Hebrews 6:7-12

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7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. 9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. ~ Hebrews 6:7-12

Today, we continue our study of Hebrews 6 which contains the third of five warnings that when heeded provides the reader the where with all to go deeper in his walk with the Lord. Those to whom the writer of Hebrews wrote were in great danger of going beyond being dull of hearing spiritually. By now, they should have matured and become teachers of others, but, they were on the verge of being even more spiritually immaturity. They were like children who can only understand spiritual truths on the lowest level. This is why the emphasis in this book is on spiritual maturity.

In v.7-8 of today's passage we read, "7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned."

The writer of Hebrews gives this agrarian illustration in order to help his readers to recognize the contrast between having a personal relationship with the Lord and not having a personal relationship with the Lord. In this illustration is contrasted two types of ground, one yields useful crops and the other produces useless weeds. Both soils received the same rain but only those who receive the Word of God experience His blessing. Those who remain unaffected by the Word of God continue in their lost state and retain the curse that sin brought in the Garden of Eden. 

In v.9 of today's passage we read, "Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. "

It is obvious, again, the writer of Hebrews wrote to believers here. He does not believe his readers are apostates. It is obvious he thinks they are truly saved. His goal is that they go deeper in their walk with the Lord which always opens the believer in Christ up to better things that have to do with salvation.

In v.10 of today's passage we read, "God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."

The good fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in and through the yielded life of the believer in Christ is noticeable to all. And, although the presence of these good works are evidence that God is in our lives, the Bible is very clear that the assurance of our salvation is based solely on the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Our faith in the work of His cross is the root of our justification, whereas, His sanctification in and through our lives is the fruit of our salvation.

There is clearly a difference between the believer's justification and sanctification. And, in this verse, the writer of Hebrews pivots our attention to our sanctification. He reminds us that God forgets not the work we do in His name that benefits others. Of course, these "works" do not justify us in the eyes of God. But, these works are evidences that He has justified us and has sent His Spirit to live in our spirit. Our good works are evidence of our personal relationship with the Lord, and, God's heart is best seen through us when we are loving the needy. 

In v.11 of today's passage we read, "We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized."

The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a sure hope due to His death, burial and resurrection. There is no hope without faith in His cross because hope is found only in Him and in Him alone. The only anchor for the human soul is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. God promises eternal life to everyone who believes in His Son, therefore, we as believers in Christ, expect the promise of eternal life to be fully realized, not only by us but also by others who will believe because of our faith in the Lord Jesus. This, in large part, is the point of our sanctification. Some say the point of our sanctification is to fit us for heaven, but I beg to differ. It is only through the Lord Jesus death, burial and resurrection are we fit for heaven.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

We experience great spiritual growth when our hearts are persuaded that the work of Christ is all sufficient for our acceptability before God. Our hope of salvation is only centered in Him and all He has accomplished for us on His cross. Our hope is made more obvious when we are trusting in and being defined by His promises found in His Word. Without fully realizing our hope in Christ, we do not make spiritual progress with God. Spiritual growth takes place when we devote ourselves to the revelation of God in His Word and exercise our faith in the truth of the Scriptures. This is sanctification, and its point is that our lives might be made billboards for others to see the outworking of God's culture in our lives. And, as a result, they will turn to God for His salvation, as we have.

Hebrews 6:4-6

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4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  ~ Hebrews 6:4-6

We return today to our study of Hebrews which is structured around five warnings to the believer in Christ who is not growing in His faith in the God of the Bible. As we have seen for over five chapters now, Hebrews was written to those who were in danger of prolonged spiritual immaturity. And, as we come to Hebrews 6:4-6, we must interpret it through our understanding of the truth found in Hebrews 6:3 which reads, "And God permitting, we will do so."

In v.4-6 of today's text we read, "4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."

It is very clear that this book of Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians who were struggling in their faith in the God of the Bible. There is no indication that the writer of Hebrews switches at any point in this epistle to address unbelievers. More importantly, the immediate context is obviously addressing Christians. In Hebrews 5:12 we learn the writer of this book was convinced his readers should be teachers but were not. And, according to Hebrews 6:1-3, we learn they should have matured in their faith in the Lord but they had not. 

According to v.6 of today's passage, the concern of the writer of Hebrews was these recipients of this letter might "fall away" which is interpreted by some as apostasy from Christian beliefs or a total denial of the Christian faith. In fact, in v.4-5 we are given several consequences of this potential falling away.

At the beginning of v.4 we read, "It is impossible." Everything written in this chapter is predicated on those three words of this verse, "It is impossible." So, it is clear, the writer of Hebrews is writing about a hypothetical situation. Those who try to use this passage to assert the believer could lose his salvation does not take this foundational truth into account. For, if they did, they would have recognized no one can do anything to earn God's acceptance.

In the rest of v.4 we read, "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit."

To be "enlightened" means, to have our eyes opened to our own desperate personal need for a Savior. To "have tasted the heavenly gift" means to have come into a personal relationship with Christ. And, to "share in the Holy Spirit" means to have been "born again."

In v.5 of today's text we read, "who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age."

Clearly, the writer of Hebrews has described the believer in Christ who has "tasted the goodness of the word of God." This means this person experienced some measure of growth in his faith in the Lord Jesus. And then, to write, "tasted the powers of the coming age" reveals this person was connected beyond this fallen world to the very power of God that changes us from the inside out.

In v.6 we read, "and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."

Having been "born again" makes it impossible for the believer in Christ to completely fall away from God and to crucify the Son of God all over again. The fact that we have been made alive to God means we will never see Him differently than we do now: as our Savior and Lord. This does not mean we will not struggle while our faith in the God of the Bible is being tested. This does mean that our faith in Him will perpetuate primarily due to the fact that He lives in our born again spirit.

Today's passage does not teach that we can lose our salvation. This passage was addressed to young Hebrew Christians who lacked spiritual maturity. They didn't fully understand the secret behind their spiritual success. Again, Hebrews 6:3 reveals that our ability to grow spiritually and to experience a certain measure of spiritual maturity is the product of Gods working in and through our yielded lives. The key is that we are yielding our lives to Him.

