Category: Devotions

Wednesday 10^th

Hebrews 4:14-16

NIV (v14) – ‘Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.’

ESV (v14) – ‘Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.’

The Hebrew writer continue his theme which we have looked at over the last few days concerning the Word of God and its work in our lives to prepare us for the future day of reckoning by saying ‘Therefore’, in other words we link what has been said, to what is about to be said. The previous verses may cause us to become awestruck with fear concerning our appearing before God, but there is some good news, we have a great high priest! And this great high priest is none other than the very Son of God himself who has entered heaven on our behalf.

Everything that the Son has done was on our behalf and he is now seated in heaven on our behalf. On earth he was the our atoning sacrifice, he took our place, he took our sins and our sorrows, he took our punishment, he took the wrath we should have borne, and faced it on our behalf and after he had completed all he had been sent to do on the earth he ascended back into the presence of God, as the victorious Saviour, as the exalted one, given the highest place that heaven affords, and while there he is still working on our behalf as our great hight priest, as our advocate with the Father. Therefore, in the light of verses 12-13 we can come to our great high priest to find grace and mercy to help us in our time of need.

In the Old Testament, it was the high priest that represented the people before God, they couldn’t do it themselves, one needed to be appointed as the go between, and Jesus because of his obedience to the Father has been appointed as the one who acts as our go between. (Hebrews 5:5 ‘So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”’)

The writer then continues because we have such a great high priest, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. You will remember that in chapter 2 we were encouraged to hold fast to our confidence, today hold fast to our confession or to our confession of faith. We do not need to fear the day when we will have to stand before God, because Christ is already standing there on our behalf, and so long as we hold fast and continue in our confession of faith, we could say with an ongoing confession of our faith, and continue to come before him, he will act on our behalf before his Father. This means that when God looks at us, he sees his Son, he sees his righteousness which he has imputed to us, giving us a right standing before God. Later in this letter the writer says again about holding on, ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful’ (Hebrews 10:23) reminding us that the one who is appearing before God as our high priest is faithful, Jesus will never fail us, as our advocate he will never be unsuccessful, God will never turn our advocate  away.  

We will continue tomorrow.

Tuesday 9^th

Hebrews 4:12-13

NIV (v13) – ‘Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’

ESV (v13) – ‘And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’

This verse continues from our verse about the living and powerful Word of God (v12) to remind us of a very sobering thought, ‘that nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.’ Just stop and ponder on this for a moment. That action we may have done, thinking no one will know, God knows because he saw! But even more sobering perhaps is that thought that we had, which no one will ever know about, but God knows! He sees every action we do, and he knows every thought we have thought! It is mind boggling, for we can be in a room with someone who we may have spent the best part of our lives with, and we haven’t a clue what they are thinking, and they haven’t got a clue what we are thinking, but God does, but more seriously it is a challenging thought in that the Hebrew writer continues that one day every action and every thought is going to be uncovered in the presence of God and we will have to give an account for it. I suppose at this moment my sobering thought and hope is that when it happens there will only be me and God in the room, for it will not only be our good thoughts and good actions made bare but all the wrong thoughts and all the wrong actions!

How do we tie this in with the good news of the gospel that in coming to Christ we have been forgiven, therefore every wrong thought and wrong action has been forgiven and not only forgiven but cast into the sea of God’s forgetfulness? The answer is that all that has taken place before conversion has been dealt with and will not be laid bare again in the presence of God, because it has already been laid bare at the Cross and dealt with. I think we tie it in with the previous verse, as we read the Word of God and it does its penetrating work like a two edged sword, we need to put right the wrong that it reveals in our lives, if it uncovers our conscience and brings to mind thoughts we shouldn’t be harbouring, or of actions we should not have done or should not be doing, then we need to bring it to the mercy seat, (I am jumping the gun a little as this is in our next group of verses) we need to do as John reminds us in 1 John chapter 1, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ Therefore any sin we have committed but have truly confessed of and repented from while we are walking our Christian pilgrimage is also forgiven and forgotten, the matter lies with the thoughts and the actions we wilfully continue with, the thoughts we harbour, the actions we continue in doing, knowing they are wrong thoughts and actions and they will be laid bare in the presence of God. The key word here is the word ‘uncovered’ It is far better to allow the Word of God to do its work in our hearts by ‘uncovering’ the thoughts and actions in our hearts and lives so that we can deal with it now, than to reject the promptings of the Holy Spirit and  the piercing of the Word of God and to continue with the wrong thoughts and actions and have to have them made bare before the Lord God to whom we will have to give an account.  It is better to set the record books straight now! For the day of reckoning will come, we cannot kid ourselves and think that we have plenty of time to get the records straight, as we keep coming back to in these studies, ‘‘today’ if you hear his voice do not harden your heart.’ Let us allow the Holy Spirit to do his work, allow the Word of God to do its work in our lives. Remember back in Genesis we read that after Adam and Eve had sinned, they became aware of their nakedness and they became ashamed. When we stand ‘naked’ and ‘exposed’ as our text says, in the presence of God may we not be ashamed, because we will have let God’s Word do its work.

Monday 8^th

Hebrews 4:12-13

NIV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’

ESV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

We return from where we were yesterday and the wonderful subject concerning the Word of God.

A verse I left out yesterday is found in Jeremiah that says, ‘Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?’ (23:29)

I mentioned yesterday that the Word of God is so powerful that it can break the stubborn and hardened heart of an unregenerated, evil and wicked individual. In our text it says that the Word of God is sharper than any  two-edged sword that penetrates or divides the soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, the writer is expressing that the Word of God is so sharp it can cut between that which we see as impossible to cut, and then continues, it can cut so sharply that it can discern the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. It can reach where nothing else can reach. When a surgeon does heart surgery, he sees the flesh, the blood, the various intricate bits and pieces, and even with the sharpest scalpel he cannot see the sin, but the Word of God can reach into the human heart and prod, and pierce so that the sin is uncovered and revealed and hopefully repented of and washed away.

The first thing I want to share today is that we need to realise that the Bible we hold in our hands (or have on our electronic gadgets) is completely different to any other book we may hold or have because it is the Word(s) of God. Now I have hundreds of books, which I cherish, different themes, different sizes and of difference in importance, but the most treasured and the most valuable is the Bible, for it is the very Word of God to mankind, to be more personal, it is the very Word of God to me. And I thank God for his Word, I thank God for the hundreds upon hundreds of times in which at the very right moment God’s Word has spoken into my heart. As the Psalmist said, ‘Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’ (119:105)  As we read the Word of God and suddenly something is pricked in our conscience, it is the Word as a sword that is at work, it is piercing into our thoughts and our intentions, it is doing its work to either keep us on track or to put us onto the right track, and so we need to heed the piercing, using the language from yesterday, we need to hear what God is saying and to act appropriately by applying the revealed Word to our lives.

The doctrine of the Word of God is another of those subjects which is vitally important, and we being Pentecostal and Evangelical believers accept the Word of God as being the authoritative Word of God and as our only source of instruction for doctrine and practise. We believe in it as being inspired by the Holy Spirit and thus is a book we should treasure.

Both Paul and Peter remind us of the exclusiveness and usefulness of the Word of God, first Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17  ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ And Peter in 2 Peter 1:19-21 ‘And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’

We could cover so much more on the subject of the importance of the Word of God, but within the context of our going through the book of Hebrews, I conclude, may we always be willing to hear the Spirits voice speaking through the Word of God and allow him (the Spirit) and it (the Word of God) to do their work in our lives, whether to encourage, to rebuke, to correct, to train, and above all to bring us before God with a heart of worship and thanksgiving.

Sunday 7^th

Hebrews 4:12-13

NIV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’

ESV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

We are returning today back to the last few verses in chapter 4 and it soon became apparent to me that I was not going to cover these verses in a couple of days so I have chosen to go through the remaining verses in this chapter over the course of the next week.

We need to remind ourselves that in the verses before this verse the writer has been warning his readers of the possibility of not entering the promised rest, and of encouraging them to not harden their hearts. (v7 ‘. . . again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”’) Our text today shows that the Word of God is so powerful that it discerns the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. In other words, it is so powerful it can break the hardest heart. I used to know a man who in his own words was a hardened criminal, spending time in prison for the crimes he had done, he was also a heavy smoker and while locked in his cell he ran out of paper for making up his own cigarettes, he decided to take the Bible that was discarded in his cell to tear out a page to use as a cigarette paper, he tore a page and as he was rolling it his eyes glanced upon what was written, of all the pages he should tear out it was a page that contained the words of John’s gospel, chapter 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ (KJV) and at that very moment his hardened criminal heart was broken, the Word of God pierced him, broke him down and he surrendered his life to Jesus.

