Sep. 08, 2024

“LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT”

“DOUBT OR REST?”

HEBREWS 3:7-19

Hebrews 3:7 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice.”

“Today” will you here His voice? 

*The second Danger is: The Danger of Doubting and Disbelieving the Word of God because of hardness of heart.

It is important that we understand the background of this passage, Hebrews 3:8-11 is a quotation from Psalm 95:7-11.

Psalm 95:7-11 “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Much as Israel was delivered from Egypt by the blood of lambs and the power of God, so a sinner who believes on Christ is delivered from the bondage of sin:

Colossians 1:13-14 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus Christ is the “Lamb of God” whose death and resurrection have made our deliverance from sin a reality.

To be sure, God is with them, as He was with Israel, but they do not enjoy the fulness of God’s blessings. They are “out of Egypt” but they are not yet “in Canaan.”

*What Keeps Us From God’s Ultimate Blessing?

1.   Unthankful Hearts: Hebrews 3:8

Hebrews 3:8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness.”

Psalm 95:2 “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”

“Harden” vs.8- means to dry up, to become stiff.

2.   Not Listening: Hebrews 3:7-19

Listening to what? God had delivered His people from Egypt and had cared for them, revealing His powers in many signs and wonders.

The heart of every problem is the heart:

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

Hebrews 3:7 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice.”

Are you willing to listen?

Hebrews 3:10 “Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.”

Notice where they “go astray” in their minds? No, in their hearts.

The heart was seen as the center of a person’s being, will, feelings, and personality.

Hebrews 3:11 “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.”

It was not necessary for God to take a oath but He did. “…They shall not enter My rest.” vs.11 

To those Israelites out there in the wilderness God said, “you are not going to know what rest is.” And there are many believers today who just don’t know what “rest” really means. They have never entered into it because they must enter by faith. 

Are you listening?

3.   Hardening Our Hearts: Hebrews 3:8,12-13

Hebrews 3:8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness.”

When a person has a straying heart and a disbelieving heart, the result will also be a hard heart.

Hebrews 3:12 “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”

“Beware” vs.12- he gives a caution, you who claim to be Christians, look about you, be on guard.

Could that be true of a believer? It certainly could.

“… lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief…” vs12-Do not refuse to fully believe and trust in God!

Hebrews 3:13 “but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

“Exhort one another…” vs.13-this is a key principle in our defense against being drawn away. We are to “exhort”- come alongside one another to comfort, encourage, strengthen, instruct, and support.

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

4.   Doubt- Hebrews 3:9

Hebrews 3:9 “Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.”

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Unthankful hearts, not listening to God, hardening of the hearts, and doubt, lead to wanderings, and keep a person from receiving God’s blessing.

*The Blessings You Can Enjoy: Hebrews 3:14-19

Hebrews 3:14 “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

Hebrews 3:15 “while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

“Today, if you will hear His voice…” vs.15- this is the “rest” the author of Hebrews is talking about, the rest of fully trusting God; not only for salvation but for daily living, for the help, wisdom, and the strength we need to live the Christian life:

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.” 

Hebrews 3:16 “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?”

Hebrews 3:17 “Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?”

Their sin was unbelief, doubting God’s Word is a serious sin.

Hebrews 3:18 “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?”

It was the sin of unbelief. Unbelief not only robs us of blessing, but it leads to other sins as well.

So what is robbing you of God’s blessing in you life? Unbelief!

Hebrews 3:19 “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Will you doubt or rest?

Are you going to hear God’s voices, and not harden your heart? What do you need to do, to stop wandering from God?

1 Peter 1:23 “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

Exodus 25:21 “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.”