Secured with Confidence

HEBREWS 4:14-5:6

October 5, 2014

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

MEMORY VERSE

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray

and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from

heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

October is

Pastor Appreciation Month

FALL OUTREACH — MONDAYS — 6:00 P.M. — 6:30 P.M.

A Light dinner will be available for $5.00 per person.

RSVP to join the meal, Missions/Evangelism Office, 601-949-1939.

Teams of three will visit those who have visited FBJ recently.

October Concert Series

6:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary

October 12—Denver and The Mile High Orchestra

October 19—Charles Billingsley

October 12

October 19

SAVE THE DATE

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19TH

MULTIGENERATIONAL LUNCH

Immediately after the 10:30 worship.

Fellowship Hall West

Cost of tickets: $6.00 for Adults

$5.00 for Preschool-Students

What’s the number one thing?

The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

J. Vernon McGee's “Thru The Bible”

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John MacArthur, Jr. born June 19, 1939

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Hebrews 2:1 NKJV 1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard,

lest we drift away.

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1 Don’t drift away from God.

2 Those who received the most light will receive the harshest judgment.

3 I will reign with Christ, my Brother!

4 Jesus had to become a man in order to die.

5 He had to die in order to redeem us and secure our destiny as co-heirs

with Him.

6 He became the Captain (Pioneer) of our salvation.

7 We will reign with Him for 1,000 years as we were originally designed to

do.

8 He also came so that He can be our High Priest Who understands what it is

like to live daily for God in a broken world.

9 He sympathizes with us in every way.

Hebrews 3:18-19 NKJV 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who

did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Matthew 11:28-29

REST

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Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

The writer of Hebrews is talking about the rest of fully trusting God, not only for

salvation but also for daily living.

All you have to do is:

1) believe Christ and

2) receive Christ and

3) rest in Him.

It is not only the rest of redemption; it is the rest of obedience, the rest of

enjoying the Christian life.

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We are now joined to a living Christ, and that is the only way we will enjoy living

in Christ while still on this earth – victorious living!

John 10:10 NKJV 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have

come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

We are going to find out that there is an eternal rest (Heaven rest), and Jesus

gives that rest too, but the question today is, "Have you entered into the rest that

believers are to have as they sojourn on earth?"

Are you a rejoicing Christian today?

The only way to enter that rest is to study and believe the Word of God.

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How many Christians today really study the Word of God?

The only way you and I can stay close to Him is to stay close to the Word of God

(remember, don’t drift).

And the only way you and I can enjoy the grapes and fruits of the land,

and the beauty and enjoyment of it, is by studying God's Word.

Without a personal acquaintance with the Word of God, just being a church

member seems like everything is a duty instead of a drawing to the

Person of Christ.

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The folks who have not entered into His rest say, “I have to go to church” not “I

get to go to church”.

They doubt God, and as a result they are having a wilderness experience. (Just

as the children of Israel did)

Hebrews 3:10 NKJV 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they have not known My ways.’

We have the same danger today – the danger of erring in our hearts.

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The wilderness is a place of death; it is a place of unrest; it is a place of

aimlessness; and it is a place of dissatisfaction.

To those Israelites out there in the wilderness God said, "You are not going

to know what rest is."

There are many believers today who just don't know what rest really means

because they must enter by faith.

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Hebrews 3:12 NKJV 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in

departing from the living God;

Could unbelief be true of a believer?

Yes, it certainly could and is.

God was extremely angry with their sin and what was their sin?

It was not murder; it was not stealing; it was not lying.

What was it?

They didn't believe God!

Hebrews 3:13 NKJV 13 but exhort (encourage) one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any

of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

13 but exhort one another daily,

Exhort (encourage) is from the Greek parakaleo, a form of the word used

by Jesus of the Holy Spirit (paraklete) in John 14:16.

The root meaning has to do with coming alongside to give help.

John 14:16 NKJV 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may

abide with you forever—

The writer is saying to the believers, "Get along side each other and help each

other."

