The Unconverted “Believer” (9): Faith unto the saving of the Soul

Acts 12 and God’s Deliverance of Peter

Today we read our New Testament reading which is Acts chapter 12 and here we read of the Lord's miraculous deliverance of his Apostle who was representing him there in Jerusalem as The Lord is protecting his people as they are taking the gospel to a hostile world.

Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with a sword and when he saw that it pleased the Jews He proceeded to arrest Peter.

Also This was during the days of unleavened bread and when he had seized him He put him in prison delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him Intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out on that very night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and centuries before the door were guarding the prison and Behold an angel of the Lord stood next to him and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him saying get up quickly and the chains fell off his hands. The angel said to him dress yourself and put on your sandals and he did so and he said to him Wrap your cloak around you and follow me and he went out and followed him.

He did not know That what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard they came to the iron gate leading into the city.

It opened for them on its own accord and they went out and went along one Street and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel to rescue me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

When he realized this he went to the house of Mary the mother of John whose other name was Mark Where many were gathered together and were praying and when he knocked at the door of the gateway a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer Recognizing Peter's voice in her joy.

She did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her you are out of your mind. But she kept insisting that it was so and they kept saying it is his angel.

But Peter continued knocking and when they opened they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent He described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said tell these things to James and to the brothers.

Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter and After Herod searched for him and did not find him. He examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.

Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now Herod was angry with the people of tyrants and Sidon and They came to him with one accord and having persuaded blast us the Kings Chamberlain.

They asked for peace because their country depended on the king's country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them and The people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man.

Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last but the Word of God increased and multiplied and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service bringing with them John whose other name was Mark.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer our Heavenly Father we thank you so much For the work that you have accomplished on our behalf. Lord we thank you for the acts of the Apostles and for all that they work that they accomplished we thank you for the example that that they have set for us and We pray Lord that we would remember these men that we would remember their testimony that we would remember their walk.

And their boldness and also their failures recognizing that we too are in danger of.

Of sin.

And so Lord we ask that you would protect us. We ask that you would keep us. We pray that as we worship you this morning that that we would be focused on what the Word of God states. We pray that the Spirit would convict us.

We pray that the Spirit would change us. We pray that we would leave here With a far holier frame of mind than we came with. And Lord, we just pray that to you be the glory. Thank you Lord in Jesus name.

Amen.

The Unconverted “Believer” and the Need for Assurance

Well, let's turn to the book of Hebrews this morning. And we're going to begin with just one verse and it's in Hebrews 10 verse 39. Today, of course the ninth Lord's Day that we've devoted to this very important subject the unconverted believer.

And we put believer in quotation marks. He's not a true believer or else. He'd be converted. The Word of God tells us of course that at the final judgment of mankind there will be multitudes of people On whom the Lord will pronounce damnation sentencing them to everlasting punishment.

Sadly however among them there will be many who had wrongly thought that they were Christians. That they had salvation through faith in Christ, but they will also be damned in their sins on the day of judgment.

And it's our desire and intention, of course With the Lord's help that no one. That no one with whom we have contact and a measure of influence may be numbered among those Unfortunate ones on that day and So our desires at the pot of the Apostle Paul, which he had toward those in the church at Thessalonica May the Lord establish your hearts blameless in holiness Before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints.

That's our desire. And so although some of these messages might be unsettling to some our desire is to of course secure the fact that we have salvation and not to trouble you with regard to it we By the time we get through with this We want you to have a sense of certainty and assurance and joy of what Christ accomplished for us.

Now in addressing this matter over these many weeks We've attempted to state the reasons why there are so many deceived with respect to their salvation. That they remain in an unconverted condition while thinking they are true Christians.

We've cited a number of reasons. First we've shown that there is a popular but degraded view of salvation itself as commonly published and embraced. Salvation is commonly reduced to that of only God forgiving forgiveness of sins but biblical salvation is Deliverance from all the effects of sin.

