The Danger of Rejecting God Today

Transcript

GR 1679
02/24/2013
The Danger of Rejecting God Today
Hebrews 3:7-19
Gil Rugh

We're going to be in the book of Hebrews in your Bibles. Hebrews chapter 3. We are reminded as we look into the Word of God together, the Bible is a serious book. There are things we find humorous in it, but when God speaks there is a seriousness about and there is an urgency about it as well. When God speaks, it's with the demand that we pay attention, give heed, believe it and obey it. And that comes out repeatedly in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews has an overriding theme—the supremacy of Christ, the superiority of Christ to everything that has gone on before, particularly focusing on the Jews in Judaism because he is writing to a congregation of believers who are Jewish. And under the difficulties and trials and pressures of being a follower of Christ, they are contemplating a return to Judaism as a more safe and secure way to worship God, perhaps to restore family relationships, to reestablish friendships and so on. The writer of Hebrews is writing to exhort them and challenge them that they might consider that there are only two alternatives. One is to remain in unbelief and continued rebellion against God, or as those who have placed their faith in Christ, continue to follow Him, trust Him, obey Him no matter what may come.

When we came into Hebrews 3, the first six verses contrasted and compared Moses and Christ. Moses was a highly revered figure in Israel. He had been the great leader that had brought about their deliverance from Egypt. It was through him that the law was given to the nation that governed their life as God's people for so many years. And the comparison was that Moses was faithful in his responsibility in caring for God's people and Christ was faithful in His responsibility to God's people. Talking about Moses in his house and Christ in His house. But there is a contrast. Moses was faithful as a servant, Christ was faithful as a Son; Moses was faithful as a servant in God's house, Christ was faithful as a Son over God's house.

Now with that as a background and foundation verse 7 will begin with the word therefore. And in the book of Hebrews we're going to find a continuity. Even though he may move to various areas, like in the first two chapters he emphasized Christ's superiority to angels, then in chapter 3 Christ's superiority to Moses. You see the connections that go on. Back in Hebrews 2:14 you see it begins with the word therefore; then verse 17, therefore; then Hebrews 3:1, therefore. We keep coming down and we see it in verse 7, therefore; chapter 4 opens up, therefore. These things tie together, they build on one another and it is a building emphasis on showing the superiority of Christ and the contrast that is drawn. And it is going to be drawn very starkly in the section we are moving into. You are either a true believer in Jesus Christ, you have trusted Him alone as your Savior and you will follow Him faithfully, or you have an evil, unbelieving heart and you will turn back from Him. That is the contrast that is being drawn to clarify things for these readers.

The end of verse 6, we can read the whole verse for our purpose of Hebrews 3. But “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are,” the house being the people that belong to Him, “if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” Now he is writing to a congregation of believers in Jesus Christ, they have professed their faith in Jesus as their Savior, they have declared that they are trusting Him. He began Hebrews 3 by saying, “therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling.” So he addresses them as a congregation of believers. But it is also possible that among that congregation of believers there are those who have never placed their faith in Christ. And so under the pressure and difficulties of being identified with Christ, they are considering going back to Judaism. So don't get confused. It would be as I would address our congregation today. I speak to you as a group of believers, those who have placed their faith in Christ, those who are looking forward to glory in the presence of the God who loved us and saved us. But I also realize that not every single individual gathered with us has necessarily placed their faith in Christ.

So that kind of distinction is important in understanding this. People read verse 1 and say, everybody he is writing to must be a believer. No, everyone he is writing to has professed faith in Christ and by and large probably the group as a whole has. But there may be exceptions and it's important for us to consider where we are.

So he conditions verse 6 with the statement, “we are those who belong to Christ if we hold fast our confidence and we continue faithful, firmly holding onto Christ until the end.” Therefore, and you see now we have an extensive quote from the Old Testament, set off by the fact in our Bibles it is printed in capital letters, indicating it is being quoted from the Old Testament. He'll give an Old Testament illustration, drawing from Israel's history. And then he'll pick up with the challenge with verse 12, “take care, brethren, that you are not like the unbelievers in Israel, in that household, that family of God that Moses was responsible for in the Old Testament that ended up proving that most of them had an evil, unbelieving heart and could not enjoy the provision that God had for those who truly trusted Him.”