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We are especially urged to help our unbelieving brethren by encouraging them

not to harden their hearts but to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

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Hebrews 3:13b 13b lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

We as believers need to beware of the deceitfulness of sin.

We can actually come to the place where we feel our lives are satisfactory to

God although we are leading a wilderness life.

For example, a believer can be dishonest and yet say that his conscience does

not condemn him!

Then he should condemn his conscience, because it has become hardened

through continuance in sin.

The greatest sin in the world is unbelief.

It is the greatest offense against God and brings the greatest harm to ourselves.

When you have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, when you have acknowledged

that it is the truth, and then turn your back and walk away from Him, there is

nothing God can do.

Ephesians 6:11 NKJV 11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the

wiles (schemes, planning meetings) of the devil.”

• Deceitfulness means "trickery" or “strategem”. (strategy/schemes)

Sin is tricky; it seldom appears as it really is because it masks itself.

It lies and deceives (Romans 7:11).

• “My life has room for improvement, but it doesn't need 'saving” is what the

sin nature deceitfully tells men about their need for salvation.

When a person becomes spiritually hardened, he rarely is aware of it.

He can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ time and time again and not respond.

"The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay."

If your heart is not melted in faith, it will be hardened in unbelief.

Hebrews 4:11-16

Hebrews 4:11-16 NKJV 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the

same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful,

and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul

and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and

intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all

things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.

Our Compassionate High Priest 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest Who has passed through the

heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not

have a High Priest Who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all

points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the

throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of

need.

Hebrews 4 continues the warning that began in Hebrews 3:7 to those who are

intellectually convinced that Jesus is the Way yet unresponsive to the tug that

the Holy Spirit had put on their heart.

The warning is: "Do not harden your hearts like Israel did in the wilderness."

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The Israelites had left Egypt, but they often longed to go back.

They refused to trust the Lord completely and, oppressive and disappointing as it

was, the old life still had an appeal.

They halted at the crucial point of decision.

Consequently, they were not allowed to enter the Promised Land and into God's

rest.

So it is with many who are drawn to Jesus Christ - unbelief forfeits rest.

Those who know the Gospel but refuse to commit their lives to Christ are

some of the most miserable folks on earth.

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THE MEANING OF REST

The Greek word, katapausis, (CATahPAWsees) for rest is that of ceasing from

work or from any kind of action, to pause.

You stop doing what you are doing.

Action, labor, or exertion is over.

Applied to God's rest, it means no more self-effort as far as salvation and

righteous living is concerned.

It means the end of trying to please God by our feeble, fleshly works.

o God's perfect rest is a rest in free grace.

God’s rest also means freedom from whatever worries or disturbs you.

Some people cannot rest mentally and emotionally because they are so

easily annoyed.

o Every little nuisance upsets them and they always feel hassled.

Rest does not mean freedom from all nuisances and hassles; it means freedom

while in the midst of hassles- freedom from being so easily bothered by them.

It means to be inwardly quiet, composed, peaceful.

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To enter God's rest means to be at peace with God, to possess the perfect

peace He gives.

It means to be free from guilt and even unnecessary feelings of guilt.

o It means freedom from worry about sin, because sin is forgiven.

God's rest is the end of legalistic works and the experience of peace in the total

forgiveness of God.

Rest means to lie down, be settled, fixed, secure.

There is no more shifting about in frustration from one thing to another, no more

running in circles.

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We are freed from running from philosophy to philosophy, from religion to

religion, from life-style to life-style.

We are freed from being tossed about by every doctrinal wind, every idea

or fad, that blows our way.

In God's rest we are forever established in Christ.

That is the Christian's rest.

In Christ, we are established, unmovable, grounded, rooted.

Colossians 2:6-7 NIV 6 Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, 7 rooted and

built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing

with thankfulness.

Rest involves remaining confident (keeping trust) - to rest in Someone means to

maintain our confidence in Him.

