6. Jesus Promises Rest, Hebrews 3:7-19

[Music] let's open up our Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter three again I thought I would do it this morning's text I want to read our entire text starting at chapter 3 verse 7 and we'll read through the end of the chapter and give our consideration to this great text from God's Word so just to give reverence to the word of the Lord would you stand with me as I read this particular text Hebrews chapter 3 beginning now in verse 7 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 40 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 listen any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast 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 40 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 father in heaven we pray that the Holy Spirit of God would speak to us now through your Eternal Word and that we here and that we would listen and that we would ultimately do what we hear is your spirit works among us now we pray this in Jesus name Amen you may be seated I love how we teach the Bible here at Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara how it's our pattern it's not like some law it's not some absolute thing but it's certainly our pattern to teach verse by verse going through books of the Bible and as I said before I love that I love that way of going through books of the Bible where we'll take half a chapter or sometimes a whole chapter or occasionally just a verse or two and we'll talk about it and really break it down and work through the scriptures that way and again as I said I love that way but I have to admit there is somewhat of a weakness in teaching the Bible that way I mean after all we need to understand that when early Christians came to the church and if they were going to hear somebody read what the author of the Hebrews wrote to a congregation they wouldn't read it half a chapter at a time they would read the entire letter to the congregation on a particular morning and that would be their sermon which by the way gives me the idea wouldn't it be a great thing for us to do some time you come to church and I'll just like read one of the New Testament letters and that'll be it I mean we're I'm gonna put that on the list of something to do sometime you you'll be shocked you'll be surprised if that's just what we'll do we'll just we'll just do that on some occasion in the future but nevertheless the the great benefit of doing that is you get the flow of the entire letter you get a feeling of what's being said in that theme from beginning to end and sometimes it's possible when we break it down section by section that we forget the larger themes in the book so I want you to remember the larger theme of this letter to the Hebrews it was written to Christians who felt like giving up no I know that would never be any of us in this room but I think it applies to some people not to you but just to somebody you might know but is that true is this something that every person has to deal with from time to time don't we need to people instructed and encouraged so that not only we will continue on with Jesus Christ but will continue on in full flame in full fire after the Lord because what these ancient Christians from a Jewish background were being tempted to do was not so much deny Jesus but just to back off from a full-on Christian life where the Rite of the Hebrews very persuasively and might I add very logically he persuades them and gives them reasons and gives them exhortations to say no way you are not backing off on a full you know a complete commitment to Jesus this is what he wants you to do well keeping that in mind we come now to this section of the last half of Hebrews chapter 3 starting at verse 7 previous to this in the last time we were in the book of Hebrews we saw how beautifully he made the contrast between Moses who was an amazing man and a great prophet of God but nevertheless Jesus is so much greater and he was saying don't put your focus on Moses because Moses was like a servant in the house of God Jesus is like the designer and the Builder and the son of the house of God and so our focus is on Jesus not upon Moses now if that's true it wasn't something just to file away in their intellect in their memory to remember for some kind of Bible trivia game that was something to change their life about and that's what he's gonna do now he's gonna apply those truths starting with that great word used in verse 7 therefore therefore in light of all that we've seen before look at it here verse 7 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 40 years therefore I was angry with that generation and said they always go astray in their hearts and they have not known my ways so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest now most of the words that I just read to you from Hebrews chapter three are actually a quotation from Psalm 95 what the ancient right of the Hebrews was doing was taking this quotation from Psalm 95 and bringing the Word of God right to his listeners and saying the Holy Spirit has something to say to you did you see what he says right there in verse 7 therefore as the Holy Spirit says I could understand somebody being confused with this I said I thought he's reading from the Bible from Psalm 95 but now he says the Holy Spirit says it which is it is it the Bible or is it the Holy Spirit and the correct answer is yes yes it's the Bible but please understand this the Holy Spirit of God speaks in and through the Bible you want to hear from God read your Bible you want to hear the voice of God active in your life read the Bible the Holy Spirit of God speaks in and through the Bible that's why he says right there at verse 7 therefore as the Holy Spirit says verse 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as in the day of trial and what he's doing is he's remembering in this quotation from Psalm 95 Israel's experience in the wilderness as they came out of Egypt and as they were on their way to Cain and the promised land they had