HEBREWS 3:7-15

WATCH OUT!

September 28, 2014

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

MEMORY VERSE

Luke 10:27

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all

your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

FALL OUTREACH — MONDAYS — 6:00 P.M. — 6:30 P.M.

A Light dinner will be available for $5.00 per person.

RSVP to join the meal, Missions/Evangelism Office, 601-949-1939.

Teams of three will visit those who have visited FBJ recently.

Sunday, October 05

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

SAVE THE DATE

SUNDAY

OCTOBER 19TH MULTIGENERATIONAL LUNCH

IMMEDIATELY AFTER 10:30 WORSHIP

What’s the number one thing?

The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

J. Vernon McGee's “Thru The Bible”

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John MacArthur, Jr. born June 19, 1939

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Next week:

Hebrews, chapters 4 and 5

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Hebrews 2:1 NKJV 1 “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard,

lest we drift away.”

(message to the intellectually convinced yet uncommitted)

1 Don’t drift.

2 Those who received the most light will receive the harshest judgment.

3 I will reign with Christ, my Brother!

Hebrews 2:9 NKJV 9 But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering

of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might

taste death for everyone.

Bringing Many Sons to Glory

10 For it was fitting for Him, for Whom are all things and by Whom are all things, in

bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect

through sufferings.

Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself

likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had

the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of

death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The Son of God became The Son of Man so that sons of men might become sons

of God.

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1 John 3:8b NKJV 8b For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the

works of the devil.

Satan's weapon, death and the fear of death, is extremely powerful.

But God has a weapon even more powerful — eternal life — and with it Jesus

destroyed death.

The way to eternal life is through resurrection, but the way to resurrection is

through death.

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v14 -"That through death He might destroy him."

Christ Jesus came not only through birth -- His birth didn't save anyone -- but

through death.

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It is by His death He saves us, not by His birth or by His life.

His death brought to us salvation and deliverance from spiritual and eternal

death.

So Jesus had to experience death before He could be resurrected and thereby

give us life.

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He went into death, through death, and came out on the other side, thereby

conquering it.

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Then He could say, "Because I live, you shall live also" (John 14:19).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ provides the believer with eternal life.

The sacrificial death of Christ is the only thing that could ever have done it.

Death is the power of Satan's dominion, and when Jesus shattered Satan's

power He also shattered his dominion.

The thing that terrifies people more than anything else is death.

It is a horrible fear, the king of terrors.

But when we receive Jesus Christ, death holds no more fear.

We have been released from bondage to the fear of death, and, instead, look

forward to it. (1Corinthians 15)

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We also say with Paul, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians

1:21)

and

"O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?"

(1 Corinthians 15:55).

Death no longer holds any fear, for it simply releases us into the presence of our

Lord.

Why?

Because we have placed our hands into the hands of the Conqueror of death,

and our Captain will lead us into one side of the grave and out the other and He

never could have done it if He had not become for a little while lower than the

angels first.

OUR SYMPATHIZER

Hebrews 2:16-18

Hebrews 2:16-18 NKJV 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of

Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He

might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make

propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being

tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Christ did not come to redeem angels but men.

Again the writer of Hebrews answers the question,

"If Jesus is God, why did He become a man?"

He came:

to substitute for men,

to reconcile men to God,

to fit them for God's presence and

to destroy death.

But beyond that He also came to help the reconciled when they are tempted.

He wanted to feel everything we feel so that He could be a merciful and

understanding, as well as a faithful, High Priest.

He came not only to save us but to sympathize with us.

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Remember that, wherever you may go, He has been there before you.

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You can get down on your knees when the going gets tough and you can pray,

'Lord, You know what You went through when You were here?

I'm going through it now.'

And He will say, “Yes, I know.”

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When you have a problem, it is wonderful to be able to talk with the divine One

Who has already experienced it and come through successfully.

Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,

but One Who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

He became our Sympathizer, a merciful and faithful High Priest.

