Hebrews 12 ,1-3 (It’s All About Jesus)

Hold Fast – Part 2
Hebrews 4:3-13
July 5, 2015

We are studying through this profound letter that the Holy Spirit inspired to a group of people simply called the “Hebrews”.

Some were Jews who didn’t believe
Some were Jews who hadn’t confessed
Some were Jews who considered defecting

In our current text He is dealing with
Those who are considering abandoning Jesus and returning to Judaism.

Their confession of Christ had been extremely costly.
• Some were mocked
• Some lost their property
• And now they are facing the harsh reality of being cut off from the
synagogue, the temple, and all Jewish privileges.

To a Jew
• No temple access – meant no presence of God
• No sacrifices – meant no atonement
• No priest – meant no intercession

Put it all together and it meant
No forgiveness and thus no eternal life.

Now that is ok because as Christians they had been taught that
All of those things were available through Jesus, not Judaism.

The problem is that they were now having to choose
And the way they respond to this crisis of faith
Will reveal whether they truly believe in Jesus or not.

They have said they did;
How they handle this dilemma will prove their faith genuine or false.

Will they hold fast to Jesus and prove their faith genuine,
Or will they abandon Him and prove their faith was phony?

The Holy Spirit is begging them to stick with Jesus.

Hebrews 3:6 “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house — whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

Hebrews 3:12 “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

Hebrews 3:14 “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”
Hebrews 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”

It’s obvious isn’t it?
HOLD FAST

And these two chapters are dedicated to the purpose of
Telling you why you should.

I told you last week, we can divide these chapters down into three main points
As to why you should hold fast to Jesus.

We saw the first last week:
#1 THE PUNISHMENT FOR DEFECTION
Hebrews 3:7 – 4:2

The writer was very clear to remind us that
You should hold fast to you confession regarding Jesus
Because God punishes those who defect from the faith.

And the writer gave us three very serious warnings.
1) SCRIPTURAL WARNING (7-11)

Quoting from Psalm 95 he reminded us about unbelieving Israel
And how they provoked God to anger.

They said they believed, they painted the blood on the door post,
They passed through the Red Sea,
But when it got tough, they grumbled, defected, and quit trusting God.

God was so angry that He swore they would not enter His rest.

2) SIMPLE WARNING (12-15)

And it was called a simple warning because it is simple to understand.
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you and evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

It doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Make sure that you are not like unbelieving Israel.
Their confession was correct, but their heart was bad.

Make sure your love for Christ is sincere and permanent.

3) SOLEMN WARNING (3:16 – 4:2)

Again the writer was as serious as could be.
“Therefore let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”
Can you imagine anything more awful than to spend your life surrounded by Christians, going through Christian motions, but still to come short of eternal life?

Well it happens.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

“Many will say to Me…”

In the judgement, there will be many
Who spent their lives in religious routine who will not enter Heaven.

That reality should cause a holy fear to spread,
And that fear should motivate everyone to make sure
Their confession is sincere and their faith is legitimate.

HOPEFULLY YOU GOT THAT FIRST POINT.
The first reason to hold fast to Jesus
Is because of the punishment for defection.

This morning we want to move on to
THE SECOND REASON to hold fast to Jesus.
#2 THE POSSIBILITY OF REST
Hebrews 4:3-13

The first point was a solemn warning about a danger to avoid.
This point explains a wonderful reality that you should seek to obtain.

So following the same pattern as the first point,
Let’s examine this idea of rest.

1) A SCRIPTURAL REALITY (3-5)

Here we realize that the writer is at it again.
He again is bringing to your mind Old Testament Scripture
That he wants you to focus on.

• He quotes Psalms 95:11
• He quotes Genesis 2:2
• He quotes Psalms 95:11 again

Scripture is His benchmark and final authority,
And so he wants to make sure that all of his reasoning stems from that.

And in quoting these verses to you his point should be obvious.
He wants you to know that REST IS REAL
And in order to prove that, he quotes Scripture which verifies it.

Now, why would he feel the need to prove that rest is real?

Think about it:
If you were a Jew, rest is that thing that has always been offered,
But never obtained. It is almost put in a class with that of a “fairy tale”.

And because life is hard, it would be really easy to grow cynical
And see “rest” as something that just isn’t real.
In the same category as secure retirement and affordable health care.

Always promised, never enjoyed.

It leaves one wondering – IS IT REAL?

Let me show you why the Jews were so cynical about it.

