The "Let Us" Series From
The Book Of Hebrews
#2
"LET US HOLD
FIRMLY TO THE FAITH!"
TEXT: Heb.
4:14-16; Matt.
4:1-11
INTRO: Starting
off in faith is a good thing, but staying in faith is a great thing! We need to be cautious that we don't
lose a firm grip on our faith, for if we do we will find ourselves really
floundering with an unproductive
spirituality.
There are two things that can help us hold firmly to
the faith:
(1. Christ as our high priest understands our
weaknesses and is sympathetic to helping us - we don't have to be
alone!
(2. Christ gives us His own example on how to
fight the various kinds of
temptations that Satan uses to draw us away from keeping our faith
focused properly.
If there is one thing the Bible is clear about, it is
that faith has to be exercised in order for us to stay firm in it! This will certainly be the case as we
come into the last days where the Bible states that many will be deceived, and
even the elect of God must be careful that they are not
deceived!
The one thing we can be sure of is that we will be
tempted! If we yield, we will not
have firm faith. We need to
understand the nature of HUMAN FLESH, and the nature of HOLY
FAITH!
PROP. SENT: The Bible teaches
us that when we are tempted God is willing to help us, Christ faced temptation
and beat it, and what He used is available to us today too – so, "let us hold
firmly to the faith!"
I. ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEP FAITH
FIRM! Heb.
4:14-16
A.
Deliverance and Sympathy Heb.
4:14-15
1. People quit when they feel they are
alone and no one understands!
a. No one likes the feeling that
something can't succeed.
b. No one likes facing something that
seems overwhelming.
2. So often we feel God doesn't
understand the pressures we go through, that in His perfection He couldn't
possibly know pain and loneliness.
3. This is where the incarnation comes
in! Jesus came in human flesh as
God so that there would be a way for Him to "feel" and know our human
weaknesses.
4. God did not stay out of harms way,
He faced it squarely so He can help us through the storms of life and when we
feel our faith is slipping!
ILLUS: Joseph Mallord Turner, English painter,
invited Charles Kingsley to his studio to see a picture of a storm at sea. In rapt admiration, Kingsley exclaimed,
"It's wonderful! It's so
realistic! How did you do it?"
The artist replied, "I went to the
coast of
"The storm raged with such fury
that at times I longed to be in the bottom of the boat where the waves would
blow over me. I could not,
however. I was bound to the
mast. Not only did I see the storm
in its raging fury, I felt it! It
blew into me, as it were, until I became a part of it. After this terrible ordeal, I
returned to my studio and painted the picture."
It is written of the Savior,
"Because he himself suffered when he was
tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (Heb. 2:18).
5. Christ can understand completely
our struggle and pain, He has experienced it
all.
a. He both shows us the way to hold on
by His example...
b. As well as ministering to us
because He also knows our human
frame!
c. Christ sympathizes with our
struggle and He conquered using the same tool available to us, God's
Word!
B.
Door of Salvation Heb.
4:16
1. Knowing all this, we can come to
the throne of grace with
confidence!
a. Where we will find "mercy"
and "grace" to help us in our time of
need:
(1. "Mercy" is NOT getting what we DO
deserve!
(2. "Grace" IS getting what we DON'T
deserve!
b. God's desire for those who will
come to Him is to help them!
2. The throne of God is available, we can
come with “CONFIDENCE” (NIV) or as the KJV has it, “BOLDLY!”
a. We are told we can come boldly or
with confidence even when we are
struggling!
b. God is our High Priest who is
touched by our experiences and struggles to fight against temptation. He died to redeem us, not reject
us!
II. EXAMPLE TO KEEP FROM FAILING! Matt.
4:1-11
A.
Demand for Security! Matt.
4:1-4
1. The first temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness was
the temptation to turn to material things to
SATISFY His needs.
a. Ironically, this was basically
b.
2. There certainly wasn't anything
wrong with Jesus making a stone into bread to satisfy His natural hunger, but to
do it at Satan's request would have been to get sidetracked from the real issue
at hand. He was about to begin His
earthly ministry, and natural bread was not suppose to be His focus, that is the
focus of this world.
a. The temptation here was to lose
focus, from a spiritual one to a material
one!
b. This will be a constant struggle as
we live as God's people in this
world!
c. While it might not have seemed like
a big thing right at that moment, to start out with a focus on the material
would certainly have led Jesus further and further away from His mission which
was spiritual in nature!
3. We don't always see the price of
yielding to temptation all at once, it is usually a gradual process that takes
us from point "a" to point "b" in a process that moves us away from
God.
