The Power of the Gospel

Here is the auto transcript from this week’s sermon on the Gospel to the Hebrews, The Power of the Gospel

I trust that all of your resolutions are going very well. Mine was not to have any this year, so I'm doing exceptionally well keeping my resolution by not having any. Anyway, it is great to be back with you. Sorry we weren't able to be with you last week. I hate getting interrupted in the midst of a series, and by the way, just a little word of explanation just so you know. This little black chair up here. I've been having some back problems, and in case something happens and I need to sit down, that's why it's there. Not because I intend to get lazy in the middle of the service, but I do sometimes have to tell people this because I have had heart issues in the past that if something happens like that and I start going down, it's probably my back, not my heart, so please don't panic. But do come help or do something. Anyway, don't get too freaked out by it. As I was saying, I hate getting interrupted in the midst of a sermon series, and I just want to, because I want to kind of keep the flow of the thoughts going, I just want to begin this morning by reminding you of just a few of the goals that I have for our series in the Gospel of the Hebrews. The first one is this. I am passionate about accurately proclaiming what the Holy Spirit gave the author of Hebrews to give to us. Now every preacher wants to be creative, he wants to be funny, he wants to be insightful, but the truth of the matter is I don't want to be any of those things until we see how God did those things in the writer of Hebrews, because he is the one who has put together this masterpiece, this integrated revelation, and I call it an integrated revelation bI trust that all of your resolutions are going very well. Mine was not to have any

this year, so I'm doing exceptionally well keeping my resolution by not having any. Anyway, it is great to be back with you. Sorry we weren't able to be with you

last week. I hate getting interrupted in the midst of a series, and by the way,

just a little word of explanation just so you know. This little black

chair up here. I've been having some back problems, and in case something happens

and I need to sit down, that's why it's there. Not because I intend to get lazy

in the middle of the service, but I do sometimes have to tell people this

because I have had heart issues in the past that if something happens like that

and I start going down, it's probably my back, not my heart, so please don't panic.

But do come help or do something. Anyway, don't get too freaked out by it. As I was

saying, I hate getting interrupted in the midst of a sermon series, and I just want

to, because I want to kind of keep the flow of the thoughts going, I just want

to begin this morning by reminding you of just a few of the goals that I have

for our series in the Gospel of the Hebrews. The first one is this. I am

passionate about accurately proclaiming what the Holy Spirit gave the author of

Hebrews to give to us. Now every preacher wants to be creative, he wants to be

funny, he wants to be insightful, but the truth of the matter is I don't want to

be any of those things until we see how God did those things in the writer of

Hebrews, because he is the one who has put together this masterpiece, this

integrated revelation, and I call it an integrated revelation because it's

integrated in the sense of it is amazing Hebrew methodology and thought and

context, but at the very same time using this amazing what I call the beauty of

Japheth, this amazing language of Greek. Secondly, I really feel a

responsibility and a burden to rehabilitate our respect for the book of

Revelation, or the book of Hebrews, because there have been some who have

come along and tried to undermine its inspiration and its message, and which is

interesting, especially as we look at what that message is, we understand why

that would happen to this book, because what we're gonna see today, the clarity

of this message is something that was for this hour, for this moment, for these

days, and so I want to try to rehabilitate that in case somebody has

somehow caused you to undermine your respect for it. The third thing is I just

want to correctly apply its powerful message for our lives, as I said,

especially, especially in the hour in which we live right now, and to those

ends I'm committed to highlighting, as I said, the genius of this book, and by that

I mean its Hebrew methodology and instruction. I like to refer to the whole

Hebrew context of the scripture as the beautiful tense of Shem. You know, Shem is

the ancestor of Hebrew. The beautiful tense of Shem is this whole story that

comes down through us contextually through this family, but then it comes to

us also in what I like to refer to as the beauty of Japheth, the beauty of the

Greek language that was prophesied through Noah to somehow, someday, that

the beauty of the nations of Japheth would come and dwell in the

tense of Shem, that somehow God would use the beauty of the nations to also be a

significant part of telling this story, and the book of Hebrews does both of

these things in droves. Last time we were together I was highlighting what I call

