Introduction:
Hard-Heartedness - Why You Absolutely Must Pay Attention:
(Hebrews 3:7-19)
- Pay Attention: We're dealing with a Recurring problem! (Heb 3:9-10)
- Do I Demand from God? (Heb 3:9)
- Do I Persist in sin? (Heb 3:10)
Have I Hardened My Heart?
- Pay Attention: The consequences are Tragic ! (Heb 3:11)
- Pay Attention: There's something You can Do about it! (Heb 3:12-19)
- Watch each others' backs. (Heb 3:12-14)
- Don't think it can't Happen to You . (Heb 3:15-19)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:47-00:52
Hebrews 3, if you're not there, please turn there.
00:52-00:55
I'd just like you to pray for me, please.
00:56-01:00
And I'm going to pray for you as we turn to God's Word together.
01:02-01:05
Father in heaven, we are just now turning to Your Word.
01:07-01:15
We've already spent so much time in worship, in music, and around Your table, and in prayer, and in fellowship.
01:15-01:23
And right now, Father, You've heard from us, and now we want to hear from You.
01:25-01:39
I just pray, Father, that this Word would grab every heart in this room, every heart listening to this stream, podcast, later, whatever, Father.
01:39-01:41
Take every heart and wrestle us to the ground.
01:44-01:46
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
01:48-02:08
Hebrews 3. If you decide to go on a mission trip, you'll get on an airplane, unless you go on the West Virginia trip, but you'll get on an airplane and you'll see a very strange custom that takes place on the airplane.
02:08-02:21
You know the one I'm talking about, the flight attendant gets up and walks you through the "in case the plane is going to crash into the ocean" speech. You know what I'm talking about?
02:23-02:37
And I've flown a lot, but I gotta tell you that scene always fascinates me. Because you have somebody standing up giving a life and death message.
02:38-02:41
And as you look around, what are people doing?
02:42-02:49
Leafing through their magazines, starting to put your earphones in, and lay back, get ready for their rest, or they're eating something.
02:52-02:57
And I always think, what if we really were in an emergency?
02:58-03:00
Would anybody here know what's going on?
03:04-03:16
And I'm convinced that that scene in the airplane is such a graphic picture of the church in the United States.
03:17-03:19
Because do you know what you have in the church in the United States?
03:20-03:50
You have somebody getting up like the flight attendant, going through the motions and giving the message, no passion, no care, knows what needs to be said, and just goes through the motions with incredible apathy and indifference, communicating a life-and-death message to a group of people who can't wait until it's over so they can get on with their business.
03:50-03:54
That's the picture of our church in this country.
03:56-03:57
Apathy.
03:59-04:01
Just, when are we done?
04:03-04:11
And as we turn to this passage here in Hebrews, you know, we go to God's Word.
04:11-04:15
If God says something once, you should listen, right?
04:16-04:22
If God says something twice, you should sit up and write it down.
04:24-04:30
If God says something three times, you should make it your singular focus.
04:30-04:38
"Okay, okay, all right, I'm listening." What should you do if God says something four times?
04:39-04:57
Your attitude should be, "Nothing else in the world matters except this, because God wants me to hear something." And four times in this passage, Hebrews 3-4, God has the same message over and over and over and over, and here it is.
04:57-05:11
God says, "Do not harden your heart." It's the most dire warning, because it carries the greatest consequences.
05:11-05:22
And I've got to tell you, church, if the Lord would appear to me and say, "Jeff, you've got one more sermon to preach, and then you're gone to heaven." This would be it.
05:25-05:39
You would say, "Jeff, what's the most important message the church needs to hear?" I would say, "This has to be it, because of the urgency that the Lord communicates to us in His Word." Do not harden your heart.
05:41-06:04
Look at chapter 3, picking up in verse 7, it says, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness." Like, "Man, you seem pretty fired up about this.
06:04-06:12
What does it mean to harden your heart?" It means to spiritually become calloused.
06:13-06:14
Right?
06:15-06:34
I'm sure many of you, like me, on your hands have callouses that I could take a pin and stab myself and puncture the skin all over, but there are certain parts of my hand I can't get a pin through there, no matter how hard I push, because it's so hard and calloused.
06:34-06:47
Right? And that's what it means to harden your heart, is that you have, over time, made your heart so hard that it's unable to be punctured spiritually.
