The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were being pressured to abandon their faith in Jesus as the Messiah and to turn back to Judaism – back to the Law of Moses – back to the ceremonies – back to rituals—back to the priests…they were even considering the worship of angels.
The author of Hebrews says effectively: “Are you insane? Are you turning away from the One and Only Savior that God will ever send – to return to ceremonies and sacrifices that can never save – and to the worship of idols?”
Paul advises the Galatians [1:9] and Colossians [2:18] of the same things…
Jewish holy days were meant to honor the Law of the Old Testament…but at the same time…they were a shadow of what was to come.
Some evangelicals are preaching a return to observe Jewish festivals…as Christians, we believe that Christ came to fulfill the Law and because of our belief that Jesus is the Son of God, we no longer follow the Old Law…nor are we obligated to observe their feasts.
BUT…should a Christian congregation reenact aspects of an Old Testament feast for the sake of better understanding them it should be done with a conscious awareness that they are not required of Christians…they convey no special spiritual benefits… and are strictly of educational value.
This is Paul’s argument in Galatians…for those who have accepted Christ, no additional custom…or rituals…or doing things is necessary….and to reject any notion that you are required to participate in outdated Jewish holidays.
Here’s what this comes down to…it’s called Legalism…it’s works-based… where a person’s merit supersedes the grace of God…stressing the adherence to imposed rules…rituals and regulations.
Paul gives a serious warning to any minister that is teaching that there are extra things that need to be done for salvation:
if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what
you received he is to be accursed [Gal 1:9]
If you’re preaching something other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified…you’re preaching another gospel…let me share with you the consequences of those who preach another gospel and those who adhere to it…here’s the danger:
- (Gal. 1:6) desertingHimandturning to a different Gospel.
- (Gal. 1:7) perverting and distorting the Gospel.
- (Gal. 1:8-9) those who pervert Gospel, be accursed.
In this morning’s message the emphasis in on persevering and persistence…which are equally crucial in the Christian’s life…collectively the top priority in the Christian life is learning to battle unbelief and fight the fight of faith together.
It was never intended that Christians should go independently through life.
Do you have to go to Church to be a Cristian? Well, NO…because there is a danger in saying ‘yes’ to that question…soon as you say you “have to do something” to be a Christian you are in danger of getting the gospel message wrong…because there is nothing you can do to become a Christian…it’s a gift.
BUT…the Bible has no concept of individual spirituality…the Christian life was never meant to be lived solo…NOW…I realize people work on Sundays… people are ill and unable to attend church…that in today’s sports craved world games are scheduled on Sundays…but here’s what “you don’t have to go to Church to be a Cristian” means for most people.
They’re really just trying to justify a decision they’ve made to not gather each week with other believers.
Many people mistakenly treat worship as if it were a passive experience…I came… I sit…I listened…I left…thinking of “church” as something done by someone else: the pastor, the musicians, whoever.
Oh, maybe you sing some hymns or drop money in the collection box but for the most part church is something you passively watch as it is done by other people.
So, why go to church when I can watch it from the comfort of my own home? What’s the difference?
This fosters the mistaken belief that now that I’m a Christian I can relax in the battle of temptation and sin because the battle is over…I’m a believer. I have won the battle. That’s a wrong notion.
That type of thinking leaves you vulnerable to failure…in Hebrews 3 the author is warning about losing a grip on their confidence about the future…he starts off the chapter with the word ‘therefore’ desiring to make a summary conclusion from the preceding two chapters to what is about to be said.
This is the reason for the difficulty in understanding the opening verses in Hebrews third chapter.
I want us to focus on a verse from that chapter today because the author chooses each word intentionally to tie back to the previous two chapters which are essentially a warning regarding the worship of angels or placing Moses on equal footing with Jesus.
So he offers some encouragement in the form of a warning:
We are his house if we hold fast our confidence… firm until the end. [3:6]
Evidently despite being Christians…there was the danger they were not holding fast to their convictions… they were not persevering…they were drifting away and neglecting what they had been taught…the opposite of perseverance…not hanging in there over the long haul…de-emphasizing the necessity of “If we hold fast!”
In this verse we are directed from the natural to the spiritual and are also reminded that as God’s spiritual children WE are the house of God implying the corporate nature of the people of God.
Again, the greatest characteristics of serving God are to persevere and persist.
We are the living stones who are being built up, day by day, into the spiritual Temple of God…that’s the meaning of sanctification– we are the Body of Christ …we are his household…we are His people…we are His possession and inheritance…all this is true…but there is a condition.
Notice in verse 6…the writer puts in the conjunction “if” … “If we hold fast!” …this “if” presents a tremendously serious suggestion…this is so serious and so important that the rest of chapter 3 is a support and explanation of it…in fact much of the rest of this book is meant to make this “if” plain.
There is an unwarranted danger this verse presents…this verse along with some others appears to suggest that our eternal salvation depends on ‘us’ holding fast to the end…and that occurs only ‘if’ we hold fast…Paul’s letter to the Corinthians uses the exact same wording [1 Cor. 15:1-2]
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you…by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you.
The mistaken view is this verse is referring to losing your salvation…Hebrews 3:1 seems to negate this idea where the readers of Hebrews are referred to as “holy brethren” and “partakers of the heavenly calling” …this can apply only to true believers in Christ.
The phrase in both Hebrews and in Corinthians ‘if you hold fast’ reveals three truths:
…First…holding fast is a nautical term…meaning to steer toward…Luke uses this when referring to a ship heading for the beach [Acts 27:40].