We have no more reason to fear. 2:15

o We have absolute trust and confidence in God's power and care.

Rest also means to lean on.

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To enter into God's rest means that for the remainder of our lives and for all

eternity we can lean on God – we can be sure that He will never fail to support

us.

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In the new relationship with God, we can depend on Him for everything and in

everything — for support, for health, for strength, for all we need.

Philippians 4:19 NKJV 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by

Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:12b NKJV 12b For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep

what I have committed to Him until that Day.

The rest spoken of in Hebrews 3 & 4 includes all of these meanings - it is full,

blessed, sweet, satisfying, peaceful and is what God offers every person in

Christ.

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And just as Israel never entered Canaan rest because of unbelief, so soul after

soul since that time, and even before, has missed God's salvation rest because

of unbelief.

Two other dimensions of spiritual rest will not be found in a dictionary — the

Kingdom rest of the Millennium and the eternal rest of Heaven.

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These are the ultimate expressions of the new relationship to God in Christ, the

relationship that takes care of us:

1) in this life,

2) in the Millennium Kingdom, and

3) in Heaven forever.

Hebrews 4:1-13 takes us more deeply into this truth by teaching four things about

God's rest:

1) its availability (v 1),

2) its elements (vv 2-7),

3) its nature (vv 8-10), and

4) its urgency (vv 11-13).

THE URGENCY OF REST

Hebrews 4:11-13

Hebrews 4:11 NKJV 11 Let us therefore be diligent (with urgency) to enter that rest, lest anyone fall

according to the same example of disobedience.

The need for God's rest is urgent.

A person should diligently, with intense purpose and concern, secure God’s rest

in their lives.

It is not that a man can work his way to salvation, but that he should diligently

seek to enter God's rest by faith — lest he, like the Israelites in the wilderness,

lose the opportunity.

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Hebrews 11:6 NKJV 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must

believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

God cannot be trifled with.

Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged

sword, ... and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This verse means that the readers who are hesitating in trusting Christ, who are

even considering falling back into the old way of life, had better be urgent and

diligent in seeking to enter God's rest, because the Word of God is alive.

It is not static, but active — constantly active.

The Word of God pierces right down into the innermost part of the heart to see if

belief is real or not.

So the Word of God is not only saving and comforting and nourishing and

healing, it is also a tool of judgment and execution.

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In the day of the Great Judgment, His Word is going to penetrate and lay bare

all hearts who have not trusted in Him.

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The sham and hypocrisy will be revealed and no profession of faith, no matter

how orthodox, and no list of good works, no matter how sacrificial, will count for

anything before Him.

Only the thoughts and intentions of the heart (your true motives) will count.

God's Word is the perfect discerner, the perfect kritikos (from which we get

"critic") – able to judge.

It not only analyzes all the facts perfectly, but all -

1) motives, and

2) intentions, and

3) beliefs as well, which even the wisest of human judges or critics cannot

do.

The sword of His Word will make no mistakes in judgment or execution.

All disguises will be ripped off and only the real person will be seen.

Hebrews 4:13 NKJV 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and

open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.

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The word translated open had two distinct uses in ancient times.

It was used of a wrestler taking his opponent by the throat and in this position the

two men were unavoidably face to face.

The other use was in regard to a criminal trial.

A sharp dagger would be bound to the neck of the accused, with the

point just below his chin, so that he could not bow his head, but had to

face the court.

Both uses had to do with grave face-to-face situations.

When an unbeliever comes under the scrutiny of God's Word, he will be

unavoidably face-to-face with the perfect truth about God and about

himself.

In light of such certain and perfect judgment and of such beautiful and

wonderful rest, why will any person harden his heart to God?

Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV

Our Compassionate High Priest 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest Who has passed through the

heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not

have a High Priest Who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all

points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the

throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of

need.

Until now the appeal has largely been negative: if you do not believe, you will

be doomed — forever apart from God and His rest.