a conspicuous construction used by the author of the Gospel to the Hebrews. This

conspicuous construction is one of the things that makes the Word of God

delicious. Were you here last week? Did you see Pastor Ed online talking about

the delicious Word of God? I loved it because these are the things that make

God's Word delicious. These are the things that make me want to go

back week after week, day after day, is to find new truths and new insights and to

see the beauty and the majesty of how God has communicated these things to me

in such a conspicuously beautiful way. So thank you, Pastor Ed, for that lovely

adjective, the delicious Word of God. So this morning by way of a very quick

review, and I mean a quick review, we need to understand that the

author of Hebrews has an agenda. He is not hiding that agenda. This is not

something that he's trying to hide. It's something that he's trying to reveal. He

is making a case and driving home a point that is so important that we dare

not ignore it. And so he uses powerful methodology of stating and emphasizing

the points we need to hear and to not forget. Now, you know, I don't know where

you're at right now, what's going on in your heart and mind, but what I'm telling

you is, if I can just get your attention for just a moment, what the writer of

Hebrews has said is about you, for you, right now, today. In fact, by divine

appointment, God may have providentially brought you here, either in person or

online, because you actually need to hear what the author of Hebrews was given to

say so that you could receive. This is an amazing moment because God's Word, as he

will later say in the book, is alive, and it has the power of transformation. God

has spoken throughout the ages. This is how the writer of Hebrews begins with

this powerful declaration, that God has spoken throughout the ages in many ways,

but to us in these last days, he has spoken in his Son. And the implication is

a question, are we listening? He then uses a conspicuous construction to emphasize

the truths we must not walk away from. And if you'll remember a couple weeks

ago, we talked about that construction simply by the use of the word "for," and I

wanted to emphasize that. I wanted to amplify it so that you understood the

impact. We're going to talk about this a little bit more today. That sometimes

our English, when we translate things in English, our goal is always to

make it so simple, right? To simplify it and to make it accessible, but

sometimes we oversimplify. And when we oversimplify, we kind of take the power

of the words that were actually used away from the words. And so if you'll

remember, I kind of amplified what that word actually means by translating it

"for the fact is." And I just want to remind you of some of those things that

he said. In Hebrews 1:5, he says, "For the fact is that God never spoke to angels

calling them his Son." I mean, there's only one person that God has ever called the

Son, and it's the Word of God. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 2, "For the fact is that

what God did speak to and through the angels is unalterable." He isn't going to

change his mind about Jesus, and neither should you. If the message he gave

to the angels is unalterable, what he has declared and revealed in the Son is even

more unalterable. It's not going to get any better than that.

Hebrews 2, 5, "For the fact is that the world to come,

olam haba, isn't for the angels, it's for you." Lest we forget, everything that he

has done, he has not created for the sake of the angels, he has created for you

personally. This is about you. It's not about the angels. The angels are given to

be servants of those who are to inherit the olam haba, the world to come.

Hebrews chapter 2, 8, "For the fact is that all things, all things are placed in

subjection to the Son, even though some things may not yet be seen in that light.

That even though it may not appear in this world, that all things are

in subjection to Christ. That day is coming, and if you pay attention, you see

it getting closer day by day by day." Amen? How do we know it's getting closer day

by day by day? Because the world is trying to pull away from it more and

more and more. You're gonna lose that tug-of-war. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 10,

"For the fact is that he endured all things for us, so he could share all

things with us." I love God's Word. "He endured all things for us, so he

could share with us all things that only he can share, because all things belong

to him." Hebrews chapter 2, verse 11, "For the fact is that we have unity with the

Son, because God who sanctified and set apart the Son for this glorious task

also sets us apart to inherit all things with him and through him." Meaning,

the fact is we have the same Father. The writer of Hebrews is discussing that in

the passage in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 13, just before the one we're gonna pick

up with today, about how we stand in the assembly, in the congregation of God with

his Son, as his sons, as his children. Now I don't know about you, and I probably

waste way more time watching these. I don't need an amen from my wife right

now. Watching these things online, but I have to admit, I get a little bit of a

kick out of some of these little reels and videos or whatever that people make

responding to things that politicians have said or false teachers have said. I

mean, let me just be honest, I love the Smackdown. Okay? I do. I love the Smackdown.