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He was hungry, He was thirsty, He was overcome with fatigue, He slept, He was

taught, He grew, He loved, He was astonished, He was glad, He was angry, He

was indignant, He was grieved, He was troubled, He was overcome by future

events, He exercised faith, He read the scriptures, He prayed, He sighed in His heart

when He saw another man in illness, and He cried when His heart ached.

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Jesus felt everything we will ever feel — and more.

For example, He felt temptation to a degree that we could not possibly

experience.

Most of us never know the full degree of resistible temptation, simply because

we usually succumb long before that degree is reached.

But since Jesus never sinned, He took the full measure of every temptation

that came to Him.

And He was victorious in every trial!

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Why did He go through all of that?

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He is the God we can go to not only for salvation but also for sympathy.

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Jesus is our perfect Savior:

our Substitute,

our Salvation Captain,

our Sanctifier,

our Satan-Conqueror, and

our Sympathizer.

What a Savior He is.

There is no other!

There is one thing this study in the Book of Hebrews should achieve, it is to make

us very conscious that we have a High Priest in Heaven Who is on our side!

He is alive at this moment.

o He is at God's right hand, and best of all, He is available to us.

He knows us, He understands us, and we can take our

burdens to Him at any time, regardless of our location or

situation.

When those dark moments come, and you and I go down into the valley of the

shadow of death, we have a great High Priest up yonder Who will help us.

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No matter what happens, no matter what the test, He is able to help us.

We do not use His services as we should.

We forget about Him and try to fight our battles alone.

He is available and He wants us to come to Him.

Here is the whole summary of Hebrews in one sentence:

Ours is the High Priest of high priests, and He is seated (it is finished!).

His work is done, completely finished for all time and for us.

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1) Jesus had to become a man in order to die.

2) He had to die in order to redeem us and secure our destiny as co-heirs

with Him.

3) He became the Captain of our salvation.

4) We will reign with Him for 1,000 years as we were originally designed to

do.

5) He also came so that He can be our High Priest Who understands what it is

like to live for God in a broken world.

Hebrews 3:7-15

Hebrews 3:7-15 NKJV 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,

And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in

departing from the living God; 13 but exhort (encourage) one another daily,

while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness

of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our

confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 3:7-15 NKJV

Hebrews 3:7a NKJV 7a Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

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Here is one of the clearest testimonies in Scripture to its own divine inspiration.

The writer of Hebrews is saying that the Holy Spirit was the author of Psalm

95:7b-11, from which Hebrews 3:7 is quoted.

What the psalmist said was not his own opinion or his own choice of words.

When he wrote these words the Holy Spirit was speaking through the psalmist,

that is divine inspiration.

These are the words of the Spirit of God, Who is the true Author of Scripture.

The Holy Spirit was involved in the writing of every word (every syllable) of

Scripture.

1 Peter 1:20-21 NKJV 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as

they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 3:7b NKJV 7b “Today, if you will hear His voice”

2 Corinthians 6:2b NKJV 2b “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Hebrews 3:7b NKJV 7b “Today, if you will hear His voice”

In his earlier ministry D.L. Moody often would end his message with, "Go home

and think about what I've said."

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One night in Chicago he told the people to do this and to come back the next

night ready to make a decision.

That night the Chicago fire broke out, and some who had been in his

congregation died.

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That was the last time he told anyone to think over the claims of Christ and make

a decision later.

No one knows if he will have a tomorrow in which to decide.

o Today (Hebrews 3:7b) signifies the present time of grace.

Men today, as in the time of Moody and in the time of Hebrews and in the time

of David and in the time of Moses, never know how long that time of grace for

them will be.

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1 Thessalonians 5:23

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1 Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your

whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

Our soul is made up of our mind, our will and our emotions (heart).

To bring about real change, one must have a change of the mind, a change of

the heart and a change of the will.

Listening to God and obeying Him are matters of will. (mind, will, emotions)

So is hardening the heart to Him, as Israel did, a matter of the will.