It all starts with the passage that the writer quotes.
(3-4) “For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”

Obviously here he wants you to know that believers enter the rest,
Just like non-believers don’t enter it.

But just because some people don’t enter rest
Doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

And that is why he quotes from Genesis 2:2. “And God rested”
We know rest is real because God did.

Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

Hopefully you remember from our Genesis study exactly WHY God rested.
• It wasn’t that He was tired
• It wasn’t that He was bored
• It wasn’t that He was distracted

God rested because He was finished.
There was nothing left to do.
Nothing needed to be repaired or remodeled.

He was completely finished and His work was absolutely perfect.
So God rested.

Rest was a definite reality.
WHAT HAPPENED?

Sin happened,
The curse came, and God’s perfect creation was thrashed.

Ladies, it’s like having a perfectly clean house
And then your kids come home from school.

It’s like having a finished building and then a tornado hits.

Sin wrecked God’s perfect creation and the time for rest was over.
Listen to what God said to Adam:
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

Rest was gone
Now we get toil, labor, striving, working, and ultimately death
REST IS REAL, BUT MAN LOST IT.

And if you continue reading you’ll remember
That man desperately wanted rest back.

A few generations later a baby named Noah was born.
Do you remember what his dad said about him?

Genesis 5:28-29 “Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”
They wanted rest
They wanted relief

And that desperate reality is where man dwelled.
• From Adam to Noah
• From Noah to Abraham
• From Abraham to Moses

AND THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN GOD STEPPED IN WITH AN OFFER.
I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

There is a land available.
God called it a land “flowing with milk and honey”

Exodus 3:8 “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.”

God told Israel to go to this land:
Exodus 33:14 “And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

This land would be perfect.
The days of striving would be over – They would finally have rest.

Deuteronomy 11:10-12 “For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. “But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.”

Doesn’t that sound good?
It’s what Israel dreamed of.

BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM. (It’s what we read about last week)
Most of them didn’t actually believe and they defected
God killed them in the wilderness and they never entered the land.

40 years later some entered,
But if you will remember they disobeyed and refused to drive out all the inhabitants and so they never really had rest either.

Eventually the children of Israel rebelled
So greatly against God that Assyria wiped out the northern kingdom and Babylon wiped out the southern kingdom.

And by the time the writer of Hebrews penned this letter,
Israel was living in the land of promise but under Roman rule.

REST HAD BECOME A FAIRY TALE.

Solomon probably said it best.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.”

And that is how many in Israel had come to think.
Rest isn’t really possible.
But the writer of Hebrews wants you to know THAT ISN’T TRUE.
REST IS REAL

Granted it hasn’t often been obtained, BUT IT IS REAL.
Rest is a SCRIPTURAL REALITY
“God rested”

So put that first and foremost in your mind.
REST IS REAL

2) A SIMPLE REALITY (6-10)

Now we just learned that rest is real
Even though most of the people in the past never achieved it.

So look at what the writer says here.
(6-7) “Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”

Did you catch his point?

Since rest is real, but that first group of people didn’t enter it.
“He again fixes a certain day”

That is to say, since He offered it, but they failed to enter it,
God chose to offer it again.

“saying… “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

He offered it once, they didn’t get it.
So God offered it again.

(8) “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.”

• Joshua was the successor to Moses.
• Joshua was the man who actually led Israel into the Promised Land.
• Joshua was the man who was supposed to provide rest for the people.

DID HE?
Apparently not, because 400 years later David is still offering it.
Obviously rest was never achieved.

SO WHAT IS THE POINT TO ALL THIS?
(9) “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”
That is the point.
Rest remains – Rest is Real – REST IS AVAILABLE!!!!!

It is not off the table
It is not a fairy tale
It is not a myth
Rest is real and available for God’s people TODAY!

Ok, so what are you saying?
We should all go move to Israel and live in the Promised Land and there we will have rest? (Not hardly, watch the news)

THEN WHAT IS THIS REST?
(10) “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from His.”

This is such an important verse.
The rest being offered is rest from your “works”
And it is rest just like God rested.

Now I told you earlier, but why did God rest?
• Because He was finished
• Because there was nothing left to do

That is the type of rest that is available to you.
• Not a momentary break
• Not a temporary vacation
• But to be finished with nothing left to do but enjoy your new reality

That rest is available
That rest apart from any more work at all
YOU CAN HAVE THAT REST TODAY

Do you want me to show it to you?
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus came and offered that rest to Israel.
Jesus came and offered that rest to you.