And, God wants all believers to faithfully progress forward in our vulnerability to and intimacy with Him. Though our eternal salvation is secure, there are severe consequences if we intentionally turn away from Him and do not go on to maturity. We will not only lose precious trust and intimacy that we have experienced, but we will face God's discipline intended to make us more useful in the future.

Hebrews 6:1-3

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1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so. ~ Hebrews 6:1-3

Today, we transition into one of the most difficult passages in all of the Bible to interpret. The writer of Hebrews wrote to a group of young Jewish Christians who knew the truth, but they were babies in their faith in the God of the Bible. 

When we do not know what it is all about, we will always make it about the lessers of the faith. We do this because we can control the lesser teachings of the faith. And, when we grow deeper in our walk with the Lord, we will lose more and more control. The mature believer in Christ is one who grows up spiritually because his walk with the Lord is firmly placed on the foundation of Christ's righteousness, and he is learning to become more and more vulnerable with God.

In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment."

These young Jewish believers in Christ were hanging onto religion for their identity. The Old Covenant was never meant to be an end in and of itself. Its design was always to lead believers to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, at the time of the writing of Hebrews, these young Jewish Christians were stunted in their faith because the means by which God used to point them to Christ had created for them a religion which actually kept them from the Lord Jesus. So, the writer of Hebrews here reminds us that in order to move on toward spiritual maturity, we must move beyond six elementary teachings about Christ. 

Now, these elementary teachings that we must move beyond in order to mature spiritually are: repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

These six foundational things composed the doctrines of Judaism that are to be laid aside in favor of the better things that come in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament was incomplete. It was only partial revelation. The Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of all things Old Testament.

The phrase "let us move" in v.1 means total detachment. It does not mean to build on something; it means to get rid of it and move away from it. This one Greek word brings the idea of an obvious separation, forsaking one thing for something else. These young Jewish believers were being admonished to turn away from the Old Covenant and fully embrace the goal of it all, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

The first hindrance to spiritual maturity is repentance from acts that lead to death, which means we turn away from our best attempts to earn God's favor because no good work that we produce will ever earn the favor of God. 

The second hindrance to spiritual maturity is faith in God. Throughout the book of Hebrews, faith in Christ is a major theme. The only way to enter into God's rest is by faith in Christ and His finished work of the cross. Most people when asked if they are going to heaven say, "I hope I've been good enough." This is the idea behind the first two hindrances to spiritual maturity.

The third hindrance to spiritual maturity is instruction about cleansing rites. These young Jewish Christians were still practicing Jewish ceremonial washings. The Mosaic Law stated that priests must wash their hands and feet prior to entering the tabernacle or approaching the altar. The Old Testament scribes had a habit of taking ceremonial law meant for priests and Levites and transferring that law into extra-Scriptural regulations for lay-people. Of course, this was given to be a road sign pointing them to the Lord Jesus.

The fourth hindrance to spiritual maturity is instruction about the laying on of hands. In the Old Testament, whenever a sacrifice was made, the one who brought the sacrifice had to put his hands on the sacrifice as a point of identification with that sacrifice. And what the writer is saying here is simply this, “You have all the way through all of your religious activity literally laid your hands on the Old Testament sacrifice. Forget it and lay hold of Christ by faith.” 

Many today when asked if they are going to heaven respond by saying, "I was baptized on such and such date" or "I joined the church when I walked down the isle on such and such date." Neither of these answers get us into heaven, but this is the response of the religious person.

The fifth and sixth hindrances to spiritual maturity is instruction about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

The writer of Hebrews was trying to help his readers see the connection between vibrancy in their faith and their active pursuit of the Lord Jesus Himself. And, like many today, they wanted to get all caught up in the studying of the end times. These six things that are emphasized here in today's text will keep us from going more deeply with the Lord Jesus if we are not careful. We find ourselves focusing on the means more so than on the One who it is all about.

In v.3 of today's passage we read, "And God permitting, we will do so."

Whether we are addressing justification or sanctification, it’s all energized by the Holy Spirit. Everything revolves around the permission of God. Divine enablement is the issue in every case, and the writer acknowledges here in this verse.

In 2 Corinthians 3:5 we read, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” Behind our spiritual success is always the Lord Jesus Himself.

Hebrews 5:11-14

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11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. ~ Hebrews 5:11-14

Today, we return to our study of Hebrews 5 wherein the writer of Hebrews has been making the point that the Lord Jesus is God's High Priest who sacrificed Himself for the eternal forgiveness of our sin. And, on the heels of doing this, the writer of Hebrews turns to his hearers and says in v.11 of today's passage, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand."

That which is behind all the exhortations the writer of Hebrews has given us: Pay close attention! Consider! Don't harden your heart! Fear! Be diligent! Hold fast! These are all doctor's prescriptions for the disease of dullness of hearing which contributes to our spiritual immaturity.

When we have closed our ears to understanding God's deeper truths, we close the door to deeper intimacy with Him and a greater degree of spiritual maturity. These people had  professed faith in the Lord Jesus, and, by this time they ought to have been more mature in the faith, but they retarded their sanctification and their spiritual maturity.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!"

Those to whom the writer of Hebrews wrote were "dull of hearing" which led to him describing them as spiritual babies. Though they had been Christians for some time they lacked the  ability to be grown ups spiritually speaking. As a result, they could not teach others the biblical truths they should have learned. In fact, they themselves could only understand the very simplest of doctrines. 

Deaf people can be the sharpest hearers and blind people can be the sharpest see-ers. Their problem was not physical, it had to do with their hearts. Dullness of hearing is the inability to nurture one's faith through a deeper understanding of the Word of God. Dull hearing is passive and does not allow one to be defined by the righteousness of Christ. You see, when we constantly think we must do certain things to be acceptable before God, we stunt our understanding of the very reason Christ came to die on the cross: to make us right in the eyes of God. And, when we build our foundation on self-righteousness, our house will have a difficult time standing. 

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness."

