Hebrews 3:5-6 "And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end."
This verse is saying that Jesus comes to live in us when we are born again. We become His house or His expression in our physical body when we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. What confidence do we hold fast? Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus by Himself purged our sins. We are to hold fast this confession, that Jesus has purged our sins, from the beginning of our faith to the day we leave this earth.
Hebrews 3:7-11 "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years......" These verses used to condemn me before I understood it. When we have a sin consciousness, we will always see verses from a condemning standpoint.
What did we hear that God is speaking to us in Hebrews 1:2-3? When we hear His voice, what is He saying? He is speaking to us through His Son, that Jesus had by Himself purged our sins. We are not to harden our hearts to the gospel, that our sins are purged by Jesus.
Hebrews 3:12-15 "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today", lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
As we shall see, an evil heart of unbelief is an evil conscience within us that causes us to depart or draw away from God due to fear of punishment. We must hold fast to the idea that Jesus shed His blood to purge our sins. This idea cleanses us from an evil conscience so that we can draw near to God in full assurance and without fear of punishment. Sin is deceitful in two ways. It causes our conscience to condemn us when God is not condemning us. Jesus purged our sins. We do not have to be afraid of punishment from God. Sin can be deceitful in another way. We may know our sins are purged. But when we sin, we still suffer earthly consequences. So sin is deceitful in two ways.
Again, we are to hold the beginning of our confidence, that our sins were purged by Jesus, steadfast to the end. If we don't hear at the beginning of our faith that the sins of our entire lifetime were purged, how can we hold that steadfast to the end? This is not a subject for mature believers only. Every person needs to hear upfront that Jesus paid for the sins of our entire lifetime, past, present and future. We hold to this idea from the time we hear it to the time we leave this earth.
Hebrews 3:18-19 "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Our obedience under the New Testament is to believe the gospel. When we believe it, we find rest for our conscience, which has been trained to condemn us when we fail. The reference to not obeying is unbelief in the gospel. When we hold to the Old Testament idea that we are forgiven one sin at a time, we are in unbelief of the gospel spoken in Hebrews 1:3, that Jesus had by Himself purged our sins.
Hebrews 4:10-14 "For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God (the gospel or word of righteousness) 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. 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. 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."
Our conscience finds rest as we hold fast to the gospel and stop trying to find approval before God by our works. We do good works to benefit those around us, but not to try and please God. Jesus purged our sins on the cross. That is why God is pleased with us. The word of God, specifically the gospel or word of righteousness, will divide between spirit, soul and body. It will discern the thoughts and intents of our heart. As we shall see in chapter 5, it will discern both a good conscience and an evil conscience within us. An evil conscience causes us to pull away from God due to fear of punishment. The gospel will cleanse our evil conscience. The gospel will also discern a good conscience within us, causing us to live honorably before men. The way this happens is by holding fast our confession that Jesus has purged our sins. Notice also verse 11 uses the word fall and disobedience. We fall back to an Old Testament mindset when we disobey by not believing the gospel. This disobedience is not when we commit a sin.
I hope this is making the book of Hebrews clear. We must learn to separate the Old and New Testaments, otherwise we will be left in confusion and fear. Jesus purged our sins. He bore the punishment for the sins of our entire lifetime. That is the gospel. When people hear that their sins are forgiven, many people hear that as only their past sins. But Jesus paid for sins, past, present and future. He did not give us an installment plan!
Keith Oliver
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