One of the benefits and struggles of writing through the New Testament is that at times you come to passages that are not easy.  By nature, I’m not a “hellfire and brimstone” type of teacher – I’d rather focus my time on encouraging people in the gospel.  That said, God has put passages in His Word that are meant to be a harsh warning, to safeguard our faith, and that’s where we are today in Hebrews 3.

 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

¹⁶ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

God secured the freedom of the Jewish people from their Egyptian slavemasters.  God led the people by night as a pillar of fire, and by day as a cloud covering.  God provided food to the Jewish people.  God was their redeemer, their protector, their provision – yet they esteemed him not.  The people grumbled against God, and sought to make their own God from their own hands as a golden calf.  Because of the people’s rejection of God, God did not allow them into the land he had promised them, but instead an entire generation died in the wilderness.

What happened?  These people had seen God unleash multiple plagues against the Egyptians to secure their freedom.  These people had seen God push back the Red Sea and all them to walk on dry land until they were secure, and then crushed their enemies the Egyptians.  God had provided in every way for the Jewish people.  Everything about the salvation of the Jewish people pointed to the gospel, God’s defeat of sin and death, His provision to them now, and His promise of a better future.

Despite all that God had shown them, these people did not believe God, and that was evident by their grumbling against Him, their making a false god – a golden calf, and other sins throughout their time in the wilderness.  Here is the key – disobedience is unbelief, and unbelief leads to death.  God spoke to these people daily through His provision and through Moses His prophet, yet the people did not listen.  These were people within God’s chosen who died in the wilderness, short of the promised land, which corresponds now to those who profess God among His people the Church, yet live lives of disobedience.  These people will ultimately fall away, and fall short of the promises of God – eternal life and joy in Jesus Christ.

Brothers and Sisters, this warning was not given to a select few, it is given to us all. There is not one of us who is so rooted in God that we can let our guard down to assume that we would not fall away from Him on our own.

1 Corinthians 10:12 – “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

This is why we are encouraged “Today” – if you hear His voice not to harden our hearts.  Is God convicting you of sin in your life?  Instead of justifying or shutting out that conviction, God is calling you to repentance, restoration, and peace.  Is God convicting you of unforgiveness in your heart?  Instead of justifying or shutting out that conviction, God is calling you to repentance, restoration, and peace.  Is God convicting you of greed?  a lack of love towards your fellow Christians?  an unwillingness to enter into fellowship with believers?  an unwillingness to remove yourself from bad people/situations that will lead you away from Him?  Every day, God speaks to us, just as He spoke to the Jewish people.  How will we answer?  Will we answer in pride or humility with faith?

We are not meant to go through life, alone.  Verses 12-13 take care of the exhortation today –  ¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

We are all called to exhort one another in love, to call each other out in love, to point one another away from sin and towards the God who loves us, and who offers us true rest for our souls longings.  I’ve implied this before, but I want to be explicit now, because I feel God’s Word has spoken clearly and the cost is too high to allow for misunderstandings – if your closest friends are not people that are striving after God with their own life, you should find new friends.  I realize me saying that will not make me popular with some people, but ultimately I answer to God, and it’s not loving to allow people to continue on a path that leads to destruction.  If your close friends are not hard-followers of Jesus, I’m not saying never talk to those people again, but our closest friends must be people who will exhort us away from sin, away from a hard heart, and towards God in all things.  1 Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.”  I’m not at all saying you should find friends without sin in their lives, because we all have sin (1 John 1:8), but surround yourself with two or three fighters for faith – people who acknowledge their sin and are trusting in the gospel and the hope of Jesus to put sin in their own life to death, and can encourage you to do the same.  At the same time, these people should remind you of the truth of the gospel, and you should be able to see the joy of Christ in them, and you may be encouraged by them, and they by you.

My hope for my own life and all of yours is that none of us would be counted among those whose hearts were hardened by sin and fell away from God.  If any of this message was harsh, know that it is the love of God that wounds us for our own good.  Better a little pain now, than devastation later.  God is always with us and for us, even in His discipline.  Pragmatically, if you don’t know where to start – join a small group or recovery group at your church.  Be the person who encourages others, and find two or three there that you can encourage as well.  In all things remember that God has provided for us in Christ, and will provide grace to you day by day as you listen to His voice and follow Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

 

We do not follow a God who is far off, who does not understand us or our temptations and struggles daily.  Our God knows us, and sympathizes with us in our weakness.  Psalm 103:13-14 – “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” 

Sometimes I wonder how much of our failures lie simply in being too prideful to be honest with ourselves and God.  If you want to follow God, but you find yourself saying, I don’t have the strength or the will to do what God calls me to do – that’s exactly where you should be!  The encouragement then is to call out to God who will supply you daily with grace to do what you cannot do on your own.  Jesus is the foundation and the fulfillment of this compassionate grace towards us.

Hebrews 2:14-18 – “ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Apart from Christ, we would life selfishly, for our own interests, because at some point you are going to die, and you might as well live it up as much as you can now.  That life is a life of slavery – you want more of life, knowing that at some point you will die.  You strive after happiness, knowing it is outside your control.  That is bondage.  If we stop and actually think about it, that is a crazy, depressing way to live.

For the “offspring of Abraham” (Christian believers according to the promise of God – Rom 9:7), Jesus has defeated the power of death and bondage to sin.  We know that our life doesn’t end.  We’re never going to die.  What are these 70, 80, 90 years compared to the eternity in Heaven that awaits us.  That is the freedom with have in Christ – to be free to pursue our eternal joy in knowing, worshiping, and experiencing God now.  Moreover, when we are suffering and tempted, we are no longer alone in that.  We know that our God has experienced it all, and therefore is able to be compassionate and walk with us in our difficult times.

Brothers and Sisters, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation.  If Jesus is your hope in all things, and you love Him, and are following after Him, know that He can sympathize with your every temptation, hurt, and failing.  Nothing is a suprise to Him, He is for you every moment of every day.  His mercies are new each morning, and you are free to right now, pursue joy in your relationship with him.  Let go of pursuing joy apart from Him, joy you cannot control and that will never ultimately satisfy the longings of your heart.  Trust Him, lean on Him, and remember He loves you enough to die for you.  He will never leave or forsake you.  His heart is for your joy, and He cannot give a greater source of joy than Himself as God to you.  Run to living water, rest in Christ.

Grace and Peace,

Adam