Context to Hebrews
Hebrews serve as encouragement to believers to faithfully endure
Jesus is worthy of our trust and will never leave or forsake us.
There is an issue of the heart
Beginning in Hebrews 3 verse 7 it reads….
Hebrews 3:7-11
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,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
The resolve, the resolution, is for TODAY
Today if you hear the still small voice of the God who loves you
If you hear his voice speaking through the scriptures
The voice of the Holy, righteous and kind Father that beckons us to abide and trust in him
Yet there’s rebellion
The Israelites were outside the land flowing with milk and honey
The land was occupied
They felt small, crushable, and gave up before entering into the promised rest.
Here’s their response to the report from the spies…
Numbers 14:2–4 ESV
[2] And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! [3] Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” [4] And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
They choose rebellion over resolution
They couldn’t believe what is impossible with man is possible with God
How often have we done the same?
We may be grasshoppers to the giants but the giants are dust to God.
The Israelites cowered from what they saw because they didn’t trust in who they belonged to…
2 Corinthians 5:6-7 ESV
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Always of good courage
Faith is freedom
The writer of Hebrews is encouraging us to do it differently than the Israelites
Now our rest and resolution is less about a place and more about a person
As Jesus says in Matthew 11:28
Matthew 11:28 ESV
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
This is a promise!
When it is difficult to endure, we look to Jesus and have the courage to endure too.
Death by 5K
By looking at the endurance of Christ we can endure
By looking at his sacrifice and mercy, we want to be sacrificial and merciful
By looking at the faith of others further along in the race, we want to be faithful
Because ultimately,
We become like what we behold
There is a condition of hardness of heart in opposition to endurance.
Decisions, responses, transgressions, distrustful attitudes, culminate. Sins culminate.
Atherosclerosis, hardened blood vessels by plaque
Restricts blood flow, leads to heart attack and stroke
Plaque=unattended, unrepented sins.
Listen to what Jesus says…
Mark 7:21-23
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, mmurder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, nsensuality, oenvy, pslander, qpride, rfoolishness. 23 sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Sometimes we treat sin like a pet dog when its lurking wolf
The sins that defile the human heart, that clog the arteries and weaken our faith can appear like a poor prognosis if we forget that we have a Great Physician
His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance
He takes our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh that grieves the sin and longs for the milk and honey promised to those who believe
Now we push back darkness and establish light
The regenerated heart is a resolute heart. A repentant heart.
It is Christ-like
Now the blurry image becomes clear, the disease has a cure, the solution has arrived.
So how do we respond?
First, check our hearts.
Spiritual EKG
Am I loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving my neighbor as myself?
Have I allowed bitterness, unforgiveness, and/or sin to take root?
What area of my life have I not surrendered to Jesus?
Have I allowed the lies of the enemy and the world to mask the truth of the gospel?
Psalm 51:10-13 ESV
pCast me not away from your presence,
and take not qyour Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will rreturn to you.
Clean heart, renewed and willing spirt
We must be willing to press on
The resolutions that are sure to last are the ones that begin and end with the promises of God
“What is man's word? An earthen pot broken with a stroke. What is your own resolve? A blossom, which, with God's care, may come to fruit, but which, left to itself, will fall to the ground with the first wind that moves the bough. On man's word hang only what it will bear. On thine own resolve depend not at all. On the promise of thy God hang time and eternity, this world and the next, thine all and the all of all thy beloved ones.” -Charles H. Spurgeon
Our resolve is only as strong as the vine from which it shoots.
Obedience, endurance, repentance and rest are products of an abiding life.
Trust in Jesus, his resolve has stood the test of time and always will.