Hebrews 3:14
15 June 2025
For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Now as we read a verse like this, the big word that might be striking people's minds is this word, “if”. We've come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. So a few questions to consider as we begin. Is our salvation entirely based upon the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ? And if so, what do we do? Do we need to do anything?
Let me provoke this further just as we begin with this statement, and consider whether you believe this to be a biblically accurate statement. Once you are saved, it doesn't matter what you do, you cannot perish. So once you are saved, saved by the blood of Christ, it doesn't matter what you do, you cannot perish. Now is this a good and a right thing for a Christian to say? And is it what the Bible says?
When we read verses like Hebrews 3:14, "For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold fast our confidence firm to the end," it sounds as though we need to do something. So as we come to address this very important verse, we're going to work through four important questions.
1. what is our salvation?
2. can we lose our salvation?
3. where does backsliding fit into this?
4. how can we, or how must we hold to our original confidence?
So these are the four questions that we're going to be tackling as we work through what is being stated in this verse.
Now just before we come to this question, which is, what is our salvation, let's remind ourselves that this is coming in a time in the book of Hebrews in chapter 3 where a lot of warnings are being given. The context is that the writer to the Hebrews is dealing with these Hebrew Christians who have been starting to look back towards their old Jewish rituals and practices, some even looking to them and relying upon them as part of their Christian faith.
And one of the things that we've seen in this chapter from verse 7 is a warning from Israel's history. Think of Psalm 95 being quoted in verses 7 down to 11, and we have the warning of the hardness of heart of the Israelites and the fact that they shall not enter God's rest, then we have in verse 12 this exhortation that we are to take care, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart. So that's a warning given to the church as we gather. We also saw last time in verse 13 the exhortation to exhort one another, to be encouraging, to be supporting, to be admonishing our brothers and sisters in the faith because this is a spiritual war. There are many struggles, many temptations.
And here we come in verse 14 to a verse where, again, we are being presented with an encouragement, but it is a challenge to ensure we understand what that encouragement is. Because this verse, let me be clear as we begin, is not a verse where a Christian should be sitting at the end of it and thinking and wondering, well, I don't know if I've got any assurance of my salvation. I don't know if I'm doing enough in my Christian walk. I don't know if I'm going to be acceptable enough when I stand before the righteous judge. I don't know if I'm going to get to heaven or not.
Verses like this are categorically not intended to leave you in any sense of doubt or uncertainty. And this is why we need to, of all, address this opening crucial question, what is our salvation? What is our salvation? Now pay attention more closely to what the verse is saying. Notice it does not say, "For we will come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end."
It's not saying we will come to have something. It is saying: "We have come to share in Christ."
And if there's any doubt or uncertainty about that, just look back to verse 1 where something similar is stated.
"You who share in a heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1).
Notice it's saying to the Christian, you share in a heavenly calling. It's not saying you might, depending upon x, y, or z.
It's saying you share in this. And here in verse 14, it begins, "We have come to share in Christ."
Now this is important to emphasise because the question we are asking is, what is our salvation? What is our salvation? What does it mean to be saved?
And this is where we don't need to look very far, even in the book of Hebrews, to get the answer to that question. Because everything we've seen up until now in our study in the book of Hebrews has been about the supremacy, the pre-eminence, the excellence, the majesty, the beauty, the wonder of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come straight to Christ and the gospel to understand the answer to this question, because this question is asking about something that man needs. We need salvation. Why?
Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. We are in a fallen and wretched condition. And when we come to the question about what is our salvation, our salvation therefore is not that we have made some decision to allow a Savior into our hearts. When we come to the question, what is our salvation, it means we need to be saved by someone. This is not something we can do because we are fallen in our sin.
We are separated from the living God, and it's why what we've already seen in the book of Hebrews is that there is one who has made the way of salvation. And it's not random or abstract. It's not a wondering who might do something in order to get themselves to heaven. No. This is something that the living God planned and decreed from before the foundation of the world, and it was executed to perfection and precision through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's why in Acts 4:12 it says, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Because we are lost and broken in our sin, which means we are condemned to hell. And when we look to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see that Christ bore your, born again believer, your sin. Christian, the Lord Jesus Christ bore your sin on the cross. He became the curse for us.
He shed His innocent blood for the guilty, that is us. He paid the debt that He did not owe. He put away our sin by the punishment that we deserve. His life sacrificed at Calvary satisfied God's righteous wrath. This is the gospel.