06:47-06:51
And in that picture, the needle represents the gospel.
06:53-06:55
So you see, the problem over time isn't with the gospel.
06:56-06:57
That's not the problem.
06:57-07:01
The problem is you have hardened yourself so much against it that it can't puncture.
07:02-07:03
That's what it means to harden your heart.
07:06-07:19
You're like, "Well, how does that happen?" Is there anybody here, a show of hands, that would say, "You know what, Pastor Jeff, I have a hard time saying no to people." Anybody here have a hard time saying, "I see a few hands going up.
07:19-07:25
It's hard for me to say no to people." Well, here's something about that.
07:26-07:30
The more you do, the easier it gets.
07:32-07:33
And this is the warning.
07:36-07:58
The more you say no to God, and truly believing Him, The more you say no to God in truly following Him, in truly living a Spirit-filled, God-glorifying life, the more you say no to God, the harder your heart becomes.
07:59-08:02
And as I just said a minute ago, it has the greatest consequences.
08:03-08:08
Why? Because a hard heart is unable to believe.
08:12-08:18
This is the tragedy of hard-heartedness, is that you put yourself in a position of hopelessness.
08:18-08:19
That's bad enough.
08:20-08:25
What makes it worse is you don't care.
08:27-08:31
So, on your outline today, hard-heartedness.
08:34-08:38
I didn't know what else to label this. I just said why you absolutely must pay attention.
08:40-08:43
You absolutely must pay attention.
08:45-08:46
The first of all, letter A, pay attention.
08:47-08:49
We're dealing with a recurring problem.
08:52-08:55
Pay attention, we're dealing with a recurring problem.
08:57-09:08
Now we already read verses 7 and 8, but just to give you a quick snapshot here, verses 7 through 11 in this passage actually come from Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11.
09:08-09:24
and this is like an inception moment, but the Hebrew writer is quoting David from Psalm 95, who is taking Israel back to Moses' day when they were wandering through the wilderness.
09:26-09:41
So you see what's happening here, as I'm telling you what the Hebrew writer told his church, what David told Israel, what happened in Moses' day, "Don't do what they did." And you know the story, right?
09:41-09:44
Go back to the story of the Exodus.
09:44-09:49
Remember, Israel had moved to Egypt because of a famine.
09:49-09:52
And while they were in Egypt, lots of babies were being born.
09:52-09:54
It was a lot like Harvest Bible Chapel, actually.
09:54-09:56
Lots of babies were being born.
09:56-10:03
So many babies that the Egyptian leaders were like, "There's a problem here.
10:03-10:10
If we get attacked by another nation, and the Jews that are here are like, "Hey, we're helping the enemy." The Egyptians are like, "We're done.
10:11-10:18
There are so many of them. If they join on with the enemy, they will squash us." So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites.
10:21-10:23
Well, to put it lightly, the Lord wasn't a fan of that.
10:24-10:26
So God raised up Moses to deliver them.
10:27-10:29
Well, Pharaoh wasn't a fan of that.
10:29-10:32
So he's like, "I'm not letting you go." You know the story, right?
10:32-10:34
Exodus, God sent ten plagues.
10:35-10:38
And the last plague was the death of the firstborn.
10:39-10:41
And that's where the Passover comes in.
10:41-10:48
The blood of the spotless lamb, if you're covered under that, the angel of death will pass over.
10:49-10:59
And at that point, Beirut was like, "You can go, I'll help you pack." And you know the story, and gave pursuit.
11:00-11:04
Red Sea, God parted it for the Israelites, closed it over the Egyptians.
11:06-11:16
And at that point in the story, I would expect like this joyful trip to the promised land.
11:17-11:32
I would expect them to be like skipping and singing, like, "We're going to receive the promise of God!" and just high fives and rejoicing and...
11:32-11:34
You read the account, right? Is that what happened?
11:37-11:42
They refused to believe God at every single stinking turn.
11:43-11:45
Everything God did for them.
11:46-11:47
Everything He did.
11:49-11:50
They refused to believe.
11:51-11:54
That's why verse 8, we've got to get this context here.
11:54-12:04
Verse 8 says, "On the day of testing in the wilderness..." You're like, "What testing?" Well, there's two that need mentioned very quickly.
12:04-12:06
One of them is in Exodus 17.