So you can make a connection going from Hebrews 3:7, the first word, “therefore,” and jump to verse 12, “take care, brethren,” because verses 12-19 are the application to their situation of the illustration that he is going to give, drawing from the Old Testament. And you'll note Hebrews 3:7 says, “therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says.” Important for these people to understand this is God speaking. Now he's going to quote a portion that David wrote. In fact down in Hebrews 4:7 he'll say, “He again fixes a certain day, today, saying through David.” Then he quotes, restates what he is going to say to us in verse 7, in that quote. There he says David says it. In Hebrews 3:7 he says, “the Holy Spirit says.” And that emphasis on it is God speaking through David is important. Remember the book of Hebrews began by telling us “God, after He spoke long ago in the prophets has in these last days spoken to One who is a Son.” So it is God speaking. So disobedience to David is disobedience to God; disobedience to Moses is disobedience to God. This is God's Word. You better pay attention is the emphasis.

Come back to Acts 4, a statement very similar to what we are dealing with in Hebrews. Look at verse 24, “and when they heard this they lifted up their voices to God with one accord and said, O Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” Now note this, “who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David your servant said.” So you see the connection—it is the Holy Spirit speaking through that human mouthpiece. That's why we say we believe in verbal inspiration, that the very words that David, in this case, spoke and recorded are the very words of God. It is God speaking. That's why we believe the Bible is without error. The Holy Spirit is God, God the Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth, God speaks no error. God makes no mistakes in His speaking. So He uses these human instruments to convey His truth, but He sovereignly so works and controls them that while using their personalities, their unique characteristics in speaking and writing, they record His exact words so that we have God's Word when we have what is written in our Bibles.

One more passage before we move on, back in 2 Peter, Peter's second letter. Come to 2 Peter 1:20, “but know this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will.” So it didn't originate in the mind and thinking of the human writer or spokesman. But men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So when we disobey the Bible in any of its areas, we are rebelling against God, disobeying Him. That's foundational for our understanding of the truth that God has revealed.

Come back to Hebrews 3:7, “therefore just as the Holy Spirit says.” And a reminder, pay close attention, God is speaking. “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, saw My works for forty 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.” And that's a quote from Psalm 95:7-11.

Now if you turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 95, we just read a portion of that psalm but as I noted we began with verse 7. I want you to see the context. Psalm 95:1, “O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His for it was He who made it and His hands formed the dry land. Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for He is our God. We are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” You see the psalmist, David here, calls them to worship, to give honor and praise to God, to bow in His presence as His people. We are the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. He is our God.

Then down in verse 7 of Psalm 95, you note the next statement, “today if you would hear His voice, do not harden your heart as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness.” And verses 7-11 are what we read in Hebrews 3. You see the context, a call to worship but a warning about having an evil, unbelieving heart, about having a heart that is hardened toward God and does not bow in submission and obedience to Him. And while we are here I want you to notice verse 8. “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness.” And that place of testing and trial that took place early in Israel's history.

Come back to Exodus 17. While we are here in the Old Testament we'll pick up some of these references. Exodus 17, and we're in Israel's history here. We might as well review it here and it will prepare us for the rest of what we are going say. Israel is delivered from Egypt in Exodus 14. They come out of Egypt, they cross the Red Sea, remember God parted the waters, they go through on dry land, the Egyptians follow them in and God brings the water back over the armies of the Egyptians and they are destroyed. So that's just in Exodus 14. Then in Exodus 15 Moses has a song giving glory to God for the deliverance. Verse 2, “the Lord is My strength and song, He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise Him, my father's God, I will extol Him” and so on in celebrating the greatness of God and giving Him glory for their deliverance.

You come down to the end of Exodus 15, now keep in mind we've just come of Egypt, we've just had the plagues that destroyed Egypt and delivered the people of God. They've come through the Red Sea, they've seen the hand of God so displayed so mightily. Verse 22, “they went out into the wilderness,” leaving the Red Sea, moving out into the wilderness. They found no water. They came to Marah, they couldn't drink it. It was bitter water. So verse 24, “the people grumbled.” We just got here and now they are grumbling at Moses. But when they grumble at Moses they are grumbling at God because it is God who is directing Moses in all he has done. God graciously provides for them.