God's Word has been shown in its all-seeing and judgmental role, as a

two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).

Done in the right spirit and way, warning unbelievers of the dangers of hell is one

of the greatest kindnesses we can show them.

The message now turns to the positive side of the Gospel (4:14-16).

Salvation does more than keep us out of hell, immeasurably more.

Many people have a caricature of fundamentalism, or evangelicalism, as

having no message but "fire and brimstone, hell and damnation."

Salvation not only saves from spiritual death, it brings spiritual life.

It should be sought not only because of what will happen to us if we do not

accept it, but because of what will happen to us if we do.

What happens to us when we accept it is based on Who Jesus is.

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If there were no other reason in the universe to be saved, Who Jesus is would be

plenty of reason enough.

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Coming into a living relationship with Him is the greatest experience a person

can have.

To walk in the fellowship of the living Christ would be a glorious thing even if

there were no hell to escape.

So we have reason to receive Jesus Christ and enter into God's rest not only

because of fear of His judgment but because of His beauty, not only because of

His wrath but also because of His grace, not only because He is a judge but

because He is also a merciful and faithful High Priest.

Three things make Jesus our great High Priest:

1) His perfect priesthood,

2) His perfect Person, and

3) His perfect provision.

Because He is perfect in these aspects, He is God's only true High Priest.

All others, no matter how faithful, were but symbols of His priesthood.

Hebrews 4:14 NKJV

Our Compassionate High Priest 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest Who has passed through the

heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

As we learn from Leviticus 16, before the high priest could even enter the Holy of

Holies, much less offer a sacrifice there, he had to make an offering for himself,

since he, just as all those whom he represented, was a sinner.

Not only that, but his time in the Holy of Holies was limited.

He was allowed to stay in the presence of the Shekinah glory of God only while

he was making the sacrifice.

To enter the Holy of Holies, the priest had to pass through three areas in the

Tabernacle or the Temple.

He took the blood and went through the door into:

1) the outer court, through another door into

2) the Holy Place, and then through the veil into

3) the Holy of Holies.

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He did not sit down nor delay.

As soon as the sacrifice was made, he left and did not return for another year.

Every year, year after year, another Yom Kippur, was necessary.

(It just ended at 6 pm yesterday, Oct 4).

Yom Kippur literally means “Day of Atonement.” at ONE ment

It is a day devoted to “afflicting the soul,” repentance and reflections on sins

committed in the past year.

It marks the culmination of the 10 Days of Awe that began on the Jewish

New Year, Rosh Hashanah -- a period of serious introspection.

Between these yearly sacrifices — every day, day after day — thousands of

other sacrifices were made, of produce and of animals.

The process was never ended, never completed, because the priesthood was

not perfect and the sacrifices were not perfect.

Jesus, our great High Priest, after He had made the one-time, perfect sacrifice

on the cross, also passed through three areas.

When He passed through the heavens, he went through:

1) the first heaven (the atmosphere),

2) the second heaven (outer space), &

3) into the third heaven (God's abode)

2 Corinthians 12:2 NKJV 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not

know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was

caught up to the third heaven.

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Jesus went to where God Himself, not simply His glory, dwells.

This is the holiest of all holies.

But Jesus did not have to leave.

His sacrifice was made once for all time.

The sacrifice was perfect and the High Priest was perfect, and He sat down for all

eternity at the Father's right hand (see Hebrews 1:3).

Hebrews 1:3 NKJV 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his

being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided

purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

He had made the perfect atonement for sin, the purpose for which He had come

to earth.

The work was finished when He entered Heaven and presented Himself in the

Holy Place.

Our great High Priest did not pass through the Tabernacle or the Temple, He

passed through the heavens.

When He got there He sat down, and God said, "I'm satisfied”!

Jesus Christ accomplished the atonement:

1) for all sins

2) for all time

3) for all those who come to Him by faith and accept what He did for them.