I love the mic drop. I like that BAM moment, you know, when somebody makes the

point so powerful, so cool, there is just like, "Whoa." You are just...to me, that's Ben

Shapiro, you know? Ben Shapiro, whether he's talking about Israel or

politics or whatever, the guy just has a gift of, you know, just laying the

Smackdown. That's why I love the book of Hebrews. I know you've never thought of

it this way, but if there is a book that lays the Smackdown on the topic of who

Jesus is and what he's done, it's the book of Hebrews. It is a powerful,

delicious presentation of logical, factual reasons why you and I should

keep listening to God and why we need to recognize that Yeshua is the one through

whom the Father is speaking to us. And the question continues to be in this

moment, in these last days, are we listening? And we have a moment to answer

that question right now, here, in these moments. Will you pray with me? Lord God,

speak to me. Abba Father, my prayer is simple and yet profound. We are your

servants, we are gathered in your name to the glorification of your Son. Believing

in the promise that where two or three are gathered in your name, there you will

be. And so for those who are willing, Father, those who have ears to hear and

eyes to see, we open our hearts and minds to you today and we ask you, through your

word, speak to us today. And all the glory will go to Him to whom it belongs, even

Jesus our Lord. Amen. So today I want to finish chapter 2, and I know you're

saying, "Well, wait, Pastor Ed went on to chapter 3." He did. We're gonna do a, you

know, like in a movie sometimes you go back and you do a preamble, a prequel.

We're gonna do a prequel, and then we're gonna kind of overview chapter 3. And I

just want to stress again why it is so important for us to understand how the

writer of Hebrews does this, because literally he is writing to us a message

that is so important, and I want you to hear this, that your life and your

eternity may depend on it. In fact, there is no "may." It does depend on it. So the

reason we must finish chapter 2 is because after all these, after all of

these "for the fact is" statements, we've now come to the writer's first major

"therefore." Okay, we've had all these "fors," now we have the first significant

"therefore," and I'll invite them to put the text on the screen if you have it,

Hebrews 2 verses 14 through 18. We're gonna try to get those up for you, and

there may be, you know, translations keep changing. I preach from the New American

Standard, but a new one has come out, and normally when new ones come out, new

translations, updated versions, that they force the

software companies that have these to adjust to the new translation. So if I'm

reading, you hear me say something a little different than the way it's

there, it's probably because this is a newer translation. I just want you to be

aware of that. So let's read verses 14 to 18. "Therefore, since the children share in

flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, and through death,

that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death,

that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject

to slavery all their lives. For, for the fact is, assuredly he does not give help

to angels, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore he had

to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become merciful

and faithful, become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining

to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For, for the fact is, since

he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the

aid of those who are tempted." Now again, please remember what I want to show you

is how the author makes his point. I want to show you his creativity, not mine. And

verses 14 and 15, quite honestly, are game changers. I mean, I don't know that there's

ever been a "therefore" that was more important than verses 14 and 15 of

Hebrews chapter 2. First remember this, all things were created through, by, and

for Jesus. He is the creating Word of God who created all things. But please hear

this, and please hear this, the heart of God was not to create a world from which

he had to separate, but to create a world in which he could integrate himself with

his children. The original plan of God was never to create a world from which

he would have to separate himself. That is the exact opposite of the

providential plan of God. It was never separation, it was integration, it was

fellowship, it was communion, it was walking in the garden with his children

in the cool of the day. So what happened to that? Sin forced a separation that was

not a part of God's plan for creation. We were not created to be separated from

God, but to be integrated in fellowship and in relationship. That is so essential.

The power of the gospel is that it destroys that which attempted to destroy

us and separate us from God. Did you hear that? The power of the gospel is that it

destroys that which was attempting to destroy us. It tears down the separation

that Satan was trying to use to separate us from God. I mean that is the

smackdown of the gospel. Word to the devil, you lost. The very thing that you

tried to do, he used the very method you used to defeat you. Smackdown. That is the

power of the gospel. That is what God is speaking to us in his Son. That is what

the Father did for us through the Son. It was a fallen angel. Have you noticed

how much the writer of Hebrews keeps talking about angels? And he keeps

reminding us that they were supposed to be the servants of those who inherit

salvation. Well how did we get in this mess in the first place? It was a fallen

angel, not the Son, who created this mess. It is an exalted Son, a lifted up Son,

