Hebrews 3: Stanly Community Church

Transcription

1 There is an important question you must ask yourself if you profess to be a Christian: Do I genuinely trust the Christ of Scripture today? It is not enough to simply point to a time in the past when you made some declaration of faith. Nor is it sufficient to be associated with the church. There is no assurance of eternal life unless your trust is in Jesus Christ today and every day for the rest of your life. As God s Son, Jesus has been faithful over the Father s household in everything He was sent from heaven to do (3:1-6). As our Great High Priest, He has provided mercy for the believer s sins by His atoning death on the cross, and He has also been faithful to God by living a righteous life (2:17-18). A true Christian is a part of God s family because they confess Christ as God s faithful Son the patriarch of the redeemed humanity. His brethren are those marked by their continued trust in Him. Unbelief is never a possibility for those who are genuinely children of God. They have faith in Christ because they are born of God s Spirit and have received a new nature which desires righteousness. And like that nature, the faith it produces never fails. While it may be weak, bold, or anywhere in between, it is a faith that endures and bears fruit (Jn. 15:1-11). In fact, it is God Himself who is at work in His children appealing to that desire and enabling them fulfill it (Phil. 2:12-13).! 1

2 The writer to the Hebrews addresses the true faith of God s children, and he warns all who claim to be Christians that a profession of faith is not the same as the possession of faith. Hebrews 3:7-4:13 is the writer s exposition of Psalm 95:7-11, which is quoted here in 3:7-11. The natural outline of that broader passage urges all who profess Christ to beware of unbelief (3:7-19), fear falling short of salvation (4:1-10), and diligently seek that salvation by heeding God s Word (4:11-13). The focus of this study is the remainder of chapter three. The Faithful Brethren - Part I Beware of Unbelief (3:7-19) As 4:7 indicates, Psalm 95 was likely written by David, but the writer first acknowledges its divine authorship. It is the Holy Spirit who inspired David to record God s words of exhortation to the nation of Israel. The Hebrews are called to worship their Maker and obey His word. The psalm was probably written for the Feast of Tabernacles as the people lived in booths for a time to commemorate God s provision during the wilderness wanderings (cf. Ps. 81).! 2

3 The LORD reminds the Hebrews who were under David s leadership that their forefathers (led by Moses) had paid a terrible price for unbelief and disobedience. God had not changed and neither had His requirement of faith and obedience. Likewise, the depravity and deceitfulness of the fallen human heart remained the same. Therefore, as David appeals to his people to make certain they sincerely trust in God, he writes, Today, if you will hear His voice Israel is warned in a direct quote from the Holy Spirit: Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion and the day of trial in the wilderness. This refers to a waterless place in Kadesh where the people complained against God because they had nothing to drink. It was called Meribah (meaning rebellion ) and Massah (meaning testing ). Although Israel lacked faith, God was nonetheless faithful and provided water from the rock. This happened both at the beginning and end of Israel s wanderings (Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:1-13). 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 explains it was the pre-incarnate Christ who protected Israel and provided for them in the wilderness. Despite God s obvious presence and care for the people ( My works ) during forty years in the wilderness, that generation went astray in their hearts and failed to know God s ways (v. 10). The LORD subsequently swore in [His] wrath, They shall not enter My rest (v. 11). Their unbelief kept them from life in the promised land, but it also kept them from eternal life.! 3

4 The rest of which God spoke was deliverance from wandering in both a physical and spiritual sense. He promised Abraham many descendants, a land in which they would dwell, and to be the avenue of heavenly blessing for all the nations (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15:18-19). However, all of this was to further His redemptive agenda in Christ. Rest in Canaan ultimately symbolized the spiritual rest of eternal life in Christ through whom the saints will inherit the creation in this age and the next (2:5-9). For all who, like Abraham, believe God s promises in Christ (2:16; Gal. 3:16), there is true rest from sin and a place in His kingdom to glorify Him now and forever. God is the same today as He was in the time of Moses, David, the writer of this letter, or any other generation. So the call to trust and obey our Creator and Redeemer continues until the consummation of His kingdom. It is not only to the Jews but to those of every nation who will believe in Christ for eternal life (Rom. 1:16). That is the exhortation in verses Everyone who confesses Christ needs to make certain their faith is truly in Him as God s faithful Son. Like the ancient Hebrews and those to whom this letter is addressed, faith means more than just a physical association with what God is doing. It is a steadfast trust in the Christ through whom God is accomplishing His redemptive plan.! 4

5 The writer says, Beware, brethren. He is speaking to everyone who professes to follow Christ everyone who claims to be a part of God s family. And he makes perfectly clear that some who claim faith may not actually have faith at all. Like the faithless Hebrews in Moses day (who physically were Abraham s descendants but did not share his faith; cf. Rom. 9:6, 7), there can be hidden an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (v. 12). This speaks of the unregenerate, rebellious, deceptive heart of mankind s fallen nature. It is the heart of those who may seem outwardly religious but who are inwardly unrepentant and unbelieving. Sin is deceitful (Rom. 7:11; 2 Thess. 2:10). As the LORD says in Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? We can easily fool ourselves with religious language and activity and all the while have an unbelieving heart. We can rely on a version of Christ that is palatable to our sinful desires and think we are saved, while ignoring the biblical Son of God (Heb. 1:1-2). That was the danger for the Jews to whom this letter was written. The pressures of persecution were tempting some to compromise and blend Christ with a form of Judaism; some were evidently thinking of returning to Judaism altogether. So, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, says the writer, Christians must hold one another accountable to a true confession of the Lord Jesus Christ (3:1-2, 6).! 5

6 This must be done daily with a sense of urgency while there is still time to repent and embrace the Lord. We must exhort one another daily, while it is called Today. David called his people to beware of unbelief, and Christians must do the same today. We must recognize that, as long as we have breath, the Gospel has the power to save those who are blinded by their sins (2 Cor. 4:1-6). But insincere faith is not faith at all. Religious hypocrisy is especially blinding, and the Lord wants His church to be a place where that darkness is dispelled with the light of the clear Gospel. Paul pled with the Corinthians to make certain they had not receive the grace of God in vain. He says in 2 Corinthians 6:2: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. While God has permitted human history to unfold for the purpose of redemption, He will not tolerate sin forever (2 Pet. 3:8-13). It is dangerous to linger in unbelief, since the Day of the Lord is at hand! How can we know if our faith in Christ is genuine? Verse 14 echoes verse six when it says that all who have indeed become partakers of Christ are those who hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. This is the perseverance of genuine faith. If we have truly trusted the Christ of Scripture, then we will always trust Him. A true Christian will never fall away from the faith (Lk. 8:11-15; cf. Heb. 6:4-6).! 6

7 Verse 15 repeats the first verses quoted from the psalm. While the writer has been emphasizing the urgency of making sure we trust Christ today, he now stresses that the rebellion of unbelief ( harden your hearts ) will only and always keep us from trusting Him and being saved (cf. v. 12). The final four verses make this case in a series of questions recalling what happened to the unbelieving generation of Hebrews who came out of Egypt led by Moses. They heard the word of God and the call to trust and obey Him, but they rebelled (v. 16), sinned (v. 17), and did not obey (v. 18). Therefore, they incurred God s wrath and rejection, and their corpses fell in the wilderness. The conclusion ( so we see ) of verse 19 is that they could not enter in [to God s rest; v. 18] because of unbelief. It was not simply because they rebelled, sinned and disobeyed. Rather, they did those things because they did not trust God and believe His promises. In other words, God rejected them because they rejected Him first in their hearts. It did not matter that they were descendants of Abraham, were led by Moses out of Egypt, and benefitted from God s gracious care. Those things were incidental to the salvation God provides in Christ (Rom. 9:4-5), but it is faith and faith alone which allows us to enter into the salvation rest He provides. And the faith that saves is a faith that perseveres.! 7

8 Do you genuinely trust in God s Son, Jesus Christ? Are you among His faithful brethren? Beware of unbelief! Professing faith in Him does not necessarily mean that you possesses it. You cannot rely on your association with the Church or anything religious. Examine yourself with the Scripture today, tomorrow and every day and make certain there is not an evil heart of unbelief in you. If your heart is hardened toward God, then you will find rebellion, sin, and disobedience. But if you are a true child of God, then your faith in His faithful Son will stand the test of time.! 8