God not only justifies but sanctifies his people. For as we read in Hebrews here without holiness No one will see the Lord. Second we've also shown that all too frequently a faulty view of saving faith is popularly held.

That saving faith is present by simply believing who Jesus is and what he did to his life death and resurrection. But we've shown that saving faith is transformative and That it shows itself in the center repenting of all sin and submitting to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Saving faith is in Jesus as Lord not just as Savior as he's popularly presented. And Then thirdly we've shown that saving faith is often but wrongly assumed to be a one-time decision for Christ rather than initial faith at the beginning of a life of obedience to Christ the Lord and Fellowship with his people saving faith perseveres through life.

Onto full salvation of the soul at the date of judgment. Well today I want us to consider a portion of Scripture That touches really on all of these matters which if read and considered carefully sets forth the way of salvation that we've been declaring and So we want to consider the book of Hebrews.

We'll begin with but one verse Hebrews 10 39 it reads, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition. But those who believe to the saving of the soul. Take note this very sets for saving faith is enduring through life on to the soul's final salvation its future.

We see that saving faith is not a one-time decision if we've been asserting but further saving faith is persevering in nature and that it continues through all of life and. So also we see that the saving of the soul is a future Prospect which the writer elsewhere sets forth to be at the second coming of Christ.

The writer of this epistle was speaking of himself and his readers he speaks of we we are not of Those who draw back to perdition in contrast to some who apostatized from faith in the Lord Jesus believe only for a while and then stop believing.

Which results in their damnation or perdition? The writer was confident that he and his readers would persevere their faith on to the saving of their souls. And so this verse is somewhat of a concluding statement of the author's argument.

That's reflected really throughout the entire epistle. And so we're going to attempt to do something different today. Normally a sermon will focus on one several or maybe a number of verses in within a limited context of a book or an epistle.

But it's our desire today to set forth the message of this entire epistle to the Hebrews and Although this is somewhat unusual in its scope. It's really not an unreasonable effort. For the epistles of the New Testament upon their reception by churches were probably read in their entirety.

Before the gathered congregations in one setting at one occasion the initial occasion studied certainly thereafter, but initially read completely as a letter and. Interestingly regarding the book of Hebrews, although the book ends like a letter customary Greetings and whatnot Salutation at the end of the letter as all the other letters or epistles of the New Testament Hebrews begins in a form like the opening of a sermon.

It's quite different than the other epistles. And so it's very likely that Hebrews was a written sermon that was first delivered to a Christian congregation. Perhaps in the seventh decade of the first century in the 60s AD probably.

The writer himself did not think his epistle was very long. It's one of the longest ones, of course, but he didn't say he didn't think it was long. He refers to the entire epistle was written in few words.

Which he considered to be a word of exhortation, that's how he described this epistle. It's a word of exhortation. And so we'll attempt to set before us the message of this epistle.

In.

Relatively few words this morning. What then was the subject of this epistle this word of exhortation? If we could say it in a word. The writer was urging his Jewish Christian readers to persevere in their faith toward Jesus Christ.

Unto the full and final salvation of their souls. That's the message. Some background information would be helpful at this time in history the Christian faith was Increasingly regarded by the Roman Empire as an illegal and illegitimate religion.

The official religion of the Empire was paganism with its pantheon of gods and goddesses. However, Rome had long permitted freedom for the Jewish communities to practice their faith. There were Jewish synagogues large Jewish synagogues in many of the cities throughout the Roman Empire and for the first decades of the Christian era after the resurrection of Christ churches were comprised mostly of Jewish people and therefore Rome viewed Christianity as permissible as long as it was viewed as an extension or offshoot of Judaism.

But as Christianity spread throughout the Roman world and it became dominated by Gentile Christians and as the Jewish leadership Sought to distance Judaism from Christianity often in official context Rome increasingly viewed Christianity as an illegal religion and so persecution of Christians and their churches increased as the decades passed and By the time of the writing of the Hebrews the confiscation of property and the forfeiture of livelihood had already occurred for Christians and so the temptation was for Jewish Christians to abandon their claim to believe on Jesus as their Messiah and return to embrace fully and practice only the Jews religion.

For they thought they could do so and yet continue in favor with God after all they knew that God had created and sanctioned the Old Testament Jewish religion. Well, the writer of this epistle gave forth exhortation to his Jewish Christian readers that they must continue to believe in Jesus Christ.

If they were to abandon their faith and to deny Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would forfeit any hope of salvation. They must persevere in their faith in Jesus Christ if they hope to be saved if they hope to inherit everlasting life.

And so as the argument of the epistle unfolds the writer showed forth the superiority of Jesus Christ and What he Christ gives to believers that far outstrips anything that previous Jewish generations received or enjoyed from God.

He showed that though God had originated and revealed all that had formerly been believed and practiced by the Jews God himself had been moving forward in history. God had arrived at his ages-long purpose to bring into reality the Christian faith of the New Testament.

That which had existed before was preparatory for the present Realization through Jesus Christ there is fulfillment and finality in Jesus Christ. Who superseded all that had gone on before come before and therefore?

Abandoning Jesus Christ and going back was not an option. One must continue in faith in Christ. Overcoming all obstacles and during every trial that might prevent them from persevering in faith in Jesus Christ because only those who persevere in faith Are true believers who will inherit all the promises that God has given through Christ.

That is salvation and all that it encompasses. Now, let me say a word about this very important matter of perseverance. One of the five doctrines of the historic Protestant faith the Reformed faith is the fifth point.

Which is the perseverance of the Saints. It is a biblical truth That the Lord will preserve his people by grace throughout life on to their final salvation and. So here is a good definition of this biblical doctrine.

Those who are the elect of God who are recipients of God's effectual call. Having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit led to repent of sin and believe on Christ for salvation. Shall never fall away so as to perish.

Now they can backslide, but they can't fall away permanently. But will be kept by the power of God unto salvation which is reserved for them in heaven. God will enable all true Christians to persevere in the faith.

God guards and secures his people in that they are kept by the power of God. You don't keep yourself in salvation. God keeps you in salvation by his power. Through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

True Christians can never fall away. God will not permit that to occur. God has promised I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good. But I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me.

There is your promise of perseverance and we can multiply the verses that speak to that a true Christian Can never become a non-christian. Can never lose his salvation. But there are actually two aspects to this doctrine of perseverance.

One is God's responsibility which we just recited and That God himself has promised and is committed to enable his elect to persevere in faith throughout life. But the other is the believers responsibility and that he is to guard himself and keep himself in faith and obedience throughout life.

And of course the perseverance on the part of believers can and will only occur because of the grace of God at work in them. As we've already said the Lord will give grace to enable his people to persevere.

Nevertheless, it's their responsibility. It's your responsibility to cleave to him in faith. You must do it. So the righteous will hold to his way as the scriptures say and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

This is the grace of God working in his people. God moves his people enabling them to embrace the promises of Scripture while they also heed the warnings of Scripture. And so through these two means the promises and warnings of God his people continue in their faith onto their final and full salvation.

And the book of Hebrews contains both promises and warnings of God so that his people will continue in their faith and So the Christian is to believe and to follow to obey to embrace The promises of God and the warnings of God taking them to heart.

So they can live in persevering faith and thereby inherit all the promises of God in Jesus Christ. Now as we stand back and look at the entire epistle of Hebrews It may be analyzed according to seven major sections.

These include first the finality of Christianity, I'm not going to repeat the verses there, but you have them in your notes. Second the true home of the people of God. The third division is the high priesthood of Jesus Christ.

The fourth the priestly order of Melchizedek. Fifth the covenant sanctuary and sacrifices. Six the call to worship faith and perseverance and seventh last including exhortation and prayer. But in addition to these seven major divisions of the epistle there are four places in which the author pauses from addressing his subject setting forth his argument in order to Declare a direct admonition to his readers as to their responsibility.