that's going to fix it. So let's break down what the author has to say to us in

verses 14 and 15. "Therefore since the children share in the flesh and blood, he

himself likewise also partook of the same, and through death he might

render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and that he

might free those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery all

their lives." Forgive me if I sound like an English basher today, because I really

don't want to do that. But at the same time, like I said before, sometimes our

drive to simplify robs some of the impact of the words that are used. And

when we do that, we disconnect from parallel word constructions that are

used in in verses, and sometimes the simplified words just don't let us see

the depth of the point that's being made. So let's focus on some of these. The

writer first makes this point. Notice that he calls us children. This is a very

significant point, because he is trying to get us to protect that integrated

fellowship communion relationship that we were supposed to have with our Father,

which is, well, what kind of relationship? Who has a relationship with the Father? The

children. He's framing this thing that is so important that we must not let go of.

In chapter 2 verse 13, just before the verse we just read, the writer

has just quoted Isaiah 8 verse 18, which refers to the Messiah standing in the

assembly of the Lord with the children that God had given him. To stress the

point, we all have the same Father. Our created destiny is to be the children of

God, not separated, but integrated as a family. Now he's going to make a point

about those children, and something that we also all share. We all share in flesh

and blood. This is the essence of our creation. God created us flesh and blood.

He breathed into us the breath of life, and that breath is delivered to every

cell of our body via the blood. It is our life. Now church, please hear me. This

is our humanity. We are flesh and blood. That's what it means. This is our

mortality. Mortality means that as a human of flesh and blood, this body will

degrade because of sin and die. It is not currently immortal. It is now mortal. It

will die. We all share that. We share the humanity, the communion of being

flesh and blood. We know what that means. We know the mortality that we all face.

Death is not a concept. It is a reality. This is our reality. We all experience

suffering and difficulty in this experience. Is there anybody that is

expecting 2024 to not be a challenge to your humanity? I mean, your flesh and

blood is just gonna work exactly the way you want it to. For crying out loud, I'm

six days in, and I have to have a safety chair to preach my sermon. Stupid body. Is

there anybody in this room that does not think that you will face

your mortality or someone whom you love's mortality? People that you love

are going to pass this year. That is our shared reality, and the reality is that

all of us are going to experience some form of tribulation and suffering. That

is what we share in common. But note that the emphasis is that not only is that a

reality we all share in namely in those things, it's what it means to be human.

But that is because he also chose to share the same reality with us. We all

share in these things. We are flesh, we are blood, and because of this we share

in death because of a fallen angel who spoke lies into us. But the writer of

Hebrews uses a different word, though it parallels his prior thought. It says that

Jesus partook of our humanity, our mortality, and our reality. The writer

says we all share, and the word that says share there is the Greek word koinia.

You know what that word means. It means fellowship. Probably one of the more

familiar Greek words in the church. It means fellowship, but it also means to

partake. I mean, may I just do a little advertisement right now. After our

morning service we're going to have a meal together and we're going to call it

what? Table fellowship, koinia. Because I don't know why, maybe it's biblical, that

when we come together to fellowship we partake. Some of us more than others. It's

part of fellowship. It's that table. It's the place where we enjoy one

another's company and the presence of one another. Our table as flesh and blood means that

we all share in humanity. We all share in mortality. We all partake of that.

Matthew 16, 18, just after Jesus, after the transfiguration, Jesus uses this very

terminology when he tells one of them standing there that they would not taste

death until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. I think he was

referring to John who was going to see it in the Revelation. But isn't that

interesting that he uses that terminology of that somebody is going to

not take or partake or taste death. It's all of this coming from the same

concept. You see, God didn't send an angel to partake with us. He sent his Son. So

the writer of Hebrews says, "He himself likewise also partook of the same." Our

humanity, our mortality, our reality. Jesus came and sat down and ate it all with us.

Again, the Word of God is so powerful. The Greek word that we translate as "partake"

or "partook" has a powerful word picture attached to it, as does our English word

"partake." Because when we share something together, we partake together. And even

our English word has this idea of taking. And I love that because the Greek word

for "partake" has the actual picture of something that is taken in

hand. I want you to hold on. It's like, "Oh, who cares if it means that?" Hold on. It's

very significant to how he's making his point. When you partake, you do

what? You take. And what do you take with? That which you hold. So the writer of

Hebrews is building a case that Jesus came and partook. He tasted of our

reality. He tasted of our mortality. He tasted of our humanity. And he took all

of that on himself, which is so interesting. Because if you remember our

series in Philippians, we were talking about the deity of Jesus. The one thing

that Jesus didn't hold on to was his deity. He could have let go. He didn't

have to let go. He chose to let go. Why? So he could take hold of you. He let go

of his identity so he could guarantee your destiny. Smackdown. This is what's

going on here. The fact is the Father never said to the angels, "Come and sit

at my right hand," because the Son is the right hand of the Father.

Are you beginning to get the imagery? The Father shared, partook with us through

his Son. He took and partook with us through his mighty outstretched hand. And

who is that? Jesus, who sits where? At the right hand of God. That's where the one

who took you is exalted. Not a fallen angel, an exalted Son. Are you getting the

picture? It's really quite amazing. He took hold of our humanity and the Word

became flesh and blood and dwelt among us. He took hold of our mortality and

tasted death with us, though death had no right to hold him. He took

hold of our reality and experienced the suffering we experience because of a lie.

Why did he take hold of our reality in this way? Because the devil hatched a

diabolical plot to take away our destiny as the children of God and the rightful

heirs of the world he created for us. It just keeps getting more delicious. Notice

how the Hebrew writer phrases it. He says that through death he might render

powerless. Him who had the power of death, that is the devil. Now you may not

realize it, but there's a really cool wordplay going on in that verse. And you

have to know a little bit about Greek prepositions. This chapter begins with a

three-letter word that's a preposition, "dia," which simply means "through." You know a

preposition, you know, you're beside something, you're on something, you're of

something. Through, I mean, this is a preposition. And prepositions are really

important in the Greek language. And so when the writer of Hebrews begins to

make this point in chapter 2, his first "therefore," so to speak, is really through

this, because of this. Because of what? Because of what this. That this, the this

that is Jesus Christ and all that He has done to bring us to salvation. Through

whom and through the ministering work of the angels. Through all of this, God is

fixing all things for us. Now the writer states the primary through this, that is

stating the primary through this that changes everything. What is the through

this that changes everything? What did He have to go through to change everything

for us? Death. That's the through this plan of God. Through this, He might render

powerless the devil who had the power of death. Through this. Now this is just

great. Through death, God is going to destroy the diabolical plot of a fallen

angel to take hold of us and enslave us to death. But God has His own divine plan

to overcome it. Through death, death would die and lose its grip and hold on us.

Smackdown. He took the very thing that Satan wanted to do to us and used to

destroy us and used it to save us. That's God. And you ought to be impressed with

that. God says, "I will take the very enemy you introduced to my people with a

lie and will use it to defeat you through the death of my son so that my

children might live." Take that, devil. Now maybe you'll remember when we were

doing a study on the parables, and I took time to remind you about what how the

Greek word for devil actually is. Do we have any Spanish speakers here

today? What is the Spanish word for devil? Diabolos. Same as the Greek. Do you hear

it? Dia. It's that same preposition. What is the definition of the devil? Dia,

through. Balo, which means I cast or I throw. The devil is the one who come and

he casts through you, he pierces through you, he takes attempts to take from you.

That's the diabolical plan of the Diabolos. You see, his diabolical plan was

to run something through you that would destroy you. And God said, "I'm gonna walk

right through what you thought would destroy them, death itself, and instead

I'm gonna destroy you." Boom! Hey devil, you lose. Because he had a better plan to

do something through him, through his son. Do you understand why I get excited about

all these words? Are you seeing the beauty? This is like a masterpiece

painting where you just begin to just respect the strokes and the precision.

All these little words. The devil is the one who pierces through with deception,

which brings death. The Son is the right hand of God who takes hold of death for

us and through his death pierced through for us, not only defeats death but

destroys the power of the one holding us in slavery because of fear of it. And

here's where our English just kind of fails us again. The power of the gospel

is to render powerless the one who had the power of death. Everybody say "had."

