Answering God's Call . . . Today Series

Answering God’s Call Today

Hebrews 3:1-4:13

SICC, 6/30/02 (Morning)

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Some are easier than others. Some are cut and dry. This is the kind of decision you might make at 8:30 in the evening after you have been running around all day long. You still have not had supper. No one has had time to cook. You are tired. It is time to eat. You say to one another, “Let’s go out.” Pretty easy decision. It is cut and dry.

Others aren’t so easy. “Should I get married?” That is a decision that a person might mull over for years. It is not so easy. There is one good thing about it though. Once you have made the decision. There is no need to worry about it any longer. You don’t have to wake up every day after you get married and wonder if you want to be married that day or not. You will always be married. Marriage is a one time decision.

Some decisions are complicated though. Not only are they hard, but they have to decided afresh every day. Your relationship to Jesus is one of those decisions. You don’t have to decide whether or not you are going to be saved every day. That decision is a one time matter. You make the decision to believe in Jesus. You make the commitment of repentance, and you show that you accept the forgiveness offered to you by Jesus by being baptized. When we do that you have made a decision that governs your whole life. You don’t have to be a Christian or not to be a Christian every day. If you believe and have been baptized, you are a Christian.

You do have to make a decision every day though. That decision is whether or not you are going to live like a believer or not.

That is really where the core message of the Book of Hebrews is directed. Our author is encouraging us to live every day in such a way that we reaffirm that decision we made how ever long ago to be a Christian. His point is this: once you have made that decision, there is nowhere else to turn. The only course is forward. The only way we can make progress is to do things that renew that initial commitment we made to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let me review the argument our author has made so far in the Book of Hebrews. In chapter one he tells us that Jesus is the last word from God the Father. He gives us 7 reasons why Jesus is God’s final answer. Chapter 2 tells us that Jesus’s message is one we must listen to and obey. If we don’t there is no hope for us. We can be sure of that because God has never messed around before. When he says something will happen, it happens. An example of his justice is seen in his dealings with the Israelites. He punishes those who disobey his commands. Not only that, but we know Jesus is worth listening to because of the extent to which he has gone to deliver his message. He has died for us. We must hear God’s word through Jesus.

Today we’ll look at chapter three and the first 13 verses of chapter 4 where, in great sermonic fashion, our author tells us that we need to make the decision to follow him today.

A long, long time ago, long before Jesus walked the streets of Nazareth, long before David slew the giant, there was a man named Moses. He was a good man, an honorable man. He obeyed God and spoke God’s word openly. He was a man who deserved respect. His people didn’t respect him though. If they had, they would not have disobeyed the words he spoke to them from the tablets God gave him on Mt. Sinai. Had they all acted in obedience and trust, they would have entered into the promised land 40 years earlier than they did. Instead, none of Moses’ generation entered into the rest God promised. They made a decision, a wrong decision. They decided that God was not worthy of their trust. They all died in the desert because they didn’t believe that God could lead them to their rest in the Promised Land.

God is still promising rest. We need rest. God will give us rest if we decide daily to put our trust in Him. There is not much rest here from any source other than God. There is plenty of anxiety. There is plenty of pain. There is plenty of heartache. There is not much rest. We need rest. I’m not talking about 8 or so hours of sleep. I am not talking about 15 minute power naps. I am not talking about vacations away from the pressures of life. I am talking about the rest that comes from God. Decide to seek God and find rest. You need it.