I just love reading that story
of the man born blind in John chapter 9. You might remember
that the Lord Jesus anointed the man's eyes with some spittle
and some clay and He told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.
He came back seeing, but the Pharisees denounced the miracle
because it was done on the Sabbath. and the man was cast out of the
synagogue. And the text says, Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, and when he had found him he said unto him, Dost thou
believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe. and he worshipped him. And so
that is my hope for you and for me today is that we will have
a believing heart, a believing heart. Angus just read through
those amazing chapters in Hebrews and these chapters set forth
quite plainly the real Jesus, the real Jesus, the real Lord
Jesus. That man born blind was given
his sight. Jesus too. We see Jesus not in
the flesh, but we see Him in every written account in the
Scriptures, and no less than we see here in these first three
chapters of Hebrews. Ezekiel tells us that the heart
is like a stone. And that is the essential difference,
isn't it, between a believing heart and the heart that is hardened. A hard heart, hard like a stone,
impervious, unyielding, unbelieving. But the believing heart is different,
isn't it? It is exactly the opposite. It is a heart which is tender.
It is a heart which is a heart of flesh. It is a thankful heart. It is
a heart inclined to Him. It is a heart purified by faith. It is a heart which is upright,
the scriptures say. It is a heart that is established
and fixed and it is a heart that is awoken, awoken to the voice
of the Beloved. Our text says in chapter 3, today
if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. But we need
to understand one very important thing, don't we? And that is
this, that a believing heart, if you are to have a believing
heart, it is a work of the grace of God. And this is where so
many go wrong. I remember reading some years
ago that a group of men got together and tried to calculate the odds
of any one man fulfilling all the prophecies of the Old Testament
as the Lord Jesus did. And they came up with a figure
of 10 to the power of 157. That is 10 with 157 zeros behind
it and that is a very, very big number of course. Now that is
irrefutable mathematical evidence that Jesus was indeed the Messiah
and that ought to be a compelling evidence. No doubt, and I'm not
against that sort of evidence, but what I'm saying here and
the point of what I'm saying is that the believing heart is
not a product of human deduction. It's not a product of deduction
of the mind. The believing heart is a work
of the grace of God. In fact it is a supernatural
work of the grace of God and it is His work in its entirety. In our text in chapter 3 verse
7 it is the Holy Ghost who speaks. It's the Holy Ghost. Today, if you will hear His voice,
harden not your hearts. If you will hear His voice, and
immediately there is a problem, isn't there? For men, if they
are left to themselves, they will not. The grace of God must
precede the will of men. We need We need grace to go before
us. In Acts 16 we learn of that certain
woman called Lydia, that lady that sold purple, purple linen. What a wonderful example it is.
It was Lydia, whose heart was opened to receive the things
of the Lord, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. Believers are born by the will of God, as John 1 tells
us. There is no room for man in the
equation at all, because believers are born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Lord willing, we will come back to this issue of the heart in
just a few minutes. Our text in verse 7, chapter
3, begins with wherefore and also that in verse 1 of chapter
3. We have that same word used,
the word wherefore. The word is a directive to us.
