09 September 28, 2014 Hebrews 3;7-15 Watch Out

HEBREWS 3:7-15
WATCH OUT!
September 28, 2014
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

Luke10:27
“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.
Teams of three will visit those who have visited FBCJ recently.
Light dinner will be available for $5.00 per person.RSVP at 601-949-1939.

Sunday, October 5th
6:00 PM -7:00 PM

SAVE THE DATE
SUNDAY
OCTOBER 19TH
MULTIGENERATIONAL LUNCH
immediately after the 10:30 worship

What’s the number one thing?

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The Glory of God!

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

http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Podcasts6/v4/32/5f/79/325f79f3-a0f1-02e5-5382-d8d519585dbe/mza_8884854500008393311.255x255-75.jpg
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 heedto the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”
(message to the intellectually
convinced yet uncommitted)

1 Don’t drift.
2Those who received the most light
will receive the harshest
judgment.
3I will reign with Christ, my Brother!

Hebrews 2:9-10 NKJV
9But 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
10For it was fitting for Him, for Whom areall things and by Whom areall things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvationperfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:9-10 NKJV

Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV
14Inasmuch then as the children have partakenof 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,

15and release those who through fear of deathwere all their lifetime subject to bondage.

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

1 John 3:8b NKJV
8bFor this purposethe 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.

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

v14 -"That through deathHe 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 deathHe saves us, not by His birth or by His life.
His deathbrought to us salvation and deliverance from spiritual and eternal death.

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So Jesus had to experience death beforeHe 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.

Then He could say,
"Because I live, you shall live also" (John 14:19).
The resurrectionof Jesus Christ provides the believer with eternal life.

The sacrificial death of Christ is the only thingthat could ever have done it.
*Death is the power of Satan's dominion, and when Jesus shatteredSatan's power He also shattered his dominion.

The thing that terrifiespeople 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.

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We have been released from bondage to the fear of death, and, instead,
look forward to it. (1Corinthians 15)

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 usinto one side of the grave and out the other and He never could have done it if He had not become for a littlewhile lower than the angels first.

OUR SYMPATHIZER
Hebrews 2:16-18

16For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aidto the seed of Abraham.

17Therefore, in all things He had to be made likeHis brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in thingspertainingto God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18For 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 substitutefor men,
to reconcilemen to God,
to fit themfor 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.

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He came not only to save us
but to sympathizewith us.

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

You can get down on your knees
when the going gets tough and you can pray,
'Lord, You know what You went throughwhen You were here?
I'm going through it now.'

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And He will say, “Yes, I know.”

When you have a problem, it is wonderful to be able to talk with the divine One Who has already experienced itand come through successfully.

Hebrews 4:15
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathizewith our weaknesses, but One Who has been tempted in all thingsas we are, yet without sin.

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

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,

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He exercised faith, He read the scriptures, He prayed, He sighed in His heart when
He saw another
man in illness, and
He criedwhen His
heart ached.

Jesus felt everything we will ever feel —and more.
For example, He felt temptation to a degreethat we could not possibly experience.

Most of us never know the full degree of resistible temptation, simply because we usually succumblong before that degree is reached.
*But since Jesus never sinned, He took the full measure of every temptationthat came to Him.

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And He was victoriousin 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.

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 thingthis study in the Book of Hebrews should achieve, it is to make us very conscious that we have a High Priest in HeavenWho is on our side!

*He is alive at this moment.
**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 Himat any time, regardless of our location or situation.

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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.

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 availableand 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!).

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

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 NKJV
7Therefore, as the Holy Spiritsays:
“Today, if you will hear His voice, 8Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,

9Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10Therefore I was angrywith that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in theirheart,
And they have not known My ways.’

11So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
12Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeliefin departing from the living God;

13but exhort(encourage) one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you behardenedthrough the deceitfulness of sin.
14For we have become partakers of Christ if we holdthe beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,

15while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Hebrews 3:7-15 NKJV

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Hebrews 3:7a NKJV
7aTherefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Here is one of the clearesttestimonies 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 opinionor his own choice of words.
When he wrote these words the Holy Spirit was speakingthrough 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, nowisthe accepted time; behold, nowisthe day of salvation.”

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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.

That was the last timehe 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.
**Today(Hebrews 3:7b) signifies the present timeof grace.

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Men today, as in the time of Moodyand in the time of Hebrewsand in the time of Davidand in the
time of Moses, never
know how long that timeof grace for them will be.

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1 Thessalonians 5:23

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV
23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and bodybe preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our soul is made up of our mind, our willand our emotions(heart).
To bring about real change, one must have a change of the mind, a change of the heartand a change of the will.

Listening to God and obeyingHim are matters of will. (mind, will, emotions)
So is hardeningthe
heart to Him, as
Israel did, a matter
of the will.

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,”’
20aAnd he arose and came(an act of the will) to his father.
Luke 15:17-18, 20a NKJV

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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 timessome 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 timehe says no to Jesus.

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When the heart is soft, when the conscience is sensitive, when the intellect is convincedabout Christ — that is the timeto
decide, when one
is still pliable and
responsive.

Otherwise he will eventually become spiritually hard, stubborn, and insensitive.
The Gospel will no longer have any appeal.