12:07-12:14
Remember, Israel found themselves in a position where there was no water where they were, and they immediately went into faithless mode.
12:14-12:16
Is God with us or not?
12:19-12:19
What?
12:21-12:24
Legs, Red Sea, is God with us or not?
12:26-12:27
What's the matter with you?
12:28-12:30
Then fast forward to Numbers 14.
12:30-12:34
You remember the story of the twelve spies sent to spy out the land?
12:34-12:36
And ten came back, and they're like, "We're doomed!
12:37-12:47
We're like grasshoppers compared to them!" And then two of them, Joshua and Caleb, were like, "Let's go! It's going to be awesome!" and fear spread.
12:49-12:54
And instead of having the faith to go take what God provided for them, they shrunk back.
12:55-13:05
And God says, "Okay." And He made them wander in the wilderness until that whole generation, people over the age of 20, they all died out.
13:05-13:11
And the only two from that generation allowed to enter the Promised Land were those two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb.
13:12-13:16
God says, "They refuse to believe Me." So they're not going to enter the land.
13:17-13:18
They're not going to receive the promise.
13:21-13:24
Now look, you've read this.
13:24-13:27
Some of you could get up here and tell the story.
13:28-13:35
So I don't need to just get up here and rehash Bible accounts.
13:37-13:38
Here's the real issue today.
13:39-13:45
You need to ask yourself, "Have I hardened my heart?" We're not just examining people on a page.
13:45-13:47
There's a point that God told us this.
13:47-13:49
He wants us to look here, okay?
13:49-14:01
He wants us to look at this story and examine ourselves, so you need to ask, "Have I hardened my heart?" You're like, "Well, how does that happen?" A couple of things from this passage.
14:02-14:04
First of all, do I demand from God?
14:05-14:07
Number one, do I demand from God?
14:08-14:09
Look at verse 9.
14:12-14:36
Again, quoting Psalm 95, He says, "Where your fathers put Me to the test, and saw My works for forty years." So you have to ask yourself, "Do I demand from God?" Because if you live that way, You're putting yourself in a horrible situation.
14:39-14:40
You know, we read the story.
14:41-14:47
We go through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
14:48-14:54
We read this and we're like, "What were they thinking?" What a bunch of knuckleheads. What were they thinking?
14:56-15:01
They saw God's works every single day.
15:01-15:02
Think of what they saw.
15:03-15:06
Manna from heaven, water from a rock.
15:07-15:11
There was a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.
15:11-15:14
It was God's glory that actually led them.
15:15-15:17
And the Bible says their clothes didn't wear out.
15:18-15:20
Parents, wouldn't you like to know how that happened?
15:21-15:23
It was a miracle, but wouldn't you like that for your kids?
15:24-15:26
Their clothes didn't wear out.
15:28-15:29
And what was their response?
15:30-15:35
Over and over and over and over, they put God to the test.
15:36-15:39
Like, what does it mean, "they put God to the test"?
15:39-15:41
It means this, listen, you've got to hear this.
15:43-15:47
Putting God to the test is when you demand that God proves Himself to you.
15:47-15:48
That's what that means.
15:49-15:52
You demand that God proves Himself to you.
15:52-15:52
That was Israel.
15:53-15:56
"Prove you exist, God! Prove you care, God!
15:56-16:00
Prove that you're gonna help me, God." Now listen, we all want a glimpse of God at work.
16:00-16:02
That's why this church was planted.
16:02-16:05
That's all we ever wanted was to see God's hand at work.
16:05-16:06
I'm not talking about that.
16:06-16:08
We should want to see God at work.
16:08-16:10
That's not what I'm talking about here.
16:10-16:12
Testing is beyond that.
16:13-16:25
Testing is, "God, you have to constantly prove yourself to me." Because when you look at Israel wandering through the wilderness, as soon as God made provision, as soon as he made provision, They started complaining again.
16:26-16:29
"Yeah, but what about this? Yeah, but what about that?
16:30-16:34
Did you bring us out here to die, Moses?" What?
16:37-16:38
They were never satisfied.
16:40-16:42
They were never thankful.
16:44-16:48
And they, listen, church, they made an issue out of everything.
16:50-16:53
God made perfect provision, do you remember?
