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4
WHAT WE WERE NOT RUT NOW ARE
“Take heed for we are become partakers of
Christ.’’—Heb. 3:14.
Y purpose at this time is to bring you
a message concerning what it is to be
4 ‘ partakers of Christ. ’ ’ In order to
do so most effectually, I wish first to
give you an epitome of the general
teaching of the epistle to the Hebrews.
The epistle was primarily intended
to put strength and spiritual muscle in
to the Hebrew Christians. You can
I
easily understand why this was necessary when
you remember that these Hebrew Christians nad
just recently come out of Judaism with all of its
spectacular ceremonies and performances. They
had come out of this into the simple religion of
Jesus Christ, and so long as they were in the ju
bilant or visionary state of their new religion, they
were satisfied. So long, too, as there was no per
secution of the Christians because of their faith,
they were satisfied, but when they finally settled
down to the drudgery of the daily life, to the
actualities of things; when they began to reduce
their theories to practice, and when all around
them there was the red hand of persecution, in
flicting punishment upon them for their faith,
then they got weak-kneed, and many of them went
back.
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews hoped
to prevent their apostasy by showing the superior
ity of the religion of Jesus Christ, their new faith,
to that of the old Jewish economy; and to do this,
he stressed Jesus Himself. After all, this is the
Christian religion. If we are weak concerning
Christ, we have no claim upon religion. I have no
ticed that all the heresy trials of late have grown
out of improper expressions concerning Jesus
Christ. So long as men remain true in their faith
to Him, there is little trouble about heresy. The
author of the epistle to the Hebrews writes to the
scattered Jews who had accepted Christianity
throughout the then known world. He writes to
show the superiority of Jesus Christ over the whole
Judaistic system.
CHRIST’S SUPERIORITY.
First, he shows them the superiority of Christ
over the angels. Under the old Jewish economy,
angels spoke to men for God, 'but the epistle to the
Hebrews shows that Jesus Christ was superior to
the angels in that He is God Himself speaking to
men. He then shows that Christ is superior to
the prophets. The old Jews regarded the prophets
with great reverence and authority. The writer
of the epistle shows that Jesus Christ is superior
to the prophets in that He Himself is the author
of the things prophesied about. He also shows them
the superiority of Christ over the law. In the old
dispensation, men were saved through obedience to
the law. Now, he shows them that Christ is su
perior to the law in that He compasses law with
grace. He also shows that Jesus is superior to
Moses. This was rather a climax step of the au
thor of the epistle to the Hebrews, for if there ever
was a man among the Jews who was not to be
spoken against, it was Moses. They almost wor
shipped him, but here Jesus is shown to be supe
rior to Moses in that He is His own law giver.
He shows also that He is the true and accepted
sacrifice. The Jews had to make their annual sac
rifice but now tney are told that the sacrifice has
been made by Christ Himself once for all. Finally,
he shows that Christ is superior to the Aaronic
priesthood. Under the old Jewish system, the
High Priest was necessary for approach to the
Holy of Holies. The sinner could not get into the
Holy of Holies. The High Priest must enter in
his stead, and make confession for him to God.
Now, the purpose of the author of the epistle to
the Hebrews is to show that Jesus Christ is their
High Priest, that He ever lives in the Holy of Ho
lies, and keeps the door wide open to every sup-
The Golden Age for December 27, 1906.
Tabernacle Sermon by Rev. Len. G. Broughton.
pliant sinner, inviting him without intervention,
with Him into the sacred place of confession.
So much now for the general teaching of the epis
tle to the Hebrews. What relation has it to our
text? First of all, it means to reveal our exalted
position, that “we are become partakers of
Christ”; partakers of all the superiority that char
acterized Him; that we are with Him superior to
angels, to law, to the prophets and to Moses; that
we, by substitutionary sacrifice, are with Him in the
purchase of redemption; and finally that He is our
High Priest, making us welcome to dwell with Him
in bhe sacred place of communion with God.
NATURE, DISPOSITION, ATTITUDE.
But this is not all. It is really not half of what
is conveyed. It is not the main thought that I wish
to express. What I want mainly to show is that
by being partakers of Christ, we are partakers of
His nature, His disposition .and His attitude.
And there are three things that I want to say
with reference to the nature, disposition and atti
tude of Jesus. His attitude to God, to the devil,
and to man.
When we have seen this, we have seen practically
all that characterized Jesus Christ in this world.
HIS ATTITUDE TO GOD.
Let us see first His attitude to God. What was
the attitude of Jesus to God? It was that of un
questioning, unwavering obedience to His will.
We see this when He was only twelve years old.
He said to His parents when it was discovered He
was not following them, 4 4 Wist ye not that I must
be about my Father’s business?” We see that at
the close of His life there in the Garden of Geth
semane: 4 4 Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me, nevertheless not my will but Thine
be done.” We learn from His own testimony: 44 1
come to do the will of my Father.” What is the
attitude of Jesus to God? From the beginning to
the end, it was obedience to His will. That was
His mission to the earth, to do the will of His
Father.