You come into Exodus 16, and we're moving along but we're not that far into the trip. Pick up toward the last part of verse 16, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt, that's two months out. The grumbling that characterized them earlier in the trip, verse 2, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And what are they saying? We'd rather have stayed and died in Egypt. Remember how good we had it in Egypt? All the food we wanted to eat. That's not how they had it in Egypt, but that's the way they choose to remember it. Now you've brought us out of the wilderness so we can die of hunger. And we're told in verse 4 that God is testing them.

Just a reminder, the pressures that God brings into our lives as His people are tests for us to demonstrate our faithfulness, our love for the Lord above all and everyone and everything.

Verse 7, Moses says, “you will see the glory of the Lord for He hears your grumblings against the Lord.” They say they are complaining against Moses, what he's doing. They are really complaining against God and what He is doing. So the middle of verse 8, “the Lord hears your grumblings;” verse 12, God says I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel. So God graciously responds and gives them manna from heaven and so on.

We come down into Exodus 17, “all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin according to the command of the Lord.” So a reminder here, what Moses is doing, they are following Moses, Moses is following the Lord. The Lord is giving him instructions—go here, do this, tell them this. So any resistance is a resistance against God and a rejection of God. So again they are running short on water. Therefore, verse 2, “the people quarreled with Moses. Moses said, what are you quarreling with me for? Why do you test the Lord?” And you see what is happening here, and this will become important in Hebrews. Every one of these occasions becomes an opportunity to demonstrate they trust the Lord. You know when we are put to the test is when things don't go well. When everything is well, my health is good, my family is just like I would like them to be, my job is going well, and I'm trusting the Lord. But you know I'm really put to the test, do I really trust the Lord, will I continue to trust Him when all those things aren't going so well.

So here they are, not dying of thirst yet but the water is in short supply. And now where are we going to get enough to go on after today, so to speak. It's a test from the Lord. Will you trust Me? Do you think I brought you out to this wilderness and now I am unable to supply? What should have been the response? There is no water, we're going to run out very shortly, isn't it going to be exciting to see what the Lord does? I can't wait to see how the Lord provides for us, having brought us this far. But under the pressure, no it's a grumbling.

So God provides. And you'll note in verse 7, he named the place Massah and Meribah. And if you have a marginal note in your Bible, you'll note there is a little #1 in front of Massah, that means test, it's a translation of the word. Meribah, the word that means to quarrel. And so in Hebrews when the writer refers back to this, he translates it. He translates the Hebrew word and just uses the word to test or to quarrel, to rebel. But he is referring back to this incident, particularly in Exodus 17 because it is outstanding and a point in Israel's history.

Jump to Numbers, go to Deuteronomy and then we'll come back to Numbers. Trying to put all these Old Testament verses together so we don't have to keep coming back when we get to Hebrews. Deuteronomy 9, and here we are coming to the end of Israel's wanderings. The forty years are going to wind down, Deuteronomy will close with Moses' death and we'll be ready for Joshua to lead them into the land. But Moses gives a summary of Israel's life during these forty years. And note what he says in verse 7, “remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.” What a sad testimony that Moses the leader of God's people has to give as his testimony. You have been continuously rebellious from day one right up until today. He gives a series of examples of their rebellion and unbelief. Then he comes down to verse 24, “you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.” What a terrible statement. They honor Moses, they look at him as their leader, these Hebrews in the book of Hebrews are reading, you look back and what does Moses say about the people that he was responsible for? Forty years of rebellion, forty years of manifesting unbelief. And of course when you look back and see it in history, you say, that's terrible. Why do they do that? But you know where he is going.

