The Supreme Warning Against Apostasy
Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Scripture Reading: Psalm 95:1-11
Kid’s Time: Kids afraid of diving off a diving board. They get right up to the edge but can’t take the jump of faith.
Intro: 3 kinds of people in the audience of Hebrews. 1. Hebrew Christians — born again believers, 2. Non-Christians of Hebrew Heritage who knew the facts about Jesus but were not committing themselves to Him and were thinking of going back to Judaism, 3. Non-Christians who did not believe in Jesus at all. This passage is speaking to the second group.
40 years after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, they had all the facts about Jesus. They saw that the gospel was true and they were just on the edge of believing but were being enticed to go back to the synagog and the old covenant of the law.
Like person on the edge of a cliff with a forest fire approaching. All they have to do is jump into a pool of water below to be safe, but they are tempted to go back for things that they left behind. This passage is the call, from all the others already safely in the pool, to forget about what they left behind and to leap in faith to safety.
I. Israel Fell Away
I. Israel Fell Away
This is an illustration from OT of apostasy.
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,
An Exposition of Hebrews Chapter 14: Christ Superior to Moses (Heb. 3:7–12)
“As the Holy Spirit saith.” Dr. Gouge has pointed out how that this sentence teaches us four things about the Holy Spirit. First, that He is true God: for “God spake by the mouth of David” (
Not “said”, but He “says” - It is a living message for us today as it was for the readers then.
Hear Him. Not just with your ears but with your heart. Receive what he has to say to you today.
8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.
How were they hardening their hearts? They had seen the miraculous deliverance of God over and over through the plagues on Egypt, the crossing of the red sea, the pillar of cloud and fire, the daily provision of manna, provision of quail. Despite all this, they demanded more proof of God’s love for them. That is a hardened heart. What more did He need to show them?
What was true of the Jews at the time of Moses, was true of the Jews at the time of David when the Psalm 95 was written and it is true of the Jews today.
Don’t miss that God proved Himself to them for 40 years.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1–4:13) After He supplied bread for them, they complained about a lack of water (Ex. 17:1–7). Moses called that place “Massah and Meribah” which means “provocation and trial.”
At the time that Hebrews was written, it was approximately 40 years since the Lord’s resurrection. God had been patient with His people in the days of Moses and He had been equally patient with His people in the days of the One Who is greater than Moses, God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ.
What more did Jesus need to prove? He performed miracle after miracle culminating in Him raising Himself from the dead. They were hardening their hearts to Jesus just as they did in the days of Moses.
10 “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’;
Israel had always been that way.
24 “You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.
The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary a. Israel’s Wilderness Experience (3:7–11)
They were willfully ignorant of God’s ways—that is, His purposes and plans for them. They refused to trust Him for their physical needs at Rephidim. They rejected the way He wished to lead them at Kadesh-barnea. It was not that they were intellectually unaware of what God wanted, but they did not know in the sense of “did not acknowledge” (ouk egnōsan) what God’s ways really were.
11 As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
God took this very seriously. He was not just mildly upset with them. When it says in verse 8 that they provoked God, it means they rebelled against Him. Because of this He was vexed and incensed by their unbelief. Their unbelief separated them from a loving God Who wanted to give them rest from their wandering in a land that was rich and productive.
28 “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you;
29 your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.
30 ‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
What a cautionary tale is the nation of Israel in the days of the wilderness wanderings. How could they not believe? They were at the edge of the cliff. All they had to do was trust God and jump, but instead, they wanted to go back to the comforts of Egypt. They refused to believe that God would provide something better for them.
II. Don’t You Fall Away
II. Don’t You Fall Away
12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Brethren here indicates fellow Jews who were refused to believe, not Christians. When he talked to Christians, he called them “holy brethren.”
Here is the author’s point. If the Jews who refused to believe in God under the leadership of Moses died in the wilderness because of their unbelief, then how much more serious will the punishment be for those who refuse to believe in God’s beloved Son, the One who is supreme over the prophets, the angels, mankind, and Moses?
Do you have an evil unbelieving heart? But pastor, I’m here in church aren’t I? Yes, but if you have heard the messages week after week and don’t believe where does that leave you? Maybe you have been dragged here by a friend, or spouse, or your parents and you nod your head to all the facts about the Bible. You say, “Yes, I know that Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again, and the Bible is the word of God. I’ve heard all the arguments, blah, blah, blah.” But, you have not repented of your sins and made a conscious choice to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have an evil and unbelieving heart. What more does God need to prove to you? What other arguments does He need to make?
unbelief is the greatest sin that you could commit.
You are the one on cliff. The fire is coming and it will consume you! Jump to safety! Jump now!
13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary b. Warning against Unbelief (3:12–19)
To counteract the tragic possibilities, the author urges that the readers exhort one another daily. Exhort (parakaleite) denotes encouragement, rather than criticism or castigation.
Here the author encourages the believers in the congregation to come along side those do not believe. There is an urgency here and a consistency to help the unbeliever to faith.
If you are one of those who has not yet believed, please know that the christians in your life keep telling you what the Bible says because they love you. You might think that it is annoying and they might not always do it in the most encouraging way, but they wouldn’t tell you if it wasn’t sincere, so please be understanding and more importantly believe.
You might be open to Christianity, you might even like Jesus Christ, but you can’t stomach some of the things the Bible teaches, you can’t give up your own way of doing things and You don’t want to give up your sin. Know this, sin is deceptive. It will trick you. It will tell you that God’s way isn’t the best. It will make you think that believing God is evil and believing your own heart is good. It will tell you that you don’t need Jesus. Don’t be hardened by those lies.
An Exposition of Hebrews Chapter 15: Christ Superior to Moses (Heb. 3:13–19)
Clay and wax which are naturally hard, melt when brought under a softening power, but when the heat is withdrawn they revert again to their native hardness. The same evil tendency remains in the Christian.
An Exposition of Hebrews Chapter 15: Christ Superior to Moses (Heb. 3:13–19)
“All the devices of sin are as fair baits whereby dangerous hooks are covered over to entice silly fish to snap at them, so as they are taken and made a prey to the fisher” (Dr. Gouge).
Believers, this is your instruction. Encourage your love ones who do not believe as long as you have opportunity.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
True believers are partakers of Christ. We are not perfect, but we
The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary b. Warning against Unbelief (3:12–19)
The “if” clause, then, does not tell us that we will become sharers of Christ ultimately if we hold fast long enough; but it tells us how we can recognize the true sharers of Christ. —Homer Kent
An Exposition of Hebrews Chapter 14: Christ Superior to Moses (Heb. 3:7–12) It is not only true that the difficulties and trials of the way test us, but these testings reveal the state of our hearts—a crisis neither makes nor mars a man, but it does manifest him. Circumstances do not change us, but they do expose us — Arthur Pink
15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”
If your heart is softened by the truth, turn to Him now.
III. Don’t Be Like Them
III. Don’t Be Like Them
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
As God judged the Israelites in the wilderness, so He will judge today. Don’t be like them. Faith is the antidote. He has a rest for those who believe. Rest from your works. Rest from your sins. Rest from your burdens. Have faith in Jesus today and find your rest in Him.
The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary a. Israel’s Wilderness Experience (3:7–11)
the writer was conscious of a parallel in years between the forty years of Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness and approximately the same period that had now elapsed since the rejection of Christ in A.D. 30. It is doubtful that we could place the writing of Hebrews beyond A.D. 70; but if it was written in the 60s, already it was the fourth decade since the crucifixion, and the parallel would provide opportunity for some sober reflection. —Homer Kent