They're like little interjections of a word of caution or warning. There are sharply worded warnings to persevere in faith in Jesus Christ unto salvation. And so these war for warning passages sometimes they're referred to as Paranetic passages the adjective paranetic means a word of application direct application.

These four warning passages include first the gospel and the law chapter 2. Second the rejection of Jesus more serious than the rejection of Moses chapter 3. Third spiritually immaturity is addressed chapter 5 and then forth the willful sin of apostasy and that is where we pulled our first verse from that portion of Hebrews 10 and so let's work through this epistle and as we do we'll give special attention to these four warning Passages that God has given us in his holy word and so first the finality of Christianity chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 18.

The writer began his epistle by declaring that God has given to his people the full and final revelation of himself and his purposes through Jesus Christ.

In.

Doing so he declares the legitimacy of the truth of God contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. I. Testament. But that through Jesus Christ God has revealed himself much more thoroughly and completely. God has brought the salvation that he had long promised through the death Resurrection and exaltation of his son.

And so here's Hebrews 1 1 through 4. It's a very by the way high literary Greek. It would have served well as an introductory statement at the beginning of a sermon in a Jewish synagogue or a Christian church.

God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Has in these last days spoken to us by his son. Whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the worlds.

Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. The writer acknowledged that God had revealed his word in the past he had spoken. He had spoken to the Jewish patriarchs to his prophets.

And God had given these spokesmen the ability to communicate his will his ways his word to his people and Yet as true and valid as God's message was through them. God's revelation of himself through his son Jesus Christ.

Far surpassed what he had revealed through those prophets in the Old Testament. The revelation of Jesus Christ is much fuller and it's complete. Over what went before the quality and finality of God's revelation was far superior.

That came through his son Jesus Christ. He sets forth Christ as God's eternal Son. Who was with him in the beginning through whom God had created the world and to whom God promised that he would inherit all things.

And the writer shows both the superior quality and the finality of God's revelation of his word through Jesus Christ. And what is implied here and it stated overtly later to reject Jesus Christ and return to the Jews.

Religion as set forth in the Hebrew Scriptures is to reject. Really the fullness and fulfillment of all that God had promised to his people through the Hebrew Scriptures. The Old Testament pointed to and saw its realization in Christ the Son of God.

And so to use a metaphor later found in the Book, it would be turning from the substance of things in Jesus Christ to the shadows of those things in the Old Testament Scriptures. The writer then set forth the glory of the person of the Lord Jesus as the eternal Son of God.

And he did so with particular emphasis on the superior nature and authority of the Son of God over the angels. Whereas the holy angels were ministers and messengers on behalf of God God had exalted his son to be king over an everlasting kingdom.

And so he wrote the beginning Wrote beginning with verse 5 for to which of the angels did he ever say. And the rhetorical response is none of them. You are my son today. I have begotten you. This is a quoted verse elsewhere in the New Testament referring to his resurrection.

And again, I will be to him a father. He should be to me a son. But we he again brings the firstborn into the world he says let all the angels of God worship him. And. Of the angels he says who makes his angel spirits as ministers a flame of fire.

Yeah, they were wonderful. They were glorious but in contrast to the Sun he says much more. I'm paraphrasing your throne. Oh God, we read that earlier in Psalm 45, didn't we your throne? Oh God is forever and ever.

That's one of the clearest statements of Jesus's deity in the New Testament. Your throne. Oh God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You've loved righteousness hated lawlessness.

Therefore God your God that's God. The Father has anointed you. That's his son with the oil of gladness more than your companions. And so he was exalted even above the angels. The question needs to be answered.

Why did the writer give so much emphasis to Jesus Christ to be far above the angels and It's because the Jews believed that much if not Most of the Mosaic Law had been delivered by God to them through the ministration of angels.

Yeah, God spoke through Moses, but much of the information that God gave to Moses was through mediation of angels and Stephen declares this back in Acts 7 and. So Jesus is shown to be vastly superior to the angels to prove that God's Revelation of his word through Jesus is far greater than the law that had been delivered to the people by angels.

That's his whole point. And so if these Jewish Christians abandoned Jesus Christ and returned to believing and practicing the law as delivered through Moses they would be returning to a system of faith and practice that all those legitimate and Authoritatively given by God was but preparatory and of less importance and relevance than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That they would be abandoning. Well, it's after he makes his case that the writer inserts a warning and here is where we come to the first of four words of admonition or exhortation and it's set forth in Hebrews 2 1 through 4.

It is the implication and the application of what he had set forth regarding the full revelation of God through Jesus Christ. Here it is. Therefore we he know he includes himself the writer of the Christian.

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away. Things we've heard is about Christ through the Apostles. For if the word spoken through the angels proof steadfast that law of Moses and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward Punishment of death.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him the Apostles God also buried witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

According to his own will those miracles and signs of the Apostles Authenticated their witness that they were true spokesmen on behalf of the Lord. And so the writer compares and contrast a great accountability that the Jews had toward God's law With the great privilege that Christians have toward that which God has revealed through Jesus Christ.

He cautioned his readers About departing from this truth and returning to pre-christian Jewish faith and practice. God had progressed and passed beyond what he had formally revealed to his people but now they'd better be watchful and careful and Using the analogy of a boat unwittingly drifting past a safe harbor entrance.

The writer warned his readers not to allow themselves to drift away from the safe mooring that's in Jesus Christ. To do so would be far greater peril to their eternal well-being that even the apostates to the Mosaic Law had encountered.

If the law of God required execution of everyone who defied and rebelled against Mosaic Law in the days of Israel the Punishment of God will be much more severe for those who neglect or turn away from Jesus Christ.

And this is especially true since God so amply testified to the Legitimacy of his truth through Christ and his apostles by the miracles of the Holy Spirit Who enabled them to perform these miracles. God had stamped authenticity Regarding his apostles and their message.

And he'll hold severely accountable those who turn from that which he had so graciously revealed to them. So the writer urged him to repent of their thoughts of defection. They could be assured that God would forgive them of their unbelief if they repented and continued to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

God had exalted him to his very throne. The Lord himself would be sympathetic with them in their weakness for he Jesus underwent similar temptations in which he was threatened faced great difficulty and even suffered death and therefore he is able to come to the aid of his people when they are tempted and When you're tempted to walk away from the faith.

The Lord Jesus knows What kind of difficulty you're enduring and he's able to help you to get through it. Well now we come to the second major section of the epistle the true home of the people of God.

Chapter 3 through verse 13 of chapter 4 this next major section compares in contrast the promised land held forth and to Israel in the Old Testament and Heaven which is the true home of the people of God.

The writer first declares Jesus Christ worthy of far greater glory than even Moses as great as he was. The comparative glory of each one may be assessed in the light of the house of God. That is the householder family of God to which each of them were associated both Moses and Jesus.

Moses was faithful in all of God's house. He was a faithful servant or steward as God had appointed him. But Jesus Christ is the actual builder and owner of the house of God. And so the implication is that devotion and commitment to Jesus Christ?

Superseded obligation to Moses and the covenant which God had enacted with Israel through him and. So here's Hebrews 3 verses 1 through 6. Therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling. That's effectual calling.

Consider the Apostle and high priest of our confession Christ Jesus Apostle means one sent God the Father sent him and he's a high priest who was faithful to him. That is the father who appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all his house.

For this one Christ has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone but he who built all things is God and Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken of spoken afterward.

But Christ is a son over his own house. Whose house are we and notice this conditional sentence. Whose house? We are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. You have to continue in faith.