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Luke 15:17-18, 20a NKJV 17 “But when he came to himself (change of mind), he said, ‘How many of my

father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with

hunger! 18 I will arise (change of heart - desire) and go to my father, and will say

to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,”’

20a And he arose and came (an act of the will) to his father.

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Paul warns that our hearts, or consciences, can become as insensitive, as skin

does when it is badly burned (1 Timothy 4:2).

The scar tissue that replaces the skin has very little feeling.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 NKJV

1Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,

giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in

hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…

"Today" lasts only as long as there is opportunity to decide — and as long as the

conscience is sensitive to God.

When a person's "today" is over, it is then too late because his heart gets harder

every time he says no to Jesus.

When the heart is soft, when the conscience is sensitive, when the intellect is

convinced about Christ — that is the time to decide, when one is still pliable and

responsive.

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Otherwise he will eventually become spiritually hard, stubborn, and insensitive.

The Gospel will no longer have any appeal.

"Don't be like these people," pleads the writer of Hebrews.

"Don't make excuses for not believing; don't harden your hearts to God like they

did — or you will lose your opportunity like they did."

God had released the Israelites from Egypt by awesome, miraculous plagues.

Just as miraculously He brought them through the Red Sea and destroyed

their pursuers.

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Without fail He had provided manna to feed them and the pillars of cloud and

fire to guide them.

But they still asked, "Is God among us?"

o Nothing is more illogical or unreasonable than unbelief.

Unbelief refuses to accept the most overwhelming evidence — simply because

unbelief does not want to believe.

The will chooses not to believe.

As Jesus made clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, no evidence is

sufficient for the person who does not want to believe.

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"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if

someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31).

The person, on the other hand, who wants to believe - trusts God despite any

evidence that may seem to be lacking.

The father said, "I do believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

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Most people do not need more proof that God is real or that Jesus is His Son and

the Savior.

They need to hate their sin and repent of their sin and to commit themselves to

Him.

A God Who is continually tested will never be accepted.

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The one who tests God today does so for the same reason as did the Israelites in

Moses' day — to put Him off, because they love their sin, their own way, their

own plans too much to give them up for God's way and for His plan.

Hebrews 3:10-11 NKJV 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath,

They shall not enter My rest.’”

The word angry does not mean simply unhappy or disappointed but it means

vexed, wrought up, incensed.

God was extremely angry with Israel's sin because of their unbelief.

Numbers 14:22-23 NKJV 22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in

Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times,

and have not heeded My voice, 23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I

swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.

That is when today is over.

You can stand on the verge of receiving Jesus Christ for a long time, toying with

the idea and thinking, "God, prove Yourself some more. I'm not sure. I'm not

quite ready yet."

And one day He will say, "You've had enough evidence; it's over now.

It is no longer today; it is tomorrow. You will never see My promised land."

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Hebrews 3:11b NKJV 11b “They shall not enter My rest”.

Matthew 11:28-29

REST

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Matthew 11:28-30 28 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.

Scripture presents a fivefold rest:

(1) creation rest;

(2) entrance into Canaan rest;

(3) the rest of salvation;

(4) the rest of consecration; and

(5) Heaven rest.

Here the writer is talking about the rest of fully trusting God, Canaan rest, not only

for salvation but also for daily living.

In this section the emphasis is upon the rest which is ours if we trust Christ.

Ephesians 1:7 NKJV 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,

according to the riches of His grace

(We have rest, salvation rest, from the burden of our sins because of what Jesus

did for us).

1 Peter 2:24 NKJV 24 Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to

sins, might live for righteousness…

Therefore, you don't have to do anything so that God will forgive you; Christ has

already done it when He died for you.

All you have to do is believe and receive Christ and rest in Him.

The people of Israel now knew the rest of redemption.

They were no longer slaves in Egypt.

o They came out by blood -- blood on the doorposts.

They came out by power -- God brought them across the Red

Sea.

God had delivered them.

But then the Lord Jesus went on to say, "Take My yoke upon you, and

learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto

your souls" (Matthew 11:29).

o That is a different kind of rest.

It is not the rest of redemption.