Well that's an exciting word, isn't it? Had. Depends on what part of the country

you're from. A hod, a had. Okay, it's a word we use. But the word oversimplifies

the Greek word because the Greek word for had is the word for something that

you have and you hold. And I ask you again, what do you use to have and to

hold your hand? And you have it and you hold it when you take it. We had it. The

writer of Hebrews is trying to get you to understand what was in the hand of

the devil. Your life, your destiny, your future. The power of death.

Understanding that all humans share the same experience. We have been taken. We

are held in the power of the fear of death. Do you understand? We have been

taken. We were being held. We were in slavery. What is slavery? Being held

against your will by the power of somebody else's hand. God said, "Okay, I'll

send my right hand." Come on, devil. Let's give it a go. You're gonna lose. The writer

of Hebrews is explaining why Jesus had to come so that through death he might

take hold of us and take away from the one who formerly held us and who had

taken us into the slavery of death. Verse 15, that he might free those who through

the fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. That he might

give us life to take back from the hand of the enemy. And even more, not just to

free us from the hand, but to render the one who had previously enslaved us as

utterly impotent, powerless, worthless. My humanity, my mortality, my reality has

been rescued through the death so that I may experience not separation from my

heavenly father, but fellowship and integration with him in the world that

he created for me now, Olam HaZeh, and even more so in the world to come, Olam

Haba. That's why he let go of heaven so he could take hold of me. That's why he

didn't grasp deity, because he wanted to save humanity. Beautiful. We were not

created for slavery. We were created for life and freedom, but someone had to make

him take his nasty hand off of us. So how did God rescue the descendants of Adam?

He didn't send an angel, he sent his son, a descendant of the very one God had

promised would inherit the world. The very same one who God told also promised

your descendants are going to be slaves. Why? Because God is pro-slavery? Of course

not. Because the physical reality of slavery in the world sets the stage for

us to understand the spiritual truth of the one who will come and set us free.

Verse 16, "For the fact is, he assuredly does not give help to the angels, but he

gives help to the descendant." Not the descendants, the descendant of Abraham,

Jesus Christ. The very one God had told his descendants would be enslaved is the

same one God promised that one of his descendants would save and rescue the

world. And here comes more Greek. This word that we translate that he would give

some help to, it literally means to lay hold of something. Oh, he's going to give

me some help. Well, how many, you know, normally when we need some help, we need

a helping. Come on. I mean, come on. Who does he help? Not the angels. They're

supposed to be helping us. He helps the descendant of Abraham. He helps the one

who's going to help us. And there's a reason he's setting this up. Remember,

writer of Hebrews has an agenda. This Greek word, "lambano," it doesn't mean just

to lay hold of something. It means to aggressively take hold of something,

which means God didn't just kind of send some help to the descendant of Abraham.

He aggressively took hold of his destiny so he could take hold of ours. Verse 17,

"Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might

become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make

propitiation for the sins of the people to bring forgiveness. He took on flesh and

blood to minister on our behalf before the Father as a merciful and faithful high

priest." What is the ministry of a high priest? To make atonement for the fallen

flesh and blood of humanity. How does he do it? He takes the flesh and blood of

offerings to the altar of God, but our high priest is going to do something even

more amazing. He's not only going to be the high priest, he's also going to be the

sacrifice of flesh and blood for us. He took our humanity, mortality, and reality

so he could offer himself on our behalf and set us free, taking the hand of the

enslaver off of us. And I don't know about you, but I don't like it when

someone has their hand on me that doesn't have my permission. Get your

nasty hands off me, devil. For the fact is, verse 18, "Since he himself was tempted in

that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid or to help those who are

tempted." He is able. I love the English, but well, he's able, he can do it. I think

we can, yeah. Do you know what the Greek word here is? Dunamis. Dynamite. Power. Come on, give me a

give me a flex. Power. He is able. He is not able. He is more than able. He is

literally overqualified to help me. He's not able. He is the power of God because

he is the right hand who stepped down out of heaven to take control of my

destiny by taking control of me. Wow. Now, after all of that, now we understand what