Here, the writer of Hebrews uses an everyday human illustration to get his point across. It is an illustration of an infant only feeding on milk and never maturing to solid food. The result is a lack of understanding about righteousness. Christ paid our debt by declaring us righteous before God through His cross. Having believe solely in His finished work on the cross, we are free from our debt of sin. The spiritually immature lack the ability to be defined by this foundational truth enabling them to move on to other truths found in the Word of God. 

Everything in the Christian life is built upon His righteousness imputed to each believer. We do not come to God with any earned or merited righteousness. We come with empty hands stained with sin and guilt. Christ alone is our righteousness. He alone has lived the perfect sinless righteous life. He exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sinfulness and imputes His perfect righteousness to us. He is our perfect righteousness, but it is alien righteousness to us. He provides us this standing before God and we can not earn it.

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

The theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. These young Jewish Christians were tempted to return to their rituals in the Temple worship. They were being lured to reject their identity in Christ for their dependence upon their religion. The shadows and types of the old covenant were only meant to be pictures of the real object of their faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. To return to the old rituals would be to be defined by the lesser, and this produced spiritual malnutrition in their walk with the Lord.

At the heart of the Jewish religious culture was the covenant, the temple and the priesthood. In Christianity it is the great High Priest under the new covenant who is the means to our relationship and fellowship with God on a daily basis. These immature believers did not understand that we reach spiritual maturity through the righteousness of Christ. They were tempted to go back to their self-righteousness or works-righteousness instead of trusting only in the imputed righteousness of Christ. No one is ever saved by self-righteousness. We are saved by grace and it is received as a free gift from God based upon the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sins.

Spiritual maturity is the product of being trained by the truth of the Word of God. Spiritual maturity is honed by reason of use, and when we begin believing that Christ's finished work on the cross needs our good behavior to make us right in the eyes of God, we lack the building block toward a greater degree of spiritual maturity.

Hebrews 5:5-10

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5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” 6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. ~ Hebrews 5:5-10

We return to our study of Hebrews 5, wherein, having explained the requirements of the Old Testament high priest, the writer of Hebrews introduces us to the only One who is truly qualified to be High Priest before God on the behalf of sinful man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In v.5 of today's passage we read, "In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'"

The writer of Hebrews begins this verse with "In the same way," pointing us back to the previous verses where he established the three requirements for a high priest. Christ was selected by God from among the people. God, the Father, chose His Son to be the High Priest of all who would believe that His sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty of God's wrath for our sin in full. 

Then, in v.5, the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2:7, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father." The writer of Hebrews consistently quotes the Old Testament because he wrote to Jews who were well acquainted with the Old Testament and he was maximizing their understanding. By quoting Psalm 2:7, the writer showed the Lord Jesus fulfilled the first requirement as High Priest. The Lord Jesus was called and was appointed by God to come to earth to die for the hopeless.

In v.6 of today's passage we read, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." The same God that said, "You are my Son," is the same God that said, "You are a priest." In fact, this verse is a quotation from Psalm 110:4, which reads, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.'"

God, Himself, ordained the Lord Jesus to be the High Priest, thus, fulfilling the first requirement of a priest. Now, Melchizedek is spoken of in Psalm 110 which provides a prophesy of the coming Messiah. And, Melchizedek was an Old Testament type of Christ. We were first introduced to him in Genesis 14:18 long before Aaron was ever made high priest. The priesthood of Melchizedek superseded the priesthood of Aaron in many ways, as we will see. Thus, Christ is greater than Aaron. 

In Genesis 14:18 we read, "Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High."

Melchizedek was the king of Salem, the original name of Jerusalem. And, he brought out bread and wine in connection with his high priestly duties. The bread and wine was a slight pull back of the curtain, a hint of what was to come. Like Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus has always been the king priest. Melchizedek was a type of Christ's eternal priesthood. There is no record of his birth or death. It is as if he always existed, and, He has always existed. And, when we study Hebrews 7 we will learn just that. 

In v.7 of today's passage we read, "During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission."

The Lord Jesus not only fit the first qualification of the high priest, this verse informs us He fulfilled the second, He is empathetic with mankind. The Lord Jesus offered up prayers and petitions. He also cried fervent cries, and tears. The Lord Jesus Christ could not have been a fully empathetic high priest if He had not have come to earth as a baby and grew up to be a man. He spent His days on earth feeling what we feel. 

The Garden of Gethsemane was one of the greatest moments of the suffering of the Lord Jesus, for there He began to bear the sins of the world. There, He felt the crush of sin when He went into the Garden to pray. There, He agonized over the looming cross. "He prayed to the one who could save him from death." 

The word translated "from" is the word "ek" in the Greek, which means "out from within." The Lord Jesus didn't pray, "God don't let me die," He prayed, "Father, once I get into this, get me out of it."  Here, the Lord Jesus was praying for His resurrection. He prayed to Him who is able to save Him out of death. He did not pray to escape death, for that was why He was born. He prayed to be saved out of death. He knows anguish like we do not. We have and never will approach this type of pain.

In v.8-10 of today's passage we read, "8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek."

The Lord Jesus obviously struggled to obey the Father as He moved closer to His cross. He had to go through with the sacrifice. And, even though He was God's Son, He learned by suffering. That is the only way we truly learn, when we learn by experience. We can say something hurts us, but until we have experienced the pain, we really can't be empathetic with someone who has been hurt. Empathy comes from experiencing what someone else has experienced. This is how the Lord Jesus learned obedience, He endured the unwanted suffering and pain.

By the way, when we read, "once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him," it does not mean He was made perfect. It means the salvation He came to provide us was made perfect. And, by His death, the perfect Lord Jesus fulfilled the third requirement to be our High Priest, He sacrificed for the people. The Lord Jesus Christ opened the way of eternal salvation for all humble enough to believe. All the priests of all time couldn't provide eternal salvation, they could provide temporary forgiveness, one sacrifice at a time. But, only Christ was able to seal the deal for eternity. And, the death He died, He died once and for all for those who have believed in Him.

The Lord Jesus Christ became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. It was the death, burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that justified us before God. And, once we have been justified, and, "born again," God begins His sanctification work in us. And, when we obey Him, we are yielding to His sanctification. Our obedience will be there if we know Him as our Father. It will never be perfect this side of heaven, but it will be there because He lives in us.

