage i looked away from every other women. When you looked to Jesus for salvation you looked away from every other religion, every other philosophy, every other salvation scheme. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus in your local church, as you sing, and hear God's Word preached, and celebrate communion. Look to Jesus as you read the Bible for yourself, ten verses a day, ten chapters a day, it's not important, just look. Look to Jesus as you pray. As your innermost desires and despairs are given vent to a good God.

So look to Jesus today. This looking and delighting in Jesus is the foundation of our faith, that Christ is to us, the chief among ten thousand, and ten thousand thousand. As we look at Jesus, as we are captivated by His goodness, and stunned that He would be good to us, 'the things of the world will grow strangely dim,' and we'll desire nothing more than to be His, more and more.

How Faith Lives. Hebrews 11:13-29

In verses 13-16 we see that faith lives by looking to the promises of God. Isn’t verse 16 wonderful. God was not ashamed to be their God! Wow. How do we make God say that about us, how can we make God proud of us? Well verse 13 tells us that these men saw promises that they did not receive. They understood that God had made promises that would be fulfilled thousands of years after they were born, but because they saw and believed this promise they became wanderers and exiles. Christianity has often been called a long walk in the same direction, and for these men and women, it was literally. These men and women were faithful to death. The author wants us to see that we might not get everything God promises us in this life, but we will eventually. Now Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob have received what God promised them.

 How will you get up tomorrow morning if you don’t believe His promises? How will you face trouble and heartbreak if you don’t know His promises? You won’t.

Secondly we see that faith lives by trusting the plan of God, in verses 17-23. This is the second part of looking at the promises. When you trust the promises, you know the plan is good. What was God’s plan in the OT? To have His people, in His place living in His presence. That’s why there are so many genealogies in the first 5 books, because we’re supposed to be seeing God’s plan working as His people grow. That’s why there are lists of places in Joshua, because God’s plan is working. All the men mentioned in this paragraph trusted in God’s plan, even to death.

Abraham trusted God’s plan even when he was called to sacrifice Isaac. Because he trusted the plan, he passed the test of his faith. At the end of his life Isaac blessed his two sons, Jacob and Esau and demonstrated his hope for the future. When Joseph died he promised that God would rescue His people from slavery in deliver them to the promised land, he even told the Hebrews what to do with his bones when they got here. Because Moses parents trusted the plan they kept Moses alive defying the kings order to kill him.

See what trusting God’s plan does? It makes you faithful, brave, and fills you with hope. God’s plan for you is good, and to do good to you. When you’ve had a bad day, or week, or semester, remember that, that God is working it all for good. When things happen in your life that you can’t understand, remember that God is working them together for your good, and trust in His plan.

In verses 24 an 25 we see that faith lives by rejecting the world. Moses was given up by his parents, they put him in a basket and floated him down the river, where he was rescued by the daughter of Pharaoh. Moses grew up not as the son of a slave, but as the son of the most powerful man in the world. But he rejected it all, because of his faith. Verse 24 tells us he rejected the prestige that the world had to offer, refusing to be called Pharaoh’s daughter. He had everything in the world he could have imagined, and more, but Jesus was more important to him. Verse 25 tells us he gave up the pleasures of the world. With more money comes more opportunity, and the young Moses, prince in the household, could have had anything he wanted. Any sinful pleasure that you could imagine was on offer, but he gave it up, preferring to be mistreated with, identified with, suffer with God, that to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Only by faith can we reject sin and live for God. Only by faith do the pleasures of Jesus look better than the pleasures of sin.

Finally we see that all these other points have been leading up to. Verses 26-29 tell us that faith lives by rejoicing in Christ. Does that sound odd to you, rejoicing in Christ, getting excited about Jesus? if it does, can I suggest you don’t know Jesus very well? We rejoice in Christ because He is better, and He rescues. Knowing Jesus is better that the best the world has to offer. See verse 26  tells us that Moses thought the reproach of Christ made him richer than all the treasures of Egypt. Isn’t that amazing? To know Jesus makes you rich beyond your wildest dreams, if you have faith.  And faith lives by rejoicing in Jesus because Jesus rescues.

It was Jesus who rescued the Hebrews from slavery, covered in the blood of the Passover lamb, and walking over the Red sea like it was dry land. And it’s only Jesus that can save you from sin, from death and from Hell. Faith lives by rejoicing in this salvation, by realizing that whatever happens nothing can change the fact that your sins are paid for.

The God Who Doesn't Keep Score

In Teen Church this month we're heading into Hebrews 11. A great way to start the year, as we hold up the diamond of faith and examine it through the lenses of the Old Testament saints. I'm looking forward to studying and preaching it, and i'm hoping it whets the appetite of some of our teenagers to read more deeply in the Old Testament.

Hebrews 11 has been described as faiths hall of fame, as the Westminster Abbey of faith. And who can disagree, who doesn't well up inside when they read about men of whom the world was not worhty, men who lived in caves and were sawn in two for their faith. The KJV rendering of verses 36-38 are among some of the most powerful words in the English language.