It is saying that in light of what's been revealed in these
previous chapters, in light of what's been written, the Holy
Spirit is directing the Church to this glorious single consideration. It's in verse 1, wherefore. Holy
Brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle
and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." That's who we
are here to consider today. And so we ought to look at these
preceding chapters, which Angus read, to consider this one who
himself is our sole profession. And what a glorious description
we have of our Saviour in these chapters. The Holy Spirit knows
to whom exactly he is writing, doesn't he? The title is to the
Hebrews. They are likely Jewish professors
of Christ. And so the entire book of Hebrews
has much to say by way of comparison to the Lord Jesus in regards
to the Levitical priesthood and that sacrificial system. We need
to understand something of the reverence and the veneration
that the Jews had for the person of Moses. All their religious
life, all their thoughts, all their practices and their observances,
all their hopes for the future, everything connected with God
was to be understood primarily for them in the person of Moses. They didn't see anything else
except Him. In Romans 9.4 Paul says, it is to them, the Israelites,
to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. But they were yet to understand
that these things were shadows and types of that which is to
come. They were yet to understand that
these things were not to be obtained by heritage. And we have that
verse, you'll probably know it in verse 7 of chapter 9 of Romans. It says, For they are not all
Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham are they children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh. They are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise accounted for the seed. We get to understand that from
among the Gentiles the Lord would gather a people to Himself. And
so it's the intention in these opening chapters, in all the
book of Hebrews for that matter, to show the superiority of the
Lord Jesus Christ. One who surpasses Moses by infinite
degree, unrivaled in His excellence, and that is a good word to use,
unrivaled. He is unrivaled. Let's look at
some of these excellencies. Lord Jesus in verse 1 of chapter
1, we see that the Lord Jesus is unrivalled in His excellency
as the Word of God. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. God spoke to men in the Old Testament
in types and shadows and the ceremonies of the law. God spoke
to the prophets. But now in these last days God
has spoken to us with finality in His Son. The Lord Jesus is
the revelation of the invisible God. He is not one of many revelations. He is the revelation, the only
singular revelation of God. He is unsurpassed and unrivalled. in every way. We see in verse
2 that He is unrivalled in His excellence as heir of God. All things belong to Christ,
don't they? He holds all things in His hands. Everything is His
rightful possession. He is the heir of all things.
All things belong to Christ both in heaven and on earth. In Hebrews
6 verse 20 we read of His connection to us He is heir of the Church. He is the forerunner for us who
are His. The Church belongs to Him. He
is the glorious Head of His people and He is unrivalled as the Sovereign
of the Universe. He has the absolute right to
do exactly as He will with all things. and he has the power
to do so, and that includes you and me. I just love the authority
that he wills over all things, don't you? His sovereign will
knows no limit. It is limitless. His sovereign will cannot be
thwarted. Whatever he wills is, and whatever
is has its existence because he wills it. as the unrivaled
sovereign of the universe. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy and whom he will harden, he hardened. He makes one a vessel
of honor and one a vessel of dishonor, one a vessel of mercy
and one a vessel of wrath, that all creation would know the riches
of his grace and the righteousness of his justice. That's the reason.
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not
of him that works, but of him that calls, Romans 9 says. And
we see in verse 2, the Lord Jesus is unrivalled in His excellence
as the creator of worlds. There is no question of His divinity,
is there? As the Creator, the Apostle John
tells us that all things were made by Him and without Him was
not anything made that was made. The splendour and the beauty
and the vastness of this universe, all of it by His hands. And yet
that was the objection of the Jews, wasn't it? The Jews objected
that He plainly said that He was God and they called it blasphemy
for a mere man to call himself God and so they sought to kill
Him. So the truths of this letter
to the Hebrews are so appropriate, aren't they? We see in verse 3 that he is
unrivalled in his excellence as the brightness of his glory
that is the glory of God. He is the express image of his
person, the text says. Remember when Philip spoke to
our Lord Jesus. He said, Lord, show us the Father
and that will be sufficient for us. And what did the Lord say
to him? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
God with us. And he is unrivaled, isn't he?
Unrivaled in his excellence as the Redeemer of his people. In
verse 3, he has by himself with no help from another man, by
himself purged our sins successfully and completely and effectually,
once for all time. He put away the sins of his people
and we see also that our Lord Jesus is unrivalled in His glorious
exaltation, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
worthy is the Lamb who was slain, I trust you love all these things
about Him. Verse 4, the Lord Jesus is unrivalled
in the excellence of His Name being made so much better than
the angels. In verse 7 of chapter 2 we see
for just a little while, for just a little while in regards
to His fleshly body He was made a little lower than the angels.