a very difficult time and there was a generation of unbelief that perished in the wilderness and basically what he's saying both in Psalm 95 and in the quotation found right here in Hebrews 3 don't be like them now there's a very basic an instrumental lesson we lean first and foremost from this we can learn from what God did in the lives of other people he holds up the ancient Israelites as they marched through the wilderness to them as an example and he says learn from them God did something in their lives and worked in and through them in a certain way and friends I'm here to tell you God can work in and through our lives by as we learn from what he did in the lives of other people in other words this is not a dead book with just ancient fables or descriptions this is the Living Word of the Living God and it tells us about how God deals with his people through the generations and the lesson both to these original hearers and to us is very plain as he says in verse 8 here's the lesson from it do not harden your hearts that's what the Holy Spirit wanted to say what did the Holy Spirit want to say to these ancient Hebrew Christians and to us he wanted to say this do not harden your hearts and if those who followed Moses we're responsible to surrender unto to trust in and to persevere in following God's leader we are much more responsible in following the leader that God has given us in Jesus Christ that's why he says do not harden your hearts so the point is very clear as the Holy Spirit speaks we must hear his voice and not allow our hearts to become hardened just as the Holy Spirit speaks in a lot of different ways there are many different ways in which someone's heart may become hardened now friends this is a heavy thing to speak about but I'm very grateful to this congregation that you give me the attention that you give me the grace if I could use that term to speak to you very directly but I don't want to act as if this difficulty with a hardened heart is just something that happens to other people oh yeah you know other churches they really need to hear this message but not us we're at Calvary Chapel what are you kidding this is God's Word to us is it not and I don't doubt that this morning I'm speaking to more than just a few hearts that have become hardened maybe you're hardened because of sin or compromise maybe you're hardened because you you feel like the things of God had just become routine and maybe if I could use the word boring to you maybe your hardened because of some disappointment that's come your way maybe your hardened because somebody's hurt you but that hardening has happens slowly it's happened suddenly and here's the problem you're sitting here and I'm glad that you're here but honestly you're sitting here with a hardened heart and that's why you don't receive all that God wants you to receive when you come together with God's people and as you walk with him day by day outside of these doors this is a Word of God to us and what does God say to you and I about this condition of a hardened heart he says do something about it come him and we'll see what he says as he continues on the Intex but once he knows he tells you when to do something about it did you notice it there in verse seven here's the critical word today that's when you should do something about it today this is when we need to listen to the Holy Spirit this is when we need to speak or you have him speak to us about our condition there's an urgency to the voice of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is never prompting us to get right with God tomorrow he's always saying today the Holy Spirit is never telling us to put our focus on yesterday he says no right now today and because it's today you know that it's a genuine invitation if somebody says yeah you know you should come over to my house sometime well when oh I don't know six or seven months from now that's not really a legitimate invitation isn't it but if somebody says you once you come over to my house come today you know wow that's an actual invitation and it is a real invitation that the Holy Spirit brings to us and he says I want to come and make a difference in your life today there is comfort that the Holy Spirit has view today there is peace that the Holy Spirit has for you today there's power there's healing there's forgiveness there's rest there's all sorts of real actual life impacting ministry that the Holy Spirit has for your life today but but those who keep focused on tomorrow or trapped in the past they remain in this condition of being hard of hearts that's what happened to Israel in the wilderness look at how he describes it there in verse nine he says your fathers tested me they saw my works for 40 years even though Israel tested God in the wilderness they provoked him you could say this and I don't know I use this word first service I don't even know it's a good word or a right word but I think you get the impression at least you could say they annoyed God for 40 years in the wilderness and God says no no more of this today and he says this in verse 10 therefore I was angry with that generation here's another very strong word to us don't you think angry now what was the nature of this anger well in one sense I don't think it was really anger on a personal level from God I think that God's anger with Israel in the wilderness was yes it was a somewhat of an anger because they were defaming his own glory you know when you don't trust somebody who's very trustworthy you insult them don't you God is completely trustworthy therefore if we don't trust him there's a way in which we are insulting God yes there was an element of that but can I tell you there's probably even greater dimension in which it made God angry I want you to picture in your mind and maybe some of you have experienced this for your own life others of you have not but I want you to expect you in your mind a parent with a wayward child and when a parent has a wayward child whether that child is young whether they're a teen whether they're