16:53-17:16
And they're like, "Do you remember back in Egypt, the meat that we had?" How about, "Do you remember back in Egypt, you were slaves?" Or my favorite, when they were like, "Do you remember back in Egypt, the leeks?" I'm like, "I'm calling baloney on that." Nobody ever got excited about a leek, ever.
17:18-17:23
But somehow, we have awfully short memories, don't we?
17:26-17:36
Instead of being grateful worshippers, they acted like spoiled toddlers for 40 years.
17:39-17:49
Church, listen, when you demand that God performs, It has to be my way. It has to be according to my timetable, God.
17:50-18:01
When you are constantly complaining, you never take the time to thank God, or to praise God in front of others for all that He's provided you.
18:01-18:04
When you live in that mode, do you know what you're doing?
18:05-18:07
You're putting God to the test.
18:08-18:09
It's a terrible idea.
18:12-18:15
If you're real, God, God, if you're real, prove yourself.
18:15-18:18
God, if you care, do this.
18:18-18:21
God, you need to prove yourself to me, God.
18:21-18:26
Show me that demanding from God never takes you anywhere good.
18:29-18:35
Right now, somebody's like, yeah, I hear what you're saying, Jeff, but look, you mentioned the manna, the water from a rock and all of that.
18:35-18:38
Look, Jeff, do you know how many miracles they saw?
18:41-18:53
And my response to that would be, "Okay, well, what have we seen God do?" Because I would suggest to you that we've seen God do way more than they ever did.
18:57-19:00
Because the evidence is in regarding Jesus Christ.
19:03-19:05
See, they lived before all that.
19:08-19:14
We are blessed to live on this side of history and see God became a man and lived here.
19:14-19:18
And He did these miracles.
19:18-19:24
And He taught with these words of authority unmatched by anybody.
19:26-19:32
And He was crucified exactly as He said He would.
19:33-19:38
And then He rose from the dead exactly as He promised.
19:39-19:47
So, have we seen less than the Israelites? Or have we seen more?
19:50-19:51
Here's how faith works.
19:52-20:06
Faith isn't man saying, "God, show me and I'll believe." Faith is God saying, "Hey, you believe and I'll show you." So demanding from God, you harden your heart.
20:07-20:09
How do you harden your heart?
20:09-20:14
Number two, ask yourself this, "Do I persist in sin?" Look at verse 10.
20:16-20:24
It says, "Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said..." Look at this, two things.
20:25-20:29
"They always go astray in their hearts.
20:30-20:35
They have not known my ways." It says God was provoked.
20:36-20:37
Literally, that's aggravated.
20:40-20:42
So how about interpretation by voting?
20:43-20:45
Aggravating God. Good idea or bad idea?
20:48-20:49
Bad idea.
20:51-20:52
God was aggravated over their sin.
20:53-21:03
They're persistent, unrepentant, nobody tells me what to do, I'm doing what I want to do, Sin, unrepentant sin.
21:06-21:09
You're like, "What kind of sin?" Well, it's sinning in two ways, right?
21:10-21:11
It's commission and omission.
21:12-21:14
God says, "Don't do that," and we do it.
21:15-21:19
Or God says, "This is something you should do," and we refuse to do that.
21:19-21:20
That's what we see here.
21:21-21:22
First of all, do you see that in verse 10?
21:22-21:27
It says, "They always go astray in their heart." Is that you?
21:29-21:31
I hear this all the time.
21:32-21:35
You'd think being a pastor I would never hear this, but I hear this all the time.
21:35-21:39
"Oh, I know the Bible says this, but..." But what?
21:41-21:47
"But I'm doing what I want to do." I know I'm not supposed to do this, but I'm going to do it anyways.
21:50-21:51
I shouldn't be in this relationship.
21:53-21:55
I shouldn't have this addiction.
21:56-21:59
I know I shouldn't talk like that.
22:00-22:04
But, but, but, it persists.
22:06-22:06
You're hard-hearted.
22:08-22:08
So what happens?
22:09-22:14
Sin repeated over time, never repented.
22:14-22:19
It gets easier and easier and easier to say no to God.
22:22-22:23
You know what it sounds like in your ears?
22:25-22:27
Because at first the Holy Spirit is shouting at you.
22:30-22:34
And you persist in doing it your way, then all of a sudden it sounds like the Holy Spirit is whispering.
