Participants: James Rafferty, Ty Gibson
Series Code: BOTB
Program Code: BOTB00004A
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00:21 Unfinished projects, we all have them.
00:23 The ongoing task, assignment, or job can 00:26 sometimes be overwhelming. 00:27 We're not always finishers, but Jesus says, 00:30 "and we are His house and He is the builder. " 00:34 Hello friends, I'm James Rafferty, your co-host, with 00:36 Ty Gibson and we are studying the Books of the Book. 00:39 We are in the books of Hebrews, and we are in Chapter 3. 00:42 Ty how long have we known each other? 00:43 Let's see, I guess we have known each other for I say, 00:48 about 20 to 23 years, since I was about 10. 00:51 And when we first met it seemed as though, I mean in our young, 00:55 enthusiastic fervor in Jesus Christ, 00:59 because we met in Jesus Christ. 01:00 It seems as though we felt we were pretty 01:03 much finished products. 01:04 But over those 23 or so years, I think that we have realized 01:07 that there is a lot of unfinished parts in the home, 01:11 the building that Christ has been working on 01:14 in each one of us. 01:15 And we have seen a lot of that. 01:16 Do you have any less confidence that Christ can finish 01:19 the work that He has started in us? 01:20 I don't have any less confidence that Jesus can finish the 01:23 work, but you are right, James. 01:24 It's incredible the more you learn, the less you know. 01:29 More imperfect you see yourself to be. 01:33 That's why I really appreciate Hebrews 3. 01:35 Because Hebrews 3 pictures Christ as a home builder, 01:38 as the one who is building us. 01:40 We have been introduced to Christ as God and Christ as man. 01:43 Now we move into Chapter 3, where we see Christ as the 01:47 builder, we are encouraged to have confidence in Him. 01:51 Let's ask our viewers to open their Bibles with us, if they 01:53 have them to Hebrews Chapter 3. 01:55 This is an incredible chapter James, because the Apostle 02:00 Paul is drawing conclusions from what he has developed in 02:04 Chapters 1 and 2. 02:06 He begins again, as he does often, in the book of Hebrews 02:10 with the word, "therefore". 02:12 Which of course is referring back to ground 02:15 he has already covered. 02:16 He drawing conclusions now from points that he has 02:19 developed, "therefore!" 02:21 "Considering these things that we have covered holy 02:24 brother, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the 02:29 apostle and high Priest of our confession Jesus Christ. " 02:33 This is amazing, James, because what we see here, first 02:38 of all is Paul is addressing the believers in Christ, 02:43 that whatever stage of growth and development they are at, 02:46 as holy brethren. 02:48 And we tend to want to say, who is he talking to who, 02:52 is that who are the holy brethren and sisters that 02:56 are being addressed here? 02:57 Which is very clear in the context of Hebrews, because we 03:00 find a lot of imperfections. 03:02 And lot of unfinished work. 03:03 As Paul continues to address this group of people, 03:07 Christianity in general, and so it is very enlightening 03:10 for us to recognize that what Paul is doing here, is he 03:14 looking at us as we are in Jesus. 03:17 As we are through Christ. 03:18 As we are with Him as our Master Builder. 03:21 One of the great truths of the Gospels James, is that 03:24 once we become partakers of heavenly calling, once we 03:28 recognize our position in Christ and by faith come to 03:31 Him, it's incredible that God looks upon us. 03:35 Not because He's ignorant, or because He's deceived, but 03:38 because God is love. 03:40 He looks upon us in such a way as He allows His love 03:45 to cover a multitude of sins. 03:47 In other words, He knows we're sinners. 03:49 But He relates to us as if we've never sinned, as if, 03:52 in fact, we are holy brethren and sisters that in fact 03:56 are not holy, but He recognize us as such. 04:00 The Apostle Paul develops this in a number of places. 04:03 But I think in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, where he says 04:07 that the way God reconciles us to Himself is by not 04:10 imputing our trespasses unto us. 04:13 Or another version says, not counting men's 04:16 sins against them. 04:18 I was going to ask you, do you do that from a different 04:19 version, that imputing, 04:20 it's kind of a complicated word, not counting men's sins 04:23 against them and this is what we see in Hebrews 1 and 2. 04:25 In fact, in doing this it seems to me that God has given us 04:30 something that causes us to trust Him. 04:32 You know you can't really follow some one, even consider 04:35 someone, even be open and listen to what they have to say, 04:38 unless you have a little bit of confidence or trust in them. 04:41 And so Paul has first introduced us to God in a sense. 04:45 He has encouraged us to have some confidence, to have 04:48 some trust in Him and in doing that, we are opening our 04:52 hearts to listen now to more and understand more about 04:57 this plan of salvation. 