In his recent ministry on our video, Ian spoke of the heart, and it is clear from this chapter that the state or the condition of the heart matters. Because of space I will add references only which you will need to turn to for further reading. The heart is the centre of our emotions and desires, Proverbs 15:13, it is from the heart we show our affection, Song of Solomon 4:9, and it is from the heart we control our will, Exodus 25:2, Ezra 7:27,  it is from the heart that we acknowledge God, Psalm 119:10.

Sadly because of sin, the heart of man which would have been toward God was changed in its characteristics and we are reminded in the Word of God that the unregenerated heart is desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 6:12-14, and has become hardened or stubborn toward God, Jeremiah 18:12. The heart is also deceitful and hostile toward God Psalm 14:1.

When an awful crime has been committed toward mankind, violent and inhumane crimes, such as those who carry out multiple murders in horrendous ways, have you ever wondered why and how a man can do such things? Here is the answer, it is firstly because mankind is sinful, secondly because mankind is lying in the lap of the evil one, and thirdly because the heart is so evil, as it is controlled not by God, but by the evil forces of the principalities and powers of the air. (Ephesians 2:1-3, 6:11-12) But thank God there is a power that is stronger than any evil force that can be found in this world, yes, there is power in the name of Jesus, power in the blood of Jesus, power in our personal testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus, there is power in prayer, but as we discover from the verse for today, there is power in the Word of God, and it can break the hardest of any unregenerate heart and turn the soul toward Jesus.

And once this has happened our desires are towards the things of God, our will is towards the things of God, our affections are towards the things of God, we are new creations and the Word of God which we will have previously rejected, we now allow to be hidden in our hearts, so that we will no longer sin against God.

I could have spent so much more time on the subject of the heart, but may we take the instruction from Hebrews 4:7, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.’ And apply it to the text for today, as you read God’s Word, and as it begins to speak to you, do not harden your heart but allow the Word to do the work that God is desiring it to do. We will continue with this verse tomorrow.

Saturday 6^th

Hebrews 2:10-18

NIV (vv17-18) – ‘For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

ESV (vv17-18) – ‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

We come to the third part from these verses, ‘For because he himself as suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

Jesus has been where we have been, the vital difference being that he was without sin. He became flesh and blood to offer himself as the atonement for the sins of the people, but an important aspect of his incarnation was that he would live as a man amongst men and would face the same trials and temptation that we would face. Back in the garden of Eden, the first man Adam was tempted and failed, Christ came as the second Adam and was tempted but never failed, he was born sinless, lived sinlessly, and died sinlessly. It was important that Jesus never failed for had he done so he could not have become the atoning sacrifice for our sins. But he succeeded where Adam failed.

The question I suppose we could ask is this, could Jesus have sinned? Could he have failed? I remember this question being asked us when I attended Bible College 40 years ago. The lecturer believed that Jesus could have sinned but didn’t, at the time I had never considered the question and so didn’t have my own view, but now 40 years later, I do have my own conclusion (others might have a different view on the matter) and would say that although Jesus was tempted he would never have sinned, I would say he could never have sinned, I come to that decision on the basis of the fact that Jesus coming into the world was God’s only plan for the redemption of mankind and he would never have put his Son into a compromising position which would have caused the whole plan of redemption which had been prepared before the foundation of the world to fail. But we need to understand that the temptations he went through were very real, and of course it is important to understand that to undergo temptation is not a sin, it is the yielding to it which becomes a sin. And Jesus faced severe temptation, but he never yielded to it. We know the Scripture account of when Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and was tempted by the devil. In each temptation the devil was trying to get Jesus to take a short cut, a ploy hoping that Jesus would fail in his mission, but each time Jesus answered with Scripture.

It is because of the experience that Jesus had in the wilderness that he can help us when we are tempted, he has been there and as a result he understands exactly what we are going through and he is willing to help us, he will come to our aid to enable us also not to yield to the temptation but to bring us through it in victory.

