Sunday, February 12, 2017, 7:43 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “I Will Lift My Eyes.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Hebrews 3
(NASB).
Consider Jesus
(vv. 1-6)
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly
calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was
faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He
has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the
builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by
someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all
His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken
later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if
we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
This is written to true
believers in Jesus Christ, i.e. to the church, the body of Christ collectively,
among whom may also be those who have a profession of faith only in Jesus, but
who may not have a genuine relationship with Him. When this tells us to
consider Jesus, this is not a casual suggestion, like asking if us if we have
given any thought or consideration to a particular subject. This consideration takes
seriousness of thought to where we fix (fasten) our thoughts on Jesus, i.e. to where
we focus our attention straight at him and at nothing else, to where we
consider closely and attentively what it is that we are to grasp and to clearly
understand about him.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
yet he is God the Son, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ, God made the universe (Heb. 1). All things
were created by him which were created. God the Father sent his Son Jesus
Christ into the world to take on human form, to suffer as we suffer, to be
tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, yet without sin, and to die on a
cross for our sins.
When he died, our sins died
with him and were buried with him. When he was resurrected from the dead, he
rose victorious over sin, hell, Satan and death on our behalf. Through faith
(God-given) in Jesus Christ we can be delivered out of slavery to sin, be given
new lives in Christ Jesus to be lived to his righteousness, escape eternal
punishment, and have the hope of eternal life with God beginning now and continuing
on into heaven when we leave this earth.
The house being spoken of
here is the true church, the body of Christ, comprised of those who have
genuine believing faith in Jesus Christ as Lord (owner-master) and as Savior of
our lives. True faith is God-given faith, of the Spirit, and it is divinely
persuaded as to God’s perfect will for our lives. It accepts that Jesus died,
not just so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die, but so we might
be set free from enslavement to sin, that we might become bondservants of Christ
and of his righteousness.
We are the temple of God in
whom God dwells via his Spirit, IF we have been born again of the Spirit of
God, dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord (See: Ro. 6:1-23).
Jesus Christ is a faithful Son over His house, i.e. he is our head, and we are
that house (the body of Christ, his church) IF we hold fast our confidence and
the boast of our hope firm until the end. We, as well, have become partakers of
Christ, IF we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.
If You Hear
(vv. 7-19)
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
“Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of
you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage
one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none
of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become
partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until
the end, while it is said,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”
For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did
not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry
for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the
wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to
those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because
of unbelief.
Ok, again this is written to
the church. He addresses them as holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling (which includes female believers in Christ, too). And, yet he warns
them against hardening their hearts against God. He cautions them against
rebellion. He counsels them, as well, that they are to be careful and to make certain
that none of them has a sinful and an unbelieving heart that turns away from
the living God. Then, he states that we have come to share in Christ, or we
have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance
firm until the end.
So, what is he saying here? He
is saying that genuine faith in Jesus Christ, which is God-given and
God-persuaded faith, as to God’s divine purpose and will for our lives, must endure
till the end if we are to have the hope of eternal life with God. We are not
saved on the basis of past belief. God so loved the world that he gave his One
and Only Begotten Son that whosoever believing (present tense) in him shall not
perish but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). This is saying that we must
continue in our faith firm till the end for us to be partakers in Christ and to
be of the household of God.
Now, some will say that this
is speaking of those who made a profession only of Christ, and that they were
not genuinely saved to begin with, but I don’t believe that fits the context.
This is saying that we must hold firmly to our confidence, our faith, our
assurance and our hope that we had from the beginning until the end for us to
be partakers in Christ and part of God’s household. If we had a profession only
in Christ, and not genuine faith, then why would we be instructed to hold
firmly to that until the end?
I think to understand what
this is saying we need to understand that our salvation is progressive, i.e. we
are saved (past), we are being saved (present continuous) and we will be saved
(future) when Christ returns. It is then that our marriage relationship with
Jesus Christ will be consummated (completed; accomplished). Until then, we are
in process. It is not as though we lose our salvation every time we sin,
though, as some would teach, but I do believe scripture teaches that we can
turn away from God, and that belief can turn into unbelief, and that is why
there are so many warnings given to the church in the Bible with regard to
watching our own lives closely.
Consider these scriptures: “By
this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.
Otherwise, you have believed in vain” (I Co. 15:2). “See that what you have
heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in
the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life”
(I Jn. 2:24-25). “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will
never see death.” “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my
word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home
with him’” (Jn. 8:51; 14:23).
All these warnings are
written to the church for a purpose. We still live in flesh bodies. We still
have the propensity to sin and to rebel against God. So, even though Jesus
delivered us out of slavery to sin, it is possible for us to go back under
slavery if we do not guard our hearts, remain in Christ, his Word remain us,
and us remain steadfast in our faith until the end.
Yet, I believe this also
serves as a warning to those who just think they are saved because they
believed with human faith that Jesus died to take their punishment for sin and
to give us who believe in him the promise of heaven when we die. If there was
no transformation of heart and mind away from living for sin and self to living
for Christ and his righteousness, then new birth in Christ did not take place,
and there is no promise of heaven when we die. For, Jesus died that we might
die to sin and live to righteousness. If we say we have fellowship with God,
but we walk (conduct our lives) in darkness (wickedness, sin), we are liars,
and we do not live by the truth (1 Jn. 1:6). If we continue walking in sin,
living to the flesh, holding on to our old lives of sin, scripture says we will
die in our sin (See: Ro. 8:1-14).
Yet, when we have true
biblical faith in Jesus Christ, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin,
and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life, to be lived to HIM. We
are delivered out of slavery to sin, and we are set free to now walk in (to live
to) his righteousness. His Holy Spirit comes to live within us and to empower
us to live holy lives, pleasing to God. Now our focus is on him, and on following
him in obedience, because we love him.
I Will Lift My Eyes / An Original Work / December 12, 2012
Based off Psalms 121-125
I will lift my eyes to my
Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him, who
saved me from sin.
He will not let your foot
slip, and He who watches will not sleep.
Our Lord watches over you,
and your life He will keep.
I will lift my eyes to my
Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him, who
saved me from sin.
I give thanks to Him.
I will lift my eyes to my God
in heav’n.
I look to the Lord. My sins,
He’s forgiv’n.
Because of His great love for
us, He made us alive with Christ.
Through the kindness of our
Savior, He gave us new life.
I will lift my eyes to my God
in heav’n.
I look to the Lord. My sins,
He’s forgiv’n;
My home, now in heav’n.
Praise be to the Lord, who is
on our side.
Our help found in Him. He
gives peace within.
Those who trust will ne’er be
shaken. God will supply all we need.
Our Lord has done great
things for us. He’s our friend, indeed!
Praise be to the Lord, who is
on our side.
Our help found in Him. He
gives peace within.
I can count on Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment