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I've been reading this week about Protestants, Evangelicals who leave
Evangelicalism and go to the Roman Catholic Church. Why do
Protestants leave and go back to Rome? One writer said, sometimes it's historical.
They want tradition. They think that the Reformation was really rebellion and so they want to go back to Rome.
Some say it's theological. The doctrines of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide and Sola Gratia and the other
Solas. And maybe people aren't convinced that those are true and so they go back to Rome.
Sometimes it's social issues. The world has become so secular and so pagan, they think that Roman Catholics have kind of an anchoring when it comes to social issues and so they leave to Rome.
Others have left Evangelical circles because they say, I've had a bad experience in my church, my
Evangelical church. I don't like fundamentalism and so I leave. Others say,
I'd like to have some authority. I want papal authority. I want someone at the top who runs the show so I don't need to think about debates and arguments.
Just tell me what the Bible says and I'll take your word on it. And others say we're leaving Evangelicalism because there's too much schism, too many denominations.
Jesus wants us to be one and therefore we're going to leave to the one true church.
But the more I think about it, when people leave Evangelicalism, when people leave the Protestant denominations and go back to Rome, I think the main thing that's driving them is the search for experience.
Incense, the liturgy, high church, symbolism, vestments, architecture, scents, tactile, sensual things.
But here's the problem. It's the same problem that the people in the book of Hebrews were experiencing.
They were tempted to leave Jesus to go back to things that they could see and smell and taste.
They thought Jesus was fine, but they were beckoned to go back to this high church,
Judaism as it were, back to ceremonial law. And so today, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter three, don't be tempted to leave
Evangelicalism. Don't be tempted to go to Rome, back to Rome, and don't be tempted to go back to the
Old Testament types and shadows and ceremonies when you have Jesus.
If you have Jesus, you have everything. You don't need anything else. Maybe you don't have a good building.
Maybe you don't have, well, a good parking lot. But if Jesus is preached from the pulpit, you have everything.
And so we want things that we can taste and touch and smell and feel. The writer knows that, and he's trying to tell these listeners they weren't gonna go back to Rome.
They were gonna go back to Judaism. And he said, you know what? You need to just sit down.
Think about who Jesus is before you go anywhere. A .M.
Hodgkin said of this book, the book of Hebrews, the glories of our
Savior are exhibited in this epistle. It is one of the most precious books in the Bible. It has been called the fifth gospel.
Four gospels describe Christ's ministry on earth. This book, Hebrews, describes
His ministry in heaven. It was written to Hebrew disciples, probably of Jerusalem, to avert the danger of drifting back into Judaism, into formality, into ceremonies.
They are exhorted to let go everything else in order to hold fast to the faith and hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Little personal anecdote here. I am so happy that I waited till I've been here 20 years before I started preaching the book of Hebrews, because while I don't know everything,
I know a lot more than I did 20 years ago and can appreciate the depths and riches of this book.
Friends, there's no book like it because no other book says, let's talk about Jesus and let's look at Him from every aspect.
And it's not just enough to say, well, have you accepted Jesus in your heart? Yes. Okay, move on.
This writer won't let you move on. He won't let you pass who the incarnate
Jesus is. He wants you to just sit down, settle in, and take a good long look at Jesus.
And this applies not for those that are just getting persecuted, but if you've got any trouble in your life, any issues in your life, finances, health, anything else, the answer is not found in us.
The answer is found in the person of another. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we come now to this second main division in the book of Hebrews. The first two chapters talking about Jesus is great because He's the
Son, the incarnate Son. He's greater than angels, greater than the prophets. He is great.
And now we move to chapter three. He's even better than Moses. Now remember,
He's writing to people who love Moses. They're Hebrew people. And He says, as great as Moses is,
Jesus is better. And in typical style of the New Testament, and particularly the book of Hebrews, He gives you the exposition of faithfulness, and then
He gives you a warning. He tells you what to do, and then He tells you why you should do it. The exhortation, then the grounds of the exhortation.
So I'm gonna read chapter three. Wes Blackstone said, do you think you're gonna get through verse 17 anytime in the next few weeks before you go to Germany?
I said, you've got to be kidding me. I'm not even gonna finish verse one probably. So I will at least read the whole chapter so you know where we're gonna go.
And you'll see at the beginning, an exhortation, and then you'll see verse seven and following, the warning.
Look for themes. Look for repeated thoughts and concepts as I read Hebrews chapter three.