22:36-22:37
And then you don't hear anything at all.
22:39-22:42
You realize the Holy Spirit's voice hasn't changed.
22:44-22:45
You've hardened yourself.
22:48-22:50
You're making it so that you can't hear what He's saying.
22:52-22:53
That's what happens when you persist in sin.
22:55-23:03
If you know where you need to repent - and by the way, I know that you do, if there's somebody here dealing with stuff, and I know many of you are.
23:05-23:07
You know what that is.
23:08-23:13
And if you refuse to repent, you're making yourself calloused and you're hardening your heart.
23:14-23:18
The second thing here regarding sin, he says they always go astray, and then he says they've not known my ways.
23:20-23:25
I've not known my ways." That's more than knowing about them, right?
23:26-23:30
That's more than having some verses memorized.
23:30-23:33
I'd do pretty good on New Testament and Jeopardy or whatever.
23:33-23:37
Knowing God's ways is living according to His ways.
23:37-23:41
It's just simply saying this, "I know what God wants me to do, but I'm not going to do it.
23:41-23:45
I know God wants me to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
23:45-23:50
I know God wants me to get real with Him to make Him the priority of my life.
23:51-23:53
But I'm not going to do that. I'm not ready to do that.
23:54-24:04
I know God wants me to pray, and God wants me to give, and God wants me to get involved in ministry, and to take my spiritual walk seriously, but I'm not going to do that now.
24:06-24:07
They're hardening your heart.
24:10-24:16
It's a dangerous condition to be in, because not only are you far from God, She don't care.
24:18-24:19
I don't care.
24:20-24:23
And I care less and less, the more I say no.
24:24-24:26
Do I persist in sin?
24:28-24:33
You absolutely must pay attention, because let it be, the consequences are tragic.
24:34-24:36
The consequences are tragic. Look at verse 11.
24:38-24:48
"As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest." Swore in my wrath." This isn't God losing His temper.
24:49-24:50
Okay, you know, God doesn't do that.
24:51-24:52
God had a bad day.
24:52-24:53
He kicks the dog.
24:54-24:55
He slams the door.
24:55-24:56
God doesn't do that.
24:58-24:59
I think this is two things.
24:59-25:02
This is a promise and it's a description of their condition.
25:03-25:08
God here is saying, "I provided everything that they need and they just won't get on board.
25:10-25:11
They won't do it.
25:11-25:16
They refuse, so they're never." They're never going to get it.
25:18-25:19
What is the rest?
25:20-25:22
What is he talking about?
25:23-25:25
They shall not enter my rest.
25:25-25:26
What's the rest?
25:27-25:29
The rest was the promised land, right?
25:29-25:30
It was Canaan.
25:31-25:35
That generation literally wasn't allowed to step foot into that land.
25:35-25:37
They shall not enter my rest.
25:37-25:41
It's resting from the wandering and the toil.
25:41-25:44
This is God's provision for His people.
25:45-25:47
And here's where it has to land in your heart.
25:48-25:49
This is a picture of salvation.
25:52-26:00
This rest, this entering the promised land, it's no more wandering, no more striving in the wilderness of struggling.
26:00-26:04
It's coming to Christ to experience God's promise for His people.
26:05-26:06
That's what His rest is.
26:08-26:10
saying, "I'm a child of God.
26:11-26:13
I don't have to earn my salvation.
26:14-26:16
Heaven is my future.
26:17-26:18
God is with me now.
26:18-26:19
He's guiding me.
26:19-26:21
He's providing for me.
26:23-26:26
My sin and shame and guilt are taken away.
26:26-26:30
I'm in fellowship with God and with His people.
26:33-26:35
Everything ultimately is going to be okay.
26:35-26:36
I have peace.
26:38-26:39
and I have hope.
26:41-26:42
Everything's going to be great.
26:44-26:45
You see, that's rest.
26:46-26:49
That's living in rest.
26:54-27:01
And you see, when you're hard-hearted, because you're living for your sin, and you're disregarding God, do you know what you're doing?
27:02-27:03
You're forfeiting all of that.
27:04-27:09
"God, I know this is what You have for Your people." I'm bowing out of it.
27:12-27:30
Listen, if you're hardening your heart, if you're constantly testing God, if you're persisting in unrepentant sin, and you will not come to Christ and allow Christ to do the work that He does in you, you're never going to know what God has for His people.
