The Paths of the Heart
The Path of a Hard Heart
Characteristics:
Always Going Astray
Being Spiritually Ignorant
Being an Unbeliever in Christ
The Path of a Humble Heart
Characteristics:
Believer in Christ
Growing in Spiritual Maturity
Persevering in the Faith
Gives and Receives Encouragement
Intro
We are continuing our series in Hebrews today about why Christianity is a Superior way of Life.
In the first 2 chapters we have seen the Author tell us that Christianity is Superior because Jesus is Superior
He is a Superior Messenger
He is Superior to the Prophets
He is Superior to the Angels
He is Superior because He is God
He is Superior because He became Man
Now, the author starts naming names.
We are going to jump right in this morning to Hebrews 3 so go ahead and turn there.
Slide
We will be discussing the whole chapter, but I want to start with the first
Hebrews 3:1-6
1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Now we read these verses from our vantage point and don’t think this is any big deal.
But to the Jewish reader, this is huge.
Did He just say Jesus is Greater than Moses?
Moses is the Man!
The man of God (Deuteronomy 33:1).
Moses had a relationship with the Lord unlike anyone else in history.
Listen to what God said to Miriam and Aaron when they spoke against Moses.
Numbers 12:6-8
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD.
God said Moses .
spoke with Him face to face.
God hadn’t spoken to other prophets like that. Moses had a unique and special relationship with the Lord.
Notice also that Moses is called
a servant, faithful in all my house
The author of Hebrews uses those same words about Moses, “5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house” (Hebrews 3:5a)
But the author of Hebrews reminds them again who Christ is.
Christ is a faithful Son over God’s House
He is the heir with all the authority of the Father over us, not just among us.
And even though Moses spoke with God face to face, Jesus was God.
And the author is saying to those in whose mind it is to go back to Judaism, “If you listened and followed Moses, here is One far superior that you need to listen to and follow.”
This is the culmination of these 2 chapters.
Christ is superior so you should listen to and follow Him!
Simple enough.
But now we come to a choice.
It is given in the form of a warning about following the wrong path.
The choice is, knowing what you know about the Superiority of Jesus and of following Him,
Which path are you going to take?
Which path are you going to let your heart follow?
Let’s finish reading
Hebrews 3:7-19
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ’Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
’They shall never enter my rest.’"
12 See to it, brothers, 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 we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."
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 fell in the desert? 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.
Ok, so the author gives a warning about following
The Path of a Hard Heart
Slide
Hebrews 3:7-9
Then He goes on to give the characteristics of
what that looks like in the life of the Israelites from the past and
what it will look like in your life if that is the path you choose.
In verse 3:10, the first characteristic for those who follow the path of a hard heart is that they are
Always Going Astray
Slide
Hebrews 3:10a
That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ’Their hearts are always going astray,
Does that mean they are just getting side tracked on their walk with the Lord?
No.
In verse 8 it was called the time of rebellion.
It is a willfully rebellious attitude.
If you have a rebellious attitude like these past Israelites you are going to have a hard heart toward the Lord that leads you to a place you don’t want to be.
Whew! That’s not me. I am not rebellious.
In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul uses the Israelites of old as an example and he gets a little more specific for us about what this always going astray rebellious attitude looks like.
Paul tells the Corinthians to think about their forefathers whom the Lord was with, through the time in the desert.
And then he goes on and says this in
1 Corinthians 10:5-11
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
What did the Israelites do to deserve this?
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did-and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did-and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did-and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
So here are some of the things that characterize a rebellious attitude, a constantly going astray attitude.
Idolatry
Pagan revelry
Sexual immorality
Testing the Lord (i.e unbelief)
Grumbling
Grumbling is rebellious?
According to God it is.
Have you ever dealt with someone whom nothing is good enough?
They always find a negative.
Grumbling is a sign of distrust in the Lord.
The Israelites majored in grumbling. They were pros at it.
And sometimes we are the same way.
Now this is not talking about
having a legitimate concern or
a constructive criticism of something or someone.
This is a heart attitude of whining and complaining and God calls it rebellion
History Lesson in Exodus
Here is a little history lesson.
Exodus 12 - Passover
Exodus 13 – Cloud by day, pillar of fire by night leads them
Exodus 14 – (14:11-12 – Complaining and grumbling begins
Red Sea is parted
Exodus 15 - Sing praises to God
- 3 days after getting through the Red Sea – Grumbling (no water) (15:22-24)
Exodus 16 - 45 days after leaving Egypt – grumbling again (16:2)
Exodus 17 – more complaining and grumbling
They were pros at grumbling
Moses, why did you bring us our of Egypt
We had food there
Moses, we don’t have any water (God gives them water)
Moses we are hungry (God gives them food)
We don’t like this food, we want meat (God gives them meat)
Moses,, following you stinks!
Complaining, Grumbling.
This is the path to a hard and rebellious heart.
Don’t get on this path the author of Hebrews warns. Don’t be like the Israelites of Old who saw so much and instead of believing, complained.
Application
I want you to ask yourself, “Am I a grumbler, a complainer.”
“Does nothing ever seem to be good enough?”
This is an easy path for many of us to fall into.
And Satan will use this as a foothold in your life.
We need to get the not good enough attitude out of our head and focus on Christ who has provided so much and seek forgiveness for our ungratefulness.
Hebrews 3:1
fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.
We need to get our minds focused on Christ and on the abundance of good He has provided and have a grateful heart instead of what we think He hasn’t done for us lately.
