No Time Like Now
Notes
Transcript
Context
Context
Hebrews 2; the writer talks about the Gospel being a message declared by angels and proclaimed by Jesus; a message that can be trusted
Hebrews 3:1-6; the writer compared Jesus to Moses
Moses represented the law
The law can only condemn
It cannot restore or repair
It is absolutely necessary
It is great
BUT Jesus is the greatest
Jesus
Fulfills the law
He restores
He redeems
He shows us that our God is a God of grace and Mercy
It is in this light that the writer of Hebrews exhorts his readers to respond to the Gospel
Exposition
The writer gives voice to the Holy Spirit
He personalizes the message of the Holy Spirit to the individual
Its as if The Holy Spirit is saying to you...
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
Therefore - Adverb that connects what the writer is about to say with what he said; in light of or because of
As the Holy Spirit Says - What follows is a long parenthetical statement; it is aimed to add clarity to the reader
Today, if you hear his voice… From Psalm 95
The writer quotes the 95th Psalm and now is going to exposit it; break it down for our understanding
Rebellion - Refers to the forty year wondering in the desert after God led the people out of captivity and oppression
The people constantly rebelled against Moses and God
It is because of this continuous rebellion that they could not enter into the promised land
They cannot enter into God’s rest
That is His presence
That is exactly what God is showing them and us
We are unable to enter into God’s presence and rest in Him
The Holy Spirit said to them and is saying to you “you cannot be in my presence in your current state. You do not have to live this way...”
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Heart in this sense is more like what we might consider the will
there is a volition behind the action; or intention behind the unbelief
We could translate this Take care, brothers, lest there be evil men among you
Evil, unbelieving heart - Contrary to popular songs and wishful thinking, people are not generally good
People are generally sinful and it takes a considerable amount of energy to combat the natural inclination of the heart
Since the fall of man, our hearts have been attempting to lead us from God not to him
The writer of Hebrews is not naive to think that everyone reading his letter is a believer
SO he warns of those evil men and or ideas that ultimately pull us from the salvation God provides
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. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Today - As in not tomorrow not yesterday; the present time
Only time that anything can actually be done
Only time where anything can actually change
EXAMPLE - make a change now; change the past, change the future
When is the time?
Now is the time
Why the urgency?
That none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
The writer takes us back to the comparison of the Hebrew’s path from captivity
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
The Israelites rebelled despite all that was happening in front of them
God says you cannot enter into God’s rest because of their rebellious unbelieving hearts
Does stuff like this still happen?
Yes
The more we are in sin the harder our hearts become
We grow use to sin
In fact sin can become so normalized in a society that when you speak out against it, you’re the one that appears unloving
EXAMPLES:
The kid that was killed riding his bike across the street
Cars in town would constantly honk at him
His mom would become annoyed and angry with the drivers who would honk at the kid for him to get out of the road
Nothing ever happened
The car would slow or slam on its brakes
The driver would lay on his horn
The mom would look up from whatever it was she was doing and raise her hand toward the driver like to almost suggest; come on can’t the kid ride his bike?
Slow down!
This went on for a while; over at least two summers
Then they moved
To the country
On a road where the drivers were not used to bikes crossing the street
He was killed
That’s a true story
The more we get away with sin or are immersed in sin the more comfortable we become with it
The harder our hearts become
Does sin still bother you?
When someone misrepresents God’s created order; like men dressing in women’s clothing and pretending to be women, is funny or heartbreaking to you?
Does it bother you more when someone uses the f-word as an adjective or Jesus’ name as a curse word?
Can you look at your neighbor who did you wrong with compassion because they were made in the image of God or does just seeing them make you swell with contempt and anger?
When someone is violated, whether on tv or in your presence, are you sad for victim or glad it didn’t happen to you
Examine your own hearts against the Bible
Should you find that maybe your heart has grown hard in certain areas, I have good news
Its still today...
Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen!