Now, before I get started, I'd like to just say a little bit what inspired this song. It's not a new song, but I never, no one knows the inspiration behind it. Well, my father-in-law had dementia; he was getting dementia and he was unable to be very mobile, so he moved in with us because, well, we were the only ones that were taken. When he was at our house, he loved to eat breakfast, and I would feed him breakfast every morning, but he would also get the gospel. He wasn't too friendly with the gospel, but he got it every day and every month, year after year. And he finally did believe, but that's what inspired this song.

Friend, could we talk for a while? I've got something to tell you, some good news to share. I've got a God who loves you, a Savior who cares. Jesus went to the cross for our sin, died and was buried, and He rose again. And all that He asks us is that we believe. With the heart a man believeth, with the mouth he will confess. Confession made unto salvation, believing brings righteousness. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Better believe it.

The Father sent His only Son, whom He raised from the dead. Our salvation He won, delivering us from the wrath to come. When the dealer asked Silas and Paul, “What must I do to be saved through it all?” He said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” With the heart a man believeth, with the mouth he will confess. Confession made unto salvation, believing brings righteousness. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Better believe it. Better believe it.

Ray, thanks so much for that good song. Ray wrote that song, and we appreciate that very much. Now let's turn in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 3. I'm not going to read this entire chapter right now, but we'll be looking at all of the verses in chapter 3. But let's just read a few of the verses at the beginning. 

The message is how to believe Jesus. I'm sure most of us have ever wondered how can I strengthen my faith and have complete trust in Him at all times? Here's an answer from the Lord, the Holy Spirit. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house.” 

We need to be reminded that the book of Hebrews was written for individual Jewish professing Christians who were being tempted to turn away from Jesus the Savior because of bitter Jewish persecution. And Paul warns them, “Be careful that you don't have an evil heart of unbelief.” 

I'd like for us to turn to the book of Acts right now to look at the setting of the life in the world in which they were living at that time. Hebrews, in the book of Acts chapter 7, verse 54, and I'm going to read a lengthy paragraph to have us see what was the condition of the world at that time. 

“When they heard these things, Stephen is preaching the gospel in Jerusalem. And when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. And how did they respond? They gnashed at him with their teeth. But as he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ 

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ratted him with one accord. This explains the kind of persecution they were experiencing. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 

Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his death at that time. Great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout all the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. 

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” That was the situation into which Paul, or whoever wrote this book of Hebrews, I believe it was Paul, that was the condition to which he was addressing his comments concerning how to believe Jesus. 

Now I want to say this before we go on. The New Testament makes a major promise to believers that any person who has made the choice to come to Jesus to be saved will never be cast out and cast away from Jesus. Anyone who has made the choice to call upon him to save us will never turn away. 

As John the Apostle said, “They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.” Jesus promised eternal security to those who come to him. He said, “If you come to me, I promise I will never cast you out.” And Paul said in Ephesians chapter 1, “When we believed, when we called upon Jesus to be our Savior, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day when Jesus Christ comes to take us out of the world.”

So even though Paul is writing to people who are being tempted to turn away and to reject Jesus Christ, it does not dispute with the doctrine that if you called on Jesus, remember this, dear friend, he'll never, never cast you out. 

Now the Holy Spirit gives three crucial statements concerning choosing to believe Jesus when we're struggling, when we're being tested, or when we're experiencing persecution or guilt and doubts. And he gives us three statements in this chapter that will help us to believe, to be strengthened in our faith in a time of testing or persecution. 

The first one is in verses 1 to 6. And the main thing I hope today is that we'll lay hold of these three things that we're going to look at in this chapter. The first way to strengthen our faith in times of difficulty and testing is to consider Christ Jesus. 

Let's read those first six verses, please. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses was also faithful in all his house. 

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

But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing firm to the end.” 

The first point that the author makes concerning stabilizing and strengthening our faith is to consider Christ Jesus. Some of you have a New International Bible with you, and you'll note in your Bible it says, “Fix your mind, your thoughts on Jesus.” Paul said in Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 and 9, “Set your mind on things that are true.” 

Now the New Testament writer of this paragraph gives several affirming promises to us concerning our faith when we consider, when we fix our minds on Jesus during times of personal trial. What does God promise to us concerning setting our mind, considering Jesus, fixing our thoughts on him? 

Well, first of all, in verse 1, he tells us that Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession. And these terms define the urgent need of every person listening to the word today. We need Jesus as our apostle, and we need him as our high priest. 

Think of the term apostle. That means one who has been sent from God. Consider him, Jesus Christ, the one who was sent from heaven to you with a message of eternal salvation. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” 

“For I did not come to the world.” This is what the apostle says to you and me. “I did not come to the world to condemn you. I came to save you.” And so the writer of the book of Hebrews is saying to the people who are being tempted and tested with persecution, “Consider the one who is the apostle. Consider the message that he has brought to you.” 