adult when a parent has a wayward child it's very common for the parent to be angry with that child and understandably so but listen why is the parent actually angry with that child is it more for the parents sake well there's an element of that but the much greater reason is the parent is angry with that child because they see what that child is doing to their own life the parent is angry for the impact for the greatness for the devastation with disappointment that that child through whatever waywardness it's living is heaping upon their own life is that not one of the reasons why God is angry with those who may harden their hearts and through unbelief fail to enter in to what God has for them it's a tragic thought and I don't want to act again like this thought is for some people out there but not for us ladies and gentlemen this thought is for us that it may very well be true that among us that God has something very good for you but you fail to receive it you failed to receive it through hardness of heart and through unbelief and if I could say this God is angry that you don't receive it he wants you to receive it there is grace there is goodness there is healing there's forgiveness there's all these things that God wants to work in your life and when we through our own hardness through our own unbelief when we refuse to receive those things I think it creates a reaction in God this is a serious thing is it not no wonder he continues on with the thoughts starting in verse 12 look at this verse 12 beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God but it's sort 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 at the end while it is said today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion do you see the very strong warning given there in verse 12 lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelievable belief a friends that's strong language but I believe that oftentimes we underestimate the terrible nature of our unbelief refusing to believe God is a serious evil because it shows an evil heart it shows a departing from the Living God now let me explain very carefully what I mean by this unbelief there is a huge misunderstanding in our culture at large and I wouldn't blame you if many of you are affected by this misunderstanding but I want to clear it up many people when they hear the idea of unbelief belief or unbelief they think of it mainly in terms of intellectual agreement do I agree intellectually with sort of this checklist that I can check off and if I agree with that I believe it if I don't agree that I don't believe it I want you to understand that that is not the primary sense of this new testament idea of either belief or unbelief no the primary sense of the new testament idea of belief or unbelief is not rooted in intellectual agreement though I will admit that's an aspect of it the far greater aspect of it is simply this it's a trust and a love of a person in other words I'm not trying to say that what God is so concerned about is that you can check off a specific list of belief though that is important but there are some of you there is some particular biblical doctrine some particular biblical concept that honestly you have a hard time with it's like why I don't really understand this this doesn't really make sense with me and you wonder am i or unbeliever because I don't understand or or or maybe appreciate this particular point of doctrine this what I want to know do you trust Jesus do you put your love and your trust upon the Savior that's much more the idea I like what a commentator who I really appreciate named William Newell said about this he said this quote unbelief is not inability to understand but unwillingness to trust it is the will not the intelligence that is involved you see you can truly believe God yet be occasionally troubled by doubts matter of fact I would say that there is such a thing as a doubt that once God's promise as distinguished from a doubt that denies God's promise and unbelief isn't weakness of faith rather it sets itself in opposition to faith so what do you do friends I just want you to realize some things I want you to realize that if you are going to have unbelief if you're not going to trust God then it should have some justification come on give you reasons to not trust God as God suddenly become untrustworthy has God suddenly become weak unable to fulfill his promise make your doubts and your unbelief justify itself realize that a lack of trust in God is like calling him a liar realize that your lack of trust in God is a choice realize that you don't need to try and trust God you know what you need to do just trust him the Bible doesn't tell you to try and believe in God here's some advice that somebody in this room needs here stop trying to believe and just believe stop trying to trust God and just trust him put your trust in him and here's something else that I want you to understand and appreciate that oftentimes unbelief has a moral dimension to it what do I mean by that there are many people who say they're troubled by some intellectual question you know there's some great intellectual opposition I heard a skeptic or atheist speaker and it really troubles me but you know what the real problem is the real problem is is their sin in their life that they want to justify and so they will cling to an intellectual argument that will give them some justification for the lack of trust in their life and they feel that so to speak this intellectual challenge gives them a fig leaf for their moral compromise Charles Spurgeon said it very well he said this when a man begins to doubt the Bible to doubt the atonement to doubt the wrath to come and so on there's generally a cause for it and that cause is not always intellectual but moral and spiritual and this is often the case so what God is concerned about in this particular passage of Hebrews is your trust in him to have that true belief and we need help in that trust don't you think this is the help we lead look at verse 13 where he says this