The Danger in Not Believing, Part 4

That's a great song It ties directly into what we're talking about in Hebrews chapter 3 You'll see that even more so at the end of our time together As we look at this portion of Scripture once again And I would like to say that I will be done with this portion of Scripture today. I can't, with a good, clear conscience, say that Because I really need to do something for you next week. I really need to contrast for you The hardeness of heart of the unbeliever with the hardened heart of a believer Because they're evident in Scripture

And you must be able to decipher between the two and understand them Because they're uniquely and distinctly different Because the disciples had hardened their hearts And how can the disciples harden their hearts, yet be followers of Christ? And yet there be a warning in Hebrews 3 that today if you hear his voice and harden his heart, your heart, as in the day of provocation Then the wrath of God will be against you, and it will be impossible to renew you to repentance You must be able to understand the difference between the two

So I am compelled to do that for you, but that's not till next week. I want to be able to help you understand the importance of this warning You know, as a pastor, I am compelled to warn the people of God In fact, when you're looking for a church and you don't hear the compelling warning coming from the pastor of the church, You need to leave that church. I'm very serious about that If you're in a church that doesn't compel people to understand the necessity of repentance, the urgency of repentance, the importance of that

And calling people to recognize the sever of God's judgment, you're in the wrong church Guaranteed How do I know that? Because the pastor is a watchman You know what a watchman is, don't you? During the days of Israel, there were watchmen set on the city gates, and they would watch for impending danger And when danger was coming, they would blow the trumpet So everyone in the city would know that danger is around the corner That they would prepare themselves for battle, that they would prepare themselves for protecting their families and their loved ones

But they had to know that danger was coming If the watchman was unwilling or unable to fulfill his role, The city would be in danger of perishing And so God, God tells Ezekiel, the prophet That he is the watchman of Israel He's not a physical watchman on the city walls He is a spiritual watchman on the On the walls of people's souls And so God tells Ezekiel these words: listen very carefully Ezekiel chapter 33, verse number 7 Now, as for you, son of man Now, Ezekiel's around 30 years of age He's a young guy. I can say that because I'm an old guy

But he was a young guy, not very old at all, and prophesied during Israel's captivity He said, As for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel So Ezekiel the prophet, the preacher, was a watchman So, you will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning from me You're going to hear what I have to say, and what I say, you must directly give to the people When you hear a warning from me, you must warn the people When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you will surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked man from his ways

That wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your ha There are many preachers today Whose people die in unbelief because he did not warn them of the peril of unbelief And they are accountable for the true and living God And then he says, but if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life God makes it very clear to Ezekiel: you have a unique responsibility You are a watchman on the walls of people's souls

And you are to declare a warning, the warning that I give to you to tell them that you might preserve their lives If they choose not to listen to you, You've delivered your life You are free from the accountability of their souls But if you don't do what I tell you to do, you are held directly responsible You are accountable to me Their blood I will hold to your account What a huge responsibility that is at the preacher Huge responsibility But we live in a day and age where we don't do that anymore We've come to a day and age where the church Have you ever read J

Mac's book, Ashamed of the Gospel, written a couple decades ago? You know book, you need to get it and read it Probably his best book ever written: Ashamed of the Gospel When the church becomes like the world You ever notice that in the church we have decided to compromise on style and methodology? So that we can get the world to come in And so we'll do all these creative things stylistically so the world will come in and feel comfortable and feel warm in the church

So, we do things with the lights and we do things with smoke, we do things with drama, do things with movies, we do things with all kinds of gimmicks to get people to come into the church We have compromised our style, we have compromised our methodology To get the world into the church Well, see, the problem with that is that once you get the world into the church, now the world is going to demand that now that you've compromised your style, you must now compromise your substance in order For them to stay That's exactly what's happened in the church today We've compromised method

To bring the world into the church, now we have to compromise our message to keep them in the church or they'll leave And that's where the church is in the 21st century So you don't have watchmen declaring the warning, trumpeting forth the warning of God's impending judgment on those who live in unbelief And that's why the writer of Hebrews understands the importance of being a watchman That's why he gives the warnings when he preaches, because he knows the responsibility of the prophet, the preacher He knows the responsibility That's why the Bible says