As providence would have it, i've also been reading through Genesis recently. Meeting daily with men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. With Judah and with Joseph. With the men who, according to verse 2, had faith and received a reward. But what an odd collection fo men they were. Abraham is commended twice in Hebrews 11 for his faith, and rightly so. He left everything to follow God's call, he bound his beloved son and held the knife over his chest. And yet, Abraham was the man who twice lied about the identity of his wife to save his own skin, and spent most of his life worshiping the moon.

We're reminded of Moses, and his preference to be mistreated with the people of God than enjoy the riches of Egypt. And yet, this is the same Moses who killed a man, ran away, argued with God, and didn't make it to the Promised Land. As i read Genesis one thing stuck out to me again and again, the patriarchs are hardly posters boys of 'good clean Christian living.' Neither's David, or Solomon.

So what are we to make of this? Is Hebrews 11 just a whitewash, a history told by the winning side? No, Hebrews 11 reminds us that God doesn't keep score, He doesn't keep count. We don't turn in our homework for Him to make checkmarks and ugly red lines on. He looks at us, sees our faith in His Son, and is pleased. He is pleased when He sees a reflection of Himself in us, no matter how dim. He's pleased when He sees us forsaking all other gods and following Him. He's pleased when we come to the end of ourselves, and cry out in faith through His Son. He's pleased as we do this, as He was when the men and women of Hebrews 11 did.

I think in some ways Hebrews 11 functions for us as Genesis did for the wandering Hebrews. As they were about the cross the Jordan, Moses reminded them of their father's failings, but of God's faithfulness. Don't rely on yourselves Hebrews, rely on the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As we face trials and temptations, Hebrews 11 reminds us that God doesn't keep score, but He sees our faith and is pleased.

Cover Me

A few weeks ago, some rogue motorist swerved down my street, and collected our mailbox on his way. He knocked the door off, and the handy yellow flag that told us if we had any mail that day. Eventually, i've got to go and buy a new mail box to replace the old one. It has to be a mailbox, i can't put a microwave there, or a bowl of soup. Mailbox for mailbox.

Likewise, if the lady driving the car who hit our mailbox showed up at my door to replace it, she'd need to give me a new one, or at least, a decent replacement. A picture of a mailbox won't do, neither will a new sweater or a pair of scissors. Mailbox for mail box.

We see this idea all the way though the Bible. God told Adam and Eve that a life would be taken if they ate the fruit of the tree, and so it was, although we like to think that God was making a coat to keep them warm, He was shedding blood to pay for sin. The Old Testament sacrificial system depended on and illustrated this idea every day. There had been sin, there must be death. On the Day of Atonement some estimate that over three hundred thousand animals died. The Brook Kidron ran red, the Priests were covered and the mercy seat stained with the blood that paid for sins.

Hebrews 9:22 puts it bluntly, 'without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.' Life for life, death for sin. It's always been this way, and we understand why. Mailbox for mailbox, life for life. But come on, we now that a goat can't pay for the sins of a man. So a man came, the lamb of God, the final lamb, making a satisfying sacrifice, finally giving God and man justice for sins, finally paying the price, finally cleaning our consciences.

We ask this man for mercy, we ask Him to cover us. That's what's going on at the end of Luke 18. The tax collector stands far off beating his chest, and says 'Lord, cover me, a sinner.' Cover me, have mercy on me. Cover me with the blood of a substitute. Just like Moses did in Exodus 24:5-6. An animal was killed, half it's blood poured in the basin, the other half sprinkled on the people. They were covered with the blood of the substitute. Sin brings death, life for life.

Have mercy on me, cover me with the blood of a substitute, pass over me.

The longer i'm a Christian, and the more i see the dark recesses of my own heart, the more precious this becomes. The world needs a God angered by sin, but the world also needs God. Jesus has dealt with that huge problem, He has died, a life for a life, and His blood covers us. If you try to live with Christ primarily as your example, not your substitute, it's like living in a house with no foundations, you're just not safe. Come to Christ instead, and be covered with His blood.

Single Superior Sacrifice

How can we be sure Jesus has paid for our sins? How can we know that the Father has accepted the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf, or, better, on my behalf? How can i know that the things i did yesterday won't (justly) condemn me forever? We can know. The solid logic of Hebrews 9:11-13 tells us that Jesus is the single, superior sacrifice who brings forgiveness of sins and a cleansed conscience. Do you want to be free from guilt? You can be! Do you want to feel free from condemnation? You can do. Let’s see how.

First of all, Jesus entered the real tent, the greater and perfect tent as verse 11 tells us. He wasn’t entering an earthly copy with bells around his clothes and a rope on His ankle. He was in Heaven, He was in the real thing. It’s one thing to have a picture of the fake Eiffel tower at Kings Dominion, how much better is it to have been to the real thing! Jesus can clean our conscience because He entered the real sanctuary, not made with hands, but made by God. The son of Levi ministered in the copy, and it gave the Hebrews some assurance, but Jesus is in the real sanctuary, not made with hands. Look and look until you see and are assured. 