THE END OF JEWISH PRIESTHOOD AND SACRIFICES

Jesus was crucified less than forty years before Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D.

70.

With it was destroyed the Temple, the only place where sacrifices could be

made.

From shortly after the time of Christ, therefore, no sacrifices have been

made — even until the present time.

Consequently, there has been no need for a Jewish priesthood since that time.

Yom Kippur is still celebrated as a holy day, the highest holy day, but no

priests are involved and no sacrifices are offered — because there are no

priests to make the sacrifices and no temple in which to offer them.

THE END OF ALL RITUALISTIC PRIESTHOODS AND SACRIFICES

No formal Christian priesthood was established by Christ or the apostles.

Peter refers to the church, that is to all believers, as a "holy priesthood" and "a

royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5, 9).

Christians, as God's redeemed, are types of priests, in the general sense that we

are responsible for bringing God to other men through preaching and teaching

His Word and for bringing men to God through our witnessing.

But no special order of priesthood or system of sacrifices is either taught or

recognized in the New Testament.

All claims of special priestly mediation between God and men — in offering

forgiveness for sins, making atonement for sins by repeating Christ's sacrifice

through a ritual, or any other such claim or practice — is entirely unbiblical and

sinful.

It is open defiance of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Any formal religious priesthood on earth now implies that the final and perfect

atonement for sin has not yet been made.

There is absolutely no place in Christianity for a formal priesthood.

Any that is established is illegitimate and a direct affront to the full and final

priesthood of Jesus Christ Himself.

We have our perfect and great High Priest and He has already made, once and

for all, the only sacrifice that will ever need to be made for sin — the only

effective sacrifice that could be made for sin.

Any other priest who attempts to reconcile men and God is a barrier rather than

a mediator.

By faith in Jesus Christ any person can enter directly into God's presence.

o When Jesus died, the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom.

Access to God was thrown wide open to anyone who would come on His terms.

Hebrews 4:14 NKJV

Our Compassionate High Priest 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest Who has passed through the

heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

At the end of verse 14 our great High Priest is again identified as Jesus, the Son of

God.

Here together are His human name, Jesus, and His divine title, Son of God.

JESUS' HUMANITY

Most people seem to think of God as being far removed from human life and

concerns.

Jesus was the very Son of God, yet His divinity did not prevent Him from

experiencing our feelings, our emotions, our temptations, and our pain.

God became a man to share triumphantly the temptation and the testing and

the suffering of men, in order that He might be a sympathetic and understanding

High Priest.

When we are troubled or hurt or despondent or strongly tempted, we want to

share our feelings and needs with someone who understands.

Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses.

The phrase "No one understands like Jesus" in the well-known hymn is not only

beautiful and encouraging but absolutely true.

Our great High Priest not only is perfectly merciful and faithful but also

perfectly understanding.

He has an unequaled capacity for sympathizing with us in every danger, in

every trial, in every situation that comes our way, because He has been through

it all Himself.

At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus' body shook in grief.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest, He sweat drops of blood.

He experienced every kind of temptation and testing, every kind of

vicissitude, every kind of circumstance that any person will ever face.

And He is at the right hand of the Father right now interceding for us.

Jesus not only had all the feelings of love, concern, disappointment, grief, and

frustration that we have, but He had much greater love, infinitely more sensitive

concerns, infinitely higher standards of righteousness, and perfect awareness of

the evil and dangers of sin.

Contrary, therefore, to what we are inclined to think, His divinity made His

temptations and trials immeasurably harder for Him to endure than ours are for

us.

How can this be true?

We experience pain when we are injured, sometimes extreme pain but if it

becomes too severe, we will develop a temporary numbness, or we may even

faint or go into shock.

Our bodies have ways of turning off pain when it becomes too much to endure.

People vary a great deal in their pain thresholds, but we all have a breaking

point.

In other words, the amount of pain we can endure is not limitless.

We can conclude that there is a degree of pain we will never experience,

because our bodies will turn off our sensitivity in one way or another — perhaps

even by death — before we reach that point.

