Hear His Voice
HEBREWS 3:9-12
Review from this morning
A. We are being encouraged to hold fast to our faith until the end
B. We are being encouraged to listen to the voice of God
C. We are being encouraged not to harden our hearts, but to willingly follow God’s will and plan for our lives.
Verse 9
A. Tempted me
1. Peirazomai
2. To put a person to the test to see what good or evil may be in the person
B. Proved me
1. Dokimazo
2. To put to the test for the purpose of approving the person if he meets the test
C. By doing this they angered or grieved God
1. After all I have done for you (red sea, water, manna)
2. At the first sign of adversity
3. They put me to the test to see what good or evil was in Me and for the purpose of approving Me if I should pass the test
D. Similar to what the 1st Century Jews were doing
1. Seen the Apostolic signs and wonders
2. They were still wondering, “Is God among us or not?”
E. Christians today are asking the same question
1. When problems or adversity or financial hardship come
2. Ask, “Is God among us or not?”
Verses 10-11
A. “They shall not enter into my rest”
1. Rest = a cessation of activity…permanence
2. They did not enter into my permanent rest or cessation of activity
B. Eventually the reached the promised land
1. Yes they did 40 years later
2. It was not a land of rest
A) Wars and invasions
B) Assryian and Babylonian captivities
C) The Roman destruction of the temple
D) The dispersion of the Jews
3. Today, they are back in the land, but it is never a land of rest
The author is giving us an allegory between the OT people and the NT Jewish Christians who demonstrated the same unbelief
12
A. Lest their be
1. Their may have already been
2. Possibility of an evil, ubelieving heart
B. “evil”
1. Two words in the Greek
A) Kakos - evil in the abstract sense
B) Poneros - Active evil opposition to the program of God ****
1) Galatians 4:1 - this evil age
2) What do you see when you look around you
A. Evil activity
B) Evil that is in opposition to God’s program
2. Take care, lest there be in you a heart of active evil in opposition to the ongoing program of God
A) A believer cannot have this kind of heart
B) This is a heart bent on spoiling God’s program
1) There are people like this today
2) A believer cannot have this type of evil in his heart
C. Professors and Possessors of the faith
1. Professors were turning from the Messiah and bringing others with them in opposition to God’s program
A) Departing
1) To stand off from
2) Our word apostasy comes from this word
B) Apostasy
1) The act of one who has professed a defined certain set of doctrines
2) And then has fallen away from that doctrine and begun to profess a set of doctrines totally in opposition to his former belief
13-16
A. He is calling them to encourage one another
1. Difficult times will come
2. Our hearts may face the danger of turning sour
3. We are to encourage one another continually, so as not to fall into sin
B. When our hearts become hardened
1. We are turning our backs on our set of doctrines that we have believed
2. It is being involved in something for so long our consciences are not seared by the sin
3. Basically - We are permitting sin to abound in our lives
16-19 The consummation of their unbelief
A. (17)
1. The spies were sent into the land
A) They came back and said it could not be done
B) God, “You have done all you can to oppose me”
C) Their carcasses fell in the wilderness
2. Here is the parallel between the OT and the NT
A) Both were to leave their slavery behind
B) Both wanted to go back to slavery
C) Both were looking for a promised land of rest
D) Both had tasted the good land
1) OT - grapes of the land
2) NT- Tasted by faith
3. The OT were not allowed in because of their unbelief
4. You today
A) Have tasted
B) Have seen the Holy Spirit working
C) You have seen the marvelous things of God’s grace
D) Do not miss the land of rest because of your unbelief
5. Unbelief
A) Apistias - no faith
B) (19) this was the reason these people were not going to enter in
1) All the things they saw
2) All the things they knew
3) Never made it from their heads to their hearts
A. As a result they had no faith
B. They did not trust God to take them into the land
C) Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and the He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
What is God saying all throughout this passage
A. You must believe
B. You must exercise your faith
C. You must take what you know and transfer it to your heart
There is only one thing that God cannot forgive…UNBELIEF
