Would you turn back to Hebrews
chapter three, verse seven, today, if you will hear his voice. Verse 13, but exhort one another
daily while it's called today. lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. If I am in a false refuge, I want the Lord to drive me out
of that refuge, don't you? Now there are two false refuges
that men hide in. And I fear this. I fear this
for myself. I fear this for you. The first
false refuge is yesterday. And the second false refuge is
tomorrow. Now I want you to think about
that. The first false refuge is yesterday. And the next false refuge is
tomorrow. Yesterday. What I did yesterday. What I experienced yesterday. What I believed yesterday. Looking at what took place, how
I perceive myself to be yesterday as a ground of assurance today. Can you see how easy it would
be to fall into that? Faith is always in the now. Faced on for yesterday. Faith's
not for tomorrow. Faith is always present tense. The Lord said to the church at
Sardis, you have a name that you live. You're living in the
past. You're living off your past experience.
You're living off your past faith. You have a name. You have a reputation. from the past and you are dead,
he said to the church at Sardis. Now, living, finding refuge in
yesterday is no different than eating yesterday's manna. What did yesterday's manna do? It bred worms. And it stank. That's all it could do. You could
not live on yesterday's manna. Yesterday is a false refuge. It combats faith in Christ. Now the next false refuge is
tomorrow. Tomorrow I will fill in the blank. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Tomorrow it
will be different. Tomorrow I will, whatever it
might be. Now listen real carefully. Both
of those false refuges are works. What I did yesterday. what I
experienced yesterday, what I will do tomorrow. Those are false
refuges. When we hide in yesterday and
tomorrow in both of these instances, we are trusting our works. What we did, what we experienced,
what we believe, what we will do tomorrow, what we will experience
tomorrow. I think of what Paul said to
the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 6, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And look in verse seven of Hebrews
chapter three, Wherefore, and you'll notice
a parentheses. The parentheses were put there
by the translators. They weren't inspired. They were
put there by the translators to serve as a parenthetical statement. And when they said that they're
saying, they're not saying that this within the parentheses is
not inspired. It is, but they're saying you
can pull that out as an explanatory statement and come back to it.
Now you'll notice from verse seven to the end of verse 11
is in parentheses. It's a quotation from Psalm 95
verses seven through 11. And in the translator's mind,
you could pull that out. And leave it out and come back
to it. And we would read like this verse
seven. Wherefore pull the parentheses
out. Wherefore verse 12, wherefore
take heed brethren. He's speaking to brethren. Be
careful. 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. FOR WE ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST IF WE HOLD THE BEGINNING
OF OUR CONFIDENCE STEADFAST TO THE END. NOW, WHEREFORE, TAKE YE BRETHREN Now he's speaking
to believers. I need to hear this. You need
to hear this. Take heed brethren. And this is a, he gives the,
uh, quote from Psalm 95 verses seven through 11. Uh, and we're
going to come back to that in just a moment. Wherefore take
heed brethren, lest there be in any of you. an evil heart
of unbelief in departing from the living God. Now, we believe in the eternal
security of God's elect, don't we? If Christ died for you, if God
elected you, if God the Holy Spirit gave you a new heart,
you will Persevere. You will not fall away. We believe that, don't we? Somebody says, do you believe
in once saved, always saved? Well, it depends on who saved
you. If you saved yourself, now you'll fall. But if God saved
you, yes, we believe in once saved. always saved, the eternal
security of the believer. And what is the evidence of him
saving you? You know, people, particularly,
I guess, Baptists make a big issue of eternal security. You
look back at that experience you had, you had it, you're secure,
you can't fall away. And that's finding a false refuge
in the past. That's not what eternal security
is. It's not, well, I had an experience, I quote, got saved
and since salvation is eternal, I'm eternally secure. I don't
believe that's the teaching of eternal security at all. The
evidence of eternal security is perseverance all the way to
the end. Looking to Christ only all the
way to the end. Hold your finger there in Hebrews
three and turn to first John chapter two. Verse 19. They went out from us. They were
of us, they went out from us, but they were not of us, for
if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us. But they went out, that they
might be made manifest that they were not all of us. It is only those who persevere
all the way to the end, looking to Christ only, that God has
done something for. The evidence of salvation is
perseverance. And by perseverance, please hear
me, I do not mean continuing religious. By perseverance, I
mean you continue, look only to Christ. You never graduate
past that. You never grow past that. You
never make progress past that. If you have, you've left Christ.