Therefore, holy brothers who share in a heavenly calling, consider
Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession who was faithful to Him, who appointed
Him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.
For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now, Moses was faithful in all
God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.
And we are His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and boasting in our hope.
Now here comes the warning. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion or as in the rebellion.
On the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years.
Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways.
As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living
God, but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today. That none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
As it is said today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion.
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years?
Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that he would not enter, that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Now, if you take a look at chapter 3 verse 1 and chapter 4 verse 14, you're going to see those are the bookends.
This is the section that's talking about Jesus is the faithful high priest. Notice some of the exact same words in 3 .1
and 4 .14. Makes it very easy for you to figure out what's going on. If you look at verse 1 of chapter 3, you'll see words like Jesus, high priest, heaven, and confession.
And don't you see those exact same words are very close to it in verse 14 of chapter 4?
This is the next section. Since then, Hebrews 4 .14, we have a great high priest, that's mentioned in 3 .1,
who is pastor of the heavens, that's mentioned in verse 1, heaven. Jesus, He's mentioned in verse 1.
The Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. That word confession also is used.
This next section is from 3 .1 to 4 .14, talking about Jesus, the high priest of our confession.
And He's changing style in chapter 3 verse 1 now. Therefore, holy brothers. He's using direct address.
He's looking right at them and preaching right at them. And He's going to say,
Jesus is greater than Moses. Moses is great, but Jesus is greater. What's He driving at?
He's driving at belief, that you keep on believing. Question you should ask yourself at the very beginning is, do
I believe in the revealed Lord Jesus Christ? And He's gonna talk about how great
Moses is, but Jesus is greater. Now, last time we saw verse 1, consider
Jesus. That's the main imperative driving everything. Remember what the writer was doing?
Think about Jesus. Have a remedy put before you. When you have the trials in your life and the persecutions in your life,
I set before you Jesus and think down on Him. Not think poorly about Him. Not think in a negative way, but the
Greek word to think down. That is, it's almost like you're grinding yourself down. You're tightening your mind to this concept, so you fix your thoughts, so you notice, so you observe.
Remember, Jesus used the same word. Consider the lilies of the field. Put your mind into something.
Reflectively study. Here's what He's saying. The immaturity that you have, the insecurity that you have, the trouble that you have is because you fix your mind on other things.
What's that old gospel song? Stay it on Jesus, fix your mind on Jesus. Does anybody know it?
I can't remember it, so I was hoping you would. When there's a preoccupation with self and current events and issues and persecution and health, there's going to be trouble.
Alexander McLaren said, an all -important exercise is of the mind and heart.
I fear this consideration is woefully neglected by the average Christian today.
I have said that the word consider implies an awakened interest, a fixed and steady gaze, and that is almost the alpha and the omega of the
Christian life. So to live in the continual contemplation of Jesus, our pattern, and our
Redeemer is the secret of all Christian vitality and vigor.
It's not even hyperbole. What McLaren said is actually true, and the writer knows it. Consider who
Jesus is. Took a walk yesterday with my dog, and you know
I'm not really charismatic or anything like that. I love charismatics, but I'm not one.
But I have my almost charismatic moments when I'm walking my dog up in the orchard.
If I ever was going to be one, it would be in the orchard. And I'm just thinking the goodness of God and the greatness of God.
There are the apple trees, and there are the ponds, and there's the other trees, and there's my dog.
And there's the sky. And I'm just thinking the goodness of God. And these aren't even things that are related to forgiveness and eternal life, just how good
God is. And I thought, you know what? It's always good if you're the preacher to do what the passage says before you preach it.
And so I thought, I'm just gonna take a walk today, and I'm gonna do nothing except try to think about who Jesus is. Isn't that, after all, what he's trying to tell us to do?
My mother, when she would have chemotherapy, she would just think about Jesus using the alphabet.
I've told you this story many times. And she'd just think, I'm gonna look, I'm gonna start with the alphabet, because I've got troubles, and my mind's fixed on, focused on, secured on my problems.
And so what do I know about Jesus that starts with an A? He's almighty. What do
I know about Jesus that starts with a B? He's beautiful, she would say, or bold.
What do I know about Jesus that starts with a C? He's compassionate. What do I know about Jesus that starts with a D? He's a deliverer.
What do I know about Jesus that starts with an E? He's my everything. I don't know, I'm just, I don't know what she would say.