27:31-27:32
You're never going to know that.
27:34-27:38
Not in this life, and not when you leave this life.
27:41-27:43
You will never have rest.
27:45-27:51
Those are the consequences of hardening your heart, and refusing to truly come to Jesus.
27:53-27:54
Never have rest.
27:55-27:56
So you've got to pay attention.
27:59-28:09
I suppose I could stop here, but I'm not going to, because...
28:09-28:12
Let her see there's something you can do about it.
28:12-28:14
There's something you can do about it.
28:16-28:19
What, you think I just put on my shiny coat to tell you the bad news?
28:20-28:22
There's something you can do about this.
28:25-28:27
The first one is this, we've got to watch each other's backs.
28:30-28:32
Look at verses 12 and 13.
28:34-28:45
It says, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
28:46-29:06
But," - here it is, look that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." So the first thing we need to do is we need to be begging each other to get on this.
29:07-29:12
Like, "Look, be serious about your walk with Christ. Get real about your walk.
29:12-29:28
It has to be your priority. What are you doing to pursue Christ?" We have to be on each other about this because, as he tells us here, Sin will deceive you. Sin will make a fool out of you.
29:30-29:35
Because sin is such a big fat liar.
29:39-29:56
Sin gets you to think, "Oh this thing will make me happy. This thing that I'm involved. It's not such a big deal. Sin is such a liar. But listen, you know the biggest lie that sin tells?
29:58-30:14
Here's the biggest lie that sin tells. You ready? It's, "You can repent later. You can repent later." Like I know I'm involved in some stuff now, but I'm gonna repent later.
30:16-30:17
Some of you know what I'm about to say.
30:17-30:20
We used to do prison ministry, Mark and I and some others.
30:20-30:24
We used to go into the Butler County Prison every week to preach.
30:24-30:26
And I remember, I'll never forget this one man.
30:27-30:44
He raises his hand, he goes, "I have a question." Like, "What's your question?" He said, "So, if I'm like on my deathbed "and I pray to receive Jesus right there "when I go to heaven." Come on, I knew where this was going.
30:44-30:47
I said, yes, that's true.
30:48-30:56
If somebody prays to receive Jesus on their deathbed like the thief on the cross, last moments of life, yes.
30:56-30:57
Promise of heaven.
30:57-31:12
And I remember this young man, he said, he goes, "I'll just do that then." And I said, "No, you won't." He's like, "What do you mean, no, I won't?" And I said, "Well, there's a couple of problems with your plan.
31:15-31:16
I said, let me point out the first one.
31:18-31:20
I said, you do realize that not everybody gets a deathbed, right?
31:23-31:31
I know that if we could all write our story, you realize every single person in this room and watching this stream, we'd all have the same ending to our story, wouldn't we?
31:31-31:50
We'd be a hundred and five years old, we're laying in bed, our family is around us, And we just close our eyes and go to sleep, and the angels escort us to heaven.
31:52-31:52
So peaceful.
31:54-31:56
Isn't that the story that you would write for yourself?
31:56-32:00
Do you realize that doesn't happen very often?
32:03-32:11
There's things like heart attacks and car accidents and tragic things.
32:12-32:19
So I told this man, I told him some stories of people that I knew who died very suddenly, very unexpectedly.
32:20-32:28
I'm like, "So if that's your plan, it's a bad plan, because not many people have that." I said, "But there's actually a worse problem with your plan.
32:30-32:39
That you will not receive Jesus on your deathbed if that's your plan." I said, "Here's the worst problem." I said, "Do you know what that means?" That means every day of your life from now...
32:39-32:42
I said, hypothetically, let's give you your deathbed.
32:42-32:49
Hypothetically, let's pretend that you do make it all the way to the whole deathbed Hallmark card thing.
32:49-32:51
And let's pretend that you do.
32:51-32:52
I said, you know what that means?
32:53-32:59
That means every day of your life until then, you're saying no to Jesus.
33:01-33:02
I said, I'm gonna tell you something.
33:03-33:11
If that's you, when that deathbed time comes, you're not going to be interested in Jesus at all.
33:12-33:15
Because you've just spent decades saying no to Him.
33:17-33:18
You're not even going to want to hear.
33:20-33:23
That's why he says today. Today. Today.