4. Jesus avoids the temptation to start
down the road of material appetites, for this would have corrupted His mission
in the end!
ILLUS: G.H. Charnley, in The Skylark's Bargain,
tells the story of a young skylark who discovered one day a man who would give
him worms for a feather. He made a
deal – one feather for two worms.
The next day the lark was flying high in the sky with his father. The older bird said, "You know, son, we
skylarks should be the happiest of all birds. See our brave wings! They lift us high in the air,
nearer and nearer to God."
But the young
bird did not hear, for all he saw was an old man with worms. Down he flew, plucked two feathers
from his wings and had a feast. Day
after day this went on. Autumn came
and it was time to fly south. But
the young skylark couldn't do it.
He had exchanged the power
of his young wings for worms.
That is our constant
temptation in life -- to exchange wings for
worms.
5. Notice how Jesus "holds firm to
His faith" ... "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4
a. Heavenly bread is far more
important than physical bread!
b.
c. Jesus never tired of the Word of
God, and let us never tire of it
either!
6. The church and the christian will
always be in trouble when it turns away from the Scriptures, when the Word of
God is diminished and the needs of human flesh are the main focus. When this happens we are in
trouble!
7. Christ's security was not in
physical bread, it was in the Word of
God!
a. Since Jesus fought off this first
temptation with Scripture and won, we can too since the same thing is still
available for us today!
b. You will always do well to win over
temptation if you have the Word of God ready at
hand!
c. Jesus doesn't use tricks or fancy
miracles to beat this temptation, He doesn’t exercise His power as God, He uses
the Word of God, and in doing so showed that we have the same power as he
did!
d. If Jesus had resisted in any other
way He could not have been an example to us, but because He used the same
resource available to us we have no
excuse.
B.
Demand for the Spectacular! Matt.
4:5-7
1. Jesus
now faced the second temptation.
This is perhaps the greatest temptation for people in the church today,
to choose the spectacular rather than the Scripture!
a. It is interesting to see how Jesus
used miracles, most of the time He did a miracle He instructed those who
received it to “go and tell no
one!”
b. Many times Jesus refused to do
miracles because the crowd came just for that reason! (see Matt.
12:38 ff.)
(1. In
this passage Jesus said it was a "wicked generation that seeks for signs" - and the only sign He would give was the sign of
Jonah, the image of 3 days and nights in the bowels of the earth – fulfilled in
Christ's death and resurrection!
(2.
The main focus of Jesus' ministry was pretty basic: "repent and be
saved!" (see Matt.
11:20)
(3.
Like a man named Billy Graham who has had no spectacular miracles
accredited to his ministry except the millions who have found Christ as savior -
he kept the message basic and
focused!
c. John the Baptist was said by Jesus
in Luke 7:28 to be the greatest man born of
woman - yet in John 10:41 it says, "...though John
never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was
true." (referring to Jesus)
(1.
John the Baptist never did perform a single recorded miracle - he only
preached the Gospel, and Jesus said “no man was born greater among women than John!”
Matt. 11:11 Luke
7:28
(2.
It can be easy to lose sight of what is
important!
2. Jesus is being asked by Satan to do
some extraordinary miracle that will "wow" the crowds at the
a. Jesus' miracles certainly did
attract crowds, but they never kept them for
long!
b. While the crowds often followed
Jesus excitably after He did a miracle, as soon as He began to teach repentance
and faith, to give a glass of cold water, to visit the sick or those in prison,
to clothe the naked, to bind up the broken hearted, to forgive others, and yes
even to tithe - then we read the crowds
left!
c. Remember in John 6 after the crowds were awed by Jesus, Jesus
said that they must "eat His flesh and drink His blood" or they
could have no part in Him - read John
6:66 "from this time
many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed
Him!"
3. It is also interesting to note that
one of the characteristics of the last days will be "signs and
wonders" - both from God and from the
deceiver!
a. Hence in 1 John 4:1 we are called upon to "test the
spirits."
b. The Bible even talks about the
elect being led astray if that were possible, simply meaning that this undo
emphasis on signs and wonders could
even draw aside christians if we don't stay on guard.
c. Jesus even talked about those who
will do miracles in His name (Matt. 7:21 ff.)
but not necessarily be living for Him, He declares about these miracle workers
that "I never
knew you!" Miracles done
even in Jesus' name don't necessarily indicate the godliness of those who "do
them" the message they bring does this!
d. MIRACLES are not a guarantee that something is right -
but the MESSAGE OF GOD'S WORD about Jesus Christ is always right!