But by virtue of His divinity, by virtue of the fact that He
is God, and the honour that was duly his. He is made more excellent
than the angels, more excellent than the angels by infinite degree,
infinitely above them, as far above them as the Creator is
above the creation. In verse 7 of chapter 2 he is
crowned with glory and honour. The Holy Spirit continues to
exhort these Hebrew professors to the unrivalled excellence
of the Lord Jesus. Yet our Lord Jesus, this One
who is God, became man by necessity. He had to become like us. And here is the reason in verse
14 of chapter 2, we read, For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who
had the power of death, that is the devil. Philippians 2 speaks
of his condescension, a condescension that the Jews to this day have
really no understanding about. Philippians 2, let me just read
it to you. He made himself of no reputation and took upon him
the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And having
completed the work that the Father gave him to do, it goes on to
say, God had highly exalted him and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the
earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Verse 15, He was made
like His brethren for their reconciliation. Verse 15 of chapter 2 of Hebrews,
to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. For verily He took on Him, not
He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertained to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. This high priest was made like
unto his brethren. Hebrews 4 verse 15 says, He was
touched with the feelings of our infirmities and in all points
tempted as we are. He took on him the seed of Abraham. The Lord has an elect people,
doesn't he? An elect people that are settled throughout the human
race, throughout the ages. The seed of Abraham they are
called. He took on the seed of Abraham.
He took them on His own person. He carried them with Him. He
carried them in His life and He carried them in His death
and He carried them in His resurrection and He carried them into heavenly
glory. Not only did He carry them to
the cross, He carried their sins and by Himself, the text says,
by Himself He purged their sins away. And now in light of such
knowledge, in verse 1 of chapter 3, the Holy Spirit bids us to
consider this excellent line even further. Wherefore, holy
brethren, in light of these things, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus. These brethren are distinguished
from this carnal world as holy. Holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, holy by virtue of their oneness with Christ,
holy by virtue of the merits of Christ on their behalf, chosen
in eternity by God the Father in Christ. chosen in eternity. Ephesians 1 tells us that He
has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in life. That they are holy is a declaration
of the Lord. They are not holy by their own
doing. That's impossible. These ones
are holy because God willed it. not because of man's will, but
by God's will. He set them apart as holy, placing
them into the covenant of grace before the world began. They
are holy because He made them holy, and they are brethren. Wherever they are in this world,
whenever they have lived in time, all the people of God are brethren,
and that is why when we meet them, we are not really strangers,
are we? We greet them as brethren, as
long as friends. They are brethren, not only of
each other but also of Christ who is their elder brother. Hence
Jesus is not ashamed to call them brethren. We read that in
verse 17 of chapter 2. He was made like unto his brethren. They are partakers of the heavenly
calling. Verse 14, partakers of Christ,
set apart in Christ in that union of grace, in union with their glorious
head, the husband of the church. They are partakers of Christ,
partakers of the grace of God, partakers of the divine nature. Not their nature, His divine
nature. Partakers of that one bread.
Christ is that bread, isn't He? Partakers of His promise. Christ
is the promise. The promise of God fulfilled.
And partakers of His sufferings. Those blood-bought sufferings
that so wonderfully appeased the fury of God. and partakers
of the inheritance of the saints, as Colossians 1 says. What a
glorious inheritance that is. Here in verse 1 of chapter 3,
we are partakers of the heavenly calling. They are a people. Believers
are a people that the Spirit of God describes as the called. They are called with a holy calling,
2 Timothy 1.9 says. In Philippians 3 it is the high
calling of God and in Ephesians 4 it is your call. It is a personal
call and it is an effectual call. It is the sovereign call of a
sovereign God upon the hearts of His people. It is a call brought
by the Holy Ghost, the effectual call to come, to consider Him,
to behold Him, to esteem Him, to love Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that our Lord Jesus Christ
in verse 2 was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses
was faithful in all his house. So the Holy Spirit introduces
Moses for the purpose of showing the supremacy of Christ. Evidently
there were some amongst these Hebrew professors who may well
have had a disposition to esteem Moses more than Christ. And so they are reminded in verse
2 of this, one, who was faithful to him that appointed him. Our
Lord Jesus was faithful to God who appointed him. Before the
beginning of time our Lord Jesus pledged to the Father that he
would undertake the work the Father gave him and that is exactly
what he did. He was faithful in all he did
in accordance to the will and purpose of his Father in all
his house. But this man was counted worthy,
verse 3, of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the
house hath more honour than the house." So the comparison is
drawn between our Lord Jesus and Moses. The illustration is
that of the house and the builder. Verse 4, For every house is built
by some man, but he that built all things is God. I just am
reminded about that encounter of the Lord Jesus with John the
Baptist in John chapter 1. And having said to the Jews that
he was not the Christ, John was asked why he continued to baptise.