exhort one another daily that's pretty powerful isn't it if we're going to strengthen our faith if we're gonna avoid the ROO of unbelief we must be around other Christians who will encourage us and exhort us to greater and greater faith this is a great failing in the Western world in the Western world we sort of champion a very individualistic way of living we're just not so comfortable with this sort of very interdependent community but I'll tell you this god never engineered the Christian life to be lived in isolation he engineered it to be lived in community where there are people around you who can encourage you daily to keep walking strong with the Lord and to whom you can encourage them I'll never forget the words of the previous pastor here Ricky Ryan it really stuck in my mind when I heard Ricky teach on this on more than one occasion how some of the most important ministry time in church happens 15 minutes before the service and 30 minutes after where the people of God minister one to another where they encourage one another daily in these things against hardness of heart towards a greater trust in God and friends if you live your Christian life in isolation where you have no connection regarding the things of God with other people then you're cutting yourself off from something you need but just as bad you're cutting someone else off from something they need from you and that's why it's wise it's blessed it's good to come to Sunday morning for example with a deliberate strategy that says I'm gonna come here looking for the 15 minutes before church who can I encourage who can I strengthen the Lord who can I pray for and then you think the 30 minutes after that's my ministry time to go and impact another life and you know this right I know it but sometimes the most impacting ministry time that happens on a Sunday morning doesn't happen when mr. preacher blowhard is speaking from the pulpit it happens when people interconnect with each other before and after service is powerful and precious and might I say necessary ministry time and why is there a danger look at it says right there he says verse 13 lest any of you become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin we've already talked about the danger of hardness have we not but here's a phrase connected with the hardness that I think we need to talk about this hardness that comes through the deceitfulness of sin you know sometimes when you read your Bible and think about it deeply there's certain words or phrases that just kind of jump out to you let me tell you when I was looking at this text this week in preparation for this morning that phrase the deceitfulness of sin it jumped out to me and made an impact it just made me think and consider for my own life and in the lives of how many other people how deceitful sin is and really in many ways that's the power of sin is its deceitfulness how many people would avoid sin if the consequences and the cost of that sin were presented right up front you know here's a somebody at the office that you're inclined to flirt with and well what's the danger with that and then the flirtation comes to something serious and suddenly you're being unfaithful to your marriage vows and suddenly your marriage is ruined and then suddenly there's separation your family and problems with the kids and on and on listen if you could really appreciate all the devastation that was going to come from that before how many feels I'm not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole but that's not the nature of sin is it the nature of sin is to be deceitful and lays general I think that God calls us to something that we can learn from the biblical truth and from the experience of other people and say Lord make me aware make me wise to the deceitfulness of sin sin is deceitful in the way that it comes to us it's deceitful in what it promises us it's deceitful in what it calls itself and it's deceitful in the excuses that it makes both before the sin and after the sin deceitfulness of sin is like the hook that has bait on it you know when a fisherman goes out to fish he's practicing deceit is he not if he were to fully inform the fish of what his plans were for them I don't think the fish would be into it so the hook is hidden it's hidden with something shiny it's in with something tasty it's hidden with something but the hook still remains I wouldn't I wouldn't ask anybody to raise their hand but I want you to take this question very seriously in your heart right now who here right now is being deceived by sin who here now needs to hear this as a warning from the Holy Spirit right here right now I pray that in several hearts and several minds right at this very moment it's like a light is going on and this sinful path that you've been walking down it's suddenly I'm deceived I thought I could get away with it I thought no one would know I thought it wouldn't make any difference but now now the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart you're saying this is you today is a day to come clean today is a day for you to come and and and maybe it's with someone sitting next to you and a time of mutual encouragement maybe it's by coming up to the prayer team afterwards but today's your day to forsake that deceitfulness of sin and to let this community of God's people do its work and that you would not harden your hearts let's take a look at this last section beginning now at verse 16 we're simply says this for who having heard rebelled indeed was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses now with whom was he angry 40 years was it not with those who sinned whose corpses fell in the wilderness and with 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 here he's reminding these Jewish Christians from the first century and by the amazing work of the Holy Spirit it speaks across the centuries to us today he's looking again at the children of Israel as they were in the wilderness and he says take them as a warning they came out of Egypt and they saw God do so