2nd Danger (Part 1): Unbelief
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Hook:
Hook:
It seems if we are not careful as believers that we can go through a season of unbelief. “Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God we love.” Our author interjects the second warning- a warning against hardening the heart. It happened to Israel in the wilderness and it could happen again.
Recap:
Recap:
Because of the therefor in v. 7 we are to be thinking about what came before. And because it is used in v. 1 there is a building up to our passage. Taking an account of what we have gone over so far.
Jesus is greater than prophets because He is the full revelation of God’s salvific plan. While the prophets were give bits and pieces, Christ is all of it the full revelation. Revealing how God would save mankind.
Jesus is greater than angels. He was made a little lower than the angels. This was God’s plan for the very beginning. Jesus is greater because of His status. He is truly and completely God, after all,
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
Thought out this epistle the author gives us several warnings of dangers that believers would face, if we are not careful.
The first danger we saw was in the first few verses of chapter 2. The author calling us to pay close attention to the Gospel, as it has given us such a great salvation.
As we start to wrap up chapter 2 we see the Jesus is the great and perfect High Priest. Able to relate to us in every way. Securing salvation for those who believe in Him. Yet that is not all… Christ satiates the wrath of God, meaning as we trust Christ for our salvation we are also forgiven, through the blood of Christ, of all sin… Past, present, future.
finally what we covered last week was the glorious truth that Christ is greater than Moses. Moses was truly great, but nothing more than a faithful member of the household of God. Jesus was more faithful, and was also the builder of the house. After all we do not give credit to the house itself for being so beautiful or having beauty within the house. The architect gets the credit. But wait there’s more, Jesus is also the Son over God’s house. What this means is that Jesus is in charge. The rightful ruler of the house. You don’t follow me as the head of the church, we follow Jesus, I’m merely a tool.
Introduction:
Introduction:
This second warning is directed to those who might be apathetic and unbelieving. As the author quotes Ps 95:7-11 we see that God’s judgement is missing out on His rest.
The importance of the warning and the danger of disobeying is pointed out in two ways.
1st, in verse 7, the word “says” is in the present tense. Meaning the Holy Sprit is still speaking today.
2nd, God is speaking today through His Son Jesus Christ- Who is greater than the prophets, greater than the angels, and greater than moses.
If we believe and obey Christ we will have salvation and rest.
vv 7-11) Do not harden your heart
vv 7-11) Do not harden your heart
We open up our passage this morning with a charge from the Holy Spirit, and it is a timeless statement, meant and directed to every generation of believers. What the Holy Spirit demands is to be obeyed, or face a great danger.
What does it mean to harden our hearts? Israel’s wilderness experience shows us. After the Jews had been set free from their slavery, they wandered the wilderness of the Sinai desert for 40 years. During that time, they hardened their hearts 4 times.
1st: They rebelled against God. Notice the two phrases “in the rebellion” and “day of testing.” These phrases are a translation of two Hebrew words which are two proper names, the names of a place where Israel sinned in the wilderness, Meribah and Massah.” You can find more information on these two failing in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.
Wandering about in the desert, the people had become very thirsty… They began
To disbelieve God- to distrust that He cared and would provide.
To complain and grumble against God and His leader (Moses)
To regret that they had left the world of Egypt
They would end up rebelling against God, not believing that He would take care of them. They completely lost their trust in Him.
2nd: Have you ever been tried by someone? They annoy you get on your nerves and all they do is complain, and yet you still serve them? How long do you think you could put up with that? The nation of Israel tried God for forty years.
God took care of them for forty long years as the nation wandered throughout the desert of Sinai. God would give them food and water and all the other necessities of life, and He protected them from their enemies.
Yet, the people continued to harden their hearts against God, cultivating a disbelief and a distrust of Him. They approached God as though He had to meet their approval instead of their meeting His.
When we look at the word “test” it implies two things:
They tempted God. Meaning they tested Him, put Him to the test to see if He was really good and would meet their needs.
They proved God. This means they tested Him, put Him to the test to see if He met their approval. If God would prove faithful, then He would be worthy of their obedience and loyalty. They wanted Him to prove Himself first, then they would follow Him.
They wanted God to prove Himself by giving the provision without any trial or suffering. They were unwilling to prove themselves, unwilling to show that they really believed and trusted God. They wanted God to prove Himself, that He was worthy of their trust and loyalty. What audacity! What unbelief and hardness of heart...
3rd: They always went astray. God had promised to meet their needs and He always has. They did not have the luxuries of life, but they did have God’s care and provision, and most of all they had the glorious promise of God’s land and rest. But they chose not to believe God. They disobeyed and distrusted God for some forty years.
4th: They didn’t know God’s ways. What are is His ways you might ask, they are faith and trust. The Lord doesn’t want murmuring or grumbling, questioning, distrust, unbelief, or disobedience.
At the end of the day with we really believe Him, suffering and trials become so much more important because it teaches us to:
Draw nearer to Him
Having a deeper fellowship with Him.
Truly trust Him and to be depended upon Him.
Essentially we will learn to walk with our God.
Family to know Him and fellowship with Him requires for us to really get to know Him. How do we do that?
Being tried and tested… because hardships will draw us closer and closer to Him and we learn to believe and trust Him more and more.
This is what Israel failed to learn. They had unbelief and were disobedient.
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Application: We can have this same tendencies if we are not careful and remain vigilant. We have to be men and women who are genuinely seeking the Lord: Proverbs 3:5
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
v 12) Take heed
v 12) Take heed
As elsewhere in Hebrews, the readers are addressed as brethren. This doesn’t mean that they were all true Christians. So all who profess to be believers should be on guard.
For the unbeliever is the danger is thinking you are good with God, while you are still bearing your sin.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
There is a great danger, for the believer too, that our author warns us of. That we might depart from the living God. That we could follow in the footsteps of Israel. Israel never stopping being God’s people, true born again Christians never stopping being the bride of Christ.
Therefore we are to, take heed: be alert and stay alert; be on the lookout and do it constantly; watch and keep on watching. Keep a watchful eye on our trust and obedience to God.
What is an evil unbelieving heart?
It is a heart that:
Stands off from God
Stands aloof from God
Renounces God
Rebels against God
Does not believe God
Does not trust God and His promises
Does not follow God as He demands
The greatest failure of believers then and today is unbelief. People have such a problem believing God - that He will do what He says: taking care of us, providing for our necessities, and giving us the promise of rest from the wilderness of this world.
67 “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe,
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
vv 13-19) Exhortation and Encouragement
vv 13-19) Exhortation and Encouragement
So family what are we to do?
We are to encourage and exhort one another daily.
[[Discipleship]]
The word exhort means to beg, entreat, or beseech. It is form the same word that the Comforter or Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) is taken. This means that the word probably also includes comfort, the kind of comfort that will strengthen and encourage the believers every day so that when crisis arises they may be able to stand fast.
Family we are to constantly exhort one another to guard each other against unbelief and sin. In our final seven verses this morning we see eight reasons why.
The time is short. Today is the day for believing and walking with Christ. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow a person may be snatched from this world or have some heart breaking tragedy befall them, leaving them broken and hopeless. We must exhort one another to trust Christ and His promises and follow Him as He has commanded us.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
12 “I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
A person can be hardened by sins deceitfulness. Sin looks good, tastes good, feels good. But it enslaves and leaves those empty, lonely, insecure, hurting, and broken. Sin devastates families, friends, businesses, and oneself.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,
but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
[14] A share in Christ. Salvation is unconditional. We are reminded here that we have become companions of Christ if we hold fast to our confidence to the end. Verses like this are often misused to teach that a person can be saved and then lost again. Such an interpretation is impossible because the overwhelming testimony of the Bible is that salvation is freely bestowed by God’s grace, purchased by His Son’s blood, received by our faith, and evident by our good works.
True faith always has the quality of permanence. We don’t hold fast in order to retain our salvation, but as proof that we have been genuinely saved. Faith is the root of salvation; endurance is the fruit.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
[15] Family every day is important. There is a need to hear the voice of the Spirit today, and every day. We must not let sin deceive us and allow our hearts to become hardened.
2 For he says,
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
Some do provoke God. Some in Israel did not heed God’s exhortation. They rebelled, doing their own thing. They lived as they wished, not believing or trusting in God.
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
We will stand in judgement not based off of sin but of our actions and words.
36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
This leads us into our 6th reason.
[17]Judgement is sure. It was the rebels who provoked God for 40 years. There were about 600,000 of them, and by the time of the 40 years were ended, the desert was dotted with 600,000 graves.
There is no escaping the judgement to come. For the unbeliever it is the terrifying White Throne Judgement and for the believer it is the Bema Seat.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[18]God judges unbelief. These were the same ones who were excluded from the Land of Canaan because of their disobedience. The Simple recital of these questions and answers should have a profound influence on any who might be tempted to leave the despised minority of true Christians for the vast majority of people who have an outward form of religion by deny the power of godliness.
Is the majority always right? In this chapter of Israel’s history, only two were right and over half a million were wrong!
Believer’s Bible Commentary C. Christ Superior to Moses and Joshua (3:1–4:13)
A. T. Pierson emphasizes the seriousness of Israel’s sin as follows:
Their unbelief was a fourfold provocation:
1. It was an assault on God’s truth, and made Him a liar.
2. It was an assault upon His power, for it counted Him as weak and unable to bring them in.
3. It was an attack upon His immutability; for, although they did not say so, their course implied that He was a changeable God, and could not do the wonders He had once wrought.
4. It was also an attack upon His fatherly faithfulness, as though He would encourage an expectation He had no intention of fulfilling.
Caleb and Joshua, on the contrary, honored God by accounting His word absolutely true, His power infinite, His disposition unchangingly gracious, and His faithfulness such that He would never awaken any hope which He would not bring to fruition.
Unbelief shuts a person out to rest. Here is the conclusion. It was unbelief that kept the rebellious children out of the promised land, and it is unbelief that keeps man out of God’s inheritance in every age.
The moral is clear cut: Beware of an evil heart of unbelief.
There is little agreement among pastors and teachers as to the exact flow of the argument, although the over-all teaching of the section is fairly clear.
Reading your Bibles. Studying your Bibles. Living out what you learn from your time in the Bible and sharing it with others will allow you to experience God’s rest. His eternal rest.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
I cannot live out your Christian walk for you. This is something you must do on your own:
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.