And John answered them saying, I baptise at water, but there
standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming
after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am
not worthy to unloose. And as blessed as John was, and
the Lord Jesus declared he was one, one among women hath there
not risen greater than John the Baptist." That's what the Lord
Jesus said to John and yet he says of himself he is not worthy
to undo, to unloose the latchet of his shoe. Yet the Lord Jesus is supreme
in every degree, by infinite degree. And when the Lord Jesus
came to John to be baptised in Matthew 3, He said to the Lord,
I need to be baptised of thee and thou comest to me. And Jesus
answered him saying, Suffer it to be so for now, for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Lord Jesus fulfilled all righteousness,
didn't He, by being baptised that day. But John also fulfilled
all righteousness when he baptised the Lord Jesus. Not only did
the Lord Jesus fulfill all righteousness, He fulfilled all the law of God
and so He performs two great things, doesn't He? He performed
all the law of God and He Himself is the fulfilment of all the
law of God in all points. In verse 5 we read that Moses
verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony
of those things which were to be spoken after. Moses testified
before Jesus, one who like Moses was faithful in all his house
and he was a servant. Moses. that one whom the Jews
esteemed so highly actually testified of the Lord Jesus, yet the Jews
had no idea. So the Lord brings this to their
attention in a most remarkable way. We read that account in
John 5, and the Lord said to the Pharisees, He says, Do not
think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that
accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if
ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? In verse 6 we read that Christ
has a son over his own house. in comparison to Moses, whose
house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end. Perseverance of the saints is
clearly taught in Holy Scripture, yet our perseverance is not the
condition by which God keeps us, rather it is God preserving
His people in faith. We hold fast, don't we? We hold
fast because He holds us. And now we have this exhortation
in verse 7 of God the Holy Spirit in line with just what's been
said in these previous chapters. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith today, if ye will hear His voice, pardon not your hearts
as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
when the text speaks of the provocations referring to that entire 40 years
in which they saw the works of God. Verse 9, When your fathers
tempted me, proved me, and saw my works 40 years, wherefore
I was grieved with that generation and said, They do always err
in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear
in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest. Harden not your hearts. This
issue of the heart is something I'd like to just consider for
just a few moments. I wonder if you've been in a
conversation and someone says, well, the heart of the matter
is this. When it comes to salvation, the
heart of the matter really is the heart of the matter. We're
not talking obviously about that organ that pumps blood around
the body, as wonderfully made as it is. The heart is the whole
man. The heart has to do with wisdom
and understanding. There are heaps of those verses
in Proverbs. One of them is, Wisdom resteth in the heart of
him that hath understanding, that that which is in the midst
of fools is made known. Another proverb has to do with
the heart and the affections. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. the heart, the
heart of the man, what I love and what I hate, what I desire
and what I am repulsed by, the whole man. And the heart is what
God looks at all the time. God's view of the man is the
heart. You might remember that story
when the Lord bid the Prophet Samuel to go to Bethlehem and
find one of the Lord's choosing to anoint him as king. One by
one the sons of Jesse were paraded in front of them and they chose
the ones most likely first. In 1 Samuel 16 he says, But the
Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the
height of his stature, because I have refused him For the Lord
seeth not a man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. They began with
the ones most likely, beginning with Eliab. And the Lord says,
I have refused him. And eventually David was brought
in. He was overlooked altogether and they had to go and fetch
him from the field. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for
this is he. Man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart. The Lord said of David, I have
found a man after mine own heart which shall fulfil my will. David, of course, the type of
the Lord Jesus Christ who was to come and fulfil all the Father's
will. So the Lord looketh on the heart.
Hebrews 4.13 says, Neither is there any creature that is not
manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto
the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." It's a sobering
thought to me when I step up here. The Lord is looking at
my heart right this very moment and He's looking at your heart
this very moment as well. We can fool each other, we often
do, but God cannot be fooled. He sees and reads our heart like
an open book. And that is our big problem.