Pastor Ed was leading us to in chapter 3. And I want to just read, we're not going

to go through it, but I do want to read some sections of chapter 3 so that you

understand the flow of the Hebrew writer's thought. Hebrews chapter 3, begin

verse 1, "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 was also in all his house. For he has been

counted worthy of more glory than Moses by just as 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. For Moses was faithful in all his house as a

servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later." Spoken

how? In Jesus. That's what the writer of Hebrews starts this book. "In these last

days he's done what? He has spoken to us through his son. Now Moses was faithful

in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to

be spoken later. But Messiah was faithful as a son over his house whose house we

are." Listen to this, "if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of him, of our

hope firm until the end." Notice just a quick few things that now should

resonate based on what you've heard him say. "We are now partakers of a heavenly

calling. Heaven partook of humanity, mortality, and reality so that we could

partake of eternity and freedom in Christ. He took hold of us for these

things." And the writer of Hebrews is saying, "Are you going to let go?" Do you

understand the point? He took hold. Will you? In these last days when everybody is

trying to get you to stop believing in the Son of God, will you hold on? When the

realities of humanity and mortality and suffering start to overwhelm you, will

you let go or will you hold on? Well it's so hard. Well it wasn't a cakewalk for

Jesus either. He let go so he could take hold. Church, listen to me. There are

people who are literally using the Hebrew Bible to try to talk you into

letting go. Don't be surprised. We were told this would happen in these last

days. Now you understand the context of why suddenly the writer of Hebrews turns

his attention to Moses and the Exodus story because those are pointing to a

story of a greater Exodus from sin and bondage that will come not through Moses

but through the Messiah. Moses was a story about God sending an anointed man

to rescue his children from the grip of slavery and hard bondage and death but

the one whom the Father would send would accomplish an eternal freedom, ending our

mortality and replacing it with immortality and eternal in holam haba,

the world to come. He's already introduced all these concepts of how we

have been taken hold, how we have been held captive, how we have been in bondage.

The natural progression of his thought is to remind us of what happened to

Israel physically in Egypt so we would understand what the Messiah is going to

do for us spiritually. He's going to take us and set us free but more importantly

he's going to take the grubby hands of the devil off of us. This is called

freedom and we're supposed to be walking in it. Notice that we are told to hold

fast and the end the writer of Hebrews emphatically challenging us to take hold.

And let me tell you what's even more exciting. God had this incredible through

plan that through death Jesus would rescue us. But listen to what the

Apostle Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14, "But thanks be to God

who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifest through us." Everybody say

"through us." Through us, the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

He has another through plan. It's you. It's all the things that He wants to

give and do through you. This is why later in the spring we're going to come

back and we're going to start talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All

the things that He has given us to function and minister so that through us

we can destroy the works of the devil. Hey Satan, you lose because God has a

better plan than your diabolical plan. He has through my children. And that's

exciting. I mean that's the story. I can't hardly wait to get to that series.

The writer of Hebrews goes on, "Therefore just as the Holy Spirit says today if

you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when you provoked me as in the

day of the trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried me by testing me and

saw my works for 40 years. Therefore I was angry with this generation and said

they will always go astray in their hearts and they did not know my ways as

I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest." The Moses and Exodus story has

two sides to it. Deliverance and defeat. And the ones who were defeated were the

ones who stopped listening. The ones who perished were the ones that stopped

listening and stopped clinging to what they had heard and what they had seen in

the mighty outstretched hand of God as He delivered Israel. How could you forget

Moses' mighty outstretched arm, stand still and see the Yeshua, the salvation of God?

You're gonna let go of that? You're gonna walk away from that? Someone's gonna trick

you and forgive me for sidebar, but really you're waiting on a better

messianic plan than what God has in Jesus? God became a man, left the glories

of heaven, let go of that reality to take hold of your humanity. Oh you're

waiting for a better story? You'll be waiting for an eternity because His Word

is unalterable. If this is what He declared He was going to do to the

angels, this is what He's going to do through the Son. It's not going to change.