It is what Jesus Christ, the person of the Triune God in clothing Himself in human flesh, did for His people. And so when we come to the question, what is our salvation? Our salvation is that you have been convicted of your sin before the living God. Tonight, as you sit here, are you one who has been convicted of your sin before the Most High God? This means that you have been cut to the heart, that you recognise, you acknowledge, you believe that there are not many gods and many saviours out there.
Which one am I going to pick? No, that there is one true living God, and you have sinned against this God, and Jesus Christ is not our Savior. He is the Savior. He is the way, the truth, the life. And in this, when you come in repentance of your sin and faith, believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is your salvation.
Your salvation is based entirely upon this, that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient. His death was sacrificial. His resurrection from the dead was victorious, and this means on Christ and Christ alone, you are saved. And it's upon this authority alone that Romans 5:1 declares, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Note this. This is the righteous judge, the living God, who declares fallen, broken, undeserving sinners like us justified in His sight. And how could you possibly be declared justified in the presence of the Most High God? It is only and it is entirely by the completed work of Jesus Christ. God sees you, a fallen, broken sinner, hell-deserving sinner, and then because of the sacrifice of Christ, because your sin has been credited to His account, you receive His righteousness. And it's upon Christ's righteousness and Christ alone that God is right and just to declare the saved born-again Christian justified by the faith you have in Christ.
That is what your salvation is, and that is what Hebrews 3:14 means when it says, "We have come to share in Christ." We have come to share in Christ. We are sons adopted to glory. We are children of the Living God. We are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We belong to the family of God because of Jesus Christ. We have come to share in Christ. This is the declaration upon the authority of Scripture. And so we come to our question. Can we lose this?
Can we lose our salvation? Can it be that you're sitting here tonight justified by the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then maybe a couple of years later, suddenly, “boop”, got lost? Of course not. If it was down to you, then absolutely. Just think about what you've done this past week. You've got enough of a catalogue to know, well, I'm in the mire again. But it is entirely down to Christ by which you are saved, by which you then will be sustained. Because you, the church of Jesus Christ, are a people given by God. John 6:39–40 says,
"And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Everything given to God, everything given to Christ, that is the church.
John 10:27–29,
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
Christians are the sheep of Jesus Christ, and note what we are given: eternal life. We will not perish. We will not be snatched out of His hand. Brothers and sisters, this is your assurance of salvation—Christ, and what has been promised to Him, what has been secured by Him. Christ is your assurance.
It is why Romans 8:38–39 says,
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What a comfort, brothers and sisters. God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the glorious gospel where we see the love that our Lord has for you and me. Undeserving in our sin, this is where the wrath of God meets the mercy of God in this glorious embrace at the cross where He is laying down His life to literally save His people. And nothing separates us from that. Nothing.
It cannot be lost. And it's why in 1 Peter 1:3–5 says,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Notice the language of this inheritance that we receive. It is imperishable. It is undefiled. It is unfading. It is kept in heaven for you. Brothers and sisters, meditate and reflect on these verses of this assurance of your salvation. God has planned it. He has decreed it. Christ has secured it. This is your glorious salvation by divine appointment.
Acts 13:48,
"And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." Therefore, no, you cannot lose your salvation.
We come then to the question about this text. Well, where does backsliding fit into this? Turn with me to Revelation chapter 2.
Revelation 2:4–5,
"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."
Notice the language of this warning that's given on the basis of them abandoning their love. Now what and who is their love? Well, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, yes, certainly, for the true born-again believer, the professing Christian, there can be spiritual apathy.
There can be a backsliding in the faith. What might that look like? It may look like neglecting times in the Word of God and in prayer, even neglecting gathering with the Lord's people. Or maybe you are doing these things, but it's not scratching even the surface. Your mind, even your heart is somewhere else.
And Revelation 2 says, here tonight as we read it, return to your love. Return to your love. What this is not saying is be a Christian again. You need to be born again all over. You need to top up your salvation.
That's absolutely not what it's saying, and everything we've unpacked up until now should make that categorically clear as to why. Because if you're reading this, a warning like neglecting your love and the danger of the lampstand being removed, and if you're reading Hebrews 3:12, the danger of an evil, unbelieving heart, for the true believer, one who is born again, saved by the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ, justified by faith in Christ, then the Spirit of God is at work and alive in you. He will chasten His bride. He will restore you by His grace. It's why we need to hear the Word of God preached.
It's why sin needs to be confronted, why sinners need to be called to repent. These are the ways by which we hold fast to our confession. And this is where we come to begin addressing the half of Hebrews 3:14, because it's saying, "For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end."
