Angelic Conflict part 175: Human history (heart) – Heb 4:12-16; Mat 10:32-33; Exo 24:3-13; 32:1-33:11;Deu 5:28-29.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 175: Human history (heart) - HEB 4:12-16; MAT 10:32-33; EXO 24:3-13; 32:1-33:11;DEU 5:28-29.

 

 

HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

HEB 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do [ho logos].

 

There is no point to playing games with God. There is no point to putting on masks with God or being hypocritical towards Him. His omniscience knows every thought you have and, as this passage states, we have to deal with Him eventually, so might as well do so now and deal with your relationship with Him.

 

We will all give an account and we will do so based solely on the[ ho logos]. Since all of our heart is laid bare to His omniscient eyes then why not deal with the word of God now rather than ignoring it and then being judged by it later? And in the word of God we are shown grace upon grace. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds through grace.

 

The word of God teaches that our lives should be completely based on everything God has done for us. Glorifying Him is receiving that grace.

 

The One who will judge us has already passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.

 

HEB 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [lay hold of and prevail] our confession [homologia].

 

Since that is true, He has gained victory over all of God's opposition, let us fight the good fight of faith, i.e. hold fast our confession.

 

Matt 10:32-33

"Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess [homologeo] him before My Father who is in heaven. "But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

 

2Tim 2:11-13

It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;

If we endure, we shall also reign with Him;

If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.

 

He has gained the victory. We become victorious through Him. By His victory He was able to give us His word and His Spirit so that we may live by them and that our righteousness is not of ourselves but a gift from God. We walk as those who are already righteous.

 

So the one who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, is our high priest, seated at the right hand of God and who will ultimately be our judge according to the word of God, and He will judge if we laid hold of our confession and prevailed or endured - should we fear Him in a negative sense?

 

HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

 

His body, soul, and spirit, though perfect, were tempted in all things and He and He alone is the only sinless one.

 

God cannot be a combatant in the AC for He is not temptable, but the humanity of Christ was and so entered the universe of conflict in order to be that combatant and victor.

 

He not only understands every temptation, but He also sympathizes with every temptation.

 

"sympathize" - sunpaqe,w[sunpatheo] = to suffer with another, to be affected similarly, to have compassion.

 

He is for us and not against us, therefore we should have confidence to know that when we approach our high priest by praying to the Father through His mediatorial ministry or we listen to doctrine, which is His mind graciously given, we know that we are going to find grace and mercy and not condemnation. This confidence from understanding His grace and mercy toward us, even though we struggle in these old, sinful bodies, will enter us into His rest.

 

HEB 4:16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

 

Grace: unmerited, pleasurable, and delightful favor based on the work of Christ.

 

Mercy: the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it.

 

Tullian Tchividjian, senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is out with a new book that forces Christians to take a profound look at the way they’re living their lives — and embracing faith. Simply stated: ”One Way Love, Inexhaustible grace for an exhausted world” encourages readers “to get drunk on grace.” Sure, that phrase may sound odd on the surface, but Tchividjian, grandson of famed evangelist Billy Graham, believes that Christians need to recapture the heart and soul of the faith. Rather than focusing on rigid rules and a tough-to-cook-up recipe for “being good,” he hopes to see the church return to its grace-centered roots. So, what does all of this mean, exactly?

 

Making his intentions clear, the preacher, said that Christians and non-Christians, alike, are bogged down in our fast-paced culture.

With a focus on to-do lists and a hankering for accolades and accomplishment, Tchividjian argues that life is simply exhausting — and that, somewhere along the way, many believers got sucked into a vortex of sorts.

 

Through “One Way Love,” he’s hoping to tackle these monumental issues in an effort to get Christianity back on track.

“I think the main premise is that we are exhausted people. Everybody I’ve talked to is exhausted. People are exhausted spiritually, they’re exhausted relationally, they’re exhausted emotionally, they’re exhausted physically,” he said. “And they’re not exhausted because their life is busy; they’re exhausted because, through their busy life, they’re trying to secure meaning, worth, significance, purpose.”