Hebrews 5:1-4

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1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. ~ Hebrews 5:1-4

The goal of the book of Hebrews is to present to its readers the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah. Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish believers to show them they had made the right choice in believing in the Lord Jesus as their Savior. In addition, the writer of Hebrews presents five warnings throughout this book to help his readers see that the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of all things Old Testament.

So, in order to enable his readers to be convinced that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah, the writer of Hebrews spends quite a bit of time in this book showing that the high priest of the Old Testament provided a picture of the Lord Jesus as the Ultimate High Priest and Messiah. This, by the way, is what sets Christianity apart as better than Judaism. The Lord Jesus, as our High Priest, is so superior to the high priests of the Old Testament.

According to today's text, God required three qualifications for the high priest. He was selected by God from the people, sympathetic with the people, and sacrificing for people. 

In v.1 of today's text we read, "Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."

The first qualification for the high priest was: He was selected by God from among the people. During Old Testament days, the high priest was the mediator between man and God. The prophets presented God to man, while the priests presented man to God. Priests were able, by God's ordained patterns, to perform certain duties that brought people into the presence of God. 

The word "appointed" in v.1 means ordained to an office. No priest has ever been chosen arbitrarily, nor were they selected on the basis of their own will, but by God. God didn't choose angels to be priests. He chose men who would act on the behalf of men. Angels do not have the nature of men. God's high priest had to be a man who was subject to the temptations of men. He had to be a man who had experiential acquaintance with suffering in order that he might minister in a merciful way. 

In v.2 of today's text we read, "He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness."

The second qualification of the high priest was he had to be sympathetic with the people. To be able "to deal gently" means to have compassion on another. A person who is non-compassionate could care less about anybody else's pain. This is why it was required of a priest to come from men, because he had to be able to bear gently with those who ignorantly go astray.  

Sympathy feels everything, while omniscience knows everything. As our ultimate High Priest, Christ did not need to learn any new information, He knew it all. He did need to learn human feelings through His incarnation so that He could be sympathetic beyond being omniscient. This is the genius of God.

In v.3 of today's text we read, "This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people."

The third characteristic of the high priest was he had to sacrifice for the people. In addition to offering a sacrifice for the people, the high priest had to offer the sacrifice for himself, as well, because he was sinful. But, when the Lord Jesus provided the sacrifice, He did so without His own sin. There was no need for Him to offer a sacrifice for Himself, since He was God and is sinless. That in itself makes Him a greater high priest than any other high priest who ever had lived before. 

In v.4 of today's text we read, "And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

Once again, the writer of Hebrews emphasizes to be the high priest, one had to be picked by God. This is instructive since the Lord Jesus Christ is our High Priest. And, in sending the Lord Jesus to earth, the Father in heaven fulfilled the requirements of all of those high priests who came before Him. You see, God had to become a man, otherwise He would not have been able to feel what we feel and go through what we go through. If He had not come as a man, He would have had no basis, experientially, to operate as a high priest on our behalf. So, God did not keep Himself transcendent and separate from sinful man. He entered into the world of men, in order that He might be the just and sympathetic and merciful and faithful High Priest.

And so, the incarnation was an absolute necessity. It was an imperative if salvation was to be accomplished. Aren't you glad the Lord Jesus was willing? Especially since He knew way in advance what it would take to redeem you and me back to God.

Hebrews 4:14-16

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14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. ~ Hebrews 4:14-16

We return to the letter of Hebrews, written to Jewish Christians, who were struggling in their faith in the God of the Bible due to pressures levied on them from their Jewish community. As they suffered for their faith in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, some were on the verge of discontinuing their pursuit of God through Christ for the rituals of their religion. 

From the very beginning of this book, the writer of Hebrews had shown these young believers the superiority of the Lord Jesus to all things Old Testament. He is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. In Christ we discover everything we need in every way. And, since the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, there are serious consequences for those who choose to reject His free gift of eternal life.

In v.14 of our passage for today we read, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess."

Four words in this brief passage sum it all up: "God's throne of grace." God's throne speaks of His authority and power, while His grace directs us to His compassion and love. These two were brought together in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth. The just requirements of perfection were met through the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross and through His perfect life lived, and now that we believe in Him, God sees us through the lens of His Son.

As our High Priest, the Lord Jesus passed into heaven into the very presence of God on the behalf of all humble enough to believe in Him as Messiah. In the Old Testament, the high priest went into  the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, and there, he applied to blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat which was on the Ark of the Covenant. This happened once a year on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest sacrificed an innocent animal for the sins of the people. After sacrificing the animal, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies and he would take the blood from the sacrifice and he would sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat to atone for the sins of Israel. Before he could do that, he had to do it for himself because he was a sinner. 

The Lord Jesus is a different high priest because He is sinless. He passed through the heavens and He went into God's very presence, carrying with Him the satisfactory sacrifice that He had made, and, in heaven, He applied His blood on the heavenly Mercy Seat when He arrived.

As our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ is like our defense attorney who represented our case before God, and He has and will never lose a case. As a result, we are exhorted to "hold firmly to the faith we profess," because God's requirements of perfection have been met on our behalf by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christianity is a personal relationship. And, it is through the Lord Jesus we have a personal relationship with God. And, even though the Lord Jesus never sinned, He knows the power of temptation. In fact, He is the only One who has ever fully resisted temptation, therefore He knows sin's lure and power to the fullest extent. As a result, He empathizes, He feels with our struggles because He knows and understands the power of temptation even more than we. And, even though we all stand before God in a state of complete poverty, completely guilty because of our sin, the Lord Jesus stands in the presence of God on our behalf as our perfect high priest. 

Having believed on the Lord Jesus, the throne of God is no longer to us a throne of judgment because Christ is interceding on our behalf having made atonement for our sins. His is not a throne of indifference because Christ is our empathetic High Priest who knows exactly what we feel, and even more. And His is a throne of grace because we have been made perfect in the eyes of God through Him. God, in His mercy, looks at our misery, and His grace is the means by which we can overcome our struggles. 