Think about Judaism. (You really ought to read Leviticus to get the full idea)
It was nothing but work

Hebrews 9:6 “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship,”

And trust me “continually entering” is an understatement.
• It was offering after offering
• It was sacrifice after sacrifice
• It was ritual after ritual
• It was festival after festival
• It was ordinance after ordinance
And it was non-stop.

If Israel learned nothing else from her religion
It was that pleasing God is a lot of work.

AND THEN COMES JESUS.
He comes offering rest from all that work.

Here comes Jesus
• Living in perfect righteousness
• Dying on a cross to fully satisfy God’s wrath
• Rising from the dead to prove it worked
• Ascending to the Father where He sits at His right hand

Remember what Jesus said on the cross?
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

He finished His work.

What did He do next?
He rested
Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

“He sat down…”

That is something no priest before Him every dreamed of doing.
That is because no priest was ever finished.

But Jesus was and so He rested.

JESUS WAS THE FIRST AND ONLY JEW
TO EVER ENTER GOD’S REST

And Jesus said, “Come to Me…I will give you rest”

CURRENT REST from your striving to please God
ETERNAL REST in heaven from the toils of this life

Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

FRIENDS THAT IS WHAT JESUS OBTAINED AND OFFERS TO YOU
When you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, He made you pleasing.
He finished all your work.

Now you can rest that God is satisfied,
And there is nothing left that must be done.

Can you see why the writer of Hebrews wants you to hold fast to Jesus?
Why would you let go of your only shot at rest?
Why would you return to a system of work?

Rest is not only real, rest is available through Jesus.
That is the SIMPLE REALITY

So, there is a Scriptural Reality (Rest is Real)
There is a Simple Reality (Rest is available)
3) A SOLEMN REALITY (11-13)

Once again the writer is going to get very serious with you.
He has a strong admonition and then another warning.

(11) “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest”

That is to say that achieving rest ought to be your main objective.
You ought to do whatever it takes to get it.

“so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

• You need to make sure that you are not like unbelieving Israel, who fell away and missed out on God’s rest.

• You need to make sure that you are seeking the rest that only Christ can provide and that you do not miss out on it.

Don’t fall away from Christ
Don’t defect back to Judaism
Keep your eyes forward, focus on Christ, hold fast to Him.

And here is the SOLEMN REALITY:
BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T, GOD WILL KNOW IT

(12-13) “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

This passage reminds us that when it is time for judgement,
God’s word will accurately discern
And accurately judge every single human heart.
Jeremiah wrote:
Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

The human heart is a tricky and deceptive thing.
It can fool the most discerning of men, but it can’t fool God.
He alone can discern it
He alone can read it
He alone can lay it bare and expose it for what it is

The point then being that no imposters
Will trick God and make it past His gaze.

His word cuts deep like a surgeon’s scalpel
“piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow”

And then it performs accurate judgement
“able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

You and I can see WHAT a person does,
God can see WHY they do it.

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

DO YOU CATCH THE WRITER’S POINT?
Be real – enter rest
But please, please, please – don’t try to fool God.

If you have an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God – He will know it even if no one else does.

John MacArthur wrote:
“In the day of the great judgment His Word is going to penetrate and lay bare all hearts who have not trusted Him. The sham and hypocrisy will be revealed and no profession of faith, no matter how orthodox, and no list of good works, no matter how sacrificial, will count for anything before Him. Only the thoughts and intentions of the heart will count…The sword of His word will make no mistake in judgement or execution. All disguises will be ripped off and only the real person will be seen.” (MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series: Hebrews, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1985] pg. 105)

SO THERE IS YOUR SOLEMN REALITY.
• Rest is real
• Rest is available
• And you should “be diligent to enter that rest” because God will know.

Well, that leaves one important question:
HOW DO I ENTER IT?
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

What did Jesus say?
• “Come to Me” – there is the first step.
Jesus is the giver of rest, so you have to go to Him.

• “Take My yoke upon you” – (like with oxen)
You submit yourself to His control and plan. He gets to direct from here on out.

• “Learn from Me” – so now you walk your life with Him
Any failure to come to Him
Any failure to submit to Him
Any failure to stay with Him or to pull away
Will forfeit rest in your life.
So, have you ever come to Jesus?
Have you ever been made aware of your sinfulness before God and
seen your need for His atonement and forgiveness?

Have you submitted your life to Christ?
Given up your rights to rule and lead, and handed the keys of your life
to Jesus?

And are you remaining with Him, learning from Him, following Him?

That is where rest is found.
And we should be diligent to obtain it.

HOLD FAST TO JESUS
Because of the Punishment for Defection
Because of the Possibility of Rest

 

John 13 ,1 (It’s All About Jesus)

Hold Fast – part 1
Hebrews 3:7-4:2
June 28, 2015

As you know we are studying through the book of Hebrews.
You are aware by now that the only author we are aware of is the Holy Spirit,
And that it is written to people who aren’t taking Jesus as serious as they should.

Last week we actually identified three groups
Who are being confronted in this letter.

1) Unbelieving Jews who want no part of Jesus
2) Jews who know Jesus is the Messiah, but refuse to confess Him
3) Jews who have confessed Jesus, but contemplate returning to Judaism

Throughout this letter you will see
Each of these different groups of people being addressed.
But in chapters 3 and 4 we are dealing with that third group.

We are dealing with Jews who have publicly confessed Jesus
They have said they would submit their lives to Him.

And according to chapter 10 of this letter
That initial response was met with hardships and persecutions.

Hebrews 10:32-34 “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.”

The writer mentioned how they suffered.
• They were reproached and mocked
• They had their property seized
• Some were thrown in prison

These new believer faced hardship right out of the gate
And they handled that initial wave of hatred beautifully.

And for this reason, the writer has not hesitated
To identify this group as genuine Christians.

We saw it last week at the beginning of chapter 3 how the writer referred to them as “holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling”

The point being that this group of followers
Has done nothing since their confession but demonstrate faithfulness to Christ even in the midst of persecution.

SO WHY ALL THE CONCERN?
Because apparently, for the first time,
These followers are debating returning to Judaism.
They are debating forsaking Jesus,
And returning to Moses and the Law and the synagogue.

And the writer of this letter couldn’t have been bolder
To them in the first 6 verses of this chapter.
DON’T DO IT
• Moses was not the Messiah.
• Moses was indeed a faithful servant,
• But even Moses’ goal was to push you to Jesus.

If you reject Jesus, you are not only missing God’s only means of salvation,
But you are also missing the entire point of what Moses desired to teach you.
DO NOT DEFECT!

And that was stated clearly in verse 6
Hebrews 3:6 “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house — whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

The obvious point was that these Jews who had claimed to believe in Jesus needed to hold fast to Jesus “firm until the end.”

It was important that they understood the danger of defection.

What we are talking about here is the sin of APOSTASY
Apostasy is when a person who claims to believe in Jesus then turns away and denies Him.

And you need to know that this is no minor issue.

2 Peter 2:20-22 “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

Jesus Himself said:
John 15:4-6 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

You get the idea.
It is not a wise move to confess Jesus and then turn away from Him.
Now again, this DOES NOT indicate a person who is saved and then loses their salvation.
What it indicates is a person who was never genuinely saved
But who masqueraded among God’s people for a time.

They were very literally phonies dwelling among the body.
They were wolves dwelling among the sheep.

Jude 3-7 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

Jude spoke about those phonies who wormed their way in to the church.
They were imposters

And Jude promised severe punishment of people like that.
In fact he gave three examples of punishment on people like that.

1) Sodom and Gomorrah and men who abandoned what was proper and went after “strange flesh” and God judged them severely.

2) Angels in the days of Noah who also abandoned their proper abode and went after strange flesh God continues to judge.

3) The phonies who came out of Egypt behind Moses. Those who abandoned their faithfulness to God and God killed them in the wilderness.

The point being is that defecting from your allegiance to God
Is a horrific crime that God punishes severely.

And the writer wants these Jews who are contemplating doing just that
To understand the foolishness of such a decision.

So, all of Hebrews 3 and 4 is dedicated then to 1 purpose.
The writer is imploring them to HOLD FAST TO JESUS

And if you were to outline both chapters you’d get three clear points.
You’d get three clear reasons why they should hold on to Jesus.

1) Punishment of Defection
2) Possibility of Rest
3) Promise of Grace

This morning we want to begin looking at his first point…
His first reason for why you should hold fast to Jesus.

#1 THE PUNISHMENT OF DEFECTION
Hebrews 3:7-4:2

Now I understand this is a big thought,
So we most certainly need to break this down a little further.
The writer gives three distinct warnings regarding defection

1) SCRIPTURAL WARNING (7-11)
“Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'”

Here we find that the author has decided to preach a sermon to us.
His text is Psalms 95:7b-11
TURN TO: PSALMS 95

You quickly recognize that the writer omitted the first 6 ½ verses.
The reason is because he really wanted to focus in on three words.