Secondly, Jesus can cleanse our conscience because He has shed His own blood. If God took the blood of a goat as a covering, then there is no way He will reject the blood of His own Son! No way. That animal blood was a picture, Jesus is the reality. That picture gave some assurance to the Hebrews. When the scapegoat ran off into the wilderness, they could see that God had a way of removing their sins, when the priest shed the blood of the lamb, they could see that God had a way of paying for their sins. When we sin, we’re tempted to do something to pay for that sin aren’t we? I lied to my parents so I’ll get up half an hour earlier tomorrow to read the Bible. We’re tempted to do that. But we don’t need to. What covers our sin? What makes us whole again? Nothing but the blood, and that blood has been shed for us. We have nothing to fear, because we are covered by Him.

Finally, Jesus blood can cleanse our conscience because He works on the inside, not the outside. Verse 13 teaches us the blood and ashes of a heifer purified the flesh. But only the flesh. The old sacrifices never changed anyone’s heart, never cleaned a conscience. The new one can, and does.

The application is right there in verse 14. We are now free to serve God with all our hearts. There is nothing holding you back from giving your life to God’s will, nothing stopping you from doing whatever He wants you to do. Is there? Why should sin stop you, your sin has been dealt with. Why should guilt stop you, Jesus has cleansed your conscience. Why should what you did yesterday stop you from what God wants you to do tomorrow? It shouldn’t!

Blood Soaked Youth Ministry

We've all heard the stats i suppose, about teenagers who grow up in church, go to college, and then never darken the door of the church ever again. Teens who grow up in youth choir, at camps, on activities, and now spend their Sunday mornings sleeping off the night before.

We've heard the stats, and though i struggle to believe that the number really is as high as the 70-80% i've heard quoted (what is it about evangelicalism and a love for negative statistics?) it's obviously a problem. 

What causes that problem? I guess there are a couple of obvious ones. Firstly, if your teen grows up in a teen centric environment, if they are always entertained and never asked to serve, always eating pizza and never studying the Bible, of course it's going to be a rue awakening when they go to church at 19 and suddenly they're treated like an adult. Of course they're going to be surprised when the plate in question is for them to give, not to take another piece of cake off. So there's that. The second is like the first. Maybe the majority of our 'church kids' just aren't getting saved. Maybe the sickness is in the youth group, not the frat house.

Both of those and more are part of the problem, but you know what i think a big, and overlooked problem is? I'm so glad you asked.

We've never taught our teenagers to sin. 

Let me explain. If our teens grow up in a world where they never fail, guess what they're going to equate Christianity with? Not failing. And when they fail at college, anywhere on the scale from fornicating to...whatever is on the other end of that scale, they're not going to know what to do with that failure. They've got no answer to the 'how're you going to go to church now?' question, so they quit.

If we teach young people that Christianity equals perfection, of course they're going to leave the church when they fail. Of course their seared conscience is going to keep them out of the Bible. They've sinned, how can they approach a holy God now?

This is the burden of the book of Hebrews. The blood of bulls and goats never changed a man's heart, never eased a seared conscience, never assured man of his salvation. But the blood of Jesus can and does. Hebrews 9:14 promises that the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience so that we can once more serve Christ. This is what our teenagers need as they go to college. A blood soaked youth ministry. We can teach five steps to a better recess when we run out of Gospel. We can fire up the attractional smoke machine and rock band when the blood of Jesus stops being relevant.

We need to be honest about sin. I sin, you sin, and our good church kids sin. Blood talk only makes sense in the light of sin talk. And it's blood talk, and only blood talk, that will grow faithful teenagers into faithful adults.

Jesus and Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1-10)

The major theme in the middle of the book, where we are now is that Jesus is our High Priest. He is our representative, the best representative there is. He sits next to God the Father in Heaven and represents us before Him. After last weeks interlude, where the author encouraged his readers to grow and be mature Christians, tonight we’re back to the main point, Jesus is our High Priest, our representative, in heaven.

And tonight, we meet one of the most mysterious, but helpful people in the Old Testament. As we continue our study of Hebrews we are constantly being reminded that Jesus is better. Jesus is a better King, a better prophet, a better offering. Jesus is better than anything else anyone else can offer. So we need to come to Him for salvation, for holiness and for hope.

That person is Melchizedek, and the author is going to use him to help us understand more about Jesus. Melchizedek is a ‘type.’ The OT is filled with ceremonies, events and people that are pictures of Jesus, or types of Jesus. King David is a picture of Jesus. So is the Passover, so are Abraham and Isaac going up the hill to make a sacrifice. So, what we learn about Melchizedek is what we learn about Jesus. what we see in Melchizedek, we’ll also see in Jesus.

These verses of Hebrews 7 tell us more about Melchizedek than the rest of the Bible. Melchizedek only appears in three places. Genesis 14, where Abraham meets him, then in psalm 110, when David tells us that Jesus will be like him, and here in Hebrews 7. This, incidentally is another great argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible. There’s no way that Moses, writing Genesis, and David, writing the Psalms and whoever wrote Hebrews thousands of years apart could have all imagined this same man with this same role. But here is Melchizedek ready to teach us about Jesus.