And before you know it, you're thinking about things the right way. So instead of having the screen door in front of you about problems, issues, persecution, finances, everything else, and then
Jesus is there, you're seeing all your problems rightly through the lens, through the grid, through the screen door of who
Jesus is. This isn't just good advice. These people needed to be told that, and he directly tells them, think about Jesus.
So I ask the question, did you think about Jesus this week?
Say, well, I'm busy, I had only 167 hours to think this week, one less than normal.
If we just did this on our own, I don't think there'd be any command for it. But see, here's the issue.
Say, I want assurance of my salvation. I want to live a faithful life. The writer of Hebrews says it starts with faith in Jesus and it will lead to faithfulness.
It starts with considering Jesus the object of your faith and it will lead to faithfulness. Don't you see it in verse six?
If indeed we hold fast our confidence and boasting in our hope. Everything that is talking about Jesus and focusing on him is a means to the end to believe and to keep on believing and then to live a faithful life.
Verse 14 of chapter three, for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Chapter four, verse 14, hold fast our confession. Chapter six, verse 18, hold fast to the hope set before us.
Chapter 10, hold fast the confession of our hope. So what the writer is doing is saying, if you want to be faithful and you should want that, it starts with faith in Jesus and be reminded about who
Jesus is. That's generally what's going on. Now let's look at specifics. Let me give you some considerations.
If you want an outline today, I don't know how many considerations, several considerations.
It's just so much easier. If I tell you six, we're never gonna make it. I might change my mind.
By the way, do you notice we don't have a little fill in the blank outlines? I didn't get that much sleep last night, so I better be careful on how
I say it, but I have tenure. Preach little outlines that you give to people, fill in the blank outlines.
When your sermon's no good, you give the congregation a fill in the blank outline. That's how that works. Same with PowerPoint.
When you can't preach, use PowerPoint. I think that's what you do. You don't need PowerPoint or fill in the blanks when you have the text before your very eyes.
So, Jesus is the center of everything. We're told to consider Him. What are some specifics?
Number one, the first consideration of Jesus and what He's done. Consider that He made you holy.
Holy brothers. This is God's work. Do you see it in verse one? Therefore, holy brothers.
The therefore is linking the end of chapter two. Jesus is the high priest. He's merciful. He's made propitiation.
He suffered. He's able to help. Therefore, holy brothers. They haven't been called this in the book so far.
Holy. Holy brothers. They haven't been addressed like this.
This means affection. This means consecration. How were they made holy?
Well, if you go back to chapter one, verse three, we know the answer to this question because it relates directly to Jesus and considering Him.
Hebrews 1 .3. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. And He upholds the universe by the word of His power.
After making purification for sins, that's our sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
While He hasn't used the word holy, that I know of, He has used another word, verse 11. It's the same idea.
Chapter two, verse 11. He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.
That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers. Okay, let's think about it for a second.
We're to think about who this Jesus is. What in particular? Well, He's made us holy brothers. I asked myself the question yesterday.
Before God positionally made me a saint and you a saint and He made us holy positionally set apart for His use, what were we?
What were you? What was I? Unholy?
Ephesians four says, this is what we were. We were darkened in our understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.
They become callous, giving themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Hey, listeners to this epistle being read. Hey, BBC listeners, think about Jesus and He's the one that cleansed you.
He's the one that purified you. How can you go back to the old system of Judaism and go back?
That can't clean you. That can clean you on the outside, but it can't clean you on the inside. Jesus has made you holy.
Remember years ago, at least when I was a kid, we would read the Guinness Book of World Records and then the book of lists came out.
Remember the book of lists? Had all kinds of lists. I found a book called
Meredith's Big Book of Bible Lists. 1980, and it gives 31 descriptions that are exactly opposite of being holy.
Jesus saved us when we were like this. I'm gonna read you the list. Alienated from God, Ephesians 4.
Blind, John 12. Carnally minded, Romans 8.
Corrupt, Matthew 7. Darkened, Matthew 6. Dead in sin,
John 5. Deceived, Titus 3. Filthy, Isaiah 64.
Destitute of truth, Romans 1. Disobedient, Matthew 7. An enemy of God, James 4.
Evil, Matthew 6. Foolish, Matthew 7. Going astray, 1
Peter 2. Hateful, Titus 3. Hypocritical, Matthew 6.
Impenitent, Romans 2. Malicious, Titus 3. Envious, Titus 3.
Pleasure loving, 2 Thessalonians 2. Proud, Romans 1. Refusing belief,
John 3. Rejecting truth, 2 Timothy 4. Resisting God, Acts 7.