“Today”, “Provoked”, and “Rest”
And that is why he began in verse 7.

But let’s look at the Psalm as a whole and see if
We can wrap our minds around what David was saying.

David is calling Israel to worship and totally submit themselves to God.
(READ 1-6a)

And then in order to emphasize the importance
David calls upon an Old Testament illustration.
(READ 7b-11)

David reminds his people of the catastrophic failure of their forefathers.
• People whom God delivered from Egypt.
• People who saw the 10 plagues on Egypt
• People who passed through the Red Sea
• People who ate the manna from heaven
• People who drank water from a rock
• People who saw a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night
• People who heard God’s voice on the holy mountain
• People who saw God’s glory radiate off of Moses’ face
In short, we are talking about a congregation
That had more reason to believe in God
Than any other congregation in the history of the world.

And yet David reminded his people that
THIS CONGREGATION HARDENED THEIR HEARTS TOWARD GOD.
David said they tested God
David said they tried God
But the real problem is that they provoked God to anger.

In fact God’s response was:
(10) “For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and the do not know My ways.”

SO DID YOU CATCH THE POINT?
There was nothing wrong with their confession…
There was something wrong with their heart.

They claimed to know God, but they clearly didn’t.

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

They were a worthless group of people.
1 Corinthians 10:1-12 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

(Read Psalm 78 for additional insight)

But the point to be seen is that
• These were a people who claimed to believe in God.
• These were a people who followed God for a while.
• These were a people who saw plenty of evidence that God was real.

But when the going got hard they revealed that they had a heart problem.
They turned away from God, and God was angry.

In fact God made a promise.
(11) “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
WHAT WAS THIS REST HE SPOKE OF?
• In a temporal sense it was the Promised Land.
• In a spiritual sense it was the fullness of salvation.

What happened to this generation?
• God killed them in the wilderness.

Israel actually wondered 40 years in the wilderness
Just waiting for them to die off before God would let them take the land.

If the writer of Hebrews did nothing but read that passage to you,
You would be fully aware of the Scriptural Warning.

David warned his people not to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, The writer of Hebrews is warning his congregation about the same thing.

You ought to learn a lesson from unbelieving Israel.
• It is not enough to confess Christ once
• It is not enough to have seen Christ work
• It is not enough to have followed Christ briefly
• YOUR FAITH MUST THE GENUINE KIND THAT ENDURES

Otherwise you fall into the category of unbelieving Israel.

So there is a scriptural warning about the punishment of defection.

Let’s look at the second warning.
2) A SIMPLE WARNING (12-15)
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”

We call this a simple warning because it is simple to understand.

After reading about that group of unbelievers in Israel that God destroyed
The writer is very clear.

“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

That was precisely the type of heart that Israel had.
It was “evil” and it was “unbelieving”

It was never redeemed – It was never righteous – It was never faithful
And we know that because they fell away
See we aren’t talking about genuine believers
Who somehow lost their salvation,
We are talking about phony believers
Who finally showed their true colors.

Perhaps you the parable of the sower and the 4 types of soils.
Matthew 13:20-21 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”

That is the danger here.
And the writer wants you to make sure that isn’t you.

WHAT DOES HE MEAN THEN?
• Be real with yourself
• Be honest with yourself
• Are you genuinely in love with Jesus, or are you just trying to
identify with God’s people for some other reason?

Those Israelites that were destroyed didn’t genuinely love God,
They just pretended for a while because it was a way out of Egypt.

They showed their true colors when things got a little tough.
• When they got a little thirsty
• When they got tired of manna
• When Moses delayed on the mountain
• When the inhabitants of Canaan appeared to be giants

And because they didn’t really love God,
They were quick to turn away from Him and seek to return to Egypt.

The writer is saying, “MAKE SURE THAT ISN’T YOU!”
Make sure your love for Jesus is sincere
Make sure your faith in Jesus is genuine

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”

2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”

You must examine yourself to make sure your faith is real.

Incidentally this is why God allows us to endure trials.
• This is why God allowed those Israelites to experience thirst or hunger
• This is why God specifically told them to spy out the land, knowing they would encounter giants

God allows these trials as a means to reveal what type of faith you have.
1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
Trials prove your faith

AND SO IT IS SIMPLE.
When you face trials or persecutions or moments of suffering, do you get mad at Jesus and want to leave, or does your love for Him endure?

Make sure to see what kind of heart you have.