The first thing we see in verses 1 and 2 is that Melchizedek is righteous and royal. Four times in these two verses Melchizedek is said to be the King of something. He is King of Salem, mentioned twice, king of righteousness and king of peace. M was a priest and a king, just like Jesus is. Zechariah 6:13 says that ‘there shall be a priest on the throne,’ and M is a great picture of Jesus the priest-king. Melchizedek is also righteous. This doesn’t mean that he has never sinned, unless we think that Melchizedek was Christ Himself but it means that when he sinned he sought forgiveness before God, and asked that God would help him to fight against his sin. He was righteous in that he could be trusted, he could be respected, he could be looked up to.

M is a great picture of Jesus, who is the righteous and royal priest and King. Just think about that for a moment. The one who you pray to is the righteous and royal priest King. No one else get that. No other system of religion or belief gets to have access to God though Jesus, and yet we so often take it for granted. This knowledge should flood our heart with joy. We have Jesus, who loves us, who represents us. He’s righteous, so He will never let us down, and He’s royal, which gives Him every right to ask for things on our behalf.

The next thing we’re shown in verse three is that Melchizedek is personal, and perpetual. Read those verses with me. How did you get to be a priest in the OT? You had to be a Levite, and then you had to be the right kind of Levite. This is a problem for us, because Jesus wasn’t born into the tribe of Levi, He was born into the tribe of Judah. And no priest comes from Judah. But His priesthood is like Melchizedek s priesthood. Melchizedek wasn’t a priest because of his parents, he was a priest because of who he was. His priesthood was personal, just like Jesus’ is. Jesus is a priest because of who He is, not because He was born in the right place at the right time. Jesus is a priest because He was appointed by the Father, not because of who His parents were. Just like M.

And just like Melchizedek  Jesus will be a priest forever. Melchizedek's priesthood is perpetual, it never ends, just like Jesus’ priesthood is. He will never stop being a High Priest. In the Old Testament, this must have been a constant problem. You’d get a good High Priest, one who loved God, and was sympathetic to sins, but then he’d die, and who knows what the next guy would be like. This is never a problem with us. We know that Jesus has conquered death. As Jesus tells John in Revelation 1:18, he died, and now he is alive forevermore. So repent, and pray and share your faith, and read your Bible, and be faithful to church, and grow, and mature, safe in the knowledge that Jesus, your priest, your representative, will never die. He is always there for you. 

Jesus is our... (Hebrews 5:1-10)

I love studying the book of Hebrews, because it’s helping me grow as a Christian, it’s helping me love Jesus more, and love sin less. This is how it’s supposed to be for Christians. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says ‘we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another.’ Put simply, as we spend time with Jesus, we become more like Him. As we spend time with Jesus, we come to life. Jesus says in John 17:3 that ‘this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ who you have sent.’

Every religious activity is only valuable to the degree that it helps us to see Jesus. And the author to the Hebrews is relentless in His approach, grabbing us by the collar and focusing us on Jesus. When you know Jesus better, your confidence in Him is stronger and you are filled with courage to live and speak for Him. We need to meet the real Jesus in the Bible. We need to see Him as our only hope if we are to have any hope.

We see four things about Jesus in this passage as the author continues where we left him a couple of weeks ago explaining to us about His role as our High Priest, our representative. Tonight we see that Jesus represents us, helps us, heals us and saves us. What a great God we have, what a great God Jesus is!

First of all we see that Jesus, our High Priest, represents us. Verse one tells us that the High Priest was chosen from among men to act on behalf of men. Verses 9 and 10 tell us that Jesus, as a man, was made perfect so He could represent us. We understand why the High Priest had to be a man. No one else could represent men, no one else could stand in front of God for the cause of men. And that’s why Jesus had to be a man. Every Christmas, near enough, we hear people talk about the virgin birth as if it didn’t matter. What do we lose if we lose the virgin birth, they ask. Well we lose Jesus, we lose our representative. What does it matter that Jesus was fully man? Well He is only our representative to the extent that He was a man. Only a man can stand before God and represent men, Jesus can only represent you if He was fully human.

Just let that sink in for a moment, Jesus is able to represent you. That’s why we pray ‘in Jesus name,’ because He represent us. When you think about Heaven, it’s not a place where you are a stranger, or where you are not known or recognized, it’s a place where you are represented by the Son of God.

Next we see that Jesus is able to help us. Look at verse 2 and verse 8 with me. Verse 2 is talking about the human High Priest. Since he was best, or weighed down, or familiar with weakness, he was able to sympathize with those who were weak. You could go to the High Priest and find a sympathetic hearing because he was just like you. Verse 8 tells us that Jesus, ‘learned obedience though what He suffered.’ Don’t be thrown off by the idea of Jesus learning to be obedient, He was always 100% obedient to His Father, but, as a man He now has knowledge of what suffering really is like. First hand, knowledge of brutal, unfair suffering. He didn’t have that in Heaven at His Father’s side. So He didn’t become obedient, he became obedient through suffering.

