When We All Get To Heaven

Hebrews 3:7–19 NKJV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

The Holy Spirit gave us the book of Hebrews to re-invigorate the faithfulness of those calling themselves Christian by reinforcing the uniqueness, pre-eminence, and necessity of Jesus, the Christ, our Lord and Savior. As Charlie broke down for us in such a beautiful way last week, we find that the given purpose of Chapter 3 is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Greatest. Placed even above Moses.

Verses 1 through 6 exalt Jesus’ faithfulness above that of Moses.

Hebrews 3:5–6 NKJV

And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

The “therefore” at the beginning of our passage refers back to verses 5 and 6. If we are Jesus’ house, how do we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end? Our verses begin the explanation of how we can fulfill that role. We must be faithful.

Verses 7-11, which quote Ps 95, give us the negative example. We are given a warning. Don’t be like those guys. You see neither Moses nor those who followed him out of Egypt made it into the Promised Land with the notable exceptions of Joshua and Caleb. Exodus tells us that all those of that generation died off without entering God’s rest.

Deuteronomy 1:34–38 NKJV

“And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.’ The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

At every trial the Israelites looked back to Egypt for their help. When caught between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army they said:

Exodus 14:10–12 NKJV

And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Every time they ran out of food, or water, or fortitude they did not trust God to bring them through. They did not believe that God was who He said He was. They didn’t believe as the old Gospel song says that God would not have brought me this far to leave me. Instead they looked back to Egypt. They looked back to their old life and thought that God would not come through on His promise of a land of milk and honey. They sinned and turned away from God.

The Lord is Your Help

Verses 7-11 warn us not to be like the Israelites in the desert testing God with their disobedience and sin. Trusting more in ourselves, our things, or others to take care of us in our time of need. Since we know God through His faithful Son, we know from where hope comes.

Psalm 121 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

That is who our God is. That is His promise to us. He shall neither slumber nor sleep. He will keep us. He is always with us and He will preserve our souls in every situation. Jesus is the good shepherd. He leaves the 99 to save the lost sheep.

Psalm 23:2–3 NKJV

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Our leader, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ; will let nothing snatch us from His hand. We are His. Here is how Jesus prayed about those the Father gave Him.

John 17:11–12 NKJV

Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

You see Jesus’ prayer regarding us is that we are one just as Jesus and the Father are one. So as we think about our final destination, as we wait with anticipation to hear, “well done my good and faithful servant”. Let us not forget that this is the group plan, as Pastor Barry likes to say. However, that unity, that desire to walk and travel together is not limited to the rapture. Jesus calls us to be as one right now.

So when we consider and anticipate that journey, let us agree to think about like the title of this message:

When We All Get to Heaven!

When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!

We are called to be members of the body of Christ. As such, we participate in a community of saints that not only can, but are commanded to, pay attention to one another, encourage, and exhort one another in our walk.

Let’s start by digging into verse 12. We have already given an overview of the issues discussed in verses 7-11 when read from Deuteronomy.

Hebrews 3:12 NKJV

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

Are any of you from the South? I’m from Southern California, which isn’t the same, but I grew up around a lot of people who came from the South. So for those of you from the South, I want to explain that the word brethren there translates to all y’all. You see “all y’all” is different “y’all”. Am I right? You see y’all can be satisfied if some respond. All y’all means each and everyone of you. Like brethren, it places you in a group but addresses you individually all at the same time.

Yes, You Are Your Brother’s Keeper

So what is the message to all y’all? All y’all better beware! One definition of the Greek word translated as beware is “look to it” or as the NIV translates, “see to it”. See to it that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart. Each of you make sure that none of you has this unbelieving heart. It is the responsibility of all y’all to pay attention to each of you lest any of you develop an evil heart of unbelief and turn away from the living God. We are one body in Christ. Or as we read last week in

Hebrews 3:6 NKJV

but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

There’s your “therefore”. We are connected because we are Jesus’ house. The hardwood floor cannot ignore the plumbing because he thinks it is beneath him — wait for it. One slab leak and everyone is at risk. No the hardwood floor has to pay attention to the plumbing because everything in the house is connected. So at the first sign of trouble call JJ.

Encourage Each Other to Follow Jesus in Faithfulness

We have to not only pay attention to one another, but be faithful to speak up. Encourage, comfort, exhort one another. This is how great teams operate. It is not only the coach that holds the players accountable. Each team member does the same. Each team member exhorts the others to do their best. We should do the same.

Hebrews 3:13–15 NKJV

but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Run to Win The Prize - Together

Israelites were not abandoned by God. They were still the chosen people. They were still loved and cared for by God. Their clothes did not wear out. God provided food and water. However, they did not finish the race. They did not gain the prize, because they rebelled against God and did not know Him. They did trust the faithfulness of God to His promises. They lived their natural lives but did not enter God’s rest.