Don't many of you seek to be teachers, for with it comes a greater condemnation James 3, verse number 1 If you can do anything else other than teach, do it, because if you decide to teach, with it comes a stricter condemnation from the living God You are held responsible for what you teach, how you teach, to whom you teach, by the living God And you must make sure you declare what He says in His Word Verbatim, word for word Writer of Hebrews does that He declares the warning Let me set it in your heart and mind again Hebrews 3, verse number 7

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by testing me and saw my works for 40 years Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, they always go astray in their heart, and they did not know my ways, as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called today So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast in the beginning of our assurance firm until the end What it is said today, if you hear his voice Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me

For who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we, so we see that they were not able to enter because of un We've looked with you at the illustration because that's how the writer begins He uses the illustration that David used a thousand years earlier in Psalm 95

It's taken directly from the time of Israel in the wilderness at Rephidim in the book of Exodus Where they provoked the Lord, where they tested the Lord in the day of provocation, in the day of trial in the wilderness It was called the day of Merib, the day of Messa And that's how it's described in the book of Exodus And God says, They shall not enter my rest Because the book of Deuteronomy chapter 9, verse number 7 says, That they tested me and provoked me from the day they left Egypt until now This was their attitude This was their rebellion against the true and living God

So in this illustration, the writer says, look, today if you hear his voice, don't be like your forefathers who provoked God, who tested God, who tried God in the wilderness Don't be like that And we told you last week, how is it they became that way? It's because, number one, they were indifferent to the word of God He says they always wander away from the truth, they always go astray in their hearts They, on the outside, looked good Because they were superficial believers on the outside, but not supernatural believers on the inside They had all the outward trappings

But none of the inward truth that would transform their lives because they believed in the true and living God And so he says, Look, don't be like them And they were indifferent to the word of God because they always went away from the truth in their hearts And that's where we left off last week Second point as to why they provoked the Lord to anger and why they lived in unbelief was not because they were just indifferent to the Word of God, but they were ignorant. of the ways of God That's what the Lord says Book of Hebrews He says it very simply this way

He says they always go astray in their heart, And they did not know my ways Not Were they only ind to the Word of God? They were completely ignorant of the ways of God And you have to ask yourself: how could that possibly be? How can they be so ignorant of God's ways when He led them by day with a cloud and led them by night with a pillar of fire? How could they be ignorant of the ways of God when he fed them with manna from heaven to protect them? The Bible tells us that the soles of their shoes never wore out In forty years

Can you imagine wearing the same shoe for 40 years? I mean, we can't do that When the new Nikes come out, man, we to buy those babies We can't let them sit on the shelf too long We've got to get a new pair of shoes, whether our souls are worn out or not And if I'm dressing up for a wedding or going to some high-falutin, I to buy new shoes, I to buy a new dress, I got to get it all new Their clothes never wore out The soles of their shoes never wore out They wore the same thing for 40 years Wow Can you imagine that? I sure hope they did some laundry in those 40 years

But they wore the same thing for 40 years God provided for them See? He protected them But they questioned: is the Lord really among us in Exodus chapter 17? The day they were thirsty, where is the Lord? We told you last week that adversity always reveals your true identity, who you are in Christ It shows us who you are It showed us who Israel was And so They were ignorant of the ways of God Listen to Psalm 145, verse number 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways Do you believe that? The Lord is righteous in all of his ways

So none of the ways of God are unrighteous are always righteous because he is the righteous God The true God, the straight God So all of his ways are straight None of his ways are crooked Isn't that great? God doesn't have crooked ways God doesn't have crooked streets In fact, there's only one street in heaven There are not streets in heaven There's one street It's called the street of gold Not streets Of gold, just one street, okay, in heaven, it's a straight street Because he's a straight God And so you must understand the beauty of the living God

It says, Psalm 119. 3, Blessed is the man who walks in those ways The blessed man is the one who walks in the ways that are the righteous ways of God And yet the Bible says in Isaiah 55, my ways are not the same as your ways This is my thoughts, not like your thoughts In fact, as high as the heavens are from the earth, are my ways from your ways and my thoughts from your thoughts Well, wait a minute

If that's the case, how could I ever know the ways of God? If they are so far away from me, so indescribable and incredible, how can I ever know truly the ways of God? Well, listen to what the Bible says in the book of Deuteronomy, the eighth chapter The Lord God says, All the commandments that I am commanding you today, this is chapter 8, verse number 1, you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore Swore to give to your forefathers Now, Moses is speaking to the nation that's going to go into the promised land

Those who are 20 and over have died, except for Joshua and Caleb And the new generation is about to embark on the land of Israel, the land of Canaan Okay? So God says this: verse 2: you shall remember all the way All the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart Whether you would keep his commandments or not He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know

That he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord And he tells him, Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years Well, can you imagine walking for 40 years and your feet never swelling? That's pretty incredible Thus, you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you, just as a man disciplines his son Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him He goes down to verse number 18

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who has given you power to make wealth, that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God, and go after other gods, and serve them, and worship them. I testify against you today that you will surely perish, like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you. shall perish because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God He wanted them to remember all the way the Lord had l them The ways of God, listen carefully

The ways of God are defined this way: the ways of God Are the wonders of his work in the life of his people? Are the wonders of his works in the lives of his people? And he wanted them to remember all that way All the wonders of God that had transplant fire in their lives, and all the working of God, because He is so wonderful Listen to Psalm 86 Psalm 86 says this: There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord Now, that's a phrase taken directly from Exodus chapter 15

That was sung by Israel after they had crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army had been destroyed, and they were set free because of the miracle of God in the party in the Red Sea There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord None And they sang of the power of God and the working of God, but then the In Exodus 17, they would provoke God to anger because they tested him because they didn't have any water And they questioned whether or not the Lord God was among them or not So the psalmist says, There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours

No works like yours All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and they shall glorify your name, for you are great and do wondrous deeds, you alone are God You are the one who does wonders You are the one who works wonders among your people That is the ways of God in the lives of his people And so he says these words: teach me your way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth, unite my heart to fear your name, Lord, because you are a wonder-working God, because there is no God like you. I want to know your ways

So, I want you to teach me your ways so that I can walk in truth Unite my heart to fear your name Don't let me have a divided heart Don't let me have a distracted heart Let me have a united heart that I might fear only you and your name because I want to know your ways Israel was ignorant of the ways of God They weren't crying out to know the ways of God, even though they were right in front of them every single day So many times we forget how God's ways lead us every single day We know Psalm 23, the ways of God cause us to lie down in green pastures, right? Lie beside still waters

And we like that But we forget the ways of God also lead into the valley of the shadow of death We forget that Because David would say, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil Why? Because thou art with me Me Is there a question? Is the Lord really among us? David said, In the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear because you are with me You see, he understood the ways of God Isn't it interesting that Psalm 103, verse number 7 says this? That thou hast made known your ways to Moses, your acts to the children of Israel

Isn't that great? Moses knew the ways of God, Israel did not They were ignorant of his ways But Moses knew the ways of God. I made known my ways to Moses, but only Israel was able to see my act Is there a difference? Oh, yeah, there is a big difference Those who know and understand the ways of God marvel at the wonder and the works of God Israel never marveled at his wonder, nor at his works They questioned whether or not he was even among them or not Moses never questioned that because he believed that God was always with him See? And so, the reason Is lived in unbelief

Is because they were indifferent to the word of God and ignorant of the ways of God No, the Bible says in Psalm 18, verse number 30: As for God, his way is per, blameless God has no imperfect ways God has no iniquitous ways His ways are perfect because his ways are righteous It's so important for us to understand and believe what the Bible say And so in this illustration, we understand why they tested God, why they did not trust in God's provision

Why they did not trust in God's promises, why they did not trust in God's presence, why they did not trust in God's precepts, because they were indifferent to the word of God and ignorant of the ways of God How about you? How about you? Where are you today when it comes to understanding God's Word and His ways? So, the writer of Hebrews gives us this illustration And from the illustration, he gives the injunction, and from the injunction, he gives the instruction, and from the instruction, Gives the implications Okay? That's the rest of the text He gives this injunction in verse number twelve

Take heed, brethren, beware, brethren Now, when he says brethren, he's not talking to believers, he's talking to Jewish people When he's talking to believers, earlier in chapter 3, he calls them holy brethren, right? Because they are set apart unto God for his purposes These are not holy brethren These are just brethren in the church These are just Jewish people in the assembly who are hearing the word of God So he gives this injunction based on the illustration The illustration is a warning. A warning About making sure you don't have an evil heart of unbelief

And so He says, take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God There is no greater sin in all the world than an unbelieving heart. A heart that refuses to believe in the face of overwhelming evidence the truth that's there That is a damning position That is, it damns your soul to eternal judgment To have an evil, un heart Hebrews 6 says it's impossible to renew those kinds of people to repentance

So it's imperative that when you hear the truth about Christ, you acknowledge that truth, believe that truth, comm to that truth, surrender To that truth Because the evil, unbelieving heart is a heart that departs, aphist, falls away from the living God You're not falling away from the church, not falling away from a creed, you're falling away from the living God See? And in the context, the living God is the Christ, proving that Christ Himself is God You are falling away from the Messiah You are falling away from the truth about Christ being the soul living God

Remember, Peter, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God When you have an evil heart of unbelief, you fall away from the living God To reject Christ is to reject God So he gives this injunction, beware Take heed, lest there be in you an evil, unbelieving heart An unbelieving heart is the worst evil ever Because it caused you to depart away from the true and living God Why is it they were indifferent to the word of God and ignorant to the ways of God? Because on the inside, They had an evil, unbelieving heart that caused them just to fall away from that which was obvious To them

Then comes the instruction where the writer of Hebrew says these words But encourage one another day after day, as long as this is as it's called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin Here's the instruction Okay, this is what I wanted you to do You need to encourage one another daily You need to make sure that you come alongside people, parak, come alongside them and warn them of impending judgment that they might know that today is the day Not tomorrow You ought to plead with them

Encourage one another daily, not weekly, not monthly, not yearly, but do it daily Do it all the time Be repetitious in your encouragement because today's the day It's urgent It's an imperative It's important People need to know that judgment is coming That if a hardened heart Falls away from the living God, there is no possibility of repentance And so you need to warn that person And so the writer of Hebrews gives this instruction You exhort one another daily Paul said, We beg, we beg you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to him

Paul would plead with the Corinthians, be reconciled to him as he wrote to the church to understand That there are unbelievers in the church that you need to come to Christ, you need to be reconciled to the true and living God And so, we as preachers, as pastors, we as parents, right? Are to plead and to beg and to implore daily because of the urgency of the gospel That today, If you hear his voice, be careful that you don't harden your hearts as in the day of provocation In the wilderness

The div of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 10: The just shall live by faith, but if any man draws back, my soul shall not have any pleasure in him But we are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul Don't fall back If you hear his voice, respond to that which is true And then the writer of Hebrews says this For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end

That is, how do you know that you have believed? Because as it says up in verse number six, if we hold fast our confidence and the Boast of our hope firm until the end The continuation, the continuance of following the Christ and not turning away and not falling back is proof evident Of the assurance that you know the Christ, that you haven't fallen back and fallen away from that which is true, but you've continued to live as the Word of God instructs you to live

If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoke me, for who provoked me when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those Who were disobedient So, within the instruction, comes this exhortation to remember what took place in their forefathers, how it is, in the midst of overwhelming evidence, they refused to believe, they would not

Submit and surrender to the Lord God of Israel With that instruction comes this implication Says this, verse 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of un They didn't believe We said, aren't they the chosen people of God? Yeah