We need to understand that Jesus was like us in every way, yet without sin, he got hungry, he got weary and needed to rest, he knew what it was to have friends turn against him, he knew what it was to have those who hated him, he knew what it was like to face sorrow, he knew what life was like on the coal face as the saying goes and as a result he can sympathise with us. To jump ahead to another verse in Hebrews which we will look at in more detail when we get to it, ‘Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’ (Hebrews 4:14–16) Because he has been where we are, Jesus can call out to us, ‘Come unto me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11:28-30

Friday 5^th

Hebrews 2:10-18

NIV (vv17-18) – ‘For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

ESV (vv17-18) – ‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

Today we come to the second part following from yesterday ‘in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people’

Jesus had to be made like his brothers, that is he had to partake of flesh and blood so that he might become a merciful and high priest who would offer himself to be the propitiation for our sin. He had to be like us to be able to die for us and to be able to represent us. Two words come from this which I used recently while speaking on a Sunday morning, Jesus became flesh so that he could become both our advocate and our atonement.  As with yesterday these are two subjects which we can keep returning to glean from and learn something new. In our thinking we would consider the atonement to come first and as a result Jesus would become our high priest, yet in coming to this world he was already acting as our advocate for his humbling himself and emptying himself was to come as the one who would act between sinful humanity and the holy God. Hebrews 7:27 ‘He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.’

There is a sense in which his priestly work commenced the moment Jesus agreed to come to this fallen world, for he came as the priest to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the world and he offered himself as the sacrifice, which would be the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, thus he become both the one who offered the sacrifice as the priest and the sacrifice itself. ‘He offered himself’. He became a merciful and a faithful high priest in the service of God, this speaks of his willing obedience to the work that God had given him to do, it was in the garden as the moment had come to offer himself, he prayed, ‘“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”’ (Luke 22:42)

The word merciful is a word that describes that as our high priest Jesus is full of mercy, it is said of God that he is a God who is a merciful God, ‘The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.’ (Psalm 103:8) We see also in Exodus 34:6-7 ‘. . . “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . . .’ So in emptying himself, becoming flesh, Jesus was able to become our merciful high priest, and as such he came to bring mercy and grace, shown in his mercy toward us as sinners demonstrated by his willingness to take our place and to die on our behalf. Being a merciful high priest shows that he was on our side as a man willing to represent us before God, first at the Cross and then after his ascension at the throne of God. The word faithful means that he was faithful first in his service for God, but he is also faithful in his advocacy for mankind.

We will look at the subject of Jesus our priest again as we go through this epistle, for his priesthood comes up a few times. For now, let’s remember that we have a priest and apostle, who has gone through the curtain, he offered himself once for all time for our sin, and he now stands in the presence of God interceding as our great high priest.

Thursday 4th

Hebrews 2:10-18

NIV (vv17-18) – ‘For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

ESV (vv17-18) – ‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

We have returned to chapter 2 and the final verses in that chapter in which we have an extremely important doctrinal statement. ‘For this reason he (that is Jesus) had to be made like them fully human in every way, . . .’

The writer then continues to say why Jesus had to be made like us, fully human ‘so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest . . .’

I will split these verses up into three devotions, looking today at the first statement, ‘For this reason he (that is Jesus) had to be made like them fully human in every way, . . .’ then at the reminder of verse 17, ‘so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people’, then at verse 18, ‘For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

‘For this reason he (that is Jesus) had to be made like them fully human in every way, . . .’

This opens to us the subject of the humbling of the Lord Jesus who in being fully God was willing to become a man. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is important, we need to have a confident belief that he was at the same time, fully God and fully man. And in our verse for today the writer is expounding why Jesus had to be made like them, fully human. It may seem that I am repeating what I have already mentioned in earlier devotions and in what I have shared while preaching, but I want to honour what we find as we go through this epistle.

I recall a book that I read by Martyn Lloyd Jones in which he quoted something that the Puritans used to say when they were going over a subject or Scripture yet again, ‘They felt that there were further gleanings that they could obtain from a particular crop’. It reminds us that we can never exhaust a particular Scripture or subject and in particular we can never exhaust all that can be gleaned about the Lord Jesus Christ, I always feel when I have approached the subject of Jesus I can never give him the full justice he deserves. My understanding is so limited and therefore I can keep returning to glean a better or richer understanding and hopefully share it with you.

The first most obvious port of call on this subject is Philippians 2:5-8, ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.’ Paul reminds us that Jesus emptied himself, took the form of a servant, was born in the likeness of men, humbled himself and became obedient. This is the incarnation, Jesus had to become flesh and blood, he could never act as the representative for man without becoming flesh and blood and John in our second port of call reminds us that he who was with God as God (John 1:1) became flesh and dwelt among us. ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’  (John 1:14) Jesus needed to become flesh and blood so that he could face death for mankind and to destroy the power of the devil.  

