Take Care
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Review
We have been going through this series entitled “Better Than” a study of the book of Hebrews. We have seen a glimpse as to who our pastor, the author of the message, sees Jesus as. He is the Son, The Heir of all things, The radience of the glory of God, the exact imprint of God, The Upholder of the universe, the purifier of Sin, He is not an angel, he is a merciful high preist, he is not Moses but.... he is the best!
Last week we specifically took a look at the first six verses of chapter three where we were pleaded with to consider Jesus. Consider him for he is the only hope for mankind. Do you want a realtionship a true communion with God the father, an existence that lasts forever, Consider following only JESUS.
We ended with an “if”....if we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. I was able to end with a pastoral exhortation in myself to Consider Jesus because he is more hope than the things that are tempting us for more attention than God. This was all that we discussed. This morning we are going to look at what it means to hold fast to you hope? How does one do that? How does one hold fast to confidence and our boasting in their hope? Lets read the full text for today . READ
We ended last week with a peculiar statement, a clause really, that we are Jesus’ if we hold fast to our confidence and our boasting in our hope. That is Christ. It is peculiar though. Because it sounds like we can lose our salvation! That is not the point here though. Our author does not stop there so lets stand to gether in honor of the reading of God’s word and look at the rest of chapter 3. READ
PRAYER, so father, your kingdom come. It is much better than the tiny kingdoms we have built for ourselves. Help us most gracious Lord to recognize our sin, to hold fast to your promise, and actively make choices each day to praise your holy name for the mighty work you have done through christ. Give us ears to hear your words this morning, in Jesus’ name. Amen
I. /
I. /
HOLY SPIRIT
The first 5 verses of our text this morning are a quotation from the Old Testament. Specifically psalm 95. Before we look back into the old testament to grab the context in which our pastor is preaching this morning we need to start off on the right foot. See those 6 words there to start verse 7? “therefore, as the holy spirit says”… Don’t skip over those words …Don’t move too fast through scripture. There are three things that I want to point of from this before we continue this morning.
The Holy Spirit Speaks Through Scripture
The Holy Spirit Speaks Through Scripture
All of it… The Hebrew text. The Greek Text. The Narrative. The Poetry. The Apocalyptic. All of it. What does 2 timothy tell us? All of scripture is God breathed… Profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and for training in righteousness that the man(or woman) of God may be made complete, equipped for every good work.
The Holy Spirit Spoke Through Scripture to This Audience
The Holy Spirit Spoke Through Scripture to This Audience
The Holy Spirit
This section of scripture could be used as a commentary on . No doubt the author had and open in front of him as he was writing. No doubt also that the Holy Spirit had something to say to this troubling congregation through this pastor.
The Holy Spirit is Speaking to You
The Holy Spirit is Speaking to You
Whenever God’s word is opened up, the Holy Spirit is convicting, God is Speaking, and Christ is being exalted. In Hebrew the word hear has a two part meaning. 1 in which you physically hear the words being spoken. 2 in that you take what you heard and put them into practice. So, Do you have ears? let them hear the word of God.
Numbers 14
So to gain a little more context this morning of the warning given hear in the second half of the chapter we have to go back and look at Number 14. You don’t have to turn there with me but write it down and go back and read the whole account later. I will give you the cliff notes version this morning…
Chapter thirteen begins with God telling Moses to send spies into Cannan. Which is also known here as the promised land. See these 3/4 of a million people have been promised a land flowing with milk and honey and they are ready for it. They have been walking around a desert for years being ticked off but seeing the miracles and provision of God. They are reafy for a rest.
So that’s what Moses does. He gathers 12 Spies and Sends them out. However… When they come back those 10 rascally spies declare to the people(crying).... oh it is just how god promised, but we can’t go in because theres tall people in there!!
You’ve got to be kidding me right?! So the people wept and groaned and complained. Wishing for death! Moses and Aaron did what all good christian’s should do in times of trouble and fell on their faces in prayer to God. Mean while good ole Joshua snd Caleb tried to talk the people down and remind them of the goodness of God. But what happened? they tried to stone Caleb and Joshua!
Moses and God have a conversation in which it ends like this....
English Standard Version Chapter 14
26 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall sthis wicked congregation grumble against me? tI have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, u‘As I live, declares the LORD, vwhat you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and xof all your number, listed in the census yfrom twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I zswore that I would make you dwell, aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 bBut your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that cyou have rejected. 32 But as for you, wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness
In fact this entire section of scripture is the bread of this wonderful sandwich that holds the meat inside… you see it in the first five verses 7-11 and then again in the last five from 15-19. Normally a preacher gets up and creates an illustration to get across his point of his message. Like last week… what was my illustration? Right, the S4 sub… But this was his illustration. The meat of our text today is found in verse 12-14 which is a warning worthy of much attention.