33:24-33:26
When's a good time to get on track with God?
33:26-33:28
There is only one time. And it's called today.
33:29-33:31
What about tomorrow? Today.
33:33-33:37
today only lasts as long as your heart is sensitive to the Word of God.
33:37-33:40
So listen, that's why we do small groups here.
33:41-33:44
It's not a fad, it's not a way of marking attendance.
33:44-33:46
Small groups, here's what you need to do.
33:46-33:49
Listen, there's such a strong warning here, so you've got to listen.
33:51-33:52
Be in a small group.
33:53-33:53
That's not enough.
33:54-33:56
You actually have to show up.
33:58-34:00
And that's not enough.
34:01-34:03
You actually have to be involved.
34:05-34:08
Church, you need to lovingly be in each other's faces.
34:09-34:12
Sometimes you have to have the Dutch Uncle Talks, you know what I mean?
34:14-34:16
Constantly pushing people to Christ.
34:17-34:19
You see someone in sin, you need to call that out.
34:20-34:25
Like, "Hey, hey, you're falling for a lie of sin." Come on, come on.
34:25-34:27
I'm not going to let you do that.
34:29-34:31
We need to stop allowing complaining.
34:33-34:35
We need to set a culture of giving thanks to God.
34:36-34:38
Church, we need to watch each other's backs on this.
34:41-34:43
You're like, "Well, how do we know we're on track?
34:45-34:47
How do we know that we're not being deceived?
34:48-34:52
How do we know that we're not hard-hearted?" Well, look at verse 14.
34:53-35:06
"For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the Do you want proof of your salvation? Do you want confidence in your salvation?
35:08-35:11
It's not what you did 20 years ago.
35:12-35:17
Well, I know I'm a Christian because I raised my hand or filled out a card or walked an aisle 20 years ago.
35:17-35:30
That's not the proof. The evidence is, "What are you doing today? What are you doing right now?" Now, the proof of what he calls sharing in Christ is persevering, right?
35:30-35:33
It's are we abiding until today?
35:35-35:37
So we've got to watch each other's backs.
35:38-35:46
And then finally, this is the most important part, saves it for last.
35:49-35:50
I need you to tune in, I know.
35:51-35:52
I know we had a lot happening today.
35:55-35:56
But you've got to tune in, this is the most important part.
35:56-35:57
You ready?
35:58-36:00
Don't think it can't happen to you.
36:03-36:09
Because it is at this point in the sermon that many people are like, "Yeah, yeah, people need to hear this.
36:10-36:17
Oh, it's a shame, it's a shame, my neighbor Phyllis ain't here to hear this." You need to hear this.
36:20-36:23
Don't think it can't happen to you.
36:23-36:27
And that's his point here as we close this passage.
36:27-36:31
Look at verse 15.
36:32-36:44
He says, "As it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." There it is again.
36:45-36:49
He says, "For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?
36:52-36:54
Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
36:55-36:58
And with whom was he provoked for forty years?
36:58-37:01
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell into wilderness?
37:02-37:04
And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest?
37:05-37:07
But to those who were disobedient?
37:08-37:17
So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." Real quick, he asked five questions, and there's an obvious point here, right?
37:19-37:20
Obvious point.
37:20-37:26
This terrifying warning that God was giving, it wasn't directed at the pagans.
37:29-37:34
God wasn't giving this warning to the Jebusites or whatever.
37:36-37:42
He's like, "Who was God talking to?" He's talking to the Israelites under Moses.
37:44-37:45
This is directed at Israel.
37:46-37:51
It was the people who saw the plagues and the Red Sea and the Manna, and all of that for 40 years.
37:54-38:11
In other words, this is directed at people that were right in the middle of some of God's most amazing works, and they saw it all, and instead of getting on board and worshiping, They chose their sin over God.
38:14-38:19
Why is He reminding us that this happened to Israel?
38:20-38:23
Because what He's saying is, "Look, this can happen to you, church.
38:24-38:30
This can happen to you." Some people have been sitting in church for years.
38:32-38:38
You've been seeing the baptisms, you've been hearing about prayers being answered.
38:38-38:50
There are people that have been miraculously healed in this church by God's power, and you're watching all of this, and your response is just...