So get this. The next time you suffer, whether physically or socially or spiritually. The next time you’re injured or betrayed, and you go to Jesus about it, He knows. He mourns with those who mourn and hurts with those who hurt, and He knows exactly what it’s like. What a saviour, how can this Jesus not dominate our lives.

Next we see that Jesus is able to heal us. Verse 3 tells us that human high priest ‘was obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins,’ but verse 7 tells us that Jesus was heard, not because of His offerings, but ‘because of His reverence.’ The human High Priest had to make an offering for his own sins before he could make an offering for the sins of the people. He was heard because he killed a goat and shed it’s blood on the altar for his own sins. Jesus was perfect, and was heard because of His reverence. Now, the blood of sheep and goats can not take away sins, they can not healing a sinner. They were never supposed to, they were always just a sign post.

But Jesus blood can.

If you feel trapped in a sin you can’t get out of, Jesus can heal you. If you fell stuck in sin, Jesus can heal you. If you feel like there’s no way you have any hope of escaping sin, you’re right. Only Jesus has that power, and Jesus blood can heal you. Jesus shed His blood to win you from sin. Jesus went to the cross so that you would see Him and love Him more than sin. He went to the cross to heal you. He didn’t shed goats blood, He shed His own blood.

And because He shed that blood, He’s able to save us. Verse 9 tells us that Jesus is the source of eternal salvation. Isn’t that good? The human high priest could not save his people, he could only cover their sins and look forward to the day when Jesus would come and die, and by dying offer forgiveness. Eternal salvation to those who want it. That’s what it means to obey the Him in verse 9. Just by asking for salvation, living with confidence in Jesus, not yourself. Have you done that? When the devils comes and asks you why God would ever listen to you, ever accept you, ever save you, does your answer start with ‘because I,’ or ‘because Jesus?’

Where is your confidence tonight? This author, and this youth pastor desire that you trust, and hope, and delight in nothing apart from what Jesus has done. You will be tempted your whole life, every moment, but when you are tempted remember you have a sympathetic representative in Heaven who can and will help you overcome sin. And when you fail, you have someone in Heaven, God’s Son, who has shed His blood for you, and will forgive you every time you ask. The next time you’re tempted to compromise your faith, the next time you’re tempted to walk away, the next time you’re tempted to trust in yourself for salvation, remember Jesus helping you, healing you, sympathizing with you, and saving you.

How To Deal With Sin

There is one thing that you have in common with a man drowning in the ocean. There is one thing you have in common with the student who hasn’t studied for his math test. There is one thing you have in common with the explorer lost in the desert. You need help. They all need help, they all need to be rescued from a hopeless situation, and so do you and I. That’s what these verses are about, remembering and finding grace to help us in our time of need.

But our need is much more desperate than the drowning sailor, or the poorly prepared student, or the wandering explorer. We need rescue from an eternal punishment, we need help in dealing with our sins. We need help to not sin sure but we also need help in the aftermath of our sin. What do I mean? I mean, we need help to deal with what happened on Saturday night when it’s Sunday morning. How will we deal with what we did at 10pm on Saturday at 10am on Sunday? How will we deal with what we did on Wednesday morning on Wednesday evening?

The answer to that question tells us a lot about our faith, it tells us a lot about what we hope in, and what we think saves us. I think there are three options before us when it comes to dealing with our sin the morning after.

The first is to ignore our sin. To tell ourselves that it was no big deal, that we didn’t mean it, that Jesus is ok with it really. We’re saved by grace through faith right? So nothing I do or say or think makes any real difference. Sin is no big deal we tell ourselves. That joke, that look, that smart off to the teacher that made everyone laugh, they don’t matter. I’ll just ignore it and carry on like normal. To not take sin seriously, to make light of it, to brush it off and ignore it is a terrible place to be. This is the way to a hard heart; this is the way to losing grip on Jesus and falling away from your faith. I’ve said before, but it’s true, no one wakes up one morning and decides to fall away, but over time, we sin and we sin and we sin, and we think it’s ok. And then we stop caring. And then we fall away.

The second option in dealing with sin has the same result, falling away, but it gets there differently. When we sin, instead of making a small deal of it, we make too big of a deal about it. We start thinking, ‘if I was really saved I’d never do that.’ We sulk and hide, we quit reading the Bible, we quit going to church, and we stop talking to God and to our Christian friends. We start hiding, and we fall away. We think that, somehow, our sin is bigger than Jesus death, we think that there’s no way we could be in a relationship with God now, so we give up. This is the reason that so many Christians disappear. They fall into sin and they have no way of dealing with it. So instead of ‘holding fast to their confession,’ they give up on Jesus.

Verse 14 tells us that we have a high priest. The high priest was the figure in the Old Testament who would represent the people before God. He was the one who made sacrifices in the temple and once a year and stood before the presence of God Himself to shed blood for His people. He was the people’s hope, they knew as long as he made his sacrifices every year that they would be able to have their sins forgiven. But he was just a man…our High Priest is Jesus! The Son of God! Who sits at God’s right hand! What a much greater hope we have in Him! 

But, this is only good news if He is on our side when He represents us. When we sin, the last thing we want is Jesus sitting there pointing it out to the Father right? Rolling His eyes at us. That’s why verse 15 is such good news, fresh air and cool water to the sin troubled soul. ‘for we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with us in our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.’

Jesus is a sympathetic High Priest. That is such good news. He knows our weaknesses, He knows our struggles and our burdens, He knows we’re weak, because He’s been there, so He sympathizes. When you come to Jesus for the 1000^th time over the same sin He doesn’t turn away, He helps.

How good is it that we have a God, a High Priest, a Saviour who has been tempted like us in every way, faced a greater temptation than you or I will ever know, and yet came through it all. And now this Son, this High Priest sits next to God, sympathizes with us, and represents us. His ear is turned towards you, and His arms are open to receive you, no matter what you’ve done. Or how many times you’ve done it.

How do we deal with sin? As Christians. We don't ignore it, but neither do we let it overwhelm us. Instead we let temptation drive us to Christ, and Christ drive us from temptation.

Don't Harden Your Heart (Hebrews 3:7-19)

What does it mean to harden your heart? Well look at the illustration that we’re given in verses 8-11. These verses are a quote from Psalm 95:7-11, which was written in David’s time, but talks about the time of Moses. Notice who the author tells us is ‘speaking’ in these verses. Psalm 95 talks about the forty years in the wilderness that God’s people had to endure because of the hardness of their hearts. Why did they have to spend forty years in the wilderness? Because they had hard hearts, which meant they grumbled and tested God. Remember what Jesus told the Devil in the wilderness in Matthew 4:7? You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. You shall trust Him instead.

Verse 9 tells us that the Israelites in the wilderness kept testing God. They kept complaining to Him, they kept asking for more, they kept not believing in Him. He rescued them from Egypt and they complained that they were better off as slaves. He fed them with manna six days a week, but they complained that it tasted bad. He showed them great miracles, but they went astray in their hearts and worshiped other gods, they didn’t trust in the God who saved them.

And you and I are about the same sometimes aren’t we? Sometimes we’re not satisfied with all that God has given us, and we complain, and we want more. The truth is that if Jesus never did another thing for us, in saving us, and creating this amazing world to live in, He’s already done more than enough. More than we deserve. But like the Israelites in the wilderness, we test, we grumble, we complain. Don’t be like that. Don’t fail the test in the wilderness like Israel did. We have the amazing privilege of living after Jesus came and died for us. Don’t harden your hearts to the goodness and love of God. Listen to Him, obey Him, trust Him. Today, the Holy Spirit says. Today listen. Today obey. Today there are things you need to sort out to grow in your relationship with Jesus. Today! You’re not promised tomorrow.

Don’t provoke the wrath of God by grumbling and testing Him. Trust Him, have a soft heart towards His Word and His commands. The reason Israel didn’t trust and hardened their hearts was because they didn’t listen. So listen to God, and trust in Him.

What’s the opposite of an unbelieving heart? Read verse 12 with me. What causes a hard heart? Unbelief. What caused Israel to moan and grumble about God? Unbelief. What’s the problem when you and I are not satisfied in everything God has given to us? Unbelief. So we can either believe in Jesus, and be thankful, and praise Him for everything He’s given to us. Or we can harden our hearts. The author tells us that this is evil. Have you ever thought about that? When you complain about God, when you complain about what He’s doing, or what He’s giving you, or anything, it’s evil.

And it causes us to fall away. Don’t harden your heart, because it causes you to fall away from Jesus. Where do I see that? At the end of verse 12 ‘leading you to fall away from the living God.’ The warning is pretty clear isn’t it? If we keep hardening our hearts to Jesus, if we keep ignoring the warnings, if we keep starving our faith and feeding our sin, eventually we’ll fall away. No one wakes up one day and says ‘this is the day I’ll fall away from Jesus.’ But slowly, over time, as we make poor choice after poor choice, as we sin and fail repent time and again, our hearts are heard, and we fall away. What a tragedy.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Look at the instruction in verses 13-14. I love the vision of church life we see in these verses. What’s the remedy to the danger of having a hard heart? Your Christian friends, your church, your family are the remedy. As they encourage you, and you encourage others, our hearts are protected from growing hard. The Christian life is a group project, and we all need each other. How long will we keep doing this for? As long as it is called today! As long as we live in this moment of history between Christ’s first and second comings, we will have to encourage each other. So who are you encouraging today? Who seems like they might be struggling today that could do with some help? Who looks like they’re lonely? Who is out of church?

Who is being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? Who is listening to sins lies? Sin lies and tells you it doesn’t matter who you date, or whether you go to church, or read your Bible, or share your faith. The Bible tells us that these things matter a great deal. Who are you seeing around you who fits into these categories? Verse 14 gives the best reason possible for encouraging one another, ‘we have come to share in Christ.’ You brother or sister who is struggling, shares with you in the greatest faith in the world, the greatest thing in the world. How can we stand by and watch their hearts harden. And the end of verse 14 makes it even more clear how important our encouragement is: ‘if indeed we hold fast our original confidence to the end.’ What’s the author saying? The best way to prove that Jesus saved you is that Jesus is still saving you. Someone in your life needs that encouragement.

