Hebrews 3:7 - 4:13 | "Jesus: Our Partner & Living Word" [Live Stream Edition]
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· 25 viewsSunday, May 17, 2020. Hebrews 3:7-19 "Jesus: Our Partner & Living Word" [Live Stream Edition] We must obey the living Word of the living God spoken by the Holy Spirit -- today.
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I. Reading of Scripture
I. Reading of Scripture
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. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 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.
II. Introduction
II. Introduction
A. Introduction to Theme
A. Introduction to Theme
The epistle of James, which in the canon of Scripture follows after Hebrews, makes this controversial claim:
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
This claim has made many uneasy. And it appears to contradict the Scriptures that elsewhere clearly teach that we are saved by grace through faith alone, not by works.
But James is not contradicting the Scriptures.
James is pressing in to what it means to have a genuine faith that saves. A faith that people can see.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Like James, the writer of Hebrews is about to press into this uncomfortable tension of faith and works. And like James, the writer of Hebrews will come to the same conclusion: “faith works.”
Faith takes on a new definition for the writer of Hebrews. Faith is not intellectual agreement. Faith is a belief that obeys.
Hebrews defines faith NOT as BELIEF, but as OBEDIENCE.
And this forms an exhortation that takes the tone of a warning for the people of God to watch out!
It is impossible to be a follower of God by belief only, if that belief does not move you to obey God.
B. Proposition
B. Proposition
We must obey the living Word of the living God spoken by the Holy Spirit — today.
C. Introduction to Text
C. Introduction to Text
Jesus is the Son of God who was with God and active in Creation. Who is better than angels. And more recently in Hebrews, is shown to be better than Moses.
It was Moses’ faithfulness as a servant, not his failures, that was highlighted to show the surpassing faithfulness of Christ as God’s Son.
Just as Jesus was compared with Moses, now the writer of Hebrews moves to a different comparison —
a comparison between the decisions made by the people Moses led, and the decisions made by the people who follow Christ.
And if Jesus is better than Moses, the obedience required of us as followers of Jesus is to be viewed as a better (or more final) obedience to our leader, Jesus Christ!
III. Exposition
III. Exposition
The writer of Hebrews uses a text from Psalm 95.
Psalm 95 begins with a call to worship!
A call to sing to the Lord, to come into his presence, to worship and bow down.
But this Psalm that begins with a call to worship, ends with a warning.
The writer of Hebrews reproduces this warning in:
A. HEBREWS 3:7-11
A. HEBREWS 3:7-11
1. Hebrews 3:7-11
1. Hebrews 3:7-11
And the writer introduces the Psalm with an attestation to the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures, with the phrase:
“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says”
All Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16).
And it is not that “the Holy Spirit” said, but the Holy Spirit says.
In quoting from this Psalm of Scripture, the writer of Hebrews recognizes that the Holy Spirit is speaking NOW, through this Scripture too.
So the warning from Psalm 95 is brought from the past, into our present moment as the people of God. (Lane, WBC, 85).
So we who gather for worship, also receive this same warning.
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
God speaks! This is how Hebrews began with a claim that God has spoken in these last days through His Son, and His message has been heard!
And now, it is decision time. “Do you hear his voice?”
If so, “What are you going to do about it?”
The Holy Spirit says: “do not harden your hearts.”
A hardened heart is a stubborn, unyielding heart (see LN, BDAG).
It is the kind of heart that was formed in God’s people, led by Moses, when they rebelled against Moses and God.
This is a reference to Number 14.
God’s people, Israel, were on the verge of entering into the land God promised them. A land in which they would find rest from their enemies, and could rest in the enjoyment of God, his good gifts and fulfilled promises to them.
Men had been sent ahead to spy out the land before Israel went in to take that land.
All but two came back afraid, urging the people not to take what God had promised them. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, had faith to overcome.
Numbers 14 tells how the people grumbled against Moses and wanted to choose another leader and turn back to Egypt. They rebelled against Moses, and they rebelled against God.
B. HEBREWS 3:12-19
B. HEBREWS 3:12-19
2. Hebrews 3:12-15
2. Hebrews 3:12-15
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Let’s stay here for a moment.
The command is to take care. The word used is the word for “see.”
So the warning is to “Watch out!” To pay attention in order to avoid something.
And as with the other warnings in Hebrews, this warning is for “brothers.” Sisters. We who are in the faith.
So we must resist the urge to pass over this warning and think “I wish someone else is listening to this,” because this is for you and me!
What is to be avoided?
“an evil, unbelieving heart.”
That word “heart” is mentioned several times, because that is the real issue at hand.
Faithful obedience is what proceeds not out of the intellect, but out of the heart.
The result of an evil, unbelieving heart, is “to fall away from the living God.”
God’s word is not dealing in hypotheticals here. God is alive. God is living. And as much as it is true that God is alive, it is also true that it is possible to fall away from Him.
The word “to fall away” is the word ἀποστῆναι . This is apostasy.
It may be that perhaps (see Lane on the word “lest”, p.82) someone among us, as a people of faith, has such an evil unbelieving heart. It may be, that perhaps that person is you!