 

In a fast-paced, modern-day society that exerts monumental pressure, Tchividjian says that people are working fervently to save themselves, to secure their existence and to validate their lives — all things that only God can do for mankind. These desperate attempts are fruitless, the pastor argues, without what he calls “God’s inexhaustible grace.”

 

Rather than obsessing through a checklist of necessary Christian behavior, he argued that it is important to get back to the heart of Christianity. Faith, he says, shouldn’t be based on “our performance” but, instead, it should be predicated upon “God’s performance for us in Jesus.”

 

“People end up believing that their meaning, their value, their significance is ultimately up to them,” the preacher continued. “And what this book really does is — it serves as a clarion call to the church to say, let’s get back to the good news that great men like Martin Luther, the Apostle Paul — [what] these men gave their lives for — which is, the Christian faith is first and foremost about not the sacrifices we make, but the sacrifices God made for us.”

 

It’s not only about living this sentiment out, though. In “One Way Love,” Tchividjian also argues that it’s important for Christians to change perceptions among non-believers. To outsiders, he says it sometimes seems as though faith requires the fulfillment of a massive to-do list.

 

“We burden people — we exhaust people,” he added.

The pastor maintains that God doesn’t love people more when they are performing well in life and he doesn’t love them less when they’re struggling. While Christians should certainly act the part, placing action and “to-do” items before the faith (the latter of which he believes actually informs the former) isn’t wise.

When individuals realize that God’s love was secured through Jesus Christ and live that reality out, Tchividjian argues, the dynamic changes entirely.

 

“As a preacher, I am so tuned into my own depravity and my own sin, and my own failure, because I know how far I was — because I’m not shocked, I’m not surprised, I’m not judgmental,” he said.

 

“I can relate to the heart behind it and believe that I’m totally capable of that.” It seems these experiences have helped craft his central argument in “One Way Love” — a book that attempts to refocus Christians on God’s apparent overarching and unceasing love for mankind. [end quote]

 

Let us read through what we have studied:

 

HEB 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.

 

HEB 3:2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

 

HEB 3:3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

 

HEB 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

 

HEB 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;

 

HEB 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

 

HEB 3:7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice,

 

HEB 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

 

HEB 3:9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.

 

HEB 3:10 "Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways';

 

HEB 3:11 As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"

 

HEB 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.

 

HEB 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

 

HEB 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end;

 

HEB 3:15 while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me."

 

HEB 3:16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

 

HEB 3:17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

 

HEB 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

 

HEB 3:19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

 

HEB 4:1 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

 

HEB 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

 

HEB 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

 

HEB 4:4 For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works";

 

HEB 4:5 and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My rest."

 

HEB 4:6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,

 

HEB 4:7 He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts."

 

HEB 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.

 

HEB 4:9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

 

HEB 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

 

HEB 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

 

HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

HEB 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

 

HEB 4:14 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.

 

HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

 

HEB 4:16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

 

Back to the Exodus:

 

We left them on their way to Mt. Sinai in the wilderness of Sin, where again they had no water, and despite their unbelief God brought water from a rock. Even after this they did not trust in Him. Soon after Israel was attacked by the Amalakites who were a tribe from the grandson of Esau. Because Moses was able to hold his hands up with the help of Aaron and Hur the Jews prevailed under general Joshua and defeated them. And so we find them now at Mt. Sinai, 3 months after leaving Egypt, where they will spend about a year.

 

Next we have the months at Sinai. God will communicate the Law to Moses. He will not communicate it all at once. In the beginning Moses went up the mountain and came back shortly thereafter. During this we have at least three occurrences where the people pledged to obey whatever God told them to do.

 

EXO 19:8 And all the people answered together and said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do!" And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

 

EXO 24:3 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!"

 

EXO 24:4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

EXO 24:5 And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.

 

EXO 24:6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

 

EXO 24:7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!"

 

EXO 24:8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."

 

Moses gives a recap of this time 40 years later on the east side of the Jordan as the children of the people were about to enter the land.