You Cannot be a Passive Christian

Hebrews 3-4

Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3:12 - 4:16 gives us a glimpse of pursuing God, compared to hardening your heart.

Heb 3:12 - An evil, unbelieving heart, can lead you to fall away from God

Heb 3:13 - That none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin

Heb 3:14 - We share in Christ, IF, we hold our original confidence firm

The concluding warning that we must hold firmly demanded vigorous effort. Commitment to Christ does not allow for halfheartedness. - Thomas D. Lea Commentary

Heb 3:15 - Again, a call to “not harden your hearts”

Heb 3:16-17 - When God did all of the amazing things to free Israel from Egypt, and they instead rebelled against God, what did He do to them? They were punished. How much more so will we be punished for rebelling against what His Son did for us to free us from Sin?

Heb 3:18-19 - When the Israelites showed God their unbelief, this is the moment that God punished them to die in the wilderness.

If we enter in to God’s rest, then the coming years will only increase our trust and reliance on Jesus. If by unbelief we fail to enter in, then the coming years will only gradually draw us away from a passionate, trusting relationship with Jesus. - David Guzik

Hebrews 4

Heb 4:1 - Fear, lest you fail to reach God & His rest. This is something to fear! Do we fear for our salvation, or do we “trust” in grace while we live in sin?

Heb 4:2-3 - They heard the Word of God, but did not believe it, and this is why, in God’s wrath, they did not enter their promised rest.

Heb 4:6-7 - Do not fail to enter God’s rest because of disobedience. Do not wait a single day to obey Him. Do it today!

Heb 4:11 - STRIVE to enter that rest, so that we do not fall into disobedience

Heb 4:12-13 - FOR the Word of God… Strive to enter the rest, so that we don’t fall into disobedience, FOR the Word of God is living and active.

This gives a clear conenction that God’s Word is involved in diagnosing the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, to keep us from falling into disobedience, to keep us in the rest.

We will have to face God, fully exposed of all that we did with our life. Will we be found wanting?

Heb 4:14 - Again, “hold fast our confession”

Heb 4:15-16 - Because Jesus relates to us in our temptation we can freely draw near to the throne of grace. He will help us when we need help, not reject us for our failure.

Call to Action - Pursue God

We are told multiple times to *hold onto our confidence*

We are told to *strive* to enter God’s rest

2 Pe 1:5-11 - Make every effort — Be all the more diligent

Spurgeon - “It is not man’s effort that saves him; but, on the other hand, grace saves no man to make him like a log of wood or a block of stone; grace makes man active. God has been diligently at work with you; now you must diligently work together with Him. For we cannot expect to go to heaven asleep. We are not taken there against our wills. It is not our will that accomplishes our salvation; but still, it is not accomplished without our will.”

1 Co 9:24-26 - Run the race in such a way that you may win… exercises self-control in all things.

What things can we exercise self-control in that help us pursue God?

Repenting of sin

Reading the Bible

Prayer

Heb 12:1-2 - Sin clings to us like a weight as we run, but we look to Jesus

Loving Jesus more than anything else

Mt 6:33 - Seek first the kingdom of God

Repent of Sin

Heb 3:12-14 - Evil in our lives reveals an unbelieving heart

Truth Project - “Do you really believe, that what you believe, is really real?”

Read & Memorize Scripture

Heb 2:1 - Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it

Spurgeon - “Pay attention to the things we have heard We have heard them; do not let us forget them. Do not let them be like the driftwood which goes floating down the stream. Let us make a desperate effort to retain them in our memories; and, above all, to ponder them in our hearts.”

If we float down a river without paddeling, where will we go? This world is a river pushing us away from God.

Ponder them in our hearts, retain them in our memories

Abide in Christ

John 15:2-8

Abide means to remain or stay, to lodge with. “menō is sometimes used as a simple expression for dwelling in an abode or sharing quarters”

Abide as a branch relies on the tree or vine for nourishment.

John 15:5

The Christian life cannot be had without Christ.

A Warning - Don’t Harden Your Heart

Heb 2:2-3 - “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

Heb 3:15 - “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion”

Still, this passage should be viewed as a sober warning—intended as a means that God uses to keep Christians resolved in faith and obedient until the end. The ongoing experience of perseverance results in “confidence” and assurance that one does in fact “share in Christ.” This verse then provides a grave warning to everyone who claims to be saved—that is, to examine oneself carefully to be sure that one is in fact a genuine believer, because if there is no evidence of perseverance in faith and obedience, then there is real reason to doubt that such a person has ever been saved. - ESV Study Bible Notes

1 Jn 2:15-17 - Do not love the things of this world, or you will be the enemy of God

John 8:31-38

John 8:37 - “you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.”

We probably don’t actively want to kill Jesus today, but what does hearing this word make you want to do, or not to do? Does it make you want to hide and justify why you don’t need to read your Bible more or repent of your sin? Or does it bring you to your knees in repentance?

John 8:38 - Who is the Father they talk about? John 8:42 - “If God were your Father, you would love me” John 8:43-44 “Why do you not understand what I say? … You are of your father the dvil, and your will is to do your father’s desire”

Do we want to enter into God’s rest more than we want to live in our sin? More than we want to worship ourselves and our own schedules and wants?

We Are NOT Saved By Works

Gal 2:16 - Not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ

Rom 9:30-10:4

Knowledge of the law does not save us

Keeping the law does not save us

Knowledge of Jesus does not save us

It is only through faith in Him that we are saved

Closing Thoughts - Build the Relationship

We are not saved through works, but only of God

Once we are saved, we have a relationship with Him

A relationship only grows with time and intentionality

We seek first after God, not because that saves us, but because **we love God** and **want** to spend time with Him, even though it means to give up everything of the world.