Hebrews

The Center

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels, and Sermons

Lesson: 5-33

Genre: Lecture

Track: 05

Dictation Name: RR198C5

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name, for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. Let us pray.

Our Father we give thanks unto thee for all Thy blessings which day by day, surround us together with Thine ever protecting care. We thank Thee that our times are in Thy hands, bless us our Father, with grateful hearts, with joyful hearts, that we may always acknowledge that because Thou art on the throne, we are more than conquerors in Christ. We are the people of blessing, we are the people of Thy kingdom, and of Thine eternal joy. Grant our Father that as we face the troubles of this life, we might like the saints of old, be ever ready in Thine service, ever faithful knowing that it is Thy will that must be done. How great Thou art our Father, and we praise Thee. In Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture lesson is Hebrews 3:1-19. Hebrews 3:1-19, and our subject is: The Center.

“1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

 2Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

 3For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

 4For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

 5And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

 6But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

 7Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

 8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

 9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

 10Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

 11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

 12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

 13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

 14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

 15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

 16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

 17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

 18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

 19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Calvin very briefly summarized this chapter in these words, and I quote: “We are always to make progress, even unto death, for our whole life is as it were, a race.” Too often believers see conversion as the goal. While our conversion is a finished act insofar as salvation is concerned, Sanctification is a life long work. The whole law word of god must be applied to ourselves and our areas of responsibility. The Christian life is one of obligations. Because Moses was to the Hebrews the great person in their perspective, and great he was; Moses is here compared to Jesus Christ. Moses belonged to the house as one of the elect community. But we are told that Christ is the builder of the house, therefore much greater. Moses was a servant in the house or kingdom, but from all eternity Jesus Christ was its builder and Lord over it.

The two great and basic truths some have said which run throughout the Bible from beginning to end are these: That God is sovereign, and that man is a responsible creature. To return to Moses, the creature, the servant, after knowing the Lord, the creator Jesus Christ, was thus a fearful sin. Therefore Hebrew warns, Consider the apostle, and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ. As High priest, Jesus Christ is the builder of the new house or temple. Moreover, he is the builder of all things, the creator of heaven and earth; and he is the builder of the new house, the new temple. He is the builder of all things because he is a member of the Godhead.

Moses was Gods faithful servant in all Gods household, to be faithful like Moses means to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Our first foundation in verse 14 means, literally the beginning of our foundation, it means that whereon anything stands or is supported, with the implication of substance.

Verses7-11 are a grim warning. The Holy Spirit himself gave warning to all Israel, not to harden their hearts against God; because of their rebellion against obedience to God, the generation of the Exodus perished in the wilderness. God himself condemned them to failure. They saw Gods work, his miracles, for 40 years, and they disgusted God by their rebellious doubt, and unbelief. They could not enter into Canaan because of their unbelief.

As (Lensky?) observed, “When grace is exhausted, judgement descends.” So Hebrews is a warning to the Hebrews Christians. Remember who Jesus Christ is.

Now very often people as they look back to the first century think: “Oh how privileged they were. They actually saw Jesus, and also Paul, Peter and the other apostles.” But consider, that could be a handicap. Because, they would remember Jesus as a flesh and blood figure. Oh yes, he was the Messiah, He was a great worker of miracles, but to see him as very God of very God would have been difficult for some of them. They had seen Him walk, eat, sleep. Like unto themselves. And so, Paul and the other men of the apostolic company are here saying: consider Jesus Christ. Remember who he is. More than anything you could see. In verse 1 we have the only instance in the New Testament where Jesus Christ is called God’s Apostle. And apostle was an agent or an ambassador. Within the limits of his assignment, an Apostle had the authority of the one who sent him.

He was legally empowered to act for the one who sent him, having the power of attorney. Jesus is thus the son of God, we are told in the second verse of this letter, greater than all the angels, the first chapter goes on to say, and here in the third chapter in the first verse, the apostle of God and our great high Priest. He is called the Son of god, but also the apostle of God; the one who brings us the very word of God. At the same time true believers are called holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.

This does not mean that all individuals in the church are holy, but that their calling is to be holy. Doubt separates us from God and Christ, whereas faith verses 7-19 tells us, draws us closer to him. It is not faith that saves us, but Jesus Christ. We receive that by Faith, which is a gift of God. What faith does is to enable us to know his salvation. We become partakers or sharers in Christ’s victory over sin and death, if we are steadfast to the end. The Church is reminded that those who left Egypt with Moses did not necessarily enter into the promised land. They were called out, but it was a physical calling. They did not abide in the faith. Their unbelief caused them to die in the wilderness, what led them to follow Moses was their desire to escape slavery and death. And this was not enough. They had a calling to serve and obey God, but they chose rather to demand that God save and obey them; the issue was and still is the same. Who is the Lord?

God or Man? Whose will must be obeyed? God is not at mans command, nor at mans beck and call. The chief end of God is not to glorify man and to obey him forever, but very much the reverse. Hebrews is emphatic here and elsewhere, that a man centered faith is implicitly hostile to the God of scripture. It is an anti Arminian work, from beginning to end, which is probably one of the reasons also why it is the most neglected book in the New Testament.