This is where we come to the question. How can we, how must we hold to our original confidence?
And this is where as we begin to address this question, let me state something that is not in any way a contradiction to what we've seen so far. What you do and what you do, what you've done, what you will do, matters. But it does not in any way matter as though it in any way contributes to your salvation or you being justified in the presence of the living God.
Permit me to give you this example. Let's suppose some teenage lad was out late at night, and people are saying, oh, didn't your mom and dad say, oh, you need to be back by a certain time? And he says, oh, it doesn't matter what time I stay out at. My mom and dad will still love me anyway. Well, mom and dad will still love you, not because you earned it by good behaviour, and your behaviour still matters.
Now it's very important that we see, therefore, what is being stated by holding our original confidence firm to the end because there are two different extremes people can go to on the subject of sharing in Christ. One extreme is to place conditions on salvation. And once you start doing that, you fast move into false teaching and heresy. As we've already stated upon the authority of the Word of God, we are saved by Christ and Christ alone. But the other extreme could be to then say, well, once saved, always saved, doesn't matter what I do.
Brothers and sisters, where is the assurance of your salvation from? The answer is the completed work of Christ alone, the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so then, what's the application for you as the Christian who knows and believes this? Does that equal free pass to live according to the flesh because Jesus excuses you for whatever you decide to do? The true, glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a joy to the soul of the believer, and it changes you. It changes who you are, where we read verses like this, not as though this is some condition upon our salvation, but understanding that this is the very application of what our salvation looks like. The devil will try to strike at you with verses like this, but brothers and sisters, grace preserves you.
Ephesians 6:16, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one." And the devil will want you to think one of these two extremes. One is, you're not good enough. You need to do more. Or number two is, you're not good enough. Where do you think you are here this evening? Get out of here.
To whom do you then look to? To whom do you then look to? Look at the warning at the end of verse 13 where we're being exhorted to exhort one another as long as it's called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So we've got this warning of being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So what are we to do? We are to hold our original confidence. We are to hold and look to our love, the Lord Jesus Christ. We make a bold and free confession of Christ in the settled assurance of the sufficiency of what Christ has done.
"Though He may slay me, I will trust Him" (Job 13:15). This verse and this passage are a sobering warning because it is exhorting what saving faith produces in the life of the believer. Your perseverance as a saint, and your perseverance as a saint is not detached in any way from Christ. The verse says it. You share in Christ. That's how you hold to this confidence.
And as we look to examples like Israel and how they saw and even to an extent tasted the good and gracious works of God, as we consider many who have experienced much yet fell in their hardness of heart, we look at situations like that, and we understand why verses like Philippians 2:12 exhort us to "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Not a fear and trembling where we're asking, oh, well, what if it's not? What if I don't have Christ tonight? Well, if you don't have Christ tonight, that means that you did not, you do not share in Christ, and you must repent because it is only by the regenerating work of God that you can and will be saved.
And for those who are born again and we may be wondering, well, do I measure up? No, you don't. That's why you look to Christ, knowing that we are kept by the power of God through faith (1 Peter 1:5).
And when you sin, you don't wallow in the thought of, oh, maybe that means I'm not saved. As a saved believer, I look to Christ convicted of my weakness, my folly, my sin, my wickedness, and I repent, and I seek Christ, and I pray with praise in my heart to know that it is not because of my work that I stand righteous in the sight of God, but it is because of Christ's righteousness imputed to me that I am one who is justified freely in the sight of the living God. I hold to Christ. I cling to Christ. And it's because of Christ that I then delight in the law of God, in the Word of God. And it's because of Christ that it helps to shape and equip me as a man of God, as a husband, as a father, as a pastor, as a friend, because without Christ, I'm done here.
And so these warnings remind and emphasize all the more that what this original confidence we are holding to is the original confidence of who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done. That includes times of tests, trials, temptations. Israel was tested, tempted, and they fell. And as we look to the example of Israel, it can enable us to understand how absolutely essential it was that there would be one who came, who would fulfil this law that Israel transgressed again and again and again.
You and I also, we sit here this evening, and we are transgressors of the law of God. But as we began, this is where we finish. Christ fulfilled the law. He is the all sufficient one. He is the sacrifice for your sin.
And so this if clause that we have here is not a conditional if, because we share in Christ. We have a heavenly calling. And the perseverance, the application of holding firm to the end is because of Christ. And we know that that is something that will persevere to the end because of Christ, because of the gospel. And in this, we have the assurance of our salvation, the hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.