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"THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS"
A Warning From The Wilderness (3:7-19)
INTRODUCTION
1. In the previous study, we considered "The Supremacy Of Jesus Over
Moses"...
a. Jesus was superior, not in faithfulness, but in His person and
service
b. Moses was a servant in the house of God
c. Jesus, however, is the builder of the house, and serves as the
Son over the house!
2. In He 3:6, the writer to the Hebrews affirms that "we" are the house
of Christ...
a. Referring to the church, which is the house of God - 1 Tim 3:15
b. For in Christ, we are now "members of the household of God", and
together with the faithful saints of old (including Moses) we are
now "fellow-citizens" in the commonwealth of Israel! - cf. Ep 2:
11-22
3. Yet our status as the "house" is conditional!
a. "whose house we are IF we hold fast...." - He 3:6
b. We must hold fast "the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm to the end."
4. The need for steadfastness explains the exhortations in this
epistle...
a. We saw the first exhortation in He 2:1-4, regarding the danger of
drifting
b. Now we come to the second exhortation, regarding the danger of
departing from the living God - He 3:7-19
[To warn against the danger of departing, the writer appeals to...]
I. THE EXAMPLE OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS (7-11)
A. ISRAEL HARDENED THEIR HEARTS...
1. The quotation in verses 7-11 is from Ps 95:7-11
a. In which the Holy Spirit warned Israel not to be like the
fathers in the wilderness
b. A warning which the Hebrew writer found just as necessary
in his day
2. In the wilderness, the Israelites had...
a. Hardened their hearts in rebelling against God
b. Tested (tried) God with their lack of faith
3. This they did many times during the forty years of wandering,
but especially...
a. At the beginning, with the incident at Massah ("tempted")
and Meribah ("contention") - cf. Ex 17:1-7
b. Toward the end, with the incident at Kadesh - Nu 27:14;
cf. 20:1-13
B. THEREFORE THEY DID NOT ENTER GOD'S REST...
1. God became angry with that generation in the wilderness for
their persistent rebellion - e.g., Ps 106:13-33
2. So God swore that they would not enter His rest - cf. Nu 14:
22-24,26-35
a. Of those over the age of 20 when they departed from Egypt,
only Caleb and Joshua entered the promised land
b. The rest (of which there were 603,548 men) died in the
wilderness!
[Because of hardened hearts Israel departed from God which led to
rebellion. In turn, they fell short of the Canaan rest that had been
promised them.
With "A Warning From The Wilderness" fresh on their minds, the writer
then exhorts his brethren by warning them of...]
II. THE DANGER OF DEPARTING (12-14)
A. THERE IS A NEED TO "BEWARE"...
1. A believer can develop "an evil heart of unbelief"
a. Remember that the recipients of this epistle were "holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" - He 3:1
b. The warning against developing a heart of unbelief presumes
a real possibility
c. Thus a "believer" can become an "unbeliever"!
2. Unbelief is produced as one is "hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin"
a. Sin is deceitful...
1) Promising pleasure, power, and prestige
2) In the short term that may be true, but such things are
"passing" (temporary)
- e.g., He 11:25; 1Jn 2:17
b. Because of its deceitfulness, it is easy to become
"hardened"
1) I.e., to be stubborn and not heed the Word of God
2) It happened to Israel, and it can happen to us!
3. The consequence of unbelief is "departing from the living God"
a. As one grows in unbelief, so they drift away from God
b. While a believer remains in fellowship with God, an
unbeliever can only depart further and further away from
God!
B. THE SOLUTION IS TO "EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY"...
1. This is how a believer avoids becoming an unbeliever!
2. Through mutual edification on a daily basis, we can prevent
the "hardening" that comes from sin's deceitfulness
3. An important part of such exhortation is our assembling
together - cf. He 10:24-25
a. Which should certainly involve our assemblies on the first
day of the week - e.g., Ac 20:7
b. But with a need for "daily exhortation", should we be
content to limit our assembling to one service a week?
c. If we have the opportunity to assemble more often,
shouldn't we?
4. Even if it is only by phone, we should seek to "exhort one
another daily"!
C. OUR PARTICIPATION IN CHRIST IS CONDITIONAL...
1. Once again we see the conditional nature of our participation
with Christ
a. We are the house of Christ "...IF we hold the fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end."
- He 3:6
b. We have become partakers of Christ "...IF we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end," - He 3:
14
2. What about the security of the believer?
a. The "believer" does indeed enjoy the assurance of his
salvation
b. But we have seen that a "believer" can develop "an evil
heart of unbelief"; i.e., become an "unbeliever" - He 3:12
c. When a "believer" becomes an "unbeliever", what promises of
security and salvation there may be to the believer are no
longer applicable!
-- Thus the many warnings to remain faithful, including that
of our Lord's - Re 2:10
[The danger of departing from God is so great, that the writer of
Hebrews returns to "A Warning From The Wilderness"...]
III. THE EXAMPLE OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS REVISITED (15-19)
A. ANOTHER APPEAL IS MADE...
1. Quoting again from Ps 95:7-8
2. The Hebrew writer applies the quotation to Christians
a. They need to "hear His (God's) voice" - remember He 1:1-2;
2:1-4?
b. That is, hear with a desire to hearken, for they too can
easily harden their hearts "as in the rebellion"
B. THE NEED FOR CHRISTIANS TO BELIEVE, AND OBEY...
1. In the case of the Israelites, who was it that rebelled?
a. All those who came out of Egypt (save Joshua and Caleb)!
b. Though led by Moses, they still rebelled!
-- We may have been delivered by Christ from the bondage of
sin, but rebellion is still possible!
2. In the case of the Israelites, with whom was God angry forty
years?
a. Those who sinned
b. And who died in the wilderness as a result of their lack of
faith
-- If we become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,
shall we escape judgment?
3. In the case of the Israelites, who did God not allow in the
promised land?
a. Those who did not obey!
b. Those who developed unbelief!
-- Shall we enter our promised rest if we disobey through
unbelief?
CONCLUSION
1. When the apostle Paul related some of the same experiences of Israel
in the wilderness, he wrote:
"Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have
come." - 1Co 10:11
2. It is for our own admonition that we have such warnings as that
found in our text...
a. For the deceitfulness of sin is just as strong today
b. For the hardening of one's heart is just as dangerous today
c. For departing from God is just as possible today
-- Thus the potential for falling short of our promised rest is just
as much a reality for us as it proved to be for the Israelites in
the wilderness!
3. That is why we need to "exhort one another daily"...
a. To encourage one another to remain strong in faith - He 3:19
b. To encourage one another to remain strong in obedience - He 3:18
-- Have you exhorted your brother or sister lately?
Finally, did you notice how "faith" and "obedience" were used
interchangeably in these last two verses? These terms are not opposed
to one another, for in fact Paul himself wrote about "obedience to the
faith" (Ro 1:5; 16:26). Faith is dead unless there is obedience (Jm
2:17,26), and so those who truly believe will obey.
That is why Jesus can be described as "the author of eternal salvation
to all who obey Him" (He 5:9). Have you obeyed Jesus by obeying His
gospel? - cf. Ro 10:16; 2Th 1:7-8; 1Pe 4:17
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