Amen? And if you let go, there's nothing left. The Sabbath is the perfect contrast

to all of this because the Sabbath is the day when our work and our toil and

our labor is set aside, when our hands can be free from labor to rest. We are

invited to come and rest in the Lord. Again He took hold of us to rescue us

from forced labor of the fear and death, yet in the last days there are those who

will let go of the one who took hold of them and abandoned their calling and

invitation into God's rest. Why would you do that? You've been invited to partake

of a heavenly calling, to sit at the table of fellowship with the right hand

of God, and you just want to walk away. And so the writer concludes with these

words in chapter 3, "Take care, brethren, that there not be anyone among you with

an evil and 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 your heart." And listen

to verse 14, "For we have become partakers of Messiah, partakers of Christ,

if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end." That's a

big "if." And I think sometimes the reason we are willing to even consider it is

because we don't really fully appreciate or understand what he did to take hold

of us. Because if we did, we would not let go quite so easily, would we? You

understand why I'm stressing all these words? Because I want you to see the

beauty of how the writer of Hebrews just laces all this together.

So as it is said, "Today if you hear his voice" -- have you heard his voice today?

Has he encouraged your heart and told you to keep clinging? "Today if you hear

his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me. For you, for who

provoked me when they had heard? Indeed, not all those who came out of Egypt led

by Moses. And with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned

whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear 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. My friends, I conclude with this, and I

invite the worship team to come back. He took hold of our humanity, our mortality,

and our reality so that we could partake of his holiness, his life, eternity,

fellowship with him. He took hold of us to bring us out of separation and bring

us back into integration, fellowship, and communion with him. Why would you let go

of that? I told you I wanted to also apply these truths relevantly to our

lives, so let's just get real for just a moment. Some of you have been tempted to

let go. Some because of your flesh and blood, life is just hard, and you're

wondering where your creator is, and it just gets frustrating. Sometimes you just

want to give up and walk away. Some of you have been deceived. Some clever

rabbi or teacher has used the original method of deception by sowing doubt. I

saw a video this week of a rabbi who accused the Apostle Paul of making up

scriptures, yet in the context of making the accusation that Paul had made up

scriptures, he made up his own, and people buy it. They don't even realize it's the

original lie. Did God really say? Well, he didn't really say that. In these last days

he has said everything in his Son, and if you reject his Son, you are rejecting the

Father, period. The very one who is at the right--he's not a fallen angel, he's the

exalted Son sitting at the right hand of God, and he has a firm hold on you. Even

in the storm, even in the travail, even in the heartache, even in the financial

challenge, even in the loss, even in the disappointment, he who left heaven to

take hold of you will not lose you from his grip if you will remain steadfast

and hold on to him. Don't let go. You're a partaker of heaven because he partook

of your humanity. He destroyed death and the one who held and called us to hold

on to his hand for life. Through the power of death, through death, he

destroyed the power of death and the one who had previously held death in his

hand. He destroyed it. It's not your enemy. There's nothing to fear. Even when we die,

yet shall we live. Being afraid of death is like being on a road screaming and

running away from a toothless, clawless sloth. "Oh no, it's gonna catch me!" No, it's

not! It's defeated. He is worthy of it all. This is the power of the gospel to

defeat death and set you free because the one who created all things and by

all things are held together did all of these things so that you could stand

with him in the midst of the congregation of God as fellow heirs and

children of God. He's worthy of it all.

As we enter a time of response, this isn't just a time to sing. It's a time to

communicate with the Father. It's time to be honest. Some of you may just need to

spend this time. You can sit, you can sing, but you know sometimes we need a moment.

And so I'm gonna invite you that if you just need a moment with the Lord just to

come and kneel on these steps. Sometimes we just have to get out of our zone and

just come and say, "I want to kneel before you and say, 'Lord, I'm sorry. I've been

letting, I've been letting go. Today I'm strengthening my grip.'" Some of you have

some just some pleas, some cries. You need to say, "God, I feel like you're letting

go of me and I know that's not true. Please forgive me. I just need to feel

your hand." And you just need to come and you just need to kneel. And you don't

have to do that here, but if you want to, I'm just inviting you to just say, "Lord,

take me, hold me, wrap your arms around me." Whatever response. Some of you need to

make a commitment today that when you leave this place, you're done with the

diabolical plot of the devil and you're going to start living out the

providential manifest plan of God of what he wants to do through you in the

life of somebody else and get courageous in the power that he has placed within

you. Whatever response is needed, just worship whatever. I invite you to stand

and respond to the Holy Spirit.