In v.16 of today's passage we read, "Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

The reality of such a great high priest energizes the reality of our prayer life. As we learn from the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest is the work of His self-sacrifice. The Lord Jesus laid down His life for anyone willing to be His friend. The Lord Jesus offered His own body, receiving the very punishment of God in our place. His sacrifice, made once and for all, covers all of our sin, past, present and future. His perfect blood cleanses us and declares us "not guilty" and "innocent" in the very presence of God.

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom, indicating all who are humble enough to believe, have access to God. Sadly, after the events of that weekend when the Lord Jesus was crucified, the religious leaders had the curtain in the Temple sewed up. They illustrated the struggles of these young Christians to whom the writer of Hebrews wrote. They returned to their legalism, to their religion.

God wants us to be free enough to know Him and to make Him known to others. And, He is always prepared to receive the sin-stained heart that we bring to Him. He is forever equipped to meet any deeply-felt thorn in our existence with the words that He gave to the Apostle Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." Therefore, we should be full of confidence in the presence of God and even in the presence of our greatest dangers.

Hebrews 4:11-13

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11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. ~ Hebrews 4:11-13

The writer of Hebrews has focused our attention upon God's rest which has a dual nature to it. It is both present and future, and, involves our justification, and, our sanctification. This rest is a bi-product of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin which makes possible a personal relationship with God for all humble enough to believe and to be vulnerable to Him.

As we mentioned last time, God has through Christ completed our justification through the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. This made it possible for us to not only have a personal relationship with God, it also, positioned us to experience His sanctifying work in us as we yield our lives to Him daily, by faith. The more we yield, the deeper our intimacy will be with God. Remember, it is justification that gets us into heaven and it is sanctification that gets heaven into us, right now. 

In v.11 of today's passage we read, "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience."

The sentence, "make every effort to enter that rest" means to diligently seek to enter into a personal relationship with God, and if we have done this, we desire and choose to diligently seek the Lord as often as we can in a given day. In this pursuit, we forsake the grind of working hard in order to earn God's favor. God's rest enables us to see that we have arrived in the eyes of the Lord God through our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. We can not improve our position in the eyes of God through Christ. We are seen by Him as perfect through the Lord Jesus Christ. And, in addition, this rest reveals to us: in our flesh there is no good thing.

The problem, the Jews to whom the writer of Hebrews wrote, had, was they had become intimate with the means to knowing God, instead of God Himself. Their security blanket had become their Jewish traditions. Their hearts were not engaged with God. And, they were "beat down" by their unbiblical theology. 

We, like them, may gain great knowledge about God and still not know God in His greatness. If we only desire more information about God to shore up our doctrinal knowledge, we will be vulnerable to pride puffing up our self-righteousness. However, when we humble ourselves before the Lord in order to know Him, for the sole purpose of knowing Him, then our knowledge renounces our self-reliance and we get to know Him more intimately. 

The word "perish" in v.11 literally means to be "beaten down" which is what happens when we try to earn God's favor through our efforts. The goal the Lord has for us is to experience the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. In Matthew 11:28, the Lord Jesus said, "Come to me." He didn't say come to a ritual.  He didn't say come to a religion. He didn't say come to a church.  He said come to me. Our salvation is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "Come to me all you who labor". He describes the exhausted, those working hard "and are heavy laden."

The word heavy laden was written as a perfect passive participle which means the reason we are heavy laden is because somebody had come along at one time and laid upon us a burden and made us heavy ladened. The Lord Jesus was talking about religion which says we have to confine ourselves to certain practices and rituals, in order for God to accept us.

Then the Lord Jesus said, "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you." 

To understand this invitation of the Lord, we must understand that those to whom He was speaking were crushed beneath the weight of the Mosaic Law. The Lord Jesus addressed those who numbered themselves among the disciples of Moses and who were the disciples of the Pharisees. Neither Moses nor the Pharisees could give rest from the pressing burden or offer release from the oppressive load that the Law had brought. Coming to this end of self is hard because it is the product of sin. But, when we let go of this faulty default mode, we experience true freedom.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Freedom in Christ enables us to embrace vulnerability with God. The Word of God is one of two primary means by which God deepens our personal relationship with Him. The other is the Holy Spirit. God uses His Word to pierce down to the inner most part of our hearts in order to free us from the awful effect of sin on our psyche. The Word of God will always be faithful to diagnose the condition of your hearts and our souls. It is the knife God uses to penetrate the most vulnerable parts in our innermost being and lays bare our truest thoughts and intentions. 

When God led the children of Israel across the Jordan river into the promised land, it was a picture of the deepening of our relationship with God right now. Most of the people who heard Moses' messages while in the wilderness only heard the messages. They were not diligent to mix the hearing with faith. When we do not mix our hearing of God's word with our vulnerable trust to His way of thinking and living, we do not enter into God's rest, even though we are on our way to heaven through Christ's finished work on the cross.

The word for "sword" in Hebrew 4:12 is a "dagger" which makes the most accurate cut in the most accurate place. This is the nature of the Word of God for the believer in Christ. God’s Word is penetrating and accurate, and, like a knife, penetrates the innermost part of the heart and soul of those willing enough to allow such. It frees us from our faulty ways of thinking which are the product of souls influenced by the very thinking of Satan himself. This is what the Bible calls "the flesh."

When it is allowed to do its work, the Word of God becomes a "divider" or a "discerner." In the Greek, the word "dividing," in v.12, is the word from which we get our word "critic." God's Word will always be critical to our hearts this side of heaven because we will never be perfect this side of heaven. And, as a result, God's Word will always reveal to us who we really are. He lays bare to us our insides. Once He reveals to us our true condition, He then offers to us His sweet remedy, Himself.

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Due to the incredible power of the Word of God, all created things are made naked to God. This means all our disguises are ineffective in the eyes of the Lord. God always sees us as we are. In fact, He knows things about us that we do not know about ourselves. The Greek word that is used and translated, "uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him," is used to describe a wrestler seizing an opponent by the throat in such a way that he can not move. This means no one can run from the omniscient God of the Bible. For everyone who has ever lived and ever will live, there comes a time when God grabs us and confronts our lost estate. This is why we can never say everybody has not heard the gospel.

At the end of time, we will all give an account to God. God will never base His judgment upon us on the basis of any of our good works because our good works will never be enough to measure up to the critical eye of the truth. God will judge us on the basis of His Son who is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. My friend, I trust you have placed your trust in His finished work on the cross. If you have not cried out to Him, let me encourage you to invite Him into your life right now. And, if you just prayed that prayer, send me an email. I would love to know about it. My email address is byoungministry@gmail.com

Hebrews 4:3-10

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3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.” 6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ~ Hebrews 4:3-10

Today, we return to our study of Hebrews 4 wherein the writer of Hebrews is addressing the second of five warnings that he gives in the book of Hebrews. The second warning is found in Hebrews 3:7-8 which reads, "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness."

In v.3-4 of today's text we read, "3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 'So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: 'On the seventh day God rested from all his works.'"

Every Christian who has trusted the Lord Jesus as our Savior has entered into the rest which was long ago promised to us by God Himself. God’s rest has, is, and will always be accessed by faith in the God of the Bible. It is through faith that we accessed justification which is a one point in time event when we trusted the Lord Jesus to be our Savior. It is also through faith that we access our sanctification which is a process whereby God begins to change us from the inside out. Sanctification is a process whereby God is changing us from the inside out for our good and for His glory in the lives of others. The point of our justification is to bring us into right relationship with God, whereas, the point of our sanctification is to bring us into right fellowship with God. Relationship is the beginning of our personal interaction with God, whereas sanctification is the continuation of that interaction with Him.

God’s rest is not a rest of inactivity but a bi-product of His finished work in our daily lives. God has finished the work of justification on our behalf, making us right with Him through His Son's death on the cross. He is finishing His sanctifying work in us as we yield our lives to Him daily by faith. It is justification that gets us into heaven and it is sanctification that gets heaven into us, right now. We could say that sanctification is the acquisition of God's wisdom into our lives, right now.

The last sentence of v.3 and v.4 provides unique insight into the scenario of the Fall of man and God's remedy: "And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: 'On the seventh day God rested from all his works.'"

Before sin entered the world, God’s rest began right after the sixth day of creation. God was infinitely satisfied and He rested. It was at that moment that man could enter into God's rest. God had made man a perfect world wherein man could trust God for everything he needed. The criterion was faith. But, Adam and Eve chose not to believe in God. In fact, they chose to believe Satan. They were for the first time defined by something other than God. They were defined by Satan’s lies. Immediately, unbelief forfeited the rest of God in man's life. As a result, Adam was made restless. Adam and Eve spent their entire existence trying to avoid God. And, the history of the Bible is the effort of God wooing man to Himself.

In order to do that, God had to do for man what was impossible for man to do for himself: God had to render man's sin null and void. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth and addressed mankind's sin problem at the cross. And, through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, mankind can enter into God’s justification rest. And since, everyone who has not received the free gift of forgiveness through Christ has not entered into God's rest, are told these words: "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Once we are justified, it is then that we benefit by God's sanctification rest. The confusion of these two is what creates most false teaching in this world.

In v.5-7 we read, "5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.” 6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

We, having trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross, are saved because God designed to redeem us before the world was ever created. There is always, this side of eternity, a "today," with God. There will always be those opportunities, on this side of eternity, to respond to God's voice of justification and sanctification, and to access His grace, we must be vulnerable enough to believe that He is just and He is the justifier of all who believe.

In v.8-10 of today's passage we read, "8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his."

God's rest confronts man's performance based religion, the idea that if we do not perform well enough, He will not accept us or bless us. The greatest salve to this faulty way of thinking is Click here for the Hebrews 4:3-10. The writer of Hebrews wrote to a group of people who were quite legalistic. It was Spurgeon who once said, "Grace puts its hand on the boasting mouth, and shuts it once for all." And, it was Jerry Bridges who brilliantly once wrote, ""Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

The Sabbath-rest found in v.10 is the rest that ushers us to the place where we cease from all our labors to earn God's favor. In fact, this type of rest causes us to want to do for God. This type of rest causes us to want to pray, read our Bibles and share the good news with others. These Christian practices, once we have experienced His grace, become "get to things" not "got to things." 

In Revelation 14:13 we read, "Then I heard a voice from heaven say, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."'

Hebrews 4:10 is a reference to that final day when we cease from everything and enter into the presence of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, you see, God's rest is two-pronged: it involves His justification and His sanctification. And, the good works that follow us will be the works produced by Him. In that day, we will look back and recognize that it was by God's grace that He sought us in our sin, and it was by His grace that we experienced His life, His definition of all things. Then we will proclaim, "It is all by His grace. All of it!"

Hebrews 4:1-2

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1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ~ Hebrews 4:1-2

Today, we enter Hebrews 4, right in the middle of a warning that began in the previous chapter. You will remember the book of Hebrews was written around five warnings to guard us from backsliding in our faith in the Lord Jesus. The first, we considered in Hebrews 2:1-4, where God urges us to give the most aggressive attention to our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, so that we do not drift away from Him. 

The second is found in Hebrews 3:7-8 where we read, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness."

Hebrews was written to a group of young believers who, like us, struggled in their young faith in the God of the Bible. Due to persecution and social pressure, these young believers were being tempted to turn back to Judaism, and away from the Lord Jesus Christ. The real issue the Lord was addressing in these young believers lives was the danger that their hearts could be so hardened to the Lord that they would have backslidden away from Him.

In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

Having used an illustration out of the book of Exodus when the children of Israel did not enter into the promised land, the Lord uses the writer of Hebrews to help us understand what it means for us to enter into His rest. Without mentioning Joshua and Caleb who were the only ones of the twelve spies sent in to spy out the promised land, who had faith, the writer of Hebrews clearly tells us our ability to enter into this rest is always available to us. The problem the Jews who did not enter the promised land faced was their over magnification of the problem rather than the solution. Their problem was not unbelief, they could not enjoy what God promised. Their problem was their unbelief in the promises made to them by the God of the Bible.

