Living Today in the Promise of God's Rest

Hebrews For Faith to See and Persevere Living Today in the Promise of God’s Rest Hebrews 3:7-19 Hebrews 3:7-19 Objectives • To understand the context in the history of the Hebrew people in general. • To examine the warnings to the original audience, the Hebrew Christians. • To draw encouragement and applications for our own spiritual journey. God’s Pattern of Planning, Carrying Out a Process, and Promising Rest God initiates a plan. He decided to create. God carries out a process and provides the resources. He created all of heaven and earth. God offers a promise of rest. He rested and blessed the seventh day. He decided to save His people from their bondage to slavery in Egypt. He miraculously delivered them in the Exodus and provided for them in their time in the wilderness. He promised them rest in a land "flowing with milk and honey" if they follow Him in obedience. He decides to save His people from their bondage to sin. He miraculously provides He promises rest for eternity in salvation through His Son Jesus heaven for those who have faith Christ and calls His people to live in Christ and follow Him. a changed life, providing His Word and His Spirit. The Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Part 1 Text Ex. 15:22-24 Ex. 16:2-3 The Offended The people The people Their Complaint They have no water. They have no food and that Moses was trying to kill them. Their desire Moses to know they are mad. To be back in Egypt, the place of their bondage. Ex. 17: 1-3 The people They have no water and that Moses To be back in Egypt. was trying to kill them and their animals. Ex. 32:1-8 The people Moses was taking forever with God Aaron to make them a golden calf to while getting the ten worship. commandments. Num. 11:1-23 The people The menu is monotonous. To be back in Egypt where the food was good. Num. 12:1-9 Aaron and Miriam Moses married the wrong woman and that they weren't being given the recognition they deserved. People to know God could use them, too. The Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Part 2 Text The Offended Their Complaint Their desire Num. 14:1-4 The people. God's promise was not true. It would be better to die, or to choose a new leader to take them back to Egypt. Num. 16:1-33 Korah and 250 chiefs Moses was a bad leader, and he Moses and Aaron to hear their complaints. was not acknowledging the holiness of the people. Num. 20:2-9 The people. They have no water. They'd rather be dead. Num. 20:10-13 Moses The people are too much for him to That they would see his anger by hitting deal with. the rock with a stick. Num. 14: 20-23 God The people have seen His glory, yet None of the people will see the promised are disobedient. land. Num. 27:12-23 God Moses was rebellious and lashed out in anger. Moses would see the promised land, but he would not finish the journey. Truths About the Wilderness Experience 1. 2. 3. 4. They had no idea what was in store for them. God provided a leader, who was faithful, but human. Their journey was incredibly hard. Even though the Israelites had personally witnessed the power and presence of God, they were still overwhelmed by their sin nature. 5. The entire wilderness experience demonstrates the futility of humanity trying to carry out the plan of God on their own. Vs. 12-13: 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. Warnings to the Hebrew Readers Take care against an evil, unbelieving heart. • • • • To not believe that God is who He says He is. To not believe that He will do what He says He will do. It comes out in grumbling and rebellion. Dissatisfaction with circumstances, the people around you, your authorities, God, and eventually life itself. “It would be better than this to be dead.” This is the lie Satan desperately wants us to believe. Warnings to the Hebrew Readers Do not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. • Our current sin may seem appealing. • When circumstances get difficult, we may feel that what we’ve been saved from is appealing. • Eventually our circumstances may get so discouraging we feel it would be better off to be in bondage to sin, or, again, even dead. Warnings to the Hebrew Readers The consequences of unbelief are a falling away from God. This is serious....our belief can be twisted in two ways: • Hanging on to doctrine rather than Christ - “Because I believe in eternal security I’m good, I don’t need to worry about anything.” • Worry/despair that our struggles mean that we never were saved or we’ve lost our salvation. This is really a call to persevere. Like the Promised Land was never going to be “Heaven on Earth” for the Israelites, neither are we going to realize a blissful, trouble free existence. Life is a battle. “Christianity is not floating down a river toward heaven. It is swimming upstream to heaven, because the world, the flesh, and the devil want you dead-forever. And they will batter you every day. If you coast, you go backward!” (John Piper-“Eternal Security is a Community Project”) Application and Encouragement • Exhort one another every day. He has given us each other, the church. We have a purpose and a responsibility to each other. • As we persevere, it shows that we actually do share in Christ. All we need to persevere in the hardships of this life is available to us. • This sharing in Christ is what makes it possible for us, as sinners-people EXACTLY like the Israelites in the desert, to be worthy of entering the eternal Sabbath rest mentioned in Hebrews 4:8-11 For if Joshua had given them rest, God[b] would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Hebrews For Faith to See and Persevere