And also, he is your high priest. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2 right now and look at verse 14. “Inasmuch as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 

For indeed he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things he had to be made like his brethren that he might be, look at this statement, a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation, the complete perfect sacrifice for the sins of the people.” 

Now, the writer of the book of Hebrews is concerned about the severe persecution sweeping throughout the land and especially against those believers who became Christians. And he tells them, “Here's how to stabilize your faith at this difficult time. Consider Jesus, set your mind on Christ Jesus as the apostle, the one who has come from heaven with a message of eternal salvation for you, and the high priest, the one who is merciful concerning your unrighteousness and your sins and who made a complete perfect sacrifice on your behalf.” 

Stop and think of this right now. What is he saying to that troubled believer at that time? He's saying to that person, “Consider Jesus as the one who brings God's message of salvation to you. Consider him as the one who's merciful toward you in your weakness and in your sins and who made the perfect sacrifice for all your sins. He's faithful. He's the apostle and high priest for every believer.” 

And secondly, he was faithful to the Father who appointed him. He says that in verse 2. This man, Jesus Christ, was faithful to the Father who sent him to the world. And that encourages me because our security and our assurance do not depend upon our own faithfulness. I hope that's clear. Our faithfulness depends upon Jesus Christ, who was faithful to the Father as the apostle and the high priest who made a sacrifice for our sins. 

If our faithfulness is the reason for our security, then we have reason for doubt. Because I know I speak to serious people today, and none of us has been totally faithful to the Lord since we've come to him. But he has been faithful to us and that he was willing to offer his body to become sin for us on the cross, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. 

He was faithful, and he bore our guilt and our sins in his own body on the cross. And when Satan accuses us by assaulting us for our sins, the only answer is to remember our salvation does not depend upon our faithfulness. It depends upon the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. 

And then he says also, we can trust him as our apostle and our high priest because he was counted worthy of more glory. And in verses 3 down through verse 6, the writer uses the illustration of building a house. And a house needs a foundation. And he said Moses was a faithful builder in the Old Testament. His house was the old covenant system of worship. 

And Jesus was faithful in the new covenant system as he built a house of which we are a part, which the writer calls a new and better way. There are two foundations upon which a man's house is built. It's either built upon Jesus Christ or it's built on the law. 

I would invite you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 as we think about the house that Jesus Christ built. 1 Peter chapter 2, and follow as I begin at verse 1. 

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If indeed you've tasted that the Lord is gracious, coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious, you also as living stones.” 

He's writing about the house built by Jesus. We are stones put into that house. “You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it's also contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. 

In other words, if we become part of the house that Jesus is building, we'll never experience disappointment concerning our salvation. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. 

But listen to this application for those who believe. “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people of God, but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” 

We're part of the house that Jesus built. And for that reason, Jesus Christ is our assurance. He put us into this house as one of the stones in the building, and we're part of his new covenant house. We're saved forever because the builder of his house is worthy. This is the point the writer is making. Why can we be sure that we're saved and that our salvation will last for eternity? Because the builder of the house is worthy. 

That could not be said of Moses concerning the house that he built, the Old Testament system of law. But concerning the house that Jesus is building even now upon the foundation, which is Christ himself, he is worthy. And so we're saved because he's faithful. And we’re saved because he's worthy. 

Consider him, said the writer of the book of Hebrews. Consider Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our faith. Now, the second thing that I want to emphasize concerning building or encouraging our faith is in verse 7 through 15. And it's, “Hear his word.” Watch for this as I read this paragraph beginning at verse 7. 

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation, said, ‘They always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways, so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest.’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. 

But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For if we become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, ‘Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’” 

And so, in the midst of the persecution and suffering, they were crying out, “Lord, how can we trust you even in this difficult time in which we're living?” And he said, “First of all, consider Christ Jesus, the apostle and chief priest or merciful priest. And secondly, here's how to strengthen your faith: hear his voice.” 

And in this appeal, we hear him saying we have two options in the midst of this trouble. First of all, we can choose to harden our hearts, or we can choose to become a partaker of Christ by hearing his voice. 

Now, Jesus stated the major criteria for hearing God's saving voice is a willing heart. If any man wills to do God's will, he'll know concerning the truth of the word. And Jesus said, “If any man thirsts, I'll satisfy that thirst.” So we can come to God's word with thankful confidence that the written word is his saving revelation to us. This book is God speaking to us. 

I love the paragraph in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, where Paul said concerning natural man, “Eye has not seen, neither ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man all that God has for him.” Left to himself, left to ourselves, friends, our eyes, our ears, our mind, and heart could never understand God's great gift of eternal salvation. But then the next statement says this: “But God has revealed them to us by his Holy Spirit.” 