God's rest means the believer comes to the place where we cease from depending on self. It means to stop from self-dependence and self-labor. This means we no longer are trying to please God by our feeble, fleshly works. And the moment we enter into God’s rest, works cease as a way to please God. Our good works have never please Him, because we can not do enough good to be perfect and acceptable to Him. And so, rest, then, involves a cessation from legalistic self-activity. It is a rest in His free grace.

As we mentioned before, the Jews entering into the promised land is a picture of our sanctification which includes the ability to be free from that which we are trusting in rather than the God of the Bible. The land of Canaan doesn't represent heaven, as some suggest, it represents the life the Lord Jesus died to give us, now. Canaan speaks of the victorious life of the one who is actively placing his trust in the Lord Jesus, now. Canaan could not represent heaven because the lessons learned from Israel going into the promised had to do with God changing them from the inside out. It had to do with their sanctification, not their justification. Plus, no man can earn the favor of God through the changes in his life. No, it is only through the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ that we will spend eternity with God in heaven and that we experience His work of sanctification, now.

Being forced to live by faith in the God of the Bible is hard, yet, it is the exercising of our faith that softens our hearts and keeps them soft toward the Lord. His rest guaranteeing heaven is automatic and complete the moment we trust the Lord Jesus' finished work on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. His sanctification rest that renders the life God wants to give us, right now, is not automatic. In the same way that the promised land was not automatically Israel's, our sanctification is not ours automatically. It requires submission and faith and obedience on our behalf.

In v.2 of today's passage we read, "For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed."

Our sanctification does not work without our faith in the God of the Bible to deliver in and through our yielded lives. There are times when we all find it most difficult to rest because we are not willing to come to the Lord Jesus and allow Him control over our lives. We are like the guy who is drowning, when our rescuer gets to us, we try so hard to save ourselves that we are in danger of drowning ourselves and our rescuer. The key to entering into God's rest is to let go, to go limp and allow our Rescuer the responsibility and opportunity to bring us into His rest. God’s rest simply means to possess the perfect peace that He gives. It means to be free from guilt, worry, and anxiety. It means we have been freed to observe Him working in the world and in and through our lives. The vantage point from this posture is most amazing and most rewarding.

A part of our sanctification is that we are being given the ability to see God for ourselves with our hearts. And, somehow, our hearts ability to see Him now will impact our eyes ability to see Him tomorrow and when He returns. The Lord Jesus is calling us to a level of intimacy that can only be sustained by His constant presence in our lives, and, our willingness to trust Him enough to allow Him to call all of the shots in our lives. To enter into His rest means to enjoy, right now, the security the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus has brought us already. From this angle, fear is so removed that we are learning to exercise absolute trust and absolute confidence in God’s care and charge over our lives.

Hebrews 3:12-19

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12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. ~ Hebrews 3:12-19

Today, we continue our study of Hebrews 3 which contains the second of five warnings regarding backsliding spiritually. Hard heartedness is the threat that we are considering here in Hebrews 3. Hard heartedness is the product of not hearing God's voice, which enables us to experience fellowship with Him. "To hear" in Hebrew includes the nuance of not just hearing sounds, but also of being defined by what we hear. And, this word clearly shows us that it is much more about a relationship God than it is just about obeying Him.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God."

This warning is a warning about the condition of our hearts. You see, it is the spoken word of God that keeps our hearts in check. The greatest evil in the world is unbelief in the God of the Bible. That’s the greatest sin we could ever commit for it is out of a heart of unbelief that all sin comes forth. And, the preventative measure is the word of God which leads us into an interactive fellowship with God whereby He speaks with us and we speak with Him. It is a relationship that facilitates communion between us and God. And, turning away from Him in this manner ushers in the unbelieving hard heart that is spoken of in this chapter.

In v.13-15 we read, "13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today,' so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."'

Part of the remedy for hard heartedness is to come alongside one another. The word translated "encourage" in v.13 is the Greek word paraklētos which is the name of the Holy Spirit, the One called alongside to help. 

The word "deceitfulness" at the end of v.13 means trickery. Sin is so tricky, it always masks itself. Sin deceives us to believe it is good and if we are not walking close to the Lord, we will be tripped up. This is why we must come alongside one another daily, making sure we are walking with the Lord. 

In v.14 we are reminded that having come into a personal relationship with the Lord, we will persevere in our walk with Him. Whereas our justification or rightness before the Lord is solely based on what the Lord Jesus did on the cross, our sanctification is largely dependent upon us hearing His voice and having that vibrant walk with Him. This is why in v.15, the writer of Hebrews repeats the admonition that He first gave in Hebrews 3:7-8.

In Ezekiel 36:26 we read, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." All along it has been about a personal relationship with God enabling us to experience fellowship with Him whereby we are gaining the confidence to entrust our hearts to Him.

In v.16-18 of today's passage we read, "16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?"

God delivered Israel from their slavery to the Egyptians by doing all sorts of amazing things through Moses. Once the people were free, and were traveling through the wilderness, they constantly gave in to an unbelieving heart, even though God did many amazing things on their behalf. In resisting God's definition of and for their lives, the Israelites resisted the process of sanctification whereby God was trying to give them His culture. And, because they rejected His culture, they suffered from not having the life God desired for them and they suffered from not being useful to God in the lives of others. You see, this is the point of our sanctification, influencing others eternally for their good and for His glory.

Before entering the promised land, Israel sent in some spies to see what they could expect to encounter upon entering because, after all, it was not a vacant land, it was inhabited by all sorts of peoples. The spies completed their recon trip and upon returning, with a couple of notable exceptions, they informed the people that there were giants in the land and they had no hope whatsoever of being able to successfully take the land.

The blessings the Lord has in store for our lives each day, we can not fathom unless we are connected to Him in obedience and fellowship daily. Our relationship is based solely on what the Lord Jesus did on the cross, but, our fellowship God is largely determined by our diligence in practicing His presence. There is one commodity that is demanded if we are to know these blessings, and that is, faith, which is a bi-product of His spoken word.