04:58 And the way in which that trust builds momentum, 05:00 and strength and becomes more vital and alive 05:02 is in this word. 05:05 The secret of that strengthening 05:07 is in this word "consider". 05:09 Here the Apostle is telling us that the way in which we, 05:13 as fallen human beings, who have now come into Christ, 05:16 and become partakers of the heavenly calling, he says, 05:20 Here's what I want you do, I want to give you 05:21 some practical advice. 05:22 I'm not going to leave this theoretical I'm going to tell 05:25 you exactly what you need to, do you need to consider Him. 05:28 Which means you need to contemplate, you need to think 05:31 about, you need to ponder the Lord Jesus Christ, in all 05:35 that He is and all that He means to you. 05:37 Paul does says this in other places. 05:38 Later on in Hebrews, instead of the word consider, but the 05:42 same concept, he says in Chapter 12, "looking unto Jesus, 05:46 the author and finisher of our faith", 05:47 in 2 Corinthians 3: 18, 05:49 he uses the word behold the glory of God, in Christ Jesus. 05:53 In Revelation 5, "behold the Lamb of God". 1 John 1:29, 05:57 "behold the Lamb of God". 05:58 Yes, so if this process of considering, this process of 06:02 beholding, which is exactly what we are doing here as 06:06 we study the Word of God, is the process by which we 06:10 become more and more grounded in our position in Christ. 06:14 We become more and more appreciative of 06:15 all that we see in Jesus Christ. 06:17 And on a practical level, we partake more and more 06:21 fully of Christ. 06:22 Absolutely, and now Hebrews Chapter 3, continues on 06:25 here and talks about, in the context, talks about in these 06:28 few verses, about this better house that God is building. 06:31 He is the builder of this house, and then he does something, 06:35 that I think is again indicative if of the idea that Paul 06:38 is the author of Hebrews, he uses an illustration that is 06:41 used in other places in Paul's writings. 06:43 He parallels Moses and his house to God or Christ and the 06:49 house that He is building us. 06:50 And then begins to talk about Moses and talk about the 06:53 wilderness sojourning of God's people, the wilderness 06:57 wandering of God's people. 06:58 There Israel in the Old Testament and draws history 07:01 lessons, parallels to us today that we can learn from. 07:04 Well, we all know that according to the Gospel account. 07:07 Jesus was builder. 07:09 Jesus was a carpenter, but He didn't come just to build 07:12 furniture and houses, as He was no doubt educated to do by his 07:17 father, Joseph, as he was raised there in 07:20 the village of Nazareth. 07:21 Jesus got down to business, got down to what He really came 07:23 for when He entered into Ministry, and His ministry 07:27 James, was no less a building project. 07:30 Right. 07:31 In any carpentry endeavor, He is building a spiritual 07:35 house, as He is building souls, and spirits up in Himself 07:39 to become the full stature of men and women in Christ. 07:44 So all of us really are unfinished projects. 07:47 And some of us are real projects. 07:50 I don't know if you've ever tried to build a house or ever 07:52 started from scratch. 07:53 I have and let me tell you Ty, I was not experienced at all. 07:57 In fact, I didn't even know how to square a wall when I 08:00 first started building a home. 08:01 As I move through this process I learned as I went, 08:06 from other people and got a lot of help. 08:08 Jesus is building human beings. 08:11 He is restoring them to the image of God, and some of 08:14 us are real projects. 08:15 Some of us are real restoration projects. 08:17 But we can be confident of this one thing, Philippians 1, 08:19 tells us that, "he who has begun the work is able to 08:22 finish the work until the very end. " 08:24 Yeah, I ventured into a building project myself James. 08:27 I built my own house and I will never forget it because just 08:30 the time it let alone the energy and all the things 08:33 that I had to learn. 08:34 It took myself and my three children and my wife 08:38 occasionally helping us, it took us two years and eight 08:41 months to build that house until we can finally move in. 08:45 Just lay down on the carpet and say it is finally done. 08:49 Jesus is engaged in a spiritual building project 08:53 with every one of us. 08:55 Ephesians Chapter 2, is a parallel Scripture that 08:58 explains that not only are we as individuals a building 09:03 project that the Lord is engaged in 09:06 perfecting and developing. 09:07 But there is a sense, a corporate sense James, in 09:11 which the Church and all of its members 09:14 are a building project. 