You know Christ died, let's say 33 A.D. since that is a normal date used. The book of Hebrews is being written in the middle 60s, let's say 66 A.D. So we are thirty, rounded off thirty-five years, about forty years if you include the life of Messiah, about forty years. Do you know what? These Jewish believers that the letter to the Hebrews is written form somewhat of a pattern. Israel for forty years continued in rebellion against Moses, against God and the word given through Moses. Now we have these Hebrew Christians talking about after forty years of having the Son of God come to earth, reveal His character, give revelation from God, have that revelation further clarified and elaborated are in danger of continuing in rebellion, refusing to believe. What the writer to the Hebrews is saying, you are in a worse position, though. Moses was just a servant in the house. How serious was it when Israel wouldn't obey God through him. But the Son who is over the house has come and now you're talking about rebelling against Him and going back. This is serious business.

That's the context which he is giving in Hebrews.

But we have to go back now to Numbers 14, and I promise after this we'll go to Hebrews. Now here is the context that is a major turning point for Israel after they come out of Egypt. They are wandering in the wilderness a little bit, they are making their way. They get up to Kadesh where they could cross over and go into Canaan, what God promised them. So remember in anticipation they send spies out into the land to get an idea of the land and the people there. So they go in prepared. The spies go into the land, it is just as God said it would be. Their testimony, all of them, Numbers 13:27, “they told him and said, we went into the land you sent us. It certainly does flow with milk and honey, this is the fruit.” Remember they got a pole and they put some of the fruit on it that they gathered and hung it over the pole so they could carry it on their shoulders between them back to show. It is a land just as God said, but there is a problem. The people in the land, the Amalekites, the Canaanites, they are a powerful and strong people. We won't be able to . . . We have no chance against them.

So they come back and give the report. The congregation tells these spies, no, you're wrong, we trust the Lord. The Lord didn't bring us this far to cause us to be destroyed. We'll go in and God will give us the victory, it's going to be exciting to see how He does. No, that wasn't their response. We have it in Exodus 14:2, “all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron.” What did they say? We wish we had died in the land of Egypt. Or I'd rather die in the wilderness. What are we going to do? God has had enough. Do you know what? This is serious and this helps us understand what the warning passages of Hebrews are about. God has put up with their rebellion, God has put up with their unbelief. Now they are on the verge of going into the land. God takes an oath and He says, enough is enough. You are done, you will die in this wilderness; you are not going in. And every man twenty years old and upward in Israel, estimated to be about 600,000 men will have to die in the next forty years before Israel as a nation will go into the land. Important section here.

God taking an oath He will destroy those unbelievers. Moses testifies, verse 18, “the Lord is slow to anger, abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgressions. But He will by no means clear the guilty.” And so He swears these men will die.

Come down to verse 22, you will see verse 21 says, “as I live,” this is God speaking. So the Lord said, verse 20, “indeed as I live.” That's taking an oath. Hebrews will talk about God swore, like we say in court, you swear to tell the truth. You are taking an oath. God takes an oath. Now God's Word is binding, but when God takes an oath, He is declaring and showing to men that this word is so sure and so settled. “As I live all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I have performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet they have put Me to the test these ten times, have not listened to My voice shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers. Nor shall any of those who have spurned Me, who have rejected Me will see it.” That becomes an important principle here. There will come a time when those exposed to the Word of God, those exposed to God's grace and God's power continue to resist it, God draws a line and says, that's it. The days of your opportunity are over. All that is before you now is destruction.

Come back to Hebrews, we'll see where we are building to. But you have the framework that the writer to the Hebrews is assuming, much of which is known and understood by his readers. So we'll pick up with verse 7 of chapter 3 again and just read through this. “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today.” And we have to say something about that word today, it's a key word through this section. When David wrote it in Psalm 95 almost 500 years had gone by since the events that he refers to. We talk about today because the significance of what God is saying and what God is doing continue on. So we'll have in verse 13, “but encourage one another day after day as long as it is called today.” Then you come down to verse 15 and he repeats again, “today if you hear His voice.” Then you come down to Hebrews 4:7, “he fixes a certain day, today, saying through David. Today if you hear His voice.” Important is this continues down to today. You are in a day where God speaks, God offers His salvation but you are in the same position as Israel was so many years ago. If you reject Him today, you are in danger of crossing the line and there will be no tomorrow for you. We take it lightly and say, I'll think about it, I'll see. Israel didn't realize that this one final act of rebellion at Kadesh sealed their doom, 600,000 men who stood in rebellion will all die. There is no chance for repentance. We'll see that before he is done here. Driving home the seriousness of the situation.

“Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me.” That is every time we are exposed to the truth that God speaks and we refuse to believe it and trust Him, we harden our hearts, we provoke God. We challenge God to do something about it, in effect. “As the day of trial in the wilderness when your fathers tried Me by testing Me, saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation and said, they always go astray in their heart.” This is the issue here. Their conduct was a revelation of their heart. This becomes a foundational principle that will come up again and again. They did not know My ways. They did not know them in the sense of obeying and following them. They know them because they heard it, but they refused to believe it and obey it. “As I swore in My wrath,” there is that oath, “as I live says the Lord I swore in My wrath. I took an oath. They shall not enter My rest.” And they did not. Out of that generation of men twenty years old and upward who are responsible for the decisions that were made as the adult men in that congregation of Israel, except for Joshua and Caleb, will die and not go into the land. “They shall not enter My rest.” That concept of God's rest, we will get into more fully in Hebrews 4.

What's the application? “Take care, brethren.” Blepateh is the Greek word, watch out, be watching, be careful, look out. Brethren, he's writing to them as believers because as a group they are believers, that there not be in any one of you. So he writes to them as brethren but among those who are professing brethren. “In any one of you there be an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God.” This is serious. You talk about turning back from Christ, not following through placing your faith in Him and then following through being faithful to Him, that's an evidence of an evil, unbelieving heart. And that's why you can consider turning away from Him, going back to Judaism. You can't go back any more than Israel could go back to Egypt and be faithful to God. I mean, what makes you think you are different? They think they are going to follow Moses and be true to Moses. You are being rebellious against God just like Moses, only in a more serious context because Moses was just a servant in a house and the Son of God who has come and God has spoken in the Son. And you are talking about being rebellious against Him.

You have an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God. Important to see the connection. Those who will become apostates, those who would turn back from Christ, those we are talking about are those who have heard the Word of God, been repeatedly exposed to that Word, had even gone along with a veneer perhaps of being believers in the Word of God. But now they would turn back. Remember what Peter wrote? “It is better not to have known the Word of God than to have heard it, known it and then turn back.” And then he uses that picture of a dog going back to its vomit. Very graphic and revolting picture. But that's how God sees it. “Take care there is not in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart.” You are talking about going back from Christ. That concerns me greatly for you.

But encourage one another day after day. You don't go back if you are a true believer, you encourage one another, you exhort one another, you challenge one another day after day as long as it is still called today. That's part of why we have a fellowship of believers as Israel was a group of God's people called together. We are a group of God's people called together to encourage one another, to challenge one another, to exhort one another. We sometimes think that's just positive things. Let's not talk about the negative, let's encourage one another. But you see what he is doing here with the encouragement. Part of the encouragement is warning about the consequences and dangers that come from not being faithful. What is your heart like? Reminding we don't have any choice. But my family has cut me off, my children don't want to have anything to do with me, my parents don't talk to me, my neighbors shun me. I've been fired from my job, people slander me. Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow Me.” True believers will keep on. It's not that we make our salvation complete and everything that it needs to be to be a true salvation by what we do. The point is those who turn back, those who are unfaithful have an evil, unbelieving heart. Part of the salvation God brings when a heart is truly saved is the perseverance and diligence to keep on. The part of the plan of God to nurture that is the encouragement and challenge that comes from other believers. You know day after day, that's a constant thing. We are involved in one another's lives as God's people, we pray for one another, we encourage one another, we warn one another of the dangers if we get off the track, if we're going down the wrong road, we're not doing . . . This is a disastrous path. That's part of the ministry to one another.

As long as it is still called today. That's a reminder, God's day of salvation will pass. So it is still called today, God is still offering His salvation, He is still challenging us and we are still living in this day where He is working His purposes. While you have opportunity, respond, be diligent, be faithful. So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

You know we are never exposed to the Word of God that something doesn't happen. A great danger to be exposed to the Word of God but to continue to steel yourself against it. And every time we do that our heart is further hardened. It's like getting a callous on your hand. You do something you haven't done and pretty soon your hands are sore and you get a blister. But you know you do that over time, that same activity, and pretty soon you develop callouses and it doesn't bother you. That's what happens, we are continually exposed to the Word of God. People can sit under it and hear it, hear it, hear it. That's fine, good. Do you know what the deceitfulness of sin is? We lure ourselves into thinking there are no consequences for our sin, we're getting away with it. Let's face it, we all think that. You sin and your first thought is if you get caught, this is terrible, I'm not going to do this again. But then nothing seems to happen, you do it again. Pretty soon you can fall into the pattern of that sin. Why? Because I begin to think the consequences aren't so bad, it's okay. And then we begin to think God must not think it's so serious because He didn't do anything. I mean, how many times did Israel grumble? And they still got another chance. They didn't realize at Kadesh that was their last chance. There would not be a tomorrow for them. Every one of those men with the exception of two are going to die without ever seeing the land that God has promised. Wait a minute, remember? We have done this before and nothing happened. We didn't think it was this serious. Better take every occasion as serious.

“For we become partakers of Christ.” Very similar to what we read in verse 6 repeated here, “we have become partakers of Christ,” sharers in Christ. We belong to Him. As he put it in verse 6, “we are Christ's house,” part of those He has redeemed for Himself, “if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” Not a matter of making a profession—yes, I've trusted Christ, I've joined Indian Hills, I was even baptized there, wherever, whatever. So? That may indicate something, it may be nothing. We have to hold fast what we have professed. If I have professed to believe the Gospel, I have placed my trust in Him, the reality of that is ongoing. The righteous shall live by faith. We entered into life by faith in Christ and we continue a life of faith. That is part and parcel of salvation as God brings it. It's not something we earn or we maintain by our faithfulness, we manifest the reality of it by our faithfulness. When God does a work in a life, it is a permanent work. Some have a transitory experience, but true salvation changes a person for good forever.

While it is said, “today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me”. He's reminding them, don't be like Israel was in the Old Testament. Then he's going to ask three questions, and he's going to answer the three questions with three questions. The three questions, the first one. “For who provoked Him when they had heard?” Who are we talking about when they provoked God? That's the first question, who provoked Him. In Numbers 14 it was “those that God had brought out of Egypt,” right? God had brought them through various situations in the wilderness, they had seen Him provide water in a barren land, provide manna from heaven and so on. They get to Kadesh, they are in trouble.

“So indeed did not all those who come out of Egypt led by Moses.” Do you know what? All those people who had been in Egypt saw the plagues on Egypt and the power of God over nature and His ability to reduce Egypt to nothing. Even the Egyptians declared, Egypt is destroyed. Then to wipe out the Egyptian army in a supernatural way after supernaturally bringing them through the sea. These are people who walked through that Red Sea and saw the waters piled up and the land is dry. Then stood on dry land as they crossed over and look back and see the armies of Egypt washed away. Then all God's provision. All the people experienced all that. Do you know what? It didn't change their hearts. They get ready to cross over into the promised land; their heart hasn't changed.

Second question, with whom was He angry for forty years? Serious question here. I mean, the anger of God, to be the object of God's anger for forty years. Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness, and how many of those were there? It was everybody, all the men. The men are held accountable here, they have positions of responsibility and leadership. All the adult men. Who was God angry with for forty years? They bore the consequences of it for that entire, relentless, day after day, funeral after funeral. I don't remember the numbers, I didn't write them down, but this week I got out my calculator, figured about 600,000 men, you have forty years, how many men do you have dying every day? This is just an ongoing funeral procession. You realize for forty years they are not going anywhere. When they have to turn back, they are at the point where they have to go to cross the land. They are just going to go and wander around. What are you wandering around for? We have more to die. You've been here for twenty years, how much longer are you going to do this? I don't know, we still have hundreds of thousands that have to die. What a way to have to live for forty years. All we are doing is keeping track. Pretty soon you have to think, how many are left.

Third question, to whom did He swear? Remember that oath? That they would not enter His rest but to those who were disobedient, they won't go in. The disobedient, you'll note in the Bible disobedience and unbelief are used interchangeably because disobedience is the manifestation of unbelief. That's the connection.