4. In Matt.
11:20 we read this: "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of
His miracles had been performed, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT REPENT." Salvation was Jesus' goal, not
performing signs and wonders for the crowds to be awed
over.
5. Note how the crowds were not much
different for the Apostles: In
Acts 14:8-20 we read about Paul and Barnabus
having just laid hands on a lame man and he was healed - the crowd went crazy
and started to worship Paul and Barnabus as two gods, Zeus and Hermes! The Apostles had a hard time
trying to get the crowd to accept them as humans when along came a few Jews that
turned the crowds against Paul and Barnabus (Acts
14:19) so quickly that they stoned Paul and left him for dead! How fickle the crowd was, they liked
being wowed, but not confronted for their sins!
6. It is so much easier to look for
the spectacular and miss the obvious!
ILLUS: A little boy was talking to the girl next
door. "I wonder what my mother would like for
Mother's Day." The girl
answered, "Well, you could promise to
keep your room clean, go to bed when you are told, brush your teeth after
eating, and quit fighting with your brothers and sister, especially at the
dinner table." The boy looked
at her and said, "No, I mean something
practical!"
7. Jesus was facing a tough hard road,
many days of ordinary ministry punctuated by times of great events, how tempting
to bypass the every day ordinary stuff by doing something spectacular before the
crowd at the Temple, a spectacular miracle would "wow" them right off and save
Him lots of time establishing the fact that He was the
Messiah!
a. Remember, these threee temptations
are taking place just as He is about to start His public
ministry!
b. The lure was to avoid the basic
stuff, go for the spectacular!
c. Satan will use the "spectacular"
in the last days to deceive people, we have got to know the
"message!"
8. Jesus once again defeats this
temptation with the Word of God: "do not test the Lord your
God."
a. In other words, don't even think
you can bribe God into avoiding the message of the
cross!
b. It is noteworthy also that Satan
never did quote the whole verse of
Scripture when he attempted to use the Bible to tempt Jesus! He conveniently left a part of the
passage out!
c. It is the WHOLE of the Bible we
need to adhere to to keep from false
doctrine!
C.
Demand for Shortcuts! Matt.
4:8-11
1. The final temptation represented
the desire for a "shortcut" to the RIGHT
goal!
a. Jesus would be Lord over all the
kingdoms of this earth!
b. Satan merely states here that since
Jesus is going to get them anyway, why not let Satan give them to Him now and
avoid the cross altogether!
c. This is the "ends justify
the means" problem of our society today! "What difference does it make how we get
there as long as the end result is
good!"
2. All Jesus had to do was bow “once”
and worship Satan!
a. How many bows to Satan does it take
to lose?
ONE!
b. The temptation here was to avoid
all the pain and suffering, all the day by day efforts, all the routine
servanthood stuff, just take the kingdoms
now!
(1.
This is the heart of the world, avoid sacrifice, suffering, serving ...
"just give
me the reward now!"
(2.
The temptation here is to see the "ORDINARY" as somehow not the
EXTRAORDINARY ... YET IT IS!
3. This temptation to take a
"shortcut" is very real, and many take it
today!
a. There are no shortcuts to holy
living - it takes effort, daily routine serving, faithfulness, all over
protracted periods of time!
b. It takes time and work to build a
healthy ministry, to be a healthy christian, to do a fruitful work for God, it
doesn't come in an instant like many of the instant things we have in society
today!
c. There are "no shortcuts
to glory!"
4. Jesus wins the day again through
the Scriptures, and so can we!
a. Jesus fought every temptation with
the written Word of God - the same source of fighting Satan's temptations is
available to us!
b. If Jesus had used some other power
to resist Satan besides the Word of God then we could not have seen Him as a
High Priest, we would not be able to identify with Him had He used His powers as
God, but because He used the Word of God we have the same Word to use today that
He used to win!
5. This is how we "HOLD FIRM TO THE
FAITH!"
a. In the last days the Bible says, "those things
which can be shaken will be shaken" (Heb. 12:27-28) - only those who
have a firm grasp on God's Word are going to be able to walk a clear
path!
b. If we lay hold of God's Word it
will lay hold of us!
c. Avoid the shortcuts, "Let us Hold
Firmly to the
Faith!"
CONCLUSION: People lose their firm faith
when 2 things happen:
(1. They think they are alone without help,
and
(2. They lose focus on Christ and His
Word!
Christ offers a remedy for both of these
problems:
(1. He is able to understand us and offers
help,
(2. He shows us by example how to keep the
focus!
Are you firm or flimsy in
your faith? “LET US HOLD
FIRMLY TO THE
FAITH!”