Our heart is a problem. It is the seat of sin. Matthew
15 describes it in this way, for out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness,
slander. I trust you know it's true. You
need to understand that these things are not learnt. We can't
blame circumstances for the state of our heart. It's the default
state. When men are born, they are born
that way. That is the default state of
the human heart. We don't begin life as innocent
victims. The natural state of the human
heart is utterly and totally depraved. Men can and do change
their behaviour for the better, don't they? for the better of
themselves and for the benefit of those around them. A man can
be reformed in his thinking and change his ways, but a man can't
change his heart. A man that needs heart surgery
can't perform the surgery himself. He needs someone else to do it
for him. The operation must be performed by another. And it's
true in the spiritual sense of it too. The scriptures speak
of this problem of the heart all the time. Men test God in
all sorts of ways, don't they? Men test God in their words,
they test God in their deeds. But Psalm 78 tells us that men
test God in their hearts. We know that scripture of Jeremiah,
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Who can know it? God knows it
of course. He sees it all, but who else?
Who can know the depth of its wickedness? And that's the thing
we need to realise. We need to realise that in this
life we will never comprehend the true extent of the wickedness
of the heart. The Lord indeed, in His mercy,
does make sinners see their sin in the most profound ways. But even so, sin has dulled our
comprehension to the point that we constantly underestimate it. Our sin has deceived us. Sin itself deceives us. In verse
13 of our chapter this very thing is spoken of. In verse 12 it
says, Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort
one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." One of the things that
sin does is that it deceives. Sin deceives the sinner. We infinitely
underestimate our depravity. We are hopelessly biased towards
evil such that in jail we read that man drinks iniquity like
water. Just imagine how easily a cool
glass of water goes down when you are thirsty. You think nothing
of it. It just comes completely natural
to us. We have no idea of the degree
to which we are affected and we have no idea of the offence
of our sin before Holy God. The unregenerate man cannot see
at all, the exceeding evil of his own heart. His heart is darkened,
his eyes are darkened, his understanding is darkened, and so he fails
to see the truth, and the truth not just about himself, but about
God as well. And here is a savouring thought.
If that man is left to himself, he is lost. All God needs to
do is leave him alone. Yet our God is a merciful God. We read those wonderful verses
in Ephesians 2 which say it this way, But God, who is rich in
mercy, for His great love wherewith He has loved us, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved. So we come back to that point.
Men need a work of grace brought in the heart. Unless the Holy
Spirit does that work of grace in the heart of a man, the heart
of a man will remain unchanged. Unless the Spirit of God brings
conviction, unless the Lord condescends in grace and mercy and opens
the eyes of a man, Unless there is a change of heart performed
by the Lord, that deceitfulness of sin will prevail and the heart
will be hardened. Today you will hear His voice.
That's the question, is it? Has the Lord enabled us to hear
His voice? I'm reminded of that account
in John 8. The Lord Jesus has been declaring
the truth of Himself to the Pharisees. but with every declaration they
call him a liar. And he says to them in verse
43 of John chapter 8, Why do you not understand my speech,
even because ye cannot hear my word? He that is of God heareth
God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
ye are not of God. These Pharisees, they had an
inability, didn't they? It wasn't physical. They had
ears, they had eyes, but the Lord says, you hear them not.
And what is the reason why they do not hear? He says, you hear
them not because, this is the reason, because ye are not of
God. And John 10 says the same thing,
but ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep. He doesn't
say, you're not my sheep because you don't believe. He says, you
believe not because you are not of my sheep. There are many objections,
of course, to those texts and that interpretation. It's not
really an interpretation, is it? It is plain words of scripture.
And someone might say, well, I don't like that they're sheep
and they're goats. Well, you will if you're a sheep.
Lord's people. love to speak of their election. Do you love it? It is perhaps one of the most
plainest of the doctrines in the scriptures, isn't it? Do
you love the fact that God chooses whom he will without consulting
the creature, that he chooses without any influence from the
creature? Do you love that? Believers love that they were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. No child despises
their election. They love their election. So
beware of those who take no joy in elections. Know who they are.
People who love to speak about their decision for Christ, who
prefer to speak of their choice of Christ rather than his choice
of them. As simple as that. People say
their faith was that which made the difference. But friends,
faith in Christ does not make us His sheep. Faith in Christ
is the evidence that we are His sheep. And here is what we really
need to understand. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you believe that you were given to a good shepherd
as one of His sheep, you call it the foundation of the world.