Come back to John 3, one verse and then we have to read the last verse and look at the Old Testament and be done. John 3, note the connection here, the word believe and the word obey. Verse 36, “he who believes in the Son has eternal life, he who does not obey the Son.” There are our two words we are dealing with. He who does not believe, he who believes, obeys. So they put the negative in the obedience. Obedience is the manifestation. Jesus said, if you love Me you will keep My commandments. Not that you enter My love by keeping My commandments, but those who love Me will keep My commandments. It's just a follow through.

This last verse in Hebrews 3, so we see “they were not able to enter because of unbelief.” That's an important verse, we might miss the thrust of it. They cannot go into the land because of unbelief.

Come back to Numbers 14, this is the chapter recording Israel's rebellion, God's judgment. So when Moses tells them the judgment of God, verse 34, “according to the number of days you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, forty years, you will know My opposition.” Hebrews says God was angry with them for forty years. Do you know what Israel does? We made a mistake, we did the wrong thing. We should have trusted God and go into the land. Do you know what we are going to do? We're going to go into the land. So verse 39, “Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel and the people mourned greatly.” Yes, all these tears when we have to bear the consequences of our sin. In the morning they get up and say, we have renewed vigor. That was the wrong thing to do. God said, go into the land, we're going into the land. But you know something? Something has changed. Their “today” is past, there is no opportunity to repent here. Moses said, verse 41, “why are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord when it will not succeed?” Verse 44, “they went up heedlessly and they are defeated by the Amalekites and the Canaanites.”

You see the point in Hebrews when he said, they could not go, they could not enter because of unbelief. The point being noted, there comes a point in apostasy when there is no place for repentance. This is going to come up again in Hebrews 6 strongly, it's going to come up again in Hebrews 10. This is a serious matter. People hear the Word of God, and I want to be honest when I tell people, you'll be able to trust Him whenever. I hope you'll do it. I want them to know, God is giving you an opportunity today and I've told this to multitudes of people when I've talked to them. He may not give you the opportunity tomorrow. We don't presume upon God that we'll do it in our time, on our schedule, when we might decide that God has proven Himself enough. Maybe it's time for me. I'll do it on my deathbed, I'll do it before I die. You do it when God gives you the opportunity or you may never do it. That's why he emphasizes today because they got up the next morning but today was over for them. They couldn't go into the land. And when they tried, they were defeated. We say, why? They wanted to do now what God said. You do what God says when God says, and if we don't, we don't know when God's oath will be. That's it. There is no place of repentance for them from this point on.

This is a serious matter. I can't make that judgment. Moses himself didn't know that this was the final time until God told him, for those people he was leading. They had grumbled before, they had rebelled before but there was another day. But there is no other day now. That's the warning of Hebrews with these warning passages. Those of you who may be among the congregation who have heard the Word again and again and are contemplating not following through with Christ, you better consider your condition. God may say, this day, today is the last day of opportunity for you. You may think I'll do it tomorrow or maybe next Sunday. God will say, no, this is the last day for you. I've taken My stand, I've given My oath. You will not enter into the salvation I have provided. That's where we are going in Hebrews 4.

Serious matter, we need to take it seriously as believers, we need to take it seriously as everyone who hears. Not to make afraid, am I a believer or am I not. It becomes clear, look at your life; look at your heart. Have you trusted Him? Is it manifest in your life? Do others around you see that you have experienced the power and working? Do you live by faith? Are you following the Lord? The tests come, the trials come, my family has rejected me, my parents won't talk to me, my kids are turned against me, the people I work for have . . . I'm going to follow Christ, I have to be faithful to Him, it's in me. If that's not there, then maybe today is the day you say, Lord, I have a rebellious heart, an unbelieving heart. Let's settle it and move on. And we want to encourage one another so that the deceitfulness of sin does not blur our thinking.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word. Father, it is a hard Word but it is a clear Word. You are a God who is merciful and gracious and kind but we cannot presume upon that grace and provoke You again and again and again and be confident that the opportunities will continue to go on. How gracious You are to give us this opportunity today to hear Your truth and believe it. May we be reminded as believers of the necessity of being faithful under pressure. And Lord we are confident that in our salvation You provide that grace and enablement to be faithful to You until the end. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.