It is the rest of obedience, the rest of enjoying the Christian life.

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Paul talks about this in Romans 6:4-11.

Romans 6:4-11

4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as

Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also

should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we

also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

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6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin

might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who

has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that

we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the

dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death

that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to

God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are now joined to a living Christ, and that is the only way we will enjoy

Canaan, living in Christ while still on this earth – victorious living!

Canaan is not Heaven.

We are going to find out that there is an eternal rest (Heaven rest), and Jesus

gives that rest too, but the question today is, "Have you entered into the rest that

believers are to have as they sojourn on earth?"

Are you a rejoicing Christian today?

The only way to do it is to study and believe the Word of God and how many

Christians today really study the Word of God?

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The Book of Hebrews is going to tell us that the Word of God is quick and

powerful.

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The only way you and I can stay close to Him is to stay close to the Word of God

(remember, don't drift).

And the only way you and I can enjoy the grapes and fruits of the land,

and the beauty and enjoyment of it, is by studying God's Word.

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Without a personal acquaintance with the Word of God, being a church

member seems like everything is a duty instead of a drawing to the person of

Christ.

Those folks say, “I have to go to church” not “I get to go to church”.

The writer of this Hebrew epistle is speaking to those who are already saved but

have not entered into the blessings of the Christian life.

They doubt God, and as a result they are having a wilderness experience.

Hebrews 3:10 NKJV 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 erred in their minds?

No, in their hearts.

Now hold that thought in your mind for a moment.

The generation of Israel who came out of Egypt were cited to the Hebrew

believers in the apostolic days as a warning not to repeat their sin.

There was a danger of their doing that.

We have the same danger today – the danger of erring in our hearts.

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What God had said in Psalm 95 He repeated in Hebrews 3:11 – "They shall not

enter into My rest."

God said that, because of unbelief, the generation of Israelites would not enter

into the Land of Promise.

Until you not only accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, but walk with Him

by faith, committing your life to Him, you are not going to know anything about

the joys of Canaan. Unfortunately, we have a great many wilderness Christians

in our churches.

The wilderness is a place of death;

it is a place of unrest;

it is a place of aimlessness; and

it is a place of dissatisfaction.

o 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.

Hebrews 3:12 NKJV 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in

departing from the living God;

Could unbelief be true of a believer?

Yes, it certainly could and is.

God was extremely angry with their sin and what was their sin?

It was not murder; it was not stealing; it was not lying.

What was it?

They didn't believe God.

Hebrews 3:13 NKJV 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be

hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

When someone tells you that he has an intellectual problem that hinders him

from receiving Christ, simply do not believe it.

J. Vernon Magee had a man come up to him following an invitation and stated

that he had some intellectual problems with Christianity.

Over a period of weeks, Dr. Magee showed this businessman the truths from

Scripture that addressed his concerns.

When the man was still hesitant to make a commitment, Dr. Magee looked him

straight in the eye and asked, "What sin do you have in your life that is keeping

you from Christ?"

He turned red and asked, "Has somebody been telling you about me?"

"No, I just know that your intellectual problem is really a heart problem. There is

something in your life that is keeping you from Christ."

He broke down.

In fact, he wept and confessed that he had been paying the rent for his

secretary's apartment and was spending a great deal of time there.

When asked if his wife knew about it, he said that he had kept it a secret.

Then J. Vernon asked him, "Then that's your trouble, isn't it -- you wouldn't want

to give up your secretary for Christ?"

He looked at Dr. Magee and said, "Yes." Then he said, "I'll stop the rent and I'll

talk to her tomorrow."

Well, he not only talked to her, but he fired her.

She threatened to expose him, but she didn't.

He got down on his knees that very day in my office and accepted Christ as his

Savior.

People don't really have intellectual problems which keep them from

Christ, but they sure do have sin problems.

2 Corinthians 3:7, 11-18 NKJV

Glory of the New Covenant

7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones (The Ten

Commandments), was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look

steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which

glory was passing away, (Paul is not saying that the Law wasn't glorious; it was,

but that glory was to disappear.)