Temporary believers do not have salvation. The writer then urged his readers not to reject following Jesus Christ, which was the which was unbelief in him. If the first generation of Israelites who had rejected Moses due to unbelief Suffered the fortune forfeiture of entering the the land that God had promised to them.

Remember they were consigned to wilderness. Wandering in death for 40 years. How much greater tragedy would be for those who forsake their faith and following Jesus? Who would lead them to a far greater homeland heaven and this brings us to the second word of exhortation a Word of admonition in chapter 3 verses 7 through 19.

This is the longest of the four. Therefore as the Holy Spirit says Today if you will hear his voice I want to interject this. God doesn't speak through prophets today. God doesn't reveal his will or word to through dreams or visions, but God does still speak to us.

The writer is quoting the Old Testament written a thousand years before but he says the Holy Spirit says to us and then quotes Old Testament Scripture and the Holy Spirit speaking to us today as we quote scripture.

This is how God speaks to his people. The Holy Spirit says not said once said we'll say the Holy Spirit says to us today if you will hear his voice. Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness when your father's tested me tried me.

Saw my works 40 years and therefore I was angry with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart. And they have not known my way. So I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest.

Beware brethren lest there be in any of you Christians an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily. This is what we're debating as Christians. This is why it's broken down in the last year where we haven't been able to have the kind of one-on-one Fellowship with one another we're to exhort one another daily.

This is one of the means of grace That God has given us exhort one another daily. Lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin sin will deceive you. Unless you have a Christian brothers and sisters exhorting you.

For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Lifelong faith not a one-time decision. Well, it said today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as they did back then under.

For who having heard rebelled indeed was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses now with whom was he got angry Forty years was it not with those who sinned whose corpses fell in the wilderness and to whom did he swear that they would not Enter his rest the promised land, but to those who did not obey so we see they could not enter in because of unbelief and so here in this second or that this warning passage this admonition we have this Absolute necessity to persevere and faith that Jesus Christ in order to have salvation.

Verse 14. We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Well with chapter 4 the writer continues his appeal. He reasons that the Old Testament promised land was the promised rest for the people of God After they had labored hard and long under Egyptian bondage.

But the writer then argued that the land of Canaan was but a foreshadowing of the true land of rest that God promised his people. The true rest for the people of God is heaven in Which they would dwell as God's people in the presence of God.

The Israelites had forfeited their entrance into the earthly promised land through unbelief Which was shown in their disobedience and professing Christians will forfeit their entrance into heaven if they abandon Jesus Christ.

Christians should take heed to persevere in their faith in following Jesus Christ or they'll forfeit entering their heaven rest. Just as the unbelieving Israelites of that first generation out of Egypt had failed to enter their earthly rest.

And so here's Hebrews 4 1 through 5. Therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest. Let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them.

But the word that they heard did not profit them not being mixed with faith and those who heard it. For we who have believed to enter that rest as he has said so I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest.

And then after proving from the Old Testament scriptures that Joshua had not really brought God's people into their true land to promise their promised rest the writer proved from Scripture. He quoted David.

Hundreds of years later spoke of another rest. He quoted David from the Psalms. Proving there was yet a true promise rest. Before professing Christians to which the Lord Jesus would bring them if they continued to follow him in faith.

We won't read that passage, but it's it's identified there. And this brings us to the third major section of the epistle in which we read of the high priesthood of Christ. This is a longer section. Going from chapter 4 verse 14 through chapter 6 20.

Well knowing the difficulty and continuing in faith in the face of what threatened them. The writer encourages readers that God's grace was available to help them. You can't do it by yourself. Obviously, and so it's at this point.

He introduces Jesus as the true high priest of God's people. So here's Hebrews 4 14 through 16 saying 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.

He gives the reason why. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us in our weaknesses. But was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When you're struggling in the Christian life and you realize you're not going to make it unless the Lord gives you help. It's because of Jesus Christ high priesthood that he's able to give you the Holy Spirit.