A similar principle operates in temptation.

There is a degree of temptation that we may never experience simply

because, no matter what our spirituality, we will succumb before we

reach it.

But Jesus Christ had no such limitation.

Since He was sinless, He took the full extent of all that Satan could throw at Him.

He had no shock system, no weakness limit, to turn off temptation at a certain

point.

Since He never succumbed, He experienced every temptation to the maximum.

He experienced it as a man, as a human being, so in every way He was

tempted as we are, and more.

The only difference was that He never sinned.

Therefore, when we come to Jesus Christ we can remember that He knows

everything we know, and a great deal that we do not know, about temptation,

and testing, and pain.

The writer of Hebrews is saying that we have a God not only - “Who is there" but

One “Who has been here."

Weaknesses does not refer directly to sin, but to feebleness or infirmity.

Jesus knew firsthand the drive of human nature toward sin.

His humanity was His battleground and it is here that Jesus faced and fought sin.

He was victorious, but not without the most intense temptation, grief, and

anguish.

In all of this struggle Jesus was without sin (Choris Hamartia) - He was completely

apart from, separated from, sin.

These two Greek words express the absolute absence of sin.

Though He was mercilessly tempted to sin, not the slightest taint of it ever

entered His mind or was expressed in His words or actions.

Some may wonder how Jesus can completely identify with us if He did not

actually sin as we do.

It was Jesus' facing sin with His perfect righteousness and truth, however, that

qualifies Him.

Jesus never sinned, but He understands sin better than any man.

He has seen it more clearly and fought it more diligently than any of us could

ever be able to do.

His temptations were all the more terrible because He would not fall and

endured them to the extreme.

His sinlessness increased His sensitivity to sin.

Hebrews 12:3-4 NKJV 3 For consider Him Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest

you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to

bloodshed, striving against sin.

If you want to talk to someone who knows what sin is about, talk to Jesus Christ

because Jesus knows sin, and He knows and understands our weakness.

Whatever Satan brings our way, there is victory in Jesus Christ.

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Hebrews 4:16 NKJV 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy

and find grace to help in time of need.

The One Who understands us perfectly will also provide for us perfectly.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God

is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but

with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to

bear it.

Jesus Christ knows our temptations and will lead us out of them.

Hebrews 4:16b NKJV

“draw near with confidence (come boldly) to the throne of grace.”

Most ancient rulers were unapproachable by the common people.

Some would not even allow their highest-ranking officials to come before them

without permission.

Queen Esther risked her life in approaching the King without invitation,

even though she was his wife (Esther 5:1-2).

Yet any penitent person, no matter how sinful and undeserving, may approach

God's throne at any time for forgiveness and salvation — confident that he will

be received with mercy and grace.

By Christ's sacrifice of Himself, God's throne of judgment is turned into a throne of

grace for those who trust in Him.

As the Jewish high priests once a year for centuries had sprinkled blood on the

mercy seat for the people's sins, Jesus shed His blood once and for all time for

the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

That is His perfect provision!

The Bible speaks much of God's justice.

But how terrible for us if He were only just, and not also gracious.

o Sinful man deserves death, the sentence of justice; but he needs

salvation, the gift of grace.

It is to the very throne of this grace that any person can now come with

confidence and assurance.

It is the throne of grace because grace is dispensed there.

How can anyone reject such a High Priest, such a Savior — Who not only permits

us to come before His throne for grace and help, but pleads with us to come in

confidence?

His Spirit says, "Come boldly all the way to God's throne that has been turned

into a throne of grace because of Jesus. Come all the way up, receive grace

and mercy when you need it — before it is too late and your heart is hard and

God's 'today' is over."

The time of need is now.

What a High Priest we have.

He sympathizes and He saves.

What more could He do?

