Now, for pretty much as long
as I can remember, I've heard about the book of Hebrews, that
this epistle hedges us about. On one side, we're hedged with
the precious promises of God to comfort us lest we despair. On the other, we're hedged with
the severe warnings from God's Word lest we presume. And this
morning, we have a strong warning in the lesson against unbelief.
a wicked, evil heart of unbelief. Our last lesson ended in verse
6 with the evidence that we are in the household of God is if
we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto
the end. Now verse 7, wherefore, as the
Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness, when your fathers tempted proved me and saw my
works forty years. When 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
into my rest." Now this is a direct quote from Psalm 95 verses 7-11. You can read that later this
afternoon if you'd like. It's a direct quote. And what
this is talking about is those Israelites that Moses led out
of Egypt. led them to the entrance to the
promised land. That group professed outwardly,
they professed to be God's people. But when you watch their actions,
you don't have to watch long to realize over the course of
time, it became evident that they were unbelievers. They showed
they did not believe God. They showed that in their rebellion
and their murmuring against Him. And the warning to us is not
to be like them. Don't follow their example and
wind up having the same end that they did. They would not hear
the voice of God. If they heard it, they wouldn't
believe it. God spoke to them through His
servant Moses, and they wouldn't hear. Well, today, God speaks
to us by His Son. If you turn back a page to Hebrews
1, that's what we read when we very first began our study in
Hebrews. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets. That's how he spoke to them by his prophet Moses.
God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. At the Mount
of Transfiguration, the Father spoke from heaven. He said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. That's how God speaks to us today
through his Son. And God's Word tells us to hear
Him. Today. Today, this morning, is
the day of salvation. We're not promised tomorrow.
So today, hear the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel. In God's
Word, we hear His voice. And it's a voice today of reconciliation. Today, this is the voice of God's
love in His Son. It's a day of grace, unspeakable
grace for sinners that's found in Christ. It's the voice of
peace with God. It's the voice of forgiveness
of sins. Now hear, and don't just hear it and go home and
eat and watch the football game. Believe it. Lay hold on it. Trust in it. Rest in His Son. Hear the gospel. and believe
it today. Believe the Gospel that tells
us we're sinners. Sinners through and through,
totally depraved, incapable of anything but sin. Now believe
that. That's what God's Word says.
But don't stop there. Believe the Gospel that says
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. That's me. I'm a sinner. Believe that. Rest
in that. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. Now, hang on to that and believe
it. Believe the Gospel that says
we're diseased with sin. Covered from the sole of our
foot to the top of our head with nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. Believe that. That's the truth
of the Gospel. But I tell you, believe that
by His stripes we're healed. We don't have to heal ourselves.
It's in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now believe that and
put that faith into practice every day. Because the children
of Israel, they heard, but they didn't believe. In the wilderness,
they wouldn't believe and they hardened their heart against
God. Now I know we're born with a
heart that's hard. The human heart that we're born
with is so hard you cannot make an impression on it. You can't
mold it. You can't change it. It's dead. It's hard. But yet
we read in Scripture that a person can harden their own heart through
constant rejecting of the truth, rejecting of the light of the
gospel that they're given. Look over in Exodus chapter 8.
We see an example of this. Pharaoh hardening his heart by
repeatedly rejecting the warnings of God. In Exodus chapter 8 verse 28, And Pharaoh said, told Moses,
I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God
in the wilderness. Only you should not go very far
away. Entreat for me. He's asking Moses, entreat God
for me. And Moses said, behold, I will
go out from thee and I will entreat the Lord. that the swarms of
flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his
people tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully
any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and he entreated the Lord. And
the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and he removed
the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his
people. There remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart. At this time also, neither would
he let the people go. He ignored the plague. He ignored
God's mercy in taking the plague away and hardened his heart and
would not bow to God. So a man can harden his own heart
through rejecting the warnings, the message of the gospel. But
do you know in judgment, God can harden hearts too. He sure
can. You won't hear. You refuse to
hear. And after a while, you can't hear because God's hardened
the heart. Look over in Exodus chapter 10.
In verse 16. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron in haste, and he said, Oh, I've sinned against the Lord
your God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive. Forgive
me, I pray thee, my sin only this once and entreat the Lord
your God. that he may take away from me
this death only." And he went out from Pharaoh, Moses did,
and he entreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty
strong west wind which drove away the locusts and cast them
into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust
on all the coast of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go. And
what the apostle is warning us here is we need to be aware.
