Hold On to Jesus
Hebrews 3
SCRIPTURE READING: Hebrews 3:1-6
INTRODUCTION:
Hebrews 1 told us Jesus is Greater than Angels. Chapter 2 shows us Jesus as the Greater man. Chapter 3 says Jesus is GREATER than Moses. Moses was a faithful servant over God’s house, but Christ is the builder of the house itself and was faithful as a son over God’s house. And vs. 6 ends: We are his house, if we HOLD ON to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So how do we HOLD ON to courage and hope?
You don’t have to look any further than the next verse to find an answer. It starts this way, So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts …” Hebrews 3:7 Notice that the writer of Hebrews quotes the Holy Spirit here. And the Holy Spirit starts by shouting the word “Today!” That is a powerful word. It is also a difficult word for anyone trying to end a bad habit or start a good one. Some of us probably have the motto: “Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can put off till the day after.” Now be honest: how many of you are still waiting to get started on those New Years Resolutions? (I hate to be the one to tell you, but almost a month of the New Year is gone already!) If you think about it, New Years Resolutions are a way we try to FORCE ourselves to get busy doing what we put off doing the year before.
So, what does the verse tell us to do TODAY? Actually, we’re not told what TO do. We’re told what NOT to do. Today, if you hear his voice, do NOT harden your hearts. A hard heart is brittle, dry, inflexible … unable to respond, move, or receive grace. Obviously, that’s not a good thing.
We don’t have to wonder how to avoid having a Hard Heart because Hebrews 3 gives us some clear instructions. Verse 8 says 8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. Hebrews 3:8-9
1. Willful Rebellion
Hebrews gives the Israelites as an example of people who hardened their hearts. Most of you know the history of how Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. God parted the waters of the Red Sea. He went before them in the day with a pillar of Cloud and at night with a pillar of Fire. He gave them Manna to eat and brought forth water from a rock for them to drink.
But in spite of all this, they rebelled against God. Synonyms for rebellion include words like mutiny, defiance, and riot. So you might be surprised to know what they did that God called rebellion. To put it simply: they whined. Over and over they griped, criticized and grumbled. They were so bad, that places where they wandered were given names like Meribah (contending) and Massah (testing).
I wish I could say God’s people in the church are never like those hard-hearted Israelites, but I can’t. Faultfinding and complaining probably does more harm to God’s church than any other sin. This is especially harmful when people bad-mouth the church leaders. (Understand, I’m not saying churches don’t have problems. But problems aren’t solved by going behind the scenes to criticize.)
Years ago, when I took my first trips to India, I worked with a missionary couple named the Morrises. The Morrises pioneered a mission in South India starting in the 1950’s and continued the work until their deaths in the 1990’s. When I met them in 1975, the mission had grown to over 450 churches and numerous children’s homes and medical clinics.
When I landed at the airport in Madras on the first trip, I was waylaid by some other missionaries who had a smaller work in the nearby area. They pulled me aside for the purpose of criticizing the Morrises and their mission. They made all sorts of accusations. When I told the Morrises about it later, their only comment was something like this: “Millions of people in India need to hear the Gospel. Why do other missionaries spend precious time and energy trying to tear down our work? (Oh, and by the way, they had nothing bad to say about the other missionaries.)
I learned an important lesson from that experience. When someone speaks ill of another Christian --- or of a church --- I remind myself of one thing: the person doing the criticizing is the one with the biggest problem.
Look at it this way. Scripture tells us that the church is the Body of Christ. How can anyone claim to follow Christ, and yet speak words that harm His Body? If you do or say hurtful things about a congregation, you are hurting Jesus Christ himself. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stand before the Lord one day and try to explain why I bad-mouthed His church or hurt some of His people.
In my opinion, when someone spreads a bad report on other Christians, it doesn’t matter if what they are saying is true or false. (And by the way, no one is EVER 100% right when they criticize someone else. Everyone has a limited perspective and their own agenda.) The very fact that someone would tear down the work or reputation of another Christian … or of an entire congregation … shows they have a BIG problem themselves.
It’s a problem God labeled as rebellion when the Israelites did it. And look what He said about it in Hebrews 3:10. 10That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray…”
2. Going Astray
In the past when I read that God was angry with that generation, I guess I pictured God being sort of mildly disappointed with them. But in studying for this Sermon, I noticed that Hebrews 3:7-11 is actually a quote from Psalm 95. And the NASB version of Psalm 95 renders verse 10 this way, “For 40 years I loathed that generation …” The original word is stronger than the translation of angry. God loathed them.
Look at what God said about this generation that he loathed: ‘Their hearts are always going astray.” Baptists often call it Backsliding. The point here is that they were “always going astray.” What ever they did wrong, they did it over and over. When they backslid, they enjoyed the ride.
What I see here is a group with what you could call “authority issues.” As slaves, they had to obey the Egyptian taskmasters or face a beating. But when God sent them Moses (who was a compassionate leader) they didn’t obey him. In fact, over and over they complained against him. In fact, as soon as Moses went up the Mountain to receive the 10 commandments, they made a golden calf to worship. They not only turned against the leader God gave them, they turned against God himself. They had “mutiny” stamped into their hearts.
If you want to avoid going astray like the Israelites, you need to understand that we’re talking about intentionally turning away from God. We’re not talking about an innocent child who accidentally gets lost. This is the child whose parent tells them “come here” and they take out running the opposite direction as fast as they can. This is the rebel who believes every law was made to be broken. Straying from the path of God is the goal of this person. Hebrews 3:10 adds one more thing: … and they have not known my ways.’
3. Spiritual Ignorance
These hard-hearted people live in SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE. But ignorance is no excuse. If you get stopped for going 60 MPH in a school zone, try telling the policeman you didn’t see the signs. That kind of excuse won’t get you far. As a motorist, it’s your job to look for and obey the traffic signs.
God is not talking about innocent ignorance of the un-initiated. This is the callous and purposeful ignorance of people who refuse to learn. God will not hold someone blameless who refuses to learn His ways. In fact, God made this vow about the willfully ignorant: So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘ They shall never enter my rest.’” Hebrews 3:11
The rest God offered Israel was the Promised Land --- the land of Canaan. This was the place of God’s provision --- a place flowing with milk and honey, where they would harvest grain they had not sown, and enjoy the fruit others had cultivated. But this rebellious generation never got there. God’s grace got them out of Egypt, but their unbelieving hearts kept them out of the promised land.
Some people think of the Promised Land as a picture of Heaven. Actually, it is not a picture of Heaven. It is a picture of the abundant life that Christ wants us to have right here on earth. But if we don’t follow Christ’s ways … and especially if we don’t even bother to find out what His ways are … our lives will never have that “rest” of God. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 warns us: 12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
4. Overt Unbelief
A hard heart is an unbelieving heart. The word for “unbelief” is “apistias” which means “No faith.” But this does not mean the Israelites renounced every bit of faith they’d ever had. After all, they had seen God part the Red Sea. They believed what God did in their PAST. But they had NO Faith in what God was doing TODAY.
Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. It was like a 40 yearlong funeral procession. That’s how some people live the “Christian life.” They know Christ saved them by dying on the cross and rising again, but they don’t really believe He has any plans to help them TODAY. It’s not enough to trust Christ for what He did in the past. Do you trust him for what he’s doing in your life TODAY?
Let’s review a minute. If we want to avoid having hard hearts, we need to watch out for these dangers: Willful rebellion; Going astray; Spiritual ignorance; Overt unbelief.
Hebrews 3:13 names one more danger: 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13
5. Deceived by Sin
One thing that causes a heart to harden is “sin’s deceitfulness.” The real danger comes when we convince ourselves that what we are doing is not sin at all. Then we are truly deceived. Then sin can create a calloused heart --- that becomes a hard heart --- and finally becomes a petrified heart.
This is a serious condition because it is possible for a person’s whole life to be so hardened that they can never soften up again. They become spiritually petrified.
You’ve heard of “hardening of the arteries.” That condition can be fatal. But it is nothing compared to the horrible danger of “hardening of the heart!” We know the symptoms. But what is the cure? To prevent hardening of the arteries, a doctor might tell you to eat right and exercise…
To prevent hardening of the heart, the Holy Spirit gives this prescription, found in the verse we just read: 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today …Hebrews 3:13
CONCLUSION:
· Encourage one another
Encouragement is like a daily vitamin that keeps the heart soft. I’ve noticed that words of encouragement --- like I’ve received from so many of you recently --- can keep me on the right track. On the other hand, when people do the kind of bad-mouthing we talked about earlier, it can keep me awake at night and make me feel like giving up. I know I’m not the only one who reacts that way.
So instead of tearing each other down, let’s build each other up. In the process, we’ll be keeping our hearts soft. And while we’re doing, that, let’s take the last piece of advice in Hebrews 3:14: 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
· Hold on to Christ
We know that Christ holds on to us. But we also need to hold on to Christ. Always, we come back to Jesus himself. Will you hold on to Christ, and will you do it TODAY? When it comes to your Eternal Destiny, procrastination is like Russian Roulette. Don’t think you can respond to Christ later. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart …” Hebrews 3:7