Well, how could they not believe? Did not God do so many incredible things before them? How could they not believe? Did not hear the word of the Lord through Moses, their servant? How could they not believe? Because they were indifferent to the word of God and ignorant of the ways of God, because on the inside they had an evil, unbelieving heart that departed from the living God So the implications are g They weren 't able to enter into rest because of un Even Jude would use Israel as an illustration

Verse 5: I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them Believe not Wow He rescued them from physical bondage, but they remained in spiritual bondage, and therefore he destroyed them in the wilderness Because of what? They did not belie That 's why the Hebrews 12, verse number 25, says this: see that you refuse not him that speaketh For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on the earth, that's Moses

Much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven That's the Christ If the people who heard Moses turned away and didn't respond, died in the wilderness, what will happen to those who have heard from the Christ? From above and not responded, they will perish for eternity Wow What a strong indictment That's why That's why the book of Proverbs says this in chapter 29, verse number 1 He that is often reproved Who hardeneth his nick shall suddenly be destroyed and without rem

Did you hear that? He who, after much reproof, hardeneth his neck, that's the same thing as stiffening your neck, hardening your heart After much reproof, shall suddenly be broken beyond remedy Let me give you an illustration of that The book of 2 Chronicles chapter 36, which, by the way, is the last book in the Hebrew B Okay? It's 2 Chronicles chapter 36 That's how the Hebrew text ends And that's why there's called a wailing wall, or a western wall, or a wad wall, depending upon how you define the wall that the Jews go to every day and pray before

And do those physical gyrations before constantly day after day after day Why is it they go to the waiting wall, the waiting wall, the western wall? It's because of 2 Chronicles 3 Says this Zedekiah, verse 11, was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the Lord He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear allegiance by God But he stiffened his neck

Remember Proverbs 29:1? He who is often reproved and stiffens his neck? And he hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were Very unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the Lord, which he had sanctified in Jerusalem The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, scoffed at his prophets

Until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was what? No rem See that? That's the illustration of Proverbs 29, verse number 1 He who stiffens his neck and hardens his heart after much reproof will be broken beyond remedy That's what happened in the life of Israel That's why the Jews to this day go and pray at that wall, wailing, lamenting the fact That their temple was destroyed on the Temple Mount because God had promised that that's exactly what was going to take place if they did not turn and did not repent

And as they wail, they live in waiting for the coming of the Messiah Problem is, he's already come He's coming again So let me ask you a question Do you believe in the true and living God? For four weeks, we've studied this passage, talking to you about believing in the true living God How do you know? You believe in the true and living God We sang the song earlier before the sermon about Give Me Jesus, right? I'm going to give you just one phrase of one verse that you can evaluate your life on As to how you know you believe in God Okay? Are you ready? To you who believe, he is pre

First Peter two, verse number seven To you who believe, he is pre If he is your most cherished possession, because he is your most cherished loved one, because he is everything to you You know you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ To you who believe, He is precious This precious value is for you who believe And how do you know he's precious to you? Right? Because you cherish The same things he cherishes That's how you know Because we told you two weeks ago Those who have truly repented, they do so by demonstrating a severance from the world An allegiance to the Christ, an obedience to his word

And Peter tells us that the reason he's precious to you is demonstrated by your obedience to him You cherish what he cherishes To you who believe he is pre And why is it you cherish the things that he cherishes? Remember the prayer of Christ in John's Gospel, John chapter 17, verse number 20? Christ says, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me Lord, my prayer is that they would be so unified

That they demonstrate the unity that I have in you and you and me because we are in them And if we are in them, then they cherish But we cherish See that? To you who believe he is precious My prayer for you is that you, having heard the truth of God, Would not harden your hearts as those in Israel did, but would truly come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord We pray with you Father, we thank you for today Oh Lord, your word is so clear Our prayer, Father, is that, Lord, you would go before us Help us all to understand the beauty of your character

That's a character demonstrated by your willingness and desire to forgive those who have sinned against you And our prayer, Lord, is that you do a mighty work in every soul that's here If there's some among us who do not know you, may we encourage them daily May we help them understand that today is the day Not tomorrow For tomorrow might be too late That they might truly come to the knowledge of the living God We pray in Jesus' name Amen.