11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

(Paul is making a contrast between the glory of the Law, which actually made

Moses' face shine, and the greater glory that we have in Christ.)

12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could

not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.

(Moses didn't put a veil over his face as a dimmer, to dim the glory, which is the

general interpretation, but the glory was disappearing and he put a veil over his

face so that folk wouldn't know about its disappearance.)

14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in

the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But

even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

(Unbelief is not an intellectual problem; it is a heart problem. You may be one

who has not come to Christ because there is sin in your life and you do not want

to give it up.)

The minute your heart is ready to give it up, at that moment your "intellectual"

problems will dissolve.

He will take the veil away from your mind, and you can come to Christ and be

saved.

16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

(The veil will be removed from your mind when your heart turns to Christ.)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

(The Holy Spirit will move into your life and make Christ real to you, as He is

doing for multitudes of folk in our day. Then when we come to Him --)

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the

Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:7, 11-18 NKJV

Now let's return to Hebrews 3:13 where we are reminded, 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be

hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

We as believers need to beware of the deceitfulness of sin.

We can actually come to the place where we feel our lives are satisfactory to

God although we are leading a wilderness life.

For example, a believer can be dishonest and yet say that his conscience does

not condemn him!

Then he should condemn his conscience, because it has become hardened

through continuance in sin.

There are men in the ministry who have been totally dishonest; they have been

found to be liars, yet they can get down on their knees and pray the most pious

prayers you have ever heard.

And their conscience does not condemn them.

Of course it doesn't condemn them, because it has become hardened; they are

permitting sin in their lives.

This writer of the Hebrew epistle goes back to the wilderness experience of

Israel, applies it to the Hebrew believers of the first century, and steps on our toes

also.

It is the Holy Spirit who applies these truths to our own hearts.

The greatest sin in the world is unbelief.

It is the greatest offense against God and brings the greatest harm to ourselves.

When you have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, when you have acknowledged

that it is the truth, and then turn your back and walk away from Him, there is

nothing God can do.

Once you have heard the Gospel and understood its claims, and then say no to

Jesus Christ, you have fallen away.

You have become apostate.

If you continue to follow your evil, unbelieving heart rather than the Gospel, you

will forever depart from the living God, and forfeit salvation rest.

Turning away from Jesus Christ is much more than rejecting historical, traditional

Christianity.

Turning away from Jesus Christ is turning away from the living God.

It is turning away from life itself.

Hebrews 3:13a NKJV 13a but exhort one another daily,

Exhort (encourage) is from the Greek parakaleo, a form of the word used by

Jesus of the Holy Spirit (paraklete) in John 14:16.

The root meaning has to do with coming alongside to give help.

John 14:16 NKJV 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may

abide with you forever—

The writer is saying to the believers among those to whom he is writing, "Get

along side each other and help each other."

They are especially urged to help their unbelieving brethren by encouraging

them not to harden their hearts but to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Deceitfulness means "trickery" or “strategem”. (strategy/schemes)

Sin is tricky; it seldom appears as it really is.

o It always masks itself. It lies and deceives (Romans 7:11).

When a person becomes spiritually hardened, he rarely is aware of it.

He can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ time and time again and not respond.

"The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay."

If your heart is not melted in faith, it will be hardened in unbelief.

“My life has room for improvement, but it doesn't need 'saving'" or so their

thinking goes.

This is what the sin nature deceitfully tells men about their need for salvation.

Either you believe to the saving of your soul or you fall back to damnation.

Hebrews 3:14 NKJV 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our

confidence steadfast to the end,

“The faith that fizzles at the finish had a flaw from the first.”

Adrian Rogers

If we really believe the Gospel, if we have committed our life to Jesus Christ,

then at the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of life, our commitment

will still stand.

The greatest proof of salvation is continuance in the Christian life.

The true believer stays with Christ.

John 8:31

"If you abide in My word," Jesus said, "then you are truly disciples of Mine".