And so the things that we could never understand on our own, God has revealed to us. That's what John was talking about in 1 John chapter 5, when he said, “This is the witness of God. He's given to us eternal life in his son. And if you have Jesus Christ, you have eternal life. And I want you to know that you have eternal life.” We can know that this word, this book, is God's word. 

But sadly, many people choose to disbelieve and to harden their hearts. And so the Holy Spirit goes back to the Old Testament, to an example from the children of Israel when they were wandering toward the land of promise. And God said to them, “I want you now to enter in and take this land. I've given this to you.” Would you turn back to Numbers chapter 13, the book of Numbers chapter 13? 

And look at the promise in verse 1 and 2. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to you, to the children of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.’” 

So the story tells that they chose 12 men to go in to spy out the promised land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now to the 12 tribes. And the 12 spies went in, and they came back with an evil report. They said, “There are giants in that land. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. It's a land of abundance. But we can't take it.” 

Now, God said at the very beginning, “I'm going to give it to you.” And the spies came back. Ten of the twelve spies came back, and they said, “We can't take that land. There are too many armies in it. They're walled villages. There are giants in that land.” 

And so the spies, ten spies, persuaded the people to believe an opposing view to the promise of God. God said, “I've given it to you. Go ahead and take the land.” And ten of the spies says, “You can't take that land.” And the appeal to hear God's voice is based upon that story. 

So God said, “You therefore cannot take that land. You'll not have the land because you refuse to believe my word.” And so what the writer of Hebrews is saying, “Don't be like those people who refuse to listen to the voice of God. If your faith is weak, the answer is to hear his voice, to listen to his word, to get to this book, into this book, and know what he's saying to you. 

How many times we have to go back to the word for our assurance. Because this book says Satan's an accuser. He's a destroyer, and he tries to destroy our faith and to weaken our faith and to shatter our hope. But this book is the answer. Come to the word and hear his voice. 

Let me give you an example, a verse I've quoted many times. I quote it already today. How can I strengthen my faith when I'm being tested? By hearing God's word. John 6:37, when Satan is accusing you, and he's saying, “You really aren't maybe saved. You aren't a son of God.” Hear the word of Jesus Christ in John 6:37, where he said, “All that the Father gives to me will come to me. And him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.” 

The point that the writer of this chapter in Hebrews is making, when we need to have our faith strengthened, as many of the Hebrews did at that time, because of severe, intense persecution, the answer is to understand that this book is God's word and then to hear his word, listen to his word carefully. Renew your faith with the word, not with your emotions, not with feelings, and not even with Christian books, but with the word which you know is God's truth. 

And by that way, he said, that way, you will become a partaker of Christ. Look at verse 14. “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” 

What it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was he angry 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who did not obey? 

So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief, and the reason for unbelief, they weren't listening to God's voice. Friends, we have God's voice here, 66 books in the Bible. And our need at all times when we're struggling with faith, maybe our faith is weak, maybe we have doubts, maybe we have pain, struggle, is to hear his voice. 

First of all, consider Christ Jesus, who's our great high priest, and who's the apostle, the messenger from the Father, and then hear his voice. I want you to think of what it means to be a partaker of Christ. I've listed some verses; I'm gonna read them; you don't need to turn to these. 

But what's the promise? If we hear his voice, we become a partaker of Christ. Let me give you some promises. Philippians 1:7: “Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart,” Paul's writing to the Philippian Christians, “I have you in my heart. Inasmuch, both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.” 

And he's saying the option, if we listen to the Word of God, if we'll hear His voice and not become unbelievers like the people of Israel did in the wilderness, if we'll hear His voice, we become a partaker of God's grace. Listen to Paul's statement to the Colossian Christians, “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints.” 

If we hear His voice and listen to His Word and trust Him, we become a partaker of Christ's inheritance as one of the saints. Hebrews 12:10, “For they indeed for a few days chastened us, as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of God's holiness.” Our life will be special. Partakers of God's holiness. 

1 Peter 5:1, “The elders who are among you I exhort, whom a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.” This is what he's saying to those who would believe, who'd hear His voice, listen to His Word in the time of testing, and you become a partaker of His grace, partaker of the inheritance of the saints, partaker of His holiness, partaker of the glory that will be revealed. 

2 Peter 1:4, “By which having been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the nature, of God's divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” That's the opportunity. 

Instead of neglecting His Word and disbelieving His Word, we can become a partaker of all this in Christ. Okay, here's what I've said so far. To renew our faith, we need to consider Jesus Christ, the apostle, the messenger from God, and the great high priest who made the sacrifice for our sin. Consider Him. 