So we are to be watchful for this with concern. But the Scriptures tell us that there is something we can do to counteract this unbelief.
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 to exhort one another and we are to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today.”
That word “exhort” is to urge strongly, to appeal, to encourage (see LN, BDAG).
When is a good day for encouragement? Every day.
As churches are slowly beginning to gather together in person during this virus outbreak, it provides a good reminder and illustration that while the Lord’s Day is important and the church gathering together is essential, the work of the Church is never limited to only one day. Exhortation is an every-day work that we all may perform one for another.
This is the kind of worship that Christ makes possible for us now. No longer confined to a ritual or a temple, but Christ makes our bodies a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we may access the throne of grace through Him every day.
There is a purpose for gathering together, and we need not lose sight of this. We don’t gather together as a church just to see each other, or sing together. We gather together as the church to encourage one another — to exhort one another as we see “the day” drawing near (Hebrews 10:25).
Is exhortation taking place when the Church gathers together? More so, is exhortation taking place “every day” ?
We do not have to wait until we gather together in order to exhort one another, and encourage one another to faithful obedience.
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.
Up until now, Hebrews has been talking to a group of people. The commands, the exhortations, the warnings — all to a collective body of hearers.
But now, the message zeros in to the individual level with these words: “that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
What hardens the heart? Sin.
Sin — choosing your own way instead of God’s way, may feel good, and may offer something attractive for a season, but the Scriptures make clear what sin is: Sin is deceptive. Sin is misleading (LN). And sin WILL harden your heart.
There is to be no flirting with sin. If you flirt with sin, you will find your heart hardened by it.
This can be illustrated in many ways. Think about what you know is sinful. You continue to persist in it, and what used to be horrifying to you is not as horrifying anymore. Eventually, what used to be horrifying is acceptable. Sin has hardened your heart.
The reason we exhort one another, and encourage one another with God’s Word is so that we all will continue holding fast to it so that we will avoid sin.
14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
This is an example of the exhortation and encouragement we share with one another!
A reminder of our identity in Christ.
“We have come to share in Christ.” This means we have become, and continue to BE PARTNERS with Christ (see Lane, WBC, 82).
We cannot persevere in faith alone. A relationship with God is more than something between you and God alone. It is in the fellowship of believers that we are reminded that we share in Christ, meaning we have become, and we continue to be PARTNERS with him (see Lane, WBC, 82).
And we share in a commitment to Christ and with the help of one another we will persevere in that commitment until the end.
Someone who is not in regular fellowship with Christ and His Church will not hold fast to the end. Especially when difficulties arise. They will not practice faithful obedience.
William Lane says it this way: “the community of faith experiences an unresolved tension between peril and promise” and this is why there is such an urgency for encouragement (Lane, WBC, 87).
3. Hebrews 3:16-19
3. Hebrews 3:16-19
Drawing on the example of the failures of God’s people under Moses, Hebrews goes on to use that example as an illustration of the warning for us.
There are three words used to describe the failings of Israel:
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
That people “rebelled.” Rebellion is a form of disobedience. And rebellion incites anger, and this rebellion incited the anger of God (see BDAG), because they rebelled against what they had heard. God’s word.
17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
The failure here is “sin.”
Sin by definition is “lawlessness” (1 Jn 3:4).
It is going against the word, and instruction of God.
And verse 17 presents another Scriptural truth: Not only is sin deceptive, not only does sin harden the heart, but sin has an end — and that end is death (Rom 6:23).
“whose bodies fell in the wilderness.”
Lastly, verse 18:
18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
Disobedient. This word identifies an unwillingness or refusal to comply with authority (LN).
This was not a passive act of disregard. This was a willful act of disobedience.
These are three specific symptoms of one disease: UNBELIEF.
If you believe God, you will not rebel against him.
If you believe God, you will confess and forsake sin.
If you believe God, you will OBEY God in all things!
God’s people did not believe God under Moses. And if we fail to believe God, we will share in their fate — and worse! For it is not the word of God through Moses that we are disbelieving, it is the word of God through the Son, Jesus Christ we are disbelieving!
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Pastorally, I want to ask you on the basis of God’s Word — where is unbelief showing itself in your life?
Where are you rebelling?
Where are you sinning?
Where are you disobedient?
Sin leads to death. Unbelief leads to falling away from the living God.
But Jesus Christ the Son of God, extends grace and forgiveness to you, because he did not rebel, he did not sin, he was not disobedient, and he became every bit of our rebellion, our sin, our disobedience and he carried that sin to the grave.
So that by his death, would be no more.
And Jesus was raised from the dead in power, so that we might proclaim forgiveness of sins in His name!
However you have failed God, you can find forgiveness and walk in the faithfulness of Christ as long as it is called “Today.”
Not tomorrow, but Today. Now.
Unbelief is not failing to have a knowledge about God. Unbelief is not even failing to have faith and trust God. Unbelief as Hebrews shows, is FAILING TO OBEY GOD! Unbelief is hearing, and rejecting through your actions what God wants for you. (See GCM, 50 and Lane, 86).
A. Proposition
A. Proposition
We must obey the living Word of the living God spoken by the Holy Spirit — today.