A grumbling, rebellious attitude is a sure fire path to a hard heart.
The second Characteristic of someone on the path to a hard heart is
Being Spiritually Ignorant
Slide
Hebrews 3:10
10 That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ’Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
They had access to know his ways, but they were spiritually ignorant because they did not desire to know His ways.
And their hearts became hard.
The Lord tells the Israelites in
Exodus 15:25-26
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
If we would listen and pay attention and know the word of God, we would not be spiritually ignorant and you could apply these things to your life
But if we choose not to, and we let ourselves persist in our ignorance, we walk the path of hard heartedness by our own will.
Don’t do that.
Don’t stay in your spiritual ignorance the author warns.
Finally, the last characteristic of someone on the path of hard heartedness is
Being an Unbeliever
Slide
Hebrews 3:12
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
This is not just someone who has not believed.
This is someone who has not believed that has seen all that there is to be able to believe and still refuses to believe.
The example the author uses is still the Israelites in the desert.
Remember our summary
All the miracles God was doing
All the ways he was providing
Yet none of it was good enough
They continued to follow their unbelieving ways.
I have had people tell me, “If God would just do a miracle or I could see Him, then I would believe.”
The reality is if you have a hard heart, no amount of evidence or miracles will make you believe, because for anyone who looks, there is more than enough to convince someone whose heart is open to Him.
The Israelites of old saw it and yet that generation refused to believe.
The author is saying don’t be like your forefathers who saw all that they did and yet didn’t believe.
You have seen the evidence that supports the claim that Christ is Superior to everything of the past and that following Him is the Superior way of life.
Now don’t disregard that and become hard hearted.
So instead of following the path of a hard heart, we need to take
The Path of a Humble Heart
Slide
This is the opposite direction of the hard heart.
The Characteristics of a humble heart would be mostly the opposite of a hard heart
Whereas having a spirit of unbelief leads to hard heartedness, being a
Believer in Christ
Slide
Helps us have a humble heart
This does not mean that we just accept what someone says about Christ and believe in the face of all reality.
We believe because reality supports a belief that
Jesus is God and
that he died for our sins and
rose from the dead.
While I won’t go into it all today because it is easily several sermons going through and I can give you our Easter message that goes through support for the belief in the resurrection and I invite anyone who would like to come to our next back to basics class where we talk about the evidence that supports why the Bible is the word of God.
But just as Jesus said, anyone “who seeks finds” Matthew 7:8
If you would just be open to find the truth and you will see that Jesus is God and you will believe in Him.
Secondly,
Whereas being spiritually ignorant leads to a hard heart,
Growing in Spiritual Maturity
Slide
Is the path to a Humble Heart.
We need to know the word of God and apply it to our lives.
For those of you who have never studied the Bible before or don’t even know where to begin, take a small step on the path to a humble heart by reading the Word.
We have some devotional guides out in the foyer called “Our Daily Bread”
Grab one and take those beginning steps of being in the word on a daily basis and growing in Spiritual Maturity.
Thirdly, whereas always going astray, being rebellious, and grumbling about things has got you on the path of hard heartedness,
Persevering in the Faith
Slide
Will keep you walking the path of a humble heart
We are going to face hard times in life just like the Israelites did.
Are we going to grumble about it and complain or are we going to persevere keeping our thoughts fixed on Jesus.
As we persevere, we draw closer to the Lord.
As we persevere, we experience true living of the superior life in Christ
As we persevere, we see fruit develop in our life.
As Jesus said when explaining the parable of the sower to the disciples.
Luke 8:15
15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
If you persevere you will produce fruit.
Now those things are all fine and dandy, but those things are easier said than done.
It is easier in life to walk the path of a hard heart.
Notice that the author of Hebrews doesn’t list out the things that I just covered here but instead, says only one thing.
Hebrews 3:12-13
12 See to it, brothers, 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.
We need to
Give and Receive Encouragement
Slide
We need to encourage one another daily.
Encouragement from others is going
to enable us to persevere,
to grow in spiritual maturity, and
to trust in Christ
Encouragement is essential to the Christian walk.
And we receive encouragement from others.
That means we need to be in relationship with others in order to receive encouragement from others.
If we don’t have any one to encourage us, we become ripe picking for Satan.
Ecclesiastes 4:10b, 12
10 pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
When we have others in our life to encourage us, it is much harder for Satan to knock us off the path of a humble heart and lead us down the path of a hard heart.
The Israelites of old were led by Satan into grumbling and complaining instead of encouraging one another into holy living.
Notice that these are both things that we can do with our mouths.
Grumble and complain
Encourage others.
Paul says in
Ephesians 4:29
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Application
Are you connected to other Christians who you can encourage and can encourage you?
You need to be.
In the summers here at Hickory Creek, we try to host several lunches or picnics to help give opportunity to connect people so they can have those opportunities to get connected to be able to encourage one another.
In 2 weeks we will be having a luncheon when our Associate Pastoral Candidate Andy Sabaka comes in. Use this opportunity not only to get to meet Andy but to connect together as a body.
As we grow in size it becomes imperative.
And this is where it gets hard as leaders to do that.
To be able to help the elders in helping people connect and be ministered to, I am excited that we have as a body selected 2 men to fill the office of Deacon.
Deacon installation
Today, we are going to install them into that office
Acts 6:1-7
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
(from New International Version)
Pray for Deacons
Closing Prayer