Now we are told that we are 44 partakers of
Him.” Os course, only Christians are meant here.
Our attitude to the Father is identical with the at
titude of Jesus. As He came to do the will of the
Father, so we are to do the same thing. Never mind
about its being contrary to our own will and pur
poses. If we are Christians, we must live in read
iness to do the will of our Father. If this is not
true of us, we have no claim upon Christianity.
We cannot be partakers of Christ, and not ask for
the Father’s will. Jesus did it, and we must do the
same thing. Our attitude, if we are Christians,
must be that of perfect obedience to the Father’s
will.
HIS ATTITUDE TO THE DEVIL.
What is His attitude to the devil? We see this
dearly in His great temptation. In that temptaion.
the devil touched Him at the three vital points of
His human nature. His appetite. His faith, and
His desire for worldly possessions. Let us look
first at His appetite: Understand that Jesus had
just fasted forty days, and was hungry. The devil
took advantage of this, and His first temptation
was for bread. 44 If thou be the Son of God, com
mand that these stones become bread.” This is
not the first nor the last time that the devil has
suggested wrong methods for obtaining bread. It
was never according to the Divine plan to make
bread out of stones. The plan was that bread
should come by the sweat of man’s face, but the
devil cared nothing about the plan of God, nor does
he care about it today. His desire is to get men to
use wrong methods to obtain bread. Never mind
what the method is. What he wants the world to be
lieve is that bread is more important than any
thing else in this world, and that any method to
obtain it is legitimate and right. The attitude of
Jesus to the devil was one of stubborn, positive
resistance,
Take the next point of attack, that of his faith.
The devil took Jesus up on a pinnacle of the temple,
and said: 44 1 f thou art the Son of God, cast thy
self down, for it is written, He shall give His an
gels charge concerning thee.” This was a tempta
tion to tamper with the law of God. He said in
plain English, 44 Do a fool thing, and label it faith,
and God will take care of you.” There are plenty
of men doing this today. Here is a man, for ex
ample, who has cut his radial artery and he is
bleeding to death. Somebody hays, 44 Don’t touch it.
Don’t send for a doctor. Don’t consult a surgeon.
Only trust God, and He will stop the blood.”
Here is another man equally as silly. He says,
44 Don’t take quinine for chills. Just keep on shak
ing, and trust God, and it will all come right.”
All this is tempting God. I believe in Divine heal
ing. Sometimes God heals independent of all reme
dies, but I don’t believe that we have any right to
attempt to lock God up in a corner, and say to
Him, you shall heal this way, or that. We have
no right to try to limit God in accordance with our
narrow, circumscribed faith. God is the Creator of
everything in the universe. Not a plant grows that
has not for its object some blessing for humanity;
and God is honored when we use the means that
He has provided at our hands, provided, of course,
that in the use of them, we give Him the honor
and the glory of it all. The highest faith that one
can possibly have is in the will of God; to be perpet
ually saying: 44 Speak, Lord, thy servant hear
eth.” To say to Him, 44 If I am not to use reme
dies, I will trust Thee for healing in another way.
Let me know Thy will, otherwise I use what Thou
hast put at my disposal, and give Thee the same
glory for blessings that follow.”
The next point of attack is concerning worldly
possessions. The devil knew that Jesus had come
to the earth to establish a kingdom, but he thought,
like the disciples, that it was to be a material king
dom from the beginning. And failing to get Him
at the point of His appetite or His faith, he now
tries a short-cut method for worldly possessions.
4 4 The devil taketh Him into an exceeding high
mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the
world and the glory of them, and he said unto
Him, All these things I will give thee if thou wilt
fall down, and- worship me.” What a subtle temp
tation ! Many a soul has gone down by yielding
to it. It was a temptation to compromise for pop
ularity. Preachers often surrender to it. It is
one of the hardest things not to do. Never mind
if we are preachers. It hurts us to go contrary to
the opinions of our friends as much as it hurts any
one else. Good women in society are tempted in
the same way, alas! Alas, many of them yield!
The devil says: 44 0 h, don’t be so outspoken in
your opposition to the practices of the world. You
need not do these things yourself, but don’t make
such a fuss about it. Let other people do as they
please.” Business men are caught in the same
trap., 44 Just compromise,” the devil says, 44 and
your field is the world. You can grow rich quick.
Only compromise. Don’t be so straight laced in
your business methods.”
The Church is caught in this way. It has con
victions against the worldliness and sin of its mem
bers, but it is yielding to the devil’s temptation
for compromise. It fails to exercise its discipline,
and to hold up its standard of complete separation.
Oh, the subtlety of the temptation! God help us
to see it!
The attitude of the devil concerning the tempta
tion for worldly possession was the same as in the
other instances, stubborn, uncompromising rejec
tion. So, my Christian friends, let me impress you
with the fact that if we are partakers of Christ,
our attitude to the devil in the time of temptation
is to be the same. There is no compromise that can
be permitted, however much it offers popularity and
position. It is a delusion anyhow, the promises of
the devil. He never pays his debts. He has a
way of building beautiful air castles, but, like the