He who was God in eternity past, was still fully God when he became fully man in his incarnation. What does it mean when it says in Philippians 2 that Jesus emptied himself, firstly it does not mean that he ceased to be God, he was still God while a man here on the earth, I will quote here from the ESV Expository Commentary,^* “‘Emptied’ means ‘divestiture of position or prestige.’ How did the Son of God divest himself of position and prestige? Through the incarnation. Paul uses two clauses to explain more precisely the emptying. He ‘emptied himself’: (1) by taking the form (morphé) of a servant and (2) by being in the likeness of men. These two phrases are mutually interpreting. The only way for the Son of God to take on the form of a slave was to enter this world as a man. Therefore, the preincarnate Son of God divested himself of position and prestige not by subtracting deity but by adding humanity and becoming the God-man, both fully God and fully man.’ (end of quote) To end this devotion we must remind ourselves that in becoming flesh, it happened through the means of the Virgin birth so that he would be without sin. I covered this Friday 26^th It is a subject we will need to glean from another time, we will continue point two tomorrow.

^{* ESV Expository Commentary Ephesians – Philemon. Pages 152-153 Crossway}.

Wednesday 3^rd

Scriptures in devotion.

We will continue today with the theme of Christ being better than, as we have seen so far, he is better or greater than the angels, and better or greater than Moses. (refer back to Sunday 28^th) Throughout the book of Hebrews, we find that what has happened as a result of  God speaking through his Son, and in particularly through the cross is that everything becomes better or more superior than what was before. And we will glance through Hebrews today to look at these things.

The first is found back in the opening verses in that God speaking in the last days through his Son is far better than the way he had spoken previously through the prophets. Now the opening verses do not state this as such, but the rest of the book is clarifying this and I draw my own conclusion by asking this question, would you rather hear God speak through the prophets or through his Son, Jesus? To be honest it would have been amazing to have lived during the time of some of the prophets and heard them declaring the word of God, not perhaps the ones who were broadcasting doom and destruction, but especially those who were foretelling of the coming redeemer or of blessing, favour and hope,  but it would have been much more exciting to have been in Galilee as his Son began his earthly ministry declaring the kingdom of God, but even more exciting is the fact that we are living post Calvary and can enjoy the better things that Christ’s going to Calvary has put in place for us. Hebrews 11 tells us that the Old Testament heroes of faith did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better, in other words what they enjoyed with God was good, but because of Calvary we enjoy something far better, and as a result the day will come when the OT saints along with us will be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39-40 ‘And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.’

So, what are these better things? (In using the word better, we could also use superior, or greater)

As we have already seen:

God speaking through his Son is better than his speaking through the prophets.

Christ is better than the angels. (Hebrews 1:3-4)

Christ has a better name than the angels. (Hebrews 1:3-4)

Christ is better than Moses.(Hebrews 3:3)

Christ brings a better salvation. Hebrews 11:39-40

We will also discover: (I will put the Scripture reference and in the case of a lengthy Scripture just a part of it for you to turn to read the complete section)

Better things. (Hebrews 6:9) ‘Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.’

Christ has provided a better sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:1 through to 10:18) ‘And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.’ 10:11-14

A better ministry. (Hebrews 6:6) ‘But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.’

Christ has brought in a better covenant. (Hebrews 8:6-7,13) See Scripture reference for previous point plus ‘In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.’ 8:13

Christ is a better High Priest. (Hebrews 9:23-10:18) ‘For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.’ 10:14

The conclusion we can bring today is that living in the day of grace is far better than living under the law! I have mentioned once before in a devotion, imagine what it would be like on a Sunday morning if we all had to bring an offering to make a sacrifice for our sin before we could even contemplate coming to a place of praise and worship, but thank God because of the indescribable gift of his Son to this world, and because of the obedience of his Son we come knowing that what needed to take place to bring us into the presence of God took place at Calvary, we come, trusting in the sufficiency of what took place 2000 years ago, for a far better sacrifice took place because it was a once for all sacrifice that was also a sufficient for all sacrifice that was also a sufficient for all time sacrifice.

What God requires instead from us is the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart, (Psalm 51:16-17) the sacrifice of praise from our lips, (Hebrews 13:15) the sacrifice of obedience, (1 Samuel 15:22) and the sacrifice of the whole of our lives on the altar of service for God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Thank God for the better way, may we daily live in accordance with what this new way is all about, living for the glory of God.

Tuesday 2^nd

Hebrews 3:7-18 – 4:11

NIV (3:15, 4:7) – ‘As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”’

‘God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”’

ESV (3:15, 4:7) – ‘As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”’

‘. . . again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”’

The second part of our verse from yesterday reminds us that we are God’ house ‘if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.’