09:16 There is a unified sense in which together you and me, 09:21 and our brothers and sisters in Christ form a 09:24 living temple for the Lord. 09:26 In Chapter 2 of Ephesians, and specifically verses 19 to 22 09:33 "Now, therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners 09:36 but fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the 09:40 household of God. " 09:42 Verse 20. "Having been built upon the foundation of the 09:46 apostles and prophets Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 09:50 corner stone and in whom", and this is the key, "in whom 09:55 the whole building being fitly framed together grows into 10:00 a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built 10:06 together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit. " 10:10 We are being built as a house for the indwelling 10:14 of God's Spirit. 10:15 God in Revelation, God points out the bride of Christ. 10:18 And the bride of Christ, it says there in 10:21 Revelation 19, is a city. 10:22 And you think, a city why is it a city, because the 10:25 city symbolizes God's people, God's church. 10:28 The city has 12 foundations, each one has the name of 10:32 one of the apostles. 10:33 The city has 12 gates each one has the name of 10:35 one of the tribes. 10:37 those tribes, those apostles foundation gates of the city 10:41 represent the place in which God's people are going to 10:45 dwell for all eternity. 10:46 Every single one of the redeemers will have a place, 10:48 a mansion and we are told. 10:50 in John Chapter 14, a place in that city, and we are 10:53 going to be welcomed there in that place. 10:55 And it's incredible, because it is not just a big 10:58 impersonal place to live, but very clearly the sense 11:03 in Scripture, like Paul says in Ephesians 2 text, 11:08 we are members of the household of God. 11:10 I like a translation of the text in John 14, where it 11:14 says that we have mansions that are being prepared for us. 11:17 It is very interesting because one version says, 11:20 "in my father's house are many rooms". 11:22 Many rooms, I mean, there are definitely going to be 11:25 glorious rooms on a mansion level, according to scripture. 11:28 This will be incredible, but at the same time, they are not just 11:31 mansions, the emphasis is not on the material stuff. 11:34 It's not just a, posh apartments where I be walking on 11:37 gold in heaven. 11:38 And there's pearly gates, but in that place the 11:41 real issue is not the gates of Pearl. 11:43 It's not the streets of gold. 11:45 Is not the mansions. 11:46 The emphasis is, we are going to dwell in God's household. 11:50 We are going to have rooms in the household of God. 11:52 Yes, we are going to be family. 11:53 There is going to be a place for us. 11:56 And if I'm going to prepare a place for you, Jesus says in 11:58 John 14, if I have a place for you, I'm going to come back, 12:01 and I am going to take you where I am so that we can be 12:04 there together for ever. 12:06 You may be with Me, He says, and we all know from our human 12:10 experiences and this is a great way to think about it 12:13 in order to really get the point. 12:14 It is that, we all know, as human beings that there are 12:18 individuals, maybe a friend, maybe a wife or husband, 12:21 or grandma or grandpa, uncle and aunt. 12:23 Just somebody who is a good friend on some level. 12:26 There are individuals who we just enjoyed being with. 12:30 We just want to be in their presence. 12:31 We would just want to hang out with them. 12:32 We can even hangout with them on a long drive and be 12:35 silent and be perfectly content and feel like our 12:38 journey is just a higher-quality journey, 12:41 because we are with those that we love. 12:44 And here Jesus comes to us, and He doesn't say, 12:47 I just want to save you, He pleads in John Chapter 17, 12:51 He says Father, "I pray that those whom you have given 12:54 me may be with me where I am. " 12:58 He wants us to be sharers in fellowship with Him for all 13:03 eternity future as members of the household of God. 13:06 It's the same in this world friends this world is full 13:08 of a material attractions and sometimes we get distracted. 13:11 We get so filled up and so focused on the material things 13:14 that we think are going to fill our souls and our hearts, 13:17 and they don't. 13:18 They do not in the end bring us the joy and satisfaction 13:21 they are empty without people and personal relationships. 13:24 So the whole book of Ephesians excuse me, of Hebrews 13:26 along with the rest of the Bible is pointing us to a 13:29 personal relationship with Christ. 13:31 Even if you are a Christian. 13:32 Even if you are religious. 13:34 Even if you do many wonderful things in miracles 13:36 in Christ's name. 13:37 If you don't know Him as your personal Savior, 13:40 all that becomes insignificant. 13:42 God wants to inhabit us. 13:45 He wants to have a relationship with us. 13:47 He wants to abide with us. 13:48 He wants to walk with us as He did the Garden of Eden. 13:51 This is going to be our focus as we continue our 13:54 study in the book of Hebrews. 13:55 Don't go away because we'll be right back after this. |
Revised 2014-12-17