"THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS" A Warning From The Wilderness (3:7-19) INTRODUCTION 1. In the previous study, we considered "The Supremacy Of Jesus Over Moses"... a. Jesus was superior, not in faithfulness, but in His person and service b. Moses was a servant in the house of God c. Jesus, however, is the builder of the house, and serves as the Son over the house! 2. In He 3:6, the writer to the Hebrews affirms that "we" are the house of Christ... a. Referring to the church, which is the house of God - 1 Tim 3:15 b. For in Christ, we are now "members of the household of God", and together with the faithful saints of old (including Moses) we are now "fellow-citizens" in the commonwealth of Israel! - cf. Ep 2: 11-22 3. Yet our status as the "house" is conditional! a. "whose house we are IF we hold fast...." - He 3:6 b. We must hold fast "the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." 4. The need for steadfastness explains the exhortations in this epistle... a. We saw the first exhortation in He 2:1-4, regarding the danger of drifting b. Now we come to the second exhortation, regarding the danger of departing from the living God - He 3:7-19 [To warn against the danger of departing, the writer appeals to...] I. THE EXAMPLE OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS (7-11) A. ISRAEL HARDENED THEIR HEARTS... 1. The quotation in verses 7-11 is from Ps 95:7-11 a. In which the Holy Spirit warned Israel not to be like the fathers in the wilderness b. A warning which the Hebrew writer found just as necessary in his day 2. In the wilderness, the Israelites had... a. Hardened their hearts in rebelling against God b. Tested (tried) God with their lack of faith 3. This they did many times during the forty years of wandering, but especially... a. At the beginning, with the incident at Massah ("tempted") and Meribah ("contention") - cf. Ex 17:1-7 b. Toward the end, with the incident at Kadesh - Nu 27:14; cf. 20:1-13 B. THEREFORE THEY DID NOT ENTER GOD'S REST... 1. God became angry with that generation in the wilderness for their persistent rebellion - e.g., Ps 106:13-33 2. So God swore that they would not enter His rest - cf. Nu 14: 22-24,26-35 a. Of those over the age of 20 when they departed from Egypt, only Caleb and Joshua entered the promised land b. The rest (of which there were 603,548 men) died in the wilderness! [Because of hardened hearts Israel departed from God which led to rebellion. In turn, they fell short of the Canaan rest that had been promised them. With "A Warning From The Wilderness" fresh on their minds, the writer then exhorts his brethren by warning them of...] II. THE DANGER OF DEPARTING (12-14) A. THERE IS A NEED TO "BEWARE"... 1. A believer can develop "an evil heart of unbelief" a. Remember that the recipients of this epistle were "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" - He 3:1 b. The warning against developing a heart of unbelief presumes a real possibility c. Thus a "believer" can become an "unbeliever"! 2. Unbelief is produced as one is "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" a. Sin is deceitful... 1) Promising pleasure, power, and prestige 2) In the short term that may be true, but such things are "passing" (temporary) - e.g., He 11:25; 1Jn 2:17 b. Because of its deceitfulness, it is easy to become "hardened" 1) I.e., to be stubborn and not heed the Word of God 2) It happened to Israel, and it can happen to us! 3. The consequence of unbelief is "departing from the living God" a. As one grows in unbelief, so they drift away from God b. While a believer remains in fellowship with God, an unbeliever can only depart further and further away from God! B. THE SOLUTION IS TO "EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY"... 1. This is how a believer avoids becoming an unbeliever! 2. Through mutual edification on a daily basis, we can prevent the "hardening" that comes from sin's deceitfulness 3. An important part of such exhortation is our assembling together - cf. He 10:24-25 a. Which should certainly involve our assemblies on the first day of the week - e.g., Ac 20:7 b. But with a need for "daily exhortation", should we be content to limit our assembling to one service a week? c. If we have the opportunity to assemble more often, shouldn't we? 4. Even if it is only by phone, we should seek to "exhort one another daily"! C. OUR PARTICIPATION IN CHRIST IS CONDITIONAL... 1. Once again we see the conditional nature of our participation with Christ a. We are the house of Christ "...IF we hold the fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." - He 3:6 b. We have become partakers of Christ "...IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end," - He 3: 14 2. What about the security of the believer? a. The "believer" does indeed enjoy the assurance of his salvation b. But we have seen that a "believer" can develop "an evil heart of unbelief"; i.e., become an "unbeliever" - He 3:12 c. When a "believer" becomes an "unbeliever", what promises of security and salvation there may be to the believer are no longer applicable! -- Thus the many warnings to remain faithful, including that of our Lord's - Re 2:10 [The danger of departing from God is so great, that the writer of Hebrews returns to "A Warning From The Wilderness"...] III. THE EXAMPLE OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS REVISITED (15-19) A. ANOTHER APPEAL IS MADE... 1. Quoting again from Ps 95:7-8 2. The Hebrew writer applies the quotation to Christians a. They need to "hear His (God's) voice" - remember He 1:1-2; 2:1-4? b. That is, hear with a desire to hearken, for they too can easily harden their hearts "as in the rebellion" B. THE NEED FOR CHRISTIANS TO BELIEVE, AND OBEY... 1. In the case of the Israelites, who was it that rebelled? a. All those who came out of Egypt (save Joshua and Caleb)! b. Though led by Moses, they still rebelled! -- We may have been delivered by Christ from the bondage of sin, but rebellion is still possible! 2. In the case of the Israelites, with whom was God angry forty years? a. Those who sinned b. And who died in the wilderness as a result of their lack of faith -- If we become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, shall we escape judgment? 3. In the case of the Israelites, who did God not allow in the promised land? a. Those who did not obey! b. Those who developed unbelief! -- Shall we enter our promised rest if we disobey through unbelief? CONCLUSION 1. When the apostle Paul related some of the same experiences of Israel in the wilderness, he wrote: "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." - 1Co 10:11 2. It is for our own admonition that we have such warnings as that found in our text... a. For the deceitfulness of sin is just as strong today b. For the hardening of one's heart is just as dangerous today c. For departing from God is just as possible today -- Thus the potential for falling short of our promised rest is just as much a reality for us as it proved to be for the Israelites in the wilderness! 3. That is why we need to "exhort one another daily"... a. To encourage one another to remain strong in faith - He 3:19 b. To encourage one another to remain strong in obedience - He 3:18 -- Have you exhorted your brother or sister lately? Finally, did you notice how "faith" and "obedience" were used interchangeably in these last two verses? These terms are not opposed to one another, for in fact Paul himself wrote about "obedience to the faith" (Ro 1:5; 16:26). Faith is dead unless there is obedience (Jm 2:17,26), and so those who truly believe will obey. That is why Jesus can be described as "the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (He 5:9). Have you obeyed Jesus by obeying His gospel? - cf. Ro 10:16; 2Th 1:7-8; 1Pe 4:17Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011
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