AND NOT ONLY THAT
(13) “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

I told you one of the big words that the writer likes from Psalm 95
Is the word “Today”

“Today” is the day of salvation
“Today” is the day of trial in which you can prove your faith genuine
“Today” is the call of God to be devoted to Him

In short it is your time of opportunity.

And the writer says as long as it is “Today” not only should you examine yourself, but you should “encourage one another”

You should grab your brother and encourage him in regard to his faith.

We have done a great disservice to the church of God over the last many years in which it became off limits to question a person’s salvation.

The writer of Hebrews commands exactly the opposite.
• You grab your brother and you make sure his faith is real.
• You grab your brother and you force him to examine himself

The temptation to defect is real, head it off at the pass.

You must examine yourself and encourage your brother
(14-15) “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”

Only those who “hold fast”
Are those who have really “become partakers of Christ”
So the writer wants you to know about the punishment for defection.
• He gives a Scriptural Warning
• He gives a Simple Warning

3) A SOLEMN WARNING (16 – 4:2)
“For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry 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 not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

Just in case you have failed to grasp the seriousness of the writer,
He now moves to his most serious and pointed warning yet.

He just keyed off on the word “Today”
Now he keys off on the word “PROVOKED”

He wants to make sure that you and I understand that
All of what unbelieving Israel did provoked God to anger.

This was not minor
What they did angered God severely

If something provokes God to anger, you need to know what it is.
Well, look at it here.

The writer is going to ask some questions that he wants us to answer.

We saw that God was provoked because when He spoke
They apparently hardened their heart to Him.

And the writer wants to know:
(16) “For who provoked Him when they had heard?

He wants you to pay special attention to the people who provoked Him.
• Was it the godless Egyptians?
• Was it the pagan Midianites?

No
“Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?”

It was the people He had delivered.
It was the people who claimed to love Him.
It was the people who claimed to follow Him.
(17) “And with whom was he angry for forty years?”
Here he is asking why He was angry.
• Was it because God is fickle?
• Did God get angry because He is impatient and selfish?

“Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?”
• He was angry at the people who defected from Him.
• He was angry at the people who disobeyed Him.
• He was angry at the people who grumbled against Him.

These were people He delivered who turned their back on Him,
And they provoked Him to anger and He stayed angry for forty years.

One final question:
(18) “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?”

• God was provoked
• God was angry
• God judged them in in His anger
• God refused to let them enter the Promised Land.

Who were the recipients of that anger?
Those He had previously delivered, who claimed to love and trust Him.
WHEN THEY DEFECTED AND BEGAN TO GRUMBLE GOD WAS ANGRY.

AND THEN THE WRITER SUMS IT ALL UP FOR YOU.

(19) “So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”

AND THERE IS THE ISSUE.

What was their problem? THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE

You mean they quit believing?
No – They never believed.

But they left Egypt, they participated in the Passover, they walked through the Red Sea…

Yes, but you can go through religious ritual and still not believe.
That is what these people did and when God saw that,
He was angry and He killed them in the wilderness.

Now, here comes the SOLEMN WARNING

(1-2) “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

“Let us…” what?
“FEAR”

PHOBOS in the Greek
It’s where we get our word for phobia
It is a fear that dictates action

And that is the type of “fear” the writer wants.

“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”

And immediately people say,
“Not me! I was baptized. I was in church. I ….”

And the writer cuts them off mid-sentence and says,
“SO DID THEY!”

“For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

They heard it and saw it just like you
BUT THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE
And they fell away.
And because of that, they never entered the rest that God intended.

YOU BE AFRAID THAT IT COULD BE YOU
• You be afraid enough that you will examine yourself
• You be afraid enough that you will encourage your brother

The greatest fear any religious person should have
Is that they have religion and no relationship.

Remember what Jesus said:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

What a horrible day Jesus spoke of.
They were people content in their religion
And they never once questioned the validity of their faith
UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE.
DON’T LET THAT BE YOU.
• Make sure your faith is genuine.
• Make sure your love for Christ is sincere.

And above all, no matter what you face, do not run from Jesus HOLD FAST TO HIM

If for no other reason than because of a fear of the punishment
That comes on defecting from Him.
Now, over the next couple of weeks I’ll show you a couple more reasons for holding fast to Jesus, but this one alone should be enough.
If God was angry enough to destroy Israel in the wilderness,
(A nation He had already gone to great lengths to deliver)
Then we should learn from their example and not fall away.
After talking about unbelieving Israel, Paul said:
1 Corinthians 10:11-12 “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

That is good advice.