many stupendous miracles and we saw that as we studied through the book of Exodus just prior to our time here in Hebrews we saw that amazing things that God did for Israel we saw hell he preserved them through the many plagues that inflicted Egypt we saw how he brought them out of Egypt miraculously we saw how they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground we saw how the Red Sea came crashing back upon Pharaoh and his armies we saw how he provided water for them miraculously food for them miraculously we saw how he defended them and guided them all of these things were stupendous miracles but this is what we found out that all those stupendous miracles didn't mean that they couldn't still walk away from what God had for them I think about the legacy that's in this room I think about the legacy of all the lives that for decades have been lived for Jesus Christ and might I say it's an impressive legacy what a great time that would be on a particular Sunday just to bring up and people talk about what God has done all the miracles all the amazing transformation of life all the answered prayers all the people that we know and love through whom God has used us to touch and to transform just to be an amazing time if we could all talk about it but if I could say this all that was yesterday what's God doing in your life today today could you see an ancient Israelite thinking this thinking hey um you know I saw God do lots of things I'm in touch with the supernatural power God's favor must be upon me I'm good all the while his heart is becoming more and more hard all the time his trust in God is becoming weaker and weaker friends if your heart is getting harder if your trust is getting weaker doesn't matter what kind of spiritual heritage you have in the bath you need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit today just as Israel saw God do so many great things they needed to trust God all over again for today just like he could sort of concludes there in verse 19 where he says so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief now you might think that the real key to Israel's failure in the wilderness was disobedience and I'll tell you honestly disobedience was an aspect of it I mean he talks about that later on in verse 18 where he says so for whom did he swear that he would not enter his rest but those who did not obey obedience was an aspect of it the friends obedience was like the fruit the real root of their problem was unbelief this unwillingness this inability to really trust God and this unbelief was more a matter of trust than intellectual apprehension therefore they could not enter in to the rest that God has for them God has a rest for you to live in your life before him it's not a rest that's sort of like oh let's all take a nap before God no no it's a rest that's really connected to the Peace of a satisfied soul the peace of a clear conscience the peace of a living vibrant active walk with God that brings an almost undescribable rest and peace into the life I know that it's difficult to describe but what's not difficult is to tell when a person has it and when they don't have it I hope I'm kind of getting you thirsty for this idea of rest because that's where we pick it up next week when we continue on into chapter 4 you see you could say that in chapter 3 he promises the rest but in chapter 4 he gives the rest and tells us we enter into that the friends do you see the great challenge that we have to avoid this hardness of heart to avoid this unbelief to avoid the deceitfulness of sin and instead do something else let me conclude with this I want you to look back to verse 14 where he uses a very powerful phrase partakers of Christ if we will be partakers of Christ I want you to think of what a great picture that is you could say that that's the whole picture right there partakers of Jesus partners connected to him do you know what it means to be a partaker with Christ it means that you're connected with him you're connected with his suffering you're connected with his obedience you're connected with his death you're connected with his resurrection with his victory with his plan with his power with his ministry of intercession with his work with his glory you are connected with his destiny don't you want to be connected with that here's the connecting link the love and trust that we have in Jesus Christ that's why when Jesus holds the cross before us and we think of Jesus dying and bleeding on the cross for us paying for our sins being there as a substitute for us when we see that and realize I can be connected from that and benefit from what Jesus did in perfectly satisfying the father then we say yes Jesus I do love you I do trust you I do see past the deceitfulness of sin and you'll begin to enter into his rest more on that next week i feelt at this point our tank is filled and it's time to pray pray about all that we've received here from this amazing passage of Scripture father that is my prayer Lord really there's been so much for us to consider we think about it all Lord we think about the danger of the hardness of heart the danger of unbelief the danger of this refusal to trust the danger lord of the deceitfulness of sin but lord we hold up before us this beautiful idea of being a partaker with Jesus being connected with him in everything that he is in everything that he's done and I say Jesus won't you please come and bow down to your people now and in your mercy would you please come and connect to us who love and trust you and rescue us from unbelief rescue us from hardness of heart rescue us from the deceitfulness of sin Jesus we call upon you now and we worship you together thank you lord thank you for your presence with us now this morning in Jesus name Amen [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Rating: 4.8846154 out of 5

Keywords: hebrews, hebrews 3, david guzik, guzik, enduring word, rest, jesus, moses

Id: ln7QQjVGJKE

Length: 36min 30sec (2190 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2019