As Christians we are reminded to persevere…keep our faces fixed towards God’s Eternal Kingdom…to hold fast…to stay the course…that is the evidence that we are truly a part of God’s household…the idea because I occasionally read the Bible and pray is what qualifies me as a Christian is poor theology.
If you’re counting on that to be enough evidence to prove that you’re a Christian …think about what you just said…because the answer to that question is NO.
AGAIN…holding fast to the end is evidenced in the outward, verifiable way in which you live your life…does your life reflect the teaching of the Bible…does your life reflect a life that exhibits the fruit of the Spirit?
That’s why Scripture tells us to give ourselves a periodical self-examination, because by nature we prefer self-deception…believing ourselves to be better and more ethical than we really are.
…Secondly…there’s a warning associated with this verse…the conjunction “if” in this verse introduces a third-class conditional sentence…it is setting forth a condition of uncertainty. (A first-class conditional statement assumes a statement to be true, for example changing “if” to “since”.)
A third-class conditional sentence means that it may or may not be true… nowhere in the New Testament more than here do we find the repeated insistence on persistence in the Christian life is the test of reality.
Earlier I said Hebrews 3:1 seems to confirm the idea that the readers of Hebrews are Christians based on the author referring to them as “holy brethren” and ‘partakers of the heavenly calling’ …this can apply only to true believers in Christ.
However, this third-class sentence seems to indicate that might not be the case because it’s referring to something that may or may not be true.
This verse is suggesting that those who fail to continue to hold fast means there was no perseverance…no sincerity in their decision in the first place…hence the idea is that their conversion may or may not be true.
Our Christian commitment is evidenced in the outward, verifiable way in which we live our life…that proves our salvation is true…that’s why as a third-class conditional statement it means that something may or may not be true.
That’s why this ‘if’ statement is suggesting a person’s salvation may or may not be true…depending on the person’s commitment or lack of one…NOT TALKING ABOUT LOSING YOUR SALVATION…BUT… perseverance is outward evidence of salvation…proof that a person is truly saved.
Faith does not come and go…it stays firmly fixed on Christ…those who persevere in their Christian life know that they have come to share in the inheritance with Christ.
…Thirdly…this is the idea that the ‘if’ in this verse indicates there’s a condition that we are saved only ‘if we hold fast’ hinting that salvation is achieved by what we do…rather than by Jesus’ finished work of the Cross…and that salvation can be lost.
Both are false concepts…you don’t earn your salvation and you can’t lose it.
But it is possible for believers to not hold fast to their belief…the Bible gives numerous instances where believers did not persevere or hold fast to the truth (1 Tim. 5:14-15; 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 1:5; 2:17-18, 24-26; 4:9-10, 14-16).
This is what’s known as apostasy…there are plenty of examples in the Bible of people who appeared to be saved who eventually walked away from the faith.
Brings up the question about belief versus saving belief? …even the demons believe, but that does not save them (James 2:19) …theologians point out differences in head knowledge versus a belief in the heart…indicating just a cognitive belief in Jesus isn’t enough, it requires a deeper kind of belief.
Hence the importance of being around other believers…of going to Church… being in a Bible study…the Bible teaches that surviving and thriving in a life of faith and love depends on Christians intentionally building up each other in faith and love.
Without intentional faith-building togetherness we lose our zeal…we drift from God…we become hardened in the deceitfulness of sin…as Christians…we are united by common beliefs…purposes…and goals…sharing in each other’s trials while also rejoicing in God’s blessings.
This verse is designed NOT to prevent the believer from suffering…nor hardships… nor persecution…nor the loss of salvation…but suffering the loss of rewards, by reverting into carnal Christianity or legalistic practices.
Rewards…honor…and glory come only to those who “hold fast” to the teachings of Jesus…holding fast does not imply anything about our ability…we hold fast by holding fast to the confidence in Christ’s suffering for us on the Cross for our salvation.
This goes back to sanctification…if you’re a Christian you have been set apart for use by God to fulfill an intended purpose…you have been sanctified.
BUT there’s more…the Greek word translated “sanctification” means “to make holy.” …in one sense only God is holy…no person shares the holiness of God… yet God calls on us to be holy as He is holy [1 Peter 1:16] …how do I do that?
You don’t because it’s impossible…when the writer of Hebrews and Paul uses the verb for “hold fast” (κατέχω) it is in relation to the Christian’s sanctification experience.
That word is not just a causal reference to how I might conduct my life…it means ‘I take possession.’
Here’s something about Christianity that most people fail to take notice of… being a Christian doesn’t mean just lackadaisically sitting back and doing nothing.
Sanctification is the ongoing transformation into Christlikeness…it never stops.
Sanctification is about persistence…AGAIN…sanctification is not a condition of salvation…it’s the result.
Sanctification begins at the moment of conversion and lasts throughout your life. It’s an on-going lifelong endeavor of becoming more like Christ…
I began this message by stating…the emphasis on persevering together as Christians…top priority in the Christian life is learning to battle unbelief and fight the fight of faith together.
It was never intended that Christians should go independently through life.
As a pastor…I survive and thrive in the ministry because God has surrounded me with people who pray for me.
As Christians we are called to preserve…we are in it for the long haul…when you commit to Christ it is a lifetime commitment…as a Christian you are called to set your face toward the goal…to hold fast…to never look back.
The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is founded in the promise that ‘He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.’ [Phil. 1:6]
Here’s the warning to all Christians…perseverance in godly living and believing the truth always accompanies genuine conversion [John 8:31 / Romans 2:7].