II. The Imperatives
II. The Imperatives
A. Command #1 - Take Care
A. Command #1 - Take Care
Take care, take heed, see to it.... This is the warning. The negative side of two commands. These are action words. Meaning that there is work involved. What work is it… Well it seems as though the author was concerned about the hearts of his people. HE was concerned that their would be an evil unbelieving heart that would try and turn the church away from God.
The word used here for unbelieving represents that of someone that is in apostacy. Has rejected faith in the Lord. So what are are we taking care of?
You must take care of, or guard, your own heart…
You must take care of, or guard, your own heart…
The heart - Kardia…Lev in hebrew. This is the part of the body that pumps blood right? Well the ancient writers knew that it was an organ in your body. But to the biblical writers this was the place where one would know something, understand something, what you use to discern between truth and error. It’s where you feel emotions like sadness, fear, and joy! It is where we have affections! So then from it flows our fullness life.... (proverbs 4:23) so guard your heart.
This heart doesn’t seem to be suggested that this heart was already in the mix of the church as in a 1 corinthians situation. But they had a heart that was after God as the pastor addresses them as “brothers”. Again, remember that they were being tempted to forsake the truth of their faith for an easier life. So get to work. protect your heart! Why?
Someone who doesn’t trust in God fully will not live with the view of Christ as their only hope. They will put their hope in pleasure.....In Money.... in themselves! Their influence will be strong and look tempting to turn to in your weakness. The description here is not in casual drifters, but in deliberate deserters....The pastor here says that their influence can lead you away from God! He leads you in paths of righteousness… Their influence leads you on paths of destruction because thats the only one they know. The contrast is between moses, aaron, caleb and joshua, and the rest of the generation!
Before we step in to the next command, i want to ask you a question..
Are your decisions filtered by God?
Are your decisions filtered by God?
You don’t fall away from the living God.
The same theme remains here that there are those who do not have a regenerated heart that sneak in to the fold. Like any person without a regenerated heart the lifestyles clash. Where a regenerated heart is saddened, felt guilty of sin. An unregenerate heart loves the sin they are in. A christian does not willfully sin… Like Paul said he did what he didn’t want to do… But someone not following God chooses to sin with gladness.
What you watch, what you read, what you wear, what you buy, what you say, what you post on facebook instagram or twitter, what you spend your time doing. Are your personal decisions filtered through God? If you belong to God the Holy Spirit will convict you. YOU HAVE TO BE LISTENING! Thus filtered through God.
So how do we do this? … I will say that you should ask yourself one question.
But you do not just have a responsibility to guard your own heart. IN the church, you have the responsibility to help others guard their hearts too
Are your decisions filtered by God?
Are your decisions filtered by God?
So how do we do this? … I will say that you should ask yourself one question.
What you watch, what you read, what you wear, what you buy, what you say, what you post on facebook instagram or twitter. Are your personal decisions filtered through God? The Holy Spirit will convict you. YOU HAVE TO BE LISTENING! Thus filtered through God.
Are your decisions filtered by God?
Are your decisions filtered by God?
What you watch, what you read, what you wear, what you buy, what you say, what you post on facebook instagram or twitter. Are your personal decisions filtered through God? The Holy Spirit will convict you. YOU HAVE TO BE LISTENING! Thus filtered through God.
B. Command #2 - Exhort one another every day
B. Command #2 - Exhort one another every day
B. Command #2 - Exhort one another
B. Command #2 - Exhort one another
Both here and throughout the message to the Hebrews the Pastor challenges the community to devote themselves to watching out for each other. This is the lifeblood of our Life Groups! If you do not have an web of people that are constantly encouraging you, sharing in pain with you, sharing wisdom as you are reading the word of God together.... YOU WILL DIE. Slowly… but surely your life will unravel as you are hardened by this world.
i. So that?
i. So that?
How?
The christian is liable to be hardened by sin.
The christian is liable to be hardened by sin.
You won’t be hardened by sin.
There is a difference here between the two imperitives that is worthy of clarifying. The first imperative was talking about someone that rejected God altogether. This second imperative is speaking to those that have trusted in the name of the Lord Jesus and are ACTIVELY pursing him.. The warning is that you can become hardened.... numb.... to sin. That you can be saved in the name of the lord but fall further and further away from the communion that we get to share in with him. Not losing your salvation, but losing the promise of rest in this life.
The reality is that we all go through wilderness experiences, moments that we have a choice to believe or not to believe the promises of God . Some of them big wildernesses. Some of them small. Most of the time they start off small, and we have the gracious opportunity to shape our responses. Either in exercising love joy peace patience etc.. remembering the promises of God ...... or by turning to our past lusts and evil desires to fill the hurt.
If some of the Hebrew Christians were deceiving themselves into thinking that Christianity could be contained within the old wineskins of Judaism, they would be adopting a similar inflexible position, which would be contrary to the revelation of God through Christ. A hardened attitude is not a sudden aberration, but a habitual state of mind.