END

JOHN MACARTHUR

HEBREWS CHAPTER 4

Hebrews 5:1-6 NKJV

Qualifications for High Priesthood 1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things

pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can

have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself

is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so

also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to

himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

A Priest Forever

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He Who

said to Him:

“You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.”

6 As He also says in another place:

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek”;

Scripture presents a fivefold rest:

(1) creation rest;

(2) entrance into Canaan rest;

(3) the rest of salvation;

(4) the rest of consecration; and

(5) Heaven rest.

Ephesians 1:7 NKJV 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,

according to the riches of His grace

(We have rest, salvation rest, from the burden of our sins because of what Jesus

did for us).

1 Peter 2:24 NKJV 24 He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to

sins, might live for righteousness …

The people of Israel now knew the rest of redemption.

They were no longer slaves in Egypt.

o They came out by blood -- blood on the doorposts.

They came out by power -- God brought them across the Red

Sea.

God had delivered them.

But then the Lord Jesus went on to say, "Take My yoke upon you, and

learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto

your souls" (Matthew 11:29).

o That is a different kind of rest.

Paul talks about this.

Romans 6:4-11 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as

Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also

should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together

in the likeness of His death,

certainly we also shall be

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6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin

might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who

has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that

we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the

dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death

that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to

God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:4-11

The Book of Hebrews tells us that the Word of God is quick and powerful.

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We have the same danger today – the danger of erring in our hearts.

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What God had said in Psalm 95 He repeated in Hebrews 3:11 – "They shall not

enter into My rest."

God said that, because of unbelief, the generation of Israelites would not enter

into the Land of Promise.

Until you not only accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, but walk with Him

by faith, committing your life to Him, you are not going to know anything about

the joys of Canaan. Unfortunately, we have a great many wilderness Christians

in our churches.

There are many believers today who just don't know what rest really means

because they must enter by faith.

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2 Corinthians 3:7, 11-18 NKJV

Glory of the New Covenant 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones (The Ten

Commandments), was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look

steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which

glory was passing away,

(Paul is not saying that the Law wasn't glorious; it was, but that glory was to

disappear.)

11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

(Paul is making a contrast between the glory of the Law, which actually made

Moses' face shine, and the greater glory that we have in Christ.)

12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could

not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.

(Moses didn't put a veil over his face as a dimmer, to dim the glory, which is the

general interpretation, but the glory was disappearing and he put a veil over his

face so that folks wouldn't know about its disappearance.)

14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in

the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But

even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

(Unbelief is not an intellectual problem; it is a heart problem. You may be one

who has not come to Christ because there is sin in your life and you do not want

to give it up.)

The minute your heart is ready to give it up, at that moment your "intellectual"

problems will dissolve.

He will take the veil away from your mind, and you can come to Christ, be

saved and enter into His rest.

16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

(The veil will be removed from your mind when your heart turns to Christ.)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

(The Holy Spirit will move into your life and make Christ real to you, as He is

doing for multitudes of believers in our day.)

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the

Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:7, 11-18 NKJV

Now let's return to Hebrews 3:13 where we are reminded,

Hebrews 3:13 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be

hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

There are men in the ministry who have been totally dishonest; they have been

found to be liars, yet they can get down on their knees and pray the most pious

prayers you have ever heard.

And their conscience does not condemn them.

Of course it doesn't condemn them, because it has become hardened; they are

permitting sin in their lives.

This writer of the Hebrew epistle goes back to the wilderness experience of

Israel, applies it to the Hebrew believers of the first century, and steps on our toes

also.

It is the Holy Spirit Who applies these truths to our own hearts.

Once you have heard the Gospel and understood its claims, and then say no to

Jesus Christ, you have fallen away.

You have become apostate.

Turning away from Jesus Christ is much more than rejecting historical, traditional

Christianity.

Turning away from Jesus Christ is turning away from the living God.

It is turning away from life itself.

When someone tells you that he has an intellectual problem that hinders him

from receiving Christ, simply do not believe it because people don't really have

intellectual problems which keep them from Christ, but they sure do have sin

problems.

Either you believe to the saving of your soul or you fall back to damnation.

Hebrews 3:14 NKJV 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our

confidence steadfast to the end,

“The faith that fizzles at the finish had a flaw from the first.”

Adrian Rogers

If we really believe the Gospel, if we have committed our life to Jesus Christ,

then at the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of life, our commitment

will still stand.

The greatest proof of salvation is continuance in the Christian life.

The true believer stays with Christ.

John 8:31

"If you abide in My word," Jesus said, "then you are truly disciples of Mine."

When someone departs from the Gospel, backs away from the faith, we can

only conclude that this person never believed.

1 John 2:18-19 NKJV 18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is

coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the

last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of

us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be

made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Staying with the Lord marks the difference between possession and profession.

Hebrews 3:15 NKJV 15 while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

The writer of Hebrews repeats Psalm 95 again to remind the reader that these

truths are not for yesterday only, but for us today.

If you would ask J. Vernon Magee, “Preacher, what is the great sin in your life,

what is it that has held you back more than anything else?"

He said that he would have to admit that it is unbelief.

“As I look back upon my years of ministry, I realize that I did not believe God as I

should have. And today there is one thing I want above everything else, and

that is to believe God. I want to commit my life to Him completely, turn

everything over to Him.”

J. Vernon Magee

This is the "rest" the writer of this Hebrew epistle is talking about, the rest of fully

trusting God -- not only for salvation but for daily living, for the help and the

wisdom and the strength we need to live the Christian life.

The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness because they did not have faith

to enter the Promised Land.

As we have seen, Canaan does not represent Heaven; it represents the place of

spiritual blessing and victory.

The apostle Paul was speaking of his own experience when he cried,

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

(Romans 7:24).

That is not the cry of an unsaved man, it is the cry of a saved man who is a

defeated Christian, who finds no satisfaction in Christ because he is not trusting.

The problem was lack of faith.

The disobedience of unbelief forfeits blessing and brings judgment.

God has great blessings prepared.

He wants to pour out these riches on us, not only in this life but throughout

all eternity.

There is one thing required — faith.

They were not able to enter because of unbelief (Proverbs 29:1; Jude 5).

Jude 1:5 NKJV 5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having

saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did

not believe.

Everyone lives by faith.

We live by faith when we go into a restaurant and eat the food without

questioning its safety.

When driving down the highway, we are not in constant fear that around the

next bend the road will lead us into a river where there is no bridge.

We trust the people who made the highways and the people who have

traveled over them before us.

We live by faith almost constantly.

If we can put our faith in the highway department and the people who

prepare our food, we surely can put our faith in the God of the universe.

Not to trust in Him is fatal!

It is a relationship in which we are confident and secure that we have

committed our life to God and that He holds it in perfect, eternal love.

It is a relationship that involves being settled and fixed.

o No more floating around.

We know whom we have believed and we stand in Him.

It is the rest pictured and illustrated in the Canaan rest that Israel never

understood and never entered into because of unbelief.

Throughout the book of Hebrews the high priesthood of Jesus Christ is exalted.

In chapter 1 He is seen as the One Who provided "purification of sins" (v. 3).

In chapter 2 He is "a merciful and faithful high priest" (v. 17) and in chapter 3 He

is "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession" (v. 1).

Chapters 7-9 focus almost exclusively on Jesus' high priesthood.

Here in Hebrews 4:14 He is called a great high priest.

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The Plan of Hope & Salvation

Romans 3:23 NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a NKJV 23a For the wages of sin is death,

Death in this life (the first death) is 100%. Even Jesus, the only one who

doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the penalty for our sins. The

death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in

Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV 8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually

immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake

which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Romans 5:8 NKJV 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23b NKJV 23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 21:7 NKJV 7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he

shall be My son.”

Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to accept Jesus as our Savior.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your

heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with

the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession

is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more.

Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at

601-979-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/