Everybody lives by faith, even the atheist. In fact, while driving a car, no-one drives in constant fear that in their lane around the next corner there will appear a 40-foot concrete wall out of no where. We trust the people who made the highway. But, if we can put our faith in the Highway Department, we can put our faith in the God of the universe. We will never enter into His rest, in this life, unless we give safe haven to a soft, pliable heart that is daily vulnerable to Him and His leading. From this vantage point, life becomes a positive adventure. Yes, it will be scary at times, but, this type of faith keeps our hearts from returning to stone.

This is why God ends this chapter with v.19 which reads, "So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief."

Hebrews 3:7-11

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7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” ~ Hebrews 3:7-11

There are five warnings in the book of Hebrews, and the warning in today's passage is the second of the five. The warnings are given to guard us from backsliding in our faith in the Lord Jesus. The first, we considered in Hebrews 2:1-4, where God urges us to give the most aggressive attention to our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, so that we do not drift away from Him.

The book of Hebrews was written to a group of young believers who, like us, struggled in their young faith in the God of the Bible. These were in danger of falling back into Judaistic ritualism which is a set form of worship involving rituals. Ritual-based religion is most daunting to our walk in the Lord because it does not naturally allow the heart to enter into worship. Biblical Christianity is not rules or ritual-based. Rather, it is relationship-based. The God of the Bible, through the Lord Jesus Christ, has made believers in Christ His own children, and now we relate with Him, accordingly.

In v.7-9 of today's passage we read, "7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did."

In v.7, with just six words, "So, as the Holy Spirit says," the writer of Hebrews gives a great commentary on the identity of the author of the Bible. God did not simply reveal truth to the writers of Scripture and then depart in hopes that they might communicate it accurately. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 Peter wrote that in the very communication of the Bible the writers were carried by the Holy Spirit. The making of the Bible was not left to merely human skills of communication; the Holy Spirit Himself carried the process to completion. The Holy Spirit so pervaded the minds of each human writer that He chose out of their own vocabulary and experience precisely those words, thoughts and expressions that conveyed God's message with precision.

So, in v.7-8 the Lord warns us of hard-heartedness. This admonition begins with "Today, if you hear his voice." These words remind us that during each moment of each day God is communicating with us. And, our awareness and sensitivity to Him will determine how much we hear Him. The Bible has always placed a premium on hearing God’s voice. "Happy are those who listen to me" is the promise of Proverbs 8:34. When John wrote to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, they were addressed in the same manner: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." In John 10:3-5 we read, "The sheep recognize his voice…" His sheep follow Him because they are familiar with the shepherd’s voice.

Our ears, unlike our eyes, do not have lids. They are to remain open, but how easily they close. In Romans 10:17 we read, "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." The Greek word the Apostle Paul used in Romans 10:17 for "word" means "the spoken word." And, when we abide with the Lord by reading His word and praying and fellowshipping with others who walk with Him, we will more readily recognize His voice in a given day. But, when we do not abide with Him, we will be in danger of being out of earshot from Him and we will become more and more hardened in our hearts toward Him.

Now, in order to get this warning across, the Holy Spirit used a real life Old Testament example. He did this because He was addressing Jews, so, He used an example out of their own history with God. And, since Moses is already the subject in this context, He used an illustration from Moses and Israel wandering in the wilderness while on their way to the promised land.

The words "rebellion" and "testing" in Hebrews 3:8 take us to Exodus 17 where God allowed certain trials in the lives of the Jews so that they would look to Him and believe. And, as a result, their faith or their heart's ability to see God would more readily grow. But, the people gave into their flesh or the evil desires that we all know to be in us all. Feeding the flesh led them to blame God for their condition. They did not have the ability to recognize that all things work together for their good. In fact, they jumped to a conclusion which locked God out, preventing them from going deeper in their relationship with Him. Their sanctification was short-circuited due to their hard-heartedness.

Interestingly, after Moses cried out to the Lord, the Lord caused water to miraculously start gushing out of a rock. God, in fact, was giving Israel a peek at the Rock of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Himself. But, due to the fact that their hearts were hardened, they missed God, yet again. I wonder how often I miss God in a given day.

Interestingly, Moses called that place in the wilderness "Massah" and "Meribah" which means testing and striving. In the context of their rebellion, the children of Israel tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" God had just delivered Israel from Egypt, miraculously, and they ask a ridiculous question, "Is God among us?" By the way, the development of our faith does not depend upon us testing God. No, the development of our faith depends upon Him testing our faith.

This is the character of unbelief, it will never have enough proof. The fact is we do not need more proof about whether God is real. What we need is to come to the place in our lives where we are more and more vulnerable to Him to the point that we are more and more convinced that we need Him. It is always that out of our desperation that we depend upon Him best and most. And, sadly, most often it takes trials in order to convince us of this great truth.

In v.10-11 of today's passage we read, "10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest."

The word "angry" in v.10 means "aggravated." God is rightfully aggravated at our sin because of what it does to us. It does not alter Him one bit, it hurts us, and He knows it best. Sin is deceiving. Sin calls darkness light, bitter sweet, and, bondage liberty, and, wrong right. Sin deceives the heart and the heart is always the problem. Ultimately, it is all about what or whom do we trust.

In v.10 we read, "Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways." These Jewish believers just didn’t have faith, they had hearts that did not trust. They were given over to evil in their hearts, and they had served the flesh for so long, they did not know the truth.

The Lord Jesus said in John 8, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Most people believe, as these Jews did, that freedom is the ability to do what we want, when we want, where we want. This, of course, is faulty thinking, for we were made with certain specifications, and when we do not operate accordingly, we malfunction.

In v.11 of today's passage we read, "So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest."

The word "rest" implies resting from wandering. But, due to their hardened hearts, they were unable to enter into God's place of rest for them. They continued in their rebellion against God, and God let them go their own way. Their sanctification was stunted and they missed out on all things God-defined.

When Israel was delivered from the bonds of Egypt, God garnered their deliverance by the blood of the lamb applied to the doorposts of the people's house. This was a picture of our justification. When Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, it was a picture of our sanctification. The main teaching today is that we must listen to the Lord and heed His word so that we might enjoy His definition for our lives, today. Otherwise, we malfunction.