To be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, verse 13, means to make ourselves and our wishes the focus of Gods work. And this is blasphemy, although it is a common one, the failure of Israel so strongly stressed in this text, was and insistent demand that God save Israel. And we now have a like requirement by many in the church that God serve them.

Special prayer services are common place, to call God to our aid. But they are rare in seeking to ascertain how we can better serve the Lord.

I shall never forget, I’ve referred to it before, a very prominent couple, so radically Arminian that it was really a caricature. And she went so far as to say indignantly when she learned of my Post-millennialism: “I don’t believe it. How can God expect me to go through tribulation, when I gave up the two things I loved most for him; smoking and dancing.”

I was so shocked I didn’t laugh until later. The word: ‘consider’ in verse 1, is a summons to change from a man centered faith to a God centered one. Israel was self centered. It focused on itself as the goal of Gods work, rather than as his instrument. But the church is even more self centered now, in that the individual sees himself as the focus. Something less than Israel. Not God and his kingdom as the focus. But our Lord tells us: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness or justice.” We are called upon to be instruments of God. Not His commanders. The faithfulness of Moses is commended to the Hebrews, in fact in verse 5 Moses is highly praised as a faithful house servant, and he is implicitly held up as an example of godliness and holiness. Now consider what Hebrews is telling us there. We like to think of Moses and the prophets as great men in the house of God, in the sanctuary. But Hebrews tells us that he was a house servant, and we know what servants are in a house. Maids, butlers, cooks. And Hebrews is saying: You think highly of Moses, but Moses did not see himself as you see him, he saw himself as Gods servant. He was Gods House servant. And this is the example of Godliness, and holiness.

If we see ourselves as the goal of Gods work in Christ, rather than as his instruments, how can we enter into Christ’s rest when we warp the meaning of his work? The center of our faith is not ourselves, but Christ and his salvation. Our salvation is therefore not the end of Christs work, but its starting point. We are restored into his household and into his calling, to serve him.

Calvin was right; our whole life must be an endeavor to fulfill his calling. Christ is the salvation, not we ourselves. This is what Hebrews is talking about, and this is why it is strange that even those who write about it from an Arminian perspective simply will not look at the fact that salvation is a starting point, or that even the greatest of the Old Testament saints, Moses, was a house servant. They insist on seeing not Christ and his kingdom as our goal, but themselves. And Hebrews as we shall see, pronounces judgement on those who falsify the faith. Let us pray.

Our Father we thank Thee for this Thy word, Thy word is truth, and Thy word speaks to our need and directs us on our way. Give us grace to hear, and to work as faithful house servants in Thy kingdom and in Thy house. Grant us this in Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? As you can see, the direction that Hebrews takes is a very radical and hard hitting one. Here we come face to face with the basic issues of our time, and the self centeredness of so many within the Church. And you can understand why Paul did not write this alone, why the Apostolic fellowship worked with him to frame this statement to the church of all time, beginning with the Hebrew Christians of their time.

We will be continuing, when we meet next week, with a portion of the fourth chapter, because it goes into the meaning of rest, which we have seen already is a key factor, the true Sabbath. What does it mean? This is developed through a great deal of the book, together with a theme of high priestly calling, Christ as High Priest. So, Hebrews does open some of the fundamentals of the faith to our consideration, and requires a God centered, not a man centered perspective. Yes?

[Audience Member] Rush, did you know that one of the other themes of Hebrews is the perseverance of the saints, that doctrine which was greatly misunderstood these days, would you care to comment about that?

[Rushdoony] Yes, I haven’t mentioned that, we are going to come to that later on, but the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is a doctrine which confirms the sovereignty of God. We didn’t save ourselves, therefore, our perseverance does not depend upon us, it depends upon the Lord. And, his power to preserve us through any and everything is startling. And he makes clear that what He has begun in us He will complete. So that Hebrews tells us that we are saved to serve. We have a life long calling, a battle, we are to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. That in the process of this we will be chastened, because we are sons and therefore we are disciplined, because God has something more for us to do, in time or in eternity. So God will make sure that we persevere, that we remain in the battle.

The perseverance of the saints has to do with pilgrimage and battle. Are there any other questions? Yes.

[Audience Member] Aren’t we really talking about a paradox though, because though Gods will be served, we have responsibility. We have always with us a responsibility, even though things will turn out by Gods predestinating power.

[Rushdoony] Exactly. Remember I pointed out that more than one person has said that the two great themes of the Bible from beginning to end are the absolute sovereignty of God, his power, his predestination, everything, and then second, our responsibility. So the two go together, we cannot separate them without departing from the word.

Well, let us conclude now with prayer. Our Father we give thanks unto Thee for the glory, the plain speaking, and the assurance of Thy word. We thank Thee that, our salvation does not depend upon us, but upon Thee. That our hopes are all known to Thee, and Thou art ever mindful of us. Teach us so to walk that in the confidence of Thy victory and of Thy grace, we are more than conquerors in Christ. And now, go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.