When someone departs from the Gospel, backs away from the faith, we can

only conclude that this person never believed.

1 John 2:18-19 NKJV 18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is

coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the

last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of

us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be

made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Staying with the Lord marks the difference between possession and profession.

Hebrews 3:15 NKJV 15 while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

The writer of Hebrews repeats Psalm 95 again to remind the reader that these

truths are not for yesterday only, but for us today.

If you would ask J. Vernon Magee, “Preacher, what is the great sin in your life,

what is it that has held you back more than anything else?"

He said that he would have to admit that it is unbelief.

“As I look back upon my years of ministry, I realize that I did not believe God as I

should have. And today there is one thing I want above everything else, and

that is to believe God. I want to commit my life to Him completely, turn

everything over to Him.”

J. Vernon Magee

This is the "rest" the writer of this Hebrew epistle is talking about, the rest of fully

trusting God -- not only for salvation but for daily living, for the help and the

wisdom and the strength we need to live the Christian life.

The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness because they did not have faith

to enter the Promised Land.

As we have seen, Canaan does not represent Heaven; it represents the place of

spiritual blessing and victory.

The apostle Paul was speaking of his own experience when he cried, "O

wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

(Romans 7:24).

That is not the cry of an unsaved man, it is the cry of a saved man who is a

defeated Christian, who finds no satisfaction in Christ because he is not trusting.

The problem was lack of faith.

The disobedience of unbelief forfeits blessing and brings judgment.

God has great blessings prepared.

He wants to pour out these riches on us, not only in this life but throughout

all eternity.

There is one thing required — faith.

They were not able to enter because of unbelief (Proverbs 29:1; Jude 5).

Jude 1:5 NKJV

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having

saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did

not believe.

Everyone lives by faith.

We live by faith when we go into a restaurant and eat the food without

questioning its safety.

When driving down the highway, we are not in constant fear that around the

next bend the road will lead us into a river where there is no bridge.

We trust the people who made the highways and the people who have

traveled over them before us.

We live by faith almost constantly.

If we can put our faith in the highway department and the people who

prepare our food, we surely can put our faith in the God of the universe.

Not to trust in Him is fatal!

God had released the Israelites from Egypt by awesome, miraculous plagues.

Just as miraculously He brought them through the Red Sea and destroyed

their pursuers.

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But the people accepted the majority report (this is my reason for believing that

committees are not satisfactory for doing the Lord's work), and they spent forty

years on a journey that should have taken a few days.

What was the reason?

Unbelief!

Obviously Satan's power over us had to be broken in order for us to be brought

to God.

http://hopeforallmin.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/broken-chains.jpg

Satan's primary power over man and supreme weapon against him is death.

Sin gives Satan his power over us; but the power itself is death.

We children were once held in servitude by our enemy, Satan.

Since we were human, our Captain had to become human and die for us, in

order to rescue us.

But by doing so He was able to destroy the devil.

The author of Hebrews did not mean that Satan ceased to exist or to be active.

Rather the word he used for "destroy" (katargeo – kahtarGEHoh) indicates the

annulment of his power over those whom Christ redeems.

In speaking of the devil as wielding the power of death, the writer meant that

Satan uses people's fear of death to enslave them to his will.

Often people make wrong moral choices out of their intense desire for self-

preservation.

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We are reminded that we are no longer subject to such slavery (fear of death)

and that we can face death with the same confidence in God that our Captain

had.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2MyXbprhnZA/UUIJgNG0vtI/AAAAAAAACSY/GpKKddwEBwc/s1600/No-Fear-of-Death.jpg

So in this regard, why did Christ become man?

Why did He die?

o That through death He might render powerless him who had the

power of death, that is, the devil.

The only way to destroy the works of Satan was to rob him of his weapon, death

— physical death, spiritual death, eternal death.

So God had to wrest from Satan the power of death and for just that

purpose Jesus came.

Men today, as in the time of Moody and in the time of Hebrews and in the time

of David and in the time of Moses, never know how long that time of grace for

them will be.

You never know how soon it will be too late!

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