Don't harden your heart. Don't reject the gospel. One
of the worst things I can imagine is being gospel hardened. When
we hear the gospel, oh, the sweet good news of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what an awful day when we
become gospel hardened where the amazing, unspeakable grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't break our heart. Beware now of
being gospel hardened. The children of Israel refused
to believe and Paul tells us they tempted God. They tried
God's patience. You go back and read over their
history from the time they left Egypt. They complained more than
is imaginable. Just constant complaining. Here
they were in Egypt in slavery. They cried for the Lord to deliver
them. The Lord sent us a deliverer. The Lord sent them a deliverer.
Delivered them from Egypt and they complained about the circumstances.
Well, how awful is that? They cried for food. The Lord
sent a manna. They complained about the manna.
We hate it. They tried the Lord's longsuffering. The Lord is longsuffering. But they wouldn't trust Him to
do what He said He'd do. They complained. They said, Here
you brought us out of the land of Egypt. Why? Just to die in
the wilderness. It would have been better for
us to stay back in Egypt. Even after spending 40 years
in the wilderness, seeing how the Lord provided, how He provided
for their every need, protected them, they still complained.
To the bitter end, they complained. They saw all the mighty acts
of God in bringing them out of Egypt. They saw all the plagues.
They saw the Red Sea part and them go through on dry land.
They turned around and saw Pharaoh and his host destroyed in that
same Red Sea. But they didn't know God. They
saw His acts, but they didn't see His ways. They didn't know
Him. And here's the problem in verse 10. The reason that they
erred like that is they erred in their heart. Their heart was
wrong. It never was right. Salvation. is a heart work. It's a work
of God Almighty. It's a work God has to do to
give us a new heart. And heart errors always produce
errors in lips and errors in lives and conduct. Always. If
the heart's wrong, the outside's always going to be wrong. If
the heart's wrong, the understanding's always going to be wrong. Look
back in Deuteronomy chapter 29. Deuteronomy 29, verse 2, And Moses called unto all Israel,
and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before
your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his
servants, and unto all his land, the great temptations which thine
eyes have seen, the signs and those great miracles. have not given you in heart to
perceive, eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day. And I
have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes are
not waxen old upon you, and thy shoes not waxen old upon thy
foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither
have ye drunk wine or strong drink, that ye might know that
I am the Lord your God." But they didn't know. Why? Because
the Lord didn't give them a heart. Didn't give my eyes to see and
ears that would hear and understand. And we have to be given a new
heart. That's what salvation is. You've
got to be given a new heart to believe. You've got to be given
eyes to see. You can't see without eyes. You can't hear without
new ears. And the Lord was grieved with
them. He was wearied with them, with their unbelief. He was angered.
by their unbelief, and you can understand why. That's a righteous
anger, being angry at their unbelief. So God swore they would not enter
into the rest He provided for His people that He promised them
in the Promised Land. Look back at Numbers chapter
14. Here I told you that if the heart's
dead, Heirs in the heart produce heirs in the lips. Now look at
this. This is a stark example of that
in Numbers 14, verse 2. And all the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation
said unto them, now listen to this, would God that we had died
in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this wilderness,
And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land?" Here he's
brought them to the doorstep of the promised land, the land
that flows with milk and honey. And look what they said, "'Lord,
bring us here to fall by the sword, that our wives and our
children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to
return unto Egypt?' And they said one to another, "'Let us
make a captain, and let us return unto Egypt.'" That's the voice
of unbelief. That's the errors of lip that
produce when the heart is aired. But now look down at verse six. Here's the voice of faith. And
Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, were of
them which searched the land. They rent their clothes, and
they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying,
The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding
good land. If the Lord delight in us, then
he will bring us into this land to give it us. A land which floweth
with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the
Lord. Neither fear ye the people of the land. For they are bred
for us. Their defense is departed from
them. And the Lord is with us. So fear them not." Now that's
the voice of faith. That's the voice that believes
God. But the people wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen.
They wouldn't hear because the Lord hadn't given them an ear
that would hear. And they didn't believe they could conquer the
people that dwelled in that land. They said, oh, they're giants.
We can't conquer them. Well, look over at verse 22. This is God speaking. Because
all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which
I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, have tempted me now these ten
times, and have not hearkened to my voice, surely they shall
not see the land which I swear unto their fathers. Neither shall
any of them that provoked me see it. But my servant Caleb,
because he hath another spirit with him, and hath followed me
fully, him will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and
his seed shall possess it. Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites
dwelt in the valley. Tomorrow turn to you and get
you into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. And the Lord
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear
with this evil congregation which murmur against I have heard the
murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against
me, saying to them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as
he has spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses
shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of
you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old
and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall
not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell
therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son
of Nun. But your little ones, see even
in judgment God has mercy reserved. But your little ones, which ye
said shall be a prey, them will I bring in. And they shall know
the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcasses
shall fall in this wilderness." Now that's the judgment. That's
the end that comes on unbelief. And that's what Paul back over
in Hebrews chapter 3 is warning us against. Don't follow this
example now, because that always winds up at the same end. So
he tells us in verse 12, Take heed, brethren, lest there be
in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the
living God. Learn the lesson of the children
of Israel. Don't follow their example. And
be on guard against enemies without and enemies within. That heart
that we're born with is an enemy that's within. And I don't want
to be fooled, and you don't either, in this matter of faith, in this
matter of belief. Be on guard that we are not simply
outward professors of religion, that we don't just profess to
be believers, but we really don't believe God. Let's not profess
to be God's children, but live as rebels. Israel's fall is a
warning to us. And we have a much more clear
revelation of the gospel. Much more clear revelation of
salvation in Christ than they did. Was bad enough to hold Moses
in contempt? How much worse to hold God's
Son in contempt in the Gospel of God's Son. So be on guard
against this evil heart of unbelief. Because this heart of unbelief
always causes us to depart from God. Unbelief was the first sin
of man. Adam fell because he did not
believe God. And unbelief is the mother sin
of every other sin. Unbelief. Unbelief makes God's
Word of no value to us. The Word that you hold in your
lap is of no value to you unless you believe in it. We've got
to believe the record that God's given. Unbelief makes us not
to depend on Christ, but to depend on something else or someone
else. Unbelief makes us displeasing to God. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Unbelief shuts us off forever
from the presence of Christ. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's what the Lord said. Unbelief
shuts us off from every blessing that there is. So take heed.
Israel had every advantage, but it didn't do them any good. Because
they didn't believe. There's no faith. In verse 13,
Paul says, But exhort one another daily while it's called today,
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Be
on guard against unbelief and exhort one another. And that
word exhort is encourage. Encourage one another. Well,
when are we going to encourage one another? Well, Sundays and
Wednesdays, let's get together and we'll encourage one another.
It's not what the Word says. It's daily while it's called
today. Today's the day of salvation.
I don't just eat twice in a week. Food, physical food. We need
cheap food, the bread, every day. We encourage one another
by worshiping together. This is an important part of
encouraging one another. Look over a few pages in Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10 verse 24, Now let
us consider one another to provoke, to encourage unto love and to
good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so
much the more as you see the day approaching. So encourage
one another by worshiping, praying together. Encourage one another,
encourage yourself by reading the word daily. Encourage one
another by talking about these things. And you know, I'm not
saying don't ever talk about anything else. You try to do
that, you just become holier than thou and difficult to be
around. This needs to be part of our
daily conversation. The things of Christ. Warning
one another when we see signs of indifference in each other.
And you wonder, What do I say? What things do we talk about
to encourage one another? Scripture gives us the answer.
Look back in 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another. And that word comforts, exhorts,
encourages one another with these words. The Lord is coming back. Encourage one another with these
words. Look across the page in chapter 5, verse 6. Therefore,
let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken
are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an
helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live
together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as you do." That's how we
encourage and exhort one another. And we've got to be on the watch
now, because sin is so deceitful. Oh, it's deceitful. Sin will
harden and bring death before we even know it. It's so deceitful. And I tell our young people,
now you watch now. Sin is deceitful. The world that
you live in and the sin that's in it appeals to this flesh. And I know it does now. I'm not telling you it's not
going to appeal to you. Sin appeals to this flesh we're
born with because that's what this flesh is, is sin. And I
know it looks appealing to the outward man. But I promise you
it brings nothing but eternal condemnation. Sin will deceive
you. It promises good things. That
all it ever brings you is misery. Sin draws us in by looking so
good. But all it brings is sorrow and
death. Holy things aren't deceitful. God's Word's not deceitful. God
doesn't hide things from you. That's not the way the gospel
is. But sin... You don't have to deceive somebody
and believe in the gospel. Just tell them the truth. But
sin's deceitful. So encourage one another so we're
not easily deceived by the sin that's in us and around us. Verse
14, Paul says, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold
the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Now the
evidence that we have true faith is that it does remain steadfast
to the end. We're made partakers, and that
word is sharers. We're made partakers, sharers.
of Christ through faith. The Lord Jesus Christ shares
everything He is and everything He's done for us. He makes us
partakers of it and it comes to us through faith. We're made
partakers of His Spirit dwelling in us. We're made partakers of
a new nature, the nature of Christ, the divine nature. We're made
partakers of His love. We're made partakers of His righteousness.