Guided by Satan, John 8. Lovers of self, 2 Timothy 3.
Self -satisfied, Revelation 3. Slaves to sin, Romans 6. Subordinating God, Romans 1.
Unconscious of bondage, Romans 7. Unrighteous, 1 Corinthians 6.
Vain in their imaginations, Romans 1. How's that for a resume?
And yet, Jesus Christ, believer, made you holy. Clean, washed.
How could we go back now to our old forms of religion when Jesus did that for us?
We're holy. When you realize what God has done for you, then you respond almost like Romans 12, verse 1.
This is your reasonable form of service and worship, is it not? Did you know no unholy people get to heaven?
Did you know they're cast out? Do you know that it says in the book of Revelation that if you're not holy, you're not going to be with a thrice holy
God in heaven? Revelation 21, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end to the thirsty.
I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his
God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
But God has cleansed you and now God has purchased heaven for you and so what's the response when someone did that for you?
I can't go back to these old systems. Listen to what the
Belgic Confession says and say to yourself as I read this, I am so glad I'm cleansed. I'm so glad I'm holy.
I'm so glad Jesus did this for me. Our Lord Jesus will come from heaven bodily and visibly as he ascended with great glory and majesty to declare himself the judge of the living and the dead.
He will burn this old world in fire and flame in order to cleanse it.
Then all human creatures will appear in person before the great judge, men, women, and children who have lived from the beginning until the end of the world.
They will be summoned there by the voice of the archangel and by the sound of the divine trumpet. Then the books will be opened and the dead will be judged according to the things they did in this world.
All people will give account. The secrets and hypocrisies of men will be publicly uncovered in the sight of all.
With good reason, the thought of this judgment is horrible and dreadful to wicked and evil people, but it is very pleasant and a great comfort to the righteous and elect since their total redemption will then be accomplished.
Then they will receive the fruits of their labor and of the trouble they have suffered. Their innocence will be openly recognized by all and they will see the terrible vengeance that God will bring on the evil ones who have tyrannized, oppressed, and tormented them in this world.
The evil ones will be convicted by the witness of their own consciences and shall be made immortal, but only to be tormented in everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
In contrast, the faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honor.
The Son of Man will confess their names before God his Father and the holy and elect angels.
All tears will be wiped from their eyes and their cause at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil officers will be acknowledged as the cause of the
Son of God. And as a gracious reward, the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the heart of man could never imagine.
So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. And that's all because Jesus made us holy brothers.
Jesus sanctifies, Jesus cleanse, Jesus purges.
Well, that's not all he did. Second consideration, Jesus made you holy brothers, but he also gave you a heavenly calling.
Do you see that in chapter three, verse one? Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling.
Sometimes in the scripture, it's called holy calling or upward calling. Here it's called a heavenly one.
Why? Because God was in heaven calling you. It has its initiation from God and it's also the final destination.
That's where the goal is. The security's in heaven. These people got this book and they're getting persecuted.
They're on the run, but their security's in heaven because Jesus has purchased them. Calling is in heaven, both its origin,
God called himself, called us to himself rather, and destination. We're partakers of that.
What's the writer trying to say? There's a special, intimate, unique relationship. Yeah, I live on earth, but I have a heavenly calling.
Spurgeon said, what a wonderful title, shares in heavenly calling, called of God from among the worlds.
Our occupation and our calling henceforth is to serve the Lord. Heavenly calling means a call from heaven.
If man alone called you, you're uncalled. Is your calling of God? Is it a call to heaven as well as a call from heaven?
Unless you are a stranger here and heaven is your home, you have not been called with a heavenly calling. Third consideration found in verse one, consider
Jesus the apostle. Consider Jesus the apostle. It's right there in verse one.
Consider Jesus the apostle. Now there are three kinds of apostles in the
Bible. There's the one kind of apostle like Paul or like Peter or James and John.
They've seen the resurrected Jesus. I call that capital A apostle.
There's a general term apostle, just means messenger. That's a lowercase a apostle.
And then there's apostle with all caps, capital A, capital P, et cetera. And that's here used,
I don't know if it's used any place else in scripture of Jesus the apostle. The apostle of all the apostles is
Jesus. And the apostle just means one who sent. Jesus said, Peter, James and John and the rest of the 12,
I send you. Well, Jesus is called the sent one. The writer says,
I want you to just think about that. Consider Jesus. Contemplate what he came to do.
Now, did you know, I didn't know this. Second Temple Judaism, they kind of gave the title apostle to Moses.