And secondly, we need to hear His voice. He emphasized that two times in verse 7 and in verse 15. Hear His voice. Be very conscious. If you're struggling with faith, if you're wondering how to encourage your own faith and strengthen your own faith, if you're kind of like the man who said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief,” here's the answer: to hear His voice. 

And then the third thing is in verse 6 and 14. Look at verse 6, please, in Hebrews chapter 3. “But Christ is a Son over His own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing firm to the end.” 

Verse 14: “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” Hold fast to our rejoicing and hold fast to the beginning of our confidence. 

Years ago I read a story of a worker, I think it was a Samaritan woman, a Samaritan, I've forgotten the name of the organization, who went to a tenement house to visit a family that she'd been calling on. And their son was sick, and she'd been witnessing to them, and she made up the steps on the outside of the building to the door, and beside the door was an open window, and she could hear the parents talking, talking with the son and saying, “Son, hold on.” 

He's very sick. And then the father was speaking; he said, “Son, hold on.” They kept crying, saying that to this boy who was in bed suffering, and she stood by the open window and listened. And finally, the boy said, “I have nothing to hold on to.” 

And isn't that the truth for many people? This scripture says hold fast to our confidence. Hold fast to our confidence from the very beginning. And the Bible says we have much to hold on, much to hold to. Hold to our confidence, to the beginning of our faith. 

In the book of Acts chapter 27, we read of Paul being on a ship on the Mediterranean Sea, and a severe storm had struck, and they were at risk of perishing in the sea. And God came to Paul, gave him a promise, said, “Paul, this group of people is going to be saved. You lose the cargo; you lose the ship, but the people will be saved.” 

And so then that ship was broken by the fierce Mediterranean storm, and many of the people were in danger of drowning, but they grabbed on to broken timbers. This is recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. They grabbed on to broken timbers from the ship, and as a raging storm swept them toward the land, they had the promise of God, “You're going to be saved.” 

How were they saved? By holding fast to broken boards from that ship. And this scripture says we need to hold fast to the beginning of our confidence. I'll tell you a little example. It happened yesterday. I got an email from my daughter, Joanna, that her little granddaughter had just come to her mom and said to her, and she wanted her mom to help her to pray and ask Jesus to save her. 

And so they did. And this little girl, I think she's six or seven years old, prayed and asked the Lord to save her. Now, my daughter, Joanna, was saved when she was eight years old at camp. I was speaking at a junior camp for kids at Chautauqua, Wisconsin, and on that night I happened to be preaching on the coming of Christ. 

And she came to me; she said, “Dad, I want to be saved. I don't want to be left.” And that night she called upon Jesus to be her Savior. And to this day, that's her assurance. And she's on fire in her heart for Christ. She loves the Lord. Her children have come to Christ. She has eight children, and some of them are married and a lot of great-grandchildren who are ours. 

Now, there's one little daughter of her daughter who began faith in Jesus Christ yesterday by calling upon Jesus to be saved. Now, as you think about that, when this little child came to the Lord yesterday with the help of her mom and asked Jesus Christ to save her, did he keep his promise? 

Can children begin faith at that age? Because a friend of mine always used to say, “Jesus Christ is a man of his word.” He keeps his promises. And so just as Joanna called on the Lord at eight and was saved, and she's maintained that confidence and that joy for all of these years—she's 63 years old now—she still goes back to the beginning of her confidence. 

Did you notice that as we read this scripture? That's what the writer of Hebrews said they needed to do. Go back to the beginning of your confidence and hold fast. Do you remember the beginning of your confidence in Jesus Christ? Were you a child? Were you an adult? 

What this author is saying, in the midst of severe persecution, when people were being threatened and imprisoned and beaten and some killed for their faith in Christ, he said you need to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ. And you do that by considering Christ Jesus, the apostle and high priest of your salvation. And you do that by hearing His voice. 

And amidst when your faith is shaken, go to the word and hear His voice. Let Him speak to you. And you do that by holding fast to the beginning of your confidence. This is how to face life with stronger faith. 

And as I say these things this morning, I'm reminded that there are two opposing strategies for times when our faith is being tested. The first is the nagging doubt caused by Satan. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, the first word out of Satan's mouth was “if,” a word of doubt. “If you are the son of God.” Three times. 

That's one way to face life, with a doubt, with “if.” And the other way is with the saving strategy of this chapter three. Consider Christ Jesus, hear his voice, and hold fast to the beginning of your faith in Christ. 

Thanks for listening. Let's bow and have a prayer. 

Father, thank you for this chapter of your word. Thanks so much, Father, for our Savior, our great high priest, and the one who came to us as your apostle from heaven to tell us how to be saved and to become our Savior. Thank you, Father. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.