Both imputed and imparted, we're made partakers of that righteousness
through faith, by believing Him. We partake of all the benefits
of the sacrifice of Christ, the blood applied through faith in
Him. This vital union of Christ we
have through faith. We're made partakers of that
by His grace, through faith that He gives. And this kind of faith,
saving faith, can't be temporary. It'll last to the end. And it's
not second-hand faith. It's not the faith of your parents
or your husband or your wife. It's faith that God gives His
people. Every one of us. Now, false faith,
it's not going to last. That kind of faith is not saving
faith. My Lord talked to that big group that was with Him.
And they left. They said, this is a hard thing.
You can hear it. They left. They professed to
be disciples. They professed to follow Him,
but they didn't. That's not saving faith. But
you know what saving faith is? The Lord turned to the twelve.
He said, will you go away? I'm not holding you here by force.
Will you go away? Will you also go away? And Peter
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life. We believe and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's saving
faith. That's faith that will last.
And Peter held that confidence steadfast to the end. Even if
it meant being crucified upside down, he held it steadfast to
the end. And saving faith, true faith,
never goes any further than Peter's confession right there. We believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ. You can't move on to
anything other than Him because there's nothing better. So, verse
15, Paul says, while it said today, if you'll hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, is in the provocation. He repeats what
he said earlier. Hear God's Son, believe today. Not tomorrow, but today. Don't
provoke God with your unbelief anymore. God is long-suffering,
but even God's long-suffering reaches an end. We read there
where he said, the children of Israel have tempted me these
ten times. Well, nine times the Lord's long-suffering, but the
tenth brought judgment. Even God's long-suffering in
some days, so don't provoke Him today. Verse 16, For some, when
they had heard, did provoke, albeit not all that came out
of Egypt by Moses. Most of Israel was rebellious
and would not hear God. They did provoke God with their
unbelief. They heard the voices. They heard
the thundering from the mountains. They saw the miracles. They heard
the law read, but they didn't know God. It didn't do them any
good because hearing that was not mixed with faith. It was
not mixed with belief. And you hear the gospel. With
outward ears, you hear the gospel because that's as far as my voice
can go. That's as far as the pastor's voice can go is to hear.
And that won't do us any good unless it's mixed with faith.
We need to beg God for faith. But you know, Not everyone refused
to hear. Some did, didn't they? Some heard. Some believed. Why did they? Why did Joshua and Caleb believe?
God was merciful. God was gracious. He gave them
a heart that would believe. God always has a remnant. He
always has a remnant who believe and be obedient to his voice.
He wasn't grieved with everyone, was he? Because he says in verse
17, but with whom was he grieved those 40 years? Was it not with
them that his sin, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? Who is
those that the Lord has grieved with? Those who sin. Well, what
sins is he talking about? The sin of unbelief. That's the sin he's talking about,
unbelief. Well, what was the end of those
that refused to believe? Scripture says their carcasses
fell in the wilderness. Now we're told somewhere between
3 and 6 million people came out of the land of Egypt. If they
numbered 3 million adults over the age of 20, I did the math
on this, every one of them died in the wilderness. That meant
on average, 205 people died every day. Can't print all those in
the obituary. 205 per day, every day for 40
years. They didn't take the time to
bury all those people. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness. And that trail that the children
of Israel blazed through the wilderness as they followed that
cloudy pillar left a trail of carcasses that's a monument to
unbelief. That march through the wilderness
was a funeral procession because of unbelief. Verse 18, to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but them
that believe not. God swore that those who would
not believe would not enter into His rest. And that's such a solemn
warning to us now. We're not just talking about
those people all those thousands of years ago. What about us? We have a much more clear revelation
of who Christ is, salvation in Him, than they did. Look back
at Hebrews chapter 2, just back a page there. Therefore, we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard.
lest at any time we should let them slip. If the word spoken
by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
preceded just recompense or reward, how shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Now, I'm not trying to scare
anyone. Like I said a minute ago, you can't scare somebody
into believing. You can't scare them into the kingdom of God.
Here's what I'm telling us, though. This is a warning. Let's pray
for faith. Pray that God will give faith.
That's what Charlie said last Sunday. Pray, Lord, bid me come. Lord, give me faith. And be thankful
for the faith that God's given you. If you believe God, that's
a gift of God. Give thanks. Give thanks. In
verse 19, so we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief. The one sin that shut those Israelites out of the promised
land was unbelieved. Joshua and Caleb were sinners.
They're sinners just like everybody else. Kind of the same cloth
you and me are. Why didn't they? Why did they enter in? They believed
God, and it was counted unto them for righteousness, just
like their father Abraham. That's why the one sin that will
shut men out of heaven, out of the presence of Christ eternally,
is unbelief. And that's the warning in Scripture.
And it is my prayer that God would grant us faith to believe
and to rest entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into that
rest. I hope that's been a blessing.