Whether or not your heart is hard is a matter of life and death. Read verses 15-19 with me. The author starts to sum up his argument. Don’t harden your heart, because those that did harden their hearts didn’t get away with it. They provoked God, and fell in the wilderness, and did not enter God’s rest. God’s rest is something the author will talk more about in chapter 4, but the application for us is clear. If we harden our hearts, we will fall, just like they did. If we behave like the Israelites did in the wilderness, we’ll suffer the same fate. They didn’t enter the promised land because of unbelief, and if we continue in unbelief, with a hard heart, neither will we.

The illustration, the invitation and the instruction are all worthless if they don’t lead us to faith in Jesus. Proverbs 29:1 warns us ‘he who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck (or hardens his heart) will suddenly be broken beyond healing.’ Jude 5 reminds us that after Jesus saved a people out of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. One the way home tonight you’ll put your faith in your car and the roads, the next time you eat out, you’ll put your faith in the restaurant. Don’t harden your heart, put your faith in Jesus.

Consider Jesus

Can i tell you a secret? I didn't much like coffee when i first drunk it. I remember the morning well, i was at one of the coffee bars on Reading University's campus, and ordered an 'americano,' with no real idea what that might be. I was pretty sure i'd been poisoned, and i'm sure i didn't finish it. But, for whatever reason, i wanted to drink coffee, so i kept going. First with milk and sugar (forgive me) and sometime around the summer of 2007, black and fresh and strong, as the Lord surely intended.

Why am i telling you all this? Because i think it's a good analogy for the Christian's relationship with Jesus. In Hebrews 3:1 the author tells his readers to 'consider Jesus,' to think about Him to remember Him and to listen to Him. The first six verses of chapter 3 segway into one of the first sections of exhortation, and out of the wonderful picture of Jesus we find in chapter 2.

Consider Jesus, high priest and apostle. Offering and offerer. Messenger and message. Consider Jesus, the crushed crusher. Consider Jesus, the sympathetic sufferer who knows what you're going through. When we start to consider Jesus, it takes a little bit of work. Like me and coffee, you have to really want to do it. When i started reading the Bible every day i could only read maybe half a chapter at a time, now i spend my day reading, studying, thinking and applying about it. When i started to pray it felt like a chore, now i set my alarm early to make sure i have the time. We grow in our consideration of Jesus, all of us.

Even Paul, probably the greatest Christian who ever was. In Philippians 3:10 he wrote of his desire to know Him, and His power. If Paul needed to know Jesus more, then surely we do. Maybe this is the reason that much of our joy is paper thin, we simply don't consider Jesus. In times of trouble we comfort ourselves with any number of idols and false gods. We consider our bank balance, our friends and our success at work, but seldom Jesus.

Maybe this is why so much of evangelical culture looks like the world. We don't consider Jesus, we chase numbers on Sunday, better facilities and more programmes. And in not considering Jesus, we forget that He is quite capable of building His church without the latest fad left over from the nineties.

Like coffee and me, we simply have to consider Jesus until we enjoy Him. We have spend time with Jesus until we can imagine nothing else. We have to make time in our days, ask for the Spirit's help, and behold our saviour. Then we will become what pleases Him. Then in times of trouble, or in times of triumph, then, whether our church is going multi meeting, or we're meeting in a room off to the side we will naturally 'remember Jesus Christ, descendant of David, risen from the dead...' And in remembering, rejoice.

Marvel

Second Thessalonians 1:11 is becoming one of my favourite verses about the end of time. It tells us that Christ will return to be 'marveled at'. When Christ returns we will be weak at the knees with astonishment, our minds well and truly blown by the majesty and shear marvelous-ness of Jesus.

But we needn't wait until that day to marvel at the Son of God, in fact i'd argue, and base my preaching and teaching on the argument, that to survive, and thrive as a Christina we must marvel at Jesus. We have a view of Jesus that makes every other attraction and distraction in the world, look dim and boring. We must make the world to Jesus as every other woman is to our spouse. Our marriages won't survive if we are as interested in other women, our faith won't survive if we are as interested in other gods.

Hebrews exists to help us do just that. I think (because John Piper told me) that the money shot of the whole book is Hebrews 13:13: 'let us go to Him...' The author spends the preceding chapter telling us who 'Him,' is and why He's worth it. Oh and He's worth it. worth reproach instead of riches, worth living in a cave, worth the confiscation of your property. 

Chapter 2:10-18 paint this truth in bold colours for us. Jesus is our salvation author. He's the pioneer and leader of our salvation. The stunning truth is that it was fitting for Him to taste death for us. Fitting! us! Are you marveling yet?! It fit God's character and attributes for Jesus to lay down His life for you and me! What sort of other-worldly good news is this?