I can't find any place in scripture where he's called Moses. Maybe you could look at Exodus 3 .10
and maybe somehow surmise it. He's gonna talk about Moses soon enough, but early on, he front loads it and says,
Jesus is the apostle. He's the sent one. He proclaims the name of God. He gives the message from God.
He does what God has him to do. Now, you're gonna think I'm taking a detour, but you're gonna be so glad I did once you make the connection.
Turn to Exodus chapter 33, please. Exodus 33. This is in the realm of thinking about God, the
Father, sending the Son. What did he send the Son to do?
Now, in light of that, let's go back to Exodus chapter 33, verse seven.
Remember, it's been chaos on the ground. There's idolatry.
There's false worship. There's sexual immorality. It is, it's the drudge report on steroids is what it is.
And now Exodus 33, verse seven. I'm gonna read several verses so the context is set by the reading itself.
Chapter 33, verse seven. Now, Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting.
And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch
Moses until he had gone to the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the cloud, the pillar of cloud, would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent.
The Lord would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at its tent door.
Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.
When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
And now Moses begins to intercede for the people. Verse 17, please.
And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken, I will do.
For you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name. Moses said, don't miss this, please show me your glory.
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But he said, you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live.
And the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me where you shall stand on the rock and while my glory passes by,
I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I've passed by. Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.
Idolatry has been crazy. God, I want to see who you are.
I wanna see you for who you are. Give me self -disclosure. I'm gonna need it.
There's all these people. I need a spiritual boost so I might lead them. Chapter 34, verse one, the
Lord said to Moses, cut for yourself two tablets of the stone like the first, remember what happened to the first set, and I will write on the tablets of the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.
Be ready by the morning, come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
No one shall come up with you and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.
So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. He rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai as the
Lord commanded him and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. I was at the dentist a couple of days ago and he knows
I'm a pastor. So sometimes, you know, when people know you're religious, they like to kind of talk about religious things and demonstrate to you what they don't really know they think they know.
And he started telling me about the Old Testament God and the New Testament God. And the Old Testament God is a God of what?
Wrath and fury. And the New Testament God is a God of love, of course. Natch.
I said to the assistant, now the dentist is talking to me about the
Bible. I've come a long way. Remember when
Daniel Block was here and he said, if you got a pie chart and you cut that pie chart into eight pieces and you had to give me attributes of God from the
Old Testament, what would they be? And we all, Bethlehem Bible Church said, wrath, justice, judgment, holiness, et cetera.
Well, look at these that are found in Exodus. A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
Is that like the best news you've ever heard? God, show me who you are. I need to know you.
I'm merciful, I'm gracious, and all these things. Just to make sure we understand them rightly, merciful, what's that mean?
God has a deep and tender compassion when He sees someone who's weak or stumbling and they can't do things well,
He wants to help by His own initiative. That's what that means. It's like a father looking at a son in trouble, a mother looking at a daughter in trouble, and I just want to help and show compassion.
Remember, we deserve judgment, but this is the way God is. That is such good news. What else is He described as?
Gracious. Almost every time in the
Old Testament, Yahweh is the subject. He's the one being gracious.
It's His prerogative, divine prerogative. It means someone who's in a superior position gives favor freely to someone in an inferior position.
That is such good news. God, show me who you are. You're merciful, amen. You're gracious, amen.
You're slow to anger. I mean, if anybody should be angry, it should be God. Disobedience, sin.
The people are going crazy at the bottom of the mountain. This word means it takes a long time for God's wrath to get out of His nose.
That's the word picture. He's not in a hurry to just judge sinners and whack them.
What else? Oh, there's more good news. That's an interesting pie chart. Abounding in steadfast love.
Our loving kindness. His love unfailing. His love is loyal.
Even when the people aren't loyal, He's loyal. And the good news just keeps piling up, abundant in truth.
He's faithful. Those people aren't faithful. He's faithful. He can be trusted. His word is truth.
He is truth. He's the way, the life, and the truth. There's more good news. Keeping loving kindness for thousands.
And it keeps getting better. Forgiving iniquity. To lift it up, carry it away, take it far away.
And not just sins, but iniquity, transgression, and sin. Iniquity means something that's crooked. Transgression means
I'm gonna break this relationship. I don't care who you are, God. This is all good news. God, show me your glory.
Good news, good news, good news, good news. But wait. But who will by no means clear the guilty.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.
That's where the rub is. If you're guilty, you're gonna be punished.
