Hebrews 3:7-19 Guard Your Heart
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
"God spoke." He was not silent, He communicated then and He still communicates today.
Jesus shows us that there is a God who speaks so that we may know, love, and obey Him and that He may call us His own.
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Introduction
Introduction
Intro
Intro
Jesus is greater than Moses (3:1-6) “Don’t put your focus on Moses (or man) but Jesus.”
The builder of the house is greater than the house itself. Jesus is greater than Moses because he made Moses.
Jesus is greater than Moses in the same way a son is greater than a servant.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
“The Holy Spirit says.” and then quotes directly from . Is it the Bible or the Holy Spirit speaking? The answer is “Yes!” The Holy Spirit speaks through the written Word of God so lean in and listen. Remember that the Word of God is alive.
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
What we can learn from our text today (3:7-11):
The first thing we see is that we can learn from what God did in the lives of other people.
The first thing we see is that we can learn from what God did in the lives of other people.
The lesson we learn from the Israelites is “do not harden your hearts.”
What causes our hearts to be hardened:
Sin
Religious routine
Disappointment / Hard times
Hurt
When should we do something about it?
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
The Israelites didn’t to God:
10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
When you don’t trust someone who’s very trust worthy you insult them.
Example: a parent with a wayward child. The parent is broken and angry. Most likely not for selfish reasons rather because they see what the child is doing to their own life.
God is angry because He has something good for us but we fail to receive it.
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
We underestimate the terrible nature of our unbelief.
“Unbelief” is not rooted in “intellectual agreement” rather it is a trust and love for a person. (Our Father)
The author of Hebrews is not talking about a “Biblical doctrine” whether you believe or don’t believe but DO YOU TRUST JESUS?
Unbelief is not inability to understand, but unwillingness to trust … It is the will, not the intelligence, that is involved.” William Newell
You can trust God and still be troubled with occasional doubt.
Challenge: Make a list why you shouldn’t trust God and a second list why you should
Another problem we tend to see with “intellectual agreement” is that some tend to use it to justify sin!
What we believe controls how we live, as apposed to what we say we believe!
What we believe controls how we live, as apposed to what we say we believe!
When a man begins to doubt the Bible, to doubt the atonement, to doubt the wrath to come, and so on, there is generally a cause for it; and that cause is not always intellectual, but moral and spiritual.” Charles Spurgeon
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Isn’t it interesting that during this global pandemic we’re forced into doing this.