"Don'tbe 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 opportunitylike they did."

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God had released the Israelites from Egypt by awesome, miraculousplagues.
*Just as miraculously He
brought them through
the Red Seaand
destroyed their pursuers.

Without fail He had provided mannato feed them and the pillars of cloud and fire to guide them.
*But they still asked,
"Is God among us?"
**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 choosesnot to believe.

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As Jesus made clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, no evidence is sufficientfor the
person who does
not want to believe.

"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuadedif someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31).

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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).

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 repentof their sin and to committhemselves to Him.

A God Who is continually testedwill never be accepted.

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 muchto give them up for God's way and for His plan.

10Therefore I was angrywith that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in theirheart, And they have not known My ways.’

11So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

The word angrydoes not mean simply unhappy or disappointed but it means vexed, wrought up, incensed.
God was extremely angrywith Israel's sin because of their unbelief.

Numbers 14:22-23 NKJV
22because 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 testnow these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,

23they certainly shall not seethe land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejectedMe see it.
Numbers 14:22-23 NKJV

That is when todayis 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."

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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."

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

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Matthew 11:28-29
REST

Matthew 11:28-30
28Come to Me, all youwho labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yokeupon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For My yoke iseasy 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
7In 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
24Who 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 itwhen He died for you.
All you have to do is believeand receiveChrist and restin Him. .

The people of Israel now knew the
rest of redemption.
*They were no longer slavesin Egypt. **They came out by blood--blood
on the doorposts.
***They came out by power--God
brought them across the Red Sea.

God had deliveredthem.
*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 restunto your souls" (Matthew 11:29).
**That is a different kind of rest.

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It is not the rest of redemption.
It is the rest of obedience, the rest of enjoying the Christian life.

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

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5For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be
in the likenessof
Hisresurrection,

6knowing 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. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin.

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

10For the deaththat He died, He died to sin once for all; but the lifethat He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:4-11

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?

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The only way to do it is to studyand believethe 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.

The only way you and I can stay close to Him is to stay closeto 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 studyingGod's Word.

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Without a personal acquaintancewith the Word of God, being a church member seems like everything is a dutyinstead of a drawing to the person of Christ.
Those folks say, “I have to goto 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 blessingsof the Christian life.
They doubt God, and as a result they are having a wilderness experience.

Hebrews 3:10 NKJV
10Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in theirheart, 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 dangerof their doing that.

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

What God had said in Psalm 95 He repeated in Hebrews 3:11 –"They shall notenter 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, committingyour life to Him, you are not going to know anything about the joys of Canaan. Unfortunately, we have a great many wilderness Christiansin 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.
*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 knowwhat rest really means.
*They have never entered into it because they must enter by faith.

Hebrews 3:12 NKJV
12Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeliefin 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
13but 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
7But if the ministry of death, written andengraved 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 glorywas
passing away,
(Paul is not saying that the Law
wasn't glorious; it was, but that glory was to disappear.)

11For if what is passing away wasglorious, what remains ismuch 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.)

12Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13unlike Moses, whoput 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.)

14But their minds were blinded.
For until this day the same veil
remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veilis taken away in Christ.

15But 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.

16Nevertheless 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.)

17Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there isliberty.
(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 --)

18But 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,
13but 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 hardenedthrough 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
13abut exhortone 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
16And 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 helpeach other."

They are especially urged to help their unbelievingbrethren 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.
**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 deceitfullytells 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
14For we have become partakersof 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 proofof salvation is continuance in the Christian life.

The true believer stays with Christ.
John 8:31
"If you abidein My word," Jesus said, "then you are trulydisciples 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
18Little 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.

19They 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 outthat they might be made manifest, that none
of them were of us.
1 John 2:18-19 NKJV

Staying with the Lordmarks the difference between possession and profession.

Hebrews 3:15 NKJV
15while 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
5But 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, miraculousplagues.
*Just as miraculously He
brought them through
the Red Seaand
destroyed their pursuers.

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!

http://hopeforallmin.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/broken-chains.jpg
Obviously Satan's power over us had to be broken
in order for us
to be brought
to God.

Satan's primary power over man and supreme weapon against him is death.
Sin gives Satan his powerover us; but the power itself is death.

We children were once held in servitudeby 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 destroythe devil.
The author of Hebrews did not mean that Satan ceased to existor to be active.

Rather the word he used for "destroy" (katargeo –kahtarGEHoh) indicates the annulmentof 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 deathto enslave them to his will.

http://itsallaboutmemovie.com/wp-content/themes/iaam/img/iaam-logo.jpg
Often people make
wrong moral choices
out of their intense
desire for self-preservation.

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, whydid Christ become man?
*Why did He die?
**That through death He might render powerlesshim who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

The only way to destroy the works of Satan was to rob himof 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!

http://rlv.zcache.com/said_the_robin_to_the_sparrow_greeting_cards-r703ae6198379482d8e6e98d2481db169_xvuak_8byvr_512.jpg

09 September 28, 2014 Hebrews 3;7-15 Watch Out

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09 September 28, 2014 Hebrews 3;7-15 Watch Out