38:52-38:53
(Sigh)
38:56-39:07
Some people are raising their hands saying, "Hallelujah." And you're raising your hands going, "Meh." You see, this is the scariest thing, I've got to tell you.
39:08-39:16
The scariest thing is to stand up and preach a message like this, and to look out and see people not care.
39:18-39:24
There are people that are hearing this right now, that are like, "It seems like we're going along today.
39:25-39:32
Where do I want to go for lunch after this?" That's horrifying to think that that's happening.
39:34-39:35
But it is.
39:38-40:02
And all I can say is this, as our worship team makes their way up, all I can say is this, if there is any stirring within you today, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through the Word of God, and you have any sense of that at all today, you've got to act on that today.
40:05-40:11
Because if you don't, it is going to be so much easier to say no to Jesus next week.
40:13-40:25
And the week after, it's going to be so much easier to say no to Jesus then, until eventually, you don't care at all.
40:28-40:30
And you'll probably stop coming.
40:32-40:34
Here's the bottom line right now in your life.
40:36-40:38
I want you to think about your walk.
40:38-40:41
You're not thinking about your spouse or your neighbor that coerced.
40:41-40:44
I just want you to think about your heart right now.
40:46-41:00
And you have to ask yourself right now, in your personal spiritual life, are you in a season right now where you feel like you are drawing closer to God, or where you are drifting further away from Him?
41:01-41:02
Because it's one of the two.
41:05-41:05
Which is it?
41:07-41:08
I'd like you to bow your heads.
41:10-41:19
You know, in verses 18 and 19, he equates unbelief with disobedience.
41:21-41:35
So I want you to know that if you're sitting here saying, "I agree with everything you're saying. I believe all this." You're living a life of disobedience, what you're saying is, "I really don't believe what God said." So with your heads bowed, you're just examining yourself right now.
41:35-41:39
And I want to ask you, in what area are you being called into obedience?
41:41-41:42
You know what that is.
41:42-41:46
You've known this whole time I've been speaking what God is calling you to do.
41:46-41:48
You know what it is.
41:51-41:53
For you, is it a sin to stop?
41:56-42:00
Is it a step of obedience to take?
42:03-42:04
Maybe some of you, it's baptism.
42:05-42:11
We have four people, as Pastor Taylor said, four people are stepping up, making their public profession of faith.
42:11-42:13
Maybe you've been disobedient in that area.
42:14-42:15
Like, "I know I should be baptized.
42:15-42:18
I know I'm supposed to make my public profession of faith.
42:18-42:21
I know God commands this. I'm not doing it." Well, you need to do it.
42:23-42:26
If you know exactly what God's calling you to do, it has to happen now.
42:29-42:35
Because if you harden your heart, You're going to lose the ability to believe.
42:38-42:42
And you're going to miss out on everything God has for His people.
42:46-42:53
But Father in heaven, as we bow ourselves before You, this is such a sobering warning from Your Word.
42:56-43:02
In this short passage, in the one we're looking at next week, We see four times.
43:04-43:06
Almost like you are pleading.
43:08-43:13
Do not harden your heart, because God, You know that's where we go.
43:16-43:26
I pray, Father, for the power of Your Spirit and Your Word to call us to faith.
43:28-43:37
Father, there's somebody here, and I know there are people here, but you need to make this step.
43:39-43:42
Some step of obedience, some step of repentance.
43:42-43:49
They've been putting it off, and they've been believing the lie of, "I'll just repent later. I'm going to get my act together later.
43:49-43:54
I'm going to seek God later." That's never going to happen.
43:56-43:59
Father, I pray today, today is the day of repentance.
43:59-44:11
Today is the day when serious, real business is done with You, so that we are a people who represent You.
44:13-44:17
We are a people who glorify You.
44:20-44:28
To the praise of Your name, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 3:7-19
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Has there ever been a season in your life when you were hardening your heart, due to some area of disobedience? What did you do to change course?
How would you address someone who you believe hardened their heart against the Lord? Maybe it was someone who used to be active in church or Bible study, but seemingly just walked away. How do you approach such a person?
What are ways HBC can fulfill the command in Hebrews 3:13?
Breakout
Evaluate your Small Group:
Are you really watching each others’ backs?
Are you having hard conversations when someone is in sin?
Do you shut down complaining but encourage thanksgiving?
Are you encouraging each other in obedience to serving Christ?
Pray for one another.