Jesus is our sanctifying brother. He is not ashamed of us in the midst of the congregation, He claims us as His own, because we all have the same source, God. He calls us to trust our common Father, and to delight in trusting Him. Maybe you're ashamed of what you've done this week or today. But Jesus looks at you and says 'sanctified!' 'Not ashamed!' 'Brother!'

 Jesus is our Satan-conquerer. He tasted death, drank it down, drained the cup, and left it in the grave. Satan took his best shot, and lies defeated on the mat. And because of that we're free. Free from the fear of death. In fact it's even better than that. The devil's greatest weapon has become our greatest vehicle. Where oh death is your sting? Taken by Jesus, all the way into the grave, and left there.

And Jesus is our sympathizer. It's not angles that He helps, it's you and me. This lion is the lamb. This king is the feet washer. This God is here for us. The Gospel is not 'help wanted,' but 'come and eat.' Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted, much much more than any of us.

What else in the world offers this? Who else in the world offers this? There's nothing, there's no one. Let us out rejoice, out marvel, the offers of sin, and let us go to Him.

Consider Jesus

Hebrews 3:1 could be the theme verses of the whole book. 'Consider Jesus.' The author points his readers towards Jesus throughout this book. In times of trial consider Jesus, in times of joy, consider Jesus. There is a sweetness in meeting with Jesus. A sweetness in His Word and in praying to Him. In all things, we can consider Jesus.

In all things, yes in all things. In Jesus exists such a glorious collision of attributes that if it happened to anyone else they simply couldn't bare it. But Jesus can. Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is also the Jesus who was hung on the tree. The beloved Son of God was also cursed by God as He hung there. The one who Moses wrote about was struck by those sitting in Moses seat (and, interestingly, poured forth water and blood). Tis mystery all, the immortal dies! The King is rejected by His people, and then rises to reign over those who will have Him.

So whatever you're facing today, consider Jesus. Remember Jesus. During the hardest time of my life, as my wife clung to life in an intensive care bed, Jesus held me. I'd sit on the outside deck of our apartment in the morning before going back to intensive care, and later rehab, read the Bible, and it was like the sun was rising in my heart. I';d hear His voice, know His presence, consider His good, gracious and merciful sovereignty, and face the day. Whatever calamity is next in life (and it'll have to go some to better that one!) i know as i consider Jesus He will help me. And i know, whatever calamity you're facing today, as you consider Jesus, He will give you strength.

Jesus is the high priest of our confession, Jesus was not ashamed to call us brother. Jesus is everything we can never be. Jesus is our punishment and perfection. Jesus went outside the camp, carrying our sin far away. Let's go to Him there. When we're faced with sin, when we're trapped in temptation, we need to consider Jesus, remember Jesus and cast off the sin that so easily entangles us.

Whatever happens today, whatever happened yesterday, consider Jesus, who loves us, helps us, and died for us.

But Grow

2 Peter 3:18 tells us to 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.' That's a command. Peter tells us that Paul's letters are hard to understand and some people twist them for their own means, but we, Christians, are to grow as we read them.

So whats your plan for growth?

Jesus has graciously given us means for growth. We have the Bible. if you're reading this from an English speaking country then you are incredibly privileged to have the Bible in a multitude of translations and readily available. We need to pay attention, we need to grow, we need to obey this command to have more of Jesus. What's your Bible reading plan? What's your Bible reading time? I need to read in the morning when i first get up or i really struggle to get it done! Do you read a chapter or day, or four, or ten? It's not important how much you read, but how you read, with our eyes on Christ, and that you read. As Cat Caird puts in two wonderful posts, we need to feast on the Bible.

But we grow in community. Jesus came to earth and started the church. It was His idea, so we really should get on board! It's wonderfully true to say that we have a 'personal relationship' with Jesus, but that's not all that's wonderfully true. We need community, we need to live out our relationship with Jesus in community. That was the idea from the start. In fact, that's one of the reasons that Robert McCheyne came up with the first Bible reading plan, so that his church would all read together and he would know what his people were reading. Church helps us to grow by exposing us to gospel preaching, wiser saints and the ordinances which present the Gospel to our senses.

Hebrews 2:3 asks us 'how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.' Neglect, not oppose. Drift away from, not walk away from. The tide of our natural affections take us away from Jesus. if we neglect the course of this tide, we'll drown. So we have to swim against this tide. Drifting from Christ doesn't happen mainly by opposing the great doctrines of the faith, but simply by slowly being carried away.

We need more of Christ. Our champion, our standard bearer, our king and husband. What's our plan to grow, to get more of Him?

Richard Sibbes, via Dave Bish, sums it up well:

It should be the study and care of every Christian to study the excellencies of Christ, not only in general, as in the Creed, 'he was born for us of the virgin Mary, was crucified, buried died etc.' which every child can say but to be able to speak particularly of the high perfections and excellencies of Christ.

What is the ability to speak particularly of the high perfections and excellencies of Christ if not Christian growth? And how shall we grow if we neglect the means God has given us?