Our text for today takes us back to the time when the people of God, (that is those who were his house at that time) were going through a time of rebellion in the wilderness. They had been brought up out of Egypt, they had had the promises of God concerning a land that was flowing with milk and honey, they had witnessed spectacular miracles, first back in Egypt with the plagues that God sent upon the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, then they had seen miracles during their journey, the parting of the Red sea, the provision of manna, quails, water from a rock etc. They were on their way to the promised land and yet they became rebellious, impatient and as a result they wandered in circles and lost out on the promised land. They had not held onto the promise of God, they had not held fast to the initial confidence that they had with God and lost their hope.

The psalmist recorded what happened in Psalm 95:7-11 and it is from here that the Hebrew writer is quoting from, ‘For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”’

I think that this recollection of the people of God in the Old Testament being given as a reminder to the New Testament people of God, the Church, God’s house, and therefore also us today, is a very serious warning. Notice the people of God when they left Egypt were making for the promised land – but they did not arrive! They had been saved from the bondage of Egypt, but they did not enter the promised rest, and why? Because they began to disbelieve, they began to harden their hearts, they went astray in their hearts and failed to know God’s ways, as a result GOD SAID, ‘they shall not enter my rest.’

The Hebrew writer says that we ‘are God’s house ‘if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.’ You can only hold fast onto something that you have received, in this case it is our confidence in what Christ has done for us at Calvary, and our hope that springs from placing our confidence in the finished work of Christ, AND we need to hold it fast, this means to hold on tight, grasp it and do not let go of it. It is possible that after believing we can begin to do the same as the people of God in the Old Testament, begin to disbelieve, lose trust, lose confidence, allowing our hearts to be hardened and to go astray, failing to know God’s way. And this brings a stark warning, if God said they shall not enter my rest, what could be the implications for us?

The verses from the Old Testament, Psalm 139:23-24 come to mind at this point, and perhaps it is a prayer we should all be making to ensure that our hearts are right with God, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’

The Hebrew writer has already said this in chapter 2, ‘Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.’ (vv1-4) and in out text today he says, ‘“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”’

If you are reading this devotion today, I ask how firm is your grasp on the hope that you have received through Christ, are you holding on tight with confident assurance or are you allowing disbelief to take hold, are you allowing external things to bring hardness into your heart, are you going astray? Then ‘today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart as in the rebellion’, return to righteousness, return to the one who has called you out of the kingdom of darkness and is leading you toward eternal rest, grasp, take hold tightly again, and renew your confidence and hope in God.

I close with verses 12-14 of Hebrews 3, ‘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.’

Monday March 1st

Hebrews 3:6

NIV (v6) – ‘And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.’

ESV (v6) – ‘And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.’

‘And we are his house’ (v6) means that we through the placing our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ have become the community of God. The New Testament uses several ways to describe our being God’s house. Today I will share various Scriptures that highlight our being the household of God, the household of faith. We normally refer to ourselves as being the Church, and Jesus himself said that he would build his Church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it, Matthew 16:16.

The apostle Paul had a great understanding of this subject, he portrays us the Church as being like a body with Christ as the Head (1 Corinthians 12) and in his Ephesian letter he makes reference to Christ who loved the Church and gave himself for her, and that one day he will present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. The body becoming the bride of Christ.

We read in 1 Peter 2 that we have become a part of this Church by reason of new birth, and we have become like living stones, being built up together as a spiritual house. ‘. . . you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’ (1 Peter 2:5–6) Paul defines this even more for us by saying, ‘Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?’ (1 Corinthians 3:16) and ‘Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.’  (1 Corinthians 6:19–20) He says more in his second epistle to the Corinthians, ‘What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Co 6:16–18).

As believers we are found to be ‘in Christ’ which is a beautiful place to be but at the same time we are temples in which the Holy Spirit chooses to come and to dwell in, Christ is in us the hope of glory, as a result it behoves us to ensure that as the temples of the living God, we do our utmost to make sure that nothing is allowed to pollute our lives, but that we keep ourselves holy. Writing to Titus, Paul says, ‘. . . if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.’  (1 Titus 3:15).

Paul has more to say in his Ephesian epistle, ‘So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.’ (Ephesians 2:19–22)

Returning to our text from Hebrews, ‘And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.’ Dwell on this thought today, we are his house’ that is we are God’s people, ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.’ 1 Peter 2:9-10.