This is dangerous! Because there is another difference to consider this morning… between a truly regenerated heart and one that just assumes that they are regenerated. Last week i said we should through out the question of “was that person truely generated or not”. And that is right, it is not our place to figure that out! But you should be concerned with your own heart this morning. There is indeed a difference between the two hearts. One is actively pursuing the righteousness of God. The other lazy in pursuing their own desires. One repentive of their wayward hearts. The other, content with calling themselves a good person. Belief is not just some word.... It is everything
III. Belief is everything...
III. Belief is everything...
. III. Belief is everything...
III. Belief is everything...
III. Belief is everything...
pause....
Not just for escaping terror, but for true living!
Not just for escaping terror, but for true living!
How many people start out with Christ, hear their sins can be forgiven, see that their lives can be cleaned up, feel that their social status can be improved as a good christian. But then their wilderness experience comes and their world just crumbles. Hell is a terrifying place, and for some reason in America we seem to be born with this thought of automatic salvation. Like we say a prayer, walk an aisle, and we are all Good.... Not so. Why was it that the Israelites were left out of true hope? True rest? Because of their unbelief. Look at verse 19. We fear what people think about us. We fear not having enough this or that, We even fear not doing enough for God. But this morning you should be utterly concerned with weather or not you are actively taking care of your heart because you believe God’s promises, not anything else.
Are your decisions filtered by God?
Are your decisions filtered by God?
JESUS IS BETTER
JESUS IS BETTER
What you watch, what you read, what you wear, what you buy, what you say, what you post on facebook instagram or twitter. Are your personal decisions filtered through God? The Holy Spirit will convict you. YOU HAVE TO BE LISTENING! Thus filtered through God.
In the christian community we see it. I share this next story not as a judgment call on this persons salvation but as a warning for our fold today… The person in our story tells it himself so that I don’t have to make a judgement to you this morning. But his words are sad, yet sufficient for a warning.
So how do we do this? … I will say that you should ask yourself one question.
Just recently we watched Josh Harris walk away from his faith. Do you know who that it? Josh Harris was the author of “i kissed dating goodbye” the 1997 book on courting. It was a firestorm that was eaten up by the millennial community inside the church! It was trendy, but eventually the book would come under scrutiny because there were unrealistic realties drawn for such a young community. After a couple of years of that scrutiny Josh stepped down from his post as mega church pastor.
a month ago Josh and his wife first came out and announced their divorce. Taking the christian community by surprise. then Josh posted on his instagram the following week.
"The information that was left out of our announcement is that I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is deconstruction, the biblical phrase is falling away. By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I'm not there now."
Are your decisions filtered by God?
Are your decisions filtered by God?
The next statement is most important, "The information that was left out of our announcement is that I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is deconstruction, the biblical phrase is falling away. By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I'm not there now."
What you watch, what you read, what you wear, what you buy, what you say, what you post on facebook instagram or twitter. Are your personal decisions filtered through God? The Holy Spirit will convict you. YOU HAVE TO BE LISTENING! Thus filtered through God.
The next paragraph was also very important: "Martin Luther said that the entire life of believers should be repentance. There's beauty in that sentiment regardless of your view of God. I've lived in repentance for the past several years," he wrote, "repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few, but," he continued, "I specifically want to add to this list now. To the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me."
This is exactly what the pastor in Hebrews is warning us about. We are liable to be hardened by sin either as not yet regenerated heart or as a regenerated one. Perseverance is a major theme throughout the book because we humans are fickle. Verse 14 says that we have become partakers if we hold fast to the confidence we have to the end.so…
“perseverance does not gain salvation, but demonstrates the reality that true salvation indeed has been inaugurated.” Failure to hold on to one’s confidence does not cause one to lose salvation; it indicates that one was not truly saved in the first place.
“perseverance does not gain salvation, but demonstrates the reality that true salvation indeed has been inaugurated.” Failure to hold on to one’s confidence does not cause one to lose salvation; it indicates that one was not truly saved in the first place.
Jesus said it this way...
But this heartbreaking headline also reminds us that we can place our trust in no sinful human being, but in Christ alone, the one who alone is worthy of our trust.
578 See also W. Grudem’s discussion on (Systematic Theology, 793).
24 z“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like aa wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like aa foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
24 z“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like aa wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like aa foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
David L. Allen, Hebrews, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2010), 269.
So, This morning. Have you really stepped into true regeneration by believing, trusting, embedding the promises of God into your life and held fast to them? If so, rejoice for the rest of God is with you.
If you are haven’t I urge you to do that today. Understand that God created a good world. Humanity caused sin to ruin that good world by disobedience. There is no other way he has said that we could pay him back for our lying, lusting, stealing, covetous, idolizing hearts other than through believing that Jesus, the son of God, the imprint of God, died to buy our sin once and for all. This is our hope. That we as sinners have someone who has taken that sin from us, reconciled us with our creator, and gives us sweet communion with the living God.
a ch. 25:2; []
Put your hope in him… Make active choices to follow him…and live in his rest.
a [See ver. 24 above]
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .