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.