Perseverance is looking only to Christ. Now you and I ought
to know enough about ourselves, our sinfulness, our weakness,
that we will fall away if he doesn't keep us. Do you know
that? We will fall away if he does
not keep us, and we should fear falling away. Look in Hebrews
chapter four, verses one and two. Now this is writing to brethren. Somebody says, you're trying
to rob me of my assurance. If I can, I want to. If I can
rob you of your assurance, it isn't much to your assurance,
is there? It's not real. But look what Hebrews chapter
four, verse one says. The writer says, let us therefore
fear. lest a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it. Fall short and never really rest,
for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard. Now, Satan does not know whether
or not I'm one of the elect. Right now, he doesn't know. He
doesn't know whether or not you're one of the elect. If he did,
he wouldn't bother with me. He wouldn't bother with you.
But let me say this. He will continually attempt to
corrupt me and you from the simplicity that's in Christ. 2 Corinthians
11. Listen, he's fine with me and
you being religious. He's fine with that. He just assumed we
say that way. He's fine with that, but what his attempt is,
is to corrupt us from the simplicity, the singularity of Christ. Look in verse two of second Corinthians
11 for I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy for I've espoused
you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ, but I fear. lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity, the singleness, the onlyness of Jesus Christ. I hear preachers quite Frequently
say, trust Christ and trust Christ and turn from your sins, trust
Christ and fill in the blank. I am all for never sinning again. So don't anyone misunderstand
me about this, but if you have a trust Christ and you've left
faith alone. Trust Christ alone. Now he says in verse back to our texts in
Hebrews chapter three, take heed brethren, lest there
be in any of you. And this says to me, take heed
Todd Nybert, lest there be in any Of me, an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily
while it's called today. Today. When is the time to look
to Christ only right now? Not tomorrow. Don't look at yesterday's
experience to find insurance for today. That's no different
than eating manna from yesterday. It'll breed worms and stink.
It's no good. Faith is always for the present. But exhort one another daily
while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened. Well, that's a scary proposition,
to be hardened. You know, all God's got to do
is leave me alone. He doesn't have to do anything
to me except leave me alone. And I will be hardened. I'll
become gospel hardened where I can't hear. I remember when
Lynn and I bought our first home. Uh, it was on bottling drive.
And there were trees in the back, and I never bothered to look
what was behind that house. And that night, a train came
through, and the house rumbled. And I thought, what have I done? I'll never sleep again. This
is horrible. Who's such an idiot that they
don't look to see if there's train tracks? So I was. But you
know it wasn't very long till when that train passed by, I
didn't hear it. Didn't hear it. Became hardened
to it. But exhort one another daily
while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. Let me give you some scriptures
with regard to this thing of deceit and deceitfulness. First Corinthians 1533 says,
be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. You make your friends and companions,
people of this world, they will always bring you down. They corrupt
good manners. Galatians 6, 7 says, Be not deceived,
God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption. Now, that's not simply talking
about engaging in sinful, fleshly activities. That's talking about
sowing to the fleshly religion. You'll love that reap corruption,
but he that soweth through the spirit, shall the spirit reap
life everlasting. John one, eight says, if we say
we have no sin, anybody know the rest of the verse, we deceive
ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We've lied to ourselves and we've
lost all credibility when we make a statement like that. Paul said, when a man thinketh
himself to be something, when he's nothing, he deceiveth himself. We read of the deceitfulness
of riches. Oh, they make promises, don't
they? We read of the deceitful lusts. We read of being spoiled
through philosophy and vain deceit. The deceitfulness of sin has
such a hardening effect. But exhort one another daily
while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin, for we are made partakers of Christ
if, if. And that is an evidential
if. It's not a conditional if, it's
an evidential if. If. Here's the evidence of being
a partaker of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence. What's the beginning of your
confidence? Where did it begin? Your confidence began when you
looked to Christ alone. You didn't have any experience
to trust. You didn't have any works to
trust. You didn't have anything, but Christ. Do you ever get past that? Somebody says, do you mean that
growth in grace is not important? Of course I don't mean that.
I want to grow in grace. I want to grow in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to bear the fruit of God,
the Holy Spirit. I want to manifest the Beatitudes.
I want to walk in a way that honors Jesus Christ. If I start looking to that as
evidence of my salvation, I've left Christ. We are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning. When I first looked to Christ,
I knew that he was all I had. I didn't have anything else.
When I first looked to Christ, I knew his righteousness was
the only righteousness I had. When I first looked to Christ,
I knew my only hope was found in the freeness of his grace
and him keeping me in preserve. It's all I had. Now here's the
evidence of being a partaker of Christ. You don't leave there. You stay there all the way to
the end. The beginning of my confidence,
Christ alone. Plus nothing. Minus nothing. Christ alone. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else. Christ
alone. He's all God is, he's all God
requires, he's all I have, he's all I want, he's all I need. That is to be held steadfast
all the way to the end and Satan's great attempt will be to move
us and cause us to hide in the false refuge of yesterday and
tomorrow. Rather than looking to Christ
alone. Now let's go back to this parenthetical statement. As I
said, this was not inspired. The writers, uh, thought that
this is an explanatory statement and it's a quotation from Psalm
95 verses seven through 11. He says, as the Holy ghost sayeth
verse seven, here's the explanation of this. as the Holy Ghost saith. And I love beginning right there,
don't you? The Word of God. The Holy Ghost penned this. This
is not some preacher's opinion. This is not some denominational
distinctive. This is what the Holy Spirit
says. For the Holy Ghost saith today if you will hear his voice. Now the best way I know to understand
today It's the manna. One of these glorious things
in the Bible. When they were brought into the
promised land, you know how they were fed? Manna came down from
heaven. Every day in the morning. And
by noon, it would melt away. You had to go out and get it.
If you didn't go out and get it, you wouldn't eat. You had
to go out and get it. But by noon, it would melt away. And
there's something special about this manna. If you save some
for tomorrow, you know what it would do? By
the time you got to it, it would breed worms and stink. Can you
imagine putting that stuff in your mouth and all of a sudden
worms are in your mouth and the smell until you spit it out?
It wouldn't do you any good, would it? And if you wanted yesterday's
manna, same thing. Manna was to be eaten that day. And if you look at that manna
to help you tomorrow, it won't help. You look right now, today,
if you will hear his voice. Yesterday's manna is no good.
Yesterday's faith isn't doing me any good. Faith is always
in the present for right now. Right now, I look to Christ alone. today if you will hear his voice."
Hearing his voice in the preaching of the gospel. Oh, if my voice
is the only voice we hear, we're in trouble, aren't we? The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God They
that hear shall live. Today, if you will hear his voice,
he speaks by creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God. God speaks by the created universe. He speaks by his word. That's what the Holy Spirit says.
The word from the word that reveals the word. I love the simplicity
of that. The word, the gospel message from the written word
that reveals the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word
of God. He speaks from his word. The
word that is described as quick and powerful and sharper than
any two edged sword. 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 me, proved me, and saw
my works 40 years." Now, what this is a reference to is what
took place in Numbers chapter 13 and verse 14. Now, they had
only been out of Egypt for a short time, and they were getting ready
to enter the promised land. This is before the 40 years of
wandering. They were getting ready to enter
into the promised land, so they come up with a plan. Instead
of just going in and taking them, because God said it's yours,
they send some spies. Let's check this out. And their
spies were there for 40 days. And they come back with good
news. The land is indeed, just as God
said, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they brought back
a cluster of grapes on a staff that the two men carried to show
just how much food was there. Everything was there, but there's
a problem. There are giants in the land. There are giants in
the land. And we're no match for them.
We cannot fight them while we were like grasshoppers before
them. We can't win. And the children
of Israel started murmuring, why have you brought us out here
to kill us in the wilderness? Let's make a captain and go back
to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb said, we can
take him if the Lord's with us and he is. They're meat for us,
they're bread for us. We don't have anything to worry
about. You know what the people said? Stone him, stone him, kill
him. And that's when the Lord said,
how long will you provoke me? They were looking at their own
ability, their own strength, their own ability to fight off
the giants, to bring them in. And they said, we can't do this.
And that's when the Lord said, how long will the people provoke
me? And they said, you brought us out here to die in the wilderness. Our children are going to die.
They're going to be prey. He said, here's what's going
to happen. This is the Lord's word. He said, you were in there
40 days for 40 years. You're gonna wander in the wilderness
a year for each day. And those children that you said,
they're gonna be prey. They're gonna die. They're all
gonna make it into the promised land. Every one of them. But
none of you will. Your carcass are gonna die in
the wilderness. Supposedly at least a couple
of million people left Israel and all the ones under 20 made
it in. All the ones over 20 did not
make it in. They died in the wilderness during
that 40 year period. There's only two people over
20 that made it in. Joshua, the Savior. and Caleb, the faithful dog. That's who made it in, the mighty
savior and the faithful dog. Now look what he says. Harden
not your hearts, verse eight, as in the provocation in the
day of temptation in the wilderness, you would do well to read numbers
13 and 14 this week. 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, always err,
continually, perpetually, they always err in their hearts. They
have not known my ways. You don't care just saying that
song. where the Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. They didn't know that. And it wasn't just lack of information,
they didn't love that. Do you? He is the way of righteousness. His righteousness is the only
righteousness there is. He's the way of life. His life
is the only life there is. He's the way. You don't have
to be confused. You're not presented a fork in
the road. There's only one way. You don't have to get confused
about this. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. The only way you'll get into
the Father's presence is if you're in me and I bring you there.
Do you love that? Do you love Him being the straight
gate and the narrow way? He's so narrow that if you bring
anything other than His righteousness, you can't fit through the gate. They've not known. They've not
loved my way, my ways. Wherefore I was grieved with
that generation and said, they do always air in their heart.
They've not known my way. So verse 11, I swear in my wrath,
they shall not enter into my rest. Look in chapter four. There remaineth, verse nine, there remaineth therefore a rest,
literally a Sabbath of rest. Now you know the story of the
Sabbath. God created the heavens and the
earth in six days. And on the seventh day, the scripture
says he rested. You and I both know he didn't
rest because he was tired. He rested because the work was
what? Finished. It was very good. And so the Lord ended it because
the work was finished. He rested because there was nothing
left to do. His rest was in response to his
finished work. In John chapter 19, verse 30, This is the sixth of the seven
sayings of the Lord from the cross. The seventh saying is,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit and gave up the ghost.
But the sixth statement is this. It is finished. It's finished. There's nothing
you or I can add to that. It's finished. We rest in the
finished work of Christ. That means there's nothing for
me or you to do. It is finished. Aren't you glad? The Lord said
in John chapter 17, verse four, I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work. Thou gavest me to do. In Matthew chapter one, verse
21, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. When he said it is finished,
I was saved from my sins. All of them. And there's, I'm
complete in Christ. That's what it is to rest in
Christ. I'm complete in Christ. I don't need anything else. In
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete. Complete. There's nothing you
need to do to enhance this. There's nothing you need to do
to make it better. You are complete in Him. In light of that, verse 12. Hebrews
3, verse 12. In light of that, take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief. Now, you have unbelief in you.
That's just a fact. Remember when that man said in
Mark chapter 9, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. You have unbelief in you, and
you're a liar if you deny that. You have unbelief in you right
now. But if you're one of God's elect, you also have faith. You
believe. You believe in that unbelief. You know where it'll take you
if the Lord doesn't preserve you. And that's why he 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's called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin, for we are made partakers of Christ. That is a glorious thought, isn't
it? We're made partakers of Christ.
If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. In Colossians chapter two, verse
six. As a matter of fact, I want you to look at this. So hold
your finger there in Hebrews three and turn to Colossians chapter
two. Verse six, as you therefore received
Christ Jesus, the Lord, how'd you receive him? empty-handed. Nothing in my hands
I bring. Don't try to bring something
to God. Don't try to make a payment to Him. Nothing in my hands I
bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. That's how I received Him. As
you receive Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him. The best thing you can do is
nothing. Look to Christ only right now
and it'll be no different tomorrow. You look to Christ right now
as all you have, all you want, all you need, and you rest in a finished work. We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence, steadfast to the
end. Now, I said this in the last
week or two, in the last week or two, I don't remember which
message it was, but I said this, I want to die looking to Christ
only. That's the only way I want to
die, looking to Christ only. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in the high and
holy name of your son that you would deliver us from the false
refuges of yesterday and tomorrow and cause us to look to thy son
only even now. In his blessed name we pray.
Amen.