Lesson #13 [c3b]: Warning Against Unbelief Series

10/4/19

Tom Lowe

Lesson #13 [C3b]: Warning Against Unbelief (HEBREWS 3:12–4:2)

Scripture: Hebrews 3:12-4:2 (NIV)

Warning Against Unbelief (3:12-4:2)

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion” (Num. 12:7).

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

Introduction

The writer [The Holy Spirit is the author.] wants his friends to see that these verses besides being a commentary on Hebrews is also a commentary on the passage cited from Psalm 95.

As the commentary unfolds it becomes clear that the writer interpreted Psalm 95:7-11 in terms of the account of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea as recorded in Numbers 13-14. It is striking that in 3:1-6 there was a quotation from Numbers 12:7 (3:5a); now in 3:12-19 there are several allusions to Numbers 13-14. It seams evident that the writer had been concentrating his devotional reading on the book of Numbers at the time he prepared this sermon. He found in Numbers a record of the faithfulness of God to Israel in the wilderness.

Commentary 3:12-4:2

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

This warning is addressed to those having the same potential characteristics as the generation which perished in the wilderness without ever seeing the land of promise. They were unbelieving Jewish brethren who were in the company of the Holy brethren? “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest” (v. 3.1). They were given a warning to believe and be saved before it was too late. Paul suddenly got their attention when he accused them of having an “unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Everyone was born with such a heart?a sinful, unbelieving heart. In the case of these Hebrews, that evil manifested itself in disbelief of the gospel which moved them in the opposite way from God.

“See to it,” (take heed, that is, beware, look to it) denotes a strong demand and loud call for vigilance. For “unbelieving heart,” some have put froward heart, evil heart, wicked heart. It is the usual word used to express the quality of moral evil. Unbelief is itself a grievous departure from God. It was what we could call a great parent sin. Its presence indicates the root of all evil. Perfect unbelief is complete apostasy from the most high God. Jehovah, in the scripture is often called the living God, to distinguish Him from the gods of the heathen, who were dead men, or dead images, and can neither see, nor hear, nor help, nor save. The word rendered living is also rendered lively. If it is used this way, it indicates that God does not merely exist, but is the efficient agent, filling all things with His presence, making His power felt over all creatures, all events, all causes and all effects. This living God is Jesus Christ, who is the author of all life natural and spiritual (John 5: 19, 21, 25

The believers addressed in Hebrews needed to pay attention to the example of the disobedient Israelites. The hardships these Christians faced presented them with a moment of truth. Either they would trust God and endure in their confession of Jesus Christ or they would drift away from God. The longer they drifted, the harder their hearts would become toward the promises of God. The more their lives would exhibit evil and unbelief rather than devotion and faith.