And if you continue in willful, obstinate unbelief, if you harden
your heart, it is because God has left you to yourself, to
your own will, to your own choice and your own way. We are but
lumps of clay. I kind of like that quote by
a friend, Mr Spurgeon, who once said, the same sun which melts
wax hardens clay. and the same Gospel which melts
some persons to repentance, hardens others in their sins. Verse 15 of our chapter, chapter
3, he repeats the exhortation. These are the words of the Holy
Ghost. In verse 15, while it is said, today if you will hear
his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. For some
when they heard did provoke, Howbeit not all that came out
of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved for forty years?
Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell
in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see then they could not enter in because of unbelief."
Unbelief. Unbelief is that unpardonable
sin against the Holy Ghost. For all other sins there is a
sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ, but for unbelief no sacrifice
remains. Unbelief is the original sin
of our first parents, Adam and Eve in the garden, and in essence
unbelief is this, it is calling God a liar. These Hebrews knew
well the wanderings of the Israelites. The Israelites witnessed first
hand, didn't they, the great signs and wonders and the provision
of God. And the Holy Spirit often in
Scripture speaks about their deliverance from Pharaoh who
hardened his own heart, but also whose heart the Lord also hardened. And for this purpose, for the
purpose that I might show my power in thee and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth. It's the prerogative
of the Lord, isn't it, to harden whom He will. He has mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. So time and time again the Lord
provided everything for the ridiculous sinning, yet in unbelief time
and time again the Israelites doubted the ability and the provision
of the Lord. In the wilderness they murmured,
didn't they? They murmured for want of bread
and the Lord gave them manna. They murmured for want of water
and the Lord gave them water from that rock. And then soon
after they were given the law by Moses, what did they do? Immediately
they went and made and worshipped the golden idol. They continually
transgressed His law. And there was the problem for
them, wasn't it? They lived under that covenant of law, a covenant
that they could never keep. That account in Acts chapter
15 of the Council of Jerusalem, there was a disputation among
some of the Pharisees that had become believers and they were
arguing that the Gentiles, the Gentile believers, should still
be required to be circumcised according to the law And in verse
1 of chapter 15 of Acts, Peter rose up and said these words,
referring to them, that the Lord God had put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved even as they." Thanks to the Lord that unbearable yoke
of the law has been taken away. It was a fault, wasn't it? It
was a fault with that first covenant. Hebrews 8 verse 7 says, For if
that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second. But the fault was with the law.
The law is holy, just and good. The fault was with them, the
weakness of their flesh. In verse 8 of Hebrews, we are
finding fault with them. He said, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because
they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord." And this is it. I will put my laws into their
minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them
a God and they shall be to me a people." That is the promise
of our God, to do a heart work upon His people, to do a heart
work. He ploughs the hearts of his
people. Like the ploughing of a field,
there is a wounding in the ploughing process. And he sows that good
seed of Gospel. And that seed, when it's sown,
is sown on all types of ground, isn't it? Both hard and soft.
But because the Lord has ploughed beforehand, that seed takes root. and it continues to grow in grace
and knowledge of our Saviour. No doubt there are many times
our hearts seem so cold and indifferent, but the scriptures give us some
encouragement and it says, if our heart condemn us, God is
greater than our heart and knoweth all things. 1 John 3. God is greater than our heart
and knoweth all things. May the Lord, in his mercy, continue
to grant us a believing heart to enable us to look to our Saviour
for all our salvation. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for your grace and mercy towards us. We thank you that
the justice we deserved has found its satisfaction in another,
in the person of our Lord Jesus. We thank you for your dear and
precious Son who has done all things so well. It calls us,
Heavenly Father, to look to this one, the Apostle and High Priest
of our Confession. May we rejoice in Him as you
enabled us to do, with hearts that you yourself have written
upon, You have pledged Your love to us, Heavenly Father, to us
who by nature are unlovable. Thank You, Heavenly Father, that
You have blessed Your people with all spiritual blessings. I just
ask that You give us the faith to believe it. Grant us believing
hearts, Heavenly Father, and may we rejoice in Him who is
unsurpassed and unrivaled in all His offices, Prophet, Priest
and King. We thank you for our Lord Jesus
Christ and in His name we pray. Amen.