God, I want to see your glory. What could have God, what might have
God done? Maybe He would have lifted two million Israelites, 100 feet up in the air and said, look what
I can do. Maybe He would have caused some kind of red sea to be split again.
He could make the moon turn dark. God, I want to see your glory. The pillar of fire could have gotten much brighter.
You wanna see the glory of God, Moses? I'll show you what my glory is like. That I can both simultaneously be gracious and merciful and punish sin.
The glory of God is found in how can God be merciful and gracious and still must
He punish sin. He's holy and loving. That's where the glory of God is found.
Because only God could figure out a way to stay holy, righteous and just and yet show compassion and mercy for sinners.
If anybody else could do it, they would receive glory. But God, I wanna see your glory. I need to know who you are.
And God says, all right, I'm the God who can stay holy and stay compassionate at the same time.
So friends, when you read John 17, when
Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. Since you have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given
Him. This is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus whom you have sent.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do. And now listen,
Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.
And the next day, Jesus is crucified. God, Moses said,
I wanna see your glory. God says, I can punish the guilty and forgive them.
That's where my glory is found. Jesus prays, God, glorify yourself.
He gets crucified the next day and God shows
His holiness and righteous anger over sin. And yet He shows that He can be compassionate and merciful and gracious as He forgives sin in one event.
One event at Calvary, the holiness of God is lifted up and the mercy of God is lifted up.
That is why Jesus was sent on the earth, sent to the earth.
Because only a glorious God could accomplish such a salvation. Jesus was sent to do that very thing.
The wages of sin is death, someone has to die. Why does Jesus take on human flesh? Because a human has to die for human sins.
And so now we know the story that Jesus Christ can show the wrath of God as He absorbs it.
And He also shows forgiveness by being our substitute. That's what
Jesus was sent to do as an apostle. I don't know why we sometimes think that God is just kind of this lenient grandfather that just can kind of say, okay, just, you know, don't sin anymore.
Galatians three is much better when it says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. God, show me your glory,
Moses said. The glory is how can I be a God who's merciful and holy?
And it was answered at Calvary. When I first started the radio show seven years ago, I thought, you know,
I need a good title. So if you really need some help, what do you do?
Well, you ask your wife. That's what you do. She said, oh, you should call it
No Compromise Radio. I said, voila, I'll take credit for it. And in the early days,
I thought, no compromise radio because I don't wanna compromise. The world is full of compromisers.
I'm not gonna compromise. And then a few years go by and you go, well, I didn't really wanna compromise, but I know
I did. I'm sinful and I'm frail. And so how am I gonna like change the radio's name or something?
All these trademarks and patent pending and everything else is just not gonna work. And then I thought, wait a second.
Can you imagine in the son, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, he never compromised. I think
I should just talk about Jesus a lot because while I compromise, and even though I don't want to, I do. I wanna be repentant of that.
I wanna talk about Jesus because he never compromised. I always do what's pleasing to the Father. That's what Jesus said.
Who talks like that? Who acts like that? But I thought, you know what? There's something missing.
Of course, the person of Christ, he's wonderful. But I wanna talk a lot about the cross because at the cross, his holiness and his love weren't compromised.
Because at the cross, God pours out his wrath on sinners. No, he poured out his wrath on the one who took the sinner's place, the
Lord Jesus, sinless and spotless one. But it was also the greatest demonstration of love in the world.
God so loved his world that he gave his only begotten Son that those believing in him should not perish but have what?
Eternal life. When you sing, I glory in my Redeemer, you think holiness and righteousness and justice and love and mercy and forgiveness.
That's God's glory. And he doesn't give it to anyone else because no one else could do it.
That's what Jesus was sent to do. How could we go back to anything else?
Well, let's pray. I thank you, Father, for this day. I thank you that Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession and who is faithful.
We aren't faithful so many times, but Jesus is and we stand in him. I pray for people today, for those who have not trusted in the
Lord Jesus Christ and believed, they don't have confidence in him. They've not entered into his rest as the writer talks about.
I pray that you would grant them repentance and faith. I pray that they would be united to you by faith as they have heard the message.
I pray that you would not give them any rest until they've rested in you. And Father, for the believers and for myself, would you just help us this week?
Life pulls and tugs and issues come up in marriage, at work, at home, all kinds of places.
And we forget, we forget about the son, the one that you sent.
And he is the one that's been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Why? Because only the
Lord Jesus could satisfy holiness and still give forgiveness. And so help us to focus on him this week.